The Lapian ng mga Manggagawang Kagiliran (Kagiliran Workers' Party), known simply as the Lapian, is the ruling party of the Commonwealth of Gilid. It describes itself as socialist but guided by its own conception of a combined nationalism and syndicalism. First gaining power through elections in 1960, it has since transitioned the country of Gilid into a one-party socialist state through a process it has called "Revolutionary Transformation." Since 1982, no other party has been allowed to operate in Gilid except for those which the state has formally approved and has allocated seats in the Pambansang Batasan (National Legislature).
The founder of the party is Dr. Thomas Saklaw, whose ideas have been systematized into "Saklawism" (Saklawismo; Saklaw Thought) and who served as the party's executive chairman. He passed before seeing his Revolutionary Transformation come to life, but he was instrumental in laying the ideological groundwork that the Lapian came to follow. Today, he is known as the "Great Teacher of the Workers" in reference to his pivotal role in establishing the Lapian and dedicating a significant portion of his life, even after the party rose to power in 1960, to reaching out to and educating the working class throughout Gilid.