The Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan (Association of Democratic Youth),ABINALES, Patricio Nunez. (2008) Fragments of History, Silhouettes of Resurgence : Student Radicalism in the Early Years of the Marcos Dictatorship. Southeast Asian Studies Vol. 46 No. 2. Pages: 175-199 DOI 10.20495/tak.46.2_175"A History of Philippine Political Protest." Official Gazette of the Republic of the Philippines. https://www.officialgazette.gov.ph/edsa/the-ph-protest-appendix/ better known simply by its acronym, SDK,Quimpo,Susan F., Quimpo, Nathan Gilbert., and Vicente L. Rafael,. "Subversive Lives: A Family Memoir of the Marcos Years, Subversive Lives." Ohio University Press. was a mass organization of student and youth activists who pushed for the ideology of

National Democracy National Democracy may refer to: * National Democracy (Czech Republic) * National Democracy (Italy) * National Democracy (Philippines) * National Democracy (Poland) * National Democracy (Spain) See also * Civic nationalism, a general concept * ...

in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

during the

Marcos dictatorship At 7:17 pm on September 23, 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos announced on television that he had placed the entirety of the Philippines under martial law. This marked the beginning of a 14-year period of one-man rule that would effectively last ...

.Santos, Soliman M. Jr. and Santos, Paz Verdades M., (2008) "Militant but groovy: stories of Samahang Demokratiko ng Kabataan" Anvil Publishing. Initially established on January 30, 1968 by activists who broke away from the

Kabataang Makabayan Kabataang Makabayan ("Patriotic Youth"), also known by the acronym KM, is an underground communist youth organization in the Philippines which was active from 1964 to 1975. It was banned by the Philippine government in 1972 when then-President ...

(KM), it eventually reconciled with KM under the multi-sectoral Movement for a Democratic Philippines (MDP) in the common effort to fight the dictatorship of

Ferdinand Marcos Ferdinand Emmanuel Edralin Marcos Sr. ( , , ; September 11, 1917 – September 28, 1989) was a Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986. He ruled under martial ...

. Declared illegal along with any other political organizations when Marcos declared Martial Law in September 1972, it was eventually dissolved in 1975 as the socialist-led resistance to Marcos' martial law administration shifted its tactics away from mass youth organizations. The reasons for SDK breaking away from KM in 1968 centered on a greater emphasis on member education, and allowing members to show more initiative. As a result, it attracted many writers and artists among its ranks. Aside from the warm bodies the organization brought to the beleaguered anti-Marcos movement, SDK's made major contributions to the National Democracy movement, and ultimately the Philippines' Socialist Movement, through well-written papers on revolutionary theory, including “The University as a Base of the Cultural Revolution,” “The Orientation of the Filipino Youth Movement,” and "Hinggil sa Legal na Pakikibaka" ("On The Legal Struggle"). It was because of the influence of "Hinggil sa Legal na Pakikibaka" that the early mass organizations of the National Democracy movement, including KM and SDK, were eventually dissolved in mid-1975, as the movement decided to focus instead on other organizational forms. With the successful ouster of Ferdinand Marcos, many former members of the SDK eventually chose to serve in various ways in Philippine Government and society, with some retaining their advocacy of National Democracy, while others have moved away from that ideology.

References

Presidency of Ferdinand Marcos Marcos martial law victims Left-wing advocacy groups Youth organizations based in the Philippines {{Philippines-stub