Red Star April 2009 Press Statement

Defeat UPA and NDA! Expose and Oppose CPI(M)-led Third Front! Rally For Anti-Imperialist People’s Democratic Alternative! THE ELECTIONS to the 15th Lok Sabha is taking place at a critical time. In continuation to the barbarous imperialist globalization policies, the present unprecedented imperialist meltdown has led the country to devastation and the vast masses of the people to unprecedented unemployment, price rise and pauperization. The neocolonial domination of imperialist powers, especially US imperialism is intensifying day by day. The religious fundamentalists, communal fascists and casteist forces are unleashed by the ruling classes and the political parties serving them to divert people’s attention from their burning issues. Even the forces of terrorism given birth by the US imperialists have surfaced in a big way in our country. As a result of all these, people are facing unprecedented economic, political, social and cultural crisis.

The Congress-led UPA rule for last five years have intensified this crisis. It has aided and abetted communal fascism and casteism. It has surrendered the country to US Imperialist domination in all fields. Following the global economic crisis, instead of helping the workers and other toiling masses, it is bailing out the scoundrels responsible for the crisis, as the US and other imperialists are doing. As far as the BJP-led NDA is concerned along with its commitment to intensify imperialist globalization, it is intensifying communal fascism and helping terrorist forces. Both UPA and NDA are two sides of the same coin which should be defeated.

Propping up the UPA government at centre for more than four years and implementing imperialist globalization policies in the states where it is in power, the CPI(M)-led LF has exposed its opportunism in all respects. Its Third Front is nothing but a gimmick to cheat the people . It is once again going to support the UPA after the elections in the name of opposing communal BJP or going to repeat another United Front exercise like 1996-98 experience.

In order to hide the fact that all these fronts — UPA, NDA and Third Front — have no basic disagreement on any of the important economic and political issues, and that whichever front or combination comes to power after the elections, the same policies will be continued more speedily as the UPA which replaced NDA was doing during the last five years, people’s attention is diverted in numerous ways from fundamental problems faced by them through all sorts of diversionary tactics including communal, casteist, chauvinist propaganda, fielding cinema stars, mega spending to purchase votes, etc.

In this situation the interests of the country and the people can be served only by the revolutionary left, democratic , patriotic forces who are committed to throw out imperialist globalization, kick out IMF-World Bank-MNCs and WTO, and standing for revolutionary agrarian reforms based on land to the tiller slogan. Against the imperialist dictated development policy, a national, self-reliant, people oriented development policy ensuring food, housing, education, health-care and employment for all and social justice and security should be fought for.

It is with this perspective the CPI(ML) in its Election Manifesto has called on the masses to rally for an anti-imperialist people’s democratic alternative against all ruling class alternatives. It has fielded 33 candidates in 11 states for the Lok Sabha elections (the list is enclosed). It is also supporting around 30 candidates of revolutionary left, dalit, adivasi organizations in 15 states.

We appeal to all left masses, the toiling classes, all secular, democratic, patriotic sections to support the CPI(ML)’s call and extend all support and vote for the candidates fielded by the party and its anti-imperialist peoples democratic allies. 26/03/2009 Central Committee New Delhi CPI(ML)

Editorial

Intensify Political Campaign for Anti-Imperialist People’s Democratic Alternative EVEN WHEN the filing of nomination for the first phase of 15th Lok Sabha elections have started, the squabbling among the political parties representing the comprador ruling system have intensified creating aya rams gaya rams of parties and leaders. On seat sharing Congress has quarrelled with and separated from RJD of Lalu and LJP of Paswan in Bihar, while doing the same in UP with Mulayam’s SP. These former rivals have joined hands leaving aside Congress to form a power group. Another party from UPA, the PMK in TN has gone over to the AIADMK front. Though Congress has settled seat sharing with NCP in Maharashtra, their feuds have not stopped. Meanwhile the statement of Gulab Nabi Azad, a Congress leader, that what is needed at centre is a single party rule, has become another hot subject of debate. Thus it is becoming clear that though Congress may gain in W. Bengal and Kerala, it is going to lose much more everywhere else, with the erosion of the credibility of the UPA government.

The separation of BJD in Orissa was a major setback for BJP. Thus it is left with much smaller number of allies compared to the time of NDA rule. Its Hindutva card is increasingly isolating it from the still surviving allies also. Though UPA government has helped it from much embarassment by slowing down the Malegaon blast probe which clearly showed Sangh Parivar’s involvement in the spread of terrorism, the emergence of Ram Sene in Karnataka, Varun Gandhi’s hate speech in UP, etc. have left it with nothing else but verbal fights with Congress to keep itself afloat. BJP’s chances of even maintaining its present strength is dim.

As far as th e so-called ‘Third Front’ is concerned, while the CPI(M)-led Left Front’s strength is sure to go down the regional parties of various hues are bound to gain, increasing the number of non-Congress, non-BJP MPs. This may even give rise to the emergence of a 1996-98 type UF government at centre after the elections. But it shall not bring about any positive shifts in policies as all of these parties have no firm stand against the imperialist dictated ruling class policies including imperialist globalisation.

There is an argument that a weaker government of these parties at centre is better as it may not go like Congress and BJP for outright comprador policies. But the experience of 1996-98 UF rule with Congress support give no hope for such a possibility. Can a government even without Congress support is possible? Will it go for atleast populist policies? Or, on the contrary, the die-hard comprador bureaucracy will become stronger serving the imperialists, especially US imperialists cause more faithfully? The present election debates in media and outside focussing on petty issues do not give any indications about these post-election possibilities.

But whatever may be the character of the coming government, it can be compelled to reverse present policies and go for more progressive policies only through massive people’s movements. It is with this perspective the genuine left and democratic forces should approach the election campaign. It is in this context the Anti-Imperialist People’s Democratic Alternative

call of CPI(ML) becomes more significant than ever. The election campaign should be vigorously organised based on this call explained in the Election Manifesto. Article Observe 40th Anniversary of Party Formation ON 22ND APRIL we are observing the fortieth anniversary of the CPI(ML) formation at an important juncture in the history of our country. The correctness of the struggle against the revisionist line of the CPI leadership, the neo-revisionist line of the CPI(M) leadership waged by the communist Revolutionaries during the 1960s is proved absolutely correct today with both degenerating irrevocably to the social democratic positions, engaging in opportunist alliances with the ruling class parties in order to save the ruling system from the ever intensifying crisis it is facing.

In 1960s the Dangeists leading the CPI had adopted the notorious National Democratic Revolution line depicting the class character of the big bourgeoisie and the Congress leadership as mainly national bourgeois and claiming that the democratic revolution can be completed peacefully joining hands with it, in line with the Krushchovite revisionism. The CPI(M) leadership in the party programme adopted in 1964 depicted the class character of the Indian big bourgeoisie as of dual character, collaborating on the one hand and struggling on the other hand with imperialism. But it left what is the principal aspect of this contradiction unexplained. As a result, soon in practice, it reached the CPI position. In 1969 when Congress splitted and a very favourable situation arose for a country wide communist offensive against the anti-people rule of Congress and against the reactionary ruling system, it went to the assistance of Indira Gandhi Government, which had lost majority support, along with the CPI. This deviation has led the CPI(M) leadership to its present outright opportunist positions. Its opportunism extends from implementing the imperialist dictated ruling class policies from Panchayats to state governments wherever its is in power, to pimping for the ruling system at Delhi.

Against this opportunist lines, the CPI(ML) had characterized the big bourgeoisie and the bureaucracy as comprador, that is, in the main, collaborating with the imperialist forces and implementing their policies. Their contention, if any, is transitory while collaboration is principal. Though both the CPI and CPI(ML) had attacked this characterization venomously right from the beginning, the experience of the last four decades has proved which is correct and which is wrong. Today, under imperialist globalization the public sector is mostly sold-out, all welfare policies are increasingly abandoned, whatever progressive character Indian foreign policy had and whatever sovereignty the country had is destroyed. Whether one call them comprador, collaborating, dependent, the corporate houses and the bureaucracy in India are serving the neocolonisation of India which is intensifying day by day. Question of agrarian revolution

From the days of the Colonial Theses put forward by Lenin, the Marxist-Leninists all over the world had upheld that in the countries under colonization where the tasks of the bourgeois democratic revolution are not completed and feudal relations are not thrown out, according to concrete conditions the agrarian revolution should be carried forward based on the land to the tiller programme, so that the revolutionary sections of the peasantry and the oppressed masses can be mobilized for the democratic revolution, forging the worker-peasant alliance under working class leadership. After the 1947 transfer of power, with the penetration of finance capital in to all fields and initiation of green revolution like policies the land relations have undergone vast changes. Old feudal landlords are replaced by agricultural bourgeoise, rich

peasants and new forms of landlordism, feudalism is replaced by the landlordism and feudal remnants. But it has not reduced the land concentration which is almost 60-65% with the landlord- feudal remnant classes who constitute less than 10% of the agrarian population. Besides the MNCs and corporate houses have entered in this sector in a big way. In spite of all these the growth of the agrarian sector is stunted and exploitation has intensified on the agricultural worker and the landless-poor peasants who constitute the vast majority in this sector. So a Marxist-Leninist party should develop the agrarian revolutionary programme based on present conditions mobilizing these vast masses. But CPI(M) – led Left Front forces along with the degenerates form the CR camp have abandoned it. So while observing the 40th anniversary of the formation of the CPI(ML) it is the task of all the Party committees to re-affirm their determination to mobilize all oppressed and revolutionary sections of the peasantry and to carry forward the agrarian revolution according to present conditions. Struggle against both deviations

As explained in the Common Points of Agreement arrived at in the 2007 All India Plenum of the CPI(ML): “1. After Telangana, the Naxalbari uprising and Srikakulam movement provided an excellent opportunity to break free from the chains of revisionism and neo-revisionism which dominated the communist movement at that time and to take steps to build a genuine party of the proletariat guided by Marxism-Leninism-Mao’s Thought.

2. The formation of AICCCR was a correct step in the direction of bringing the CR forces inside the communist movement on a common platform.”

The task before the Communist Revolutionaries (CRs) was to organize a revolutionary party to continue the struggle against all alien tendencies and to carry forward the New Democratic Revolution. But when this question was taken up actively many petti-bourgeois trends who had joined the AICCCR opposed party formation. As remnants of some of them even after four decades still continue to oppose party formation, their petti-bourgeois opportunist line can be easily understood. So the Marxist-Leninist forces led by com Charu Majumder had to wage a strenuous struggle to rally vast majority of the CR forces and to declare the formation of the CPI(ML). It declared the stage of revolution as the New Democratic Revolution led by the working class and based on the worker-peasant alliances, with agrarian revolution as its axis. This created great enthusiasm among the struggling people throughout the country. Revolting against the neo-revisionist line of the CPI(M) leadership which became explicitly clear with the decisions of the 1968 Burdwan Plenum and extending support to Indira Gandhi Government in 1969 large number of comrades from the rank and file of CPI(M) joined to party. In many states, especially in Bengal, Bihar and AP, tens of thousands of youth and students, and adivasi-dalit sections rallied under the party leadership. It provided a great opportunity for the revolutionary advance.

But once again the Party leadership failed to analyse the concrete situation in the country and develop insight in to the neocolonisation taking place under the penetration of various imperialist forces. It mechanically followed the path of the Chinese revolution as that of Indian revolution. It was influenced by the Lin Biaoist line which dominated the 9th Congress of the CPC (1969) which underestimated the strength of the imperialist forces and over estimated the subjective forces. As a result, it soon came under ‘left’ sectarian, adventurous tendencies symbolized by the “line of annihilation”. The mass revolutionary movement was abandoned and squad actions replaced it in the name of the line of protracted people’s war alien to Indian conditions. It provided opportunity for the CPI(M) leadership to attack the Party in the name of adventurism, and for the reactionary Indian state and ruling class to let loose state terror suppressing the movement. Within a short time the party disintegrated to many groups.

During the last three decades the degeneration of China to capitalist path, the disintegration social imperialist Soviet Union providing the US imperialists hegemony at global level to a great extent, and the neo-colonial plunder intensifying day by day have made further changes at the international and national level. The failure to recognize these changes and develop the strategy and tactics of revolution accordingly have intensified the degeneration of the various trends. For example the revisionist CPI, and neo-revisionist CPI(M) have degenerated to social democratic positions, becoming part of the ruling system. The CPI(ML) liberation like forces have abandoned the revolutionary path and joined the camp of CPI-CPI(M). As far as all those neo-Trotskyist forces who interpreted the ‘de-colonisation’ launched by the US led imperialists as completion of the bourgeois democratic revolution in the colonial, semi-colonial and dependent countries, and the stage of revolution in these countries as socialist are concerned, they have reduced themselves to appendages of ruling class parties or social democratic parties or have surrendered to NGO-isation.

Those who have not denounced the ‘Line of annihilation’ still and mechanically repeat the protracted people’s war pursued by the CPC in the then Chinese conditions, have vulgarized the revolutionary contributions of Mao as Maoism, and continue as an anarchist trend doing great damage to the development of the proletarian revolutionary movement in Indian conditions. Yet some others who claim to uphold the mass line still cling to the line of protracted people’s war based on an erroneous analysis of Indian conditions, but in words only, devoid of any practice.

The Marxist- Leninists should not be alarmed by this situation. Almost a similar situation is created in the communist movement in most of the countries following the severe set back suffered by the ICM giving birth to and strengthening various alien tendencies. By giving birth to numerous counter revolutionary tendencies with their roots in the post-modernist concepts like identity politics etc. and by launching the NGO-isation in a massive way , the imperialist forces also are encouraging these alien trends. Only by fighting uncompromisingly against them the CPI(ML) forces can be united, all genuine left forces can be won over, the new forces can be rallied in their millions and the party can be rebuilt on Bolshevik lines to fulfill the revolutionary demands of the day.

On this 40th anniversary of the Party formation, the Central Committee of the CPI(ML) calls on all the Party committees, the working class and all other revolutionary classes and the left masses as a whole to get mobilized and join the mass revolutionary movement to fulfill the tasks of New Democratic or People’s Democratic Revolution and to advance towards socialist transformation. Come forward to observe the 40th anniversary of the Party formation with this revolutionary message, remembering all the martyrs who have sacrificed their lives for this cause and all those millions who fought valiantly for this cause from the 1920s when the first seeds of Communist Party was sown in this great country of ours, carrying forward the revolutionary heritage of all those who fought against imperialism and feudalism form the time the imperialist vultures started setting foot here. On Significance of Fighting Against Social Democracy, the main Danger to the International Communist Movement [The paper presented by com. KN Ramachandran in a seminar organised at Chandigarh on 28 March 2009] SOCIAL DEMOCRACY had a basically different meaning compared to what is meant by it today before the First World War, during the decades of the Second International. It was the name generally adopted by the working class parties as they were reconstructed after the experience of the Paris Commune. In those days the task of the social democratic parties was to mobilize

the working class to overthrow the capitalist system, mobilize all toiling masses under working class leadership for this purpose, and seizure of political power by developing powerful democratic movements utilizing different forms of struggle including parliamentary struggles. In those days revolutionary social democracy played a critical role in leading the International Communist Movement (ICM) forward.

But as the free competition based capitalism turned in to monopoly capitalism, imperialism, in its search for finding an answer to the recurring crises coming up in an ever intensifying form and as a response to the challenges poised by the working class movements to the exploitative system of capitalism, this transition had thrown up new challenges. As the production capital and bank capital merged to give rise to finance capital with ever increasing speculative and parasitic character, as the imperialist plunder of the colonies, semi-colonies and dependent countries became increasingly through export of finance capital, and as the imperialist bourgeoisie started utilizing a part of the plundered wealth to corrupt the working class leaderships into labour aristocracy, the concrete socio-political and economic situation underwent important charges, calling for a concrete analysis of the new situation. The leadership of the Second International did make an analysis of this situation, but in an absolutely opportunist manner. They introduced a supra-imperialism concept, devoid of its barbarous exploitative character. They interpreted colonization as a progressive phenomenon civilizing the colonized peoples. Based on these, they introduced a path of class collaboration, based on which those social democratic parties collaborated with the imperialist bourgeoisie of their own countries when the First World War broke out contrary to earlier decisions. They called on the working class to fight on the side of the imperialist bourgeoisie of their own countries against the armies of other imperialist countries, instead of turning the inter-imperialist war in to a Civil War to capture power, as the Berne International had called. Social Democracy turned to its opposite, with socialism merely in words and class-collaboration and capitalist path in action. Social democrats turned in to renegades and the Second International collapsed.

It was the great uncompromising struggle of Lenin on ideological-political fields which exposed the degeneration of social democracy and presented a concrete analysis of the imperialist system through his great work “Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism”. He analyzed the birth of labour aristocracy leading to the weakening of the proletarian revolutions in the capitalist-imperialist countries. He pointed out that the epi-centre of proletarian revolutions has shifted to the weak links of imperialism including countries like Tsarist Russia and the countries under colonization. Based on this understanding he led the Bolsheviks to the victory of October Revolution, to the formation of the Soviet Union and to give birth to the Third International or Communist International (Comintern).

The Comintern under Lenin’s and later Stalin’s leadership exposed, denounced and defeated Social Democracy to a great extent. It gave birth to communist and workers parties all over the world. It put forward a General Line of the International Communist Movement (ICM) with the people’s Democratic Revolutions in the countries under colonization and socialist revolution in the capitalist- imperialist countries constituting the two streams of World Proletarian Socialist Revolution. Under the leadership of Comintern and Soviet Union, in spite of numerous conspiracies and subterfuges of social democracy which had turned in to an anti-communist, counter revolutionary trend, the ICM advanced.

When the imperialist system faced the Great Depression of 1930s and fascist trend emerged in some of the imperialist countries intensifying the inter-imperialist contradictions leading to the Second World War for re-division of the world, the remnants of the Social Democratic parties had collaborated with the imperialist bourgeoisie of their own countries once again. But the socialist forces led by the Soviet Union wages a mighty offensive against the

fascist axis powers in spite of many conspiratorial acts of the imperialist allies to weaken it. The great Soviet victory in the anti-fascist war encouraged the revolutionary movements every where. It gave new inspiration to the national liberation movements. By the turn of the 1950s the socialist camp comprising 13 countries had become a powerful force. And together with the national liberation movements it created an international situation in which the East Wind of Socialism looked like overwhelming the West Wind of imperialism.

But revisionism the main danger in the ICM started influencing the Communist Parties once again creating a havoc among them. Revisionism means emergence and strengthening of bourgeois thinking within the communist parties. It once again led them towards Social Democracy. As in the pre-First World War years, once again the social Democracy’s ugly head emerged when the revolutionary movement failed to make a concrete analysis of then international situation. Or, the analysis made was erroneous, contrary to facts and class collaborationist.

Reducing the emergence of the reformist, class collaborationist trend within the Social Democratic Parties of Second International during pre First World War decades to the mistakes of Kautsky like leaders alone would be a subjective approach. Similarly to evaluate emergence of the Social Democratic trend within the ICM and the communist parties during the post- Second World War period as a result of the class betrayal of Krushchov, Brezhnev, Gorbechov or Deng Tsiao Ping like leaders at International level alone, or of PC Joshi, SA Dange, Ajoy Ghosh, EMS, Jyothi Basu or Harkishan Singh Surjit like leaders at the national level will be totally subjective. As leaders of the movement they had their role in it, no doubt. But what are the real objective conditions that led to it? As happened during pre-First World War decades, the emergence of the Social Democratic trend leading to the severe setback suffered by the ICM is once again due to the serious mistake committed by the movement in analysing the concrete situation that emerged following the World War II.

During the Second World War itself the balance of forces had started changing among the imperialist forces. US had emerged as the leader of imperialist camp. Similarly challenging the imperialist camp the socialist forces and national liberation movements were gaining strength. It was in this situation the think tanks of US imperialism decided to transform the colonial plunder to a new form, to the neo-colonial phase, developing the forms of exploitation pursued by the US imperialists in their dependent countries in South America during the colonial period. The 1944 Bretten-wood meeting adopted plans to start IMF-World Bank for this. The cartels were turned into MNCs. The GATT was launched. The territorial control was almost put an end to through the ‘de-colonization’ and various imperialist countries controlling the neo-colonial countries through finance capital was introduced. This transformation of the imperialist plunder from colonial phase to neo-colonial phase brought forward many changes in the international situation as well as in the national situation of all countries. It is in analysing these important changes the leaders of the post Stalin CPSU leadership and following it leaderships of many other socialist countries as well as the communist party leaderships committed grave mistakes.

They evaluated the ‘de-colonization’ policy of the imperialists, the introduction of Keynesian policies etc. as signs of weakening of the imperialist camp. So Khrushchovites called for peaceful competition and peaceful co-existence with the imperialist and peaceful transition to socialism. The theory of class struggle and forceful over throw of the imperialists and their lackeys were abandoned. The line of class collaboration came in to dominance. Pursuing this line the Social Democratic trend got strengthened degenerating almost all socialist countries and communist parties to the capitalist path. The Social Democracy which had come to dominance has obliterated the line of demarcation between the capitalist path and the socialist path as they call present China which has degenerated to a social imperialist country (that is,

socialism in words and imperialists in action) a socialist country, and as they practice the capitalist path whenever they are in power. In India the CPI(M) and the CPI are the best or the worst examples of Social Democratic renegacy.

Social Democracy was and still is the main danger to the ICM as it confuses, ideologically disarm and maim the working class movements to the path of reformism and surrender. Without exposing and fighting uncompromisingly against this counter revolutionary trend which continue to raise the red flag, call itself the communist party and utilize the Bolshevik organizational forms, the revolutionary working class movement cannot advance.

But while exposing and fighting against the Social Democracy, the Marxist-Leninists should not neglect the fight against the ‘left’ sectarian trend. As Lenin said while dealing with the Mensheviks and the Narodniks, both are two sides of the same coin. Though they seem to be different, as historically established, both serve the imperialist system and the comprador classes in power in the countries under neo-colonization. So while evaluating revisionism as the main danger to the ICM and fighting against Social Democracy, the revisionism in action, any compromise in the struggle against the ‘left’ sectarian trend shall harm the revolutionary movement. This point should be repeatedly asserted as there is a powerful petti-bourgeois tendency in our country and all over the world which highlight the fight against the Social Democracy while refusing to oppose the left sectarian tendencies. It refuses to recognize the relation between the right opportunism and the left deviation. In effect, by pursuing this path they often eulogizes the anarchists of various hues. It refuges to see that both these deviations are serving each other, in effect helping the ruling system. The struggle against the Social Democracy can be carried forward strengthening the Marxist – Leninist movement only if it is combined with the struggle against the ‘left’ sectarian, anarchist tendencies, because though they are left in form, they are right in essence.

The struggle against revisionism of all hues and its practiced form, the Social Democracy, along with the struggle against the ‘left’ sectarian tendencies becomes effective and meaningful only when the Marxist-Leninist movement based on the concrete analysis of the present world situation when imperialism, especially US imperialism is intensifying its neo-colonial plunder day by day, especially when it is seeking ways to transfer the latest, unprecedented global economic crisis to the oppressed peoples of the neo-colonial countries, develops its theory and revolutionary practice to overthrow the rule of imperialism and its lackeys from our own country and uniting with the Marxist-Leninist forces all over the world to advance the World Proletarian Socialist Revolution. That is, seeking truth from facts one should link revolutionary theory with the practice. Marxism devoid of revolutionary practice or Marxism in abstract is a farce. So let us try to transform every seminar, every debate, every discussion to a concrete effort to develop the Marxist-Leninist understanding concretely in order to develop fast the revolutionary practice in our country to throw out the comprador ruling system and to advance along the path of people’s democracy and socialism. 15th Lok Sabha Election Lok Sabha Election Scene: Opportunism in its Worst Form Observer AS THE ALLIANCE talks are continuing and candidates are being decided by various parties for the 15th Lok Sabha elections it is becoming clear that this election is going to witness opportunism in its worst forms. Though the media has started projecting it as a ‘mega political event’, ‘biggest democratic event, etc. except for the largest number of people going to vote, its democratic content is getting lost as each election passes. The main reason for it is that though

it is called a major political event, very little time is spent for discussing basic political questions, economic questions, even though the election is taking place at a very critical juncture.

What is happening in our country following the imperialist meltdown, the global economic crisis should open the eyes of even those who were not recognizing the reactionary content of the imperialist globalization policies. For a moment all of us should ponder about the arrogant tall claims of the finance minister Chidambaram and the prime minister, Manmohan Singh, about over 9 percent GDP growth, almost equal growth index, the share market under a bull run etc. What happened to all of these claims? After six months of global financial crisis the growth rate has come down to 5.4 percent or lower with the share market in tail spin, touching unprecedentedly lower indices.

As the crisis ridden imperialist countries have started cutting down imports and reducing outsourcing, the industries, especially the export oriented ones, agrarian sector and even much acclaimed. IT-Software Sector are in crisis throwing out millions to the streets and shutting down large number of units. The real estate sector has started becoming extremely dull throwing out millions from jobs. It is the cover up by the ruling system and corporate media in view of the elections which is preventing the real factors from coming out. But once the elections are over the terrific consequences of the imperialist meltdown are going to come out in their ugly forms. There will be no end to price rise, instead of inflation deflation will choke the economy, and the economy is going to shrink throwing out millions more from jobs.

The striking feature of the election scene is that in spite of all these, the economic fall out of the imperialist meltdown is hardly debated seriously by the major political parties even when the election dates are coming nearer. It is quite evident that he UPA government has sufficient reasons to do so. During the last five years it has opened the country’s economy further, integrating it more speedily with the global imperialist system. Even when symptoms of the meltdown were becoming visible it was consoling irresponsibly, or consciously, that Indian economy will not be affected. But latest developments are disproving it. Why then the main opposition parties are not utilizing the discomfiture of the UPA government by targeting their attacks on the policies pursed by the Congress – led UPA? Because the BJP and other ‘mainstream’ parties are also faithful followers of the neo-liberal policies. They do not want to discredit them. So the central debate is shifted to other peripheral issues, concealing the main one. It can be said that in election is being de-politicized.

The CPI (M) – led Left Front is also engaged in the same game as they are also not for overthrowing the neo-liberal policies which led the country to its present predicament. Wherever in power from the panchayats and the co-operatives to the state governments, it was and still is implementing the IMF- World Bank – WTO dictated imperialist globalization policies faithfully. At central level from 1991 it has never called for throwing out these policies. On the contrary, the two UF governments organized under its initiative from 1996 to 1998 went on speeding up these policies. Later it propped up the Manmohan Singh government which was intensifying the neo liberal policies for more than four years. Now when it is working hard to bring together number of parties in the ‘Third front’, its agenda do not include opposition to neo-liberal policies. On the contrary the parties in it are as loyal to these policies as the UPA and NDA parties. Even after the imperialist meltdown creating havoc, the maximum its leaders and economic advisers are talking about is only for a new-furbished edition of Keynesianism Thus these pseudo-left forces who have degenerated to ardent advocates of the ruling class policies are also joining the UPA and NDA parties to keep the neo-liberal policies away from the centre of debate in the elections. Or, whether it is Congress, the BJP or event the Left Front, on all basic issues they have no serious differences.

That is why as the election dates are coning nearer and the ticket allocation is at its peak, these parties, party leaders and cadres are changing sides without any difficulty. The BJD leaves BJP’s company not for any ideological differences. It was only questions of seat sharing and power sharing that cropped up which led to the present separation. Similarly Ajit Sigh’s party in UP allying with BJP is also for same purpose. Numerous such aya rams gaya rams are taking place even before the elections. Worst scenes are assured after the elections in this multi-thousand crores game.

The CPI(M) and its LF is not far behind in these games. See how easily they shifted their alliance from Congress to Telugu Desam in AP, and from DMK to AIADMK in TN when all these parties represent same anti-people ideology and economic policies. In this situation a CPI(M) MP who was denied ticket had no difficulty to switch over to BJP in Bengal, and another one for joining Congress band wagon in Kerala. People are going to witness worse scenes as the election dates come nearer and especially after the elections as the fight between CPI (M) and CPI in Kerala over a seat.

It is in this context the importance of the election campaign launched by the CPI (ML) should be seen. It has exposed and denounced all the ruling class parties and their alliances, including the CPI(M) initiated ‘Third Front’ as absolutely opportunist and anti-people. Exposing the anarchists who call for ‘boycott’ and those pursuing an impotent participation game, the CC CPI (ML) has called for aggressively utilizing the elections for political campaign by putting forward an Anti-Imperialist People’s Democratic Alternative through its election manifesto. It has succeeded to win over a good number of revolutionary left organizations besides dalit-organizations who agree on the need to throw out the imperialist globalization policies, who stand for revolutionary land reforms based on land to the tiller slogan etc. to this alternative plat form, the details of which are given separately. It is the task of all secular, democratic forces to carry the message of this people’s alternative forward.

In all these states the party is trying to come to understanding with those forces who agree to the basic approach of the election manifesto (visit www.cpiml.in). In other states like Bihar also efforts are made on these lines. The election manifesto is published in English & Hindi by the party already and in other languages it is published by the SCs by the 15th of March.

Orissa: CPI(ML) Launches Vigorous Election Campaign THE CELEBRATION of the separation of Naveen Patnaik’s BJD from the BJP and the way he is welcomed to the Third Front with fanfare by CPI(M) and CPI leaderships have created more problems for them than the apparent euphoria created by their organs. For example both their offices at Bhubaneshwar had a graffiti of Naveen Patnaik standing with both hands drenched with the blood of so many people killed in police firing during his 10 year rule at Kalinganagar, Chilka, Posco, etc. He was also blamed for complicity for the miseries suffered by the huge number of Christian tribal families at Kandhamal and in other South Orissa districts at the hands of the Sangh Parivar hoodlums till this ‘separation’. But now Karat and Bardhan have white washed him to depict as a saint, secular, democrat, etc. Even his name is also projected as a prime minister candidate. Like Harkishan Singh Surjeet, both Karat and Bardhan are performing the role of king makers with aplomb. When the ruling system is in trouble, is it not responsibility of the social democrats to work overtime to save it!

It is reported that overwhelming majority of the state committee members of CPI, some of whom in the leadership of Posco like struggles opposed the line of going behind Naveen. Finally Bardhan had to force them to accept his line, pleading that if CPI cannot get atleast 10 MPs somehow or other its national party status will go leading to its disintegration. So forget about

people’s causes, compromise for saving national party status! As a more bureaucratic organisation CPI(M) central leaders had no such trouble to convince its state leaders to go with Naveen. But it has created problems for CPI(ML) Liberation like organisations which had allied with CPI and CPI(M) in nearby Jharkhand. Following separation of BJD from BJP, a large number of BJD, BJP and Congress leaders are moving out and joining in hurry before the tickets are allotted showing how much identical are these reactionary parties, and how much opportunist are the pseudo left - CPI and CPI(M) like parties.

In this context, the extended meeting of the Party’s Orissa state committee held on 19th March at the Inquilab Bhavan in the presence of com. KNR evaluated the political developments at national level and in the state, discussed the Election Manifesto and decided to field com. Pramila and com. Sushant Jena for Bhubaneshwar and Bhadrak LS seats. Within Bhubaneshwar LS seat the state committee decided to field candidates for Bhubaneshwar North, Middle and Ekamra assembly seats and candidates for Bhadrak town, Dhamgoan and Chandbali assembly seats in Bhadrak district. The state committee decided to support the four assembly candidates of CPI(ML) New Democracy in Gajapati, Ganjam and Kandhamal districts.

The state committee decided to expose the leadership of CPI and CPI(M), and other pseudo left forces and the anarchist CPI(Maoist) and organise a vigorous campaign against the ruling class policies based on the Party’s election manifesto with the call to rally for Anti-Imperialist People’s Democratic Alternative.

Kerala: CPI(M)-led LDF in Crisis AS ELSEWHERE in the country, in Kerala also the CPI(M)-led LDF ruling the state, Congress-led UDF and BJP are in a covert understanding that the imperialist globalisation, impact of imperialist melt-down, the struggles taking place in the state based on land to the tiller slogan like basic issues will not become points of debate. As they are getting ‘de-politicised’ or representing the same ruling class politics, another type of crisis has set-in in all of them, most sharply in the LDF as the CPI(M) leadership tried to snatch the lone Kozhikode seat allotted to Janata Dal and to covertly take over Ponnani seat from CPI by asking to field an independent of its preference there. It turned in to a free for all between two with both fielding independents belonging to different Islamic fundamentalist organisations and demanding the other to withdraw. Though the quarrel is settled by giving Wyanad seat to CPI, the bad teste of CPI(M)-CPI fight, the walking out of Janata Dal (S) from LDF ministry, the dissatisfaction of RSP etc. have taken the LDF in to a crisis which will be reflected in the election results. Though Congress and BJP also have their own internal squabbles, this time LDF has scored over them in this matter. Besides the image of CPI(M) is much damaged by the Lavalin like scandals also.

But the most important challenge the CPI(M) is facing this time is the emergence of dissidence against its political line from grass root level cadres, and the emergence of the united opposition to its from these dissidents and the CPI(ML). The present ideological challenge to the CPI(M) leadership had emerged almost five years back when it was sliding fast to surrender to imperialist globalisation in the name of people’s planning and other formulations under the dominant Pinarayi Vijayan section. It was spearheaded by Prof. MN Vijayan, one time president of the Purogamana Kala Sahitya Vedi of CPI(M). During the 2006 Assembly elections it emerged as the group clash of Pinarayi Vijayan and VS Achuthanandan. The Pinarayi group had to accept the elevation of VS to chief ministership. For a time, it seemed VS is leading the ideological challenge to the social democratic line of CPI(M) leadership. Even now there are many who believe that VS will come out of CPI(M) and lead their struggle. There are also many

who believe that once Pinarayi Vijayan is removed everything will be OK and they can return to CPI(M).

But contrary to these, a dominant view has emerged that it is not only the Pinarayi Vijayan section, the central leadership itself, including West Bengal leaders, are taking a rightist line and they should be opposed ideologically, politically and organisationally. This revolt has taken the form of area committee level comrades in different districts coming out and joining the intellectual cadres who had already come out. The 15th March convention of these forces at Shornur reflected this view. They have formed a Co-ordianation Committee which decided to field five candidates for 15th Lok Sabha election from Vadagara, Ponnani, Palakkad, Allapuzha and Attingal, and to support the CPI(ML) candidates. They have taken firm stand against imperialist globalisation and to identify with the land struggles taking place both for implementing the land to the tiller slogan and to oppose displacement of people in the name of SEZ and industrialisation-infrastructure development. They are opposing the stranglehold of corruption and Mafia culture in the state including within the CPI(M) leadership. Thus a major ideological-political struggle is going to take place in 15 seats against the ruling class parties, Congress and its allies and BJP as well as to expose and oppose the social democratic CPI(M), with a view to win over the left masses for people’s democracy and socialism.

More than anything the emergence of this anti-imperialist and people’s democratic opposition is going to weaken the LDF in coming days leading to its disintegration. This development cannot leave the arch-reactionary UDF as well as the BJP untouched. The revolutionary opposition of people’s democratic forces is going to influence the future political developments in the state.

CPI(ML) New Liberation to Contest Elections in AP Based on CPI(ML) Election Manifesto

CPI(ML) NEW LIBERATION was formed in AP with com. Bora Subhash as its secretary after a good section of the comrades from the CPI (ML) Liberation in the state revolted against the ‘peaceful transition’ line of its leadership and came out. During the discussion held between comrades KNR and R. Manasayya representing the CC of CPI (ML) and the leadership of the CPI(ML) New Liberation, the latter has agreed to contest seven Lok Sabha and 30 Assembly seats in the April-May elections based on the Election Manifesto put forward by the CPI (ML). It has also decided to continue the talks for merger after the elections are over.

WB: CPI(ML) Calls for Anti-imperialist People’s Democratic Alternative THE PARTY MEMBERS working under the former state committee held a meeting on 21st March in the presence of com. KNR and decided to reconstitute themselves as the State Organising Committee (SOC) of the CPI(ML) and elected com. Babu Dutta as its secretary. The SOC decided to hold talks with like-minded groups/organisations/individuals to strengthen the Party organisation and to strengthen the activities of the TUCI, especially in the tannery sector.

The meeting discussed the Election Manifesto published by the Party and decided to organise a political campaign based on it. It was decided to campaign with the slogan: Defeat Trinmul Congress-Congress alliance and BJP, Expose and Oppose Social Democratic CPI(M)-led Left Front, Struggle for Anti-imperialist People’s Democratic Alternative. Based on these slogans the SOC decided to support the candidates of the CCR(ML) in Dumdum seat, the

Mazdoor Kranti Parishad in Sreerampur, Basirhat and Bolpur seats, the CPB in South Kolkata seat, the CPI(ML) New Democracy in Bankura seat and the candidates of CPI(ML) led by Kanu Sanyal in Balurhat, Raiganj and Darjeeling seats.

List of CPI(ML) Candidates for 15th Lok Sabha Elections S. No. State Constituency Name of Candidate

1. Kerala Kannur Com. Sunny Ambat 2. Kerala Kozhikode Advocate Sabi Joseph 3. Kerala Wyanad Dr. Nalla Thampy 4. Kerala Thrissur Com. P.C. Saju 5. Kerala Chalkudy Com. A. Hasina 6. Kerala Ernakulam Com. Sindhu 7. Kerala Idikki Com. N.M. Baby 8. Kerala Kottayam Com. Sasikkuttan 9. Kerala Thiruvananthpuram Com. Ashokan 10. Tamilnadu Kanyakumari Com. Paulraj 11. Tamilnadu Coimbatore Com. Shanmugasundaram 12. Tamilnadu Dharmapuri Com. Rajgopal 13. Tamilnadu Krishnagiri Com. Meena 14. Tamilnadu Chennai South Com. P.T. Shanmugasundaram 15. Karnataka Raichur Com. V. Mudakappa Naik 16. Karnataka Koppal Com. D.H. Poojar 17. Karnataka Uduppi Com. Umesh kumar 18. Karnataka Mysore Com. Vidyamani 19. Maharashtra Mumbai North Com. Ravindra Yadav 20. Maharashtra Kalyan Com. Baban Kamble 21. Maharashtra Mumbai North Central Com. Devchand Ranadive 22. Chhattisgarh Raipur Com. Bharat Bhushan Pandey 23. Chhattisgarh Bastar Com. Chandrashekhar Dhruv 24. Chhattisgarh Bilaspur Com. Ramesh Lahre 25. Orissa Bhubaneshwar Com. Pramilla Behara 26. Orissa Bhadrak Com. Susant Jena 27. Jharkhand Ranchi Com. Anjani Kumar Pandey 28. Uttar Pradesh Kanpur Com. Soma Chakraborty 29. Uttar Pradesh Unnao Com. Ashok Kumar Patel 30. Punjab Sangrur Com. Sher Singh Dhindoli

31. Rajasthan Ganganagar Will be announced later 32. Madhya Pradesh Sidhi Com. Babulal Jaiswal

Besides these Lok Sabha seats, the CPI(ML) is fielding 6 Assembly candidates in Bhubaneshwar and Bhadrak LS segments in Orissa.

CPI(ML) Supports Candidates of Parties and Organisations in Following Lok Sabha Seats CPI(ML) is supporting candidates of revolutionary left and Dalit/Adivasi organisations who oppose imperialist globalisation and stand for agrarian reforms based on land to the tiller slogan, for a self-reliant people oriented development policy against the IMF-World Bank-WTO dictated development policy which devastates the country and increasingly pauperise the masses.

S. No. State Name of Organisation Constituency

1. Kerala Co-ordination Committee of CPI(M) Dissidents Vadagara 2. Kerala Co-ordination Committee of CPI(M) Dissidents Ponnani 3. Kerala Co-ordination Committee of CPI(M) Dissidents Palakkad 4. Kerala Co-ordination Committee of CPI(M) Dissidents Allapuzha 5. Kerala Co-ordination Committee of CPI(M) Dissidents Attingal 6. Punjab CPM, Punjab Amritsar 7. Punjab CPM, Punjab Jallandhar 8. Gujarat Gujarat Jan Abhiyan Gandhinagar 9. Gujarat Gujarat Jan Abhiyan Dang 10. AP CPI(ML) New Liberation Anantpur 11. AP CPI(ML) New Liberation Nalagonda 12. AP CPI(ML) New Liberation Eluru 13. AP CPI(ML) New Liberation Warangal 14. AP CPI(ML) New Liberation Hyderbad 15. AP CPI(ML) New Liberation Vijayanagaram 16. AP CPI(ML) New Liberation Medak 17. W. Bengal Mazdoor Kranti Party Srirampur 18. W. Bengal Mazdoor Kranti Party Basirhat 19. W. Bengal Mazdoor Kranti Party Bolpur 20. W. Bengal CCR(ML) Dumdum 21. W. Bengal CP(Bharat) South Kolkata 22. W. Bengal CPI(ML) New Democracy Bankura 23. W. Bengal CPI(ML) led by Com. Kanu Sanyal Raiganj 24. W. Bengal CPI(ML) led by Com. Kanu Sanyal Darjeeling

25. W. Bengal CPI(ML) led by Com. Kanu Sanyal West Dinajpur 26. Tamilnadu Dravida Ambedkar Viduthala Katchi Salem 27. Tamilnadu CPI(ML) TN Vellore 28. Tamilnadu Dalit Viduthalai Katchi Tiruppur 29. Tamilnadu Dalit Viduthalai Katchi Satyamangalam Other constituencies were CPI(ML) supports like minded candidates will be announced later. Besides these LS seats, CPI(ML) is supporting 30 assembly candidates of CPI(ML) New Liberation in AP and assembly candidates of revolutionary left organisations in AP and Orissa.

Reports From States

Jharkhand: CPI(ML) State Organizing Committee Formed REVOLTING AGAINST the undemocratic and arrogant approach of the CCMs of the CPI(ML) 2003 which led to the disruption of the All India Special Conference to take decision on the ideological-political issues left unresolved in the Vijayawada Unity Conference, vast majority of the Party members in Jharkhand including all the trade unions in the state led by the Party comrades or sympathizers decided under the leadership of com. Anjani Kumar Pandey to work under the guidance of the Central Committee of CPI(ML). In a meeting of most of the leading comrades of the state from almost all districts held at Ranchi on 1st March and attended by com. KNR, it was decided to form the state organizing committee of the Party with com. Anjani Kumar Pandey as its secretary. The SOC decided to complete the party membership renewal by 31st of March. It also decided to contest the Ranchi Lok Sabha seat in the elections.

The SOC decided to affiliate all unions in the state to the TUCI, to send observes to its 6th All India Conference held at Kanpur on 6-8 March, and to organize the state conference of the TUCI in the month of May, immediately after the elections to Ranchi LS seat. At a time when the CPI (ML) Liberation had degenerated to outright rightist positions aligning with social democratic CPI, CPI(M) and AK Roy’s MCC in the Lok Sabha elections, and when the CPI(Maoist) is getting alienated from the masses due to its anarchist practice, this bold decision of the comrades had provided a new inspiration to the party activities. The SOC has decided to propagate Red Star (English) and Red Star (Hindi), the organs of the Central Committee, and to launch an effective political campaign in the context of the Lok Sabha elections.

Jharkhand: Padyatra at Ranchi on Shahid Bhagat Singh Day MORE THAN HUNDRED ACTIVISTS of the Party and different mass organisations joined the thirty kilometers long Padyatra (march on foot) on Shahid Bhagat Singh Martyrdom Day led by com. Anjani Kumar Pandey, the secretary of State Organising Committee. It started from the Shahid Sthal of Chutupalihati in Ormachi anchal of Ranchi district where comrades Sheikh Vihari and Umarao Singh Tikayat were hanged by the British colonialists in 1857 for leading the revolt in the First War of Independence. The Padyatra started at 8 AM at the Shahid Sthal after paying tributes to the martyrs and culminated at Shahid Chowk in Ranchi city, near Shahid Smarak built up at the place where the British colonialists used to hang the revolutionary freedom fighters publicly or put them before the firing squads.

After reaching the Shahid Chowk, the Padyatris joined by com. KN Ramachandran paid floral tributes to the martyrs raising revolutionary slogans. Com. Anjani Kumar and other leading comrades explained the importance of the Padyatra which trekked the long distance spreading the message of the martyr comrades through their slogans. They declared that fighting against the imperialists, especially US imperialists, and their lackeys the revolutionary heritage of the martyrs shall be upheld and they shall march forward with the slogan “Not Imperialism, But Socialism is the Path Forward”.

Addressing the comrades and the public who had gathered com. KNR stressed the importance of remembering the martyrs who sacrificed everything for the victory of national liberation struggle, for the complete overthrow of imperialists, at a time when their lackeys of various colours, all ruling class parties and the social democrats are working for enslaving the country to neo-colonisation. While erecting martyr’s memorials to hoodwink the masses these comprador governments have also erected memorials for the British armymen who shot down the patriots who fought for the country’s independence from the time of the Santhal rebellion in the beginning of 19th century. This hypocrisy is very much evident in Ranchi city. The real character of the Indian ruling classes and their political representatives and dalals should be correctly understood. These traitors have intensified neo-colonisation through imperialist globalisation pauperising the masses more. When the 15th Lok Sabha elections are taking place, the unemployment and price rise have reached alarming levels. Both Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA along with CPI(M)-led LF is implementing the anti-people policies. So it is necessary to uncompromisingly oppose them and rally for the Anti-Imperialist People’s Democratic Alternative the CPI(ML) is calling for through its Election Manifesto. He declared that com. Anjani Kumar shall contest Ranchi Lok Sabha seat in this election and appealed to all progressive, secular, democratic forces to support him.

Kerala: Secretariat March by CPI(ML) THE KERALA STATE COMMITTEE of the CPI(ML) organised a secretariat march of hundreds of comrades at Thiruvanthapuram on 25th March raising burning issues before the people and in the state politics. Starting from the martyrs column at Palayam the comrades marched demanding immediate steps to bring down prices of rice and other essential commodities, confiscation of the plantations whose lease period is over, take over government land occupied by plantation owners and land mafia, distribution of agricultural land to the landless peasants and agricultural workers, radical land reforms based on “land to the tillers”, settlement of Chengara and Kuranjimam land struggles by distributing land to the struggling people, speeding up of the Lavalin case. Addressing the march in front of the Secretariat com. K. Sivaraman, Central Executive Committee member of the Party explained how the prices of rice and all essential commodities have gone up further even after the announcement of elections, how Lavalin like lootings are taking place, how the landless-poor peasants and agricultural workers are denied agricultural land and how lakhs of homeless people in urban areas are suffering in spite of assurance by the LDF government. He called for intensifying the struggle against both the central and state governments as after the elections the crisis is going to intensify due to imperialist melt-down. The secretariat march focusing on people’s issues when the LDF, UDF parties and BJP are engaged in a ‘de-politicisation’ of the election degenerating all debates to petty issues was a bold effort to politicise the campaign. Election campaign Progressing: In all the constituencies where the CPI(ML) candidates are contesting, election committees are formed at Lok Sabha constituency and Vidhan Sabha constituency levels. With the

understanding of organising campaign with a low budget ,focus is given to door to door campaign and street corner meetings with hundreds of thousands of handbills. The Election Manifesto of the CC, CPI(ML) was published and released in Malayalam giving a boost to politicisation of the campaign. In the election convention held at Wynad hundreds of people participated. Conventions in other constituencies were also attended by large number of people along with cadres.

The dissatisfaction among the CPI(M) and CPI rank and file, with large number of them supporting the candidates fielded by the Co-ordination Committee of the CPI(M) dissidents and the CPI(ML) candidates is a new phenomenon which will give a qualitative development in the state politics. Contrary to the efforts of the vested interests to reduce the election to squabbles on petty issues while all the three mainstream contestants are bound to carry forward the imperialist globalisation-led reactionary policies, the CPI(ML) is intensifying the campaign focussed on Anti-Imperialist People’s Democratic Alternative.

Punjab: Liberation Members Join CPI(ML) en masse in Sangrur OPPOSING the formation of CPI-CPI(M)-Liberation front in Bihar and Jharkhand for the 15th Lok Sabha elections and the increasing corruption among the leadership the entire active members among the 185 membership of CPI(ML) Liberation including district committee and tahsil committee members led by the state committee member and district secretary com. Sher Singh Dhandoli held a general body meeting and decided to join the CPI(ML). Com. MS Randhawa, state organising committee secretary of Punjab addressed the comrades stressing on the importance of polarisation of the Marxist-Leninist forces based on the ideological-political line fighting against both right opportunist deviations and anarchist trends. Following this the Lal Jhanda Punjab Brick Kiln Workers Union and Khet Mazdoor Union held their general body meetings and unanimously decided to affiliate to TUCI.

Following the earlier decision of a large section of CPI(ML) Liberation members of Barnala, Mansa and Ludhiana districts to join the CPI(ML), the decision of the almost total membership of it in Sangrur district is a severe blow to the right opportunist line adopted by its central leadership. Like West Bengal and AP, in Punjab also the communist revolutionary forces are divided in to many groups. The Sangrur development will create an atmosphere for the polarisation of all genuine CR forces.

The Sangrur district committee of CPI(ML) organised Shahid Bhagat Singh Day on 23rd March at Chahar village with large participation. It was addressed by comrades MS Randhawa, Labh Singh and Sher Singh Dhandoli. Based on the decision of State Organising Committee of Punjab the 24th March general body meeting decided to field com. Sher Singh as party candidate from Sangrur LS seat. The election committees are being organised at various levels. The Election Manifesto of CC, CPI(ML) will be published in Punjabi. The grass root level campaign is already started.

RYFI Membership Campaign Launched from 23rd March SHAHID BHAGAT SINGH DAY was observed at a large number of places in different states with revolutionary enthusiasm. At every place Bhagat Singh’s these words were repeated that mere replacement of Gore Sahebs with Kale Sahebs is not sufficient, we have to overthrow the system created by colonial rulers and struggle for socialism. As far as revolutionary teachings of

Bhagat Singh and his martyrdom for the liberation of our motherland throwing away all the shackles binding it is more important than ever when all reactionary forces and imperialist lackeys including the numerous NGOs are consciously trying in big way to present him as a mere ‘freedom fighter’. All of them are engaged in hijacking his martyrdom for their heinous agenda of serving the enslavement of the country to neo-colonisation. So all the programmes organised including rallies, street meetings, public meetings, seminar, etc. focused on popularising Bhagat Singh’s articles, his revolutionary calls, pledging to carry forward the twin tasks of national liberation and democratic revolution to the their completion.

A significant aspect of the observation of the Shahid Bhagat Singh Day this year, remembering all the valiant comrades who have laid down their lives for the liberation of the country from the time the colonialists set their foot on this soil, was that the Revolutionary Youth Federation of India (RYFI) launched in the Bhopal meeting of the youth activists from different states in February started its countrywide membership campaign with various programmes on this day. With the determination to fulfil the one lakh membership target in the first year before the All India Conference going to be held at Bangalore in December, the state units have started a vigorous membership drive. The state units have chalked out target also. The Yuvajana Vedi (Kerala), DYL (Tamilnadu), RYF (Karnataka), NJNS (Chhattisgarh and MP), NBS (Maharshtra) along with RYFI units formed in Orissa, Delhi, Punjab etc. have launched the campaign with enthusiasm.

In Maharashtra the Naujawan Bharat Sabha (RYFI) in Maharashtra celebrated Shahid Bhagat Singh Day by holding a rally in Dombivli. About 200 youth, with flags and placards against globalisation and privatisation marched through the streets. The rally started from the Baji Prabhu Chowk and ended back there after traversing a route of about 5 Kms. through the town. At the Baji Prabhu Chowk a public meeting was held where Com. Sanjay Singhvi and Com. Akshay of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha spoke. Members of the Hawkers union also accompanied the youth. The program was a great success and was hailed by the people of Dombivli as being timely at a time when the press and the ruling classes are trying to efface the memory of Bhagat Singh and are projecting 23rd March only as World Environment Day.

Karnataka: 4th State Conference of TUCI THE FOURTH STATE CONFERENCE of the TUCI was held successfully on 27-28 February at Koppal. The rally in which hundreds of workers and the public meeting following it was held at the Public Sports Ground at the heart of city. Many organised sector workers, beedi workers, domestic women workers, auto driver union workers, workers of sponge iron factories and unorganised sector workers participated in large numbers. Militant rally with red flags and banners was a new experience in the city.

The public meeting presided over by com. D.H. Poojar, state president of the TUCI was inaugurated by com. R. Manasayya, secretary, CPI(ML) state committee. He called on the working class to get organised with more determination to combat the onslaught on them .The special guests were com. CM Channa Basappa, revolutionary writer ,Sri Vithappa Goranti, president of Koppal Zilla Bachao Andolan ,Advocate US Suppimath, Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha (KRRS) district president Maddanayya Hiremath and Advocate Sandhya Modinur, who addressed the public meeting.

The state conference started on 28th morning attended by delegates from different districts and special invitees. The TUCI central committee’s document on International and National Situation was presented by com. DH Poojar (state president of TUCI), General Secretary’s Report was presented by com. Chinnappa Kotriki. The paper on Strategy and Tactics was

presented by com. DK Lingasugur. After detailed discussion these documents were accepted with certain proposed amendments and suggestions. The TUCI state committee report was also discussed and adopted. The conference elected a 21-member General Council and 11-member state committee with com. DH Poojar as president, com. KN Ramesh as vice-president, com. Chinnappa Kotriki as secretary, com. DK Lingasugur as organising secretary and com. KB Gonal as treasurer.

The Conference adopted resolutions on 1) Fight against imperialist globalisation and MNCs, 2) Abolish contract labour system and struggle for job security, 3) Oppose terrorism, communalism, casteism and linguistic fundamentalism, 4) Fight against SEZs, against land acquisition for SEZs and to scrap SEZ Act 2005, 5) Oppose the MNCs like MPSI, ZINDIA, Steel Park, Land Bank concentrating in Koppal district, 6) Save Tungabhadra and Krishna river reservoir and its catchments.

Karnataka: Land Acquisition Opposed CPI(ML) KARNATAKA STATE COMMITTEE staged a demonstration and burnt the effigy of chief minister BS Yeddyurappa at Koppal on March 6, 2009, opposing acquisition of land for the airport near Bellary and for steel units in and around Koppal. In a statement, the CPI(ML) State Committee alleged that the BJP government is acquiring fertile land for airport and proposed to acquire about 10,000 acres through Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board for setting up steel units near Koppal. Denouncing the assault on agitating farmers near Bellary, it extended full support for the farmers’ cause. It also opposed the special economic zones (SEZs) and foreign investment in the country. Party state committee member M Gangadhar, Hanumesh Poojar and M Neerukumar led the demonstration. The demonstration was staged at all district headquarters in the state as part of a call given by the Party. Sixth All India Conference of TUCI Successfully Held at Kanpur THE SIXTH CONFERENCE of the TUCI was held in Kanpur successfully on the 6th and 7th of March 2009. The Conference, held at the Hariharnath Shastri Bhavarn, Khalasi Lines, was attended by over 200 delegates and about 50 observors from 15 states all over India.

The most distinguishing feature of this conference was that it was being held ahead of time. The Constitution of the TUCI makes it mandatory to hold a conference at least every three years (extendable to four in exigent circumstances). However, this Conference was being held in less than 18 months after the Fifth Conference in Mumbai in October 2007. As was explained in the General Secretary’s report, the holding of the conference was necessitated by the tremendous growth that has taken place in the organisation since the last conference. The organisation, at the time of the last conference was functioning in only 8 states. Since then, functioning committees with affiliated unions have been formed in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, UP, Jharkhand and West Bengal. The organisation has grown over ten-fold in membership over the last 18 months in states like TN and MP while there has been massive growth in all other states also, notably in Orissa. This was the first conference where representatives from the union territory of Daman & Diu and Dadra & Nagar Haveli also participated.

The Conference started on the morning of the 6th with the flag hoisting. The TUCI flag was hoisted amidst slogans of “Inquilab Zindabad” and “Mazdoor Ekta Zindabad” by Com. Sham Sunder, the seniormost of the union members from Kanpur city, who is also the Vice-President of the Kanpur Trade Union Council. After observing two minutes silence while paying homage to

martyrs, the gathered delegates and observors showered flower petals upon the martyr’s column which had been specially built for the occasion. The delegates then went inside the hall for the inaugural session. Com. Mohammed Shami, the Secretary, UP State Committee, TUCI, welcomed the delegates to the Conference and invited the TUCI General Secretary, Com. Sanjay Singhvi to take the proceedings ahead. Com. Sanjay Singhvi proposed the name of Com. B. B. Pandey to preside over the inaugural session and the subsequent session for fraternal delegates. Com. Pandey then invited Com. K. N. Ramachandran, Secretary, CPI (ML), Com. Mukul Sinha, General Secretary, New Socialist Movement, Com. Sanjay Singhvi, General Secretary, TUCI and Com. Mona Sur, Secretary, State Committee, CPI (ML) to the stage for the inaugural session. Com. KN Ramachandran gave the keynote speech in which he emphasised the need to form an alternative to the existing reactionary, revisionist and reformist Trade Union centres. He talked about the need for politicising the working class struggle and making the working class the leader of the Indian revolution. Com. Mukul Sinha congratulated the TUCI for its phenomenal growth since the last conference and hoped that the coming committee would continue the trend. He also warned the workers of the dangers of growing fascist tendencies and communal divisions. Com. Sanjay Singhvi analysed how, though the working class is willing to fight, the leadership of the reactionary, revisionist and reformist trade unions are pulling the workers back. He emphasised that the Conference was giving a call to all unions and organisations who are willing to struggle uncompromisingly against globalisation and imperialism to come together and form a centre capable of forging the working class into a force able to lead the struggles of all the exploited sections towards democracy and socialism.

The next session, after lunch, was the session for the fraternal delegates. Com. Mitralal Sharma (President, Akhil Nepal Trade Union Mahasangh), Com. Inderjit Singh Grewal (Treasurer, CTU, Punjab), Com. Shivmangal Siddhantkar (for ICTU), Com. Tyagi (CC member, IFTU), Com. Awas (Sangrami Shramik Karmachari Union, Hindustan Motors) and Com. Alik Chakarbarty (Looktex Sangrami Shramik Union). Com. Mitralal Sharma, talked at length of the situation in Nepal and about the need to unite the working class internationally. Com. Inderjit Singh Grewal conveyed the greetings of the workers of Punjab and also expressed the hope that TUCI and CTU. Punjab would come together, at least in the nature of a front to fight the onslaught of imperialist globalisation. Com. Shivmangal Siddhantkar spoke on the need to unite even if there are differences in the interests of working class unity. Com. Tyagi gave details of the present economic crisis and stated how it compels the working class to unite. Com. Awas expressed his organisations sincere thanks for the help the TUCI had rendered them in the past and also stated that his organisation wished to work in close co-ordination with TUCI even in the future. Com. Alik Chakraborty spoke of the new situation where it was not possible to struggle at the factory level and thus fully endorsed the call for working class unity.

After this, started the first delegates session, to discuss the General Secretary’s report. A Presidium consisting of five members, Com. B. B. Pandey, (President, TUCI), Com. Doraiswamy (Vice-President, TUCI), Com. Amresh Patel (Vice-President, TUCI), Com. Mohammed Shami (Secretary, UP State Committee, TUCI) and Com. Meenu Sur (General Secretary, Gharelu Mahila Kamgar Union, Kanpur) were elected to the Presidium. Com. Sanjay Singhvi (General Secretary, TUCI), Com. DH Pujar (Secretary, TUCI), Com. Sivaraman (Vice-President, TUCI) and Com. Sivaram (Convenor, All India Co-ordination Committee of Construction Workers) were elected to the Steering Committee. The deliberations were lively and penetrating. Many suggestions were made to strengthen the General Secretary’s report. Most of the suggestions were accepted in the spirit in which they were given and the report was passed unanimously.

The next day, 7th March saw the discussion on the National and International situation. The same presidium and steering committee continued. Finally the second paper was also passed

with many suggestions to strengthen the paper being accepted. The next session was devoted to the election of the new General Council (consisting finally of 59 members) and the Central Committee (consisting of 25 members). Com. Mukul Sinha of Gujarat was elected the President, while Com. Sanjay Singhvi was re-elected as the General Secretary. Three Vice-Presidents, namely, Com. Bharat Bhushan Pandey from Chhatisgarh, Com. Saby Joseph from Kerala and Com. Badri Prasad Mishra from MP were elected and so also three Secretaries who were Com. Amresh Patel from Gujarat, Com. DH Pujar from Karnataka and Com. Babu Datta from Bengal. The whole of the Central Committee gathered on the stage to a standing ovation from the house.

The Conference saw the passing of several resolutions including calling for the scrapping of the nuclear deal, for the immediate implementation of the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Act and for formation of, improving of and implementation of schemes under this; for a comprehensive law for agricultural labour; against the systems of contract labour and casual labour; for improving the conditions of women workers, etc.

The Delegates Conference ended with speeches of the new President and new General Secretary. The new President called upon the delegates to see that the promise held out by this conference was not belied. The new General Secretary said that the situation held both - danger and promise and the future depended upon how the cadre worked among the masses.

Com. Mohammed Shami, Secretary, U.P. State Committee gave a vote of thanks to the delegates and to the Presidium for having conducted the conference in such a smooth manner. In turn, Com. Bharat Bhushan Pandey, on behalf of the Presidium gave a vote of thanks to the organising committee for having made such superlative arrangements for food, stay, materials etc. The Conference ended with the lowering of the TUCI flag and the singing of the Internationale in various languages and spirited slogan shouting.

The next day, 8th March 2009 was again an open seminar. The morning session was devoted to a seminar on “Closed mills and factories”. The speakers included Com. K. N. Ramachandran, Secretary, CPI (ML), Com. Mukul Sinha, President, TUCI, Com. Nattha Singh, General Secretary, CTU, Punjab, Com. Babu Datta, Secretary, TUCI, Com. Amresh Patel, Secretary, TUCI, Com. Mitralal Sharma, President, Akhil Nepal Trade Union Mahasangh, Com. Upreti representing the Mool Pravah Nepali Ekta Samaj and Com. Sanjay Singhvi, General Secretary, TUCI. Com. Ramachandran explained how the present situation of imperialist globalisation was responsible for the spate of closures now being seen. Com. Nattha Singh spoke of the need to unite to develop a strategy about such closures, Com. Mukul Sinha spoke of the situation of the workers in the Ahmedabad mills and spoke of the need to take up the question at the All India level. Com. Sanjay Singhvi spoke of how demands could be made to tax the capitalists and hand over industries which were closed or being closed to the workers. There was keen interest from the workers of the closed mills in Kanpur to the deliberations.

The program in the afternoon session was devoted to the International Working Women’s Day. There were only women on the dais with Com. Meenu Sur, Central Committee, TUCI presiding and Com. Shoma Chakrabarti conducting the proceedings. Many women spoke and got a chance to have their voice heard. Women had come from Allahabad, Unnao and Lucknow to take part in the seminar.

Before the seminar was concluded, com. Mona Sur, secretary, UP State Committee, CPI (ML) took the opportunity to declare that the CPI (ML) candidate for the Kanpur Lok Sabha seat would be a woman and would be none other than Com. Shoma Chakrabarti. This was greeted with loud applause. Com. Mona Sur also announced the name of the party’s candidate from Unnao, com. Ashok Patel. The seminar concluded with vigorous slogan shouting on the evening of 8th March.

Inaugural Address to 6th All India Conference Com. KN Ramachandran THE 6TH ALL INDIA CONFERENCE of the TUCI is taking place at a critical time both internationally and nationally. The fundamental contradiction in the capitalist-imperialist system between socialization of production and private appropriation of the gains has taken unprecedentedly severe forms with the speculative and parasitic character of finance capital reaching the hitherto unheard levels. Besides, through imperialist globalisation the neo-colonial plunder of oppressed countries, integration of their economy with global imperialist system has also intensified. In this situation, on the one hand, the bubble economy built up in the US and other imperialist countries are bursting leading to present melt-down there. It has led to the imperialist governments being compelled to resort to huge bailout plans amounting to trillions of dollars to salvage the system. But this in not helping to revive the market as the Keynesian policies did following the 1930 crisis. As a result the real estate sector, automobile sector, etc. are facing severe recession throwing out millions of workers from their jobs.

On the other hand, as the imperialist countries are cutting down import, outsourcing, etc., the economies of neo-colonial countries like India, which are integrated to global financial system, are facing ever-intensifying stress, recession, leading to severe unemployment as a result of closure of export oriented sectors, the IT-Software sector etc. What happened to the textile mills and other public sector undertakings in Kanpur and elsewhere following the imposition of neo-liberal policies earlier is repeated more fiercely now throwing out many more millions. The problem has become more acute as hundreds of thousands of workers and even white collar employees have started coming back from US and other imperialist countries, from the gulf countries and elsewhere. Thus along with unprecedented price-rise, the unemployment, cutting down of wages and trade union rights have become the order of day, pauperizing the toilers. Due to fast approaching Lok Sabha elections the UPA government is concealing the seriousness of the recession and fast decline of the growth rate in all sectors. As far as other ruling class parties and the CPI(M)-led Left Front is concerned, since they are also implementing the imperialist globalization led policies including SEZ etc. wherever they are in power, none of them are ready to attack the basic causes of the crisis, the neo-colonial policies they are implementing, serving imperialist interests.

As the leading TU centres like BMS, INTUC, HMS, CITU, AITUC are lead by these parties, their leaderships are not ready to focus on the basic reasons for the crisis and recession. They are not prepared to lead the working class and Government/public sector/non-Government employees in any serious struggles for reversion of these policies. They are satisfied with demanding some sops within the ruling system. Even the CITU led sponsoring committee is satisfied with organising a Parliament March as they did on 18th February 2009 or exercises like a token one-day hartal. The militancy called for from the working class to compel the central and state Governments to stop the pro-imperialist, pro-MNC and pro-corporate policies is systematically destroyed. While all the parties running the Govts at the Centre and the State have become executioners of the neo-colonial policies, the TU leaders under them have reduced the leadership of the TU movement, by and large, to being mere apologists of neo-colonialism. For this purpose the working class is increasingly divided utilising sectarian politics, religious fundamentalist, communal, caste like tendencies and increasing NGOisation. Reformism and various reactionary ideologies manufactured by the imperialist centres are being utilised for this purpose. As a result, at a time when the working class as a whole are facing unprecedented challenges, they are made almost incapable to boldly face them. Besides, the

ever-increasing numbers of the workers in the unorganised sectors who are oppressed under the contract system and the hire-and-fire system are not mobilised.

So a revolutionary TU Centre like the TUCI should come forward daring to take up these challenges. While all efforts should be made to organise the workers in the organised sectors and influence the existing unions in these sectors, the priorities should be given now to organise the tens of millions of workers in the unorganised sectors. It is proved that they can be led to militant, massive struggles if necessary emphasis is given for mobilising them under clear-cut short-term and long-term slogans. In short, the efforts should start with inspiring moblilisation tasks at various levels from our existing organisation itself.

At the same time, efforts should be made to unite the Trade Unions and TU centres under the leadership of the revolutionary left and democratic forces into a single TU centre, federation or confederation. In this respect, lessons should be taken from whatever gains so far achieved in this respect. Instead of becoming complacent about this, continuous efforts should be made to contact, to discuss with, to politically and organisationally convince and to win over the splintered trade union centres and trade unions so that a single militant TU centre can be built up capable of leading the working class struggles at All India level. In this way the established TU centres under rightist, reformist and revisionist leaderships can be exposed effectively, forcing sections of them joining the revolutionary left TU movement. Untiring, earnest efforts towards achieving this is called for from the TUCI leadership without which it cannot happen.

It is hoped that the leadership will understand the challenges before them and develop the political and organisational responses to them. First of all, a vigorous campaign should be energetically and vigorously organised to take the problems created by the ruling class policies including the consequences of the imperialist melt-down to the working class. In this way, the forward sections among the working class should be politically prepared to take up the tasks of leading the middle sections and even the backward sections to the field of struggle.

Secondly, an energetic organisational campaign is called for to transform the TUCI or the Federation or Confederation built up under its initiative into fighting vanguard of the working class locally, regionally, state-wide and country-wide. In this process, as already mentioned, earnest efforts should be made to unite all like minded unions and TU centres. Against the anti-people, anti-national development and employment policies pursued by the Central and State Governments an alternative peoples’ oriented policy providing development, employment and livelihood for all should be put forward. Fighting economism, reformism, legalism and trade unionism a revolutionary orientation to the TU movement should be put forward. In this way, the TUCI should play a vanguard role in spreading the message of social change and in mobilising the working class for this.

Along with the above efforts to build up the TU movement at the All India level, bringing together hundreds of thousands of workers for militant struggles for resolution of their own problems as well as for social change, the TUCI should give serious attention to play its role towards the unity of the revolutionary TU movements at the international level also. It was when the capitalist system became dominant and engaged itself in rebuilding the world in its own image that Marx and Engels gave the fighting call, “Workers of the world, unite” to overthrow this barbarous system. Today under monopoly capitalism, imperialism, this exploitative system has become many times more barbarous. Through neo-liberal policies, it has integrated the economies of all countries to the global economic system and has intensified the internationalisation of production through the MNCs and its collaborators. It has intensified many times the attack on the working class and the oppressed people everywhere. In spite of the contradictions among them, all the imperialist countries and the monopoly groups are united against the working class and the oppressed masses. So today the significance of the valiant call of Marx and Engels has increased manifold. That is why, not splintering but the unity of the

working class based on clear-cut ideological, political and organisational perspectives is the urgent need of the hour.

Lenin emphasised the need for the working class from economic struggles to political struggles, for turning the trade unions into political schools. He emphasised the need for transforming the working class from a class in itself to a class for itself – to a class capable of liberating itself and the whole of the toiling masses. This transformation is possible not through abstract calls for policisation but through intensification of their mobilisation and development of the class struggle which is the best way for politicisation. The working class should be mobilised for intensification of the class struggle in all fields to overthrow the existing ruling system led by the imperialists and their lackeys without which it is being proved that they cannot come out of the present crisis into which they have been thrown. As experience has taught, the limits of the economic struggles should teach us to lead the struggles to the throwing out of the ruling system itself with the orientation of advancing towards people’s democracy and socialism.

It is encouraging to note that the TUCI has grown as a revolutionary left TU centre during the last decade. This trend should be strengthened and all like-minded unions and centres should be united on the basis of a militant program for the liberation of the working class. This shall pave the way for mighty revolutionary struggles in the coming days. I hope this conference, the deliberations taking place and the decisions taken here, shall embolden the new Central committee to be elected here to take up the growing challenges before it with more political insight, determination and daring. I extend revolutionary greetings to all participants in this conference.

On Building a Struggling Central Trade Union [Paper presented at TUCI Conference by Com. Alik Chakraborty, fraternal delegate from Loomtex Engineering Private Limited Sangrami Mazdoor Union] Comrades, WE DO NOT belong to any central union, but work primarily in the jute sector, organizing unions at both private and state-owned mills. However, we do feel the urgent necessity for working for the development of a central struggling trade union and, though formally speaking on behalf of Loomtex Engineering Private Limited Sangrami Mazdoor, my submission will be on a wider perspective.

Crisis-ridden world capitalism is intensifying its onslaught on the working class today. Retrenchment is becoming one of its worst forms of attack on the working class. So, naturally, the world is on the threshold of developing a working class resistance movement.

The problem, however, is that the working class is not united to such a degree as is essential for facing this onslaught. The trade union is an important instrument of the workers’ resistance. But all over the world established trade unions are not acting as instruments of workers’ resistance struggle. These unions have become establishments which compromise with capitalists. In most cases, these unions have become an instrument of executing the policy of the employers. It may also be said that these unions have become institutions for propagating employers’ or bourgeois class thought among the workers. From INTUC and BMS to pseudo-left unions like CITU, AITUC – who claim to be against capitalism in words – all established unions have donned the role of silent spectators against capitalist onslaught on the working class. In many cases they play a direct role in launching this onslaught on the workers.

So today’s situation demands the rebuilding of a struggling central union in India in order to develop an effective workers’ movement against capitalism. We know that in many places

workers’ struggles are going on in a scattered way, under the leadership of various struggling and revolutionary groups or fractions. These movements generate hope among the masses of the workers but the struggles invariably end in defeat due to their scattered nature and the consequent incapability to face the combined attack of employers, management, government, administration, purchased leaderships etc. Thus the forces representing these struggles have before them the task of building a struggling central trade union to develop a countrywide unified resistance struggle of the masses of workers and, at the same time, establish a vibrant relationship with workers’ movements across the globe. Here a question may arise: will the effort of building a struggling central trade union yield any result when all established trade unions today have become toothless and degenerated into agents of employers in reality? It is indeed true that far from being an exceptional case of a single union or some unions, all over the world more or less every established trade union has clearly etched out its role in favour of employers. So we have to devise a strategy by virtue of which a central trade union will not become a tool of the management and/or employer. We can see that organizations – which had promised to take the struggling path – are going ‘mainstream’ and basically taking no role different from that of other established trade unions. They have joined NPMO and generally have no line of action different from that of unions like CITU, INTUC etc. Nor are they taking any significant role in the development of the movement of the struggling stream.

The above are all valid points of concern. The questions have to be solved from a materialist perspective in order to develop a struggling trade union stream. I shall attempt to discuss these problems in brief in this house. I shall also endeavour to convey our opinion on the basic position required to be adopted for the development of a new central struggling trade union.

Why is the trade union movement today in a precarious state? We may answer this question in a nutshell by saying that after World War II capitalist centralization and monopolization have reached such a state where workers can no longer fight against capitalists within the factory sphere alone. Today’s capitalist onslaught is not factory-based, nor is it based on any industrial sector. These onslaughts are being conducted as part of an overall centralized onslaught of the bourgeoisie. The working class is being attacked directly by the state policy and its various steps. The role of the state in the conflict between workers and employers has become so important that workers cannot fulfil their minimum demand within the factory if the workers’ organization and movement remain incapable of bearing down on the state machinery. So the trade union movement has to be organized in the factory sphere on the one hand and, on the other, it has to take a position vis-a-vis the state and the government. It has to make its position clear about the government and its policy with every step that the government takes. Unless the trade union movement is directed along such lines, a new struggling stream of trade union activity cannot emerge. Therefore, the trade union struggle has to be developed in such a way that it is closely interrelated with the struggle for the establishment of the dictatorship of the working class at the national level. In the absence of this, any trade union movement – however fighting it may be to begin with – is doomed to take the traditional reformist way, and restrict its activities within the reform programme of employer class. So when we are talking about new real struggling trade unions, the question of the political direction of such unions becomes vitally important.

So the question of political situation and direction inevitably comes to the fore. I shall explain this in brief.

A new type of monopolist centralization of capital started when capitalism reached its higher stage which is called Imperialism. The working class could confront this situation in the beginning because it was more or less organized before. But when this characteristic (of monopolist centralization) became over-encompassing, the working class movement faltered and a new line became necessary to get rid of the stumbling block.

At that time we saw that the Social Democrats took the side of the capitalists of their own countries. Since then, there developed a trend in the trade union movement which directly took the side of the capitalists. The unions which were led by the Third International protected the independent trade union movement by dint of fierce ideological battle. After World War II, a new situation developed within the communist movement. In Russia Khruschev came to power and tried to direct the whole working class movement along the reformist way. He was partially successful and reformism within the trade union movement was strongly generated. The then world situation partly favoured this effort. Through the Great Debate an ideological struggle was launched against this reformism but the debate did not succeed in shedding light on the way out for the working class movement and its trade union movement. At that time a wrong trend also emerged from this debate which reduced the significance of working class trade union and revolutionary movement. Using this opportunity, reformist forces secured their position in the trade union movement ideologically and politically. The Indian communist revolutionary movement and working class movement is a very good example of this. Not just India, it was the main feature of the world revolutionary movement also.

Now we have crossed the phase when trade union struggle could gain victory within the factory sphere and when struggle within the factory sphere was the main factor. The role of government has become very important in the working class movement. So fight against government policy has become crucially important in trade union movement. It is not to say that the role of the government was not important before, but I want to emphasise that now it has become directly connected with the trade union movement. We cannot win a single issue without fighting against the government and its policy. Previously, it was possible for workers’ movements to win victories within the factory. The role of the government could affect those movements indirectly, but today the role of the government is directly linked with the employers’ policy. The government adopts some reform policy or the other to derail workers’ movement and reformist trade unions restore their eroding mass base with these programmes because, in so far as they are connected with the government or the state machinery, they have a role to play in the passing and implementation of these reforms for workers. Generally, the trade unions with representatives in the government have more opportunity to execute government decisions for workers’ welfare. Though these are extremely meagre, they help reformist trade unions to establish their indispensability to the workers. Similarly, such unions inevitably have an amiable relationship with the employers and are hence in a position to attend to sundry trivial demands of the workers within the factory. Consequently, though there is no active participation of the mass of workers in these unions, they nevertheless succeed in leading workers ideologically and politically as per their line.

So we see that in spite of no mass base and no democracy within these reformist unions, workers continue to depend on them because they ‘apparently’ have the capability to save workers from the employer’s onslaught. This illusion – pervasive among workers – has contributed in giving a distorted and crippled shape to the trade union movement. We have to dispel this illusion among the masses of the workers through ideological and political propaganda and simultaneously building a workers’ movement in accordance with our strength.

However, it is not easy to rid workers of this illusion. In most cases, workers cannot succeed in winning even the most minimum demands within the factory sphere. Militant struggle of the workers, even strike movements, cannot snatch the most basic relief from the employer if the movement is restricted within the boundary of the factory. On the other hand, dominance of finance capital over industrial capital makes workers insecure even in the factory. Over the decades, the domination of finance capital has led to a structural change in industries. Small scale industry is developing instead of large scale industry and a contractual system has emerged because super profit no longer depends on large scale industries but mainly on who

has control over finance capital, banking capital and speculative capital. (Technological development is also responsible for this structural change.) So the situation really does not quite permit the tactics of workers’ organizing a strike within a single factory or even a particular sector to stop the inflow of profit to the employers. If workers are not united on a nationwide, industrywide scale, the struggle will not advance because big capitalists make their profit mainly from speculation. In fact, in many cases big employers can for the time being sacrifice the profit issuing from a factory for the sake of destroying the organized force of the workers. So it becomes easy for reformists to direct propaganda against movement and say “don’t go for struggle, the employer will close the factory”, then this propaganda is accepted by the masses of the workers because the employer really has the power to close his factory for the time being. This is apparently true. But when workers’ movement gets such an impetus that it crosses the factory sphere and disturbs every movement of the employer and pressurizes the administration by dint of its unprecedented force, then the employer (and the government also) must indeed submit. We have to think about a new trade union movement from this perspective. The necessity of organizing centrally and outside the factory premises must be propagated consciously among the workers, though we know that workers will first organize within the factory premises. Those who are thinking of a new trade union movement, must make the workers conscious of the necessity of organizing in a central trade union besides simultaneously getting organized in the factory sphere. Conscious forces of the working class movement have to take the responsibility of developing this consciousness in the workers.

We have to see this task as a process of the working class struggle. We have to be conscious about the participation of the workers in the central trade union building process. This is not a formal matter. Struggling workers, in ample numbers, have to directly join this process, which is necessary to develop countrywide working class propaganda. A real central trade union can be built only when such a situation emerges where the voice of the workers can reach a countrywide level. So we may identify this phase as the phase of building a central struggling trade union, a union which will stand in favour of the struggle of overthrowing capitalism. The resistance struggle of the working class has to be advanced with the consciousness that the interest of the working class can be secured only by the overthrow of capitalism. Such a union will have to develop with an independent entity and independent programme of the struggling workers. Such a union will not be a follower of a definite political party and government, but will support political actions directed against capitalist onslaught and anti-people government policies, and will favour pro-working class and pro-people political actions of a political party or parties. It will not depend on any government but will be in favour of the establishment of a workers’ (and peasants’) government. It will have to develop resistance struggle against every onslaught faced by the working class on its own strength. It may sometimes support a movement (provided it does not run against the interest of the working class) spearheaded by some other union (including reformist and reactionary trade unions) but not at the cost of its independence. It has to develop a relationship with those unions which are fighting against capitalist onslaught, and if the position and programme of both are more or less the same, then the question of separate existence may well become irrelevant. In some cases, such a union may support a movement on a particular issue led by the existing reformist-led alliance of central trade unions, but with the awareness that such a struggle may or may not involve the active participation of the mass of workers. But generally an alliance with these unions from the top is not acceptable.

An important aspect of building a central trade union is democratic atmosphere in this union. The leadership of such a union will be faced with the challenging task of involving workers in decision-making and execution, which in turn will help develop the union as a primary school for the workers. This will also help in fighting the bureaucratic culture prevalent among other

unions. Although such a union will not follow any political party, it will support those parties which struggle for India’s structural, legal, administrative change in favour of the betterment of the working class and oppressed people. This is particularly necessary because workers’ rights are ceaselessly curbed by administrative and legal measures. Government policy affects workers’ struggles, their rights and every aspects of a worker’s life. This union will have to propagate the replacement of the existing by a new government for workers.

Based on this minimum position which has been discussed above, it is necessary to develop the trade union building process. The unions which have already declared themselves as central unions, have the task to unite all the scattered struggling unions and other struggling central trade unions. We have to take initiative the to unite on the basis of a general struggling programme. We hope that TUCI will take this initiative. National Scene WB: Urgent Need for Ideological- Political Polarisation Among Left Karthik THERE ARE MANY SIMILARITIES, at the same time sharp differences in what happened in Soviet Union and what is happening in West Bengal now. Soviet Union was a country where the proletariat led by the Bolshevik Party had captured political power through October Revolution, and carried forward the socialist transformation under a proletarian state for more than three decades till the capitalist roaders usurped power following the 20th Congress of the CPSU in 1956 and started replacing the socialist state with a social imperialist state resulting in the disintegration of Soviet Union in to big or small capitalist states with open bourgeois rule. But West Bengal is one of the staste under the comprador bureaucratic bourgeois-landlord ruling system of India where CPI(M), which has degenerated to revisionist and social democratic positions, and the Left Front led by it is in power for last 32 years. From utilising the parliamentary struggle including presence in the elected bodies and the power achieved in various institutions including in states like W. Bengal, Kerala and Tripura for trying to initiate implementation of an anti-imperialist people’s democratic programme challenging the ruling class policies, it has degenerated to implementing the very same comprador ruling class policies including imperialist globalisation wherever it is in power while mouthing progressive slogans elsewhere. What should be the approach of the revolutionary left or Communist Revolutionary or Marxist-Leninist forces towards CPI(M) and its LF in a state like W. Bengal is a cardinal question often becoming a point of debate among the revolutionary forces.

In Soviet Union, in spite of great achievements in socialist construction, in defeating the fascist forces during World War II, in supporting the national liberation movements at global level, etc. under the leadership Stalin, as Mao later pointed out, the importance of continuing the class struggle under the proletarian state machinery against the domination of pre-capitalist, capitalist, reactionary ideas in the superstructure, in revolutionising and politicising the proletariat and other revolutionary classes and sections, were not appropriately recognised. As a result, along with the transformation taking place in the economic base the struggle for transforming the superstructure, the realm of philosophy, values, art, literature, etc. generally termed as culture was not seriously taken up. As a result, when the revisionists usurped power and started degenerating Soviet Union to capitalist path, the rank and file in the Party and the revolutionary classes could not recognise it and initiate a serious struggle against it. Though the suppression of all dissenting ideas and forces resorted to by the capitalist roaders turning the Soviet state in to a bureaucratic one is primarily responsible for the opposition not coming up,

the weakness in developing the class struggle against alien thoughts and forces during the socialist years also should be given due importance for it. In such a situation the capitalist degeneration went on unchallenged finally leading to the disintegration of Soviet Union to a number of open bourgeois states. Because of this weakness, even though there are good opportunities for a polarisation of the ML forces in the post-Soviet nations, no significant development in this respect has taken place so far. Experience of West Bengal

The CPI(M)-led LF could come power in W. Bengal in 1977 with good majority as, in spite of its degeneration to revisionist path, it had become the only able alternative before the people representing the fight against the fascistic rule of the Congress government including its barbarous butchering of the CPI(ML) forces. The ML forces had disintegrated in to numerous groups due to the sectarian policies they pursued and had gone out of reckoning as an alternative. The most unfortunate fact is that during the last three decades though the ML forces got numerous opportunities to ideologically struggle against and expose the CPI(M) an the LF, to politically fight the ruling class policies pursued by the LF government and to organisationally build up the party and class/mass organisations in the course of these exposures and struggles and in spite of the existence of large section of revolutionary left forces, still compared to other states, no major breakthrough could happen. The ML forces should ponder deeply in to the reasons for this.

In an almost a similar situation in Kerala, the CPI(ML) after rejecting the sectarian line which haunted it for a decade, could wage an uncompromising struggle against the social democratic line of CPI(M) and the way the Left Democratic Front (LDF) led by it was implementing the very same policies of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), whenever it was in power. While doing so the CPI(ML) continued the struggle against the sectarian line, making it almost impossible for the ‘Maoist’ anarchists to gain influence in the state. Waging such an uncompromising struggle against both these deviations, and the alien trends surfacing in the movement continuously, the Party has succeeded to develop in to a significant political stream in the state, though organisationally its strength is still comparatively small. Even while waging uncompromising struggle against UDF, BJP and LDF, it has differentiated the ruling class political forces UDF and BJP from the social democratic CPI(M)-led LDF. As a result of this policy as a good number of grass root level comrades of CPI(M) came out of it during last two years and now formed a co-ordination committee, CPI(ML) could establish close relation with them. Joint campaigns and programmes are also organised with them. In the present Lok Sabha election CPI(ML) has fielded 10 candidates and the co-ordination committee five candidates, both supporting each other. It could happen because while waging uncompromising ideological-political struggle against the CPI(M) leadership, CPI(ML) differentiated the struggle against it from the struggle against the ruling classes and their political parties, and always tried to win over the left masses under the influence of the CPI(M).

In West Bengal, it is not difficult to understand the impatience of the Communist Revolutionary forces to throw out the 32 year old anti-people rule of the CPI(M)-led Left Front government. Especially when it led to Singur and Nandigram, the urge to throw out the government became more insistent. While this urge was totally correct, it is a fact that most of the CR forces are not ready to make a self-critical analysis of what they were doing during the last three decades when the CPI(M)-led LF was consolidating its position in the state.

The CPI(M)-led LF came to power in 1977 at the crest of people’s mounting resentment against the fascistic rule of the Congress government which came to power through a totally rigged election after throwing out the CPI(M)-led United Front rule. But soon CPI(M) abandoned any action against the police officers and bureaucracy which perpetuated the fascistic rule, inhumanly torturing, incarcerating and massacring thousands of CR forces and even common

people. The CR forces failed to develop a consistent movement to force the CPI(M)-led government to take action against those criminals and for providing a qualitatively high level of democratic rights. Similarly, when the LF rule abandoned the land to the tiller slogan and pursued the reformist Operation Barga, the reforms from above, the CR forces could not mobilise the landless-poor peasants and agricultural workers to struggle for revolutionary land reforms in any significant manner.

After the imposition of imperialist globalisation by the Congress government in 1991, initially the LF government talked of opposing liberalisation-privatisation raj and about building up an alternative development policy. But soon all these pretensions were abandoned. It started implementing the ruling class policies of neo-liberalism. Again the CR forces could not expose and oppose the degeneration of CPI(M) to social democratic positions implementing the comprador ruling class policies. One section of them including numerous petti-bourgeois elements impervious of what is taking place around them and what has happened to the international communist movement including China in spite of Mao’s contributions, pursued the sectarian, anarchist line with or without owning up Lin Biao. Their activities, as elsewhere, only contributed to isolate the CR forces from the left masses. On the other hand, the right deviation among the CR forces also gained strength, first Ashim Chatterjee like forces joining CPI(M) band wagon, a large number of petti- bourgeois intellectuals, supporters of CR forces switching over to social democratic forces, PCC-CPI(ML) like forces embracing post-modernist and NGO ideology, and CPI(ML) Liberation embracing the peaceful transformation line in its 2007 December Congress. These deviations went on depleting the strength of the CR forces and helped the CPI(M)-led LF to remain for long as an unchallengeable force. Instead of self-critically analysing the reasons for this, the CR forces became impatient to throw out the LF g overnment somehow or other as they analysed it as the only stumbling block before them.

When the Budhadeb government decided to launch SEZs and intensify the so-called industrialisation drive by displacing thousands of peasant and agricultural worker families giving rise to spontaneous resistance at Singur and Nandigram, a very favourable situation was created for the CR forces to mobilise the masses, to assert their revolutionary mass line and provide leadership to them. It called for a Bolshevik initiative asserting left leadership in the movement. But nothing of that sort materialised. On the contrary, while a section of the CR forces continued to remain impotent, except for unending theoretical discussions, in the field of struggle frustration, wrong theorisation and organisational weaknesses led a good number of CR groups along with SUCI to join hand with Trinmul Congress to fight the LF government. Some of them theorised that CPI(M) and LF government have become the main enemy, and so enemy’s enemy, the Trinmul Congress (TMC) has become our friend. Opposing it as a deviation, though the CC of CPI(ML) had called for vigorous efforts for independent left assertion to establish leadership in these people’s movements, the state committee under com. Kanu Sanyal’s guidance could not do anything practically. The CRs lost another opportunity. The TMC hijacked the movement to strengthen itself, to form alliance with the Congress in this Lok Sabha election, and to dominate the state politics.

In spite of these developments many of the CR groups are still groping in the dark. Many including the anarchist ‘Maoists’ analysing CPI(M) as the main danger are preparing to overtly or covertly support the TMC-Congress alliance. Some of the ex-CR cadres have joined the TMC. In this confused state of mind, one group has made a U-turn, from depicting CPI(M) as the main enemy to supporting CPI(M)-led LF in the election! Why all these vacillations and deviations? They are due to the lack of a proletarian class outlook or in the weaknesses in making a proletarian class analysis of any emerging situation. Without overcoming it the CR forces cannot emerge as a major political force uniting their ranks.

It is in this situation, in continuation to the line of the CC, CPI(ML) which had called for taking the line of left assertion trying consistently to establish the revolutionary leadership in the mass upsurges of Singur and Nandigram, the West Bengal State Organising Committee of the CPI(ML) has called for differentiating the TMC-Congress alliance and BJP and the CPI(M)-led LF even while exposing and opposing the latter. The Marxist-Leninists should make a class analysis of all the political parties as explained in the Election Manifesto of the CPI(ML). The Congress and the BJP are the main political representatives of the comprador ruling forces. So the Marxist-Leninists should call for the defeat of the Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA, along with the defeat of all other ruling class parties. Coming to power of any of these alliances will lead to further intensification of the present anti-national, anti-people policies. As the experience of the two United Front governments in 1996-98 period has shown, in the present situation when neither the LF nor any of its present or prospective allies in ‘Third Front’ has taken stand against the imperialist globalisation policies or stand for a people oriented self-reliant development policy against the IMF-World Band-WTO dictated policies, the CPI(M)-led LF or ‘Third Front’ should also be exposed and opposed. Such a differentiation is needed to win over the left masses to the revolutionary ranks isolating the social democratic CPI(M) leadership. So CPI(ML)’s call in this Lok Sabha election is: Defeat UPA and NDA, Expose and Oppose CPI(M)-led Third Front; Rally for Anti-Imperialist People’s Democratic Alternative. Consistently following this line the CPI(ML) shall extend support to the candidates of CR organisations who reject imperialist globalisation, stand for revolutionary agrarian relations based on land to the tiller slogan, and for a people oriented self-reliant development policy.

There are immense possibilities in West Bengal to strengthen the Party organisation uniting the genuine CR forces struggling against both right opportunism and anarchist tendencies, winning over left cadres from the CPI(M) like forces and by recruiting new cadres, to develop the class and mass organisations, and to launch people’s struggles, building a left alternative fighting against the TMC-Congress and BJP, and the CPI(M)-led LF government’s anti-people policies. The genuine Marxist-Leninist forces should utilise the election campaign with such a perspective. UPA and NDA Serve Noe-Liberal Policy of US to Destabilise South Asia Observer THE CHANGE OVER in Washington from Bush to Obama has not decelerated the destabilisation process intensified by the Bush administration in South Asia a wee-bit. On the contrary, it has only accelerated, engulfing the whole region. What is happening from Afghanistan, the new member of SAARC, to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, with the escalating fundamentalists hold in Pakistan and India, were promoted unprecedentedly under the neo-conservative ideology of militarism of Bush administration. The war on terror unleashed utilising the September 11 was a calculated move to make the 21st century a US century as the neo-conservatives aspired. This game plan could find a reliable ally in the Sangh Parivar’s ideological commitment to militarism to fight against ‘Islamic terrorism’ during the NDA rule, and the apologetic attitude of the Congress and other ruling class parties towards it.

It was India under the NDA rule which applauded Bush’s declaration that “either with us or with the terrorist” enthusiastically, deliberately speeding up the departure from the comparatively progressive foreign policy of the post-1947 decades, subjugating the national interests to US war plans. Vajpayee’s announcement that India and US are natural allies and the systematic strengthening of Indo-US-Israel relations dismantling everything that was progressive in India’s foreign policy. That is why Robert Blackwill while leaving his US ambassadorial post in 2003

could arrogantly stated that the strategic objective is to have an Indian military that is capable of operating efficiently along with its US counterparts. He said: “Taken together our defence cooperation and military sales activities intensify the working relationship between the respective armed forces, build mutual cooperation for future joint military operations and strengthen Indian military capability which is in America’s interest. .... An Indian military that is capable of operating efficiently alongside its American counterparts remains an important goal of our defence bilateral relationship. What we have achieved since 2001 builds a strong objective which will promote peace and freedom across Asia and beyond.”

The coming to power of the Congress-led UPA government propped up by the Left Front did not reverse this neo-colonial surrender to US interests. On the contrary, to “consummate this strategic objective” as anticipated by Blackwill, on June 20, 2005 then defence minister Pranab Mukherjee and his US counterpart Donald Rumsfeld signed the ‘New Framework for US-India Defence Cooperation for the next ten years’, stressing that the defence relationship would support and be part of larger bilateral strategic partnership conducting joint exercises and exchanges along with multi-national operations. This was followed in 20 days by the Memorandum of Under-standing signed by Manmohan Singh with Bush for the Indo-US Nuke Deal, extending ‘strategic alliance’ to more fields. Thus under UPA rule India is neo-colonially subjugated to provide “strategic opportunity to advance US goals.”

If in 2002 US had announced that “September 11 put South Asia on the frontline of the global war on terror”, immediately after taking over Obama said: “Afghanistan and Pakistan are the central front in America’s war against terror....” South Asia is “the central front in our enduring struggle against terrorism and extremism”. Thus the destructive campaign launched under Bush rule as an “all out effort against terrorism and terrorist groups of global reach” is escalated under Obama rule with devastating consequences in South and West Asia. Afghanistan was formally made a member of SAARC in 2007 to legitimise the illegitimate war and occupation continuing there. Besides NATO is also introduced in Afghanistan and in Afghan-Pak border with the danger of its further interference in South Asian countries.

Thus the neo-colonial strategy hatched by the US imperialists and its allies in the post-World War II years by planting the Zionist fascists in West Asia, thus creating the Israeli state thriving on terrorism, extended it further in 1970s by giving birth of Al-Quaeda-Taliban like forces to throw out Soviet forces from Afghanistan through terrorist tactics, has blossomed venomously to present ‘war on terror’, bringing the whole South-West Asian region under its octopus-like grip, destabilising the whole region. By entering in to the “strategic alliance” with the US imperialists the NDA government later followed enthusiastically by the UPA government have dragged the country to this dangerous trap. The comprador ruling classes through the out and out comprador bureaucracy is engaged in this heinous exercise, throwing away all progressive aspects the Indian foreign policy and whatever sovereignty the country had.

How the bureaucrats in the South Block are serving the US imperialists like their predecessors served the British colonialists is abundantly clear from the way they are effectively blocking any political solution to the Jammu and Kashmir question, which is the only way to improve relations with Pakistan and wipe out terrorism from the region. When US declared ‘war on terror’ the Indian ruling system immediately embraced it expecting that US will consider happenings in Kashmir as ‘cross-border terrorism’. While Pakistan wanted the ‘liberation struggle’ to be settled to help it involve fully in the ‘war on terror’ in Afghanistan. US is smartly utilising these conflicting interests to maintain the tension, to militarise the region, and to increase the lucrative arms trade. Thus even while crying hoarse about ‘cross-border terrorism’ and Pakistan’s complicity in 26/11 Mumbai attack, the Indian rulers, whether UPA or NDA, are not at all interested to seek a political solution to its fundamental cause, the Kashmir question. It is ‘another sacred cow’ for them.

This approach of Indian ruler is helping the US to keep Pakistan permanently destabilised, which it is successfully continuing from 1947. The latest developments in Pakistan including General Musharraf compelled to give up uniform in 2007, the army compelled to step back and to refuse to rig the elections in 2008 beginning, Musharraf’s party suffering a crushing defeat, removal of Musharraf from presidency in August 2008, the ascedence to power of PPP-PML(N) alliance and now the autocratic president Zardari forced to restore the ousted chief justice Iftikhar Choudhary, are real blows to US administration. It is a blow to the new Obama administration which has declared its intention to escalate US military involvement in Afghanistan and has intensified aerial attacks on Pak border region in the name of destroying Al Quaida bases. Even the Lahore attacks by terrorists on Sri Lankan cricketers should be seen in this context. US wants to keep Pakistan militarised, divided, destabilised and under its tight control which the people are opposing with increased determination. What the Indian rulers are doing vis-a-vis Pakistan and Kashmir question is only helping the US and seriously harming the democratic movement of people there.

With regard to Afghanistan, Indian rulers are in the forefront with US and NATO forces to render all help and legitimise the puppet regime there. It is US imperialists, the biggest terrorists in the world, who created terrorism in that country in the 1970s. Only if US and NATO forces are withdrawn and all out side interferences are stopped, the people will be able to assert their will and Afghanistan will be democratised. So all progressive forces should demand the withdrawal of occupying forces and an end to all out side interferences. Instead, the comprador rulers in India like their counterparts in Pakistan are helping the US-led forces to continue the escalation of the war there in the name of war on terror. It is this comprador policy which is creating the possibility for the escalation of terrorism in Indian soil also.

In Sri Lanka, in the late 1970s when a powerful democratic movement of the Tamil people broke out, the Indian rulers who have never accepted the principle of developing the unity of the country based on the right of self-determination of all nationalities went to the extreme of training and arming the Sri Lankan Tamils under Indira, Rajiv regimes leading to all tragic developments later. When the LTTE created by themselves became a threat, Indian rulers sent the IPKF to crush it. Even after it had to be withdrawn in shameful conditions, they did not learn any lesson. Even now when the Tamil people are suffering tremendously caught in the cross-fire, the Indian government is not stopping the arms aid to the Sri Lankan government arguing that it will lead to Pakistan increasing influence there. Thus the Indian arms are used to harm the Tamil people there. The way the Sri Lankan government is encouraged to go for a military solution by crushing the LTTE by the US and Indian government is only going to aggravate the Tamil problem and the internal strife there.

In the immediate post-1947 decades it was the communal revolts encouraged by the communal appeasement policies of the Congress governments often targeting the minorities which escalated the Hindu-Muslim divide in the country. Communal appeasement of Congress governments soon gave encouragement for the growth of Hindu fundamentalists forces. Sangh Parivar and Siva Sena like forces intensified the hate campaign against Muslims leading to demolition of Babri Masjid. It was followed by further attacks on minorities giving rise to Muslim fundamentalists also gaining strength to retaliate in whichever way possible. As Kashmir question was communalised, the communal divide and growth of both Hindu and Muslim fundamentalists accelerated. Malegaon blast probe has proved how the Sangh Parivar outfits are promoting terrorism and terrorist groups. With the help of outside agencies also the Muslim fundamentalists are also grouping for counter-attacks. Thus, the growth of Hindu fundamentalism is the major factor which has led to the estrangement of relation with Pakistan and Bangladesh. In this situation, the role of Indian army to help the emergence of Bangladesh has only intensified the communal divide among these SAARC countries.

Analysing the degeneration of Bangladesh to present situation, it can be seen that the big brotherly attitude of Indian rulers and their communal approach which played a major role in the increased replacement of once dominant Bengali nationalism by Islamic fundamentalism, leading to present ‘BDR mutiny’ which was clearly intended to destabilise the Sheikh Hasina government which took over after a landslide victory only two months back. In the prevailing communal divide in the region even Sheikh Majibur Rahman soon after 1971 war and formation of Bangladesh started compromising with Islamic forces. In spite of his assassination, the next president Ziaur Rahman de-secularised the country’s constitution. Then president Ershad made Islam the state religion. Then Khaleda Zia openly allied with Islamic fundamentalists, Jamait-e-Islami. During the last decade the Islamic fundamentalists have grown, giving rise to terrorist groups also. The present BDR mutiny had clear external links and fundamentalist origin. It was in this situation her government proposed a South Asian Task Force to fight terrorism. Such a multi-national effort will serve greatly to curb the terrorists and the conditions giving rise to them. This proposal made to India’s foreign minister days before the BDR mutiny was rejected by the Indian government. It is very clear that like foreign minister of NDA government earlier, Pranab Mukherjee is ready to go to any extent to serve the interests the US imperialists. On this issue of serving US interests the comprador rulers of both India and Pakistan think alike. See how the Zardari government is putting pressure on Sheikh Hasina government to abandon the enquiry in to the activities of the Islamic fundamentalists including Jamat. The Hindu fundamentalists are also extremely happy that the UPA government’s foreign minister has refused to go for joint effort to curb terrorism. Both Hindu and Islamic fundamentalists, even while fighting each other, are proving that they ultimately serve the same master.

All these developments show that the Indian rulers are very fast replacing the Pakistan rulers as the “strategic ally” of the US imperialists. As both Congress-led UPA and BJP-led NDA have no basic difference on this question, they are consciously keeping this issue away from the masses. That is why, in spite of so many Supreme Court rulings, the UPA government did not speed up action in Gujarat to book the culprits responsible for 2002 genocide. That is why, in spite of so much proof the UPA government refused to accept the findings of Nanavati Commission and accept the Godhra incident as accidental and establish the conspiracy of the Narendra Modi government in organising the genocide. That is why the probe on Malegaon blast through which the involvement of Sangh Parivar outfits in terrorist acts is very well proved allowed to drag on, even after the penetration of Hindutva forces in army and other sensitive areas have come to light.

See the similarities again. The Zardari government in Pakistan is not ready to take any action against the Islamic fundamentalists spreading terror in Pakistan. Similarly, the Manmohan Singh government, in spite of so much of talks about communalism during election speeches, did not go ahead to expose and book the Sangh Parivar outfits for demolition of Babri Masjid, for 2002 Gujarat genocide, for Malegoan like terror strikes. Whatever it may say against BJP’s communalism, for the UPA government also terrorism means only Islamic terrorism. Both these comprador regimes are playing according to the agenda of US imperialists: spread the terror of religious fundamentalists to destabilise the socio-political spheres under the grab of ‘war on terror’, utilise the Hindu fundamentalists overtly like the Zionists while utilising the Islamic fundamentalists covertly all over the region, so that US-led NATO forces can enter the South and East Asian regions. The long term plan is to establish control over the vast region between Western Europe and Japan through this process of destabilising the intermediate regions using Zionist, Islamic and Hindutva fundamentalists, paving the way for entry of the NATO forces. It is neo-colonisation in its most heinous and pernicious forms.

Both UPA and NDA governments serve this game plan like the comprador rulers in Pakistan. So understanding religious fundament-alism, struggle against communalism and

communal fascism etc. should not be understood superficially as the Congress leaders cunningly explain.

In practice what the UPA government was doing during last five years was nothing but the continuation and expansion of the NDA government’s policy of initiating ‘strategic alliance’ with the US imperialists. Like the NDA, the UPA also has, in effect, reduced terrorism to Islamic terrorism. The fate of the Malegaon blast probe shows that it was only the initiative of a police officer like Hemant Karkare which had led to the arrest of Sadhvi Pragya, Col. Purohit and others. After he was killed mysteriously during 26/11 nothing is heard about any follow up actions. The Congress led UPA government is not at all ready to hurt the Sangh Parivar. Similarly, like NDA, it is absolutely against any positive action to resolve the Kashmir question politically. Thus the line of demarcation between the UPA and NDA gets thinner day by day in their approach towards communal fascism and about taking firm political and administrative actions to wipe out terrorism. The UPA government has proved that on any basic issues including approach towards strategic alliance with the US, on terrorism, etc. it has no fundamental differences with its predecessor NDA government. As a result during the last decade there was basic shift in the foreign policy also in line with the speeding up of the imperialist globalisation policies.

In the colonial phase, the imperialist powers had completed the territorial occupation of the Afro-Asian-Latin American countries in the main and were utilising the feudal forces along with the casteist, racist, parochial, chauvinist like forces as their social props along with communal division to continue their domination. But in the neo-colonial phase introduced after World War II, starting with Zionists, all religious fundamentalists are utilised to destabilise and control these regions. It was the US imperialists who started experimenting terrorism in West Asia through the Zionists in Hitlerite tradition of massacre of the Jews in Germany. The victims of concentration camps are turned in to perpetrators of terrorism. Then in the name of retaliating it Islamic fundamentalists were promoted, with the interest of eliminating the growing communist influence in the region. Religious fundamentalists were utilised in a big way to degenerate the socialist countries. Now religious fundamentalism of all hues as well as the terrorist outfits organised by them are effectively utilised by the US-led imperialist forces to perpetuate and intensify the neo-colonial plunder. The comprador rulers of the neo-colonial countries put in to service to implement these new tactics. A socio-cultural, political atmosphere is created to serve this cause. That is why, irrespective of the combination of the governments at centre and in the states in India, communalism and religious fundamentalism is gaining strength day by day. In election time leaderships of all ruling class parties from Congress-BJP to the social democrats, the CPI(M) queue up before the Hindu matts, Islamic fundamentalist leaders and Bishop houses to get their favour. Even the most vocal secularist among them are no exception to it. They de-link electioneering based on communal, caste cards from the growth of such reactionary forces. The executioners as well as the apologists of neo-colonialism compete with each other while in power to serve the US imperialist interests. So long as these comprador rule continues the South Asia is going to witness increasing destabilisation, spread of terrorism and penetration of imperialist interests.

International Scene

US-led Occupation of Iraq in its Seventh Year 20TH MARCH MARKED the completion of the seven years of occupation of Iraq by the US-led forces. Though a puppet government is installed and elections are held, the real livers of the power are in the hands of the occupying forces led by US imperialists. But in spite of this control, that the US has suffered a strategic defeat in Iraq is well evident. The ground realities

expose this. The resistance struggle in Iraq during this period has shown the limits of US military power, even if looks terrific. It is to cover up this strategic defeat the US and British authorities with the help of the corporate media are repeating stories of the virtues th occupation brought to Iraq and its people. But even in last week more than 60 people were killed in two suicide attacks on Iraqi police and army targets in Baghdad. Yet another 12 year old girl was shot dead by the US troops at a checkpoint. A US armymen is killed on average every day. Iraqi police and army men are dying at a much higher rate. Iraqi civilian deaths are running at over 300 per month. So the occupation has not brought peace. Iraq is still bleeding.

Eventhough not reported by US and British media, tens of thousands are kept prisoners without trial, corruption and torture are rampant, position of women has sharply deteriorated and more than four million Iraqi refugees are still unable to return home. According to latest opinion polls the Iraqis continue to oppose the original invasion and want all foreign troops to leave their soil. So Obama’s plan to keep 50,000 troops is strongly opposed. That the US could continue so long in Iraq mainly due to the utilisation of sectarian card from the first days of its occupation is now coming to light. What is has experiemented in Lebanon and many other places were repeated brutally to spread the virus of Shia-Sunni divide. The classical colonial divide and rule policy was utilised in new forms. Only because of this sectarian divide the US could cut down their losses and prolonged the dirty occupation. On the 8th year of occupation the challenge faced by the Iraqi resistance is whether a truely nationalist, secular movement can emerge. Only in this way the Iraqi can regain whatever sovereignty they had and control their resources forcing US to leave. Some sign of this awareness was visible in this January’s limited elections in which several of the most sectarian and federalist parties were cut down to size and the nationalist, secular forces made significant gains. How the resistance can be turned in to a true war of national liberation is the challenge before the Iraqi poeple today.

Capitalism and the Need For A New Communist International THE INTERNATIONAL WORKING CLASS and the oppressed peoples of the world are facing a global economic crisis of unprecedented proportions. From China to the former USSR to the USA, and especially in the oppressed nations of Asia, Africa and Latin America, mass unemployment, homelessness, hunger and disease are on the rise. Meanwhile, the imperialist governments of Europe, Japan and especially the USA have used the crisis to provide the monopoly capitalist financiers of their respective countries new billions of dollars worth of ill gotten wealth plundered from the peoples of the world, seemingly rewarding them for having created the devastating crisis.

Through the spring and summer of 2008, the United States subprime mortgage housing crisis grew rapidly. By the end of September it had developed into a general U.S. financial crisis; within weeks it became a world financial crisis and then a world capitalist economic crisis. By the time of the U.S. presidential election at the beginning of November, the bourgeois economists who had resisted using the word “recession,” were now uttering the “r” word.

In the USA, over a half million jobs were lost in November and in every month since then! Increasingly, capitalist spokesmen have been forced to mention the “Great Depression” of the 1930’s, their most dreaded nightmare, to explain the breadth and depth of this economic crisis that continues to grow worse despite all the global bailout trillions that have been thrown in its path.

It was precisely in this current period of global capitalist collapse and paralysis that U.S. Republican Vice-Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, claimed with a straight face: “this is no

time to be experimenting with Socialism!” While U.S. and Western European bourgeois pundits, social democrats of all hues, petty bourgeois intellectuals, liberals and the like tore holes in much of Palin’s rhetoric, and many right wing U.S. politicians protested the fact that the trillion dollars or so being given by Bush, Paulson and McCain and Pelosi and Obama to “bail out” the monopoly capitalists and imperialists was placing the USA on a “slippery slope to socialism,” nevertheless, almost no voices in the world rose in opposition to this anti-socialist rhetoric.

The root cause of this global capitalist economic crisis lies in the very nature of the monopoly capitalist system. This system is based on the exploitation and super exploitation of the working class and the oppression of the peasantry around the world. Under capitalism, the working class is systematically short-changed when we exchange our labor for the capitalist’s wage payment. We cannot buy back the products that we make. The result is capitalist overproduction.

In the current imperialist stage of capitalism, this fundamental contradiction between labor and capital is sometimes, in some places, moderated, while it is intensified elsewhere. The contradiction, however, continues to operate everywhere throughout the capitalist world. In the USA, in recent years, the effects of this exploitative process were mitigated by consumer credit largely arising from an inflationary housing bubble which began to burst with the subprime mortgage crisis.

A necessary condition for this housing bubble was the complete dominance of U.S. monopoly finance capital over industrial capital, a condition which has ultimately led to the intensification of all the major contradictions facing capitalism in it imperialist stage. Bernard Madoff’s company was built on “thin air.” Yet it so closely resembled the rest of Wall Street finance capital that he was able to carry on his successful multi-billion dollar “ponzi scheme” for years and was only exposed and stopped by the general collapse of Wall Street. The utter dominance of finance capital has ripped asunder virtually any connection between actual product values and monetary valuation.(For example, as bailed out Bank of America was about to swallow up failing Merrill Lynch after the latter had lost $27 billion dollars in 2008, Merrill Lynch executives received a last minute $4 billion dollar “consolation prize,” with Bank of America’s blessing.) It has resulted in an unprecedented division of the world between “haves” and “have-nots” such that the global capitalist system is in paralysis.

In desperation, even the most “free market” Republican politicians are seeking radical collective answers to the economic collapse of their capitalist system, including temporary nationalization of monopoly corporations. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina points out that it is “untenable to keep throwing good money after bad into institutions such as Citigroup and Bank of America, which now have a lower net value than the amount of public funds they have received.” Senator Graham “said that many of his colleagues, including John McCain, the defeated presidential candidate, agreed with his view that nationalization of some banks should be ‘on the table’.” (See “Bank nationalization gains currency with Republicans,” Financial Times, 2/18/2009). [Professor Sison noted that “As the partner of private monopoly capitalism, state monopoly capitalism takes more forms than state ownership of enterprises, even as nationalization is a form that may become conspicuous in time of severe crisis.” (“Contribution to the Forum on the Global and Financial Crisis”, 1/30/09)]. As Professor Sison observes, “The gravity of the crisis can be deduced from the enormity and significance of the debts incurred by the US government, the private corporations and the American households. All these debts are beyond the capacity of the debtors to pay back.” (“Contribution to the Forum on the Global and Financial Crisis”, 1/30/09) There is no “bailout” or “stimulus package” that can save the monopoly capitalist system from its ultimate doom.

In the midst of this fertile revolutionary situation, there has been no powerful unified proletarian revolutionary voice, either within the USA or internationally, pointing out the obvious failure of the capitalist system and the deep need, the ripeness, indeed over-ripeness, for the proletarian socialist revolution, for proletarian state power, leading to a just, rational and peaceful global socialist political economy.

What the exploited and oppressed masses of the world need is a system based on working class ownership of the means of production and production for human needs not for private capitalist profit – a socialist system with a planned economy run by workers in power like that which existed in the Soviet Union from the 1920’s through the 1950’s. [In fact, in the last Great Depression, throughout the 1930’s, while the rest of the world was in economic crisis, the Soviet Union was growing by leaps and bounds. It was, in large part, on the basis of its tremendous victories in socialist economic construction during that period that the heroic Soviet Red Army and people, under the leadership of Stalin, the Bolshevik Party and the Communist International, were in a position to play the main role in the defeat of world fascism in World War II. The Soviet-led victory over fascism ushered in an unprecedented blossoming of democratic and socialist movements and governments around the world and the establishment of a formidable socialist camp.]

Today, the old and dying parasitic imperialist capitalist system can no longer rule in the old way. However, the new and rising proletarian class, the international working class, is not close to being prepared to seize and hold state power. Consequently, a new period of terrible misery, want and starvation is rapidly descending upon more hundreds of millions of people world-wide. In this condition, there is a mass need, if not yet a widely articulated mass demand upon the proletarian vanguard forces globally to unite – to unite the workers of the world; to unite the oppressed peoples of the world; to unite the workers of the world with the oppressed peoples; and to unite themselves – all against international imperialism, headed by U.S. imperialism.

In order for the international working class and the oppressed peoples to achieve sufficient unity to successfully defend our interests against the imperialist onslaught in this new Great Depression and to then go from the defensive to the offensive and march on to socialism, communist leadership on a global scale is necessary. Such unity can only be achieved through constant interaction with the practical revolutionary tasks of the international working class and the oppressed peoples – the struggles against imperialism, headed by U.S. imperialism – for national liberation and for the proletarian seizure of power. Such unity can only be achieved through ideological, political and organizational struggle led by a unified international communist movement, a Communist International.

[Revolutionary Organisation of Labour, USA] Karl Marx and Lessons of “Capital” Are Back! WHETHER AS A PHILOSOPHER, economist, and anthropologist, the author of ‘Capital’ and the persistent relevance of his analyses are justified by the major crisis which now defies the premises of global capitalism.

“If Marx imposes himself as one of the ‘unsurpassable’ thinkers of our time, the reason is also, and mostly, that he was the first to detect the dynamics intrinsic to capitalism.”. These are not the words of some obscure, antediluvian follower of Marx, but the pronouncement of Alain Minc, the businessman, essayist and counsellor who has the ear of the French President, in an interview recently published in Le Magazine LittA©raire. The review, which made so bold as to devote thirty pages to Marx’s works, wonders about what it calls “the reasons for a rebirth”.

As the British historian Eric Hobsbawn himself humorously observes, “It is the capitalists, more than the others, who are re-discovering Marx’’- like George Soros, another financier and pro-market politician who recently confided to him : “I am reading Marx just now; there are quite a few interesting things in what he said !”

That Marx, who has long been dead and buried, is now back in favour may seem paradoxical. But is it so very strange? “It is not surprising that intelligent capitalists, especially in the field of global finance, should have been impressed by Marx,”, Hobsbawn observes,” since they have necessarily been more keenly aware than the others of the nature and instability of the capitalist economy in which they operated.” Naturally, these capitalists should not be expected to give up the system that crowned them and that gives them a hold on the whole of society : they are not going to become converts to socialism any time soon. That is not in their interest - far from it - they most certainly (George Soros among them) still entertain the notion that they may turn the present crisis to their own advantage and increase their profits, since the crisis whets their appetite for speculation even as it increases the risks...

That’s the law of the system, the domination of the bourgeoisie that Marx and Engel depicted in The Communist Manifesto in 1848, long before his main work Capital (1867), as a period marked off from all previous periods by “ a continuous upheaval of production”,” a social system in a complete state of permanent commotion”, “restlessness” and “perpetual insecurity”.

Can Marx help us see our way through the crisis ? As economist Jean-Marie Harribey observes, the fact is “that one might draw up an impressive list of that draw upon Marx’s critique of capitalism to try and find their way through the erratic movements of their own system”. Thus, Harribey further notes, from The Financial Times to The Wall Street Journal through The Economist and the London Daily Telegraph which declared that” October 13, 2008 shall remain in history as the day when the British capitalist system admitted to having failed”, commentators are forced to concede that the sacrosanct” law of the market has proved incapable of guaranteeing a sound equilibrium, stability, prosperity or equity” and that, all in all, Marx had been fairly perspicacious.

“It is urgent to re-discover his thought, which is too often reduced to a few famous quotations”, insists journalist Patrice Bolton, who coordinated the Marx dossier for Le Magazine Littaraire. It is once more a recourse for decrypting a globalization “that multiplies job losses and sends inequalities between countries rocketing, as well as inequalities between social classes within each country.” Not forgetting the succession of speculative bubbles that result in the impoverishment of a growing portion of the population.

Marx indeed attempted to decrypt the movement of history, the economy, production, value, capital, labour force, money, commodity, consumption, credit, social relations, class struggle, but also the exploitation, alienation, individualization, the possibility of emancipation and of transcending dominations as so many moments in a global movement, in a series of constantly evolving contradictions that make it possible to characterize precisely the singularity, the specificity of a mode of production at any particular time in human history. This approach to contradictions makes it possibe to understand why global finance capital is now pushing the logic of profitability to a paroxysm, and why capitalism, as communist economist Paul Boccara shows, is “exponential capitalism”, a system that sets money above everything else in order to make more money to the detriment of people’s lives - an irreversible system, which cannot be expected to go back to “ old time capitalism”.

The crisis being systemic, it can only repeat itself and get worse. That is why putting the origin of the crisis down to the excessive volatility of sophisticated financial products is of little avail. To “moralize” capitalism, to restore it to “ greater transparency”, as proposed by Nicolas Sarkozy, are slogans that are all just for show if the very logic of the system is left untouched,

namely the dictatorship of finance, the search for maximum profit. ‘’ Faced with a system whose blatant incapacity to regulate itself has such an inordinate cost for us, our aim right now must be to transcend capitalism, and set out on the long march towards a new social organization where human beings, through novel forms of association, will all together control their own social power which has gone berserk”, Lucien Seve insists. There lies yet another timely lesson still to be learned from Karl Marx, albeit out of the depths of philosophical oblivion.. [Lucien Degoy, I’Humanite (France), January 13, 2009]

From The Marxist-Leninist Classics

A Proposal Concerning the General Line of the International Communist Movement [Concluding Part-IV] (23) In order to carry out the common programme of the international communist movement unanimously agreed upon by the fraternal Parties, an uncompromising struggle must be waged against all forms of opportunism, which is a deviation from Marxism-Leninism.

The Declaration and the Statement point out that revisionism, or, in other words, Right opportunism, is the main danger in the international communist movement. Yugoslav revisionism typifies modern revisionism.

The Statement points out particularly: The Communist Parties have unanimously condemned the Yugoslav variety of international opportunism, a variety of modern revisionist “theories” in concentrated form. It goes on to say: After betraying Marxism-Leninism, which they termed obsolete, the leaders of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia opposed their anti-Leninist revisionist programme to the Declaration of 1957; they set the League of Communists of Yugoslavia against the international communist movement as a whole, severed their country from the socialist camp, made it dependent on so-called “aid” from U.S. and other imperialists. The Statement says further: The Yugoslav revisionists carry on subversive work against the socialist camp and the world communist movement. Under the pretext of an extra-bloc policy, they engage in activities which prejudice the unity of all the peace-loving forces and countries. Therefore, it draws the following conclusion: Further exposure of the leaders of Yugoslav revisionists and active struggle to safeguard the communist movement and the working-class movement from the anti-Leninist ideas of the Yugoslav revisionists, remains an essential task of the Marxist-Leninist Parties. The question raised here is an important one of principle for the international communist

movement. Only recently the Tito clique have publicly stated that they are persisting in their revisionist

programme and anti-Marxist-Leninist stand in opposition to the Declaration and the Statement. U.S. imperialism and its NATO partners have spent several thousand millions of U.S. dollars

nursing the Tito clique for a long time. Cloaked as “Marxist-Leninists” and flaunting the banner of a “socialist country”, the Tito clique has been undermining the international communist movement and the revolutionary cause of the people of the world, serving as a special detachment of U.S. imperialism.

It is-completely groundless and out of keeping with the facts to assert that Yugoslavia is showing “definite positive tendencies”, that it is a “socialist country”, and that the Tito clique is an “anti-imperialist force”.

Certain persons are now attempting to introduce the Yugoslav revisionist clique into the socialist community and the international communist ranks. This is openly to tear up the agreement unanimously reached at the 1960 meeting of the fraternal Parties and is absolutely impermissible.

Over the past few years, the revisionist trend flooding the international working-class movement and the many experiences and lessons of the international communist movement have fully confirmed the correctness of the conclusion in the Declaration and the Statement that revisionism is the main danger in the international communist movement at present.

However, certain persons are openly saying that dogmatism and not revisionism is the main danger, or that dogmatism is no less dangerous than revisionism, etc. What sort of principle underlies all this?

Firm Marxist-Leninists and genuine Marxist-Leninist Parties must put principles first. They must not barter away principles, approving one thing today and another tomorrow, advocating one thing today and another tomorrow.

Together with all Marxist-Leninists, the Chinese Communists will continue to wage an uncompromising struggle against modern revisionism in order to defend the purity of Marxism-Leninism and the principled stand of the Declaration and the Statement.

While combating revisionism, which is the main danger in the international communist movement, Communists must also combat dogmatism.

As stated in the 1957 Declaration, proletarian parties, “should firmly adhere to the principle of combining. . . universal Marxist-Leninist truth with the specific practice of revolution and construction in their countries”.

That is to say: On the one hand, it is necessary at all times to adhere to the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism. Failure to do so will lead to Right opportunist or revisionist errors.

On the other hand, it is always necessary to proceed from reality, maintain close contact with the masses, constantly sum up the experience of mass struggles, and independently work out and apply policies and tactics suited to the conditions of one’s own country. Errors of dogmatism will be committed if one fails to do so, if one mechanically copies the policies and tactics of another Communist Party, submits blindly to the will of others or accepts without analysis the programme and resolutions of another Communist Party as one’s own line.

Some people are now violating this basic principle, which was long ago affirmed in the Declaration. On the pretext of “creatively developing Marxism-Leninism”, they cast aside the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism. Moreover, they describe as “universal Marxist-Leninist truths” their own prescriptions which are based on nothing but subjective conjecture and are divorced from reality and from the masses, and they force others to accept these prescriptions unconditionally.

That is why many grave phenomena have come to pass in the international communist movement.

(24) A most important lesson from the experience of the international communist movement is that the development and victory of a revolution depend on the existence of a revolutionary proletarian party.

There must be a revolutionary party.

There must be a revolutionary party built according to the revolutionary theory and revolutionary style of Marxism-Leninism.

There must be a revolutionary party able to integrate the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism with the concrete practice of the revolution in its own country.

There must be a revolutionary party able to link the leadership closely with the broad masses of the people.

There must be a revolutionary party that perseveres in the truth, corrects its errors and knows how to conduct criticism and self-criticism.

Only such a revolutionary party can lead the proletariat and the broad masses of the people in defeating imperialism and its lackeys, winning a thorough victory in the national democratic revolution and winning the socialist revolution.

If a party is not a proletarian revolutionary party but a bourgeois reformist party; If it is not a Marxist-Leninist party but a revisionist party; If it is not a vanguard party of the proletariat but a party tailing after the bourgeoisie; If it is not a party representing the interests of the proletariat and all the working people but a

party representing the interests of the labor aristocracy; If it is not an internationalist party but a nationalist party; If it is not a party that can use its brains to think for itself and acquire an accurate knowledge

of the trends of the different classes in its own country through serious investigation and study, and knows how to apply the universal truth of Marxism-Leninism and integrate it with the concrete practice of its own country, but instead is a party that parrots the words of others, copies foreign experience without analysis, runs hither and thither in response to the baton of certain persons abroad, and has become a hodgepodge of revisionism, dogmatism and everything but Marxist-Leninist principle;

Then such a party is absolutely incapable of leading the proletariat and the masses in revolutionary struggle, absolutely incapable of winning the revolution and absolutely incapable of fulfilling the great historical mission of the proletariat.

This is a question all Marxist-Leninists, all class-conscious workers and all progressive people everywhere need to ponder deeply.

(25) It is the duty of Marxist-Leninists to distinguish between truth and falsehood with respect to the differences that have arisen in the international communist movement. In the common interest of the unity for struggle against the enemy, we have always advocated solving problems through inter-Party consultations and opposed bringing differences into the open before the enemy.

As the comrades of the C.P.S.U. know, the public polemics in the international communist movement have been provoked by certain fraternal Party leaders and forced on us.

Since a public debate has been provoked, it ought to be conducted on the basis of equality among fraternal Parties and of democracy, and by presenting the facts and reasoning things out.

Since certain Party leaders have publicly attacked other fraternal Parties and provoked a public debate, it is our opinion that they have no reason or right to forbid the fraternal Parties attacked to make public replies.

Since certain Party leaders have published innumerable articles attacking other fraternal Parties, why do they not publish in their own press the articles those Parties have written in reply?

Latterly, the Communist Party of China has been subjected to preposterous attacks. The attackers have raised a great hue and cry and, disregarding the facts, have fabricated many charges against us. We have published these articles and speeches attacking us in our own press.

We have also published in full in our press the Soviet leader’s report at the meeting of the Supreme Soviet on December 12, 1962, the Pravda Editorial Board’s article of January 7, 1963, the speech of the head of the C.P.S.U. delegation at the Sixth Congress of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany on January 16, 1963 and the Pravda Editorial Board’s article of February 10, 1963.

We have also published the full text of the two letters from the Central Committee of the C.P.S.U. dated February 21 and March 30, 1963.

We have replied to some of the articles and speeches in which fraternal Parties have attacked us, but have not yet replied to others. For example, we have not directly replied to the many articles and speeches of the comrades of the C.P.S.U.

Between December 15, 1962 and March 8, 1963, we wrote seven articles in reply to our attackers. These articles are entitled:

“Workers of All Countries, Unite, Oppose Our Common Enemy!”, “The Differences Between Comrade Togliatti and Us”, “Leninism and Modern Revisionism”, “Let Us Unite on the Basis of the Moscow Declaration and the Moscow Statement”, “Whence the Differences?—A Reply to Thorez and Other Comrades”, “More on the Differences Between Comrade Togliatti and Us—Some Important Problems of

Leninism in the Contemporary World”, “A Comment on the Statement of the Communist Party of the U.S.A.”. Presumably, you are referring to these articles when towards the end of your letter of March

30 you accuse the Chinese press of making “groundless attacks” on the C.P.S.U. It is turning things upside down to describe articles replying to our attackers as “attacks”.

Since you describe our articles as “groundless” and as so very bad, why do you not publish all seven of these “groundless attacks”, in the same way as we have published your articles, and let all the Soviet comrades and Soviet people think for themselves and judge who is right and who wrong? You are of course entitled to make a point-by-point refutation of these articles you consider “groundless attacks”.

Although you call our articles “groundless” and our arguments wrong, you do not tell the Soviet people what our arguments actually are. This practice can hardly be described as showing a serious attitude towards the discussion of problems by fraternal Parties, towards the truth or towards the masses.

We hope that the public debate among fraternal Parties can be stopped. This is a problem that has to be dealt with in accordance with the principles of independence, of equality and of reaching unanimity through consultation among fraternal Parties. In the international communist movement, no one has the right to launch attacks whenever he wants, or to order the “ending of open polemics” whenever he wants to prevent the other side from replying.

It is known to the comrades of the C.P.S.U. that, in order to create a favorable atmosphere for convening the meeting of the fraternal Parties, we have decided temporarily to suspend, as from March 9, 1963, public replies to the public attacks directed by name against us by comrades of fraternal Parties. We reserve the right of public reply.

In our letter of March 9, we said that on the question of suspending public debate “it is necessary that our two Parties and the fraternal Parties concerned should have some discussion and reach an agreement that is fair and acceptable to all”.

The foregoing are our views regarding the general line of the international communist movement and some related questions of principle. We hope, as we indicated at the beginning of this letter, that the frank presentation of our views will be conducive to mutual understanding. Of course, comrades may agree or disagree with these views. But in our opinion, the questions we discuss here are the crucial questions calling for attention and solution by the international communist movement. We hope that all these questions and also those raised in your letter will be fully discussed in the talks between our two Parties and at the meeting of representatives of all the fraternal Parties.

In addition, there are other questions of common concern, such as the criticism of Stalin and some important matters of principle regarding the international communist movement which were raised at the 20th and 22nd Congresses of the C.P.S.U., and we hope that on these questions, too, there will be a frank exchange of opinion in the talks.

With regard to the talks between our two Parties, in our letter of March 9 we proposed that Comrade Khrushchev come to Peking; if this was not convenient, we proposed that another responsible comrade of the Central Committee of the C.P.S.U. lead a delegation to Peking or that we send a delegation to Moscow.

Since you have stated in your letter of March 30 that Comrade Khrushchev cannot come to China, and since you have not expressed a desire to send a delegation to China, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China has decided to send a delegation to Moscow.

In your letter of March 30, you invited Comrade Mao Tse-tung to visit the Soviet Union. As early as February 23, Comrade Mao Tse-tung in his conversation with the Soviet Ambassador to China clearly stated the reason why he was not prepared to visit the Soviet Union at the present time. You were well aware of this.

When a responsible comrade of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China received the Soviet Ambassador to China on May 9, he informed you that we would send a delegation to Moscow in the middle of June. Later, in compliance with the request of the CC of the CPSU, we agreed to postpone the talks between our two Parties to July 5.

We sincerely hope that the talks between the Chinese and Soviet Parties will yield positive results and contribute to the preparations for convening the meeting of all Communist and Workers’ Parties.

It is now more than ever necessary for all Communists to unite on the basis of Marxism-Leninism and proletarian internationalism and of the Declaration and the Statement unanimously agreed upon by the fraternal Parties.

Together with Marxist-Leninist Parties and revolutionary people the world over, the Communist Party of China will continue its unremitting efforts to uphold the interests of the socialist camp and the international communist movement, the cause of the emancipation of the oppressed peoples and nations, and the struggle against imperialism and for world peace.

We hope that events which grieve those near and dear to us and only gladden the enemy will not recur in the international communist movement in the future.

The Chinese Communists firmly believe that the Marxist-Leninists, the proletariat and the revolutionary people everywhere will unite more closely, overcome all difficulties and obstacles and win still greater victories in the struggle against imperialism and for world peace, and in the fight for the revolutionary cause of the people of the world and the cause of international communism.

Workers of all countries, unite! Workers and oppressed peoples and nations of the world, unite! Oppose our common enemy!

With communist greetings, The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China