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Internet Edition: February 16-28, 2005
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Third Congress of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, 27-29 January 2005 A festive celebration was held on 30th January in New Delhi, following the successful conclusion of the Third Congress of the Communist Ghadar Party of India. Several hundred workers, peasants, women and youth from numerous states of India participated in celebrating the advance in the Party's work and to pledge to implement the decisions of the Third Congress. A very high degree of militancy and political consciousness was displayed by youthful performers, who expressed themselves in diverse languages and colourful cultural forms. A bold and innovative skit presented by working class youth portrayed the contrast between the truth and what Ministers say in the existing system of democracy -- brought out very effectively through the administering of a truth spell by a jadugar. The entire cultural program reached a fitting climax as a group of young girls enthralled the audience with a vigorous and irresistible group dance, which had all comrades on their feet. The call of the Third Congress resounded in the air: Unite and fight for the Rule of Workers and Peasants! Unite and fight to establish a Voluntary Indian Union! The proceedings of the Third Congress began in New Delhi on a chilly winter morning on 27 January 2005. Delegates had come from far and wide, from all parts of the country as well as from among Indians resident in Canada, the United States and Britain. Representatives from the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) and the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) were also present from the start and in all the sessions of the Congress. The atmosphere within the convention hall exuded special warmth, as comrades who shared only the language of revolution were seen hugging and greeting each other like long lost brothers and sisters. Communist Ghadar Party ne lalkaar lagayi hai! -- a popular song of the Party, was rendered melodiously and harmoniously, accompanied by pictures of the existing India and visions of the new India flashing on a big screen in the auditorium. Following this striking multi-media presentation, Comrade Jaya, a veteran of the Party who had devoted her heart and soul to the cause of the revolution throughout the 24 years of the Party and from before, ascended the dais. With great pride and deep emotion she formally declared the Third Congress open. A five-member Presidium was then proposed and approved. The Presidium, led by Comrade Lal Singh, took the chair amidst thunderous applause of over 150 delegates and observers. Comrade Lal Singh presented the Report to the Congress on behalf of the third Central Committee. The first part of the Report was entitled Building the Party in the Course of Leading the Class Struggle. It was a candid assessment of the advances made as well as the shortcomings in the work over the past six years, to implement the decisions of the Second Congress held in October 1998. The second part of the Report, which dealt with the analysis and assessment of the international and Indian situation and the challenge facing the communists of today, was entitled Towards the Rule of Workers and Peasants and a Voluntary Indian Union. The third part was called the Plan of Action. Each part of the Report was discussed in groups of 20-25 participants each, enabling everyone to participate actively and in the language of their choice. The summary of the group discussions were presented at a plenary session at the end of each session. Day by day, and session by session, the degree of participation and lively debate rose from one level to the next. The final day witnessed the highest degree of participation. Over 50 delegates from different parts of the country, majority of whom were youth, speaking in an open plenary session, militantly expressed their determination and enthusiasm to forge ahead in implementing the program of the party. The deliberations on the third day of the Congress were focused on the proposed Plan of Action. This Plan of Action was based on confirming the correctness of the Program adopted at the Second Congress for the Navnirman of India. The advance in the class struggle has given rise to new demands, while the establishment of the rule of workers and peasants and a voluntary Indian Union remains the political aim of the program. The Plan of Action calls on the Party to step up the work to involve all progressive forces in building the revolutionary united front for the empowerment of the masses, while ensuring that the various mass organisations play their role and take initiatives in this direction. This involves both high profile political expressions and the building of local committees and mass membership. The Plan of Action calls on the Party to sharpen the ideological and polemical struggle against the bourgeoisie and its agents who seek to suppress and divert the mass movement against the anti-social offensive, either through repression or through cooption into the parliamentary process. It calls on the Party to sharpen the polemic on the question as to which class actually stands to gain from the Common Minimum Programme of the UPA Government. The Plan of Action calls on the Party to steadfastly defend the principle of national sovereignty and oppose any kind of apology for its violation, making this a matter of lively debate and agitation within the communist movement. For a party that swears by socialism and communism to justify army rule and state terrorism against nations, nationalities and tribal peoples within India, in the name of 'defending national unity and territorial integrity', means to replace communism by social-imperialism, which means to preach socialism in words and practise imperialism in deeds. The vision of the working class is to create a Union of Workers' and Peasants' Republics of India. With this exciting perspective, the Plan of Action calls on all party comrades to build and multiply party basic organisations among the ranks of the workers, peasants, working intellectuals, women and youth. Building communist cells among the workers and other fighting sections, with the Party Press providing the focus for political organising work, is the essential condition for enabling the working class to emerge at the head of the ongoing struggle of the vast majority of people. It is the necessary condition for defeating and overcoming the influence of class conciliation within the working class movement. The Third Congress discussed the Constitution of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, amidst a high degree of enthusiasm about the visible growth of the Party and its work, and the potential for a big leap forward in the coming period. It reaffirmed that the Constitution of the Party reflects the actual experience of the past 24 years and more, and is a powerful weapon for further expanding the Party, strengthening its steel like unity and revolutionary initiative. On the third and last day, the presentation of the Plan of Action was followed by speeches from the delegations of Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) and Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist). In the concluding session, five resolutions were moved from the Presidium and approved without a single dissenting vote by the assembly of delegates. The first three resolutions related to the approval and adoption of the Report, the Party Constitution and the Plan of Action; the fourth and fifth related respectively to expressions of political unity and solidarity with the fighting forces on the world scale, and in South Asia. People's Voice hails the Third Congress of the Communist Ghadar Party of India and wishes all success to the fourth Central Committee and the entire Party, in forging ahead to implement the historic decisions of this Third Congress! |
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Run up to the Union Budget 2005-06: The Union Budget 2005-06 will be presented by Finance Minister Chidambaram at the end of February. This is an occasion for the workers, peasants, women and youth to put forward their claims on society. It is an appropriate time to articulate our demands. As the producers of all the material wealth, the toilers and tillers have irrefutable claims on the social product. Every worker or peasant family that seeks to earn its livelihood through hard work has a legitimate claim to a standard of living that is fit for human beings. A human existence means not only adequate food, clothing and shelter. It means quality education and health care, and access to all modern amenities of life. It is possible to ensure a human existence for every human being, given the level of development of human productive forces and available natural resources in India, and by harnessing science and technology in the general interests of society. This must be the first priority in formulating the economic policy and the yearly budget based on it for the country. Ensuring prosperity for all is the duty of the State, and livelihood for every member of society is a right and not a privilege. Hence the workers and peasants must demand and fight for nothing less. We must demand and fight for nothing less than full employment for all who are able and willing to work. The opportunity to work and earn a livelihood is not something that can be left to chance, saying that every family must fend for itself in the market place. We have to demand and fight for a State and a constitution that upholds the right to livelihood for all as inviolable, that guarantees the right to livelihood and provides both the enabling and enforcing mechanisms for the realisation of this right. According to Indian political tradition, it is one of the prime duties of the State to look after those who till the soil and grow the food that society requires. The present Indian Union does not do this. It does not guarantee livelihood to the masses of peasants in any region of the country. It does not guarantee the supply of water, seeds and other inputs required for agriculture at stable prices, nor does it guarantee the procurement of crops at remunerative prices. As a result, the peasants face increasing insecurity of income. However, the banks demand guaranteed servicing of their loans with interest, no matter what difficulties face the peasants. Why should maximizing the profits of banks be more important than saving peasants from ruin and even suicide? The Congress Party-led UPA Government has been talking about raising the limit on foreign ownership of private banks in the country to 74%, which is nothing but a so-called gradual route to privatization and foreign capital invasion in the financial sector. The workers, peasants, women and youth must unite and put up an uncompromising struggle against such moves. The issue is not to choose between a rapid or a gradual route to privatisation. No, the issue is to halt the privatisation program altogether, and to change the orientation of the economy towards fulfilling the needs of the toiling majority. We must unite as one and fight to halt moves to privatise banking. The working class and peasants of this country must demand the unequivocal waiver of peasant dues to the banks! Bank credit to the peasantry has to be organized on terms that are affordable and consistent with secure and human standards of living for those who till the land. This requires that banking is not run with the aim of maximising profits. We, the workers and peasants, boldly put forward the necessity for social banking on a no-profit-no-loss basis. We must demand banking reform -- not towards strengthening the domination of private interests -- but towards ensuring livelihood and prosperity for the toilers and tillers. Simultaneously the workers and peasants must fight for a State that guarantees input supply and output procurement at stable and remunerative prices. For this the State must take complete control over trade in agricultural inputs and agricultural produce. The demand for State takeover and reorientation of trade and banking is essential to guarantee livelihood for all. At the same time the workers and peasants must fight for a State which will expropriate without compensation any capitalist company or private party that obstructs these measures to reorient the economy. The Government of India has passed a Fiscal Responsibility Act. Through this act the Indian State has declared its 'responsibility' towards the big banks and corporations, Indian and international. It is refusing to fulfill its most important responsibility, of ensuring prosperity and protection for the people. Why should the people of India accept that the Finance Minister allocates close to Rs. 150,000 crore for paying interest to the banks in 2005-06, and then says that there is not enough money to ensure livelihood for all? We must demand an immediate end to this practice of giving first priority to interest payments to the big banks, Indian and international. We must demand an immediate suspension of interest payments and the redeployment of savings towards ensuring the well-being of the people! Will the sky crumble if interest is not paid for one or two years, or indefinitely until further notice? All that these banks that lend to the Government of India have to do is take a cut in their super profits. By redeploying the money saved by suspending interest payments, it will be possible to multiply the allocation for basic social services and employment programs by ten to fifteen times! Enormous amounts of precious resources are consumed in maintaining and expanding the massive armed apparatus of the Indian Union. Year after year, the budget allocations are being stepped up for acquisition of the most sophisticated destructive weapons. The Indian Union is being armed to the teeth, not for defence but for war. This is not for defending the peoples within India or in the neighbourhood, but for further threatening their peace and security. Workers, peasants, women and youth do not gain from wars that are fought over territories, nor do they gain from the use of force within the territory of India, against different nations, nationalities and peoples, in the name of security. Therefore they must fight to halt the arms race. They must spearhead the struggle demanding cutbacks in the 'defence' budget and the redeployment of the savings towards ensuring livelihood for all. Who should be made to pay for financing government programs and provision of public services? The UPA Government, just like the NDA Government before it, wants the working people to pay the bulk of taxes, in the form of income tax, union excise duty, state sales tax, etc. The people must demand that it is the rich big business houses of India and the multinational corporations that should be made to pay additional taxes out of their profits. We can and must demand that the hoards of black wealth accumulated by the rich and the VVIPs must be unearthed and deployed in the service of the people. We must oppose and stop the moves of the big bourgeoisie to shift the burden of taxation onto the backs of the workers and peasants through the introduction of the so-called Value Added Tax (VAT). We must demand an immediate halt to the taxation of wage incomes and consumption goods. While the majority of people want an immediate change of course, the UPA Government led by the Congress Party is dragging the country on the same capitalist imperialist course that was being pursued by the previous NDA Government led by the BJP. The time has come for the workers, peasants, women and youth to build their own United Front aimed at ushering in the radical changes that India is crying out for. own with the program of liberalization and privatization with a 'human face'! Onward with the struggle to build a United Front of the toilers and tillers to defeat the anti- social offensive! |
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We mourn the death of Comrade Mahendra Prasad Singh The Communist Ghadar Party of India pays its solemn tribute to the memory of Comrade Mahendra Prasad Singh who was brutally gunned down by hired assassins on January 16, 2005 just after addressing a village election meeting in Jharkhand. Comrade Mahendra Singh was one of the foremost mass leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (Liberation) and a member of Jharkhand Assembly at the time of his death. Born into an ordinary peasant family, Comrade Mahendra Singh emerged as a communist mass leader who worked tirelessly to unite and organise the youth and peasant masses against their exploitation and oppression. He was instrumental in mobilising the peasant masses to organise themselves in defence of their economic and political rights, and not remain passive beneficiaries of the 'hand-outs' of the state. Despite being repeatedly implicated in false cases and incarcerated by the forces of the state on several occasions, he continued to fight, throughout his life, in defence of the interests of the downtrodden. Comrade Mahendra Singh was first elected to the Bihar Assembly in 1990 and had just finished serving three successive terms as a legislator. As a revolutionary communist legislator, Comrade Mahendra Singh was a fearless and forceful voice that resonated powerfully both within and outside the Assembly, against every form of injustice and state repression. Comrade Mahendra Singh skilfully used the floor of the Assembly as a powerful platform for exposure and agitation against the anti-people policies of the government. He also used his prominent position in various Assembly committees to articulate the protests of the oppressed masses. Addressing a condolence meeting in New Delhi in January organised by the CPI(ML), the spokesperson of the Communist Ghadar Party of India pointed out that in the death of Comrade Mahendra Singh, the communist movement has lost a courageous revolutionary fighter for the cause of the exploited and oppressed masses. Comrade Mahendra Singh's life of relentless struggle and commitment to the glorious goal of liberation of the oppressed will remain a shining example that will continue to inspire future generations of revolutionary fighters. He pointed out that the assassination of Comrade Mahendra Singh by the forces of the Indian State was a sign of the growing fascisation of Indian society. The Indian big bourgeoisie is putting enormous pressure on the communist revolutionaries either to submit to parliamentary cretinism and be co-opted by the state or to submit to terrorism. Communist revolutionaries must refuse to fall prey to either of these. The Communist Ghadar Party of India joins all the democratic and anti-fascist forces all over India in denouncing the dastardly assassination of Comrade Mahendra Singh by the state and reaffirms its commitment to carry on the struggle to organise the workers, peasants, women, youth and all the oppressed, to take political power in their own hands and become the masters of their destiny. |
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Down with the fascist attacks on the rights and liberties of people in Nepal! The reign of fascist terror by the Nepalese government and army against the people of Nepal has escalated to a new level with King Gyanendra declaring a state of emergency, dismissing the Deuba government, curtailing civil liberties and handing over power openly to the Royal Nepalese Army. Press censorship is complete; leaders of the parliamentary political parties as well as the dismissed Prime Minister are under house arrest. Protests organised by students in different universities against the declaration of emergency have been met with brutal repression by the army. Shootings from helicopter gunships on unarmed protestors and the arrest and torture of thousands of students reveal the bestiality of the regime in power. The Communist Ghadar Party of India condemns the declaration of Emergency and the fascist attacks on the rights and liberties of the people in Nepal. According to the King of Nepal, Gyanendra, the Emergency was declared because the former Prime Minister 'failed to end the insurgency' and 'failed to organise parliamentary elections'. This reveals the deep political crisis of Nepal. It reveals that the 'Constitutional Monarchy' established in 1990 in the wake of popular revolt of the masses of Nepalese people against the absolute monarchy has failed. The popular resistance struggle against the Constitutional Monarchy and the feudal rule of the ranas has become an insurgency engulfing vast regions of Nepal and its people. The repeated dismissal of elected governments, as well as the palace coup following the assassination of former King Birendra and the rest of the Royal family, and the installing of Gyanendra as king of Nepal reveal that the ruling class of Nepal is unable to rule in the old way any longer. The people of Nepal are a brave and fiercely independent people who are fighting for vesting sovereignty in their own hands, ending the brutal and exploitative rule of the ranas and the alliance of the Nepalese ruling clique with foreign imperialists. The Nepalese communist revolutionaries have the historic task of charting a course for the struggle which will unite all the forces that are opposed to the autocracy and monarchy and imperialism in one common fighting front for the establishment of peoples rule. The revolutionary communists in India are one with the Nepalese people in this just struggle. The Indian government is following closely the developments in Nepal to defend and advance the imperialist and expansionist interests of the Indian ruling class in Nepal. The Indian ruling class is opposed to the people of Nepal seizing power in their own hands and breaking from the imperialist chain. In the past few years, following the seizure of power by Gyanendra, successive Indian governments have armed the Nepalese Army with sophisticated military hardware as well as trained the King's army in counter insurgency. The Indian state cannot escape responsibility for the massacre of tens of thousands of innocent Nepalese who have been gunned down and murdered by the Nepalese army. India has also facilitated US and British military assistance to the Nepalese King. Despite the public statements of disapproval of the Nepalese King's declaration of emergency by the officials of the Manmohan Singh government, and the refusal of the Indian Army Chief to visit Nepal at this time (the Nepalese Army Chief had invited him to secure legitimacy for Army rule) the people of India and Nepal cannot afford to be complacent. There is need for greatest vigilance at this time. Indian communists must oppose and expose all overt and covert efforts by the Indian government and army to intervene in Nepal politically or militarily. They must oppose all overt and covert efforts of other foreign powers including the US and UK to intervene in the internal affairs of Nepal. Such interference must be opposed, whether it is done in the name of putting down the insurgency or in the name of 'restoring democracy'. The people of Nepal have the sovereign right to determine their own destiny without any outside interference. They have the sympathy and support of the fraternal Indian people in their just struggle. |
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Protests resound during inauguration drama of US chieftain Bush Tens of thousands of people participated in protest actions in Washington D C to denounce the inauguration of US chieftain Bush for a second term on January 20, 2005. Protest actions were also organised in several other cities across the United States, as well as in some other cities across the globe. These actions showed the resolve of the people to resist the US imperialist plans of savage repression and war. The route of the inaugural parade, Pennsylvania Avenue, was the scene of mass actions involving thousands of people who braved the chilly weather to register their protest. One of these actions, called “turn your back on Bush entailed successfully getting hundreds of people to get through many military-style police checkpoints which had been set up, and then stand and turn their backs as the Bush motorcade went past. People threw snowballs, shouted slogans, booed and heckled as it went past. Banners proclaiming "Troops out of Iraq", "Bush is a war criminal", "Not my President" were held up and displayed in many parts of the city. As many as three major rallies were held in Washington D.C. that day -- at Dupont Circle, Malcolm X Park, and in the stands on the parade route at Pennsylvania avenue. At these rallies, many speakers, including military veterans and families of servicemen denounced the war. Workers representatives denounced the attacks on people's rights and healthcare. Lawyers explained the measures being adopted by the government curb dissent altogether and the continuing struggle against this. Protests were organised in several cities and towns across the length and breadth of the vast country: Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Massachusetts in the northeast, Portland and Seattle in the northwest. Actions were organised in many towns of the southern state of California such as San Francisco, Los Angeles Humboldt, Mendocino, Modesto, Palo Alto, Eureka, Sacramento, and Santa Cruz. In the south, protests were organised in Atlanta, Louisville (Kentucky), Tucson (Arizona), Albuquerque (New Mexico), Houston and Austin (Texas). While the US imperialists arrogantly proclaim their intention to bring all peoples and nations under their yoke, the mass protests against the US chieftain's second term inauguration show how hated they are in their own land. While US imperialism wishes to wash away all the progress and advances humanity has given rise to, it is important for the peoples to boldly step up the struggle to defend the rights of all peoples and nations. It is vital to ensure that US imperialism and other scourges of humanity do not have their way. The protests of the people of the US are an expression of their will to stand together with the other oppressed peoples of the world in doing so. |
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Elections in Iraq:
The Anglo-American imperialists have proclaimed the 'elections' they held at gunpoint in Iraq on January 30, 2005 as a 'victory' for the 'nation building' project of the occupying forces in Iraq. Other imperialist and reactionary states, some of which had earlier opposed the aggression and occupation of Iraq, have also heaped praise on the exercise. However the developments are revealing that this project whose aim is to legitimise and prolong Anglo- American occupation and control of Iraq is only doomed to failure and the crisis of Anglo-American imperialism's Iraq policy is going to deepen further. Through powerful resistance strikes against the occupation forces and the officials of the puppet regime, both in the lead up to the elections and afterwards, the patriotic forces in Iraq have made it clear that they completely reject this imperialist sponsored 'nation building exercise'. They have made it clear that the struggle to throw out the occupation forces and restore sovereignty in the people will continue, and in fact, escalate. No election can be legitimate when it is conducted under illegal foreign military occupation. The Geneva and Vienna Conventions stipulate that foreign troops occupying a country have no legal power to restructure its state system. The elections carried out have been designed to carry out just this in Iraq. The vast majority of the people of Iraq have made it abundantly clear through diverse means of protest including peaceful demonstrations, armed actions and suicide attacks that they want the Anglo American troops out and sovereignty to be restored so that they can decide on their future. Instead, what the election of January 30 is to put in place is a 275-seat 'transitional National Assembly'. It will endorse an executive government that will continue to operate under foreign military occupation and control. This Assembly is to be a 'transitional government' which is to draft a 'permanent constitution' to be endorsed in a national referendum by October 15, 2005. A new government and parliament are to be elected by the end of this year under the terms of this 'constitution'. However, an unelected judiciary appointed by the occupation forces will determine what is constitutional. The members of parliament will thus not be able to legally demand an end to the occupation. The information minister of the puppet Allawi government has already rejected the calls made by people in the US for the immediate withdrawal of the occupation forces following the January 30 'elections', terming these calls 'complete nonsense'. The political process disoriented and confused the people, besides dividing them on communal lines. There were 7,785 candidates on the lists of 83 coalitions of political parties. Many of these coalitions have mushroomed under the protection of the occupation forces. The manner in which the election was conducted is also revealing. The puppet government closed borders between January 29 and 31, cut mobile and satellite phone services, banned travel between Iraq's 18 provinces, lengthened curfew hours and restricted use of vehicles. Foreign journalists were only permitted to film the events at a few stage-managed polling stations. They did not show the barbed wire that surrounded the more than 10,000 polling stations, nor the rows upon rows of armed soldiers stationed there. In five provinces including Mosul, Diyala and Ramadi, more than 90 per cent of eligible voters decided to boycott the elections. More than 40 per cent of Iraqis live in these provinces. In seven other provinces, the boycott rate was about 70 per cent. Voter turnout in Baghdad itself was very poor, especially in the main centres in central and western Baghdad. The media statements issued by the 'independent' Election Commission of Iraq, and the UN's senior election official in Iraq defended this act of legitimising the occupation. The Election Commission initially indicated that 72 per cent of the electorate had voted, subsequently stated that this was an 'approximate' figure, and still later lowered this figure to 50 per cent. It is also not clear whether this percentage took into account the entire provinces and cities where no elections took place at all, either due to refusal by the puppet authorities to conduct polls there or widespread boycott of the event. This cruel farce is the "the voice of freedom from the centre of the Middle East" according to imperialist chieftain Bush and other imperialists, through which the Iraqi people have "taken control of their country"! The occupation of Iraq cannot be justified on any grounds. All attempts to legitimise and prolong it are bound to face increasing resistance. The vast majority of the Iraqi people have vociferously raised the demand for the immediate removal of occupying troops ever since the Anglo-American forces overran their country. People's Voice calls upon the Indian working class and people to resolutely continue to support the valiant Iraqi people in their heroic struggle to throw out all the occupying forces out of their country so that the Iraqi people are free to determine their own destiny. |
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