Agenda of Communist Ghadar Party of India is to build political unity around the alternative of worker-peasant rule and socialist reorientation of the economy!

Statement of CC of CGPI, 27 June, 2009

The Congress Party has been returned to power at the head of a new coalition, with Manmohan Singh as Prime Minister. The influence of various regional parties as well as that of CPI (M) and its left allies in Parliament has been drastically reduced. The Congress Party is more firmly in command than before, with BJP as the principal opposition party in Parliament. This result has been greeted with open joy by the associations of Indian capitalists, such as CII and FICCI.  It has also been welcomed by the big imperialist powers of the G8 and by global institutions of finance capital such as the World Bank and IMF.  A more stable Congress Party led government with Manmohan at the head is in the best interest of the Indian and international bourgeoisie. 

The agenda of this renewed Manmohan Singh government has been unveiled through the speeches of the President and Prime Minister in Parliament.  The stated aim is to achieve “rapid and inclusive growth”.  This is also being presented as a ‘middle path’.  Facts show that this is nothing but the agenda of the Indian capitalists to achieve rapid growth in their wealth and global status, while deceiving, diverting and suppressing those who could potentially pose a challenge to this course.

At a time when the world economy is in deep crisis and experiencing absolute decline in production, the big capitalists of India are seeing prospects for rapid capitalist growth in our country, and in their global market share.  They see world class infrastructure and cheap skilled labour as essential requirements for achieving their aim of becoming global giants. The capitalists want the government to further step up its investment spending at a time when private investment has slowed down following the global financial crisis.  This is the reason why the Manmohan Singh cabinet has decided to increase central government spending steeply in 2009 and 2010, without worrying about the deficit limits stipulated in the Fiscal Responsibility & Budget Management Act passed in 2003.  At that time this law was enacted at the call of big capital and was used to cut back government expenditure on social services and food subsidy, in the name of reducing deficit. Today this law is being flouted when the big capitalists want the government to spend more in the name of 'stimulating' the economy.

An enhanced government spending to bail out big capitalist corporations and banks is the line that the captains of the imperialist system of states led by the USA, are advocating today.  For the sake of pulling the bourgeoisie out of the present crisis the working people of the whole world, present and future generations, are being burdened with massive public debt.

The Indian capitalists demanded that the government do what ever that can be done to attract much higher levels of foreign capital into the country, to help finance their ambitious investment targets and global expansionist drive.  Therefore the Manmohan Singh government has declared its intent to quickly open up various sectors further to foreign investment, including insurance and retail trade. This move is designed specifically to satisfy the imperialist ambitions and unlimited greed of the Indian bourgeoisie. It would result in sucking more out of what the toilers of India produce and putting into the pockets of foreign investors and the Tatas, Birlas, Reliance and other big business houses. Financial oligopolies and multi-national companies, both Indian and foreign, will have no obligation whatsoever to invest the profits back into the Indian economy. They will be free to invest it when and where maximum profits can be made.

Even before the elections, the Manmohan Singh government reduced inter-bank interest rates, called repo rate and reverse repo rate, to put more money in the hands of state and private capitalist banks. The banks have increased their lending to central and state governments, and to satisfy the financing needs of the big bourgeoisie.  Further steps are being planned to strengthen the state monopoly capitalist banks, including a World Bank loan to 'recapitalise' them.

The new avatar of the privatisation drive- of selling shares of state owned enterprises is being planned. This is promoted as one of the inevitable ways to raise more money for the massive investments that the capitalists want the government to undertake in a hurry.  Selling a minority of shares in the market would also pave the way for shifting from state to private ownership and control, when the capitalists so desire.  Past experience has shown that whenever there is a downturn in the private investment cycle, big capitalists become more interested in acquiring public assets. The list of candidates for the next round of disinvestment includes Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT), Hindustan Photofilms, and other large-scale manufacturing firms.

Extending cheaper credit to farmers and peasants is aimed at promoting capitalist development in the countryside and expanding the rural market for industrial goods. In the name of "making agriculture profitable again", the government is aligning the peasant economy with global supply chains of giant trading companies. This orientation is in line with the greedy aims of big capital. The bourgeoisie looks at agriculture as a potential sector to be exploited and turned into lucrative export business. It will inevitably increase the insecurity of livelihood for the vast millions of peasants in our country. The vast mineral and rich forest land of India too have been targeted for accelerated capitalist development. It is this plan for an organised corporate land grab that is being promoted as being inclusive of tribal and community interests.

To facilitate this land grab the capitalists want a smooth process by which they can acquire whatever land they identify as being ideal for their profitable business ventures. The Manmohan Singh government is working out the modalities of using a combination of private negotiations and state coercion, backed by the colonial Land Acquisition Act and the SEZ Act, to overcome the resistance of peasants, tribal communities and others to their land being acquired. It also plans to implement a Resettlement and Rehabilitation Act, which will provide a legal basis to evict people and deprive them of their livelihood.

The government plans to amend the way the sea coast is managed, so as to enable big capitalist corporations to establish profitable business ventures, at the expense of the traditional rights and livelihood of millions of fishermen.

In the name of providing for the welfare of the people the Manmohan Singh government is promising to step up state and private investment in education, health and urban renewal.  However the real aim is to convert higher education, professional training and hospital care into highly profitable business for capitalists of the world. Increased spending on higher education and training is driven by the need of the capitalists for trained labour in order to compete in world markets. Expanding health insurance through both government spending and private investment is aimed at turning security against health shocks into a profitable business for Indian and foreign companies.

Prices of essential consumer goods continue to rise at 8 or 9 percent annually, while the government claims that inflation is under control!  While promising a Right to Food Security law, the government is preparing a blueprint for completely dismantling the Public Distribution System (PDS).  Providing cheap food grains only to BPL card holders serves to restrict the food subsidy budget, and is a step in the direction of eliminating the PDS.

Expanding the scope of the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) scheme is aimed at multiple purposes.  It serves to pacify the rural unemployed, and at the same time create productive infrastructure by super-exploiting them. It serves to deepen the rural market by expanding wage employment.  It also serves to provide trained labour power to the capitalists at government expense. Thus, for instance, the Textiles Ministry has proposed that the NREGA budget be used to train and employ rural workers for the textile industry.

The working class, which is facing huge job losses, onerous conditions of work and declining purchasing power in the face of rising food prices, finds no mention in the speeches of either the President or the Prime Minister in Parliament. This is not an oversight.  It shows that merciless attacks on the rights of labour are being planned, including the right to unionise and the right to strike. Intensifying the exploitation of labour lies at the foundation of the expansionist aims of the Indian bourgeoisie, which is hoping to attract capital from all over the globe precisely by offering cheap and skilled labour for super-exploitation.  The anti-worker plans are deliberately being kept secret to avoid the inevitable reaction of the part of unionised workers.

Thus, the agenda of "rapid and inclusive growth" is aimed at including various sections of the bourgeoisie, while excluding the vast majority of toilers and condemning them to heightened insecurity and poverty. The claims of the big capitalists are being given priority over everything else. The people are being asked to believe that what is good for big business is best for the country.

Predicting the upheaval that will result from this anti-national, anti-people imperialist path, the Manmohan Singh government proposes to spend crores of rupees to beef up the parasitical security forces. In the name of internal security they intend to pursue a "policy of zero-tolerance towards terrorism" with which they promise to crush "insurgency and left wing extremism". Government had already prepared a detailed plan to crush any organised resistance to their evil plans even before they called for an election. It is this that is being implemented in West Bengal and Orissa. This wanton and organised state terrorism is what is being promoted as effective ways to curb insecurity. An important adjunct of this plan is the proposal to strengthen 'community policing' an euphemism for state organised "non governmental" fascist gangs such as the Salwa Judum to wreak havoc on the toilers and tillers fighting for their rights.

The Man Mohan Singh government is following the time tested path of "winning by the ballot and ruling with the bullet". Claiming they have the mandate the Manmohan Singh government is working overtime to crush with brute force any resistance to their imperialist course. Growth for the bourgeoisie and bullets for the toiling majority this is the real meaning of the slogan of inclusive growth.

Comrades,

The working class and toiling majority of Indian people must say NO to this anti-national and anti-people imperialist course of the Indian bourgeoisie. We must say no to the exclusive capitalist agenda, which the Congress Party wants to pass off as a 'middle path'.

This is not the first time that the Congress Party is talking about a middle path. In the struggle against British colonialism, the Congress Party promoted a middle path of reconciliation between the oppressive ruler and the masses of Indian people fighting for freedom. The Congress Party leadership even approved the death warrant for Shaheed Bhagat Singh and his comrades, who rejected the so-called middle path and called for uncompromising struggle to force the colonial rulers out of our soil.

This is not the first time that a Congress Party led government is promising to provide for all sections of society.  In the fifties and sixties, the Nehru government claimed it was building a ‘socialistic pattern of society’.  In the seventies the Indira Gandhi government advanced the slogan of ‘garibi hatao’.  More recently, the first Manmohan Singh government promised ‘reforms with a human face’.

Actual results show that capitalist growth since 1947, be it relatively slow or rapid, has produced wealth and prosperity only for a minority in Indian society.  The toiling majority has faced increasing insecurity of livelihood, and over three-fourths of Indians even today are extremely poor by international standards.

The Communist Ghadar Party of India calls on all activists and organisers of the working class to resolutely oppose the path of conciliating with the bourgeoisie’s so-called middle path. Capitalism cannot provide for all. It cannot be given a ‘human face’ or made ‘inclusive’.  It is impossible for the right to livelihood to be guaranteed for all toilers, and for capitalist greed to be fulfilled at the same time.  There is no such thing as a middle road between capitalism and socialism.

The workers, peasants, women and youth of our country want an end to the growing insecurity they face. They want food and other essential consumption articles at affordable prices. They want secure and guaranteed livelihood for all.  They also want good quality education and health care as a matter of right. They aspire for a society where every person of working age is gainfully employed and living standards improve every year, steadily and without repeated crises, without cycles of boom and bust.

It is possible to fulfil these aspirations provided the toiling majority become the rulers and decision makers. We, the toiling majority, must set the agenda for society.  Only then can we make sure that the economy is reoriented to serve our collective and individual needs.  The times are calling on communists to build political unity of the working class and broad masses around the alternative of worker-peasant rule and socialist reorientation of the economy.

The workers, peasants, women and youth of our country are longing for an alternative to the existing system of democracy and its political process. They are expressing their desire and aspiration to be the rulers and not merely the ruled. The task facing communists is to build and bring to power a united front of all those resisting the bourgeois offensive, with the worker-peasant alliance as its backbone. A revolutionary government formed by such a front would take immediate steps to halt the capitalist offensive, renew the system of democracy and reorient the economy to provide for all.

A revolutionary government of the toiling majority would take immediate steps to reorient the economy, rather than stimulate its growth with the same orientation.  It would halt the process of capitalist-imperialist plunder, of sucking out of the Indian economy more than what is put into it every year.  It would make sure that more is put into the economy than is taken out, it would ensure that the orientation and object of all investments is to improve the people's standard of living and wellbeing.

A government of the toilers, led by the working class, would undertake huge investments, not to enable Indian companies to capture world markets, but to first and foremost fulfil the large unmet needs at home.  It will invest in public enterprises to expand the production of consumption goods needed by the toiling masses. It will enforce a strict code on private firms, taking over the assets of those who do not comply, without compensation.

Such a government will take immediate steps to create a modern universal Public Distribution System, which will provide not only wheat and rice but vegetables and other food items, clothing and all essential mass consumption goods, not only to BPL card holders but to all the toiling people at affordable prices.  It will drastically cut down the share of government revenues consumed by the unproductive bureaucratic and armed apparatus and by debt service payments, which share is around 80% today.

A government led by the working class would immediately repeal the colonial Land Acquisition Act and the new SEZ Act, to block any attempts of capitalist corporations to grab land from peasants and tribal communities. It will take steps to provide inputs for agriculture at stable prices and ensure guaranteed procurement of peasants’ produce at remunerative prices. To ensure price stability, it will bring domestic wholesale trade and foreign trade under social control, eliminating the role of private middlemen and speculators in these spheres. It will encourage and support voluntary collectivisation of land by peasants, to create cooperative enterprise using modern technology and achieving higher yields and labour productivity.

Such a government will immediately ban futures trading and prohibit foreign companies from buying any share of India’s productive assets.  It will nationalise and socialise banking and insurance, so that the financial resources of the country can be deployed in the interest of fulfilling the needs of the toiling majority.

No front of the bourgeoisie can or will implement such measures. Only a political front of the toiling and oppressed masses, led by the working class with its vanguard Communist Party at the head, will have the interest and capacity to reorient the economy to provide for all.

The Communist Ghadar Party of India calls on all its members and activists to vigorously carry out the all-sided work to enable the working class to lead the struggle for people’s empowerment.  It calls on all to build the vanguard party in the working class, attracting the most energetic and youthful elements of the class into the party. It calls on all the activists to step up the organising work to build and strengthen mass organisations of workers, of peasants, of women and of youth, so that every section of the resistance movement gets strengthened and more conscious of the aims of the struggle.  It calls on the communists to be in the fore front of the struggle to build and expand a broad non-sectarian United Front of the working class and all those being threatened by the bourgeois offensive, around the immediate program of halting the capitalist imperialist drive and implementing an alternative program to reorient the economy to provide for all.

Inquilab Zindabad!