Camilism

Camilism

Portrait of Camilo Torres Restrepo
Position	Revolutionary communist (Debated)
Major figures	Camilo Torres Restrepo Manuel Pérez
Related tendencies	Marxism–Leninism Mao Zedong Thought
Organizations	ELN

Camilism, also known as Camilo Thought is sometimes considered as the guiding thought of Marxism-Leninism (Now Marxism-Leninism-Maoism) to Colombia, it draws heavily from Liberation Theology and is generally considered a composite of Marxism-Leninism(-Maoism) and Christianity primarily developed by Camilo Torres Restrepo and Manuel Pérez.

It's status as a guiding thought is often debated as well as whether or not it is possible to reconcile Marxism and Religion. It is generally a very contentious topic.

Development

As co-founder of the first Faculty of Sociology at the University of Bogotá, Camilo Torres Restrepo spent much of his time formulating essays detailing topics such as agrarian exploitation, bourgeoise democracy, and the concept of revolution, often inspired by Mao Zedong Thought. It was because of his increasingly revolutionary and Marxist beliefs that he became known as the "Revolutionary Priest" around this time, and gained fame across Colombia.

In 1965 he founded the People's United Front, his coalition of Communists, unionists, and leftist oriented Christians. Shortly after the failure of the United Front that same year, Torres joined the ELN, with whom he had retained contact with for a number of years by that time. Camilo Torres served as commander and ideologue of the ELN until he died in combat in 1966.

The ELN, as it existed under Torres and Fabio Vasquez Castaño was a focoist, Marxist-Leninist group inspired by the Cuban Revolution and Che Guevara. When Manuel Pérez assumed leadership of the ELN in 1979, he began a series of theoretical developments that changed the understanding of Camilo Torres and his legacy.

Manuel Pérez was the first to articulate Camilism as a guiding thought. As a part of his reconstruction and reconstitution of the group in the 1980s, the ELN's official ideological makeup was defined as:

"Marxism-Leninism, in its roots, in its fundamental and basic tenets as expounded by Marx, Engels, Mao, Lenin, Che, and so many others,"

and which had

"...found fertile ground in Latin America, where we have revolutionary thinkers such as Mariátegui, Martí, Sandino, and other revolutionary figures,"

as well as "The Thought of Camilo Torres," which Pérez claimed

"Creatively applied Marxism-Leninism to the conditions of Colombia."

and is referenced in the "Merger Agreement" which created the Union Camilista as the political party attached to the People's Army, which was the ELN. Pérez mentions that the UC-ELN

"unites to set an example for our brothers and sisters, invoking the Thought of Camilo and opening paths of hope."

Criticism

Camilism is criticized by most Maoists because of it's religious character which is a form of idealism in the Marxist view and that if idealism is put at the jefatura of the party and revolution then the movement is likely to dissolve (As seen with the fall of the ELN into a drug cartel after the death of Pérez).

"In Russia conditions are quite different. The proletariat is the leader of our bourgeois-democratic revolution. Its party must be the ideological leader in the struggle against all attributes of medievalism, including the old official religion and every attempt to refurbish it or make out a new or different case for it, etc. Therefore, while Engels was comparatively mild in correcting the opportunism of the German Social-Democrats who were substituting, for the demand of the workers’ party that the state should declare religion a private matter, the declaration that religion is a private matter for the Social-Democrats themselves, and for the Social-Democratic Party, it is clear that the importation of this German distortion by the Russian opportunists would have merited a rebuke a hundred times more severe by Engels.

By declaring from the Duma rostrum that religion is the opium of the people, our Duma group acted quite correctly, and thus created a precedent which should serve as a basis for all utterances by Russian Social-Democrats on the question of religion. Should they have gone further and developed the atheist argument in greater detail? We think not. This might have brought the risk of the political party of the proletariat exaggerating the struggle against religion; it might have resulted in obliterating the distinction between the bourgeois and the socialist struggle against religion. The first duty of the Social-Democratic group in the Black-Hundred Duma has been discharged with honour."

-The Attitude of the Workers’ Party to Religion, V.I. Lenin

"Marx taught us that "religion is the opiate of the people". This is a Marxist thesis which is completely valid today, and in the future. Marx also held that religion is a social phenomenon that is the product of exploitation and it will be eliminated as exploitation is swept away and a new society emerges. These are principles that we can’t ignore, and that we must always keep in mind. Related to the previous point, it must be remembered that the people are religious, something which never has and never will prevent them from struggling for their basic class interests, and in this way serving the revolution, and in particular the People’s War. I want to make it absolutely clear that we respect this religiousness as a question of freedom of religious beliefs, as recognized by the programme which was approved by our Congress."

-Interview with Chairman Gonzalo, Chairman Gonzalo