On behalf of the Communist Party of the Philippines, the New People’s Army, and the revolutionary people of the Philippines, the National Democratic Front of the Philippines extends its warmest greetings of revolutionary solidarity to all parties and movements participating in this 17th International Seminar on Problems of the Revolution in Latin America.

We value the exchange of views which takes place during the Seminar and welcome the opportunity to strengthen our ties with other revolutionary parties and movements in Latin America and the Caribbean. We are honored by the invitation extended by the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Ecuador and the Movimiento Popular Democratico.

This year’s theme, “Modernization of Capitalism or Social Revolution?” is a very important issue which needs to be decisively addressed. Reformist illusions about capitalism must be debunked and the struggle to win national and social liberation and to build socialism must be resolutely carried out if we want to lead the peoples of the world on the road to ending oppression, repression, and exploitation, and building socialism.

Intensifying capitalist exploitation and state repression

The worst economic depression since the Great Depression has descended upon the world. The current global financial and economic crisis is now on its fifth year, and no solution is in sight. The imperialist states and the global monopoly bourgeoisie continue to cling to the neoliberal economic policy and still benefit from their profits and capital accumulation through liberalization, privatization, deregulation and the de-nationalization of less developed and underdeveloped economies.

All the centers of global capitalism are afflicted by and mired in this crisis. Public funds meant to revive the economy are used to bail out the banks and monopoly firms, which continue to be rewarded with tax cuts and high-profit contracts. Thus production continues to stagnate and the high rate of unemployment remains. Incomes are depressed for 99% of the population. And yet the prices of basic goods and services continue to climb.

Upon the rise of public deficits and the public debt, states adopt and implement so-called austerity measures that pass the burden of the crisis to the proletariat and the rest of the people. These measures cause further lay-offs, wage decreases, rising prices of basic necessities, reduced pensions, lessened social benefits, and tax hikes on goods and services used by the working people.

The people resist through strikes and mass protests, as well demonstrated by the series of popular protests in various countries in Europe, North Africa, in the Middle East and also in Latin America. In the centers of capitalism, the class struggle of the proletariat is steadily coming to the fore as the workers stand up and act to defend their rights and interests.

But the monopoly bourgeoisie and their political agents are also undertaking their own measures to counter the current of people’s resistance through violence and deception. They have adopted draconian laws against the people in the name of anti-terrorism. Those in power representing the exploiting classes are quick to use violence to intimidate the people and suppress their resistance.

Imperialist states are also whipping up war hysteria to justify increased war production and higher military budgets. To distract the masses’ attention from the roots of the crisis, they stir up such reactionary currents as fascism, chauvinism, xenophobia, racism and religious bigotry.

The current era of imperialism has made it possible for capital and the means of production to be socialized on a global scale. The exportation of vast amounts of capital and the great leaps in technology in the last century have combined to tremendously increase productivity and the amounts of commodities worldwide. Working peoples around the world are interconnected by the manufacture and distribution of all these wealth of commodities. And yet all the vast amounts of wealth and capital generated cannot redound to the benefit of the peoples of the world because these are monopolized by the capitalist class.

Revolutionary struggle for socialism

As proven by the experiences of the peoples in Latin America and the Caribbean, exploitation, extreme inequality, and fascist repression are concomitant of capitalist development. The socialization of capitalist production on a global scale has meant the globalization of capitalist exploitation. In seeking ultimate relief, the working class has no other recourse but to lead the people in seizing political and economic power from the capitalist class, smashing the bourgeois state and undertaking socialist revolution.

The revolutionary party of the proletariat in every country needs to strengthen itself ideologically, politically and organizationally. They must immerse themselves among the working peoples; discover with them their economic and social interests; establish with them their community and sectoral organizations; and lead these organizations as collective fighting units, in order to gain specific demands as well as to prepare them for decisive political battles against the capitalist state. We in the Philippines learn from the revolutionary experiences of our comrades in Latin America and the Caribbean.

As shown by the experiences of the proletarian revolutionary parties all over the world, it is necessary to boldly expand Party membership from the ranks of the activists developed in the course of political struggles. Members and cadres must be schooled in the revolutionary skills of arousing, organizing and mobilizing the working peoples, and be given assignments in leading the mass organizations.

Revolutionary struggle of the Filipino people to win nationwide victory and build socialism

In the Philippines, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) leads the Filipino people in a life-and-death struggle against US imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism. Since its re-establishment in 1968, the Party has formed and commands the New People’s Army (NPA) as its main weapon in dismantling the armed strength of the reactionary state. Utilizing the strategy of protracted people’s war, the revolutionary forces build up strength in the vast countryside, defeat the reactionary armed forces piece by piece, and aim to seize national political power. Socialist revolution will commence directly after the nationwide seizure of political power.

The Party arouses, organizes and mobilizes the rural population for the revolution. Mass organizations of workers, the peasantry, indigenous people, women, youth, children and the rural petty bourgeoisie are established. On the basis of these mass organizations, local organs of political power are built from the village level and wherever possible also the municipal level and later the provincial levels. Programs and campaigns for agrarian revolution are launched, including those for lowering the land rent, wiping out usury, improving agricultural production, increasing farm wages, increasing prices for agricultural products, and improving cooperative activities. In addition to agrarian reform, they also carry out health, education, self-defense, local arbitration, and cultural programs.

The revolutionary struggles in the towns and cities are also important. Organizations of the industrial workers, urban poor, women, youth and students, and urban professionals are formed. They launch legal and unarmed mass actions to propagate the demands of the masses for national and social liberation. They also spread the news about the armed struggle being waged primarily in the countryside, inspiring the urban population to support and actively join it.

At the moment, the revolutionary forces led by the CPP are active in 70 out of the total 81 provinces in the Philippines. The NPA is operating in more than 110 guerilla fronts, each front equivalent to a platoon up to a company of Red fighters. The number of full-time Red fighters with high-powered rifles is moving towards the level of 10,000. They are also augmented by tens of thousands of volunteers in the people’s militia and in the hundreds of thousands of self-defense units of the mass organizations in the countryside.

The mass base of the revolution runs into millions of people. It has been realized by building the village-based mass organizations, the organs of political power, and the local Party branches. The CPP membership is now beyond 100,000 and is expanding towards the goal of 250,000 in both urban and rural areas. The NPA seeks to increase its Red fighters to 25,000 and its guerilla fronts to 180. The organs of political power and the mass organizations are strengthening themselves and seek to cover more people by the millions through direct organizing and by united front work.

Under the leadership of the CPP, the NPA and other allied organizations of the NDFP are determined and prepared to advance the revolutionary struggle towards the stage of strategic stalemate in the people’s war. They aim for nationwide victory against US imperialism and its local reactionary allies. The victory of the Filipino people shall contribute in weakening US imperialist domination and heighten the contradiction among the imperialist states.

The revolutionary people of the Philippines extend their solidarity across the Pacific Ocean to the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean in their struggle against imperialism and capitalist exploitation, and for socialist revolution. Our common histories of colonial and neocolonial subjugation, as well as common legacies of national liberation movements strengthen the bonds between our peoples. We look forward to greater unity and mutual support in our common struggles for national and social liberation, genuine democracy, and socialist development.