On the 40th anniversary of the Communist Party of the Philippines
BY MLMRSG in the UNITED STATES
The MARXISM-LENINISM-MAOISM REVOLUTIONARY STUDY GROUP in the U.S. sends revolutionary greetings to the Communist Party of the Philippines on its 40th anniversary. Founded in 1968 during the high tide of revolutionary struggle in the Philippines and worldwide, the CPP was formed through intense political struggle and critical summation and renunciation of the history of decades of the previous revisionist party’s stifling of people’s struggles against imperialism and semi-colonialism.
As the CPP based itself on the masses of peasants, workers, students, and oppressed nationalities, its formation raised the red banner of winning the struggle for a new world through uncompromising and determined revolutionary struggle and service to the masses.
Internationally, 1968 marked the high tide of people’s struggles against US imperialism and all reaction, from Vietnam to the streets and campuses of the US, to France, to Czechoslovakia, to Mexico, and scores of other countries spanning the colonial and semi-colonial worlds, the bastions of the imperialist centers and regions dominated by revisionism and social-imperialism. Most importantly, 1968 represented the high tide of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution in China, which was rallying the masses to the revolutionary struggle against the newly emerging bourgeoisie which was organizing to drag socialist China back onto the capitalist road. The mass upsurge, from country to country and region to region, inspired millions to raise the struggle against imperialism and for liberation from all oppression and a new world of socialism and communism.
That the revolutionary movement in the Philippines came forward with a new revolutionary party and strategy, determined to apply the lessons gained through historic and contemporary experience in the Philippines and worldwide, and launched the revolutionary people’s war against the reactionary regime and its US backers, was a tremendous historic advance for the struggle in the Philippines and worldwide.
The CPP has, from its earliest days, provided inspiration and political support for the international communist movement and the broad anti-imperialist movements, which have continued to advance despite countless twists and turns and periods of great difficulties.
Many times the CPP has rallied to break out of suppression campaigns which have taken many forms, from the period of Marcos' martial law, to brutal and violent repression and imprisonment, to many forms of trickery and infiltration. All of these suppression campaigns were launched by successive US-backed neo-colonial regimes with full financial, military, and political support and training from the US. But the struggles led by the CPP since its 2nd Rectification Campaign, including the armed struggle being waged by the New People’s Army as well as the broad movements of peasants and indigenous peoples fighting throughout the archipelago, have stymied the domestic reactionaries and their US imperialist overseers. The zones of the peoples’ guerrilla war and the mass movements in the cities have grown significantly.
At this time, the economic and political crisis of imperialism grows deeper and more intense with every day, every hour. Globally, millions are discussing anew the possible demise of capitalism and imperialism, and millions are giving fresh consideration to Marxism, Leninism and Maoism and the prospects for socialism and communism in the period ahead. As the people’s struggles grow more concentrated, the clarity of the revolutionary forces will prove invaluable. We look forward to the period ahead. We are confident that, guided by the still-developing scientific method of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism and relying on the revolutionary initiative of the masses, the CPP will continue to advance the revolutionary struggle in the Philippines as part of the worldwide liberation from capitalism and imperialism and to move forward toward communism throughout the world!
Long Live the Communist Party of the Philippines!
Long Live International Solidarity!
Long Live Marxism-Leninism-Maoism!
