• Tragedy in Gujarat

• Ideological Struggle and the Restoration of Unity of Indian Communists

• The main roadblock in the struggle against privatisation

• Construction workers hold protest demonstrations throughout Tamil Nadu demanding total security

• Indian people reject being cast as the "most reliable ally" of the US!

• Public Rally in Malton, Ontario
  Ontario Workers Step Up Struggle Against Anti-Labour Legislation

• Who is behind the Coal Mine Tragedy?

Tragedy in Gujarat

The earthquake, which measured 6.9 on the Richter scale, has devastated the region of Bhuj and surrounding areas. The number of dead stands at well over 1 lakh, as admitted by the Defence Minister himself. And there is no count of the people injured. Lakhs of houses have become rubble. An unestimated number of bodies lie trapped under the tons of debris. For a government which is claiming to be in possession of advanced technological skills and huge resources, and which maintains and feeds a huge army and paramilitary forces running into lakhs, it would not have been an impossible task to arrange to clear the debris and release all those who were trapped — provided it had real and serious intentions of assisting the people and put its vast machinery into action. But it did not do anything of the kind, except for calling on the people for contributions. The Army and other forces were not seriously deployed with the aim of bringing out every person trapped under the debris. Instead, after a week of criminal dilly dallying, it announced its intention of stopping rescue operations and "concentrating" on "relief", effectively sealing the fate of all those who remained trapped. By this time, the authorities had not even reached scores of devastated villages in the region.

By all accounts, relief measures too have been totally inadequate. Those who were lucky to be alive found themselves on the roads with no shelter in the cold winter or any assurance for their next meal. For those who were injured and rescued by the people, there was hardly any medical assistance. Hospitals were fleecing the people with high fees and minting money over the tragedy of the people. Those bodies that have not been removed and disposed of are decomposing. This and the failure of the government to provide drinking water and other basic amenities is fast leading to the danger of epidemics spreading in this region. Even the minimal relief available to people in the towns was non-existent to most of the people living outside. The anger of the people in these villages is such that they gheraoed the Home Minister Advani who went to some of these areas to show them his alleged concern.

Government officials and the media keep repeating that earthquakes are not predictable and hence the government could not have done anything to mitigate the disaster. Based on past history as well as seismic data, Kutch has long ago been classified as Zone-V, highly prone to earthquakes. In various earthquake-prone countries, continuous monitoring of the seismic activity is carried out to yield clues to the occurrence of the "unpredictable". Despite this, in India, which has been struck by several severe earthquakes in the past century, the state has not taken steps to adequately monitor the seismic activities nor ensure preventive measures to safeguard people. What is more, serious warnings have been raised about the possible consequences in terms of increasing likelihood of earthquakes, arising from projects like the construction of dams in areas of high seismic activity, or even underground nuclear explosions. But these warnings are routinely ignored. As a result of this criminal indifference to the safety of the people, the damage done by a "natural" calamity was compounded many times over by the callousness of the system. Similarly, we know that cyclones repeatedly attack the coasts of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. In all these years of "development", what steps has the government taken to prevent such terrible destruction and loss of life to the poor people who live in these coastal regions? We also know the regions which are prone to frequent droughts and monsoon failures. Still, the misery and pauperisation of the people in these regions because of drought carries on.

It is appalling how many houses collapsed in this earthquake, including newly-constructed multi-storeyed buildings. Under the existing system in India, people are left to fend for themselves for all the basic necessities of life. This includes housing and shelter. A huge number of toiling people in our country have barely a roof over their heads to protect themselves even against the normal forces of nature, like cold and rain. Those who are able to build themselves shelters with bricks and other "pakka" building materials are considered lucky, no matter how fragile these structures are. And, as the case of Ahmedabad and a few of the big towns showed, even those who can afford to live in more modern dwellings are at the mercy of unscrupulous big builders’ lobbies who work hand in glove with the authorities to defraud the residents by constructing unsafe structures and using substandard materials. Under such a system, what possibility is there of the government taking steps to ensure that all houses in quake-prone areas are built to withstand the shock of earthquakes?

The Prime Minster, who visited the region to convey his "sorrow" to the affected people, in the same breath announced that the people as a whole should be prepared for "harsh measures" in order to "assist" the devastated people in Gujarat. Soon after this visit the government imposed a 2% hike on income tax, with the promise of more such measures in the pipeline.

It is not only the people of Kutch region, but the people of the whole country who are profoundly grieved by this disaster which has befallen their brothers and sisters in Gujarat. From every nook and corner of the country, people are trying to do their best to render assistance to the affected people. But it is a fact that much of these relief funds and contributions never actually reach the real victims. Every major calamity in India leads to a redistribution of wealth and assets in favour of the already wealthy and powerful. Those at the bottom of the social ladder are left completely destitute, while those marginally better off slide down with little hope of ever recouping their losses. On the other hand, there is always a section that gains. These are the looters and profiteers, unscrupulous middlemen and capitalists of the building materials and equipment industry, official and unofficial distributors of "relief" materials, and so on. These sections are either part of the political-administrative establishment, or else they are closely linked with it. Particularly after the spotlight is turned away from the affected areas, these elements carry on merrily with their loot and plunder, preying on the helplessness of the people. They see their chance to make a windfall out of the misery of the people. The state uses the excuse of the calamity to amass even more money and supplies from the people through taxes and donations, and then this is siphoned off by giving lucrative contracts to chosen capitalists and traders in the name of rehabilitation and reconstruction. All this happens because the state is not in the service of the people but is an instrument of the rich.

At a time when the government is appealing to the patriotism and humanity of our people, it must be remembered that this state, which is so adept at raising money from the people using one pretext after the other, spends a whopping 1,01,000 crore rupees annually towards repayment of loan and interest payments to the Indian and foreign moneylenders, and another 58,000 crore on its war establishment. To raise funds for Gujarat, why can’t an immediate moratorium be declared on interest and loan repayments? When the people around the world are sympathizing with the quake-devastated people of Gujarat, what stops the Indian government from declaring such a moratorium? Don’t Indian people have the first claim on the product of their sweat and labour over the claims of the money lenders? This measure itself will provide over Rs. 1,00,000 crores. Similarly, military expenditure can be curtailed. These amounts can be used not only to rebuild Gujarat, but also to re-open all the mills and factories which have been closed over the years. Government can take over all the educational institutes and can provide free education at all levels. And many more things can be done for the welfare of the people. However we know that these measures for raising funds for the welfare of the people will not be taken by the Government or the parties of the capitalists as they are interested not in wiping the tears of people, but in using every occasion to serve the interests of the big capitalists and landlords.

With each calamity that strikes, the people of our country can see more and more clearly that they cannot expect any help from the existing state, even in their hour of greatest need. They need to draw the correct lesson, that they must fight for a real change in the social system and the political power, so that the people and their needs are taken care of as the highest priority of the state and the whole society. Let us not wait for another disaster to strike.

With profound sorrow, People’s Voice conveys its deepest sympathies to the victims of the earthquake in Gujarat.

Condemn the shameful treatment meted out to the earthquake affected people of Gujarat!

Government should provide full assistance for the complete rehabilitation of the victims!

Withdraw additional taxes on the people and instead declare immediate moratorium on loan payments and curtailment of war expenditure to raise funds for the victims of the earthquake!

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Kanpur Communist Conference 2000

Ideological Struggle and the Restoration of Unity of Indian Communists

One of the major issues discussed at the historic Kanpur Communist Conference held on December 25, 2000, was the nature of the ideological struggle that has to be waged in order to overcome the split in the communist movement. Comrade Lenin said that before the communists of Russia could unite in one party, and in order that they could unite, it was essential to draw clear lines of demarcation. What is that line of demarcation in the Indian conditions today? Against what or whom should the ideological struggle be directed?

It was pointed out that the above teaching of Lenin has been misunderstood and misused in India in the past. In particular, the negative experience of the split in 1964 was discussed so as to draw the appropriate lessons. Participating in this discussion at the Conference in Kanpur, veteran communist Shiv Kumar Mishra recounted the events that surrounded the split in 1964. He highlighted the fact that there were serious ideological problems crying out to be addressed within the undivided Communist Party of India at that time. But those who split from the CPI and formed the CPI(M) did not address, let alone overcome the ideological problems. They walked out of the Central Committee on the basis of a secret letter alleged to have been written by one of the prominent leaders of CPI. This was not communist ideological struggle.

The struggle which the founders of CPI(M) waged was not directed against the bourgeoisie and against all tendencies within the working class movement to conciliate with the bourgeoisie. The 1960s was a time when the proletarian class struggle was being blocked and diverted by modern revisionism, which was a bourgeois ideological trend within the communist movement, with headquarters in Moscow. While presenting themselves as fighters against modern revisionism, the leaders of CPI(M) actually waged a sectarian struggle, away from the working class and its concerns. Such a struggle did not strengthen the unity of communists. On the contrary, it split the Communist Party of India into two almost equal halves.

The most important lesson from this negative experience is that the ideological struggle must always be directed against the class enemy and the influence of the enemy within our ranks. It must be waged precisely over the burning questions facing the working class. On the other hand, when communists stop aiming at the bourgeoisie and begin to direct the struggle against one another, or when they wage a struggle that is outside the purview of the broad masses of workers, it can no longer be called ideological struggle. It is a sectarian struggle for the supremacy of one sect or faction over another.

What did the working class gain from the split in 1964? This question has already been raised in the movement. So far, the organisers of this split have refused to seriously address this question and provide an answer. At the Kanpur Communist Conference 2000 it was pointed out that they will have to provide an answer sooner or later because the politically conscious workers are not going to stop raising this legitimate question.

The line of demarcation that needs to be drawn in the Indian conditions today is between those who wish to lead the proletarian class struggle and those in the communist movement who are conciliating with bourgeois ideology and spreading illusions about some "progressive" section of the bourgeoisie. An uncompromising struggle must be waged against neo-liberalism or the ideology of market reform, and against the ideology of social-democracy or the Nehurvian "socialistic pattern of society". An irreconcilable struggle needs to be waged against all illusions of a "third way" between capitalism and communism, and against all illusions about the "secularism" and "democracy" of the Indian state.

The working class has to be ideologically armed to distinguish between fighting for socialism and communism, on the one hand, and collaborating with the bourgeoisie on the other hand. Once the workers begin to distinguish between the two lines, the differentiation will further develop. The roadblocks to communism will get exposed and the die-hard class collaborators will be thrown out of the movement. Thus the conditions will be created for the establishment of a single vanguard Communist Party in which all Indian communists can militate.

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The starting point in the struggle against privatisation is defence of livelihood of those employed in these enterprises. This is what is making literally every one of the workers, irrespective of their level of political consciousness, join the struggle. However while this is the starting point, if workers do not elaborate a vision of the new society and their place in it, and if they do not fight for the realisation of this vision, they will not get very far. The bourgeoisie has many weapons in its arsenal to liquidate the struggle for livelihood, which it wields using the labour aristocracy entrenched in the public sector enterprises as its hatchet men.

One such weapon which is bandied about is the VRS or the so-called "Voluntary Retirement Scheme", which conscious workers have labeled ironically as "Compulsory Retirement Scheme". Trade Unions bargain with their employers for the "best possible package" and then workers are forced to make a beeline to take VRS. In this manner, workers are forced to "voluntarily" give up their livelihood, with trade unions playing a facilitating role in this. Many trade unions push this down the throat of unwilling workers repeating the threat of the bourgeoisie that there is "no alternative" to privatisation, retrenchments, closures, and "downsizing of the workforce". This is nothing but a euphemism for depriving workers of their livelihood on the one hand and increasing the degree of exploitation of employed workers on the other.

Once workers give up the principle that livelihood is their right which it is the duty of the state and society to guarantee, and start selling their jobs for money which is what VRS amounts to for the vast majority of workers who take VRS, the battle is already lost. The bourgeoisie picks and chooses when and which section of workers to attack through the VRS, floats different schemes in different industries as well as for different sections of workers for the same industry. Using the service of labour traitors, it disorients the workers and smashes the prospect of a united and principled struggle in defence of livelihood against privatisation.

The working class is not opposed to modernisation, to the renewal of the economy, or its restructuring as the bourgeoisie propagates. The working class is in fact the force in Indian society fighting for thoroughgoing modernisation, restructuring and renewal of the economy. It fights for the modernisation or renewal of the relations of production. Indian economy is backward and unable to meet the requirements of society not because advanced productive forces do not exist, but because the capitalist relations of production are terribly hampering the growth of the productive forces. Capitalist relations of production mean that the economy is oriented towards maximum profits. Satisfying the needs of society or ensuring livelihood and security to the toilers and tillers are not even on the periphery of the agenda of the Indian bourgeoisie or the state it controls. The very bourgeoisie which talks about "modernisation", "restructuring" and so on ad-nauseum is mortally afraid that the working class rises up and overthrows the capitalist relations of production and together with it the capitalist mode of production and establishes the socialist mode of production. It is afraid that working class will rally all the toilers and tillers around a program of reorienting the economy to providing for all, in place of only providing for the profits for the capitalists and imperialists.

Either workers fight for a society where livelihood is guaranteed for the entire able-bodied population. Or they capitulate and accept the bourgeoisie’s and imperialism’s line that livelihood is not a human right, that people must fend for themselves and the state and society has no responsibility to provide livelihood and prosperity to all the members of society. There is no in-between course. Everyone knows, that barring a few lucky ones, the majority of people who take VRS become deprived of livelihood and become paupers sooner or later.

Once public sector workers raise the question of defence of livelihood as a matter of principle, they can then begin to address the second important question of what should be the orientation of the economy? Should it be oriented to generate maximum private profits, or should it be oriented to ensuring livelihood and well being of the entire population. For instance, should the aim of electricity generation and distribution be maximum profits for the owners of these establishments, or should they be aimed at providing electric power for consumption in factories, farms, as well as the homes of all people? The same argument holds for collieries, banks, postal and telecom services, railways, road transport, schools, universities and research institutions, the heavy engineering plants, the steel plants, and the hospitals and medical institutions, irrigation projects and so on. Are they to be viewed as private profit making enterprises to increase the profits of naive and foreign capitalists, or are they integral parts of the economy, each playing its own specific role in different spheres with the overall goal of providing livelihood, education, health services, housing, and so on for the entire population. The fact is that the public as well as private sector enterprises and other public institutions that exist today do not have the latter goal, and have served the former goal of aggrandisement of a few. The fact is also that all private sector institutions, whether owned by native or foreign capitalists have also unabshedly pursued only the goal of private profits, as can only be expected. So the working class, in its fight against privatisation, cannot afford to be defensive about the public sector as it exists today because there is nothing defensible about this sector. Nor is there any reason to capitulate to the privatisation program.

Workers in each sector of the economy must begin to elaborate how their sector of the economy must be oriented towards providing for the people, for the whole of society. In this way, they will contribute to the elaboration of the alternative to the privatisation program of the bourgeoisie and rally all the toiling and oppressed of town and country to the program of the working class of socialisation of the ownership of the means of production to ensure livelihood and well-being of the whole of society.

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Construction workers hold protest demonstrations throughout Tamil Nadu demanding total security

For decades, overcoming caste and party affiliations, the construction workers have won many struggles. Their struggles were instrumental in the adoption of the Tamil Nadu Manual Labour Act 1982, and the setting up of the Tamil Nadu Construction Workers Welfare Board in 1995. They won many other rights such as compensation for death due to accidents at work, maternity benefits and a host of other concessions. They have in fact been demanding that all the concessions that they have won through hard struggle be given to all manual workers alike.

Faced with boycott of elections during the last elections, the DMK promised that it will implement total security measures for the construction workers if it came to power. It promised rainy season allowance, livelihood and wage security, ESI, crèche facilities, etc. But, this has remained a useless promise. Demanding that this election promise be implemented construction workers under the leadership of the Construction Workers Panchayat Sangam held militant demonstrations throughout Tamil Nadu on January 22nd, before the state assembly and taluk offices. This is the last session of the state assembly before the elections scheduledin April. The agitating workers also demanded that the central laws be amended in the interests of the manual labourers and that welfare boards for them be set up throughout the country.

A representative of the Lok Raj Sangathan participated in the demonstration held in Kovilpatti. Speaking in a rally held after the demonstration, he condemned the anti-social offensive of the ruling class on the working people through the liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation policies. The leader of the Tamizhaga Vivasayigal Sangam (Tamil Nadu Peasants Union) also expressed the militant support on behalf of peasants to the construction workers, many of whom are peasants who migrate for work during the non-harvest season.

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Indian people reject being cast as the "most reliable ally" of the US!

Responding to these developments, the new US Secretary of State, General Collin Powell has laid out the changing US policy in Asia as follows: "A strategic partner China is not, but neither is China our inevitable and implacable foe. China is a competitor, a potential regional rival, but also a trading partner willing to cooperate in areas where our strategic interests overlap." At the same time, referring to India, Powell said that the US "must deal more wisely with the world’s largest democracy….Soon to be the most populous country in the world, India has the potential to help keep the peace in the vast Indian Ocean area and its periphery."

In other words, the policy shift that the new administration is contemplating with respect to China is to consider it as a "strategic competitor" rather than as a "strategic partner". As for India, it is being looked upon as the future ally in Asia (read: policeman in Asia). According to Jim McDermott, Democratic Congressman and a co-Chair of the India Caucus in the US House of Representatives, "If you look at the area surrounding India … China, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan and all the other Central Asia ‘states’ that developed with the fall of the USSR, there is no stable ally that the U.S. can depend on…..India could become America’s most stable ally in the region."

Towards the end of the Clinton administration, the US policy makers characterized India as their "partner for peace" and shifted the Cold War era stand on Kashmir, defining the "LoC as inviolable" in place of Kashmir being a "disputed territory". The new policy placed grater emphasis on economic collaboration, especially in health, technology, energy and finance sectors, while upgrading military and diplomatic cooperation and envisioning formal bilateral treaties in future to tie the two countries together. Mr. McDermott was one of the main architects of that policy and has visited India 15 times so far!

The dangerous thing, as far as the Indian people are concerned, is that the current US characterisation of India as America’s "most stable ally in the region", dovetails with the vision of the Indian government to make India the "designer of a future architecture of peace and prosperity for the entire South Asian region". The Indian ruling class is very keen to emerge as the dominant power in the region, with the capacity and self-proclaimed right to interfere in the affairs of other peoples of this region whenever it considers this to be in its "national interest".

People’s Voice considers the emergence of such a counter revolutionary alliance between India and the US as a menace to the peoples of India and of Asia as a whole. It condemns the US for its drive to establish imperialist peace in Asia and calls on the Indian working class and people to demand that Indian government oppose the "American Internationalism Doctrine" that defines the US as the world’s policeman. At the same time, our people must reject the role for India to be the policeman in Asia. What the Indian people want instead is for India to become the main factor for the democratisation of relations between the peoples of South Asia and Asia, and for the peaceful resolution of conflicts between states and countries. The time calls for utmost vigilance against the policies of the Indian government to make India a factor for imperialist interference in this region and Asia as a whole.

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Public Rally in Malton, Ontario

Ontario Workers Step Up Struggle Against Anti-Labour Legislation

The opposition by Ontario workers to the recent round of anti-labour legislation passed by the Harris government was stepped up on February 11 when the Ghadari Mela Committee of Ontario organized a public rally to oppose Bill 139, the Labour Relations Amendment Act and Bill 147, the New Employment Standards Act. The Chretien Liberals’ discriminatory head tax on immigrants was also opposed. The meeting also observed a minute of silence in homage to the hundreds and thousands who lost their lives in the recent earthquake in Gujarat, India—a calamity made even more painful as a result of poor construction which contributed to the number of deaths when buildings came crashing down.

Approximately 150 organized and unorganized workers, native and foreign born, came to the rally along with people from other walks of life. Throughout the afternoon workers kept on arriving as others had to leave because of shift work and other considerations. A militant atmosphere prevailed as presidents of union locals and other representatives of workers’ organizations, human rights representatives from unions and community organizations, professionals and intellectuals vigorously spoke out at the meeting.

The concern of all present for the future of the unorganized workers targeted by the legislation was expressed at the meeting by Iqbal Sumbal who chaired the rally on behalf of the Ghadari Mela Committee; Bhopinder Sanghera, Staff Representative, UNITE; Peter Bailey, President - Toronto Local, CUPW; Ranjit Dulai, Chairman of Multiculturalism, Liberal Party of Canada; Andy Summers, President, Local 82, Ontario Nurses Association; Peter Liebovich, Vice President, Local 8782 - Stelco, United Steelworkers of America; Willie Lambert, Chairman, Local 1256, CAW - Oakville Transit Workers; Dr. Ranbir Sharda, Punjabi Media Radio Host, Sabrang; Mr. Gosal, Retired Union Activist; Nirmal Dhinsa, Community Organizer, Indo-Canadian Workers’ Association; Raj Dhaliwal, Human Rights Director, CAW; Babu Singh, Poet; Pierre Chénier, Secretary, Workers’ Centre of CPC(M-L), representative of the Mississauga Workers’ Forum; Ajit Singh Sani, businessman; K. Khera, Member, Ghadari Mela Committee. A message of support was also read from Earl Manners, President of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation.

Along with concern for the future of the unorganized workers, they expressed concern over the provisions of the legislation that target organized workers and about the implications of this legislation to the future of society. The legislation "has taken workers’ working and living conditions back 100 years," one speaker said. Others spoke about the legislation within the framework of the bigger agenda workers all over the world are facing which is the result of the dictate of international bodies such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization. The working class of Ontario is being used as a testing ground to make the monopolies competitive on global markets, a speaker pointed out. The need for strengthening the unity of the workers in the course of fighting the legislation was stressed. The workers movement must also bring in all sections of the people to fight for their rights, another speaker said. Another spoke about the need to give democracy real meaning so that the people control the direction of an economy which recognizes human rights.

At the end of the meeting two resolutions were passed, one condemning the legislation and calling on workers to fight for pro-worker legislation and another striking a committee of volunteers to spearhead a vigorous campaign to organize the unorganized under the banner An Injury to One is an Injury to All! All for One, One for All!

The rally strengthened the workers’ opposition to the anti-social offensive of the Harris government and expressed their determination to join with all others contributing to the same.

Resolution Condemning Anti-Labour Legislation

Whereas Bill 147 amending the Employment Standards Act and Bills 139 and 69 amending the Labour Relations Act are an attack on the rights of Ontario workers and will result in the deterioration of the working and living conditions of workers and their families, and

Whereas this legislation was passed without any public consultation and in spite of the opposition of workers and their organizations throughout the province, and

Whereas these changes, including the 60 hour work week and overtime and vacation provisions, will hit the unorganized workers the hardest, and

Whereas workers of national minority origin are already under terrible pressure to accept intolerable working conditions and consider themselves lucky to have a job, and

Whereas the legislation makes it more difficult for workers to organize in defense of their rights and specifically to establish unions to fight for wages and working conditions acceptable to the workers,

Therefore be it resolved that this rally

1. Condemns the anti-labour legislation of the Harris government and demands the immediate repeal of Bills 147, 139 and 60 and
2. Calls on all the workers and their organizations to fight for legislation which guarantees the rights of workers, including the right to organize in defence of their interests.

Resolution to Organize the Unorganized

Whereas there are thousands of workers in Mississauga, Brampton and Malton who will be affected by the anti-labour legislation passed by he Harris government in December 2000, and

Whereas the unorganized workers will be the hardest hit;

Therefore be it resolved that a committee of volunteers be struck to begin a vigorous campaign to organize the unorganized workers in this area under the banners An Injury to One is An Injury to All and All for One and One for All!
(From TML Internet Edition, organ of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist)

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Who is behind the Coal Mine Tragedy?

Miners generally have to work under extremely dangerous conditions. The working conditions have become even more dangerous and exploitative due to the capitalists’ greed for profits and their nexus with the capitalist state. Water had started seeping in the mines of Baghdigi almost two weeks before the incident and the water had reached dangerous levels in the nearby Jairampur mine which is non-functional. The management turned a nelson’s eye to this development and the danger created by this to miners’ lives.

Miners were not willing to enter the mine as they had an inkling about the dangerous situation in the mine. Resident manager Sh A K Upadhyaya had to enter the mine first and only then the remaining workers entered. But the maps of the coalmines turned out to be incorrect and hence the extent of the danger could not be measured. Under these circumstances, the resident manager had no powers to close the mine. The wall between the Baghdigi and Jairampur mines gave way, water entered the mine and both the manager and the workers lost their lives. Even a pump was not available to flush out the water. It had to be requisitioned from the nearby mines.

This is not the first accident in mines. Even earlier several fatal accidents have occurred. In 1975, 375 miners died in the Chasnala mine disaster. In 1995, 64 workers died in the Gaslit accident. But, in the past 25 years, no efforts were made to find a solution to avert these accidents. Director General (Mines Safety) along with BCCL and the Ministry of Coal have neither taken any steps to properly check the water levels in the Baghdigi mines, nor were the incorrect maps checked.

Coming under the pressure of the big capitalists, despite the pathetic conditions in the mines the management of BCCL is bent upon proving it as a profitable outfit. So much was the pressure to show profits that the resident manager, who was very much aware of the dangerous conditions in the mine, had to personally lead the miners into the mine literally forcing them into the jaws of death. Authoritarianism and disorganisation of BCCL and the Coal Ministry have been major contributors to this tragedy.

The Baghdigi coalmine tragedy again proves the fact that as long as the capitalist system exists, workers and toilers are constantly sacrificed in order to fetch profits for the capitalists. Only when they uproot the capitalist system and establish their own rule can workers and toilers ensure a safe future for themselves.

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