Voice of the Indian Revolution

Voice of the Indian RevolutionVoice of the Indian RevolutionVoice of the Indian RevolutionVoice of the Indian RevolutionVoice of the Indian Revolution

On Feb.14 ,2008 the Ernakulam District Magistrate issued anorder banning the publication of the magazine Peole’s March inthe district. The order was issued on the eve of Com. Kuttycoming out of the jail on bail where he had been incarcerated onfalse charges. The real purpose for the arrest is now clear: tostifle freedom of expression in the country. The People’s March isan independent magazine that fearlessly seeks to present thefacts without facing any pressure from advertisers or thegovernment to sing to any tune. It therefore fearlessly presentedthe reality in the country and worldwide, firmly standing by theoppressed masses against the moneybags. It also honestlyportrayed the revolutionary and democratic movements in thecountry, not resorting to government-style propaganda ordistortions of the gutter media. This it seems, the governmentfeared. So they first arrested the editor and when still they couldnot stifle his voice they proceeded to ban the magazine.

On Feb. 14th the District Magistrate of Ernakulum posted anorder to this effect at the PM office. The order stated “…thepublication, sale, distribution and circulation of the magazinenamed “People’s March” is hereby prohibited in the district ofErnakulum, since the said magazine is found to be containingmaterials that are seditious and subversive in nature, bringingabout contempt and disaffection against the government of India.….The Additional District Magistrate, Ernakulum, shall takeimmediate steps to take up the matter with the Registrar ofnewspapers, New Delhi, so as to get the registration of themagazine cancelled.” In fact even before the ban the police hasbeen harassing and threatening all those in anyway linked to themagazine.

The printing press refused to print the magazine due to intensivepolice pressure. And even the landlord of the house in whichKutty lived asked him to vacate after coming out of jail, due topolice treats and pressure. This is the extent to which the policeand government have gone to try and stifle the voice of theoppressed masses of the country. The freedom of expression inthis country is a big hoax. It is mostly money-power that dictateswhat should be written or shown, kow-towing to governmentinterests; and if anyone dares go beyond the bounds set, theyare immediately stifled. All democrats and progressive forces mustdemand the immediate lifting of the ban and an end to policeharassment of the editor and those associated with him.

But no government order can stifle; the voice of the oppressedmasses; phoenix-like it will arise again and again in new forms, tohaunt the oppressors and all their hangers-on.

Bulletin No. 1 (For Private Circulation only)

LIFT BAN ON PEOPLE’S MARCH

PeoplePeoplePeoplePeoplePeople ’’’’’sssss TruthTruthTruthTruthTruth

For photos or News paper cuttingwhich is compatible to matter orredisign to front page.

2PEOPLE'S TRUTH,PEOPLE'S TRUTH,PEOPLE'S TRUTH,PEOPLE'S TRUTH,PEOPLE'S TRUTH, May 2008

ContentsPeople,sTruth

Growing world economiccrisis throws up greatrevolutionary possibilities

4

23Budget’s Neo-Liberalagenda & the loan waiverhoax

9The crisis of the USEconomy—Dollar in doldrums

May day Statement 3

Interview with FARC

commander Raul Reyes 18

The People of Tibet must.... 27

Beat back Sena barbarities..28

Euphoria and the Stark

Reality.... 29

Intellectual response to the

Nandigram movement 31

PEOPLE'S TRUTHPEOPLE'S TRUTHPEOPLE'S TRUTHPEOPLE'S TRUTHPEOPLE'S TRUTH,,,,, May 20083

On this May Day of 2008 we find the world capitalist system heading for a severe economic crisis. Thiscrisis is being particularly precipitated by the recessionary conditions in the US economy and continuing

stagnation in the economies of Europe and Japan. With the economies of the underdeveloped countries tiedever so strongly to those of the imperialists the crisis in the imperialist economies are having worldwiderepercussions. This crisis is even more severe than that of 2001 and in the US the continuous cut in interestrates (by a massive $0.75 in the latest round) is not having any revival impact. The situation is expected togo from bad to worse in the coming days.

The crisis situation is getting further magnified by: sky-rocketing crude oil prices (highest ever sinceWWII), huge leaps in the prices of agricultural commodities, the falling value of the dollar, and the worldwideimpact of the US sub-prime crisis.

This slide in the world economy is having its serious repercussions in India which is ever more gettingstrangulated by its links with the imperialists, particularly the US. In the first two months of the current yeargrowth rates in the core sector have been reduced to half of what it was in the previous year (from 8.4% to4.5%). Similar is the situation in the other sectors. The much hyped BPO sector is being severely hit by thefalling value of the dollar as has been the export sector of the economy. The agrarian crisis continues todeepen and the palliatives like the so-called loan waiver will have little impact.

In this period the elite have been making money on a scale never seen before; the result of the massiveextraction of surplus value due to the worsening conditions of the working class and labouring masses. Theinequalities worldwide and in India have reached levels unimaginable, and continue to grow. The extremes ofpoverty in India are so acute that on the one hand it is said that Mukesh Ambani is now the 4th richest man inthe world and 3 other Indians are amongst the worlds 10 most richest, while on the other hand according toan NSS report, 836 million Indians, or 77% of the population live on Rs. 20 a day (or a mere Rs.7,200 per year).In the latest report of the Global Hunger Index 2007, India is ranked 94 out of 118 countries. It is not onlybehind Pakistan (ranked 88) but even behind Ethiopia which is 93. China, in comparison is ranked 47.

Also the disparities continue to grow. The top 10% of the population increased its share in the totalwealth to 52%, while the share of the bottom 10 fell to just 0.21%. In just the past one year the number of‘High net-worth individuals’ (HNIs — those with net financial assets of $ 1 million or Rs.4 crores, excludingresidence and consumables) has increased by 20.5% to reach one lakh. These one lakh families holds assetsof $350 billion or about half of India’s entire GDP.

Even at the international level the disparities are growing. According to a report of the World Institutefor Development Economics Research, the richest 2% of the world’s adults own more than half the globalhousehold wealth. The richest 1% alone owned 40% of the global assets in 2000, and the richest 10%accounted for 85% of the world total. In contrast the bottom half of the world adult population owned 1% ofglobal wealth.

One of the worst sections affected by this crisis are the proletariat. Already badly affected in this period ofglobalization, the crisis is further affecting the lives of the working class worldwide. It is resulting in furtherlay-offs and retrenchment, wage-freeze, contractualisation of labour, etc, and together with this thegovernments throughout the world have been taking systematic steps to cripple all trade union rights.

In India too we see a similar process. Though there have been many spontaneous struggles of the workersthese have been brutally crushed. Besides, with the trade unions in the hands of reactionaries (mostly theruling class parties, including the revisionists) their fighting capacity is paralysed. More importantly there hasbeen massive contractualisation/informalisation of the work-force all of whom are in the unorganized sector(see separate article on this specially printed on the occasion of May Day) who defacto have no rightswhatsoever and eke out a living in a state of extreme impoverisation. The unionization is confined to theorganized sector who has been steeped in economism due to the decades-long stranglehold of the revisionistson them. The revolutionary and genuine communist forces have nominal influence amongst the proletariat.

On this May Day let us recollect the historic struggles of the working-class under communist leadership andvow to revive that great tradition. Today it is only the Maoists throughout the world and in India who carrythe genuine blood-drenched red flag of the proletariat; but they can make headway in the working classmovement by only making a clean break with the reformism and economism in the working-class movementand thereby build a true proletarian revolutionary movement. This would entail organizing the vast unorganizedsector and also winning over the organized working class from the influence of the revisionists and otherreactionaries. On this occasion let all communist revolutionaries undertake this task with a renewed energy.Only then will the proletariat realize their true liberation from the chains of the capitalist/imperialist system.

MAY DAY STATEMENT


On this May day of 2008 we find theworld economy hurtling into one

of its most serious crises. Particularly theUS economy is said to be already in themidst of recession. This has hit the workingpeople the worst, who had already beenpushed to the brink due to the offensive ofcapital, in this age of so-calledglobalisation. Impoverisation,unemployment, wage cuts andcontractualisation of labour have beengrowing apace, while a handful makefortunes on a scale unheard of.

In end March, US officials proposed abroad overhaul of financial marketregulations “to restore confidence in asystem reeling from the subprime mortgagemayhem”. (HT: Apr 1st 08) The proposalsare described as the most sweeping sincethe Great Depression. A continuous cut ininterest rates has not been able to stem thedecline and deepening of the crisis. It wasthe most ambitious overhaul since FranklinRoosevelt launched the current regulatorystructure after the Wall Street crash andbank failures that were part of the GreatDepression.

The economic crisis has beencompounded by sky-rocketing world crudeoil prices that have surpassed levels of theoil shock of the 1970s. Together with thishas come an agrarian crisis where worldfood stocks have fallen to their lowest levelin 30 years and prices have leapt by 40% inthe last year. Today, for the first time worldfood production has fallen belowconsumption. In addition about 50 largestbanks have been on the verge ofbankruptcy with the fifth largest bank ofthe US going bankrupt.

Such a crisis situation is pushing theworld into a highly unstable scenario withgrowing fascist terror worldwide.Particularly the US, though bogged downin Iraq and Afghanistan, is building up itswar machinery and aggressively posturingthroughout the world, particularly in WestAsia. Inter-imperialist contradictions areintensifying with the Euro threatening thehegemony of the dollar, China aggressivelycompeting for world markets, and Russiamore and more firmly challenging US might,not only in Central Asia, but in many partsof the world. This crisis situation is likely

GROWING WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS THROWS UP GREAT REVOLUTIONARY

POSSIBILITIESto intensify throughout this year,particularly due to the deepening recessionin the US economy.

The impact of this crisis is to be seen inIndia as well — greater and greaterimpoverisation on the one hand, while themoney-bags make money on a scale neverseen before. Such extremes are resulting inan explosive situation with governmentsand ruling class parties promoting policiesthat enrich a handful and utilise fascistterror to protect their ill-gotten wealth.Such a crisis situation throws up excellentrevolutionary opportunities worldwide, asalso in India. It is for the proletariat and itsCommunist Party to utilize the unfoldingsituation to the maximum ,evolving creativetactics with a revolutionary orientation.

Let us now take a look at the situationunfolding worldwide and also in India.

US Economic Crisis & War-mongering

The bursting of the housing bubblesince the last six months has had seriousrepercussions for not only the US economybut also worldwide. In the US, with thebursting of the housing bubble, the majorbanks have been badly hit and have had towrite off huge amounts. Some banks wereon the verge of collapse and had to bebailed out by the US government. America’sfifth largest bank recently went bankruptand was bought over by JP Morgan for asong. One of America’s largest banks,Citigroup, witnessed a 60% drop in profitsin the third Quarter (June to September) asit had to write off a massive $ 20 billion inbad (mortgage) loans. Even one of thelargest US investment bankers, MerrillLynch, had to write off $ 8.4 billion in badloans in the 3rd Quarter, triggering its firstloss in six years — this was $ 3 billion morethan what it announced just a few weeksearlier.

And this is only the beginning of thesub-prime mortgage crisis which isexpected to get much worse in the comingdays. The US Congress Joint EconomicCommittee predicts that by the end of 2008there will be two million families losing theirhomes as they will not be able to pay theirmortgage amounts. The IMF managingdirector, Rodrigo Rato, said (Sept.24th) that

most of the impact of the global creditcrunch (caused by the sub-prime crisis) willbe felt in 2008 and that the USA will be thehardest hit. Rato saw no quick solution forthe crisis triggered by defaults on US sub-prime loans to borrowers with poor credithistories. He added that “a few moremonths will be needed to access the fullimpact on banks, companies, andgovernments”.

This burst of the housing bubble hascome over and above the already fragileUS economy. Besides its continuing hugetrade and budget deficits, the dollar fell toa 15 year low — at over $1.5 to the Euro —and continues to drop further. And in themonth of August last year it saw itsemployment level drop for the first time infour year. The world’s largest economy isin serious difficulties. With galloping tradeand budget deficits, gigantic militaryexpenditure, a falling dollar, a deepeningsub-prime housing crisis, bank failures,falling employment, etc. the US economyis heading for one of its most serious crisissince WWII. Also with oil pricessurpassing those of the Oil Shock of the1970s (went up to $ 111 per barrel in March2008; at ppp the equivalent price of the1970s would be about $ 105), it can havedevastating impact on the economy ofcountries that import oil, including the US.

There is already much talk of the USeconomy being pushed into recession afterthe burst of the housing bubble and thesub-prime mortgage crisis. With this, theUS is pushing aggressively to furtherextract the maximum from other countriesresorting to increasing threats, bullyingand even war. Though it is bogged downin Iraq and Afghanistan it is issuingaggressive war threats to Iran; it is pushingfor sanctions on Myanmar (Burma), andIsrael has been threatening aggressionagainst Syria, Lebanon and continues itsattacks on the Gaza strip of Palestine (runby Hamas).

As a result of this crisis the USgovernment is aggressively pushing forwar, now with Iran. The build up to a warwith Iran has reached a feverish pitch,though it is not getting much support fromother countries (except for France)

In early September 07, at US dictates,


Israel carried out missile strikes on Syria, inthe North (bordering Turkey) which is saidto have nuclear facilities. In the beginningof October ,the Senate passed a resolutionurging the administration to place Iran’sIslamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on theUS blacklist as a “terrorist organization”.This now gives a back-door Congressionalvalidation for a military action. In addition,the CIA has authorized covert actions todestabalise Iran by encouraging Kurds,Baluchis, Arabs and other minorities torevolt. It has also given massive armspackages of $ 20 billion to Saudi Arabiaand $ 30 billion to Israel to use against Iran.Around the same time there has been franticdiplomatic activity involving Iran. The USIntelligence short-listed 2,000 Iraniantargets to be bombed. The US said that themilitary option was all that was left to getIran to give up its WMD programme.On October 20th the Bushadministration imposed a sweepingset of unilateral sanctions againstIran, the most stringent since the 1979revolution. The punitive measurestargeted Iran’s banks, defenceministry officials, agencies affiliatedwith the country’s weapon’sprogramme, the elite RevolutionaryGuards Corps along with eightaffiliated companies and many more.And, this is over and above theexisting sanctions. Besides theWMD issue the US has accused Iranof destabalising Iraq, Afghanistan,Lebanon and Palestine and referredto the Islamic Republic as the“Central Bank of Terrorism”. ThePentagon has already deployed the largestforce in the region since the 2003 war, withhalf the US Navy warships positionedwithin striking distance of Iran. In March08, the UN security Council once againunanimously (except for one abstention byIndonesia) passed a resolution for morestringent sanctions against Iran.

But West Asia is not the only place ofUS concern; it is taking offensive posturesall over the world.

In mid-August 2007 army chiefs of 19countries secretly met in Australia. Suchtypes of meetings have never known tohappen before. The countries included theUS, Japan and India and was attended byUS General George Casey. Who attendedfrom the Indian side was also kept secret.

This was followed on Sept 4th by the biggestnaval maneuvers ever, involving six of thesecountries led by the US. It took place in theBay of Bengal and India was an importantparticipant. In addition, India began secretlyconducting a three week military exercisewith the British military in the sensitive areaof Ladakh in end September 07. This gotexposed only when Pakistan lodged aformal protest. This entire exercise wasshrouded in mystery, particularly as to whyit is being held in a place like Ladakh, soclose to the Chinese border.

The US has also been particularly activein Myanmar pushing sanctions against theBurmese military regime; it has built aseparate military command for Africa; itcontinues its meddling in Central Asiapromoting more coloured revolutions; ithas taken a highly provocative approach

towards China with Bush meeting the DalaiLama and also felicitating him with theCongressional Gold Medal, — the highestcivilian award in the US, and is now utilizingthe genuine discontent of the Tibetanpeople against the Chinese government asa pretext to counter Chinese growingworldwide assertion. This was done inspiteof vehement opposition from China. (Alsosee another article on Tibet)

Besides increased war-mongering it isthe US that is the most aggressive inpushing fascist measures at home andabroad to crush any and every form ofdissent. It continues as the number oneenemy of the world people.Other Countries and thegrowth of New Alliances

Europe has a host of economic

problems; the slow growth rates have nowbeen compounded by high inflation — at3.5% against an expected 2.5%. There is nolet-up in the unemployment problem, withthose unemployed having crossed the 2crore mark. The sub-prime crisis saw twobanks come close to bankruptcy; and onSept 25th 07 the newspapers reported thatthe Deutsche Bank (the German CentralBank) suffered losses of $2.4 billion. TheBritish banks have been badly hit, withBarclays selling its sub-prime consumerunit at a loss, and the Northern Rock Bankbeing bailed out for $22 billion.

During this period, in the past 3 to 4years, most of the social-democratic partieshave been pushed out of power andreplaced by extreme right-wing, neo-fascisttype parties in power. Most of these aremuch closer to the US. Also the European

economy continues to be weak andits inability to get the new EU Charterpassed through referendums hasfurther hit the unity of the Europeancountries. In fact the neo-fascists thathave come to power in France havebeen most vocal to push a waragainst Iran; toeing the US line(though this has been opposed byGermany and Italy). In October thenotorious neo-fascist People’s Partyin Switzerland was voted to powerwith 29% of the vote — its bestperformance since 1919. A similartrend is to be seen in most Europeancountries. The heads of most of thesecountries have also changed theirtune toward the US, taking a more

conciliatory tone. The reality is that thoughthe EU is the main competitor to the US ifthe latter’s economy goes down it will takeEurope with it. Besides, today, unlike in the1990s, Russia and China are growing asmajor competitors to the US and evenEurope. Europe is, for the present, nottaking the stance of an anti-US tilt it did atthe time of the second Iraq war.

Today, with the revival of the Russianeconomy it is the main force that iscontending with the US in most parts ofthe world. The large wealth it hasaccumulated due to the high oil and gasprices has helped an economic recoveryand giving it also huge reserves. Besides,the Oil and Gas Russian giant, Gazpromcontrols over 25% of Europe’s energyneeds, giving it a strategic bargaining

The US has to bear a heavy burden of threetrillion dollars for its war of agression in Iraq.Another trillion dollars are indirect losses. It isto be noted that the US is spending from itsemergency accounts for its latest wars ofagression. It has to spend 12 billion dollars permonth on the war in Iraq. It will be 16 billiondollars per month when the expenditure on theAfghan war is added. US had to go forborrowings to sustain its war expenses, whichare causing an additional burden of one trilliondollars by way of interest and loan repayments.

LosAngels Times; Washington Post


power with the West. Russia has not onlybeen active in the East; not only has itregained much of its control over CentralAsia; but has also been overtly active inWest Asia, particularly Iran.

In August 2007, the SCO (comprisingRussia, China, and 4 Central Asiancountries) began flexing its military muscleas never before. On Aug.17th, the Presidentsof the SCO countries for the first time everwatched the final stages of the largest wargames of the grouping. 6,000 soldiers, over1,000 combat vehicles and scores of aircraftpracticed combat skills. All membercountries took part for the first time. Theirpersonal presence and its link up with theSCO Summit that followed gave theexercise enormous strategic importance.Though the SCO has denied it is a militaryalliance the military component isexpanding at a breath-taking pace. Russiaalready has built a military alliance withseven Central Asian countries in the CSTO(Collective Security Treaty Organisation)involving all the SCO countries exceptChina. Earlier, China sought to keep adistance but now it has swerved in favourof a partnership between the SCO and theCSTO. For the first time, China deployed amajor military group abroad. Also, thesemilitary exercises began in China’s Urumqi,the capital of China’s Xinjiang UyghurAutonomous Region (which is the centreof Muslim militant unrest) and then shiftedto the Urals of Russia. This CSTO isgrowing as a defacto parallel to NATO. TheSCO Summit which took place immediatelyafter this military exercise, and attended bythe presidents of all member countriesclearly warned the US to stay clear ofCentral Asia. Russia also suggested anEnergy Club; Iran (who attends as observer)offered to host it. Also the treaty signed atthe SCO Summit provides for consultations“with the aim of coming up with anadequate response” if the security of amember-state is threatened.

In addition, Russia has, of late, beentaking an aggressive posture, backing Iran.In mid-October 2007 Putin made a highprofile visit to Iran — the first of a RussianPresident in 60 years; the last being Stalin’svisit during World War II. The occasionwas the Summit of the five Caspian Seastates, including Azerbaijan, Kazakhstanand Turkmenistan. The Declarationsupported Iran’s right to nuclear energy;

and though Azerbaijan is a US ally it hasrefused to allow the use of its territory for awar against Iran. Putin warned militaryaction against Iran and backed its right tonuclear energy. He reaffirmed Russiancommitment to complete the constructionof the nuclear power plant in the southerncity of Bushehr; and both countriesdemanded the withdrawal of all foreigntroops from Iraq. Yet, it too supported thelatest UNSC resolution against Iran.

Also in early December 2007 Russiaunilaterally withdrew from the CFE(Conventional Forces of Europe) Treaty.Signed in the early 1990s the Treaty limitedthe deployment of Russian tanks, aircraftand other heavy weapons across thecontinent. The CFE Treaty amounted toRussia’s unilateral disarmament. Russiaalso plans to quit the INF pact. Russia tooka $ 200 billion weapons modernizationprogramme for 2007-15.

Besides Russia, together with Iran, isaggressively pushing its energy control inthe region, even involving the US-allyTurkey. The Russian monopoly, Gazpromis developing the South Pars field in Iran;the Russian railway company is involvedin a multinational project to build a 350 kmsline for the North-South transport corridorlinking the town of Astara on the Azerbaijanborder with Kazvin in Iran; both countriesare seeking to form a gas OPEC. Russiahas also signed a pipe-line dal with Italyalso bypassing Turkey. It is expected thatthis may be formed by the middle of thisyear , with 13 countries accounting for about40% of world gas production.

Meanwhile Turkey has signed a dealfor acquiring gas from Iran andTurkmenistan for which two pipelines arebeing laid. Turkey will only use a part ofthis gas, the rest will be transported toEurope though the 3,300 km pipeline toAustria. It will pass through Bulgaria,Romania and Hungary before reaching theenergy-hungry markets of Western Europe.In addition Iran, Syria and Turkey havedecided to work together on transferringIranian gas to Syria (through Turkey). Allthese steps have been taken by Turkeyinspite of strong opposition from the US.

In Latin America too, Hugo Chavez andCastro have been actively trying to build anetwork of Latin American countries tobreak free from the US control over theregion. In this they have been tying up

with Russia, China and Iran. Venezuela isalso being drawn into the proposedalternate to OPEC, involving Russia andIran.

In addition China is growing as apowerful economic powerhouse, spreadingits markets throughout the world. Themassive spread of the Chinese market hasbegun to affect the markets of the US andother imperialists. China is making bigheadway into Africa. Of late, it has set up ahuge fund for foreign investment.

Inspite of the growing isolation of theUS, it continues its aggressive posturing.If Iran is attacked, it is most likely that theseembryonic blocs will further crystallize.Also it will throw the world economy intoabsolute chaos, with oil prices sky-rocketing even further and more and morebanks collapsing. As a result, fascist terrorof unprecedented proportions will beunleashed in most countries of the world.India too will be badly hit by this situationdue to its deep dependence and tie-up withimperialism, particularly the US.

While 9/11 acted to raise the pitch ofstate terror, in the name of war on terror, anattack on Iran will result in much turmoiland destabalisation worldwide,precipitating extreme forms of state terror.

So, to sum up, the US economy thisyear is going into severe recession. As it isthe largest economy of the world, it can actto push the entire world economies into astate of chaos. The situation is furtheraggravated by the fact that the Europeaneconomy has been in a state of stagnationand Japan’s nearly 15 years of recessionaryconditions add to the woes of the imperialistsystem. It is only Russia and China thathave seen some growth — Russia,particularly due to the sky-rocketinginternational oil and gas prices — and sohave become more assertive on the worldarena. With such serious crises throughoutthe world, the war scenario is hotting up,with the US pushing for wars to somehowmaintain its worldwide hegemony andRussia, particularly, getting more assertive.

Impact on IndiaThis intensifying international crisis and

the growing offensive of the imperialists,particularly the US, have created muchturmoil in entire South Asia since the pastsix months.

The US has aggressively sought to


make India into its strategic partner, inwhich the nuclear deal was an importantfactor. Though the process is set to gothrough, it faced serious problems in theprocess. In Pakistan the entire country isin turmoil with the US seeking to reign inMusharaf (who is also needed in order tobalance with the growing might of theIslamic militants) and putting on ademocratic façade through the planting ofBenazir Bhutto’s PPP. The assassination ofBenazir Bhutto disturbed the US sponsoredapplecart but a similar formula has finallybeen pushed through. But the powerbalance is extremely fragile and the Islamicmilitants are getting increasingly assertive.The turmoil is likely to intensify in thecoming days. In Bangladesh the rulingclasses are unable to settle theircontradictions and now military rule iscontinuing for the third year. Even in SriLanka the ceasefire is in shambles and nowthe war with the LTTE has intensified. InNepal the US and Indian expansionistsschemes to pacify the Maoist and bringthem fully into the ‘mainstream’ is facingsome problems. The US/Indian stooge,King Gyanendra, has been sidelined, butthe elections scheduled for April will notbring peace, as the same exploitative systemwill continue. Any radical steps, ifattempted by the new dispensation will notbe tolerated by the US and Indianexpansionists. So, entire South Asia is inserious turmoil. The ruling classes and theimperialists, particularly the US are havingnightmares with the growing armedstruggles in the region led by the Maoistsas also many powerful nationalitymovements.

In a survey conducted by the New YorkStock Exchange, India has been named thefifth most crucial region in terms of strategicimportance for business. It has ranked Indiaahead of Japan, Brazil, Russia andAustralia. This was the result of a surveyof 240 top CEOs of the US.

India and the big comprador houses arebound, as never before, with theimperialists, particularly the US. The stockexchange is defacto in the hands of theimperialists; most of the IT companies andprivate big banks are more foreign thanIndian (foreign equity is dominating); thecomprador big business houses are moreand more deeply intertwined withimperialism with growing amount of foreign

equity, (Reliance has gone to the extent ofinvolving in Iraq by signing a deal for oilexcavation in two oil blocks in the Kurdishpart of Iraq); massive foreign borrowingsand now even foreign markets envelopeIndian big business; and NRIs are playinga greater and greater role in the economy.Now, even the foreign debt has begun tosky-rocket as never before. India’s ExternalDebt grew by a massive 23% during 2006-07 and stood at $ 155 billion (i.e. over Rs 6lakh crores) and constituted 16.4% of theGDP. In just that one year it increased by$28.5 billion (i.e over Rs. 1 lakh crore), ofwhich half was private commercialborrowings. {Hindustan Times Sept 182007} The recent massive dose of FII funds($ 5 billion in just the month of October 07)taking the BSE to dizzying heights of 20,000,is like what happened on the eve of theEast Asian crisis in 1997. Within just acouple of months the BSE index crashedby over 6,000 points from a 21,000 high tounder 15,000. The high volatility on thestock markets is likely to continue.

With such high levels of tie-up withforeign capital it is inevitable that even smallshocks in the international economy willbadly impact India. What is worse ,with highdependence on imported oil, the rise ininternational prices, and the open marketpolicy, energy prices will severely impactnot only the poor but also the middleclasses. Not only that, food prices havebeen shooting up, with the internationalprices of both wheat and rice having nearlydoubled in just the last one year to March31st. All other agricultural commodities havebeen similarly hit badly affecting the poorand middle classes.

Besides, India is getting deeper anddeeper into the US clutches —economically, politically (foreign policies)and even militarily. In this period ofglobalization an already dependent countryhas seen such gigantic involvement of theUS in the economy that every aspect iscompletely tied to the imperialists,particularly the US. And with each passingday the knot gets tighter and tighter,strangulating the country and its peopleas never before.

In the sphere of the military, India hasbeen drawn into the vortex of US militarism.The nuclear deal is not just about nuclearenergy; it is a deal to sell massive militaryand nuclear hardware to India, to tie up

India’s foreign policy to US dictates (as onthe question of Iran) and militarily drawingIndia deeper into the US military Axis. USofficials have explicitly indicated that oncethe Indian government accepts the nucleardeal, India’s foreign policy will have to be“congruent” with that of the US. Neverbefore have US ships been allowed to dockat Indian ports as has happened recently.In August 07 the US nuclear ship Nimitzdocked at Chennai after moving around thePersian Gulf with a flotilla of ships tothreaten Iran. For the five days that the shipwas docked at Chennai 5,000 US marineswere allowed to freely roam the countrywithout any visa or any other legal normsdemanded by a sovereign country. Thehigh-level naval exercises with US, Japan,Australia and others came soon after thejoint exercises India held with the US andJapan in the western Pacific earlier last year.The Bay of Bengal drill is the 13th joint navalexercise involving India and the US since1994. More than half the military exercisesthat the Indian Army has conducted sincethe invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan werewith the US. India, along with Japan andTaiwan was amongst the handful ofcountries to support the US missile defenceinitiative. In Nov. 2007, reports came in ofthe three week secret military exercises withthe British military in sensitive border areaof Ladakh.

In addition, two defence accords arewaiting to be signed with the US. This is a‘logistic support agreement’ and a‘communication accord’. The logisticsaccord would provide the US with upfrontaccess to Indian military bases to refuelboth ships and aircrafts. Though India hasan observer status at the SCO, together withIran and Pakistan, at the latest Summit, allother countries were represented by theirHeads of State, while India sent the low-key minister, Murli Deora, who is known asa notorious US puppet.

In addition the Indo-US nuclear dealwill not only tie the country more tightly tothe strategical military interests of the USit will tie it also diplomatically to serve US’sgeo-political interests. Already, under USpressure, India has virtually backed out ofthe Iran-Pak-India gas pipeline deal; andas an alternative is now signing a similardeal for gas from Turkmenistan,Afghanistan… pushed by the US andfunded by the ADB.


All this indicates in which direction theIndian ruling class stooges are taking thecountry — politically, economically andmilitarily. India is more and more going intothe strategic control of the US, which seeksto make India one of its major allies in itspolicies throughout the world andparticularly in Asia. This dependency willhave serious implications for the country.Though the Indian ruling classes continueto develop relations with the otherimperialist powers India is being drawninto the grip of the US.

In addition to this, the imperialist-dictated policies, have further devastatedan already backward agrarian economywhere the bulk of the Indian people live.The entire agrarian economy is facing theworst crisis since 1947. Semi-feudalconditions of backwardness has beencompounded with dropping yields, risingdebt, reduced investments worseninghealth conditions and a total neglect of theagrarian economy by the government.Since the 1990s the rate of growth offoodgrain production decelerated to 1.2%when the population grew by 1.9%,resulting in a decline in the per headavailability of cereals and pulses. The crisishas been compounded by the virtualdismantling of the Public DistributionSystem, collapse of public health care, andsky-rocketing costs of inputs. A horrifyingsituation has developed in the countrysidedevastating over 70% of our population,the bulk of whom are landless and poorand marginal farmers. The over 1.5 lakhfarmer suicides in a decade is only the tipof the iceberg, most go unrecorded andthose who are still surviving are as bad asthose who died. The Rs.60,000 loan waiveris nothing but an electoral stunt and doesnot in any way touch the root causes ofthe problem (see budget article in thisissue). Anyhow the bulk of theindebtedness of the poor is with themoneylender and not the banks.

With an exceedingly fragile worldeconomy any international crisis willdestabalise the Indian economy further. Inaddition, the imperialists will increase theirloot of countries like India to cushion theeffects of the crisis on their economies. TheIndian rulers will seek to push this on themasses by massively increasing the burdenon the poor and middle classes. Fascistterror of even higher magnitude than what

exists is on the agenda to check theinevitable discontent that will result.

Great RevolutionaryPotential

The enormous disparities between therich and the poor (see appendix) that haveincreased phenomenally will continueto widen leading to massive unrest andturmoil. The media is already talkingof food riots likely to hit many parts ofthe world, including India. The largenumber of SEZs, the gigantic miningprojects, the massive infrastructuraldevelopment, the vast retail and otherchains coming up, etc, is leading to massivedisplacement of the common people.This is being coupled with huge cutsin all welfare measures combined withextensive concessions to big business.With these growing attacks on the peopleand the increasingly fascist measures moreand more people will look to the Maoistsas the only viable alternative. This canalready be seen over the past few years;this potential will increase in the comingdays. It is then no wonder that themoneybags and their politicalrepresentatives are panicky.

Also with the growing crisis theconflicts between the ruling classes willincrease. This is already to be seen withthem finding difficulty to pass the nucleardeal, inspite of massive US pressure. Manyparties are opposing it mostly due topeople’s hostility for the deal. All know thedeal will tie India hand-and-foot to the USchariot. These growing contradictionswithin the ruling classes will also be of muchvalue in advancing the revolutionarymovement if ustilised effectively.

A significant development in this periodis the developments in West Bengal andthe total exposure of the CPM as socialfascists. The heroic resistance atNandigram and the genocidal terror of theCPM have exposed their true colours.Nandigram has not only exposed therevisionists as never before, it has alsoshown the path of armed resistance to thegrowing imperialist offensive reflected inthe vast number of SEZs in the country.West Bengal has seen a sudden spurt inmass actions against the CPM, against theSEZs at Singur and Nandigram, the massagitations against ration corruption byCPM bosses, the outburst against the

murder of Rizwaan by the CPM-police-big-business nexus, etc. This is a very importantdevelopment in the country.

But in the coming days the scale offascist terror will increase far beyond whatexists even today. Unless the proletariatand its Party is equipped with effective andwidescale structures with deep links withthe masses, together with extensive andgrowing military formations (including avast militia), it will be difficult to withstandthe coming onslaught. This attack will beon the struggling masses in general and onthe Maoists in particular.

In the eyes of the rulers and the presentPrime Minister the Maoists are said to bethe number one threat to the internalsecurity of this country. Since the Maoistsin the country have united into a singleParty and People’s Army the rulers haveraised massive para-military forces againstthem; they have raised their intelligencenetwork on a massive scale with deepcovert operations; they have introducedvery high levels of sophistications afterintensive training from Mossad and theCIA; and they have equipped themselveswith the experiences of past counter-insurgency operations to combat theMaoists in India. At the central level theyhave set up a multi-layered mechanism tocounter the Naxalites: There is theEmpowered Group of Ministers (EGOM)headed by the Union Home Minister; aStanding Committee of Chief Ministers ofNaxalite-affected States, also headed by theHome Minister; a Coordination Centreheaded by the Union Home secretary andcomprising the Chief Secretaries and DGPsof the 13 affected States; a Task Forceheaded by the Special Secretary (internalsecurity) in the Union Home Ministry; andan Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) headedby an Additional Secretary (Naxalmanagement) in the Union Home Ministry.

But all such measures are bound to fail.For two reasons: First, the people’s angerwill be difficult to contain. Secondly, thedeepening crisis within the system will, tosome extent, paralyse their ability to actcohesively, against the struggling massesand revolutionary forces. The time hascome for the democratic and revolutionaryforces to seize the opportunity and build avast force in the country to beat back theimperialist-dictated policies of the rulingclasses.


The US economy is in a deepfinancial crisis. The whole US

economy has been basically dependent onthe speculation in share markets, real estatebusiness, zooming service sector and onproduction and sale of war weapons. Thefinancial explosion which was supposedto be a remedy for the declining productivesector, has now delivered deadly blows tothe US economy. The US financial market(represented by the Dow Jones industrialaverage) has already fallen (as on 19thMarch, ‘08) to the level last seen inNovember’06. In the globalised financialeconomy with the US as the most powerfulmilitary-economic power at the head, thecrisis, with its epicenter in the US, has beendealing severe blows to global markets.And the brunt of this problem is nowbeing borne by India like third worldcountries that follow the US diktats andget inspired by the neo-liberal growthmodel of the World Bank. The premierfinancial institutions of the world, mostlyUS, were involved in giving sub-primeloans (loans were given by luring thepeople with weak economic capacity torepay and they were meant to revitalize andactivise the huge dull capital to buy flats,cars, furniture etc.) that triggered themassive economic crisis in the US andother countries. As the sub-prime crisis isintricately linked up with the share marketsand real estate business, with the failureof one person among every seven personsto pay off loans, the accumulated sub-primeloss of $600 billion not only quaked thedomination of the US dollar, the wholecapitalist economy, riskily dependent onthe stock markets has now been facingserious blows. The expensive Iraq andAfghan wars, the spiraling oil prices andthe sub-prime crisis have so adverselyaffected the US economy that thespeculators and corporate lobby declaredthe pathetic state of liquidity conditionsand the need for steroids by theintervention of the Federal Reserve. Afterruling over for decades, the dollar is nowsteadily falling against the Euro, Yen andmany other currencies. With the financialexplosion, the US economy was destinedto be ravaged by a two-pronged attack:inflation and stagnant growth. The Bureau

THE CRISIS OF THE US ECONOMY — DOLLAR IN DOLDRUMS

Ashishof Labour Statistics in the USA had alreadyshown on January 4th that theunemployment rate had risen to 5%, whilenon-farm pay roll employment remainedstagnant. With American goods andservices getting cheaper, the economistswedded to capitalism think that this willcreate some net demand for US goods. Inthis crisis situation what was evident wasthat the gross domestic product was barelyeking out a gain in the fourth quarter of 2007.And consumer price inflation shot up about4% compared with that of the previous year.Gold set a record high of $929 an ounce onJanuary 30th itself while the existing homesales fell by 13% and the pending sales ofpreviously owned houses by1.5% inDecember ‘07. The UN World EconomicSituation and Prospects 2007 feared that thegrave crisis might slow down the growth ofthe US economy by over 2%. The realityappears to be darker. The rising joblessness,inflation and growth stagnation have nowgripped the US economy by stagflation(inflation plus stagnation).

The number of homeless in theeconomic capital of the USA, New York, atpresent is 29,500. Most of them spend nightsat various city-hall camps and shelters. Inlast October itself 80,000 people lost jobsand in the middle of March 2008, with theglobal share market crash, 85,000 more werethrown out of jobs in the US. The quantumof per head loans is on the rise, Accordingto analysts at Morgan Stanly “Despite theFed’s aggressive easing, equity and creditmarkets are suggesting that it is too late toavoid the inevitable. Our preferred modelnow implies a risk of US recession of 11% inthe coming 12 months.” So far as thenational debt is concerned it was $5.7 trillionin 2001, $9.13 trillion in 2007 and is estimatedto be more than $10 trillion by 2009.According to some analysts, if the USAdoes not withdraw its forces from Iraq andAfghanistan, the current increasing USinternal debt of $1.4 billion dollars willsurpass the permissible absorbing limit.

MiltiraisationAfter the great depression of 1929, the

US economy had gone for a militarizationprogramme to overcome the crisis. Nowalso, sales of arms to many countries helps

the US economy simultaneously withmaintaining the US hegemony andsustaining markets. In this period ofrecession, in February 2008, the US strucka military deal with Saudi Arabia for sellingarms worth a huge amount of $20 billion.Before that such deals were sealed betweenthe US on the one hand and Israel, Egyptto the tune of $30 and $13 billionrespectively. According to a moderateestimate prepared by the CongressionalResearch Service of the USA, USimperialism sold arms valued at $63 billionto different countries between 1998 and2005. The policy of maintaining USsupremacy under the guise of ‘War againstTerror’ and massive expenses for US armedbases in scores of countries, have put theUS economy in a perpetual contradiction.40,000 US armed forces are stationed inAfghanistan alone. The US expenses in thedefence sector stood at 3% of the GDP in2000, then moved up to 5% in 2005 and inthe past two years it has further increased.US imperialism considers West Asia as astrategically important region. The focusof its policy is on the control of energyresources of the oil rich countries. InPalestine and Lebanon, it is carrying on its‘divide and rule’ policy. Similarly NATOunder the auspices of the US has extendedit’s control over all East Europeancountries. Despite the strong economicposition of Japan vis a vis the US, the latterhas been able to encourage themilitarization programme of Japan and madeit participate in the occupation of Iraq. Ithas also roped in India in its programme,forcing India to sign a military pact and it isgoing to finalize the nuclear deal. It is themain supplier of arms to Australia. In Africa,arms worth lakhs of US dollars werepurchased and military support wasreceived by some pro-US states withEthiopia in the forefront. In East Europethe USA has built military basses in Polandand the Czech Republic.

The rivalry among the imperialistpowers, particularly between the blocks ledby US imperialism and Russia and someother countries is hotting up. The presentworld with the hegemony of the US is nowgetting weakened with anti-US alliances ofvarious degrees in Europe, Asia and Latin


America. Yet, the polarisation is not thatmuch sharp and the US still maintains itssupremacy in the world.

Rise and Weakining of theDollar Under US Recession

In the pre-Bretton Woods period themajor industrialised nations in tradefollowed the Gold Standard i.e. eachcountry determined its currency in termsof gold. Thus, under the Gold Standardmoney supply was directly linked to thestock of monetary gold. The Gold Standardfailed after World War I with the unbridledpost war inflation. The Great Depressionof 1929-33 finally bid farewell to the GoldStandard. During the fag end of the WorldWar II, with the rise of the USA as the mostpowerful state, the United NationsMonetary and Financial Conference heldat Bretton Woods, USA, in July 1944, withthe participation of 44 countries haddecided to establish the InternationalMonetary Fund ( IMF) to attain exchangerate stability and extend help to membercountries to finance short-term balance ofpayment deficits; the International Bank forReconstruction and development ( IBRD ),now known as the World Bank, to assistpost-war reconstruction of the membercountries and to establish an InternationalTrade Organisation ( ITO ) for dealing withtrade matters. The first two came into beingas pillars of imperialism under theleadership of the USA. The ITO did notcome up, though later in 1948, the GATTwas formed, which much later was in 1995transformed in to the WTO. The entirepolicy and programme was chalked out toresist the Soviet Block and to stem the tideof the post World War II atmosphere of thepowerful international communistmovement. The Bretton Woods agreementof the capitalist world had the focal pointon the maintenance of stable exchange ratesand a multilateral credit mechanism underthe IMF.

The international monetary system thatcame out of this arrangement existed from1947 to 1977. It was known as the par valuesystem or pegged exchange rate system.By this system, each member country ofthe IMF was required to define its currencyin value in terms of gold or the US dollarand was to maintain it i.e. to peg the marketvalue of its currency within 11 percent ofthe defined (par) value. Thus the

supremacy of the US dollar was implied inthe arrangement, with the US replacingGreat Briton as the most powerful superpower. The US promised that all US dollarsin the possession of Central Banks wouldbe redeemed in gold on demand, at the fixedprice of $ 35 per ounce.

The Marshall plan and otherprogrammes of the US in the post-warsituation, the US contributions to the WorldBank, investments of MNCs and USdefence expenditure etc, led to a supply ofdollars outside the US. Gradually the parvalue system that emanated from theBretton Woods agreement collapsed in1971 with the massive military operationsin Indo-China and huge accumulation ofdollars abroad. The USA failed to exchangedollars for gold at the fixed rate. Thespiraling balance of payments of the US($10 billion in 1971) contributed greatly tosuch a situation with the dollar glut in the1960s and 1970s. However, only a part ofthe US deficit was financed by the exportof gold. A crisis of confidence in the dollaremerged and by 1971, the depletion of USgold reserves and the piled-up liquidityliabilities i.e. dollars and dollar convertibleassets reached a peak. For example theCentral Bank of Germany alone heldenough dollars to exhaust the entire goldstock of the US at $35 an ounce, triggeringa perceptible crisis in the fixed exchangerate vis-a-vis the dollars. The par valuesystem collapsed severing the link betweenthe dollar and gold. Not only that, the thenpresident of America, Mr. Nixon, imposed asurcharge of 10 percent on dutiable importsto the US, arguing the need for speculatorsin the dollars. The real need however wasto upgrade the value of other countriescurrencies against the dollar. This was acompulsion leaving those states either tocontinue the current exchange rates by wayof accumulating more dollars withoutconvertibility or to revalue the unfairexchange rates. Powerful European andJapanese governments opposed anychange in the par value of the currenciesconsidering the harmful consequences ofsuch revaluation on their exports and theirdomestic economic situations. Thosecountries argued that if the US dollar is overvalued, the way out of that imbroglio was aunilateral devaluation of the dollar. Thisultimately led to the breakdown of the parvalue system and the emergence of the

different exchange rates or in other wordsa floating rate of exchange system andincrease in the dollar price of gold by 8.57%(from $35 an ounce to $38 an ounce) andappreciation of major Western countries oftheir currencies in respect of the dollar.Those currencies were allowed to fluctuatewithin a wider 2.5% range on either side ofthe newly-fixed rates called the centralrates. However, this arrangement too failed,compelling the USA for a 10% devaluationof the dollar in 1973. The most importantpressure was sky rocketing oil prices in1973. The floating exchange rate systemwas accepted and endorsed by the IMF in1976.

The notable aspect is that, despite thefinancial reverses and huge military lossesin the Indo-China war, anti-USSR Westerncountries could not negate or come out ofthe dollar supremacy. The dollar had to bedevalued, the par value abandoned, thepost 1973 rise of a trend from singlecurrency to composite pegging showingflexibility, the US dollar still retained itsstatus of most powerful currency.

The common market (EEC) resorted tohave a stable and fixed exchange rate amongthe member countries and flexible exchangerates with countries outside the EEC. Atthe Maastricht Summit in December 1991,leaders of the European Community (EC)mooted the formation of EuropeanMonetary Union and a common Europeanmonetary policy, which in 1999 ushered inthe launch of the common currency, theEuro. It was the common belief that the Eurowould replace the US dollar soon. The Eurohas received no-less acceptance but thedollar empire has not been replaced yet stillin the world.

Dollar In DoldrumsIn the current stage the dollar is weak

and the Euro is quite strong. In certaintransactions the Euro is gaining groundbut we should never forget that around65-70 per cent of Central Banks resourcesin the world are held in US dollars.A somewhat similar percentage ofinternational trade, business andinvestments are invoiced in US dollars.Despite the downturn of the US dollar,the international economy is stillbasically based on the dollar standard.The “balance of payment” turmoil facedby Great Briton in the aftermath of

Continued on page 17


The Indian economy is in the worstof times. From the pure share

markets to cricket industry, real estate tohuman resources, every asset category inIndia is for speculative business. Valuationor hyper-valuation is a createdphenomenon. Financial markets havegrown by leaps and bounds and with it theculture of spinning money in the shortesttime has gripped the minds of many middleclass people who so far maintained astudied avoidance of the share markets. Inthe disclosure of Kishore Biyani, Chairmanof Future Group that owns the country’slargest retail company: “There is no doubtwe are going through a phase of hyper-valuation. The country is a land of illusionnow.” [The Economic Times, 24.2.08]. Theutterances came out at a time when theIndian share markets have been nose divingand the global financial explosion hasalready seen a melt down. From January21, 2008 in particular, the Indian stockmarkets started crashing along with otherstock markets in Asia and Europe. After abull run with staggering profits, on that dayIndian stock markets registered a fall of over2000 points within five hours.

On March 14 The Times of India wrote:“Although the sensex is down by about5,600 points or 26% from its all-time-closing high of 20,873 on January 8 to itsThursday (March 13, 08) close at 15,357,and investors are poorer by over 23 lakhcrore, market players are not sure whenthe current slide would stop.” The retailinvestors, mostly the middle class people,who turned to the share markets with thedropping of bank deposit interests (acalculated trap of the government to lurethe ordinary investors to the share markets)are now badly burnt. The BSE (BombayStock Exchange) fell 1,408 points on Jan 2108, 875 points on Jan.22 0, 834 points onfeb.11 08, 771 points on March 13 08 andcontinues to fall.

Since Jan’08 till March 13, the Sensexhas lost 4,930 points. On Jan 10, 2008, theindex had touched an all-time high of 21,206points. But on March 13, it is trading at itssix month low of 15,357 points. The totalinvestor wealth lost in 2008 upto March 13,has crossed over a ballooning $500 bn. Thefuture is only dark now.

THE CRISIS OF SHARE MARKETAshish

Instead of recovering after two months,at the time of writing this piece, the Sensexshows signs of only decline. With theenormous sub-prime crisis in the U.S.,palpable since particularly August 2007, theglobal capitalist economy has been in deepcrisis. Several doses of massive financialsteroids by the US Federal Reserve havefailed to stem the decline. The share marketbubble has now burst but that does notmean the speculative market which hasgrown so powerful as a pillar of the presentcapitalist economy, will lose its importance.The speculative market, which had only amarginal role in the earlier (pre-imperialist)capitalist economy, has grown bigger andbigger with the advent of the imperialistglobalization programme, to overcome theslowing down of western economies, theUS economy in particular.. Let us hear fromNoam Chomsky about the State of affairs:

“In 1971, 90% of internationalfinancial transactions were related to thereal economy—trade or long-terminvestment— and 10% were speculative.By 1990, the percentages were reversed,and by 1995 about 95% of the vastlygreater sums were speculative ……….. andvery short-term: about 80% with roundtrips of a week or less.” [Noam Chomsky,Profit over People, Madhyam Books,Delhi, 1999, pp. 23-24.]

Why the financialexplosion?

The massive stock market activities inthe financial sector in the past two decadesor more on a global scale need to be dealtwith a Marxist understanding.

In a period of economic crisis, when thebuyers market shrinks, the utilisation ofproductive capacity is deliberately reducedin order to avoid overproduction. And atthat stage price reductions become animpediment for larger profit margins. Thisthreatening condition, with reduced scopeof investment in production, that big capitalbegan desperately searching for otheravenues of investment. From the 1970s,particular after the Vietnam war, oil crisis,etc. the only remedy to salvage capitalismwas found in going for financial productsas a means of expanding money capital andquick profit. On the supply side of this

process, financial institutions began toassume a prominent role with financialinstruments like derivatives hedge funds,options, futures, mutual funds, etc.

Thus the world came to witnessbooming financial speculation includingthat of the stock markets. The highcomputer-based technology facilitated amassive boom in stock market casino likespeculative transactions on a global scalefar removed from production of goods andservices. Along with the lessening of netinvestments in the capitalist productivesector, all six leading capitalist countriesentered a crisis period of slowing downsince the 1970s. The combined annualaverage production growth rate of America,United Kingdom, Japan, West of Germany,France and Italy fell from 7% to 2% betweenthe 1970s and the 1980s. Such a greatdecline necessitated finding unhinderedinvestment outlets to the 3rd worldcountries. The situation in the 1990sdeteriorated further with the decliningproductive sector investments. With thebreakdown of the Soviet bloc and an endto the rivalry between the two superpowers,US imperialism launched its massiveoffensive against the third world, in thename of globalization. Those countries weretrapped in never ending debt. It was foundthat by 1982 itself, the total debt owed bythe third world countries to the US,European and Japanese banks had spiraledto an astronomical $785 billion.

As a whole the productive sectorbecame more and more constricted. Facedwith such global problems the veryexistence of capitalism was in danger. Bythat period, with a declining productivesector in the West, there started an upsurgein gigantic capital flows from the imperialistcountries to the third world economicswhich were already shackled by debt. Thestate interventionist model, state sector,tariffs and other limited restrictionsprevailing in the third world countries, etc.needed to be drastically removed tofacilitate this imperialist attack.‘Globalisation’, in other words, imperialistglobalization, became the objective of theimperialist countries, IMF, World Bank andsuch financial institutions. The ‘StructuralAdjustment Programme’ is the result of this


imperialist globalizations programme. Tostudy the whole gamut of stock marketexplosions since the 1980s ,one shouldhave a broad, overall perspective in viewin the period of imperialist globalisationintegrated with neo-liberalism andfinancialisation. The Indian stock markets,so vast in scale with massive inflows offoreign idle capital, also assumed theexpected giant’s role in this period of‘economic reforms’ under the globalizationprogramme.

The state gradually withdrew itself fromits traditional role in the social sector. TheWestern capitalist states or the states inthe third world adjusted themselves to meetthe imperatives of financialisation. Thestate’s role as the lender of last resort, inorder to provide liquidity to the system atshort notice, was incorporated into thesystem to cushion the economies facingfrequent crashes.

Certain crucial facts should be madeclear. First, financial explosion or in otherwords, the enormous role of stock marketsin the West or in countries like India is theconsequence to the dwindling scope of newproductive investment opportunities. Suchexplosions are a clear indicator of the globalstagnation of capitalism. Now, in mostcases, there is no necessary connectionbetween the stock markets and theproductive sector of the economy. In otherwords, financial and real investments arenow disconnected, due to the fact that realproductive investment has stagnated. Thespace of real investments has shortened,such investments have been concentratednow on consumer durables like Fridges,TVs, Cars, etc. production for massconsumption of essentials commodities hasbeen of little importance. Now, there is agrowing tendency of linking financial andreal investment in the very limited butexpanding real estate business, cement andsteel production, etc. However, the mostprominent manufacturing sectors, thebasis of capitalism, as a whole is losingimportance. The growth in capital stock inmanufacture in comparison to the broadfinancial sector has severely reduced evenin the citadel of world capitalism, the USA.Speculative capital has tangiblytransformed the very capital structure. Theproof is that while in 1948, the capital stockin manufacturing was almost 2-1/3 timeslarger than that of finance (speculative

capital) — by 1988, it was reduced to lessthan 14% in the USA. Now after nearly twodecades the scenario has turned worse withthe financial explosion, and while growthof the capital stock in manufacturinggradually declined, the growth of suchcapital stock has vastly increased in thereal estate, insurance, finance, etc. Thusthe financial or stock market investmentshave tremendously increased both in thewestern capitalist countries as well as ineconomies like India, China, etc. What issupposed to be a remedy in the form of aspeculative boom to rejuvenate thestagnating capitalist economy is actually acontagion that will produce frequentbursts, throw the employed to the streets,ensure speculation-based crippling growth,pauperisation of millions, destruction ofphysical and cultural environments and thethird world economies will be squeezedand destroyed. And the last but not leastthe whole range of Smithian, Recardian,Keynesian and such theories of the fathersof the capitalist economy will even bediscarded to worship speculative capitaljustified by neo-liberal economists

Poisonous USRoute ToRecovery

In 1929 when the Great Depressionswallowed the US economy, the US stockmarkets also crashed. However, in thatperiod stock markets played no significantrole. The huge state-directed expansion ofmilitary spending during World War II couldsave the US economy to come out ofDepression. The crisis-ridden Bushadministration too proposed in February2008 a whopping, 315 billion dollars to themilitary while slashing health carefor seniors and other human needprogrammes. With the Sub-prime crisis, thecrude prices going past the $100 per barrelmark (as on 13th March 08), weakening USdollar against other major currencies andthe down-slide in the US stock markets, theBush government is resorting to dangeroustricks to overcome the crisis of U Scapitalism. The Indian stock markets areclosely tied to international markets, the USmarket in particular. So despite earlier falseclaim, the reality is that Indian stock markethas been tremendously impacted by theSub-prime crisis and the consequentrecession in the US. The Federal Reservehas already cut short term interest rates

aggressively several times but theeconomic data offer no signs that themedicine is working. In actual reality theinterest rate cuts can’t do anything aboutthe glut of unsold homes. Stock marketsexplosion and the related housing marketboom were thought to be a saviour of theUS economy for the past few years. Eventhe New York Times (September 22, 2002)predicted the current danger: “The equity[stock markets] bubble helped to createother bubbles – most notably in thehousing market and in consumer spending.Their continued existence poses a seriousthreat to lasting expansion …………..There is good reason to believe that boththe property [housing] and consumerbubbles will burst in the not-so-distantfuture ……..” The prediction is now areality. The stock market bubble (fueled bythe IT bubble) in the US since January 1995,reached phenomenal heights, rising at therate of 23.6% per year, for the next five years.With the burst of the IT bubble the stockmarket slumped after August 2000. Thecurrent stock markets fall along with realtybusiness failures are unprecedented in therecent decades. The Iraq and Afghanistanwars and zooming oil prices have batteredthe US economy.

Indian stock markets have taken aharder beating than other markets, despitethe fact that the epicenter of the globaltremors in stock markets are in the US. Tillnow the benchmark sensex has fallen byalmost over 25%, while the Dow Jones ofthe US has fallen by 5.78% since January.Even the Japan’s Nikkie went down by 14%in this period. India’s fall is drastic andsurpassing others. Ironically, a PTI reportof March 9, ’08 informs that the US mediasurvey has recently found 53 Indianmillionaires have amassed a fortuneamounting to more than 340 crore rupees.This staggering amount accounts for about31% of India’s national income. This iseven four times the average of the world asa whole. In contrast, 469 US millionairesown properties amounting the 11% of theUS national income. The ballooning andspeculation-based quick growth of what isprojected as a trillion dollar economy i.e.India, is naturally yearning for itsdependence on the US more than the USitself.

Warren Buffet, the best known USinvestor, estimates the sub-prime loss at


$600 billion. Less affluent sections havebeen the hardest hit by this crisis withhundreds of thousands of home closures.The unemployment level has risenalarmingly. So then, how to overcome theproblems of capitalism? Now, the newplayers and innovatives in the sub-primemarket have replaced the old. The newplayers are encouraged by the fact that theold sub-prime losses hit not only the retailsub-prime tenders but the greedy banksand hedge funds in Europe, West Asia andAsia. Those villains had invested trustmonies of their clients in the consolidatedsub-prime mortgage instruments—theColateral Debt Obligations (CDOs) rated byso-called big reliable agencies and floatedin the global market by the well organizedsophisticated US system. What isscandalous is that a good part of thatinvestment from investors from outside theUSA is lost. For such bad loans given, abig bank in India, the ICICI, is making aprovision of $200 million-plus in its booksfor the CDO certified by the highlysophisticated US financial engineer. Thusthe non-US investors also suffers hugelosses lured by the US housing sector andspeculative gains.

With the big sub-prime crisis and thefailure of the Fed Reserved to salvage theUS economy, the US players are nowresorting to dubious and more poisonousmethods like issuing sub-prime credit cardswhich have multiplied, by once againsigning up with those customers who haddefaulted on sub-prime mortgages. Themass-mailed credit-card offers rose by awhooping 41% in the first half of 2007, overthe same period in 2006 while new credit togood customers has come down. The trickis that when a sub-prime credit card limit of$250 yields a net credit of only $72 to theborrower, the balance $178 is going asvarious charges. So, the US Today(December 7, 2007) wrote that “bad creditis good business” in the US.

There are lots of apologists for financialmarkets in India, who (known economistsin the academic circle) write favourably onthe very positive role played by suchmarkets on saving and investment, growth,etc without raising the dangers of financialinstability. [The recently publishedcomprehensive compendium from OxfordUniversity Press titled “The OxfordCompanion to Economics in India,” edited

by Kaushik Basu, is a case in point]. Thatthe Indian growth story and its volatility iscritically linked with speculative capital isseldom analysed.

Even after the notorious 1929 stockmarket crash and then the Great Depressionof the 1930s, even economists of capitalismrejected any macro-economic viewsuggesting any credible role of stockmarkets to revamp the economy. During thesecond great crisis in the 1970s, the stockmarket crash and economic stagflation onceagain raised the question of speculativebubbles.

Alan Greenspan, the former chairmanof the US Federal Reserve Bank, in hisrecent book The Age of Turbulence in aNew World (Penguin Press, 2007) hasdisclosed the fact that over the past twodecades, in the wake of each and everybust, the US Federal Reserve and othercentral banks’ interest rates cuts to liquefycredit markets, have been resorted to, inorder to create speculative bubbles. Thebenefits of a speculative bubble basedeconomy, Greenspan adds, are consideredby the US policy makers as greater thancosts of handling the crisis. This onlysmacks of the utter failure of capitalismtrying to save itself using doses of poisongoing even against the rules of the capitalisteconomy.

While we were giving final touches tothis write up, the ‘Business Standard’ of18th March, highlighted another severeblow to the stock markets. On 17th March,the bench mark Bombay Stock Exchangeindex slipped to its second biggest points’fall and the lowest since August 2007 inline with an Asia-wide slide after theFederal Reserve cut its discount rate at ane m e r g e n c ymeeting andJP MorganChase agreedto buy sub-prime hit BearStearns forless than atenth of itsvalue. Withthis fall, theI n d i a nmarkets havelost over Rs.25 lakh croresince the

Sensex peak of 20,800 levels in January2008. Thus on 17th March the Sensex wasnearly 30% down from its early Januarypeak. The Nifty fell 5.11%. On 17th March08 alone, the market cap wipe-off was Rs.3,25,426 crore. It is to be added here thatthe big selling of shares worth Rs. 1,400crore from American Bear Stearns’ portfolioin India also helped trigger the crash in theIndian market.

Decline in capital goodsproduction

Why India like, other countries for thepast two decades or more, suddenlybecame so much buoyed up with themassive bustle in the share market? Whyeach and every daily created ample spacefor dishing out the news of the movementsin the share market, why even TV channelsstarted live telecast on the prospects ofwindfall profits through investment incertain shares and why ordinary investorsbecame unusually enthusiastic about thegoings on in this sector? And most of all,why the central government in India is somuch focused on ‘growth’ revamp by wayof massive investments in shares? Why somuch propaganda of India as a member ofthe elite chub of 12 countries with a trillion-dollar economy with the stock marketcapitalization having crossed the trillion-dollar mark.

All such phenomena can be explainedtaking into account the following.

According to the data by the CentralStatistical Organization (CSO) so far, it wasthe consumer goods segment which wasthe laggard as far as growth in 2007-08 wasconcerned, but the latest data on Index ofIndustrial Production (IIP) have shown a


sharp decline in the growth rate of thecapital goods sector, which basically meansthat fresh investments are not keeping pacewith the expected projections. The capitalgoods sector growth dropped to just 2.1%.The IIP data for January 2008 showed thatthe overall index grew by 5.3% against11.6% growth in January 2007, broughtdown by the decline in all the majorsegments like mining (1.8% growth against7.7%), manufacturing (5.9% against 12.3%)and electricity generation (3.3% against8.3%). But what has sent out alarm signals,is the performance of the capital goodssector. While it recorded 24.5% inNovember 2007 and 16.6% in December2007, the capital goods sector growthslumped to just 2.1% in January ’08.Similarly, the poor performance story ofthe consumer goods sector continued inJanuary 2008 as well. While the overallgrowth in this segment was 7% against8.2% in January ’07, consumer durablessank to a negative growth of 3.1% against5.3% in January 2007.

India Ravaged by Loot ofForeign Investors

India is now the land of over one billionpeople and our rulers boast of a three-trilliondollar economy. And, this 3-trillion dollarGDP feat came alongside the Indian stock-market crossing the one trillion dollar inmarket capitalization. If we leave asidefinancial jargons, we find a hollow growth-rate of the economy with massive inflowsof foreign capital in the share markets andvarious sectors. Basically it is theinstitutional investors that massivelyentered India through the sub-accountsand P-Note routes. It was found in October2007, that, as many as 1,100 FIIs wereregistered with the SEBI. P-Notes and sub-accounts increased like anything thatcreated jerks in the market. SEBI allowedFIIs and sub-accounts freedom to investdirectly in the derivatives market. FIIs haveused their highly secretive funds leveragingtheir money manifold by using thederivatives route. Derivatives amountedto 80% of the total turnover of the FIIbusiness in speculative loot.

With the massive inflow of foreigninvestments,’The Economic Survey’ hasadvised 100% FDI in new private rural-agricultural banks, increased imperialistcapital in various forms, basically for

speculative business, etc. This lop-sidedgrowth has resulted in an economy withthe service sector accounting for 55% ofthe GDP and declining agricultural andmanufacturing sector, a trillion-dollar stockmarket faught with dangers of crash andhigh volatility.

The imperialist system has dependedtoo much on financialisation as a way outof economic stagnation. The current crisismay be overcome for the time-being butthe inherent problems, will remain to engulfthe system again and again. Ever-increasing pauperization of the masses isits hallmark!!

APPENDIX:(1) Certain Necessary FundamentalsStock Exchange-Big enterprises raise capital from public

at large with the mechanism of the stockexchange enabling buying and selling ofshares or share certificates or financialassets. This activity of convertability offinancial assets relating to the stockexchanges are known as the Stock Marketor the Security Market. At present in Indiathere are 23 regional exchanges formed bymember brokers. The four national levelexchanges are Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE) renamed The Stock Exchange,Mumbai, National Stock Exchange (NSE),OTC Exchange of India (OTCEI) [OTCmeans ‘Over The Counter’] and inter-connected Stock Exchange of India (ISE).The Indian Parliament in 1992 formedSecurities and Exchanges Board of India(SEBI) to oversee the securities market.Now, for the immense power and role ofthe share market, the Indian governmentensured segregation of stock exchangesoften referred to as ‘demutualisation’ orcorporatisation. The NSE is the governmentof India formed stock exchange in 1992providing access to all investors across thecountry. Thus stock exchanges now play asignificant role for secondary trading ofsecurities issued by various companies tothe public at large. Once a company listssecurities in a stock exchange, certain rulesare implied, but the fact is that, unfairmeans are widely practiced and speculationis the pillar of such business.

Securities MarketSuch a market is meant for selling and

buying of securities and the funny thing isthat it has no specific physical location

instead it stands for the entire system inwhich financial securities of financialinstruments are traded including thepeople, institutions, organizations. Weshould make it clear that ‘security’ standsfor an investment instrument issued by agovernment or a company indicating theevidence of either ownership (shares) orcredit (bonds, debentures). Secondly, asecurities market comprises capital marketand money market, depending on the factwhether the instruments being traded arelong term or short term in nature. Capitalmarket is related to a market for long termfinancial instruments of ownership likeshares, bonds, debentures, etc. contrarily,the money market deals with short termfinancial instruments, usually the maturityperiod fixed below one year.

Capital Market and Money MarketCapital market is the market for

collecting money through a long term basisby way of debentures, bonds, loans frombanks etc. while the money market is themarket for short term funds. Here it isnecessary to clear the idea on primary andsecondary (capital) markets. The primarymarket consists of companies which makethe security issues, and the people whosubscribe them, like the IPO. Thus in theprimary market a company tries to mop upcapital by way of the first contact with thepublic. On the other hand, the secondarymarket is comprised of buyers and sellersof shares and debentures subsequent tothe original issue. So after possessing ashare or debenture of a company from theprimary market one can sell it in thesecondary market. Here lies thesignificance of the stock exchange.

IPOs – Companies raise money in thesecurities market only when they sell orissue a security to the public in the primarymarket. The first time issue of a security inthe primary market is known as an InitialPublic Offering (IPO). However, there isgenerally a time gap between thecommencing of a company and issuingshares to the public. So the question ofpricing of shares is an important questionand the buyers of shares in many cases donot know what the price of an IPO will be.The company places in the draftprospectus (containing the informationabout the company) which is also calledthe Red Herring prospectus to the regulator


(SEBI in India). Very often companiesoverprice their issues. Here arises also thequestion of an investment banker forplaying in an IPO issue. So, a companyappoints one or more investment ormerchant banks. These are American andBritish terms respectively, for themiddlemen providing a range of services inorder to bring together companies and theinvesting public. Among the important roleof investment bakers, the role of leadmanagers and under writers for distinctbookkeeping services is important formobilizing capital.

SEBI – Theoretically the role ofSEBI like regulators is to regulate highdegree of volatility in the capital market.Sometimes even circuit breakers ortrading halts are imposed to save theshare market.

Mutual Fund – It is a common pool orfund of capital mobilization from a largenumber of investors and invested on theirbehalf in several securities in the market.And, all the returns from such investments,both in terms of dividends and capitalappreciation, after deducting variousincidental expenses, accrue to the investors.Mutual funds based on an asset class ofinvestment may be of different types likeequity funds, debt funds, money marketfunds, gnit funds , real estate funds, etc.

Stock Index – The movement in anystock market is reflected in the stock index.This movement of the market against abenchmark index, taken as 100, on a baseyear. Each stock exchange has a flagshipindex like the sensex of the BSE or the Niftyof NSE. The calculation is based bytracking the share prices of its constituentmember companies. The SENSEX is anindex comprising 30 component stocksrepresenting a sample of large, wellestablished and leading companies, whilethe NIFTY consists of 50 stocks. Sensexand Nifty are calculated using marketcapitalization weighted method. It isinteresting to note that the base year ismore a fiction than reality. For example, thebase date for Sensex is 1st April 1979 andfor the Nifty it is the 1st April 1995, whichmeans the Sensex and Nifty were assumedto be 100 on those respective base dates.However, the fact is that the Sensex cameinto existence only on 1st January 1986,when it was computed at 598.53. In fact,

the base date does not have any realsignificance beyond the date ofintroduction for all the subsequent daysthe index is calculated by comparing theprevious day’s value.

(2) How Share Marketoperation starts

A company mops up capital forfinancing any old or new project byfloating shares in the market. The sharesmay be owned by individuals or othercompanies. There are types of shares,ordinary (equity) and preferential.Preferential shares officially rank beforeordinary shares (equities) for dividends.There are also debentures which carry fixedinterests; preferential shares comprisea small number compared to equities.For the functioning of the share market,the stock exchange appeared as aninstitution through which company sharesand government stock are traded.Through the stock exchange companies gettheir shares listed. This listing is anagreement by a stock exchange to allow acompany’s shares to be traded. As equitiesare more important and bulk, let us see howthe operation is done. The corporatehouses sell equities often said as IPOs(Initial Public Offerings) to investors at apredetermined price in the primary market.After that those equities are listed on thestock exchange for being traded or gettingexchanged from one hand to the other at aprice determined by the secondary market.This change of hands does in fact havelittle impact on the common people as thebuy-sale operation in the secondary market is under the control of big operatorsand dealers involved in high level ofspeculation aimed at hugely profitingfrom the expected high-rise in the shareprices. Secondly, the capital market whichis more or less identified with the stockexchange dealing with securities (paperassets like equity shares of largecompanies, bonds, blue chips etc.) have“any real connection with economicgrowth”, says even economists favouringa capitalist economy. Let us now seethe upward or downward movements ofshare values. There are indices which arecreated by constituting of select scriptsbased on a weighted average calculationand their trading prospects. What wefrequently hear, is the BSE Sensex, one of

the dominant indices indicating themovement on the Indian share market.

(3) Share Market in theMaximum view

In Das Kapital, Karl Mark’s basicproposition is that production (rather thantrade and commerce) is the fundamentalbasis of capitalism. While for the bourgeoiseconomists capital comprises assets ofindividuals any kind may be the money tobe invested for a rate of return or may bethe investment itself. For them it also maybe a financial instrument, or share or stockrepresenting titles to means of production,or it may be the physical means ofproduction. Such all-encompassing notionis wrong, mainly because it does notconsider the stages of development ofsociety to ultimately reach the age ofcapitalism with its specific features. Inearlier societies commodity trade as well ascapital in the sense of generating income,could be found but in the capitalist systemthe production of capital and capitalistrelations predominate. Thus capital is nota thing but denotes a relationship,engendering opposite classes, “a definitesocial production relation belonging to adefinite historical formation of society…………… it is the means of productionmonopolized by a certain section ofsociety, confronting living labour-poweras products and working conditionsrendered independent of this labour-power, which are personified through thisanti-thesis in capital.” (Marx Capital 111,ch. 48). Thus the process in the systemstarts with capital in the form of money (M),it is then transformed into commodities(means of production, capital and labourpower) to become then productive capital(p). The commodities are then sold andretransformed into capital.

In the Marxian sense capital to beproductive, there requires factories andforms for producing commodities (meansof production and labour power). Itscharacter is not like that of merchant capitalin the stage of capitalism where tradinghouses play a prominent role. Banks tooare operators of merchant capital to theextent its dealing in money by exchangingit. However, with the development ofcapitalism, the monetary system of interestbearing capital assumes a specialized formwith its engagement in the process of


lending money capital to industrial capital.Merchant capital that far precededcapitalism also depends on the industrialproductive capital to share a portion ofprofit in the capitalist system. Interestbearing money given as loans to capitalists,engaged in production, in Marx’s words,also receives a portion of surplus value.

In the latest phase of capitalism,imperialism, with the vast expansion ofcredit money through the flotation ofjoint stock companies and bank lendingalongside high concentration, rise ofmonopoly capital in the stage ofimperialism with integration of financecapital and industrial capital changed thefeatures of capitalism. Yet one must see theearlier relationship between the lending roleof the banking or interest bearing capitaland industrial capital. Later, the state tooentered the game. Lenin identified financecapital as not itself a stage of capitalismbut a prominent features of imperialism. Inhis words: “The characteristic featureof imperialism is not industrial butfinance capital.” With the domination offinance capital even before World War I,a world system was developed in whichfinance capital and productive capitalwere exported until the whole worldwas linked with one or the other stockof finance capital.

Now, major banks also control largefirms with the management of corporatestock. Also many bank’s management ofpension fund portfolios and suchinstruments do have control oversubstantial blocks of shares to influencecorporate firms. There is also the trendfound of some corporate houses involvedin baking activities of money dealing andinvestment funds collected from wholesalemoney markets.

Finance capital does have various formsincluding equities, bonds and loans.

Productive labour:Workers employed by a profitable

advertisement agency which has theresponsibility to campaign for the sale ofthe commodity of an industrial unit, do notproduce anything productive as such.The surplus value deriving from suchcommercial activity arises not fromthe exploitation of workers as in factoriesbut from a transfer through the pricemechanism produced by productiveworkers elsewhere. The capital involved

here is commercial capital.Now a large numbers of people are

engaged in financial activities likeaccounting for financial flows, recordingmarket fluctuating and complicatedfinancial instruments for operating financialmarkets and providing credit. Thus largesums of capital are also available for thepurchase of inputs by industrial capital ata rate of interest determining a transfer ofvalue between two contracting parties.Such financial service does not produceany commodity, hence no commodityequivalent to match the payments ofinterest. Such a charge of interest is a claimon the surplus value produced by industrialcapital. The commercial capital and financialcapital increases/decreases on the basis ofproduction based on extraction of labour-power. This is a historically definedoutcome of capitalism.

(4) Role of financial andcommercial capital underglobalization

International finance and money appearto be in a dominant position since the 1980s.With neo-liberal policies underglobalization, huge flows of short terminvestment, speculation in currency,financial instability and market crisis havebeen the hall marks of the current decades.The casino-culture is against industrialdevelopment, some poor critics ofglobalization end here without opposingthe system of capitalism itself.

The present financial dominationcreates a strong demand of share holdersfor high returns and high short termcompany profits. Interestingly, bank loansand bonds are now getting more and moreon international short term profits. Banksoperation on the international scale providecredit to enterprises and countries, whichare able to pay high private returns. Forcountries like India, such banks cut creditlines with the declining returns and there isa flight of money flow back to the westerncenters, bring about a crisis in suchcountries.

The domination of financial marketsdoes not mean the loss of importance ofindustrial capital, rather the newstrengthened coalition has emerged torestore profitability after the crisis of the1970s. With the downward demand for basiccommodities and the increasing prospect

of high returns from financial assets, theindustrial production process too changedby way of downsizing, sub-contracting,relocation of plants in various countrieswith greater control in the hands of thecorporate houses. All this created atemporary boom till 2000. Mutual andpension funds play a great role in thecentralization of money and in this phasesuch funds etc. i.e. the participation offinance is closely related with theaccumulation of industrial capital as neverseen before.

Share market –The disparity between the market

price of shares and the ‘real’ capitalevaluation of companies is shown bydifferent indices. Such so-calledirrationality of the financial markets havealways confused the bourgeoiseconomists. In economic text booksrational individuals in the market and thecurrent neo-classical theory of equilibriumare stressed but fail to explain how theprices of financial assets are related to the‘basis of economics.’

J.M. Keynes wrote in 1936 that theirrationality of financial markets stems frommass psychology and ‘herd behaviour’when the news spreads about the rise andfall of the price of assets such psychologyreach, even without seeing the changes inthe underlying economic conditions. ForKeynes, a small section of the rich reapprofits and so financial activating shouldbe kept out of their hands and regulated bythe state. This is not a remedy and properexplanation of irrationality. Neo-classicaleconomists go further, to ‘regulate’ suchirrationality of the financial markets byarguing for private regulation of exchangerates, public services and social welfare infavour of financial fortunes. Actually suchsteps are causing windfall profits alongwith the financial market crash. It shouldbe made clear from the Marxian view thatmoney and money capital are derived fromthe creation of value and the circulation ofcommodities. Money capital is necessaryfor industries and capitalist profit is basedon the exploitation of labour power. Marxwent further to say that a capitalist ‘creditsystem’ is highly concentrated in the handsof a few wealthy people including someindustrial managers. Marx said that theevaluation of financial assets is peculiar,because they are not directly produced by


labour. When a sum of ten trillion dollarswas lost in 2001 with the stock marketsfailure, the factories and workers did notvanish as a result of the overvaluation offinancial shares and decreasing wealth.It was actually a depreciation only of ‘paperwealth’, through a form of capital property.Such losses did not deprive the rich ownersof their property rights. The relevant factis that, despite the fluctuations of shareprices, large fortunes remain in thepossession of a few rich. Recent historyclearly shows that since the 1980s, inthe West and so-called front rankingcountries of the 3rd world, financial marketsand institutions scramble for corporate

profits and high financial rates of returnfrom company activities with hugegrowth of joint-stock companies ininvestment in corporate shares. This newtrend under globalization makes it easyfor the big industrial houses to go forhighest returns with extreme mobility andliquidity of financial investments. There isalso the significant unity of high salarieddirectors of industrial units and financierswith the former involved in ensuringprofits of industries along with obtainingshare portfolios by way of stock options,etc. In some cases they play a role inchanging the organization of industrialproduction for reaping both profits and

financial rewards. Such directors andmanagers of finance makes it appear asif capitalism runs now without capitalists.The growing role of hectic stock marketsin the phase of imperialist globalizationproduces the dangerous culture of quickand easy profits by investing in shares,mutual funds, etc. among the middle class.Privatisation, outsourcing, down sizing,retrenchment, high-tech machinesalongside this tide of share markets undera state of decreasing opportunity ininvestment in the productive sector makethe lives of the working class miserable.This is obviously the crisis of capitalismglobally.

World War II was also synonymous withthe Sunset of the British Empire, pushingthe Sterling reserves to the wall. The BritishSterling lost its strength and power likemany other currencies in the earlier periodof history simultaneously with its economicand military might in the world.

The US dollar is loosing some of itsvalue as currency reserves to the Euro.The USA has been suffering balance ofpayment constraints vis a vis China, Japanetc, and a huge loss is inflicted on the USeconomy with each and every passing day,it is currently experiencing heavy blowsdelivered on it by the Sub-prime crisis butit will be naïve speculation that the US statewill easily allow the replacement of thedollar standard. Its military might, politicalmaneuverability, psychological pressureand most of all the vastly spread economiccontrol over the world economy andunequal trade are proof positive against

retaining the dollar standard till date.But there is no doubt that the Euro isgaining ground with the value of the dollarvis a vis the Euro having halved since itcame into being.

Despite the deficit budget, the USmilitary power is extending its militarizationprogramme. George Bush has of latesubmitted a deficit budget to the tuneof $3 lakh ten thousand crore for the year2009. Significantly it is in this budget that$7000 crore has been earmarked for the Iraqand Afghan wars. Despite economicrecession Bush has declared that thecurrent budget will strengthen nationalsecurity. The top priority has been givento defence with a 7.5% increase in militaryexpenditure and 11% increase in nationaldefence. Such militarization of the economywill register a deficit of $40,000 crore,compared with the deficit amount of $16,200crore, the imminent is almost double.

Any perceptible person canunderstand the still powerful presence ofUS imperialism on the globe despiteeconomic reverses. The growingmilitarization of the economy, exploitationof resources from around the world, profitsby way of enormous amounts of arms salesin the world, vast network in the continentswith NATO like military alliances, controlover the World Bank, IMF, gigantic powersof MNCs, speculative capital world wideetc, are a guarantee, despite massiverecession in the US economy significantlydepended on real estate business andspeculation, to keep dollar as weakend butstill acceptable currency in major dealingsin international trade and business. Withthe dollar in doldrums the Euro is makingsteady in roads and the contentionbetween the two are bound to grow inthe future.

Continued from page 10

any right of keeping the remuneration.They are often paid much lesser than theirmale counterparts. There is oftendiscrimination in terms of the nature of workand they are simply not allowed to entercertain field of activity.

Women workers are usually ofsubsidiary status which means that theyare actually unemployed persons engagedin economic activity for part of the year. Infact the increase in employment until 2005shows the growth of workers in thiscategory. This is nothing but erosion infull-time or formal jobs and the increase ininformal part-time jobs. In the recent

decade, there is a growth of subsidiary self-employed non-agricultural activity in theurban areas, particularly among women. Awoman, with considerable domestic duties,engages as a subsidiary worker simply tomake ends meet.

ConclusionThis then is the stark reality of the kind

of jobs that are being created by theeconomy growing at more than 9 percent.The euphoria surrounding the high growthrates needs to face this reality. The so calledgrowth is simply not creating jobs withany kind of security or dignity. It is merelypushing the vast majority of the people to

take up odd jobs and somehow battle tosurvive. Such growth needs to be shunnedand it can only be done when vast sectionsof people rally around the right to dignifiedemployment and the right to a life withdignity. The present economic systemcannot provide such an opportunity. Ifemployment generation has to be there itis only possible if the entire economicstructure is overhauled where industrialgrowth is generated (creating jobs) thoughmassive expansion of the purchasingpower of the people and with preventingthe loot by imperialist and their compradoragents.This calls for a radicaltransformation.



Here in Colombia, it is true whatsome say about it being a narco-

democracy. I believe there is a narco-state,a narco-economy, but there is also a greathypocrisy in the Colombian politicalestablishment because they sell the storythat they are fighting drug trafficking. Theygo to the United States to ask for supportto fight against drug trafficking. And theygo to the European Union to ask for supportto fight against drug trafficking. Theyorganize forums and seminars about thefight against drug trafficking when theythemselves are the drug-traffickers and thebeneficiaries of drug trafficking. This is anextreme degree of hypocrisy, no?

[By Garry Leech]The Revolutionary Armed Forces of

Colombia (FARC), a peasant-based guerrillaarmy with an estimated 18,000 fighters, hasbeen waging war against the Colombiangovernment for more than 40 years. In recentyears, Colombian President Alvaro Uribeand US President George W. Bush haveboth intensified their efforts to defeat theFARC as part of the so-called war on terror.However, despite receiving more than $4.5billion in US aid over the past six years, theColombian government has yet to achievea military victory. In June, I traveled to aremote jungle camp to meet with FARCCommander Raul Reyes. During a two hourinterview, Reyes discussed the para-politicsscandal, the revolutionary struggle, thedirty war, child soldiers, the FARC’scontroversial use of home-made mortars andlandmines, Plan Colombia, Plan Patriota,neoliberalism and the prospects for peacein Colombia.

Q: What is the significance of the para-politics scandal for democracy inColombia?

Raul Reyes: The para-politics scandalis the result of many years of the existenceof drug trafficking in Colombian politics.Drug trafficking money circulates at every

INTERVIEW WITH FARC COMMANDER RAUL REYES

level of the government, in all theapparatuses of the State, all thegovernmental institutions. Drug traffickinghas carried various presidents to thepresidency. But aside from the money forpresidential candidates, the money alsofunds congresspersons in the House andthe Senate. Many judicial processes arealso bought with drug trafficking money.Drug trafficking money has also penetratedinside the police, inside the army, insidethe DAS, the SIJIN, that is to say, inside allthe components of state security. Thepresident is compromised with this money.This money is also found in industry, incommerce, in the pharmaceutical industry,in the chemical industry, in all of these.

For these reasons the situation inColombia is serious. Here in Colombia, it istrue what some say about it being a narco-democracy. I believe there is a narco-state,a narco-economy, but there is also a greathypocrisy in the Colombian politicalestablishment because they sell the storythat they are fighting drug trafficking. Theygo to the United States to ask for supportto fight against drug trafficking. And theygo to the European Union to ask for supportto fight against drug trafficking. Theyorganize forums and seminars about thefight against drug trafficking when theythemselves are the drug-traffickers and thebeneficiaries of drug trafficking. This is anextreme degree of hypocrisy, no?

Q: How has the demobilization of theparamilitaries affected the FARC?

The demobilization of the paramilitarydoes not exist, it is a farce. It is thegovernment of Uribe trying to deceiveColombians and the internationalcommunity. The intention of Uribe is tolegitimize paramilitarism and drug traffickingin Colombia. The structures of thosecriminals continue functioning and,therefore, they continue murdering people.Now they use different names, the “New

Self-Defense Forces” or the “Black Eagles,”but they are the same. In many cases, thedemobilization involved the drug-traffickers buying common delinquents,paying them a salary to wear a uniform andto appear like paramilitaries. Then a drug-trafficker appears as the commander ofthose boys to whom he paid a salary sothat he is not extradited to the United Statesand so that Uribe can show that he is makingpeace with the paramilitaries. It is deception,no? And one they know they cannotmaintain because the InternationalCommunity is not fools, the InternationalCommunity knows perfectly what is goingon and the Colombian population is awitness to it all.

There can never be a peace processamong those who have not been at war.There has never been a war between theColombian State and the paramilitaries,because the paramilitaries are an appendix,an extension of the State. They have beenfighting to defend the same State; theynever took up arms against the State andfor a new regime, or a new system. Theirargument has been that the State is so weakthat it needs reinforcing and so we are goingto help the State.

Now, as it affects us, the FARC? Itaffects us in that we are the people, thepeople in arms; it affects us in that it is agreat lie, a great deception; it affects us inthat Uribe wants to show that theparamilitary groups and we are the same;but in practice it does not affect us. It is thepopulation that it affects, because thesetypes who were supposedly demobilizedcontinue murdering people anddisappearing people, they continueconducting their business. But it has allturned against Uribe, because over time ithas become clear that his government is aspurious government, that is to say, anillegitimate government, because he becamepresident by buying votes with drug

We print this interview on the occasion of the martyrdom of the heroic Columbian leader who died fighting the puppet force ofthe Columbian army. In end Feb. Reyes, 59, was martyred in combat and air strikes in neighboring Ecuador in a joint militaryoperation by land and air forces of the US army and puppet government forces. Raul Reyes was the official spokesman for theRevolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and considered a possible successor to the leftist group’s No. 1 spot. The United Stateshad offered a $5 million reward for his capture. The air force bombed a camp in Ecuador on the border with Columbia where he wasthought be, but as ground troops moved in, they came under attack from another camp across the frontier. Reyes was found dead inthe base in Ecuador. One soldier and 17 revolutionaries died in the operation, which involved Colombia’s army, police and airforce, the defense minister said. Among the revolutionaries dead was another senior FARC member and songwriter known as“Julian Conrado.” Reyes real name was Luis Edgar Devia Silva and said to be FARC’s No. 2 commander.


trafficking money. His presidency is aproduct of electoral fraud. What’s knownas the Uribista coalition consists ofgentlemen drug-traffickers andparamilitaries. For that reason, theillegitimacy of this government isimmense. What is difficult to understandis why other decent governments maintainrelations when they know all this aboutthe president.

Q: Some claim that the FARC is nothingmore than a criminal organization, that itis not political or ideological. What doyou think of these claims?

Reyes: It is a campaign of the war; it isnothing more or less than a form of war.They use it to discredit the revolutionarystruggle. This campaign has gainedstrength from September 11, right? Whenthe twin towers fell in the United Statesand everyone began talking aboutterrorism, the Colombian governmentstarted calling the FARC and all therevolutionary organizations in Colombiaand the world “terrorists.” Then theycould liquidate them, intimidate them andforce them to renounce the revolutionarystruggle. And this has increased war inthe world. But the results, in our judgment,have not favored the United States, norhas Mister Bush, whose credibility todaybeen dramatically diminished. Thepopularity of Mister Bush is not the bestat this time, because of the war againstIraq. Álvaro Uribe, to the shame of usColombians, is the only ruler in ourregion—South America—that hassupported that war. I believe that theAmerican people will take measures todiscontinue the wrong policies of theirgovernment. Fortunately, one sees someexpressions of this now. Some Democratsare beginning to say “No, we are not goingto support the deployment of our troops toIraq, they have to return to United Statesas soon as possible. We are not going toapprove the budget for the war. Neither iswe going to approve more money for PlanColombia without conditions. We are notgoing to sign an FTA with a governmentlike the one in Colombia, which is a narco-paramilitary government, a corruptgovernment, a government that has foughtan endless war against Colombians.” Wedon’t think that this is a solution, but is animportant step that the FARC values. Atleast the Democrats are helping some

thinking sectors in the United States tounderstand this phenomenon and to workto dismantle the machinery of war.

Many think that every American, byvirtue of being from there, is an imperialist.For this reason the FARC has producedtwo or three documents indicating that wedeeply respect and admire the Americanpeople, but we do have deep differencesand are affected by the policies of theAmerican State. Before the attack againstMarquetalia in 1964, the embassy of theUnited States was contributing money forthe war against the FARC and has alwaysfunded Colombian governments so thatthey can maintain the war against the FARC.And we recall what happened in thedialogues in San Vicente del Caguán withPastrana. The government of Clinton wasthe first to oppose the dialogue, andClinton is the father of Plan Colombia. Theworld has to know this and we cannotforget it in Colombia because it is part ofour history. And what did we see happenwith Plan Colombia, a continuation of thestrategy of war, not only againstColombians, but against the region. TheUnited States seeks to expand into thisregion that contains the greatestbiodiversity in the world; it’s called the lungof the world. There are geo-strategicinterests that the United States intends toachieve through crimes, killings, slanderand lies.

Q: Why do you think that members ofthe Democratic Pole have not beenmassacred to the same extent that membersof the Patriotic Union were?

Reyes: I believe that the massacre thatthe Colombian State perpetrated againstthe Patriotic Union, the communists, andimportant revolutionary and union leadershas been costly for Colombia. Above all, Ipoint to the slaughter of the leadership ofthe Communist Party. At that time therewas a large Communist Party with verywell developed, very well formed cadres.It would suffice to recall, among others,presidential candidate Jaime Pardo Leal andManuel Cepeda Vargas, director of thenewspaper VOZ and a senator of therepublic. They murdered them all. None ofthem had ever been involved in guerrillawarfare, never. The ones that wereguerrillas, the ones the FARC sent to helpwith the work of the Patriotic Union, Iordered them to come back once the

murders became evident. And they allcame, among them Iván Márquez, whotoday is a member of the Secretariat but atthat time, was a representative in the House.The leadership of the Party continuedbecause it was a legal party, but theycontinued murdering them one by one.

But with the Democratic Pole it isdifferent. The Communist Party is part ofthe Pole, but it is a reduced CommunistParty, a party that maintains the samepolitical line, but has difficulty developingbecause it is frightened, struck by the orgyof blood that was the genocide against thePatriotic Union. And inside the Pole, thereare different sectors. Inside the Pole thereis the right, the social democrats and theleft—the Colombian Communist Party, theMarxist-Leninist Party and otherrevolutionary expressions, someTrotskyists, but all too small and withoutmuch influence in Colombian political life.The social democrats have the largestpresence in the Pole and they are takingadvantage by trying to get to thepresidency of the republic; to attainimportant positions inside the government,inside the State. Among these are severaldemobilized members of the M-19: Navarro,Gustavo Petro and others. Also, there aresome who left the Communist Party to jointhe social democrats and they areproclaimed the “democratic left .” Theseinclude Lucho Garzón and Angelino Garzón,among others. These people have acceptedthe establishment, the State, because theycalculate, and it’s a miscalculation, that theywill be able to attract the revolutionary left.But it so happens that the revolutionaryleft cannot be attracted to the socialdemocrats because we are conscious thatsocial democrats end up favoring the right,the bourgeoisie.

In the fight for the New Colombia, “lapatria grande” and socialism, we areindicating that any important change inColombian life such as the search for alasting and final peace, a peace withouthunger, a peace with social justice, a peacewith liberties, a peace with dignity and withrespect for our sovereignty should includethe FARC and the entire revolutionary left.But these social democratic sectors in thePole want to sell the idea that they canresolve the country’s problems whileexcluding the left and by doing favors forthe right. For that reason we do not see a


great difference between the socialdemocrats and the right headed by ÁlvaroUribe Vélez.

Within the Pole, the struggle for therevolutionary left—represented by thecommunists—against the social democratsis very hard, it is very difficult, because thesocial democrats have the support of theright. And now they are determining whois going to be the new mayor of Bogotá,the successor to Lucho Garzón. Andclearly, nobody in the Democratic Polewants Bogotá’s city hall to return to thehands of the extreme right. But the socialdemocrats, united with the right, want tocontinue the same programs, the samepolitics that have been developed underLucho Garzón and they don’t wantanything to do with the revolutionary left,they want to try to exclude it. Therefore,Navarro Wolf and Petro proposed, withoutthe consent, or without a consensusamong the leadership of the DemocraticPole, the name of Maria Emma Mejía to bethe candidate for mayor of Bogotá. MariaEmma Mejía is a Liberal who became closeto the Pole, and finally joined the Pole, butshe has never been on the left. What wesee here is that, with this political maneuver,Navarro and Petro intend to flatter liberalismwith the one hand and Uribismo with theother, while at the same time hurting therevolutionary left inside the Pole.

It so happens that the commitmentis not to the people, the commitment is tofight for new possibilities to attain positionsinside the government. However, within thePole, some continue to fight to maintain ita little toward the left. They say that ifthe Pole cannot be maintained toward theleft then later they are not going to beable to differentiate between the LiberalParty and the Pole. But it is going to be avery difficult fight.

I believe that for all these reasons, theColombian State has not used the force,has not had the disposition to commit theassassinations, that it did in the past. Butnevertheless, it should be noted that theydo continue murdering people, but they areselective murders of the people that trulyare on the left. These people are unionleaders, peasant leaders and teachers whoare engaged in the struggle on behalf ofthe people. They murder them and as usualnobody is held responsable because it isterrorism by the State.

Q: Why does the FARC continue to usehome-made mortars in attacks againstpolice stations when these weaponsrepeatedly cause civilian casualties?

Reyes: There are two things here. Onething is the utilization of mortars againstthe public forces, which is the end for whichthey are used. The FARC does not haveheavy armaments, the FARC as you knowhas still not been recognized as abelligerent force and cannot obtain thearmaments that it should possess as anarmy. So it develops a lot of homemadearmaments to use against the public forces:the police, the army, DAS, navy, and airforce. Many times those who operate theseapparatuses, the mortars or other weapons,commit errors. They aim at the police stationbut they strike the neighboring house. Thathas occurred a few times. It’s lamentable,of course; there is not a single justificationfor it. But they are human failings, causedby the nervousness of whoever islaunching it. Or it is a failure in the structureof the mortar. This is a failure that hasoccurred and we are trying to correct it sothat these mistakes that affect thepopulation won’t happen. But sometimesit is neither of these. For example, there is abattle against a police station and then theair force arrives—airplanes andhelicopters—and they shoot and bombeverything including the neighboringhouses, the church, all that, and then laterthey say that the guerrillas were responsiblefor the destruction.

Q: Some human rights organizationsclaim that the FARC recruits children,sometimes forcibly. How do you respondto these accusations?

Reyes: I think there is disinformationthere, because those who join the FARCare between 15 and 30 years of age that isthe norm. Nobody younger than that joins.The FARC never forces anybody to join; itis completely contrary to our safetyregulations. Why would I give a weaponto someone that has been forced to joinand then tell him he has to be mybodyguard? The guard is going to makeme pay right there with that weapon. Thisis disinformation from these organizations.It never happens. What causes thisdisinformation? In many cases there areboys and girls that join and then later, forone reason or another, they decide to leave.Life here is very hard, one must be

disciplined. Perhaps they had family thatthey couldn’t see, a son or a daughter, or aboyfriend, or a girlfriend. Or they thoughtthat this struggle would be easy and thenthey aren’t willing to make the sacrifice sothey leave. If they are youths, I’m referringto those less than 20 years of age, then inmany cases they are going to say that theywere forced to join in order to defendthemselves against the repression of thepolice, and also in many cases of theirfamilies.

Then there are cases in which thereare those who want to fight in theguerrillas but many times their parents donot want them to join because the fatherwants to have his son at home and themother wants her daughter there. They donot want them to join. But they persistand join the guerrillas; they flee from theirhouses and appear at our guard posts.It so happens that they join the FARCvoluntarily. But many times when theyleave they lie to their fathers and mothersand say that they were forced to join andthe fathers and mothers believe them. Andlater, if the authorities conduct aninvestigation, the parents say that theirson or daughter was forced to join andthen that information is collected byAmnesty International or others.But I reiterate, it is not the policy of theFARC to recruit children or to enlistanybody by force.

Q: Why does the FARC use anti-personnel landmines when they causecivilian casualties?

Reyes: The FARC uses mines againstthe public forces. The mine fields are usedagainst the public forces, never against thecivilian population, never. There are caseswhen a road is suddenly mined and acivilian might not know they are there andthrough some carelessness of the guardsor himself he fails to avoid it. Sadly, thosecases have always occurred. But the normis that one must try and ensure that thereare no civilian casualties.

Q: The Uribe government claims thatPlan Patriota is succeeding in defeatingthe FARC and bringing territory understate control. How has Plan Patriotaaffected the FARC and peasants in theregion?

Reyes: I am in charge of analyzing theconsequences of Plan Patriota and theways it has hurt the revolutionary army of


the FARC, as well as the ways it has hurtthe civil population, the popular and socialorganizations, and the unarmedrevolutionaries. And we have found thatthose who have suffered the least are thoseof us who have taken up arms. While wedo not possess the weapons that the Statehas, much less the aid and the advisingthat it has received from the United States,but still in the end we are two armed forces,two armies. One army has a lot of power,many men, a lot of technology, air and navalsupport, and advisors who they say knoweverything. It has a very clear objective: toliquidate the FARC, to kill or imprison itsmain leaders, to recover prisoners by forceand to force the survivors to sign whateveragreement Uribe wants. That has been, andstill is, the objective of Plan Patriota.

But it so happens that it has notachieved its objective, it has failed to getany of the main leaders of the FARC, it hasfailed to weaken the FARC and it has failedto recover the prisoners of war. On the otherhand, however, it has hurt the civilpopulation; by applying the theory that“the friend of my enemy is also my enemy”They have displayed many guerrillascaptured in certain regions. However, it sohappens that they were not guerrillas, theywere people considered to be friends of theguerrillas. I remember one case in Cartagenade Chaira where, according to the press, 80guerrillas from the 14th Front were captured.But the capture of 80 guerrillas has neveroccurred, never. But that was the news thatwas what was fed to the people’simagination. But it so happens that not oneof them was a guerrilla, they were from thepopulation and later they had to free themall because it wasn’t true. However, whenthey freed them nobody from the army said,“I was mistaken.” One time they said that200 FARC guerrillas were killed in the Cañondel Duda. It also wasn’t true. But who isgoing to challenge that?

But truly those who have been affectedmost are the peasants, the civilianpopulation. Many people have fled, shuttheir businesses, abandoned their farmsbecause of fear and because in many partsthe airplanes drop bombs and shoot theirmachine guns indiscriminately. And thereare others who have been affected, unionmembers and all these sectors, becausethey say that they are all terrorists, or theyare the ones that support the “terrorists”

and so is likewise the enemy. Then theyarrest them and imprison them. The peopleare affected by the current government; itis a fascist, dictatorial government that hasused war as a form of governance and liesand slander as a form of pressure and todistort what is really happening.

Plan Patriota is a true failure for thegovernment. Even more, it is not only afailure for the Colombian government butalso a failure for the government of theUnited States, because it is the UnitedStates who finances Plan Patriota and theUnited States who supplies the militaryadvisors for the war against us. Uribe andthe Colombian army were convinced thatwith all that money and with all that advisingthey would be able to finish off the FARC,but it so happens that they have notachieved their objective. The FARC has notbeen weakened militarily or politically byPlan Patriota.

But Uribe persists in his objective andhas large numbers of troops throughoutthe Colombian territory. There are manytroops in the areas containing all our blocs,all our fronts, our columns, our companies,and those troops are on all sides trying tofind us in order to annihilate us; there isconstant fighting. Among the troops of theState there have been wounded and dead.They are the ones who are risking their lives,it is not Uribe, it is not the Colombianoligarchy, it is not Mister Bush, it is theColombian people. They are in the policeand the army to earn a salary because oftenthey cannot obtain work anywhere else orare unable to go to university. They aredefending the interests of the exploiters ofColombia, the interests of themultinationals, the interests of the empire;they defend those interests at the cost oftheir own lives.

Q: Plan Colombia is now more thansix-years-old and the Bush administrationintends to continue it for several moreyears. How has Plan Colombia affectedColombian peasants?

Reyes: The Colombian government,with the backing of the entire politicalestablishment, eradicates, fumigatesplantations. And these fumigations are agreat business venture in which theyreceive millions of US dollars, originatingfrom the American people and delivered bythe US government. This money is usedfor fumigations. Those most affected by

the fumigations are the peasants, becausethey do not only destroy the cocaplantations, they also destroy foodproducts: bananas, yucca, corn, beans,sesame, potatoes, everything. And besidespets, they affect chickens, pigs and thepeople. There are cases of children affectedby the glyphosate, pregnant women thathave miscarried, many illnesses caused bythe poisoned environment and water, right?And they still haven’t achieved the desiredresults in the eradication of illicit cropsbecause the peasants develop new formsof counteracting the effects of that poisonon their farms. To quickly counteract it, theygrow in other places and the businesscontinues. It continues because there arepeople who buy the drugs, because of theconsumption in the developed world. It isan extremely large consumption with pricesthat favor, not the peasants, but the drug-traffickers and the intermediaries.

The FARC has a presence in every partof Colombia and knows the situation of thepeasants very well. It knows that thepeasant does not grow coca or poppies inthe mountains because he is a drug-trafficker; no, the Colombian peasant is nota drug-trafficker. The Colombian peasanthas had to resort to growing these productsbecause of the predatory effects of theneoliberal model. Because it is betterbusiness to import corn from the UnitedStates or another country, or to bring cattlemeat from Argentina, than to produce themin Colombia. Already it is better for businessto import coffee from Vietnam than toproduce it in Colombia because there areno subsidies. Then the peasant has to findanother way to subsist, and so he growscoca.

For that reason the FARC’s proposal,from the dialogues in San Vicente delCaguán, calls for the replacement of cocacultivations, seeking a solution that will putan end to the phenomenon of drugtrafficking because the FARC considers ita cancer for society, for humanity, that onemust fight. We offered to make themunicipality of Cartagena de Chaira amunicipal pilot, that is to say, we wanted toshow in that municipality that it is possibleto fight the phenomenon of the productionof the commodities of cocaine. Likewise,we put forth the proposal calling for thelegalization of consumption. I believe thatthis issue badly affects all of us Colombians


and it is not solely the responsibility ofColombians; it is the responsibility of theconsuming countries, the responsibility ofthe bad governments that we have had inColombia, the responsibility of the poorpolicies of the International MonetaryFund and of the banking sector, theresponsibility of the countries that producethe chemical precursors, that is to say, inshort, the responsibility of themisconceptions of the neoliberal model. Ithas drastically affected Colombia. Theneoliberal model has also affected thedeveloped countries, like the Europeans,with many people in the streets beggingfor charity, children cleaning carwindshields, but in underdevelopedcountries like Colombia, or other countriesin what is called the Third World, it is muchworse.

Q: How is it possible to change theneoliberal policies implemented byPresident Uribe and previousgovernments in Colombia?

Reyes: For the FARC the only way tochange the neoliberal model and the policiesof previous governments and of the currentone is by taking power. It must begin withthe formation of a new democratic, patriotic,diverse government of nationalreconciliation, which seeks to change thecourse of the country in a way in which it istruly the people, with their leaders, whobuild the future. Without this it will beimpossible because Colombia has endured50 years of war during which each of thegovernments did the same thing, evenbefore the neoliberal model appeared andthey applied the prescriptions of theInternational Monetary Fund and theWorld Bank. And then the neoliberal modelappeared and they became wedded toneoliberal policies. This was before Uribe,it was those who preceded him in thepresidency. Then they developed theterrorist state and this has increased theproblems.

So we think that to truly achievechange, and the ones demanding this arethe majority of the Colombian people, whatis needed is to form a completely differentgovernment to that of Uribe and theprevious governments. That is to say, agovernment that is committed to deepchanges and that opens spaces ofdemocracy in order to be able to build theNew Colombia. A new Colombia where

people would not be exploited and, ofcourse, there would be no exploiters. Butto achieve this is a task for titans, becauseColombia has a mafia class and a corruptmurderous ruler. And as long as theycontinue controlling the destiny of ourcountry it is going to be very difficult forthe people to become controllers of theirown destinies. This is the reason that theFARC continues its revolutionary struggle.

We spoke in a previous question abouthow they assassinated the Patriotic Unionand they assassinated the communists, andhow this closed spaces for the legalstruggle. And we noted that they continueto murder popular leaders and continue tocarry out some selective assassinations.We think this validates the revolutionaryarmed struggle, whose end is not war. Theend of the revolutionary struggle beingwaged by the FARC is peace. For us, peaceis the fundamental thing. We understandthat peace is the solution to the problemsthat affect our people. We understand thatpeace means that in Colombia we have atrue democracy. Not a democracy for thecapitalists, but a democracy for the people,who can protest, who can participate, whohave the right to live, who have the right tohealthcare, to education, who have the rightto communication, to electricity, to agrarianreforms, to fight corruption, to not have tokneel before foreign powers, but to be acountry free, independent and sovereignwith respectful relations with all countrieson equal terms. Also, that the weapons ofthe army not be not used against thepeople, but just for the defense of oursovereignty and nothing more. To achievethat objective is why we are here in thisjungle. And in search of that objective weare willing to continue for as long as isnecessary.

And our proposal for a “prisonerexchange,” which cannot be modified tothe favor of Mister Uribe, is issued withthe desire to solve one of the by-productsof the conflict. Colombia suffers an armed,social, political, and economic conflict thatno government has wanted to resolve.Therefore, we say, the signing of anagreement to liberate prisoners on bothsides could also be the door to thebeginning of a new dialogue to worktowards achieving peace. As I already said,the FARC seeks peace, but not a peace thatcomes from surrender, nor a peace that

accommodates the leaders of theorganization and certain friends, but a peacefor the people. It must be a peace thatprotects the life and the dignity of ourpopulation.

Q: What needs to be done in order toachieve a just peace in Colombia andgreater equality between the rich andpoor?

Reyes: To achieve that objective thereneeds to be a change in attitude. The rulingclass must understand that the bestbusiness is peace. That peace is a businessand that business requires an investment,because the large amount of wealth thatexists in Colombia, which results from thelabor of the people, could generate muchmore wealth if there was peace. But sincethere is a war by the State against thepeople, they invest in the war and not forthe benefit of the population, thereforeColombians are getting poorer. The gapbetween the rich and the poor grows andpopular discontent grows and so doesrepression against those who dare toexpress their discontent through legalmeans. Often they are murdered, forced intoexile, displaced by threats, or their goodsare expropriated, then the number ofguerrilla’s increases and the armed strugglegrows. In the case of the FARC, it is apolitical-military struggle. Uribe Vélez claimsthat there is no internal conflict in Colombia.That is the first great lie that he tells toColombia and to the world and accordingto that great lie there is nothing to resolvehere. But there is a confrontation here inwhich people are constantly being killed,and for which he himself is asking for aidfrom all sides in exchange for mortgagingthe sovereignty and the dignity of theColombian people. And so one must ask,“If there is no internal conflict then whydemand aid?” It is completely contradictory.

The attitude of the ruling class must beto declare, “From now on the best businessfor us is peace. And as the business for usis peace then we are going to invest in it.We are going to return part of what we havetaken from poor Colombians and invest itin peace.” But I do not believe that theruling class will arrive at such a decisioneasily because the essence of capitalism issomething different: it is to obtain greaterprofits at the cost of the sacrifice of thepopulation. For this reason, we are



The Budget presented by Mr.Chidambaram for the current fiscal

(2008-2009) is a cunning exercise in so-called populism with an eye on elections,while sticking to the neo-liberal ‘reforms’agenda. A close look at the budgetaryallocations makes it clear thatannouncements about increases inallocations for various sectors have beenmade with deliberate opacity and clever tactwhich in reality deliver nothing to the vastmasses of the poor population. While thegovernment’s own ‘Economic Survey’,presented to the parliament one day beforethe Budget admits that agriculture is in deepdepression and manufacturing sector isrecording down swing, the FinanceMinister boastfully declared that the fiscaldeficit came down to 2.5% of the GDP. TheBudget is the continuation of the processof implementation of the IMF, World Bankprescriptions of jobless growth, structuralreforms and privatization. The Budget aimsat developing a highly skilled well-paidmiddle class in the service sector —Software, BPO, Banking, Media, Airlines,Tourism — and job cuts in the governmentand semi-government sector. Keeping aneye on the vote banks, the FM announcedschemes for many sections, like the dalits,minorities, women, senior citizens etc. withmeager allotments of funds, even which, asthe past experience shows, will not be spentfor those sections but will be diverted tosome other heads. Though some increasedallocation was made for higher education,most areas in the social sectors, including,primary education, the Integrated ChildDevelopment Services (ICDS) and healthare given small or no increase in allocationsin real terms. More dangerous for theworking class is the call for 12 hours workday given by Mr. Chidambaram in hisBudget speech, indicating the desire of theruling classes to take the working class backin to the colonial days, trampling on all thegains they obtained through more than acentury of hard fought industrial actions.But, the favorite sections of the governmentlike the super-rich and the corporate sectorgot much without any fuss or mention. Thetax expenditures to the corporate sectorhave gone up by Rs.39, 000 crore, withouteven a mention in the Budget speech. While

BUDGET’S NEO-LIBERAL AGENDA & THE LOAN WAIVER HOAXSuhash

not changing the structure of corporatetaxation is being presented as not giving into the pressure of the corporate sector formore concessions, it also implies this sectorcontinues to get massive subsidies, whichnow stand at Rs.2,78,000 crore, benefitingjust about 1% of the population. In contrast,the direct subsidies to the poorer sections,who account for 50% of the population,like, on food, employment guaranteescheme and housing will not amount toeven Rs. 50, 000 crores. These and othersuch facts stay hidden in the euphoria beingraised all over regarding the announcementmade by the FM about farm loan waiver,supposedly valued at Rs. 6, 000 crores.

Farm Loan Waiver- ASardonic Joke Played onthe Distressed FarmingCommunity

The finance Minister announced withmuch fanfare, a debt waiver scheme to thefarmers, amounting to Rs.60,000 crore, as apart of his Budget speech. All agriculturalloans disbursed by scheduled commercialbanks, regional rural banks and cooperativecredit institutions up to March 31, 2007and over due as on December 31, 2007 willbe covered under this proposal. Thepackage has inbuilt exclusions. First of allthis applies only to the loans taken frominstitutions such as banks and it doesn’tcover the loans farmers secured fromprivate sources like moneylenders, traders,middle-men etc even though usuryaccounts for the overwhelming share offarm loans. More than three-fourths offarmers hold private debts, especially smalltenants, women farmers, cultivatorswithout clear land titles in their own names,who are already among the mostdisadvantaged agriculturalists. Thissection will not gain anything from thewaiver. The Radhakrishnan Expert Group,which was set up to examine the problemof farmer’s debts, has estimated that in 2003,that non-institutional channels accountedfor Rs.48, 000 crores of farmers debt; almosthalf of this was borrowed at 30% or moreper annum. The country has seen theclosure on average one rural branch of ascheduled commercial bank every singleworking day for the last 15 years. In the

same period, bank branches in urbanmetros doubled, opening at a rate of morethan one every day. These figures give thelie to the government’s boastful claims ofmassive increase in rural credit and plan toboost it. There were 4750 rural branchesless in 2007 than at the start of the reformperiod. The trend holds through most ofthe UPA period. Indeed, 2006 saw thesharpest drop, with 1,503 branches shuttingshop. The rapid decline has pushed morefarmers towards moneylenders. The shareof rural credit as a percentage of total creditdisbursed by all SCBs (including RegionalRural Banks) stood at just around 7.93 inMarch,2007, less than the previous year’s8.39% and much less than the 10% it stoodat in 2001. And farmers account only a partof it. ‘Rural credit’ includes many sectorsbeyond agriculture. Thus millions of debtburdened small and marginal farmers whohad no alternative but to approach privatemoneylenders, won’t get any relief. In thisregard even the colonial raj was some whatbetter, which went in for loan waivers morethan once, addressing private moneylenderdebt! Any real benefit to the mostdistressed of the farmers will accrue onlywhen the high-interest private debt is wipedout. For this reason, the RadhakrishnaCommittee felt that it is necessary to set upa debt redemption fund that can provideloans to farmers to clear these debts. Therulers have no intention to take such ameasure that will at least, to some extentprovide relief to the most distressed and allthat they want is to gain some votes is quiteevident. So, the waiver is restricted to creditprovided by the formal banking system.

Secondly, the waiver applies to smalland marginal farmers. The official definitionclassifies marginal farmers as those whohave 1-2 hectare of land. No distinction hasbeen made in the waiver scheme with regardto irrigated and non- irrigated or monsoondependent fields. It excludes from fullbenefits all the farmers on dry land and poorquality land who hold more than twohectares, even though they are among theworst affected by the agrarian crisis. Thus,lakhs and lakhs of the distressed farmers inthe most crisis-hit and suicide prone areasof the country like the Vidharbha region inMaharashtra or Rayalaseema and


Telangana of Andhra Pradesh orBundelkhand in Uttar Pradesh, who aresinking deeper into indebtedness anddespair will not get the debt waiver benefit.

Big media hype is on and the Congressparty has launched a massive propagandacampaign terming the Budget as ‘farmerfriendly’ and ‘aam admi’ Budget. Duringhis Budget and post-Budget speeches theFinance Minister did not disclose as to howhe has arrived at the figure of 60, 000 croreor how he has measured the number offarmers getting relief under this scheme asfour crore. The basis of the estimate is farfrom clear. According to the statisticsreleased by the Reserve Bank of India, theamount of loans issued by various banksto agriculture and allied sectors up toMarch, 2007 was Rs.2, 30, 180 crore. Out ofthis, the sum of Rs.1, 46, 942 crore was thetotal amount of short and long term loansgiven exclusively for agricultural activities;and out of this the total amount of loantaken by one crore and 31 lakh small andmarginal farmers up to 31st March, 2005 wasonly Rs,41, 257.76 crore. The total amountof outstanding loans in the cooperativesector was Rs. 15, 476 crore as on 2006March 31. The non performing assets ofbanks vis a vis agriculture as on 31st March,2007 was only Rs. 7982 crore. Theoutstanding loans of cooperativeinstitutions were around 30 thousand crore.So, it is quite clear that the total amount ofwaiver will be much below the amountannounced by the Finance Minister, i.e. Rs.60, 000 crore.

Let us see the trickery related to theloan waiver scheme. Burdened with loans48 peasants on an average have beencommitting suicides daily, mainly in theSouthern and Western parts of India. TheVidharbha region of Maharashtra andAnanthpur district of Andhra Pradesh arethe worst effected areas in this respect. Thedeliberate omission of the moneylender’sdebt is just not the only problem. InVidharbha, the average land holding size is7.5 acres or 3.03 hectares, way above thetwo hectare limit for loan waiver. All mosthalf of the farmers of Vidharbha are abovethis limit, not because they are biglandlords. These holdings are un-irrigated,hence less productive. In Ananthapur ofAndhra Pradesh too, many farmers will beleft out by size or other norms.

For those with over two hectares, there

is the offer of one time settlement of theirbank loans. If they repay 75% of the loanthey will be given a rebate of 25%. That is,this offer will benefit only the landlords andthe rich peasants. If the rest, drowning indebt, could pay 75% of their dues, theywouldn’t be committing suicide, they willpay hundred percent.

In the case of farmers falling within the2 hectare limit, only a small percentage hasaccess to bank credit. So, the gainers in thecrisis-hit region of Vidharbha will be a few.Even those few who do benefit will gainmuch less than farmers say in WesternMaharashtra. The average crop loan insugarcane territory is Rs, 13, 000 per acre.In Vidharbha’s cotton region, they just getloans of Rs. 4,000 per acre. So, the scale ofwrite off will be far greater to the better offfarmers.

The cut-off date of March31, 2007works against even the small group ofVidharbha farmers who do benefit. Loansin the cotton region are taken between Apriland June. In the cane growing region, theyare taken between January and March. Itmeans the Vidharbha farmer has one lessyear of loans waived than the others. .

The media is full of hype hailing thisscheme and yet crying that this will put ahuge burden of Rs. 60, 000 crore on thenational exchequer. But, the same media issilent about the fact that each year thenationalized banks write off thousands ofcrores of rupees as bad debt, most part of itbeing the money owed by small number ofbig business houses. And theirs is not onetime waiver. It is a write off that recurs everyyear. Between 2000-04 banks wrote off overRs. 44, 000 crores in such a way, one such‘poor’ beneficiary was a Ketan Parekhcompany

And all this is apart from the annual‘giveaway’ to corporate India which hasbeen the average in the Budget every singleyear for over a decade. Then there are thestrait handouts. No one knows how manythousands of crores are lost by handingout spectrum to the private telecomoperators the way it is being done. Top thatup with ‘tax holidays’, exemptions etc. thetotal amount which make the‘unprecedented’ one time farm loan waiverlook like small change.

Some7.2 million farmers owning lessthan one hectare have accounts inscheduled commercial banks. And the total

out standing against these is Rs. 20,758crores. (Reserve Bank of India, Handbookof Statistics on the Indian Economy 2006-07.) That is almost the same amount thenationalized banking sector writes off everyyear as bad debt, benefiting the bigcorporate houses in the main. Thosefarmers holding between one and twohectares hold 5.9 million accounts and oweRs. 20, 758 crores. That is: these13 millionaccount holders owe less than the Rs.44,000 crores written off by the banksduring previous NDA government favoringthe big corporate houses.

Nothing in the Budget will raiseincomes. The Budget has nothing to makecultivation a viable activity. There is noBudgetary allocation for various kinds ofpublic intervention such as input provisionor price stabilization schemes that wouldprotect farmers from crop price volatility.Pleas for low interest or no interest loanshave been ignored. The rulers flatly refusedto implement another recommendation ofthe Radhakrishnan Committee, that is, toset up Price Risk Mitigation Fund tocompensate farmers in extreme situationsof price collapse due to the volatility ofMNCs –rigged global prices, saying thatthe international experience of pricestabilization fund had generally beendisappointing ( Economic Survey 2007-08). There is no attempt to expand andimprove the crop insurance scheme. Thetotal Central Plan spending on agricultureand allied activities is projected to increaseby only Rs.1, 530 crore, and the totalirrigation spending is actually to fall to apaltry Rs.414 crore. So, the farmers willcontinue to be in debt and continue to endtheir lives.

It is not Karza maafi (loanwaiver) but seeking votermaafi (forgiveness)

This loan waiver scheme is nothing buta tactful exercise to regain the trust and inthat way the votes of the farmers withoutoffering any tangible benefits.

The 2007-08 Economic Surveypresented by the FM to the parliament oneday before the Budget accepts that there isa loss of dynamism in agriculture. It goeson to say that “the share of agriculture inthe GDP registered a steady decline from36.4% in 1982-83 to 18.5% in 2006-07. Yetthis sector continues to support more than


a billion people providing employment to52% of the workforce”. “The gap betweenthe growth of agriculture sector and nonfarm sectors has been widening since 1981-82 and more particularly since 1996-97.”

“Between 1950-51 and 2006-07,production of food grains increased at anannual rate of 2.5% compared to thepopulation growth rate. The scenariohowever, changed between 1990 and 2007when the rate of growth of food-grainsproduction fell to 1.2% which was lowerthan population growth rate of 1.9%”.

“During the period, the per capitaconsumption of cereals declined from peak468 grams per day in 1990-91 to 412gm in2005-06. The consumption of pulsesdeclined from 42 to 33gm.

There has been a considerable declinein the rate of growth of area, production,productivity and the area irrigated for majorcrops.”

“The area under production of foodgrains over 16 years witnessed an averageannual decline of 0.26% during the periodfrom 1989-90 to 2005-06.”

“At the same time, there has been acontinuous decline in the rate of creationin irrigation potential, adding to thedeceleration in farm growth.”

After admitting all this, the Surveycalled for a “second green revolution”particularly in rain fed areas, to rejuvenatethe sector and improve the income of thosedependent on it. That makes the rulersintention very clear that they want tocontinue the same World Bank- IMFdictated policies which were the root causeof the devastation of the country’sagriculture sector.

The devastation of the agriculturesector started way back in 1991, when Mr.Manmohan Singh as Finance Ministerstarted the attack on the farmers byreducing the fertilizer subsidy. Byredefining priority sector lending, theNarasimhan Committee Report on financialliberalisation resulted in farmers and smallproducers being denied adequate bankcredit, thus pushing them increasingly intothe hands of moneylenders.

The NDA government, completelysubmitting to US imperialist pressure,rapidly removed protection to agriculturebetween 1996- 2001 which resulted infarmers getting exposed to the fury of globalprice declines. With the removal ofquantitative restrictions on the import offarm produce in 1999, there has been a crashin farm product prices. The process of

financial liberalisation has led to a declinein institutional credit for agriculture and toan increase in real rate of interest on farmloans. The decline in rural developmentexpenditure led to a weakening ofinfrastructural support for agriculture.

Irrespective of the party in power at thecenter, every Finance Minister went onrelentlessly implementing IMF- WBdictated policies of LPG focusing the attackon the vast unorganised sector, includingthe farmers. And the ruling classescontinue to tout the very same policies assolution to the problems they created.

Moreover, the government will certainlyclaim that the debt waiver needs a lot ofresources and use this claim as an excusefor selling public sector equity andgenerally carrying forward the neo-liberalagenda. The Cabinet’s decision tocompensate the banks with cash allocationfor the loan waiver scheme is part of thedesign to make their equities moreattractive. Manmohan Singh has alreadytalked about the need to privatise publicenterprises for financing debt waiver.

The poor, constituting the bulk ofthe aam aadmi are excluded from thisBudget, which ironically is presented intheir name.

motivated to wage the revolutionarystruggle. We are motivated to supportactions by the popular masses, protests bythe unions, by organizations, and likewiseguerrilla actions. And this is what we call“the combination of all forms of struggle,”because the FARC is a revolutionary armyand it does not only engage in the armedstruggle. The FARC is characterized as apolitical-military organization. Itsleadership is a political cell. All of the FARCis a political cell. Therefore, its workinvolves the formation of guerrillas who arestrong both politically and ideologically sothat they understand it is a fight for thestructural changes that the country requiresand not for the benefit of certain people.And so that they understand that this fightrequires making sacrifices including leavingone’s family to be in the jungle and exposed24 hours a day to attacks by the enemy. Wefeel that with this sacrifice we arecontributing to the revolutionary struggleof Colombia and other peoples of the world.

Q: What is the FARC’s vision for

Colombia?Reyes: When we speak of the New

Colombia we are speaking of a Colombia inwhich there are neither exploiters norexploited; of a Colombia without social,economic or political inequalities; of aColombia without corruption; with neitherparamilitarism or state terrorism; of aColombia with industrial development; ofa worthy Colombia, independent andsovereign; a Colombia where resources areinvested in scientific research andtechnological development; a Colombiawhere the environment is protected; aColombia whose wealth is used for thebenefit of the population; a Colombia thatdoes not continue privatizing, that does notcontinue selling the businesses of the Statebut instead uses these businesses tobenefit social programs; a Colombia withagrarian reform, not an agrarian reform thatdelivers land to the people and keeps themhungry, but an agrarian reform withtechnical assistance; an agrarian reformthat includes infrastructure for the peasantsand that makes it possible for their

children to study; an agrarian reform inwhich a market and the purchase of theirproducts is guaranteed; an agrarian reformin which they can obtain affordable creditsfrom the State; a Colombia withemployment; a Colombia with subsidiesfor the unemployed; a Colombia thatguarantees education, healthcare, homesand all that.

That it is the Colombia that we dream ofand that we call the New Colombia, directedby a new State, by a new democratic, patrioticand diverse government, which does notexclude any part of the population. And thateveryone that is interested in contributingto that new government can do so, even ifhe is a businessman. If he is going to paysome taxes and he is not going to exploit theworkers and he is going to pay themaccording to the law, then it is not a problemthat he earns profits. As long as he paystaxes and complies with the norms of thelaw not to exploit the population. Becausethe large businesses cannot be allowed toearn profits by paying starvation wages andevading taxes.



Brazenly intent on signing the US-India nuclear pact, the ‘Left-

propped UPA government has now goneaggressive due to the mounting pressure andthreats from American imperialism. The USSecretary of State, Condolleza Rice said inearly February 2008 to the HouseInternational Relations Committee, “We willsupport nothing with India in the NSG thatis in contradiction to Hyde Act.” NicholasBurns, the Under Secretary of the UnitedStates, sent out the warning fromWashington Press Centre on 29th February2008, going a few steps ahead of Rice: “Weare in the vanguard. We are the leadingcountry that will support the NuclearSuppliers’ Group (NSG) in making aninternational case that no nations shouldengage in nuclear trade with India. Thatcan not happen without the US, becausethat NSG, of which we are a leadingmember….” Such open and arrogant threatsimpelled the Indian Foreign Minister, Mr.Pranab Mukherjee, the recent recipient ofBharat Ratna award, to speak like his USbosses, asking all for a ‘consensus on nuclearthe deal’. With the US forces being batteredin Iraq and Afghanistan and trained Islamicmilitants delivering blows after blows on pro-American forces in Pakistan, US imperialismbrooks no delay in legally binding the timidIndian rulers to its apron. Hence the urgencyand stirring up of American sycophants inIndia.

The UPA government and its foreignminister is trying to publicly play down thenuclear deal obligations by presenting a face-saver for the CPM like parties arguing thatIndia is only concerned with the 123 pact, asif the 123 agreement were not in consonancewith the Hyde Act. The dirty lie has beenalready nailed by Condolezza Rice herself andnow on 4th March Richard Boucher, USAssistant Secretary of State has categoricallymade it clear that “The Hyde Act is a domesticlegislation (and) the 123 agreement is aninternational agreement.” And through thenuclear deal “we can move forward with bothin a consistent manner”. Both the CPM-led‘left’ parties and the BJP so long harped onthe Hyde act issue, pretending as if they werenot cognizant of the naked fact that the 123agreement springs from the Hyde Act andso only the Hyde Act is a matter of concern.

US-INDIA NUCLEAR PACT IS NOT MEANT FOR DEVELOPMENT OF OUR MOTHERLAND!Oppose Naked Betrayal, Surrender Of The UPA-NDA Before US Imperialism!

All such suppression of portentous factsis a signature of the in-built stooge characterof all parliamentary parties across the board.It was,in fact, the BJP that initiated talks forthe nuclear deal and the military alliance withUS imperialism during the NDA rule and allthe states ruled by this party have beenhumbly practicing the USA-led globalizationprogramme.

The CPM-led ‘Left’, is a robustpractitioner of the same and its governmentsin West Bengal, Kerala, etc. have opened thedoors wide for American corporate capital,World Bank ‘aid’ and the marketing cultureof US imperialism with uncanny ease andpanache. The US bosses must now providesome cosmetics to wear for those politicalrats as a balancing act so that they canwriggle out of an awkwardly standoffishsituation during elections. For so manymonths the CPM-led Left has been pushedinto the Congress woven cocoon and now ithas chosen to be resigned to its fate. It nowsheepishly says if India accepts the HydeAct it will go against the conscience of theParliament. All such whining lament ringshollow and everyone knows that with openand shameless consent of the CPM leadersIndia started talks with the IAEA during themassacres in Nandigram and by now the fifthor the last round of much hyped safeguardstalks with the IAEA in Vienna has beenconcluded, prior to the sealing of nuclear deal(read bondage) with America.

After the populist budget of 2008-09, theCongress has already started preparing forimminent elections. When the maneuver bythe budget game set a segment of thepopulation smacking its lips, the CPM leaderYechury (unofficial adviser of the Congressparty), welcomed the move with somedemands. The BJP, already on the defensivein the political arena, is digesting the budgettricks. The CPM image and popularity hasbeen badly mauled after the brutal operationsin Nandigram and the groundswell of popularprotests against its rule in West Bengal hasmade it nervous. Except the Congress, otherparties fear parliamentary elections right now.So it is a foregone conclusion that the US-India nuclear act will be sealed soon. USimperialism knows too well that like theproven pro-imperialist track record of theCongress and the BJP, the so-called Left army

led by the CPM has consistently proved itsworth as a bunch of hypocrites satisfied withthe right of timid rabble-rousing and anti-imperialist theatrical utterances. They can notstand in their way in any real sense. The USbosses also trust this brand of leftism thatcan rein in all militant anti-American, anti-imperialist belligerent voices and militantactions, siding with the Indian state.

When some professed intellectualsdiscover certain aspects of the deal asfavourable to India, they simply fail to discernthe hard reality of the broad American geo-political game plan that makes allowancesfor some inconsequential aspects in thecurrent situation in the region with theformidable presence of China, recalcitrantIran and the anti-US raging battles in large-parts of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, etc.gradually cornering US imperialism. AlreadyRussia and France have entered the sceneto ensure some nuclear business with Indiabut the US has resorted to some arm-twistingto prevent any nuclear agreements beingsigned by Russia and France. The Indianrulers have ofcourse buckled under.

With the signing of the nuclear Pact, Indiawill be forced to accept all dictates fromWashington to serve the US’s politico-militaryinterests. Simultaneously, as a trusted juniorpartner in the US camp, India will play the roleof a subordinate mini boss in South Asia.

The CPI (Maoist) alone hasunequivocally declared its firm oppositionto the nuclear deal, which will furthertighten the US grip over India’s neck. TheUS-India Nuclear Pact will only becomepossible due to the monumental betrayalof the Indian rulers and because of theabsence of an anti-American huge stormof patriotic protest actions on the streets,villages, factories, etc. by all sections ofthe masses across the country.

No patriotic Indian can tolerate thefrequent appearance of huge teams of USbusiness tycoons in India during the pastseveral months to sell nuclear instrumentsamounting to thousands of crores of Indianrupees. It is a dirty lie that the nuclear deal isan imperative need for India’s economicprosperity. The deal will merely act to furthercement India’s further bondage to the USpolitically and militarily and will open up ahuge market for the US nuclear industry inIndia.


To coincide with the anniversaryofthe so-called 1959 uprising in

Tibet demonstrations were initiated inTibet with synchronized actions in Indiaand all over the world. In Lhasa,protesters attacked Chinese shops,ransacked Chinese property, beat upChinese civilians and police, and settheir vehicles on fire, etc. This was metby strong-arm methods of the Chinesestate. As violence spread troopsencircled the entire city.The recentupsurge in Tibet has been brutallycrushed by the Chinese authorities. Itwas the biggest revolt of the Tibetanpeople since the past two decades andwas put down by an iron hand by theChinese authorities resulting in thebrutal killing of anything upto 80 Tibetans(official Chinese figure is 16). Thedemonstrations in Tibet have benaccompanied by simultaneousdemonstrations all over the world, andparticularly in India, to coincide with thehuge build up for the Beijing OlympicGames.

As long as China was run by theCommunists ,they gave Tibet fullautonomy and respected its culture andpeople, while seeking to bring aboutdemocratic changes against the slave-like Lama rule. In 1952 the People’sGovernment of China signed 17-PointAgreement on Tibet, abolishing feudalrule, guaranteeing autonomy to Tibet,and also respecting Buddhist religion.In 1959 the feudal elements led by theDalai Lama and backed by the US andIndia sought to subvert thistransformation through revolts (muchlike the coloured revolutions stage-managed recently in various countries).When this was crushed the Dalai Lamaad about 80,000 followers fled to Indiaand set up a ‘Government in Exile’ withthe help of vast funds from the US andIndian governments.

But ever since the new bourgeoisieseized power in China they have soughtthe assimilation of the Tibetan peopleinto the majority Han Chinesepopulation. Waves of Chinese peoplehave been settled into Tibet, turning theTibetans into a minority in their own land.

THE PEOPLE OF TIBET MUST DETERMINE THEIR OWN FUTURE

In 1985, 60,000 workers were settled inTibet and in 1991 another 3 lakhs. Inthe province like Qinghai there are 2.5million Chinese to a mere 8 lakhTibetans. Today, the man from Chinawho runs Tibet, one Jhang Qingh, has anotorious record of crushing the Uighurnationality. He was earlier the head ofthe Xinjiang Production and ConstructionCorps, a para military organizationaimed at asserting Beijing’s hold overthe ethnic Uighar population who havebeen agitating for autonomy.

While we must fully support theTibetan’s people right to selfdetermination we must stronglycondemn the US’s meddling the affairsof Tibet, whether directly or through itsstooges like the feudal Dalai Lama.During earlier Communist rule, the USused this stooge to instigate the1959 ‘uprising’ of all the feudalelements. Resisting the socialistchanges brought by the Chinese thesefeudal elements fled the country and setup the so-called government in exileheaded by the feudal Dalai Lama withsupport from the Indian rulers and withmassive funds from the US. Theseelements were used to try and subvertcommunist rule.

With China turning into a capitalistcountry in the late 1970s the US andthe Dalai Lama somewhat turned downtheir rhetoric. But the tempo has onceagain increased due to the growingcontention worldwide amongst theimperialist powers for the shrinkingmarkets. With China sweeping themarkets all over the world the US, whichis in a severe economic crisis,is aggressively pushing to contain thisgrowth. So, since the last year theUS has once again been activelypromoting this feudal stooge, theDalai Lama; with the Western countriesgoing out of their way to felicitate him.First it was the German Chancellor,and then it was the very President ofthe US, with Hollywood stars actingas their drum-beaters. Now in themidst of the Tibetan crisis the USSpeaker of the House of Representatives(the third most powerful person in the

US, after the President and vice-president) flew to India and met the DalaiLama in his headquarters atDharmasala on March 21, and followedit up that meeting with meetings withthe Prime Minster to push the USagenda in Tibet. Also the British PrimeMinister stated that he will be meetingthe Dalai Lama in May. These protestshave come on the eve of the BeijingOlympics which the Chinese bourgeoisieplans as a major marketing enterprise,and US Hollywood stars now calling fora boycott of the Olympics.

India has always been the hotbed ofthe Tibetan conspiracies, withDharamsala swarming with hundreds offoreign-funded NGOs. They havepromoted the Dalai Lama and pamperedthe large Tibetan community. Even inthe present unrest, an All Party IndianParliamentary forum on Tibet, involvingall parties except the parliamentary‘communists’ condemned the Chinese.The Indian media is actively promotingthe anti-Chinese view-point, but thegovernment is not taking an overtlyaggressive posture as today China isIndia’s largest trading partner (having justsurpassed the US), with powerful lobbiestied up in business relations with theChinese capitalists. The parliamentarycommunists on the other hand are usingthe condemnation of the Tibet’s rightsto self-determination to condemn themovements Nagas, Kashmiris,Manipris, Assamese, etc.

While strongly condemning thebrutal suppression by the Chineseauthorities and fully supporting theTibetan people’s right to self-determination, the people of India muststrongly oppose US/Indian governments’meddling in the affairs of Tibet. The Indiansoil should not be allowed to be usedby the US for their geo-political gamesworldwide and in S.E. Asia. The DalaiLama and other such US puppetsshould be kicked out of the country andall the special privileges provided to himimmediately stopped. The people ofTibet, like that of any other nationality,have the right to determine their ownfuture.


This is the worst of times for thecommon Maharashtrians while

supposedly the best of times for theharangues bandying crass parochialism,victimizing non-Maharshtrians for thepiling-up ills in that state. Raj Thackerayand his party Maharastra NavaNirmanSena’s goons, have gone berserk since 4th

February 2008, attacking and uprootingpeople of Bihar and UP with slogans ofprovincialism and incendiary provocationwhich unmistakenly recalls the belligerentreligio-parochial legacy of Fascist BalThackeray. The exodus of thousands ofpeople of Bihar and UP, mostly unskilledworkers, working for industrial units andconstruction companies, drivers, hawkers,etc. for fear of safety from attacks by theMNS rowdies, leaving behind their hardearned small properties and everything is ahorrible sign of fear created by extremeparochialism in Maharashtra. Notable is itthat the terrorized who continue their trudgein railway stations find no help from thegovernment.

For years now farmers’ suicides,crippling power crisis, massive inroads ofmulti-national and Indian corporate housesthere to loot to reap. super profits,mounting public indebtedness,privatization of air ports, others stateowned organizations and all such problemsbasically emanating from the march ofimperialist globalization are now beingcalculatedly hushed up by those self-proclaimed protectors of the ‘sons of thesoil’ of Maharashtra.

In the late 1960s, Bal Thackeray cameinto political reckoning raising suchparochialism of hatred laced with Hinducommunal poison, particularly targetingthe people of south of the Vindhayas. He isnow past his hey days with dwindlingsupport base and electoral reverses alongwith the Shiv Sena ally the BJP. RajThackery, his nephew, has been emulatinghis notorious uncle for a re-run of the 1969killings and tirade against non-Maharashtrians. The split in the Shiv Senaand the formation of the MNS on January6, 2007 over the leadership problem in thecontext of narrowing down of the supportbase do not alter the situation. At the launchof the MNS, Raj spoke of farmers’ right toelectricity, unemployment problem,

BEAT BACK SENA BARBARITIES IN MAHARASHTRA!women’s safety, etc. as a political gimmick.The sole aim and objective of Raj was togive a boost to the flagging Shiv Senapolitics of Maratha jingoism which wasseen when Raj himself led the Sena gangsto attack North Indian examinees taking theRailway Recruitment Board’s exam in 2003.His current salvo against non-Maharastrians with an eye to the nextelections started on full steam withdisparaging comments of North Indianmores and norms on 4th Feb. 2008, to fanprovincial flames. Loathsome commentswere made on the actor Amitab Bachhansettled in Mumbai. Then came attacks bythe MNS on North Indian workers, threatsto stop chhat puja of Bihari settlers,vandalism on a wide scale and killing of aHAL worker. The state sponsored dramaof Raj’s arrest and immediate release on 13February led to large-scale violence andburning of a bus, grievously injuring 58passengers on board in Nasik.

While Raj is determined to steal thethunder from the weakened Shiv Sena, BalThackeray now speaks of ‘RashtraDharma’, Shivaji’s taking help from theMuslim Pathans against the Mughal, etc.for a wider base beyond Maharashtra whilesimultaneously presenting the Shiv Senawhich “took to the streets of Mumbai in1992-93 religious riots to protect Hindus”as “protector of Mumbai and its Hindupopulation.” This is nothing but givinghimself a pat on the back to prove ShivSena’s communal plus parochialcredentials. Raj Thackerary’s politics is nodifferent from this fanaticism, and itspresent barbarities are simply diversionarytactics that imperialism, MNCs and otherenemies of Maharastra support and providefunds for. The Congress-National CongressParty combine government there hasalready shown its back on the SrikrishnaCommission recommendations andabandoned re-opening criminal casesagainst the Shiv Sena and its gangs for the1992-93 riots. This clearly shows that theruling class parties etc have no qualms incolluding with communalist and rabidparochial forces.

Raj Thackeray says not a word againstthe US company, Monsanto, that wasinstrumental in the death of hundreds offarmers of Vidarbha, by pushing the

ineffective Monsanto seed, but waxeseloquent about the jobs of Maharashtrians.His cousin, Uddhav, says workers involvedin the ‘modernisation’ of the Mumbaiairport must be Maharastrians,conveniently forgets that themodernization work has been sold to aSouth African company. On this both aresilent. They are also silent on the fact thatthis company hires contract labour at a mereRs.75-100 per day. Are these the ‘jobs’ thecousins want reserved for Maharashtrains?

The Chief Minister VilasraoDeshmukh’s criminal indifference to theunbridled vandalism and parochial rantingsof the MNS followers led by Raj Thacherayis in sharp contrast to the iron-fisted policyof the same government for brutally puttingdown the Maoists in the state. The ATSMumbai, the sophisticated police force, wellknown as a rabid anti-Muslim force, isstationed in Mumbai. Yet the stategovernment allowed the Sena stormtroopers a free hand to engineer a dividebetween the people on provincial lines.This is not surprising as it was the Congressitself that was instrumental in the formationof the Sena in the 1960s; and today it is thesame Congress that seeks to utilize the Rajfaction to push down the Sena in itselectoral battles.

The politics of sinister parochialism thatdestroy basically the common people andallow the actual looters of the soil to lootthe people, resources and nature must beseriously condemned. The cause of thegrowing unemployment and horrifyingcrisis of the Mahrashtrian peasantry is dueto the imperialist-dictated policies of thegovernment and ruling classes and not dueto the presence of north Indians. Similar isthe reason for Biharis to flock to the state,due to the lack of development there.Ofcourse, the Shiv Sena or the MNS onlysee the poor Biharis as targets and not themoneyed non-Mahrashtrians like Ambani,who inn fact fund the SS and MNS heavily.The people should not get duped by theantics of the NMS but identify the realenemy, while nurturing tolerance andinteractions between different religious andregional communities. Let all the people,irrespective of living in any state, of anyreligion, etc. come together and resist theThackerary-like forces in India to stop suchcriminal acts.


There was much applause for theUnion Finance Minister,

P. Chidambaram, when he presented theUnion budget for 2008-09, the fifth and thefinal budget of the UPA government beforethe next general elections. In particular,there was a lot of noise about the completewaiver of all farm loans amounting to some60,000 crores of rupees. Apart from thisbeing an electoral gimmick, this one timerelief ignores the root cause of agrariancrisis, nor does it ensure that futureindebtedness will not occur. Also it doesnot address nearly half the farmers whohave taken loans from the moneylenders.Similarly, it ignores the vast majority ofIndian workers who come under thecategory of unorganized or informalworkers. The universe of such workersconstitutes nearly 92 percent of ourworkforce. According to the NCEUS report,these workers virtually overlap with77 percent of India’s population, whoseper capita daily consumption is less thantwenty rupees!

Today, whatever employment is beinggenerated is mostly of the informal nature.The informal workers are those who eitherwork in the unorganized enterprises orhouses and those in the formal sector butwithout any employment and socialsecurity benefits provided by theemployers. There has been some increasein the rate of growth of employment from1999-2000 to 2004-05 (as compared to 1999-2000 to 1993-94) but the additionalemployment has been entirely informal.What this means is that the entire increasein employment generated by the growingeconomy has been without any job orsocial security.

The agricultural sector consists ofalmost entirely the unorganized workers.Even in the non-agricultural sector, nearly72 percent of the workers are in theunorganized sector and their proportionhas been increasing over the years. Theworkers are either self-employed or work

EUPHORIA AND THE STARK REALITYSahail

National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS) was formed in 2004 under the chairmanship ofArjun Sen Gupta. In 2007, it brought out a report titled ‘Report on conditions of work and promotion of livelihoods in theunorganized sector’. Based on the data from the 61st round of National Sample Survey (2004-’05), the report discusses thecondition of approximately 92 percent of India’s workforce. Based on this report, we will discuss the condition of so called ‘self-employed’ workers and the women workers who come under the category of informal workers. An informal worker essentiallyrefers to those who do not have any work security, employment security or social security.

for wages but the work is not regular andthe wages are extremely low. The informalworkers are untouched by the increasingeuphoria of a rapidly growing economy.Their conditions of work are utterlydeplorable and opportunities to earn alivelihood few and far between. The starkreality of their lives stands in sharpcontrast to the dizzying rates of growth ofthe economy.

Self- employed workersEven outside the agricultural sector,

Indian economy is dominated by what iscalled the ‘self-employed’. More than halfof the workers (56.5 percent) are self-employed. Amongst them, most are thosewho work on their own, using their labourpower and working for long hours to ekeout a living. Then there are those who arecategorised as ‘unpaid family worker’ i.e.they contribute to the family income butdo not get an independent remuneration.The last category amongst the self-employed, work as ‘employers’ i.e. they hireat least one wage worker but less than tentotal workers. All those who work out oftheir homes are also included amongst theself-employed. Self-employment ispredominant in activities like foodprocessing, handloom weaving, streetvendors and rickshaw-pullers.

A vast majority of these workers havevery few assets and their annual incomesare lower than even a notional minimumcalculated by the NCEUS. Nearly two-fifthsof the enterprises run by the self-employedhave average value of fixed assets less thanRs. 5000. Rural enterprises are even smaller.NCEUS has estimated an annual notionalfloor level minimum income of Rs. 13,523(Rs. 37 per day) required to sustain. In theunorganized non-agricultural sector, morethan half (57 %) of the enterprises in therural areas and almost one-third (30 %) inthe urban areas provided incomes perworker lower than even this minimum!Incidentally, this minimum is a far cry from

life with dignity.As most of the enterprises run by the

self-employed are extremely small in size,they are in no situation to compete withlarger, organized enterprises. Their abilityto access credit is also severely limited asmost of them are unregistered. Nearly 64percent of these enterprises (own accountenterprises) reported stagnation. And thisonly includes those which came under theNCEUS purview.

For many of the self-employed workers,their home doubles up as the work place.Thus they often become invisible and inthe case of women workers, working fromhome adds to the already existing burdenof housework. This is nothing but theputting-out system, under which, the homeworkers often have to purchase, repair, andmaintain their own tools or machines, bearthe cost of some inputs (e.g. The garmentworkers often have to buy their ownthread), bear the transportation costs andinfrastructure costs. The multinationalmanufacturing or retail giants often ‘put-out’ the labour-intensive work to such homebased workers and thus save on variety ofcosts and increase the margins of profitsand exploitation. Among the nearly 22million manufacturing sector workers,about 32 percent are home based workers.The proportion is much higher amongst thewomen manufacturing workers and nearlyhalf are home workers. In some cases theycan be completely independent and are ina ‘business arrangement’ where productionis contracted out without providing raw-materials. However, a very large majority ofthese workers (70 %) are in the mostdependent of relationships where rawmaterial is provided by the owner and thelabourer getting inhuman rates. Mostly itnot even sufficient to survive.

The plight of these workers can bebetter understood with some illustrations:

Handloom weavers: Handloomweaving of cloth is still the main source oflivelihood for over 2.5 million families


(1995-96 census) in the country. Thisoccupation is the lowest in the hierarchyof technologies of textile manufacturing.The artisan community dependent on thisis by and large poor. Over the last decadethe weavers have become highlydependent on traders and co-operativesocieties for meeting their raw materialdemand and marketing their products, whovery often exploit them. There are noprovisions to access loans from the banksleading to indebtedness. With the initiationof reforms, their situation worsened as theState gradually withdrew support, thenumber of items reserved for the handloomsector was curtailed and special schemesfor the production and procurement ofcheaper cloth was dissolved in 1996. Taxconcessions were also withdrawn and withthe focus on exports, cotton and yarnfound a place in the export market leadingto higher input costs for the handloomsector. The reforms of 1985 and 1996 led toa crisis of survival of the handloom workersand their families. The advent of powerlooms accelerated the process of declinefor the handloom weavers.

In Uttar Pradesh, the average annualincome received per weaver was merelyRs. 26000-35000 i.e. between two to threethousand per month. The situation in Biharwas worse.

Approximately 63 percent of theworkers live below the official poverty lineestimates. The deteriorating situation ledto suicides in Tamil Nadu and AndhraPradesh especially by the unorganizedworkers. The better organized handloomworkers in many parts of Tamil Naduorganized large protests.

Street Vendors: This is perhaps one ofthe most visible forms of self-employmentin the urban areas. In most parts of thecountry, scheduled castes and otherbackward castes dominate the trade.However vendors and hawkers areconsidered an eyesore by the governmentas well as the urban elite. The daily life ofthe vendors is an endless story ofharassment by the traffic police and theMunicipal Corporation, under whosepurview they come. Under the Left Frontrule of the CPI (M), in Calcutta, MunicipalAct prevents any type of street vendingand the punishment is rigorousimprisonment for up to three months or afine of Rs. 250. In February 2007, Supreme

Court gave a verdict which bans cookingon the streets of Delhi and the sale ofelectronic goods by the hawkers. Now agovernment license will have to beprocured for squatting and hawking-afterpaying an application fee of Rs.1000 inorder to apply for the same. Even then,the allotment of space would be temporary.The story is the same for other citiessuch as Mumbai, Bangalore, Patna,Bhubaneshwar or Ahmedabad. It isindeed ironical that ‘license free raj’ is whatis being created for the big conglomeratesand industrial houses while the poorpeople have to take ‘permission’ to eveneke out a living!

Rickshaw Pullers: This is perhaps oneof the most neglected sections of what iseuphemistically termed the self employedworkers. They are generally migrants drivenout of their villages due to abject povertyor lack of employment. Apart from the factthat the work is literally back breaking, theyare not even considered a part of thetransport system. Their earnings aremeager in most cities and a large part of it isused up for paying the rickshaws’ hiringcharges. The living conditions aredeplorable and there is absolutely nosecurity of work or social security.

Home workers and womenworkers

A large number of activities in theunorganized sector are carried out from thehomes of the workers. These includehandlooms, beedi making, agarbatimaking, sticking bindis etc. In otherindustries like garments, a large part of theproduction is outsourced to these workers.A large part of unorganized women workersand children are involved in this kind ofwork. These workers are less likely to beorganized and hence have very littlebargaining power vis-à-vis their employers.There is evidence to show that ban on childlabour in hazardous industries has simplyresulted in shifting of the work fromindustrial sheds to homes.

Home workers are the last link in thelong chain of imperialist exploitation. Forexample, in the garment industry, at theupper extreme are the multinational giantssuch as GAP or Wal-Mart. They operatethrough large export houses that contractout the orders to the contractors who inturn may sub-contract it to the sub-

contractors. They in turn may get the actualwork done by the home based workers. Thehomeworker becomes practically invisibleand has virtually no bargaining power. Astudy has found that for a commodity thatcosts Rs. 100 to a consumer, homeworkersreceived Rs. 15 in zardoshi; Rs. 17 in beedi,and Rs. 2.3 in agarbatti!

These workers earn very little, are paidon piece rate, at very low rates, and areoften dependent on the middlemen for workand wages. According to NCEUS estimates(based on 1999-2000 NSS data), the womenhomeworkers received incomes that wereclose to Rs. 27 a day or way below anyacceptable norm. Even this was true onlyfor the peak season. In the lean season,daily incomes could be as low as Rs. 6 aday or nothing at all since there is noguarantee of work. This miserableremuneration is also delayed or deferredand it is very common for the middlemen towithhold partial payment and even deductwages for ‘rejection’. For example, in beedimaking, two methods are often used toreduce wages, one, while supplying theleaves and tobacco to make 1000 beedis,sufficient amount is not provided so thatthe workers have to purchase the extraamount themselves. A second method ofexploitation is to demand 110 beedis insteadof 100 and then reject 10 beedis on thepretext that they are not of the specifiedsize. Apart from all these, what is often nottaken into account is that the work is beingdone inside the home of the worker, thussaving the contractors and the retailers, theoverhead costs of production. Thus thiskind of employment actually helps toinflate the profit margins of the retailgiants even further.

A vast majority of home workers arewomen. Amongst the unorganized sectorwomen workers, more than half (54 %) workout of their homes. This is taking rural andurban areas together. This proportion hasbeen increasing significantly since 2000. Ina society reeling under patriarchaloppression, women workers already bearthe burden of working outside and lookingafter the household chores. In the case ofhome workers, it tends to become worse inthe sense that their contribution ispractically unnoticed. Home basedproduction work is regarded as an extensionof housework and usually they do not have



The Nandigram struggle has trulyemerged as one of the landmarks

in the long history of democratic strugglesin West Bengal. What started as anopposition movement directed against thestate drive for land acquisition for thesetting up of a Special Economic Zone forthe Indonesian upstart capitalist Salem, i.e.imperialist capital, turned into a massresistance movement of both an armed andunarmed nature. This anti-SEZ struggle, byits very nature, became part and parcel ofthe anti-imperialist struggles that had beenspreading to many parts of our country.The Nandigram struggle began as aspontaneous movement relying solely onthe creativity of the masses and was joinedat a later date by Communist revolutionarieswho fought, as they made it clear in thepress release dated 15-11-07, ‘by the sideof the people as a Communist duty’. Nodoubt, the people of Nandigram learnt fromthe experience of ‘defeat’ in Singur andprepared themselves for the impendingbattle with the WB-government-backedstate machinery and the CPM goons witharms in hand, depending primarily on theirown strength.

The people’s resistance in Nandigramseemed to have turned everything upsidedown. The intellectuals of Bengal had fora long time remained more or less mutespectators to the anti-people policies andrepression pursued by the WB-government, except partially during theperiod of the arrest and torture in policecustody of Prof. Kaushik Ganguli andothers and the unnatural death of AbhijitSinha who was traumatized by the policeafter his arrest. Singur and Nandigramshook them up from their slumber andmotivated them to take to the streets.

Intellectuals, teachers, youth andstudents, artists, theatre personalities,poets, singers and many other peopleorganized demonstrations and demandedthe resignation and the hanging of ‘ButcherBuddha’. Many well-known theatre artistsand intellectuals such as BibhasChakraborty, Bratya Basu, Koushik Sen,Monoj Mitra resigned from the NatyaAcademy. Nabarun Bhattacharya returnedthe Rabindra prize to the West Bengal

INTELLECTUAL RESPONSE TO THE NANDIGRAM MOVEMENTSathi

[ On the occasion of the first anniversary of Nandigram Massacre, we publish below a report on the part played bydemocratic and revolutionary intellectuals in support of the great struggle of the people of Nandigram.]

government and declared that he woulddonate the money to the Nandigram relieffund. Well-known historians Sumit Sarkarand Tonika Sarkar also returned the Rabindraprize and donated the money to the peopleof Nandigram. Kabir Suman, through hispublic speeches and regular programmeson the TV channels assailed the WBgovernment and its chief minister. An Artists’and Intellectuals’ Forum has also beenformed with such eminent people as TarunSanyal, Aparna Sen, Saonli Mitra andothers. The Teachers and Scientists AgainstMal-development(TASAM)—a forum ofteachers and scientists—organisedprocessions and many individual teachers,doctors, little magazines and otherscontributed in their own ways to this battleagainst the SEZ and land acquisition.Students of Jadavpur University,Presidency College, Scottish ChurchCollege, Ashutosh College, BangabasiCollege and many other institutions underthe banner of such forums as ChhatraChhatri Sanhati Mancha, Forum for ArtsStudents, Independent Consolidation—many of which later formed the USDF(UnitedStudents’ Democratic Front)—organiseddemonstrations in their campuses, took tothe streets, marched through the streetsshouting slogans against government-backed CPM barbarity in Nandigram andeven formed street barricades along withteachers.

During the period from January toOctober 2007, they visited Nandigrammany a time with relief materials. Doctorswent to treat the patients, civil rightsbodies, members of the women’sassociations, teachers and scientists,artists, intellectuals, media persons andothers went there to extend their solidarityto the heroic struggles of the people. Whenduring the last phase of the presentstruggle from early November, the wholearea was completely sealed off andencircled by the police and para-militaryforces and the armed CPM hoodlums,intellectuals from all walks of life madeattempts to enter the area but were attackedand prevented by the CPM hoodlumsflaunting CITU and other banners. Thebloodbath of 5-11 November was definitely

more gruesome than that of 14 March withhundreds of people butchered, raped andwounded. In protest, on November 9, apress conference was called by the Artists’and Intellectuals’ Forum where they calledon the people from all walks of life to join amass procession to be held on 14th. Theprocession of 14th November was one ofthe largest ever to take place for a longtime in West Bengal. The total numbercannot be counted. This much can be saidthat when the front part of the processionreached the destination, i.e. Esplanade at2.30 PM after starting at 1.15 Pm fromCollege Square, Kolkata, the tail could notmove an inch. The number could well bearound 1 lakh, if not more. On the way, manyby-standers joined it and, though therewas total dislocation of transport, nobodymade any complaint. Among those whojoined were those who had never joinedany procession earlier, but who joinedbecause there was a genuine feeling thatCPM-led barbarity must be opposed at allcosts. Many film personalities boycottedthe international film festival organized bythe state government. Street cornermeetings had been organized by civil rightsbodies like the APDR, Bandi MuktiCommittee, Sanhati Udyog(aconglomeration of many associations suchas Gana Protirodh Manch, NAPM etc.),women’s organizations, studentorganizations such as USDF, Saha NagarikManch and others. The lawyers of theKolkata High Court boycotted court inprotest against the delay in passing ajudgement on the events of 14th March.Intellectuals have formed a new platformknown as ‘Swajan’(kith and kin) which, asthey declared, would fight for theestablishment of democratic rights. Twoimportant conventions were held, one bythe TASAM and the other jointly by theSanhati Udyog, SEZ-birodhi ProcharUdyog, Nandigram Ganahatya-birodhiProchar Udyog on this issue. A permanentmanch (forum) has been set up in theEsplanade area where everyday peopleassemble in large numbers to listen to thespeeches of a wide range of speakersspeaking on such varied subjects as



police. How not to keep quiet in the face ofsuch atrocities; how to revolt; how can theclasses perpetuating such brutalities andthe army which is safeguarding them bedefeated…this was the ending of the storygiven by that writer.

Another comrade wrote a story titled“Weeds”. It was about how the enemy wasbuilding the informer network, the damagebeing done by the informers to our party,people and the movement, how alert thepeople should be, and how to face all this.If you want a good harvest the weeds haveto be weeded. Unless you weed them it isimpossible for the plants to grow. We allknow these things. But inside themovement, as part of our class there areweeds right in the middle of us. The storyexplains how the informers who are helpingthe enemy have to be isolated and smashedjust like we pull out the weeds. Ourcomrades of Eastern Ghats have writtendozens of such stories and poems andhundreds of songs. But the history fromthat period is very long. So I will mainlyconfine myself to the period after 2001 whenwe started working with the higher aim ofestablishing a base area in the AndhraOrissa Border (AOB) Zone as per thedecision of the 9th Congress[ of the erstwhilePW], and will talk about the literatureproduced and the people’s arts of thisperiod.

Before our comrades started writing, abook was published titled “The Manyam4

Struggles reaching for the Sky” before1988. It was about the developing classstruggle there. After that we were unableto record the history since then on. This isa very serious weakness. When we talk ofliterature there are many writings bycomrades who are sitting here who have alively relation with the movement in the Eastand have written about it. There are alsowritings by comrades who are familiar withthe movement or by comrades who havebeen associated with the movement therefor a brief period. They have written onthings which moved them. But there isweakness from our side in recording all ofthem in various forms. Only by overcomingthis weakness we can do justice to History.Especially there are weaknesses in takingup the task of creative writing according tothe needs of the new tasks after theCongress. The limitations are many. But I

will try to tell you what had been done.Just a few days before our Congress,

the PGA5 was formed. We formed it on thefirst death anniversary of our three martyrCC Comrades6. A people’s army was formedon the soil of India which would fight forthe people. We even took up a campaignwith the call that people should join it inthousands and lakhs. Our comrades wrotesome songs on this occasion. They stagedsome plays too. The plays staged on theanniversary of the PGA on December 2nd

were also similar. They inspired young menand women in a big way. Because theywere till then seeing only one kind of army– the army of the exploiters. Not that theyhave not seen us in the form of squads.They saw the squads and were elated too.But when the plays staged on theseoccasions depicted the fact that we too aregrowing into an army and it will becomethe red army inspired people tremendously.How could we also transform ourselves intoan army? How to build the army in eachvillage by arming ourselves? How the armyin a particular area should be? How to buildan army which fights for all of our oppressedpeople? Our comrades mainly prepared twoskits on these questions and staged themon this occasion. They depicted the marchof the PGA in the villages and showed howthis army would defend the victories wonby the people in villages after struggles.They showed how it would wage a war forpolitical power. They certainly created awonderful impact on the youth. Our armywages a war against the exploiting classes.But it is not sufficient if only this armywages the war. Because we are never tellingthat this is a war waged only by the army. Itis a People’s War. People have to become apart and parcel of it in umpteen number ofways. Coming back to the skit written andstaged by our comrades, there is a pocket(area) called Aviri in Srikakulam Division.This skit was staged before 1500 people inthat division in a meeting. It shows that thepeople should not keep waiting, thinkingthat only the squad would fight the police.It told them how to revolt when the policeraid their villages and commit atrocities orwhen they arrest the sangam leaders orwhen they insult women. It showed the roleof people’s militia in a people’s army andthe role of people in a people’s war. Threemonths after the skit was performed, policeraided the same Aviri village. Forty

policemen came early in the morning,raided the village and caught hold of oursangam leader. There are many villages inthe vicinity. There are about 4 to 5 hamletsthere. Nearly 450 people from those hamletsgathered immediately and stopped thepolice from taking away their leader. In thatmelee some of the policemen were injured.Some people were also injured. But ourpeople did not leave them until the leaderwas freed. The police tried to drag him away.The people chased them. The road thereled to a mandal7 centre. People picked upstones on that road and attacked the policetill about a distance of one kilometer. Finallythe police had to flee by firing their guns,leaving the sangam leader behind. Later,the villagers told our cultural wing, “youknow when you staged that play wethought on that day itself that we shouldnot keep quiet when the enemy dares toenter the village. We will not keep quiet ifany of us are caught. The thought ofresisting them came to us on the day of theplay.”

So all the literature we produce, all theart forms we stage should help to raise theconsciousness of the people, inspire thepeople. We wish for such creativity, to rousethe class hatred among the people andmake them a part of the class war.

The Play is the best form of literature.This is a higher form of literature. We canexpress many of our feelings (concepts)and show many things which we wish toconvey through this form. We can makethe people understand more things eventhrough individual performances. That iswhy, it is very essential that we take theseart forms of plays and skits among thepeople extensively. We can understandtheir importence when we see some of theplays staged by the comrades working inthe literary and cultural fields after realizingthis. It is very necessary that we write playsand skits to raise the consciousness of thepeople according to our tasks and topropagate them extensively. But still thereare weaknesses in doing this. Going intoeach and every incident is also not possiblehere due to time constraints.

One of our comrades recently wrote astory titled “Red power established in theEastern Ghats”. A RPC8 was formed in apocket. The RPC is an organ of people’spower. An organization of people’s power.How to safeguard it from the various enemy



classes? The subject of the story is to raisethe consciousness in this matter. We arebuilding the people’s militia in the areas.The people’s militia squad in that pocketand the women’s organization leaderconducted an ambush together. How didthey do it? They took the two mines and

wires given by the squad a few days earlierand went to work in the fields. An oldwoman came from the weekly market andtold her grandson who is ploughing thefield that the “police are coming this way”and that they should be careful and keepsinging songs. He immediately took the

flash (used as the igniter for detonatingexplosive devises by the people’s forces)and took the women’s organization leaderwho happens to be his sister by bloodrelation also along with him. They sat inambush and blasted the mine when thepolice arrived. One SSF constable was killed

A Warier In the Cultural Field Too

Readers are familiar with the life history of the legendary leader of the CPI (Maoist) -Martyr Comrade Vadkapur Chandramouli,popularly known as BK (Balakrishna) among the cadres. Here I am trying to focus on the little known aspect of this great leader ofthe masses – his literary talents and his enormous interest in developing revolutionary literature and culture. As comrade Mao hassaid Com. BK believed that all art and literature should be for the masses and that they should serve the revolution.

After he was shifted to the Eastern Ghats from Karimnagar district, he got the news that comrade Sayini Prabhakar, the secretaryof the Karimnagar district party committee, who guided him in the beginning days of his revolutionary career was martyred. He wasvery upset and cried too. Later he wrote a song on him. That was the first piece he wrote and since then he had written many poems,songs, stories, satire etc on a variety of subjects with the common thread of serving the people and the revolution. Just as hestressed on the widest possible involvement of the masses in the People’s War, in his literature too his emphasis was on the peopleand their problems and the solutions revolution could offer to them. Many were his poems and songs on martyrs including one onCom. Mahesh (CCM). He became a prolific and popular writer, writing under many pen-names as Toorpu, Manyam and Vanavasi etc.His writings were published in Turpu Kanuma, Jhankar and Poru Mahila (the literary – cultural magazine of AOB, the literary –cultural magazine of DK and the Telugu edition of the DK Adivasi Women’s Organisation’s magazine, respectively) though very fewknew that this writer was none other than comrade BK. He always felt that we are not recording our history sufficiently either inliterary form or as such. He always urged comrades who could write to do so and he himself wrote prolifically, though hard pressedfor time because of his organizational and military responsibilities. He wrote on the history of the Eastern Ghats movement (1980-2005) and this was published in 2005 which remains as a very valuable contribution to the history of the revolutionary movement inIndia. He was always known for encouraging women comrades especially in the military field and his article on the participation ofwomen comrades in the Koraput raid bears testimony to this. The song and poem he wrote on martyr Kadari Ramulu who wasmartyred in October 2006 were his last literary contributions.

The one outstanding quality which anybody who has met Com. BK even once would notice is his humility in spite of hisspectacular achievements in every field he touched. Another quality we comrades who were close enough to discuss his literarytalents have observed is his shyness to discuss about it. (His handwriting had almost become illegible after he was effected by thespondilitis problem and so he had to take help of some of us who could ‘read’ it to ‘fair copy’ his writings. And, by the way, that washow we came to know he wrote ‘those’ pieces, otherwise he did not by himself disclose it so easily). One of the reasons was healways thought he should have written better and felt inadequate and he was forever eager to learn and improve. But we on our sideused to be amazed how he could write so fast and so well given his busy schedule.

The volume of his writings will be enough to fill a book. Midko11 wrote how he found time to write a song and poem on KadariRamulu even while they had to shift the venue of the AOB Zonal conference (meaning traveling a lot too) amidst heavy combingnot to mention the mental burden of reviewing the movement and solving its problems theoretically. He used to feel very shy to singthough he had a melodious voice and many times we used to see his flushed face after singing before an almost ‘private’ audience,a boyish smile adorning it. The way Com. BK preserved these child-like qualities in him and his humility in spite of being such alegendary leader had never ceased endearing him to all of us.

Com. BK was terribly moved when an adivasi peasant was burnt alive when the police burnt their houses and wrote a story onthe police brutalities. DSP Potha Reddy had led that attack. Later Com.BK was the one who had planned the annihilation of thismurderer. Com. Aman12 wrote, “It is not coincidental that Com. BK who had written on the brutal murder of adivasi the peasantshould also be the one who had drawn the military plan for the annihilation of Potha Reddy who perpetuated that brutality”.These two aspects have always been inseparable and had continued together throughout his revolutionary life till the end.

He was a motive force behind the literary and cultural magazine “Turpu Kanuma” (Eastern Ghats) of AOB. Many were hisvaluable but unrecorded contributions to the development of the cultural movement in AOB and AP which include valuablesuggestions on form, content and on choosing subjects, giving direction, etc.

Com. BK mingled excellently with the cadres and he always used his closeness with them to inspire them to bring their literary/cultural talents to the fore too. Not least was the way he tried to take the experiences of one area to another area in all fields includingthe literary and cultural fields to the cadres using his keen observations from his extensive travel to all struggle zones. The cadresloved him immensely for this. The above transcribed speech is just one more example of this sharing.

— Nallakka


and another was injured. The story is onthis incident. This explains how the peopleare daring to safeguard their political powerand how they are confronting the police. Itsays that people are our real bastions andends with the note that they will ultimatelyestablish their political power once theybecome determined.

The government is trying to get thecomrades working in the sangams andsquads to surrender by taking upprogrammes under various garbs. Thepolice started a program named‘counseling’. Our comrades gaveinterviews to the press opposing it. Thedivision committee sent a letter to thecadres in the squads to defeat the enemytactics just as they were exposing it amongthe people. Later some 10 to 15 comradeswere brought together and an interviewwith the press persons was arranged. Inthat same year, a play was enacted beforethe press persons. The play’s purpose wasto show how determined the cadresparticipating in people’s war were and howvarious enemy policies like counseling willhave to be defeated and how they woulddefeat it. Many journalists wrote in thepapers about it and it had a very goodimpact. We have taken up the anti-patriarchy campaign. During this campaignalso a play of forty minutes was written onhow patriarchy was oppressing the womenand a video was shot too. What were theproblems faced by women in the primitivesociety, slavery, feudalism and capitalism... how it gets reflected in the four stages –all of that was staged with appropriatecostumes and was shot on a video. Whenmeetings were conducted as part of thecampaign, this was also shown in thevillages. This had a great impact on thepeople. Especially the women organizationmembers talked on many occasions givinga glimpse of their individuality. In thatinstance also they talked. So when the partytakes up a task and when we go to implementit, arts and literature play an important rolefor its realisation. Through them we takethe tasks into the people, raise theirconsciousness and organize them, developthem in fulfilling the strategic tasks. Artand literature is an important tool for this.In various instances we have to realize theirprominence and utilize them accordingly.

We carried out the Koraput raid. Theruling classes were very much alarmed by

it. As much as it had terrified them it hadinspired the people. There is a higherofficial called M.K.Narayanan. He wrote abook saying “Koraput is a black day inIndian history”. He meant that such thingsshould not be repeated. Because as weknow, it may be for 6 hours in one place, 12hours in another or 48 hours of our wholeretreat that whole place became void ofenemy’s power, his strength wascompletely dissapiated. To that extent it wasthe upper hand of our military forces. It wasthere for at least a few hours. A womancomrade wrote a story on this aspect. Itwas written beautifully giving a messagethat red power should be built up in villagesand also in the district headquarters. Threestories were written on this raid. A comradefrom the cultural front wrote a song also onthe raid. The Kuvi (adivasi) people have anart form which is performed duringmarriages. They sit on two raised platforms,the groom’s people on one and the bride’speople on the other. They sing songsasking questions (like an argument). So thiscomrade wrote a song using local tunes inthis form on the Koraput raid. When it wastaken to the people they hugged it withenthusiasm. In this manner our comradeshave written many songs, stories andpoems. When songs were recordedaccording to the occasion and taken to thepeople as part of propaganda work, as acampaign we found that the people ownedthem up. So we can say we had succeededto some extent in this. But on the wholewhen we see, there are some lacunas inproducing literature, where we address thelimitations in involving more people in ourmovement. We are still lacking indeveloping art forms. By realizing theseshortcomings we can develop the literaryand cultural movements in a better manner.

Our comrades are writing songs. Inthose, songs on martyrs form the main bulk.They are necessary. We have to definitelywrite about why they had given their livesand what their aims and dreams were. Wehave to propagate them. But even in thosesongs we have to explain about our aims,the aims they had fought for. Moreimportant for us than the details aboutwhere they were born, their academicqualifications and how they were broughtup, is for whom they had worked, for whomthey laid down their lives, for whom theysacrificed their everything. Even while

describing their lives we have to giveimportance to this aspect in the songs onmartyrs. There is a need to write on a largescale on these aspects. Apart from this,umpteen number of people’s issues arecoming up. Some are slipping away evenbefore we could take them up. We arefailing to build up movements on them.Similarly since we want to revolutionarilydeal with people’s problems we have to takenote of each and every problem of thepeople and try to solve them. We still havemany shortcomings in doing this. So whilewriting songs we have to develop ourcomrades to do this task. How torevolutionize the people on their problems,how to develop the people’s struggles intomilitant people’s movements instead oflimiting them to rallies, how to make thepeople part of the class war…we are stilllagging behind in writing songs on theseaspects. We have to appreciate the effortsmade by comrades to write songs. At thesame time we have to realize the aspectswe are not writing, we are not able to coverand try to overcome that shortcoming. Thisshortcoming is present more in the matterof songs.

Language is part of our culture. Whenthere were discussions even in our partyand army that one language is superior andanother is not or by taking intoconsideration such discussions among thepeople, our comrades wrote a song in localtune with the purpose of propagating it onthe ‘Bhasha Diwas’.(Language Day).There are many adivasi tribes in the EasternGhats. Each tribe has its own language. Soeach tribe thinks its language is superior.So the song describes how they have aright to their language, how they respecttheir languages, how to sustain (safeguard)the expressions of their language etc. Thishad a stupendous impact. People shouldnot think Telugu language is superior, Kuviis inferior or that some language is superiorand another inferior. They should not lookdown on any language. The song explainedhow we should respect all the languagesof the people. It had a great impact.

So, on the whole we have to see thatsong is a very powerful art form. You knowwhat our JNM9 comrades say regardingsongs. They say it charges into the peoplelike a bullet fired. It is true. So song writinghas to be developed more in the manner weare aspiring now. Art and literature have to


develop according to the needs of therevolution. Otherwise, to that extent therevolutionary movement will continue withthat shortcoming or lacuna. In thedevelopment of the Dandakaranyamovement literary experiences or thedevelopment of the cultural movement hereyou have developed yourself a lot andinvolved people on a widescale. TheCNM10 has been developed into a massorganization and you are involving themasses in it. This is very important. It isvery much necessary to take theseexperiences to the Eastern Ghats. Recentlya workshop was also conducted inDandakaranya summarizing the efforts toproduce literature and the development inthe cultural front in this movement.Recently they had placed before us thegood experiences they got in the workshopconducted on the concerned issues in theNorth Sub-Zone (of DK). So when amovement learns from the developed ordeveloping things of another movementwe can progress many times more. So I wish

to take as a message to the Eastern Ghats,whatever I have learnt and realized fromthe Dandakaranya movement about thedevelopment of the cultural movement andthe development of literature with the aimof establishing base areas. So I am talkingwith the realization that the significance oflearning things from here than speaking onour experiences there is important and Itake leave from you with this end note.Red Salutes to all of youBK

NOTES:1. Dandakaranya Special Zone2. Peasant mass organization3. Martyr of Srikakulam movement who

wielded pen and gun with equal dexterityand was a cultural artiste too.

4. Eastern Ghats movement Agencyarea.

5. People’s Guerilla Army – the name ofthe army formed by CPI (ML)(People’s War) before its merger with MCCIinto CPI (Maoist).

6. Comrades Shyam, Mahesh andMurali were killed in a fake encounter onDecember 2, 1999.

7. A district is divided into mandals foradministrative purposes

8. Revolutionary People’s Committee9.Jana Natya Mandali – the

Revolutionary Cultural Organization of APand AOB

10.Chetana Natya Manch – theRevolutionary Cultural Oraganization ofDandakaranya

11. An underground woman writer. Shewrote her reminiscences about Com. BKrelated to his literary and cultural talents inthe October 2007 issue of Jhankar. Com.Varavara Rao in Aruna Tara (organ ofRevolutionary Writers’ Association) alsowrote about Com. BK’s literary and culturaltalents describing him as the motive forcebehind Turpu Kanuma .

12. Com. Aman, another undergroundwriter, in the same issue. He described BKin one word as a person of multi-facetedtalents.

On Feb.15th a reported 500 Maoistslaid siege to the main stockpiles

of armamentsin the distrct head-quarterstown of Nayagarh. Nayagarh is 85 kms fromBhubaneshwar and the simultaneousattacks were spread over about 75 kms inthe districts of Nayagarh, Ganjam, Gajapati,Rayagada and Kandhamal. In the ensuinggun battle 13 police and two others werekilled and nine injured. The targets ofattacks in Nayagarh included the Armoury,the Town police station, the Police TrainingSchool at Nayagarh, the Police Station atDaspalla and the outpost at Galeri.

The Naxalites faced no losses duringthe precision attack and throughout theentire operation ,spoke on loudspeakers tothe people to remain calm as none wouldget hurt. They explained the purpose of theattack was to seize the arms of thegovernment in order to fight for the poor.The town people welcomed the attack andeven joined in to give slogans along with

SEIZURE OF ARMS AT NAYAGARHthe Maoists. After the attack it is reportedthat the Maoists calmly had a full meal inrestorants and paid the bills. The policepersonnel killed (6 in the armoury, 3 in thePTS, 2 in the Town Police Station, 3 at theMahipur outpost, and 2 others) were onlythose who tried to resist.

The Maoists seized about 600 automaticweapons and huge quantities ofammunition. They then retreated. It wasabout 15 hours when the first governmentforce came as sought to counter theMaoists. Massive forces were broughtand helicopters were pressed into service.With this, the media went on a high profilepropaganda saying they had killed 20Maoists, recaptured most of the arms (firstthey said 20% and finally went up to 80%).But with all the forces they brought theywere not able to recover a single arm andonly got what the Maoists themselvesdestroyed — the more simple arms. In allthree comrades were martyred and one

woman comrade was martyred while tryingto retrieve the body of another comrade.

The media also propagated horrorstories of the Maoist, having mutilated vitalorganis of those killed. And they resortedto the most gutter forms of journalism tocover up their lapses.

Meanwhile the para-military forceswhich planned to bomb the fleeing Maoistswere affected by a directive by the NHRCprohibiting aerial bombing. Yet tribals in andaround Gasma village fled their villagesfearing full-scale war and harassment.

The question that arises is that why wassuch a huge quantities of arms stanchedaway in this small town. No doubt with themassive planned loot of Orissa’s mineralwealth (iron ore, bauxite, etc) thegovernment is sending in huge forces tocrush by brute force any resistance of thelocal people. But the people, led by theMaoists have turned their own guns on tothem.

chemical hubs, SEZs, how the presentindustrialization policy would serve theforeign imperialists and is basically anti-people as also on the alternative model ofdevelopment, why it is absolutely essentialfor us to oppose the land grab policy

pursued by the Indian state at the dictatesof their imperialist masters and to pursue apolicy of self-reliance by opposing the bigIndian big comprador bourgeoisie and theCPM who has become one of the mosttrusted agents of US imperialism. Sometalked about electoral change to dethrone

the CPM from power because, as some ofthem said, the situation today is like thesituation during the time of emergencywhen all the forces united to defeat IndiraCongress in the election of 1977. Ofcourseno change an come through the ballot box;past history is proof.



Revolutionary greetings to theCultural Forum, the convener of

this meeting and to all the comrades whoare attending this.

Comrades asked me to speak on theefforts of our party and our cultural activistsin developing revolutionary literature andart in the Eastern Ghats. I really felt thiswas a big responsibility as the EasternGhats revolutionary movement has ahistory of three decades. During this longperiod, this is a history where ourrevolutionary literature and revolutionaryart got entwined inseparably anddeveloped together. I am not the one whois fully equipped to tell all that. It is difficultto do justice to that too. That’s why Ithought I will speak on some points at leastand prepared myself for it.

There are many comrades in the EasternGhats now who are building the movement,wielding the gun in one hand and a pen inthe other. Like what our comrade Narmadahad just mentioned, they wrote literatureand raised the consciousness of the peopleand developed the movement at variouslevels. From the early days of the birth ofthe revolutionary movement to this day,many comrades right from the sangam2leaders at the village level to the leadershipcomrades at the Zonal level, after this areadeveloped into a Zone, have been part ofthe creative effort of writing literature andhave been playing an active role in thecultural front. Many of them becamemartyrs too. Right from a sangam2 leader,comrade Subba Rao, to the SZC memberComrade Koumudi, there were many martyrcomrades who had put in lot of efforts increating and developing revolutionaryliterature. The literature produced by thesecomrades is very valuable.

There are many comrades there, whoare carrying on the legacy of Subba RaoPanigrahi3, who created revolutionaryliterature of immense value and developedrevolutionary culture to a new high duringthe Srikakulam revolutionary struggle.While fully committed to the theory thatby intensifying the People’s war theexploiting classes have to be overthrownand that the exploited should gain power

SPEECH ON REVOLUTIONARY LITERATURE OF THE EASTERN GHATS AREA, GIVEN

BY COMRADE. BK AT A MEETING HELD IN DKSZ1

(This article appeared in the October 2007 issue of Jhankar in Telugu)

by force and believing in this on the onehand and on the other hand to organize thevast masses and to raise theirconsciousness, these martyrs had createdliterature which inspired the toiling massesto fight for political power. There wasComrade Bhumanna, a martyr in theSrikakulam revolutionary movement whowrote revolutionary poems and songs andthere were martyr comrades like ChittiPrasad, Tirupati Patnaik, Master, Koumudi,Janardhan from the Eastern Ghats. Amongthe revolutionary cultural women artiststhere were Comrades Girija, Aruna, Sandhyaand many others who were working in thecultural field and became martyrs. I offermy red salutes, hailing these martyrs andcherishing their memories alive in my heartI would like to say some words on how therevolutionary literature was created thereand about the content of that literature.

All of us know that it is impossible totalk about literature without re-calling thegreat contributions of these martyredcomrades. All this literature and art is aproduct of the society. It is from the societythat art and literature in various forms aredeveloped. This society is full of diversity.We are observing that this societytransforms and develops itselfcontinuously. Likewise, according to thechanges in society, there will definitely bechanges in literature too. Likewise art formsalso develop and they spread out too.When we see from this angle society in theEastern Ghats is not dissimilar to today’ssociety. But there are some remnants ofprimitive society also.

As much as the society changes due tothe conflict or a fierce war between twoclasses, art and literature too developaccordingly.

In these 25 years there have been manychanges in the Eastern Ghat, socially. Thesechanges are not the handiwork of oneclass. The exploiting class is carrying onits exploitation in various forms andoppressing the people in various forms.

The phenomena of the exploited raisingtheir consciousness, intensifying the classstruggle and its development into a severeand harsh class war are very important. We

have to look at this class conflict in theEastern Ghats in view of the changes thatwe think would come about as a result ofthe struggle between two classes.

I think it would be good to talk aboutthe literature created in that movement inthis background.

The class enemies have unleashedsevere attacks on us after we started theclass struggle in that area. The state whichsafeguards the ruling classes also pitchedin and continued the cruel repression.During 1985-87 the police brutally repressedour revolutionary masses. The people alsorevolted in this situation.

Destruction of people’s properties,razing down their houses, raping women…thus repression was carried on in many moreforms to suppress the struggling masses.Our comrades produced literature duringthis period too. Tatapudi Siva Rao wrote apoem on these times of repression. Itreflected the situation of the movementthen. “How can you tremble like a bladeof grass in this gentle breeze or mildshowers, comrade? We have to face astorm; we will have to swim against themighty ocean”. Really, they were very hardtimes. It was a trying period when ourrevolutionary movement was facingcounter revolutionary attacks. Ourcomrades wrote poetry in relation to themovement.

In that same period a story was writtentitled “The agony of Mother Forest”. It wasabout an Adivasi peasant named SeendiraGansi who lost his life due to policebrutality. The agony of the Adivasipeasantry was expressed in that story. Thepolice razed to ground a village calledPorumamidi. Many livestock were burntalive. A peasant named Seendira Gansi wentinto the burning house to recover themoney which he had hidden in the hollowof a bamboo, for the sake of his daughter’smarriage. The police blocked the doorwayand threatened that they will kill him if hecomes out. He could neither come out norstay inside and was burnt to death. Theoutside world doesn’t know the kind ofbrutalities which were committed by the


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