• March 8, 2001:
  Emancipation of Indian women requires a new political power in the hands of the working and hitherto oppressed masses

• Condemn the US and British Aggression against Iraq!

• Build the worker-peasant alliance!
  Oppose the globalisation and liberalisation program of the bourgeoisie!

• New York Gathering Hails the Communist Conference and Rally in Kanpur

• Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu:
  Forward with the building of the revolutionary front of the workers, peasants, women and youth in Tamil Nadu!

• Demands of the working people of Tamil Nadu

• Militant strike by workers in South Korea

March 8, 2001:

Emancipation of Indian women requires a new political power in the hands of the working and hitherto oppressed masses

The Government of India has declared the year 2001 as the year of women’s empowerment. What are being promised, in the economic sphere, are more government programs for women, with the declared aim of providing equal employment opportunities and equal wages and equal access to land, credit and other resources. In the political sphere, 33% reservation of seats for women in the Parliament and other elected bodies is being promised.

A large amount of rupees and dollars is being channeled through the Government of India’s Department of Women and Child Development to various grassroots organisations and NGOs, to promote the official strategy for "women’s empowerment". All the major parties in the Parliament and their respective women’s organisations are in full agreement with this strategy, with those in the opposition only voicing some "differences" on how to implement this strategy.

After 40 years of building a "socialistic pattern of society" followed by 10 years of globalisation through liberalisation and privatisation, the Government of India and its international patrons cannot hide the fact that the conditions of women in India are among the worst in the world. However, they do not want to admit exactly what is the cause for this outcome. They want to hide that the reason lies in the capitalist system of plunder and the political system of multiparty Westminster style parliamentary democracy that exist in the country.

The official programs for "women’s empowerment" are targeted at fostering the illusion that women can find salvation within the existing exploitative economic system and its political arrangement. The ideological aim is to convince women that there is no alternative to capitalism and market oriented reforms in the economic sphere, and no alternative to the multi-party representative democracy in the political sphere. The aim is to convince the fighting women that they must accommodate themselves to the status quo.

The capitalist system and the drive towards globalisation of Indian capital through liberalisation and privatisation do not favour the empowerment of women, not to speak of their complete emancipation. On the contrary, it is precisely the capitalist system that reduces women to objects of super-exploitation and oppression. It is capitalism that keeps alive and profits from patriarchy and male domination in the family. Capitalism uses women as a reserve army of cheap labour, when new hands are needed to expand production and profits; and be the first to be thrown out when there is a downturn in the market. In the Indian conditions, it is capitalism that also keeps alive and profits from all forms of colonial bondage and feudal backwardness, including the hated Brahmanical order.

Capitalism, which has reached its final moribund stage of monopoly capitalism and imperialism, is no longer compatible with the progress of society. This is nowhere more evident than from the fact that market oriented reforms are not expanding but contracting employment opportunities. Livelihoods of workers and peasants and of small businesses are being destroyed on a massive scale. More families are being ruined than those that are finding new jobs in the market. To promise women equal employment opportunities with men, in such conditions, is a cruel joke. It means nothing more than distributing unemployment.

The bourgeoisie and its agencies continue to promote the notion that the root cause of the problems of women lies with men, thereby focussing the attention of women on issues within the family. This is an old method of the bourgeoisie tomarginalise the struggle of women for their complete emancipation. Its ideological aim is to divert the attention of women from the system of exploitation that is the root cause of the problems of women, including their problems in the family. It is because of capitalism that the most backward notions about the role of the woman is promoted so as to super-exploit women, both at work and at home.

The struggle of women is directed against the system of monopoly capitalism and the political power that defends this system and preserves the conditions of oppression of women. For the women of India to liberate themselves from these conditions, it is essential to overthrow the capitalist system and replace it with the socialist system, a system of society that is oriented to provide for all its members. The socialist system would ensure that women are enabled to participate as equals with men in all the affairs of society. The first step and essential condition to effect such a transformation is the creation of a new political power and system of democracy in place of the existing power.

We are living at a time when the system of representative democracy stands discredited all over the world, exposed as nothing but the naked dictatorship of capital, a rule by decree. This is happening even in Britain, the country that gave rise to this system. The latest presidential elections in the US have exposed the American system of democracy as the rule of a privileged class of propertied men who are represented in the"electoral college". One of the most important lessons from the political experience of the 20th century is that this system of representative democracy, which arose in the 18th and 19th centuries, has become completely outdated. This system, where parties of vested interests run governments, keeps the vast majority of people out of power. It cannot be tolerated in the 21st century.

The end of the 20th century has witnessed the imposition and pursuit of the liberalisation and privatisation policies by the monopoly capitalists of the world. In India, the ruling big bourgeoisie pushed these policies while keeping the people diverted through the organisation of one crime after another. The increasing criminalisation and communalisation of politics, most glaringly in the 1990s, has opened the eyes of most women and men to the fact that the existing system of democracy is really the brutal dictatorship of a minority of rich in society. The signing of the GATT, the more recent deals with US imperialism, are just two among numerous examples of important decisions affecting the fate of Indian society being taken by a rich minority, behind the backs of the people and in spite of mass opposition.

The women’s movement in India was one of the most vociferous opponents of the liberalisation and privatisation program when the latter was launched in 1991 by the minority government of Narasimha Rao. Women refused to accept that the state has no obligation towards society and that each person should fend for himself or herself in the market place. Faced with increasing criminalisation of politics, they demanded punishment for the crimes committed by the parties in power. In order to divert the women from this struggle, the ruling bourgeoisie devised the tactic of proposing 33% reservation of seats for women in the Parliament and carrying on a parliamentary debate over this issue for over two years.

As soon as the proposal was put forward by some in the Parliament that 33% of seats should be reserved for women, there were others who opposed it on the basis that the lower caste women need to be specially accommodated. What began as allegedly an advance for the women’s movement became a factor to divide the women on the basis of their caste. Masses of oppressed women were asked to take sides in this unprincipled fight among different parties of propertied interests, over the composition of the elite to be accommodated.

The policy of 33% reservation for women means the division of electoral constituencies on the basis of gender.If it is implemented, then in one third of electoral constituencies only women will have the right to be elected.Men in these constituencies will be deprived of the right to be elected. How can a policy that curtails the basic democratic rights of a significant section of society—the right to elect and be elected—be a forward step that favours the empowerment of women?

Since those whose rights are curtailed will all be men, and the justification is linked to bringing more women into the elected bodies, this policy is designed to create unnecessary contradictions between men and women, as well as between different sections of women. It is thus not only diversionary, but also a divisive policy by its very definition.

Within the communist movement, there are those who argue that 33% reservation for women must be supported because it is a "concrete" step. Such communists are causing great harm to the cause of the empowerment and emancipation of women. They are assisting the ruling bourgeoisie to tie up the struggle of women to the program of the bourgeoisie. By insisting that all progressive forces should support the "concrete" step of 33% reservation for women, the class conciliators in the communist movement are contributing to the creation of further divisions in the polity on the basis of gender. They are assisting the bourgeoisie to set women and men against each other.

Women cannot afford to fall prey to the diversion organised by the bourgeoisie. What women need is power to change the conditions of their existence, from those who are oppressed and exploited to those who are conscious and active participants in running society. What women need is a new kind of political power, not a share in the existing political power for the elite among them. If more women selected by the leadership of the BJP, Congress Party and other parties sit in the parliament, will it make any real difference in the conditions of women in India, or in the class character of the Indian state? After all, Indian women have the experience of seeing a woman occupy the most powerful position of the Prime Minister. Even that did not change the class character of the political power from being the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.

In the existing system of democracy, candidates selected by parties that represent propertied interests get elected as the representatives of the people. This is a process that is designed to keep the majority out of power. Without overhauling this system and political process, it is not possible for working men and women to be empowered.

The existing system of representative democracy needs to be replaced with a system of direct democracy where the masses of workers, peasants, women and youth will be the decision-makers. They will make the decisions concerning society. They will select the candidates from among their peers and hold them accountable for their deeds. They will set the agenda for the elected deputies to carry out. They will also enjoy the right to recall them at any time. Only with such a renovation of democracy can women and all the hitherto oppressed in society become empowered. With the establish-ment of the new power, the women of India, alongside the workers, peasants and youth, will affirm that they are the masters of society. They will declare: Hum hain iske malik! Hum hain Hindostan!

The bourgeois policy of reserving 33% seats for women is aimed at preserving the status quo, by fostering the illusion that women can become empowered without upsetting the existing state of affairs. Reservation of seats for women will not change the fact that it is the parties of big propertied interests that will continue to dominate the polity and monopolise the selection of candidates. The state will remain the dictatorship of the big bourgeois class. The economy will remain oriented towards reaping maximum private profits for a rich minority.

The euphoria that was created around the diversionary tactic of proposing 33% reservation of seats in the Parliament for women resulted in a temporary lull in the struggle of women against the anti-social offensive. However, the lull is only temporary. As long as capitalist exploitation, imperialist domination, colonial and feudal oppression remain the foundation of society, women will inevitably rise in revolt against their conditionsof existence. As long as parliamentary democracy continues, women will rebel against their exclusion from political power. The struggle will continue until complete and undivided power resides firmly in the hands of those who have so far been oppressed and excluded from power.

The duty of communists is to enable women to organise themselves as women to fight against their oppression, by clarifying the line of march and clearing roadblocks in the way of advancing the struggle for the liberation of women. Communists carry out their work with the firm conviction that without the liberation of women there can be no dignity for man.

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Condemn the US and British Aggression against Iraq!

The attack took place in the so-called "no-fly zones" that have been established unilaterally by the US and Britain. Without any sanction from the UN or support from other states, the US and British imperialists continue to patrol the skies over these areas. They have launched attacks against Iraqi targets 19 times over the past four months.

The US and British governments are trying to justify their actions by claiming that this is "routine" and hence nobody should be alarmed. Soon after the bombing, US President Bush arrogantly declared that "The United States will continue to enforce the no-fly zones until the world is told otherwise". Turning the truth on its head, he said, "Our intention is to make sure that the world is as peaceful as possible".

British Prime Minister Blair said that the raids were a "limited operation". He threatened that further attacks will be required unless Iraq "stopped attacking us". In other words, Iraq’s legitimate defence of its own air space is cited as the justification for launching bomb attacks on its capital city!

The peoples and governments of many countries have condemned the bombing of Iraq worldwide. These include Cuba, China, Russia, the Arab League, France, Turkey, Malaysia and India. Thousands of Palestinians marched in the occupied West Bank and in Ramallah in protest against the US and British led attacks. Mass demonstrations were also held in Jordan.

People’s Voice condemns this latest criminal act of aggression against Iraq by the US and British imperialists. The Indian working class and people stand with the Iraqi people, and the peoples of the world, in resolutely opposing the dictate of the US and its allies, and their aggressive policies towards any country that refuses to submit to their dictate.

No to US and British Aggression against Iraq!

Immediately End the Sanctions against Iraq!

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Massive food stocks but working people go hungry

In its National Executive meeting in January, the BJP claimed that the massive stock of foodgrains, in excess of 50 million tonnes in the godowns of the Food Corporation of India (FCI), is a measure of the revival of the agricultural sector. But these foodgrains are rotting in the FCI godowns while the families of workers and toilers are going hungry. How can there be revival in agriculture when millions of people are struggling to get even one square meal a day?

The huge stocks will make one think that there is an over production of agricultural products. In actual fact, the rate of agricultural growth has tapered down in the last decade. Throughout the 1990s, the growth in foodgrain output has been less than the population growth, meaning that the per capita foodgrain output in India actually decreased in this period. Then, how is it that the food granaries are overflowing? The reason is not very hard to understand. The Indian ruling class has been consistently dismantling the public distribution system (PDS) by increasing the sale price of rice, wheat and sugar in the ration shops and simultaneously cutting down the number of people who can avail of subsidised food supply. The rise in PDS prices combined with growing unemployment and decreasing real wages due to inflation has reduced the purchasing power of the working people. As a result, millions of people are forced to go hungry while the rats devour the rotting stocks in the godowns!

In response to the demand that the state should procure the grains produced in the current season, the FCI has begun to export rice even though the price in the world market is as low as that in the PDS system. In other words, the Indian state prefers to sell cheap abroad rather than distribute food to its own people!

Taking advantage of the fall in agricultural commodity prices in the international market, the big capitalist companies and multinationals are raking in huge profits by importing foodgrains, edible oils, rubber, tea and a host of other agricultural commodities. Cheap imports are ruining the small and middle peasants. For example, while the country produced 90% of its edible oil requirements, this has now declined to 60% over the last 5 years, while monopolies like Hindustan Lever have made super profits.

In this situation, the Indian ruling class is planning further attacks on the peasants in the coming months. Two years back the Indian state agreed in the WTO to phase out all quantitative restrictions on imports on an accelerated schedule. Of the 2,714 products that were subject to import restrictions till 1999, restrictions have been lifted on all except 714 products. In April 2001 these products will also be decontrolled. This is bound to exacerbate the crisis in agriculture and the misery of peasants.

The recently announced National Agricultural Policy has declared that growth in agriculture will be "market driven", which means that it will be oriented to serve the greed of the capitalist monopolies and other profiteers. All subsidies to peasants will be eliminated, while all facilities will be provided for the big bourgeoisie and imperialists to further penetrate and dominate agricultural production and distribution in India. Big multinationals such as Cargill have already been allowed to procure foodgrains from the open market and exploit the Indian peasants to the bone.

What is the way forward for the peasantry?

Recent developments have once again shown that the capitalist system and the globalisation policies of the ruling class can bring only death and destruction to the toiling peasantry. The peasants can save themselves from ruin only by uniting with the working class and fighting for the revolutionary transformation of society from capitalism to socialism.

In opposition to the globalisation and liberalisation policies, the working class demands that the state must ensure a secure livelihood to all the tillers of the land and secure food supply at affordable prices to the entire population.

The state must extend credit and ensure the supply of inputs at affordable prices to the peasantry. It must organise to buy their products at remunerative prices. It must supply essential food items in adequate quantity and quality to the people at affordable prices. This requires that profiteering be eliminated from the sphere of agricultural trade.

Security of land holding must be guaranteed in the hands of those who till the land. All buying and selling of agricultural land between private parties should be banned, so that no peasant family can be forced to part with its land. Special assistance must be provided to encourage the peasants to pool their land and establish their own cooperatives, so that productivity can be increased through the use of modern machinery and scientific techniques.

The immediate program of the working class is to reorient the economy to ensure protection and prosperity for all the working people. Only this program can save the toiling peasantry from ruin.

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New York Gathering Hails the Communist Conference and Rally in Kanpur

The reception also became a celebration of the successful conclusion of the Kanpur Communist Conference and the Rally on December 25th and 26th, 2000. Several persons who attended the Kanpur programs were on hand to recount their impressions of the historic events. The report of the rally and conference in the organ of the party and in the internet evoked enthusiasm and happiness among the participants as they shared their experiences and excitement. The publication of the organ in Tamil on the internet also was greeted with enthusiasm.

Speaking to the participants, one of the organisers highlighted the historic significance of the CGPI organising the Kanpur program as a converging point for the worker’s movement and the communist movement not just in UP or North India but at the all India level. The conference and the rally showed that, at a time when the entire world is still in retrogression, the new century has begun with a new vision for India, emerging out of the movement of the Indian working class and people. In spite of many past setbacks and betrayals ever since the red flag was first hoisted in Kanpur in 1925, the red flag still flies high and serves as the definitive rallying point for the fighters from the ranks of the working class and people of India. By coming to the rally en masse, as well as through their struggles and the inspiring words they spoke in the rally, the workers conveyed their paramount need to bring an immediate end to the liberalisation and privatisation program of the Indian bourgeoisie. They showed their readiness to take up that challenge, calling on the communists of India to lead that struggle.

The rally itself was a rejection of the pathetic daridra narayan image of the workers and peasants that the Indian bourgeoisie and its apologists in and out of Parliament perpetuate to justify their posturing and "lofty" objectives. The communists assembled in the conference on December 25th, although belonging to more than a dozen different groups, unanimously adopted the resolution to refute this historical baggage in practice, by transforming the Indian working class into the standard bearer of everything positive, enlightened, progressive and humane in India, uniting its own ranks and uniting the peasants, youth and women around its program. As a proud contingent of the international proletariat, the class sounded its militant battle cry to hoist the banner of sovereignty of the peoples of India in a head-on contest with the big bourgeoisie which has trampled underfoot the sovereignty of the people to pursue its self-serving aim of being a "global power".

The conference and the rally were organised by the CGPI on the 20th anniversary of its founding and as part of its work to restore the unity of the Indian communist movement. The Party, since its birth on December 25, 1980, has been single-mindedly working to build the revolutionary vanguard of the Indian working class that had suffered greatly because of the splits and divisions of the Communist Party. As an integral part of this work, the CGPI has paid special attention to identifying the obstacles that the movement for emancipation has been unable to overcome in spite of the heroic sacrifices of millions of peasants, workers, women and youth both before and after India’s formal independence. The conference and the rally in Kanpur showed in practical terms the progress the CGPI is making to overcome those obstacles and fulfil its mission.

The events showed that the work to restore the unity of the Indian communist movement has made significant progress in the post Cold War period. With the bourgeoisie imposing the liberalisation and privatisation program and the anti-social offensive with a vengeance, a differentiation amongst communist forces has begun to take place. This is leading to the isolation of those who seek justification for the program of liberalisation and privatisation from those who consider it as anti-people, anti-worker and anti-national and are organising to end it. The events also showed that first rate progress has been made to develop Indian theory to guide the movement of the Indian working class and people for their liberation. The theoretical weakness of the Indian communist movement was one of the factors that blinded the Indian communists for three-quarters of a century, so that they failed to give direction to the movement of the working class and people on how to resolve in their favour the periodic crises of the bourgeois rule. In each such instance, the big industrial houses and big landlords used their state machine to terrorise, divert and disrupt the movement of the people, and managed to resolve the crises in their own favour.

That situation began to change as the CGPI consciously worked out its program, policies and plans on the basis of Marxism-Leninism and contemporary Marxist Leninist thought. The first Congress of the CGPI in 1990 adopted the resolution to modernise the rich legacy of Indian thought as the guide to the Indian revolutionary movement. It drew the conclusion that the stagnation of Indian theory had created the space for Eurocentric theories to flourish on Indian soil. This had tragic consequences because these could not illuminate the path of the revolutionary movement of the Indian people in their struggle to create a new political power in which the people would be sovereign and in which the aim of the state power would be to provide sukh and raksha for all.

The greatest accomplishment of the CGPI in the last twenty years has been to establish the general line of the Indian communist movement under conditions of retreat of revolution internationally and to adopt the program for democratic renewal of India within these conditions. The Party has gained invaluable experience in organising the class and people around a common vision by implementing its policy of unity in action in their mass struggles. The other significant advance has been in organising the vanguard of the class to lead the struggles on the basis of collective decision and individual responsibility and creating a new culture among Indian communists. Today, the CGPI is creating mechanisms for the workers, peasants, and various sections of the people to participate in the elaboration of the program. The response of the participants in Kanpur was a resounding endorsement of the work of the party.

The Kanpur conference and the rally were a fitting celebration of the twenty years of struggle of the CGPI to restore the unity of the Indian communist movement, and a celebration of the 75 year legacy of communism in India. The spirit of Kanpur permeated the New York reception as well, and imbued the participants with the same revolutionary optimism—that the conditions for growth of communism in India are better than ever and that the time has come for India to resolve the crisis in favor of her people and the peoples of the world.

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Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu:

Forward with the building of the revolutionary front of the workers, peasants, women and youth in Tamil Nadu!

With the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu due in April, various parliamentary parties of the bourgeoisie have stepped up their diversionary activities, announcing new alignments and break-up of existing alliances on a daily basis. All these parties have become extremely discredited among the people because none of them have anything better to offer the people except more attacks on their life and livelihood. Particularly in the past 10 years, the people of Tamil Nadu have experienced the most brutal assaults on their life and livelihood by the rule of these parties. The parliamentary parties in Tamil Nadu have gone ahead with exactly the same agenda of privatisation and liberalisation that the Congress, BJP and the United Front governments have pursued at the centre in these years. On the one hand, this has made Tamil Nadu one of the frontline states for the bourgeoisie. On the other hand, for the vast masses of the working people, this has meant further marginalisation and the widening of the rift between the rich and the poor.

Parliamentary political parties in Tamilnadu come with alluring names, all claiming to be revolutionary, all claiming to represent the interests of the downtrodden Tamil masses. With so many parties that claim to represent the interests of the downtrodden, the question naturally arises, as to how come it is precisely the big bourgeoisie which has grown even bigger and fatter at the expense of the toilers. The workers and peasants, women and youth, of Tamilnadu must ask all the Tamil parties, whether the DMK or AIADMK, the MDMK or the PMK or the TMC, and sundry others, which class in Tamilnadu do they represent and fight for? Are they for the interests of the workers and peasants, women and youth and other toilers? Or are they in the service of the big bourgeoisie? The track record of the various parties in the past decade and more suggests that the entire preoccupation of the so-called Tamil political parties is to strike a deal with the big bourgeoisie controlling the central state and seek accommodation for Tamil capitalist interests. This has been the main objective of all these parties in their desperation to participate in the different central governments in the past decade, whether in the UF governments of Deve Gowda and Gujral, or the NDA government of Vajpayee.

Workers and peasants of Tamilnadu want a government in Chennai that will uncompromisingly defend the interests of workers, peasants, women and youth of Tamilnadu, and forge a fighting unity with the toilers all across India on a principled basis. The coming elections in Tamilnadu must be used by the toilers to isolate the ruling class parties and forge the revolutionary united front of the toilers. They must be used to bring the agenda of working class to the centre stage and force all political parties and social and political forces to address this agenda.

The concerns of the toiling and oppressed people in Tamil Nadu are entirely the opposite of the concerns of the bourgeoisie. Workers, peasants, women, youth and small entrepreneurs of the town and countryside have been advancing their claims and demanding protection of their livelihood from the attacks by the bourgeoisie. It is becoming clearer with each passing day that without political power in their own hands, both in Chennai and in Delhi, the struggle of the toiling people against privatisation, liberalisation and globalisation will not be victorious. In these conditions, it is extremely important that the toilers do not get embroiled in the dogfights of the rulers and become the tail of this or that parliamentary party or front. It becomes essential that by developing their own program, they throw the ruling class parties into further crisis.

The coming elections must be used as an occasion to build and strengthen village, neighbourhood and factory committees of the toilers and tillers. The people must boldly put forth their own program and demands coming from their conditions, including the demand that political power must vest with them. They must boldly challenge the political parties of the ruling class and put forth candidates from amongst themselves who will be non-partisan and defend firmly the interests of the toilers and tillers, the women and youth.

Precisely at this time when such important tasks face the working people, and they need to be vigilant against diversions posed by the bourgeoisie, there are some in the communist movement who are engaging the working people in a debate about whether "corruption" is the issue or "secularism" is the issue in electing the next government. This is a debate whose aim is to divert the working class and people from the main issues facing them. At this time, when the working people are looking for a way forward, communists and progressive forces should not fall into such traps. They should pose squarely the question of uprooting capitalism, establishing social ownership of the means of production and eliminating all forms of oppression and exploitation as an immediate possibility. They should squarely pose the absolute necessity for a new kind of political power in place of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie.

The coming elections provide one more opportunity for the communists, workers and all progressive people to step up the momentum for building a broad political front of workers, peasants, women, youth and all the oppressed. This front is not a parliamentary front that confines its scope within the limits set by the bourgeoisie. It is a revolutionary front that fights to establish a new society where the working people will be empowered and prosperity and protection will be ensured for all.

The immediate program of the revolutionary front is the defence of the interests of the people of Tamil Nadu against the anti-social attacks of the bourgeoisie, on the one hand, and the struggle for the renovation of democracy so as to bring the people to power, on the other hand. This front with its fighting immediate programme is the people’s alternative to the opportunist and self-serving fronts that the bourgeoisie wants the people to choose from.

Forward with the building of an alternative people’s revolutionary front!

An attack on one is an attack on all!

The well-being of each is the condition for the well-being of all!

Workers, peasants, women and youth, we constitute India, we are her masters!

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• Workers and owners of thousands of small units which have been closed in the automobile, leather, and the printing sector due to liberalisation and the entry of big multinationals are demanding that the State should guarantee their livelihood and keep the multinationals out.
• Workers belonging to hundreds of textile units which have been made bankrupt due to the economic reforms, diversion of capital by the mill capitalists to more lucrative areas such as information technology and the removal of restrictions on imports, are demanding that the mills be reopened.
• Thousands of families involved in the handloom sector, driven homeless and jobless by the effect of the market-driven policies of the bourgeoisie, are demanding that their livelihood be restored.
• Construction workers throughout the state, who have no security of livelihood or protection from accidents at the work place, have been demanding an end to the terrible conditions at the workplace.
• Millions of peasants and agricultural labourers who have been burning with rage against the plunder by giant Indian and foreign corporations, and against the consequences of implementing the conditions of the WTO, are demanding input prices at affordable cost, assured procurement at remunerative prices, moratorium on debt recovery, regular supply of irrigation water and protection against the usurping of agricultural land by the big agri-business corporations.
• The youth of Tamil Nadu have been demanding education that is relevant to their lives and job opportunities for all the unemployed youth.
• Women and dalits, victims of age-old feudal oppression, have been demanding the uprooting of the Brahmanical order that preserves and justifies this oppression
• The entire people of Tamil Nadu have been vigorously protesting against the increase in the prices of essential commodities including bus fares, demanding safe drinking water and the protection of natural resources.

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Militant strike by workers in South Korea

The capitalist economy of South Korea, touted as one of the "miracle" capitalist economies of the contemporary world, has been in deep crisis for the last few years. In the conditions of the crisis, this economy is undergoing restructuring which is severely affecting the livelihood and working conditions of the working class of South Korea. The capitalist restructuring is being imposed by the Kim Dae-jung regime on the working class and people using utmost brutality. The restructuring of Daewoo Motors’ and the sell-off its assets overseas is vital for the onward march of the regime’s neoliberal "reforms". Billions of dollars are being handed out to the big capitalist robbers, while the working people suffer more and more unbearable hardships. And when workers resort to mass struggle to defend even the little they still have, the regime is trying to trample them down. It is nothing short of a war on the South Korean working people.

This was clearly seen in what happened at Bupyong on the afternoon of February 20. More than 4,000 armed riot police of the regime of Kim Dae-jung—a Nobel Peace Prize winner— stormed the Daewoo Motors’ plant, which was being peacefully occupied by several hundred striking workers and their families. Many were viciously beaten and scores were arrested. The police detained 7 union leaders and are out to arrest 29 more. The very next day, on February 21, Daewoo’s creditor banks rewarded the company for cracking down on the workers by extending the credit period and providing it with even more funds. This shows who is benefiting from the restructuring, and at whose expense.

The workers of South Korea, however, have a militant tradition of defending their livelihood and rights, both during the long period of military rule and under the current "democratic" regime. Recovering quickly from the crackdown, the workers have courageously begun to regroup. They are holding daily rallies in Bupyong and attracting the support of other workers and organisations. In their struggle, they have the wholehearted support of the working class of the whole world, including the working class of India, which is also battling with the big monopolies and the state to defend their jobs and their rights in the conditions of the savage capitalist onslaught.

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