Marie’s personal experience as a political prisoner has been massively enriched by her work with KAPATID (Association for the Release and Amnesty of Political Detainees in the Philippines) and SELDA (Society of Ex-Detainees Against Detention and for Amnesty), two organizations instrumental in alleviating the plight of political prisoners and reintegrating them back to productive life. Marie’s commitment to freedom and democracy has been tested and tempered in the fire of collective struggles, giving her a wisdom resonant in her affirmation of a humanist, liberatory faith (recorded in memorable interviews by Dabet Castaneda of Bulatlat, and Chris Richards of New Internationalist): “I have committed myself to fight for genuine change in our society.
Nagsilbing laboratoryong eksperimental sa pagbuo ng makabansang gahum ang nobelang Banaag at Sikat (1904) ni Lope K. Santos at Pinaglahuan (1907) ni Faustino Aguilar. Makulay ang buhay at gawa ni Santos: naging unang pangulo ng Union del Trabajo de Filipinas UTF) at patnugot ng peryodikong Muling Pagsilang na naglathala ng maraming akda tungkol sa unyonismo mula sa Europa. Bagamat napaghinalaang nasulsulan siya American Federation of Labor, si Santos ay sinuporta nina Isabelo de los Reyes at Dominador Gomez. Kasapi si Santos sa rebolusyonaryong tropa sa Laguna at Batangas—hindi ilustradong nagbabad sa Espanya—at nangasiwa (katulong ang beteranong Hermenegildo Cruz) ng isang “Paaralan ng Sosyalism” (itinuro roon ang mga aralin nina Marx, Zola, Reclus, Gorki, pati na si Karl Kautsky) noong unang dekada. Itinampok ni Santos sa nobela ang mga ideyang inani sa mga nabanggit na awtor sa pakikipagtalastasan nina Delfin, peryodistang makasosyalista, at Felipe, isang anarkista.