The Communist Party of the Philippines, 1968-1993 : a story of its theory and practice

Includes bibliographical references and index

This is a story about the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) from its founding in 1968 to its devastating splits in the early 1990's. Weekley asks why the CPP was not able to adjust to the changed political condition of EDSA, when it was necessary to do so. Her answers refer to the role of theory in the fortunes and misfortunes of the Party. The relationship between theory and practice in the CPP has often been uneasy, because in no more than twenty years, the Party officially reviewed and alterered its original strategy only once in 1974. Even leading intellectuals did not address the full implications of the "adjustments" they had been making to CPP theory along the way, until it was too late. Weekley shows how this severely hindered efforts to redefine the CPP's place in post-dictatorship politics. Using official and unofficial CPP documents, and information from her in-depth interviews with ranking party cadres (former and present), Weekley tells a story that is critical of and yet sympathetic to the dilemmas of the CPP.