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THE EDUCATION OF A GREAT PLEBEIAN: Presenting Andres Bonifacio as a Liberal Reformist Patrisha Campos Lazatin 3 – BS Life Sciences Department of Biology School of Science and Engineering Ateneo de Manila University November 2013 Introduction Andres Bonifacio, deemed the Great Plebeian had always been viewed as a poster boy of the uneducated and yet zealous leaders of the country. He is the banner of the people who believe that leadership is not honed through education but rather through a zealous desire to serve the country, as Bonifacio clearly had the zealous desire to free the motherland from her capturers: the Spaniards by the use of force and implement a revolution that is sure to make the country better. This is considered by most as a complete 180 from Rizal’s original view, a quiet reform obtained through intellect and education. For this reason Bonifacio and Rizal had always been viewed as opposite ends of the pole, two great heroes who had different views on how the country could be liberated from the Spanish colonial regime. This, however, is merely scratching the surface of Andres Bonifacio and all the wonders that he managed to accomplish in his lifetime. It is true, however, that in the latter stages of his life, before his death, Bonifacio took up the banner of being a reformist and believed that force and the total eviction of the Spaniards is the only way to liberate the country, however, the revolution conducted by Bonifacio was in itself influenced by the liberalist view introduced by Rizal to the Philippines. Moreover, Bonifacio was actually a member of Rizal’s Liga Filipina which was established by Rizal in the country to educate the masses on the concepts of liberalism and free masonry. That being said, Bonifacio, being influenced by liberalism, a concept purely based on the powers of the intellect to bring forth change and peace, Andres Bonifacio, contrary to popular belief, is a highly educated man, one of the few proclaimed autodidacts, a follower of Rizal’s liberal thinking and is deemed as Rizal’s contemporary by Nick Joaquin in his article “Why Fell the Supremo”. His label as the “great plebeian” is true only in reference to his stature in life, that being one of the common people or the masses, however, this does not imply that he is uneducated. The circumstances surrounding his birth, his poverty and ultimately, the way he was portrayed in the mock trial conducted by the Magdalo party evidently shaped contemporary views on Bonifacio as the uneducated. The Great Plebeian: The Ilustrado versus The Indio Andres Bonifacio is deemed as the Great Plebeian. Plebeian, in common definitions generally mean a commoner, or during the Roman times one who was of the lower class.1 It denotes therefore to the fact that someone comes from the masses, a commoner class and in no way refers to the intellectual or educational state of a person. However, a shift in the meaning of Plebeian is seen in reference to Bonifacio. Although in part, the plebeian actually denotes his humble roots, there is an unspoken connotation to Bonifacio’s inferior intellect and lack of education is included in the definition. A great part of Bonifacio’s persona as the uneducated and uncultured indio, is precisely because of the way the world perceives the ilustrado. The term ilustrado is applied only to a highly exclusive group of people who received certain benefits, if you will that the common people, the masses specifically the indios, do not. The ilustrado is someone who is a person of intellect. In the Philippines, the ilustrado was also a matter of social class, more than a term to denote intellectual ideals.2 The ilustrado were the middle class, the Rizals, the del Pilars and the Lunas. The people who are able to afford an education in Europe and become exposed to the reality that Spain in itself is actually a stilted country, overshadowed by Britain and Germany in wealth, culture and education. The ilustrado are considered liberalists because liberalism, specifically, political 1 Plebeian, The Merriam Webster Dictionary 2 Nick Joaquin, “Why Fell the Supremo”, Question of Heroes (Pasig City: Anvil Publishing Inc., 2005), 86 liberalism was the school of thought they were exposed to in their studies all over Europe. The concept of the Renaissance was strong in Europe in those days and it would be next to impossible not to be influenced one way or the other by the spirit of Enlightenment. Rizal, for instance, built his ideals for the Philippines on the concepts of the Renaissance and liberalism, not wanting to evict the Spaniards from the Philippines but merely to have the Philippines recognized as a province of Spain and have racial equality, following the concept of liberty, equality and fraternity of the masons.3 This then raises a pertinent separation between liberalism and revolution which primarily denotes the primary difference between the ilustrado and the indio. Note that the discourse focuses on political reform and revolution, as it was the focus of Bonifacio and Rizal as well as the other heroes. Political liberalism and political revolution both have the same goal, the betterment of the political system. However the means of this change as well as the meaning of “better political system” varies between the two. Political liberalism implements political reform in that the constitution must be changed in order to cater to the needs of the masses and provide equality through mutual rights. These mutual rights will then nullify all social stratifications and will allow everyone to be equal regardless of social status, nationality or gender.4 In the ideology of political reform, the improvement of the law and constitution includes establishing an electoral system that gives power to the gentility, or the middle class who received formal education. The gentility will then form a political party that will then facilitate 3 Margeurite J. Fisher, " Jose Rizal: Asian Apostle of Racial Equalitarianism," Journal of Modern History 28 (1956), 261. 4 Brenda Cossman. " Reform, Revolution or Retrenchment: International Human Rights in the Post War Era" Harvard International Law Journal, 32 (1991): 339 the political reforms in the government. The political reform coalesces into the international recognition of each country's rights and thus establish that each country is equal through the shared international rights. In effect, the notion of superior races is also abolished. Every country is then expected to take part in the world-wide movement of improving the political system. The white man's burden is a fallacy. Each country has the ability to improve its situation through the help of the educated. In effect, political reform guided by the spirit of liberalism then sees a better political system as a system that allows all nation states to be unified and recognize each other's independence as a movement for peace and betterment. 5 Political revolution, on the other hand is caused by an act of opression that leads to a fervent desire to bring down the tyrant that supresses the political freedom and in effect the personal freedom of everyone within the nation state. The revolution therefore, aims to bring down the current dysfunctional system, contrary to the reform's desire to simply improve upon the system and establish a new system that will evidently uphold all their rights. However, most revolutions in history resulted in failure with a few exceptions. 6 There are many ideologies that guide a political revolution including Marxism, Pacifism, Fascism and even Anarchy which had been evident throughout history, however, the time of Bonifacio's revolt did not showcase these ideologies. A different kind of ideology guided the revolution during those times, as inspired by the Cuban, American and French revolutions. This ideology is the enlightenment. Under this ideology, the revolution will eventually implement liberalism, wherein everyone will have equality through rights and the educated man, the ilustrado will be needed to lead the new government. 7 5 William Connely, The Terms of Political Discourse 3rd Ed. (United Kingdom,Oxord University Press, 2008),179. 6 Connely, 139 7 Linda K. Kerber, “The Republican Ideology of the Revolutionary Nation”, American Quarterly 37(1985), 45 Thus, in the context of Bonifacio's revolution, this ideology spurned on the great conflict between Bonifacio and Aguinaldo. Whereas Bonifacio was deemed as someone incapable of leading the new government, Aguinaldo who was educated, albeit not in the same league as Rizal, del Pilar or Luna,was better suited to lead the revolutionary government.8 Important distinctions can be derived from these definitions. First, Bonifacio cannot be considered as an ilustrado. The ilustrado of the Philippines, evidently is not merely an intellectual, it is also a social strata limited to those of the middle class and above who are able to afford formal education in universities specifically in Europe. As such, those who do not receive formal education, i.e. education within a school or university setting is considered uneducated and cannot be deemed an ilustrado. Second, the political reform that is implemented by the liberalists such as Rizal did not entail the revolution that was implemented by Bonifacio and Aguinaldo. Whereas the liberal ilustrados seeked to gain equality from Spain and be considered as a province of Spain, the revolutionaries wanted complete freedom and separation from Spain, implementing instead a new government, however, since the liberalists presented their ideologies in art and literature that was hard to comprehend for the non-educated, their means were misinterpreted and thus the reform was viewed as the linchpin of a revolution.9 In effect, since all the heroes are perceived to be all revolutionaries, the only difference seen between Rizal and Bonifacio is merely methodical.