Sojourn: Journal of Social Issues in Southeast Asia 36, no. 1 (2021), 1-39.

‘We Are Siding with Filipino Capitalists’

Nationalism and the Political Maturation of Jose Ma. Sison, 1959-61

Jose Maria Sison, founder of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), developed the foundational ideas of his future political career during his final year as a graduate student at the University of the Philippines in 1961.

An examination of his writings and activity over the course of this year reveals that a series of political developments pushed his ideas from those of an existentialist focused on the alienation of the individual to the basic conceptions of Stalinism, which sought to tie mass social anger to the interests of a section of the ruling class in the name of nationalism.

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Sojourn // ResearchGate