What is it about?
In February 1971, students at the University of the Philippines Diliman seized control of their campus in an event that became known as the Diliman Commune. In this article I show that the erection of the barricades at the Diliman campus was part of a broader campaign of barricades staged by the front organizations of the Maoist Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) in support of their ruling class allies in an election year.
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Photo by Matteo Fusco on Unsplash
Why is it important?
This is the first time that a scholar has seriously examined the history of the Diliman Commune. The examination of the Commune and its context help us to understand the events leading up to martial law and the role played by the Stalinist Communist Parties of the Philippines in making martial law possible. The Diliman Commune is a case study of how the CPP tied the working class and student protests of the time to the interests of their ruling class allies.
Perspectives
This article is a small portion of my larger work on the history of the rival Stalinist Communist Parties of the Philippines, the CPP and the PKP, and the role they played in making Marcos imposition of martial law possible.
Dr Joseph Scalice
Hong Kong Baptist University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: A Planned and Coordinated Anarchy: The Barricades of 1971 and the “Diliman Commune”, Philippine Studies Historical and Ethnographic Viewpoints, January 2018, Project Muse,
DOI: 10.1353/phs.2018.0035.
You can read the full text:
Resources
Crisis of Revolutionary Leadership: Martial Law and the Communist Parties of the Philippines, 1957-1974
This article is a part of my larger work on the Communist Parties of the Philippines and Marcos' declaration of martial law.
How the Diliman Commune was part of a coordinated campaign of barricades in 1971
One of the pivotal moments in the history of the Philippine Communist Parties in the 1960s and early 70s, in the period leading up to the declaration of martial law by Ferdinand Marcos in 1972, was the event which became known as the Diliman Commune. Over the course of the first nine days of February 1971, students at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman erected barricades around their campus, fought off repeated attempts by the military to tear the barricades down, and took control of the university.
What are the real political lessons of the Diliman Commune?
Op-ed on the significance of the Diliman Commune
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