Message to the Communist Party of the Philippines on the 30th Anniversary of Reestablishment
From the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA
Revolutionary Worker #987, December 20, 1998
Thirty years ago, proletarian revolutionaries in the Philippines thoroughly repudiated the old revisionist leadership and reestablished the Communist Party of the Philippines. These bold comrades were undaunted by the fact that they were only a handful and faced a brutal and formidable enemy--the reactionary rulers of the Philippines backed by U.S. imperialism. Applying the science forged by Marx, Lenin and Mao to the concrete conditions in the Philippines, the comrades of the CPP went to the countryside to organize and lead the peasant masses in carrying out the agrarian revolution and establishing new forms of red power. Learning from Mao's teaching that "without a people's army the people have nothing," the CPP took up armed struggle as the principal form of struggle and built the New People's Army.
Starting with a few fighters and guns--and through a process of many twists and turns--the CPP and the NPA sank deep roots in the countryside, spread the people's war to all parts of the archipelago, and dealt powerful blows to the U.S. imperialists and the local reactionaries. The CPP, representing the vanguard leadership of the proletariat, began to build a united front of all revolutionary and progressive classes against imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism. Even as they fought against the repeated encirclement and annihilation campaigns of the enemy, the CPP declared with broad vision that their struggle was part of the world proletarian revolution.
The development of the new democratic revolution and people's war in the Philippines was a living example of the truth that correct political and ideological line is decisive. As Mao pointed out, even when you have no soldiers in the beginning, if you grasp and act on the correct line, soldiers will be found.
The reestablishment of the CPP and NPA was part of the powerful revolutionary storms that swept the world at the time. In the oppressed countries as well as in the imperialist citadels, people rose up against oppression and injustice. It was a time when a new generation of communist rebels was inspired by the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China led by Mao Tsetung. Our party, like yours, also has roots in those years of great revolutionary storms.
In the 30 years since then, there have been major changes in the world. In China, revisionists led by Deng Xiaoping seized power after Mao's death in 1976, jailed his revolutionary successors, and restored capitalist rule. The social-imperialist empire headed by the revisionist Soviet Union collapsed and was replaced by the "traditional" bourgeois rule of today's Russia. The U.S. and other powers, no longer facing a world divided into two opposing imperialist blocs, have greatly accelerated the globalization of capitalism and penetration into oppressed countries.
But with all the transformations, the essential nature of the imperialist system remains unchanged. This is an era of imperialism and proletarian revolution--and imperialism is rotten to the core and finished from the standpoint of history. The gap between rich and poor nations is becoming even more acute and criminal. In countries like the Philippines, small pockets of wealth are surrounded by vast seas of poverty, hunger and misery. The cut-throat and parasitic character of imperialist capital is even more blatant--leading to dislocation and upheaval around the world, with potential for more.
The turmoil and suffering generated by imperialism heighten the basis for advancing revolutionary struggles and people's wars internationally. And this situation gives rise to favorable conditions--as well as great urgency--for the growth and development of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist parties and organizations worldwide.
In this context, the importance of the Second Great Rectification Movement, initiated and led by the CPP Central Committee, stands out even more clearly. At a time when the just struggles of the masses in many oppressed countries have been led down paths of betrayal and defeat, the CPP has been carrying out struggle to reaffirm the road pioneered by Mao and root out incorrect lines. There were those who pushed for abandoning the Maoist road of new democratic revolution through protracted people's war, claiming it was outdated and no longer applied to conditions in the Philippines; there was the danger of abandoning Mao's pathbreaking analysis of revisionism and the great lessons of the Cultural Revolution. But through the rectification campaign, the comrades of the CPP have been intensively restudying the works of Mao, summing up and correcting errors, even as they persevere in waging people's war.
As a participating party in the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA, wholeheartedly welcomes this crucial rectification movement. We express our deep unity with the efforts of the CPP comrades to thoroughly dig up and defeat incorrect lines, revitalize the revolutionary veterans and mobilize a new revolutionary generation in the Maoist road to liberation.
There are close links between the people's struggles in the Philippines and the United States. U.S. imperialism is our common enemy. One hundred years ago, the U.S. ruling class began the bloody conquest of the Philippines as a key part of their arrival on the world stage as an imperialist power.
The Filipino people have a long and proud history of resistance against their oppressors. This struggle took a great leap with the reestablishment of the CPP and NPA in 1968-9. Today, the continuing people's war in the Philippines is a source of strength and inspiration for revolutionaries internationally. This is especially true for those who live in the U.S., the main imperialist dominator of the Philippine people. We have a special internationalist responsibility to build support for the Philippine revolution and other Maoist people's wars. And the RCP,USA is applying Marxism-Leninism-Maoism to the concrete conditions in this country, preparing for the day when people's war can be launched to overthrow this monster. Our party is firmly committed to building the revolutionary movement in the "belly of the beast" as part of the international proletariat's struggle for a communist world.
The RCP,USA salutes the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People's Army on the 30th anniversary of your reestablishment. We remember and honor your revolutionary martyrs, who gave their lives as they served the people and fought for the cause of liberation. We stand with you in the struggle to win further victories in the rectification movement and make new advances in the people's war.
Let us, together, intensify our efforts to bring our revolutionary dreams more fully into reality.
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