The Drama of Dictatorship: Martial Law and the Communist Parties of the Philippines

by Joseph Scalice

The Drama of Dictatorship uncovers the role played by rival Communist parties in the conflict that culminated in Ferdinand Marcos's declaration of martial law in 1972. Using the voluminous radical literature of the period, Joseph Scalice reveals how two parties, the PKP and the CPP, torn apart by the Sino-Soviet dispute, subordinated the explosive mass struggles of the time behind rival elite conspirators. The PKP backed Marcos and the CPP, his bourgeois opponents. The absence of an independent mass movement in defense of democracy made dictatorship possible.

The Drama of Dictatorship argues that the martial law regime was not fundamentally the outcome of Marcos's personal quest to remain in power but rather a consensus of the country's ruling elite, confronted with mounting social unrest, that authoritarian forms of rule were necessary to preserve their property and privileges. The bourgeois opponents of Marcos did not defend democracy but, like Marcos, plotted against it.

Genres: History

384 pages, Hardcover

Published July 15, 2023

About the author

Joseph Scalice (PhD, UC Berkeley) is a historian of revolutionary movements and authoritarianism in Southeast Asia with a focus on the postwar Philippines. His book, The Drama of Dictatorship, uncovers the role played by rival Communist parties in the conflict that culminated in Ferdinand Marcos' declaration of martial law in 1972. He is Assistant Professor of History at Hong Kong Baptist University.

Scalice's family moved to Manila when he was six years old during the final years of the Marcos' dictatorship. He spent his childhood and youth in the midst of Manila's shantytowns. In the acknowledgements of The Drama of Dictatorship, Scalice wrote

This book begins and ends in the vast city of Greater Manila; my conscious life began here as well.

The hand-painted billboard skyline of Cubao, the treasure hunt Quiapo bookshops, a stagnant estero in the semana santa sun and a precarious coco lumber walkway over eskinita silt, the waterfront at sunset, the giggling slap at a wandering hand on Luneta's grassy shoulder, tumbang preso and patintero, rice field pilapil receding in Cainta, the hoarse morning cries of hasa and taho, water buffalo carts still plying down Kamuning—these are the inscape of home. My childhood was filled out by this extraordinary metropolis and its haphazard sense of history. More than anything else it was love of Manila that impelled my scholarship.

Scalice began his career as a historian somewhat late in life. He worked for four years in a car shop in the Cumberland mountains in Tennessee. He was minister for three years to a small church in a rural rice farming community in Central Luzon. He taught ethnic studies in a public high school in east Oakland.

Scalice is an award winning poet. In his spare time, he enjoys backpacking, baseball, and chess.

Reviews

[Jason Friedlander · Rating 5 out of 5]

Solely based on how much it disrupts the predominant narratives on the Marcos era, especially with his relationship to the communist parties in the country, this book is absolutely essential. I haven’t read anything quite like it and if the seemingly meticulous research here can be trusted, there’s no alternative but to take Scalice’s arguments here seriously. I’ve read most of Ken Fuller’s trilogy (by the last book I was too exhausted to finish it) on the history of communism in the Philippines, and those books are firmly on the side of the PKP. Many of its insider sources are members of the PKP and although it appears to be merely a history of our communist parties, its underlying driving force is the belief that the PKP was right all along in the ideological divide with the CPP. At least that’s the main impression I got from it

This book takes a more critical stance against everyone involved during the early years of the Marcos administration, up to the declaration of Martial Law, and uses hundreds upon hundreds of sources to back up all its claims. It’s astounding how any of this stuff happened and how little discussed they are today. Scalice expresses his disdain towards “Stalinism” and points to both parties’ reliance on leaning back on that variation of Marxism as the primary reason why genuine social revolution in the Philippines failed to materialize. He’s not necessarily an anti-communist per se, that would be a major simplification of things. He’s someone who is deeply frustrated with how both communist parties in the country repeatedly let the average working class Filipino down based on a combination of misguided strategy and inept leadership.

The book is a history of the early Marcos administration, but is more so a critique of the strategies of the supposed left. No historical figure here is left unscathed, from the Marcoses to the Aquinos, to Joma Sison and Jesus Lava, and many many more. I’m giving this 5 stars not because I necessarily know or trust that all of his criticisms are correct, but because I believe he’s filled gaps in our historical memory that we all need to engage with if we want to move forward as a nation. I learned a whole lot here that I’ve never seen even approached elsewhere. This is an essential work that needs to be read for anyone serious about Philippine history and politics.

[Luigi Alcaneses · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an extraordinary work of impassioned scholarship. Scalice masterfully brings to life the Philippine Radical Papers in what is seemingly an impossible task to reconstruct a reliable and coherent narrative—but it was done with such care and precision!

This book is certainly not supposed to be an introductory text to Philippine history, but it is nevertheless essential to understanding the petty squabbles of the rival communist parties and the failings of their leadership. To read Philippine history without this context would be a gross oversimplification. I found the epilogue pretty depressing to read, and it speaks to the effectiveness of the author's writing.

[Vanessa Herrero · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, I bought this from Ateneo University Press just to pair it with Conjugal Dictatorship since I ordered it online ans expecting a delivery fee. I read Conjugal Dictatorship first and I easily got bored wirh it. I felt that I was reading a propaganda and sort of "washing-of-hands" type of writing. I believed the dictatorship of the couple, but some details were a bit "cleaned" to save the author but not this book, from the time I started reading it I learned new and interesting perspectives on what happened during the martial law era. That it was presented in an objective, unbiased and evidence based is mind blowing for me. Unlike Conjugal Dictatorship, I was not reading propaganda but simply a book of research, backed by good investigative journalism and evidence. It was refreshing and kept me wanting more. We need more of these types of books, to open our eyes to our past, and to help us in the present, as well as, in the future. I've started to buy 2 more books and gift it to my friends. Thank you to the author for this book.

[Devon · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incisive indictment of the National Democratic movement.

[Karlo Mikhail · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book mixes a wealth of archival research with Marxist polemics, making it perhaps the most definitive Trotskyist critique of the Philippine communist movement to date. It is definitely a must-read for scholars and readers interested in this field.