• Only the Working Class can Save India!
  Call of the Communist Ghadar Party of India on May Day, 2003

• Celebrate May 9, the Day of Victory over Fascism

• Meeting on the Birth Anniversary of V.I.Lenin

• Indo-British Parliamentary Forum set up:
  Collaboration against the strivings of the peoples for real empowerment

• Finances of the Indian State

• The Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003:
  Growing fascisation of life in the US

• Rich make money and forget to pay tax

• About the "New" World Order of US imperialism

• Anglo-American aggression against Iraq:
  Self-serving geopolitical interests dictate the stance of the world’s powers

• Australia - US trade dispute:
  Cracks in the Coalition of the Covetous

• Powerful protests against US occupation reveal — People cannot be silenced

• Intimidation of Iran, Syria and N Korea:
  Unite and fight in defence of the freedom and sovereignty of the peoples

• Corporate Corruption

• Tax Breaks by Bush in USA

Only the Working Class can Save India!
Call of the Communist Ghadar Party of India on May Day, 2003

We are approaching this May Day at a time when India and the whole world face grave dangers. The criminal and destructive war on Iraq has revealed the dangerous and aggressive course of world imperialism, spearheaded by US imperialism. The rulers of India are taking an equally reckless course of globalisation through liberalisation and privatisation. This course is devastating the Indian economy and causing untold suffering.

In the name of privatisation, the assets of the peoples of this subcontinent – the industrial plants, mines, land and water – are all being put up for sale to private profiteers. In the name of liberalisation, all commodity markets are being opened up to imports. This is leading to the ruination of millions of small and medium-scale producers. Workers are losing jobs. Unemployment is soaring. Trade union rights are under attack. Contract labour is being legalised. The peasants are getting ruined and are being driven to suicide all over the country. The bourgeoisie is doing all this in the name of ensuring global competitiveness of Indian industry and agro-business.

The drive of the Indian and international bourgeoisie towards converting Indian agriculture into a base for global agro-business, is leading to disastrous consequences for the peasantry. The policies in tune with the WTO agreements are ruining Indian agriculture. They are destroying the natural environment. They are leading to impoverishment, pauperisation and ruination of the peasantry.

While cutting back on public procurement of food grains and expanding the space for contract farming by private capitalist monopolies and multinational companies, the Indian State is asking the peasants to fend for themselves in the global market. Agricultural policy is openly being oriented to facilitate fulfilment of the greed of international cartels and Indian monopoly houses to reap the maximum rate of private profit. The Indian State is abrogating its responsibility to ensure the conditions that provide secure livelihood for the tillers and toilers of the land.

The ruling bourgeoisie and its parties in power are raising the budget allocations year after year on the parasitic armed forces and state apparatus. However they ruthlessly declare that expenditure on social services and public distribution of food have to be cut to avoid a fiscal crisis or debt trap. Tens of thousands of crores of public money are spent periodically by the Government of India to keep up the profit rate of the big corporations of the Tatas, Ambanis, Birlas and other monopoly houses. The UTI bail out was one such instance. Hundreds of thousands of crores are spent every year in paying the richest individuals and capitalist-imperialist institutions, including huge amounts as interest and loan repayments to the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. However, the ruling political parties of the bourgeoisie in unison declare that there is no money to provide for the people. They are destroying the Public Distribution System and letting millions of people starve even as the government godowns are overflowing with food grains.

The spokesmen of the ruling bourgeoisie claim that liberalisation and privatisation are in the ‘national interest’. The workers and peasants, who constitute the vast majority of the Indian population, are being deprived of their livelihood and threatened with total ruin. How can such a wholesale sell-out and anti-worker and anti-peasant course be in the 'national interest'? All available facts clearly show that this so-called reform program is strictly in the interest of a tiny minority in society.

On this May Day 2003, the Communist Ghadar Party of India calls on all activists of the working class to continue the uncompromising struggle to halt the anti-national and anti-people course of globalisation through privatisation and liberalisation.

Comrade workers!

Faced with the growing opposition among the broad masses of workers, peasants, women and youth to the anti-social offensive, the ruling Indian bourgeoisie is resorting to brute force and the organising of communal and sectarian violence to drown in blood the struggles of the people. It is evoking the threat of ‘Islamic fundamentalism’ and terrorism, as the justification for inciting communal passions, as in Gujarat. The organising of bomb blasts and other terrorist acts by secret gangs sponsored by the intelligence agencies are used as the pretext for stepping up state terrorism. The Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) has become one more black law in the arsenal of fascist legislation of the Indian State, to attack the rights of all those who raise their voice against the status quo.

Sitting at the head of an "emerging market" and with billions of dollars of foreign exchange reserves, the Indian bourgeoisie is militarising the economy. It is seeking newer ways to reap super-profits and emerge as a big power through participating in the imperialist wars of conquest and re-division of the world. It is engaged in war preparations and warmongering against Pakistan constantly. It unabashedly uses chauvinist propaganda to blame Pakistan for all kinds of ills in Indian society. The participation of the Indian bourgeoisie and the Indian State in imperialist plots and machinations has made the situation in South Asia especially dangerous.

Without any consultation among the broad masses of people or even among the elected members of legislative bodies, the Government of India has been allowing increasing space for US and British imperialist interference and intervention in South Asia. This includes close collaboration in the military sphere as well. The working class and peasantry and all the freedom and peace loving people of this country do not approve of this growing interference by the US and British imperialists in South Asia. The growing mass sentiment all over Asia in defence of Iraq and against the criminal aggression by the US and Britain forced the Indian State to formally take a position against the Bush-Blair doctrine of using force to achieve 'regime change'.

Internal contradictions are sharpening within the Indian bourgeoisie between the path of closer collaboration with the US and Britain, and the path of pursuing a multipolar world in collaboration with various states in Europe and Asia.

The peoples of India and Pakistan do not want a war over Kashmir. They do not want a war between India and Pakistan on any pretext. The strength and depth of the mass sentiment of the peoples of India and Pakistan, along with other factors, is forcing the leadership on both sides of the border to bring down the level of hostility and re-open the dialogue towards resolving the conflicts.

We must demand that no space is permitted for military collaboration with the US or Britain! We must demand that not an inch of space is given for Anglo-American forces in South Asia. We must reiterate our demand that the Government of India works for peace and not for war in South Asia. We must unleash a movement to force the Indian and Pakistani governments into a peace process, including a no-war pact between the two countries.

Comrade workers!

India is not safe in the hands of the ruling bourgeoisie. The continuation of the rule of the bourgeoisie means ever rising danger of fascism and war. Only the working class can save India from the disasters that the bourgeoisie has in store. This it has to do by leading all the oppressed people in a revolution. The working class must forge a fighting alliance with the peasantry, its biggest and most reliable ally, in opposition to the bourgeois offensive. It must forge a broad political alliance of various sections of society that are opposed to the present system, around a program which will immediately lift India out of the crisis.

The aim of the immediate program of the working class is to bring the concerns of the toiling masses to the centre-stage. It is to prepare to replace the rule of the bourgeoisie by worker-peasant rule. In the sphere of the economy, the working class fights for an immediate halt to privatisation and liberalisation, and for reorientation of government policy, by stopping payments to the rich and reallocation of those resources to provide for the well being of workers and peasants. In the sphere of the political process, the working class fights for a process of direct democracy that will serve to ensure that workers and peasants have a say in decisions that affect their fate, while political parties play the role of enabling the working people to rule themselves.

Comrade workers,

The working class is one class, with a single aim of thoroughgoing socio-economic transformation of India. The aim of the working class is not merely to replace one party in power by another, but it is to replace one economic and political system by another. Our immediate program is aimed at opening the path for the revolutionary transformation of society from capitalism to socialism. We must stick to and fight to implement this program.

The bourgeoisie has been using us as voting cattle, election after election. Using this vote-bank politics, it has kept us divided. It has manipulated us into multiple unions led by their different political parties. On this May Day, we must resolve to make a clean break with this kind of divisive sectarian politics. We have to fight for unity of the class at all levels, from one union in one factory to one program, the program of the democratic renewal of all of Indian society.

In order that the working class plays its rightful role in Indian politics at this time, we must address the problem of disunity in the vanguard of the working class. Different parties and groups, all calling themselves communists, are continuing to send different signals to the working class. This disunity among Indian communists can and must be put to an end, if the working class is to have any influence over the course of Indian society.

As the first requirement to restore the unity of Indian communists, we must all unite to develop the revolutionary political program for the democratic renewal of India. The Communist Ghadar Party of India believes that it is the duty of all Indian communists to contribute to this task. All workers must demand this of every communist party. It follows that no communist party must tail behind any bourgeois alliance, such as a ‘secular’ bourgeois front whose aim is to safeguard the existing system. All communists must co-operate to build only one political front, the revolutionary front with the worker-peasant alliance as its backbone.

It is we, the workers, peasants, women and youth, who constitute India. There can be no India without us, but there can certainly be a flourishing India without any exploiting classes, native or foreign. Today, the bourgeoisie rules over the whole of Indian society. Speaking in the name of India, the ruling bourgeoisie is looting and plundering her wealth and sharing the loot with foreign imperialists. It is in our hands to change this situation. We must unite and fight to establish the conditions in which sovereign power shall vest in us—the workers, peasants, women and youth of all nations, nationalities and tribes. We will use this sovereign power to transform the lives of the vast masses of our people, and secure a bright and prosperous future for the coming generations.

Long Live May Day!

Inquilab Zindabad!

Hum Hain Iske Malik Hum Hain Hindustan! Mazdoor, Kisan, Aurat aur Jawan!

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Celebrate May 9, the Day of Victory over Fascism

The workers and peasants of the socialist Soviet Union, led by the Bolshevik Party with Comrade Stalin at the head, led the anti-fascist forces of the whole world in defeating the fascist hordes. The Bolshevik Party and the Communist International played a stellar role in exposing fascism, and in building the broad anti-fascist alliance. In the occupied territories of Europe and Asia, as well as in other countries, the working class and peasant masses, with the Communist Party at their head, rose in powerful struggle against the German, Italian and Japanese fascists. May 9 is celebrated throughout the world as the "Day of Victory over Fascism".

The crushing defeat of the Hitlerite fascists and their allies did not signal the end of fascism. Fascism was and remains the ideology, outlook and program of the most chauvinist, most reactionary, and warmongering sections of the imperialist bourgeoisie. It is a program for crushing the working class and toiling masses at home and rapacious plunder and subjugation of other countries. Following the defeat of Nazi fascism, US imperialism took on the mantle of Hitlerite fascism. In the whole period after the Second World War, it has unleashed fascism against its own and the world’s peoples in the name of "liberating the peoples from communism". Since the end of the Cold War, new slogans have been advanced, such as the "war against terrorism", to pursue the same agenda of crushing the resistance to the anti-social offensive at home, and to establish its domination over the whole world through force of arms. Today, it is U.S imperialism and its allies that represent the most ferocious face of fascism.

The Indian working class and peasantry is confronted with the fascist offensive of the big bourgeoisie. A broad anti-social offensive has been launched by the big bourgeoisie with massive attacks on the livelihood and rights of the people. The Indian big bourgeoisie is using state terrorism, fascist laws such as POTA and Armed Forces Special Powers Act, as well as beefing up its military and intelligence apparatus to attack the fighting people. It has whipped up communal and chauvinist hysteria as well as organised communal pogroms; it is organising terrorist killings, all with the aim of justifying its fascist drive against the working class and peoples. The working class and progressive forces have been waging a relentless fight against state organised terrorism and communal violence, against the fascist laws and the organising of crimes against the people in the name of curbing "terrorism".

The Communist Party of India has taken the important initiative to organise a massive rally at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi to mark May 9, the Day of the Victory Over Fascism. Thousands of anti-fascist fighters are converging at this venue, at the end of a month-long Bharat Jan Jagran Yatra, to take inspiration from the victory over fascism nearly six decades ago and step up their struggle against fascism till a decisive victory over fascism is won.

People’s Voice hails this initiative of Indian communists and wishes it all success. People’s Voice calls upon all communists and anti-fascist and patriotic forces to vigorously participate in this important initiative.

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Meeting on the Birth Anniversary of V.I.Lenin

Inaugurating the meeting and welcoming the comrades, the secretary of the Delhi regional committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India affirmed that the teachings of Lenin remain valid even today. Leninism is the further development of Marxism in the era of imperialism and the proletarian revolution. Leninism, he elaborated, is the theory and tactics of the dictatorship of the proletariat in particular, developed in the course of a stern struggle against the revisionists of the Second International and of the victory of the first successful proletarian revolution. Two presentations were made following this.

The first presentation dealt with the teachings of Lenin on the nature of imperialism, and the contradictions that rent capitalism in this, its highest and moribund state. In a vivid presentation, punctuated by numerous examples, the comrade who made the presentation convincingly showed how all the essential features of imperialism, as elaborated by Lenin, such as concentration of capital and wars for redivision of the world, characterise imperialism even today. The brazen attempts of US imperialism to establish a "new world order" under its domination, using the spurious slogan of "war against terrorism", only confirm this. Referring to the current international situation and the US-British invasion and occupation of Iraq, the comrade sharply brought out the fact that all the major contradictions of our era, i.e., the contradiction between labour and capital, the contradiction between imperialism and the oppressed nations, and the inter-imperialist contradictions, have all become acutely sharpened. All this points to the inevitability of the proletarian revolution and the urgent task before the communist party to organise and lead the oppressed masses in this revolution. Day by day, it is becoming increasingly clear that imperialism and the capitalist bourgeoisie of each country are incapable of solving any of the problems of the working masses or any of the problems plaguing the world, but are only capable of bringing in fresh crises, wars and devastation. Only the proletarian revolution can solve the problems of the working masses and ensure lasting peace and progress in the world.

This was followed by another presentation on the new kind of party built by Lenin, the Leninist party, that is essential for leading the proletariat and oppressed masses in the revolution. The Leninist party, it was pointed out, is a new kind of party, militant, revolutionary and bold, with a clear strategy of bringing the proletariat to power by defeating the bourgeoisie; a party which is sufficiently experienced in handling all the complex situations that arise in the course of the class struggle, that is firm in its tactics yet flexible enough to steer clear of all the obstacles that the bourgeoisie throws in its path. It was pointed out that the party is the advanced detachment of the working class; at the same time it is also the most organised detachment of the working class and embodies within itself the highest form of organisation. The importance of continuously building and strengthening the basic organisations of the party, in the course of the class struggle, and the role of the basic organisation in the tempering and education of the party members, as well as in strengthening the links of the party with the working class and the masses, were elaborated upon.

These presentations were followed by lively discussions, with the active and enthusiastic participation of all the members and activists present. Comrades came up with examples from the history of the communist movement in India and internationally, with instances from current world developments and the political system and process in India, to reaffirm the need to organise for the revolution and the necessity for the leadership of the communist party. The meeting ended on a note of revolutionary optimism, with the comrades full of enthusiasm and determination to go out and organise the working class and all the oppressed, to defend the science of Marxism-Leninism and the party, and to fight for the realisation of our goal, the overthrow of the rule of the bourgeoisie and its replacement with worker-peasant rule.

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Indo-British Parliamentary Forum set up:
Collaboration against the strivings of the peoples for real empowerment

The declared purpose of the forum is to uphold the "democratic traditions" of Britain and India. The former parades itself as the "oldest democracy" while the latter calls itself the "most populous democracy".

What are these "democratic traditions" that Britain boasts of? Of having been the biggest colonial power in the world in the last two centuries and more? Of brutally colonising Ireland and depriving the Irish people of sovereignty? Of defending the interests of the biggest monopolies and launching a vicious economic onslaught on the working people of Britain? Of organising racist attacks against immigrant communities? In the last two months alone, millions of people in Britain have been on the streets, protesting against the British imperialists’ participation in the war on Iraq. Yet, in flagrant violation of the will expressed by the people, the British imperialists joined hands with the US imperialists to attack, loot and plunder Iraq. Britain is a country in which the working class constitutes a majority of the population, yet can it be said that the voice of the working class in Britain is decisive in determining the national and international policies of that state?

It is little wonder, then, that this "oldest democracy" finds such a reliable ally in India, the "most populous democracy". The system of representative democracy in India was transplanted by the British colonialists at a certain stage of their colonial rule over the Indian people. Far from representing the will of the Indian people, it was an attempt to coopt the colaborators amongst the Indian bourgeoisie and the feudal classes into the colonial apparatus and lend credibility to colonial rule. After 1947, the same system of representative democracy was taken over and further developed by the Indian big bourgeoisie for lending credibility to its own rule. As far as the toiling masses of India are concerned, this "democracy" has meant brutal suppression of all democratic rights and liberties, assault on their livelihood, repeated communal massacres and devastation. It has exposed itself as a system that upholds only the interests of the biggest Indian and foreign monopoly capitalists, a system which keeps the working class and people out of power.

The Indian bourgeoisie has always looked towards British forms of rule as their model for rule over India. This has suited world imperialism as well, which has touted India as example for all countries of Asia and Africa, particularly those which refuse to kowtow to the imperialist prescriptions and instead adopt other forms of political power

Unfortunately for the bourgeoisie, the broad masses of people are coming to the conclusion that representative democracy does not reflect the will of the masses, but instead keeps them from exercising power. This is the case not just in India, but all over the world, including in Britain and the US. Today people are seriously questioning this system of representative democracy, which clearly cannot fulfil the needs and aspirations of the majority. They are demanding the right to decide the course of the economy and the policies of government in the interests of the majority. They are coming to the conclusion that it it the big monopolies and finanicial oligarchy which effectively run these representative democracies. The setting up of this Indo-British Parliamentary Forum is nothing but a hollow attempt by the British imperialists and the Indian rulers to try and lend some credibility to this outdated and much-discredited system.

India, a land of over one billion people with an ancient history, has a rich experience of statecraft, predating the representative democracy of the British bourgeoisie. It is necessary for Indian working class and people to make a clean break with representative democracy and develop an alternative political system and process in which the workers and peasants, women and youth, of all the nations, nationalities and tribal peoples constituting India, will actually wield political power.

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Finances of the Indian State

Of the bulk of the tax revenue that the central and state governments collect every year, about three-fourths comes from the entire population in the form of indirect taxes, that is taxes that fall on the head of all consumers of goods purchased in the market. In addition, personal income tax collected from salaried persons, from government employees, office workers and the better paid sections of the working class, accounts for about 10%. Taxes collected from the propertied classes – corporate income tax, wealth and property taxes -- account for only 15% of total central and state government tax revenues. In other words, the entire people are made to pay for the services that the Indian State provides to the minority of exploiters.

Of the total revenues collected of which the tax revenue forms the bulk, about one-fourth is spent on maintaining the central and state bureaucracy, on maintaining and deploying the armed forces and beefing up its war capability and arsenal. About one-third is spent on paying interest on past debt to the financial oligarchy, the Indian and international banks and financial institutions. The outstanding ‘public debt’ of Government of India includes about Rs. 500,000 crore (US$ 100 billion) of external debt and Rs. 1,500,000 crore (US$ 300 billion) of internal debt, together adding up to 75% of GDP. Central and state governments are all becoming increasingly indebted to the Indian and international financial oligopolies, the banks and other financial institutions. The bulk of the concentrated financial resources within the country are in the hands of the big commercial banks owned by the Government of India, on whose boards sit the representatives of the Tatas, Birlas, Ambanis and other billionaires.

After deducting expenditures on defence and public administration and interest on public debt, the remaining 40% of the revenue is spent on ‘developmental expenditure’, in a way that mainly benefits various capitalists, big landowners, contractors, officials and middlemen. Through its expenditure on investments, subsidies and handouts, the State creates a captive market for the products of many private capitalist businesses and contributes directly to keep their profits high. Evaluation reports and analytical studies by bourgeois scholars and official agencies admit that the government programs that are supposed to be targeted at the poor and socially disadvantaged sections of society actually benefit the privileged and better off sections.

The working class is exploited at the place of work. Surplus value is extracted from the combined labour of the workers by the capitalist class. The surplus value gets distributed among the capitalists as interest, dividend and retained profits. The peasantry is exploited through unequal trade in the market, which is dominated and manipulated by the giant trading corporations and the State. It is also exploited and oppressed by rent-extracting landlords and moneylenders. After the surplus value is extracted in the process of production and distribution, the State extracts further tribute in the form of taxes and levies on public goods and services. It is an additional charge on the people for maintaining the capitalist status quo and the parasitic state apparatus. And on top of everything, a heavy tribute is levied on the heads of the entire population, year after year and month after month, to pay interest to the financial oligarchy to which the State is deeply in debt. Such interest payments absorbed 10% of total government revenues in 1979-80; this ratio has since risen rapidly to 25% in 1989-90 and to over 30% in 1999-2000.

What is called the fiscal crisis in India is a sign of the parasitism of state monopoly capitalism. The Indian State has become so highly indebted, militarised and bloated in size that it has become a factor that aggravates the crisis of the capitalist system, further accentuating the tendency for the average rate of profit to fall. It is a factor that accentuates the tendency for more to be taken out of the economy than is put back into it. However, in spite of all the talk about the need to bring down government spending and the fiscal deficit, the big bourgeoisie does not permit any cut in military spending nor any postponement, let alone a moratorium, on interest payments. Debt servicing and military expenditures, the two most unproductive uses of resources, are considered to be untouchable when it comes to formulating the government budget. The bourgeoisie, by its very class nature, is therefore unable to overcome the fiscal crisis.

In the name of "fiscal adjustment", the bourgeoisie is cutting its expenditure on public goods and services, including road maintenance, canal maintenance and drinking water supply, running of schools, hospitals, health centres and the public distribution system. It is calling for a cut in subsidised supply of inputs for agriculture, arguing that these subsidies benefit largely the better-off farmers. It is also calling for raising the user fees and tariffs for education, health care, irrigation and electricity, with the aim of expanding the space for private capitalist business to flourish in such spheres.

The finances of the Indian State reflect its class policy of serving strictly the interests of the bourgeoisie and making the entire people pay for it through taxation, inflation and user charges. Such a policy is leading to the alienation of the broad masses of people from the State and the successive governments that implement its policy.

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The Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003:
Growing fascisation of life in the US

State-wise dues to sugarcane farmers

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Rich make money and forget to pay tax

Tax Payers in 2002-03

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About the "New" World Order of US imperialism

US Vice President Dick Cheney, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the President's brother Jeb Bush and Deputy Secretary of Defence Paul Wolfowitz and a few others founded a think tank in 1997 called 'The Project for New American Century'. The aim of the Project's founders was to "shape a new century favourable to American principles and interests". In September 2000, the think tank published a study on "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century". The study laid out the US government's blueprint for the 21st century. This report was published well before the attack on the World Trade Center a year later, in September 2001.

Here are some excerpts from the report about Iraq and the Gulf region.

"The US has for decades sought to play a more permanent role in Gulf regional security. While the unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein."

"In the Persian Gulf region, the presence of American forces, along with British and French units, has become a semi-permanent fact of life. Though the immediate mission of these forces is to enforce the no-fly zones over northern and southern Iraq, they

represent the long-term commitment of the United States and its major allies to a region of vital importance".

What does this report say about America's geo-political strategy?

"At present the United States faces no global rival. America's grand strategy should aim to preserve and extend this advantageous position as far into the future as possible."

"The Cold War world was a bipolar world; the 21^st century world is – for the moment, at least – decidedly unipolar, with America as the world's ‘sole super-power’. America's strategic goal used to be containment of the Soviet Union; today the task is to preserve an international security environment conducive to American interests and ideals. The military's job during the Cold War was to deter Soviet expansionism Today, its task is to secure and expand the ‘zones of democratic peace’, to deter the rise of a new great power competitor; defend key regions of Europe, East Asia and the Middle East; and to preserve American pre-eminence."

One of the members of the think tank, Stephen Rosen, summarised the world view of the Project for a New American Century in an article published in Harvard magazine in May 2002. Rosen has worked in the Department of Defence, the National Security Council of the USA and the Naval War College.

According to Rosen, "The United States has no rival. We are militarily dominant in the world…We use our military dominance to intervene in the other countries… our goal is not combating a rival, but maintaining our imperial position… Planning for imperial wars is different from planning for conventional international wars. In dealing with the Soviet Union, war had be avoided…Imperial wars to restore order are not so constrained."

"The maximum amount of force can and should be used for psychological impact - to demonstrate that the empire cannot be challenged with impunity…Now we are in the business of bringing down hostile governments and creating governments favourable to us…Imperial wars end, but imperial garrisons must be left in place for decades to order stability. This is, in fact, what we are beginning to see first in the Balkans and now in Central Asia….Finally, imperial strategy focuses on to the empire: preventing the emergence of powerful, hostile challengers by war if necessary, but by imperial assimilation if possible."

Based on this imperial doctrine, President Bush enunciated America's national security strategy in 2002 which stated: "We must deter and defend against the threat before it is unleashed" and "America will act against such emerging threats before they are fully formed." So the strategy clearly asserts the right of the US to use military force against any country it believes to be a threat to American interests, or which it believes may become a threat in the future. The document talks not only of "enemies", but also of "potential adversaries" and warns them not to pursue "a military build-up in hopes of surpassing, or equalling, the power of the United States."

The content of this strategy was visible when President Bush announced that war is imminent by saying that "In one year, or five years, the power of Iraq to inflict harm to free nations would be multiplied many times over." So, Iraq has been targeted by US merely because some time in the near future it may pose a threat. Bush further asserts, "The US has the sovereign authority to use force in assuring its own national security." It is clear that the US will disregard the opinion of United Nations and other multilateral institutions, built to ensure peace and rule of law in international affairs, if it does not agree with the view of the US.

In short, the US will decide which country is a threat, or may become a threat, and then act unilaterally to nip that threat in the bud.

The US is clear that different rules apply to itself. "Our world is divided in many ways: rich-poor; North-South; Western-non-Western. But more and more, the division that counts is the one separating America from everyone else", pointed out Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser, in April 2002.

The US concern about oil is spelt out in a study called "Strategic Energy Policy Challenges for the 21^st Century", commissioned by James Baker, Secretary of State in the Bush Sr administration. The study concludes that "Gulf allies are finding their domestic and foreign policy interests increasingly at odds with US strategic considerations, especially as Arab-Israeli tensions flare. They have become less inclined to lower oil prices in exchange for security of markets… A trend toward anti-Americanism could affect regional leaders' abilities to cooperate with the United States in the energy area. The resulting tight markets have increased US and global vulnerability to disruption and provided adversaries undue potential influence over the price of oil. Iraq has become a key 'swing' producer, posing a difficult situation for the US government." It is easy to conclude that "regime change" in Baghdad eliminates that "difficult situation".

The Project for the New American Century is clear about the tasks after Iraq. It points out that the "focus of strategic competition" is now East Asia.

"America's global leadership.. relies upon the safety of the American homeland; the preservation of favourable balance of power in Europe, the Middle East and surrounding energy producing region, and East Asia," it points out. "Raising US military strength in East Asia is the key to coping with the rise of China to great-power status," is further stated by the Project. It goes on to elaborate that "Reflecting the gradual shift in the focus of American strategic concerns towards East Asia, a majority of the US fleet, including two thirds of all carrier battle groups, should be concentrated in the Pacific. A new permanent forward base should be established in the Southeast Asia."

So we have the answer to the question people are asking: "What is America’s plan in the post Cold War period, and as a corollary, who will be the next US target?"

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The conquest of Iraq was vital for the US imperialists for continued domination over the resources of the world’s peoples. The war was required not only for controlling the strategic oil and gas resources around the world, but also to revive the economy of the US through "reconstruction" contracts to big US multinationals, and to refurbish the dollar against the challenge mounted by the Euro, the currency of the European Union. It is the first time that the hegemony of the dollar had been challenged since the end of the second World War, Iraq being the first country to start trading oil in a major currency other than the American dollar.

Cracks in the European-American alliance

Well before the start of war against Iraq, when blueprints were being drawn up in Washington to build a new world order under American hegemony, cracks in the US-European alliance started appearing. The stakes were high for the European powers because Iraq under the complete control of the American imperialists would mean that firstly, the two biggest oil-rich countries in the world— Saudi Arabia and Iraq — would come under the control of the US; secondly, conquest of Iraq and Afghanistan would mean that all of West Asia and Central Asia would be under US domination.

The French government argued that if the UN Security Council had approved the invasion of Iraq, then it would have lent "international legitimacy" to the US action. The French Prime Minister, Raffarin, commented to the effect that in the absence of such "legitimacy" the US had made "a triple error – moral, political and strategic".

Last year, the imperialist war machine NATO had started moving nearer to Russia with the formation of the NATO-Russia Council. This was part of the strategy of the US imperialists, after the breakup of the Soviet Union, to bring its erstwhile constituents into the orbit of the NATO. This produced some jitters among France, Germany and Russia, who feared that this was a move by the US imperialists to weaken them. Their fears were well-founded.

Imperialist Germany has always looked towards Central and Eastern Europe for sources of raw material and markets. It had great hopes of extending its influence in this region with the collapse of the Soviet Union. However, US imperialism moved in a big way into this region, including into East Germany, blocking the attempts of Germany to gain supremacy. Russia meanwhile is being blocked on all sides, its former sphere of influence being whittled away from the south and the east. The French imperialists had nightmares of a US invasion of Iraq putting an end to their pre-eminent hold over Iraqi oil. To add salt to the wound, the US imperialists initiated measures to keep the European powers divided. In a move to wean away Russia from the other European powers, the NATO Secretary General George Robertson, while addressing a Brussels conference in Oct 2002 which discussed the Alliance's role in a world which has changed, singled out co-operation with Russia among the five basic principles NATO will adhere to in the 21st century.

The clash between the Anglo-American imperialists and the major European powers continued on the diplomatic plane also. Right from the time that the US imperialists made known their plans to invade Iraq, Russia, France and Germany opposed the invasion with subtle arguments that neither committed them to outright condemnation of war against Iraq nor showed them up in a bad light as craving for power and oil. The strategy was not to oppose the unjust disarming of the Iraqi people by the UN, but only to buy time to consolidate their alliance and bargain for a better deal in sharing in the plunder of Iraq.

The Iraq tragedy and the rift in NATO has revealed that all is not well with the dream of American imperialists to establish a new world order under its total hegemony. For the US imperialists, the conquest of Asia is the key to the conquest of Europe and the world. But, the European powers want their share of the loot and plunder of the world’s peoples too.

Hence, the scenario after the conquest of Iraq is fraught with no less intrigue and conspiracy than before. The redivision of the world is still on the agenda, the contradictions on this issue even more acute. The world’s imperialist powers are as busy as ever manoeuvring to further their self-interests at the cost of progress and peace.

In the beginning of April, when the takeover of Iraq by the Anglo-American forces was imminent, the Foreign Ministers of France, Germany and Russia met in Brussels. When the fighting Iraqi forces were all but vanquished, they called for an immediate end to hostilities. It appeared that by this time the European powers were reconciled to an American puppet regime in Iraq, but they wanted a fair share in its "reconstruction". Since then they have been advocating that the UN should play a key role in rebuilding Iraq, in the hope that this would prevent the US imperialists from cornering the entire loot. The American imperialists have retorted that while the UN would be involved, it is the US that would call the shots!

Russia, Japan and the Iraq crisis

When powerful anti-US demonstrations took place in Russia, President Putin, quite unlike his French counterpart, expressed in crystal clear terms that he did not want the immense anti-US feeling in Russia to jeopardise its relations with the US. "I will do everything I can, everything in my power, to keep Russia from being drawn into the Iraq crisis" he declared. Even while opposing military action against Iraq in the UN Security Council and criticising the war as a "big political mistake", Putin wanted to continue cooperation with the US in the "larger interests". He said that "Russia and the US are the biggest nuclear powers and share responsibility for maintaining stability." This is to say that the American imperialists should acknowledge Russia as a major power while embarking on the redivision of the world. The US imperialists, however, were not overawed by Russia’s military might since, after the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia has become severely indebted to the US and the international financial institutions, leaving it little scope to dictate terms. The US is also an important trade partner of Russia.

The Japanese imperialists approached the Iraq war with the same logic as the British—be firmly on the American bandwagon, but keep the bridgehead to Europe open. The Japanese government expressed concern at Washington’s plan to establish an interim authority for governing postwar Iraq. Japanese officials commented that a US initiative of this kind would limit the role of the United Nations in Iraq's rehabilitation, and in that case Japan would find it difficult to actively engage in postwar "reconstruction" of the country. The Japanese government plans to embark on talks this week with countries "concerned about postwar reconstruction projects" in Iraq. Yukio Okamoto, an advisor to the Cabinet of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, will visit Iraq's neighboring countries, such as Kuwait and Jordan, beginning this week, while Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi will tour Britain, France and Germany from next week.. Both trips are aimed at sounding out these countries on the possibility of Japan playing a role as a transatlantic coordinator between the US and European imperialists who are at odds with each other over the role of the United Nations in postwar Iraq.

Partly compelled by public protests and partly motivated by self-interest, the Japanese Government took the stand that it would be difficult to gain public support for Japan's postwar "cooperation" in Iraq if the interim authority was similar to the occupation forces under Gen. Douglas MacArthur that ruled Japan after the end of World War II. However, for the Japanese imperialists, who have themselves been one of the most hated colonial powers mankind has ever seen, this cannot be more than a token threat. It is hard for them not to be tempted by the $100 billion business opportunities created in Iraq under the name of "reconstruction". In the 1991 Gulf War, Japan’s capital investment in the region was to the tune of $14 billion. With continued recession over the past few years, Japan has dropped down from being the number one exporter of capital through the Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) route. This may change in the year 2003. A white paper prepared in 2002 calls for increased "intervention" in war torn and post-conflict areas. In recent months, the flow of Japanese capital to east Timor, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Indonesia and the Philippines has been stepped up, ostensibly for maintaining "human security" and for preserving "national interests". It is quite possible that secret deals have been struck between the US and Japanese imperialists over Korea and East Asia, which are imminent targets of the US.

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Australia - US trade dispute:
Cracks in the Coalition of the Covetous

Australia has been exporting an estimated $ 480 million worth of wheat to Iraq per year. The Australian monopolies regard Iraq as "their" market. However, following the US conquest of Iraq, the US monopolies are expected to make a significant dent in this market. US Commerce Secretary Evans tried to assuage the ruffled feathers of coalition partners saying "all coalition countries should be able to play a role in rebuilding Iraq". However, Alan Tracy, president of the US wheat lobby, "US Wheat Associates", promised the Australians a tough battle in Iraq, saying, "the US will cede the market to no one". Australian agriculture minister Truss said "We expect the US to respect the markets that we have in Iraq .. we have been concerned about the US’ use of a mixture of aid and commercial services to break in…"

Australia, along with the UK, was one of the members of the US-led "coalition of the willing" which aggressed on Iraq, and even provided troops for the war machine. There have already been numerous reports of the dissatisfaction which the British monopolies have expressed with the US in the matter of "reconstruction" of Iraq, with all the plum contracts worth billions of dollars being awarded to US monopolies. UK Prime Minister Blair has been talking of UN-supervised reconstruction, as a means to share out the contracts among imperialist powers more evenly. The US wants the UN to lift sanctions on Iraq immediately, which can be done only if the UN Security Council legitimises it. In this way, the US hopes that the regime of Tommy Franks, retired US military chief, will have legal status to sign off the wealth and assets of Iraq to US monopolies. Meanwhile, the US has declared that it will make France pay for opposing the US war against Iraq, by denying it space in the loot of Iraq as well as annulling the contracts of French monopolies with the former Iraq government. Meanwhile there are reports that the German Chancellor Schröder has been making conciliatory moves towards the US imperialists as well, in a bid to ensure that German monopolies are not completely left out of the "reconstruction" pie.

The contradictions amongst the imperialist powers over the loot of Iraq are likely to intensify in the coming period. The forces that attacked Iraq were part of a coalition of the covetous, of the greedy, of the looters and ravagers. They were not in any sense committed to freedom and peace. They took part in the aggression to protect and improve their markets, their sources of raw materials and strategic interests. Their actions, as well as their dogfights, are revealing ever more clearly the utterly moribund character of the imperialist system.

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Powerful protests against US occupation reveal — People cannot be silenced

On April 16 the people of Athens in Greece made their point loud and clear – the war was indefensible. People demonstrated outside the venue of the Informal European Council Meeting where 41 heads of state, including Tony Blair and his Spanish counterpart, had gathered to prepare for a summit in June and to discuss the drawing up of a European Union Constitution and to squabble over the spoils of war. It was no secret that Iraq was the dominant topic of discussion. However, the Greek officials conducting the press conference refused comment to a question – "Does the European Union see American and British forces in Iraq as troops of occupation?", with the response that "this ‘issue’ was not discussed by the EU leaders this morning."

In contrast to the reluctance of the heads of States to condemn the aggression, the people of Europe have clearly spoken their minds. An opinion poll that had been organised on the occasion of the Summit included a question – "was the war against Iraq justified?" 95 percent of Greeks and French and 94 percent of Spaniards clearly said that the war was not justified. And the Spanish government had been a "willing" member of the imperialist coalition that attacked the people of Iraq! In Britain, a substantial 84 percent of those polled had declared that the war was unjustified.

These are the great ‘democracies’ whose ruling classes have no moral or legal scruples against acting contrary to the votes of the majority of people of their countries, and who yet have the arrogance to claim that their political and economic system is the only one worthy of emulation by the rest of the world!

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Intimidation of Iran, Syria and N Korea:
Unite and fight in defence of the freedom and sovereignty of the peoples

The occupation of Iraq by US imperialism in collaboration with their British cohorts is naturally causing apprehension to all governments and peoples in the region. Already, the US imperialists have taken a number of steps which signal their intentions not to stop with Iraq. They have openly threatened Syria to fall in line – or else "face the consequences". They have indicated that Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and others should understand what is in store for them if they do not collaborate with US imperialism. US imperialist chieftain Bush has publicly declared that all countries must remember the fate of Iraq when they think of taking a stand in opposition to the dictate of the US! The top US officials have ben publicly singling out France for attack for its stand of opposing the US in the UN. In a thinly veiled threat to China, as well as other countries of East Asia, US officials have declared that it should be in their interest to check and stop North Korea's alleged nuclear weapons program.

US imperialism is swaggering around, drunk with its military "success" over the Iraqi regime. Through its propaganda in the news media, it is asserting that its supremacy is here to stay forever, that other powers need to either conform or fade away. However, it cannot wish away the anger and opposition of the peoples of the world or indeed that of the people within its own borders.

Right from the time the imperialists of the world united to bomb out Afghanistan in the last quarter of 2001, people in every major city of the world have come out to oppose the war plans of the imperialists. This massive opposition continued right through last year as the US imperialists and their British cohorts tried to unite other powers to aggress upon Iraq. It is this united opposition of the peoples of the world, unfazed by the lies and threats of the imperialists, which forced many governments not to be part of the US coalition and even to criticize it. The plight of Iraq is a grave reminder of what is in store for other peoples, should their opposition slacken and their countries be run over by the US war machine.

The need of the hour is clearly for the peoples of the world to strengthen their opposition to fascism and wars of aggression and seize the initiative. Only this struggle can stay the hands of the imperialists.

The ideologues of imperialism also cannot wish away the objective contradictions that plague their ranks. A unity of marauders based on rapacious interests is necessarily in danger of the marauders fighting each other for greater shares of the loot. This is already happening with the "coalition of the willing".The working class and peoples of the world can draw inspiration in their struggle to stay the hands of the aggressors and warmongers from the epic struggle against nazi-fascism waged by the worlds peoples six decades ago. The nazi-fascists had to finally bite the dust. The unity of the peoples and their resolve to challenge the might of the aggressors and warmongers must be strengthened. History has shown that once the peoples are united and resolute, no power on earth can stop them!

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Corporate Corruption

In this context, the number of audit scams that have been unearthed in the last one year has only gone to show that in the capitalist system, where private gains are the main motive and the management of big companies draw fat salaries, objectivity and truth are empty claims. There are a lot of facts to be hidden from employees and the public, and it is very necessary for these companies to appoint "friendly" auditors who will be willing to shut their eyes to the truth. In fact, collusion is the norm and objective truth an exception. Occasionally, someone blows the whistle and exposes some part or the whole truth. Then there are legal battles and the concerned audit firm is slapped with a heavy penalty, which is but a fraction of its ill-gotten gains.

That is why business scandals continue to be reported from all over the world. Corporate America is way ahead of every country in terms of scale, complexity and sheer variety of such scams. Some recent examples of corporate corruption are:

• KPMG, one of the biggest accounting firms, has been sued for fraud in the context of audits of some big companies like Xerox and, more recently, of Rite Aid and Oxford Health. The company has agreed to pay $200 million as penalty with regard to the last two companies.

• Bristol Myers, the pharmaceutical giant, inflated sales by $2.75 billion in 1999-2002. This means that the company recorded sales greater than what it had actually sold, in order to show that the company is doing very well and thereby to influence its share price in the stock market.

• The new management of Tyco, whose CEO (Chief Executive Officer) and CFO (Chief Financial Officer) are under criminal prosecution for frauds totaling $600 million, is discovering more new scandals.

• Health South has been charged with an accounting fraud of $1.4 billion. It has inflated insurance claims due to itself from insurers.

• The National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) has charged an executive of CSFB with fraudulent allotment of attractive IPOs (initial public offers) to 300 of his corporate executive friends, to persuade them to favour CSFB for their investment banking business. Each of his friends gained an average of $1 million.

• There are a number of suits, in what could turn out to be the biggest case, against Citigroup, J P Morgan and other investment banks for helping Enron and other companies to commit fraud, and for rigging IPOs to defraud the investing public. The total claims amount to $1 billion.

A study of these cases of fraud reveals a few common features:

1. Most of them have been committed, facilitated and abetted by individuals earning seven to nine-digit dollar salaries.

2. Investment banks are involved in many of the fraudulent transactions and practices.

3. Many of the companies, from Ahold to Tyco, had engaged in a series of takeover transactions for growth, and to keep the value of the share price high, they had to, one way or another, meet the quarterly expectations.

All this points to the fact that corruption and scandals are fellow travelers of the capitalist system. Only the elimination of the capitalist system can guarantee the elimination of corruption.

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Tax Breaks by Bush in USA

So, a tax saving plan has been announced by Bush which will exempt corporate dividends from the individual income tax. Jaswant Singh also announced the same exemption in the Budget.

The tax exemption will, incidentally, save $44,500 for Bush on his tax returns of 2001, $326,555 for Vice President Cheney and $600,000 for Secretary of the Treasury John Snow.

This tax exemption helps only the top five percent of the population, or people earning more than $140,000 and with an average income of $350,000. The 2,26,000 richest tax filers, with incomes over $1 million, will receive a benefit roughly equal in size to the 120 million tax filers with incomes below $100,000. The inequity is indeed shocking.

Will it be any different in India?

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