Millions of youth are needed in the people's democratic revolution
Editorial, Ang Bayan
June 7, 2011
More than ever, it is imperative that millions upon millions of youth be mobilized to take action in solidarity with the entire Filipino people.
The ever worsening crisis, exploitation and poverty are matched only by the people's burning desire to put an end to the ruling semicolonial and semifeudal system. Massive unemployment, the workers and employees' meager wages and inability to cope with the rapidly rising prices of food, oil and other main commodities, and the growing cost of education, health care and housing are increasingly harder to bear.
The living conditions of ordinary folk are made more miserable with the Aquino regime's stubborn adherence to policies and programs dictated by the imperialists led by the US. These policies further lay bare the economy for foreign monopoly capital to exploit the toiling masses' cheap labor, extract the country's natural resour-ces and amass superprofits. They allow landlords to intensify their ex-ploitation of the peasants and farm workers and corruption to pervade the reactionary state bureaucracy.
The state responds to the masses' grievances with ever worsening repression. It mouths the slogan of "peace" but relentlessly launches a bloody military campaign that aims to defeat the people's mass struggles and their armed resistance. The US-Aquino regime is opposed to resolving the raging civil war in the country through peaceful means.
In the face of all this, the people have nothing to fall back on but their organized strength and their revolutionary action. On this also rests the Filipino youth's hope for a better future. One of the key factor in the decisive advance of the people's revolutionary struggle is the presence of a politically conscious, organized and mobilizable mass of Filipino youth.
It is the duty of the entire Party to advance the revolutionary youth-student movement in order to arouse and en-courage the Fil-ipino youth to tread the path of national-democratic revolution. The youth's important role in waging revolution cannot be underestimated. They are open-minded and ready to accept new and revolutionary ideas and methods. They are vibrant in taking action and daring in struggle. They courageously wage revolution and have an ardent desire to carve a brighter future.
We must raise the consciousness of millions upon millions of youth and fire up their desire to serve the people and join them in making history. Varied and appropriate forms of propaganda and education must be undertaken in order to reach out to the youth within and outside schools, factories and communities. Concrete analyses of their concrete conditions must be undertaken. The revolutionary youth movement must zero in on the problems of student, worker, peasant, urban poor and professional youth. Only then can the correct calls be formulated and only then can progressive and revolutionary organizations take deep root among the youth.
To reach millions of youth, we must become adept at using all forms of propaganda. We should avail of traditional methods such as speeches, newspapers, leaflets, political graffiti, posters, songs, poetry, street theater and other cultural presentations. We must also use modern methods like email, websites, blogs, social networking, video, texting and the like. We must combine all this to rapidly propagate revolutionary ideas, stir the sensibilities and raise the consciousness of the Filipino youth and the Filipino people.
The youth we are able to reach and mobilize must be solidly organized in their numbers. It is the basic duty of every member to recruit new members. Members must be recruited from the ranks of the youth, wherever they may be. The recruitment process must be made simple, systematic and quick. Meetings can be conducted to call for recruits, accept applications and swear in new members. Cadres must be assigned to see to recruitment and education. New recruits must be given tasks based on their personal capacities and the organization's duties.
Rallies and other forms of collective action must be launched in order to address issues and air the youth and the people's stand and grievances. The youth and the people in general must grasp the fact that only through collective action can their democratic interests be advanced. Hundreds of thousands of youth must be mobilized in mass actions nationwide. As history has shown, not only will this facilitate the rapid expansion of the youth's organized strength. It can result in significant changes such as the ouster of despotic and corrupt regimes.
The revolutionary youth-student movement must develop expertise in mobilizing both fellow youth and the people. Everyone within their organizations must be mobilized to reach out to and mobilize the greater number of unorganized youth or those under other organizations or institutions. They must excel in united front tactics in order to be able to reach out to and mobilize the millions who are not yet within the ambit of national-democratic mass organizations.
As the youth's mass actions and struggles grow in strength, progressive and national-democratic mass organizations can rapidly expand their ranks and en-hance their influence. For the Party, these organizations must serve as wellsprings of cadres and members for various types of revolutionary formations and tasks. The most active elements must be recruited into the Kabataang Makabayan.
The youth must be encouraged to join en masse the New People's Army and armed struggle as well as mass struggles in the countryside. The participation of tens of thousands of revolutionary youth in the armed struggle will be a major factor in the advance of people's war to a new and higher level. The Party must recruit thousands of members and cadres from among the youth in order to continue fulfilling its tasks in leading the revolution with utmost vigor.
