Central Committee, Communist Party of the Philippines
July 1992

[Editorial Note: This is the final document as amended and approved by the Central Committee of the Party. This supersedes the draft presented by CC Chairman Armando Liwanag and the version amended and approved by the Executive Committee of the Central Committee.

Because this is a summing up of major errors and shortcomings and also a rectification document, there is a preponderance of criticism rather than of celebration of the achievements of the Party. This is the principal document of the ongoing rectification movement. It is supplemented by the General Review of Important Events and Decisions From 1980 to 1991.]

Let us reaffirm the basic revolutionary principles of the Party on the 23rd anniversary of its reestablishment. These are our guiding light in taking stock of and celebrating the accomplishments of the Party as well as in confronting certain long-running problems and unprecedented setbacks.

Our basic principles are set forth in the documents of reestablishment such as "Rectify Errors and Rebuild the Party", the Party Constitution and Program. As proletarian revolutionaries, we must always measure ourselves according to these principles.

These principles run through the following: adherence to the theory of Marxism- Leninism, repudiation of modern revisionism, the class analysis of Philippine society as semicolonial and semifeudal, the general line of new democratic revolution, the leading role of the working class through the Party, the theory of people's war and the strategic line of encircling the cities from the countryside, the united front along the revolutionary class line, democratic centralism, the socialist perspective and proletarian internationalism.

Through the years, the overwhelming majority of Party cadres and members have adhered to these basic principles and have won great victories in carrying the Philippine revolution forward. The Party played an outstanding role in the long struggle against the U.S.-Marcos fascist dictatorship up to the end and comprehensively and profoundly advanced the Philippine revolution to a level higher than at any time in the past.

In the mid-1980s, the Party, the people's army, the mass movement and the revolutionary united front reached a level unprecedented in scope and strength since the Party's reestablishment, far beyond the highest level ever achieved by the armed revolution under the leadership of the old merger party. Such a level was achieved under the guidance of the Party's general line and through correct tactics against the U.S.-Marcos fascist dictatorship, policy on the step-by-step, all-sided and consistent pursuit of the armed revolution as well as through the courageous struggles and sacrifices by Party cadres and members and by the revolutionary masses, the Party, the people's army, the mass movement and the revolutionary united front.

At the same time, there have been gross deviations and errors which have caused grievous damage to the Party and the revolutionary mass movement. There have also been other errors and shortcomings, which although not as serious, have nonetheless caused damage or served as a drag on the advance of the revolution. Impelled by petty bourgeois impetuosity and subjectivism in the face of the vigorous advance of the revolution and the rapid decline of the U.S.-Marcos fascist dictatorship, there emerged inside the Party certain concepts of "advancing" the revolution that deviated from the basic principles and the theory and line of people's war, flew away from concrete conditions and the actual strength of the revolutionary forces and overreached for a quick victory by skipping the necessary stages for advancing the revolution.

The worst among these is the line combining the desire for urban armed insurrection and army "regularization", that in the countryside encouraged military adventurist actions and the purely military viewpoint and, in the cities, actions and ideas of putschism and worship of the spontaneous masses. The obsession with urban insurrection and the premature buildup of higher but as yet unsustainable military formations (companies and battalions) and top-heavy staff structures, deprived the countryside of cadres urgently needed for mass work. These are misrepresented as adjustments or refinements on the theory and practice of people's war or otherwise as a superior theory or strategy. Thus, we are plagued by a reduction of mass base and other concomitant problems that in gravity are also unprecedented in the experience of the reestablished Party.

The serious deviations and errors were not identified, criticized and repudiated for a long time. These were allowed to spread and influence a portion of the Party organization and created a great amount of disorientation and damage, and then to harden to the point of rejecting criticism and rectification, and now to a degree these threaten the very life of the Party and the revolutionary movement.

However, the correct line and those who adhere to it still prevail and can further prevail over the wrong line. It should be made clear, however, that we are still far stronger in several respects than in 1968, 1977 or 1980. The entire strength of the Party, the people's army and the mass movement in the countryside and the cities is more or less at the level we reached in 1983 or 1984. If we rectify the deviations and errors and take firm steps towards the correct course, the strength that we have achieved and maintained until today is sufficient for us to continue advancing towards the last phase of the strategic defensive. There is firm ground for further leading the masses (arousing, organizing and mobilizing them) and launching the offensives (mass actions and armed tactical offensives) that we are capable of.

The enemy is daydreaming when he boasts of being able to defeat the Party and the people in 1992 and 1993. The ruling system is wracked by an ever worsening political and economic crisis. There is increasing violence among the political factions of the exploiting classes. The preindustrial semicolonial and semifeudal economy continues to be plundered by the local exploiting classes and the multinational firms and banks. The crisis drives the broad masses of the people to resistance and provides the fertile ground for the armed revolution and the legal democratic movement.

We must stand firmly as proletarian revolutionaries like the Bolsheviks did when capitalism expanded rapidly to become modern imperialism in the period before World War I and the classical revisionists dominated the Second International and also like the Communists did when they fought fascism during another period before, during and after World War II. We must stand firm and fight now in another dark period when capitalism seems to be unchallenged and unbeatable as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the revisionist ruling parties and regimes and their replacement by undisguised bourgeois class dictatorship and capitalist regimes.

The chronic crisis of the semicolonial and semifeudal social system is ever worsening and provides the conditions for the development of our protracted armed revolution. We see the ever-growing contradictions among the capitalist powers, between them and the increased number of debt-ridden neocolonies, between the local ruling classes and their foreign masters on the one hand and the oppressed and exploited peoples and nations on the other, and between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.

All the counterrevolutionary campaigns of violence and deception will fail if the Party sums up its experience well, criticizes, repudiates and rectifies the major errors and deviations that have seriously damaged the Party and the revolutionary mass movement and now threaten their very life. The Party can further strengthen itself by basing itself on previous and continuing achievements, conducting criticism and self-criticism in an all-round rectification movement and correctly setting forth the new tasks.

In the face of enemy assaults and of deviations and errors that have caused serious damage to the revolutionary forces and the people, we call on all Party cadres and members to reaffirm our basic principles, identify and rectify the major deviations, errors and shortcomings and strengthen our Party ideologically, politically and organizationally.

Despite the adverse results leading to the drastic decline in our strength in certain areas, there are still are some elements who persist in their impetuosity and there are others who swing from an ultra-Left position to a Rightist position. It is of crucial importance that we trace the ideological, political and organizational roots of our major errors and shortcomings, understand the circumstances in which these arose and recognize their harmful effects, so that we can correctly take our bearings and strengthen the Party and the revolutionary mass movement.

There can be countless specific achievements and specific problems to cite. But our main objective in this document is to identify, criticize and rectify those major deviations, errors and shortcomings that have had the most considerable impact on the current status and further development of the Party and the revolutionary movement. While we conduct a wide-ranging review and study of our past practice and current circumstances, this is not intended to replace the summings-up and assessments of varying scope that must still be undertaken.

In general, the Party still has considerable strength and vitality needed to solve the long running problems and overcome the unprecedented setbacks. We can further strengthen ourselves and carry the revolution forward.