Rizal, Plaridel, and the founding of Katipunan?
Ilustrados. Indios Bravos. Propagandists. Reformists. Whatever they were called, Filipinos abroad in the 1870s to the 1890s campaigned for the Philippines in their own way. But would it come as a surprise to note they were not as cohesive as many may think?
Whoever encountered the many works of Marcelo H. Del Pilar (aka Plaridel) in the publication La Solidaridad (Soli) may have come to read Iluso the First, a satirical essay published in the Soli on, guess what, April 15, 1892. This was months after Del Pilar supposedly "founded" (by January 1892) the revolutionary Katipunan as its mastermind in Spain, or so this was claimed by later research.
While indeed Iluso was originally the writing of Eduardo de Lete, one of the Soli's contributors, as editor of La Solidaridad, however, Plaridel has the final say in what can or cannot be published. It drew such a response that Jose Rizal (aka Dimasalang) thought it was a personal attack against him. But who was Iluso anyway, and what did it show about the views of Del Pilar and Lete on the revolution?
Evidently, Iluso was a wordplay for illusion. In this case, the essay talked of the existence of an alleged visionary who remained warped with his own illusions of success. He roused the people to revolt without much preparation nor equipment, and much like the message of Rizal's own novel El Filibusterismo, the adventure ends with the epic failure of Iluso the First, who disappeared without a trace. The piece then adds a news item about the "success" of the Chilean Revolution in 1891, only to stress how it cost Chile more than 10 million in pound sterling (around 20 million dollars at the time), and plunged the country into the chaotic "pseudo-parliamentary" period.
In Plaridel's own words when he explained to Jose Rizal the reason behind publishing Iluso in July 1892: "Before everything, be assured that [Lete's article] was inspired by the news that arrived from Manila at that time about an active and effective campaign to destroy the Soli, to destroy the center, to destroy, in brief, all preparations for ultimate solutions so as to concentrate on the solutions themselves. Although the hidden originator of this way of thinking is in bad faith, those who follow it undoubtedly act in good faith, believing that they are doing service to the country."
Unless Plaridel was acting a double agent of sorts, displaying many faces, did this potential showdown with the exiting Rizal display how the editor of Soli publicly disowned the revolution which he was supposedly sponsoring? Were the "hidden originators" the plotters of Katipunan in Manila, which he was in correspondence as well? Or did Plaridel think Rizal himself would launch the awaited revolution with his second homecoming?
Note also that when Plaridel wrote the letter on July 20, and the Katipunan had already been in existence as of July 7, if we are to believe the historical consensus on its establishment. Then what about the supposed hidden plot?
Little known as it may be today, the Iluso episode may have cemented the rift between Rizal, those who remained in Spain like Del Pilar, and those who were in the Philippines planning the revolution. Whether or not Rizal really saw Plaridel's defense as an apology, he definitely felt how it was being targeted by the press he was once part of. So much about press freedom and other civil liberties they fought so hard for.
But it also revealed this: Rizal and Plaridel apparently agreed that a premature revolution would be counterproductive to their cause. In fact, the Iluso episode only highlighted the prevailing mood among Filipino reformists in Spain at the time: "Bad" events at home were just making it worse for the status of their campaign for reforms overseas.
If this was the case, why should Plaridel mastermind a revolutionary society that would be bound to fail without the sufficient elements of victory, as once summarized by Ferdinand Blumentritt, e.g., aid from a foreign power, sufficient equipment and weaponry, etc.?
Meanwhile, it seemed Rizal felt Iluso was a personal attack because it was published after he left Spain for good. Would he have filed libel and brought the matter beyond their own internal affairs if ever, so Plaridel and the members of Soli waited for Rizal's departure first? Just before leaving, the Filipino reformists were intensely divided between his supporters, the Rizalistas, and Plaridel's, the Pilaristas. Albeit Rizal won the election by a slim majority, he did not want to lead a bankrupt publication which copies barely reached the Philippines (Soli made its last edition in 1895), nor be known for such a role. His exit as a way to defuse the conflict?
As for Plaridel, it appeared that he was probably handed the leadership on a silver platter. Reason enough to lampoon Rizal after his departure? Rizal believed the doctor should not be curing a patient from afar. This dramatic exit may just have created a messianic impression for those who hated his guts.
Then again, the same might be true if Plaridel really did encourage the Katipunan to begin (Deodato Arellano, the Katipunan's first president, was Plaridel's in-law). In a way, was he not assuming the role of Iluso in leading the revolution himself? Is this why by 1896, Plaridel was preparing for his own homecoming? Of course, he might have taken it to heart if he knew Andres Bonifacio and the revolutionaries in the Philippines were using Rizal's name as their battle cry, not his, the supposed mastermind of it all. It was known that Bonifacio was an avid reader of Rizal's novels, among other books he read as a workingman.
All would speculation now because Del Pilar died in Spain in July 1896, weeks before the Philippine Revolution was finally launched. Yet, if the ploy of his correspondence with them was to convince the revolutionaries to implicate the "softhearted" Rizal by making him their convenient poster boy, he might as well succeeded. His friend in the reform movement was executed by the Spanish in December of the same year. Still, in the main, he could not have not masterminded a revolution he never got to see or lead. An armchair revolutionary?
What do you think? For more information such as this, visit this history website today:
https://history-ph.blogspot.com/2017/12/rizal-federal.html#FilipinoHistorian #History #TodayInHistory #OmThisDay #Katipunan #Rizal #Plaridel #DefendPressFreedom #Freedom #Kalayaan
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