Communist Party of the Philippines
February 08, 2023
We mark today the 84th birth anniversary of Prof. Jose Maria Sison, founding chair of the Communist Party of the Philippines, fully conscious of the continuing profound significance of Ka Joma’s work in the unremitting struggle of the Filipino people for national democracy and socialism, which form part of the international anti-imperialist resistance of all oppressed and exploited peoples.
In celebrating his revolutionary life and work, let us reaffirm our adherence to the universal correctness of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and its application to the concrete conditions of the Philippines as practiced and taught by Ka Joma, and as embodied in the principles, policies and program of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Let us also look forward to the 130th birth anniversary of Chairman Mao Zedong later this year and Ka Joma’s 85th birth anniversary next year by studying with all energy the classic writings of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Ho as well as those of Ka Joma, and using them as guide as we carry forward with all vigor the national democratic revolution.
As founding chair and guide of the CPP, Ka Joma incisively analyzed the semicolonial and semifeudal conditions in the country and pointed to the necessity of carrying out a people’s democratic revolution by waging protracted people’s war along the strategy of encircling the cities from the countryside.
Wielding both the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front as sword and shield respectively, the Party has achieved myriad revolutionary successes over more than five decades. The victories accumulated in waging resistance and building revolutionary power are testament to the correctness and lasting validity of Ka Joma’s teachings and to the indefatigable determination of the Party’s cadres to carry forward the tasks of the Philippine revolution.
Inspired by Ka Joma’s boundless revolutionary optimism, the Party and all patriotic and democratic forces are determined to bring the national democratic revolution to final victory, no matter the sacrifice and however long it takes. The liberation of the Filipino people from imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism hinges on winning the revolution.
The passing away of Ka Joma on December 16, 2022 was a profound loss to the Party. Still, his revolutionary spirit and the treasure trove of Marxist-Leninist-Maoist writings which he bequeathed continue to unite the Party and imbue it with strength. His death has inspired a revolutionary education movement among Party cadres and activists to study his teachings in order to raise their knowledge of revolutionary theory and history, and to sum-up and guide their revolutionary practice in the field of revolutionary armed struggle and mass movement in the cities and countryside.
This study movement is characterized by a review of the basic principles of the Party as laid out by Ka Joma in the first and second great rectification movements. Party cadres are also carrying out further research and social investigation to enrich and deepen understanding of the semicolonial and semifeudal conditions of the people.
Through this study movement, leading committees of the Party have taken initiative in self-criticism efforts to identify, root out, repudiate and rectify errors of subjectivism which have impeded the growth of the revolutionary movement and weakened it in some parts. The level of revolutionary energy and enthusiasm is steadily rising, and with it, the Filipino people’s determination to carry forward the revolution.
In the field of armed struggle, Party cadres in the New People’s Army are exerting efforts to surmount the problem of self-constriction in order to consistently expand and deepen the mass base and take the initiative in mounting annihilative tactical offensives combined with widespread attritive tactical offensives. In the field of the mass movement in both the cities and countryside, revolutionary forces are overcoming problems of reformism, legalism and conservatism in order to expand the people’s organized strength, lead their democratic struggles, raise their struggles against imperialist neoliberal policies and military intervention, and link and extend support to the armed struggle.
A vigorous study movement of Ka Joma’s teachings is bound to take root among the Filipino youth and students, ensuring the emergence of a new generation of revolutionaries and communists who will lead the Party and carry forward the revolution into the future. The campaign to promote Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and a culture of revolutionary collectivism and selfless service to the people, especially among young intellectuals, direct challenges the culture of social apathy, individualism, self-centeredness, hedonism and other rotten anti-social traits being promoted by imperialism and the ruling classes in media and social media.
During Ka Joma’s lifetime, the reactionary ruling classes did all they can to suppress and silence him. With his death, the reactionaries are now forever haunted by his red specter. Mortally fearful of the national democratic revolution, the Philippine reactionary government, representing the interests of the imperialists, the big bourgeois compradors and big landlords, continues to employ to brutal state terrorism and fascist suppression in a futile effort to stop the forward march of the Filipino people and their revolution. They have resorted to placing entire villages under military rule, dropping half-ton bombs from the air, extrajudicial killings, torture, abducting pregnant women and children, fake surrenders, and endlessly spinning lies. Their repeated declaration of having defeated the revolutionary movement is set to explode in their face as the Party, the NPA and the NDF gain strength and carry the revolution to greater heights.
The viciousness with which the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) wages its counter-revolution, however, succeeds only in further exposing the rottenness of the ruling system. Fascist violence is inciting the broad masses of the people to fight back. It shows them that there is no path to attain their aspiration for justice and freedom other than the revolutionary mass movement and armed struggle.
Amid aggravation of the crisis of overproduction of the global capitalist system, the leading imperialists powers are resorting to wars and pushing the entire world towards the brink of widespread death and destruction. The conditions of great disorder and turbulence being generated by the global capitalist system is compelling the proletariat to rise up and lead the oppressed and exploited classes to wage revolution.
Guided by Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and the teachings of Ka Joma, the Communist Party of the Philippines vows to persevere in leading the Filipino people along the path of the national democratic revolution. Together with rising anti-imperialist and antifascist struggles around the world, the Party is determined to contribute to the resurgence of socialist and new democratic revolutions worldwide and help forge a new period in the world history of the proletariat.
