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Editorial
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No to Reformism,
No To Anarchism,
March to Revolution
the tasks of the PDR. As a result, most of them have become part of
ruling class parties/alliances or continue to vacillate incapable of taking
a concrete path for revolutionary advance. Meanwhile, some of the fringe
groups analyzing India as a independent capitalist country in the stage
of socialist revolution are in effect serving the ruling system as the
apologists of the neo-colonial plunder of imperialism. A section of the
CR forces, the erstwhile CPI(ML) Peoples War, CPI(ML) Party Unity
and MCC who have united to form the CPI(Maoist), in the name of
upholding Maoism, which is nothing but the Lin Biaoist line, are following
the old sectarian line in more rabid, anarchist way based on their path
of revolution analysing India as semi-colonial mechanically copying
the Chinese path in vastly different Indian conditions.
There are a number of CPI(ML) and other CR groups who claim to
have rejected the sectarian line and adopted the mass line. Whether
they have a Path of Revolution document or not, all of them explain in
detail the differences between the pre-revolutionary Chinese and present
Indian conditions, but at the same time pursue the strategy of protracted
peoples war, mechanically repeating the path Mao had analyzed in his
military writings according to Chinese conditions. They refuse to
recognize the momentous changes that have taken place after the
Second World War, when threatened with the onward march of the
international communist movement, the inherent crisis of the capitalist
imperialist system and as a consequence of the changes in the balance
of forces among the imperialist powers, the colonial system of plunder
was replaced by neo-colonial plunder by the imperialist camp led by US
imperialism. Most of them are still rejecting the contradiction between
the imperialist and socialist forces as one of the major contradiction at
global level under the influence of the class collaborationist Three World
Theory, which they still worship. Similarly they have an allergy towards
seeking truth from facts to recognize the neo-colonial changes that
have taken place in the imperialist plunder utilizing the domination of
finance capital and market system through instruments like IMF-World
Band-WTO and MNCs. At the most their concept about neo-colonisation
do not go beyond the Soviet revisionist concept of neo-colony of US
imperialism, which was dished out by numerous Soviet studies of 1960s
and 1970s.
As Lenin wrote about the place of imperialism in history, in the
concluding part of his epochal work Imperialism, the Highest Stage of
Capitalism: the fight against imperialism is a sham and humbug unless
it is inseparably bound up with the fight against opportunism. A few
paragraphs before it, he has almost prophesied a picture of the future
beyond the colonial phase as: When the colonies of European powers,
for instance, comprised only one tenth of the territory of Africa (as was
No to Reformism, No to Anarchism, March to Revolution
the case in 1876), colonial policy was able to develop by methods other
than that of monopoly by the free grabbing of territories, so to speak.
But when nine-tenth of Africa had been seized (by 1900), when the whole
world had been divided up, there was inevitably ushered in the era of
monopoly possession of colonies, and consequently, of particularly
intense struggle for the division and re-division of the world. But this
process, after the two world wars for the division and re-division of the
world, led to the intensification of anti-imperialist struggles, to the growth
of national liberation movements, to countries with one-third of world
population becoming part of socialist camp led by Soviet Union and to
the sharpening of its own inherent cyclic crises. In this situation, under
the new balance of forces among the imperialist powers following the
Second World War, when US imperialism replaced Britain as the leader
of the imperialist camp, the old colonialism was replaced by neocolonialism, with finance capital and market dominating all fields.
As Lenin foresaw almost a century back, finance capital had added
the struggle for the source of raw materials, for the export of capital, for
sphere of influence, i.e., for spheres for profitable deals, concessions,
monopoly profits and so on, economic territory in general. As finance
capital is becoming more and more speculative and parasitic, as market
forces have become unprecedentedly dominant aided by speculative
capital, it was inevitable that the colonial phase had to be replaced by
the neo-colonial phase when the struggle for control of raw materials,
for the export of capital, competition for spheres of influence or profitable
deals, concessions, monopoly profits, for market control have become
the dominant feature.
It is the failure to recognize these momentous changes in imperialist
policy during the post-World War II decades and to make necessary
changes in its own approach to confront them that led to the fall of the
socialist forces from the position of great strength they had reached half
a century ago. When capitalism had reached its monopoly stage,
imperialism, Kautsky and Bernstein had analyzed that compared to
capitalism, imperialism is a less harmful force with which collaboration
was possible, leading to the collapse of the Second International. Almost
similarly, when imperialism took the neo-colonial forms of plunder, forces
like the Krushchovites, without recognizing that it is more barbarous
and pernicious, called for peaceful competition and co-existence with it,
or collaboration with it, leading to the grave setbacks suffered by the
ICM including the disintegration of Soviet Union and degeneration of
socialist China into an imperialist power.
The failure to recognize this vicious and pernicious neo-colonisation
even after all the damages it has already created, and the failure to
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develop the strategic and tactical line capable of combating it had led to
the present stagnation and splintering of the revolutionary movement,
with most of the forces fumbling in darkness, like blind men describing
an elephant.
It is in this critical juncture, in continuation to the studies started
from early 1960s within the ICM and the efforts made based on them by
us from 1980s, India state is analyzed as a country under neocolonisation, as part of the ever-intensifying ongoing imperialist plunder
in new forms around the world. With this analysis the mechanical
repetition of India as a semi-colony, semi-feudal country like China
started in 1960s along with the Chinese path, and concepts like
protracted peoples war are bid farewell to. The fast changes taking
place in the mode of production trasforming the earlier dominant feudal
forces to remnants of feudal relations existing only in some areas is
recognized. The agrarian revolution is explained in the neo-colonial
context. Above all, the initiative for establishing the proletarian leadership
in the PDR or NDR, both in theory and in practice is highlighted. This
has led to the categorical declaration that it is not any peasant revolution
or the march of few roving guerilla squads in search of backward areas
in the ever-dwindling jungles where feudal mode of production are
supposed to exist still, which is going to complete the PDR. Only the
proletariat can lead the PDR to its victory and advance towards the
socialist revolution by establishing the workers-peasant alliance and
leading all the revolutionary classes and sections in countrywide
upsurges.
Based on these positions the Path of Indian Revolution is drafted
according to the concrete conditions here, fully recognizing the vastness
and complex nature of the country. Strongly rebuffing and throwing out
concepts like heroes make revolution, the Marxist-Leninist teaching
that it is the masses who create history, revolution is the festival of the
masses is re-established. Whether it is the call for initiating the
reorganization of the Communist International or for launching massive
peoples movements capable of overthrowing the Indian state led by the
comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisies and landlord classes serving
imperialism put forward by the four basic document adopted by the All
India Special Conference of CPI(ML), they have historic importance.
They open the way for the unity of all genuine communists advancing
the party building, uncompromisingly fighting against the right opportunist
as well as anarchist, alien trends. These documents are put forward for
an ever deeper discussion at all levels, cutting across the boundaries of
different organizations, and for putting them to active revolutionary
practice.
No to Reformism, No to Anarchism, March to Revolution
International Situation
And Our Tasks
INTRODUCTION
When the CPI (ML) Red Flag had presented its document on
International Developments and Tasks of the Marxist Leninists in 1997
in its Fourth All India Conference, it had started off by saying that the
world was characterised by two important factors. First, the grave crisis
of the world imperialist system and, second, the challenges faced by
the Marxist-Leninist forces. The world situation today is still in the main
characterised by the same two main factors.
The economic crisis of the world imperialist system has grown in
depth and intensity to a level where the official banks of many leading
industrial countries have accepted, between October 2008 and now, that
those countries were officially in recession. The fall in the stock market,
where, by the end of 2008, the indices had slipped to below half the
peak levels of 2008, caused many to characterise this crisis as being worse
than the crisis of 1929. The number of jobs lost has reached phenomenal
levels and today stands at the worst levels since the past 40 years for
most countries including many imperialist countries. The rise in prices
of essential commodities has caused food riots in places as diverse as
Egypt and Bangladesh.
While analysing the global meltdown we are concerned not only
with the depth of this crisis, but, more importantly, with its spread.
Stock markets from New York to Shanghai have all been victims of this
crisis. It is a measure of the level of globalisation achieved in todays
capital market that the effect spreads almost immediately, in a more or
less uniform manner, all over the globe. The capital market crisis has
hit all over the globe.
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private property rights have been imposed all over the world, including
in the imperialist countries. These neo-liberal policies, under the name
of globalisation are being imposed upon the neo-colonies all over the
world. All markets in the neo-colonies, including the capital market,
agriculture, land, water, education, health-care, are being opened to
imperialist investment. Today there is a more or less total co-option
of the bourgeoisie in the neo-colonies into the imperialist system. All
the more therefore, this bourgeoisie is on the side of world imperialist
counter-revolution.
At the same time, imperialism, led by US imperialism, still continues
it policy of backing the most reactionary and subversive, religious fanatic
elements all over the world. They back the Hindu fundamentalist forces
in India and Christian fundamentalist forces in Latin America, besides
continuing to back Islamic fundamentalist forces in Saudi Arabia and
the Emirates. Racism is growing all over the world. There is thus a
definite growth in the level of fascicisation all over the world and
democratic rights are being curtailed all over the world, not only in the
neo-colonies, but also in the imperialist countries, as a result of the
policies of neo-liberalism.
The 1997 document does not mention the question of environment
which is fast growing into an irresolvable crisis for the imperialist system.
The imperialist countries are unwilling to take real measures to curb
pollution, since, indeed, such measures cannot be taken within the
existing system which is approaching the contradiction between people
and nature in an antagonistic manner and can be basically resolved only
after the dismantling of the imperialist system. This is not to say that
the democratic demands for changes in environment policies of various
countries all over the world are useless. Rather, we must note that
imperialism is unwilling to give any importance to serious
environmental issues in its quest for greater profits and more avenues
for investment. It is this unwillingness of the imperialist countries that
has resulted in the failure of the Kyoto Protocol and of the decisions of
the later Bali meeting on global warming. Instead, the system of buying
the right to pollute, in the form of carbon credits, has helped to open
another investment avenue for imperialism.
Though there is not a socialist camp of socialist countries is in
existence today, there is a massive peoples movement developing
against globalisation. From Seattle to Hong Kong, the worlds people
are coming together to protest against the WTO and its adverse effects.
Massive demonstrations were held all over the world, from Japan to
Madrid and London to Melbourne against the Iraq war. Though the
WSF is nothing more than an international supermarket of NGOs, it
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which were created and nurtured by the US in the past and many of
which are still being contacted and trained by the CIA have given rise
to the imperialist theory of war on terrorism which has so transformed
the lives of people all over the world.
Another distinguishing feature of the last decade is the rise of Israel
as the front paw of US imperialism, especially in the crucial West Asian
region. This illegal state has, over the past decade heightened the
apartheid regime it has imposed in Palestine and created a series of
Bantustans there. Given that the West Asia is the centre of the military
attack of imperialism, led by US imperialism, at present and that
Palestine / Israel can be considered to be at the centre of the West Asian
question, the struggle of the Palestinian people for the liberation of their
fatherland takes on an added importance beyond just that of a national
liberation struggle.
Yet another new development which has taken place in this
contradiction. Imperialist countries and even some of the richer neocolonies are buying land for cultivating food in the poorer nations of
Africa. This land runs into lakhs of acres and is sometimes the size of a
small country itself. All this shows that the contradiction between
Imperialism and the oppressed nations and peoples of the world is
growing more intense and taking newer forms.
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This was the time when the World War II was at its fiercest phase. Stalin
looked upon the dissolution of the Comintern as a necessary sacrifice
for the strengthening of the Anti-Fascist United Front with the imperialist
powers, US, UK and France, to fight fascism by exposing the fascist
bogey about communist world-domination. This step was taken at a
time when Germany had steam-rolled its way over France, Britain was
being repeatedly bombed and Leningrad was under siege but at the
same time the Soviet Union had taken the offensive by handing the
Germans their first big defeat of the war in Stalingrad. We have to fully
analyse the dissolution of the Comintern as to whether it was, indeed,
necessary or can be seen as a mistake. The fact remains that after June
1943, the Comintern stood dissolved and there was no authoritative
organisation which could hold the communist movement together.
An objective historical evaluation of dissolution of the Comintern
is indispensable at this juncture. It took place at a critical time when the
fascist axis of Germany-Italy-Japan was still threatening to carry forward
their plans for world domination. Strengthening the anti-fascist front
was of utmost importance. But the US led imperialists had other ideas
and were delaying the opening of he second front against Nazi forces.
Besides, imperialism led by US imperialism was planning to launch an
all out future offensive for its world hegemony. It was preparing the
ground for transforming the old colonialism into neo-colonialism. The
strategic step towards this was put forward in 1941 in the form of the
Atlantic Charter jointly drafted by Britain and USA, the vanishing and
ascending supreme arbiters respectively of the imperialist world. The
essential economic, political and military foundations for the neocolonial phase of imperialism were being developed by them. Even much
before the formal ending of World War II through the bombing of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, with the unparallel superiority it was gaining
in the military, economic and political realms as the fascist forces were
being decimated, the US was firmly putting forward its new blue-print
for the neo-colonial world order.
But the dissolution of the Comintern which ought to have been
concretely evaluated in relation to this crucial historical transformation,
was interpreted as a tactical move. On the contrary, it should be seen as
a strategic error in this background. Lack of an international leadership
on the part of world proletariat at this critical juncture led to severe
setbacks in scientifically evaluating the laws of motion of finance capital
and putting forward the concrete programme of action against
imperialism in its neo-colonial phase. The dissolution of the Comintern
in the name of defending fatherland and for the success of the antifascist front, in fact, did immense harm to the world proletariat as it
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denied the decisive role of the communist party and the Communist
International, the only weapons before the working class and oppressed
people in their fight against capital and imperialist domination. In brief,
in juxtaposing the defence of Soviet Union against the interests of the
international socialism and relegating the latter to the background, the
international proletariat lost an authoritative organisation to lead the
world people against the neo-colonisation process unleashed by US led
imperialism in the post WW II phase. The negative attitude taken by
the Chinese Communist Party and the leadership of other communist
parties including the CPI at that time by supporting this dissolution
also contributed much in aggravating the situation. In course of time,
influenced by the attitude of the CPC from the second half of 1960s the
erroneous view that an international is not a necessity also got
strengthened in the international communist movement.
It is a fact that in the concrete situation existing after the victory of
great October Revolution and coming into the existence of the Soviet
Union Lenin had put into practice the concept of the Communist
International as an international party working based on the principles
of democratic centralism. Drawing from its vast experience in both
theory and practice the CPSU was in effect guiding the Comintern. Later
when a large number communist parties came into existence and the
parties like CPC started leading the revolutionary movements in their
countries various questions regarding analysing the concrete conditions
in these countries and developing the revolutionary line had come
forward. On some occasions the Comintern advice given under the
Soviet guidance had proved wrong resulting in internal struggles. The
CPCs criticism of Comintern was linked to similar problems. The answer
to this problem was not dissolution of the Comintern but reorganising
it conforming to the developing situation. Or from an international party
the Comintern had to transform into an international organisation of
the communist parties which are developing their theory and practice
according to concrete conditions in their own countries. Only in this
way the international communist movement could face the serious
challenge posed during that period both by the fascist forces on the one
side and the US-UK forces evolving a neo-colonial offensive on the other.
But dissolving the Comintern as a tactical move, as explained, to
strengthen the Anti-Fascist United Front in effect amounted to dissolving
the party for the united front. While upholding comrade Stalin as a great
Marxist-Leninist, who gave leadership to the ICM at very difficult
juncture, the question whether the dissolution of the Comintern was a
correct step should be subjected to serious discussion.
In the period after the World War II, the Communist Party of Soviet
No to Reformism, No to Anarchism, March to Revolution
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Thus it is clear that the Chinese party had correctly seen the
evolution of the colonial phase into the neo-colonial one. However the
Chinese party, at that time was itself engaged in a severe struggle against
the rightist line of Liu-Shao-Chi. Due to this reason they were not able
to take up the task of carrying forward the theoretical study of neocolonialism. Later, under the left line under the leadership of Lin Biao,
the Chinese party, not only did not carry forward the study of the
international situation, but also did not take any initiative to reorganise
the Communist International.
The left line under Lin Biao caused great harm to the international
communist movement. In the 1997 document, we have identified that it
had wrongly changed the era from the Leninist understanding of this
being the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution to defining it as
a new era that of imperialism heading for total collapse and socialism
advancing towards world-wide victory.
It was Lin Biao who first put forward the mistaken idea that
protracted peoples war is the only path for revolution in all the
countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. He said, in his article Long
live the victory of the Peoples War (1966):
It must be emphasized that Comrade Mao Tse-tungs theory of the
establishment of rural revolutionary base areas and the encirclement of
the cities from the countryside is of outstanding and universal practical
importance for the present revolutionary struggles of all the oppressed
nations and peoples, and particularly for the revolutionary struggles of
the oppressed nations and peoples in Asia, Africa and Latin America
against imperialism and its lackeys.
It was Lin Biao, again, who published the red book and wrote a
foreword for the same. It was his followers, during the cultural
revolution, who put forward the concept that there was no need to study
- that, in fact, the more you study, the more foolish you become.
Erroneously analysing the world situation Lin Biao like Khrushchev
before him once again put forward the idea of a weakened imperialism.
He said, The imperialist system resembles a dying person who is sinking
fast, like the sun setting beyond the western hills. The emergence of Khrushchev
revisionism is a product of imperialist policy and reflects the death-bed struggle
of imperialism.
It was again Lin Biao who put forward the idea of a rural-based
party. In the Long live the victory ... quoted above, he asserts:
Many countries and peoples in Asia, Africa and Latin America are now
being subjected to aggression and enslavement on a serious scale by the
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imperialists headed by the United States and their lackeys. The basic
political and economic conditions in many of these countries have many
similarities to those that prevailed in old China. As in China, the peasant
question is extremely important in these regions. The peasants constitute
the main force of the national-democratic revolution against the
imperialists and their lackeys. In committing aggression against these
countries, the imperialists usually begin by seizing the big cities and the
main lines of communication, but they are unable to bring the vast
countryside completely under their control. The countryside, and the
countryside alone, can provide the broad areas in which the revolutionaries
can manoeuvre freely. The countryside, and the countryside alone, can
provide the revolutionary bases from which the revolutionaries can go
forward to final victory. Precisely for this reason, Comrade Mao Tse-tungs
theory of establishing revolutionary base areas in the rural districts and
encircling the cities from the countryside is attracting more and more
attention among the people in these regions.
It must be made clear here that Mao had never said that the Chinese
Path is applicable to the countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
On the contrary he had advised the leaders of the Marxist-Leninist
parties visiting China repeatedly that they should develop the
revolutionary in their own countries only according to the concrete
conditions there. Still this line of Lin Biaos was taken as gospel truth
and two generations of the Marxist-Leninists all over the world had to
face severe setbacks in their attempts to build up base areas and
guerrilla zones mechanically following the Chinese Path. It was
this line of Lin Biao which led to the neglect of mass line including
building up of mass organisations and working class movement.
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CC, CPI(ML)
On The Character Of
Indian State
1. INTRODUCTION.
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of all territories of the globe among the biggest capitalist powers has
been completed. (Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 22, pp 266-267)
This led to intense struggles, to colonial wars and later to the World
Wars I and II for division and redivision of the world among the colonial
powers. Lenin wrote: When the colonies of the European powers, for
instance, comprised only one-tenth of the territory of Africa (as was the
case in 1876), colonial policy was able to develop by methods other than
those of monopoly by the free grabbing of territories, so to speak.
But when nine-tenths of Africa had been seized (by 1900), when the
whole world had been divided up, there was inevitably ushered in the
era of monopoly possession of colonies and, consequently, of particularly
intense struggle for the division and the redivision of the world.
(Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, Lenin, Collected Works,
Volume 22, pp. 299-300)
Proceeding from the analysis of the transformation of capitalism
from its free competition to monopoly stage, to imperialism, Lenin
defined imperialism as the monopoly stage of capitalism. In this period
finance capital, the bank capital of a few very big monopolist banks
went on merging with the capital of the monopolist associations of
industrialists. It proceeded to colonial policy of monopolist possession
of the territory of the world, which was completely divided up. Then
without forgetting the conditional and relative value of all definitions in
general, which can never embrace all the concatenations of a phenomenon in
its full development, he gave the following definition for imperialism
(italics ours) : 1) the concentration of production and capital has
developed to such a high stage that it has created monopolies which
play a decisive role in economic life; 2) the merging of bank capital with
industrial capital and the creation, on the basis of his finance capital,
of a financial oligarchy; 3) the export of capital as distinguished from
the export of commodities acquires exceptional importance; 4) the
formation of international monopolist capitalist associations which share
the world among themselves, and 5) the territorial division of the whole
world among the biggest capitalist powers is completed. Imperialism
is capitalism at that stage of development at which the dominance of
monopolies and finance capital has established itself; in which the export
of capital has acquired pronounced importance; in which the division
of the world among the international trusts has begun; in which the
division of all territories of the globe among the biggest capitalist powers
has been completed. (ibid)
Quoting from the studies of various contemporary scholars, Lenin
explained that this colonization drive was quite multi-linear, complex
and uneven. Many of these studies had given figures only for colonies,
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4. EMERGENCE OF NEOCOLONIALISM
The newly emerged leader of the imperialist camp, US imperialism
differed vastly from the old imperialist powers of Western Europe as
far as the colonization of countries subjected to imperialist plunder and
aggression were concerned. From the period of mercantile capitalism
itself the old imperialist countries like Portugal, Spain, Britain, France,
etc., were for occupation, territorial control and direct rule by imperialist
governors. However, contrary to this direct domination over colonies
and semi-colonies , most of the Latin American countries, which were
considered the backyard of US imperialism for long, a different policy
of indirect control was pursued by it. Lenin categorized these countries
as dependent countries. Through export of finance capital and cartels
while economic slavery was imposed, these countries were allowed to
have nominal political independence. Some of them had bourgeois
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democratic ruling systems also. But whenever these rulers went even
slightly out of control, through military coups or direct aggressions US
hegemony was re-imposed. Even though US imperialism did not like
it, in these dependent countries, finance capital from any other
imperialist country could also enter.
From the early years of 1940s, even before the WW II came to an
end, as British imperialism was getting weakened, US imperialism was
emerging as the leader of the imperialist camp. It faced two challenging
tasks in order to establish its own hegemony in the world.: firstly, it had
to settle the inter-imperialist contradictions by dismantling the old
colonial structures through a process of de-colonisation for its own
interest in such a way that formal independence is given to the colonial
countries, opening resources and market for the entry of US imperialism.
Secondly, it had to face the growing challenge from the ever-intensifying
national liberation movements threatening the overthrow of imperialist
powers from their territories which was supported by the growing
strength of socialist forces led by Soviet Union.
It is in this complex and challenging world situation that US
imperialist chieftains along with their think tanks proceeded to provide
new form and content to colonization. The first step towards this was
the Breton Woods agreement in 1944 which gave birth to the International
Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) or the World Bank and
International Monetary Fund (IMF) under US hegemony. Of the two, the
former acted as an effective neocolonial institution for accelerating,
regulating and controlling the export of finance capital through aids
and loans to the other imperialist countries defeated and weakened
through WW II as well as to the so-called newly independent countries,
where political power was transferred to the native comprador classes.
On the other hand, the IMF assumed the role of a supra-national agency
enforcing imperialist monetary dictates especially in relation to the
balance of payments adjustment of neocolonial countries. A crucial
component of the Breton Woods pact was the ascendancy of US as
worlds banker and supreme arbiter in international monetary affairs.
This was through the establishment of the dollar as the international
medium of exchange and trade at the Breton Woods agreement that
extended international sanction to US imperialisms unhindered
neocolonial plunder by printing out any amount of dollar for the
uncontrolled appropriation of world resources. At the same time, the
rest of the world, especially the neocolonial countries outside the eurozone were forced to keep dollar as their international reserve thereby
indirectly financing the ever burgeoning American deficits. Along with
these, in1948 the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was put
No to Reformism, No to Anarchism, March to Revolution
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5. REVISIONIST DISTORTION OF
NEOCOLONIALISM.
The Kautskyian revisionists who had come to the leadership of the
Second International were apologists of the colonization by imperialist
powers. They had openly declared that colonial rule was progressive,
and it brought higher civilization to the colonies, and developed the
productive forces there. According to them the abolition of colonies
would mean barbarism.
After WW II under the twin blows of the socialist revolutions and
the national liberation movements, the imperialists were forced to
recognize that if the West had attempted to perpetuate the Status Quo
of colonialism, it would have made violent revolution inevitable, and
defeat inevitable. The old colonialist forms of rule on the contrary are
likely to prove running sores which destroy both the economic and
the moral vigor of a nations life (John Stratchey, The End of Empire,
1959). Thus it became a necessity to change the form and practice to
neocolonialism. (Apologists of Neocolonialism)
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had pointed out: Finance capital is such a great , such a decisive, you
might say, force in all economic and all international relations, that it is
capable of subjecting, and actually does subject, to itself even states
enjoying the fullest political independence. From the fundamental
teaching of Lenin it can be evaluated that in the colonial phase if the
territorial control of the subjugated countries was one of the main feature
of imperialist domination, in the neocolonial phase the first four
characteristics he had put forward while defining imperialism, especially
finance capital as a financial oligarchy has achieved predominance.
Along with these the speculative character of finance capital which Lenin
had pointed out went on assuming predominance especially after 1970s
reaching today to its peak, intensifying the barbarous character of
imperialism to unprecedented levels. On the question of war, so long as
imperialism remains, the question by wars, even another World War
breaking out with the intensification of inter-imperialist contradictions
cannot be ruled out. But what is taking place now is low intensity warfare
as an imperialist strategy of class struggle, a strategy of class war against
the masses of the people.
It is finance capital with its speculative character going on
intensifying, and acting through numerous agencies like IMF, WB and
MNCs which is dominating the neocolonial phase, especially under
neoliberal policies, to impose indirect, subtle and intricate forms of
exploitation utilising aid, trade, technology, etc., However, almost for
a quarter century following WW II and the decolonisation process, in
order to overcome the challenge from the growing socialist forces and
national liberation movements, a state led development policy was
pursued under the cover of Keynesianism. But after imperialist crises
from 1970s called stagflation, there was a sharp transition from
Keynesianism to neoliberalism under which the oppressed nations and
peoples are experiencing neocolonial plunder of hither to unknown
levels. The transformation of imperialist domination from colonial to
neocolonial phase after US imperialism became the leading force of the
imperialist camp was, in the main, an economic and political reaction
to the rising tide of national liberation struggles supported by the
growing strength of socialist camp. Under it the former colonial and
semi-colonial countries were given formal political independence while
continuing economic domination in new forms. The whole imperialist
economic and political framework underwent significant changes.
Emergence of international finance agencies and MNCs to control the
policies of the countries under neocolonisation and the consequent
internationalization of capital in close link with imperialist state
machineries were intended to alleviate the realization crisis constantly
jeopardizing the imperialist capital which is beset with the inherent
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7. NEO-COLONIALISM IN INDIA.
During colonial period British imperialists brutally restructured the
pre-colonial Indian economy to suit their plunder. Sprouting
manufacturing centres in different cities and the traditional industries
were brutally annihilated. The backbone of the Indian mercantile
bourgeoisie which was capable of competing with British and other
imperialist merchants, was broken by different types of trade regulations
to favour British merchants. Introduction of railways and development
of trading centres were for enhancing export-import activities to serve
British monopoly capital. Development of Indian industry was allowed
only under British control. It was only before WW I and during the
interwar period that they allowed growth of local industry to an extent,
that also only to serve their colonial interests. It was mainly localized in
nature, producing jute, cotton, sugar, tea, etc.,. Though there were
national bourgeois sections struggling to develop production, in the
main the big bourgeoisie and bureaucratic sections engaged in the
industrial sector were comprador in nature, collaborating with British
colonialists.
The restructuring in the agricultural sector during the colonial phase
was mainly aimed at winning over the feudal forces , the landlords,
money lenders and traders dealing with agricultural products as their
political allies. Zamindari settlement was to win over the feudal forces,
while ryotwari settlements were to commercialise agriculture. Even
though they made superficial changes in old land relations, the semifeudal, pre-capitalist relations continued to dominate. Whatever
transformation was made was for increasing production of cash crops
for exports. 80% of exports during colonial period were agricultural
raw materials and natural resources.
The transfer of power in 1947, to comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisbig land lord classes bestowed formal independence. India became an
open field for exploitation of all imperialist powers. But in the 1950s,
various factors like the background of the promises made during the
independence struggle, the influence of the powerful socialist camp,
the possibilities it created for the big bourgeoisie to utilize the
contradiction between imperialist and socialist camps, the demand of
the big bourgeoisie in the Bombay Plan for a public sector to develop the
No to Reformism, No to Anarchism, March to Revolution
45
47
49
imperialist powers since the 17th century, with the British imperialism
emerging as the leading power defeating other European rivals and
increasingly conquering the Kings and Nawabs turned it in to a colony
under British imperialist domination for almost two centuries after the
defeat in the First War of Independence in 1857. As part of the global
transformation from colonialism to neocolonialism, India also
underwent the process of transfer of power to comprador bureaucratic
bourgeoisland lord classes and to formal political independence. Under
the influence of various factors pointed out above, during 1950s the
foundation was laid for the emergence of a powerful public sector, for
initiation of welfare policies and for agrarian reforms and development
under imperialist domination. In 1960s the neocolonization started
intensifying under increasing penetration of finance capital. By 1980s
the impact of the general crisis faced by imperialist system and internal
contradictions intensified. It led to imposition of imperialist globalization
in the beginning of 1990s. With this the neocolonization intensified
unprecedentedly. The Indian economy is increasingly integrated to
international monopoly capital and market system, with speculative
capital dominating all spheres. India like other former colonial, semicolonial, dependent countries of the colonial phase has become a
neocolonial country, a country under ever intensifying neocolonisation.
4. In the 1940s and 1950s the ICM had tried to understand the
changes taking place in the concrete conditions at the international level.
Stalin and Mao had pointed out how US led imperialist policies are
replacing old colonialism with neo colonialism, while all basic laws of
motion of the imperialist era explained by Lenin continue, in the main.
The Cominform through many articles in its organ had tried to explain
the transformation taking place in the forms of exploitation of US led
imperialist powers. But the refusal to recognise these, and the reformist
positions emerged under Krushchovian revisionism going against the
Marxist-Leninist teachings on imperialism has led to emergence of basic
deviations from the concrete analysis of post-WW II situation by many
so called Marxist forces. Some of them analysed the US-sponsored
decolonisation as a progressive step leading to completion of the tasks
of the PDR, transforming former colonial, semi-colonial, dependent
countries to the capitalist stage. Some others analysed the neocolonial
policies like green revolution and the changes it brought in the agrarian
sector as steps transforming India to the capitalist stage. All these forces
evaluating India as a capitalist country in the stage of socialist revolution,
degenerating to reformist paths, are in effect serving the ruling system.
5. Deviating from Marxist-Leninist path and erroneously evaluating
the US sponsored decolonisation policies and Keynesian approach
as progressive steps that led to disappearance of colonialism, refusing
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in 1963, the writings on the issue did not go further ahead. As already
mentioned while characterizing Indian state and society, neocolonial
and semi-colonial were used synonymously, without going into any in
depth analysis of these concepts. From the end of the 1970s though
many of the ML groups continued to talk about neocolonisation and
neocolonial plunder, most of them started characterizing Indian state
only as semi-colonial. Some of the organizations even started distancing
themselves from any mention about neocolonization, and emphasized
the semi-colonial formulation. Some others started using semi-colonial
and dependent concepts eclectically.
8. As already pointed out, semi-colonial is a formulation used by
Lenin to pinpoint those countries which were in the transitional stage,
countries where different imperialist forces had occupied small or big
regions and ruling over them, while comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisland lord classes serving imperialist policies were ruling over other
regions. Mao has explained this question with regard to China vividly
in his work Chinese Communist Party and Chinese Revolution. Including
the territorial occupation of the coastal area of China by different
imperialist powers, there are absolutely no similarities between the pre
revolutionary, semi-colonial China, or countries like Persia and Thailand
on the one hand and the post1947 India where the transfer of power
took place to comprador bureaucratic bourgeois-land lord classes.
Similarly by repeating India as semi colonial, the fact that it is one of
the categories used by Lenin to explain the countries under colonization,
the qualitative differences between colonial and neocolonial phases of
imperialist exploitation are obliterated. Projecting the transformation
of imperialist plunder from colonial phase to neocolonial phase during
the momentous developments taking place during the post World War
II years and still characterizing India, contrary to present concrete
conditions, as semi-colonial has already led the Communist movement
vacillating between right opportunism and left sectarianism and vice
versa , and to the failure to concretely analyse the international and
Indian situation and to the failure to develop the theory and practice of
Indian revolution. So recognizing neocolonialism as the present phase
of domination by imperialism and finance capital and characterizing
Indian state as neocolonial are Marxist-Leninist positions. The principal
contradiction in present day India and the Path of Revolution leading
to the victory of the NDR can be defined and developed only based on
the Marxist-Leninst analysis of Indian state as a state under
neocolonisation, or a neocolonial one.
CC, CPI(ML)
The Principal
Contradiction
1 SEEKING truth from facts is a Marxist-Leninist principle. For a
Communist Party in practice it calls for developing the revolutionary
line based on concrete analysis of concrete situation at a given time or
phase in the ever-changing world. It is this fundamental question which
Mao Tsetung pointed out while dealing with the major contradictions
in Chinese society and the relationship between the principal
contradiction and the non-principal contradictions which presents a
complicated picture. For example he pointed out that when imperialism
launches a war of aggression against a country, all its various classes,
except for some traitors, can be united in a national war against
imperialism. Then the contradiction between imperialism and the people
and the country concerned becomes the principal contradiction, while
all other contradictions are temporarily relegated to a secondary and
subordinate position.
2 In another situation when imperialism, in this era of imperialism
and proletarian revolution, carries on its oppression not by war, but by
other means political, economic and cultural the ruling classes
capitulate to imperialism and the two form an alliance for the joint
oppression of the masses of the people. So if in any process there are
a number of contradictions one of them must be the principal
contradiction playing the leading and decisive role while the rest occupy
a secondary and subordinate position.
3 In the Indian context, it was a colony of British imperialism till 1947.
The national liberation from the clutches of imperialism was the principal
aspect of the class struggle during this period. Imperialism during the
colonial period brought changes in the feudal relations in India to suit
its exploitation and protected it. The feudal relations were transformed
to semi-feudal relations and it became the social prop of imperialism.
But as Lenin and under his guidance Communist International pointed
out, in the colonial phase the tasks of bourgeois democratic revolution,
that of overthrowing imperialism and its social basis semi-feudalism
could not be completed under the leadership of the bourgeoisie since it
was in the main compromising with imperialism. It was not prepared
for a thorough break with colonialism. That is why even Purna Swaraj
was adopted by Congress only after the proletarian movement started
gaining strength and the Communist Party started campaigning for it.
No to Reformism, No to Anarchism, March to Revolution
53
CC, CPI(ML)
55
Path Of Indian
Revolution
1.
INTRODUCTION
1.1
There are significant differences between drafting a Path of
Revolution in a country in the first half of 20th Century when the Third
International (Comintern) led by the CPSU had put forward the strategic
line of the International Communist Movement (ICM) and the tasks of
the Communist Parties in the capitalist countries as well as in the
countries under imperialist domination, and to do in the present
situation when the ICM as well as the Communist Parties in each country
have faced severe setbacks and have gone through momentous
experiences, both positive and negative. A mere repetition of certain
so-called time-honoured concepts or mechanical repetition of certain
experience of revolutionary struggles in Russia, China or elsewhere
along with repetitive assertions about the need for applying them
according to concrete conditions in ones own country are not sufficient
today. Similarly after the departure of Marxist teachers like Marx, Engels,
Lenin, Stalin and Mao, and after the degeneration of CPSU, CPC and
other erstwhile Communist Parties with rich experience to capitalist
path, there are no authorities also to look forward to for guidance. The
tasks before each Communist Party is to evaluate hitherto international
and national experience and develop its own path of revolution based
on the concrete analysis of the concrete conditions today. It should dare
to throw out out-dated concepts or concepts proved obsolete in practice,
and go forward developing and applying the theoretical guide line
provided by Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and proletarian
internationalism, not in a dogmatic way, but with a historical and
dialectical materialist perspective.
2.
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
2.1
Marxist theory emerged and practice based on its this orientation
started developing when capitalism was emerging as a world system of
plunder of human and natural resources for accumulation of wealth by
the capitalist class and its agents, when the contradiction between
increasing socialisation of the mode of production and private
appropriation of wealth was intensifying, when capitalism was trying
to rebuild the world on its own image, and when colonisation of the
world by a handful of capitalist countries was initiated. As the
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made by it during these years was momentous. On the other hand, the
problems faced by CPSU in the course of the socialist transformation in
the Soviet Union, problems of developing proletarian democracy,
problems concerning development of the Leninist understanding about
imperialism according to concrete conditions, approach towards US
prompted de-colonisation etc were raising serious challenges. Already,
the erroneous evaluation of the tactical line put forward by CPSU under
Stalins leadership of forging an alliance with US, Britain and France to
defeat the fascist axis powers had led the CP of USA taking a
liquidationist line under Browders leadership and CP of India
abandoning the struggle against British imperialism in the name of
strengthening Peoples war. After the War, the Titoist Leadership in
Yugoslavia had embraced the reformist path of development by opening
the country for imperialist capital. In this situation, though Comintform
was formed after the dissolution of Comintern, serious problems
regarding development of struggle against imperialist camp led by US
imperialism which had unleashed a neo-colonial offensive were faced
by the ICM. After the death of Stalin in 1953 these problems aggravated,
and the CPSU leadership soon started embracing the path of peaceful
competition and peaceful co-existence with imperialism and peaceful
transition to socialism, abandoning the path of continuing class struggle
under the dictatorship of the proletariat to accelerate the socialist
transformation.
2.6
Abandoning the socialist path the CPSU started embracing
capitalist path and the Soviet Union started transforming to bureaucratic
state capitalism. Leaderships of the Communist Parties in Eastern
Europe and a large number of communist parties swayed by the prestige
of the Soviet Union soon started embracing this neo-revisionist path.
2.7
It was the greatest challenge faced by the ICM till then. All basic
Marxist-Leninist principles like seizure of political power in the
imperialist countries as well as in countries under imperialist
domination, the socialist transformation in countries were proletariat
had seized political power, the theory and practice of continuing class
struggle under the dictatorship of the proletariat and proletarian
internationalism were challenged by Krushchovite revisionism. It was
in this situation that the Marxist-Leninist forces led by the CPC and
Mao Tsetung launched the Great Debate against the neo-revisionist path
and put forward the Proposal Concerning the General Line of the ICM. Mao
Tsetung launched an intensive movement, the Cultural Revolution, in
the course of developing the theory and practice of class struggle under
the dictatorship of the proletariat. Those were historic steps to combat
the neo-revisionist onslaught.
No to Reformism, No to Anarchism, March to Revolution
59
2.8
In spite of the overthrow of the capitalist roaders in the course
of the Cultural Revolution and in spite of the intensive ideological struggle
following it, Mao and his followers could not succeed to stop the
surfacing of various alien tendencies again within the CPC. Utilising
the turmoil following Maos death they succeeded to degenerate China
also to the capitalist path. Though the national liberation movements in
Vietnam, Laos and Kampuchea scored great victories in mid-1970s, in
the overall atmosphere of degeneration of Soviet Union, China and other
socialist countries to the capitalist path, and the neo-liberal offensive
launched by imperialism, especially US imperialism in the context of
the Stagflation which was posing serious challenges to them, these
victories could not help to overcome the severe set backs suffered by
the ICM. In this situation with the disintegration of Soviet Union in
1991, the imperialists and world reaction celebrated it as the end of
history, end of class struggle and declared socialism is obsolete. Attacks
on socialism reached a new peak.
2.9
But with the beginning of the 21st century positive changes are
visible all over the world. Anti-imperialist movements, especially against
US imperialism, have gained strength in spite of the aggression and
occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan in the name of War on terror. The
Iraqi, Afghan, Palestine peoples wars of resistance have intensified,
with the US imperialists threatened with another ignominious retreat.
In Latin America many countries have joined Cuba in opposing US
hegemony. Opposing neo-liberalism they are seeking an anti-imperialist
path of development. Working class struggles are intensifying even in
the imperialist countries. The contradiction between the oppressed
peoples and nations on the one hand and imperialism on the other,
between labour and capital and between socialist forces and imperialism
have intensified with the inter-imperialist contradictions also getting
sharpened. Once again conditions for the advance of the proletarian
revolutionary forces all over the world are slowly emerging overcoming
the severe setbacks of the past decades. The path of Indian revolution
should be drafted taking these experiences of the ICM from the time of
publication of the Communist Manifesto in 1848 in to consideration.
2.10
On the positive side, imperialist barbarism or socialism has
become the central slogan once again before the world people. Enormous
experiences are gained from the revolutionary struggles for capturing
political power, on building the communist parties and class/mass
organisations, on utilising various forms of struggle to develop class
struggle, on building socialism and about continuing struggles against
various alien trends including right opportunism and sectarianism. But
the severe setbacks mentioned above have given birth to immense
problems also.
60
2.11
They have posed many complex problems to be resolved. They
include how to concretely analyse the present situation and develop
strategy and tactics to capture political power according to it fighting
against dogmatism, sectarianism and anarchism, how to develop all
forms of struggle without becoming victims of reformism and
parliamentary cretinism, how to build a Bolshevik style party as the
vanguard of the proletariat, how to develop class and mass organisations
mobilising millions of members with peoples democratic perspective,
how to develop the concept of democratic centralism always giving
paramount importance to developing democratic values with centralism
based on democracy, how to transcend bourgeois democracy and
develop proletarian democracy with organic practice of let hundred
flowers bloom, hundred thoughts contend, how to combat hitherto
experience of degeneration of socialist countries under proletarian
dictatorship to bureaucratic state capitalism ,how to develop the
protracted Cultural Revolution throwing out decadent systems and
values and creating conditions for emergence of socialist values; how
to develop continuous socialist education to imbibe revolutionary
concepts; how to develop proletarian internationalism as an integral
part of national revolutionary struggles etc. It is not possible to resolve
all these complex problems as a pre-condition for launching
revolutionary struggles. But these and many more such issues
continuously coming up during pre and post revolutionary periods
should be given cognisance when a Marxist-Leninist party is putting
forward its approach towards the Path of Revolution.
3.
NATIONAL SITUATION
3.1
Our country, India, is one of the biggest countries in the world
with one of the most ancient civilisations. It is inhabited by about 120
crores of people who have rich revolutionary traditions, a glorious
heritage and culture. It is multi-national, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and
multi-religious, with specific characteristics like caste system, a
historically determined ugly and inhuman feature.
3.2
India in its pre-colonial days had its own specific agrarian
relations and other features. It was taking its own course of development
in various spheres. But colonial forces interfered and violently distorted
this. British imperialism conquered India defeating other contesting
colonial forces, transformed it in to its colony and imposed a centralised
state system. It conquered the hitherto dominant feudal forces,
transformed the hitherto existing agrarian relations through the
introduction of Zamindari/Ryotwari like systems and utilised them as its
social base. The caste system was retained and religious divisions were
promoted for its divide and rule policy.
No to Reformism, No to Anarchism, March to Revolution
61
3.3
As part of capital accumulation, for the plunder of vast resources
of India, a merchant class acting as middle men were promoted, violently
destroying the nascent national productive forces in the country. Along
with promoting semi-feudal, pre-capitalist relations, capitalist relations
were introduced transforming the new merchant class to capitalist class
paving the way for the emergence of a new class, comprador bourgeoisie.
Through the introduction of English education, a bureaucratic class was
created to serve the colonial system. Through these colonial measures
the process of integrating the country to the British colonial system was
speeded up.
3.4
The intensification of the colonial plunder and subjugation to it
gave birth to various forms of peoples resistance to them. The different
streams of social renaissance movements emerged according to concrete
conditions and level of social development in different regions giving
rise to democratic values, modernity and patriotic feelings. But the
colonial system could blunt their organic growth through the upper
caste, land owning classes, the comprador bureaucratic bourgeois
sections and the casteist and communal forces. Still the resistance of
different sections of anti-colonial forces grew paving the way for the
outbreak of the First War of Independence in 1857 which shook the very
foundation of colonial rule. Following this the British government
brought the country under its direct domination with a more centralised
ruling system.
3.5
Within a short time, the national movement against colonial rule
started getting strengthened again, in the main led by the Indian National
Congress. Though the Congress leadership was basically reformist in
character, and was representing the big landlord and emerging
comprador bureaucratic bourgeois classes, the movement assumed mass
character many times, crossing the borders set by the leadership. The
emergence of the revolutionary forces led by Bhagat Singh in 1920s and
the beginning of the Communist Party with the formation of the working
class movement and other mass organisations created conditions for
the call of Purna Swaraj and intensification of independence struggle.
3.6
The crushing defeat inflicted on the fascist forces during World
War II under the leadership of the Soviet Union, weakening of British
and other colonial powers, and the upsurge of national liberation
movements all over the world including mass revolutionary upsurge
in the post-War years in India, compelled the colonial powers to replace
the direct colonial rule with neo-colonial forms of plunder, and to
transfer political power to subservient local classes. The British colonial
rulers, in continuation to its divide and rule policy, communally
divided the country provoking violent fratricidal killings and bloodshed
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ruling class claims, in spite of the inflation rate going down from the
peak of 12% it had reached, the prices of essential commodities are
continuing to rise. Adivasis, dalits, women and all other oppressed
classes and sections are facing acute devastation. Along with these, the
imperialist dictated development policies have devastated ecology,
leading to global warming like impacts. The overall objective situation
is one of ever-intensifying neo-colonial plunder and oppression,
unprecedented sharpening of all internal contradictions, a situation
which demands an all out intervention by the Communist Party to
overthrow the existing anti-people, reactionary system and ushering in
peoples democracy and socialism.
4.
4.1
Overcoming the revisionist degeneration of the leadership of
the Second International and developing Marxism according to the
challenges raised by capitalism in its highest, as well as moribund stage,
imperialism, was the revolutionary task before the Bolsheviks led by
Lenin. Taking up this challenge, Lenin put forward the Marxist analysis
of imperialism, and the general conclusion that imperialism is the eve
of the socialist revolution. Lenin taught that without a revolutionary
theory there can be no revolutionary movement and that the role of
the vanguard can be fulfilled only by a party that is guided by the most
advanced theory.
4.2
Pointing out that the proletarian revolution is impossible
without the forcible destruction of the bourgeois state machine and the
substitution for it of a new one, Lenin put forward the revolutionary
concept that in the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution the
proletariat must carry the democratic revolution to its completion by
allying to itself the mass of the peasantry in order to crush by force the
resistance of the autocracy and to paralyse the instability of the
bourgeoisie. The proletariat must accomplish the socialist revolution
by allying to itself the mass of the semi-proletarian elements of the
population in order to crush by force the resistance of bourgeoisie and
to paralyse the instability of the peasantry and petty-bourgeoisie. Again
he reiterated: From the democratic revolution we shall at once, and in
accordance with the measures of our strength, the strength of the classconscious and organised proletariat, begin to pass to the Socialist
revolution. We stand for uninterrupted revolution. We shall not stop half
way.
4.3
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67
INDIAN EXPERIENCE
4.6
The salvos of October Revolution had brought Marxist-Leninist
teachings to India. And from early 1920s the Communist movement
started taking roots here. The formation of the Communist Party, its
activities to mobilise the working class and to lead it in the struggles
along with the mobilisation of the peasantry in the anti-feudal
movements it gave leadership to, and the revolutionary work among
other revolutionary classes and sections spread the influence of the Party
fast in the objective conditions of ever sharpening contradiction of the
Indian people with imperialism and feudalism. But in spite of these
advances, the leadership failed continuously in correctly analysing the
concrete conditions in the country and applying the clear-cut MarxistLeninist concepts put forward by the International Communist
Movement which were being successfully implemented in China in the
conditions there. As a result, it came under the influence of both right
and left deviations continuously. It failed to analyse and understand
the revolutionary line pursued by the Soviet leadership during the
Second World War to defeat the fascist forces, and as a result of which
it took a line of abandoning the anti-British struggle, getting isolated
from the masses. Though numerous revolutionary upsurges took place
all over the country from the great Telengana struggle to the Naval
uprising in the post-war situation, once again the leadership failed to
declare a clear-cut approach to the national liberation struggle and about
establishing the leadership of the proletariat in it. On the other hand,
the leadership became a tail of the Congress and Muslim League, the
parties of the big bourgeoisie. It did not oppose the British imperialists
moves to divide the country communally and to hand over power to
the comprador classes represented by these parties.
4.7
In the post-1947 period, in spite of extremely favourable situation
created by the national and international developments, once again the
leadership went on deviating or vacillating from one extreme to another,
always refusing to assimilate and pursue the revolutionary line of the
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5.
5.1
On the class approach to the PDR in India, the Outline Party
Programme state : The working class, peasantry, petty-bourgeoisie,
and national bourgeoisie constitute the revolutionary classes in the
present stage of revolution. The working class and peasantry are the
most exploited and oppressed among these classes. All these classes
are in dire need of overthrowing enemy classes along with the state
controlled by them. A united front of these oppressed classes based on
worker-peasant alliance must be forged in the course of class struggles,
revolutionary movements against imperialism, feudalism, comprador
bureaucratic capital, and it will be led by the working class. The working
class, being the most advanced and revolutionary class alone can and
must lead this revolution..
5.2
As Mao Tsetung pointed out, determining the enemies and
friends of revolution is a most important question in chalking out the
Path of Revolution. The basic reason why the revolutionary struggles
could not win victory so far is the failure to make a correct class analysis
according to concrete conditions in the country, to establish the
leadership of the working class, to mobilise the peasantry through
agrarian revolution, to forge worker-peasant alliance, and thus to unite
with the real friends to attack the real enemies. To overcome this
weakness the Path of Revolution should be evolved based on the class
analysis of Indian society in present concrete conditions. As significant
changes have taken place in Indian society during the last six decades
after transfer of power, they should be taken in to consideration while
making this analysis.
5.3
Regarding the Comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie, the leading
class among the ruling classes, CPI(M) like forces are continuing to create
confusion to conceal their class collaborationist position by defining
comprador as a puppet class. They argue that this term does not reflect
the contradiction the Indian ruling classes have with imperialism. In
the debate continuing from 1960s since the 7th Congress of 1964, the
Communist Revolutionary forces have repeatedly pointed out that their
basic difference with the 1964 Programme is not in defining the Indian
big bourgeoisie as having dual character, collaboration and contradiction
with imperialism, but not defining which is primary within these two
in the present situation. That, even while the Indian big bourgeoisie
and the bureaucratic class have contradictions with imperialism which
is often reflected in their maneuvers to utilise the inter-imperialist
contradictions for their benefit, their collaboration with imperialism is
basic which is reflected in their counter revolutionary character is
No to Reformism, No to Anarchism, March to Revolution
71
this class has increased manifold. Though the lower middle class which
constitute more than half of this class and may be called its left wing,
are facing ever intensifying miseries under the liberalisationprivatisation regime and as a result of which large sections of it have
fallen to the level of workers loosing all property, under the neo-colonial
conditions even most of them have not abandoned petty bourgeois
illusions. Adapting itself to the conditions created by the imperialist
globalisation, investing whatever they have on providing higher
professional education to their children, influenced by speculative capital
enormously, embracing religious fundamentalist and communal
positions in a big way, influenced by casteist/savarna/neo-Brahministic
positions increasingly and contributing activists and leaders to the
political spectrum in a major way, the petty bourgeoisie, especially the
upper and middle strata of it, have lost whatever revolutionary character
it had as a class earlier to a great extent. More and more of its younger
generation are coming under the sway of imperialist and reactionary
culture like consumerism, alcoholism, criminal character and hatred
towards the toiling masses. All these point towards the fact that
possibilities of it joining the revolutionary struggles as a class in a major
way now is comparatively less compared to the past. This situation
should be concretely analysed and method of winning over more and
more of them, especially of the lower middle class should be worked
out. As the intensification of all internal contradictions create
unprecedented conditions for mass upsurges in near future, objective
conditions for volatile sections of this class joining the peoples
movements shall improve.
73
PROLETARIAT
5.10
India is a country with such a powerful, large working class
that without mobilising and politicising them the completion of the NDR
and advancement to socialist revolution is impossible. Leave alone the
pre-revolutionary China, the working class in India is much more
numerous than it was in pre-revolutionary Russia or any other country
where the revolution has taken place. So the working class movement
assumes far greater importance here.
5.11
Under liberalisation-privatisation raj the proportion of the
working class in the unorganised sector has enormously increased under
the contract labour and hire and fire systems. Even the modern industrial
proletariat is coming under this category increasingly. Through closures,
modernisation, outsourcing, VRS etc. the number of workers and
employees in organised sector is dwindling rapidly. By denying regular
hours of work, regular wages, security of service, social security etc. the
organised sector is being constantly converted to unorganised sector.
Therefore though it is the comparatively better organised workers of
the organized sector forms the main force of most of the trade unions
today, future organisation requires concentration on the unorganised
sectors who alone can give new leadership and a new direction to the
working class struggles. The task is to mobilise and lead them to local,
state-wide and country-wide struggles, creating an atmosphere of
working class struggles and upsurges anew. Urgent, conscious plans
should be worked out with this orientation.
6.
6.1
The Communist Party is the highest form of class organisation
of the proletariat, it is the advanced detachment of the proletariat. The
Communist Party [CPI] was formed in India under the guidance of the
Communist International as a Bolshevik style party surrounded by class
and mass organisations and based on the organisational principle of
democratic centralism. During the 1930s and 1940s it succeeded in
expanding its influence to all India level, in building the working class
and peasant movements along with other mass organisations. It
succeeded in carrying forward the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal
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movement and gave leadership to Telengana, Tebhaga, PunnapraVayalar like historic struggles. In spite of it, due to the failure to
concretely analyse the national situation and to draw correct lessons
from the Comintern positions, and to concretely analyse the international
developments, the CPI leadership could not develop its independent
initiative and establish the leadership of the working class in the ongoing
national liberation movement in the country and lead the NDR to victory.
After the transfer of power in 1947, it failed to carry forward class
struggle based on the 1951 Party Programme and Policy Statement. Its
leadership soon started toeing the revisionist line put forward by the
post-Stalin CPSU leadership. As a result of these, the first split in the
communist movement took place in 1964 and the CPI (M) was formed.
But the CPI (M) leadership did not make a complete break with the
revisionist line of CPI and soon came under neo-revisionist positions. It
was following this, in continuation to the inner-party struggle taking
place within CPI(M), the Naxalbari uprising took place upholding the
agrarian revolution with land to the tiller slogan. Following the Burdwan
Plenum the CPI(M) leadership took a Centrist line in the on going Great
Debate between CPSU and CPC, in essence toeing the Soviet revisionist
line. The CRs came out of the CPI(M) and formed the AICCCR fighting
against revisionism of CPI and neo-revisionism of CPI(M).
6.2
It was a historic turning point in the Indian Communist
movement which paved the way for reorganising the party based on
the revolutionary line of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung thought, as
the vanguard party of the Indian proletariat. But sectarianism soon
dominated the leadership of AICCCR and the CPI(ML) formed in 1969.
It failed to unite all the CRs in it. A serious effort to bring together the
CPI(ML) groups, those who had left CPI(ML) and formed other
organisations, those who were never part of CPI(ML) earlier, the new
generation comrades, and the genuine communist forces coming out of
CPI and CPI(M) into a single party is very much needed. As the
completion of the tasks of the PDR and advancement towards socialist
revolution is possible only under the leadership of a powerful
Communist Party with country-wide influence, the unity task should
be carried forward trying to unite all like minded CR forces in the party.
As this is an essential pre-condition for victory of the PDR, this task
should be given paramount importance.
6.3
Firstly, the present concrete conditions compared to the situation
in Russia, China and other countries when revolution took place there
are vastly different. Today party building is taking place when almost
all parties built up under Comintern guidance have degenerated to
capitalist path with bureaucratic organisational structures and when
No to Reformism, No to Anarchism, March to Revolution
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6.10
Eighthly, democratic centralism should be organically practised
so that the democratic atmosphere for inner party struggle always exists.
It is easy to talk about the undesirability of individual authority and
bureaucratic practices. But even after the serious setback suffered by
the ICM no proper lessons are drawn from them, so that the above,
negative factors can be combated and a lively democratic atmosphere
can be maintained within the party and class/mass organisations.
Replacement of committee system and collective functioning by
individual authority and democratic functioning by bureaucratic
methods is one important reason for the existence of so many groups
claiming to uphold Marxist-Leninist line even when there are no basic
differences between their lines. It gives rise to theory of many centres
obstructing the unity efforts. So these negative tendencies should be
vigorously fought.
7.
7.1
Marxism is the revolutionary ideology of the proletariat, the most
advanced class engaged in the most developed and advanced fields of
production. The task of the Communist Party, the vanguard of the
proletariat, is to transform it from a class in itself to a class for itself,
capable of leading the revolutionary transformation of the society, by
providing leadership to the peoples democratic revolution advancing
towards socialist revolution. The Indian proletariat and its vanguard
party have to shoulder the responsibility of completing the long-pending
tasks of democratic revolution and national liberation by mobilising all
anti-imperialist, anti-feudal forces, for settling accounts with
imperialism, the comprador classes and all pre-capitalist relations
including the remnants of feudal relations, and lead the people towards
socialist revolution.
7.2
One of the most important specific features of Indian society is
that unlike all other erstwhile colonial, semi-colonial and dependent
countries, from the second half of 19th century itself there was a
comparatively large working class here. They started getting organised
from the last decades of 19th century and soon the working class had
started fighting for their democratic and trade union right. By 1908 when
the working class in Mumbai launched a political strike against the arrest
of Tilak, Lenin had congratulated them stating that the working class in
India have matured even to launch political struggles: they have come
of age. As the industrialisation received a boost following the colonial
policy of British imperialism during and after First World War, the
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favourable opportunities provided by the outbreak of the interimperialist war to intensity the independence struggle, utilised this
opportunity and called for Quit India movement in 1942. The Congress
supporters in AITUC as well as the socialists, who are die-hard antiCommunists, joined hands to weaken the Communist leadership in the
working class movement which later led to the splits in the AITUC,
paving the way for formation of INTUC and HMS. Though immediately
after the War, once again the working class launched significant all India
struggles and the Mumbai workers once again launched a political
struggle in support of the 1946 Naval Mutiny, the split in the working
class movement went on widening. This was another factor which helped
the British colonialists to communally divide India and to hand over
power to the comprador classes in India and Pakistan.
7.5
Establishing the leadership of the working class in the PDR,
concretely means mobilizing and organizing them so as to make them
capable of launching countrywide movements for the rights of the
working class and against the neo-liberal policies which are intensifying
the neo-colonial slavery. The intensity of struggles should be
continuously raised to resistance struggles including the raising of
barricades and beyond. The working class movement should give
leadership to the agrarian revolution with land to the tiller slogan,
mobilising the landless and poor peasants and agricultural workers who
constitute majority of the population. It should be made capable of
providing leadership to the anti-imperialist movement, to the struggles
waged by all other oppressed classes and sections, to the struggles
against decadent casteist, communal forces, and to the struggles for
building the party and different class and mass organisations and in
leading them in numerous struggles. The serious weakness of the CPI
leadership was its failure to establish this leadership of the working
class in the anti-feudal and anti-imperialist movement. Soon after the
War, from 1946 millions of landless and poor peasants including
adivasis, dalits and other oppressed sections were drawn in to historic
Telengana, Tebhaga like movements. The agrarian revolutionary
struggles were developing in many regions. But though the Second
Congress of CPI denounced the reformist positions of past years, it
refused to take lessons from the advancing Chinese Revolution and the
agrarian struggles in the country. It called for an urban-centred
insurrection, refusing to establish the leadership of the working class
over agrarian revolution. Though this mistake was temporarily rectified
in the 1951 Party Programme and Policy Statement, soon they were side
lined. As the party leadership went on sliding to reformist positions the
AITUC leadership went on becoming a victim of sectarianism which
speeded up the split in the working class movement on the one hand,
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Even struggles for economic demands, right to form unions, etc have
become extremely difficult
7.8
Along with de-unionisation, de-politicisation and dominance
of casteist, communal, parochial feelings, alchoholism and anarchic
tendencies have become the order of the day among the workers. The
present situation can be reversed, the mobilisation of workers can
become possible and their politicisation can be initiated again only by
launching major political offensives involving the working class against
the neo-liberal policies, the ruling classes and the ruling system.
7.9
While leadership of the major TU centres like BMS and INTUC
are not opposing foreign investment and are actively involved in
mortgaging the interests of the working class and the country to
imperialist interests in the name of the development policy under
imperialist globalisation, leaderships of TU centres like AITUC and CITU
are satisfied with making a show of ritualistic opposition to imperialist
globalisation. They are reflecting the ideological-political line of their
political leaderships, have abandoned even traditional struggles and
degenerated as apologists and propagandists of the ruling comprador
system and its policies. They also advocate that there is no alternative
to imperialist globalisation. Except in words, in practice they have
abandoned organising the workers in the unorganised sectors. While
BMS like centres openly practice Hindutva communal policies, there
are many unions under other communal, casteist, parochial banners.
Abandoning agrarian revolution, some of the TU centres have affiliated
the agricultural workers to them. There are apolitical NGOs-led trade
unions and their centres also. Many erstwhile CR cadres have reduced
trade union work to fighting individual workers cases in the labour
courts and collecting commission for it. The so-called Maoists have
reduced their trade union work to mere floating of TU banners as front
organisations. Thus labour aristocratic, reactionary, reformist, apolitical
and anarchic tendencies are dominating the trade union scene. This is a
reflection of the degeneration of the working class movement at
international level on a major scale for the last 5-6 decades. In this
situation, calls for unity among the working class based on one union in
a factory or enterprise or trade etc without trying to address the above
problems only add to the de-politicisation of the working class, which
is making them subservient to the rule of capital. In this situation when
reactionary, reformist and revisionist ideas are dominant, under active
involvement of imperialist think-tanks many theories like postmodernism, identity politics, empowerment theories, NGOism etc are
propagated which violently oppose class politics. The concept of working
class as the leader of social revolution, the necessity of overthrowing
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the reactionary class rule and the imperialist system and the very basics
of Marxist theory are abandoned.
7.10
The task before the Communist Party is to uncompromisingly
fight against all these alien tendencies. Its main direction of work should
be to establish the leadership of the working class as the leading class of
the PDR. It involves two major fronts of activities, which are inter-related,
that of mobilising and organising the working class at all India level
into a powerful movement and of conscious activities to politicise them
as the leader of revolution.
7.11
The first part involves taking initiative for uniting all the TU
centres and trade unions functioning in various states and regions
urgently in to a single TU centre with a radical programme and
democratic constitution. Immediate steps should be taken to bring
together other like-minded trade unions and TU centres based on this
programme to build a federation or confederation. Conscious efforts
should be made to utilise present possibilities to organise hundreds of
thousands of construction workers and other workers in unorganised
sector by developing suitable cadres and deploying them to these fields.
As early as possible all India and state level leaderships should be
developed, an immediate campaign programme should be drafted, and
all India campaigns and struggles should be developed focusing on vital
demands of the working class. Along with economic, democratic, trade
union demands, political slogans also should be put forward calling on
the working class to spearhead anti-imperialist, anti-ruling class and
anti-state struggles with slogans like Throw out imperialist, globalisation,
IMF-World Bank-WTO, MNCs and imperialist promoted development
policies, and struggle for a peoples alternative development policy ensuring
food, clothing, housing, education, healthcare and employment for all. Major
propaganda offensives should be launched with this orientation along
with developing militant struggles. In this way a militant atmosphere
can be created challenging the stagnant, reactionary and revisionist TU
centres. This will create conditions for advancing the unity efforts among
the working class. In this process necessary united front tactics should
be developed and utilised according to concrete conditions.
7.12
The working class includes politically advanced, backward and
middle level sections. This is reflected in the trade unions also. The
Trade union can be developed as political schools of the working class
and the politicisation of the working class based on the revolutionary
orientation of the party can be carried forward by organising party
fractions within them at appropriate levels and maintaining organic
relation between these party fractions with the party organisation.
Whatever may be the ideological-political weakness of the party
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8.
8.1
On the significance of peasant question in Russian revolution,
on how Lenin analysed this question Stalin said: Are the revolutionary
potentialities latent in the peasantry by virtue of certain conditions of
its existence already exhausted or not; and if not, is there any hope, any
basis, for utilising these potentialities for the proletarian revolution, for
transforming the peasantry, the exploited majority of it, from the reserve
of the bourgeoisie which it was during the bourgeois revolutions in the
West, and still is even now, in to reservoir of the proletariat, in to its
ally, Leninism replies to this question in the affirmative, i.e., it recognises
the existence of revolutionary capacities in the ranks of the majority of
the peasantry, and the possibility of using these in the interest of the
proletarian dictatorship. The history of the three revolutions in Russia
fully corroborates the conclusions of Leninism on this score (Foundations
of Leninism). This Leninist stand is fully reflected in the Cominterns
analysis of the peasantry as the main ally of working class in the
democratic revolution.
8.2
Analysing the role of the peasantry in Chinese revolution, Mao
Tsetung wrote: The peasant movement is a colossal event, In a very
short time in Chinas central, southern and northern provinces, several
hundred millions peasants will rise like a mighty storm, like a hurricane,
a force so swift and violent that, no power however great, will be able
to hold it back. They will smash all trammels that bind them and rush
forward along the road to liberation. They will sweep all the imperialists,
warlords, corrupt officials, local tyrants and evil gentry in to their graves.
Every revolutionary party and every revolutionary comrade will be put
to the test, to be accepted or rejected as they decide. There are three
alternatives. To march at their head and lead them? To trail behind them,
gesticulating and criticising? Or to stand in their way and oppose them?
(Investigation of Peasant Movement in Honan). The decision of the CPC
led by Mao to march at their head and lead them forward led to the
historic victory of the Chines revolution.
8.3
In India also in spite of the hesitations of the leadership of the
CPI, wherever the comrades decided to march at their head and lead
them, mighty agrarian movements emerged, masses rallied behind the
party. Wherever the CPI and CPI (M) have still influence among the
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85
masses even after their degeneration are those areas where these
movements took place. By 1952 CPI leadership had abandoned the path
of agrarian revolution in practice. After initial utterances CPI (M)
leadership also trailed this path. The great Naxalbari struggle took place
challenging their reformist path and once again brought the agrarian
revolution back to the agenda of Indian people. Revolutionary agrarian
struggles started emerging in many areas. For a long time the hang over
of the sectarian line had stunted the growth of these struggles.
Undaunted by these, fighting against reformism and sectarianism,
peasant question is once again coming to the forefront of the political
scene.
8.4
But various types of deviations are hindering the development
of the agrarian revolutionary movement. First, not only CPI and CPI
(M), some of the CPI (ML) groups also have degenerated to the path of
peaceful transition and parliamentary opportunism. Though they still
retain agrarian revolution as the axis of the PDR in their programme,
they have abandoned the path of both. Secondly, though the CPI (Maoist)
repeatedly emphasises the role of agrarian revolution as the axis of the
PDR, it is far away from mobilising the hundreds of millions of landless,
poor peasants and agricultural workers for agrarian struggles and the
PDR. Instead it is still satisfied in persisting in the annihilation line in
new forms, abandoning the revolutionary mass line. Thirdly, many of
those groups who claim to pursue mass line, while organising peasant
organisations abandon the class line of agricultural workers and landless
and poor peasants, who constitute the class of revolutionary peasantry.
In practice they are confined to giving priority to the demands of middle
peasants and rich peasants. In theory, even before building a
revolutionary peasant movement with a correct class line and mobilising
the peasantry for land struggles, they put forward proposals about
advancing to protracted peoples war as a pre-condition against the
concrete situation in our country.
8.5
The tasks before the Party are: Firstly, firmly uphold the class
line of the agricultural workers, landless and poor peasants, the
revolutionary peasantry, consisting of adivasis, dalits and other most
oppressed sections. Secondly, build up agricultural workers and
landless, poor peasant organisation with specific programme upholding
the path of agrarian revolution as the path forward. Build up these
organisations at state level and co-ordinate them at all India level. In
line with the agrarian revolutionary programme, form land struggle
committees starting from village level with the initiative of agricultural
workers and landless, poor peasant organisation to launch struggles
with land to the tiller slogan.
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8.6
Immediate slogans against forced labour, usury, communal and
caste oppression, womens oppression, for higher wages, for distribution
of banjar land, against forest contractors etc. should be raised and
struggles organised. While taking up campaigns and struggles for
immediate demands, they should be linked to the agrarian revolutionary
line. Thus the link between the immediate and basic demands should
be established.
9.
9.1
In Origin of Family, Private property and State Engels has
explained how the process of enslavement of human beings by human
beings started with the enslavement of women under male chauvinism
in the family system which led to the origin of the private property, and
to the origin of the state to protect the private property. Women became
the first private property. Though class struggle continued under slave
system, feudal system and the capitalist system and a socialist camp
emerged with the seizure of political power by the proletariat and allied
classes in a number of countries, the question of liberating half the
heaven is not yet given the importance it deserves. As Mao Tsetung
pointed out after the first wave of Cultural Revolution in China, the
seizure of political power in pre-revolutionary countries and socialist
transformation in post-revolutionary societies shall face eversurmounting problems so long as effective ways for the liberation of
these first slaves remain elusive. All the religions preach perpetuation
of this slavery. Their enslaved conditions make the women carriers of
the superstitions and reactionary traditions, customs and ideologies
which are transferred to the children. Though most of them still remain
a private property of men in practice, and the private property system
has become most barbarous under imperialism, women under the
present family system have become the most important propagandists
of its perpetuation. The failure of the post-revolutionary societies in
dealing with the question of womens liberation effectively along with
the continuing stranglehold of feudal values, religious beliefs and
imperialist culture played an important role along with various other
factors in the restoration of capitalism there. In spite of it even today
the weakness of the party in mobilising the women who constitute 50%
of the population in the party, class and mass organisations, and in
various fields of activities is sharply manifested.
9.2
The condition of women in India is much more backward
compared to that of the imperialist countries. The resistance to bring
forward even superficial changes to it like providing 33% reservation
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87
to them in the elected bodies reveal the state of affairs. Manu smrithis
declaration that women do not deserve independence is still dominant.
The caste system and all religions perpetuate womens backwardness.
The rule of capital and market system under neo-liberalism has
intensified womens miseries further. Woman and their body have
become commodities for sale increasingly. The present family system,
even where it is transformed to nuclear ones, still remain basically male
dominant and conservative. While dowry system and denial of equal
right to family property is rampant, even decadent systems like Sati,
Child marriage, devadasi system, naked dance by women to please gods etc.
still continue in some areas. Growth of communal forces and religions
fundamentalism, often sponsored by the ruling system have worsened
womens condition. Though the bourgeois feminist movements have
pockets of influence in urban areas, they have failed to address the real
issues of the masses of women as they do not address the relation
between the stranglehold of private property in all fields and womens
liberation.
9.3
Under the influence of the neo-colonial culture in Punjab,
Haryana like states as more and more female foetus are destroyed before
birth, compared to thousand men there are only 700 hundred or below
women in these areas. As a result, a new type of women trafficking is
taking place to these areas. Women are married from other states to
do household work and to produce children. It is yet another form of
womens slavery.
9.4
In this situation conscious efforts are needed for organizing
women at different levels to vigorously take up the task of womens
liberation as a part of the on going struggle for the Peoples Democratic
Revolution, involving ever larger number of women.
10.
10.1
Youth in our country has a glorious history of actively
participating in the social renaissance movement, in the independence
struggle and later in the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal struggles led by
the Communist Party. The role of Bhagat Singh and other revolutionary
youth rallied in the Hindustan Republication. Army challenging the
colonial forces still inspire the masses. But with the transfer of power
by the colonialists in 1947 and the beginning of the emergence of
revisionist tendencies in the Communist Party in the 1950s, the youth
started getting frustrated and influenced by retrogressive ideologies.
Many joined reformist and even reactionary forces. When the Naxalbari
uprising created a revolutionary upheaval through out the country, once
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11.
11.1
Students as a social strata is a major force in our country. The
neo-liberal policies of globalisation-liberalisation-privatisation have
reduced education in to a mere commodity, increasingly depriving it of
whatever social character and orientation it once had. The
commercialisation of the education system and the neo-liberal syllabi
are taking a large section of students undergoing higher education away
from social realities. The commercialisation has made higher education
in to an elite sector reserved for mostly the upper caste, upper class
students. The syllabus, methods of education and the atmosphere
prevalent in these centres of higher learning especially in the
professional colleges are basically a continuation of the colonial
education system, though its present content and forms have changed
to serve the neo-colonial plunder. If Mcaulays education system was
intended to create a class of babus to serve the colonial system, the present
system is moulded to serve imperialist globalisation, the capital-market
raj. It is well established that the content and form of the education
system in a society in a particular period is determined by and
implemented for protecting the interests of the then ruling classes. The
education system is utilised by them to mould the students in accordance
with their ideology and political-administrative needs. As a result, a
large section of students, especially of the professional colleges, mostly
the private, capitation fee, self-financed colleges grow up cut away
from social realities, with hatred towards the lower castes, lower class
people and with the spirit of subservience to imperialist forces, especially
US imperialism. Instead of patriotism, what is dominating in them is
the attraction towards everything imperialist, mostly US patriotism.
11.2
This present state of affairs is basically different from the one
that was dominant among students during the independence movement
to a large extent. They were imbued with patriotism and influenced by
liberatory ideology and empathy towards the downtrodden. During
the independence movement, a good section of the students rebelling
against the casteist, religious, feudal and backward conditions they were
coming from, militantly joined the struggle against British colonialists.
Similarly many of them rallied in the student movement led by the
Communist Party. But due to the deviations in the Communist
movement which made it incapable of putting forward a revolutionary
alternative and leading struggles for it, frustrated many and weakened
the left student movement, Naxalbari uprising and the crisis of the ruling
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system in the 1970s once again paved way for mighty student upsurges.
But as a result of degeneration of CPI(M) to ruling class positions and
influence of sectarianism in the Communist Revolutionary movement,
during last three decades, though there are spurt of activities at local
level, the left influence among the students has remained weak by and
large at all India level.
11.3
On the contrary a large section of the students, especially the
elitist and middle class sections among them are attracted to the
communal, casteist, chauvinist organisations and organisations led by
Congress, BJP like leading ruling class parties. They are imitating the
corruption and cultural degeneration of their political elders. Most of
them uphold neo-liberal raj and its education policy. They compete to
divide the students communally, caste-wise, and in the name of
reservation policy. They refuse to fight commercialisation of education,
criminalisation of campus life, increasing dominance of reactionary
culture etc. This is one of the most important challenges faced by the
democratic student movement.
11.4
But the apathy shown towards these developments or the lack
of initiative on the part of the CR forces to overcome this situation is
shocking. A few of them are happy with some localised gains, forgetting
about the pitiable condition of their all India organisation, if they have
any. There are many who do not give any importance to this issue. There
are CR groups claiming decades of history, but without a dozen students
with them. This situation is suicidal. Today the communal,
fundamentalist, casteist like forces start winning over children from the
primary or even pre-primary level itself. Even leaving apart these
sections there are nearly 15-20 crores of students in our country. In
chalking out the Path of Revolution, how to organise this important strata
of the society in a broad-based democratic student movement is an aspect
that should be seriously considered.
11.5
Our party which had student organisations in some of the states
have brought them together under AIRSO with a broad-based
democratic programme. The programme consist of: stop
commercialisation and eliticisation of education system, ensure
universal, compulsory and free education for all up to secondary level
based on a common syllabus and in their mother tongue, put an end to
privatisation of education, stop religious and caste based organisations
from interfering in the education system, stop self-financed like
education markets, develop a democratic, secular, scientific, education
system under social control etc. and fight the decadent, reactionary
culture trying to dominate the students. Party should not be satisfied
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12.
12.1
We are living in a period when imperialism and reaction are
developing and implementing class strategies in newer and newer forms
for exploitation and oppression of the world people. The universal and
all-pervading hegemony of capitalism and capitalist relations of
production are establishing their domination over all sectors of human
thought and scientific knowledge. To serve their reactionary goals
imperialism and world reaction are utilising religion, caste, race,
linguistic divisions etc and art, literature and cultural forms linked with
them to a large extent. Commercialisation and commodification of
culture is utilised to dominate all progressive ideas. The quantum
revolution that took place in the field of physical sciences in the beginning
of 20th century and the technological advances that followed along with
the development in other fields of science and technology including
that of organic sciences, telecommunication, cybernetics, information
technology (IT) etc are utilised to serve imperialist interests. Human
development in the intellectual field are utilised in this way. Spread of
knowledge is taken to an irrational and religious level. Peoples
achievements in the fields of art and literature, in the cultural and
scientific-fields in general are suffocated, vulgarised and commodified
to serve imperialist interests. The hegemony of the ideology of private
property and imperialist culture along with continuing influence of
feudal culture, religion, casteism are utilised to subvert revolutionary
advances in various fields and to serve the imperialist system.
12.2
We are putting forward the Path of Revolution to complete the
tasks of PDR, to realise Peoples Democracy and to advance towards
socialist revolution at a time when drastic changes in the socio-politicalcultural fields have taken place unlike the Russian situation during
October Revolution, and the conditions in China and other countries
when revolutions took place there. Drastic changes in these fields have
taken place during last five decades in India compared to the condition
during the struggle against British imperialism and during the
Telengana-Tebhaga struggles etc. Though the socialist forces had
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13.
13.1
The Outline Party Programme states that starting with putting
an end to all forms of social oppression based on the caste system and
untouchability, the New Democratic State shall abolish the caste system
and all forms of social inequalities. Though it is so easily stated in a
straight forward manner, in spite of the efforts from the period of social
renaissance movements for the annihilation of this social plague, in
newer and newer forms it still persists making the life miserable for the
oppressed castes. The caste system still divides the society. Though our
party has tried to take up the resolution of caste question starting with
campaigns and struggles against naked forms of casteist oppression
rampant in society in some areas, at national level very little is so far
done to evolve a comprehensive understanding and methods of struggle
against it. The mechanical understanding that once revolution takes
place caste question will get weakened and disappear still dominate
many of the so-called left forces. It may weaken, but whether it will
disappear or come back in new forms with more vigour even after
revolution cannot be stated conclusively when one goes though the
experience of erstwhile socialist countries, where racism and religious
fundamentalism have re-emerged in vulgar forms. Still, many left forces
do not give the due importance to this question it deserves. Fighting
casteist oppression and campaigning for caste annihilation is not in the
agenda of many organisations, or even when it is included no concrete
plans of actions are put forward. It is the consequence of the reality that
even after 150 years of experience of the communist movement the
mechanical impositions of the China Wall between revolution in the
economic base and revolution in the superstructure is not removed. That
is why the close relation between class struggle and struggle against
the caste system is not correctly understood and the mechanical
approach that class struggle will solve the caste problem is still put
forward repeatedly. This mechanical approach should be replaced by
the dialectical relation between struggles at these two levels.
13.2
The caste question, or the oppression based on caste system,
instead of weakening has only strengthened in new forms during the
last six decades. It is incorporated in to the ruling system through the
emergence of caste based parties serving ruling class interest, and
through the creation of caste based vote banks. Along with these identity
politics, tribalism like reactionary ideologies are created and promoted
by imperialist centres to channelise the struggles against oppression
based on caste, tribal system etc. to harmless paths, to keep these down
trodden sections away from revolutionary path. The weakness of the
communist movement so far in developing uncompromising struggle
No to Reformism, No to Anarchism, March to Revolution
95
against caste system also has helped the efforts to institutionalise caste
system and tribal oppression through various means by the imperialists
and the comprador rulers. In a society like India, caste question is
basically an agrarian question. Casteist oppression was intensified by
keeping the dalits away from land ownership, reducing them to mere
tillers. They were compelled to do all menial jobs to serve upper caste
sections. So the backbone of the caste system can be broken only through
agrarian revolution based on land to the tiller slogan. Along with
intensifying the struggle to carry forward this agrarian revolutionary
programme, vigorous campaigns and movements should be taken up
against various forms of caste based oppression on dalits and adivasis
and other back word sections including untouchability in various forms
still prevalent all over the country. The caste based discrimination against
the dalits in various forms should be fought. Inter caste marriages should
be promoted. The reservation based on the caste system should be
defended and struggle against diluting it should be waged, as a
democratic right of the socially and economically backword sections.
Along with these the reactionary ideologies like identity politics,
tribalism etc should be exposed and fought against. In this way a
vigorous struggle to annihilate caste system should be continuously
waged combined with the intensification of agrarian revolutionary
struggles as part of the PDR.
14.
14.1
On the resolution of nationality question, the Outline Party
Programme states: The New Democratic State shall ensure real equality
and autonomy for all nationalities, unite all the nationalities based on
the right of self-determination including the right to secede, and build
up a federal democratic state structure. While dealing with the
nationality question, the imperialists policy of Balkanisation of our
country should not be overlooked. India is a multi-national country
where even the reorganisation of the provinces under British rule and
the princely states, in the main, on linguistic basis took place in 1956
only after bloody struggles by the people. During the last five decades,
the central governments propagating the chauvinistic slogan of national
integration or Akhandvad have taken away many of the Constitutional
rights of the states.
14.2
Besides, the struggle of Kashmiri people and the peoples of
Northeast are being suppressed deploying military forces, rejecting the
demands for resolving them politically. When struggles of sub
nationalities or ethnic groups for state-hood or autonomous regions take
place, they are also suppressed refusing to resolve them politically.
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Communist Party should educate the masses about the real reason for
their backwardness, about what is happening in the new states already
formed based on the backwardness, about utilisation of the
proliferation of the states to cut at the root of a real federal structure
with increasing rights and powers to the states by the Indian state and
the central government. It should vigorously develop the struggles of
the working class and the landless-poor peasants and agricultural
workers, of all exploited and oppressed sections, while taking a nonantagonistic approach towards these struggles.
14.5
As Marxism teaches the nationality question and the various
movements emerging directly or indirectly linked with it are bourgeois
questions. These movements are vacillating more towards imperialism
and the comprador ruling classes. When imperialism, especially US
imperialism, has a hidden agenda of Balkanising the country, and when
many of the new state demands are raised to divert people from the
cardinal issues confronting them, the Communist Party should seriously
guard against becoming a tail of these movements. On the contrary, an
approach of Unity and struggle should be pursued, in order to win over
the masses of peoples influenced by these struggles, to advance the
struggles for PDR with the perspective that along with other basic issues
all the nationality related questions should be linked to national
liberation, to overthrowing the rule of imperialism, comprador
bureaucratic bourgeoisie and landlordism. The revolutionary struggles
should reflect this Marxist approach.
15.
15.1
India is a country where election to provincial and central level
legislative assemblies were introduced from the colonial days. After
the transfer of power, under the Constitution adopted in 1950 the
parliamentary system was made systematic at all levels. Today, from
elections to Lok Sabha to Panchayat level and even to co-operative
societies are made regularly drawing large sections of people. Even in
pre-revolutionary Russia, experience in participating the elections was
partial and limited. In China and other countries where revolution took
place, there were no such experience regarding utilising parliamentary
system as a form of struggle to develop class struggle. Still drawing
from the experience of Second International and of the Communist parties
in European countries, Comintern under the leadership of Lenin had
pointed out the need to struggle against parliamentary cretinism on the
hand and boycottism on the other hand. Taking lessons from these and
evaluating the experience of the Communist movement in India from
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16.
16.1
In a vast country like India where our Party and class/mass
organisations are still comparatively weak, and the level of struggles
launched on various issues is still low, in order to take up the numerous
issues confronting the people, issue based united fronts have to be built
up joining with like-minded forces. These types of united fronts are
possible in the working class field uniting with other trade unions or
TU centres to struggle for workers problems, in the agrarian front
uniting the poor and landless peasants and agricultural workers and
even sections of middle peasants to struggle for problems faced by them,
in the womens front joining hands with other like-minded womens
organisations to fight for issues faced by women, in the youth front, in
students front, cultural front, in ecological front, etc. A broad-based,
issue-based, democratic approach should be developed to take up issues
through these united fronts. Though these are based on issues and shall
continue for a brief period only, they help to high light various peoples
issues. Such united fronts will help the Party and class/mass
organisations to spread out its activities to more areas.
16.2
Experience shows that under slightest provocation the state
machinery unleashes black laws and terror tactics against the people.
Democratic rights are taken away. Even peaceful mass movements are
brutally suppressed. Functioning of party and class and mass
organisations are obstructed. Even activities of civil and democratic right
organisations are put down. Against such day to day developments
united democratic and civil right movements should be developed
according to concrete conditions.
16.3
Advancing a step forward from these issue based united front
activities, as united struggles and strength of class/mass organisations
increase, possibilities for formation of platforms or united fronts at state102
17.
17.1
When the transfer of power took place India was a vast agrarian
county with 80% of the people dependent on agriculture. Historic
Telangana Struggle, Tebhaga movement and other revolutionary
agrarian movements against the dominating feudal, semi-feudal
agrarian relations were sweeping across the country under the
leadership of the Communist Party during those years compelling the
government to put an end to Zamindari system. But the withdrawal of
the Telangana struggle and abandoning of most of the other agrarian
struggles by the CPI leadership just before the 1952 general elections
gave a serious blow to them. The Congress government was utilising a
two pronged attack: by promoting the Bhoodan movement of Vinobha
Bhave to divert attention from revolutionary land struggles, and by
launching brutal attacks by para- military, police forces on them. Soon
under the advice of US imperialist experts, a land reform from above
was introduced including land ceiling in most of the states replacing
the feudal landlords by and large with new generation landlords who
were ready to embrace the green revolution launched under imperialist
guidance. Conditions were created for the entry of capital, fertilisers,
chemicals, new seeds and other inputs into the agrarian sector. This
was the beginning of another step, more intensive than the one pursued
during the colonial phase, for the integration of the agrarian sector to
the imperialist system.
17.2
The land reforms introduced were not revolutionary land
reforms from below based on land to the tiller slogan, but were
imposed from above creating a new class of landlords. The land ceiling
proposed was flouted in practice through various methods allowing
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the landlords to own huge land holdings far above the ceiling.The real
tillers including the adivasis, dalits and other oppressed sections
continued to remain landless or owning small house plots.
17.3
The green revolution set in the following tendencies: firstly, it
created conditions for the entry of modern inputs and capital to agrarian
sector; secondly, it increased the area under cash crops; thirdly, it
introduced capitalist mode of production; and fourthly, it paved the
way for overall land concentrations with about 60% land held by the
landlords who constitute 5-10% of population linked to agriculture.
Overall impact was further integration of agrarian sector to imperialist
capital-market system.
17.4
The historic significance of the Naxalbari struggle is that it
brought back the agrarian revolutionary struggle abandoned by the CPI
leadership in early 1950s to the agenda, challenging the ruling class
policies including the green revolution. Following Naxalbari agrarian
struggles were launched in Srikakulam, Debra Gopiballabhpur,
Mushahari and other areas putting forward land to the tiller slogan,
mobilising adivasis, dalits and other oppressed sections in large
numbers. But sectarian tendency started dominating the movement and
the annihilation line obstructed the development of the mass struggles
for land. Though a rectification was initiated by major sections of
CPI(ML) and other CR groups from the beginning of 1970s, and
significant mobilisation of the poor and landless peasants and
agricultural workers took place in Bihar and AP, there were no consistent
efforts to implement the Telengana-Naxalbari line according to the
concrete conditions. As a result, the agrarian revolutionary movement
did not make significant advances anywhere in the following years.
17.5
The anarchist trend represented by CPI(ML) People War and
MCC, which later merged to form CPI(Maoist), is upholding armed
struggle as the only form of struggle and pursuing the old annihilation
line in new forms. It has no concept of developing mass agrarian
revolutionary movement mobilising the poor and landless peasants and
agricultural workers. On the other hand, some of the CPI(ML) groups,
which have adopted the line of peaceful transition, have reduced
agrarian struggle to legalistic forms. Some others are mainly organising
middle peasants and a section of rich peasants in their peasant
organisation and have, in effect, abandoned the struggles based on land
to the tiller slogan, similar to what was done by CPI and then by CPI(M)
in the past. While pursuing these different policies all of them have an
important similarity that whether they had put forward a Path of
Revolution document or not, they cling mechanically to the concept of
protracted peoples war based on their semi-colonial analysis. The task
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middle peasants and other progressive sections in the area for the
struggle. Ensure the active involvement of trade unions and cadres of
mass organisation led by the party in the campaigns and land struggle
committees. Ensure the involvement of women in ever-larger numbers
and while land is distributed women should by given equal rights. Build
up volunteers squads under the land struggle committees and guided
by party committees. Destroy the authority of the big landlords and
other enemy classes in the village by effectively utilising the elections,
winning over the three- tier Panchayat committees, co-operative
societies, etc. in the area under the control of the land struggle
committees. Do not confuse contradictions among the people with
contradiction with enemy, and always handle contradiction among the
people non-antagonistically, in a healthy manner. Vigorously try to
expand the area of land struggles continuously. While the struggle for
the land is the fundamental one and it should be carried forward
vigorously, the land struggle committees at different levels should
handle and resolve struggles for higher wages, against usury,
cancellation of the landlords and merchants, struggle for the reduction
of rents, struggle against forced labour, struggle of the adivasi people
against forest contractors, against womens oppression, against casteist
oppression, etc. also wining over more and more sections of the
oppressed classes to the agrarian movement. In short, like Soviets in
Russia these committees should be developed as the local centres of
political power.
17.11 The experience of the great Telangana struggle, Tebhaga
movement and other big and small agrarian struggles led by the
undivided communist movement till early 1950s, the experience of
Naxalbari and Srikakulam struggle, the Debra- Gopiballabhpur and
Mushahari struggle, the agrarian struggle in the plains of Bihar and
AP, etc. show that whether starting from partial demands or land issue,
all of them ultimately lead to the fundamental question of land, to the
question of throwing out all pre-capitalist relations and revolutionising
land relations based on land to the tiller slogan. Starting with the
contradiction against the feudal remnants and landlord classes, it
develops to contradictions with big bourgeois-big landlord state and
with the imperialists behind it. So the Party should lead the agrarian
struggle, in whichever form it may have started, to the fundamental
question of land and vigorously try to expand it to more and more areas,
to more and more states according to concrete conditions there, firmly
upholding revolutionary mass line, uncompromisingly struggling
against reformist and sectarian tendencies which shall be trying to
dominate the movement always. Utilising all forms of struggles and
organisations, always prepared and be flexible enough to change from
No to Reformism, No to Anarchism, March to Revolution
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18.
18.1
India is a very vast country of 1.2 billion people. It has extreme
diversities and unevenness. The objective conditions of the country are
favourable for social change, for a social revolution to overthrow the
108
reactionary Indian State led by the comprador bureaucratic bourgeoislandlord classes serving global imperialist interests.
18.2
Putting forward the revolutionary path for India today is a much
more complex and difficult task to be taken up compared to taking up
such a job in 1920s or 1930s when the Communist movement was in its
infant stage in the country and when there was the Communist
International with extensive Soviet experience to guide it, or in the post1947 years when the country was going through a revolutionary ferment,
or in 1967 after Naxalbari uprising. Today, in spite of almost five decades
of intensive struggles against revisionism and neo-revisionism, the
CPI(M) and CPI are still existing, the CPI(M)-led Left Front is still strong
and is ruling three states, besides playing an important role in the
parliament as a social democratic party serving ruling class interests.
They still pose themselves as Marxist-Leninist parties in spite of their
degeneration to social democratic positions. With the help of corporate
media they get extensive coverage. For most of the people they are the
Communist parties still. So long as these degenerates are thoroughly
exposed ideologically and politically, they shall continue to remain a
threat to the strengthening of the revolutionary party. On the other hand,
though the influence of the sectarian, anarchist trend represented by
CPI(Maoist) is presently confined to some pockets in four or five states,
the Indian State and the corporate media give extensive coverage to
them. Thus the CPI(Marxist) and CPI(Maoist) apparently taking
extremely opposite stands, acts as two sides of the same coin against
revolutionary Marxism. Besides, there are a good number of right
opportunist or sectarian or anarchist trends posing as Marxist-Leninists
in different states. Even some of the groups advocating post-modernism,
identity politics, empowerment theories, NGOism, etc. promoted by
imperialist centres are claiming themselves as Marxist-Leninist, adding
to the confusion. It is an extremely difficult and unprecedented task to
wage ideological struggles against all these numerous trends and
establish the revolutionary Marxist-Leninist positions in present day
conditions.
18.3
Another major problem is the disunity of the Marxist-Leninist
forces who advocate mass line and who have apparent identity of views
on most of the basic issues. Even if all of them are united, the MarxistLeninist Party will be weak compared to the gigantic tasks to be taken
up in a vast country like India. In such a situation, this disunity among
the Marxist-Leninist forces who are opposed to both right opportunism
and sectarian, anarchist trends is another crucial challenge faced by the
revolutionary movement. These challenges have to be boldly faced and
the subjective forces of revolution have to be strengthened, in which
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111
113
production, millions of acres being snatched from the peasantry for SEZs
and industrial centres, for real estates and infrastructure building, etc.
with land concentration becoming a more serious issue than ever. While
the MNCs, corporates, real estate lobby, landlords and land mafias have
cornered millions of acres of the agricultural land, throwing out millions
of peasants and agricultural workers, flouting existing land ceiling laws
or amending them, 50-60% of the landless, poor peasants and
agricultural workers own just 10-15% of the land. Besides, tens of
millions of families in the urban and suburban areas are deprived of
even nominal housing when less than 10% of the rich and super-rich
own most of the multi-crore flats and bungalows. The disparity on the
question of ownership of land has reached unprecedented and extreme
levels. As a result, the struggle of the landless, poor peasants and
agricultural workers, the real tillers, for land for cultivation, the struggle
of those whose lands are snatched away for SEZs, real estates and
industrial centres, and of those who have no housing have become one
of the central issue.
18.12 In this situation, revolutionary working class struggles and
agrarian struggles with land to the tiller slogan have become the main
form of struggle involving hundreds of millions along with developing
struggles of all other revolutionary sections complementary to it. In every
state millions of acres of land already declared surplus by government
under ceiling acts, banjar lands, de-forested forest lands, lands illegally
occupied by plantation owners and landlords, plantation lands whose
lease period is over, Math lands, lands cornered by real estate lobby
and land mafias flouting existing laws, agricultural land left uncultivated
are not distributed to the landless in spite of repeated promises. Even
the 1975 Adivasi Land Protection Act to return adivasi land occupied
by non-adivasi landlords is still not implemented. The landless, poor
peasant and agricultural workers organisation forming village level land
struggle committees should occupy these lands after extensive
campaigns arousing the masses and distribute them among the landless
under the leadership of the village committees. This struggle should be
combined with the struggle against bonded labour like exploitation of
tenants and agricultural workers by landlords, usury, caste and
communal oppression and other atrocities of the landlords and state
machinery. These struggles launched based on the organised strength
of the landless sections for land and against feudal remnants and
landlords shall arouse their class consciousness and prepare them for
higher forms of struggles. During this period the question of arming
the peasantry under village committees to defend the rights of the
oppressed sections can also be taken up. This occupation of land and
their distribution under village committees, arming of the peasantry to
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millions of the working class, the women, the youth and students with
the struggle of the revolutionary section of the peasantry to advance
the agrarian movement. The difference of present concrete conditions
with those of the Telangana and Naxalbari phase should be correctly
understood. Today in every area the class contradictions are becoming
more and more intensified in varisous forms. This important aspect along
with the vastness of the country and prospect of developing struggles
in ever-larger areas are positive factors unfavourable to enemy, the
Indian state, and favourable to the revolutionary forces. The Party
Central Committee should guide all the state committees to launch
struggles in as many areas and sectors as possible. This is the phase of
casting the net wide. To help this, party and class/mass organisation
building at all India level, deployment of cadres and pursuing a correct
cadre policy should be taken up on an emergency basis. Once this is
effectively implemented, possibilities for uniting like minded forces and
organising issue based united fronts at various levels under the initiative
of the party and class/mass organisations shall also increase in support
of this movement.
18.15 The question of expanding the land struggles coupled with the
resistance against usurpation of agricultural land for SEZs, new
industrial centres and real estates, and the struggle for housing rights
by tens of millions of families in urban and suburban areas are becoming
burning issues in every state, every region. The attention of the whole
party and class/mass organisations should be focussed on these
questions. Extensive campaigns should be organised. And the land
struggle should be launched in ever-wider areas with the involvement
of tens of thousands of people organised in village committees. Rather
than involving in unending discussions about armed struggle and how
to develop it, what is required now is launching of country-wide
struggles for land, development of appropriate forms of organisations
at various levels, evolving slogans and programmes to involve ever
larger number of people in them, and weakening the ruling system by
hitting it at tens of thousands of places. International and Indian
experiences show that once the people in ever larger number are aroused,
and they get involved in militant struggles against the landlords and
the ruling system under the conscious leadership of the Party, after the
development of struggles to a stage, invariably armed resistance to state
repression get started. And it develops to higher forms as in Telengana.
So the real problem confronting the revolutionary movement is how to
link these peoples resistance with all other forms of struggles including
parliamentary struggle, and mass upsurges at various levels, and to
sustain it in a protracted form so that this war of the people develops in
to seizure of political power.
116
18.16 Recent experiences teach that there were a large number of big
or small4 mass upsurges against imposition of imperialist globalisation
connected projects in a number of places, in a number of states. Some of
them have taken protracted nature and are continuing even after one
or two years. Even after ruthless suppression deploying huge contingent
of state forces the centre and state governments are forced to abandon
many of these projects or postpone them. The resistance struggles of
the peoples of Northeast and Kashmir linked to nationality question
are also continuing even after decades. Once the Party become capable
of establishing the leadership of the working class by mobilising and
politicising them at an ever-larger areas in as many states as possible,
armed resistance of the people against state forces and mass upsurges
are bound to break out in a large number of places. What happened
during 1945-1950 period is a very good example for it.
18.17 In the concrete conditions of India, especially in the present
conditions, concepts like area-wise seizure of political power and
establishment of base areas based on the concept of the path of
protracted peoples war should be subjected to serious introspection.
Application of such concepts has to cutting the size of the feet according
to the size of shoes as is proved internationally and within our country.
The challenge is to develop the revolutionary struggles combining all
forms of struggle according to concrete conditions of India leading to
mass upsurges, insurrections and armed uprisings interspersed with
development of guerrilla struggles wherever possible and necessary. It
is a Path suited to Indias vastness and the objective conditions here.
This path should concentrate on mobilising the masses in ever larger
number and seizure of political power through a combination of all
forms of struggle.
19.
19.1
The struggles to complete the tasks of the PDR and advance
towards socialist revolution is carried forward in the era of imperialism
and proletarian revolution, when imperialism, especially US imperialism,
is striving frantically to impose its world hegemony. As part of it,
barbarous aggressions are launched and Yugoslavia was disintegrated
to a number of small states, a number of erstwhile socialist countries in
Eastern Europe and former republics of Soviet Union are assimilated to
NATO, Iraq and Afghanistan are occupied and put under puppet rule
and extreme forms of neo-colonial domination, Palestine people are
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119
20.
CONCLUSION
20.1
The Path for Indian Revolution is put forward by our Party, as
the above analysis shows, after the ICM has suffered severe setbacks.
Though anti-imperialist resistance struggles, especially against US
imperialism, is taking place around the world and though in some
countries they have made significant advances, the strength of the
Marxist-Leninist forces as a whole is still not considerable. In India, a
very vast country with extreme diversities and unevenness, in spite of
eight decades of Communist activities with a history of many historic
struggles involving tens of millions of people, presently the strength of
our Party, the only organisation with a fairly large all India presence, is
still not considerable. The challenge posed by right opportunist and
left sectarian trends are very serious. Though along the foot steps of
the all India revolutionary struggles of 1946-51 period spearheaded by
historic Telengana struggle, Naxalbari uprising once again brought back
PDR to the forefront of the agenda, the Marxist-Leninist movement
during the last four decades has not made any significant advances yet,
capable of changing the course of history. First sectarian influences
caused severe setbacks. Then the movement was divided in to many
streams. Out of them some have moved nearer to right opportunist
positions of CPI(M). On the other extreme CPI(Maosit) is still contented
with continuing to experiment with the annihilation line in new forms
using sophisticated weapons. As far as the mass line forces are
concerned, none of them including our party have so far succeeded in
advancing the revolutionary struggles in the direction of seizure of
political power mobilising the masses and spreading the influence of
the organisation to a significant level. It is in this context, the Path put
forward here should be approached.
20.2
On certain basic questions there is superficial unanimity among
Marxist-Leninist forces pursuing mass line. Firstly, all forms of struggles
including parliamentary struggles should be utilised to develop class
struggle. Secondly, a party with countrywide influence surrounded by
class/mass organisations should be built up in Bolshevik style. Thirdly,
in India path of revolution cannot be charted mechanically copying the
path developed and pursued by different parties including CPC in their
countries according to concrete conditions there. Fourthly, the path of
revolutionary war should be pursued based on the concrete conditions
here, while taking the hitherto international and national experiences
in to cognizance. Two serious problems are faced by the Marxist-Leninist
forces: in spite of these agreements still they have not united in to a
single party; in spite of long years of existence still they have not
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right opportunist and sectarian deviations and the lessons of the Cultural
Revolution.
20.6
Thirdly, in spite of the valuable contributions of the ICM in the
great polemics of the 1940s to 1970s about imperialism resorting to the
neo-colonial phase of offensive, while most of these streams reject it,
others uphold it only in words. They refuse to go beyond the mechanical
understanding of what is already summed up by the Marxist-Leninist
classics, refuse to a concrete study of the character of imperialist offensive
in the post-World War II decades, and fall victims to the plethora of
deviations coming up and working hard to blunt the Marxist-Leninist
offensive during these post-War decades.
20.7
Fourthly, as far as the CPI-CPI(M) stream is concerned its path
is reduced to a social democratic, parliamentary cretinist one, becoming
part of ruling class politics. The path of the socialist revolutionaries, an
alien trend, is out rightly reformist, serving as apologists of neocolonialism. Contrary to these, whatever may be their claims and
practice, a number of organisations ranging from CPI(ML) Liberation,
which is a new entrant to the social democratic camp, to the anarchist
leadership of CPI(Maoist), all of them in the name of upholding Mao
Tsetung Thought and Naxalbari are advocating the path of protracted
peoples war, under various interpretations. Starting from their semicolonial understanding they proceed to a mechanical application of
Chinese Path in Indian conditions. Or, firstly they present their own
distorted interpretation of Chinese revolution, and then apply it in the
name of the Chinese path not bothering to take the Indian conditions
into consideration.
20.8
Fighting against all these trends who have separately and
together become obstacles to the advance of Indian revolution, the
theoretical approach to neo-colonialism and the path of revolutionary
practice according to present concrete conditions are put forward for
widest possible discussion and as guide to revolutionary practice. The
building of a Bolshevik style communist party surrounded by class/
mass organisations at all India level, an aggressive utilisation of all forms
of struggle to develop class struggle, and an advance towards the capture
of political power starting from mass upsurges to mass uprisings and
armed insurrections is possible by rejecting the concept of protracted
peoples war and developing the path of Indian revolution according
to concrete conditions of neo-colonial phase of imperialist onslaught,
assimilating the experience of all hitherto revolutionary struggles at
international level and in our country.
20.9
122
CC, CPI(ML)
123