FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION
Prepare for the Coming Revolutionary Storms
People's Voice
Organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party
Volume 29 – Issue 3 Contribution – Rs. 5/- Fabruary 1-15, 2007
Condemn the terrorist massacre of innocent people in Assam!
Escalated State Terrorism cannot solve the problem of the
Assamese people!
With great anger, Peoples Voice condemns
the gruesome terrorist massacre of 73
migrant workers in the the Tinsukhia and
Dibrugarh districts of Assam on January
5 and 6, 2007. The majority of those
killed were brick kiln workers from Bihar
and Bengal.
The Indian state has utilised this
massacre in the most cynical fashion
to advance its own political and military
aims in the region. Defence Minister AK
Anthony, representing the interests of
the occupation armed forces in Assam,
Manipur and other states of the North
East as well as in Kashmir, has promptly
declared that the Armed Forces Special
Nepal -- Major steps towards a new Constituent Assembly
The process of working out a new political
system for Nepal, following the historic
Jan Andolan of April 2006, is advancing
steadily. Major developments in the past
one month include: the promulgation
of the new Interim Constitution-2063
on December 16, 2006 by the Nepal
Parliament followed by the self-dissolution
of the old House of Representatives and
National Assembly; the convening of
the new interim parliament on January
15, with the Maoists as the second
largest political group with 86 members;
and the beginning of the process of
“arms management”, under which the
UN supervises the disarmament of the
Maoist forces who will deposit their arms
in specified “containers”. An interim
government with participation of all the
eight parties who are part of the alliance,
including the Maoists, and headed by
Nepali Congress leader G.P.Koirala, is also
Powers Act will not be repealed. He has
no answer to why hundreds of innocent
people get masacred in Assam under the
very nose of the Army, with the Armed
Forces Special Powers Act in full operation!
Meanwhile, the terrorist attack has been
used to spread panic among migrant
workers, forcing thousands to flee the
state in packed buses and trains.
It is not coincidental that the terrorist
killings in Assam, comes at a time when
the entire state of Manipur, has risen up
demanding the repeal of the fascist Armed
Forces Special Powers Act and this
demand enjoys the support of people all
over the country. Anthony's statement is
expected to be established shortly.
These developments in Nepal are being
watched with great interest throughout
the world. In the words of the Maoist
leader in the new parliament, Krishna
Bahadur Mahara, the Interim Constitution
should be viewed only as a “political
agreement” among the eight parties, the
main purpose of which is to facilitate the
elections to the Constituent Assembly
by early June. The elected Constituent
Assembly in turn would draft the new
constitution for the Nepali people. To
pave the way for the election of the
Constituent Assembly, the old legislature
and the old Constitution of 1990, both of
which derived their legitimacy from the
monarchy, needed to be abolished. While
the monarchy has not yet been formally
abolished, it has been made irrelevant
to the current political developments,
proof, if proof is needed of the desperate
need for the center and the Indian Army to
justify the continuation of this Act, over
the dead bodies of hundreds of innocent
people!
Following the massacre, from January
10, 2007 the Army has begun a major
operation in Assam. Thousands of combat
troops are scouring the mountains and
jungles of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh
and Meghalaya, allegedly to eliminate the
United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA)
and destroy its training camps. Early
operations included helicopters dropping
troops on forested mountains, the army
Continued on page 3
including the working out of a new political
system. The Interim Constitution-2063
promises that the fate of the monarchy
will be decided by the first sitting of the
Constituent Assembly.
The Interim Constitution declares that
sovereignty and ruling power rests with
the people. Among other things, there
is provision for a referendum on any
issue of national importance. Although
Continued on page 6
In this Issue
Voice of Party 2
 Exploitation of Labour will end...
Letter to the editor 3
Economy 4-5
 Oppose the anti-social SEZ Act!
 Union Budget-demands of peasants
Voice of Party
Exploitation of Labour will end only when Capitalism is
replaced by Socialism
The bourgeoisie creates confusion on a daily
basis on what is meant by the exploitation
of labour. Bourgeois economists and
politicians push the idea that labour is
exploited only when some law is broken,
when some illegal or corrupt activity takes
place. They talk as if exploitation takes
place only in the lowest paid jobs or only
in the ‘unorganised’ sector. They talk as
if the organised workers in large-scale
industry are not exploited but in fact
‘pampered’.
What the ideologues of the bourgeoisie
hide is that exploitation itself is an objective
law under capitalism. This was one of the
most important scientific discoveries of
Karl Marx. The economic law of capitalism
that he discovered is called the law of
surplus value. It is important for workers
to understand how this law operates.
Human labour, acting on nature, produces
wealth. Wealth includes the material
needs of reproduction of society plus a
surplus. That is, human beings have the
capacity to not only produce their needs,
but over and above that, a surplus to
fulfil expanding needs and to invest for
the future. In a capitalist society, the
social surplus takes the form of surplus
value, which is pocketed by capitalists
who do not toil. What capitalists pocket
is the excess of the value that the
combined labour of the workers creates,
over what is paid to them in exchange for
the commodity they sell, which is labour
power.
Relation between Wages and Value of
labour power
The value of any commodity is determined
by the amount of social labour required for
its reproduction – that is, its production
on an ongoing basis. The value of the
commodity, labour power, is equal to the
value of all those commodities required to
keep the worker in working condition, so
that he can report for duty every day.
What workers get paid in relation to the
value of their labour power depends on
demand and supply of that labour power,
 Fabruary 1-15 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 3
i.e. how much more labour power is
available than required by the capitalists
at the workplace. Capitalism ensures
that there is always a reserve army
of unemployed, and this safeguard the
interests of capitalists through ensuring
that there is enough and more available
labour power. This is true of the economy
as a whole, and for each sector or for each
skill type, A worker in a particular trade
or industry may get paid above or below
the value of his labour-power. His wage will
be above or below based on demand and
supply of that labour power, just as in the
case of any other commodity, the price
varies around the value of the commodity
depending on demand and supply. For
example, very low-skilled manual workers
like coolies or headload workers draw
wages well below the value of their labour
power, because such labour power is
easily available. Even in case of highly
skilled workers, the wages get pushed
down when the supply exceeds demand,
i.e. if there are more computer engineers
than are needed in a given period.
The oth er sign ifican t fact or t h at
determines the wage paid to a worker
is the degree of organisation of the
workers and therefore their bargaining
power. Given the unequal strength of the
employer and the employees in the market
place, the wages of labour are generally
below the value of labour power. Only
in those circumstances does the wage
equal the value of labour power, where the
workers are effectively organised to fight
for their interests.
The wages paid to agricultural labourers
are generally kept lower than the value
of their labour power, as a result of the
availability of migrant labourers and of
marginal peasants. Wages of unskilled
construction workers are kept below the
value of labour power owing to the fact that
they are hired on temporary contracts
and do not have long-term relations with
any particular employer. Workers in
unregistered small establishments are
paid less than the value of labour power
because of their small numbers and low
bargaining capacity.
For these reasons, a majority of workers
in our country are not even paid the value
of their labour power.
Exploitation of workers
The wages of different sections of workers
in the economy vary widely; there is great
disparity in earnings of a manual unskilled
worker and a highly skilled worker in a
multinational or InfoTech company.
However, under capitalism, all workers are
exploited.Workers in agriculture, industry
and services, including those engaged in
manual labour and mental labour, are being
exploited in our country today – and to an
increasing degree. This is essential for
the working class to grasp, in conditions
where the bourgeoisie repeatedly tries
to set one section of workers against
the other.
The fact that a worker in Tata Steel gets
a much higher wage than a worker in a
sugar factory does not mean that the
former is being exploited less. The socially
necessary labour required for producing
and reproducing skilled workers for large
scale modern steel plants is larger than
the amount required for producing and
reproducing workers for sugar factories.
Hence the value of the labour power of
steel workers is higher. And secondly,
the value created in one man-hour is also
greater in the steel plant as compared
to the sugar factory. The degree of
exploitation is the ratio of the value
extracted from the workers to the value
that is paid to them.
Even when workers are paid the full value
of their labour power, they are in fact
being paid just for their upkeep, while the
surplus is pocketed by the capitalist. The
creation of wealth, the production of a
social surplus, goes to benefit exclusively
the owners of capital. It makes them
prosperous, but not those whose toil
produces the wealth.
Continued on page 6
Letter to the editor
A thought provoking New Year call
Sir,
I am writing to express my thanks to
the Central Committee of the CGPI
for its New Year greetings. I find the
statement released on this occasion
to be very deeply thought out as well
as thought-provoking. In particular,
I am confident that the inspiring call
to make the requisite sacrifices to
make decisive advances towards the
rule of workers and peasants will meet
with the stepped up work of all of us
communists in this year that has been
ushered in.
There are other matters mentioned
in the statement which are also of
immediate and urgent concern to
the Communist movement. You have
mentioned that the time has come
to hold the traitors and betrayers of
the working class in the movement
Condemn the terrorist massacre of innocent people in Assam!...
Continued from page 1
said. “We are using all resources at
our disposal in this operation ... we are
going all out against the militants,” said
Major-General N.C. Marwah, a senior
military commander at Dinjan, 570 km
east of Guwahati. A number of people
have been reported killed in these Army
Operations.
Army officers on the ground say that
the gloves are off. “If they are on the
killing spree, we cannot sit idle. We also
have to go on a killing spree,” said a
local military commander directing the
troops. The army has declared that the
supsension of military operation during
talks of the government with ULFA was a
mistake. “Suspension of operations was
a big mistake. They took advantage of the
situation and regrouped,” Marwah said.
The ULFA has denied any role in the
massacre, and blamed the Assam
government and the Indian state for
organising this massacre. Given the
track record of the Indian state in
organising terrorist violence to besmirch
accountable for their actions. In this
regard the party has been working
diligently to oppose the line of conciliation
with the bourgeoisie, and to oppose the
line of building ‘capitalism with a human
face.’
Of great significance, in the sense of a
matter that has not been discussed in
great depth in the party in recent times,
is the significance of the Naxalbari
uprising, the 40th anniversary of which
falls this calendar year. It has been
pointed out that it was this uprising
and the leadership of the undivided
CPI (ML) which brought the matter of
revolution back to the centre stage
of the Communist movement. The
subsequent onslaught by the Indian
state, the continuation of capitulation
and compromise within the ranks of the
movement, and inherent weaknesses
such as looking abroad for leadership
the resistance forces, and to justify
state terrorism, this possibility cannot
be ruled out.
It is clear that the Indian Armed Forces,
which have occupied Assam and the
North East for so many decades, are in
no mood to give up their privileges. The
Indian bourgeoisie is not interested in a
solution to the Assam problem which will
address the concerns of the Assamese
people. More than 20,000 people have
been killed in covert and overt state
repression in Assam since 1979. Assam
has been under Army rule since 1990.
There is a national question in Assam,
as in other states of the North East,
which the Indian state has refused to
address. The Indian state has followed a
colonial imperialist policy with respect to
Assam. It has raised the colonial plunder
of Assam's natural resources, including oil
and teak, which began under colonial rule,
to new heights. It has tried through its
intelligence agencies to set the different
ethnic groups of the state against each
other, with terrorism as one of its main
Fabruary 1-15 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 3
and insufficient theory has led rapidly
to the splintering of the movement,
which led to a temporary victory of the
bourgeoisie.
Nevertheless, the time has come
again for those in the revolutionary
camp to take heart that the tide
is bound to turn. It must use this
period to elaborate on the need for a
united Communist party, Communist in
word and in deed, to take the working
masses forward. The tasks that face
the movement is to identify the most
pressing problems facing the Indian
masses and to elaborate on a solution
to these. I am hopeful that the CGPI
will continue through its tireless
endeavors towards reaching these
goals.
A. Narayan,
Bangalore
weapons, along with cooption into the
state apparatus. It has incited communal
divisions along religious lines. It has tried
to change the demographic character of
Assam. In sum, far from ever addressing
the concerns of the Assamese people, it
has pursued a scorched earth policy.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is
playing a double game, when he sheds
“tears” for the victims of terrororism in
Assam, and talks of being ready for talks
with ULFA. The issue is not talks with
this or that organisation. The issue is
the Indian states’ policy of crushing the
aspirations of the Assamese and other
peoples through state terrorism, and its
use of covert and over state terrorism
to depoliticise the people and deprive
them of all rights. All those aspiring for
justice, for an end to the killing spree in
Assam and other states, must resolutely
unite against state terrorism and demand
the immediate repeal of the Armed
Forces Special Powers Act. They must
demand that political problems like the
Assam problem be resolved with political
solutions to the benefit of the peoples
of Assam and the people of the rest of
India n

Economy
Uncompromisingly oppose the anti-social SEZ Act!
Rights of workers and peasants are inviolable!
Faced with mounting opposition
t h r o u g h o u t t h e c o u n t ry t o t h e
aggressive land grab drive by the big
capitalist monopolies, in the name of
setting up Special Economic Zones
(SEZs), the UPA Government has been
forced on to the back foot. Government
spokesmen are talking about addressing
the concerns that have been raised.
However, Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh has declared that “SEZs have
come to stay”. In other words, the
UPA Government is hoping to deal with
the resistance through amendments
to the SEZ Act, so as to save the Act
from being scrapped.
Facts about SEZs
The first SEZ in India was established at
the time of the BJP-led NDA Government
headed by Vajpayee. Its stated aim was
to provide an internationally competitive
environment for exports.
The UPA Government headed by
Manmohan Singh passed a central
law in 2005, called the SEZ Act, to
be implemented by the Ministry of
Commerce. Its stated aims were
to build up infrastructure, promote
exports and enhance employment
generation.
Actual implementation so far shows
that these objectives are only on paper,
as the developers of SEZs are free to
do what they please on 50-75% of
the land they acquire, and required to
export only 1% of their output. On the
other hand, they enjoy huge tax write-
offs, which the Ministry of Finance has
estimated will cross Rs. 150,000 crore
by the year 2010.
It is reported that the Board of
Approvals, set up by the Commerce
Ministry, has so far given ‘formal
approval’ to 181 SEZ projects across
the country, and ‘in principle approval’
to another 128 projects – adding up to
a total of 309. The total land required
 Fabruary 1-15 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 3
by the 309 SEZs is around 1,25,000
hectares, almost equal to the size of
Delhi. There are about 30 SEZs that
are already functional today.
Land for SEZs have been allocated
wherever the big capitalist sponsors
wanted them. The state governments
have acted as agents of the big
capitalists, seizing land held by peasants
at the official ‘market’ rate and handing
it over to the private corporations.
This has been done under the colonial
Land Acquisition Act. Whatever rate
the government has charged to the
capitalists is cheap for them, because
once the SEZ is developed the price of
land multiplies many times over.
Case against SEZs
There are several serious arguments
that have been raised against SEZs.
First, SEZs are a devious way of attacking
the rights of the working class. They
serve to exempt capitalists from
existing labour laws and regulations,–
including limits on the length of the
working day, right not to be dismissed
without adequate cause, right to form
unions and go on strike, to retirement
benefits, maternity leave, etc.
Second, for the state to seize land
from peasants and transfer them to
big corporate profiteers is a blatant
attack on the right to livelihood of
those who till the land. It is a blatantly
pro-capitalist and anti-peasant act by
the state.
Third, converting agricultural land
to non-agricultural use, wherever
the big capitalists want, is a blatant
violation of the requirements of food
security and protection of the natural
environment.
Fourth, to spend public money and give
special privileges to the biggest and
most powerful capitalists, demanding
practically nothing in return from
them, is anti-social. It goes against
the general interests of society. It is
a policy to favour a privileged few at the
expense of the rest of society.
In sum, the SEZ Act and its
implementation are anti-worker, anti-
peasant and anti-social.
Compromising positions
Within the forces that are resisting the
drive of the big capitalists to grab land
for so-called special economic zones,
there exists compromising trends
that have to be combated. Exposing
and defeating the influence of these
trends is essential in order to defend
the rights of workers and peasants, and
the general interests of society.
First, there are those who compromise
with the drive of the big capitalists to
grab agricultural land, saying this is
alright provided the peasants are willing
to sell their land and the state gives
them ’fair compensation’. This is one
of the main arguments advanced by the
Left Front Government in West Bengal,
for instance, to justify the acquisition of
peasants’ land by the Tatas at Singur.
Leaving aside the question of whether
or not the peasants really gave up their
land willingly, this position fails to defend
the general social interest. It ignores
the fact that conversion of agricultural
land for non-agricultural use, driven by
the greed of big capitalists, endangers
food security. It also endangers human
life itself, by reducing the green cover
that produces the oxygen required by
human beings.
Second, there are those who demand
that the state must not intervene
in the land transaction, but leave it
to the ‘free market’. This position,
while pretending to be ‘pro-farmer’,
actually plays into the hands of the big
capitalists. The big corporations will
Continued on page 7
Economy
Union Budget 2007-08 and the demands of peasants:
Livelihood of the tillers will be secured only under workers’ and
peasants’ rule
As Finance Minister Chidambaram
starts his pre-budget consultations,
peasant organizations across the
c o u n t ry a r e d e m a n d i n g s e v e r a l
immediate steps for ensuring them
a secure livelihood and fundamental
changes in agricultural policy. They are
demanding that their voices be heard
and their concerns be addressed in the
forthcoming budget.
Finance Minister Chidambaram has had
just one meeting with so-called farmers’
representatives, who were handpicked
by his party. On the other hand, he
has started a series of meetings with
the spokesmen of the big capitalists,
such as CII and FICCI. He has already
promised the big bourgeoisie myriad
concessions and enabling policies in the
forthcoming budget to be presented in
February.
The UPA Government assumed power
promising to address the problems
of peasants and the rural masses.
Facts show that it is in fact carrying
out the bidding of the big bourgeoisie.
Peasants have been demanding that
the government should provide support
prices for all crops in all regions of
the country. It must establish a
network of procurement centres for
buying the produce of peasants. The
Central Government has done exactly
the opposite, both under NDA and
under UPA. It has adopted the policy
of curtailing public procurement and
opening up the agricultural market
to private sharks. It is insisting
that state governments must
amend their Agricultural Produce
Marketing Regulations Acts, so that
Reliance, Walmart and other capitalist
monopolies can more easily secure
their ‘supply chains’ by enslaving the
peasants.
With rising prices of inputs such as
diesel for pumps, electricity, water
user charges, transportation, seeds
and fertilizer, peasants have been
demanding state assured supply of
agricultural inputs at affordable rates.
The Central Government is refusing to
fulfill this demand, claiming it would cost
too much money. However, it has no
qualms about handing out thousands
of crores of rupees every year to the
big capitalist corporations as tax
waivers, export concessions, “bad
debt” writeoffs, and in other forms.
According to recent finance ministry
estimates, the tax exemptions and
concessions cost the general public a
phenomenal amount of Rs 1,00,147
crore this year. This is expected to
rise further as the so-called Special
Economic Zones expand.
Peasants’ organisations demand that a
simple interest of at most 4% should be
charged on all kinds of agriculture loans.
They are also demanding that all types
of risks should be covered under crop
insurance and the insurance scheme
should cover all crops. In opposition
to what the peasants are demanding,
the Central Government is opening up
the banking and insurance sectors to
the biggest financial monopolies, Indian
and international. Bank credit is being
increasingly subordinated to the drive
of the monopolies for maximum profit
from lending activity.
Peasants have expressed grave concerns
over the government’s reluctance in
making adequate investment in the
agriculture sector. They have demanded
that irrigation projects should be given
top priority, with due attention to
ecological concerns and the problems
of project-displaced people.
Peasants are vehemently opposing the
conversion of farmland for different
projects, particularly for special
economic zones (SEZs). They have
called for scrapping the outdated Land
Acquisition Act, using which various
state governments have been taking
over agricultural land and handing it
over to the big capitalists.
Fabruary 1-15 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 3
In several areas in India, peasants have
suffered heavily due to the failure of
Bt Cotton, and they are demanding
compensation from Monsanto, the
agricultural multinational, for selling
the seeds at a high price and giving
false claims. They are demanding that
the government should encourage
organic farming which is environment
and farmer-friendly by making special
provisions in the budget.
Peasants have also demanded that
peasant rights over seeds should be
guaranteed in the proposed Seeds
Bill. They have expressed concern over
the new Food Standards and Safety
Act which is likely to displace small
vendors and fresh fruits and vegetables
from the market, in favour of the agri-
processing monopolies.
The deaf ear offered by the Finance
Minister to the legitimate demands
of peasants shows that the UPA
Government is a government of the big
capitalists, just like the previous NDA
Government. It is not a government
that wants to solve the problems of
the peasantry.
The continuing suicides among peasants
even after loan and interest waivers by
the government has proved that giving
some “relief” to the peasants while
letting the forces of capitalism play
havoc with their lives is no solution. It
is like applying a soothing ointment on
a cancerous wound that is eating into
their bones.
Peasants cannot afford to trust these
governments of big capital. They must
rely on their own fighting unity, and on
their unity with the working class.
It is only by establishing workers’ and
peasants’ rule can the right of peasants
to secure livelihood and prosperity be
assured. The working class, in alliance
with the toiling peasants, is that
Continued on page 7

World
Nepal -- Major steps towards ...
Continued from page 1
there are great expectations from this
important document, criticisms have also
been voiced about many provisions of the
interim constitution. Many amendments
to the draft interim constitution were
proposed, although it was finally adopted
unanimously without amendment. One
of the strong objections voiced to the
interim constitution outside of Parliament
was from people belonging to minority
ethnic groups and tribal peoples who
felt that it did not deal with their needs
and interests. Both the Indian and the
Chinese governments have welcomed the
new Interim Constitution, as have the
governments of the UK and the US, even
though the American spokesman at the
same time expressed reservations about
the intentions of the Maoists.
The working class and people of India,
as indeed of the whole world, will be
watching with great sympathy and
expectations to see to what extent the
people of Nepal are able to stamp their
imprint on the processes now underway
– that is, on the process of electing
Exploitation of Labour will end ...
Continued from page 2
In the capitalist system, the capitalists
at all time try individually and collectively
to depress the wages of workers, and
increase their profits. They do this by
increasing the degree of exploitation of
the workers, that is the proportion of the
number of hours the worker works to fill
the pocket of the capitalist as compared
to the number of hours he works for
himself. Workers on the other hand, fight
to decrease this degree of exploitation.
The class conscious workers recognize,
at the same time, that the aim of their
struggle is to end this wage system
itself. The capitalist system must be
replaced by the socialist system, based
on social ownership of the means of social
production. Under such a system, there
will be no basis for any private interest
to pocket any share of the value that is
produced by human labour. Only under
 Fabruary 1-15 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 3
their representatives to the Constituent
Assembly, and afterwards, on the work of
the Constituent Assembly to produce a
new constitution that embodies all their
aspirations. It is the ordinary men and
women of Nepal who won the respect and
admiration of the whole world through the
courage and determination with which
they fought the monarchy. It is their
pressure that is ensuring that no political
force inside or outside of Nepal has so far
been able to stop the process of creating
a new political system. The promulgation
of the Interim Constitution is a victory for
them in the sense that it enshrines in law
the divesting of the powers of the feudal
monarchy that had sought to drown the
struggles of the people in blood. However,
the powers that have been removed from
the king have now been vested in the
Council of Ministers headed by the Prime
Minister. The crucial step of the transfer
of power from the Executive to the people
themselves has yet to take place, and will
have to be fought for. The victory of the
Nepali people must now be crowned with
a political system that ensures that they
are able to actually exercise and defend
their own sovereign powers. That would
indeed be a historic victory not only for
such a system will labour no longer be
exploited.
Workers’ remuneration in a Socialist
System
Just as in capitalism, in socialism too,
human labour will be creating a surplus.
But whereas in capitalism the capitalist
pockets the surplus and seeks to maximise
that surplus by increasingly exploiting
the workers, in socialism the surplus is
applied in the general interest of society.
Workers will no longer be selling labour
power as a commodity to those who own
the means of production. The workers will
be the collective owners of the means of
production, along with all other members
of society.
The working people, who work for
themselves in such a system, will decide
through their economic and political
organisations, how the social surplus is
to be apportioned to (i) raise the living
the people of Nepal but for the people of
the whole world.
Various powers, including the Indian state
and the Anglo-American imperialists, are
trying their best to impose their own
models of “democracy” on Nepal. They
constantly proclaim that their models are
the only forms of “democracy”, and any
country that does not conform to those
models are termed outcasts or pariahs.
However, history has shown that their
political systems, which while swearing
by “the sovereignty of the people” have
in fact vested supreme powers in the
executive, have not brought freedom
or power to the masses of people. On
the contrary, they have marginalised
the role of the people in politics and
served as a thin shell for the rule of
exploiting classes. The people of Nepal
should not come under the pressure to
conform to any particular existing model
of “democracy”, but should be their own
models. A great and historic opportunity
awaits them to ensure real freedom from
all forms of oppression, to ensure lasting
independence and unity, and all-round
progress for the hitherto exploited and
downtrodden majority. n
standards of the present generation to
the maximum extent possible, while (ii)
investing adequately to ensure expanded
reproduction in the future. The basic
economic law that operates under
socialism is the law of maximum fulfilment
of the needs of the population. In a socialist
society, the working people decide on the
deployment of the surplus in the general
interest of society, ensuring that all
sections of the people are provided for
- the very young who are being educated,
the pensioners and older people, and
those who are sick, infirm or handicapped
in any way. The living standards of the
people is improved through a series
of measures that include provision of
essential services like education, health
and even recreation for the workers at a
nominal cost or free of cost.
Therefore, exploitation will cease only
with the replacement of capitalism by
socialism. n
Economy
...oppose the anti-social SEZ Act!
Continued from page 4
get the land they want, and even if the
peasants get a better price for their
land, they would have lost their source
of livelihood. Moreover, purchase of
more and more cultivable land by the big
capitalists for non-agricultural use will
reduce the area under cultivation. Thus,
this second trend is only a variation
of the first. While the followers of
this trend oppose the colonial Land
Acquisition Act, they compromise on
the question of permitting big capitalist
profiteers to acquire whatever land
they set their eyes on.
Third, there is the argument that
land under multiple cropping must be
protected but land under a single crop
can be acquired for SEZs. Of the total
area cultivated in the country, only one-
third is sown more than once, while
two-thirds have only a single crop. To
protect only one-third of the cultivated
land means in effect no protection
at all. It means to allow most of the
cultivable land to be freely converted
for other use.
Fourth, there is the argument that
SEZs are alright provided the land that
is acquired by the state is not sold
but leased out to the big capitalists.
This is the latest argument of the
CPI(M) in the debate that is raging
over the question of land acquisition
for industry and for SEZs. This position
Union Budget 2007-08 ...
Continued from page 5
political force that can reorient the
Indian economy to serve those who
toil.
With political power in their hands,
the working class and peasantry can
expand the area under crops, and also
invest in creating cold storage and food
processing units in the countryside.
They can reduce the huge wastage
of agricultural products that takes
place at present – for the benefit of
compromises with SEZs, as it does
not even raise the question as to
what is special about them, and why
do they deserve special privileges. It
also compromises with the colonial
Land Acquisition Act, accepting the
unlimited right of the state to acquire
any land it pleases for any purpose
whatsoever, disregarding the right
of the tiller of the land to secure
livelihood. It also ignores the fact
that big capitalists get away with
selling even ‘lease-hold’ land in the
existing system, as they did with the
mill lands in Mumbai.
Uncompromising position
In order to defend the rights of
workers and peasants, and the general
interests of society, it is necessary
to oppose the SEZ Act without
any compromise. It is necessary to
demand not only that the SEZ Act as
well as the Land Acquisition Act be
immediately scrapped, but also that
a new law be passed that would ban
any private company from purchasing
any piece of land.
What will be the result if land use
is left to be determined by the so-
called market forces? More and
more land will be transferred into
the hands of the biggest capitalist
monopolies. This is a dangerous
trend. It endangers the availability
of housing and shelter, food security,
as well as protection of the natural
the peasants and the workers. At
the same time, they can prevent
the giant capitalist corporations
from gaining control of agricultural
trade and from grabbing more land.
They can achieve this by nationalizing
wholesale trade and giving no space
for private middlemen to fleece both
producers and consumers.
A workers’ and peasants’ power will
replace the colonial Land Acquisition
Act with a new fundamental law that
will not permit cultivable land to be
sold to any private party under any
pretext. The fundamental law will
Fabruary 1-15 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 3
environment. Purchase of land by private
capitalist corporations must therefore be
immediately halted.
People of each state, and of each city,
must take control of how land is used
within the territory they live in, through
elected representatives who they control.
Land must be allocated according to
a social plan, taking into account the
different needs. It must be leased out to
different users, whose right to possess
the land would be conditional on their
fulfilling their committed obligation to
use the land in harmony with the general
interests of society.
Land that is cultivable must be protected.
This includes the area that is currently
cultivated and the area that is possible
to bring under cultivation through
appropriate investments. This requires
legislation and enforcing mechanisms to
ban the conversion of cultivable land for
non-agricultural use. Land for industrial,
housing and other non-agricultural use
can and must be identified from within
the 1,93,000 hectares of ‘barren and
unculturable land’ that is available in the
country, according to official data.
It is in the interests of workers,
peasants, women and youth, the peoples
of all nationalities, tribes and forest
communities, to take an uncompromising
position against the SEZ Act and its
implementation – in defence of the rights
of all workers and peasants, and in the
general interests of society. n
also ensure that the rights of labour, and
the rights of a human being, cannot be
violated under any pretext. n
People’s Voice (Fortnightly)
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Meeting in Kanpur discusses challenge before working class

A pubic meeting was organized on
January 21, 2007, in Kanpur to discuss
the challenge before the working class.
This meeting was held in the prevailing
conditions of continuous onslaught on
the livelihood and rights of workers and
peasants and working people by the
big bourgeoisie and its governments.
Hundreds of workers from Kanpur
and nearby areas of Uttar Pradesh
as well as activists from other parts
of India participated in the meeting.
The proceedings of the meeting were
conducted by Comrades Mona Sur and
Mohamad Sami.
Addressing the gathering, the
spokesperson of the Communist Ghadar
Party of India, Comrade Prakash Rao
pointed out that the key challenge
before the working class was to
establish its own rule in alliance with
the peasantry, and put an end to the
rule of the bourgeoisie. To achieve
this mission, the working class must
ensure that the most class conscious,
militant fighters of the class organize
themselves in the communist party
which will lead them in establishing the
rule of workers and peasants.
There are two kinds of political parties
— parties of the bourgeoisie and the
party of the working class.
The agenda of the parties of the
bourgeoisie is set by the bourgeoisie, and
the bourgeoisie makes sure its agenda
is implemented by one or the other
bourgeois party, depending on which
serves its interests best at the moment.
The bourgeoisie needs the workers and
peasants only as a source of votes at
the time of elections, or to be its street
fighters, or to shout slogans in rallies.
The communist party is a party of the
working class. It is a part of the working
class, and its agenda cannot be different
from the agenda of the working class.
The agenda of the communist party is
to organize and lead the working class
to become the ruling class.
If a communist party starts using the
workers and peasants in the same way
as bourgeois parties do, then it has
transformed itself into a bourgeois
party. The tragedy of India is that the
communist party that was established
in 1925 in Kanpur did not remain true
to its name, to its class. The same is
the case with various other parties
that call themselves communist. This
is why Singur and Nandigram are
happening today, this is why these so
called communists led the textile mills
of Kanpur to closure in 1990, and then
declared it a “victory”!
It is to end this betrayal that advanced
elements of India’s working class
established the Communist Ghadar
Party of India in 1980. Comrade Prakash
Rao told the assembled workers: "as I
said to you yesterday and again this
morning at the gate of the Elgin Mills,
we cannot keep declaring that so and
so betrayed us, and then leave it at
that. If we want revolution, if we want
to be able to distinguish between the
real upholders of the red flag and the
betrayers, we ourselves must dare to
become red, to become communists
and build the Party! This is the way
forward that we must take".
He further pointed out that the
bourgeoisie had worked out various
methods to divide the working class.
The working class is being divided by
the bourgeois parties on the basis of
their party affiliation, on the basis of
religion and region, and on the basis
of caste. In this connection the most
criminal activity is being carried out
by the agents of the bourgeoisie who
masquerade as communist parties.
Request to Readers
We request our readers to send in reports / articles
on the life and struggles of workers, peasants, women,
youth and every section of the working people.
This will contribute to strengthening the political unity
and struggles of workers and peasants for the renewal of
Indian society
It is extremely important for us to
understand that the fundamental credo
of the working class is to overthrow
the capitalist system from its very
foundations and establish a new system
free from all forms of exploitation and
oppression.
Comrade Prakash Rao concluded by
saying that this year is the 150 th
anniversary of the great Ghadar of
1857. We look at 1857 not from
some nostalgic point of view or to
merely remember the martyrs, but to
draw appropriate lessons to assist
us in the main task facing us today,
which is the overthrow of the rule of
the bourgeoisie and the establishing
of the rule of workers and peasants.
This is the approach of our Party, the
Communist Ghadar Party of India, in all
its work.
The meeting was addressed by speakers
from a number of organizations, including
Mazdoor Parishad, Chattisgarh Mukti
Morcha, Lok Raj Sangathan, Mahila
Shakti Sangathan, IIT Employees Union,
Kanpur Trade Union Council, JK Cotton
Mills Sangharsh Samiti, Peoples Front,
Bangladesh-India-Pakistan Peoples
Forum, Kapada Mill Mazdoor Union,
Nirmaan Mazdoor Panchayat Sangam,
Bluestar Employees Union, Kanpur
Dainik Mazdoor Samiti, Hind Mahila
Sabha, Delhi Shramik Sangathan, PDFI,
Mahila Shakti Sangathan, Jan Shakti
Manch, CPI(MA) and ICTU.
The meeting declared its complete
support to the struggling workers of
Elgin for the immediate reopening of
the mill. n