Lessons and gains in establishing Kabataang Makabayan chapters
One of the Party�s most noteworthy gains in its efforts to strengthen the Kabataang Makabayan (KM) and further invigorate the underground revolutionary youth movement in the cities is the establishment and strengthening of KM chapters in Metro Manila. This is especially significant in the face of the intense hardships being inflicted by the US-Arroyo regime on the youth and the need to wage all-out resistance to such impositions.
Since 2003, the Party has persevered in intensifying organizing work among the youth and establishing organizations in schools and nearby communities. This is to rectify the past error of having relinquished the task of forming underground youth organizations and the ensuing reduction in the number of activists from which the Party could recruit members or elements to assist it in carrying out its revolutionary work.
Party cadres in charge of the youth sector assiduously conducted a review of the previous summing-up of the revolutionary youth-student movement. They studied �Our Urgent Tasks� once more, and drew lessons from the Party�s experience in worker organizing. From this, they drafted a guide on how to organize the KM step-by-step among students and community youth.
Establishing KM-AB
The KM Andres Bonifacio Chapter (KM-AB) currently consists of several hundred members in two chapters at the college level and another two in the community. It operates in a public university and several score urban poor communities.
The KM-AB achieved such gains in a span of two years. As a whole, its success could be attributed to the following factors: 1) firm unity on the need, orientation and tasks of the KM chapter; 2) collective monitoring and detailed assessment of the process of organizing and running chapters step-by-step; and 3) thoroughly and creatively carrying out tasks and duties at every level.
A network of underground cells set up after KM organizing was abandoned in 1997 formed the basis for setting up a KM chapter in the university in April 2003 when KM chapter building was once more addressed. After several months, two chapters at the college level were established. KM conducted assessments and study sessions, elected its officials and drafted plans. In the following months, its organization expanded like a prairie fire, with five additional chapters established in other colleges and nearby communities. The KM members also helped establish chapters of MAKIBAKA, the revolutionary women�s organization, and KASAMA (Katipunan ng mga Samahang Manggagawa), the revolutionary organization of the semi-proletariat.
The chapter continued to conduct education work and collectively addressed and resolved issues and problems that emerged. Within a few months, several of its members decided to join the New People�s Army (NPA). Others are expected to follow.
After a year, the KM-AB assessed its work and adopted resolutions, among them uniting on terminologies (defining the KM organizing group as the KM Collective [KMC] in accordance with �Our Urgent Tasks�), forming the KMC as the revolutionary core of open mass organizations, setting up chapters in every college and systematizing the deployment of its members, as well as systematizing revolutionary work in urban poor communities simultaneous with carrying out revolutionary tasks within the university. In the first six months of 2004, KM-AB was able to surpass its rate of growth for the whole of 2003.
As one of the KM chapters that has conducted organizing work in a community, KM-AB made a detailed study of its methods and style of work. It established open mass organizations, launched mass struggles and protest actions, and witnessed the organization�s rapid expansion. This November 2004, KM-AB celebrates the establishment of yet another chapter in a major community within its area of operations.
KM in the community
Another university-based KM chapter has likewise succeeded in setting up a chapter in a large urban poor community in Metro Manila, where the youth come from worker, semi-proletarian and peasant families displaced from the countryside in the 1970s and 1980s. Because of the high cost of education, many of these youth could not afford to go to school and end up getting involved in antisocial activities�peddling and using illegal drugs, engaging in robbery and prostitution and joining gangs, among others.
The KM activists were quickly able to reach out to the youth in the community by establishing contact with their gangs and other organizations. In linking with the youth, the activists focused discussions on burning issues close to the youth and people, including the lack of education, oil price hikes and unemployment.
They formed a legal organization. But it was not easy to consolidate its members. The main challenge lay in convincing them to turn their backs on antisocial activities. The activists devoted long periods to encouraging the members to change their outlook and habits gradually.
Some youth in the process of remolding themselves expressed support for the revolutionary movement. The advanced members who persevered in remolding themselves were recruited into the KM.
Because of the KM�s revolutionary perseverance, the youth were weaned away from engaging in antisocial activities. Gangs that used to fight each other now tread a common path and unite on the basis of the youth and people�s democratic aspirations.
At present, the chapter has over 300 active members. A growing number are ready to go to the countryside and eventually join the NPA. Others are being assiduously trained to lead KM organizing work within and outside their communities.
KM and KASAMA
KM has likewise been able to help set up chapters of other underground revolutionary mass organizations due to its perseverance in the conduct of its revolutionary tasks. A fine result was the establishment of a KASAMA chapter in a community. A number of KM members, mainly from schools, began conducting revolutionary work in that particular community in 2001. KM collectives were set up inside various organizations, with a KM chapter later established in the area. Not long after, KM took on the task of establishing the KASAMA in the community.
KM conducted its organizing work among 500 vendors (200 within the constructed market where stall rent is expensive, and 300 sidewalk vendors). Most of them are poor folk who earn very little from vending.
It was June 2004 when KM started recruiting vendors to become KASAMA members. With the local campaign against the wanton arrests by the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) gaining ground, the vendors� militancy was roused and raised to a higher level. It became easy to recruit KASAMA members from among the most politicized vendors.
To strengthen the clandestine organization, the KM ensures that education work is vibrant within KASAMA. Activists go from stall to stall to thoroughly explain issues to the masses and inquire about their problems and their views. They have become flexible in setting the time for study sessions, consultations and meetings.
Because of the vendors� heavy work burden, it is difficult to find enough time to hold long study sessions. They overcome this by dividing long courses into shorter ones. Through this method, the KASAMA members were able to complete the Short Course on Philippine Society and Revolution.
The vendors, meanwhile, provide support in various ways to the KM chapter. For example, it has became customary for them to provide KM members with vegetables, fish and meat from their stalls as support for the revolutionary activists in carrying out their tasks.
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