RPM-P: Brief profile

Revolutionary Workers Party-Philippines, [1999]

On May 1, 1998, the Rebolusyonaryong partido ng manggagawa-Pilipinas (Revolutionary Workers Party) was formally established in its founding congress held in Mindanao island. Aptly enough, May 1 as the intenational working men's day, marked the historic day when the new proletarian party was established on a national scope, based on the ideological line of Marxism-Leninism. It also marks the final repudiation of the Maoist and Stalinist deviations. It defined the anti-imperialist and democratic transitional program as the line of march of the working class in the country towards socialism.

Despite adverse prediction, the party has survived the difficulties of growth, mustering the inner strength of its membership and leadership, drawing collective wisdom from its wealth of experience and gathering all-sided support from the working people and its friends here and abroad.

It has achieved modest gains and is set to develop and advance further the working class leadership in the revolutionary struggle against the State-led capital.

Mass Movement

In Mindanao, our RPMP-led forces operate in ten provinces, including 2 newly opened ones, and in 6 cities among the Moro people and the Lumads. In the Visayas, our presence is felt in 8 provinces, in more than 11 cities and several towns. In the National Capital Region, from our seed forces in a few communities, we were able to ally with some labor federations and unions, and with urban poor organizations. In Southern and Central Luzon, we have reached out to the rural and urban poor.

The National Center and its machinery for political mass struggles in NCR, Visayas and Mindanao have been established. We have now the capacity to mobilize nationwide hundreds of thousands , on all issues related to democratic struggles and anti-imperialist movements. The people's organizations, multisectoral as well as sectoral, have rapidly taken roots, especially in Luzon. Through our friends and allies in federations, unions, in the urban and rural poor organizations, our leadership has been positioned in the labor front. A number of elements from other political blocs seek our cooperation and alliance, and merge with our organized forces.

This rapid growth may be attributed to the intense and committed work of our party cadres, socialist activists and basic forces, our offer of a new alternative leadership vis-à-vis the disenchantment on the part of sincere revolutionary elements who are questing the paradigm and leadership of their political blocs.

Army Building

The RPA-ABB upholds the political and ideological leadership of RPM-P as a people's army and proletarian armed force. It now commands 4 battalions which are dispersed into companies, platoons, partisan units and reserved forces nationwide. It has held its second military conference in July 1998 and has established a national staff and regional commands. Its Politico-Military Academy has conducted military training and basic party course to some new 100 recruits. While stressing on consolidation, it has formed expansion teams in Luzon and conducted some partisan operations mainly as punitive measures. The RPA-ABB has bright prospects under the leadership of the RPMP and is prepared for politico-military struggles in support of the mass movement and in defense of the people's interests.

Party Building

The post-Congress period was marked with ideological consolidation of old and new forces. The challenges are still there for the party to continuously uproot the remnants of Maoist and Stalinist absolutism, the dangers of arrogance and personality cult, and the persistence of liberalism and regionalism. There must be no let-up in ideological and theoretical work through the propagation of basic party documents, party study meetings here and abroad.

The party may now look optimistically towards renewed participation in the proletarian revolutionary movement against global capital and its domestic agents in the new millennium of the working class.