This text is a transcription of the speech given by writer Sebastián Salazar Bondy at the first convention organized by the Asociación Nacional de Escritores y Artistas (ANEA); the event was held in Lima in September 1955. In Salazar Bondy’s view, the task of the intelligentsia in the Americas “cannot be reduced to their aesthetic interests, to the mere exercise of a purely intellectual inclination.” In a continent undergoing, simultaneously, a process of formation and of crisis, the intelligentsia must be “an active factor in the slow process of institutional consolidation.” In performing their pedagogical role, writers must be more than bohemian artists “expressing the fruits of their inspiration” and manifest as well a sense of responsibility “in their behavior as citizens.” “Combative education” of that sort would build commitment to defending civil liberties and to condemning any setback “in the conquests of reason.” He decries the fact that his generation had no mentors, which he attributes to the failure of those who should have played that role to reconcile their work and civic life.

In 1948, after ousting the democratically elected government of Luis Bustamante y Rivero in office from 1945 to 1948, a junta led by General Manuel Apolinario Odría seized power in Peru, governing the country for eight years (1948–56). One of that government’s first measures was to outlaw political parties such as the Alianza Popular Revolucionaria Americana (APRA), led by Raúl Haya de la Torre, and the Communist Party. In July 1949, the polemic Domestic Security Law was enacted, restricting civil liberties. It was in that framework that, in late September 1955, the Asociación Nacional de Escritores y Artistas (ANEA) organized its first convention. The main topic addressed was the civic responsibility of intellectuals. Rather than discuss theoretical questions pertinent to the debate surrounding non-figurative art, the speeches given at the event called for real commitment to the country’s political situation (no reference was made to the dictatorship, however). The convention culminated with a group of intellectuals—among them eminent opponents of abstraction like writers Juan Ríos (1914–91) and Sebastián Salazar Bondy (1924–65)—calling for a general amnesty and the repeal of the aforementioned law—which did not occur until Manuel Prado took office in 1956 pursuant to elections.

[For further reading on the ANEA, see the following texts in the ICAA digital archive: by Sérvulo Gutiérrez (untitled) [“Para un pintor, y éste es mi caso, la defensa de la libertad de pensamiento…”] (doc. no. 1138812); by Eduardo Moll “Reportaje a Carlos A. Castillo” (doc. no. 865074) and “Reportajes” (doc. no. 865093); and by José Sabogal “Pintura mural y Arequipa arquitectónica” (doc. no. 1173383)].