Fifth Congress of the
Partido Revolucionario de los Trabajadores
Statutes of the Revolutionary Workers Party
Section I. Membership.
Article 1. Members include party activists and candidates. A party activist is a person who is devoted in mind and body to the revolutionary struggle, and whose central daily activity is to build the party, armed struggle, and to take other steps toward the Revolution.
Article 2. A party member must fulfill the following obligations:
(a) Participate in a regular unit of the party.
(b) Attend meetings on time.
(c) Carry out the daily work assigned by his regular unit.
(d) Punctually pay the monthly dues set by the leadership of the party, which are not to exceed one day’s wages.
(e) Faithfully carry out the party’s line, and the decisions of his unit and leading party bodies.
Article 3. Members have the following rights:
(a) To take part in deciding the party’s line and to offer their opinions and experiences according to the principles of democratic centralism.
(b) To form factions or tendencies within the party to defend their positions during precongress discussion periods.
(c) Make written contributions to the Internal Discussion Bulletin.
(d) Elect or be elected to leadership positions.
Article 4. A candidate to the party is any compañero who has been introduced by a party member and approved by the member’s cell within such a period as it shall determine. A candidate has voice but no vote at meetings and is expected to fulfill the obligations of members. When he has satisfactorily completed his assignments, demonstrating revolutionary capacity and attitude, the cell will grant him membership status, reviewable by the section and national leaderships of the party.
Article 5. A party sympathizer is any compañero who faithfully upholds the party line in his workplace, makes a regular financial contribution, and collaborates with the organization although not attending meetings, does consistent party work in one of the branches of the party. He has none of the rights and obligations of members.
Article 6. Party members should:
(a) Study and actively apply MarxismLeninism in a living way.
(b) Prepare themselves and be ready to fight at any moment.
(c) Establish close ties with the masses, working, living, and struggling with them.
(d) Make no criticisms of the party to nonparty members or behind the backs of the compañeros.
(e) Make courageous use of selfcriticism in contributing to strengthening and building the party.
(f) Have good moral conduct.
(g) Be discreet and not give information to other comrades that could threaten the security of the party.
Section II. Cells.
Article 7. The party’s basic unit is the cell. It is composed of from three to six comrades and is organized to meet the needs of coordinating the daily work of party members in carrying out the party’s political line and organizational decisions. It should meet at least once a week.
Article 8. The cell leadership includes one political leader and one military leader elected by a majority vote of the body. The political leader is the liaison with the regional leadership. He leads discussion and political education, sees that the party’s correct political line is carried out and organizes the cell’s political work. The military leader draws up training plans and leads the carrying out of military plans. Article 9. The growth of the organization will occur in the form of a pyramid from the bottom up. New recruitment will mean the formation of new teams that will be completely selfcontained from the start.
Article 10. There are three categories of cells: basic, technical, and combat.
Article 11. The basic cells are the units in which all party members and candidate members not directly and exclusively involved in technical or military assignments are organized. They are the organs through which the party acts in mass organizations, workers’ fronts, the working class, neighborhood groups, etc. They carry out the party’s political line, propagandize and agitate around the party’s positions, recruit members and sympathizers. They are also combat organs insofar as they engage in resistance or selfdefense and give logistic support. They should raise their military level through training, carrying out small actions, etc., with the aim of transforming themselves into breeding grounds for fighters.
Article 12. Technical cells are involved in one or more of these tasks: shop work, arms, laboratory work, documents, printing, intelligence, etc. Because of their importance, they are completely selfcontained and their nucleus should include experienced party activists. They may work with sympathizers or nonparty elements, as necessitated by technical reasons, after a careful examination of the security aspects.
Article 13. The combat cells constitute party nuclei in each unit of the Revolutionary People’s Army. They are completely selfcontained.
Article 14. The party’s base organizations should keep the red banner of MarxismLeninism flying, give political priority to the proletarian policy, and put into full practice the method of integrating theory and revolutionary war. They should also forge close ties with the masses, and especially with the working class, practice criticism and selfcriticism, and be prepared to combat nonproletarian positions and right and left opportunism.
Article 15. The main tasks of the party’s cells are:
(a) To lead its members and the masses on the road of revolutionary war and to apply MarxismLeninism and proletarian internationalism in a living way.
(b) To prepare themselves continuously for combat and to educate party members and the masses in the spirit of revolutionary war and the struggle against right and left opportunism and lead them in a resolute struggle against the class enemy.
(c) To propagate and carry out the party’s political line through energetic agitation and political education, carry out decisions and all tasks assigned by the party and the Revolutionary Army of the People. To prepare themselves continuously and be ready to fight at any moment.
(d) To establish close ties with the masses, learn from them, always paying attention to their opinions and desires and wage an active ideological struggle inside the party in order to maintain a vigorous internal life.
(e) To recruit new members, observe party discipline, constantly firm up the party’s organizations, throw out false ideas hanging over from the past and assimilate new ideas so as to keep the party ranks pure.
(f) To lead modest and prudent lives, work hard, avoid pettybourgeois pedantry, be on guard against petty bourgeois prejudices about the supposed inability of women comrades to achieve the highest standards of party work, be courageous but not foolhardy, inspire respect, be truly the first and best in everything, live in harmony, share all problems, and be affectionate to all party comrades as well as to the masses. Only in this way will the party be able to lead the working class and popular sectors to victory in the revolutionary war.
(g) Be respectful and fraternal to thqse who hold religious beliefs or other ideologies but are struggling against the same enemy, always attempting to involve them in tasks we agree on.
Section III. Fronts and Branches.
Article 16. When two or more cells are involved in the same area of work (printing, geographical area, university, branch of production, profession, etc.), they constitute a front (for example, cells comprised of students constitute a Student Front). The cells in a front should be selfcontained, establishing necessary coordination through periodic contacts between the leaders of each cell.
Article 17. A party branch is a geographic unit comprising a minimum of three and a maximum of six teams or cells. They are directly under the national and regional leaderships.
Article 18. The branches are under the leadership of an Area Committee of up to six members, having Its own political and military leaders. The branches hold periodic plenums, depending on security conditions, with one representative for every three members or fraction thereof. Biannually the plenums elect the branch leadership and discuss the application of the party line in the branch.
Section IV. Regional.
Article 19. The Region is the leading party body on a provincial level, always representing a minimum of three branches. It is the most important party organization after the national party as a whole, and therefore has a certain autonomy and an organizational structure similar to that of the party.
Article 20. The Regions are under the leadership of a Regional Committee of six members, headed by a political and a military leader elected by the executive committee. Depending on security conditions, the Regions will hold periodic plenums with one representative for every six members or fraction of three. These plenums annually elect most of the regional leadership (the political and military leaders are elected by the Executive Committee) and discuss the application of the party line in the Region.
Section V. Military Force.
Article 21. The Revolutionary Army of the People and its armed detachments constitute the party’s military force. It is the obligation of each party member to struggle to build the Revolutionary Army of the People and be attentive to consolidating the leading role of the party within it through constant political education and maintaining the complete dominance of proletarian ideology.
Article 22. The fundamental body for exercising the party’s leading role in the Revolutionary Army of the People is the combat cell, which should be organized as a basic unit
Article 23. The system of Political Commissars will be instituted in base units and leadership organs. The Political Commissars will take charge of political edu cation in their units, as well as application of a mass political line for military activity, and will be the secretaries of the combat cells or respective party organizations.
Article 24. The Revolutionary Army of the People will be under the leadership of a Military Committee of the party, chosen by the Executive Committee, and responsible to that body and the Central Committee for correctly carrying out military instructions.
Section VI. National Leadership.
Article 25. The national leadership bodies of the party are: National Congress, Central Committee, Executive Committee, Political Bureau and Military Committee.
Section VII. National Congress.
Article 26. The National Congress is the highest leadership body of the party. It meets every three years, providing conditions are favorable for security, with one delegate elected for every seven members or fraction of five in the cells and/or regional plenums of the branches. Its purposes are to: (a) Decide the party’s political and military line until the next Congress; (b) Evaluate what was carried out by the Central Committee elected at the previous Congress; (c) Elect the Central Committee.
Article 27. The precongress period will open six months prior to the holding of the Congress. During that period party members have the authority to organize tendencies and factions to stimulate discussion in the party and to defend their positions. Precongress discussion should be carried on in a constructive, serious, and proletarian manner.
Section VIII. Central Committee.
Article 28. The Central Committee is composed of eighteen full members and seven alternates and is elected by the Congress. It functions as the highest party organ between congresses and usually meets every six months and whenever necessary for special reasons and at a suitable time decided by the Executive Committee or a third of its members. The tasks of the Central Committee are: (a) To evaluate the activity of the party and the Executive Committee; (b) To develop party policy on all questions within the guidelines set by the Congress; (c) To elect the Executive Committee.
Article 29. Under exceptional circumstances the Central Committee can convene an Expanded Central Committee with the participation of delegates from the Regional Committees, the number to be determined by the Executive Committee or the Central Committee itself.
Article 30. If a serious situation arises threatening the functioning of the party, the regional committees or the Central Committee can seek the opinion of the ranks by means of a plebiscite. The Regional Congresses may also be approached for their decision.
Section IX. Executive Organs.
Article 31. The Executive Committee is composed of eleven members elected by the Central Committee. It is the highest body of the party between the election of Central Committees. It usually meets every month and, under special circumstances, when requested by four of its members.
The tasks of the Executive Committee are:
(a) To lead the party in its practical work, faithfully implementing the political and military decisions of the Congress ar,d the Central Committee.
(b) To provide leadership in areas of press, finances, cadre schools and organizing the party.
(c) To prepare the agendas and the resolutions to be discussed by the Central Committee and the Congress and to take charge of organization and security for the meetings of these bodies.
(d) To appoint the Political Bureau and the Military Committee of the party as well as the Military leaders and Political Commissars of the Revolutionary Army of the People.
Article 32. The Political Bureau is composed of five members elected by the Executive Committee. It oversees the daily operations of the press, propaganda, and agitation, finances, organization, classes, union work, etc. It should meet on a weekly basis.
Article 33. The Military Committee is composed of five members elected by the Executive Committee and constitutes the leading nucleus of the General Staff of the Revolutionary Army of the People. Its tasks include:
(a) Carrying out the military decisions of the Executive Committee, Central Committee and the Congress.
(b) Leading the Revolutionary Army of the People in accordance with the party’s military line.
(c) Upholding the party’s leading role in the Revolutionary Army of the People by means of political education, keeping a check on the social composition of the ranks and cadres and applying a mass political line.
Section X. Democratic Centralism.
Article 34. The party’s internal system is democratic centralism, characterized as follows:
(a) Democratic participation of the entire party in drawing up the line on all levels; constant supervision by the ranks of administrative, financial, and other such matters; fraternal and equal relationships among all party members.
(b) Subordination of the minority to the majority and of the ranks to the leadership in applying decisions that have been adopted; observance of the strictest politically conscious discipline in carrying out tasks; the method of education and persuasion, fraternal and selfcriticism constituting the foundation for this discipline.
Section XI. Party Tribunal.
Article 35. The Party Tribunal is the party organ charged with handling questions of proletarian and party morality. It administers revolutionary justice in cases of treason, informing, desertion, and other counterrevolutionary crimes, whether they are committed by members or elements outside the organization.
Article 36. The Executive Committee will write the rules and regulations for the Party Tribunal, and submit them to the Central Committee which will ratify them and appoint the Tribunal’s members. Until such time the Executive Committee will act as the Party Tribunal, appointing special joint commissions in branches and Regions where there are serious moral infractions or counterrevolutionary crimes to be judged.
Section XII. Cooptations and Meetings.
Article 37. Every party leadership organ has the right to coopt up to 40 percent of its members in order to improve its work on the basis of a 75 percent vote of its members.
Article 38. The security of every meeting of the different party organs should be strictly guaranteed, using legal means when possible, or by organizing to defend them in the opposite case.
Article 39. A quorum for the bodies listed in the statutes will consist of half the members plus one. Any decision or change in an earlier decision can be passed by a majority of one of the members present.
Section XIII. General Considerations.
Article 40. These statutes and the resolutions of the congresses can be changed by a decision of threefourths of the Central Committee or threefourths of the party’s members pending ratification at the next congress.