New debates on
IT SEEMS that 1991 may be the year when a long awaited bourgeoisie which aspires to a durable social compromise, but also to those of debate Is finally opened in the left in the Philippines. The important sectors of the left who hope evidence is to be found in the January/February issue of Ang thus to be able to restructure the state in a
Bayan ("The People"), a political publication of the more democratic sense. A project for a
Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP)'; the appearance of coalition between the centre right and the center left had moreover fallen through an open review, called, symbolically, Debate; in the just before the 1980 coup d'état.
transformation of the "people's democracy" current into an
The countdown to the elections has organized movement and the holding of the fifth congress of begun. Thus, after the total failure of the first two parties founded under the guidthe socialist organization, Bisig.
This is not the first time that such a debate has started.?
ance of the military, the Party of Nationalist Democracy and the Populist Party, the
Important tactical, strategic and organizational questions third party of the military regime, the were raised at the time of the fall of the Marcos dictatorship in
ANAP, has in its turn become obliged, if
February 1986. But, while it Involved many militants and not to disappear, at least to be reduced to a currents, this debate remained informal and fragmented, if supporting role.
tolerated or even supported for a time by the CP leadership.
Recompositions in state
However, after the Aquino government ordered total war apparatus against the guerillas, it stopped. Since then, new questions
The inevitable elimination of the ANAP have been posed both on the national and international level is going to lead to significant recomposiraising the most basic theoretical Issues, such as how to tions in the state apparatus. It is clear that even the coming to power of the centre understand the crisis of socialism and how to interpret the right, in the shape of the DYP, will lead to notion of the vanguard party.
a serious purge. It should not be forgotten that the ANAP arrived in power with a programme of radical reforms. A replace-
PAUL PETITJEAN ment of the right by another force of the right would be a first in the history of the
It is edifying to note that even the DYP is trying to exorcise the phantom of the military dictatorship. Demirel has recently said that it is necessary now "to finish with the current regime, a veritable civilian coup d'état which is the heir of the military regime" (Milliyet, June 11, 1991).
The civilian coup d'état referred to is
Özal's presence as head of state. One has the impression of having gone round in a historical circle. With one exception; the workers and the popular sectors have suffered some grievous political and economic lost their blows and have
* instruments of self-defence.
questions had already come up between 1978 and 1986, raised by individuals, the intermediary organizations of the CPP or minority currents in the Philippine left. Now they have appeared in the very leadership of the CPP, as can be seen from the keynote articles in Ang Bayan.
Given the importance of the Philippine revolutionary movement, the opening of a new discussion on the contemporary problems of socialism has a significance going beyond the archipelago. International Viewpoint is thus presenting this new debate to its readers in the forms in which it is actually taking place.
Bayan have announced a change of policy. In an article entitled: "Ang Bayan in the 1990s: New Thrust, New Vigour, New Ideas," it explains that "in recent years, party members have expressed the need for AB to address important theoretical, ideological and organizational issues. These include contributions to theoretical studies on socialism, strategy and tactics, political and US imperialism, among others; critiques of various bourgeois and petty bourgeois trends and tendencies in the Philippine progressive and revolutionary movement; and articles on ideological building and remoulding and organizational principles of the party, such as democratic centralism, collective leadership and collective life. Though these should not be its main content, the paper can play a specific and clearly defined role in the discussion of the above issues." A channel for the expression of views
While being "linked with the highest leadership of the party — the Central Committee and its Political Bureau and Executive Committee," AB must be used by "other party organs" and "serves as a channel for the expression of views by individual members." The editors emphasize that, "a host of major issues...have come to the fore since 1983 and will 1. Ang Bayan, volume XXI no. 11, January-February 1991. 2. Since 1986, International Viewpoint has published a number of articles and interviews reflecting and presenting the debates in the Philippine left. They have dealt, notably, with the relations between political and military action, united front policies and democracy.
93108. Montrail, wane to /V at 2, rue Richard Lenoir, 9
93108, Montreuil, France. July 22, 1991 • #211 International Viewpoint
----- pull-quotes on this page -----
place in the polls on voting intentions. "right centrist" party, which takes first The composition of the future parlia ment remains undecided. The most prob- able formula would be a DYP-ANAP coalition, with the blessing of Özal. TURKEY / PHILIPPINES Philippine left A DYP-SHP coalition is not to be ruled out either. Although apparently conflictu- al, such a coalition would correspond to the aspirations, not only of a part of the
The eruption of Pinatubo
EARTHQUAKES, floods, cyclones — the Philippines, and in particular the northern island of Luzon, have recently been struck by one catastrophe after
The Philippines are part of the Pacific Ocean's "belt of fire" comprising around another. The latest is the eruption of a volcano, Pinatubo.
350 active volcanos from New Zealand to Chile. This zone, where an ocean tial parts of the rank-and-file are reexamshelf is sliding under a continental shelf, is highly seismic. All the volcanos in this belt are potentially dangerous. However, this did not prevent Westinghouse ining, discussing and debating a whole range of issues related to the critique of from building a nuclear power plant at the foot of one of these volcanos in the
Philippine society; strategy and tactics of
Bataan peninsula not far from Pinatubo - which reveals something about the the revolutionary struggle as a whole and sense of responsibility of the politico-industrial lobby that rules us. Fortunately in specific areas; international line and sitthe galloping cost of this undertaking and the "February revolution" in 1986 led uation; and reform and renewal of the parthe Philippine government to abandon its construction.
signs of a party
Every cloud has a silver lining: the Clark US air base was hard hit by the are
The debates ty.
capable of appreciating fully and responddebris from the eruption, as was to a lesser extent the naval base at Subic Bay.
ing vigorously to the changing realities of
The future of these huge US military bases now seems to be in doubt, since the times. The expression of different negotiations between Manila and Washington on this issue have never come to views by all party members who wish to engage themselves should be given the
But the human and social consequences of the eruption are very heavy. Sevwidest latitude."
eral hundred people have been killed while hundreds of thousands have lost their sources of income and the roofs over their heads. The government is
Debates should not lead to already stating that there will be 600,000 new long term unemployed, while it is factionalism by no means certain that the Aeta tribal communities will be able to re-establish themselves on the mountain's slopes. Thousands of buildings have been flat-
"At the same time, it must be ensured tened, including many schools and clinics.
that the debates do not lead to continuing,
Throughout the affected region, communications have been disorganized worse, factional fruitless struggle and and public services paralyzed. Most rice fields within a radius of 20kms around conflicts. There should be adequate and the volcano are buried under a metre of cinders. It is harder to assess the conmultiple channels within the party wheresequences for agriculture in regions further away. However, the blocking of rivin the discussions can be properly orgabroadest ers and the destruction of one of the island's last tropical forests may lead to the nized and
Where participation can be encouraged. This is flooding, mud flows and repeated landslides.
necessary not only to serve as a learning
Poverty, the absence of an effective system of social security, and adminisprocess for the entire party but also to lead trative indifference and corruption, will, as always, considerably aggravate the to their satisfactory and firm resolution.
consequences of the eruption. The non-governmental organizations of the Phi-
Ang Bayan makes itself available as one lippines are mobilizing to bring direct aid to the most destitute sections of the of these channels...Corollary to this, AB population.
commits itself to helping build a more
We have received an appeal from one of these organizations. Gifts can be widely based and democratically formed sent to the following addresses:
these consensus within the party on
Stichting Kapatiran, Pinatubo campaign issues. [More than ever] it cannot be the
• Postal transfers: Postgiro 55584, The Hague work of a few minds, no matter how bril-
• Bank transfers: ABN Bank, The Hague, a/co no. 51.66.86.461, The Netherliant. The process itself must be a collecive one, imbued with greater democracy and freed from bureaucratic procedures."3
The Ang Bayan's editors have put their ideas into practise by launching a regular
"AB's Socialism Series" introduced with an article "Where to, Socialism?" which sets out the big questions which the col-
While reaffirming the validity of the
Marxist method, AB recognizes that: "the socialist world is unquestionably in deep crisis and turmoil...China is haunted by the nightmare that was the Tiananmen massacre. All over the Soviet Union and
Eastern Europe, economic stagnation and even decay are the common plight of the working people and the entire populace.
But out of this crisis have emerged strong and powerful counter-currents of reform and renewal, even of full-blown revolution in the political, economic, cultural and ideological spheres, all seeking to restore the battered frame of the socialist idea to its original glory [even if] whole sections of the working people, even whole nations, failed by their socialist experiments, may have chosen to take the road back to capitalism....The socialist
10 experiment may have failed at a certain
International Viewpoint #211 • July 22, 1991 juncture and in certain lands or even have gotten mired in a general crisis like the present one. But this is no argument against its profound humanist and liberative cause.... We are aware that between vision and realities lies a long period of struggle in all spheres of life."
To understand the failures of the struggle for socialism "requires the collective wisdom of all Marxists, whether inside or outside communist and socialist parties and movements. Thus the need for open, wide ranging and continued exchanges and debates among comrades....Central to the debate is the question of how to sum up the various contradictions that underlie the socialist dilemma. Where lies the root of socialism's present cri-
The Ang Bayan editors explains that there are two points of view on this question (seemingly inside the CPP leadership itself): "one contention is that it is about by the gradual though steady and ultimately successful restoration of capitalism in the Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe.... The other contention is that socialism's crisis is primarily caused by what its proponents call the Stalinist distortion [from which] emerged a thoroughly bureaucratized state and party machinery governed by a privileged stratum.... It was an elite, yes, but never a bourgeoisie, for they did not rule for profit and had to function within the strictures of the public ownership of the means of production and socialist superstructure.... The theme of alienation is central to socialist theory and is expected to run through the gamut of debates over socialism's crisis. The proponents of the two contending critiques may converge on certain points but they hold basically divergent views on the sources of alienation that reappeared in socialist society.
One-party state versus pluralism
"This theme extends to the issue of the one-party state versus socialist pluralism as well as to the question of whether socialism is inherently authoritarian and totalitarian or not, touching on what place
----- pull-quotes on this page -----
PHILIPPINES become even more the focus of conten- tion and debate within the Philippine rev- olutionary movement in the 1990s. The party is at the centre of such contention and debate. Wide sections of the party leadership at various levels and substan-
individual freedoms occupy in socialism's constellation of freedoms.
Ang Bayan considers the terms of the
Soviet economic debate of the 1920s and what it calls "two basically different approaches... The first was geneticism.
was teleologicism", "the prevalence of economic regularities" and the "role of market forces", the other "envisioning planning as a deliberate program to change the economic structure and maximize growth."
"The teleologists under their convert Stalin won the debate, taking the line of industrialization.... much was the socialist deformation it created, particularly through the forced collectivization of agriculture, is now being subject to scrutiny. With some variations, the dispute was replicated in China between the proponents of the Great Leap Forward and the Great Cultural Revolution, on the one hand, and those of the Reform and Four Modernizations which chart the course of present-day China, on
The national question and internationalism
"Another major issue is the national question and internationalism. Covered here are the nationality problem as viewed according to the Leninist interpretation of the right of nations to self-determination; the relationship of proletarian parties of different countries; the theory and practice of socialist support for national liberation movements. Necessarily, we have to scrutinize Brezhnev's theory of limited sovereignty and socialist division of labour within the socialist commonwealth of nations, the Chinese Communist Party's theory of three worlds, as well as the cause of armed conflicts between socialist
"The last item belongs to the party. This has been the subject of much debate lately as Marxists all over the world explore the meaning and dimensions of the theory of the vanguard party of the proletariat, its linkage to its class base, and the relationship between this party and the state bodies and mass organizations, in fact the society under a socialist
Ang Bayan thus presents contradictory positions which are in play in the ongoing discussion. In doing this, it is responding positively to "the spirit, tempo and fast evolving realities of the time. say, to the demands for democracy and political openness which are so evident in popular movements. In doing so, it reconnects with the original practises of the communist and socialist movements — including in their Leninist form. In those days, public discussion in the press of ideas, analyses and orientations was the normal practice. It was only with the onset of Stalinism that the public expression of disagreement was forbidden and internal debate was straight-jacketed and reduced to the leading circles.
With the aim of deepening the discussion on the crisis of socialism, Ang Bayan refers to two articles; an essay by Joe Slovo, general secretary of the South African Communist Party ("Has Socialism Failed?") published in the same number and the final section of the document "Lead the Masses, Launch the Offensives" published in Rebolusyon.S
The latter is a formally adopted document, in fact the 22nd Anniversary Statement of the Communist Party of the Philippines (December 26, 1990). But, notes Ang Bayan, "although the paper already expresses an official position, the party leadership is open to subject it to further debate within our party. This must be so in the face of widely divergent responses to the paper and the absence until now of a wide-open and organized inner party debate on this matter. paper is a systematic presentation of the line that the crisis in socialism is the crisis of capitalism restored. "6
The editors — and the leadership -thus consider that, on this question, a position that divides the party and that has not been properly discussed beforehand, cannot be considered definitive. This is worth underlining for it involves a basic democratic rule which is far from being always respected in the revolutionary left and seems to have caused problems in the CPP itself.
Internal theoretical organ reappears
The first number of Rebolusyon, the party's internal theoretical organ, was published in June 1976. But it stopped appearing a year later after the arrest of several party leaders. Only in 1990 did it come out again. In the editorial of the only number that year, the editors explained that "Rebolusyon is resuming publication at a time when the party is calling for ideological as well as political and organizational consolidation.... also comes at a time when the party is reinvigorating democracy ranks in the form of free discussions and principled struggles on all important issues regarding our revolutionary theory and practice... The Editorial Board calls upon party organs and units as well as individual party members to submit contributions. We also welcome contributions, including reprints, from 3. Ang Bayan, January/February 1991. It is the AB editors themselves who have emphasized the importance of the central committee in relation to the more restricted bodies, the executive committee and political bureau. The discussion on the "criticism of Philippine society" relates to the official characterization of it as "semifeudal, semi-colonial" 4. Ang Bayan, op. cit. "Ang Bayan in the 1990s: New Thrust, New Vigor, New Ideas." 5. Rebolusyon, no. 1, Series 1991, January-March. "Rebolusyon" is the Philippine word for revolution.
PHILIPPINES authorities and members of foreign parties."?
However the two recent issues contain only leadership texts. The first prints a long declaration by the CPP Central Committee dated December 26, 1989, a directive from the political bureau "to encourage the healthy struggle of ideas within the party and combat wrong attitudes towards it" and a circular entitled "Clarification on our tasks". The second is entirely devoted to the "22nd anniversary statement" mentioned above.
Possible divergences inside leadership
Ang Bayan is thus a much more open publication than Rebolusyon. While both are under the authority of the central comthey have different editorial boards. We will have to await further issues to see how the discussions develop. But, in the meantime, it is impossible to avoid speculation as to whether the contrast reflects divergences inside the leadership on the way to organize debates and
Debate, Philippine Left Review, for its part, promises to live up to its name. The provisional editorial board presents a harsh picture of the state of theoretical discussions on the Philippine left, in the editorial in its pilot edition (written before the last edition of Ang Bayan was out): "Within the various strands of the Philippine left, there is a growing feeling that the progressive movement has been lagging behind in a most important sphere — theoretical work [in spite of] the richness and variety of [its] experience... In the NDF, the biggest organized force within the left, theoretical debates have been largely confined within its ranks. Outsiders usually have very little access to what is being and to different sides of the debate. Moreover, mass members of the NDF organizations themselves are sometimes unable to participate actively or fulconstraints and various other reasons.
"Few above ground progressive journals exist or have managed to survive, the most prominent being Kasarinlan, a quarterly published by the Third World Studies program of the University of the Philippines. The New Progressive Review has suspend ed publication. None of the various parties or groups of the legal left produces a jour-
"The NDF does not have a theoretical 6. Op. cit. This refers to the first of the "two contenMaoist analysis of a restoration of capitalism in the USSR. 7. Rebolusyon, vol. 1, no. 1, January/March 1990, pp. 3-4. This is number 1, thus ignoring the three issues published in the mid-1970s. The following number is also numbered 1. Headaches for librarians! 8. According to the editorial in the 1990 Rebolusyon, it is the executive committee the leading bodies eat plays the role of editorial 11 - the most exclusive of committee for this review. July 22, 1991 • #211 International Viewpoint
PHILIPPINES journal. The Communist Party of the Philippines, which is in the NDF, has just revived Rebolusyon.
However, the articles in Rebolusyon, like the theoretical articles in other CPP and NDF publications, usually already reflect the result of a debate. In 1986, the Manila CPP committee published Praktika, which tried to stimulate internal party debate, but this folded up after only two issues.")
The provisional editorial board of Debate, while first appeared in March 1991 in the Netherlands, is made up of three former political prisoners, jailed under Marcos and identified with "national democratic" tradition: Eddicio de la Torre (founder of Christians for National Liberation, a former leader of the NDF, and now vice-chair of the Movement for Popular Democracy), Joel Rocamora (a long term exile in the United States, now associate Transnational Institute in Amsterdam) and Nathan Quimpo (believed by the military to have written, under the pen name of Marty Villalobos, several important papers discussing the strategy of the revolutionary movement). The review wants to belong to the whole of the left:
"Debate, as a journal of the Philippine left, will provide a venue for progressives in the Philippines and abroad to address questions on national liberation, socialism and democracy, and on strategy and tactics. We hope to contribute to a healthier atmosphere of analysis, discussion and debate...Debate is orientated toward the broad left."
The editorial notes that the list of contents of the pilot number does not yet reflect what the review wishes to become. In fact, the authors of the published documents are all from the national democratic current.
Thus, the "opening" to the rest of the 12 , left remains to be carried through. From now until the appearance of the first reguInternational Viewpoint #211 • July 22, 1991 lar number, the editorial committee will open itself up to all the components of the left. Nonetheless the contents of the review are rich and provide ample materi-
On questions of strategy, Debate reproduces a document from the NDF of the
Manila-Rizal region ("PoliticoMilitary Struggle in the Main Urban Center") and a document from the CPP political bureau.1°
Two articles deal with the Gulf war, one by Jose Maria Sison (founding chairman and main theoretician of the CPP, now in exile in the Netherlands), the other by the NDF in the United States. Joel Rocamora contributes an article on "Third World Revolutionary Projects and the end of the Cold War": "For progressives in the Third World, socialism continues to be an alternative despite its decline as an ideal in the Soviet Union and Europe, East and West.
ideal simply because capitalism has created so much misery.
"It is an ideal that is premised on the negative lessons of actually existing socialisms' and is still in the process of creation in popular struggles. Within this diversity of socialist interpretations, there are few certainties. There is already widespread consensus among progressives throughout the world that democracy is an element in radical political
"There is also a widely felt need to find ways to create communities which are ecologically viable and remain humanly accessible and non-alienating. There are therefore more than enough shared concerns for sustaining and energizing solidarity.... there may be a real basis for disillusionment with the old progressive paradigms, but there is never any reason for losing hope."11
Debate also introduces a new topic for consideration with an article by Omar
Tupaz "Toward a Strategic View of Peace
Negotiations".
Peace negotiations and overall perspectives
Tupaz considers that the NDF is yet to successfully integrate the question of peace negotiations into its overall perspectives: "Up to February 1986, the connegotiations and negotiated political settlement had never really figured in the overall strategy of the Philipnational democratic [After the downfall of the Marcos dictatorship] the NDF and the CPP were confronted with [this] issue for the immediate understandably, [they] did not have much opportunity to really study [this] question from a strategic point of view."
This is a stimulating article, which attempts to analyze what is new in the world situation, as well as the lessons of other revolutionary movements. Nonetheless, it seems to minimize the difficulties organizations which involved in prolonged armed struggle and today confront engaged in peace negotiations at a time when their diplomatic and material support has been considerably reduced.
Jose Maria Sison, in two articles written in May 1991, returns to the history of peace negotiations in the Philippines from colonial times until the 1990s.
He seems, in fact, to be replying to Tupaz' criticisms: "Contrary to the claim of certain quarters, the NDF and the revolutionary forces through their documents and practice have made clear that they have a consistent strategy for the peace process and that they do not view the process as a mere tactical ploy."
Sison, for his part, does not appear to believe that the evolution of the national and world situation requires significant modifications of the strategy of prolonged revolutionary war pursued by the CPP.12
The role of elections has also been discussed in the Philippines since 1978-86.
The approach of the general elections in 1992 has returned this question to the centre of the preoccupations of the militant
Bisig discusses electoral strategy
One of the main documents from the fifth congress of Bisig, meeting on April
14, 1991, was precisely intended to open a consideration of this subject:
"Bisig is laying the ground for serious long-term participation in the parliamentary arena. It is important for its members and leaders to have a common understanding of the strategic and tactical rationale for this undertaking. The terrain of parliamentary struggle is certainly treacherous and we, like the rest of the Philippine left, are entering it loaded with the burden of inexperience. "13
At the end of April, Bisig, Pandayan
(the left-wing of the social democratic current) and the Movement for Popular
Democracy began working out a common electoral platform. The Partido ng Bayan
(People's Party), which has a national democratic orientation, has, for its part, just announced that it will present candidates and is discussing its alliance policy, notably in respect to the presidential elec-
The pressing need for unity in a pluralist left continues to be felt. Bisig was formed in 1985-86, bringing together groups and militants from different backgrounds, in a unification process unprecedented on the
Philippine left.
The Movement for a Popular Democraformally founded March 11, 1991 at its first General Assembly. The historic roots of this current can be traced back to the end of the 1970s when some of its leaders tried to introduce broader notions of unity into the National Democratic Front. 14
Rodolfo Salas sentenced to six years
RODOLFO "Rudy" Salas, at the time president of the Communist Party of the Philippines, was arrested on September 29, 1986 in Manila when he came to seek hospital treatment. His wife Josefina and a friend Jose Concepcion were also jailed but were subsequently released on bail. Salas' arrest created a scandal. It happened when talks about a ceasefire between the National Democratic Front (led by the CPP) and the new
Aquino government were underway. These talks led to peace negotiations, which, however, collapsed in 1987.
The charges relate essentially to events before the fall of Ferdinand Marcos in February 1986. The new regime was thus signalling that the armed resistance mounted by the CP and the New People's Army against the dictatorship was criminal.
Nearly five years after his arrest, Rodolfo Salas decided to plead guilty.
As he explained in an declaration dated May 14, 1991: "1 have opted to plead guilty of rebellion... because 1, like millions of our countrymen, cannot expect nor hope for justice under the present government... The
Supreme Court has, In effect, denied me my constitutional right to bail.
My lawyers, my family and my witnesses have been subject to harassment and intimidation and three were assassinated"(one of Salas" lawyers, his co-defendant Jose Concepcion and a defence witness were killed in incidents in April 1988 and December 1990). The names of two of his other lawyers have appeared on the death list distributed by armed vigilantes and local officials.
"My conscience is clear. I have not committed any crime against the Philippine people but have devoted the past 22 years in the selfless service of our people and our country. I plead guilty to rebellion and accept years of imprisonment Imposed by this government. I will not abandon but will pursue more than ever the struggle for justice in a broader social scope and through more effective ways.
Rodolfo Salas faced a sentence of 12 years in prison. Having pleaded guilty, he has been sentenced to six years and will be released in 1992, taking account of preventive detention. All the charges against Joselina
Salas have been dropped
*1 know", remarked Salas in an Intervlew with the Philippines News and
Features (PNF), "there will be mixed reactions [from the underground movement]. Many will ask why I made this decision. But when they know the reason they will also say that it is the best under the circumstances."
After his liberation, PNF notes: "Salas' options include going back to the open mass movement of workers, peasants and students....He will, how ever think of 'other options" If the military won't allow him to join it. The
"armed struggle, he said is still valid' but he stressed that he prefers joinng the legal struggle for social change" (Daily Globe, May 18, 1991). *
After 1986, these militants set to work to define the forms of a real "people's power". They got involved in unitary activity and have taken part in building up the cluster of non-governmental organizations. At their general assembly, they also underlined the need to work for the development of a "new internationalism".
The debate is continuing on the relation between the different methods and terrains of struggle (armed and political struggle, rural and urban struggle), on the analysis of Philippine society and on the
It is of especial importance that Ang
Bayan has opened up the question of the vanguard party and its relation to civil society. In 1986, notably, many militants challenged the way in which the CPP imposed the line of a boycott of the presidential elections, without account the way in which the mass organi-
As in many other countries the conception of the relation between parties and popular organizations lies at the heart of the divergences on the Philippine left.
Finally, some big questions, largely ignored in the past, have today become pressing. This is, above all the case with the issue of women's oppression. The rapid development of feminist organizations (in particular grouped in the Gabriela coa9. Debate, Philippine Left Review, March 1991, pp. 34. To contact Debate, write to: Postjeweg 77 (2nd floor), 1057 DX Amsterdam, The Netherlands. 10. This document, "Clarification...", is the same as the one published by Rebolusyon. It is worth noting that the "politico-military" theses of the regional leadership of Metro Manila-Rizal are different from the "political-military strategy" defended by Marty Villalobos. While they insist on the importance of the urban struggle, they remain in fact more militarist in concep12. "The People's Struggle for a Just Peace." Two articles by Jose Maria Sison, International Network for Philippine Studies, June 1991, pp. 45-46 (INPS, Postbus, 1452, 3500 BL Utrecht, The Netherlands). struggle (second draft)", p. 1. The fifth Bisig congress elected Randolf "Randy" David as chairperson, union leader "Bong" Malonzo vice-chair and Ronald
The stakes in the debates underway should not be under-estimated. Ang Bayan strikes an optimistic note. The editors consider that "the call for a mass struggle to overthrow the Aquino regime is ripe." It hopes for "a strategic turn" in the years to come.
Decisive victory for revolution predicted
"On the agenda of the 1990s is a decisive victory for the people's democratic revolution." However, they do not think that victory is in the bag: "how to bring about that decisive turn in the revolutionary struggle... is a question that has yet to be resolved. "16
Ang Bayan thus describes certain subjective weaknesses as far as political and strategic perspectives are concerned: if one were to pinpoint one thing greatly lacking... it would be this — a political Slogan and platform that would serve as the line of march for the revolutionary forces and the people in facing the current political crisis.
"[They] are needed to provide a unified direction and political shape to the mass struggles... Without it, revolutionary initiatives will remain scattered and unsys-
"What kind of coalition government be established, reforms should take precedence, to what extent should concessions and compromises be made with other political forces, and how the whole program can be realised have yet to be set down. "7
The whole Philippine left is today confronted with these problems, which, of course, are also faced by militants in other countries. The answers will not be simple, since they touch theoretical, strategic, political and tactical questions. They will only come about through a democratic confrontation of the experiences, elaborations, successes and failures of all the revolutionary currents. * 14. This involved the best known NDF cadres, former NDF president and now MPD chairperson, and Eddicio de la Torre, former founder of the CNL and vice-chair. Isagani Serrano, also a vice-chair, was engaged important clandestine According to Gareth Porter, he was chairman of the Debates and Dilemmas in the Philippine Communist Movement", footnote 17, in Changing Southeast Asia: Conference Papers", S. Dorr 1990 — A textual analysis", paper presented to the 16. Ang Bayan, op cit, "Ang Bayan in the 1990s: New Thrust, New Vigor, New Ideas." 13 July 22, 1991 • #211 International Viewpoint
----- pull-quotes on this page -----
PHILIPPINES lition) has led the NDF to change its pro- gramme, devoting a point to the struggle for the liberation of women.' In recent years, also, the Philippine left has begun to recognize the importance of ecological questions.
Declining support for currently
RIVATIZATION
P important an occupies place in public debate in although only a
Poland, very small percentage of enterprises privatization
Introduction by Cyril Smuga ON June 27, 1991 the Polish government made public a new plan for the accelerated privatization of the economy. It proposes the simultaneous privatization of 400 enterprises which account for 25% of gross industrial product and employ 12% of the workforce. It is intended as a first step on the road to the privatization of half of the country's economy over the next three years. The plan, worked ouf with the help of the British commercial bank S.G. Warburg & Co. (which will receive a million pounds for the work) envisages that 60% of the capital of these enterprises will be transferred into the hands of several Funds for the Management of National Wealth: the state will continue to hold a 30% share, and 10% will be distributed to the workers. The funds in question will be administered by Polish citizens but their everyday management will be delegated to foreign banks or finance companies.
The new privatization plan, which seeks to open up Polish industry to foreign capital, has been put forward following the semi-defeat of the privatization measures hitherto taken. The sale, in December 1990, of shares in a series of six firms considered amongst the more profitable did not meet with an overwhelming response from Poles. Several of these firms were ultimately privatized only thanks to the purchase of considerable amounts of shares by the state banks. Moreover, since then some of these firms have been on the verge of bankruptcy