In Eastern Visayas:
Excellent Party leadership in the locality

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

Proletarian leadership and the spirit of genuine democracy and revolutionary social change are very much alive in areas where Party branches are highly developed and self-reliant. The leadership of the Party and the mass organizations is very much felt in the sharpness of the political calls and the vigor of the community's response to them.

Such is the case in a barrio in Samar where the NPA has been active for more than 20 years and which is now under the people's Red political power. The local Party branch has been in existence for two decades.

Barrio organizing has reached a high level. Full-fledged mass organizations have been in existence now for two decades. Most of the poor and lower-middle peasants already belong to mass organizations. Only six people in the barrio have yet to be organized, and it is only because they are newcomers and the organizers are still trying to get to know them better. The middle forces, including the rich peasants and barangay councilors have also been organized in the underground revolutionary movement.

At its current level, the local Party branch can sharply set the correct political line and the appropriate course of action in mass struggles. They are able to achieve this as a result of the Party branch's efforts to consult all the barriofolk and rally them behind the calls. The effective leadership of the branch and the mass organizations arises from their analytical, timely and decisive response to the people's needs and araba or grievances. The people's warm response to calls for agrarian revolution and other mass struggles is thus ensured.

The community has achieved immense benefits from advancing agrarian struggles under the Party's leadership. The need to incur debts has been reduced due to the improvement of the peasant masses' livelihood. Usury in the barrio has been practically eradicated.

In times when some poor peasants experience hardship, especially in running out of rice supplies for consumption, rich peasants are encouraged to lend palay at virtually no interest.

The revolutionary movement in the barrio is also in the process of fine-tuning the campaign to lower the prices of commodities. At present, part of the program is to put in order policies balancing the correct prices of commodities and sufficient profits for store-owners.

Drafting campaigns and mass struggles is an arduous process of grasping and analyzing the concrete conditions of the people, conducting vigorous consultations and forging firm unity.

The section committee of the Party, which includes the executive committee of the Party branch in the NPA unit operating in the area and the secretaries of the Party branches of adjacent barrios, usually sets a general call. Refinements or any changes to the plan and the actual manner of implementing the call of the section committee is carried out by the barrio branch.

The branch's first step is to consult the executive committees of the PKM, MAKIBAKA and KM chapters in the barrio. Based on data and the opinions they express, the branch intently studies whether or not the calls are appropriate to the actual conditions of the barrio.

At this stage, the branch usually submits to the section committee any necessary amendments to the call based on the results of the consultations. The section committee discusses them and usually includes the amendments of the branch in the general plan.

The next step is presenting the drafted plan to the chapter committees of the mass organizations for further refinement and to obtain their unity on the matter. This is where they plan the actual tactics to be used, including the means for achieving the unity of the entire membership of the mass organizations and the support of the barangay council. The last step is to convene a barrio assembly to formally unify the people on, and ratify, the new policies and the accompanying plans.

In advancing agrarian revolution in the barrio, demands are achieved through democratic consultation because such demands are usually addressed to the middle forces, most of whom are allies. The despotic landlord has long been banished from the barrio. Rich and middle peasants who provide credit, hire labor and own stores are friends of the revolutionary movement, and as such, are not dealt with antagonistically in agrarian struggles.

The entire process in not without its clash of ideas. There are instances, for example, when rich peasants are hesitant or are opposed to calls to raise the wages of farm workers, thus the need for an exchange of views. The expression of various views is channeled through group discussions not only within the full-fledged peasant mass organizations but also within the groups of middle forces, among others. Parts of the Revolutionary Guide to Land Reform are reviewed as the framework of the campaign, paying attention to the bases of the calls.

The quantitative bases for the calls are analyzed in campaigns to raise the wages of farm workers or the prices of farm products. For clarity, a typical peasant family, its earnings and expenses are cited as a case in point. The present gross income, expenses and net earnings of rich peasants and the estimated reasonable reduction as a result of implementing the call, are also shown. This is to counter arguments claiming that rich peasants will lose all their profits if wages are raised. Clarifications are made regarding the fact that calculations are based on current prices, that rich peasants will still earn a reasonable amount of profit and that they will be able to afford the proposed raise. At present, the Party and the revolutionary movement ensure the existence of rich peasants as a stratum because thay still play an important role in the livelihood of the peasantry.

As much as possible, efforts are made to arrive at a consensus among the people. If no consensus is reached by the time the barrio assembly is convened, the issues are voted upon. The fact that everyone complies with the majority decision is the result of the political education given by the revolutionary movement aside from the strong influence and high prestige enjoyed by the Party and the NPA in the area.

To implement the agreements and ensure the welfare of the poor, the branch and the mass organizations firmly oversee its implementation.

Due to the excellence of the branch's leadership and its firm solidarity with the community, even outsiders respect the decisions and comply with the policies within the area. For example, a rich peasant from another barrio once bought land in the area and implemented the old wage rate. He was firmly but politely confronted by the peasants, who explained to him the barrio's new agreement regarding wages. The rich peasant complied with the new rates.

07 September 2003
English Edition

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