Briefly explain the history behind the Shining Path and its 20-year terrorist campaign in Peru in 1980 . Why is the group's political orientation debated?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

A Maoist group, the Shining Path launched a campaign in rural Peru that began in 1980 and lasted for the following two decades.
Peru's revolutionary past was grounded in anticolonialism as the indigenous people sought to free themselves from European rule.
• Tupac Amaru led a revolt against Spain from 1571 to 1572.
• Scholars have debated the political orientation of the Shining Path almost from its inception.
• Led by a philosophy professor, Abimael Guzman, the group was deeply influenced by China and its Cultural Revolution.
• Guzman believed that the leftist politics of Peru's Communist Party were too tame, and he embraced the radical violence espoused by Maoist revolutionaries.
• In addition, the Maoist approach matched Peru's economic structure.
• Guzman moved to build a rural power base, and most scholars view the organization as a violent Maoist movement.
• Other scholars do not accept the view that the Shining Path was based in Maoism.
• Paul Navarro believes the entire Peruvian left was influenced by Mao, but the influence was rhetorical.
• Most Peruvian leftists were mainstream Marxists.
• While they called for violent revolution, the starting point was decades away.
• Peru's Communists were not inherently violent.
• The Shining Path was a typical Marxist group as it embraced orthodoxy and its violence was caused by the internal contradictions of Marxism.