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Review of Selected Writings of Jose Ma. Sison (1991-2008)
Volume 1: For Justice, Socialism and Peace
Prof. Sivanandam Sivasegaram
9 May 2009
The collection of essays titled “For Justice, Socialism and Peace” is the first of a
four-volume series of selected writings of Prof. Jose Maria Sison between 1991
and 2008. That and the second volume titled “For Democracy and Socialism
against Imperialist Globalization” are now in print and scheduled for release in
Europe in May this year. Prof. Sison has pride of place in the Philippine democratic
and revolutionary movements, as founding chair of the Communist Party of the
Philippines, as chief political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines on peace negotiations, and as chair of the International League of
Peoples’ Struggle. He is a highly regarded commentator not only on Philippine
affairs but also on international affairs, from the perspective of the oppressed
people and nations of the world.
His writings are unambiguous in their aim to serve the Philippine people’s struggle
for liberation, democracy and socialism. He has paid a heavy price for speaking out
on the side of the people. The price includes incarceration in the Philippines under
Marcos, forced exile and various forms of persecution and maltreatment by a
combination of forces including the reactionary Government of the Philippines,
its US imperialist master, and reactionary allies in the Government and the state
apparatus of the Netherlands, including being branded as a “terrorist”, denial of
political asylum, deprivation of employment and social benefits, unlawful detention;
and threats of and attempts at assassination. Prof. Sison has, as ever, been defiant
in the face of adversity and held firmly to his commitment to advance the Philippine
people’s struggle and international solidarity against imperialism and reaction.
It is my privilege to review the first of the four volumes. The fifteen articles in this
volume besides the Introduction, by Luis G Jalandoni, Chair of the National Democratic
front of the Philippines, cover a period from soon after the fall in rapid succession of
socialist regimes in Eastern and Central Europe followed by the break-up of the Soviet
Union, and the start of the subversion of Chinese socialism. It was also a time when
revolutionary mass struggles for liberation and social justice faced setbacks, some of
them very serious, around the globe, and a time when reactionaries all over celebrated
the events, especially the collapse of the Soviet Union, to declare it the end of
socialism and communism. Some went to the extent of calling it the “End of History”,
meaning that imperialist globalization had arrived and was there to stay for ever, and
that there was no future but imperialist globalization. Some faint-hearted members of
the international left were dismayed and disheartened by the events and imperialist
bragging about a mono-polar world led by the US, so that they echoed with dismay
the words of the jubilant imperialists to dishearten a sizeable section of the left and
anti-imperialist forces. But it took less than a decade since the collapse of the Soviet
Union for the world to witness the Asian economic collapse, which showed that
imperialist globalization itself was a far bigger ill than all the ills of global economy
put together that it sought to cure. It took less than another decade for US-led
global capitalism to face its biggest crisis since the Great Depression of seven
decades ago.
What is most remarkable about this volume, comprising writings by Sison between
February 1991 and April 1995, a time of dismay for many in the left and progressive
circles, is Sison’s confidence in the correctness of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong
Thought and its worth as a revolutionary beacon to light the way for the liberation
of humanity. He fares prominently among leaders who confidently pointed to the
beginnings of a bright future for socialism where many others saw only its doom.
His words inspired those engaged in revolutionary struggle in the Philippines and
elsewhere, and encouraged many in unfavourable situations to persevere amid
adversity. His words of encouragement were not wishful thinking and did not
take long to realise. An anti-imperialist wave is sweeping across the world, and
countries in what was the backyard of US imperialism in South and Central
America and the Caribbean are one after another standing up in defiance of
US imperialism. A revolution in Nepal has rid it of its monarchy and conditions
are maturing for fulfilling the tasks of new democracy. The revolutionary struggle
in the Philippines has reinvigorated itself and steadily advancing. Recent events in
Thailand, though a far cry from a revolution, are a measure of the people’s rising
distrust in the pro-US imperialist royalty and the military. The essays in this volume
thus have even greater significance in today’s context than when they were
written.
While most of the articles either concern the revolutionary struggle in the
Philippines or draw heavily on the experiences of that struggle, the spirit of
internationalism is a strong thread that runs through all the articles, making
them very relevant to struggles for democracy, and liberation from all forms
of oppression and injustice.
Among articles that refer specifically to the conditions in the Philippines, “Two
Articles on the People’s Struggle for a Just Peace”, “The Critical and Creative
Tasks of the Rectification Movement in the Communist Party of the Philippines”,
and “Strengthen the Alliance for Human Rights in the National Democratic
Movement” are particularly important. The notes on peace process in the first
of the “Two Articles on the People’s Struggle for a Just Peace” argue the
need for a confident but well considered approach that the revolutionary
forces need to adopt. It is particularly important since local oppressors and
their imperialist backers tend to accuse the revolutionary forces of opposing
peace and the negotiated settlement of conflicts, which are really the result
of cruel oppression. The article on the second rectification movement contains
vital lessons against complaisance in a revolutionary movement and for a positive
approach in overcoming setbacks suffered. The arguments put forward there
are a timely reminder that a revolutionary political party has to be on constant
alert about errors of both the opportunist and the adventurist kind. Human
rights in its true spirit has always been a theme of the revolutionary left that
has been hijacked by liberals and now distorted to serve imperialist ends. The
final article in the volume calling for the strengthening of the alliance for human
rights is an excellent comment on the subject and a timely call to salvage it from
opportunists and reactionaries.
The article “Let Aquino Regime and its US Imperialist Masters Answer for their
Gross Crimes Against the Filipino People”, although written seventeen years ago
is still applicable to conditions prevailing in the Philippines: the difference is that
the corrupt and brutal regime of the Macapagal-Arroyo regime has not the mask
of democracy and justice that Aquino wore in the wake of the stage-managed
“People Power” that brought her to power, and the US now used its “War on
Terror” as pretext for its continued domination and interference in the affairs of
the Philippines. “An Update: Qualitatively Unchanged Conditions”, is a particularly
important article in the context of attempts to divert the course of the revolutionary
struggle in several Third World countries by over-emphasising the significance of
‘urbanisation’ and the growth of the ‘service industry’, while fundamental questions
of land ownership and relations of production have remained substantially the same.
The articles “On the Petty Bourgeoisie and the Future of Socialism” and “On the
Question of Revolutionary Violence” refer to issues that keep recurring in political
debates involving the left movement. They address the issues in the light of
historical and current experience, and are followed by “Message to the Symposium
on Mao Zedong Thought in the Philippines”, a rather short but useful reminder of
the relevance of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought at a time there is tendency
to generalise the limited successes that have been achieved under conditions very
specific to countries like, for example, Venezuela. While it is important to support
and encourage the progressive and anti-imperialist measures of countries like
Venezuela, it is wrong and dangerous to be crudely pragmatic so as to build
global models of “21st Century Socialism” based on such experiences and fail
to warn against underlying risks and obvious dangers.
“Message to the International Congress against the World Economic Summit”
and “Technology and Poverty from the Viewpoint of the Third World” are
important articles whose themes now recur frequently, especially in the context
of the desperate bid of US-led imperialism to rescue itself from the economic
mess into which it has been sliding, and rather badly since 2008, by passing
the burden on to the Third World. The first article following the introduction,
“Sorting Out Contradictions Pertaining to Iraq” is an excellent analysis that,
when read in context of the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, now spilling
over into Pakistan and threatening to affect India, drives home the point that
imperialism never learns from its past mistakes.
The article that I appreciated most in this volume is “Socialism and the New
World Order”. Written in the form of answers to specific questions, it sums
up the historical experience of the revolutionary socialist movement since the
Russian revolution and key ideological issues that determined its tortuous course.
Things have changed in the twelve and a half years since it was written, and
some of the promising struggles of the time suffered major setbacks, but others
have surged forward and yet others are coming up.
Julieta de Lima in her preface to the series has pointed out that “the consistent
thread that runs through the series, as in all of Sison’s other works, is the firm
and vigorous exposure and opposition to all the offensives that imperialism and
its puppets have launched ideologically, politically, economically, militarily and
culturally. The message is unwavering: the proletariat and people will never
surrender to the system of oppression and exploitation and will always aspire
and fight for national and social liberation”.
The publication of the selected writings of Prof. Sison coincides with a time of
a most acute financial and economic crisis of the world capitalist system that is
bound to further aggravate suffering of the people and thereby impel them to
intensify revolutionary struggles. The favourable conditions obtaining now could
be used to change the world only through a deep understanding of the nature
of the crisis, the alignment of forces, and developing the right strategy to defeat
imperialism and its allies. Sison’s writings constitute an important part of the
revolutionary literature that will guide revolutionaries in taking up the critical
and creative tasks needing to be undertaken to achieve that goal.
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