• The 21st Century will be the Century of Revolution!
  Let us Prepare by Strengthening the Communist Party!

• New India in the New Century
  Youth Competition and Cultural Program

• Speech by CGPI Spokesperson at Youth Program

• Lok Raj Sangathan meet at Chennai
  India has a Future only if its People have Political Power

• Government Readying Another Draconian Law to Replace TADA

• A Cynical and Dangerous Move

The 21st Century will be the Century of Revolution!

Let us Prepare by Strengthening the Communist Party!  

Members and supporters of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, along with their families, gathered at the Constitution Club in New Delhi on December 31, to greet the New Year with mass slogan shouting, revolutionary songs and festive dancing. As the clock struck twelve, hundreds of working men, women and youth rose up to welcome the 21st century with their fists held high. Militant slogans rent the air: Renewal of India is the demand of the new Century! Workers, peasants, women and youth, We are India! We are her masters! Long live the CGPI! Inquilab Zindabad!   

Speaking on the occasion, Comrade Lal Singh, General Secretary of the CGPI, said that Marx had referred to India as a "sleeping giant". When this giant wakes up, he will shake the whole earth. The workers and peasants of India have started to wake up, he pointed out. We need to build the vanguard Communist Party to lead this force, so as to make sure that the coming storms in the new century would lead to revolution and socialism, in India and on the world scale.   

The participants were in extremely high spirits as they had successfully concluded a two-day conference that summed up the achievements and lessons of the 20th century, in preparation for the new one. The 20th century will be remembered as the century of most intense struggle between the working class and the bourgeoisie, between socialism and capitalism. Opening the conference, Comrade Lal Singh pointed out that the tide will definitely turn in favour of the revolution once again. To make sure that the tide turns as soon as possible in favour of revolution and socialism, it is essential that the working class emerges at the centre of the political scene. It is our duty to build and strengthen the Communist Party as the vanguard of the class. The 20th century has shown that only with the Communist Party at the head can the working class defeat the bourgeoisie and spearhead the revolutionary transformation from capitalism to socialism. There was extensive discussion at this conference on the theme "What kind of Communist Party?". The positive experience of building the CGPI was contrasted with the negative experience of the working class with the parliamentary parties that monopolised power in their own hands, instead of enabling the working class to wield political power.   

One of the highlights of the conference was the large proportion of men, women and youth from the working class and their enthusiastic and active participation in the proceedings. This gave tremendous hope to all the participants. The 21st century belongs to the working class and especially to the youth. Any party that has workers and youth in large numbers is well prepared for the new century- this was the common feeling expressed by many of the participants.   

The conference adopted a number of resolutions on the current situation, on the working class and communist movement and on the needs of strengthening the party and the popular front against the bourgeoisie. The papers presented at the conference and the resolutions adopted will be serialised in these pages over the coming months.   

The youth are the future of our country. In the days to come, as the working class and all the toiling masses come forward to challenge the existing order of exploitation and oppression and to take up political power in their own hands, the youth of our country have a major role to play. The new century belongs to the toiling youth - with this slogan Lok Raj Sangathan (LRS) organized a militant and spirited youth competition and cultural program on December 25-26, 1999.   

"New India in the new century" was the main slogan of the youth program. The youth from the residential areas of the working class and people showed their great initiative in organizing this program of the LRS. For several days before the events, colourful and attractive posters of the program attracted large numbers of children and youth in the residential areas, neighbouring schools and colleges, clubs, bus stops, etc. A spirited propaganda campaign was carried out, in which the youth of the area vigorously participated. Soon hundreds of youth and children came forward eagerly to participate in the various events that were organized in this program. Participants between the ages of 8 and 20, in different age groups, took part in the painting competition, essay competition and the marathon race. Almost 500 young boys and girls took part in the various competitions spread over two days. On the evening of December 26, the program was concluded with a festive cultural program, in which the youth and children of the working class and people demonstrated their vivid talents in singing, dancing, drama, poetry composition and recitation, etc. The winners of the various competitions were rewarded with prizes. The spokesperson of the Communist Ghadar Party of India addressed the youth at this program. The program concluded in a spirit of great enthusiasm and optimism for the future.   

Painting Competition and Essay Competition

At 3 p.m. on the afternoon of December 25, the central part in Tilak Khand in the residential area of Giri Nagar, Kalkaji wore a festive look, with banners and posters all around, carrying the messages "New India in the new century", "The new century shall be ours", "Lok Raj Sangathan", etc. The youth activists, with great innovativeness and creativity, carried out a spirited propaganda campaign by loudspeaker throughout the colony. Soon hundreds of boys and girls, some accompanied by their parents, collected in the park. Till the last minute, fresh participants registered their names for the essay and painting competitions that were scheduled to take place. In an extremely orderly and disciplined manner, the children took their places and the painting competition began, soon followed by the essay competition.   

The painting competition, carried out in two different age groups, 8-11 and 12-15, involved expressing ideas through drawing and colour on any one of the following themes: my house, my city, the India of my dreams. Within just over an hour, beautiful, sensitive and lively creations could be seen on the sheets the children were given to work upon.   

The essay competition, which followed, was also conducted in two age groups. In the 12-15 category, the topics for the essay were "the India of my dreams", "the positive and negative aspects of television" and "my Delhi". In the 16-20 age group, the topics were "the India of my dreams", "cyclone in Orissa", "falling standards of education in government schools" and "deteriorating status of hindi in our country". Within an hour, thoughtful and creative essays emerged from the children.   

Road Race

Since early morning on December 26, the youth activists could be seen busily preparing the tracks for the races. A 2 km road race was organized for participants in the age group of 12 to 15, and 16 to 20. Prominent banners and posters as well as enthusiastic youth volunteers posted at various key spots clearly indicated the route to be followed for the marathon. The races in both categories were successfully conducted, amidst loud cheering by all the residents of the surrounding houses as well the huge crowds gathered at the spot to witness the event. Shorter races were organized for age group of 8 to 11. In all, nearly 500 children and youth participated in these races.   

Cultural Program

A cultural program was organized by the youth of the area, at the end of the competitions, on the afternoon of December 26. The Labour Hall in Giri Nagar was decorated with vivid banners "New India in the new century". Lok Raj Sangathan", etc. The paintings by the young artists made the previous day also adorned the walls. Hundreds of youth and children, together with their parents, teachers, friends and well wishers, were present at the function. Shri T.S.Sankaran, president of LRS presided over the program. The young children gave him a floral welcome. Congradulating the youth for this wonderful program, he inspired them with his words of advice and encouragement. The youth activists of Giri Nagar and Sanjay colony conducted the proceedings.   

The cultural program which lasted for about 2 hours, included patriotic songs and poetry recital by the young artists as well as several short skits and plays demonstrating the hatred of the youth for this system of exploitation and injustice and their utter contempt for the exploiters. The spokesperson of the CGPI also addressed the youth on this occasion.   

Shri T.S.Sankaran then gave away beautiful trophies to the winners of the various competitions. Certificates of participation were also given to all the participants. The program concluded in an atmosphere of joy, optimism and hope for the future.  

Dear comrades,
It has been a truly great pleasure to be with you in this memorable program organised by you the youth to mark the end of a century and the beginning of a new century. The theme of the entire program, the essays, paintings, songs, dramas all bring out the creativity of our younger generation, the desire and determination to build a new India through work, struggle and sacrifice. Through this program, you are sending a message not only to the youth of the entire country, but to the working class and all the toiling masses of our country as well. The message is clear and inspiring - that the youth of India have taken up the challenge to fight for the overthrow of the capitalist system and colonial legacy which is steadily and rapidly eating away the healthy core of our country like a deathly cancer. The youth have decided to fight to build a new India where there will be no place for exploitation or oppression of any kind.   

Comrades,
Any society is judged by what it offers the youth. Does it provide them with education and culture, security of life and livelihood? Does it enable the youth to release their limitless energies, their creativity, for the collective good? Today's India does none of these things. It offers nothing but darkness and despair for the majority of youth. Born in the midst of poverty and want, in slums and chawls and poverty-stricken villages, the majority of our youth have no future within this system. They are deprived of education and culture in the true sense of the word, and asked to fend for themselves. Society has the duty to provide for them, but present day Indian society refuses to do so. Instead, it blames the youth themselves for the problems. All of you would have seen in films the Aamirs, Shahrukhs, Salmans and Mithuns and others born as youngsters, sometimes in poor families and sometimes in rich, and mostly they become "successful" through individual smartness and heroism. The message is that anyone can make it in the system, provided they are smart, know how to fight, fall in love with a rich girl, etc. First of all these stories are far removed from reality, as all of you know. Secondly, more importantly, they preach individual salvation. That every young man or woman must fight alone for his or her own individual interests and society be damned. This is a wrong message.   

The problems facing the youth come from the economic and political system of our country. They are not individual problems that each one can solve by themselves. These problems will be resolved only by the complete overhaul of the system at its very foundations. In this system, the rich and powerful wield control over both the economy and over the political power. The economy is geared to make the rich richer and poor poorer. The rich wield political power to crush any opposition from the workers, peasants, women or youth to their rule. The youth must fight for a society where the system provides for all, where education, health care, food clothing and shelter, and livelihood are guaranteed for all. For such a new India to become a reality, political power must come into the hands of those who are interested in such a system. The workers, peasants, women and youth of India are desperately looking forward for such a system. The youth have to pour their great energies into this most important question of empowerment of the toiling masses of India.   

Comrades,
The history of India and the world provide countless examples that show that the youth of the times have always been the greatest fighters against oppression and injustice. In the 1857 war of independence against British colonial role, in the revolutionary anti-colonial struggles that took place all over India before and after that, as well as in the last 52 years since India got formal independence - every time the struggle has broken out between the forces of exploitation and oppression on the one side and the forces of revolution and liberation on the other - the youth of India have hoisted the banner of rebellion against the oppressive system. India has produced countless heroes in this century who have given their all for the building of a new India. Martyrs like Shaheed Bhagat Singh who willingly kissed the gallows in the prime of youth to liberate India from capitalism and colonial slavery. They were ordinary youth like you, people with fire for liberation burning in their hearts. In your hearts too, the fire for liberation is burning. This fire must be used to destroy all that is rotten in our society and create the foundations of a new society.   

When we look at you young comrades who are proudly declaring that you will build a new India, our mind goes back 19 years ago when around the same time, we the youth of that time poured all our energies and fought and worked to build our Party, the Communist Ghadar Party of India. We were inspired by the heroic deeds to Shaheed Bhagat Singh, and the science of liberation of society, Marxism-Leninism. India was seething with rebellion, but there was not that force that could lead the workers and peasants of India to victory. We knew with the precision of science that without a communist party armed with the most advanced theory, in whose ranks the most sincere, fearless fighters from the workers, peasants, women and youth would militate in, Indian society would not break out of the Sandhi it had got caught in. There was no dearth of people, who gave us unwanted advice that we were doing the impossible, but we stuck to the path we had taken. We knew we had no choice. India needed it, if it had to be liberated. Every thing that has taken place in India and the world in these past 19 years has confirmed and reconfirmed that the building of the Communist Ghadar Party was the most decisive act of the youth of our generation.   

Ten years ago, when the biggest attack on communism was launched, the Party took up the battle to defend and expand the space for communism. There were not a few people, even so called veteran communists, who were busy declaring that communism was finished, that the future belonged to capitalism. They were telling us communists, as well as all those who were thirsting for revolution and liberation that it was time to pack up our bags and get down to charting our own individual future within the present system. And we can never ever forget the way the youth of that time responded. Right here in Delhi, these youth from Giri Nagar who were then barely high school students, decided to stage a play reenacting the Great October Revolution. This was a declaration by the youth that they did not believe that communism was finished, that on the contrary they firmly believed that communism was the future of mankind. In front of hundreds of people gathered in the first public meeting organised by the Party, they confidently made this declaration. Right amongst the people who are gathered here, and among the organisers, are people who participated in that historic play.   

Comrades,
The attack on communism continues. They tell us that communism has failed. But if communism was destroyed in the Soviet Union because it failed, why has capitalism not collapsed in India and other countries? How can the beautiful aim that mankind has set for itself, to realise which communists and workers of all lands have fought, the aim of building a classless society wherein "From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs" is inscribed proudly on the banner of society, be declared failed? This means that the capitalists and imperialists are telling us that there is no future for mankind except darkness and slavery for the vast majority. How can workers, or peasants or women or youth ever accept this?   

Communism did not fail in the Soviet Union or other countries my friends. What failed were the efforts of the leaders of these countries to discover a third road between capitalism and communism. They ended up restoring capitalism. In India too, there are many that call themselves communists who are always busy discovering a third road and leading the workers up the ditch. Capitalism has not collapsed because as our teachers and leaders have pointed out, as our science tells us, it will not collapse on its own. It will have to be destroyed, uprooted by the revolution and for this the working class and all the oppressed need at their head a communist party armed with the science of revolution and liberation, the science of contemporary Marxist-Leninist thought.   

Without such a party, without revolutionary theory, the working masses will be leaderless and not achieve anything despite their heroism. They will get stuck in one diversion after another. Right here you can see how they promoted the BJP saying it will bring "Ram Rajya" and you can see what "Ram Rajya" has brought for the working masses. And not a few people have got diverted by these things. The same way people would have got diverted by the Third Front and of VP Singh earlier. The communist Party armed with the science of Marxism-Leninism. Without this crucial weapon, workers, peasants, women and youth will get no where. This is the verdict of history and science.   

That is why comrades, the most important challenge in front of the youth of today is to take up communism as the mission of your lives. There is no greater joy than this comrades, as we of the older generation can tell you with conviction today. You must study and grasp the science in its change and development, as we all must study and grasp it. In our party, all of us are students in that sense and we had better be students till our dying days, if we do not want to be left behind! The 21st century demands men and women of knowledge and culture, only they can build the new India. That is why, on this day, we appeal to all of you to take up the study of contemporary Marxist Leninist thought, establish study groups and take up communist work in a serious way.   

Dear young friends! Let me conclude by congratulating all of you once again on this beautiful program you have organised as the harbinger of the new dawn for India. The new dawn will surely break out over a new India in the coming years. It will break out not on its own, but through the organised, conscious act of the millions of our toiling people who want this dawn to break out, and led by a party which knows how this will be achieved, and how the roadblocks will be over come. You are our future! You are the future of India! What you have worked for and achieved in these last few days is a small but priceless beginning. You have shown that there is nothing you cannot achieve, no fortress you cannot conquer. On behalf of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, I have the honour to salute your work. We are confident that the struggle to build the new India of our dreams in the new century will be triumphant. No force of the enemy can defeat us!   

Inquilab Zindabad!

Lok Raj Sangathan meet at Chennai

India has a Future only if its People have Political Power

Many speakers emphasised that if enough resources are not provided for universal education and health care and housing for all, then our nation has no future. Moreover, only by establishing peace in south Asia can we protect the sovereignty of all the countries in the region and ensure progress for all. As we approach the 50th year of the Indian Constitution, they categorically felt that the system established 50 years ago has failed. According to them, today's political system calls for bold reforms and systemic changes - a rejuvenation based on the empowerment of the people.   

Mr. Sankaran indicated with facts and figures how, after 50 years and more of independence, we still have more number of persons today than the population of India at the time of independence, who are illiterate and are below the poverty line. Questioning whether this is this the fault of the political system or a failure of the administrative apparatus, Mr. Sankaran said that it is the lack of empowerment of people that has led to this progressive failure on all fronts. It is a pity that we as a people seem to get steadily disempowered more and more with time. It is time that we, the people, reasserted their right and started deciding things instead of leaving it to the politician and the bureaucrat. LRS is a movement, which he hoped, will strike roots in Tamil Nadu and help people win back the lost ground and more.   

Justice V.R.Krishna Iyer began his address by exhorting the people to realise what is promised in the Constitution, but which remains a pipe dream, that "We, the People of India, are sovereign and are the masters". The powers that be have kept the people in the dark and are exploiting their ignorance and manipulating them. In this, Justice Iyer said, all political parties are guilty.   

He said that we are being divided every day and social solidarity is getting weakened day by day. Are we a socialist republic? Are we a sovereign nation? No, he said. We are not governed by the Government of India as the Government of India is itself not independent but governed by the will of the multi-national companies and their organisations like the World Bank, IMF and the WTO. Though we got rid of the colonial power in 1947, we are now recolonised by the economic power of the west, led by the U.S.A.   

Whichever way one looks at things, the time has now come, said Justice Iyer, to wake up and start a new wave. The emphasis must be on the development of man and not of things. Basic needs of people will have to be fulfilled. Instead of being disheartened and disillusioned, people will have to realise that there is an alternative and the purpose of this meeting is to create the necessary awareness and enthusiasm so that people can come into their own and create in 2000 A.D the New Agenda for the liberation of Indian people, Justice Iyer concluded.   

Another speaker pointed out that the first generation of economic policy measures started in 1991. At the end of the first phase, nearly half the Indian people are still illiterate, one-third of the people are below the poverty line and so on, indicating that the reforms have benefited only the rich. Not content with this first phase, with the support of the Congress Party in Parliament, the BJP-led government is in a frantic hurry to get through a huge programme of legislation that will further facilitate the entry of foreign capital and foreign control over the Indian economy. Privatisation of insurance, disinvestment of public sector enterprises and many other measures are being taken up. How can we prevent this, except by creating and refining tools and mechanisms for people's power. It is in this context that this meeting has been convened and it is encouraging that people from various walks of life have thought it necessary to attend it.   

People's Voice warmly applauds this discussion meet in Chennai as one more concrete step to realise the goal of securing power in the hands of the people.  

The Vajapyee government is giving final touches to new legislation to replace the infamous TADA (Terrorist and Disruptive Activities(Prevention) Act that lapsed in 1996 after country-wide and world-wide opposition. While in operation, TADA was used mostlyto suppress the political and economic struggles of the working people, especially the struggles of workers in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu and the national movements in Punjab, Kashmir, Assam etc. Even though the law lapsed nearly three years ago, many of the people detained under TADA are still awaiting trial.   

It is reported that the Law Commission has recommended for a new law on the lines of TADA in order to remedy the "legal vacuum" that was created when the TADA was allowed to lapse. The home ministry, under the leadership of Advani during his first term in office, tried unsuccessfully to enact mini-TADA laws in different state legislatures, but attempts to enact such legislation in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Jammu and Kashmir were abandoned because of popular opposition. Now Advani is planning to enact such legislation at the Centre with the help of the ruling political parties from those three states in the Lok Sabha.   

The government of India has at least eight different draconian laws in the books that it uses continually to bypass normal "due process" in its repression of the people. Laws such as "Essential Services Maintenance Act" or the "Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act" are draconian, but are invoked under specific situations, for example to attack worker's strikes in specific sectors or to empower military force deployed in specific locales respectively. What the existing laws lack and a law like TADA (or its predecessors like the Maintenance of Internal Security Act or MISA and National Security Act or NSA) will accomplish is to provide arbitrary powers to police and paramilitary forces under all conditions and circumstances to bypass "due process" requirements. Even though there is wide spread recognition in India that police and paramilitary forces routinely circumvent legal requirements in dealing with the poor and working people, some particularly brutal acts capture national and international headlines and create a credibility crisis for the Indian state and the government in power from time to time. The compulsion to have a law like TADA, either at the state level or at the central level, thus arises from the need to shore up the legitimacy of the arbitrary and anti-people "rule of law" of the Indian State within the country and abroad.   

For the people of India, this is an opportune time to deny the present government the legitimacy and credibility to use police and paramilitary forces against the people and to demand that the proposed legislation is rejected by the Lok Sabha. The people must demand the repeal of all draconian laws and vehemently oppose any new draconian laws. They must be vigilant against any moves by the state to create a pretext for imposing such legislation on the people. Successive governments since 1950 have used onepretext or other to justify draconian laws. The zeal with which the government of Vajpayee has made "fighting terrorism", especially "cross border terrorism", its defining theme in the last few months suggests that a pretext around this theme could be usedto justify the enactment of the new legislation. In 1985, the pretext of a series of transistor radio-bombs in bus stations in Delhi provided the pretext for TADA to be enacted with record speed. The need now is to be vigilant and carry out broad political discussion on the rights of the people, especially their right to decide the political and economic affairs without any threat of violence by the state authorities.

The repeated and increasingly frenzied calls by the Vajpayee government in recent times to have the US declare Pakistan a "terrorist state" comes in a period when the US state has used precisely this label to launch wholesale attacks on countries and peoples around the world according to its whims. Under the pretext that Iraq and Libya are "terrorist states", for example, the US has committed naked aggression against these countries, including bombing civilian targets in these areas and inflicting untold casualties. Even where it has not formally declared a state as being "terrorist", as in the case of Sudan, it has resorted to bombing under the pretext that Sudan was harbouring one particular "terrorist". On a daily basis, it uses the label of "terrorist state" to put high-intensity pressure on countries like Afghanistan and North Korea. The whole world can see that the excuse of "waging war against international terrorism" - which includes this despicable practice of declaring various states as "terrorist" - is just a thin veil for the unrestrained aggressiveness and ambition of US imperialism which has become the greatest threat to global peace and security in the post-Cold War world.   

Instead of raising its voice against this trend, the Vajpayee Government cynically sees its own benefit in lending support to the US campaign against "international terrorism", and is trying to get the US administration to add Pakistan to the list of so-called "terrorist states". In doing so, it is not only acting very dishonourably, but it is playing with fire. US imperialism has set its sights on the domination of Asia in the coming period as part of its strategy for achieving unquestioned global domination. It is striving to dig its claws even deeper in this region wherever it can. By increasing its clamour that Pakistan is a "terrorist state", the Vajpayee government is helping to prepare the ground for direct US political and military intervention in this region. Needless to say, not just the people of Pakistan, but the people of India and all the countries in this region, are greatly endangered by this prospect.   

The Indian working class movement and the Indian people as a whole have had a long history of opposing US imperialist aggression and interference in this region and all over the world. US imperialism has not changed its character; it has become more blatantly aggressive and brutal than ever before. It is intolerable to our people that a government of this country can shamelessly appeal to the US in the manner that the Vajpayee Government is doing today, and play into the hands of the US imperialist strategy.   

The heightening of tensions between India and Pakistan in recent times, the brinkmanship practiced by the Vajpayee Government, and the increased danger of imperialist interference in the region, all show the urgent necessity of putting an end to the permanent state of hostility between India and Pakistan. India and Pakistan must resolve their differences on all issues peacefully and in a civilised manner without any big power interference from outside. This is essential for the progress, prosperity and security of all the peoples of this region. The working class and people of India must therefore openly oppose the government's moves to appeal to the US to declare Pakistan a "terrorist state".