The development of Philippine politics

CHAPTER V

Tuii KATIPUNAN REVOLT UNDER BONYIFACiO
AND AGUINALDO
On the very day of the publication of Rizal's
banishment to Dapitan, July 7, 1892, Andres Bonifacio
with Ladislao Diwa and Teodoro Plata founded another
association different from the Liga Filipina, which was
afterwards known as the Katipunan. () Its long name in
Tagalog was the Kataastaasan Kagalanggalang na Katipunan Nang Mga Anak Ng Bayan (Highest and Most Respectable Association of the Sons of the People). Retana
is undoubtedly right in giving the Katipunan a plebeian
character. It wras truly an association of the "sons of
the people."
The Liga and the Katipunan
Come people, with reason, attribute the establishment
of the Katipunan to the influence of del Pilar and the consequent decline of Rizal. Perhaps it is more nearly true
that in the deportation of Rizal, the loyal and noble propagandist of evolutionary nationalism, the necessity for
more radical action became apparent; and that this more
than anything else induced Bonifacio to form his Katipunan.
Del Pilar was undoubtedly a man of greater decision
than Rizal, and once he was convinced that peaceful measures were unavailing, he was determined to use violent
means. It is therefore strongly probable-even if no
proofs can be produced-that. the establishment of the Katipunan was inspired by del Pilar rather than by Rizal.
In fact, Rizal's Spanish biographer, Retana, sees in the
Katipunan the triumph of del Pilar's ideas over Rizal's.
He states: "The League dies, and the Katipunan rises in
its place. Del Pilar's plan wins over that of Rizal. Del
Pilar and Rizal had the same end, even if each took
a different road to it. Rizal sought the support of the
intellectual and wealthy element; Del Pilar, the plebeian.
(1) Z'tawa, Vida y Eacritos, p. 267. Other writers give a slightly diferent date