The “Collective Decision” of the CPP-NPA: A Systematic Enslavement of Free Will

By Mau Chaeyoung 

The recruitment of young people from the cities to the mountains is not coincidence—it is command. In every story of a young person who “decides” to join the revolution, we often hear the refrain: “It was my personal choice.” A decision, they say, born of conviction, a moral stand for justice. But the truth is, it is never merely personal. Behind every so-called choice lies the collective hand of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), deliberate, organized, and systematic in shaping the very conditions that lead an individual to take up arms.

The CPP does not wait for conviction to emerge; it manufactures it. Through sustained ideological indoctrination, emotional conditioning, and selective exposure to grievance and conflict, the Party builds an environment where armed struggle appears not only justified but inevitable. Every meeting, study circle, and mass work assignment erodes the boundary between civic activism and revolutionary militancy. Step by step, the individual is led to believe that joining the armed struggle, the so-called “higher form of struggle” is the ultimate expression of commitment.

By the time one “decides” to go full-time, that decision is no longer free. It has been carefully constructed — nurtured by years of indoctrination and framed as the only righteous path. The CPP lays down all emotional, moral, and social conditions until the individual is ready to surrender even life itself to the cause. This is not a spontaneous awakening but a calculated transformation, one that turns conviction into obedience and idealism into submission.

A Premeditated Process

The act of “joining the revolution” is not an impulsive leap of faith. It is a meticulously orchestrated process, an indoctrination that reshapes thought, emotion, and allegiance. From ideological grooming to emotional manipulation, from magnifying social grievances to instilling hatred against the state, the CPP engineers every stage of radicalization.

It is not the government that drives people to the mountains; it is the Party that defines each step of one’s transformation. The so-called “decision” is not an exercise of freedom but the endpoint of a controlled process, guided and sanctioned by “collective” command.

The 10 point and 12-Point Programs: Blueprint of Systematic Indoctrination

The CPP’s 10-Point Program and the NDFP’s 12-Point Program function as complementary frameworks within the same revolutionary movement—one establishing an ideological foundation, the other outlining political objectives. The CPP’s 10-Point Program defines the central goals for societal transformation, including advocacy for a people’s democratic cultural movement, the formation of a national, science-focused, and mass-based educational system, and the use of armed struggle as a primary commitment to change.

The NDFP’s 12-Point Program, in turn, provides a structure for implementing these principles, such as organizing a people’s army as a tool for education (Point 3) and advancing a progressive national culture through various institutions (Point 9). Both programs explicitly employ directive language, emphasizing the necessity of action rather than aspirational ideals. Collectively, these programs describe a process where education, culture, and military activity are interconnected to mobilize and structure collective engagement. As such, the CPP-NPA-NDF movement uses these programs as mechanisms for sustained support and participation, anchored by recurring political education and organized mass action.

The call to “build the people’s army and the united front” and to “develop a revolutionary culture” reveals that ideological preparation, and militarization are not incidental but mandated. The transformation of civilians into militants is not an accident, it is the intended outcome of the Party’s own programmatic design.

Ideological Education

The CPP’s call to carry out a “thoroughgoing national democratic revolution through mass education and mobilization” justifies the existence of PADEPA, and particularly the Maikling Kurso sa Lipunan at Rebolusyong Pilipino (MKLRP). These are not mere study sessions, they are operational tools that execute the Party’s ideological mandate. Each module is crafted to cultivate obedience and reshape consciousness, ensuring loyalty to the Party overrides independent moral judgment. Open-legal National Democratic Mass Organizations and even other organizations under their sway conduct PADEPA study sessions that they frame as reinforcement of their commitment to societal change.

Through systematic political education, young activists are guided through stages of immersion. These materials do not simply teach political theory; they reframe reality, mold consciousness, and prepare the mind for the “higher form of struggle.” Each lesson moves the participant closer to total submission to the Party’s collective will.

When Conviction Becomes a Weapon of Guilt

Within the NPA ranks, members are reminded: “Even as a full-time revolutionary, you must continue to struggle against your individualism.”

It sounds noble, a call to discipline, but in truth, it is psychological coercion that erases personal will.

No one naturally desires violence or to abandon family, education, or dreams. But through ideological pressure and emotional manipulation, the Party manufactures moral justification for bloodshed. It dictates when killing is “just,” who the “enemy” is, and when it becomes righteous to betray one’s own family in the name of revolution.

The National Democratic Front of the Philippines’s 12-Point Program positions armed struggle as a central requirement rather than a tactical choice. It begins with a call for unity to challenge the prevailing semicolonial and semifeudal system through a people’s war, aiming for the completion of the national democratic revolution.

Similarly, the foundational document of the Communist Party of the Philippines asserts that the only path is armed revolution to defeat opposing forces. Both texts frame organized violence as a mandated task: the people’s army is described as not only a fighting unit, but also a means for outreach and productive activity, with a strong connection to local communities. Culture and education are similarly targeted for reform, described as essential to freeing the nation from external and feudal influences.

The NDFP Program stipulates that organizational efforts are directed under the absolute authority of the Communist Party of the Philippines. As a result, recruitment methods that appeal to a sense of obligation or collective identity reflect formal doctrine rather than individual initiative, and the movement systematically encourages dedication, compliance, and the legitimization of militant action.

Perhaps the cruellest result of this system is how it turns love into betrayal. When a parent, spouse, or sibling tries to bring a member home, that person is branded “counter-revolutionary.” The CPP replaces family with the “revolutionary collective.” Affection is rewritten by ideology. Children are left behind, lovers abandoned, dreams discarded, all because loyalty to the Party is deemed higher than love itself.

Death of Individual Freedom

The Party’s doctrine of democratic centralism, enshrined in its 10-Point Program institutionalizes submission. Individual conscience is systematically subordinated to Party command. The erosion of free will is not a side effect but the desired outcome. The individual ceases to be a moral agent and becomes a mere instrument of the collective.

From “Development, Current Status and Prospects of Maoist Theory and Practice in the Philippines.” by Joma Sison, states that: “The Party follows the organizational principle of democratic centralism. … In every collective, the individual must follow the decision of the majority. … Once a decision is taken, there is collective discipline to follow and implement the decision.” 

After stripping recruits of their humanity, the CPP-NPA blames the government for their misery. “The state forced us to fight,” they claim. Yet it is the Party that robs individuals of free will. Through guilt and manipulation, it convinces members that their suffering is voluntary, that their enslavement is a choice. It is a deception so complete that even the loss of freedom feels like liberation.

The Youth 

Contrary to romanticized narratives, young activists do not simply wander into the mountains out of idealism. Their journey is guided and commanded. Each recruitment follows a pattern: targeted exposure, guided immersion, political mentoring, and eventual deployment. Every youth drawn into the NPA is part of a logistical operation — a replenishment of the Party’s diminishing human resources.

The result: wasted lives, broken families, and stolen futures, all sacrificed on the altar of an ideology that has failed everywhere it took root.

The Filipino people have always had the capacity to build, innovate, and rise. But instead of empowering communities to harness their potential, the CPP-NPA teaches them to destroy,  to turn frustration into violence and potential into rebellion. This is not revolution. It is the sabotage of progress, the theft of hope from the very people the Party claims to liberate.

Real Freedom Is the Freedom to Choose

The most insidious form of slavery is that which hides behind the mask of a “collective decision.” Within the Communist Party of the Philippines, freedom is circumscribed by doctrine. The Araling Aktibista (ARAK) handbook commands: 

“Democracy that is guided by centralized leadership means that the individual interest and action is subordinate, and agrees to, the overall interests and goals of the organization.” 

Likewise, the Party’s founding program institutionalizes obedience through democratic centralism, declaring that “the individual is subordinate to the organization; the minority is subordinate to the majority; the lower level is subordinate to the higher level.” 

In this structure, “collective leadership” becomes the sanctification of submission — where conscience yields to command and moral choice is replaced by Party discipline. When the Party dictates what is right, who the enemy is, and when one must die, there is no freedom left. For all its talk of liberation, the CPP’s system reduces human will to a tool of the collective.

True freedom does not begin in the mountains of violence but in the quiet revolution of the mind — in the courage to think, to question, and to choose one’s own path. Progress comes from open minds, not closed doctrines. It grows where people listen, build, and work together despite differences. Because the real revolution is not in destruction, but in understanding in rebuilding lives, restoring trust, and choosing peace over fear.