EDITORIAL - Lost cause

Once upon a time communism held the promise of a better life. Workers of the world united and toppled social systems in the hope of achieving the utopian communist ideal. We all know what happened to that experiment.

Communist regimes became among the most repressive in the world, with a handful of people wielding absolute power over the masses. The Soviet Union collapsed. China continues its gradual embrace of the free market. One only has to look at North Korea and Cuba to see how communism has failed.

Yet the communist movement continues to thrive in this country. Some adherents can be a strange lot, believing in both the Roman Catholic faith and a godless ideology. For their existence they depend partly on financing from abroad, but their main income is derived from extortion and the forced collection of "revolutionary taxes" — an activity that has led to the shutdown of several businesses and consequently the loss of jobs. The New People’s Army has become the nation’s largest shakedown organization, an armed group whose urban hit squads moonlight as guns for hire. To show their armed strength the rebels pick on soft targets, raiding remote police or military outposts and carrying out assassinations. The common victims are low-ranking soldiers and policemen, often impoverished themselves.

Recently a rebel leader announced that communists would never give up their armed struggle. Struggle for what? Their leader refuses to come home, living on charity and begging for citizenship in what has to be the most liberal nation in the world. Is the Netherlands the communist ideal? If it is, some Filipinos may not mind a communist takeover. Until now, however, Jose Ma. Sison and his comrades have failed to specify what they intend to do with the Philippines in the unlikely event that the numerous communist factions unite and take power.

Communism has become an anachronism and Sison has become a rebel without a cause. Often it’s not ideology but a yearning for justice and better opportunities that drive people into the arms of the local communist movement. But these things can be achieved without murder and extortion. If Sison and his comrades truly have the masses’ interests at heart, they should sue for peace, come home and use legitimate avenues to improve people’s lives.