ABSTRACT
The passage to China marked the beginning of an extraordinary but tragic episode in the history of the Philippine communist movement. In an archipelagic country such as the Philippines, which has no contiguous neighbors, the lack of a friendly rear made life precarious for the fledgling rebel army. The benefactor of numerous Third World revolutions was only 400 miles across open water from the Philippines. Jose Maria Sison was betting that the Philippine revolution would be able to take advantage of the radical winds sweeping China. The Cultural Revolution was hard on China's experienced chefs, who as members of the villified educated class were banished to the countryside to plant rice and raise pigs. The China project was integral to the Communist Party of the Philippines's (CPP) planning of Plaza Miranda. CPP leaders in the Philippines decided that the arms project could be used to funnel badly needed cash into revolutionary coffers.
