I am reposting this interview of Joma Sison. The interview
that Harsh Thakor wrote had some serious errors in it. Democracy
and Class Struggle reposted this interview that has been corrected by
Comrade Joma Sison personally. According to DCS Harsh Thakor has apologized to
Sison and he accepts his apology and they hope Thakor learns that recording and
reporting comrades accurately is important for revolutionaries and mistakes can
have serious consequences.
***
***
Joma Sison (AKA: José María Sison) is the founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Sison reorganized the party as a Maoist group, in 1968, He is also a writer, activist and theoretician. Since 2002, Sison has been classified as a "person supporting terrorism" by the United States . The European Union's second highest court ruled to delist him as a "person supporting terrorism" and reversed a decision by member governments to freeze assets. The Communist Party of the Philippines has been classified by the US as a terrorist organization. He has been treated as a criminal by the USA and other European countries.
Harsh Thakor is a freelance writer. He writes for this blog, Otto's War Room and Democracy and Class Struggle, among other periodicals. This article also appeared in Democracy and Class Struggle.
ON 50TH ANNIVERSARY MAY THE CPP BE INSCRIBED IN GOLDEN
LETTERS AND CONTINUE TO ILLUMINATE THE INEXTINGUISHABLE TORCH OF LIBERATION!!
HAIL THE GLORIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE PARTY AND
CONTRIBUTIONS OF FOUNDING CHAIRMAN JOSE MARIA SISON.
HAIL THE PERSEVERANCE ON THE MASS LINE AND UNFLINCHINGLY
PRACTICING PROTRACTED PEOPLE’S WAR.
For half a century since it's reestablishment on December
26th 1968 the Communist Party of Philippines (CPP) has displayed the tenacity of a
rock, withstanding every hurdle. It has fought a protracted people’s war for a
duration of 50 years, longer than any Communist party ever. It has turned a red
spark into a prairie fire.
Such is the power of the torch of Marxism-Leninism -Maoism. It convinced me that no Communist party practiced mass line so penetratingly, deeply or correctly as the CPP after the reversal of socialism inChina .
Such is the power of the torch of Marxism-Leninism -Maoism. It convinced me that no Communist party practiced mass line so penetratingly, deeply or correctly as the CPP after the reversal of socialism in
No party has with such fortitude and clinical analysis and
practice thwarted Right and "Left" opportunism within its ranks. It
made the boldest of self-criticisms at many junctures in consonance with
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. It may have some flaws in theoretical plane on
international questions but in practice true champions.
Being 50, the body of the CPP may be old or aged but it's
soul blazes or extinguishes its spirit double that of quarter of a century
ago. In spite of being engulfed with enemies all around to sabotage
it, the CPP shimmers its torch like an inextinguishable light.
Without doubt its Founding Chairman Joma Sison is one of the
greatest Marxist theoreticians and leaders of recent times and the CPP is a
torch bearer of the world revolution.
Of great importance were the efforts of the rectification
campaigns which were major stepping stones in the carving out of the
revolutionary mass line.
In many ways the rectification line of 1992 was the turning point of the Philippine revolution with it's upholding the Cultural Revolution (GPCR) and recognizing the revisionist character of DengistChina .
In many ways the rectification line of 1992 was the turning point of the Philippine revolution with it's upholding the Cultural Revolution (GPCR) and recognizing the revisionist character of Dengist
Most timely that it took place when Soviet social
imperialism and revisionist states collapsed in 1991. Equal emphasis was placed
on combating "Left" and Right opportunism which represented urban
putschist actions and withdrawal of mass movements on one scale and totally
reformist and parliamentary work on the other. The struggle for combating
deviations and striving for mass line was similar to blood running through the
veins of a body.
Revisionism was combated through revolutionary practice
itself and not mere talk. I was most impressed how they handled times of crisis
in several junctures and fought back with their backs to the wall. It depicted
great dialectical approach like a surgeon performing continuous operations on
the most serious patients.
Great planning was involved in every stage with the CPP
traversing the most turbulent of waters. Above all, it did not impose itself on
the masses but channelized every effort to establish itself as the true
vanguard of the people. Brilliantly blended Marxist-Leninist methodology with
creativity like an architect and artist blended into one. Genuine revolutionary
organs of political power have been created similar to what the Chinese
Communist Party did in the 1940's. I was astounded with how they blended political
mastery with creativity.
The New People’s Army demonstrated phenomenal mobility and
flexibility and was fully integrated in the lives of the broad masses. Above
all it proved the authenticity of Maoism being invincible and correctness of
theory of protracted people's war. It brilliantly blended centralisation and
de-centralisation of party work and dispersal and concentration in the New
People's Army work. Brilliantly blended Marxist-Leninist methodology with
creativity.
With dialectical precision in practice and theory in several
stages it controlled 'military' approach or left sectarian armed actions as
well as 'legalistic' work and Rightist parliamentary work. It did not
mechanically apply Mao's military theories but innovated them to the concrete
Philippine conditions. It placed emphasis on higher party committees learning
from the lower ones and activating them. It also struggled against trends that
used pretext of mass movement to blunt armed offensives.
Meticulous efforts were made to educate party cadres on the essence of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. It published writings in accordance with level of the consciousness of different sections of the people. It always solidified the base when building the superstructure. Through the building of the National Democratic Front, it promoted the concept of united front.
Meticulous efforts were made to educate party cadres on the essence of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. It published writings in accordance with level of the consciousness of different sections of the people. It always solidified the base when building the superstructure. Through the building of the National Democratic Front, it promoted the concept of united front.
With great diligence, land reform was initiated with the NPA
directly involved in production. With most flexibility the Party has built
bastions in the urban areas in trade unions. The NPA displayed great fluidity
moving like a fish in water. It is also significant that the party membership
was created from the mass activists of mass organizations which were like
nurseries for schooling them.
What was most important is that it sowed the roots to create
political bastions of power in the countryside solidifying the base with
clinical precision to intensify the armed struggle. The alliance of the
landless and poor peasantry with the middle and rich peasantry has been knit
with meticulous application of Maoist ideology and similar to days of the
1940's in China an independent form of government has been formed which is a
thorn in the flesh to the ruling regime.
The main reasons for it's setback from the 1980's was its
incorrect evaluation of the GPCR and neutrality towards Dengist China which
made certain sections even vacillate towards supporting social imperialism. I
also am somewhat skeptical as to the reason it reached a state that it had to
negotiate with ruler Duterte.
Also marginal theoretical flaws on international questions like supporting Hugo Chavez inVenezuela and
Freedom Road Socialist Organisation in America
or even rightist groups in India .
Still an outstandingly positive assessment of Chairman Mao's contribution and
Maoism giving it the same meaning as CPC did in era of Mao. [Note: I do not
agree with this paragraph. But you can retain it because it is your
statement JS]
Also marginal theoretical flaws on international questions like supporting Hugo Chavez in
In recent times what was most encouraging was its sporadic
and timely armed actions challenging fascism of Duterte. Today it may not be
directly encircling the cities but through building liberated base ares
prepared the fuel or the roots of creating such a possibility. It has not
reached the level of political power or intensity as Chinese Communist Party
did by the 1940's or as strong revolutionary base but we must consider that we
are in an era where no socialist country exists and where imperialist forces
are twice as strong now than they were in the 1940's with the current
impositions of neocolonialism and neoliberalism.
In many ways the rectification line of 1992 was the turning
point of the Philippine revolution with it's upholding the GPCR and criticizing
the revisionist character of Dengist China . Most timely that it took
place when Soviet social Imperialism and revisionist states
collapsed in 1991. Of great significance towards the mass line after 1980 was
their main rectification document of 1992, "Reaffirm our Basic Principles
and Rectify Errors, ", “General Review of Important Events and
Decisions from 1980-1991” and “Stand for Socialism against Modern
revisionism."
In the 1970's the most important works to study were “Rectify errors and Rebuild the Party” and “Constitution of the Communist Party of the Philippines,”the “Program for a People's Democratic Revolution (PPDR)," the "Rules for Establishing the People's Government” and the “Revolutionary Guide to Land Reform". Also of great value was the communique of the Inter-regional conference of cadres of the CPP inNorthern
Luzon and Manila-Rizal.
In the 1970's the most important works to study were “Rectify errors and Rebuild the Party” and “Constitution of the Communist Party of the Philippines,”the “Program for a People's Democratic Revolution (PPDR)," the "Rules for Establishing the People's Government” and the “Revolutionary Guide to Land Reform". Also of great value was the communique of the Inter-regional conference of cadres of the CPP in
In recent times what was most encouraging was its sporadic
and timely armed actions challenging fascism of Duterte. Today it may not be
directly encircling the cities but through building liberated base areas
prepares the fuel or the roots of creating such a possibility.
Below I have recorded my Interview with Founding Chairman
Joma Sison in Utrecht
on December 27th and Dec 31st. I personally interviewed the great Comrade in
the National Democratic Front Office in Utrecht , which
was an experience in a lifetime.
I had gone to attend the commemoration event of the 50th anniversary inUtrecht attended by
around 400 people and 20 different nations.
Before the interview I had written a brief summary. Also added notes which were sent later by Comrade Joma and from past literature of CPP (mainly Rebolusyon on rectification history.)
I had gone to attend the commemoration event of the 50th anniversary in
Before the interview I had written a brief summary. Also added notes which were sent later by Comrade Joma and from past literature of CPP (mainly Rebolusyon on rectification history.)
HT: What led to the re-organization of the Communist
Party of Philippines in 1969?
JMS: The general secretary Jesus Lava was completely
isolated from any mass movement. He adopted policies that first liquidated the
remnants of the old people's army by calling on the armed units to turn
themselves into organizational brigades, and subsequently also the party by
adopting in 1957 what he called the single file policy of dissolving every
party collective and ordering party members to form single files to which he
sent his political transmissions from his Manila hideout. He had no significant
connections with any mass movement nor with the remnants of the people's army
which continued to exist as roving rebel bands in the plains of some provinces
of Central Luzon .
The single event that broke the long period of reaction was
the demonstration of 5000 students mostly from the state university, to oppose
and stop the anti-communist witchhunt in 1961.
The young proletarian revolutionaries initiated the mass protest action, without direction from the underground remnant of the old merger party of Socialist Party and the Communist Party. Following their success, they expanded their study and organizing activities from theUniversity of Philippines
to other universities and gained leadership over students governments and
campus publications. The young proletarian revolutionaries linked up with
veteran cadres and masses in progressive trade unions and peasant associations.
The mass movement of the youth, the workers and peasants grew steadily.
The Kabataang Makabayan was formed in 1964 as a comprehensive mass organization of students, workers, young peasants and young professionals. They became most active in promoting the study of the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao, and in creating Party groups within the mass organizations and party branches in localities to serve as the revolutionary core of the mass movement. They were also the most militant in launching workers strikes and mass actions to expose the anti national and anti democratic policies of the reactionary government.
The young proletarian revolutionaries initiated the mass protest action, without direction from the underground remnant of the old merger party of Socialist Party and the Communist Party. Following their success, they expanded their study and organizing activities from the
The Kabataang Makabayan was formed in 1964 as a comprehensive mass organization of students, workers, young peasants and young professionals. They became most active in promoting the study of the works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao, and in creating Party groups within the mass organizations and party branches in localities to serve as the revolutionary core of the mass movement. They were also the most militant in launching workers strikes and mass actions to expose the anti national and anti democratic policies of the reactionary government.
The Lava revisionist renegades wished to impose their line
of indefinite parliamentary struggles on the proletarian revolutionaries and
the people. Their line was engendered by their own bourgeois subjectivist and
opportunist world outlook and encouraged by the line of Soviet revisionist
renegades. The two-line struggle between the Lava revisionist renegades and the
proletarian revolutionaries became so intense that the former wished to inflict
physical harm on the latter.
The task of demarcating from the counter revolutionary revisionists and to wage a relentless campaign against them was the order of the day. Preparations began with consolidation meetings of the proletarian revolutionaries and mass activists and drafting the documents of re-establishment "Rectify Errors and Rebuild the Party " and the CPP Constitution and Programs for a people's Democratic Revolution. The Congress of Re-establishment had only 12 delegates representing only a few scores of party members and candidate members in the trade unions and youth movement. Soon after the re-establishment of the party in 1968 the proletarian revolutionaries linked up with the majority of the remnants of the people’s army, with a rural mass base of 80,000 peasants, in the second district of Tarlac inCentral Luzon .
The task of demarcating from the counter revolutionary revisionists and to wage a relentless campaign against them was the order of the day. Preparations began with consolidation meetings of the proletarian revolutionaries and mass activists and drafting the documents of re-establishment "Rectify Errors and Rebuild the Party " and the CPP Constitution and Programs for a people's Democratic Revolution. The Congress of Re-establishment had only 12 delegates representing only a few scores of party members and candidate members in the trade unions and youth movement. Soon after the re-establishment of the party in 1968 the proletarian revolutionaries linked up with the majority of the remnants of the people’s army, with a rural mass base of 80,000 peasants, in the second district of Tarlac in
In the urban and rural areas, the reestablished party
inherited the fine revolutionary tradition of the proletariat as well as the
senior and middle aged cadres of long drawn workers and peasants movement. The
mass organizations of workers, peasants and youth condemned both the Lava
revisionist group and the Sumulong gangster clique. The Lava revisionist
renegades prated about parliamentary struggle as the main form of struggle but
it was the proletarian revolutionaries who actually continued to lead the legal
democratic movement.
The proletarian revolutionaries wished to create a
nationwide party organization with a cadre and mass character, deeply rooted
among the working people, and building a people’s army waging protracted
people’s war. They realised they had to expand the party base from region of Central Luzon . They also saw the necessity of creating
guerrilla zones. Thus from the very outset members of the Party Central
Committee were deployed in particular regions to facilitate nationwide
expansion. They understood the importance of building guerrilla zones in
different regions at various strategic areas.
The mass organizations were virtually nurseries for
developing party members in significant numbers. Party members were recruited
from people's organisations in line with mass line.
All types of mass organizations were built among workers,
peasants, youth, women and cultural activists. In April 1969 the party led a
legal peasant demonstration of 15,000 in Manila
and another of of 50,000 in Tarlac. Great mass demonstrations were led against US occupation of Vietnam .
The urban based Kabataang Makabayan acted as the nationwide
seeding machine of the national democratic revolution. It became the most
important source of cadres who were immediately responsible for urban work. It
encouraged the rise of progressive unions and federations such as KASAMA and
PAKMAP and the transformation of reactionary into progressive unions.
A most crucial base was laid after the first rectification
campaign from 1969 itself. It laid the basis for challenging the
fascist rule of the dictator Marcos and firmly upheld that Philippines was an
underdeveloped semicolonial and semifeudal state, with only comprador type of
industrialization, dependent on imported equipment.
It criticized and repudiated the Right opportunist line and also the "Left" opportunist line that prematurely adopted the path of strategic counter offensive which was ineffective and confusing.
The revisionist trend even denied correctness of Mao's theory, the need for the united front and mass activists. The forces of movement from 1972-77 laid the base inMindanao . From 1979, new
members of the Central Committee were selected mainly from the regional
leaders. Struggles in the form of mass strikes developed in urban
areas. The New People's Army was regularized, with 16 companies formed rapidly
in Mindanao . The Preparatory
Commission for the National Democratic Front was established in 1974 in
accordance with the united front policy of the CPP.
It criticized and repudiated the Right opportunist line and also the "Left" opportunist line that prematurely adopted the path of strategic counter offensive which was ineffective and confusing.
The revisionist trend even denied correctness of Mao's theory, the need for the united front and mass activists. The forces of movement from 1972-77 laid the base in
In breaking out of the Merger Party of the Communist and
Socialist Parties (MPCSP), the young proletarian revolutionaries launched the
First Great Rectification Movement in 1966. This criticized and rectified the
subjectivist and the ¨Left¨ and Right opportunist errors from 1942 to 1966, the
year when a scion of the Lava family imposed his revisionist line and grabbed
leadership in the MPCSP.
The proletarian leaders who developed from the workers and youth mass organizations pursued the rectification movement and prepared the way for the re-establishment of the Communist Party of thePhilippines from 1966 to 1968.
The proletarian leaders who developed from the workers and youth mass organizations pursued the rectification movement and prepared the way for the re-establishment of the Communist Party of the
The CPP waged rectification movements to overcome major
errors in ideology, politics and organization. It successfully waged the Second
Great Rectification Movement from 1992 to 1998 as an education movement in
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to criticize and repudiate major subjectivist and”
Left” and Right opportunist errors in the period of 1981 to 1992.
It debunked the subjectivist notion that the Marcos fascist
dictatorship had made the Philippine economy industrial-capitalist. This
subjectivist error gave rise to Right and “Left” opportunist errors. The Right
opportunists advocated a united front without the leadership of the
revolutionary proletariat and kowtowing to the anti-Marcos reactionaries. The”
Left” opportunists rejected Mao´s strategic line of protracted people´s war and
promoted adventurism and the premature regularization of the NPA at the expense
of mass work.
HT: What was the cause or significance the second
rectification campaign?
JMS: From 1988 onward, the mass base was eroded by 40% and
then by another 20% and Right opportunism was ascendant. Some party cadres had
shifted to Right or “Left” opportunism. They even rejected Mao. Thus the
party literally had to be reinvigorated to be saved from death. NPA
units were re-deployed for mass work.
The Party successfully waged the Second Great Rectification
Movement from 1992 to 1998 as an education movement in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism
to criticize and repudiate major subjectivist and “Left” and Right opportunist
errors in the period of 1981 to 1992.
The Second Great Rectification Movement criticized,
repudiated and rectified the Right opportunist error of taking out the
leadership of the communist party and the working class from the national
united front supposedly to attract more people and make the united front the
main weapon of the struggle; and several trends of ¨Left¨ opportunism, the most
damaging of which overstressed the verticalization of the NPA at the expense of
horizontal deployment of the NPA for mass work and which upon failure resulted
in blaming those tagged as deep penetration agents as causing the failure and
subjecting them to punishment without due process.
As a whole, the CPP has learned well from the Second Great
Rectification Movement by developing the balance between armed struggle and
mass work and the center of gravity in a relatively concentrated force (e.g.,
command platoon of a company or the command squad of a platoon) and the relatively
dispersed force for mass work (two-thirds of a formation deployed on a wider
scale).
The line for the NPA is to wage intensive and extensive guerrilla warfare on the basis of an ever widening and deepening mass base. But the erroneous currents of conservatism and roving rebel bands, which neglect the waging of guerrilla tactical offensives by overemphasizing mass work by armed propaganda teams, has afflicted some regions for extended periods, especially in Luzon and the Visayas.
The line for the NPA is to wage intensive and extensive guerrilla warfare on the basis of an ever widening and deepening mass base. But the erroneous currents of conservatism and roving rebel bands, which neglect the waging of guerrilla tactical offensives by overemphasizing mass work by armed propaganda teams, has afflicted some regions for extended periods, especially in Luzon and the Visayas.
The 1981 plenum of the Central Committee encouraged the
exponents of "Left " and Right opportunism to espouse urban
insurrectionism and parliamentarism, respectively, by allowing both
opportunists to spread doubts about the strategic line of protracted people's
war. The Politburo meeting favored both types of opportunism. The “Left” and
Right opportunists came together and confused the line and lumped
both the liberal democrats and the anti-Marcos reactionaries as
bourgeois reformists. They adopted the line of monopolizing victory in the
antifascist struggle which was anticipated as forthcoming.
The line of strategic counter offensive and regularization
encouraged the more blatant militarist line of combining urban insurrectionism
with military adventurism in Mindanao from
1982 to 1985. Mass organizing was totally abandoned and underground cadres
exposed themselves to the enemy in small provincial cities. There was also the
trend of seeking military and financial assistance from the Soviet Union and importing heavy military weapons.
Couriers were already dispatched to contact parties close to the CPSU.
In common with Left opportunists, the Right
opportunists gave utmost importance to legal struggles,-not revolutionary armed
struggle. As early as 1978-79 one group of Right opportunists in the
Manila-Rizai Party Committee provoked a struggle with the central leadership by
insisting on the participation of the Communist Party of Philippines in the
farcical elections held by the Marcos regime. The debate was erroneously
formulated as one of choosing between participation or boycott in the
elections. It led to disruptions in the Manila-Rizai Party Committee. The
disruptive elements were meted out with disciplinary actions.
In 1981 ,the Right opportunists were already advocating
replacement of the proletarian vanguard party with a so-called vanguard front
called 'New Katipunan. However the Party thwarted this liquidationist proposal.
The Right opportunist line ran so deep that so-called national democrats from
the ranks of the masses were enrolled into the party without any
Marxist-Leninist education. The Right opportunists proceeded to realize their
concept of strategic alliance , which meant denying the role of the Party in the
anti-fascist alliance. They reversed the trend of drawing cadres
from the cities to the countryside.
Following the overthrow of Marcos dictatorship, the
Political Bureau of the Party decided that the boycott policy was a major
tactical error and forced the Party Chairman to resign. However the Right
opportunists insisted that the error was a strategic one connected to the
strategic line of protracted people's war.
From 1986 onward, the Right opportunists who advocated
parliamentarism as well as those who combined parliamentarism with urban
insurrection within the Party to collaborate with those outside the party, such
as Christian democrats and bourgeois populists. Right opportunists openly
supported Gorbachev revisionism and attempted to get rid of working class
leadership, advocating that the Communist Party function openly. By 1988 the
Right opportunists had virtually sabotaged the legal mass movement by colluding
with the supporters of urban insurrectionism.
Right opportunists had misdirected personnel towards
building foreign funded NGOs and building coalitions out of the same legal
organizations towards parliamentarism. Similarly the “Left” opportunists
concentrated on forming small groups of armed city partisans and ordered them
to launch indiscriminate killings, which provoked the enemy to
assassinate mass activists and suppress the militant mass organizations. They
virtually abandoned mass organizing.
From 1988, the bankruptcy of the Left opportunist line of
combining urban insurrrectionism with military adventurism by the
conspiratorial and splittist faction supported Gorbachev's line in certain
central staff organs, institutions and organizations. In 1990 they tried to
usurp the authority of the central leadership and liquidate the party. They
tried to replace the party as the center of the revolution with their version
of National Democratic Front. They also attempted to amend the NDF program for
a people’s democratic revolution with a program of bourgeois
nationalism. They wished to convert the NDF from a united front into
an alliance with a hodge-podge of member organizations and individual members.
A concept of an anti-imperialist democratic front was propagated combining the
Left, Middle and Right against the US.-Aquno regime supposedly to reach the
objective of urban insurrection.
From 1986 onward, several inter-regional or regional party
committees pushed to build absolutely concentrated companies and adopt some
putschist or insurrectionist plan. However most of them complained about the
unreasonable targets imposed upon them by the Left opportunists with regard to
formation of companies and launching offensives
.
The 1988 anniversary statement summed up the 20 year history
of the Party and criticized the imbalances in revolutionary work. In 1989
conferences on mass work were held at regional and inter regional levels and
cadres were re-deployed for mass wor.,especially for recovery and expansion
1988 party anniversary statement called for rectification,,the further
strengthening of the party, and the intensification of people's revolutionary
struggles.
The 1990 party anniversary statement was critical of the errors of regularization and verticalization of the forces at the expense of developing the horizontal forces in stages and called for extensive and intensive guerrilla warfare on the basis of ever widening and deepening mass base. The acute struggle between the proletarian revolutionary line and the bourgeois opportunist line intensified within the central organ of the party.
The 1990 party anniversary statement was critical of the errors of regularization and verticalization of the forces at the expense of developing the horizontal forces in stages and called for extensive and intensive guerrilla warfare on the basis of ever widening and deepening mass base. The acute struggle between the proletarian revolutionary line and the bourgeois opportunist line intensified within the central organ of the party.
Continued =>
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