I thank the editors of Building Strength through Struggle for putting together the major documents that I drafted and finalized for the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the articles that I wrote as Chairman of said committee in the period between the formal declaration of martial law on September 21, 1972 and my capture on November 10, 1977.

Building Strength through Struggle contains the most significant documents and articles on the Filipino people’s struggle against the Marcos fascist dictatorship during its first five years of existence. These expose clearly the character and stratagems of the dictatorship and define the revolutionary course of action, including the establishment of the people’s democratic government, the leadership of the working class, the protracted people’s war and the development of the mass movement.

To this day, the “Guide for Establishing the People’s Democratic Government,” “Special Characteristics of our People’s War,” “Our Urgent Tasks” and “Elaboration on the 10-Point Program of the National Democratic Front” are highly instructive to the revolutionary forces and people. These historic documents reinforced the earlier foundation documents in guiding the people’s democratic revolution and countering various trends of subjectivism and opportunism in the 1980s.

From 1970 onwards, Party cadres and members were provided with theoretical education, politico-military training and experience in mass work and combat in Isabela and other provinces of northeast Luzon. They were subsequently deployed to other regions. The suspension of the writ of habeas corpus in 1971 and the declaration of martial law in 1972 forced many urban-based Party members and mass activists to go underground. They were deployed to various regions.

When the Plenum of the Party Central Committee was held in December 1975, the reports showed that the CPP, NPA, the organs of political power and mass organizations of the revolutionary movement had already spread to all regions of the Philippines, except the Moro provinces. The Plenum inspired the regional Party committees and regional commands of the NPA to expand the mass base and create more guerrilla fronts.

The rapidly growing strength and advance of the revolutionary movement can be traced by reading the annual anniversary statements of the CPP Central Committee on the work of the entire Party and New People’s Army and can also be seen in the periodic assessments critical of the policies and actions of the Marcos fascist regime and laying bare its growing isolation and weakness.

However, in accordance with the law of development, the revolutionary movement could not and did not advance on a straight line. It had to confront and solve problems arising from the ferocity of the attacks of the fascist dictatorship and from the major and minor errors and shortcomings within the CPP organs and units. Some of my writings in the book criticize certain major errors and show how these were resolved.

In developing the united front against the fascist dictatorship, we adhered to the line of unity and struggle and thus we maintained independence and initiative. We were critical of the anti-Marcos reactionaries for always putting their hopes on the US to junk Marcos and the revival of the 1935 constitution of the reactionary government. We were strongly supportive of the Moro people’s right to national self-determination and were thus critical of the Moro National Liberation Front for yielding to the sovereign pretensions and processes of the fascist dictatorship in the Tripoli Agreement of 1976.

After more than five years of fascist dictatorship, especially after my capture in 1977, Marcos deluded himself into thinking that he had stabilized his rule because he was still commanding the forces of the armed counterrevolution and because he was propped up by US military and economic assistance due to the US military bases as well as by the seemingly endless flow of foreign loans under the auspices of the IMF and World Bank.

But in fact the revolutionary movement had taken deep roots nationwide under the guidance of the Program for a People’s Democratic Revolution along the anti-fascist, anti-feudal and anti-imperialist line. It challenged not only the autocratic regime but the entire ruling system of big compradors, landlords and the puppet politicians servile to US imperialism.

This book aims to provide readers with a comprehensive and profound understanding of the perseverance, resilience and rapid development of the revolutionary movement. It shows the oppressive and exploitative conditions that generated the people’s resistance and more importantly the principles and processes of building strength through revolutionary struggle.

Some documents give a sense of the status of the world anti-imperialist and communist movement at the time, such as the following: “Statement of the Communist Party of the Philippines on the Agreement Ending the War and Restoring Peace in Vietnam,” “A Diplomatic Victory of the People’s Republic of China: A Victory of the Philippine Revolutionary Struggle,” “Tribute to the Great Communist Mao Zedong” and “The October Revolution Sixty Years Ago Established the First Workers’ State.”

May this preface spark the interest of readers in knowing how the revolutionary forces of the Filipino people withstood the ferocious attacks of the Marcos fascist dictatorship, how they ultimately caused its downfall and why to this day they persevere in revolutionary struggle against the semicolonial and semifeudal ruling system that pretends to be democratic and yet is extremely servile to foreign interests but extremely exploitative, corrupt, brutal and mendacious to the people.

Jose Maria Sison
Utrecht, The Netherlands
October 25, 2013