The Communist Party: Establishing roots in the workers' movement
"Year after year, the Party organization expands among the ranks of workers in Metro Manila," said comrades from the Communist Party of the Philippines' National Trade Union Bureau in an interview with AB in August.
The Party organization in the workers' movement in Metro Manila has more than recovered after being on the verge of dissolution right before the Second Great Rectification Movement was launched. By 1998, the number of Party members doubled.
Although the Party organization continues to expand and consolidate, various factors have prevented it from strengthening itself more rapidly. This includes, among others, the quick dissolution of unions and Party units in factories that close down or the massive layoff of workers as a result of the intense economic crisis. "Factories shut down or reduce their work force just as swiftly as we set up Party units," according to comrades.
Thus, there is need for a more rapid and more encompassing expansion campaign to exceed the quick pace at which Party units in the trade union movement are dissolved. This is carried out by continuously revolutionizing unions, launching political and economic struggles and conducting education work.
The rapid dissolution of units does not mean loss of membership. "We just have to make sure that workers who lose their jobs are quickly transferred to other Party units so they don't end up without collectives. Many of them transfer to other factories or work in their communities. Some of them also return to the provinces."
Many worker-members of the Party decide to continue their revolutionary work in the countryside as Red fighters. Some of them also become full-time labor organizers.
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