Crisanto Abaño Evangelista (November 1, 1888 – June 2, 1942) was a
Filipino communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, ...
politician and labor leader of the first half of the 20th century. He is credited as being one of the founders of the
Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas
The Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930 (PKP-1930), also known as the Philippine Communist Party, is a communist party in the Philippines that was established on November 7, 1930. It uses the aforementioned appellation in order to distinguish i ...
. Evangelista was also an influential head of the
Congreso Obrero de Filipinas, at the time the foremost and largest trade federation in the Philippines, having served as secretary for multiple years. He also headed the
Union de Impresores de Filipinas as its Secretary-General. Prior to forming the PKP, Evangelista was a member of the
Partido Obrero de Filipinas, a Filipino workers' party with increasingly radical leanings. Evangelista was eventually captured by the Japanese during the Second World War and executed.
Biography
On
May Day
May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the spring equinox and summer solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. Tr ...
1913, together with
Hermenegildo Cruz, he had attempted to guarantee basic
workers' rights
Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights inf ...
and unify the
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
s in the country.
After defecting from the
Nacionalista Party
The Nacionalista Party ( Filipino and Spanish: ''Partido Nacionalista''; ) is the oldest political party in both the Philippines and in Southeast Asia in general. It is responsible for leading the country throughout the majority of the 20th ...
with its left wing allies, he became one of the founders and early leaders of the increasingly
Marxist
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...
Partido Obrero de Filipinas, which became the Progressive Workers Party. Around it, he formed a new trade union federation, one that was more radical in its goals.
Evangelista was one of five members of the inaugural executive committee of the
Pan-Pacific Trade Union Secretariat
The Pan-Pacific Trade Union Secretariat (PPTUS) was a regional subdivision of the Red International of Labor Unions (RILU, commonly known as the Profintern), the trade union organization associated with the Communist International. Established in ...
, established in 1927 as a Pacific regional subdivision of the
Red International of Labor Unions (RILU, commonly known as the Profintern). He was instrumental in affiliating the Philippine labor federation, the
Congreso Obrero de Filipinas (COF) with that organization on June 30 of that same year.
[E.H. Carr, ''A History of Soviet Russia, Volume 14: Foundations of a Planned Economy: Volume 3, Part 3.'' London: Macmillan, 1978; pg. 1040.]
On November 7, 1930, the 13th anniversary of the
October Revolution
The October Revolution,. officially known as the Great October Socialist Revolution. in the Soviet Union, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution, was a revolution in Russia led by the Bolshevik Party of Vladimir Lenin that was a key mom ...
, Evangelista reformed his group as the
Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas
The Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930 (PKP-1930), also known as the Philippine Communist Party, is a communist party in the Philippines that was established on November 7, 1930. It uses the aforementioned appellation in order to distinguish i ...
[, Note: Karnow misspelled the first name as "Cristano", page 444.] and subsequently led it briefly until it was banned on October 26, 1932 by the
Supreme Court of the Philippines
The Supreme Court ( fil, Kataas-taasang Hukuman; colloquially referred to as the ''Korte Suprema'' lso used in formal writing is the highest court in the Philippines. The Supreme Court was established by the Second Philippine Commission on J ...
. Jailed towards the end of the decade, Evangelista was involved in informal talks with
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Manuel L. Quezon, negotiating a social peace.
He was arrested by invading
Imperial Japanese Army
The was the official ground-based armed force of the Empire of Japan from 1868 to 1945. It was controlled by the Imperial Japanese Army General Staff Office and the Ministry of the Army, both of which were nominally subordinate to the Emper ...
troops along with
Pedro Abad Santos
Pedro Abad Santos y Basco (, ; 31 January 1876 – 15 January 1945) was a Filipino Marxist politician. He founded the Partido Sosyalista ng Pilipinas (PSP) or Philippine Socialist Party in 1929. He ran for several local elections but never won. ...
, and
Guillermo Capadocia on January 25, 1942, and executed on June 2, 1942 after an attempt to use him as a bargaining tool in contacts with the
Hukbalahap
The Hukbong Bayan Laban sa Hapon (), better known by the acronym Hukbalahap, was a communist guerrilla movement formed by the farmers of Central Luzon. They were originally formed to fight the Japanese, but extended their fight into a rebellio ...
.
[L. Taruc, ''He Who Rides the Tiger.'' London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1967; pg. 61.]
Footnotes
External links
''Labor movement in the Philippines''
Filipino communists
Filipino trade union leaders
Executed politicians
1942 deaths
Executed Filipino people
People executed by Japanese occupation forces
Nacionalista Party politicians
1888 births
Filipino political party founders
{{Philippines-politician-stub