• Cabinet Reshuffle:
  Attempt to resolve the crisis of the BJP in favour of the bourgeoisie

• G-8 Summit in the remote hills of Canada:
  Unable to hide the contradiction within the inperialist alliance

• World Food Summit: 5 years later
  Maximising Capitalist profits in the name of fighting hunger

• Vigorous protests greet G-8 meeting in Canada

• Foreign Direct Investment in Print Media opposed

• NTC Mill workers oppose MVRS scheme

• Who benefits from lower taxes?

• Rising opposition to anti-worker legislation in Tamilnadu

• The concerns of the rich

• Port and dock workers oppose privatisation of ports

• VRS to Public Sector Employees

Cabinet Reshuffle:

Attempt to resolve the crisis of the BJP in favour of the bourgeoisie

These changes denote a number of things. First and foremost, they reflect the internal crisis of the BJP, the leader of the ruling National Democratic Alliance coalition and the efforts of the BJP to work out new arrangements of power sharing within the party and the government. This is evident in the fact that almost all the changes have to do with BJP people.

Secondly, these changes reflect the fact that the ruling BJP is gearing up for elections in the coming year. There are nine state elections due in 2002-2003 and the General Elections are due in 2004. As a party, the BJP has suffered badly in most of the elections held since it came to power at the center. Today, the BJP rules only in the states of Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh and Goa. It is a junior partner in coalition governments in the states of UP, Haryana and Orissa.

Thirdly, the elevation of Advani to Deputy Prime Minister is a signal that the BJP is preparing to project Advani as its Prime Ministerial candidate for the future.

The change in the Finance portfolio has significance beyond just the calculations of the BJP. Who heads the central Ministry of Finance in New Delhi is determined by the big bourgeois class as a whole, as well as the imperialist powers, the World Bank, IMF and multinational corporations that have an interest in the Indian market.

Yashwant Sinha is a bureaucrat- turned-politician who has spearheaded the much touted "second generation reforms" implemented over the past 3 years. Imperialism and the champions of globalisation through liberalisation and privatisation have generally been happy with his performance, in spite of nicknaming him "rollback Sinha" and egging him on to accelerate the pace. Why did Yashwant Sinha have to be shifted out at this time? His transfer out of the Ministry of Finance is not because of the complaints of the imperialists. It is part of the internal crisis of the BJP, the attempt to find a "scape-goat" for its failures in elections. It is also an attempt to fool the middle strata, who is suffering under the crisis and anti-social offensive, that by changing individuals in a ministry, the policies of the bourgeoisie will change and their lot will become better. In particular, the rout of the BJP in the Delhi elections and its poor performance in the UP elections this year, reflected the desertion of many middle class families whose savings in bank fixed deposits have been devalued. All such ills are being blamed on Yashwant Sinha. At the same time, he has been appointed the foreign minister, to send the signal to the capitalists and imperialists that there is no real change of course.

The day his appointment as Finance Minister was announced, Jaswant Singh declared that he was committed to ensuring "more food in the stomachs of the poor" and "more spending power in the citizen’s pocket and in the purse of the housewife". At the same time, he also declared that it was his task to "instil confidence in domestic and foreign investors", meaning that he was duty bound to satisfy the greed of the Indian big capitalists and foreign multinational firms.

What this means is that the policies of globalisation through liberalisation and privatisation will be stepped up alongside the demagogic claim, that these policies will allegedly benefit the poor and the middle strata. The attacks on the livelihood of the people will take place in the future alongside a lot of false propaganda and gimmickry. Sweet but meaningless words such as "pro-poor capitalist growth", borrowed from the World Bank and IMF, will be dished out to the people.

In the ongoing class struggle between the exploiters, led by the big bourgeoisie, and the exploited led by the working class, where the middle strata stands in political terms is of great significance. Winning over the middle strata – the peasantry, urban small propertied, professionals, clerical and middle level staff in government service, etc. – on to its side remains a strategic objective of the big bourgeoisie at all times. On the other hand, winning over the middle strata onto the side of the revolutionary struggle against imperialism and the big bourgeoisie is the strategic objective of the working class and its communist party.

In the beginning of the 1990s, soon after the final collapse of the Soviet Union, the bourgeoisie in India and all over the world hoped that the middle strata will become camp followers of "free market reforms". In India, there were some among the middle strata who were quite excited about the prospects of liberalisation and global integration of the Indian market. More than 10 years of life experience has shattered a lot of illusions about globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation. It is increasingly becoming obvious that benefiting a tiny minority of rich parasites inside and
outside the country has been the sole aim of this economic policy.

While the new Finance Minister is promising to put more money in the peoples’ pockets, even he knows very well that the current fiscal situation, the laws of monopoly capitalism and the present day demands of the capitalist multinationals and Indian monopoly houses leave very little room for distributing anything into the pockets of anybody else. Slogans will not fill the stomachs of the poor either.

How then is the big bourgeois class planning to win back the support of the people for its anti-people course? It is through chauvinist and communal hysteria, warmongering against Pakistan, and by organising acts of terrorism, state terrorism and communal violence, that the big bourgeoisie hopes to win back various sections of the middle strata and the working class on to its side and crush all opposition to its rule.

The Cabinet reshuffle is a signal that the ruling Indian big bourgeoisie wants to persist in its extremely dangerous course along with demagogy, diversions and violent means to suppress the resistance of the working class and people. It points to the urgent need to build and strengthen the broad front of struggle against the anti-social offensive, so as to isolate the big bourgeoisie, as the prelude to its defeat.

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G-8 Summit in the remote hills of Canada:

Unable to hide the contradictions within the imperialist alliance

The three main issues that dominated the discussions at this summit were: (i) measures against ‘terrorism’, (ii) aid for African development and (iii) how to make globalisation work and promote sustainable development. The Government of Canada, which hosted this summit, and the Government of Britain, have been very keen to promote the issue of African development, which was originally the main agenda of this summit. However, the United States was determined to push for terrorism on top of the agenda. The mass protests that accompany each of their summits forced the leaders of the G-8 to also add the third item onto the agenda, namely, "how to make globalisation work and promote sustainable development".

Just prior to the summit, contradictions broke out between the US and all the other G-8 members on President Bush’s unilateral declaration on the conditions for peace in the Middle East. Even the British Prime Minister Tony Blair, considered to be the most faithful camp follower of the US, came out opposing the demand of Bush for Arafat’s removal from the Palestinian leadership as an essential condition for solution of the problem in the Middle East. Many European leaders are also reportedly unhappy with Bush’s June 1st speech at West Point when he insisted that the US must act pre-emptively against "threats of terrorism or weapons proliferation".

Faced with overwhelming opposition within the ranks of the G-8, the US imperialists had to step down a bit on the eve of the summit, at least on the question of dictating who should lead the Palestinians. At a Press Conference held on June 13 at the end of a G-8 foreign ministers’ meeting in Whistler, Canada, US Secretary of State Colin Powell said, "Well, as you know, Chairman Arafat is seen by the Palestinian people as their leader and he is the head of the Palestinian authority … So, in that capacity, I believe we do have an obligation to deal with him".

The G-8 Summit committed itself to "sustained and comprehensive actions" against terrorism, including a set of six non-proliferation principles; a new G-8 Global Partnership against the spread of weapons and materials of mass destruction; and further measures to strengthen security of global air travel.

The African Action Plan endorsed by this summit offers increased foreign aid and investment from the G-8 states to "those African countries that demonstrate they are pursuing free market reforms and democracy". While Chretien and Blair lobbied hard to secure a promise that half of all additional aid money should go to Africa, the US and Japan refused to agree.

What this summit exposes is the continuing and deepening contradictions within the imperialist powers, even as they unite to shore up their crisis-ridden system and mount fresh attacks against the livelihood, freedom and independence of the peoples.

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World Food Summit: 5 years later

Maximising Capitalist profits in the name of fighting hunger

At the beginning of the 21^st century, it is amply clear that the glaring inequity world wide and in each country between the abundance of agricultural produce, including food, and the poverty and starvation of vast masses is the result of the capitalist imperialist system. In this system, the benefits of science and technology have been used only to increase the profits of the capitalist corporations, the exploitation of the countryside by the towns has intensified, the exploitation of the poorer countries by the handful of imperialist states has reached vast proportions. The concentration of wealth at one pole and poverty and hunger at the other pole has also intensified. The solution to problem of hunger and poverty of the vast masses in Asia, Africa and Latin America lies in taking over the means of production in their own countries from the hands of the ruling classes who are part of the imperialist system of plunder.

Throughout the world for well over a decade there has been growing opposition to the introduction of genetically engineered seeds, especially in the poorer countries where there are no mechanisms to measure and control the likely damage that these seeds can bring to native species of plants and the local ecology. Farmers and their organisations throughout the world have been wary of the fact that biotechnology and genetic engineering in today’s unequal world is controlled by a few multinationals whose drive for maximum profit precludes the benefits of science and technology from serving the interests of small and medium producers of food. They are afraid, and rightly so, that profit hungry multinationals will destroy their generic seeds and plant varieties and impose their hybrid and genetically engineered seeds and plants. This will enslave the peasants to the monopoly of the multinationals forever.

The World Food Summit was yet another forum where poorer countries were "encouraged" to integrate themselves into the globalisation process and open up their doors to agricultural imports and agribusiness multinationals. The summit pushed biotechnology and genetic engineering as sustainable agriculture.

At the WTO Doha meet, the handful of powerful imperialist states extracted promises from the poorer countries to remove subsidies given to farmers and open up their doors to agricultural imports. The entire strategy of agricultural reform pursued by imperialism in the recent decade has brought untold misery and devastation to millions of peasants throughout the world. The advance of capitalism in agriculture has further indebted peasants and pushed them to the brink of life as evident from the mass suicides of peasants in India. The global integration of agriculture and the removal of quantitative restrictions on imports have strengthened the hold of agribusiness monopolies in agriculture, depressed market prices and exposed the peasants to the uncertainties of the capitalist market.

The huge subsidies given by the U.S government to its agribusiness multinationals and rich producers have depressed agricultural prices throughout the world bankrupting millions ofsmall and medium producers. At the same time, using the forum of the WTO the US imperialists have forced countries like India to draft changes to their patent laws under the Trade related Intellectual Properties Rights (TRIPS) regime and to remove quantitative restrictions on agricultural imports.

The World Summit was to have taken place before the Doha Ministerial Meeting of the WTO. It got postponed because of growing protests worldwide against globalisation. Still 20,000 people gathered outside the Summit to protest against growing hunger and poverty. The protestors voiced the concerns of the millions of poor peasants who were producing enough for their needs but who are now bankrupt and starving. Throughout the world, opposition has been building to the policies of globalisation and liberalisation in agriculture which has led to growing hunger and displacement, alienation of assets of poor peasants and the erosion of food sovereignty of peoples.

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Vigorous protests greet G 8 meeting in Canada

Protesters highlighted that the G8 has no business meeting behind closed doors to decide the fate of the world's people and that it is the peoples who must decide their own fate. The Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) as well as numerous other organisations of workers, women, youth, student, national minorities and social organisations played an important role in these protest organisations of the Canadian working class and people.

Cultural workers used the occasion to express their creative views in the streets during the demonstrations in Calgary. Representatives of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) headed to Kananaskis Village to deliver hundreds of letters from the workers and working people to the G8 Summit leaders. A "snake march" was organised in Calgary. The Canadian government had vowed to turn Calgary into an armed camp to prevent any protest. Undeterred by state repression, hundreds of workers and youth participated in the snake march.

"Take the Capital" programs were organised in the Canadian capital, Ottawa, to oppose the G8 Summit. These protests included "snake marches", a demonstration at the U.S. embassy, as well as a demonstration under the theme "Raise 1000 Flags of Resistance—No One is Illegal." Over three thousand youth, students, workers, political activists, and social activists participated in the "No one is illegal" March. In Toronto, more than 500 workers, women and youth took part in a vigorous rally to oppose the G8 Summit. In Edmonton, about 400 people participated in the protest march. Protestors sang as they marched, calling on people to rise up against the rule of the global elite and to "Let Africans decide themselves." In Vancouver, more than 200 people participated in a rally and March.

These powerful protests reveal that the broad resistance of the working class and toiling people to the anti-social offensive launched by imperialism is inexorably mounting. The terror and violence of the capitalist powers as well as the massive offensive being carried out in the name of "war against global terrorism" and the disinformation campaign against "Islamic fundamentalism" aimed at disrupting and disorienting the struggle of the working class and people are not succeeding.

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Foreign Direct Investment in Print Media opposed

The argument in support of this move advanced by the Information and Broadcasting Minister, Ms. Sushma Swaraj, is that TV broadcasting is already liberalised, and hence there is no case for controls in the print media. According to the minister, it is only a logical extension of the globalisation and liberalisation program. In other words, what is good for the capitalists and imperialists must be accepted by Indians even if it goes against the general interests of society.

The print media in India is a massive sector with a few big players and a large number of small papers. The big players have an enormous advantage as they not only get the bulk of advertising revenue from the corporate sector, they corner the bulk of government advertisements as well. The decision to open up the print media to 26% FDI has been taken at the instance of the big players in the print media and the foreign media giants who together see a big source of profits by collaborating in the further monopolisation of the Indian news media. Sushma Swaraj says that the government will have safeguards to ensure that ownership and management control will remain with Indians. She is trying to tell the Indian people that the panchatatra fable of the camel who puts its neck into the tent, and then pushes itself fully into the tent, is false.

The immediate target of this move is the small newspapers in the different towns of India. The larger target is the whole of society who will be bombarded with even greater levels of disinformation, manufactured in the most organised way. In the path of globalisation and liberalisation that India is pursuing today, this is the logical next step for the bourgeoisie. In the meantime, the livelihood of tens of thousands of journalists and print workers is being put on the line.

Since independence from colonial rule, the news media has been given special facilities in the name of serving a larger social cause. This included subsidised newsprint, government advertisements, special travel concessions for journalists, lower postal rates and other such concessions. While the bulk of this has been cornered by the big players and utilised to build their empires, newspapers that were working for the benefit of society also benefited somewhat. Systematically, in the course of the past decade, these facilities have been under sustained attack. The small newspapers are going to be economically strangled. It is important that those opposing the FDI in print media take up for serious defence the cause of newspapers as a means of social awakening as opposed to being a vehicle of private profit, or the spread of disinformation and anti-consciousness.

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NTC Mill workers oppose MVRS scheme

The notice of the Modified Voluntary Retirement Scheme has been put up on the gates of NTC mills in many parts of the country since May 13, 2002, including Kanpur’s 5 NTC mills. While the scheme is called "Voluntary", in fact the workers fear that it is a forced retirement scheme. This fear is legitimate. The government’s intention is to get rid of the workforce by any and every means. Late last year, a VRS scheme had been put up in the NTC mills which clearly stated that workers had better avail of the VRS within a month or else, the scheme would be withdrawn. The unwritten threat was that workers would not even be paid salaries after that period. Following a powerful agitation, the NTC management had to publicly declare that there was no time limit for the VRS and only those who wished to take it needed to take it.

It may be recalled that the BIC Mills in Kanpur were completely shut down last June end. The workers were deprived of their wages for 9 long months. Then a notice was put up beginning June 2001 saying that VRS was available till June 30. When the workers fought for their wages, they were told that thy could take it once they accepted to resign "Voluntarily". After a prolonged standoff, and facing starvation, the majority of BIC workers signed for the VRS on June 30, 2001.

The workers of NTC Mills are fighting a heroic rearguard battle against a powerful enemy. The government is testing whether the workers are ready to give in or not. This was the reason for organizing negotiations between the discredited trade union bosses and the NTC management. However, by their collective action, the NTC workers of Kanpur have served notice that they are not prepared to give in without a fight. They have once more forced the NTC management to declare that the MVRS scheme will not be forced down their throats.

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Who benefits from lower taxes?

A decade later, the truth is out. Number of taxpayers declaring income of more than Rs 10 lakh is just 46,000 in this huge country. Of this, the salaried class accounts for 26,000. On the other hand, Income Tax Department is claiming that it has succeeded in widening the tax base to 23 million from 10 million.

It is evident that massive under-reporting of income by non-salaried taxpayers continues as before. It is also obvious that widening of tax base has primarily brought low and middle-income people into the tax net. Big fish continue to swim freely as before and have got bigger by enjoying the benefit of lower taxes. As expected, the rich are getting richer with the onset of the NEP.

This is a pattern repeated time and again all over the world. A recent book by the economist Kevin Philips – ‘Wealth and Democracy" – has sketched the political history of the American rich. It does not require any serious study of the working of capitalist countries to realize how the wealthy use their money power to buy influence and then employ the resulting influence to accumulate more money.

Philips has identified three distinct US historical cycles when the language of Wall Street was used to push through the agenda of tax cuts. The result each time has been greater concentration of wealth and power at the top, which in turn is used to buy economic policies to the liking of the rich, such as cuts in taxes on income, estates and gifts. The working class has to work longer for stagnating wages and the average household cash income remains flat for a decade and more. In this American scenario, the richest one percent get all the benefits.

Tax policy is increasingly skewed to suit the purpose of the millionaires of America. Their incomes zoomed from an inflation-adjusted $2,56,000 to more than $6,44,000.

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Rising opposition to anti-worker legislation in Tamilnadu

In recent months, the Tamilnadu government has been launching a series of vicious attacks on the working class and people of that state. It has been announced that the state road transport corporations will be privatised partially, several departmental works will be privatised while others will be shut down completely, the number of employees in government service and teachers in government schools will be drastically reduced and the existing benefits they enjoy will also be greatly cut down. Taxes and tariffs have been increased, bus fares and electricity charges have been raised and several other such anti worker "reform measures" have been implemented.

These attacks have been met by the united and militant struggles of the workers and working people of Tamilnadu. In an attempt to crush the united struggle of the workers, the Tamilnadu government has now passed a fascist legislation, according to which all those who go on strike or induce workers to go on strike will be penalised with a fine of Rs. 5000 and imprisonment for up to 3 years. Other offences punishable under this legislation include refusal to do overtime, financial support to striking workers, etc.

Under the capitalist system, the right to go on strike is an important weapon in the hands of the working class and people, to resist the growing attacks on their livelihood. By seeking to take away this right through the latest legislation, the Tamilnadu government has once again revealed its thoroughly anti people character.

But the working class and people of Tamilnadu are vigorously fighting back against all these attacks on their rights and livelihood, including this latest legislation that attacks their very right to protest and strike.

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The concerns of the rich

How does one figure out who are the wealthiest? One approximate indicator, based on the fact that the wealthy increase their wealth through investments in the form of finance capital, is invested wealth each year.

According to figures, the number of people with $1 million (Rs 5 Crores) or more in investable wealth was 7.1 million in 2001. The total wealth held by them increased by 3 percent to $26,200 billion from $25,500 billion. That is, there are 7.1 million people in the world who have sufficient wealth so they are willing to invest more than $ 1 million of their wealth to increase their wealth!

How much is this wealth?

The GDP of the whole world is less than $31,000 billion. The GDP of the three biggest economies of the world – USA, Japan, Germany – together is less than $16,000 billion. The GDP of India is less than $500 billion.

These 7.1 million rich of the world are, however, a worried lot right now because growth of 3 percent in their wealth is too low compared to 18 percent achieved in 1999 and 6 percent in 2000. Despite all the economic problems in the world, their total wealth is still expected to reach $38,500 billion by 2006 end.

Europeans and North Americans dominate this club of the rich as they account for 61 percent of the total. Europeans suffered the most as their wealth grew by only 0.1 percent as the stock market capitalization shrank by approximately 20 percent in Europe in 2001. This was partly due to poor performance of European currencies against the dollar during this period. Europeans still accounted for 32 percent of total wealth of the rich of the world.

While Latin America was going through a major economic crisis, Latin American millionaires saw their wealth grow by 8 percent in 2001. Latin America accounts for just fewer than 3 percent of the world’s millionaires but 13 percent of the total global wealth.

In West Asia, the number of wealthy investors was 290,000 at the end of 2001 and they between themselves had $1000 billion of wealth. Britain alone had 345,000 high net worth individuals by the end of 2001.

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Port and dock workers oppose privatisation of ports

The board of directors of the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust Complex in Mumbai is reported to have decided on June 7, to sell off the administration of this port to the Australian monopoly, P & O at some ridiculously low price. However, due to the stiff opposition of the workers, the decision has had to be postponed temporarily.

As part of the government’s policy of attacking the livelihood and rights of the workers, the port authorities have been systematically downsizing manpower in all the ports, inspite of the increasing traffic, taking arbitrary decisions against the interests of the workers and even violating earlier agreements made with the workers’ trade unions.

The struggle of the Port and dock workers is a part of the struggle that different sections of the working people are waging against the anti-social offensive of the ruling bourgeoisie.

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VRS to Public Sector Employees

Since the inception of Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS), 3,69,277 workmen were reduced up to March 2001 in public sector undertakings. A total amount of Rs 6930.45 crores was paid as compensation to retiring employees, which work out to an average of Rs 1.88 lakhs per employee. Large retirements were carried out in the following companies:

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