Shining Path Throughout the 1980s, the Shining Path grew, both in terms of the territory it controlled, and in the number of militants in its organization, particularly in the Andean highlands. It gained support from local peasants by filling the political void left by the central government and providing "popular justice". This caused the peasantry of many Peruvian villages to express some sympathy for the Shining Path, especially in the impoverished and neglected regions of Ayacucho, Apurímac, and Huancavelica. At times, the civilian population of small, neglected towns participated in popular trials, especially when the victims of the trials were widely disliked.
History of the Communist Party USA History of the Communist Party USA The history of the Communist Party USA is deeply rooted in the history of the American labor movement and the Communist Party USA indeed played critical roles in the earliest struggles to organize American workers into unions as well as the later civil rights and anti-war movements. However, many Communists were forced to work covertly due to the high level of political repression in the United States against Communists, whom were targeted for legal retaliation and in some areas state-supported terrorism and lynchings. According to Gus Hall, who served as the General Secretary of