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With the New People's Army in the Philippines:
Report from a Guerrilla Front

EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION

Revolutionary Worker #951, April 5, 1998

Recently, a writer for the Revolutionary Worker was invited to the Philippines to spend time with a unit of the New People's Army.

The Philippines is a poor, semifeudal and semicolonial country, with a population of 70 million. Imperialism has dominated and twisted the country's development. The Filipino people have suffered greatly. But the Filipino people also have a proud and blood-stained history of resistance and revolution. In 1968, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) was reconstituted as a party that bases itself on Marxism-Leninism, Mao Tsetung Thought. In 1969, the party initiated people's war.

The New People's Army, or the NPA, as it is popularly known, is the fighting force of the Philippine revolution. The heart of the struggle is the armed agrarian revolution against the rule of the big landlord and imperialist-backed comprador-capitalist classes.

Despite savage onslaughts from the ruling class, and through many twists and turns, the Philippine revolution has continued to develop. In 1992, the CPP, which is not part of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, launched a rectification campaign to reaffirm its revolutionary line and strategy, to strengthen the NPA's ties with the masses, and to raise ideological awareness.

The struggle in the Philippines is a very important struggle against imperialism. It deserves the support of all progressive and revolutionary-minded people.

The author wishes to thank the many Filipino comrades who made this trip possible. Names have been changed.


This article is posted in English and Spanish on Revolutionary Worker Online
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