founder of the Katipunan and the one who began the revolution—remained high, protected by Aguinaldo’s stunning successes on the battlefield. It’s not that Bonifacio was any less willing to fight or less brave, but Aguinaldo was the one who really understood the strategy of guerrilla war, just as Bonifacio was the one who held in his hand the strategy of party building and revolutionary politics. How much better it would have been had the rebels been able to unite and place party and political matters under Bonifacio and military matters under Aguinaldo, thus coordinating the entire revolution. Such organizational, political, and military coordination was impossible, however, as Filipino society had not yet developed the necessary experience and consciousness. Further, the cruel and powerful Spanish imperialism had not permitted the growth of strong organization and action in underground work. Revolutionaries had been forced to work in small groups, particularly in the cities, and were not able to have much contact with each other.
[137] At one conference Aguinaldo was chosen as president and Mabini as minister of foreign affairs. Representation at the conference did not reflect the real balance of forces between Aguinaldo and Bonifacio. It could be said that Bonifacio’s group was represented only by Bonifacio himself, who had been trapped into attendance. Bonifacio, who came with no preparation for what was to occur, was given the title of director of one of the government departments and was insulted as an ignoramus. He felt not only deceived by this fabricated election of Aguinaldo’s, but also humiliated. He made his offended feelings known and angrily left the “elections” for home.45
On the way he was overtaken by one of Aguinaldo’s units. Aguinaldo apparently realized that if Bonifacio were to organize opposition to him, Aguinaldo’s victory could not be assured or that if it did come it would not be as easy as in his recent conference. For this reason Bonifacio had to be betrayed and stabbed in the back before he could make preparations. Such an attitude is not uncommon among leaders filled with the desire to be great but lacking good character and intelligence. In the fight along the way, Bonifacio, aided only by his younger brother, met his end as a hero. Aguinaldo lived on. Although the history books do not tell it quite like that, the above is how the people tell Bonifacio’s story.
So it was that the teacher and his pupil, the president and the secretary of La Liga Filipina-Rizal and Bonifacio—both died tragically at a young age. But there was a difference: Jose Rizal was executed by the oppressors of his nation for everyone to see, while Andres Bonifacio was murdered by his own people, his comrades in the struggle against foreign power. Jose Rizal represented the Filipino middle class and intelligentsia while Andres Bonifacio represented the common people.
This difference is evident in the treatment accorded the anniversaries of the deaths of these two Filipino heros. On the anniversary of Rizal’s death (31 December) we see the modern upper class commemorating the occasion in speeches and songs filled with sorrow and appreciation. The anniversary of Andres Bonifacio’s death on 30 November is marked, especially on the street corners of poor neighborhoods in Manila, by the fiery speeches of the people, who raise their clenched fists, as if pledging to continue his work cut short by political assassination.46
[138] Of course a revolution does not outlaw killing, and there are those who can be killed without serious consequences for the revolution itself. But the revolution must not kill the groups or leaders that have been its driving force. This stricture is even more important when the aims of the revolution have not yet been achieved. The admonition “thou shalt not kill” must be seen from two different angles, internal and external, subjective and objective. Subjectively, although the aims of the slain revolutionary leaders will sooner or later be taken up by their followers, it is the leaders in the front lines of the struggle who determine its course. Not only will the revolution have lost its most radical force, but the moderates who inflicted the blow will also be weakened. If the two groups are of approximately equal strength, the revolution will devour its own children and soon collapse. Even if the moderates win the struggle in their ranks, the whole revolution will have lost its most valuable force, and it will be easy for the reactionaries to triumph in the end. A revolution will not stop in the middle: it will devolve upon either the radicals or the reactionaries.
This final point was made clear in the Philippine revolution after the Bonifacio affair. It may have been because he felt unable to stand up militarily to the Americans, or because of pressure from the Filipino bourgeoisie, who desired peace, or even a combination of these two possibilities, but President Aguinaldo was for some time engaged in (secret?) contacts with the Americans and was prepared to accept less than 100 percent independence for the Philippines.47
Mabini, who as a lawyer was able to bamboozle the American admiral in debates on independence and international law, had long been afraid of this.48 He was firmly in favor of holding out for 100 percent independence, but perhaps because he was new to the revolutionary arena or because of his ill health, Foreign Minister Mabini, the “sublime paralytic,” was unable to spread his views or his own influence among the masses.49 When the news broke that Aguinaldo wanted to make peace on the basis of a treaty that was destructive of an independent Philippines, Mabini, as minister of foreign affairs, stated that such a peace treaty was the responsibility of Aguinaldo alone—that it was made without the agreement of the minister of foreign affairs, let alone of the people. Such was Mabini.
[139] When he heard the news that Aguinaldo had been deceived and arrested by an American military force, the “sublime paralytic” went everywhere trying to fan the spirit of the guerrilla forces and leaders to continue the struggle.50 When he was captured, Mabini, wearing peasant clothes, was meeting with other guerrilla leaders in a peasant’s house. American troops surrounded them. The American commander barked out an order: “Everyone in the house stand up.” The one who could not stand was the “sublime paralytic,” the first minister of foreign affairs of the Philippines. He was quickly recognized and captured.51
Aguinaldo, the president of the Philippine revolution, who was then (1901) only thirty years old, swore an oath to the American government that he would not involve himself in politics as long as the American flag flew over the Philippines. With a large annual subsidy, the first president of the first republic to arise in Asia lives peacefully with thousands of other veterans of the revolution who are permitted by the Americans to celebrate the revolution’s anniversary each year.52
Mabini, with his hundreds of comrades who refused to pledge allegiance to the American flag, was exiled to the island of Guam, at that time filled with infectious diseases. He died there.53
In the peace negotiations in Paris between Spain and America, the Philippines were crushed in the coils of diplomacy and sold by Spain to America, to become an “American Protectorate,” another name for colony.54 This was the tragic end of the republic that so amazed the world at the end of the nineteenth century—the first in Asia or Africa and established by one of the Indonesian peoples.
Evidently Philippine society at that time was not yet able to divide and coordinate the work as follows: the organization of the revolution under Bonifacio, state and military affairs under Aguinaldo, and foreign affairs under Mabini. The Philippine national and social revolution was not carried through; America became its “protector,” and the landlords went unchecked.
American imperialism immediately instituted changes in all fields. Jose Rizal was commemorated, and his program was implemented. This was not done out of altruism, but because it accorded with the interests of modern American capitalism, and also because Uncle Sam recognized the strength of the Philippine bolo on the field of battle.55
[140] First Uncle Sam attacked the anopheles mosquito that raged everywhere. Advances were made in the sphere of public health; the birth rate increased while the death rate declined, and the population of the Philippines rose from six million at the end of the last century to sixteen (?) million today.56 The Spanish government had paid more attention to education than the
