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(Created page with "{{Infobox revolutionary | name = Jose Maria Sison | image = File:KaJoma.png | image_size = 225px | caption = Portrait of Comrade Joma. | nationality = Filipino |political_party=CPP | birth_name = Jose Maria Canlas Sison | birth_date = 8 February 1939 | birth_place = Cabugao, Ilocos Sur, Philippines | death_date = 16 December 2022 | death_place = Utrecht, Netherlands | political_line...")
 
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| caption = Portrait of Comrade Joma.
| caption = Portrait of Comrade Joma.
| nationality = Filipino
| nationality = Filipino
|political_party=[[Communist Party of the Philippines|CPP]]
|political_party=[[Communist Party of the Philippines|CPP-NPA-NDFP]]
| birth_name          = Jose Maria Canlas Sison
| birth_name          = Jose Maria Canlas Sison
| birth_date          = 8 February 1939
| birth_date          = 8 February 1939
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| death_date          = 16 December 2022
| death_date          = 16 December 2022
| death_place        = Utrecht, [[Netherlands]]
| death_place        = Utrecht, [[Netherlands]]
| political_line = [[Marxism–Leninism–Maoism]]<br>[[Anti-revisionism]]}}
| political_line = [[Marxism–Leninism–Maoism]]<br>[[National Democracy]]<br>[[Anti-revisionism]]}}
'''Jose Maria Sison''' (3 December 1934 – 11 September 2021), also known as '''Joma''', was a [[Philippines|Filipino]] revolutionary, writer, poet, professor, and founding member of the [[Communist Party of the Philippines]] from 1968 until his death in 2022. He founded the [[New People’s Army]] and the [[National Democratic Front of the Philippines]] and waged a [[protracted people’s war|people's war]] in the Philippines since 1969. He has been in exile in the Netherlands since 1988 and has led the party from there for the rest of his life.
{{Maoism sidebar}}
'''Jose Maria Sison''' (8 February 1939 – 16 December 2022), also known as '''Joma''', was a [[Philippines|Filipino]] revolutionary, writer, poet, professor, and founding member of the [[Communist Party of the Philippines]] from 1968 until his death in 2022. He founded the [[New People's Army|New People’s Army]] and the [[National Democratic Front of the Philippines]] and waged a [[protracted people’s war|people's war]] in the Philippines since 1969. He has been in exile in the Netherlands since 1988 and has led the party from there for the rest of his life.


== Early Life and Education ==
== Early Life and Education ==


Jose Maria Sison was born to a landlord political family in February 8, 1939, in Cabugao, Ilocos Sur. Some of his relatives were killed by the [[HUKBALAHAP]] (early Filipino Marxist-Leninist guerilla movement) due to their upper-class landlord status. He learned more about the “Huks”, as they were colloquially called, from Ilocos farm workers. He once was supportive of populist and anti-imperialist politicians. He claimed to get interested in Communism from reading an anti-communist book in his Jesuit High School.<ref>Rev Left Radio (October 31, 2023). [https://youtu.be/GnwTzf0mL8E "Jose Maria Sison: In Conversation with Comrade Joma"]. ''YouTube''.</ref> Upon graduating from the University of the Philippines in 1959, he studied in Indonesia and upon returning to the Philippines, he became a Professor at the University of the Philippines-Diliman of literature and later political science. He co-founded a youth organization called Kabataang Makabayan (Patriotic Youth) in 1964, where it stood against the Vietnam War, bureaucrat capitalism, and feudalism.
Jose Maria Sison was born to a landlord political family in February 8, 1939, in Cabugao, Ilocos Sur. Some of his relatives were killed by the [[HUKBALAHAP]] (early Filipino Marxist-Leninist guerilla movement) due to their upper-class landlord status. He learned more about the “Huks”, as they were colloquially called, from Ilocos farm workers. He once was supportive of populist and anti-imperialist politicians. He claimed have gotten interested in Communism from reading an anti-communist book in his Jesuit High School.<ref>Rev Left Radio (October 31, 2023). [https://youtu.be/GnwTzf0mL8E "Jose Maria Sison: In Conversation with Comrade Joma"]. ''YouTube''.</ref> Upon graduating from the University of the Philippines in 1959, he studied in Indonesia and upon returning to the Philippines, he became a Professor at the University of the Philippines-Diliman of literature and later political science. He co-founded a youth organization called Kabataang Makabayan (Patriotic Youth) in 1964, where it stood against the [[Vietnam War]], [[Capitalism|bureaucrat capitalism]], and [[Feudalism|semi-feudalism]].


Gonzalo finished his Primary education in Callao and then started studying in Secondary. Gonzalo as a kid was also attracted to the sport Football and played it intensely; little by little he started to give it up, although as an adult he retained some fondness for it. At the end of World War 2 Gonzalo had read on the newspaper, the capture of Berlin by the Red Army, the celebration of Victory Day after Germany's defeat, the newspapers that headlined images of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Comrade Stalin. Chairman Gonzalo had grown emotional admiration to Comrade Stalin and the Soviet Union from the Soviet film 'Long Live Youth!' Gonzalo later learned from a Chinese merchant, that in China there was a great revolution and that the true figure was not Chiang Kai-shek but Mao Zedong who led a Communist Party like Stalin in the USSR. This started the awakening of Gonzalo's class consciousness.<ref>Ibid, Page 7</ref>
== Refounding of the Communist Party and Martial Law==
On December 26, 1968, Sison, along with his followers, refounded the Communist Party of the Philippines in the line of [[Marxism-Leninism]] and [[Mao Zedong Thought]] in opposition to the [[Soviet revisionism|pro-Soviet revisionist line]] of Jesus Lava and Jose Lava. This event became known as the First Great Rectification Movement. The Old Communist Party of the Philippines would fall into further revisionism and is now called [[PKP-1930]] (Communist Party of the Philippines - 1930) and regularly sides with the Government against the new Communist Party, which grew in organization size and popularity. The [[New People's Army]] was formed on March 26 1969, and formally proclaimed a People's War in the same year against the Marcos government. The NPA continued to receive aid from the [[People's Republic of China (1949–1978)|People's Republic of China under Mao Zedong]] until 1976.<ref>[https://www.mlmrsg.com/attachments/article/74/ChForPol-Final-4-09.pdf "Chinese Foreign Policy during the Maoist Era and its Lessons for Today"].MLM Revolutionary Study Group in the U.S.</ref>


By age fourteen Gonzalo had finished Secondary School and had moved into his father's home, an atheistic and intellectual setting focused on conversations and discussions about books, theories, and ideas in general, though little was talked about politics,<ref>Ibid, page 10</ref> when he was 16 Gonzalo had witnessed an uprising in Arequipa in 1950, Gonzalo later commentated about the event during an interview:<ref>INTERVIEW WITH CHAIRMAN GONZALO, Central Committee Communist Party of Peru, 1988</ref>
The US-backed fascist dictator [[Ferdinand Marcos Sr.]] used events such as the First Quarter Storm of 1970 (mass protests of progressive forces in opposition to US imperialism and capitalism), the Liberal Party Plaza Miranda Bombing of 1971, and the attacks of Marcos-allied politicians such as Juan Ponce Enrile to justify withdrawing the writ to habeas corpus, closing congress, and proclaiming martial law in 1972. Over 107,240 people, including activists, youth, and intellectuals, were victims of imprisoning and forced disappearances, and killngs under Martial Law.<ref>[https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1558472/fast-facts-on-martial-law "Fast facts on martial law"]Inquirer.net</ref> Jose Maria Sison, along with many CPP-NPA leaders, was arrested in 1977 and imprisoned until 1986 where he faced torture by the fascist police guards. He wrote a lot while in prison, including [[Basic Principles of Marxism-Leninism: A Primer]], which was smuggled by his wife, Julia de Lima, in 1982.
<blockquote>I'd say that what has most influenced me to take up politics has been the struggle of the people. I saw the fighting spirit of the people during the uprising in Arequipa in 1950--how the masses fought with uncontainable fury in response to the barbarous slaughter of the youth. And I saw how they fought the army, forcing them to retreat to their barracks. And how forces had to be brought in from other places in order to crush the people. This is an event that, I'd say, has been imprinted quite vividly in my memory. Because there, after having come to understand Lenin, I understood how the people, how our class, when they take to the streets and march, can make the reactionaries tremble, despite all their power.
At age 18, in 1952 Gonzalo had finished all of his studies, Gonzalo received medals upon graduation.</blockquote>


== Refounding of the Communist Party and Martial Law==
Martial Law formally ended in 1982, but Marcos and his family continued to hold full political power until 1986 after the [[liberal EDSA People's Power Revolution]], aided by liberal moderate anti-Marcos politicans and members of the [[Roman Catholic Church]], forced the Marcos Family out of power and into exile in Hawaii. Corazon Aquino, wife of the liberal Benigno S. “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. (whose father was a Japanese Collaborator) succeeded Marcos as the first female president of the Philippines.
 
Jose Maria Sison, along with many political prisoners, were released in 1986. Soon after release, the CPP-NPA-NDFP attempted to pursue peace negotiations with the liberal Aquino government, even achieving a ceasefire.<ref>[https://opinion.inquirer.net/159753/flashback-ceasefire-1986 "Flashback: Ceasefire 1986"]Inquirer.net</ref> But after the [[Mendiola Massacre]] of 1987, wherein worker protesters were massacred by police forces, peace negotiations broke down and the New People's Army continued the armed struggle and resumed strategic operations against government forces and authorities.
 
== Exile and Later Life ==
Whilst on a European Lecture tour in 1988 in the Netherlands, he was informed that his passport had been revoked and that charges had been filed against him under the Anti-Subversion Law of the Philippines. Although these cases were dropped, he sought political asylum and by 1992, became a political refugee.
 
During the Second Great Rectification Movement in 1992, the Communist Party of the Philippines proclaimed their ideological line as [[Marxism-Leninism-Maoism]]. During the movement, they purged the party of left deviationists, opportunists and “rejectionists”.
 
Jose Maria Sison would be a co-founder and Chairperson emeritus  of the [[International League of People's Struggle]], an international organization consisting of progressive and worker groups from around the world.


Chairman Gonzalo originally had aspirations to become a soldier in the Peruvian Army, however decided to become a lawyer, Gonzalo was enrolled in the University of the Great Father San Agustín of Arequipa in 1953, Gonzalo's Father primarily funded his education. After he graduated, he earned a degree in Philosophy and law, after graduating he became a clerk then finally landing on the job as a university lecture and becoming financially independent, no longer requiring his father's economic aid. During his time at the University Philosophy and Science became the center of his studies; in terms of theory, they led him to Marxism.<ref>Ibid, Page 13-15</ref>
In 2002, the Philippine old state under Gloria Macapagal Arroyo called upon the [[United States]] and the European Union to call Sison and the CPP “terrorist organizations”. Sison was incarcerated by the Dutch government in 2007 under murder charges, which were dropped in 2008 under pressure from progressive groups.


Chairman Gonzalo wrote two theses, "On the Kantian Theory of Space" and "The Democratic-Bourgeois State". When he was 26. The first aimed to demonstrate the unsustainability of Kant's subjective idealist position on space and, conversely, to reaffirm the Marxist philosophical position of space (and also of time, although this thesis does not address time) as a manifestation of matter in eternal movement, based on current science. The second aimed to demonstrate the obsolescence of the democratic-bourgeois state, and bourgeois in general, based on how its practice proves the negation of its own principles and how it has plunged the world into the greatest exploitation and oppression, while simultaneously giving rise to its gravedigger, the proletariat, a class that has opened a new chapter in history. Two political events, alongside the aforementioned, mark the development of Gonzalo's class consciousness, the earlier mentioned uprising in Arequipa in 1950, and another not yet mentioned event of class struggle in the same area in 1956 which brought down Esparza Zañartu, and initiated the end of the Ochenio.  
[[Rodrigo Duterte]], a former student of Sison, promised the resuming of peace negotiations with him during his presidential election campaign in 2016. But upon Duterte’s election as Philippine President, he instead formed the NTF-ELCAC (National Task Force to End Communist Armed Conflict), pursued a catastrophic war on drugs, introduced a policy of red-tagging attacks on legal activists and progressive forces, proclaimed an “Anti-Terrorism” Law in 2020, and declared the CPP-NPA-NDF as a “Terrorist Organization”.


The first Marxist works Gonzalo read were, [[the Communist Manifesto]], and One Step Forward, Two Steps Back, he received them shortly after the death of Comrade Stalin in 1953. Gonzalo admired and defended Stalin even defending him against [[Khrushchevite]] attacks in 1956, Gonzalo later joined the PCP around in the late 50's to the early 60's. Gonzalo first worked with workers and students, then in organization where he came to know the party's structure and how it functioned, he attended important events such as a regional meeting with comrades from Cuzco and Puno. Subsequently, he was involved in the preparation of the so-called 'National Liberation Front,' but Gonzalo was among those who opposed using this name for electoral purposes, as its outlook was the elections of 1962; a good part, if not the majority, took such a position in the most important internal struggle of the moment against a backdrop of the fight against revisionism that, years later, would ultimately lead to its expulsion from the Party in 1964. He first went to Tacna to promote his party work then later when to Lima where he participated in the national formation of the 'FLN,' where he met prominent leaders of the Party and figures from the colorful Peruvian left. During his time as a begginer Marxist he read Stalin's, "Questions of Leninism", "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism", "What is to be done?", "New Democracy" and other works.
Jose Maria Sion died on December 16, 2022 in Utrecht, Netherlands.
== Exile and Later Life ==
== Criticism ==
== Criticism ==
* He supported [[North Korea]] and the Workers Party of Korea as a "Marxist-Leninist party that has victoriously led the Korean people and state in frustrating imperialist aggression and in achieving socialist revolution and construction.".<ref>[https://www.bannedthought.net/Philippines/CPP/Sison/JoseMariaSison-FromMarxist-LeninistToRevisionist-2014b-sm.pdf "Jose Maria Sison: From Marxist-Leninist to Revisionist"]</ref>
* He supported other revisionist countries like [[Cuba]], [[Vietnam]], [[Angola]], and [[Nicaragua]] and even capitalist countries like [[Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela|Venezuela]]. <ref>Ibid, Page 14, 17-19, 74-77</ref>
* He supported [[Leonid Brezhnev|Brezhnevite revisionism]] upon his release from prison in 1987. <ref>Ibid, Page 12 </ref>
* He condemmed what he called "ultra-left dogmatists" in regards to his support of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. <ref>Ibid, Page 53-58 </ref>


==See also==
==See also==
* [[National Democracy]]
* [[National Democracy]]
==Bibliography==
The following are works by Jose Maria Sison available on the [[Revolupedia:Library|Revolupedia library]].
<categorytree mode="pages" depth="10">Library works by Jose Maria Sison</categorytree>


==References==
==References==
Line 41: Line 57:
===Notes===
===Notes===
{{Notelist}}
{{Notelist}}
[[Category:Maoists]][[Category:Communist Party of the Philippines]][[Category:Filipino communists]][[Category:Anti-revisionists]][[Category:Revolutionaries]]
[[Category:Maoists]][[Category:Communist Party of the Philippines]][[Category:Authors]][[Category:Filipino communists]][[Category:Anti-revisionists]][[Category:Revolutionaries]]

Latest revision as of 02:53, 24 November 2025

Jose Maria Sison

Portrait of Comrade Joma.
Born
Jose Maria Canlas Sison

8 February 1939
Cabugao, Ilocos Sur, Philippines
Died 16 December 2022
Utrecht, Netherlands
Nationality Filipino
Ideology Marxism–Leninism–Maoism
National Democracy
Anti-revisionism
Political party CPP-NPA-NDFP

Jose Maria Sison (8 February 1939 – 16 December 2022), also known as Joma, was a Filipino revolutionary, writer, poet, professor, and founding member of the Communist Party of the Philippines from 1968 until his death in 2022. He founded the New People’s Army and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and waged a people's war in the Philippines since 1969. He has been in exile in the Netherlands since 1988 and has led the party from there for the rest of his life.

Early Life and Education

Jose Maria Sison was born to a landlord political family in February 8, 1939, in Cabugao, Ilocos Sur. Some of his relatives were killed by the HUKBALAHAP (early Filipino Marxist-Leninist guerilla movement) due to their upper-class landlord status. He learned more about the “Huks”, as they were colloquially called, from Ilocos farm workers. He once was supportive of populist and anti-imperialist politicians. He claimed have gotten interested in Communism from reading an anti-communist book in his Jesuit High School.[1] Upon graduating from the University of the Philippines in 1959, he studied in Indonesia and upon returning to the Philippines, he became a Professor at the University of the Philippines-Diliman of literature and later political science. He co-founded a youth organization called Kabataang Makabayan (Patriotic Youth) in 1964, where it stood against the Vietnam War, bureaucrat capitalism, and semi-feudalism.

Refounding of the Communist Party and Martial Law

On December 26, 1968, Sison, along with his followers, refounded the Communist Party of the Philippines in the line of Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought in opposition to the pro-Soviet revisionist line of Jesus Lava and Jose Lava. This event became known as the First Great Rectification Movement. The Old Communist Party of the Philippines would fall into further revisionism and is now called PKP-1930 (Communist Party of the Philippines - 1930) and regularly sides with the Government against the new Communist Party, which grew in organization size and popularity. The New People's Army was formed on March 26 1969, and formally proclaimed a People's War in the same year against the Marcos government. The NPA continued to receive aid from the People's Republic of China under Mao Zedong until 1976.[2]

The US-backed fascist dictator Ferdinand Marcos Sr. used events such as the First Quarter Storm of 1970 (mass protests of progressive forces in opposition to US imperialism and capitalism), the Liberal Party Plaza Miranda Bombing of 1971, and the attacks of Marcos-allied politicians such as Juan Ponce Enrile to justify withdrawing the writ to habeas corpus, closing congress, and proclaiming martial law in 1972. Over 107,240 people, including activists, youth, and intellectuals, were victims of imprisoning and forced disappearances, and killngs under Martial Law.[3] Jose Maria Sison, along with many CPP-NPA leaders, was arrested in 1977 and imprisoned until 1986 where he faced torture by the fascist police guards. He wrote a lot while in prison, including Basic Principles of Marxism-Leninism: A Primer, which was smuggled by his wife, Julia de Lima, in 1982.

Martial Law formally ended in 1982, but Marcos and his family continued to hold full political power until 1986 after the liberal EDSA People's Power Revolution, aided by liberal moderate anti-Marcos politicans and members of the Roman Catholic Church, forced the Marcos Family out of power and into exile in Hawaii. Corazon Aquino, wife of the liberal Benigno S. “Ninoy” Aquino Jr. (whose father was a Japanese Collaborator) succeeded Marcos as the first female president of the Philippines.

Jose Maria Sison, along with many political prisoners, were released in 1986. Soon after release, the CPP-NPA-NDFP attempted to pursue peace negotiations with the liberal Aquino government, even achieving a ceasefire.[4] But after the Mendiola Massacre of 1987, wherein worker protesters were massacred by police forces, peace negotiations broke down and the New People's Army continued the armed struggle and resumed strategic operations against government forces and authorities.

Exile and Later Life

Whilst on a European Lecture tour in 1988 in the Netherlands, he was informed that his passport had been revoked and that charges had been filed against him under the Anti-Subversion Law of the Philippines. Although these cases were dropped, he sought political asylum and by 1992, became a political refugee.

During the Second Great Rectification Movement in 1992, the Communist Party of the Philippines proclaimed their ideological line as Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. During the movement, they purged the party of left deviationists, opportunists and “rejectionists”.

Jose Maria Sison would be a co-founder and Chairperson emeritus of the International League of People's Struggle, an international organization consisting of progressive and worker groups from around the world.

In 2002, the Philippine old state under Gloria Macapagal Arroyo called upon the United States and the European Union to call Sison and the CPP “terrorist organizations”. Sison was incarcerated by the Dutch government in 2007 under murder charges, which were dropped in 2008 under pressure from progressive groups.

Rodrigo Duterte, a former student of Sison, promised the resuming of peace negotiations with him during his presidential election campaign in 2016. But upon Duterte’s election as Philippine President, he instead formed the NTF-ELCAC (National Task Force to End Communist Armed Conflict), pursued a catastrophic war on drugs, introduced a policy of red-tagging attacks on legal activists and progressive forces, proclaimed an “Anti-Terrorism” Law in 2020, and declared the CPP-NPA-NDF as a “Terrorist Organization”.

Jose Maria Sion died on December 16, 2022 in Utrecht, Netherlands.

Criticism

  • He supported North Korea and the Workers Party of Korea as a "Marxist-Leninist party that has victoriously led the Korean people and state in frustrating imperialist aggression and in achieving socialist revolution and construction.".[5]
  • He supported other revisionist countries like Cuba, Vietnam, Angola, and Nicaragua and even capitalist countries like Venezuela. [6]
  • He supported Brezhnevite revisionism upon his release from prison in 1987. [7]
  • He condemmed what he called "ultra-left dogmatists" in regards to his support of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. [8]

See also

Bibliography

The following are works by Jose Maria Sison available on the Revolupedia library.

References

  1. Rev Left Radio (October 31, 2023). "Jose Maria Sison: In Conversation with Comrade Joma". YouTube.
  2. "Chinese Foreign Policy during the Maoist Era and its Lessons for Today".MLM Revolutionary Study Group in the U.S.
  3. "Fast facts on martial law"Inquirer.net
  4. "Flashback: Ceasefire 1986"Inquirer.net
  5. "Jose Maria Sison: From Marxist-Leninist to Revisionist"
  6. Ibid, Page 14, 17-19, 74-77
  7. Ibid, Page 12
  8. Ibid, Page 53-58

Notes