Building of the Party

Last January 30, 2009, after a series of meetings and consultations from national mass organizations, Partido Lakas ng Masa held its Founding Congress. Attended by more than 1,000 leaders representing various national formations such as labor sector (BMP), transport (PMT), urban poor (KPML, Zoto), political blocs (Sanlakas, Kalayaan), farmers and agricultural workers (AMA, Makabayan), out-of-school youth and students (SDK, PK), and others, the Congress adopted the constitution and elected the central council of the party and its chairperson.

Prior to the Founding Congress, PLM held its first launching at the All-Leaders Assembly at the Benitez Hall, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. The Assembly was attended by 250 leaders from various mass organizations. The Assembly adopted the Concept Paper of the PLM and the Platform of the Masses put forward by the PLM.

On November 30, 2008, Bonifacio Day, the PLM was publicly launched with the support of around 5,000 activists. Its tri-color flag, which was used by General Gregorio del Pilar during the revolution against Spain and against the entry of US colonialist forces, dotted the streets of Manila during that day.

Since the Founding Congress of the party, large assemblies or working people’s summit at the municipal level have taken place across the country. Chapters of the party were set up on these summits or assemblies. PLM councils, which act as the leadership at the municipal or local level, were formed.

What is Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM)?

PLM is a new political and electoral party that is a product of the consultation with various mass organizations.

• It is more than the previous party-list project undertaken by organizations and individual members. PLM recruits among the ranks of the broad sector and sections of the working class and the toiling masses – the industrial workers, urban poor, farmers and agricultural workers, vendors, teachers, tricycle drivers, jeepney drivers, youth and students, women and others.
• The PLM is more than a party-list organization. It intervenes and field candidates in the local, district and national elections.
• The PLM is more than an electoral organization. It is a combination of the mass movement and the electoral organization. It recognizes the election as an arena of struggle, but it intervenes in the election not in the traditional form of campaigning but in ways and forms that raises the level of mobilization and struggles of the masses.

Strategy to put the masses in power

The PLM recognizes the importance of a strategy that combines the struggle of the masses with electoral intervention. It is a strategy that puts into power progressive and socialist parties in many parts of Latin America today.

The victory of socialist leaders in Latin America does not represent a simple victory in the ballot boxes. The electoral victories were preceded by popular uprisings that mobilized millions of people. During the elections, the uprisings were transformed into giant mobilizations that ensure the victories of the socialists in the polls. Let us learn from the lessons of the new strategy which is happening today in Latin America. The participation in the election is not only immersing in bourgeois politics. It can be part of a struggle where we register our forces as alternative leaders of government and of society.

Party of Change, Party of Socialism

The party is based among the toiling masses, especially among the ranks of the workers, the urban poor, the farmers, the youth and the students and the new forces.

The party considers itself a party of the time, a new party for the new century. A party that represents the aspiration for change of the numerous yet marginalized sectors in society.

The party aims to mobilize the masses and lead in their protests against the ravages of the capitalist system. More than this, the party presents the socialist solution and alternative to the capitalist crisis, and has the confidence to present itself as the alternative political center against the decaying and rotten government.

Platform of the masses

PLM advances a transitional program that represents the dismantling of the rotten capitalist system and its replacement by socialism. It consists of a set of key demands pertaining to the immediate economic reforms and political reforms that party will campaign for.

It includes the nationalization of the basic industries and services, such as electricity, oil and water; the provision of basic needs of the masses, such as land, decent housing, education, jobs, and health; the establishment of a genuine government of the masses; and others.

Main Office: 13 A.Rigor St.

Project 4, Quezon City, Philippines

Tel no.”: +632 439 58 11