Dear Comrades,
In 65 years, the Indian ruling classes with more billionaires than Japan, has utterly failed to complete any of the tasks of the national democratic revolution. Its historical failure is too glaring to ignore. There is no way forward for the Indian masses under capitalism. Economic growth has already begun to dither and the social condition of the masses will deteriorate further
After being coerced for decades into communal frenzy, sectarian violence, regional conflicts, caste prejudices, religious bigotry, nationalist chauvinism, regional antagonisms, democratic deception and cricket hysteria by the ruling classes and their faithful media, the Indian proletariat is awakening to the new epoch that is dawning across the planet. The 24 hour general strike that took place on February 28th is a turning point in the social and political evolution of present day India.
Shining India, the new superpower and the largest economy, the buoyant economy with tantalising growth rates were the new clichés that defined the India of the twenty-first century. The 27 storey palatial residence built by Mukesh Ambani, with several helipads and swimming pools, including the most modern gadgets, exuded blatant and hedonic luxury in the midst of the grubby and dreadful shanty towns of Mumbai. It is a country where more than 250,000 farmers burdened by unbearable debt and usury committed suicide with pesticides that were supposed to boost their crop yields. The acquisition of a Jaguar manufacturing plant by Ramesh Tata was another feather in the cap of Indian success, while more than a billion starved on an income of 50 cents a day in this largest ‘democracy’ on earth. While the imperialist monopolies sucked blood from the mother India, the Indian corporate bosses ventured from Europe to the Gulf States to boost their profits. In their voracious lust, these large scale banyas stashed away $ 500 billion of corruption in Swiss banks, while more than thirty thousand children continue to die due to malnutrition every year in this cradle of early human civilisation.
With record economic growth of the last two decades, income inequality has doubled, ranking last amongst the ‘emerging’ economies. The price hikes, restructuring of labour, privatisation and deregulation of the economy, wage freezes and other neoliberal policies made the lives of even those in work overwrought, while large swathes of the suburban and rural population continued to slide into the abyss of harrowing poverty and deprivation.
The corruption scandals of the reactionary politicians over petty non-issues went on unabated. The movement around a neo-fascist demagogue Anna Hazare was mainly sponsored by sections of corporate capital to malign their financial and political adversaries, but, above all, to divert and vent steam from the seething revolt in society underneath this smog of the burgeoning chaos. The profit-oriented Indian media has been playing a pernicious role in its crusade to observe a criminal silence over the real issues afflicting the teeming millions while constantly whipping up religious and nationalist chauvinism. In the wake of the general strike call given by eleven major trade union federations, the media machines came into full sway and a torrent of negative propaganda was unleashed against the strike. The political sceptics and cynics of the left found a much needed succour in this media campaign. The ‘independent’ world media joined in the chorus of the ‘failure’ of the strike. Although the strike didn’t bring India to a total standstill, yet it was one of the most significant movements of the Indian proletariat on real issues, cutting across the prejudices and divisions imposed upon the masses to detract, distort and dent their class unity. Gurudas Dasgupta, general secretary of the All India Trade Unions Congress (AITUC), a Communist Party-affiliated trade union federation, described the general strike in the following words on the eve of February 28th: “This is a historic occasion. For the first time all the big trade unions have come together to protest the anti-labour policies of the government.” According to some trade union officials, almost a hundred million workers joined the strike, calling for a national minimum wage, permanent jobs for 50 million contract workers, immediate decrease in the cost of living and an end to the policy of privatisation. According to AFP, transport, banking, postal services and most of the public sector came to a halt. Mumbai, the commercial hub of India, experienced the largest strike in its recent history. Such was the pressure of the workers from below that most trade union leaders and federations had to heed the strike call to sustain a semblance of credibility amongst the workers who are seething with revulsion against their reformist and compromising policies. Even the trade union federation affiliated to the ruling Congress party, INTUC, had to join the strike. Its president G Sanjeeva Reddy had this to say: “Our most important demand is the abolition of contract labour and a check on the uncontrolled increase in prices.” In some cities, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-affiliated unions felt compelled to participate. Apart from the ruling Congress and its coalition partners, the mainstream opposition parties like the BJP vehemently opposed the strike.
The leadership of the Communist Parties has totally surrendered to capitalism. These left wing leaders have completely abandoned socialist transformation of society. They have even abandoned the two-stage theory of revolution, and now have embarked upon a one-stage mantra, i.e. bourgeois democracy. Their enthusiasm for direct foreign investment and dancing to the tune of corporate vultures led to their humiliating defeat in West Bengal and elsewhere. In spite of this treacherous role of its traditional leadership, the Indian proletariat is making a comeback on the stage of history. There was ferment in the ranks of the communist parties with sections of the youth developing hopes in the Maoist insurgency. But the tactics of guerrilla struggle cannot defeat the monstrous state. Adventurism and opportunism are two sides of the same coin: the capitulation of the leadership of some Maoists to the right wing West Bengal Government of Mamata Banerjee has exposed their ideological bankruptcy and disgusted the youth moving towards them. In 65 years, the Indian ruling classes with more billionaires than Japan, has utterly failed to complete any of the tasks of the national democratic revolution. Its historical failure is too glaring to ignore. There is no way forward for the Indian masses under capitalism. The economic growth has already begun to dither and the social condition of the masses will deteriorate further. The leadership of the communist parties will have to accept that the character of the Indian revolution can only be socialist that will transcend the whole region, leading to the socialist federation of South Asia. If they fail to do this, the youth and the new wave of the struggles of the mighty Indian proletariat will discard these leaders and chisel out a new Marxist revolutionary leadership to come up to the challenge posed by history. The other India of the oppressed and exploited workers, youth and the peasants is rising yet again.
The writer is the editor of Asian Marxist Review and International Secretary of Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign. He can be reached at ptudc@hotmail.com
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2012\03\04\story_4-3-2012_pg3_4
