Speech by Raul Diaz, National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP, entitled “Perspectives of revolutionary organization in the Philippines” in the panel “The question of bottom-up organization and internationalism”
Comrades and friends, Warm greetings from the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). We are honored to have this opportunity to share with you our perspective and experience in our struggle against imperialism and our fight for national liberation and democracy.
I will discuss our perspective on these issues according to the guidelines set by ADM. However, before proceeding, allow me to clarify the context of our perspective.
Firstly, we believe that we are not yet in the midst of a “Third World War”. In our view, we are still on the brink of another World War. Currently, there is an ongoing hot war in the form of the Ukraine proxy war between the US/NATO and Russia. Another hot war is the US-supported Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza. We are concerned that another hot war may erupt between the US/allies and China over the issue of Taiwan. Our country is part of the “first chain of islands” strategy of the US against China. Presently, there are seven military bases in the Philippines used by the US to preposition armaments, munitions, and troops in preparation for a potential armed conflict against China. A serious miscalculation may lead to a polarized global war, the Third World War, between the US/allies and Russia/China/allies, with catastrophic consequences.
In the face of imperialist wars, the NDFP promotes the policy of “revolutionary defeatism”, i.e., launching revolutionary wars against imperialist wars.
Secondly, we believe that what many participants in this conference call “capitalist modernity” is, in fact, imperialism. Imperialism represents the highest stage of capitalist development. Capitalism has evolved from its nascent stage of “free market” into monopoly capitalism. Among other factors, in the stage of imperialism, huge production and financial conglomerates form into monopolies, the export of finance capital plays a distinct role in extracting superprofits from colonies and semi-colonies, and the division of the world among imperialists has been completed. Whenever rising new imperialist powers challenge the dominance of earlier imperialists, inter-imperialist wars ensue, as seen in the First and Second World Wars. The phenomena of globalization, militarization, and the migration crisis are facets of today’s imperialist crisis.
Having said that, I will proceed.
I) Like the majority of pre-industrial and agrarian countries in the world today, the Philippines is a semi-colony of US imperialism. Our society is semi-colonial and semi-feudal.
The United States was able to impose its colonial rule on the Philippines through the brutal conquest of the Filipino people, the defeat of the old type of democratic revolution, the co-optation of its bourgeois leadership, and the retention of feudal property rights at the beginning of the century.
Unlike Spain, the old colonial ruler driven by mercantile capitalism, the United States is an industrial capitalist or modern imperialist power driven by its industrial monopoly banks and firms to dominate other countries, export surplus capital and surplus commodities, plunder raw materials and labor in underdeveloped countries, and extract superprofits under the guise of free enterprise and free trade. In more than 300 years of colonial rule, Spain carried out plunder through conscripted labor, trading monopolies, feudal rent, religious tribute, and taxation, developing a feudal system in the Philippines that matured under the stimulus of foreign trade in the nineteenth century.
The Philippines is a semi-feudal society because it is a big comprador type of capitalism based on feudal and semi-feudal conditions, thriving on a lopsided colonial exchange of raw material exports and manufactured imports. It is a term for a non-industrial or pre-industrial agrarian economy in which the comprador big bourgeoisie has arisen as the wealthiest and most powerful exploiting class from feudal haciendas as the resource base for exports, in combination with the landlord class.
Because of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal nature of Philippine society, the present stage of the Philippine Revolution cannot but take a national-democratic character. It is a national-democratic revolution, seeking the liberation of the Filipino people from foreign and feudal oppression and exploitation, with a socialist perspective.
It is a national revolution principally because it seeks to assert national sovereignty against U.S. imperialism and its local lackeys. It is a democratic revolution principally because it seeks to fulfill the peasant struggle for land against domestic feudalism and uphold the democratic rights of the broad masses of the people against fascism. The basic contradictions in Philippine society are those between the Filipino nation and imperialism, and those between the great masses of the people and feudalism. The fascism that is now on the rise is basically the military suppression of the people by the present counterrevolutionary state on behalf of its imperialist and feudal masters.
The class analysis of Philippine society determines the strategy and tactics of the Philippine Revolution. Based on our class analysis of Philippine society, the motive forces or friends of the Philippine Revolution are the proletariat, the peasantry, the petty bourgeoisie, and, at certain times and to a limited extent, the national bourgeoisie. They compose the overwhelming majority of the Filipino people who are oppressed and exploited by U.S. imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat capitalism. On the other hand, the targets or enemies of the Philippine Revolution are U.S. imperialism and its local lackeys, which are the comprador big bourgeoisie, the landlord class, and the bureaucrat capitalists. They compose an extremely small minority of the population and need to be overthrown to achieve national freedom and democracy.
II) Learning from past mistakes to avoid future ones, Filipino revolutionaries undertook a comprehensive study of Philippine society and revolution.
Based on this study, the national democratic revolution of the new type (with a socialist perspective) was launched. Rectification movements were undertaken to correct errors and strengthen the revolutionary movement. Filipino revolutionaries place great importance on learning from the successful revolutions of Russia, China, Vietnam, and other national liberation movement. In waging revolution, the Party wields armed struggle and the united front as its weapons. It exercises absolute leadership over the New People’s Army and conducts people’s war as the principal form of struggle. It builds the united front for both armed struggle and legal forms of struggle. It engages in all forms of struggle, but armed struggle is principal because it carries out the central task of the revolution, which is to seize arms from the enemy, build people’s democratic power, and destroy the political power of the reactionary classes subservient to the US and other imperialist powers. In the countryside, where the enemy is weakest, a protracted people’s war is launched with the strategy of encircling the cities from the countryside. People’s war is comprehensively advanced by waging armed struggle, agrarian revolution, and base building.
There are two types of mass movements launched in urban areas:
Basic mass movements of workers, urban poor, youth, and students Sectoral movements of middle force
Through the advancement of revolutionary mass movements in urban areas, the masses of workers, urban petty-bourgeoisie, and other democratic forces are aroused, organized, and mobilized as part of the national united front. These forces participate in anti-fascist and anti-imperialist struggles that support anti-feudal struggles in the countryside. By mobilizing these forces, especially the urban petty-bourgeoisie, the enemy is isolated and weakened. Recognizing that urban areas are the bastion of political, economic, and cultural power of the enemy, the revolutionary movement in cities is principally defensive and legal in character. The main tactic is to “turn the tables on the enemy” by utilizing hypocritical reactionary laws and reformist concessions.
Various forms of struggle are launched in urban areas, including: Mass education, mobilization, and organization in line with the national democratic program, Working within reactionary institutions, parliamentary struggle, defending and freeing political prisoners and engaging in peace negotiations.
III) The NDFP internationalist duty and main contribution in the international anti-imperialist struggle is to bring the Philippine revolution to total victory. In this regard, it seeks specific and comprehensive support to further advance the national democratic revolution. On the other hand, providing support to the struggles of other peoples against imperialism is also fulfilling our internationalist duty.
The NDFP considers it very important to develop the international anti-imperialist united front and seek allies among countries that declare themselves as anti-imperialist and fully independent and as socialist (like the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Cuba, Vietnam and Venezuela) or as having socialist programs and aspirations. The NDFP is happy to have relations with countries that consider themselves independent, anti-imperialist and willing to support the Philippine revolution.
IV) Amidst today’s crisis of imperialism and imperialist wars of aggression, I think it is imperative that a common understanding of who are our enemies and who are our friends, should be built among revolutionaries and anti-Imperialist forces. This will serve as the basis for unified action against imperialism. The Theoretical Conference on Imperialism and War held last October 14-15 this year was sponsored by the NDFP towards this end.
