New Trotskyite Group
This July, another one of Lagman's former minions declared independence and set up his own faction�which only proves their utter bankruptcy and clearly illustrates the Trotskyite line of "freedom of factions". Sonny Melencio is the most zealous local agent of international Trotskyism. From being Lagman's chief adjutant, Melencio now heads the Trotskyite grouplet he calls Liga Sosyalista.
Foreign sponsors played a major role in the emergence and formation of this new Trotskyite group. Max Lane, an operative of the Trotskyite Socialist Workers' Party of Australia, is the principal keeper, sponsor and financier of Melencio and his Trotskyite projects.
The creation of this separate Trotskyite Liga resulted from Max Lane's failure to set up even a semblance of a party out of the hodgepodge of the Lagman cult, the Tabara gangster clique, Sergio Romero's "ABB" and the few other groups they were able to carry away when they bolted the Party and the revolutionary movement in 1992-93.
Now consorting with the Trotskyite leaders of BISIG which has long been hanging around and dreaming of wresting away the former's forces and mass base, they have been obliged to declare independence and expose their true colors�even if all they could count on are a handful of demoralized elements.
This group is even more pathetic compared to others that have posed as saviors of the revolution. The articles and statements in their publication Progresibo clearly reflect the mishmash of contradictory theories and viewpoints about their group and its objectives, not to mention the basic characteristics of contemporary Philippine society and revolution.
Their faction is supposedly the product of intense debates within the Lagman cult regarding the "continued drift towards the right" of Lagman's politics. But it will be remembered that Melencio, who now styles himself as a champion of the Left, was the most ardent propagator of Gorbachovism in the late '80s and early '90s.
Melencio and his ilk express pride in their having repudiated Lagman because of the latter's "individualistic and legalistic framework and activities". But they themselves are steeped in parliamentarism. They are gathering a handful of forces to form Liga Sosyalista, an "open socialist formation" that "will directly intervene in the political arena." Their "Left" party is, once again, a legal electoral party.
Melencio can't even seem to make up his mind on whether they are legal or illegal. His group claims ownership of the names "Metro Manila-Rizal Regional Party Committee" and "Alex Boncayao Brigade" both of which will supposedly "spearhead an ideological renewal and formulation of a party program in the politicomilitary framework." But in the same breath, their publication declares that this same group belongs to Liga Sosyalista, a legal organization whose leaders and headquarters are identified.
In different corners of the world, Trotskyites are notorious for being troublemakers, saboteurs and splittists. They like to style themselves as more leftist that the Left to cover up and make excuses for the worst cases of collaboration and conspiracy with imperialism and reaction, against the genuine proletarian revolution.
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