Mariátegui, José Carlos (hōsā` kär`lōs märēä`tāgē), 1895–1930, Peruvian writer and political leader. Of a poor family, he was a tubercular from childhood but rose to prominence as a self-taught journalist. He studied in Europe and became a confirmed Marxist. Returning to Peru he joined other radicals, such as Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre Haya de la Torre, Víctor Raúl (vēk`tôr rä
..... Click the link for more information. , in political agitation during the 1920s, and when Haya de la Torre founded the APRA party (see APRA APRA (ä`prä) or the Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana, reformist political party in Peru, also called the
..... Click the link for more information. ) in exile, Mariátegui became its leading spokesman in Peru. He broke with the Apristas, as the members of the APRA party were known, in 1928. His Seven Interpretive Essays on Peruvian Reality (1928, tr. 1988), is a masterpiece of social analysis.

Bibliography

See J. M. Baines, Revolution in Peru (1972).

Mariátegui, José Carlos

(born June 14, 1895, Lima, Peru—died April 16, 1930, Lima) Peruvian political leader and essayist. In 1919 he was sent to study in Italy, where he met leading socialists of the day, including Maxim Gorky. At first a strong supporter of APRA, he split with that movement to form the Peruvian Communist Party in 1928. While emphasizing the economic aspects of Marxism in his writings, he recognized the value of religion and myth in his treatment of the Indians and advocated a greater social and political role for them. His influence is seen in the Maoist Shining Path revolutionary movement.