Class Struggle at the Ballot Box: The 2022 Philippine elections (original) (raw)

2022, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung

this audacious move evolves in future electoral exercises will be a test of whether the Philippine Left can become a major player in the country's electoral sphere. The Beginnings of Socialism in the Philippines Left-wing ideas began circulating in the Philippines towards the last decade of the nineteenth and early twentieth century, articulated by activists in the anti-colonial movements, trade unions, and intellectuals.[1] The formal political structures of the Left, however, came about during the American colonial period with the establishment of the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas (Communist Party of the Philippines, or PKP) in November 1930. The PKP later merged with the peasant-based Socialist Party of the Philippines in 1938 and with a mass movement of workers and peasants numbering in the tens of thousands, which led militant mass struggles for workers' and peasants' rights. Threatened by these mass actions, the colonial government declared the PKP an illegal organization and incarcerated its leaders. The outbreak of World War II and the emergence of a popular front policy to combat fascism led to the release of Party leaders. The PKP organized a guerrilla force called the Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon (Hukbalahap), or People's Anti-Japanese Army. The "Huks", as they were popularly known, launched successful anti-Japanese operations and managed to liberate many areas in Central Luzon. After the war, however, they were persecuted by the newly independent Philippine government, and their leaders jailed or assassinated. This sparked the Huk Rebellion, lasting from 1946 to the early 1950s, which was quelled by American intervention and military support for the Manila government and the capture of its top leaders. This marked the beginning of a period of stagnation in the Philippine Left. An effort to revive the Left and reorganize the PKP began in the mid-1960s, yet it saw major internal disagreements arise with respect to strategy and tactics and international policies and affiliation. These precipitated a split resulting in two opposing partiesa pro-Soviet and a pro-China faction. The latter named itself the Communist Party of the Philippines-Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought (CPP-MLMTT), while the former retained its original name.[2] This split was reflected in the legal mass movements of worker, peasant, youth and student, urban poor, middle-class, and other sectoral or cause-oriented organizations.