PEOPLE'S
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PEOPLE'S
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Internet
Edition: July 1-15, 2004 Published by the Communist Ghadar Party of India |
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TABLE OF CONTENTS |
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The Current Situation and the Immediate Tasks
facing Communists The 14th Lok Sabha elections have revealed the degree and depth of discontent among the masses with their conditions and with the course being followed by the rulers. At the same time, it has enabled the bourgeoisie to bring about a change of government in its own favour, while creating the impression that it is a change in favour of the workers and peasants. The class struggle has reached a critical point, requiring new initiatives on the part of communists and all the organised fighting forces. As has been noted before, the 14th Lok Sabha elections were called at a time when the capitalist reform program had reached a stalemate due to the rising mass opposition and the intensification of contradictions within the bourgeois class. Various sections of the middle strata were beginning to desert the side of the big bourgeoisie. The big capitalists wanted to use the elections to stabilise their position and fine tune their tactics, so as to push ahead with their imperialist pursuits and anti-social program. Following the announcement of the elections, it became clear that while Vajpayee was being promoted as the best man to lead the country on a shining path, the bourgeoisie was also covering its bases by promoting the Congress Party as the secular alternative to the BJP. The ruling class wanted the people to choose between these two old horses, to ensure that one of its most trusted parties remained at the helm of affairs. The run up to the elections saw ever broader sections of the people resorting to various new forms of political struggle, expressing their rejection of both the BJP and the Congress Party. Growing numbers among the workers and working intellectuals in the organised and unorganised sectors of the economy, among the poor and middle peasants and sections of the rich peasants, women, youth and other oppressed social strata, were rejecting the economic ‘reform’ program and rising in protest against the attacks on their livelihood and rights. Anger was rising against the growing manifestations of fascism, including state terrorism, communal violence and collaboration in imperialist war. The situation was favourable for the communists to have forged a fighting front against the capitalist reforms and against all forms of attacks on the rights of the people – a united front, with the worker-peasant alliance as its stable and reliable core. Our party and many others in the communist movement advocated building such a united front, as the instrument to prepare for the establishment of worker-peasant rule in place of the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie. But the possibility of building and strengthening such a front was blocked by those in the communist movement who conciliate with the bourgeois line that the working class must not think of political power at this time, but accept that Congress rule is the best alternative to the BJP. The deep anger among the majority of toilers to the reckless ‘reforming’ was clearly revealed immediately after the first round of polling. Fearful of a hung parliament and the prospect of the deepening of the crisis of their rule the big bourgeoisie and the powerful media controlled by them went all out to implement their ‘plan B’, that is, an alliance led by the Congress Party. A concerted campaign was launched against the line that India was not shining for the toiling masses under NDA rule, and that the only alternative was to bring back the Congress Party. The influence of this propaganda was strengthened by those in the communist movement who pushed the line that the Congress Party was the “lesser evil” and deserved to be supported for the sake of defeating the BJP. In spite of class conciliation by some within the communist movement, the rising anger among the workers and peasants forced all communist candidates to maintain their distance from the Congress Party, and campaign on a platform of opposition to the capitalist reform and its architects. The fact that the BJP and Congress Party together polled less than 50% of the votes, and the fact that over 60 communist candidates got elected, further confirms that a growing number of people are eagerly looking forward to an alternative to both the BJP and the Congress Party. The resounding blow that the ‘reform agenda’ received shows that ever increasing numbers of people are seeking an anti-capitalist alternative. While the proletarian socialist revolution is still in a period of retreat on the world scale, there are clear signs that things may turn around, sooner rather than later. Contrary to the expressed will of the majority of voters, a Congress-led alliance has been brought to power. This clearly proves the correctness of the political theory of the working class, which teaches that bourgeois democracy is a system aimed at keeping the toilers out of power. Events have revealed how the existing political process is designed to enable the ruling bourgeois class to make changes in its management team in accordance with the mood of the people. The ruling class has changed its management team. It is adjusting its tactics, so as to pursue its imperialist aims and anti-social program, while pacifying the discontented masses and reconciling them to this course. The Congress-Left alliance, the Common Minimum Programme and its promise of ‘reforms with a human face’ -- are all part of the tactics of the bourgeoisie to reconcile the exploited and oppressed masses to the anti-worker, anti-people and anti-national program of privatisation and liberalisation. Following a period of naked aggression and use of force against the rights and interests of labour, the bourgeoisie is organising a transition to a period of covert attacks and apparent concessions. During the past few years under the NDA Government, the space of opposition to capitalism and capitalist reform had broadened to include diverse sections of the middle strata. Now when the bourgeoisie has changed its tactics and is offering apparent concessions, there are sections of the middle strata who are calling for reconciliation and an end to the class struggle. At such a time, it is essential to strengthen communist leadership of the class struggle. It is necessary to stick firmly to revolutionary principles and oppose all forms of conciliation with the bourgeoisie and its illusion mongering. However, following the elections, the leaders of CPI(M) have led all the communists and progressive forces elected to the parliament to support and stabilise Congress rule, as allegedly the only way to keep the BJP out of power. After a prolonged debate, the Central Committee of CPI(M) decided to stay out of the Congress-led Government and to extend support from outside. They participated actively, however, in the formulation of the Common Minimum Programme. The leaders of CPI(M) are acting as the greatest pillar of support to Congress rule, while maintaining that they are not part of the government. They are claiming that they will bring forward the people’s agenda both within and outside the parliament, They are acting in a way that spreads confusion among the workers and peasants. Such activity leads to the conciliation and liquidation of the class struggle against the bourgeoisie. The conciliatory position adopted by the leadership of CPI(M) remains a major source of weakness of the working class movement at this critical time The current situation presents new opportunities as well as new dangers for the working class and people. Privatisation has been temporarily ruled out in some sectors but not in others. The new government has declared that POTA will be repealed, while there is no mention of repealing other fascist laws in operation. These and other partial gains can and must be used to step up the struggle to completely defeat the anti-social offensive of the bourgeoisie. At the same time, there is a serious danger to the fighting unity of the working class because of the illusion that the Left can now persuade the government not to harm the workers. There is a serious danger to the anti-fascist movement coming from the line of reconciliation with the Common Minimum Programme and the so-called “secular human face” of Congress Party rule. The situation calls on all revolutionary communists to step up the ideological and polemical struggle against those within the movement who are conciliating with the deceptive tactics of the Congress Party. The Common Minimum Programme is not aimed at upsetting the capitalist system and the rule of the bourgeoisie. It is aimed merely at making some minor adjustments within the same system. Both the orientation of the economy and the class nature of political power remain the same as before. This program of minor adjustments has nothing to do with the revolutionary aim and program of the communist movement. Hence for any communist to conciliate with this Congress Party program means to betray the vital interests of the workers and peasants. Such conciliation is the main roadblock to the proletarian class struggle at this time. The situation calls for a major thrust to expand the scope of communist propaganda and agitation all over the country. The line of march is clear. What we need to do is to unite firmly and organise to expand our reach among the people. Serious dangers face the communist movement from those who call themselves communists but strictly serve the interests of the bourgeoisie. Communist revolutionaries must fearlessly confront these leaders in the communist movement who are acting as roadblocks to the further development of the class struggle. While we must demand that they stop this harmful activity immediately, we must resolutely expose their two timing tactics. We must engage all communists in ideo-political discussion to defeat both the ‘lesser evil’ theory and the theory that conditions are not ripe for the rule of the workers and peasants. Efforts must be made to multiply the readers and writers for the party paper. All the existing units and regional formations must be strengthened. Initiative must be released to expand the work to newer areas and to build communists units amongst all sections of the population. We must persist in building and strengthening the mass organisations of the workers, peasants, women and youth, and in building committees of voters in every constituency. We must not only deal critically with the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA Government, but also elaborate the Common Program of the workers and peasants. The resistance movement against the anti-social offensive of the bourgeoisie can and must become a proactive movement with its own aim and program. An immediate challenge in front of all the revolutionary forces is to work out a plan for a mass action in the first week of July, to greet Chidambaram’s Budget. Every central Budget has been greeted with mass demonstrations in recent years. An immediate task of all communists is to make sure that July 2004 will be no different in this respect. We must ensure that mass demonstrations take place, with the participation of workers and peasants. The Finance Minister must be greeted with slogans opposing the agenda of the bourgeoisie and putting forward the agenda of the toiling people of this country. Developing the common program of struggle of the people with the full participation of the fighting people themselves, remains the most important task facing the communists today. As our contribution to this historically necessary task, the Communist Ghadar Party of India has decided to organise a Conference in early August, to enable the development of such a fighting program of the workers and peasants. We must go all out to invite all communists, irrespective of party affiliation, as well as all the fighting elements who are interested in uniting around one program of struggle, to participate actively in the deliberations of this conference. Building and strengthening of the political unity of the toilers and tillers around a common program for the revolutionary transformation of Indian society is an urgent necessity. Step
up the struggle to completely defeat the anti-people ‘reform’ program
of the bourgeoisie!
No conciliation with the CMP and the ‘secular human’ face
of Congress rule!
Forward with the class struggle against capitalism and the
bourgeoisie!
Forward with the project to build an India where every member
of society will have assured prosperity and protection!
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Indian
armed forces to participate in joint military exercise with US in Alaska
in July: On 22 June, 2004, the
UPA government of Manmohan Singh cleared the participation of an Indian
Air Force contingent in a multi-nation exercise called "Exercise
Cooperative Cope Thunder" from 5 to 30 July, organised by US imperialism
at its military flight training range in Alaska. The IAF's first-ever
participation in an international exercise outside the Indian subcontinent
was planned early this year. The UPA Government, led by the Congress
and supported by the Left Front, has concurred with the reasoning of
the BJP led NDA Government that such exercises have "tremendous
training value" for the armed forces.
According to the media, the permission to go ahead is "vital" to signal to US imperialism that the UPA government will continue to pursue the course taken by the NDA government, of working to build a strategic military alliance with the US. The exercise has been billed as a collaborative effort between "friendly" air forces. But since its start during the height of the Cold War in 1976, it has been a US dominated effort. The
U.S. Ambassador to India, David C. Mulford, has said that President
Bush had identified the relationship with India as one of "key
strategic importance" to the United States. Mulford said: "In
sector after sector, collaborations and alliances are the new norm."
They could be seen in the "joint military exercises to joint business
undertakings, from academic exchanges to links among civil society,
to cooperation between our governments on many international issues,
including global climate change and the war on terrorism." The
two countries have embarked on the "Next Steps" initiative
in their partnership which "sets out a vision to expand cooperation
in civil space, civil nuclear and hi-tech trade and to expand the dialogue
in missile defence."
The growing Indo-US military and strategic alliance is a matter of grave concern to the working class and people of India and the whole world. In pursuit of its imperialist vision, the Indian ruling class is dragging our country on a course that is a threat to the security and sovereignty of India as well as other peoples. |
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The big propaganda muddle about privatising “loss-making firms” In
its Common Minimum Program, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance
has implied that due to the fact that only “loss-making” PSUs are to
be privatised, this approach will supposedly add a “human” dimension
to the massive deprivation of livelihood and the enormous destruction
of productive forces that the bourgeoise's privatisation has hitherto
caused.
The
question that comes to one's mind is: why will a capitalist, whose very
basis of existence demands maximisation of profits, buy a loss-making
public sector firm and turn it around? Can the people believe that capitalists
will come forward to bail out loss-making firms purely motivated by
good will and brotherly love?
Past
experience of privatisation has amply proved that the bourgeoisie is
propelled by no such altruistic considerations. These are the various
scenarios that provide the motive for the capitalists to bid for a loss-making
firm. And all of them are in the interests of the capitalists and against
the interests of the working class and people.
Case
A - The capitalist is sure that the real estate value of the “loss-making” enterprise is much more than
his investment. By selling the land, he will not only recover his investment
but earn much more. To sell the land, he will not hesitate even to destroy
the productive part of the enterprise and mercilessly send the workers
home. An example in this category is the privatisation of Centaur Hotel.
This hotel near Mumbai's Santa Cruz airport was bought by Batra Hospitality
and resold to Sahara within four months at a price 35 per cent higher
than the original purchase price—Rs 147 crore against Rs 115 crore.
The biggest fraud in the valuation procedure, which came to light later,
was that the land owned by PSUs is not valued on the specious plea that
land does not yield "income". This view was criticised by
an all-party parliamentary committee in April 2002, but nothing was
ever done about it.
Case
B - The capitalist has already cornered a big market share in the sepcific
area, and by buying the "loss-making" making public sector
firm, wants to monopolise the market:
The
public sector "loss-making" fetriliser companies are a good
example. In the case of Madras Fertilisers, till 1991 the company paid
rich dividends, at an average rate of 21.2 per cent, while the norm
for the industry was only 12 per cent. After 1992, the company's performance
had been eroded not because of any inherent weakness in the working
of the company, but because of policies taken by the government which
favoured the private sector fertiliser companies and which systematically
starved the public sector companies of capital and technology.
Another
public sector fertiliser company, National Fertilisers Limited (NFL),
has three plants at Nangal, Bhatinda
and Panipat, which were recording "losses" for the last three
years. At the same time, its Vijaipur plant was running very profitably.
NFL has a good market base in the high fertiliser-consuming regions
of Punjab, Haryana, western UP and western Rajasthan, which were being
eyed by the fertiliser monopolies such as the KK Birla-promoted Zuari-Chambal
group. Through the NFL acquisition, the group intended to leapfrog into
the league of the biggest fertiliser producers in the world.
The
story is similar in the case of other fertiliser companies such as Hindustan
Fertiliser Corporation, Fertiliser Corporation of India and FACT.
Another
example is Jindal Stainless Ltd, which had come close to acquiring the
Salem stainless steel plant of the Steel Authority of India Ltd. This
stainless steel monopoly was looking at Salem’s cold rolling plant for
forward integration.
What
these instances clearly show is that a public sector can be made to
show profits or losses when it is singled out for sale to private capitalists.
In the BJP regime, public sector companies suddenly started showing
profits to attract foreign investors or the public to invest. In the
same way, in the present Congress regime, public sector companies can
be also made to show "losses" by depriving them of capital
and technology in order to justify why they need to be sold. The question
is, why cannot the government which has the best access to capital and
technology, invest in the public sector and make its factories modern
and efficent? Even more, instead of selling off the public sector plants
to private capitalists so that they can do forward and backward integration,
why should not the government take over the private sector plants for
forward and backward integration and for improving the efficiency of
its plants?
Case
C - The government gives various concessions to the private bidder to
buy the "loss-making" public sector. These concessions help
foreign and Indian capitalists to get a foothold in a vital sector of
the economy.
An
example in this category is the Shipping Corporation of India. This
public sector company was running at a loss till the year 2002. In December
2002, with an intention of attracting foreign bids, the government removed
the 25% cap on foreign investment in the industry. The government also
agreed to allow 51% stake in SCI to a foreign company. In 2003, when
the ministry of disinvestment in the NDA government decided to go ahead
with the "strategic sale" of the Shipping Corporation of India
(SCI), the company was made to show a proft to attract foreign investors.
A section of the Indian bourgeoisie who had their greedy eyes screwed
onto the company, stirred up a row between the Ministry of Shipping
and the Ministry of Disinvestment, and argued for keeping away the foreign
bidders. Finally, Essar Shipping (ESL), Sterlite and Videocon remained
in the race. ESL then joined
hands with the New York-based AMA Shipping Equity Fund to bid for SCI.
Over the last two years, SCI could
not carry out fleet expansion or modernisation because the company was
on the divestment list and according to rules, could not undertake any
major capital expenditure!
Thus,
privatisation of any kind, whether it be of a profit-making public sector
company or a "loss-making" one, has always been in the interests
of capitalists and not in the interests of the working class and people.
This is not surprising given the fact that the present system in India
is a capitalist sytem and the Indian state is
the state of the capitalists. So, it is imperative that the working
class and the Indian people outright reject the argument of the UPA
government that it is justified in privatising loss-making firms.
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“Orders to torture came from the top” In the wake of the outcry against the torture of prisoners at the Abu Ghraib jail and elsewhere in Iraq by the Anglo-American forces, Brig Gen Janis Karpinski, who was in charge of the military police unit that ran Abu Ghraib and other prisons, was suspended by the authorities. Brig Kaprinski has told the BBC that orders to torture prisoners came from the top and that she was being made a convenient scapegoat. One soldier has been sentenced and six others are awaiting court martial for abuses committed at Abu Ghraib, and she said that more damaging information was likely to emerge at those trials. According to her, US military intelligence took over part of the jail to convert conditions there into those prevailing at the notorious US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. In fact, the current Iraqi prisons chief Maj Gen Geoffrey Miller, who was earlier in charge at Guantanamo Bay, visited her in Baghdad and exhorted her to treat the prisoners like dogs! Instead of finding scapegoats and blaming lower level officers, she said, top commander Ricardo Sanchez must be seriously asked questions about what he knew about the abuse and when. Organisations like the International Red Cross and Human Rights Watch have made well-documented allegations about the widespread abuse of prisoners, not just in Iraq but at other US facilities as well, notably in Afghanistan and at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Other documents cited by the Washington Post also corroborate the fact that senior officers approved some of the notorious practices used at Abu Ghraib. This gives the lie to the contention of the Anglo-American imperialists that they are champions of freedom and fair play, and that if any abuses took place in Iraq, it was the handiwork of a few errant officers. It is necessary to ensure that the imperialist chieftains and top brass are put on trial for all the war crimes and abuses they have committed in Iraq and elsewhere.
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Israel starts Ariel barrier work and continues air attacks:
Under international law, all settlements in occupied
territory are illegal, and even a UN report has condemned the barrier
as illegal and tantamount to "an unlawful act of annexation".
However, an Israeli military spokesperson told news agencies that the
security fence around Ariel was being built in accordance with the understanding
with the US government, thus making it clear once again that the US
imperialists are fully behind the blatant acts of provocation and annexation.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military has used helicopters
and fired a number of missiles in raids on the central Gaza Strip and
elsewhere. These raids, it is claimed, target the “militants” – in other
words, the patriotic Palestinian groups who are militantly fighting
against the Israeli state.
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To Sir,
In an interview with the media, CPM leader and Chief Minister of West Bengal Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said, "Communists are not fools. They are not against reforms. What we want is reforms with a human face".
Masses of people in town and countryside have raised
their voice in opposition to the reforms program of privatisation, liberalisation
and globalisation. This program has devastated the livelihood of the
entire working people of India. In the cities, the reforms program has
led to hiking the charges for services such as public transport, electricity,
water, education, healthcare and other services. Through privatisation,
the property of Indian people — from state-owned enterprises, to the
parks, highways, rivers, mines, forests, desert and the seas, have been
sold to private capitalists to make maximum profit from the exploitation
of people.
The reforms program has cut down various subsidies, such as subsidised power supply for the agriculture, subsidy for fertilizers, etc. Also the Indian and foreign moneylenders have squeezed the credit availability, leading to the inability of the peasants & farmers to get credit on reasonable terms for cultivation. Pesticide and fertilizer industries are given a free hand to loot the peasants by hiking their prices and providing dubious quality products. Liberalisation has also led to the dumping of cheap grains and other agricultural produces in India, denying the market for the Indian produce. As a consequence of all these reforms, Indian peasants are squeezed and blood sucked out of them. And the vast majority of them are pauperized.
Over 93% of the working people in India are surviving
as unorganized workers. Many of the large-scale industrial workers thrown
out of their jobs due to closures are joining the ranks of unorganized
workers every day. Under the impact of liberalization and privatisation,
the livelihood of the unorganized workers is threatened, and they are
ruined and forced into destitution.
Thus the liberalization and privatisation program of
the capitalists and imperialists has destroyed the lives of the entire
Indian people except a small minority of capitalists.
More than at any time in the past, there is a clear
realization that it is liberalisation and privatisation which is the
root cause of the economic hardships of the working people and it is
a program in the interests of the big capitalists and imperialists.
It is in these conditions that Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee
welcomes this reforms program and says "Reforms is a must. Either
you reform or perish."
Reforms with a "human face" is hogwash. It is not possible to enrich both the imperialists and the workers and peasants. Looking back, the "socialistic pattern of society" of late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, which talked of keeping the commanding heights of the economy in the hands of the state and reducing inequities in society, actually resulted in the opposite. What can one expect of a program which avowedly wants capitalists to prosper and then promises that the oppressed will also be looked after? Government will continue to provide an “investor friendly” environment for the capitalists to loot and plunder the Indian people! Meanwhile the attempt will be to pacify people through illusions so they do not revolt against the unjust and inhuman system.
Buddhadev Bhattacharji is not saying anything different
from what parties such as BJP or Congress have been saying. They are
talking about sugarcoated pills instead of the raw and bitter pills.
They are saying all these reforms, liberalisation and privatisation,
are inevitable, but has to be packaged well! You have to hang people,
but hang them in a decent way! So when CPM talks about opposing reforms
on the streets, we have to realize that it is meant for the consumption
of the masses and to keep them fooled. To the capitalists, they are
giving the green signal to keep the pro-capitalist reforms program going.
Buddhadebji justifies his stand saying "I am very
conscious that I am not building socialism", and "it is not
possible to bring socialism in just one corner of the country and in
a single state"! Fine, you have built capitalism in West Bengal
saying you cannot build socialism in a "corner of the country"
having a population of over seven crores. The point is, do you want
to build capitalism in India with a population of hundred crores, saying
it is a "small corner of the world"? I feel that as
long as you keep building capitalism, you cannot build socialism. I,
as a communist, have always felt otherwise. I feel that a communist
in the conditions of imperialism has to be fighting to build socialism,
every instant.
We communists must resolutely take forward the struggle
against liberalisation and privatisation. We need to wage struggle against
the line of "reforms with a human face" in order to advance
the struggle for the livelihood of toiling people, in order to defeat
the imperialist plans of the Indian bourgeoisie, and in order to build
socialism and communism.
Bhaskar Singh |
Clashes in South Waziristan: Having
established their presence in Afghanistan, the US imperialists have been
putting maximum pressure on Pakistan.
What is going on under the cover of cooperation in the “war against
terrorism” is actually all-out armed assault against the population of one
region of Pakistan, carried out by the Pakistani army and paramilitary force
under compulsion from the US.
Violent
clashes between the resident population and the security forces have
broken out again in the region of South Waziristan on the border of
Pakistan and Afghanistan, in which several people have lost their lives. Since the beginning of the year, the Pakistani authorities have
been trying in one way or the other to “flush out foreign militants”
as demanded by the US. In
March, a bloody campaign left over 120 dead. Since the campaign failed to achieve the desired result, the
authorities switched tactics and sought in April to come up with some
kind of agreement with the local population so that they would voluntarily
surrender those sought by them. To put pressure on them, a huge collective
fine of Rs. 5.4 million was imposed on the population as a whole, using
the provisions of the barbarous laws formulated in British colonial
times. This caused massive resentment among the
people, but not a single person was surrendered. Obviously, with the failure of these “peaceful” tactics, the
authorities are once again resorting to armed assault. Commentators in Pakistan are saying that
the situation is critical and can have serious repercussions for peace
and security in Pakistan as a whole.
The Waziri tribes who live in this region have traditionally lived on both sides of the border, and are used to coming and going without any hindrance. They are a proud and fiercely independent people, who kept the British colonialists at bay, and have also managed to maintain their own self-governing institutions in Pakistan. The current campaign is not only a brutal assault on them, but a violation of the long-standing agreement between them and the Pakistani state. To think that they will yield up some from among them because of the US imperialists or their allies is sheer nonsense. But that is precisely the kind of pressure that the US, caught in a quagmire of its own making in Afghanistan, is putting on the Pakistani authorities. The real terrorists are not the Waziris, but the US imperialists who have no business being in that region. Pakistan must take a firm stand against being sucked into the plans of US imperialism in the region, if it is to enjoy any kind of peace and stability in the coming days. The people of Pakistan must take the lead in opposing the pressure of the US imperialists. |
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