University of San Carlos Publications

The Propaganda Movement: 1880-1895 by John N. Schumacher

Review by: Bella H. Albos
Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society, Vol. 1, No. 4 (DECEMBER 1973), pp. 299-301
Published by: University of San Carlos Publications
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/29791105 .
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tools were employed in the manufacture of
other tools, such as those of bamboo. A striking
feature was the preference for red and black
chert, which is not local to the area. Since only
tan and brown chert are available in the Sohoton
and Basey River beds, trade was postulated as
an explanation for the presence of the extra?
neous red and black chert
sidering the high percentage of "debitage", i.e.,
unused flakes, it was speculated that tool
manufacture took place in the site although no
lithic production paraphernalia were encounter?
ed. Only a comparatively small area (18 square
was excavated in an area
meters)
ximately 380 square meters;
possibility of certain missing
manufacture cannot be ruled
A shift in population towards the south was
attributed to the gradual participation in the
maritime trade during the piotohistoric period.
This theory draws its support from the dis?
tribution of associated materials
south of the karstic area: later traits are more
common in the south than in the north. Caves
have always been utilized for burial from at
least Neolithic times. Absence of evidence for
such behavior earlier than the protohistoric
period merely reflects the area's negative ex?
ploitative potentialities and, thereby, for per?
manent settlement. As the evidence shows, the
caves served the of
purpose
sites during periodic hunting and gathering
forages. The total absence of cultural material
in sites investigated away from the river further
supports this view. Rather than postulate a
southerlymovement of the population, it would
appear more likely that utilization of the caves
in later times for burial purposes was the result
of population expansion upward along the
river route in connection with the expanding
trade for forest products (such as varieties of
wood and medicinal products), which formed
one of themajor items of exchange forChinese
goods.
As with most preliminary reports, conclusions
are necessarily tentative. Much of the recon?
struction awaits the results of furtherwork and
analyses of material before a comprehensive
picture of the cultural development
This content downloaded from 195.34.79.18 on Wed, 11 Jun 2014 01:53:33 AM
BOOK REVIEWS 299
Basey River area, spanning the last geologic
epoch, can be worked out. In any case, those
who conceived and carried out the project
should be congratulated for the thoroughness
of the investigations.
raw materials. Con?
John N. Schumacher. The Propaganda Move?
ment: 1880-1895. Manila: Solidaridad Pub?
lishingHouse, 1973, xii, 302 pages. P20.00
Reviewed by Bella H. Albos
totalling appro? This book, the product of research under?
therefore, the taken by the author for his Georgetown
items of tool
University doctoral dissertation, represents the
out.
first full-length study on a crucial period in
modern Philippine history. In agreement with
other recent historians, Fr. Schumacher sees
the period of the Propaganda Movement (1880
1895) as the formative period for a Philippine
as one moves
national consciousness, "at least in the minds
of the more perceptive and the more ardent"
(Preface, ix). As his starting-point, which has
been defined differently by different historians,
he takes 1880, the date of the appearance of
the "first printed work which began to ex
plicitate this nascent nationalism", as the real
beginning of the Propaganda movement.
The conditions, political and social, then
temporaiy camp
prevailing in the Philippines were such that the
propaganda activities occurred primarily not in
the Philippines themselves, but in Spain, where
a steadily growing colony of young Filipinos
who had come in close contact with the liberal
and nationalist atmosphere of Europe, began to
agitate for reforms in their homeland. Europe
became the seedbed where the still inchoate
nationalist sentiments of Filipino intellectuals
were to reach maturity. Schumacher's study
thus focuses its attention on the European
scene; it does not study "in depth the pene?
tration of nationalist ideals in the Philippines
nor on the activities and organizations at home
which took their inspiration from the Propa?
gandists abroad." Of the 14 chapters of the
book, only one (Chapter VI), is devoted to
events in the Philippines. This chapter deals
in the with Marcelo H. del Pilar's activities in the
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300 PHILIPPINE QUARTERLY OF CULTURE AND SOCIETY

years 1887-38, before he left for Spain. "excluded . . .

any revolutionary activity, or

In the first chapter the author sketches the
Philippine background against which some of
the peculiar characteristics of the fifteen-year
campaign for reforms can be seen in true
perspective, such as the violent anti-friarposture
of the reformists, the assimilationist solution
they advocated, and the reason why most of
this propagandist effort had to be made outside
the Philippines.
The author distinguishes three phases in the
evolution of a Filipino national consciousness
which fall within the years 1880-86; 1887-91;
and 1891-95, respectively (Chapters II-IV). The
first phase saw a slow and, at first, tentative
veiled advocacy of assimilation of the Filipinos
and the "peninsulars"; it was wholly given to
sporadic journalistic activities and the establish?
ing of useful political contacts.
The appearance of the first of Rizal's two
novels, "Noli me tangere", and of the first
Filipino newspaper in Spain, Espana en Filipinos,
usher in the second phase of the Propaganda
movement. Rizal's novel
"was more than a mere attack on the existing
Philippine establishment. It was a proclamation
of the gospel of Filipino nationalism, a call to the
of the Filipino people. For
regeneration
as Rizal declares in his dedication
purpose,
'mi patria', he has uncovered the cancer,
sensitive to the slightest touch, which is eating
away at thevitals of Philippine society" (p. 94).
The second phase was marked by the full
flowering of the propaganda for "assimilation".
By setting up their own newspaper, "La Soli
daridad", the reformists were able to carry on
their propaganda with more vigor than before.
M. del Pilar became the leader of the Filipino
colony of Madrid. Schumacher devotes a special
chapter to one of the factors in themovement,
Filipino masonry (Chapter IX). He offers a wel?
come and timely correction to the frequently
"exaggerated and misinterpreted" role of Ma?
sonry in the nationalist movement. One learns
with interest that M. del Pilar, who was most
active in promoting masonic ideas and practices
in the Philippines, saw in it primarily an instru?
ment for the dissemination of liberal ideas, and
any real political activity at all" (p. 163).
As Fr. Schumacher makes it abundantly
clear, Rizal and del Pilar had by this time be?
come the undoubted protagonists of the Fili?
pino cause. The two men have often been
contrasted as idealist and realist, respectively.
There is a good deal to be said for this view.
Chapter XI, 'The Filipino Past and Education
fox the Future, 1887-1891", unfolds in wel?
come detail the story of Rizal, scholar and
nationalist, as he labors assiduously to demolish
the distorted Spanish view of the Filioino
people, and to put in its place a fairer and
? one that would convince his
brighter image
countrymen, especially Philippine youth, that
they were the equals, if not superiors, of their
masters. Throughout his life,Rizal clung to the
belief that a properly directed education would
bring about the needed reforms, so as to qualify
his own countrymen for full equality of status
with the "peninsulars". Eventually, however,
Rizal became convinced that Spain would
never willingly grant the Filipinos' demands and
that an independent Philippines should, there?
fore, become the goal of the nationalist move?
ment. Disagreement on this point as well as
dissimilarities in outlook and temperament led
this
to repeated clashes with del Pilar. When Rizal's
to
so attempt to take away the leadership from del
Pilar failed, he withdrew from the Madrid
colony and "La Solidaridad". Fr. Schumacher
judges that this was not just "a petty licking of
personal wounds" on the part of Rizal (p. 233).
He had come to realize that the effortsmade
in Madrid were bound to fail; the struggle
would have to be carried to the Philippines, if
necessary at the cost of their own (the reform?
ists') lives. Rizal's withdrawal in effect put an
end to "La Solidaridad" and the whole Pro?
movement.
paganda
In the last chapter, Fr. Schumacher under?
in a final to answer two
takes, "assessment",
questions: "What "was achieved? Was the cam?
paign a success? His answer to the second
question, given first, is:
"Conceived as a campaign for reforms, as a move?
ment aiming at the complete assimilation of
Filipino and Spaniard, with the formerenjoying

This content downloaded from 195.34.79.18 on Wed, 11 Jun 2014 01:53:33 AM

All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

the right theoretically guaranteed
Spanish citizen, the Filipino
in Europe must be termed a substantial
(p. 267)
In other words, the reformists failed in their
professed aim, but as the author hastens to add,
their campaign succeeded in other ways. For
one thing, the propagandists were to witness a
number of reforms, some of which were per?
haps the results of the propagandists' efforts.
Fr. Schumacher reiterates that a closer look at
the assimilationists program "does not warrant
considering its failure a total loss to the Philip?
pines" (p. 268). In fact, if they had succeeded,
the benefits would have been of very doubtful
value. The author doubts that Spain could have
brought progress and prosperity to the Philip?
pines at the end of the nineteenth century.
And he concludes this part of his assessment
with the verdict: "Assimilation as a solution to
Philippine problems was a hopeless quest."
On the touchy matter of the vituperative
attacks on the friars,Fr. Schumacher, approach?
ing the matter as a social historian, views the
whole phenomenon as a process
of Philippine society from its "medieval tute?
lage", which had become anachronistic in the
late nineteenth century. What took Europe
almost a century to accomplish was to be
brought about in the Philippines in a much
shorter time, which to some
the excesses of the attacking side. To give both
sides their due, Schumacher adds that "it was
precisely this tutelage that had made possible
the Filipino unity then being forged by giving
Filipinos the common bond of religion and
even, to the extent it
language" (p. 273-4). The greatest success
reaped by the Propaganda Movement was "in
giving the people a sense of national identity
and unity".
This is a book that had to be written. It
should go a long way in clearing up some of
the misunderstandings and misgivings as con?
cerns the roles played by Rizal and his fellow
masons and their aspirations and goals. The
author is to be congratulated on the courage he
has shown in taking up a lot of hot irons.His is
the work of real historian: sober, objective,
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BOOK REVIEWS 301
to him as a well-documented from primary sources. Those
nationalist activity who want to pursue these matters furtherwill
failure"
find the bibliography at the end of the book of
great help. A look at its firstpart ("Notes on
the Sources") will give the aspiring historian an
idea of the obstacles he will have to overcome
to do what Fr. Schumacher has, in spite of all
odds, so successfully done, viz., to write a
piece of "what really happened".
Lourdes V. Lapuz. A Study inPsychopathology.
Manila: University of the Philippines Press,
1973, xii, 313 pages.
Reviewed by James Skerry, SVD
This study in psychopathology is offered as
a systematic analysis of psychiatric clinical im?
pressions derived from interviews with 419
clients seen by the author in private practice
between the years 1961-1967. The study ex?
of emancipation cluded patients diagnosed as psychotic, those
suffering from advanced physical illness, those
below the age of 13 and over 60, and those not
of Filipino parentage and style of life. All
patients were from the middle, upper-middle,
and upper socioeconomic class, and more than
extent explains sixty per cent (60?/Q) were referred to the
psychiatrist by medical colleagues.
Dr. Lapuz sees her patients as "marginal
men", caught between the traditional cultural
values of the Philippines in which they were
reared and the demands made on them by life
existed, a common in urban, competitive, achievement-oriented,
relatively autonomous modern Manila. The
general theme of the book is that, unable to
meet the conflicting sets of demands made
upon them by their two worlds and unwilling
or unable to surrender either, these patients
were overwhelmed by stress and paid the price
in various forms of emotional disturbance. The
prime areas of conflict are identified as the
need for "belongingness" and dependency vs.
the need for autonomy and achievement at al?
most any cost; the ingrained training and the
cultural value set upon suppression and control
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