• Chairman Yasser Arafat Passes Away

• 20th Anniversary of November 1984 Communal Holocaust: Report of demonstration and actions
  Demonstration in Delhi Condemns the Indian State and demands that the Guilty Should be Punished

• Victims of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Denied Justice Till Today

• Barbarism of the Israeli State

• Afghanistan – "Elections" held under imperialist jackboots

• An Important Conference of Communists and Democratic Forces on the Current Situation in India

• "Easy" personal credit – a tool to pass on the burden

Chairman Yasser Arafat Passes Away

In his role as the Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, Yasser Arafat personified the aspirations as well as trials and tribulations of the Palestinian people in their heroic struggle to regain their homeland that had been forcefully occupied by the Israeli Zionists with the support and help of world imperialism, especially US imperialism. Under his leadership, the PLO was able to unify the displaced Palestinian people scattered as refugees and immigrants in countries near and far, around a single vision for a free Palestine. Under Chairman Arafat’s leadership, many scattered struggles of the Palestinians converged to become one common struggle for the liberation of Palestine from Israeli occupation. Working from exile in Tunisia, Lebanon, Jordan and elsewhere amidst the Palestinian refugees, Chairman Arafat not only provided leadership to the armed struggle and insurgency but also personally waged a titanic struggle to gain the sympathy and support of the world’s people for the cause of Palestinian liberation. Defying all odds, including assassination attempts, blockade and vilification, his accomplishments within the conditions of Cold War as a statesman on the world stage, as the voice and face of the struggles of an insurgent people will be recorded in history as monumental, to be studied and emulated by all the forces fighting for liberation. The Palestinian struggle captured the imagination of the masses the world over, from South Africa to Denmark, from Chile to Korea and in all corners of India. Much was learnt by all the liberation movements from the experience of the Palestinian people and their leader, Yasser Arafat, about how to unite their forces and gain the support and sympathy of the world’s people for their cause.

As the end of Cold War approached and the US imperialism prepared for a direct military presence in the Middle East, its two-pronged engagement in the Arab peninsula through Israel-Egypt peace on the one hand, and Israel’s genocidal attack on Palestinians living in Lebanon on the other, required a redefinition of the struggle of the Palestinian people. The heroic intifada of the Palestinian people not only preserved their struggle under new conditions but prepared the conditions for Israel and the US to seek a negotiated solution to the Palestinian question. The Oslo accord was a culmination of the success of the Palestinian struggle under Chairman Yasser Arafat’s leadership, forcing the US imperialists and the Israeli Zionists to accept the Palestinian demands for their own homeland and place the question for solution. This set the stage for the development of the Palestinian struggle to develop in the post-Cold War period. The wisdom and statesmanship of Yasser Arafat and his leadership as the Chairman of the PLO and the President of the Palestinian Authority in the 1990’s were instrumental in redefining the aims and tactics of Palestinian insurgency in a period when the world entered a period of retrogression and revolution went from flow to ebb. The Palestinian struggle stood out as a singular embodiment of the struggle against US-Israeli fascist and racist repression at a time when imperialism trumpeted the virtues of end of the Cold War and the dawn of "democracy, human rights and market driven economy". Under Arafat’s leadership, the Palestinian people defeated the illusion-mongers and redefined their struggle to challenge the US-Israeli onslaught freshly unleashed under Sharon’s leadership. Chairman Arafat remained under siege for the last three years of his life, in the midst of the Palestinian people under siege themselves until his very end, leaving a legacy of uncompromising and principled struggle that the world will cherish. On this occasion of his death, the people of India salute this courageous man, send their heartfelt condolences to the people of Palestine, the Palestine Liberation Organization and the surviving family and friends of Yasser Arafat. We are confident that they will turn their sorrow into strength and carry forward the same struggle to victory.

The story of Chairman Arafat’s life is the story of Palestinian people’s struggle for liberation of their homeland. He leaves behind a legacy far different from what he had inherited in 1969, and the Palestinian movement has matured under his leadership to wage the struggle for liberation under all conditions and against all difficulties and perfidies. In the current turbulence in the Arab peninsula, the struggle of the Palestinian people is a contribution towards bringing peace by defeating imperialism and its drive to turn the 21st century into a century of wars and conquest. In mourning the loss of Chairman Arafat, we pledge to redouble our own efforts to liberate Indian people by defeating the current anti-social offensive and war preparations in India and turning South Asia into a zone of peace.

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20th Anniversary of November 1984 Communal Holocaust: Report of demonstration and actions

Demonstration in Delhi Condemns the Indian State and demands that the Guilty Should be Punished

People started gathering at the Mandi House Square since 10:00AM, setting up banner and placards. People from across Delhi and Amritsar joined in groups, carrying banners and shouting slogans, demanding to know why the guilty have not yet been punished and condemning the state for protecting the murderers in the carnage.

Representative and activists from Lok Raj Sangathan, Hind Naujawan Ekta Sabha, AIFTU, Peoples Front, PUDR, Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), All India Riot Victims Relief Committee (RVRC), Youth Akali Dal (Badal), Rashtriya Sikh Manch, Modern Foods Industries Employees Union, Communist Ghadar Party of India, Naya Sarvahara Vichar Manch and others marched from Mandi House to Parliament, passing through the business, commercial and administrative hub of Delhi, shouting slogans: "Punish the Guilty of the 1984 carnage against Sikhs", "Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler are Murderers!", "Punish the guilty of the 1984 Sikh Massacre, 1992 Babri Masjid demolition and 2002 Gujarat Genocide", "Why have the guilty not been punished even after 20 years?", "Communalism, Division, Genocide – Indian State is the fountainhead", "Communalism, Division, Genocide – Handiwork of Congress and BJP", "Stop massacring people under the slogan of ‘Unity and Integrity’! "

The police tried to restrict the march through less significant and shorter routes – to which a young Sikh organiser retorted that in 1984 the police shut its eyes and stood as bystanders while the massacres and rapes were being carried out; today they had better be bystanders and not interfere with the organization of the march and demonstration.

The demonstration converged on Parliament Street which was blocked by the Delhi Police. Demonstrators set their banners and placards all around and converted it into a public meeting. Artists from Vikalp – a progressive cultural troupe, sang a song against state organised communal violence and the criminalisation of politics. Addressing the meeting, Praksah Rao, Convenor, Lok Raj Sangathan, declared that people, many of whom are victims of the holocaust, have gathered here with a resolve, not to give any memorandum or petition to Prime Minister or Parliament, because the perpetrators of the crime are all sitting in the Parliament and they know very well what the crime was and who organised it. It is the Indian State and its machinery which has been throughly exposed as the organiser of the genocide of Sikhs in November 1984, the demolition of the Babri Masjid and massacre of Muslims in 1992-93, and the genocide of Muslims in Gujarat in 2002. He said that we cannot expect justice from those sitting in the parliament; we have to create our own mechanisms to defend ourselves and our people. People have come here to express this resolve.

Jathedar Kudeep Singh Bhogal, member SGPC and President of All India Riot Victims Relief Committee (RVRC) squarely blamed the Indian State, Delhi police and Congress Party for the genocide. He pointed out that the Nanawati Commission has identified Jagdish Tytler (who is a Minister in the Central Cabinet) as one of those responsible for the genocide and Sajjan Kumar’s (Congress MP from Delhi) role in the massacre is well known.

Ms Sucharita of the Communist Ghadar Party of India pointed out that the 1984 genocide was organised by the Congress Party with full assistance of the state machinery. In front of our eyes we saw innocent people being burnt alive, raped, and humiliated by the forces of the state. All subsequent massacres have followed the same pattern, of being organised by the state and its main political parties and carried out with the full participation of the state machinery. For twenty years, people have been fighting incessantly for justice. But twenty years after, not only have the guilty not been punished, they have been re-elected as MP’s and awarded Ministership in the present government. In these 20 years, we have seen 8 Prime Ministers come and go — no one has taken action against the guilty.

She pointed out that while there have been a lot of crocodile tears shed by the Congress and the Left parties in parliament about the Gujarat genocide, this cannot hide the fact that organising communal violence remains the preferred weapon of the bourgeosie for dividing people and blunting their struggle against the anti-social offensive of the bourgeosie. How serious they are about combating communal violence is shown by the fact that not only are they silent on 1984, but in fact they are justifying it! She denounced all talk of the Indian state having "secular foundations" and pointed out that the foundations of the Indian state were communal to the core. She concluded that state organised communal violence and genocide can only be ended by the workers, peasants, women and youth of India themselves getting organised to put an end to the rule of these criminal and communal political parties.

Paramjit Singh of PUDR said that immediately after the genoocide, PUDR had come up with a report "Who is the Guilty?", based on the facts and testimonials collected from the victims. It was clear even then that the Congress Party and its leaders had organised these massacres with the full backing of the State.

Comrade Sheomangal Siddhantakar of Naya Sarvahara Vichar Manch denounced the Indian State for organising communal massacres to divide and attack people.

Narinder of Peoples Front, Jadgish of AIFTU, Pravin Kumar of Lok Raj Sangathan and Bujju Nayak of Hind Naujawan Ekta Sabha also addressed the meeting. All participants were then invited to join the langar for lunch, at the Bangal Sahib Gurudwara, which is just a stone’s throw away from the Parliament.

Activists of Lok Raj Sangathan and Hind Naujawan Ekta Sabha did extensive mobilization in residential colonies, slums, resettlement colonies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi University and Gurudwaras across the city, boldly distributing leaflets and putting up posters. With both the Delhi State government and the Central government being of the Congress Party, there was intense pressure from the state and police, not to organise the demonstration. During the mobilization, these activists explained that such massacres are not isolated events but part of the program of the ruling class and the rich and their political parties, like the Congress and BJP, to divide people and impose their anti-social program on the people.

Subsequently the activists of Lok Raj Sangathan joined a demonstration organised by PUDR in Ferozshah Kotla Ground and ITO. The activists highlighted the facts related to the November 1, ’84 massacre and demanded that the guilty must be punished.

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Victims of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Denied Justice Till Today

The officials of Union carbide – the multinational American company, their defenders – American imperialism and the Indian ruling classes who saved them, are responsible for the tragedy. 20 years have passed since that dark night and the victims are yet to get justice. While the the Indian state and its security agencies arrest and kill common people declaring them as "terrorists" without any evidence, the culprits of the Gas tragedy have not been tried and punished even after 20 years.

It is clear from this that in the present system the big capitalists and the multinational corporations are given full freedom to exploit and play with the lives of the working people, while they cannot expect any justice. Even the compensation that was promised by the government has not reached majority of the victims.

The ruling parties – be it Congress or BJP or any colalition, protect the interest of the big bourgeosie – both Indian and foreign, and bleed the working people to death. When the bourgeoisie organises massacers and such tragedies, they are not punished; on the other hand, the victims are made to suffers for years on end.

We the workers and peasants must organise to fight for our rights and to overthrow the rule of this blood sucking rule of the bourgeosie.

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Barbarism of the Israeli State

Today, all the freedom loving and democratic people around the world fully support the struggle of Palestine people to liberate their motherland from illegal Israeli Zionist occupation. It has become very clear that with the military and financial support of American imperialism, Israel has become the biggest terrorist power and a threat to the peace in the middle-east region. In the past decades Israel has inflicted innumerable dastardly attacks on the Palestinian people. They have not spared even children, the infirm and refugees. Whenever the people of Palestine, under the leadership of Yaser Arafat, have taken the initiative for settling the problem peacefully, Israel has tried to crush the people of Palestine, through terror and violence.

But Israel has not been able to crush the valiant struggle of Palestinian people, nor will it ever be able to. Today, Israel is standing isolated in the community of nations, except for the support of the imperialists. Under such conditions, the attack on the people mourning the death of their leader, is nothing but barbarism and cowardice. Everybody should condemn this attack. The struggle of the Palestine people is advancing towards its goal, and the day is not far when it will subsume the Israeli Zionists and their imperialist backers in its fire.

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Afghanistan – "Elections" held under imperialist jackboots

Afghanistan is a country and a people who have been brutally deprived of their sovereignty, of their right to determine their own destiny, by the US and other imperialist powers of the world. Today, NATO troops led by the Germans and French are main force along with the US in the occupation. Pakistan, the Russian Federation, and India are other powers which are forcing their will on the Afghan people.

Because of its extremely strategic location in Asia, Afghanistan has always been the target of the hegemonist designs of various colonial and imperialist powers. The people of Afghanistan have had to fight numerous wars to retain or regain their independence. This bitter story is still going on. In the 1970s and 1980s, during the later years of the Cold War, it was the object of fierce contention between the Soviet social-imperialists and the US imperialists. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan was carried out in the name of "socialism" and "progress", while the US intervention was in the name of "freedom". After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Afghanistan’s proximity to the oil reserves of Central Asia has served as an additional reason why the US and various other powers have been keen to bring it under their complete control. Using the excuse of the "war against terrorism", they have carried out their criminal invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, with no qualms about the suffering they have inflicted on the Afghan people. It is these same dark forces, the US imperialists as well as all other imperialist and reactionary forces of the world, who have collaborated to orchestrate the recent elections and the whole song and dance about "democracy".

After raining bombs on Afghanistan, invading and occupying it with thousands of troops, killing, wounding, jailing and torturing tens of thousands of Afghan people, and installing their chosen puppets in power, the imperialists would like the people of the world to believe that all this was done in order to bring "democracy" to Afghanistan! This is the height of absurdity! What does democracy mean? It means the sovereignty of the people. What kind of sovereignty do the Afghan people enjoy when every step they take is controlled by foreign powers, when the "President" of their country cannot move around anywhere, even in Kabul, without being surrounded by heavily armed foreign troops?

The issue in these elections is not whether indelible ink was used or not during the polling. It is not about whether all eligible voters were registered or whether some voters voted twice, or whether many voters were intimidated and pressured into voting, as even the most blinkered foreign "observers" were compelled to admit. The issue is sovereignty, the right of a people to determine their own destiny, their own political and economic system.

Afghanistan’s sovereignty has been brutally trampled. A small people, who have never harmed anyone else, have been subjugated by force of the gun by the combine of all the imperialist powers of Asia, Europe and the Americas. The Indian state, which claims that it is a supporter of the Afghan people, has stabbed them in the back. It not only supported the occupation of Afghanistan by the US and others, it participated in the war against Afghanistan, and it is extremely busy legitimising the puppet rule. Indian people need to condemn this policy. It reflects that the Indian bourgeoisie does not care for freedom and sovereignty of any peoples.

Elections conducted under foreign military occupation, in any country and under any circumstances, are a mockery of democracy. They reflect, not the will of the people, but the agenda of the foreign occupiers. As in the case of Afghanistan today, they are obviously meant to lend a sheen of credibility to the foreign occupation and to cover up the really hideous crimes against the people that are being carried out.

Not many people may be fooled about the recent elections being an exercise of sovereignty by the Afghan people. But these elections should also open the eyes of people about the real nature of the "democracy" being promoted all over the globe by the Americans and other capitalist powers. Merely telling people to choose between a few handpicked candidates, and importing scores of self-proclaimed foreign "observers" to declare an election "free and fair", does not make a people sovereign, does not establish democracy in a country. Real democracy exists where the masses of people have complete power to determine their destiny in their own hands, where they have the means to crush those who exploit and oppress them. Along with this power, the people must enjoy in practice full power to select their representatives in the government and to ensure that these representatives are under their control. Anything else can only end up as a charade of democracy.

The Afghan people are known for their courage and love of independence. The first step towards the Afghan people winning democracy is for them to organise to expel the imperialists and all their baggage from their soil, re-establish themselves as the sole masters of the country, and deal with their own oppressors and tyrants as they see fit. They have done so many times in the past, and will certainly do so again.

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An Important Conference of Communists and Democratic Forces on the Current Situation in India

Keynote presentation

Commencing the proceedings, the CGPI speaker pointed out "What has changed" with the Lok Sabha elections — the party in power had changed, the slogans, and the situation in which the left parties are supporting the government through the vehicle of Common Minimum Program (CMP). What has clearly not changed is the nature of Indian state, the ownership of production, the orientation of economy, the commitment to make India a global imperialist power and the reforms program of liberalisation and privatization, although less openly. It was also clear from the Chidambaram budget that it was not different from the budget of the earlier government. The government is still spending most of the revenues on debt servicing and the remaining collections are being spent on defense and armed forces leaving next to nothing for the people. The government continues to make people’s savings available to the big bourgeoisie at below market interests while the farmers and other toilers have to pay above marker rates. Moreover, the loans of the big bourgeoisie are written of as NPA whereas the farmers are committing suicide in desperation as the costs of inputs is rising whereas the government is winding up the support price mechanism.

One change that needed to be taken a note of was the new role that the Left front was playing as saviours of the bourgeois government. This role created illusions amongst the people and was bringing discredit to the communists. The role of communists is to make people conscious about the nature of the state and not create illusions.

She pointed to various statistics that showed how capitalism was growing and the big capitalists of India were dreaming of capturing markets abroad. The Indian bourgeoisie was becoming imperialist and was asking for its place in the sun as is reflected in its efforts to claim membership of the UN Security Council.

There was very lively debate in the interventions that followed on some issues:

UPA government and Left Front support

Most of the speakers agreed that the conditions of the people have not changed for the better with the coming of UPA government. Com Pravin Nadkar of CPI(ML) New Democracy felt that elections could be used both for advancing the consciousness of the people as also as tactics for keeping BJP out. He, however, agreed that both Congress and BJP were representing the Indian bourgeoisie. Com Subhash Marathe of CPI claimed that Common Minimum Program gave some protection to the exploited and the Left front was able to play a role in moderating the government. He pointed out that Left front was responsible in removing the foreign advisors from the Maithali commission. An activist of Lok Raj Sangathan argued that there could be absolutely no justification for supporting the UPA government in the parliament, which really amounted to supporting this rotten system where the land and labour was exploited only to enrich the ruling class and the toilers and tillers were brutally suppressed. Com Sudhir of the Maharashtra Jan Andolan echoed the same sentiment when he observed that the bourgeoisie has the hold over the state. Then how can we continue to have illusion about the parliamentary path? Another activist of LRS said that the Left Front should consider what faith would people have in communists after five years when the next election comes. Com Haque of CPI felt that it was justifiable to support the UPA government. He opined that it was essential to remove BJP. Since we did not have the power on our own to do so we had to join hands with the UPA. Another comrade of the CPI challenged this view. He said that if we can support the Congress then we should support the BJP also, after all both are following the same course and represent the same class.

Political unity of the working class and toiling masses

Comrade Nazirul Haque of CPI said that 1964 had seen the most unfortunate event of the split of communist party in India. He questioned those responsible as to how it helped the revolution? There are more unions today which are independent or not under the left parties. Why are the unions going to the Shiv Sena and Arun Gawli? Why don’t they come to other communists like Ghadar party? He said it is a sad state that today we have cadre but no mass support. Dalits have not got anything from Mayavati but they still are not coming to us. Until we get power at the centre, we will not be able to do anything significant. We want the revolution to be solid, not be ushered in one day and not be able to sustain itself. Therefore, we want to develop a big movement first. Comrade Mohan challenged the view that workers were not ready for the fight. He said that the trade unions do not allow workers to fight against the class enemy. There are 100s of rival unions formed by the class enemies and their parties. The workers will have to fight to change the situation. Democratic functioning of the unions has to be established so that workers feel that they are a part of the union. Today, the workers are not even informed of what demands the leaders are taking up. They don’t get to know what discussions the leaders carried out with the owners and their management. He felt that the anger of the workers should not be limited only against the ruling party. They should protest in front the associations of the owners like FICCI and CII. We must redirect the anger of the workers against the bourgeoisie. One comrade belonging to CPI also felt that the lack of unity among the workers was a big problem and he considered it a big challenge before the communists. He said that he was cadre of the CPI but he has no problem to work with Ghadar party or any other party. He will be happy to work with whosoever is trying to bring revolution but intellectuals in the party did not take this view. He also reminded the communists that Lenin had exhorted us to study, study and study, we need to study more. Sandip from Lok Raj Sangathan said that if people were not ready then it is our work to prepare them. We should also ask ourselves that if the people have gone away from us, have we done something wrong that has alienated them from us. Another activist of Lok Raj Sangathan talked about the need to establish Lok Samitis. She said all attempts to break their unity must be thwarted by being vigilant. Such committees should be based on democratic centralism – so that all decision will be taken jointly and no one will have the right to unilaterally change the decisions. These committees of the people should not only take up the local problems but also the common problems of the larger collectives. We should fight on the basis that an attack on one is an attack on all and that all should defend victims of this system.

Imperialism and Globalisation

Com Pravin Nadkar said that only 10% of the revenues remain for all development activities, which shows that our rulers have tied us hand to foot in the imperialist claws. Com Singhvi pointed out that globalization was not inevitable. He criticized those in the movement who justify globalization as something positive and portray Algerians fighting against IMF as Muslim fundamentalists. On the issue of the imperialist dreams of the Indian bourgeoisie, the comrade argued that the trends are there for anyone to see. It is in the nature of capitalism to lead to concentration of wealth and domination by finance capital. As Indian capitalism develops it is not surprising that it would want to dominate markets outside also. No one is saying that Indian imperialism is in the league of the US imperialism but the certainly the Indian bourgeoisie is dreaming of becoming big using their control over the huge natural and human resources of our country. Com Sudhir pointed out that CPM pretends to be opposed to foreign investments, but in West Bengal, they have been laying the red carpets to attract foreign investments. Sandip from LRS said that just because US is an imperialist country, does not mean that every one in the US is imperialist. Similarly in India, the Indian bourgeoisie being imperialist is not a reflection on the toilers and tiller of India.

One worker from Britania Company said that parties were essential to make links with the masses. The role of the parties should be to make people aware of their rights. Appreciating the efforts of Ghadar Party in trying to bring all communists together, another worker from Britania company became emotional and hailed the work of Ghadar Party and and expressed his hope that the work to bring about the unity of the communists should succeed.

The keynote speaker from the Ghadar party commended the communist quality of all the participants, who were willing to listen to each other views even though there were criticisms. She said that the task before the movement was to develop the theory of Indian revolution. For this she felt that there should be communist study circles. It need not be called Ghadar party study circle if others would like to collaborate in organizing it. We invite all organizations to write to us about your struggles and we will print these in our paper so that all toilers and tillers become conscious of all workers’ struggles. We should strive to unite in struggle. She supported the concept of lok samitis as organs of people’s power. It was our work to prepare such committees to become the seeds of power. She proposed several other joint campaigns that should be undertaken, such as opposing the Maharashtra budget and sale of mill land and workers chawls.

The meeting was concluded with the promise of close collaboration between active communists, progressive forces and all those fighting the anti-social offensive.

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"Easy" personal credit – a tool to pass on the burden

With the softening of the interest costs, loans to individuals in the form of personal, vehicle and credit card loans have been increasing tremendously in India. Banks encourage people to take loans and readily grant them to purchase high value goods. Many high value goods are also easily available on installments. Besides, people are also being enticed to take loans for all kinds of reasons, from going on ‘dream vacations’ to speculating in the stock market. Is all this really a boon for the working people?

In the capitalist system, the urge to maximize profits makes capitalists minimize the wages paid to workers. With the minimum wages workers get they can just about manage to buy bare necessities of life. However, for the profits of the capitalists to keep growing, people need to buy more and more goods capitalists produce. But workers have no money left, after taking care of their needs for survival, to buy more and more goods because of the low wages paid to them by capitalists. When people cannot afford to buy more goods, there is more production than can be consumed. This leads to the crisis of over-production. While the crisis of over-production is inherent to the capitalist system, capitalists are constantly grappling with this fundamental contradiction. They are constantly looking for ways to artificially stimulate demand for goods.

One of the ways they do so is by advertising. The objective of the entire advertising industry is to persuade people to buy goods, which they may not even need. It is constantly urging people to buy and buy more. Capitalists are all the time busy developing "new" products, sometimes with hardly any difference from the old product, so that people can be made to discard the old product in favour of the new one. They do not hesitate to make bogus claims or claims that cannot be verified about their product. Of course, one capitalist competes with another by claiming that his product is better than the others. And advertising industry helps him to make such claims and communicate such claims to people.

But all these efforts of the capitalists still cannot make a man buy more goods if he does not have money in his pocket. The capitalist class therefore encourages people to borrow money and borrow more money to buy more and more goods. The entire credit card industry has been developed all over the world so that people can buy more goods without having money in their pocket. The credit card industry claims to provide a convenience and safety to its users that they do not have to worry about carrying money. In reality it encourages people to spend more than they can afford. When people are not able to pay to the credit card company, it charges hefty interest rates which further reduces the money left with the people to buy goods for their living. The people then have to take more credit from the credit card company. People are also encouraged to have credit cards from many companies so that they can borrow from each of them. In the past two years, banks are also having more funds than they can lend easily. Unless they lend money, they do not earn interest; hence they too need to vie with each other for a share of the pie!

Another way to encourage people to buy more goods is by the seller providing or arranging a loan to buy the good. Payment by installments is encouraged so that people would buy the goods even with only a part of the price in their pockets. The result of all the attempts of the capitalists to make people buy goods by borrowing ahs made the people heavily indebted. The personal debt of the people of the USA has reached horrifying levels. It is now more than 35, 000 billion dollars, which is higher than the GDP of that country. During the past few years, the capitalists of India have also rapidly moved in the same direction. Loans for personal use by banks are reported to have crossed Rs.100, 000 crores. The credit card business is growing astronomically in the country. Obviously, the debt burden of the people is mounting year after year.

Thus the entire business of providing easy credit to people, whether in the form of credit cards, personal loans or purchase on installments, is really part of the desperate attempt of the capitalist system to overcome an inherent contradiction of the capitalist system. The system wishes to minimize wages paid, and yet requires people to have money and buy the goods and services which it produces or offers! "Easy" personal credit is thus another way by which the capitalists pass on the burden of their crisis onto the shoulders of the people.

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