Book Reviews and Notices : The Philippine Answer to Communism. By ALVAN H. SCHAFF. (Stanford: Stanford University Press. 1955. Pp. ix, 165. $4.00.)

• Author: Cecil Hobbs
• Published date: 01 December 1956
• Date: 01 December 1956
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/106591295600900418
• Subject Matter: Articles

1002

is

necessarily

concerned

with

relations

between

the

National

Union

of

Mineworkers

and

the

National

Coal

Board.

The

author

describes

the condition

of

the

industry

in

the

postwar

period,

and

the

elaborate

conciliation

and

arbitration

machinery

employed

to

prevent

work

stoppages.

Statistical

evidence

of

the

number

and

duration

of

disputes

since

nationalization

is

presented,

and

six

important

disputes

are

described

and

analyzed

in

some

detail.

A

chapter

is

also

devoted

to

unofficial

strikes.

Lastly,

the

results

of

a

field

inquiry

with

a

questionnaire

designed

to

elicit

the

miners’

opinions

on

strikes

and

the

settlement

of

disputes

in

the

industry

are

reported.

Dr.

Saxena

concludes

that

the

wage

issue

is

the

most

important

factor

underlying

miner

unrest

and

that

this

is

exacerbated

by

the

workers’

con-

sciousness

of

the

history

of

their

industry,

which

has

given

them

a

high

propensity

for

striking.

Still

further

rationalization

of

the

wage

and

benefit

structure

in

the

industry

combined

with

more

effective

techniques

for

giving

the

workers

a

sense

of

participation

in

the

conduct

of

their

industry

are

his

principal

proposals

for

securing

industrial

peace.

The

weakness

of

the

book

lies

in

the

fact

that

no

serious

effort

is

made

to

compare

the

pre-nationalization

period

with

the

post-nationalization

period.

The

study

confines

itself

almost

exclusively

to

developments

since

the

mines

were

taken

over

by

the

government.

As

a

result

no

very

clear

picture

emerges

of

what

effect

nationalization

itself

has

had

upon

industrial

conflict

in

Britain’s

coal

industry.

Franklin

and

Marshall

College.

RICHARD

F.

SCHIER.

The

Philippine

Answer

to

Communism.

By

ALVAN

H.

SCHAFF.

(Stanford:

Stanford

University

Press.

1955.

Pp.

ix,

165.

$4.00.)

This

is

an

account

of

how

an

active

armed

Communist

rebellion

was

suppressed

and

finally

defeated

in

the

Philippines.

The

study

opens

with

a

detailed

investigation

of

the

Philippine

Communist

organization

known

as

the

Hukbalahap

movement,

short

for

the

Tagalog

Hukbong

Bayan

Laban

sa

Hapon,

originally

known

as

the

United

Front

Against

the

Japanese,

and

provides

information

about

the

life

conditions

and

problems

which

stimu-

lated

the

Communist

cause.

The

account

tells

how

the

Philippine

government

discovered,

by

experi-

ence,

a

formula

-

comprised

of

effective

military

force

and

constructive

friendly

programs

-

which

eventually

won

out

against

the

Communist

movement.

In

the

words

of

President

Ramon

Magsaysay,

then

secretary

of

national

defense,

the

reason

for

the

policy

is

stated:

...

when

a

persevering

governmental

program

has

been

able

to

bridge

the

gap

of

misunder-

standing

[among

Filipino

peasants]

and

has

succeeded

in

inspiring

their

confidence,

and