CPP-NPA-NDF's Two-stage Revolution

How will the CPP reach its aim of replacing the government with a dictatorship of the proletariat? Key to undermining any public institution is destroying the trust of the constituents it serves. This is also the CPP’s tactic: by destroying the Filipino people’s trust in their government, they can bring about change. This makes them different from reformists, who advocate change through constitutional means but don’t seek to bring changes in government through violent means.

The CPP aims to achieve this aim of overthrowing the government through a two-stage revolution. The CPP strategy relies on two strategic lines: the Strategic Political Line, through a National Democratic Revolution, and the Strategic Military Line, through a protracted people's war (PPW).

Under the National Democratic Revolution strategy, the communist movement aims to seize political power through armed struggle supported by urban revolutionary mass movement. Once this is accomplished, they aim to establish a Democratic Coalition Government as the National Foundation for the second stage: the Socialist Revolution. 

“Aagawin ng CPP ang kapangyarihan sa gobyerno, seizure ng political power – ibabagsak niya ang gobyerno, magtatayo siya ng transition government sa national, tatawagin niyang DCG – Democratic Coalition Government. Ang hahawak ng kapangyarihan ay mga magsasaka, manggagawa, mga sektor na organized at all levels. Less than 10% ang ishe-share na power sa mga negosyante, 90% controlled ng mga basic sectors, pero CPP-NPA-NDF ang comocontrol sa leadership ng mga organisasyon na ito. [The CPP will seize power from the government and create a new transitional government called the DCG, Democratic Coalition Government. The farmers, workers, organized masses will hold power. Less than 10% of the power will be shared to businessmen, 90% will be controlled by the basic sectors],” he said.

This would serve as the first stage of transition to a new form of government. Once the first stage is victorious, the second stage of the revolution will commence – and it will be violent and bloody, using suppression of civil and political human rights to achieve its ends. This, Victor explains, is because the second stage involves the consolidation of power to form the dictatorship of the proletariat, to be led at all levels of government – from the national level down to the barangay level – by the CPP.

Simultaneously, the CPP’s strategic military line aims to spur a protracted people’s war. This consists of mass base building to build up a people’s army, using these forces to encircle cities from countryside through guerrilla warfare, and a coordinated nationwide conduct of protracted people’s war.

Taken together, these two strategic lines lead to the seizure of political power, a socialist revolution, and finally the creation of the dictatorship of the proletariat.

Victor said that the violent stage of the CPP movement is not emphasized much in public discussions. Most of the people they work with in communist-affiliated areas, he said, only see communists as people who resonate the same grievances and seek to push for reforms. What they don’t know, he said, is that this image of reformists is a cover for their real intention to overthrow the government through violent means.

“Ang naipapaliwanag lang ‘yong aming pagkukunwari na kami mga champions of reforms, champions and advocates of people’s issues. Kami ang nagcha-champion para tulungan ang magsasaka na mawasak ang mga hacienda, mapigilan ang pangangamkam ng mga lupain ng mga malalaking korporasyon dayuhan man o local. Parang ganoon lang nakikita sa amin ng mga tao even in the communities that we organized [What is explained is our image as champions of reforms, advocates of people’s issues. That we help farmers overthrow haciendas and prevent land-grabbing by large corporations, foreign or local. That’s the image people have of us in the communities that we organized],” he explained. 

--THE WARS WITHIN (2020 / Copy&Share)