Sison Reader Series

About the Book: It is to the outstanding great credit of the Communist Party of the Philippines that it is one of the proletarian revolutionary parties of the world successfully leading the people's democratic revolution through protracted people's war under the theoretical guidance of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. It is widely recognized as a torch-bearer of the world proletarian-socialist revolution, whose resurgence is being ushered in by the anti-imperialist and democratic mass struggles all over the world and by the intensification of all major contradictions: between labor and capital; between the imperialist powers and the oppressed peoples and nations; among the imperialist powers themselves; and the US and China as the chief imperialist rivals.   About the Author: Jose Maria Sison led the reestablishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1968 and the founding of the New People's Army in 1969. He is now among the world's most outstanding theoreticians in Marxism-Lenininism-Maoism. He continues to do research and write on Philippine and global issues.   About the Series: The International Network for Philippine Studies is proud to present the sixth book of the Sison Reader Series: On the Communist Party of the Philippines, 2000-2022. Next in the pipeline are On People's War, On the United Front, On Peace Negotiations, Socialist Cause in Resurgence, On the Legal Democratic Mass Movement, On the Revolutionary Mass Movement, On the Workers' Movement, On the Peasant Movement and Land Reform, On the Youth Movement, Women in Revolution, On National Minorities and their Right to Self-Determination, On Imperialist Oppression and Exploitation, On Ecology and Environment, and further books in the series.

Critique of Philippine Economy and Politics seeks to explain comprehensively the basic character of Philippine society and the basic problems that afflict the Filipino people, especially the toiling masses of workers and peasants.      Since 1946, the US has granted nominal independence to the Philippines but has retained. US dominance over the economic, political, cultural and social life of the Filipino people. The shift has merely been from direct colonial to semicolonial or neocolonial rule The semifeudal economy has persisted. There has been no genuine land reform and national industrialization. Imperialism, feudalism and bureaucrat capitalism perpetuate underdevelopment, extreme exploitation, mass unemployment and widespread poverty. About the author: Jose Maria Sison is the Founding Chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines, Chief Political Consultant of the National Democratic Front of the Philippines and Chairperson Emeritus of the International League of Peoples' Struggle. He has continuously studied Philippine society as a student, as a teacher of literature and political science and as a full time proletarian revolutionary. About the series:   The International Network is proud to present the third book of the Sison Reader Series, Critique of Philippine Economy and Politics.  To follow shortly will be the fourth book on the People's Democratic Revolution.

Jose Maria Sison: "Inasmuch as culture is a reflection of economics and politics, literature and art are the finest and most sensitive ideological forms for summing up social reality. We can create revolutionary literature and art only by carefully and meticulously keeping to the revolutionary stand, viewpoint and method of the class which leads the broad masses of the people in the life-and-death struggle between progress and reaction."   About the Author   Jose Maria Sison has written books on a wide range of subjects, encompassing Philippine history, society, revolution, politics, economy, culture, art and literature. His books of poems include Brothers, Prison and Beyond and The Guerrilla Is Like a Poet (using as book title his best known poem and including his latest poems).  His poems have been included in Philippine and world anthologies of poetry. He is a recipient of  the  Literary Achievement Award for poetry and essay from the Writers' Union of the Philippines in 1985 and the National Book Award for Poetry (Prison and Beyond), Manila Critics Circle in 1985. He won the Southeast Asia WRITE Award for poetry in 1986. He was lauded for the social vision and artistry of his poems.   About the Series   The International Network for Philippine Studies (INPS)  is publishing a series of thematic books by Jose Maria Sison under the rubric of Sison Reader Series. On Culture, Art  and Literature is the first to be published. The INPS plans to publish the following: On the Philosophy of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism,  Critique of the Philippine Economy and Politics,  On the New Democratic Revolution, On the Communist Party of the Philippines, On Protracted People's War, On the National United Front, On the Labor Movement in the Philippines, On the Peasant Movement and Land Reform, On the Youth Movement, On the Women's Liberation Movement, On US Imperialism in the Philippines, On the Environment, On the World Proletarian Revolution, and so on.

On the Philosophy of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism demonstrates Jose Maria Sison's comprehensive and profound knowledge of the epochal stages through which the theory and practice of the world proletarian revolution have developed. Such knowledge is well propagated among the cadres and members of the Communist Party of the Philippines. This book demonstrates Sison's excellence as a theoretician and teacher of dialectical and historical materialism as well as a communist thinker and leader who has made significant contributions to the conduct of the new democratic revolution in the Philippines and to the study of the history, circumstances and prospects of the world proletarian revolution.   About the Author : Jose Maria Sison started to study Marxism-Leninism systematically when he was a student activist in 1958. He developed further as a proletarian revolutionary after he joined the workers' movement in 1962. He led the reestablishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1968 and the founding of the New People's Army in 1969. He is now among the world's most outstanding theoreticians in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. He became chairman of the International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Parties and Organizations from 1992 to 1994 and presided over the International Seminar on Mao Zedong Thought in Germany in 1993. He gave major lectures to the Brussels Communist Seminar from 1992 to 2001. He was Chairperson of the International League of Peoples' Struggle from 2004 to 2019.   About the Series: The International Network for Philippine Studies (INPS) is proud to have published the second book of the Sison Reader Series, On the Philosophy of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism after the first book, On Culture, Art and Literature. The third is forthcoming, Critique of the Philippine Economy and Politics. 

About the Book: The Sison Reader Series Book 6 covers the period of 2000 to 2021 in continuity with Book 5 which covers the period of 1969 to 1999. The two books manifest the outstanding role of the Communist Party of the Philippines as one of the proletarian revolutionary parties of the world successfully leading the people's democratic revolution through protracted people's war under the theoretical guidance of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. The CPP enjoys high prestige as a torch-bearer of the world proletarian-socialist revolution. The resurgence of this revolution is being ushered in by the anti-imperialist and democratic mass struggles all over the world and by the intensification of all major contradictions: between labor and capital; between the imperialist powers and the oppressed peoples and nations; among the imperialist powers themselves; and the US and China as the chief imperialist rivals.   About the Author: Jose Maria Sison led the reestablishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1968 as well as the founding of the New People's Army in 1969 and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in 1973. He is now among the world's most outstanding theoreticians in Marxism-Lenininism-Maoism. He continues to do research and write on Philippine and global issues as a public intellectual.   About the Series: The International Network for Philippine Studies presents the sixth book of the Sison Reader Series: On the Communist Party of the Philippines, 2000-2022. To follow soon are On People's War, On the United Front, On Peace Negotiations, Socialist Cause in Resurgence, On the Legal Democratic Mass Movement, On the Revolutionary Mass Movement, On the Workers' Movement, On the Peasant Movement and Land Reform, On the Youth Movement, Women in Revolution, On National Minorities and their Right to Self-Determination, On Imperialist Oppression and Exploitation, On Ecology and Environment, and further books in the series.

On the People's Democratic Revolution explains the basic concepts and the instruments for achieving the Philippine revolution.  The program of the people's democratic revolution seeks to realize the basic demands of the people in the political, economic, social and cultural fields in opposition to the semicolonial and semifeudal ruling system of big compradors, landlords and bureaucrat capitalists subservient to foreign monopoly capitalism. The Filipino people and their revolutionary forces have persevered in carrying out the new democratic revolution for more than half a century. They cannot accept the escalating conditions of oppression and exploitation under the semicolonial and semifeudal ruling system in chronic crisis. Sounding stronger than the psywar and gunfire of the oppressors and exploiters is the outcry of the people for national liberation, democracy, social justice and all-round development amid the worsening crises of the semicolonial and semifeudal ruling system and the world capitalist system.   About the Author Jose Maria Sison led the reestablishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1968 and the founding of the New People's Army in 1969. He is now among the world's most outstanding theoreticians in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. He continues to do research and write on Philippine and global issues.   About the Series: The International Network for Philippine Studies (INPS) is proud to present the fourth  book of the Sison Reader Series, On the People;s Democratic Revolution.  This will be followed by three successive volumes on the Communist Party of the Philippines, On the New People's Army and on the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, under the following titles:  On the Communist Party of the Philippines, On Protracted People's War and On the United Front; all scheduled to be published within the last quarter of 2021.

It is necessary and appropriate to circulate this book in order to mark the forthcoming 50th anniversary of the martial law proclamation dated September 21, 1972, which launched the Marcos fascist dictatorship, and to wage a counter-offensive to the systematic campaign of the Marcos and Duterte political dynasties to misrepresent the traitorous, brutal and corrupt  Marcos fascist rule from 1972 to 1986 as a golden era for the Filipino people. It is our urgent task to carry out a sustained campaign of information and education to propagate the historical facts and truth about the Marcos fascist dictatorship because the most malevolent anti-national and anti-democratic forces servile to US imperialism and the local exploiting classes of big compradors, landlords and bureaucrat capitalists have succeeded in carrying out a counterrevolutionary campaign of violence and deception and in using automated electoral fraud in order to install the son and daughter of two tyrants as president and vice president, respectively. About the Author:  Jose Maria Sison led the reestablishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1968 as well as  the founding of the New People's Army in 1969 and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in 1973. He is now among the world's most outstanding theoreticians in Marxism-Lenininism-Maoism. He continues to do research and write on Philippine and global issues as a public intellectual. About the Series:  The International Network of Philippine Studies proudly  presents the eleventh book of the Sison Reader Series:  On  the Marcos  Fascist Dictatorship. Shortly following will be On the Legal Democratic Mass Movement, On the Revolutionary Mass Movement, On the Workers' Movement, On the Peasant Movement and Land Reform, On the Youth Movement, Women in Revolution, On National Minorities and their Right to Self-Determination, Imperialism in the Philippines, Imperialism in Various Global Regions, On Ecology and Environment, On People's Rights, Justice and Peace, and more books in the series.

In carrying out the people's democratic revolution in the Philippines, the Communist Party of the Philippines has targeted as enemies of the Filipino people not only US and other foreign monopoly capitalist powers and the local reactionary classes of big compradors, landlords and bureaucrat capitalists but also the revisionists who pose as revolutionaries but in fact espouse bourgeois reformism and pacifism and support what has amounted to capitalist restoration in socialist countries after the first half of the 20th century. The CPP considers its firm anti-revisionist stand as a major reason for being able to learn and apply effectively the revolutionary theory of the proletariat (Marxism, Leninism and Maoism), in understanding the most important issues in the world and in the Philippines and in carrying out the people's democratic revolution along the strategic line of protracted people's war and in the direction of the socialist revolution. Knowing the terrible consequences of not waging class struggle and social revolution, the proletariat and people of the world are driven by their own suffering and the threat of human extinction to wage class struggle and social revolution resolutely and militantly and seize all the levers of power and control from the hands of the monopoly bourgeoisie and its minions in order to achieve national liberation, democracy and socialism against imperialism, revisionism and all reaction on an unprecedented scale.

About the Book: This book focuses on the people's war being waged by the New People's Army (NPA) led by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP). It presents the reader with the NPA basic founding documents and my writings that reflect the NPA's growth in strength and advance from decade to decade since its founding on March 29, 1969. Waging people's war is not a purely military process. It involves the NPA taking ideological and political guidance from the CPP, integrating the armed struggle with agrarian revolution as the main content of the democratic revolution, mass base building and developing the united front mainly for armed struggle. It is a great victory for the NPA to have grown from a small and weak force of only nine automatic rifles and 26 inferior firearms shared by some 60 Red fighters in the second district of Tarlac province to thousands of Red fighters armed with high-powered rifles in more than 110 guerrilla fronts in more than 90 percent of Philippine provinces.   About the Author: Jose Maria Sison led the reestablishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1968 as well as the founding of the New People's Army in 1969 and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in 1973. He is now among the world's most outstanding theoreticians in Marxism-Lenininism-Maoism. He continues to do research and write on Philippine and global issues as a public intellectual.

This book, GRP-NDFP Peace Negotiations, spans the years 1986 to 2022. It reflects the role that I have played in exploring and realizing the peace negotiations. It carries the essays, statements and interviews related to the tremendous odds, explorations, preparations, the forging of agreements, frustrations and advances. I hope that this book can further enlighten and inspire the people, the advocates of a just peace and the contending parties to work for a just and lasting peace in the Philippines. Before I close this preface, let me consider the possibility that through peace negotiations the GRP and NDFP agree to cease and desist from trying to destroy each other and decide to take the road of national unity and reconciliation, full national independence, democracy, social justice and economic development through genuine land reform and national industrialization and expansion of social services by using as the key the availment of certain natural resources (marine and mineral) that the Philippines has in abundance in the West Philippine Sea (aside from the methane nodules, oil deposits and heavy metals in Benham Rise), instead of allowing or emboldening China as one more imperialist power to violate the national sovereignty of the Filipino people, the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the 2016 judgment of the Permanent Arbitration Commission in favor of the Philippines against China. On the Author: Jose Maria Sison led the reestablishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1968 as well as  the founding of the New People's Army in 1969 and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in 1973. He is now among the world's most outstanding theoreticians in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. He continues to do research and write on Philippine and global issues as a public intellectual.   About the Series The International Network of Philippine Studies  presents the ninth book of the Sison Reader Series:  On the GRP-NDFP Peace Negotiations.  Shortly following will be On the Marcos Fascist Dictatorship, Anti-Imperialism and Democracy as Road to Socialist Revolution, On the Revolutionary Mass Work, On the Workers' Movement, On the Peasant Movement and Agrarian Revolution, On the Youth Movement, Women in Revolution, On National Minorities and their Right to Self-Determination, Imperialism in the Philippines, Imperialism in Various Global Regions, On Ecology and Environment, On People's Rights, Justice and Peace, and more books in the series.

The crisis of the world capitalist system and that of the Philippine ruling system have become worse than in any period after World War II. The US-instigated policies of neoliberal globalization, state terrorism and aggressive war have wrought havoc on the lives of the people and continue to escalate oppression and exploitation. The Filipino people cannot tolerate their suffering and they are fighting back against imperialism and all reaction.   The loss or erosion of livelihoods is the most concrete and widespread impact of the current crisis of the world capitalist system on people's lives, both in the advanced capitalist countries as well as in the underdeveloped countries. Despite recent pronouncements from state officials and the business press that economic recovery is in sight, the global economy continues to tumble with the gross domestic product of the leading capitalist countries still contracting, consumer spending still in decline and unemployment still rising.

On the book:  The Party often finds it necessary to explain that the national united front is mainly for promoting and advancing the revolutionary armed struggle because of the common notion that it is mainly or solely for carrying out all legal forms of struggle, including commonplace expression of political views, electoral competitions and peace negotiations. But in carrying out the people's democratic revolution, the Party wields the national united front as a weapon for strengthening the armed struggle by gaining political allies who can deliver arms to the NPA or can coordinate with the NPA in military operations.   Since 1986, it has been proven that the legal united front tactics can rouse a broad range of forces to converge against a fascist dictatorship and overthrow it. This would be proven again in the overthrow of the corrupt regime of Estrada in 2001.  But it takes more than legal united front tactics and gigantic mass actions to overthrow the entire semicolonial and semifeudal system.  If the Party and the Filipino people were to win total victory in the new democratic revolution, they would have to combine the armed struggle and the united front in advancing the people's army from the current of strategic defensive to the further stage of the strategic stalemate and further on to the strategic offensive.   On the Author : Jose Maria Sison led the reestablishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines in 1968 as well as  the founding of the New People's Army in 1969 and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in 1973. He is now among the world's most outstanding theoreticians in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. He continues to do research and write on Philippine and global issues as a public intellectual.   About the Series: The International Network of Philippine Studies  presents the eighth book of the Sison Reader Series:  On the United Front.  Shortly following will be. GRP-NDFP Peace Negotiations, Socialism: Setbacks and Resurgence, On the Legal Democratic Mass Movement, On the Revolutionary Mass Movement, On the Workers' Movement, On the Peasant Movement and Land Reform, On the Youth Movement, Women in Revolution, On National Minorities and their Right to Self-Determination, Imperialism in the Philippines, Imperialism in Various Global Regions, On Ecology and Environment, On People's Rights, Justice and Peace, and more books in the series.

Jose Maria Sison's  writings on the youth movement are a must for a comprehensive understanding and acting on the issue in the context of the Filipino people's struggle for national freedom and democracy.  Sison started the resurgence of, and led the development the youth movement in the national democratic revolution to provide the cadres for the people's war.

The crisis of the world capitalist system and that of the Philippine ruling system have become worse than in any period after World War II. The US-instigated policies of neoliberal globalization, state terrorism and aggressive war have wrought havoc on the lives of the people and continue to escalate oppression and exploitation. THe Filipino people cannot tolerate their suffering and they are fighting back against imperialism and all reaction.   The loss or erosion of livelihoods is the most concrete and widespread impact of the current crisis of the world capitalist system on people's lives, both in the advanced capitalist countries as well as in the underdeveloped countries. Despite recent pronouncements from state officials and the business press that economic recovery is in sight, the global economy continues to tumble with the gross domestic product of the leading capitalist countries still contracting, consumer spending still in decline and unemployment still rising. 

The growing imperialist turmoil in the world capitalist system makes socialism a clear prospect to the broad masses of the people. This necessitates the study of the historical background and the analysis of the current concrete conditions of the workers' movement in the Philippines and all over the world. Joma's firm wish was always for the proletariat and peoples of the world to dismantle the monopoly capitalist system and replace it with a just, democratic, and peaceful new world in which socialism prevails.   About the Author: Jose Maria Sison led the reestablishment of the Communist Party of the Philippines in December 1968 as well as the founding of the New People's Army in March 1969 and the National Democratic Front in April 1973. He was the world's most outstanding theoreticians in Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.  While living, he did research and wrote on Philippine and global issues as a public intellectual.   About the Series: The International Network of Philippine Studies presents the 14th book of the Sison Reader Series: On the Workers' Movement. To follow shortly are On the Peasant Movement and Agrarian Revolution; On the Youth Movement; Women In Revolution and On the National Minorities and Their Right to Self Determination, Imperialism in the Philippines, Imperialism in Various Global Regions, On Ecology and the Environment, On People's Rights, Justice and Peace, Intensifying Interimperialist Contradictions, and many more books to complete the series.

The chain of armed power in the Philippines leads to US imperialism. With this understanding, the masses have a strategic hatred for US imperialism as the presiding power. They recognize their domestic exploiters and their armed satellites are subordinated in this hierarchy of power. It is very important for people to understand how through the control of the Philippine military the US and other imperialists are able to maintain the continuing stranglehold on Philippine society through puppets and collaborators among the domestic ruling classes of compradors, landlords and bureaucrat capitalists. Thus, the Filipino people and their revolutionary forces are required to wage the struggle for national and social liberation.

On Neoliberal Globalization consists of Jose Maria Sison's writings (articles, speeches, statements, messages and interviews) on the subject from 1972 (before the formal adoption of the neoliberal policy regime) to 2021. They reveal how the policy of neoliberal globalization rationalize the unmitigated greed of the monopoly capitalists.   The adoption of neoliberal economy policy has brought imperialist countries to the worst economic and social crisis since the Great Depression. This crisis is becoming worse. And the imperialist powers and the business magnates cannot solve it because they cling dogmatically to the policy that has brought it about in the first place. At the root of the crisis is the internal law of motion of capitalism that drives the owners of capital to maximize their profits and further accumulate capital by minimizing the wages of the workers.

At the present stage of our national history, the single immediate purpose to which our people are committed is the achievement of national democracy. On this single purpose, all are agreed, irrespective of social classes, unless one belongs to a class aggrandized by the perpetuation of semi-colonial and semi-feudal conditions in our society. Unless one is a landlord or a comprador, one aspires to have his nation free from colonial and imperialist exploitation. Every patriotic Filipino wishes to liquidate imperialism and feudalism simultaneously in order to achieve national democracy.   The relation between national democracy and land reform is very clear. We can achieve genuine land reform only if we, as a nation, are free from colonial and imperialist domination. In fighting for national democracy against US imperialism and feudalism today, we need to unite the peasantry — the most numerous class in our society — on the side of all other patriotic classes and we need to unite with the peasantry, as the main force or backbone of our national unity and anti-imperialist struggle.

Women all over the world are driven by their dire situation to unite and fight for their rights. From year to year, as the global crisis worsens, the women's movement has raised its level of resolve and militancy and widened its various arenas of action. Women are fighting not only for their very existence but also for the lives of their children and grandchildren. Outraged, they vigorously expose, condemn and oppose the doublespeak of their own governments, which try to equate neoliberal policies to development.   The nationality question can be dealt with only in historical terms. It involves correctly relating the political, socioeconomic and cultural aspects of nationality as well as the whole national formation, its parts and the world. In its origination and development, Philippine or Filipino nationality is first of all a political concept that has arisen and developed from the necessity of uniting and activating the entire people of various social conditions and cultural traits in the anticolonial and then the anti-imperialist struggles for national independence and democracy.   To this day, the Marxist-Leninist teachings on the nationality question are our best guide. There is yet no experience more advanced than that of Lenin, Stalin and Mao in successfully dealing with the nationality question in the course of overthrowing the counterrevolutionary state and establishing and building socialism.

Sison Reader Series Book 20, Proletarian Internationalism and International Solidarity consists of Jose Maria Sison's writings (essays, articles, speeches, messages, statements and interviews)  on the subject of proletarian internationalism and international anti-imperialist solidarity. It highlights the role of international solidarity and practical cooperation in the advance of national liberation movements and proletariant revolution in countries, to raise the socialist cause around the world.   The rest of the book's content consists of messages and statements of proletarian internationalism, and solidarity and support to peoples and organizations in the struggle against imperialism and all reaction. They underscore the role of the proletariat in building revolutionary parties to develop and strengthen the revolution towards socialism among all oppressed nations and peoples.

Sison Reader Series Book 19, Imperialism in Various Global Regions consists of Jose Maria Sison's writings (articles, speeches, statements, interviews and messages) from 1976 to 2022 on the workings of imperialism led by the United States and the resistance of peoples, nations and countries against various forms of impositions by imperialists. It details how imperialist impositions are carried out through the instrumentality of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank (WB), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other such multilateral and bilateral agreements and how these impositions, agreements and arrangements have reduced underdeveloped countries into mere sources of raw materials and markets of finished products from capitalist countries.

The book, Great Communists and their Achievements, contains Jose Maria Sison's writings  celebrating the lives and achievements of great revolutionaries—Karl Marx, Frederick Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong, and others; and how their teachings have inspired later generations to advance the revolutionary cause of the world's proletariat and people.  It discusses the  the fundamental principles that guide the working class in revolutionary struggle until now.  These principles will remain vaoid and urgent to ensure the onward march of mankind towards communism in the historical epoch of socialism.

Sison Reader Series Book 21, People's Rights, Justice and Peace clarifies the relationship between the struggle for national sovereignty and civil rights. This involves understanding the structure of political relations and of political power in a given society. We learn that national freedom necessitates recognition and assertion of the fact of classes and organized groups within our society and within which conscious individuals exist and operate. These classes and organized groups mediate or bridge without exception the individual with the nation.

Intensifying Interimperialist Contradictions contains Jose Maria Sison's writings from 1989 to 2021 on the economic, political and military interactions among imperialist powers as they rise and decline and how these could develop and lead to interimperialist world wars, such as World War I and World War II.   But the proletariat and people of the world are waging anti-imperialist and democratic mass struggles in the imperialist countries and on a global scale. There are revolutionary armed struggles persevering in a number of underdeveloped countries. All these are the prelude to the resurgence of the world proletarian-socialist revolution.