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The Huk Rebellion: A Study of Peasant Revolt in the Philippines
“Why peasants revolt?” is the subject of this book. In particular, the study explains the causes of the Huk rebellion, a rural uprising that raged across central Luzon in the Philippines from 1946 to the early 1950s.
Kerkvliet shows that some causes of the rebellion can be traced to adverse agrarian conditions in the 1920s. Other causes were government and landlords’ hostile responses to peasants’ organizations and increasing electoral strength in the 1930s and mid 1940s. Aspects of the Japanese occupation in the Philippines (1942-1945) were also important factors. In a concluding chapter, Kerkvliet explains how his findings differ from those of earlier writers and offers propositions relevant to peasant movements elsewhere.
Kerkvliet’s analysis combines an investigation of agrarian conditions in one province (Nueva Ecija) with an analysis of rural dynamics in central Luzon as a whole. Thus, the book interweaves a local study with a regional one. The author’s aim is to view the Huk rebellion from the standpoint of its participants and sympathizers rather than from the perspective of government officials and counter-insurgency strategists. Doing so, he argues, is essential for understanding the rebellion and makes more intelligible the actions of people who otherwise might appear irrational.
The Huk Rebellion: A Study of Peasant Revolt In the Philippines has a foreword written by Benjamin Pimentel, San Francisco-based writer and journalist.
Kerkvliet shows that some causes of the rebellion can be traced to adverse agrarian conditions in the 1920s. Other causes were government and landlords’ hostile responses to peasants’ organizations and increasing electoral strength in the 1930s and mid 1940s. Aspects of the Japanese occupation in the Philippines (1942-1945) were also important factors. In a concluding chapter, Kerkvliet explains how his findings differ from those of earlier writers and offers propositions relevant to peasant movements elsewhere.
Kerkvliet’s analysis combines an investigation of agrarian conditions in one province (Nueva Ecija) with an analysis of rural dynamics in central Luzon as a whole. Thus, the book interweaves a local study with a regional one. The author’s aim is to view the Huk rebellion from the standpoint of its participants and sympathizers rather than from the perspective of government officials and counter-insurgency strategists. Doing so, he argues, is essential for understanding the rebellion and makes more intelligible the actions of people who otherwise might appear irrational.
The Huk Rebellion: A Study of Peasant Revolt In the Philippines has a foreword written by Benjamin Pimentel, San Francisco-based writer and journalist.
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First published January 1, 1977
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 10, 2007
This tries to set the record straight on a peasant rebellion which occurred after WWII in the Philippines. Instead of relying, as previous historians did, on U.S. and Philippine govt documents and the writings of Communists loosely associated with the rebellion, Kerkvliet interviews members at all levels of the rebellion.
While his prose is tremendously flat, Kerkvliet ethos as a chronicler seems rather unimpeachable. He goes to show us that the rebellion was not, as previously asserted, something planned and lead by the Commies, but something which occurred as a result of pre-WWII peasant organizing and post-WWII abuses by landlords and the Philippine military. Of course because there were a few communists at the upper-levels of the rebellion (which rank and file members often flat-out ignored), the whole thing was linked to the international Communist conspiracy and the U.S. happily pumped the Philippines full of arms and military know how in order to crush a rebellion that started because landlords were asking their tenants to choose between starving and going into massive debt.
Real economic hardship and injustice usually lies at the heart of mass resistance movements. Portraying these movements as created and driven by a distasteful ideology is an easy way to perpetuate these injustices.j
Also, mad props to Kerkvliet for heavily quoting his sources--so one gets, loosely, the texture of what people are saying.
While his prose is tremendously flat, Kerkvliet ethos as a chronicler seems rather unimpeachable. He goes to show us that the rebellion was not, as previously asserted, something planned and lead by the Commies, but something which occurred as a result of pre-WWII peasant organizing and post-WWII abuses by landlords and the Philippine military. Of course because there were a few communists at the upper-levels of the rebellion (which rank and file members often flat-out ignored), the whole thing was linked to the international Communist conspiracy and the U.S. happily pumped the Philippines full of arms and military know how in order to crush a rebellion that started because landlords were asking their tenants to choose between starving and going into massive debt.
Real economic hardship and injustice usually lies at the heart of mass resistance movements. Portraying these movements as created and driven by a distasteful ideology is an easy way to perpetuate these injustices.j
Also, mad props to Kerkvliet for heavily quoting his sources--so one gets, loosely, the texture of what people are saying.
November 29, 2025
An amazing review of the history of peasant struggle in the Philippines. With interviews from various Huk veterans, peasant leaders, as well as sources from various PKP documents, the book clearly and comprehensively discussed the history of the Huks and the overall peasant movement through the lens of those who actually took part of it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews