It is understandable for the bourgeoisie — now, endearingly named monopoly capitalists or Imperialists — to demonize the communists, because Communism aims for the overthrow of Capitalism. The capitalist class is threatened to the very marrow of its existence as the minority ruler in Capitalism. Any ruling elite, basking in the sweet comfort of its privileges and luxury would do everything in its power to thwart its impending overthrow. And so with the emergence of the revolutionary proletarian class that has made no qualms in proclaiming its historical mission of liberating humankind from the bondage of all forms of slavery, oppression and exploitation, the bourgeoisie would, by deliberate scheme and determined effort, launch the so called Second Red Scare in the United States. This started in the 1950s following the period after the Second World War. The term “Reds” was invented to refer to any communist or even communist sympathizer in America, and this coincided with the period of the Cold War so called.
The demonization process was [is] a systematic propaganda offensive whereby the Communists were [are] portrayed as evil animals without any hope of redemption or conversion. It sought [seeks] to instill fear and paranoia among the citizenry and total hatred against the communists or “reds”. One of the characteristics of propaganda that makes it so successful is that it lays premium on emotions over logic in order to persuade its audience. And to effect a distinction between the intended audience and the target of the propaganda , often it makes use of symbolism. Thus, in graphic visuals via the various mass media channels of communication, the “commies” are insidiously portrayed as being crushed underfoot by a superhero (America’s Superman) who supposedly fights for the welfare of the society at large.
As a matter of course, this Red Scare swept across the global hemispheres and reached Philippine shores like habagat waves. I remember, as a grade school pupil, everytime I walked on my way to school I had to confront that big billboard on a bend which had an angry face of an American staring at me and across the wide space of the billboard beside him these words: “You! What does Communism mean to you!” My tender mind naturally failed to comprehend the full import of such interrogative sentence, except that I became acquainted to the word “Communism” for all the strange nuance it conjured.
Well, we were a colony of the United States until 1946. There wouldn’t be any effort to transport such “fear and paranoia” into the Filipino psyche. The brainwashing was [is] as natural as one’s sleeping and awaking, whereby the sleeping would be [is] bedecked with wondrous dreams of things American, including of course the longing to become “little brown Americans”. And thus, the soul-herded Filipinos imbibed the qualities and virtues of the American man and woman, including his/her fears, hateful thoughts, ill-wishes and curses, biases and prejudices, irrational anger and violence inherent in the anti-communist paranoia.
Certainly, this demonizing propaganda would result in a psychological conditioning of every Filipino that insures the cementing of the political domination of the country by the US imperialists. The Filipino soul is held captive by this Red scare. He sees “red” in any anti-government utterance, much more so if garbed in a language tainted with a criticism of the untoward effects of the American presence in the economic, political or social system of our country. Everything America say and do is held sacrosanct. You’re damned if you so much as suggest anything otherwise—anything that tends to veer away from what the colonial cultural mold has been considered inviolable.
It did not help that we have produced highly educated and illustrious men like Claro M Recto, Lorenzo Tañada and Jose W Diokno among the more vocal Filipino nationalist leaders who questioned the phenomenon of US Imperialism in our social life. As a matter of fact, their anti-US sentiment came too late in the day. The anti-Commie paranoia had rooted deeply in the Filipino psyche before any of our well-known nationalists began to rattle their relatively feeble protestations against the American dominating presence in our existential reality as a nation.
To abide by this anti-Communist hysteria, the political leadership in our country enacted the Anti-Subversion Act which made it unlawful to be a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines. Our political experience had this interesting incident whereby a congressional body, the CUFA (Committee on Un-Filipino Activities) in post-war Philippine Congress should have been better named Committee for Anti-Communist Persecution to strictly conform to its objectives. The following is the core account of the incident:
Luis Taruc, a guerrilla leader during World War II and a member of the Communist Party of the Philippines led by Jesus Lava, was elected to the Philippine House of Representatives in 1946 as a member of the Democratic Alliance: (the party led by Sergio Osmena). He and five other elected Democratic Alliance candidates opposed the constitutional amendment that would give American businessmen parity rights with Filipinos in exchange for US rehabilitation funds. In particular, Luis opposed the Bell Trade Act, the Parity Amendment to the Constitution, and the Military Bases Agreement. To secure the majority necessary to pass the amendment President Manuel Roxas arranged for Taruc and the other oppositional Democratic Alliance members ejected from office by the Commission on Elections on ground that they committed election fraud and terrorism. Thus did Manuel Roxas dexterously installed the puppetry of Philippine presidency to the US imperialists s a legacy to subsequent presidents..
The events of the 1960s towards the 70s witnessed how the Anti-Subversion Law was wielded by the late Dictator Ferdinand Marcos to advance his political ambitions, nay to impose Martial Rule purportedly to save the Republic from the specter of Communist ascendance. In the present era, with the Anti-Subversion Law repealed, the Red-tagging and Red-baiting tactics are still convenient propaganda ploys employed by the ruling class to quell the ongoing nationalist democratic revolution. And Anti-Communist paranoia is still the main dish of State propaganda against the CPP-NDF-NPA despite the absence of the anti-subversion law. The qualitative difference, however, is that more and more people have developed tolerance if not acceptance of the reality of the Communist rebellion relentlessly expanding in the form of People’s War in the countryside. This, as more and more among the marginalized sectors of society realize the phenomenon of US Imperialism as the root cause of all our social maladies. [Thanks to the FQS activists of the 1970s.]
After well over one century under the US-instigated Anti-Communist hysteria since colonial times, the social set-up installed in our country by the US Imperialists has miserably failed to uplift our people from the mire of extreme poverty and underdevelopment, but has instead exacerbated dehumanization in all sectors of Philippine society.. And our eyes have opened to the unassailable proof of how Socialism has liberated societies from the fetters of backwardness and poverty—nay, has in fact catapulted established socialist countries to industrial progress.
Without going far, we witnessed the liberation of China under the leadership of Mao Zedong, and looked with admiration and awe at how the US army was ignominiously defeated by Vietnam under the leadership of Ho Chi Minh. In spite of certain setbacks [e.g. Chinese Revisionism] we marveled at how they have successfully outlived abject poverty and underdevelopment after embracing Communism as an ideological weapon for societal change and prosperity.
The present government, being an extension of the puppet regime under Manuel A Roxas, will continue in its canine obeisance to US Imperialist dictates. It will not stop its employment of anti-Communist propaganda and demonization tactics, because it thrives in lies and deceit and hypocrisy to sustain itself and maintain its own brand of puppetry. So far, Noynoy Aquino has exhibited adroitness in his clownish deference and catering to Uncle Sam’s imperialist interests.
And the ever-solicitous Uncle Sam has constantly pursued his Red Scare, threatened as he is by the onward advance of national liberation struggles around the globe towards Socialism. In time, on account of its historical mission to end all forms of oppression and exploitation and to create a thoroughly humanized world order, world Communism will triumph and the Red Scare will drown its own demoniacal progenitors. Humankind abhors slavery in all its forms.
