Proletarian, Unionist, Socialist: Hermenegildo Cruz and Socialism in the Early Philippine Labor Movement, 1899–1919

This article discusses the development of socialist ideas in the early Philippine labor movement through the work of Hermenegildo Cruz, a labor leader who propagated socialist ideas through the Balangay ng mga Tipografo, its newspaper Balagtas, and the workers’ school he cofounded with Lope K. Santos. I conclude that the development of Cruz’s socialism reflected the organized Filipino workers’ budding class consciousness and at the same time led to the compartmentalization of the labor struggle separate from the struggle for independence, as the labor movement rejected the idea of an independent workers’ party.