• Current Situation and the Immediate Tasks facing Communists
  Statement of the CC of CGPI, 16 June, 2004

• The Common Minimum Program of the UPA Government is aimed at deceiving the people and weakening the movement against capitalist reforms
  Statement of the CC of CGPI, 2 June, 2004

• Employees of Modern Food Industries resolve to step up their struggle against privatisation

• UN Security Council Resolution No. 1546:
  A Resolution to legitimise the imperialist occupation of Iraq

• Chennai port strike exposes Congress doublespeak

• BALCO workers to resume struggle against privatisation

• Letters to Editor
  UNSC - a playground for sorting out inter-imperialist contradictions!
  Stock market performance and bourgeois infighting

Current Situation and the Immediate Tasks facing Communists
Statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, 16 June, 2004

As has been noted before, the 14th Lok Sabha election was called at a time when the capitalist reform program was stuck due to the rising mass opposition and due to 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 pursuit 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 horses, to ensure that one of its most trusted parties remains 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, 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 and tillers 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 for their plan B, which 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 enhanced by those in the communist movement who pushed the line that Congress Party is the “lesser evil” and deserves 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 the movement can 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 us 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 aim 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 the proletarian class struggle with revolutionary communist leadership. 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, extending 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, claiming that they will bring forward the people’s agenda both within and without 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 Front 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 must be done is to firmly unite and orgainse to expand our work 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 toilers and tillers. 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 Toilers and Tillers. 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 toilers and tillers.

Developing the common program of struggle of the toilers and tillers with the full participation of the fighting people themselves remains the most important tasks 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. It can and must be done!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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The Common Minimum Program of the UPA Government is aimed at deceiving the people and weakening the movement against capitalist reforms
Statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, 2 June, 2004

These developments prove that the system of democracy that exists in India, and its political process, allow the people to at most bring down one party from power, but excludes them completely from the process of deciding what should take its place. The people contributed to voting out the NDA Government. But the big capitalists have put together the UPA Government, headed by the Congress Party and with unelected ministers. They did this to ensure that the anti-social offensive of the bourgeoisie can be continued, with some apparent concessions to the toiling masses.

With the swearing in of Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister and P.Chidambaram as Finance Minister, the UPA Government has signaled to the capitalists of the world that they need have no fear that India will deviate from the course of "free market reform". This means that the interests of the monopoly capitalists, Indian and international, to reap the maximum rate of profit, will continue to be the main driver of the economy. What will be added is a "human face" to the reforms in the form of a "Common Minimum Program", whose aim is to deceive the workers and peasants and weaken the movement against capitalist reforms.

In order to continue with the same old course of globalisation through liberalisation and privatisation, in pursuit of the imperialist aims of the big bourgeoisie, certain adjustments to the earlier course have become necessary. The bourgeoisie has recognised the need to announce various concessions, so as to pacify the masses who are expressing their discontent with their deteriorating living conditions and attacks on their rights.

A temporary halt has been announced to the privatisation plans in some sectors, but not in others. Privatisation plans have been shelved in the petroleum sector, but not in the power sector. The fascist POTA will be scrapped, but not the Armed Forces Special Powers Act and other black laws. Giving concessions to some and not to others, the aim of this policy is to divide and weaken the fighting unity of the working class and people against the bourgeois offensive. This is the main aim of the Common Minimum Programme.

Many of the concessions are not real. They are being announced merely for effect. If all peasants are to be assured procurement at remunerative prices, as the Common Minimum Programme promises, then the state must establish monopoly control over the sphere of wholesale trade. It must drive the multinational companies and all private capitalist operators out of this business. It must completely reverse the trade liberalisation measures. The Congress Party-led alliance has no plan or intention to implement such a reversal. It is feeding the peasantry with promises that it does not intend to fulfill.

Life experience has shown that the program of liberalisation and privatisation cannot be pursued in a way that would ensure secure livelihood for all the toilers and tillers of the land. On the contrary, this program is aimed at enriching the big bourgeoisie at the expense of the vital interests of the rest of society. This program must be halted. Anti-people measures already taken must be reversed. The workers and peasants must not give up this principled position under any pretext.

What is most harmful to the cause of the working class at the present time is the fact that the Congress Party is openly claiming that this Common Minimum Programme has the full support of the Left Front, led by the CPI(M).

The majority of voters in more than 60 constituencies have elected and sent communists to the Parliament. Instead of fighting to defend and advance the aim and program of the working class, the Left Front, led by the CPI(M), has participated in the anti-democratic act of forming a Congress-led government with an unelected Prime Minister. In return, the Congress Party has rewarded the CPI(M) by offering one of its members the post of Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

By extending support to the UPA and its Common Minimum Programme, the CPI(M) is contributing to the illusion that it is possible to pursue the bourgeois offensive in a humane way. Instead of exposing the truth and clarifying the path of struggle to be followed by the working class, the CPI(M) and its followers are creating confusion. They are spreading harmful illusions about the UPA Government, about capitalist reform and about the "secularism" and "anti-imperialism" of the Congress Party. Their line of action is assisting the bourgeoisie in its aim of liquidating the struggle of the working class and peasantry.

It is the united struggles of the working class, the peasantry and other sections of the oppressed masses that has succeeded in forcing the ruling bourgeois class in to a defensive position on the question of “free market reforms”. It is the class struggle that has forced the bourgeoisie to announce various concessions to the workers and peasants at this time. Instead of using this situation to step up the struggle, the leadership of CPI(M) is extending support to the program of stabilising Congress rule, thereby compromising the very aim of the proletarian class struggle. Comrade Lenin has taught, and the life experience of the Indian working class has confirmed, that the bourgeoisie always keeps switching its tactics in dealing with the struggles of the working class and oppressed masses. One tactic is the use of brute force and fascist methods to suppress the struggles. Another tactic is to announce concessions to pacify and split the fighting forces. The bourgeoisie switches its tactics from one to the other, or to some combination of both, depending on the ups and downs in the class struggle.

The Common Minimum Programme of the UPA Government is a signal that the Indian bourgeoisie is switching its tactics to deal with the upsurge in the peoples' discontent and anger against the anti-social course being followed. It is nothing but an instrument to continue with the agenda of the big bourgeoisie under a new mask. Its aim is to spread the illusion that the government is trying its best to serve the interests of all sections of the population. For a communist to support this CMP means to compromise with the class enemy and betray the interests of the working class.

The duty of all communists, in this situation, is to consistently expose the fraudulent nature of the illusions being fostered by the Congress-led UPA and its Common Minimum Programme. The duty of communists is to lead and step up the class struggle in defence of the livelihood and rights of all the toilers and tillers, without compromising on principles.

The Communist Ghadar Party of India calls on all revolutionary communists and activists in the mass movement to

(i) step up their uncompromising struggle against the bourgeois offensive, headed by the Congress-led UPA Government at this time; and

(ii) reject and oppose the path of class conciliation being advocated in the name of a "middle road" between the exploiters and the exploited. Reject the "Common Minimum Programme" of the Congress-led Government as nothing but the old program of the bourgeoisie under a new mask!

Step up the mass struggles to completely defeat the anti-social program of the bourgeoisie!

Oppose and defeat those in the movement who are conciliating with the Congress Party and its fraudulent "middle road"!

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Employees of Modern Food Industries resolve to step up their struggle against privatisation

The newly formed Congress-led UPA government has stated in its Common Minimum Program that there will be no disinvestment of profit-making companies and that the disinvestment process, where it does take place, shall be transparent. The new government has also pledged that it will ensure that the workers' interests are not harmed as a result of privatisation.

In the light of these promises of the new government, the Modern Food Industries Employees Union has given the call to intensify its struggle (which has been carried on relentlessly for the last 5 years and more), and is once again placing all the facts of the case before the new government, demanding that this grave injustice done to the workers and employees of MFIL be reversed. The Modern Food Industries Employees Union is also demanding that those responsible for this illegitimate sale of MFIL to HLL, causing major loss of human and material productive capacity, destruction of the wealth created by the people, and significant loss to the public, be immediately brought to book and punished.

It may be recalled that in January 2000, 74% of the shares of MFIL was sold to Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL), at a price far less than the actual value of the land and assets of the company. This was the first case of disinvestment of a public sector company. At the time of this disinvestment, MFIL was a rapidly growing, profit-making company, enjoying a reputed brand name and fulfilling a large number of government contracts for the army, school mid-day meal schemes, hospitals, etc. The terms of the agreement under which MFIL was sold to HLL were never made public, despite repeated demands by the employees. Although the then NDA government had promised job security to the employees, within the very first year itself, the main leaders of the Modern Food Industries Employees Union at Delhi Bread Unit at 1, Lawrence Road, were suspended on trumped-up charges.

Over the last 5 years, the HLL management of MFIL has systematically closed down fully functioning plants, cut back on production, and begun to contract out the bread production, in an effort to show on the balance sheets that MFIL was a loss-making company. In spite of this, in 2002, the remaining 26% of the shares of MFIL were sold off to HLL, with the Ministry of Disinvestment of the then NDA government claiming that it was satisfied with the performance of the "strategic partner" (even as MFIL had come up before the BFIR as a potential "sick unit"). All casual employees were thrown out, and the HLL management openly pressurised the workers to take VRS and leave or else face transfers, even to non-functioning units. The employees faced enormous hardships.

From the very beginning of this disinvestment process, and even before, since 1997 (under the UF government) when the disinvestment plans of MFIL were first being rumoured, the Modern Food Industries Employees Union has been fighting a militant struggle opposing the privatisation of MFIL. The struggle has taken the form of legal battles in the Labour Courts and the Delhi High Court, dharnas and gate meetings, mass demonstrations in front of the Parliament House, the Labour Ministry and the HLL management headquarters, reports to the press, press conferences and interviews to the national and international media. The Modern Food Industries Employees Union repeatedly submitted memoranda and appeals to the Labour Minister, the Minister for Disinvestment and even the Prime Minister.

The HLL management left no stone unturned in its attempts to break the unity of the employees and smash their struggle. False chargesheets were issued against the leaders of the union. They were suspended and one of the main leaders was subsequently dismissed. The workers were threatened and beaten up, but under the leadership of the Modern Food Industries Employees Union, the struggle continued without let-up. As a result of this prolonged and brave struggle, last year, the Prime Minister was finally forced to set up a committee to look into the conditions of the employees of the public sector units where disinvestment had taken place. The Modern Food Industries Employees Union deposed before this committee and placed all these facts before it. Meanwhile, the struggle of the employees of MFIL, under the leadership of the Modern Food Industries Employees Union, continues.

People's Voice/MEL has consistently pointed out that the entire privatisation program is anti-social and anti-national. It is being carried out to satisfy the greed for maximum profits of the big capitalists and multinationals, both Indian and foreign, at the expense of the livelihood and security of lakhs of workers and the interests of society at large. Employees of major public sector companies, banks, insurance, health and educational institutions, etc. are all facing the threat of privatisation. Cutting across trade union and party affiliations, workers and working people in all these sectors have been coming together to vigorously oppose the privatisation plans of the Indian bourgeoisie. This development has been responsible, in no small measure, for stalling the disinvestment program of the ruling class, and leading to the electoral defeat of the NDA government at the Centre.

The working class and working people have to continue and step up this united struggle today, to put maximum pressure on the new Congress-led UPA government to keep its promises to the people, without having any illusion that the big bourgeoisie, whose interests the Congress Party represents, has given up its anti-social agenda and that it will not try to impose the same under a different garb, with a so-called "human face".

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UN Security Council Resolution No. 1546:
A Resolution to legitimise the imperialist occupation of Iraq

The "Interim Government" will not have the power to prohibit military operations by the US and its allied troops in Iraq. The US command over occupation troops in Iraq will continue after 30 June, in the name of maintaining "law and order".

The US imperialist puppet Iyad Allawi, appointed as Prime Minister in May 2004, has written to the Security Council that he is "inviting" the Anglo-American troops, now renamed as "Multinational Force", to "cooperate and coordinate" with his government to maintain security in Iraq. Mr. Allawi has declared that "as of now, all armed forces outside of state control...are illegal...those that have chosen violence and lawlessness, over transition and reintegration, will be dealt with harshly".

In other words, the "order" that will be maintained in Iraq is the imperialist occupation. Sovereignty - the supreme decision making power - will remain in the hands of the US imperialists. Anyone who dares to question this will be "dealt with harshly". The only new element is that the occupation troops will now be called a Multinational Force; the illegal occupation of Iraq now has the formal approval of the UN Security Council.

It is by now well accepted internationally that the story about "imminent threat from weapons of mass destruction" was nothing but a ploy of Anglo-American imperialism, to influence domestic public opinion in favour of the armed aggression and occupation of Iraq. The real reason for waging war to replace the regime of Saddam Hussein was to pave the way for US imperialist domination in Central Asia and the Persian Gulf. In place of the "dictatorship" of Saddam Hussein, the imperialists are setting up a dispensation that would be "free and fair" to the US imperialists and their allies.

The resistance of the Iraqi people has developed from the stage of guerilla warfare to the stage of large-scale demonstrations and armed clashes involving thousands of people. Tens of thousands have come out on the streets to oppose the occupation and demand their sovereignty back. This heroic national liberation struggle of the Iraqi people reached a high point in April 2004, with mass actions stretching from the town of Kirkuk in the north to regions in the far south. The imperialist occupation forces reacted with utmost ferocity. They imposed an inhuman month long siege of Fallujah. They carried out the massacre of thousands of Iraqi men, women and children. Over the last week of April and early May 2004, the world has been witness to the gory pictures of torture and brutality unleashed by the Anglo-American troops on Iraqi prisoners. This has confirmed what the peoples of the world had believed or suspected all along – that the Anglo-American imperialists are among the most barbarous, brutal and bestial forces that the world has ever seen.

The Anglo-American imperialists cynically call their illegitimate aggression and destructive occupation of Iraq a "nation building" project. They are seeking to establish an American style democracy in Iraq, with a Jeffersonian Constitution. It is a fact that Jeffersonian democracy was and remains the rule of white men of property. The Iraqi people have risen up in arms against this anti-national project, to throw the occupiers out and regain their sovereignty. This entirely legitimate struggle of the Iraqi nation is being deemed to be "lawlessness", while the illegal occupiers are calling themselves nation builders.

In the era of colonialism, the western imperialist powers promoted the notion of the "white man’s burden", to justify their naked aggression and destruction of other civilizations, which they referred to as "barbaric". They carried out the destruction and occupation of nations in Asia, Africa and Latin America under the garb of "civilizing the barbarians".

The 20th century witnessed the emergence of a new kind of nation building project – the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. All nations, big and small, enjoyed equal status in the USSR, with sovereign rights including the right to secede from the Union if and when they so wished. Women and men enjoyed equal status in the polity, and engaged in the creation of a society free from exploitation of one person by another, under the leadership of the working class and its vanguard communist party.

During the Cold War period, both the US and the Soviet Union promoted the notion of "limited sovereignty", to justify the imposition of their dictate on other nations and peoples within their respective spheres of influence. Today, after the end of the Cold War, US imperialism is reverting to the old colonial line of the "white man's burden". It is allegedly the burden of US imperialism to rid the world of terrorism and "rogue states".

The peoples of the world must continue to uncompromisingly oppose the so-called nation building project of the imperialists in Iraq. There can be no compromise on the principle of sovereignty. Every nation and people, including the Iraqi people, has the right to establish and develop the political and economic system of their choice, free from any kind of foreign interference.Down with the imperialist occupation of Iraq!

Victory to the heroic struggle of the Iraqi people to regain their sovereignty!

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Chennai port strike exposes Congress doublespeak

Over 300 workers of the company went on strike May 23, demanding reinstatement of four colleagues who were suspended by CCTL during a wage dispute between the management and the employees' association. The association is demanding a salary hike of Rs.2,000 a month for checkers and Rs.4,000 a month for crane operators.

Pretending to be on the side of the workers, Shipping Minister Baalu “charged” CCTL with adopting unfair labour practices. "Since there is no standing order governing CCTL workers, the management tried to create one by getting signatures from employees on plain paper. Those who were reluctant were coaxed and some intimidated," he said. He “warned” that no organization would be allowed to "get away with anti-labour policies". He further explained that all economic activities have to "have a human face"!

However, when he was asked whether this was a good enough reason why ports and port operations should not be privatised, he changed track and maintained that "privatisation has benefited everybody". "The strike gave a bad name to us internationally. If it is not resolved quickly, Chennai Port Trust Authority will be asked to review the agreement between it and CCTL." But, he went on to assure the bourgeoisie that the contract with CCTL would not be terminated. "What happens (in this case) should not obstruct further flow of investments into the port sector," Baalu noted.

The strike at CCTL has severely affected operations at the Chennai port. The CCTL Employees Association has refused to cow down to the threats of the CCTL management. The standstill in shipping operations has affected the bourgeoisie's profit so much that they immediately pressed in their premier association, CII, to put pressure on the government to sort out the strike immediately.

People's Voice expresses its support to the striking workers and their just cause. This strike has assumed great importance for the working class at a time when the government has announced that it plans to go ahead with the privatisation of ports on the grounds that they are allegedly "loss-making".

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BALCO workers to resume struggle against privatisation

BALCO was among the first of the public sector companies in which disinvestment was carried out by the NDA government. It was sold to Sterlite, for just Rs.5.51 billion, far lower than the actual value of the land and assets of the company at that time. Despite repeated demands by the striking workers, the terms of the agreement under which the disinvestment was carried out were never made public. BALCO was a profit-making company at the time when it was sold to the multinational Sterlite, which enjoyed a dubious reputation in the companies it had acquired in the past. Militantly opposing the sale, the workers of BALCO had struck work for 67 days and made headlines all across the country, following which their struggle was brutally crushed by the Sterlite management. .

The Common Minimum Program (CMP) of the newly formed Congress-led UPA government has stated that there will be no disinvestment of profit-making companies and that the disinvestment process, where it does take place, shall be transparent. Using this occasion, and braving the threats and splittist activities of the Sterlite management, the workers of BALCO have decided to intensify their struggle against the sale of their company. They are demanding that the UPA government reveal the precise terms and conditions according to which the sale of BALCO to Sterlite was carried out. They have demanded that the disinvestment of BALCO, which goes against the very spirit of the CMP, should be immediately revoked and a CBI inquiry be carried out into the deal worked out by the NDA government with Sterlite.

The entire experience of the workers in the public sector companies that were sold to private hands under the NDA government has vividly revealed that this is a program to benefit the greed for maximum profits of the big bourgeoisie and that it is an anti-social, anti-national program. It is the massive opposition of the working class and other sections that has driven the bourgeoisie to a defensive position on the question of disinvestment and been largely responsible for the electoral defeat of the previous NDA government. The time is ripe for the working class to step up its struggle against the privatisation program of the bourgeoisie, and to demand that all the injustices done to the workers and to the whole of society as a result of the disinvestment carried out by the previous government should be reversed.

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LETTERS TO EDITOR
UNSC - a playground for sorting out inter-imperialist contradictions!

United Nations Security Council has passed a unanimous resolution endorsing the June 30 transfer of sovereignty, and giving authorization to the US-led multinational force. There has been much horsetrading and behind-the-scenes action about the wording of the text, and a supposed compromise resolution has been passed.

Enquiring minds cannot help asking what this is really all about? Is it true that the United Nations is really about sorting out difficulties between member states, or has it become a playground for sorting out inter-imperialist contradictions? Is it not so that the very structure of the Security Council with Permanent Members, the Big Five – four of which are the victors of World War II (the seat of the USSR passing into the hands of Russia) having veto powers – is itself in contradiction with the notion that all the members of the United Nations are equal? Is it also not true that the US and the UK who chose to completely disregard the will of the United Nations before Gulf War II, have now come back to the United Nations to legitimize their occupation, their illegal 'regime change', and their installing an Iraq Governing Council and now an interim Government? Is it not true that the entire framework of the new resolutions of the Security Council are completely engineered to protect the aims of Anglo-American control of the region? And is it not correct that the former NDA Government and now the UPA Government are unable to articulate any position of principle on the matter?

Progressive forces across the world must brace themselves for a new assault from the imperialists in their drive for world domination. They must take a lesson from Iraq, which is viewed by sections of the American ruling class as a testing ground for the new policy of pre-emptive strike, 'shock and awe' tactics, and as a move towards controlling all the important resources of the world economy. The concomitant tragedies and the human costs are all covered up in the name of 'restoring democracy' and 'respecting human rights', as evidenced by the remarks from the US imperialist chieftain, who has heralded the new Security Council resolution as a 'victory for the Iraqi people.' There should be a tireless campaign exposing these lies.

Sincerely, S. Grover
New York

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Stock market performance and bourgeois infighting

There is a general glumness in the air about the performance of the stock market in the wake of the UPA Government. It has been argued that the presence of Communists in the Lok Sabha, and their support to the UPA Government is the source of the lack-lustre performance of the stock market. It has been argued that investor confidence is now low, because the Manmohan Singh Government is expect to come out with a 'populist' budget to please their Communist supporters.

What has not been mentioned is that the members of the NDA and the members of the UPA represent certain mutually hostile factions of the Indian bourgeoisie and the agricultural rich, and also hostile caste formations in the countryside. The five year election ritual in the country gives an opportunity to these factions to outwit each other and contend with each other for state power. It is this instability which manifests itself in the poor performance of various sectors of the economy, e.g., stock market performance. Indeed, it must also be pointed out that sections of the bourgeoisie are not united in their approach to liberalization, privatization and globalization, and some of them have stood to lose in the wake of the relentless campaign of the NDA Government.

The massive opposition of the largest secction of the Indian workers,peasantry and the masses to these mantras has also been an obstruction to the achievement of certain agendas. Indeed, the social-democrats and the conciliators in the Communist camp echo the fears of the masses, respond to the erosion of rights of workers and peasants to livelihood and sustenance, and demand of the bourgeoisie "populist" budgets and "poverty alleviation schemes" (read "reforms with a human face"). It is important to point out that the present system is one that is never going to be able to solve the problems and the challenges that the masses in India face.

It is only through revolution that a new India can be ushered in.

Sincerely, A. Narayan
Bangalore

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