Speech at the Politeama
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The Speech at the Politeama was a speech written by Manuel González Prada and read by a student at the Teatro Politeama in Lima during a Fiestas Patrias event on 28 July 1888.[1] The speech, given five years after the end of the invasion and occupation of Peru by Chile during War of the Pacific, González Prada calls for the overthrow of the elite establishment in Peru.[2]
The incompetence of the government and military was so great during the War of the Pacific period that it led to an intellectual movement dedicated to restoring pride for Peru, creating modern Peruvian nationalism.[1] During Peru's impending defeat by Chile in the War of the Pacific, poet and academic Manuel González Prada would stay in his home for three years, refusing to look at the foreign invaders occupying Peru.[1][3] The conflict proved to him that Peru was a failure under the economic oligarchy and that large reforms were necessary to improve the nation.[3]
The Peruvian Literary Circle, whose members saw themselves as freethinkers and that they were destined to change Peru, reached out to González Prada, who immediately reoriented the groups direction.[1][4] In 1886, González Prada became the head of the Literary Circle.[1]