At the University of the Philippines SOLAIR,
Diliman, Quezon City on February 8, 2014
By Prof. Jose Maria Sison
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
I am deeply pleased and honored by the publication of the three books: Defeating Revisionism, Reformism and Opportunism, Building Strength through Struggle and Celebration. I thank the publishers and the organizers, speakers and all other participants in the launch of these books today.
I am delighted that this book launch marks and lends meaning to the 55th year of my service to the revolutionary struggle of the Filipino people as well as the 75th year of my existence outside the womb.
Defeating Revisionism, Reformism and Opportunism and Building Strength through Struggle are the second and third books in the series of five books under the general title of Continuing the Philippine Revolution. The first book is Foundation for Resuming the Philippine Revolution and was issued in July last year. The fourth and fifth books, Detention and Defiance Against Dictatorship and Continuing the Struggle for National and Social Liberation, will be issued in the next few months. The five books span the years 1968 to 1990.
Defeating Revisionism, Reformism and Opportunism is a necessary companion of the first book, Foundation for Resuming the Philippine Revolution. You must read the two books because they are complementary and interlap in time.
Resuming the Philippine revolution in 1968 was not simply a matter of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) reestablishing itself by adopting the ideological line of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and the general political line of people’s democratic revolution through protracted people’s war against such obvious enemies as US imperialism and the local exploiting classes of big compradors and landlords.
It was also imperatively a matter of rectifying errors and opposing modern revisionism centred in the Soviet Union and peddled by local revisionists, against reformism most touted at the time by the bourgeois nationalists and labor aristocrats and by both the incubators of Marcosian authoritarianism and clerico-fascism under the shared guise of constitutional reform and against opportunism in the history and circumstances of the old merger party of the Communist and Socialist Parties.
The CPP studied seriously Mao’s victorious leadership of the new democratic and socialist stages of the Chinese revolution, all the way to his critique of modern revisionism and his theory and practice of continuing revolution under the proletarian state through cultural revolution in order to combat revisionism, prevent capitalist restoration and consolidate socialism.
Even as the cultural revolution was defeated in China itself after some years of victory in the period of 1966 to 1976, the anti-revisionist struggle of Mao has a strong influence on the CPP in terms of firming up the revolutionary will and inspiring the militancy of cadres and members. It explains why and how socialist societies degenerate from within and disintegrate without suffering any defeat from an imperialist war of aggression. It poses the problem of revisionism and capitalist restoration and offers the solution to be realized and developed in the long transition of of socialism to communism.
Building Strength through Struggle is the third book in the series and covers the period from the proclamation of martial law in 1972 to my capture on November 10, 1977. It extends and further develops the founding principles, policies and lines of action in the resumption of the Philippine revolution.
It elaborates the why and how the Filipino proletariat and people struggled and employed the revolutionary party of the proletariat, the armed struggle and the united front against the US-instigated Marcos fascist dictatorship. It contains the documents and articles that guided the nationwide expansion and advance of the revolutionary forces. It shows how the strength of the people was built precisely through revolutionary struggle. It was in the period of 1972 to 1977 that the revolutionary forces struck deep roots among the people, especially among the toiling masses, on a national scale.
Among the most important documents in this period are the following:
1. “Overthrow the US-Marcos Dictatorship to Achieve National Freedom and Democracy”, which was issued shortly after the proclamation of martial law in September 1972, condemned the dictatorship as an ultra-reactionary instrument of US imperialism and the local exploiting classes and called for its overthrow through people’s war.
2. “Guide for Establishing the People’s Democratic Government” , which was promulgated in 1972, laid down the principles, policies and methods for building the revolutionary government in the countryside to replace the counterrevolutionary state of the big compradors and landlords based in the urban areas.
3. “Specific Characteristics of Our People’s War in the Philippines”, which was published in 1975, creatively applied Chairman Mao Zedong’s principles of people’s war to concrete Philippine conditions based on the experience gained by the NPA and taking into account the relatively wide countryside and the archipelagic and mountainous character of the country as well as the domestic and international situation.
4. “Our Urgent Tasks”, which was issued in 1975, sharpened the general political line as one of combating fascism, feudalism and imperialism and called on the revolutionary forces to carry out the the urgent tasks and the proper methods and steps in building various types of mass organizations and the local organs of political power and waging mass campaigns. Since then, the armed revolutionary mass base has grown, providing the ever widening and and ever deepening basis for carrying out protracted people’s war.
5. “The 10-Point Program of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP), which was first outlined in 1973 and elaborated upon in 1977, spelled out the strategy and tactics for overthrowing the Marcos autocracy. The NDFP has been consolidated thereby as a united front of the basic revolutionary forces and has served as a base for engaging in broader alliances in order isolate and destroy the enemy at every given time.
The decisions taken by the CPP Central Committee were resolutely and militantly implemented by the Party rank and file, the New People’s Army and the masses. The ground for fighting and defeating the Marcos fascist dictatorship was well laid on a national scale from 1972 to 1977. Thus, even after I was captured by the enemy on November 10, 1977, I continued to be confident that the Filipino people and their revolutionary cause would prevail over the enemy.
Prior to my capture, the theoretical and political groundwork had already been set for the people to achieve revolutionary victories, leading ultimately to the downfall of the Marcos dictatorship in 1986. It served to strengthen the fighting will, capabilities and methods (strategy and tactics) of the people and revolutionary forces even against the recrudescence of “Left” and Right opportunism among some elements in the CPP leadership in the 1980s.
It is necessary to read and study all the contents of Building Strength through Struggle in order to understand why and how the people’s democratic revolution had caused the overthrow of the Marcos fascist dictatorship, how it has continued to fight and win victories against the pseudo-democratic regimes, how it has frustrated subjectivist and opportunist trends and how it has excelled as a torch bearer of armed revolution led by the proletariat amidst the dominance of neocolonialism in the underdeveloped countries, the full restoration of capitalism in former revisionist-ruled countries and the neoliberal plunder and aggression of the imperialist powers worldwide.
I am glad that Celebration is reissued, after improvement and updating. Once more I thank all the contributors to the book for appreciating the service that I have tried to render to the Filipino proletariat and people in their struggle for national liberation and democracy in preparation for a socialist future.
The broad masses of the Filipino people are suffering more than ever before amid the worsening conditions of exploitation and oppression brought about by foreign monopoly capitalism, domestic feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. They have no choice but to wage revolutionary struggle more resolutely and more militantly for national freedom, democracy, social justice, genuine development and revolutionary solidarity with other peoples.
May the books launched today help to shed light on the road of revolution. I am confident that the current and future generations of Filipino revolutionaries will continue to advance the national democratic revolution to victory, and onward to socialism. Thank you. ###
