The Philippines: a class
alternative is needed 1) The August 1983 assassination of Marcos oppositionist Benigno Aquino opened up a period of mass resistance which culminated in the 1986 'People's Power' mobilizations and ultimate collapse of the dictatorship. Aquino was returning to the Philippines from exile in the United States to assume the leadership of the developing bourgeois opposition to Marcos. He was directly tied to one of the largest land-owning families thorough his marriage to Corazon Conjuenga.
The 1972 imposition of martial law had been used to strengthen Marcos' political and economic control over 53 million Filipinos at the expense of an important and influential layer of ruling class financial and land-owning families. For example, Marcos and his cronies gained a monopoly in the powerful sugar trading sector by setting up government banks and agencies supervised by Marcos operatives. This sector had been traditionally controlled by a layer of the bourgeoise not directly associated with the henchmen around Marcos.
The resentments and anxieties of an incipient bourgeois opposition found an echo in the Catholic Church and among the middle classes, who were rapidly losing confidence in a regime completely dominated by corruption and favouritism.
The devastating loss of income from the sugar trade, because of the collapse of the price of sugar, led to a severe crisis in the countryside. Two million impoverished peasant refugees swelled the squatters' camp on the outskirts of Manila. In the cities, the workers suffered under the anti-strike and minimum-wage slave-labour laws of the Marcos dictatorship. 2) After 1983, the US government tried to apply pressure on Marcos to accept some reform measures designed to undercut the developing mass mobilizations against his regime. But the imperialists never completely abandoned their dutiful ally until after Marcos' brazen attempt to steal the election from Benigno's widow, Corazon Aquino, created a virtual state
130 International Marxist Review of open rebellion by the population.
It was only then that the imperialists acted through the Reform AFP Movement (RAM) to throw their weight behind Corazon Aquino who was proclaimed the new president of the Philippines. It was the millions of Filipinos, however, who forced the exile of Marcos by continuing their mobilizations and refusing to accept the shallow cosmetic changes proposed by the US State Department.
The US imperialists were implicated in trying to salvage the dictatorship. The Philippines is the base for the US Seventh Fleet and is strategically critical for imperialist control of the Western Pacific region. The imperialists were not willing to gamble on replacing Marcos until they were left with no other option. After the election results were announced and it became clear Marcos had stolen millions of votes, the US government quickly ushered the dictator out of the country. 3) The overthrow of Marcos was a victory won through the determined mass mobilizations of the Filipino people. Both the imperialists and the anti-Marcos bourgeoisie, the elite opposition, were surprised by the depth of 'Peoples Power.' Huge democratic openings were created by the upsurge. Manila became a hotbed of propaganda, agitation, and rebellion.
But unfortunately, the workers' and peasants' organizations were also thrown off balance by the massive urban explosion.
After a series of disastrous military defeats in the early 1970s the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) made a tactical shift from its most extreme Maoist peasant war strategy.
The new CPP policy called for working in the cities to build alliances, for engaging in electoral work, and for evaluating the role of semilegal activity. Many people have mistakenly characterized the CPP's modification of its most rigid Maoist 'Peoples' War' conceptions as a break with Stalinism.
There is absolutely no evidence to justify this hope. In fact, the recent practice of this party confirms the view that it deeply retains basic Stalinist misconceptions of which class forces will lead the Philippine revolution.
Most important, the CPP has never challenged the fundamental Menshevik/Stalinist conception of the 'two-stage revolution.' This view was revived by Stalin to justify restraining the working class within limits acceptable to the 'progressive bourgeoisie.' Whatever the intentions of its current advocates, the theory of stages remains a political formula for counterrevolution.
Nor is the CPP's armed struggle orientation automatically an indication that the party has broken with its Stalinist conceptions. The Stalinist South African Communist Party is only the most recent example of a party resorting to armed struggle while maintaining its reformist perspective. 4) The CPP did not actively challenge the Aquino candidacy. Some of its members, a founding leader, and many top figures of mass organizations
under CPP influence supported Aquino without incurring their slightest
It is true that the CPP was caught off guard by an upsurge which did not neatly fit into its 'Peoples' War' perspective. And it is true that the
CPP reacted in a knee-jerk way by announcing a boycott, a tactic which had been used previously under the Marcos dictatorship. But it is wrong
The key point in understanding CPP policy is that the boycott was never seriously implemented. There was no active boycott campaign as there had been in previous elections orchestrated by Marcos. No effort was made to organize large boycott rallies or demonstrations. In fact, the CPP was considering jettisoning the boycott tactic in the middle of Aquino's bid for
Clearly, the CPP boycott was a half-hearted attempt to skirt the most important political issue in the election-whether there would be a working-class challenge to the elite opposition's efforts to grab the leader-
The largely passive boycott of the CPP flowed from its unwillingness to politically challenge Aquino's bourgeois opposition. Stanlinist miseducation in the ranks of the CPP resulted in a serious disorientaton when the party was challenged to confront a sector of the 'patriotic'
Nonetheless, with the huge democratic openings resulting from the mass upsurge, a revolutionary workers' and peasants' campaign could have found fertile ground to fight for democratic and transitional demands.
5) Of course, the mass movement would have had to fight for the right of a revolutionary, independent alternative to participate in the elections. But a campaign to extend democratic rights to the struggling workers' and peasants' organizations would have made a powerful impact on the con-
The onus for failing to extend democratic election rights to class- struggle fighters would have fallen squarely on Aquino. This would have exposed her class bias and her desire to merely impose a sanitized version
A vigorous campaign for the legal right of mass workers' and peasants' organizations to run their own candidates could have oriented the millions of members of the mass organizations—who otherwise had no alternative to the Aquino campaign-toward building an effective independent anti-
The refusal to even consider an independent, working-class campaign flowed from the CPP's false Stalinist conception of the two-stage revolution'-not from any abstract sectarian emphasis on armed struggle in the
The CPP also had a pessimistic and false appraisal of the capacity of the masses to fight in their own name. The same workers and peasants who criticism.
to simply dismiss this as a sectarian error.
the presidency.
ship of the mass anti-Marcos movement.
bourgeoisie.
sciousness of the masses.
of bourgeois democracy.
capitalist movement.
countryside.
The Philippines: A class alternative is needed 131
132 International Marxist Review had built several mass organizations, conducted numerous militant strikes, and mobilized millions during the election period were considered incapable by the CPP of organizing an effective class alternative to Aquino.
An underestimation of the independent power of the workers and peasants is inherent in the Stalinist 'two-stage revolution,' which argues for a governmental alliance with 'patriotic' sectors of the bourgeoisie to complete the 'democratic stage' of the revolution. 6) A back-handed confirmation of this evaluation is given by the CPP itself. Its subsequent self-criticism of its election boycott had isolated the party from the masses, who had been drawn to Aquino.
The CPP's self-criticism failed to explain that it was its unwillingness to challenge the program of the bourgeois opposition which helped Aquino corner mass opposition to the dictatorship.
Instead, the CPP's "self-criticism' served to rationalize extending critical support to be the Aqunio government. This is a stance which the CPP has failed to retreat from. 7) Following the self-criticism issued by the CPP, many people on the left throughout the world have argued that Filipino revolutionists should have 'critically participated' in the Aquino election campaign. They argue that the Filipino masses had seen Aquino's campaign as a vehicle to wage an effective fight against the dictatorship.
This view holds that the Filipino elections had become a referendum against the dictatorship and that it was therefore legitimate and necessary for revolutionists to be in the camp of Aquino.
This approach is not new or original. This specious argument is used all over the world to justify support to capitalist candidates. Liberal capitalists often try to demagogically identify their election campaigns with the demands and desires of the masses.
But unlike a genuine referendum, which is a ballot poll or proposition which can be used to mobilize working-class opinion, a capitalist election determines who will administer the government of the capitalist state.
Revolutionary socialists cannot support one 'good' capitalist politican over another in elections—no matter how successful the opposition capitalists have been in deceiving the masses and thereby winning popular support. We advocate and campaign for a workers' and peasants' government based on genuine representatives of the oppressed masses.
Revolutionists would work with nationalist and democratic personalities in united-front actions against forms of imperialist domination and capitalist repression.
But, in the case of the Philippines, this does not imply that we help sow any illusions that the anti-Marcos, petty-bourgeois figures who were incorporated into the first phase of the Aquino government in any way altered its capitalist character.
Neither is the capitalist character of the Aquino government changed by
The Philinpines: A class alternative is needed 133 the fact that it enjoys large support of the workers and peasants. Unfortunately, too many bourgeois governments enjoy the confidence of the working masses—due in large part to the petiy-bourgeois misleaderships of the mass movements. The class character of a government is determined by the class which the government supports. 8) From the outset, the Aquino government was an instrument to restabilize the capitalist forces who were severely shaken by the mass mobilizations of 'People's Power.'
The capitalists will continue to use the moral authority of the Aquino government as long as possible to mollify the anger of the masses. But Philippine capitalism is incapable of satisfying the most basic demands of the masses for land reform, economic justice, and political democracy.
As the government's reform image wears thin, the capitalists will seek governmental alternatives better suited to cripple and defeat the mass movement, which will have been 'softened up' through reliance on capitalist 'reformers.'
The three attempted coups by right-wing miltary forces were considered premature by the major capitalists because such a move would have provoked a powerful reaction by the Filipino people.
But the coup attempts served several useful purposes for the Philippine bourgeoise. • They established the military as an autonomous force waiting in the wings to intercede when open repression à-la-Marcos becomes necessary; • They demonstrated the pressure from the right wing to which Aquino can point to justify her defense of the status quo.
Reflecting this pressure from the military and the right wing. Aquino reshuffled her cabinet and purged the liberal officials in early 1987. These measures were designed to make the government a more effective instrument to demobilize the mass movement, laying the basis-if necessary— for more open and brutal repression by the army and police. 9) The collapse of the cease-fire talks occurred because the capitalists were unwilling to agree to any important social or political reforms. In the face of this intransigence-the attempted coups, the right-wing cabinet reshuffle, and the murderous attack on Rolando Olalia, chairman of the May First Movement (KMU) and People's Party (PnB)-the National Democratic Front (NDF) was forced to abandon the talks in order to maintain credibility.
While the NDF did take advantage of its momentary legality by holding press conferences and opening up an office in Manila, its spokespersons failed to call for a break with the Aquino government and its anti-working class policies. And its criticisms of Aquino were often softened by pointing to the pressures exerted on her by the right wing.
Even the criticisms of the new pro-imperialist constitution were not accompanied by a call for the direct election of a constituent assembly to
draft a new constitution. Aquino's constitutional commission was arbitrarily appointed—in violation of the basic concept of democratic
Criticisms of the army's 'treachery' were not accompanied by calls for the workers' and peasants' organizations to unite and defend themselves, arms in hand. The NPA, the NDF, and CPP failed to advance this elementary democratic call for armed self-defense even after the army's massacre of peasants who were peacefully demonstrating for land.
Other proposals for united-front action could have advanced slogans which would have mobilized the workers around class demands-like the eight hour day—in a struggle for an improvement in their everyday lives.
These proposals would have sharply posed a working-class alternative to the capitalists. But the CPP, NPA, and the NDF have shied away from making proposals which are inconsistent with their class collaborationist perspective of forming a government with the 'patrioic' bourgeoisie.
This also explains their refusal to campaign against the outrageous
Philippine government's debt payments being made to the imperialist banks. Such a stance would place the CPP in a direct confrontation with the 'patriotic' bourgeoisie, who are, in fact, actively soliciting imperialist
This is the most damaging aspect of Stalinist politics-the conscious imposition of limits on the demands of the movement in order to preserve or cultivate a political bloc with the liberal capitalists. The result is the
Simply making effective use of the media during the cease-fire negotiations, as the NDF did, is not enough. A clear message of no confidence in capitalist solutions was requred. A clear call for independent working- class solutions needed to be broadcast. The empty criticisms of the CPP,
NPA and NDF covered their unwillingness to politically challenge Aquino
10) The Aquino government has now shifted to open warfare against the armed peasants and the guerrilla fighters. Gangs of terrorist death squads roam the countryside and urban areas. Private armies hired by the wealthy land owners are gearing up for an all-out war against the liberation fighters. Aquino has now openly called for the 'sword of war' to crush the
The decisive battles will be in the urban areas where 'People's Power' first took root. The workers will face more brutal repression. The expansion of union membership and rising expectations of the urban poor will be met with the bayonets and bullets of the capitalist army.
The liberal face of the Aquino government is being rapidly unmasked as Philippine capitalism desperately seeks to regain the confidence of imperialist investors. Stabilizing the political situation can only be achieved by reversing the momentum and expectations of the masses which have
134 International Marxist Review representation.
loans and investments.
with a class alternative.
rebels.
miseducation and demobilization of the masses.
This is the central question in the Philippines.
The Philippines: A ciass alternative is needed 135 risen since the overthrow of Marcos. The capitalists must reassert the central role of military repression in political life.
Imperialist investors are awaiting the outcome. New investments in the Philippines have not yet materialized. This accounts for the sense of urgency in Aquino's voice as she proclaims a 'crusade' against the NPA. 11) A revolutionary party of the Fourth International needs to be built in the Philippines. Such a party- in the historic tradition of the Fourth International—would seek to project an independent class alternative to the Aquino government.
A Fourth Internationalist party would advance immediate, democratic and transitional demands to counter the capitalist political and economic measures of the government. Such a party would seek to organize unitedfront mass mobilizations of workers and peasants for democratic and transitional demands that would point to the need to conquer state power.
A party which recognizes the laws of permanent revolution, a party which bases itself on the Transitional Programme and method, a party which projects class-struggle politics can rapidly win a hearing among the thousands of revolutionary fighters in the Philippines today.
The Fourth International must consciously seek to build such a party in the Philippines. A good place to start this process would be the publication of class-struggle oriented articles in the press of the Fourth International and its sections. Our views can influence Filipino activists who are already questioning the dead-end perspectives of Stalinism and other varieties of reformism.
İNTERNATINAL MARXIST REVIEW
• The significance of Gorbachov - Ernest Mandel
• Revolutionary Strategy in Europe - Daniel Bensaid and Antoine Artous
• Feminism to the tune of the cumbia - Heather Dashner
Proletarian revolution and the fight for democracy - Brown (FIT, USA)
A class alternative is needed - Socialist Action (USA)
International Marxist Review/Quatrième Internationale
Published by Presse-Edition-Communications (PEC)-SARL
Administration: 2 rue Richard Lenoir, 93108 Montreuil, France
Vol. 2, No. 4
• The Philippines:
Directeur de publication: Leon Cremieux
Commission paritaire: 55939
Winter 1987
£2.50/S5
First lessons of the revolution - 'Roman'