• Fifty Three years of the Indian Republic:
  Times are calling for the constitution of a Workers’ and Peasants’ Republic!

• On building the communist cell/basic organisations in the class

• Farmers in Tamilnadu and Karntaka plan united struggle

• Cotton farmers of Maharashtra win their demands

• Punjab farmers fight for livelihood

• Condemn the police repression on UP farmers!

• Mounting opposition to US war against Iraq:
  Growing isolation of the US imperialists

• A roundup of International events in 2002:
  Deepening capitalist crisis, mounting imperialist offensive and rising resistance of nations and peoples

Fifty Three years of the Indian Republic:
Times are calling for the constitution of a Workers’ and Peasants’ Republic!

What is this 'developed India' and who will it benefit? One look at the track record of 'development' over the past 53 years shows that only a shrinking minority of rich exploiters is enjoying the benefits. The vast majority, consisting of workers and peasants, remain exploited, oppressed and face inhuman conditions. The reckless course of globalisation through privatisation and liberalisation, which is the path along which India is being developed today -- is designed to enable the rich to grow even richer, on the basis of more intense exploitation and faster immiseration of the workers and peasants of India.

While the leaders of the Indian State boast about its "democratic traditions", it is the workers, peasants and the other toiling people in the cities and villages, who become the victims of the communal pogroms, the bomb blasts, state terrorism and individual terrorism which routinely accompany this 'democratic' electoral process. The election in Gujarat has gone down in history more for its notoriety as that 'democratic' election, which brought fascists, jingoists and open organisers of genocide to power. The 'free and fair' elections both in Gujarat and Kashmir were conducted under jackboots of the army amidst bloodshed and mayhem. This is the real face of the "democratic traditions' in India today.

The point of the matter is that in the largest democracy the workers and peasants, who make up over 90 percent of the country’s population, feel completely powerless to change the situation of their lives. They have no role in determining the course of India. The different nations, nationalities and tribal peoples who constitute India, do not have any say in shaping their own destiny or that of India as a whole. It is the big bourgeoisie, headed by the monopoly houses and financial oligopolies, both Indian and foreign, who wield this 'democratic' Republic and are shaping the course of India according to whatever suits their narrow interest, just as the British colonialists did before 1947.

Without any consultation with the masses of Indian people, and against the interests of their security, the Government of India is allowing the US imperialists increasing space in South Asian affairs, including in the military sphere. India’s rulers are evoking "Islamic Fundamentalism", the "threat to internal security" and the external threat from Pakistan to justify the brutal fascist suppression of the workers, peasants, and all the exploited and oppressed of the different nations, nationalities and tribal peoples inhabiting this sub-continent. Parading their military might in the largest spectacle ever organised, the Indian bourgeoisie, is openly declaring its militarist intentions and fascist proclivities.

While investing crores of rupees in the parasitic armed apparatus to further its imperialist ambitions and for protecting itself from the angry masses, they are declaring that fulfilling the claims of the vast majority of the Indian population is not the business of the Indian Republic. They are declaring that the demand for security of life and livelihood, for food and clothes, education and health for the majority must be subjugated to the demands of monopoly capital to secure maximum rate of profit. The call issued to all citizens by the President, to contribute to 'development', instead of expecting the Government to take all the initiatives is but a sophisticated way of repeating the dictum of the ‘free market’ reformers, that the State is not responsible for the welfare of its citizens. This is the call by which the biggest monopoly houses and their political agents, by virtue of their control over the State, loot the treasury, while calling on all the working people to observe 'fiscal' restraint and go "fend for oneself" in the capitalist jungle.

Public assets are being put up for sale to private capitalists by the Central Government, without seeking the approval of the public, who is supposed to be the owner of these assets. The Supreme Court has ordained that supreme power in the field of economic policy rests with the Executive, meaning that the Government of the day can do as it pleases. It does need the approval of the Parliament leave alone the people, even though the Preamble to the Constitution says, "We, the people, have given to ourselves this constitution". This was seen clearly on this Republic day 2003 when the assets of the Public Sector Companies such as HPCl and BPCL were openly declared to be the property of the Executive to be sold at will to whom so ever the executive chooses.

The government of the day can sign international agreements at the expense of the livelihood of the workers and peasants with impunity. It is only to maximise the profits of a handful of big business families that the Government of India has joined the World Trade Organisation. The Second Green Revolution that the President promises will only further tie the peasants to the vagaries of the 'world market' and accelerate the pace of their impoverisation and immesirisation. The far reaching reforms to cut subsidies to the farmers and further develop agriculture on monopoly capitalist basis, purely to serve the interests of the grain cartels, both Indian and foreign is the aim of this second green revolution.

The vision of a "developed India" that the leaders of the Indian Republic are putting forward is that of an imperialist republic occupying her "rightful" place in a world divided amongst imperialist states. The role of India’s workers and peasants will be to serve as human cannon fodder to achieve this vision of "developed India". They are declaring that this Indian Republic will crush by force of arms all those who challenge the present unjust economic, social and political order—all those who dare to put forward a different vision of India.

With this as their real aim the workers and peasants are told time and again what is good for the biggest monopoly houses is what is good for all of us. We are told that this is a democracy for all and that we, just because we are allowed to cast our votes in periodic elections to the central, state and local governments are determining the course of the economy and polity. But the fact is that in this ‘democratic’ Republic, people only get to vote for representatives but not for the course to be followed. By deciding who is to rule, the people are deemed to also be choosing what direction and orientation should guide society. In reality, people do not really get to determine even who is to rule, and have no say whatsoever in setting the agenda for society, its orientation and the direction of public policy. The 'representatives' in this 'democracy' through trickery and subterfuge actively prevent the workers and peasants from influencing the course of the economy or politics.

The point to keep in mind is that, it was the Indian bourgeoisie that inherited the British colonial state and the imperialist capitalist system of loot and plunder in January 1950. The British Crown transferred sovereignty -- the supreme power over the vast territory of British India -- into the hands of a Constituent Assembly which transferred sovereignty 'legally' into the hands of the Cabinet in the Parliament located in New Delhi. Sovereignty was not transferred into the hands of the toiling masses, or into the hands of the nations, nationalities and peoples who shed their blood in the anti-colonial struggle. The historical fact is that the foundation of the existing Indian State is colonial and imperialist through and through. The Constitution of the Republic, adopted on January 26, 1950, served to provide legitimacy to the usurpation of supreme power by the Indian bourgeoisie.

The party dominated political process of ‘representative democracy’ ensures that only the will of the biggest capitalists, landlords and owners of finance capital can be imposed on Indian society. It is a democracy only for the exploiters to resolve their internal contradictions and ensure that the exploited remain oppressed and deprived of power. It is a brutal dictatorship over the vast majority. The interests of the toiling millions – the workers and peasants – cannot ever come to the centre-stage in the existing arrangement.

If the economy of India is to serve the workers and peasants, whose labour creates the wealth of society, then the workers and peasants have to become the masters of India. They must become the supreme decision-makers. They must bring about sweeping revolutionary transformations in the economy and polity to ensure that the well being and security of the toiling masses becomes the main aim and motor that drives the economy. They must suppress with an iron hand the power of the big monopolies, the financial oligarchies and the foreign imperialists to loot our land and labour. In order to do so, the working class has to lead the struggle to reconstitute India as a Workers’ and Peasants’ Republic.

This Republic and its Constitution must explicitly establish that all Indians have rights by virtue of the fact they are human beings. The right to conscience, to livelihood, education and health care must be guaranteed as inviolable rights of every member of society. It must provide for enabling legislation for the affirmation of these rights. It must ensure that all violations of the recognised rights are justiciable.

The Workers’ and Peasants’ Republic must uphold the rights of the various nations, nationalities and tribal peoples who compose this sub-continent. It must be constituted as a voluntary union of the different nations, nationalities, and tribal peoples constituting India with each constituent enjoying the right to self-determination upto secession. The rights of women, of children and the old the rights of disabled, the rights of minorities -whether religious, linguistic or ethnic must be regarded as inviolate. Concrete mechanisms must be established to ensure the harmonising of the interests of individuals and collectives with the general interests of society.

A new system and a new political process must be established in order that the working class, peasantry and all toiling and oppressed masses and nations to wield the decision-making power in their hands. Mechanisms must be established to ensure equality of all members of the polity irrespective of caste, gender, property, lifestyle or other consideration. The new Constitution of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Republic must lay down, as part of the fundamental law, the principle that only political parties that present a vision for society and work to enable the people to rule themselves can operate in the polity. It must ban any party that seeks to monopolise power in its own hands. The workers, peasants, women and youth, organised in their places of work or residence, in the form of mass assemblies or sabhas, and samitis elected by such sabhas, must be able to nominate, approve and reject candidates for election. They must also be able to recall elected deputies at any time, and to propose, approve and reject proposed policy or legal changes.

The times are demanding a clean break with the colonial legacy, including the theory and institutions of 'representative democracy'. Only the working class has the interest and the capacity to make this clean break. Political power in the hands of workers and peasants of the different nations, nationalities and the tribal peoples constituting India, is the necessary condition for ensuring that India's development benefits the vast majority of her people. The times are calling on the Indian working class to lead the struggle for the democratic renewal of India. Renewal means to start afresh and lay the foundations for a new Republic, a Workers’ and Peasants’ Republic, which will be a voluntary union of all the nations, nationalities and peoples that make up India.

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On building the communist cell/basic organisations in the class

The most important function of a communist cell/ basic organisation emanates from the prime need of organising the class to rise up as an independent political force, which can lead all of society to destroy capitalism and build communism. It arises from the need to unite the advanced class-conscious workers to build their own party, the communist party, as also from the need to unite the working class around the immediate program of democratic renewal. It arises from the need to organise the working class and the masses of landless labourers, the toiling peasantry and other revolutionary forces such as progressive intellectuals, women and youth in themselves and in a massive united front against the political power of the exploiting classes. It follows from this is that the activity of organising the revolutionary forces is the main political activity and the raison de etre of the communist cell/basic organisation. The basic organisation must work tirelessly to increase the political activity of all its members. It has to work continuously for the growth and strengthening of the party and the united front.

The communist cell/basic organisation is the vehicle for waging class struggle at its level, the means to forge the unity of the vanguard with the masses and is the instrument of recruitment of new members to the party. It is the link that binds the party with the working class and broad masses of the people. The stronger the basic organisations of the party, the stronger will be the links with the masses. The basic organisation sets the agenda of work pertaining to the factory, workplace or other working institution, or working class neighbourhood in which it is built, develops the plan of work and implements the agreed upon decisions based on the principle of collective decision making and individual responsibility. In other words, a basic organisation, at the level where it operates, embodies both the legislative powers, that is the powers to make decisions and the executive powers or power to implement the decisions.

It is in the basic organisation that members are moulded as communists. The basic organisations are therefore called the schools of communism. Every basic organisation must work to raise the ideological and theoretical level of its members and supporters. This it does by organising in-depth and systematic study of the classics of scientific socialism and the general line of the party, as presented in the Congress document and other documents published by the party. The basic organisation studies, writes for, and disseminates the party paper, using it as a scaffolding to build and strengthen the party amidst the working class. The basic organisation must also carry out well-planned and informed discussions to analyse all the different forces in the political arena, so as to develop every member as a first-rate agitator, propagandist and organiser of the working class and oppressed people. It is by developing a scientific temper, an ability to seek truth from facts and to analyse these facts basing themselves on the scientific theories already discovered by the world proletarian revolutionary movement, that the ideological and theoretical level of the members and supporters can be raised.

For the basic organisation to be able to perform its assigned tasks, it is essential that there is lively discussion on all questions confronting the working class movement and the vanguard party. Active participation of all comrades in the discussion, without exception, is an absolute necessity. It is the right as well as duty of the party members to discuss and express their opinions on all questions raised in their basic unit.

It is in their basic organisations that party members develop and are tempered, and it is here that their qualities and work are checked. It is the basic organisations which elects delegates to the higher level of leadership including the Congress of the party, which determines the line and elects the central leadership of party.

It is up to the basic organisations to guard the party, to prevent distortions of its line, to fight patiently, unhesitatingly and relentlessly against every erroneous trend and every viewpoint alien to the interests of the working class and the revolution. When any party member notices that the decisions of the party are not being carried out or that the line of the party is not being upheld, he or she should raise his or her voice in the basic organisation of which he or she is a member. In case of anything not going right, of disorganisation and delay, the party member has the duty to raise the issues openly, discuss, criticise and put forward his or her proposals for eliminating such problems at the meeting of the basic organisation. There cannot be any reticence on such matters. A party member is by no means permitted to remain aloof in passive indifference when it is a question of the future of the line or the decisions of the party. This is what the party demands of all its members.

To take active part in discussions, to engage in constructive criticism and sound self criticism, which is intended to improve the work, is not only an undeniable right but it is as well the paramount duty of every party member.

Without basic organisations, the party cannot strengthen itself as a revolutionary Communist Party, which is neither an electoral machine nor a small circle working in a conspiratorial manner. It cannot strengthen itself as a communist party of the working class, in which the most militant, class conscious members of the working class militate. It cannot be that communist party of the new type, the Leninist type, capable of leading the way forward in overthrowing the rule of the bourgeoisie and the capitalist system, and building the socialist system.

"In all organisations, unions and associations without exception, and first and foremost in proletarian organisations, but also in those of the non-proletarian toiling and exploited masses (political, trade union, military, co-operative, education, sports, etc., etc.), groups or cells of Communists should be formed — preferably open groups, but underground groups as well, the latter being essential whenever there is reason to expect their suppression, or the arrest or banishment of their members on the part of the bourgeoisie; these cells, which are to be in close touch with one another and with the Party centre, should, by pooling their experience, carrying on work of agitation, propaganda and organisation, adapting themselves to absolutely every sphere of public life and to every variety and category of the toiling masses, systematically educate themselves, the Party, the class, and the masses by means of such diversified work" (Theses on the Fundamental Tasks of the Second Congress of the Communist International, published in July 1920)

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Farmers in Tamilnadu and Karntaka plan united struggle

Having lost almost entirely the short-term (kuruvai) paddy crop due to the failure of the south-west monsoon, and again let down by the north-east monsoon, farmers in the Cauvery delta are now haunted with the spectre of even the main samba crop failing them. The situation has further deteriorated by the continued standoff between the Karnataka and Tamil Nadu governments in working out a mutually acceptable formula for the sharing of Cauvery waters as co-riparian states.

The Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha as well as several peasant unions in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have organised a number of meetings to try to resolve this issue. They have severely condemned the one-upmanship of the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka governments and the lack of a clearcut national policy and mechanisms to ensure the equitable sharing of river waters between riparian states.

They have asked leaders of all bourgeois political parties to keep away from the agitation, "as neither the ruling party nor the Opposition had any moral right to participate in the Cauvery agitation". The peasants have condemned the portrayal of the peasants demand for irrigation water as an issue of language, which it is not. They have also asked the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to distance themselves from the issue if they could not solve the problem amicably to the satisfaction of the farmers of the two States. Pointing to the inability of the Cauvery River Authority, or the Supreme Court or the Cauvery Tribunal to solve the problem, they have given the call that unitedly the peasants of the two states should take the matter into their own hands and find a solution.

In another expression of the solidarity of peasants and their determination to defend their rights, several peasant organisations organised a massive peasants’ defence conference in Coimbatore, Tamilnadu, in the first week of the new year.

• The Conference vigorously opposed the attempt of the state government to withdraw the free electricity, which is the only direct subsidy that the peasants have been getting from the state.

• It demanded that the central and state governments should appoint a high level committee, which includes peasant representatives, to decide on the procurement price consistent with the increasing cost of inputs and the level of income to lead a decent living.

• It called for a clearcut national water policy so that the waters from Cauvery and Bhavani can be equitably shared between the co-riparian states. It demanded that the state governments of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu should work out a mutually acceptable water sharing agreement immediately. It also demanded that in order to preserve ground water the state government should ban the indiscriminate digging out of sand from river beds for construction purposes.

• The Conference demanded that all loans to the peasants, including interest accrued as well as taxes due should be annulled forthwith by the state government.

• The Conference roundly condemned the recommendations of the Vijay Kelkar committee to tax farm incomes at a time when farmers are going bankrupt and committing suicides due to severe indebtedness and lack of protection from the state against natural calamities and market forces.

• The Conference also demanded that since the state government did not pay the support price to sugarcane farmers last year, it should pay all the arrears so far due to co-operative peasants.

• At a time when there is a concerted demand from peasants all over India that the procurement price of milk should be increased, the Conference condemned the decrease in procurement price in Erode, Dharmapuri, Salem and Kovai.

• Among other things the Conference demanded withdrawal of sales tax on pump sets, compensation for coconut farmers affected by the monsoon failure, procurement price for tea leaf, etc.

Cotton farmers of Maharashtra win their demands

For the 30 lakh cotton-growing farmers in the Vidharbha region who were reeling under a second successive crop failure, it was a question of life and death when the government announced in October 2002 that it was scrapping the MCPS under which there was guaranteed state procurement of cotton at a minimum support price. It must be noted that the World Bank as well as the advocates of liberalisation have been for long insisting that the scheme be discontinued. Their argument — "it is a drain on the exchequer". The World Bank has threatened to put a freeze on future loans. The Reserve Bank of India and the National bank for Agriculture and Rural development have used precisely the same argument to delay sanction of loans to the cotton federation in the State.

After a prolonged agitation by the cotton farmers, the Maharashtra Government had to not only agree to continue with the MCPS, it had to agree to pay a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to each suicide victim’s family. However, even while declaring the compensation, the state government has added a clause that the victim’s family should prove that the reason for the suicide was "wrongful government policies or the forcible recovery of loans" for claiming the compensation. Peasant organizations have stepped up their agitation against such insensitive clauses which have been introduced with the intention of exonerating the state from taking responsibility for the loss of so many lives. The farmers are asking, "how can we prove that the reason for death is mounting debt?"

The State Government is attempting to dismantle the MCPS under conditions of the world wide capitalist crisis and the demand of the rapacious multinationals in agro-business. They are advancing the justification that the government has run up huge losses on account of the crash in international cotton prices. The peasants, on the other hand, have been pointing out that it is the duty of the State Government to protect their livelihood from natural and man-made calamities, and the external threat. It is important to note that the very same political class which day in and day out speaks of the external and internal threat to India allegedly emanating from Islamic terrorism is extremely apologetic when it comes to the real external and internal threat to livelihood and life of the peasantry from imperialism and the financial oligarchy and the big monopoly trading houses.

The MCPS has been generating profit for the Maharashtra government until the crash in cotton prices in 1995. Farmers’ organisations have pointed out that Twenty five per cent of the total profit should have been saved in a price fluctuation fund under the provisions of the scheme. Political parties of the ruling class such as the Congress, BJP, Nationalist Congress Party and the Shiv Sena have called for the abolition of the MCPS whenever in power and pretended to support it whenever in the opposition. The hollowness of the claim of the State Government that the scheme is a drain on the treasury can be seen from the fact that while the requirement for MCPS is Rs 450 crores, the debt burden of the state is more than Rs 70,000 crores and a huge amount of interest is being paid to the financiers and donor agencies. The same World Bank which has made the State one of the most indebted in the country has said in a study that the State’s debt has tripled in the last 7 years, most of them being the "reform" years.

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Punjab farmers fight for livelihood

The Bharatiya Kisan Union, Punjab, have pointed out that the Punjab Government decision to pay an additional Rs 20 per quintal over and above the MSP for paddy in the last harvest season, was far too inadequate and the farmers were thoroughly cheated. This meagre hike was more a political ploy than any real intention to help the farmers. Due to drought-like conditions and acute scarcity of power, the paddy growers had to spend between Rs 4000 and Rs 5000 per acre extra to save their crops and an increase of just Rs 20 per quintal would not be sufficient even to offset the hike in the prices of diesel, fertilisers, insecticides, pesticides and other farm inputs. The BKU president, Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, had asked the government to implement the principle of fixing purchase price of farm produce on the basis of price index, according to which the MSP of sugarcane worked out to be Rs 143 per quintal, cotton and oilseeds Rs 3,250 per quintal and pulses and oilseeds Rs 2,860 per quintal. None of these demands were fulfilled.

The peasants are extremely agitated that while on the one side the state government was making tall claims of initiating a drive for diversification of agriculture and that steps were being taken to enable the farmers to cultivate alternate crops, on the other hand adequate power was not being made available to them. With the farmers having to depend on diesel generators and incur additional cost of production, the entire exercise for diversification is going waste.

Farmers’ representatives have pointed out that when they were already reeling under an unbearable debt burden, rather than taking steps to revive the sick agricultural economy, the government had chosen to inflict yet another crushing blow by slapping energy bills for power consumed by tubewells and ‘abiana’ (water charges). According to Mr Lakhowal, "The same party (Congress), when in opposition, had been expressing sympathy with the farmers and used to provide data on suicides by farmers due to massive debt burden. But ever since assuming power, the ruling party has done a volte face and persistent efforts are being made to put more and more financial burden on the farmers."

Farmers have condemned the fact that as soon the present government came to power, it brought the farm inputs under the purview of sales tax; thereafter prices of diesel and petrol were repeatedly jacked up and now another back breaking burden had been imposed in the form of withdrawal of free power and water facility.

Farmers unions have urged the Punjab Government to constitute a commission to settle and waive the loans of the farmers. They have also urged the government to defer the loans taken by the farmers for the next three years. A call has been given to farmers not to repay their loans if they were unable to do the same.

Farmers organisations have also charged the government and the erstwhile ruling combine with ‘politicising’ the matter of river waters of Punjab.

Left with no choice, peasant leaders declared that ‘‘In the present circumstances when the Centre as well as the state government have proved themselves to be anti-farmer, the farming community is left with no other alternative than to take up the agitational approach.’’

On the issue of river water sharing, a joint meeting of farmers organisations has rejected all the agreements pertaining to the distribution of river waters and electricity among Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, etc for the reason that they were inequitable and politically motivated.

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Condemn the police repression on UP farmers!

Sugarcane farmers all over Uttar Pradesh have been agitating for over two months for their demands, that include setting the procurement price for sugarcane by the mills at a rate that will not lead the farmers into ruin, as well as recovery of last years cane dues from the mills. Uttar Pradesh farmers accounted for 1065 crore tonnes of cane production as compared to the total all-India cane production of 2992 tonnes in 2001-2002. The mill owners have refused to pay the arrears due to the farmers, citing losses. On their part, the Sugar mill owners association has been lobbying the Central and State governments to show that there is a glut of sugar, that the sugar producing industry will collapse if the minimum procurement price of cane is increased, and so on. Of course, within all this, the livelihood of lakhs of can growers in Uttar Pradesh is of no concern to the Centre or the UP government. According to reports, the same Uttar Pradesh government has announced a subsidy of 1000 crores for sugar exporting companies, while refusing the demand of the cane growers for remunerative prices.

The sugar mill owners have declared they will purchase the sugarcane at a price roughly Rs 30 to 35 per quintal below last years price! This under conditions wherein the cost of can production has increased by roughly 30% compared to the last year. Costs have risen due to hike in diesel, fertiliser and power rates amongst other things. The cane growers are getting crushed under the twin burden of rising production costs and falling selling price. Meanwhile, as far as sugar mill owners are concerned, farmer organisations have calculated that the mills make profit even if they were to pay Rs 110 per quintal as cane price, whereas in fact they are paying roughly Rs. 70 per quintal these past few years.

According to estimates, sugar mill owners owe hundreds of crores of Rupees to farmers as arrears for the last year, out of which Uttar Pradesh alone accounts for Rs. 70 crores.

The struggle of the cane growers of Uttar Pradesh against the UP and Central governments and the sugar mill owners is a just struggle which has the support of the working class.

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Mounting opposition to US war against Iraq:
Growing isolation of the US imperialists

The growing anti-war sentiment of the American people was manifested on 18 January, 2003, as hundreds of thousand of people marched in Washington D.C clearly saying "No to War!" Some estimates put the number of protesters at half-a-million and much bigger than the massive 26 October 2002 anti-war demonstration in the U.S. Anti-war rallies were also held in other cities throughout the U.S and Canada, Europe and Latin America as well as Asia on 15 January—from Tokyo to San Francisco -- creating one of the strongest shows of force to date by millions of people around the world against the U.S. government's plan to attack Iraq. The Iraq Peace Action Coalition (IPAC) had scheduled more demonstrations for end-January and February, across the U.S.

In Turkey, humanrights activists demonstrated in Incirik town outside the NATO base (used for enforcing a no-fly zone in northern Iraq). The "Stop the War Coalition" in Britain was stepping up the momentum of its anti-war rallies. The British Prime Minister was heckled at his own Party function while anti-war demonstrators forced him to make a side entry into the hall. In the tiny island of Bahrain, known as a US ally in the Arab world, 2,000 protesters marched against the war. Protesters burned the U.S flag in Sao Paulo, capital of Brazil. Massive protests took place in Brazil during the World Social Forum meet in that country earlier this month.

A survey, conducted with CBS News, found 63% of Americans saying they wanted the Bush administration to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis, and only 31% favouring military action. Public opinion across Europe was resolutely against an invasion of Iraq. In a recent poll, 77 percent of the French voted against a U.S-led offensive against Iraq. The results of the poll in Britain on the issue showed that opposition to a war had risen steadily from 37% in October to 47% now. Over the same period, support for military action has fallen from a peak of 42% to only 30% now. Time (one of the top US imperialist weekly) magazine’s online European edition asked its readers who they thought was the biggest threat—giving them three choices: Iraq, North Korea, and the United States. By January 16, with over 200,000 responding to this informal vote, over 81.8 percent had said, "The United States." A recent Gallup poll found that 53 percent of South Koreans viewed the United States unfavourably. Even the opinion polls of the imperialists are frevealing the anti-US and anti-war sentiment. The people of the United States, as much as people abroad, are questioning America's self assumed right to dictate how other countries should manage their affairs. As a US Vietnam War veteran, speaking on behalf of hundred others, asked, " Who is the U.S. to tell the Iraqi people how to run their country?"

U.S imperialism's aggression and attempts to browbeat the world's people and governments in the name of safeguarding democracy is increasingly being exposed for what it really is—a marauding, rapacious, imperialist power out to secure the world domination and plunder through any and every means. Huge regions of Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait, bordering on Saudi Arabia and Iraq have been taken over by the U.S. forces. The U.S. Navy has set up a major base in the Djibouti in the Horn of Africa to control the Red Sea and threaten Yemen, Somalia, and the Sudan as well as provide refueling facilities for the expedition against Iraq. New U.S. bases have sprung up across central Asia and the Caucasus in the former Soviet Central Asian Republics. The U.S. forces and army personnel are involved in active combat against anti-government forces in some countries like Philippines, or in joint military exercise, as in India and Nepal.

Jordan has declared that it will not allow the use of its air space and territory for launching of a military attack on Iraq. Iraq's key neighbours—Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt met to decide to discourage the U.S. from taking unilateral military action. The European Union Commissioner for External Relations expressed the EU's insistence on a specific U.N. mandate for the aggression on Iraq.

The isolation of the U.S. was further evident with two of the great powers, France and Germany, declaring their opposition to the U.S led aggression on Iraq. On 22 January, both these countries sent an unequivocal message to the U.S. to this effect. France declared that it was willing to use its veto power in the Security Council on this issue if the U.S. insisted on pushing ahead with its war plans.

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A roundup of International events in 2002:
Deepening capitalist crisis, mounting imperialist offensive and rising resistance of nations and peoples

One of the slogans increasingly being used since the incidents of September 11, 2001 is "the war against terrorism", a slogan for carrying forward the imperialist redivision of the world. Offensives against various countries in Asia and Africa were and are being planned as part of this war.

The year 2002 also saw inter – imperialist contradictions escalating and sharpening. Faced with increasing opposition from other powers, the Anglo – American imperialist bloc found it increasingly difficult to execute its plans.

The response of the working class and peoples all over the world to the anti-social offensive was vigorous and continued throughout the year. Many nations and governments opposed the moves of the imperialist chieftains to impose their will on the world. The opposition to the imperialist and bourgeois offensive took various forms and was a restraining factor against the imperialist plans to charge ahead with the redivision of the world through war and ‘peace-making’ maneuvers. However, the opposition is yet to mature from being a resistance into a movement with its own consciousness and vision of the alternative to the status quo. The challenge facing communists of all countries is to provide the workers and people fighting on the barricades with the vision and organisation necessary to defeat the bourgeoisie in their own countries and overthrow imperialism.

Deepening crisis of the imperialist system

None of the developed capitalist economies of the world – whether in Europe or America – had any news for their people to cheer about. Stock markets all over the world had all but collapsed. 2002 was a year which the mandarins of Wall Street would like to forget; however, 2003 doesn’t portend any better! One big corporation after another filed for bankruptcy. Tens of thousands of medium and small enterprises closed shop, rendering millions jobless.

The collapse of the giant multinational Enron Corporation highlighted the parasitic nature of the imperialism. Scandal after scandal showed how the most respected of corporations, held up as models of enterprise by the ideologues of capitalism, were only creatures propped up by greed, and run by the most foul of doctrines. One after another, skeletons came tumbling out of the closets – the multi billion dollar Enron collapse along with the accounting firm Anderson was followed in quick succession by the scandals at World Com, Dynegy, Quest Communications, America On Line (AOL) and many others.

All over Latin America, governments committed to the Washington Consensus, the name often used to describe the American-backed free-market model common in the region since the 1990's, floundered. The collapse of the Argentine economy and crises in countries ranging from Uruguay to Venezuela led to widespread discontent about international financial institutions and US imperialism.

Drive of imperialism for redivision of the world

The ongoing war for the re-division of the world continued. "War against terror" is the main slogan being used as a justification for imperialist aggression and to create the conditions for wars of conquest. Asia, including South Asia, became increasingly a hotbed of intrigue.

The ruling bourgeoisie of India and Pakistan competed with each other to prove who was the most loyal supporter of Anglo–American imperialism – from the Afghan war to the diplomatic crisis which was precipitated by the full scale deployment of troops on the Indo-Pak border. Kashmir was kept smouldering throughout the year. Joint exercises by the Indian armed forces with the US military increased dramatically in frequency and scope during the year. The Anglo-American imperialists also used the crisis in Nepal to step up their interference in the region.

In January 2002, the U S imperialists commenced the "second front of the war against terror", in the Philippines. In his State of the Union address of January 29, US imperialist chieftain Bush proclaimed Iran, Iraq and North Korea to be part of an ‘axis of evil’, signifying his regime’s intentions to launch military strikes against them in the course of the year. Portraying Iraq as a demon possessing nuclear weapons, who would attack the peoples of the world at will, the US imperialists arrogantly declared that they would attack Iraq. As the year drew to a close, the threat of war had not receded. It is a war to gain control of the second biggest source of oil in the world. It is thus also a threat to the interests of other countries and peoples, in particular of Europe and Asia.

The rulers of Israel, with the full backing of the US, kept up their onslaught against the Palestinian people. Hundreds of people were killed and incarcerated by the Zionist forces in the course of this campaign, which they continued with despite widespread condemnation by world opinion.

In USA, Britain, India, Russia and other capitalist-imperialist countries, the bourgeoisie increasingly resorted to fascism, racism, and communal and chauvinist attacks against the working class and people. The deliberate targeting of definite sections of the people for attacks was a feature of 2002 in these and other countries. In the USA, people of the Islamic faith and in particular originating from over a dozen countries have been branded potential "terrorists" and are being persecuted in a manner reminiscent of the persecution of Japanese-Americans in the Second World War. In Canada and Britain, state organised racist and fascist violence against national minorities is on the rise.

Sharpening inter-imperialist rivalry

The G 8 meeting held in the middle of the year was just one more occasion that exposed the continuing and deepening contradictions within the imperialist powers.

A new international criminal court was opened in August 2002 in The Hague (Netherlands) as the first permanent forum for trying people charged with genocide and other crimes against humanity. However, the Bush administration threatened European nations with dire consequences if the European Union refused the United States' request for agreements to keep Americans out of the reach of this court and thus get immunity for their personnel against prosecution for war crimes.

The fact that it took over nine weeks of behind the scenes manoeuvring to hammer out support for Resolution 144 in the UN, permitting inspectors to monitor Iraq, showed the dissension in the ranks of the imperialists. The year ended with intensified opposition to Anglo-US war plans against Iraq from France and Germany and from Iran, Kuwait Saudi Arabia and other countries.

Resistance of nations and peoples to imperialism

The anti-social offensive of imperialism and reaction were stoutly resisted by peoples all over the world, with hundreds of thousands taking part in vigorous demonstrations against various aspects of the man eating imperialist system. The G-8 meet in Kananaskis, a small resort town in the Canadian Rockies guarded by thousands of heavily armed police and armed forces, was met with powerful protests. The elections in Brazil also demonstrated that the people definitely were not easily going to allow their governments follow prescriptions of the IMF and such financial institutions, and wanted a clean break with these practices, which the governments in their country had been following for the past several years.

Vigorous protests in both South and North Korea forced U S imperialist chieftain Bush to backtrack. North and South Korea continued their policy of dialogue to overcome the divisions engineered by the imperialists over the decades. As the year ended, the policy of brinkmanship pursued by the US against North Korea aimed at bringing it to its knees, carried out by blackmail and economic blockade threatened to backfire. The government of North Korea, exercising its sovereignty, withdrew from the NPT. It asserted its right to develop its nuclear program and its determination to defend itself against imperialist aggression.

The attacks against the Palestinian people was vigorously opposed, firstly by the Palestinian people themselves, and by peoples throughout the world. Vigorous demonstrations were organised in various cities of USA, Canada, France, Spain, Germany, Australia, as well as in several Asian and African countries such as Morocco, Indonesia, India, Pakistan, etc.

Anglo American imperialism’s drive to line up the support of the peoples for war of aggression against Iraq was rebuffed soundly. The most massive demonstrations against the Anglo American war preparations were organised right on their own soil, with over half a million participating in a demonstration in London on September 28, 2002! Millions participated in anti-war demonstrations in Berlin, Rome, Milan, and other capitals of Europe, as well as in all the cities of Canada and US. To voice open support to the Anglo Americans on the question of Iraq was very difficult for even the most reactionary regimes to do, precisely because of the massive opposition of the peoples all over the world. In Germany, this became a very important question in the national elections. Chancellor Schröder, who got re elected, had to declare that no German forces would take part in any offensive against Iraq, irrespective of whether such offensive was with or without the sanction of the UN security council!

The fascist, racist and communal offensive of imperialism and reactionary forces world wide met with spirited and growing opposition from the peoples. In San Fransisco, US, powerful protests were organised in defence of the rights of citizens of Arab origin and Islamic faith. In Toronto, Canada, the biggest anti-racist demonstration in years took place. Indian Home Minister Advani was greeted by powerful protests when he visited London, with the protestors charging Indian government with genocide in Gujarat.

The way ahead

The eventful year which has just gone by has demonstrated clearly that the imperialist system, in the throes of a crisis, has no solution but further death and destruction, more unemployment, devastation and wars for the re-division of the world. The imperialist bourgeoisie is unable to sort out contradictions in its ranks. The peoples are thoroughly disgusted with the capitalist system and the imperialist order, and with the so-called reform program and the ‘war against terrorism’. The working class and oppressed peoples want to resist the all sided attacks on their livelihood and rights. They wish to avoid the dangers of another imperialist war at all costs.

The decisive thing is for the working class and hitherto oppressed people to seize the initiative, to set the agenda and organise concretely to take their future in their own hands. It is this, the subjective human factor, the providing of the critical collective consciousness of the people which is of utmost importance. It is here that the working class of the various countries and their vanguard detachments, the communist parties, must play a most vital role. The times have placed a challenge before the communists – and we must rise to the occasion!

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