Time is ripe to build a political front against imperialism and the Indian bourgeoisie!

Statement of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India,
13th July, 2008

In spite of widespread opposition among people and their elected representatives in Parliament, the Manmohan Singh government is racing ahead in a desperate dash to conclude the Indo-US nuclear deal before the term of President George Bush runs out.  What this shows is that the Indian bourgeoisie is hell bent on pursuing its imperialist aims, no matter how dangerous the consequences may be for the peoples of this region. It shows that the Congress Party is a party of the reactionary and imperialist bourgeoisie of our country. Both the Congress and the BJP are equally ready to strike deals with the most dangerous world power, in the narrow self interest of the bourgeoisie.

The bourgeois ideologues are working overtime to portray the opposition to the Indo-US deal as being based on religious fait h or ideological beliefs. In reality, the opposition is political.  More and more people from all walks of life are realising the dangers linked with India becoming a trusted ally of the US imperialists. People are realising that the Indo-US deal is actually bad for energy security; against national sovereignty; and against the cause of peace in Asia and the world.

Political opposition based on genuine concern has united the anti-imperialist forces against the government's drive.  It is this anti-imperialist unity that has led to the withdrawal of support to the Congress Party led UPA regime on the part of the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Forward Bloc and Revolutionary Socialist Party. This withdrawal of support is a welcome development that strengthens the hands of the communist movement and all the anti-imperialist forces.  It opens up new opportunities for those in struggle to converge into a massive movement for change – a change in the interest of social progress.

Communists now face the challenge of taking decisive steps to build on the political unity that organisations of our working class and people have displayed. The times are calling on all Indian communists to shun sectarianism and work responsibly and untiringly to build and strengthen a revolutionary front against the imperialist system of domination and plunder, and against the US led aggression and war for global hegemony. It is calling on us to boldly put forward the vision of the alternative system that the workers, peasants and broad masses of our people desire and are fighting for – the vision of modern scientific socialism on Indian soil, and peaceful relations among states based on mutual benefit and non-interference.

We cannot forget that it was the economic team led by Manmohan Singh that spearheaded the liberalisation and privatisation program launched by the Narasimha Rao government, to take forward the globalisation and modernisation drive initiated by Rajiv Gandhi in 1985. This is an agenda to enrich Indian capitalists and make them a global power, in collusion and contention with US imperialism.  It is an agenda to intensify the exploitation of workers and all salaried people, and drive peasants to suicide. 

What the bourgeoisie wants is for the Congress Party or BJP to be at the helm of affairs, to pursue the agenda that has been set.  When one of them gets discredited they would like the other to take its place. The conflict between these two parties is nothing but internal dogfight within the bourgeois class. Taken together, the Congress Party and BJP serve the interest of the bourgeoisie and world imperialism.  They are two sides of the same coin. Each needs the other as the rival to target, and to cultivate its vote bank.

The bourgeoisie propagates the lie that there is no alternative except to choose between BJP rule and Congress Party rule. This means no alternative to the liberalisation and privatisation program.  However, workers and peasants are not willing to accept this lie any more.  Mass resistance to the capitalist reforms have led to partial successes, such as on privatisation. There is acute struggle taking place against acquisition of land for Special Economic Zones. The time is ripe to set as our aim the complete halt and reversal of this anti-social program.  If we all unite and wage the struggle uncompromisingly against the bourgeoisie, it can be done.

To accomplish this, the communist movement has to make a decisive and clean break, once and for all time, with the dead-end road of supporting the Congress Party or some other bourgeois formation, in the name of preventing BJP rule. All communists, socialists and anti-imperialists must work together to defeat both Congress Party and BJP. 

Our common need is to put an end to the capitalist-imperialist loot and plunder and reorient the economy to provide prosperity and protection for all. Our aim is to replace the Westminster model of democracy, which serves the bourgeois class best, by a new system and political process that empowers the toiling majority. Our aim is to redefine foreign policy to make India a factor for peace and a reliable ally of all nations and peoples fighting against imperialism. 

What is needed urgently today is a political front representing the interests of workers, peasants, all salaried and working people, and all victims of national oppression, state terror, communal violence and discrimination of all kinds.  Only such a front can mobilise all those discontented with the current conditions and course of India, unite and concentrate their energies to defeat the bourgeoisie.

The Central Committee of CGPI calls on all members and activists of the party and of mass organisations among workers, peasants, women and youth, to step up the efforts to develop the political front against imperialism and the bourgeoisie. We call on all communist and socialist parties to join this common effort. We call on all activists among workers and peasants to embrace the common immediate aim of preventing India becoming a trusted ally of US imperialism. 

Let us strengthen political unity in the course of the immediate struggle against the Indo-US deal! 

Let us consolidate our unity against the globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation program of the bourgeoisie!

Let us prepare to defeat both Congress Party and BJP in the Lok Sabha elections, as a prelude to forming a worker peasant government!