The World Socialist Web Site spoke this week with Joseph Scalice whose August 26 online lecture “First as tragedy, second as farce: Marcos, Duterte, and the Communist Parties of the Philippines” has provoked a lying and libelous response by the CPP’s founder Jose Maria Sison.

In the interview below, which was conducted by WSWS writers Peter Symonds and Tom Peters, Dr. Scalice answers Sison’s slanders, explains how and why he began studying the history and record of the CPP and the political conclusions he came to.