On Peasant Organizations
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PSR 29 (1981): 133-137 ON PEASANT ORGANIZATIONS PEREGRINO M. TARUC Agrarian Reform Institute, University ofthe Philippines at Los Banos Peasant organizations provide additional For those who savor historical irony, it is dimensions in the implementation of indeed curious that the peasant in the modern development programs. It can be said that in era has been as much an agent of revolution this last decade, peasant organizations were as the machine, that he has come into his own • given significant recognition for their as an effective historical actor along with the contribution to the growth of the rural sector. conquests of the machine. While before, the peasantry has always The peasant war in the Philippines is a part been kept an arm's length from power, they of the peasant wars of the twentieth century are now called upon to participate in problem such as in Mexico, Russia, China, Algeria, Cuba identification and decision-making. They are and Vietnam which ushered in "the process of now the focus of the "peaceful democratic modernization." The tension that gave rise to revolution" and the locus of the "rebellion of it had all its roots in the past. It is the the poor." revolution of the largest sector of the Filipino people - the peasantry - against foreign For the first time in the millenia, said domination and exploitation. This revolution Eric Wolf, humankind is moving toward is still in process today after taking various a solution of the age-long problem of hunger forms and functions, and its main instruments and disease, and everywhere, ancient are the peasant organizations. Today's monopolies of power and received wisdom are democratic revolution, the rebellion of the • yielding to human effort to widen poor, is a function of the continuing participation and knowledge. In such efforts revolution against an unjust agrarian structure however uncertain, however beset with which created a "throne of bayonet where the difficulties, however ill-understood - there lies powerful exacts what they want and the weak the prospect of increased life for increased grants what they must." This structure humanity. constitutes an "institutionalized violence" against the poor. How to reach this solution is a question of struggle, a question of power - a political With the 20/20 vision of hindsight, said Dr. question. It is for this reason that the struggle Umali (1979), we see now that over the last against poverty becomes a struggle against the quarter century, we often mistook rural system that breeds poverty. This struggle leads poverty and hunger as the problem. Today, to rebellion and revolution. we see that they are the symptoms or consequences of the real basic problems; the unjust economic socio-political structures that According to Barrington Moore, the process distort and constrain the development process. of modernization begins with peasant revolutions that fail. It culminates during the Theneedforo'Xannation twentieth century with peasant revolutions that succeeded. No longer, he continued, is it In any society, the naves are as powerful as possible to take seriously the view that the the have-nots are powerless so that peasantry is an "object of history." perpetuation of power in the hands' of the few 133 134 PHILIPPINE SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW will always result in the perpetuation of 2. Organizational capability; poverty among the majority of the people. 3. Rapport with politico-administrative T9 free themselves from the cycle of decision-making groups or individuals; poverty and exploitation, the people must and realize their potential strength and power and use it. To quote Umali (1979:8), "people 4. IiJ.t~r-supportiveness, of peasant cannot develop if they have no power, and organizations in the area, the region, or development will occur if, and only if, the the country as a\ whole especially for people can organize their own power in their mass action or "agitational activity." own .interests," These roles in tum are influenced, he ~ntinued, by another four basic factors: The sources of this e9wer are resources and organization. Any organizational structure is a 1. The genesis of the peasant organization structure of power whether economic, (as a direct result of governmental political, social or cultural. policy). The, rich are powerful because they are 2. The local power structure (economic, organized and have access to power. social, politico-administrative). Institutional services and decision-making have 3. Levels of peasant awareness (the more generally been their monopoly because those aware peasants are' of developmental and who control the resources' also control the modernization trends and objectives of economic, social and political power. the country and the outside world, the higher their performance in support of The poor, especially the. peasantry, are mobilization, organizational capacity, powerless because the majority are still rapport with decision-makers and unorganized. According to labor statistics, intersupportiveness; the less aware, the only about 10 percent of the labor force lower the level of role performance). including agricultural laboris organized. 4. The policy environment (government To .alter the basic power. relationship and policy either strengthens or weakens the obtain greater access to society's benefits, ability of peasant organizations in the there is, therefore" an urgent need for WIder performance of their roles). participation and higher level of performance among peasant organizations. To understand the roles of existing peasant organizations, let us view them in a historical The role ofpeasant organizations context, in the genesis of their structure and functions. We have observed that it was only in this last decade that significant recognition was The Federation of Agrarian and Industrial given to peasant organizations on their Toiling Hands (FAITH) Inc. and contributions to the growth of the rural HUKBALAHAP Veterans Inc. (HUKVETS) sector. This recognition was brought about by four basic performances of peasant FAITH was initially organized as FARM in organizations. According to Wanashinghe 1969. It was formally organized as FAITH on (n.d.) these are:' - January 20, 1974. The HUKVETS, an affiliate of FAITH, was formally organized on 1. Support or mobilization of local November 30, 1975 (National Heroes Day), peasants; and recognized by the Government under P.D~ • ON PEASANT ORGANIZATIONS 135 No. 1207 on October 7, 1977. Relative to the parties merged and their mass organizations, past, FAITH is the tip of an iceberg of various the KPMP and the AMT joined a united front peasant organizations that gave rise to it. against Japanese fascism. On March 29, 1942 the merged peasant organizations created the In 1919, a sharecropper's union was Hukbo ng Bayan Laban sa Hapon organized by a communist leader, Jacinto (HUKBALAHAP). The aims of the Manahan. This was renamed in 1924 as the HUKBALAHAP were to drive out the Katipunang Pambansa ng mga Magbubukid ng. Japanese, cooperate with the allied armies, Pilipinas (KPMPj the main objective of which apprehend and punish collaborators, attain was to fight usury and obtain equal share of complete independence and establish a • 50·50 under tenancy (Huizer 1977:4-5). democratic government with land reform, national industrialization and guarantees for a In 1930, lawyer Pedro Abad Santos, the higher standard of living ( Huizer 1977:8). Socialist Party leader, though a wealthy landlord in Pampanga, created the Aguman The Huk resistance against the Japanese ding Maldang Talapag-obra (AMT or V nion of gained the support of the masses of Central All Workers) in response to the grievances of and Southern Luzon that in many areas de farmers and workers. One of the leaders of facto political control and local governments Abad Santos was Luis M. Taruc who, during were in the hands of the resistance forces the anti-Japanese war, became the Supremo of which had their base in the peasantry. the HUKBALAHAP. Although the efforts of the Huks The peasant organizations generally used considerably facilitated the liberation of the non-violent methods: demonstrations, sit-down Philippines from the Japanese by the strikes to let everyone be arrested and sent American army, the relations between the together as a group into jail, and so on. Huks and the American army were never • Dramatic stage presentations and similar good. There was fear that the Huks would cultural activities were used to teach the radically change the social order in the peasants about the labor struggle, and to turn Philippines, if they got the chance. the strikes into public manifestations. By After the war, the Huks joined a popular 1938, the AMT had 70,000 members who front with several other groups, such as the participated actively in mass actions. Democratic Alliance, the Pambansang Kaisahan The socialist peasant organization, AMT, ng mga Magbubukid (PKM) and the had good chances to develop during the Congress of Labor Organizations (CLO) and 1930's while the communist mass supported Osmena for the April 1946 election organization, KPMP, and the communist party against Roxas, a former collaborator with the were officially prohibited. Landlords organized Japanese who was supported by the V.S. • armed groups or private armies such as the Supreme Commander, Douglas MacArthur. Kawal ng Kapayapaan (Soldiens of Peace) to Roxas won the election with a slight majority. oppose and clash with the socialists. This led With him in power, three Nacionalista senators to considerable violence in the rural areas in and six Democratic Alliance congressmen were Central Luzon. When the socialists were also unseated; including Congressman Luis M. Taruc prohibited to hold' meetings, the organizers and Jesus Lava. used any kind of gathering, such as protestant As a result, the Huks lost hope in the religious meetings, to make propaganda for Roxas administration, After several Huk the peasant cause. leaders were kidnapped and assasinated, violence flared up again. The Huk problem In 1938, the Communist and Socialist was not solved by violence.