November 1 - 15, 2006

Workers and peasants, women and youth stake their claim

Local government elections to village and town panchayats, municipalities and corporations took place in Tamil Nadu in October. Elections were held in 6 corporations, 102 municipalities, 609 town panchayats, and 12,609 village panchayats. The run up to the elections, as well as the elections themselves, reflected the two conflicting class approaches. The ruling class parties went all out to capture control over the local bodies, through money and muscle power. On the other hand, the CGPI as well as various mass organizations of workers, peasants, women and youth vigorously participated in the elections to expose the system and process and campaign for changes in the electoral and political process to bring people to the centrestage of governance.

Through mass leafleting, door to door canvassing, as well as street corner meetings, the CGPI comrades, working closely with other peoples activists, explained to the masses of people why and how the present system deprives people of political power. They called upon people to reject the party system of rule and select and elect candidates from amongst their midst on a non partisan basis.

Kanyakumari District is a traditional communist stronghold, with different communist parties and groups, including the CGPI and CPI(M), actively working amongst the workers and peasants, women and youth. Addressing the communist sympathizers and supporters directly, the comrades of the CGPI exposed the line being pursued by the CPI(M) of tailing behind bourgeois parties like the Congress at the center, and the DMK in the state, which was leading to the division of the working class and people as well as division amongst the communists. They explained how party system of rule is nothing but bourgeois rule, and why communists, drawing appropriate conclusions from the experience of the Great October Socialist Revolution, as well as the destruction of socialism in the Soviet Union, must reject the party system of rule. They called for replacing representative democracy with direct democracy. They explained that the role of political parties was to organize and enable the people to come to power, and not to capture power for themselves.

A significant initiative in this regard was taken by a joint front of peoples organizations led by Lok Raj Sangathan, Unorganised Workers Federation and NAPM along with more than 50 organisations of workers and peasants. These organizations fielded candidates in many districts of the state including Tuticorin, Kanyakumari, Erode, Madurai, Karur and Chennai. The candidates were selected by the people through mass contact meetings and seconded by their respective unions and sanghams. They brought out a joint manifesto (See Box) was brought out for the local body elections.

In Tuticorin district, the Lok Raj Sangathan and the Tamilnadu Peasants Union jointly carried out a massive mass contact campaign in support of a slate of peasant and women candidates which drew wide support amongst the people. In Kanyakumari district, the Lok Raj Sangathan carried out a spirited campaign in support of a slate of candidates selected by the people in their wards. A number of candidates for local government bodies, who had not earlier been aware of the campaign of the LRS and other organisations, came forward to request LRS endorsement for their candidature. This included candidates in both Tuticorin and Kanyakumari districts. After making a clear appraisal and discussing with the people in the respective areas, the LRS extended support to some of these candidates.

Throughout Tamilnadu, the movement to replace the existing political system and process with direct democracy is gathering momentum. The opportunity presented by the recent elections to the local government bodies has been used well by the activists of the joint front in conducting a mass campaign against the party system of governance and representative democracy of the bourgeoisie. They strongly put forward the necessity to replace this democracy, which serves only the ruling class, with direct democracy which will put people at the centre of governance. With the conclusion of elections to the local government bodies, this campaign is far from over. Now is the time for these organizations, who genuinely stand for people’s power, to build constituent committees at the constituency level consisting of representatives of workers, peasants, women and youth on a non-partisan basis to make sure that the elected candidates are accountable to the people and that the election promises are fulfilled. Even more, these constituency committees should constantly seek to expand people’s space in the political process and governance by advocating fundamental changes in the way society is governed as enumerated in the joint statement. CGPI calls upon the people’s organizations belonging to the joint front to keep alive their struggle for the fundamental economic and political reorientation of India.