Jose Maria Sison Talks on Parliamentary Struggle, Revisionism, Inner Party Rectification, Peace Talks, Gorbachevism in the Philippines, and the Future of the National Democratic Movement

Abstract

Excerpt

Kathleen Weekley (KW): On the boycott debate between the Executive Committee of the Central Committee and the Executive Committee-Manila-Rizal during the 1978 elections, you said that the boycott was a mistake and had a divisive effect on the Party. Did you mean that the Central Committee should not have intervened?

Jose Maria Sison (JMS): In a society like the Philippines, the issue does not have to be divided between electoral boycott and participation all the time. The boycott position will always win within the Party, but you have to watch out whether the issue as defined inside the Party will be similarly defined and understood outside the Party. Within the party, if you say boycott and the pro-participation side accepts the term 'boycott, the pro-participation side will always lose in formal terms because, in the first place, the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) is not allowed to participate in the electoral process! So, there should be no debate about that. In a party like the CPP, it would be enough to say that the elections held by the class enemy are farcical.