• What is the real aim of the bomb blasts in Varanasi?
  Statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, 8th March, 2006

• International Women's Day celebrated with militant fervour

• All Out for International Women's Day 2006!

• Women will be respected only in a society that respects human labour

• Women are seeking empowerment, not accommodation

• In memory of Comrade Manoj

WORLD

• US President George Bush’s Purana Qila speech
  Open demands to provide cannon–fodder for US wars of aggression

• UN Security Council to discuss Iran's nuclear program
  Hands off Iran!

• Women around the world say NO to War

• Protests follow Bush
  Widespread protests paralyse Pakistan

VOICE OF TOILERS & TILLERS

• Maharashtra Resident Doctors Victorious in the first Round

What is the real aim of the bomb blasts in Varanasi?

Statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, 8th March, 2006

With utmost anger, the Communist Ghadar Party of India condemns the terrible bomb blasts in the Sankatmochan temple and the cantonment railway station in Varanasi on 7th March. Twenty-one people have lost their lives and many more injured. Following this dastardly act, the people are being asked to remain calm. Be calm and do what? – that is the question.

Opposition to Bush's Visit

People need to soberly think about what is really the aim of these bomb blasts. Only by addressing this question can we find out the real guilty party. We must be calm and sober so that we are not carried away by the imperialist bourgeois propaganda in the media directed against Muslims in general, and against Pakistan and Iran in particular.

Just a few days ago, our country witnessed mass protests on a scale unseen before. Over 30 million people all across the country came out on the streets against US imperialism and the visit of its chieftain George Bush. Diverse organizations joined hands to loudly proclaim: "Butcher Bush, you are not our guest", and "Butcher Bush – Go Back!"

The organizers of the mass protests included The Communist Ghadar Party of India, Jamiat Ulama E Hind, Lok Raj Sangathan, Jamaat-e-Islami-Hind, All India Ulema Council, Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), CPIML (Liberation), All-India Forward Bloc, Revolutionary Socialist Party, Samajwadi Party, Students Islamic Organisation, Hind Naujawan Ekta Sabha, SFI, AISF, AIYF, DYFI, AITUC, CITU, National Railway Workers' Union, National Alliance of Peoples Movements, INSAF, CNDP, Mumbai Aman Committee, Azadi Bachao Andolan, Asha Parivar, Jan Paksha, Purogami Mahila Sangathan, Kashipur Solidarity (Mumbai), New Socialist Movement, Gatividhi, Delhi University Forum for Democracy, Sanatan Dharm Parishad, Mazdoor Parishad, Kaam Ka Adhikar Samiti, Human Rights Law Network, Manipuri Students Association of Delhi, We for Bhopal, Plachimada Solidarity Committee, NFIW, AIDWA, AISA, Nirman Mazdoor Panchayat Sangam, Nepali Jan Adhikar Suraksha Samiti (Bharat), students and teachers organisations of different universities, Dalit Mahila Sangathan and many others. Prominent individuals such as writer-activist Arundhati Roy and lawyer-activist Prashant Bhushan participated actively in the campaign. People from all sections of society participated actively in these protests.

The dominant sentiment that had captured a vast section of the people was of opposition to US imperialism, its unjust aggression and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, and its war preparations against Iran. The bomb blasts in Varanasi come as a rude shock in this atmosphere. The timing suggests that the bomb blasts were a reaction, directed against the anti-imperialist movement and the people of Muslim faith, who participated most actively in the mass demonstrations against Bush.

Through the visit of Bush to India, the US imperialists wanted to win over public sentiment in India on to their side, as they prepare to aggress on Iran. The massive scale of the street protests against his visit was seen as a danger signal by the US imperialists. The bomb blasts in Varanasi create the condition for turning around the sentiments and directing public anger against Muslims. They serve to divert and divide the people’s opposition to imperialism and the US designs. The aim is to break the growing anti-imperialist unity among the Indian people.

The needle of suspicion points in the direction of US imperialism, which wants Indian support for its imperialist designs in Asia. It points in the direction of the Indian State and its ruling circles, those who are ready to collaborate with US imperialism to achieve their narrow ends.

The Communist Ghadar Party of India calls on the people to be vigilant against the criminal plots of US imperialism and the Indian ruling class to divide and divert them.

International Women's Day celebrated with militant fervour

International Women's Day this year was celebrated by a variety of actions all over the country. Women from all walks of life came together in mass actions, to raise their voices against the policies of globalisation through liberalisation and privatisation, against war and state terrorism, against the growing poverty and lack of essential facilities, against the growing violence on women on the streets, at the work place and at home. Women demanded political power in their hands to shape the future of our society.

In Delhi, hundreds of women, working with 17 women's organisations, came together in a mass demonstration and rally, on March 8. Holding aloft bright red banners of their organisations, they marched from Delhi Gate to I.T.O., where the march culminated in a militant rally. They carried in their hands placards that proclaimed: 'Our struggle is against capitalism, feudalism and imperialism'; 'Let us build militant women's organisations to raise our voice'; 'We shall take political power in our hands and march towards the liberation of women'; 'Let us end the rule of the rich and bring in people's power'; 'No to war! No to terror! We want peace and harmony!'

As the rallyists gathered at I.T.O., they were greeted by a rousing song, composed and rendered by some veteran women activists. The song summed up the spirit of International Women's Day, the refusal of women to put up with the existing conditions and their resolve to fight to change these conditions. Representatives of the participating organisations addressed the rally and called on the women to get organised and fight to secure their rights.

The representative of Purogami Mahila Sangathan called on the women to organise to take political power in their hands and to reject the path of treachery propagated by those who are advocating collaboration with one or another section of the bourgeoisie. Without political power in the hands of the masses of working women and men, women cannot hope to change their conditions by merely having more seats reserved for women in legislative bodies, she pointed out. Cautioning against the dangerous Indo-US strategic alliance that was cemented during Bush's recent visit to India, she called on women to raise their voices against war and for peace. Drawing attention to the recent bomb blasts in Varanasi, which killed several people, she clarified how state organised terrorism and communal violence are repeatedly used to smash our unity and divert us from our struggle. She concluded with a rousing call to build sangharsh samitis of women in all localities and work places, with the aim of organising to take political power in our hands.

Hundreds of women activists signed a declaration against war, on a huge white sheet that was taken around by the members of Purogami Mahila Sangathan.

The participating organisations included AIDWA, NFIW, Purogami Mahila Sangathan, FORCES, CWDS, YWCA, WCSRC, SAMA, Savitri Bai Phule Mahila Sangathan, Mahila Jagriti Samiti, Swastik Mahila Samiti, Nirmala Niketan, Nirman Mazdoor Panchayat Sangam, National Forum of Dalit Women and the Nurses Union (R.M.L.).

A few days earlier, on March 5, an enthusiastic women's day program was organised at Sanjay Colony in Okhla, a working class residential colony. Several hundred women, men and youth participated in the program. The program began with a rousing rendition of the song of Purogami Mahila Sangathan "Badhe Chalo". Young women activists of Purogami Mahila Sangathan put forth the necessity to organise for their rights and against the problems that women face everyday at their residences and workplaces. Several of the local women residents participated militantly.

The program had been jointly organised by the Purogami Mahila Sangathan, the Sanjay Colony Niwasi Sangharsh Samiti, the Hind Naujavan Ekta Sabha and the Sanjay Colony Mahila Sangharsh Samiti. The spokesperson of the Communist Ghadar party of India was invited to address the gathering. He greeted the women on the occasion of International Women's Day and spoke of the need to bring about urgent and deep-going transformations in Indian society, in order that women may win an equal place with men in all spheres of life, within and outside the home. An activist of Purogami Mahila Sangathan called on the women to organise themselves into local samitis and take up the serious question of taking political power in our own hands. Representatives of the Sanjay Colony Niwasi Sangharsh Samiti and the Hind Naujavan Ekta Sabha expressed their solidarity with Purogami Mahila Sangathan and the women of Sanjay Colony in their struggle and declared their commitment to unite with them.

The program was a huge success and reflected the unity and resolve of the women and other progressive forces in the area.

US President George Bush’s Purana Qila speech

Open demands to provide cannon–fodder for US wars of aggression

In the wake of massive protests in India and Pakistan, the Indian government and the bourgeois media are trying to convince all and sundry that the strengthening of strategic military and geopolitical relations between India and the US are in the interests of the Indian people. They claim that the Bush visit was a great success because a deal on nuclear technology was made between the Indian and US governments. However, in characteristic style, Bush revealed what the actual purpose of his trip to South Asia was: to integrate and enmesh the political and military establishments of the governments of the region with the US war machine. This means to get Indian soldiers to fight future wars against ‘failed’ and ‘rogue’ states, a course which is fraught with peril and completely opposed to the interests and aspirations of the Indian and Asian peoples.

In his parting speech in Delhi on March 3 2006, at the Purana Qila, Delhi, Bush asserted that the “…purpose (of a US-India partnership) is to confront the threats of our time by fighting terror and advancing freedom across the globe…After the attacks of September the 11th, the Indian Navy provided vital support to Operation Enduring Freedom by relieving American ships securing the Strait of Malacca, and we thank the Indian Navy. Today, our nations are cooperating closely on critical areas … Our military cooperation is stronger than ever before. America and India are in this war together…, and we will win this war together… In Afghanistan, which I just visited on Wednesday, the world is beginning to see what India's leadership can accomplish.”

Afghanistan, Iraq and the world has been witness to the "war against terrorism" launched by US imperialism and peoples of all lands have come to their own sound conclusions as to the aims of the US. They have concluded that US imperialism is the biggest terrorist state, it is the greatest enemy of freedom and democracy and sovereignty of the peoples, the greatest threat to world peace. Its aim is to establish its unrivalled domination over the whole world and it will use whatever pretest it can to achieve its aim.

Despite massive protests in every part of the world, US imperialism continues to actively prepare for further wars of aggression and conquest. Bush expounded his plan for India as follows —: “India's leadership is needed in a world that is hungry for freedom. Men and women from North Korea to Burma to Syria to Zimbabwe to Cuba yearn for their liberty. In Iran, a proud people is held hostage by a small clerical elite that denies basic liberties, sponsors terrorism, and pursues nuclear weapons….”

The countries named by Bush have different economic and political systems, but what is common among them is that these governments do not kow tow to the US. Those countries which do not accept the imperialist diktat at this time are being specially targeted.

Bush thus openly called upon the Indian rulers to provide the men in uniform, the cannon fodder, to fight and die in its wars of aggression against the friendly peoples of Iran and Cuba, Syria and Korea, Myanmar and Zimbabwe, among others! To cooperate militarily with this death–dealing force of enslavement, as the government of India is thinking of doing, is indeed to work totally against freedom and national sovereignty of the peoples!

The peoples have made their opinion on this matter only too clear. The massive manifestations of protest all across India and Pakistan throughout the duration of Bush’s’ visit have sounded a warning to our governments against pursuing the path of strategic alliance with US imperialism.

The peoples of India and Pakistan must keep up their pressure to ensure that their governments are unable to heed Bush’s treacherous call!

UN Security Council to discuss Iran's nuclear program

Hands off Iran!

Following the meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency at Vienna last week, the stage for the US-mounted campaign to attack Iran has moved to the United Nations Security Council.

In the last IAEA meeting in January, the US imperialists and their allies in the European Union had badgered more member states into supporting its move to censure Iran for “non-compliance” with IAEA regulations, but postponed taking the matter to the Security Council until the official report of the IAEA Secretary General had been received. This was a move allegedly to give more time for a diplomatic solution to emerge. But what the last two months have made absolutely clear is that the United States is intent on not giving any room for a diplomatic solution. Even as Iran has been engaged in discussions with Russia to find a solution, the US imperialists have stepped up their tirade against Iran and repeated their threat that “all options are on the table” (meaning military action) as far as Iran is concerned. The lie of the Manmohan Singh government, which voted along with the US as far back as last September, and then justified its betrayal of Iran by saying that it did so in order to work for a diplomatic solution, has also been exposed.

By now, there can be no illusions about what the US' intentions are with respect to Iran. It is following the same old path by which it attacked and invaded Iraq. The Security Council will be used to pitch an even more high level campaign to defame Iran and present it as a threat to world peace, and also to impose punitive measures. These will be a prelude to direct military aggression. The peoples of the world must foil these attempts by the US imperialists to aggress on Iran. The imperialists must not be allowed to get away yet another time with naked aggression on a sovereign country which does not follow their diktat.

The US imperialists need to subdue Iran to implement their plans to conquer Asia. The Iranian state and people, as consistent opponents of US imperialism, are a major rallying force for the millions of people who are seething with anger against the US, especially in this part of the world. What they say and do have great bearing on the struggles of the people particularly in the neighbouring countries of Iraq and Afghanistan. The US imperialists are also worried that Iran will become the key to the plans among Asian countries to ensure their energy security independent of the US, since it holds major reserves of oil and gas. In its current drive to extend its hegemony over Asia and the whole globe, the US imperialists cannot tolerate any country that stands up for its sovereignty and refuses to follow the American dictate. That is why the US campaign against Iran is such a threat not just to the Iranians but to all peoples who value their independence and freedom anywhere. The Indian working class and people must step up their opposition to the US imperialist campaign against Iran. We must demand that the Manmohan Singh government dissociate itself from this campaign in any form and in any forum.

Women around the world say NO to War

International Women’s Day 2006 was celebrated all over the world with women marching on the streets, demanding their rightful place in society and raising their voice against all forms of discrimination and injustice. In particular, they protested against the unjust and immoral war being waged by the United States in Iraq, and against US interference and aggression on nations and peoples all over the world. This was the predominant feature of demonstrations this year. Below are some selected snippets.

Cindy Sheehan, anti-war activist and mother of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq, was joined by a delegation of Iraqi women on 6 th March for a press conference and protest outside United Nations headquarters in New York City. She was arrested along with three other women while trying to deliver a petition to the U.S. Mission to the UN. The petition contained more than 60,000 signatures urging the "withdrawal of all troops and all foreign fighters from Iraq."

Cuban women celebrated International Women's Day with a wide variety of activities. Yolanda Ferrer, general secretary of the Cuban Women's Federation (FMC), said, "This year there are many reasons to celebrate. Salary and pension increases, new employment opportunities and the acquisition of modern home appliances are some of the achievements that improved our families' lives". She said the FMC will join the world campaign "Women Say No to War" called by the Code Pink Women for Peace.

In Venezuela, thousands of women marched in front of the US embassy in Caracas. They submitted more than two million signatures supporting a resolution against the terrorist policy of the United States.

Protests follow Bush

Widespread protests paralyse Pakistan

Bush landed in Pakistan in the night of March 3, 2006, not to the welcome of cheering crowds, but to the roar of protests all over the country. As Bush’s motorcade sped down the deserted Islamabad highway toward the city, the completely empty streets were lit only by the light of the moon.

Protests were held days before he landed in numerous places, from big cities like Lahore and Karachi to small border towns and villages. In Rawalpindi, just outside Islamabad, police broke up a protest of tens of thousands of people, who chanted “Death to America” and “Killer Bush.” Protestors in Karachi burned American flags and yelled “Go Back, Bush!” The militant demonstration was attacked by police tear gas and batons.

All Out for International Women's Day 2006!

All over India and around the world, women are organising meetings, exhibitions and demonstrations to mark 8 th March, International Women's Day. Women of all countries are raising their voices against imperialist war and the Anglo-American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. They are rising in protest against the anti-social offensive of monopoly capital, under the banner of globalisation through liberalisation and privatisation.

From the heroic struggle of the peoples of Iraq, Palestine, Cuba, Afghanistan and other countries in defence of their sovereignty, to the mass opposition of Indian people to the ‘historic’ deal between the George Bush administration and the Manmohan Singh government – who is sovereign, or who decides? has emerged as the burning question. Women are in the forefront of the struggles to affirm the right of the vast majority of people to decide. They are leading initiatives in defence of rights and for the empowerment of the people, including the vast majority of women and men.

The history of International Women's Day is testimony to the crucial role of women in opening the path for the progress of society. In 1910, following two major revolts of women textile workers in the United States against their exploitation, Clara Zetkin proposed that 8 th March be designated as International Women's Day. This was decided at a conference convened by the Second Communist International. The International Women’s Day was born out of the struggle of working women for their rights, and of the work of communist and revolutionary women to build societies in which women stand second to none.

Women around the world are proudly taking their stand to resolve the problems facing human society today. They are saying loud and clear that the alternative to capitalism must be found and ushered in. This can be done by learning from the positive and negative experience of socialism in the 20 th century

Women will be respected only in a society that respects human labour

In India we find women in various professions, including doctors, architects and engineers, no less than in the most advanced capitalist countries of the world. At the same time, India is also known as the country where female infanticide – killing the girl child soon after or before she is born – is rampant. And those girls who survive and grow up into womanhood have to wage an uphill struggle for their dignity in society and within the family.

There are women who are CEOs of companies and chief ministers of states in our country, and we have had a woman Prime Minister in the past. Yet, between one half to two-thirds of women in India do not take part in social production outside their home and family. The enormous potential of women to contribute to society is largely under utilised and wasted.

Crores of women are engaged in agricultural labour on their family farms. They toil hard alongside their men folk, facing growing insecurity of livelihood. Either their crop fails and they sink further into debt, or they produce a good crop but get too low a price in the market, which is dominated by big monopoly players. More and more peasant families are being driven to ruin. Women within such families bear a disproportionately high share of the burden.

The proportion of women employed outside their homes, even though less than 50 percent, has been growing over the years. The largest numbers of working women are nurses and teachers. The extremely critical social service they perform is generally under valued. They are asked to perform their duty without demanding their rights. In recent decades, hundreds of thousands of women have been employed in export oriented units, where they are generally over worked, under paid and denied the rights that belong to all wage workers, as well as the rights that belong to them as women workers.

In the case of families that have some land or other means of production, women are deprived of equal rights over family property. In the case of families that own no property except the labour power of the adult family members, women have to perform double work, outside and inside the home. They are subjugated to male authority within the family, as well as exploited by capitalist employers, landlords, money lenders, bourgeois politicians and their goons, and the official machinery of law and order.

Capitalist growth, geared towards reaping the maximum rate of profit for big monopoly corporations, is a double edged sword as far as the women are concerned. It pulls women into social production in the interest of reaping maximum profit, thereby giving them a degree of economic independence, only to super-exploit them and subject them to new dangers. This was starkly revealed, for instance, by the recent incident of rape of a young woman working nightshift in a call centre in Bangalore.

Indian women face capitalist growth along with the perpetuation of old religious customs and social norms. The weight of the old, the remnants of feudalism and the religious and caste codes, combined with modern capitalist growth driven by the greed of the monopolies, adds up to double and triple exploitation of women. The oppressive conditions of women shows the backwardness of capitalist India, which can only get more and more aggravated by the imperialist pursuit of the ruling class.

The development of the women’s movement in India is a reflection of the fact that more and more women are unwilling to put up with their conditions. Women have been demanding and fighting both for equality with men in matters of property rights, and for equal wages for equal work, for maternity leave, crèche and other rights of women workers. This reflects the fact that the vast majority of women in our country belong either to families with small property, or families with no property except labour power.

Women were not an inferior sex in the earliest stage of human society, when both men and women were together emerging out of a condition of being subjugated to the forces of nature. Her labour was respected on par with the labour of men. As the social productive forces developed to a higher stage, society became divided into economic classes with conflicting interests. It became divided into a minority class that owned and controlled the means of social production, and the majority that worked not only for themselves but also for the benefit of the privileged minority class. The subjugation of human labour to a propertied class was accompanied by the subjugation of the woman to the property owning man within the family.

Today, we are living at a time when class divided society has reached its ultimate form. Not only does capitalism, a system based on private property in the means of social production, dominate the world; but capitalism has developed to its highest and last stage – imperialism. We are living in a capitalist imperialist world, where the greed of an extremely small minority is driving the economy to produce enormous wealth at one pole and unbearable poverty and insecurity at the other pole. Within such conditions, women are exploited outside and inside their homes. The labour they perform within their homes adds to the unpaid labour carried out in the factories and business centres – all of which is pocketed as profits by the capitalist class.

Women have been in the forefront of the struggle, in India and on the world scale, against the capitalist offensive of globalisation through liberalisation and privatisation. Women do not accept the notion that every family must fend for itself; or that every man must fend for himself and every woman for herself. Women refuse to accept that the state has no responsibility to anyone except the big business interests.

The bourgeoisie promotes the notion of ‘women’s empowerment’ as a policy objective unconnected with the nature of the economic system and its orientation. Bourgeois political leaders and their propagandists try to separate the struggle of women from the struggle of all those who work and are exploited. They try to turn women against men, and against the working class. However, the women’s movement has survived the ideological onslaught of the bourgeoisie. Women have persisted in asserting their rights and raising their voice against imperialist war, against fascism and state terrorism, communalism and racism. They have remained in the forefront of the struggle against globalisation through liberalisation and privatisation.

The rulers of India keep repeating the lie that it is possible to empower women through ‘gender budgeting’ and various government programs, while keeping intact the capitalist system and pursuing with “free market reforms”. The actual conditions of women go from bad to worse with the growth of capitalism, which treats the women as free or cheap labour, as a commodity for sexual gratification, perpetuates patriarchy and keeps alive old feudal customs and discriminatory practices in the service of super-exploitation.

Women stand to gain from ushering in a system that is based on the recognition of the dignity of labour. They stand to lose from perpetuating the existing system that is based on the exploitation of labour by a minority of property owners. That is why women’s organisations have tended to oppose capitalism and support the movement for socialism on the world scale.

Replacing capitalist private property by social property and collective ownership of the means of production is a necessary condition for women to stop being treated as an inferior sex. However, it is not a sufficient condition, as was shown by the rise and fall of the Soviet Union.

The conditions of women advanced tremendously during the early decades after the Great October Revolution in 1917. Women rose to unprecedented heights in all walks of Soviet society, far ahead of anything achieved in capitalist countries. However, after the victory in the anti-fascist patriotic war against Hitler’s army, and after the period of reconstruction was over, the Khrushchevite leadership did not carry out the changes that were crying out to be made at that time. The Communist Party stopped leading the class struggle and instead focused on competition and rivalry with US imperialism for world hegemony.

Instead of transferring power progressively into the hands of the vast majority of women and men in society, the Communist Party concentrated all power in its own hands. As a result, socialism was allowed to mark time, and gradually degenerate into a hybrid form of capitalism, and into social-imperialism – that is, socialism in words and imperialism in deeds.

The status of women in Soviet society, instead of being raised to progressively higher levels, suffered an about turn in the latter half of the 20 th century. The old feudal-bourgeois notion that the woman’s place is in the home began to be preached by those in power. The final collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 was the logical conclusion of the degeneration that began in the 1950s.

Women have a stake in bringing about the transition from capitalism to socialism, and in continuing the class struggle in socialist society against all vestiges of the old exploitative relations, until their rights are fully affirmed. They must continue their struggle until their equal status with men, and human conditions for all, become second nature, no longer needing legal enforcement.

The most politically active and conscious among women must draw the lessons from the Soviet experience. They must come forward and contribute to build a modern Communist Party on Indian soil, which does not seek power in its own hands but is an instrument for the empowerment of the working class and all the toilers and tillers.

It is the duty of communists to render all possible assistance to women, both to participate equally with men in political, economic, social and family affairs, and in their efforts to organise themselves as women, into a political force to fight for the affirmation of women’s rights.

Women are seeking empowerment, not accommodation

The demand of women for empowerment has become stronger day by day. As women become more and more conscious of their oppression, as they realise their own capacities with their growing participation in the workforce and in the world outside of their homes, they are demanding an end to their marginalization. As large sections of women continue to be treated as far less than human beings, work under the most beastly conditions inside and outside their homes, are vulnerable to heinous crimes and violence, and have no say over any thing in their lives, they are demanding that they be empowered to end this oppression. They are demanding power to decide matters that affect their lives and their families.

Women want the power to participate in politics, to become representatives of their communities, to be able to make laws in their interests and to make sure they are enforced. They want a deciding and responsible role in the affairs of society.

Where are the resources of this country going? How can they ensure a decent life for themselves and their families? How can their safety and security be ensured through legislation and enforcement of such legislation? These are just some of the questions on which women want to have their say.

The women's movement placed the question of women’s empowerment firmly on the agenda and has been fighting for this demand over the last two and a half decades. At the beginning of the nineties, the government introduced legislation to allow reservation for women in local bodies, that is, the elected panchayats, municipal corporations and boards. Many women did come forward aspiring to participate in the decision making for their community. However, this was neither substantial nor sustained. On the one hand, local governments (panchayats and municipal bodies) have very limited power to make decisions and very little financial means to implement any community-determined programme. On the other, women had to belong to one of the established political parties to be able to stand for elections and be elected. This in effect reduced them to 'representatives" of their parties and not their constituencies. In fact, this ensured that only women related to dominant male members of these parties even had a chance to stand for elections.

The illusion of empowerment of women at the local level was broken. However, women have not given up on the struggle for e mpowerment and in response to their insistent demands, the carrot of 33% reservation for women in the Parliament and state legislatures has been dangled in front of women as the most “promising gift”

The question before women is: will this accommodation deliver the promise of empowerment of women? Women need to understand the truth that under the existing system of democracy and its political process, neither they nor the vast majority of men can actually wield power. The fact is that in this existing capitalist democracy, the working men and women who constitute the vast majority of the population are completely marginalised. It is the capitalists who rule; a small section of society which is rich and powerful has the power to make laws in their own interest. This minority class rules through a powerful centre in the control of some ministers in the government; very little is decided outside of this centre, and neither the parliament nor any of its members have any real say in matters of policy. The elections are used by a few established political parties to send such representatives as will do the bidding of their parties, which are supported and funded by one or other capitalist interests.

The role of the people is limited to casting a vote in the elections to the Parliament, the state legislatures and the local bodies. The critical power to select the candidates with a common symbol across constituencies lies in the hands of the high commands of a few ‘recognised’ political parties that are well connected with the big business interests. It is the parties of the ruling class, backed by massive funds and muscle power, which dominate the political process. The parties that compete for power in this system act on behalf of the big capitalist corporations even while they speak in the name of the vast majority of people.

In sum, the Indian state is an instrument of oppression for the majority and an instrument for implementing the interests of the minority capitalist class. Accordingly, the entire machinery of the state – the government, the parliament, the police, the army and the judiciary – is used to oppress and not to meet the needs of the people. Women are unable to enforce even those laws that have been passed in response to the persistent struggles of women. Women have never been able to count on the police, the army or the courts to defend women's rights; on the contrary these very same institutions have been guilty of violation of such rights.

Without addressing the real content and logic of the existing system of democracy and its political process, getting more women into the legislative bodies at any level will not lead us even one step further towards the empowerment of the masses. Any such move will only serve to create an illusion of women’s power, as it is the bourgeois class that will continue to exercise power.

The women of India have not fought and sacrificed all these years just for the illusion of power. They must reject the path of accommodation within the existing political process, and instead fight for a thoroughgoing overhaul of this process. They must fight for a new system in which power will reside with the majority of people. Women must actively participate in innovating a new process of decision-making, wherein the masses of women and working men are together the masters of society and directly participate in ruling themselves. They must fight for a political process where women’s organisations enjoy the right to select candidates for election, and where political parties cannot usurp power but have to enable the people to exercise power

To strengthen themselves as a political force, women must build and strengthen their own organisations. They must create forums and mechanisms for women to raise their concerns, the concerns of their families and communities for a decent human life, for a life free from violence, with security of livelihood for all those who toil. They must strive to participate actively alongside men in the struggle against the anti-social offensive and in defence of rights. It is by coming forward to set the agenda for society that women will realise their collective strength, and be able to change their conditions.

Women must not be diverted from this struggle nor accept anything short of political empowerment. The majority of women must actively participate in governance, alongside the majority of men, having a decisive and equal say as members of the polity in all matters affecting the life of society.

In memory of Comrade Manoj

The passing away of our beloved and brave comrade Manoj is a great loss and a matter of great sorrow to Communist Ghadar Party of India. He breathed his last on March 9, after a prolonged illness. He is survived by his wife - Comrade Geeta, and three children.

Comrade Manoj was born in a very poor peasant family in Bihar. His mother died even as he entered this world, and his grandmother brought him up, lovingly. Poverty prevented him from studying beyond sixth class and he had to come to Delhi in search of livelihood.

Comrade Manoj Kumar came into contact with the Party as a worker, in this city of workers and toilers. Here he committed himself to the cause of revolution; he was only seventeen then. He married Geeta in March 1993. He inspired her to take up the politics of the working class. He gave every support to Geeta for participating in the work of the Party and to advance the cause of revolution.

Comrade Manoj was a very sober and humble soldier of the Party. He never made a fuss about his problems, and continued to work tirelessly for the Party with utmost discipline. He always put the Party’s needs above his personal needs. He continued his unfinished education in the ranks of the Party. All the revolutionary literature and various issues of the Party paper in his room are testimony to the fact that Comrade Manoj never allowed his lack of formal education to come in the way of understanding the science of Marxism-Leninism and Party’s line.

Comrade Manoj is not among us today. We have lost a friend who was part of the caravan moving towards revolution. The caravan will continue to move and people with revolutionary thoughts will continue to join. Comrade Manoj’s work will always encourage us to keep moving ahead. Red salute to the revolutionary sentiments of Comrade Manoj! Let’s pledge to continue the revolutionary work to realize his dreams.

Maharashtra Resident Doctors Victorious in the first Round

After 12 days of united struggle by the Maharashtra resident doctors, the government has been forced to accept the demands of the doctors. The strike had become necessary for the 7000 junior doctors as the Maharashtra Government has done nothing to improve the undignified existence and deteriorating conditions that these doctors are forced to live and work in despite persistent protests.

The living conditions of these doctors are appalling. In the prestigious KEM Hospital, rooms meant to house one doctor, are housing four and more doctors. The conditions of the rooms are abysmal. There are neither proper furnishing nor proper maintenance and sanitation. Rats are as much residents in these premises as doctors.

The conditions of work are extremely exploitative. The Resident doctors are expected to be on call 24 x 7. They have no days off. .And all this fetched the highly qualified professionals not much more than a youth working in a call center.

Instead of addressing the terrible conditions of the Resident doctors in Maharashtra, the Government has been maligning the doctors by saying that the doctors are responsible for the poor treatment that the patients are getting..

The government policy of not adequately funding the public health system is the real cause of the poor treatment that the masses of the people are receiving in government-run hospitals. There are never any medicines available in the hospital and a patient's relatives are made to run to the medical store even for small items. The fact that there are hundreds of vacancies in the municipal and state run hospitals implies that the resident doctors are made to work day and night like slaves. The grossly inadequate doctor to patient ratio makes it impossible for the doctors to provide satisfactory treatment for patients in public hospitals. Often the junior doctors have to bear the brunt of ire of the patients and their relatives.

During the strike, MARD held several parallel OPDs outside the hospitals for patients who could not afford private hospital treatment. Blaming the doctors for the pathetic conditions in the hospital is a calculated move on part of the government to malign the doctors and shift the blame from themselves..

After the continued efforts to bring the problems of the resident doctors to the notice of the authorities failed and the strike began, instead of taking steps to address the problems of the doctors, the Maharashtra government left no stone unturned in declaring the strike illegal. The Maharashtra Emergency Services Maintenance Act (MESMA) has been amended on 2nd March 2006 to cover the services of the student doctors as "emergency services". By the 12th day of the strike, the services of more than 500 doctors were suspended and more than 1000 doctors were served warning notices. Hundreds were served eviction notices from their hostels. If the junior doctors are performing such essential public service, then why is the government not providing them a dignified existence?

The answer to this important question can be gleaned from the policies of privatisation and liberalisation pursued by the ruling class. The government has been systematically increasing the fees in the medical colleges and cutting down on the funds to the government-run hospitals. On one hand, they are making the profession of medicine a business where a student joins and spends huge sums of monies to reap profits later. On the other hand, they are systematically making the public health system so sick so that it cannot be of any use to the ordinary people. They want to create the conditions for it to be gradually shut down or handed over to private sharks.

Basic health care is a human right. The working class and people cannot accept that this important sector be allowed to deteriorate any further. Government must ensure health care available to all, irrespective of the paying capacity of the person. The government cannot be allowed to wash its hands off towards this responsibility. Health care must be recognized as a human right which it is the duty of government to ensure. Adequate funds and facilities must be allocated, adequate number of doctors and support personnel must be employed and they must be provided a decent living condition in order to ensure health care for all as a human right.

The demands of the Resident doctors on strike in Maharashtra are entirely just and deserve the support of all. Peoples Voice hails the militant struggle carried out by the Resident Doctors. Only because of their tireless struggle have they been able to force the government to agree to look into their demands. In the next phase of their struggle we are confident that the resident doctors will succeed in actually achieving all their demands in practice.