The fragmentation of the radical social movements in the Philippines: development processes and the state
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1999
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Melbourne Authors
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Department of Geography and Environmental Studies
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PhD thesis
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Abstract
This thesis examines the relationship between national processes of economic change and the relative decline and fragmentation of radical social movements in the Philippines. Specifically it examines a recent course of political debate and conflict in the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) and its associated organisations. Processes of agrarian and industrial transition, combined with new class formations, have undermined this movement's understanding of basic strategy for social change. The growth of a service and industry based proletariat, differentiation of the peasantry, changes in the political regime and internationally based ideological challenges make it impossible for the organisation's traditional Maoist focus of protracted people's war to succeed. New organisations and splits from the old CPP have established a base in what can be characterised as primarily urban based protest movements and trade unions. The thesis reviews the ideological development of the CPP and the political crisis that resulted from the attempts by sections of the leadership to re-emphasise the party's Maoist orthodoxies in the early 1990s. The resulting debates and political changes are scrutinised. A more general analysis of processes of social and economic change emphasises the role of rent capitalism in facilitating a distorted form of development that has increasingly proletarianised, impoverished and urbanised a large portion of the population. Local case studies illustrate these trends. Finally, the new forces on the political terrain of the left are assessed. A renewed focus on the organising of urban workers and other sectors constitutes the greatest potential to enact progressive social and political change in the country.
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1946-1973, Communism, Philippines, Politics and government, Social movements