The new government and challenges before the working class

As part of its continuing campaign among the working class and people of South Delhi, the Lok Raj Sangathan and Lok Raj Samitis of various working class colonies organised a series of public meetings on the theme "The new government and challenges before the working class". The aim of this campaign is to expose the present system of capitalist rule and boldly put forward the alternative of Lok Raj, people's power as well as to win over the masses of working people to the program of Lok Raj Sangathan.

This was also an occasion for the candidate for the Lok Sabha elections, selected by the Lok Raj Samitis and supported by the Communist Ghadar Party of India and Lok Raj Sangathan, Birju Nayak to go to the people who had vigorously campaigned for him. It was an occasion to express his gratitude for their overwhelming support and lay out before them the course of struggle in the coming period.

Enthusiastic young activists of Lok Raj Sangathan had put up hundreds of posters in the working class colonies, thanking the people for their support to Birju Nayak and announcing these meetings. They went door-to-door thanking the people and inviting them to the meetings.

Prem Nagar Chowk in Okhla Industrial Estate, through which hundreds of workers pass in the evening, on their way back after the day's toil, was the venue of the first meeting, on June 2. Calling upon the workers and oppressed to arise and put an end to this man-eating capitalist system of exploitation, the activists of Rangbhoomi Natya Samooh initiated the program with the song "aao uthein, mere deshvasiyon..."

Amidst thunderous applause, Birju Nayak, candidate selected by the people of South Delhi for the Lok Sabha elections, came up to address the gathering. Pointing to the recent elections, he elaborated on how the agenda set by the ruling capitalist class continues, irrespective of which coalition of bourgeois political parties forms the government, because under this system people have no say in determining the agenda. That is why the candidates of the various bourgeois political parties can promise whatever the people want to hear to get their votes, but do whatever the capitalists want once they are in power. People have no power to hold their elected representatives accountable or to recall them. People also have no power to initiate legislation in their interests. He thanked the workers for the support they had given to his election campaign, through their untiring propaganda work, finances and other resources as well as with their votes. He called upon the people to rally around Lok Raj Sangathan in large numbers and build this united front of the workers, peasants and all the oppressed, to take political power from the bourgeoisie and establish Lok Raj. Together we have to step up the struggle to establish worker-peasant rule in India, he asserted.

Santosh Kumar, firebrand leader of the Hind Naujawan Ekta Sabha pointed out to the workers that none of the bourgeois political parties had any program to solve the burning problems of the workers and peasants, as was clear from the recent Lok Sabha elections. They are all committed to serving the interests of the capitalist class. We have to organise in our workplaces and residential areas, build Lok Raj Samitis and advance the struggle for political power in our hands, he said. In this context he pointed out that the election manifesto and campaign of Birju Nayak had raised the need for mechanisms by which the people can hold their elected representatives accountable and recall them if they do not work in the people's interests. This is a very important step towards establishing people's power, he concluded and called upon the workers to come forward and join the struggle.

Inspiring women to come forward in the struggle to establish the rule of the workers and oppressed, Chhaya addressed the workers on behalf of Purogami Mahila Sangathan. The bourgeoisie benefits by the super-exploitation of women, she pointed out and explained that only the worker-peasant rule can create the conditions for the elimination of all forms of exploitation. She called on women to join the campaign of Lok Raj Sangathan for ending this exploitative system and bringing about Lok Raj.

Similar meetings were held in Sanjay Colony, Okhla Phase II on June 6 and in Indira Kalyan Vihar on June 7. Activists of the Lok Raj Samitis in each of these colonies worked hard to mobilise people in large numbers, to popularise the call of Lok Raj Sangathan and to make these public meetings a success. Hundreds of workers attended the meetings and engaged the activists of LRS in vigorous discussion on how to expose the present system and arouse people to come forward in the struggle.

Slogans of 'Hum hain iske maalik, hum hain hindostan, mazdoor kisan aurat aur jawan!', 'Sangathit ho, hukamran bano aur samaj ko badal dalo!', 'Mazdoor-kisan ka krantikari gathbandhan Lok Raj Sangathan zindabad!', 'Mazdoor ekta zindabad!', 'Inquilab zindabad!' fittingly summed up the spirit and message of these meetings.