Volume 45 No. 16 Organ of the SOCIALIST UNITY CENTRE OF INDIA (COMMUNIST) April 1, 2012 Founder Editor-in-Chief : COMRADE SHIBDAS GHOSH Price : Rs. 3.00 RED SALUTE COMRADE KALYAN CHOWDHURY Comrade Kalyan Chowdhury, Member, Central Committee and Secretary, Assam State Committee, SUCI (C) breathed his last on 30 March, 2012 at 13.05 hours at the Calcutta Heart Clinic and Hospital after prolonged suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. He was 69. ( Homage of Central Committee and coverage of the Last Journey in the next issue)
Transcript
Volume 45 No. 16 Organ of the SOCIALIST UNITY CENTRE OF INDIA (COMMUNIST)April 1, 2012 Founder Editor-in-Chief : COMRADE SHIBDAS GHOSH Price : Rs. 3.00
RED SALUTECOMRADE KALYAN CHOWDHURY
Comrade Kalyan Chowdhury, Member, Central Committee andSecretary, Assam State Committee, SUCI (C) breathed his last on 30 March, 2012 at 13.05 hours
at the Calcutta Heart Clinic and Hospital after prolonged suffering fromChronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. He was 69.
( Homage of Central Committee and coverage of the Last Journey in the next issue)
PAGE TWO APRIL 1, 2012 PROLETARIAN ERA
Contd. on page 9
Every year, just before theplacement union budget inParliament, the bourgeois media tryto create an impression among thepeople as if it is the harbinger of anew year and the government isworking overtime to see that itstimulates economic growth so thatthe financial condition of the peopleimproves. Speculations about thepossible budget proposals by theapologists of the existing capitalistsystem and some of the columnistswho pose themselves to be experton economics abound in the media.Similarly, after presentation of thebudget, the same set of peopleprovides various analyses of theproposals mostly by numbercrunching and spattering certainmundane economic jargons. But, tothe people at large, the outcomeremains one and the same—increased suffering, escalatedpauperization and spirallingdestitution. Previously, thegovernment, no matter whichbourgeois party or combination wasin power, tried to camouflage theout and out anti-people pro-capitalist character of the budgetunder certain sugar-coated words,jugglery of figures and feignedconcern about people’s welfare. Itwas sought to be hidden that in aclass divided capitalist society, allthe governments essayed thebudgets in the aggregate classinterest of the ruling bourgeoisie asblueprint of economic prosperity ofthe latter. Also under people’spressure, it was forced to give somerelief to the masses and project thatas its ‘human face’. But, of late, itis found that the veneer is comingoff. The crisis of capitalism,endemic of the very system, hasreached such a scale that thebourgeois government is compelledto abandon the devious methods ofstonewalling the reality and isopenly talking of intensifying fiscalsavagery to put people into morehardship claiming that such isimperative to improve the economyand foster growth. The budget thatPranab Mukherjee, FinanceMinister (FM) of the Congress-ledUPA government tabled inParliament on 16th of March hasbeen a glaring instance to whatextent the bourgeois governmentcould be tormenting, repressive andextortionist, virtually declaring waragainst the common and poorpeople through its fiscal policieswhile shamelessly offering bonanzato the capitalists-monopolists andbig business houses. Nero fiddledwhen Rome was burning. The FM,too, while unleashingunprecedented fiscal savagery on
UNION BUDGET 2012
Brazenly Anti-People, Nakedly Pro-Capitalistthe toiling millions became poeticwith rhetoric of a Shakespeareanplay, “I must be cruel only to bekind”. However, a cursory glance atthe budgetary proposals wouldreveal that the FM indeed has beenlethally cruel to the people only tobe liberally kind to the rulingcapitalists.
Backdrop of the currentyear’s budget
One would recall, even a coupleof years back, the FM and his‘economist’ Prime Minister hadbeen claiming that Indian economywas resilient enough to withstandshocks of global economicmeltdown and could chart out itsown growth riding on its domesticconsumption, demographicadvantages, entrepreneurial driveand prudent fiscal management. Butnow when the Indian capitalisteconomy is ridden with soaringinflation, mounting recession, risingunemployment and its mutilatedcondition could no more be shieldedbehind manipulative macro-economic indicators, theFM had nooption but to confess that the overallgloom has refused to lift and hisunderstanding about the worldeconomy being on the mend hadbeen wrong. So the glimmer of hopewith which he presented last year’sbudget has faded away. Could it beotherwise by any stretch ofimagination? He and his PrimeMinister have been economical withtruth and continue to be so. The factwhich the rulers try to shield is thatall problems are stemming from thecrisis-ridden capitalist economywhich is holding people to ransom.As a developed capitalist countrywith imperialist features, Indiacould not be and has not beeninsulated from the soaring insolublecrisis of world capitalism-imperialism particularly after onsetof capitalist globalization. Rather,the festering sores are vivid. Inorder to somehow stave off thecrisis, Indian government like USand other big capitalist-imperialisteconomies had provided huge fiscalconcessions, tax waivers as well asfinancial assistance to the corporatesectors and industrial houses in thename of ‘fiscal stimulation’ bydrastically curtailing publicexpenditure. Quantum of fiscalstimulation has been around Rs 2lakh crores each year since 2007. Itwas stated that such was necessaryfor reviving otherwise tottering aneconomy. But, despite such a dragon public exchequer, the economyshowed no sign of recovery as hasbeen evident even from drop inGDP and industrial production. This
slide however has not affected themonopoly houses and bigindustrialists who increased theirwealth manifold so much so thatfive of the Indian industrialistsfeatured in the list of ten richestpersons in the world. On the otherhand, the poor and have-nots,workers-peasants-middle class haveplunged into further plight andindigence. Galloping rise in pricesand mounting fiscal savagerycoupled with rapidly plummetingincome—both gifted by theruthlessly oppressive crisis-riddencapitalist economy—made the lifeof the common people yet morenightmarish. In other words, crueltyof FM to the masses is no new adanger. It has been what the FM andhis government are systematicallymeting out to the countrymen overthe years. Lest the obvious shouldshock the people, the bourgeoisquarters cunningly floated a thoughtthat in the present stage of an ailingeconomy, providing any kind ofrelief to the suffering masses is akinto ‘peddling in populism’ whileconsigning them to further doom byway of taking some ‘hard measures’or ‘bold steps’ obviously connotingspree of privatization, showeringwindfall on the private capital in theform of duty reduction, loanwaivers, thrust on wider speculationand liberalizing availability ofinstitutional finance is what is‘pragmatic’ and ‘grounded inreality’, ‘capable of pepping-up theeconomy and poised to register aseminal achievement’. In otherwords, the capitalist crisis hasreached such a pass that evenmanoeuvring options have run outof stock and so a mindset is beingcreated to accept blatant pro-richmeasures as only solutions nomatter how harrowing they turn lifeof the common man. Budgetproposals have to be viewed andappraised in this backdrop.
A glance at the taxation aspectAs against conventional way of
looking at the salient features of thebudget, let us take a holistic view.First we focus on the direct andindirect taxation chapter. Peopleexpected that the government wouldtake some concrete measures to notonly arrest but bring down the priceline and reasonably enhance theexemption limit for the lower-end ofthe individual tax-payers. But theexpectation has not only been beliedbut mocked at. While there has beenmarginal enhancement in theexemption limit of individual taxpayers, there is large dose increasein the indirect taxes across theboard. So called service tax, the
latest ploy of the bourgeoisgovernment to extract money fromthe depleted pockets of thecontinuously pauperized commonmen, has been extended to a vastnumber of areas and the rate hasbeen increased by 20%. First of all,hardly 7% of the countrymen paytax. Moreover, if one goes a littledeep, it would be revealed thatwhile the people in the incomebracket of Rs.2 lakh would savebarely Rs.2060, those earningbetween 8-10 lakh or above 10 lakha year would save anywherebetween Rs.21,630 and Rs.22,660.So the real benefit has accrued tothe higher income group people. Onthe contrary, the burden ofregressive indirect taxation is borneby one and all, 7% of the tax payingpopulation as well as the rest 93%of non-tax paying countrymen outof which 77%, as per governmentappointed ArjunSengupta report andthe National Commission forEnterprises in the UnorganizedSector (NCEUS), languish belowpoverty line (BPL). Shamelessly theFM states that his proposals onDirect Taxes are estimated to resultin a net revenue loss of Rs 4,500crore for the year whereasproposals relating to Indirect Taxesare estimated to result in a netrevenue gain of Rs 45,940 crore,leaving a net gain of Rs 41,440crore in the Budget. Not only that.Common people would be assailedfurther as alongwith theconcomitant rise in prices of allessential commodities; not onlywould this enhanced indirect tax berecovered from them but also otherincreases in fuel prices, railwayfreight charges, entry tax and dutiesare squarely passed on to them bythe manufacturers in the form ofprice load. But if there is any slashin tax and duty, the buyer gets nobenefit in the form of price dropsand the resultant benefit accrues tothe seller in the form of lowered taxobligation. It is also queer that whilea service provider earns salesrevenue, it is the consumer ofservice who has to pay the servicetax. For example, while purchasinga railway ticket, one pays the wholecost of this service. Over andabove, one has now to shell outextra money as service charge. Thegovernment knows that exacting taxfrom the common wretched peopleat the points of service providenceis pretty easy. So, is this‘innovation’ of levying service taxon the purchaser of service in totalreversal to the very concept oftaxing the revenue earners.This isthe weirdness of capitalist market
PROLETARIAN ERA APRIL 1, 2012 PAGE THREE
Contd. on page 4
“Power of truth, power of communistideology based on truth, is invincible”
— Comrade Provash Ghosh at the historic rally on 14 March[This is the text of the speech of Comrade Provash Ghosh, GeneralSecretary, SUCI(C) delivered at the mammoth public meeting held at JantarMantar area in Delhi on the occasion of historic Parliament march on 14-03-2012]Comrades and friends,
130 years back on this very dayof 14 March, Karl Marx, thegreatest philosopher and thinkerever produced by history, breathedhis last and ceased to think. But heis and will be remembered in historyas a philosopher who for the firsttime had shown the path ofemancipation of the people fromexploitation of man by man and thushow to end class exploitation onceand for all. Earlier, right from thedays of slave system, there weremany rebellions by the exploitedpeople for emancipation. There hadbeen many revolutionarytransformations of the social systemconcomitant to such rebelliousupsurges. But it is a tragedy that oneform of exploitation was replacedby another form of exploitation.Andit was propagated that this classdivision, class exploitation waseternal. It would not be changed atall. Those who believed in religion,those who preached religious ideasheld that division between rich andpoor, division between exploitersand exploited were divine creations.Even the bourgeois philosophersalso preached the idea that capitaland labour, the capitalist class andworking class would co-exist andmust co-exist for the sake ofproduction. Capitalists would earntheir legitimate profit; workerswould earn their legitimate wage. Incooperation with each other, theywould continue to co-exist. It wastaken for granted that classexploitation and class divisionwould never end. But Marx said,“The philosophers have onlyinterpreted the world in variousways; the point is to change it.”Earlier, philosophers depended uponindividual perception of reality,their individual judgment and hencetheir philosophies were notobjective but speculative,subjective, idealistic. But Marxenunciated a distinctively different,a new philosophy, a comprehensiveworld outlook i.e. DialecticalMaterialism based on modernscience, on correct scientificapproach and methodology ofknowing the truth. Of course, Marxpaid due respect to earlierphilosophers and thinkers as hisworthy predecessors. For thatreason, Comrade Lenin said thatideas of communism, ideas ofMarxism are the culmination, sum
total of all human knowledgecreated by mankind. Marx hadshown that whatever happens innature is law governed. Nature ischanging, material world ischanging, each and every matter isin motion. And the very nature ofmotion as well as the process ofchange is governed by certaindeterministic laws. Similarly, socialchanges, historical changes – theseare neither accidents normanifestations of chaos. Thesechanges have not been occurringbased on the whims of someindividuals. Certain definite lawsare governing the social changes,the historical changes. Byscientifically coordinating, co-relating, integrating andgeneralizing the particular lawsgoverning particular fields of thematerial domain as discovered bythe different branches of science,Marx discovered the general lawsgoverning this universe. In course ofdiscovering the laws ofdevelopment of the material world,he also showed how these generallaws of development based onscience could be applied instudying, understanding andarriving at the hidden laws of socialchange and development. And in thelight of the scientific philosophy ofDialectical Materialism, he showedthat following the inexorable courseof history, capitalism, like all othererstwhile social systems, appearedat a particular phase of productionand was bound to go at anotherphase of production being unable tomeet the growing need of thesociety. When production relation ofa given society develops as a brake,obstructs further advancement ofproductive forces, the antagonisticcontradiction between the two leadsto new relation of production, i.e.revolutionary transformation of thesociety. The historical certainty ofthe ultimate doom of capitalism andemergence of socialism lies here.The existing capitalist society nowin its death throes would bedestroyed and in its place socialism,which he called scientific socialismwould be established as anintermediary phase on the way tofinal transition to communism.
Marxism is a scienceIt is no utopia. Not that Marx
had invented this course. This is thehistorically determined course of
social transformation and progress.Grasping the inherent laws ofdevelopment of the material worldis possible only with the help ofDialectical Materialism. That iswhy, starting from Lenin, Stalin,Mao Zedong to Comrade ShibdasGhosh, all the great leaders ofproletariat, based themselves on thescience of Dialectical Materialismto concretely analyse the concretesituations and in the processdeveloped, elaborated and furtherenriched it to guide the struggle ofemancipation of the proletariat.True understanding of Marxism orthe science of DialecticalMaterialism is its concretized,developed understanding in relationto contemporary developments andchanging panorama. It was ComradeShibdas Ghosh who in course ofcreative application of Marxism-Leninism following the scientificmethodology of DialecticalMaterialism on specific Indiancondition brought the understandingof Marxism-Leninism to a newheight. Hence, we say that MarxismLeninism-Shibdas Ghosh Thoughtis our ideological weapon. Today,on 14th of March, 2012, about alakh of toiling masses of the peoplefrom all walks of life —workers,peasants, students, youths, men andwomen — have gathered here withtheir 9-point charter ofdemands.These demands are forremedying the burning problemswreaking havoc in their lives, thedemands for which they have beenfighting relentlessly. More than 35million people have put theirsignatures in support of these vitaldemands and we have come herecarrying with us all those signatureswhich have been collected duringlast two months which itself gaverise to a new form of massmovement. Like irrepressible tide,toiling masses from different partsof the country have assembled here
braving all odds, overcoming alldifficulties and constituted this vastsea of people. Yet, not a singlenewspaper or electronic media inany part of the country gave anynews of this preparation for thismammoth march signifying people’sstruggle for a just cause. But, weknow that during the time of Marxalso, the ruling bourgeoisieconspired to keep his name andteachings shielded from the peopleso that he remained unknown,unheard of. Similar conspiracy hasbeen going on to blackout ComradeShibdas Ghosh Thought, and theparty he founded, SUCI(Communist). But nobody can stopour onward march. Just have a lookat the sea of people here. They havegathered here as a surging wavewithout any media publicity. Powerof truth, power of communistideology based on truth,isinvincible. Nobody can stop itsadvancement.
Critical national andinternational situations
Comrades, this is a very criticalhour that we are faced with, notonly in our country but in theinternational arena as well. Here Ishould recall Marx’s prognosis ofcapitalism. In the 18th and 19thcenturies, when capitalism wasadvancing, growing;industrialization was sweepingacross Europe breaking the feudalshackles,it was unthinkable to manythat capitalism or bourgeois marketeconomy would face any crisis.Recession, depression,retrenchment, market crisis, allthese words were unknown at thattime. At that very time, based onscientific analysis, Karl Marx, thegreat thinker pointed out thataccording to the social law, a daywould come when this verycapitalism would be doomed todeath. This was historicallyinevitable. Capitalism would plungeinto crisis after crisis. The graves ofthe capitalists would be dug. Whowould the diggers be? The workingclass. Capitalism had given birth toworking class and that workingclass would one day dig the grave ofcapitalism for its natural burial.And those diggers must have aweapon, an ideological, cultural andorganizational weapon to make thishappen.
In our country, the bourgeoismedia and the political leaderssubservient to the ruling bourgeoisclass are ceaselessly propagating
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that the country is developing,advancing, making strides forward.But objective reality is totallydifferent. In our country more thantwo-thirds of the population todayare unemployed and semi-employed. 75% people earn onlyRs.20 a day. That is the stark reality.But media rejoice over the newsthat one of the top industrialists hasbeen adjudged as the richest man ofAsia. The other news, media iselated over, is that among the firstten richest persons in the world, fiveare Indians. 63 Indian families arethe owners of 500 billion rupees.These are the news that breaks inthe media.Majority of the membersof the Parliament which is called therepresentative of the people, arebillionaires. While they makefortunes in billions of rupees,millions and millions of commonpeople, the have-nots and destitutedie in starvation, for lack ofminimal medical treatment. Inlakhs, poor peasants and workersare committing suicide. Oncedarkness sets in, lakhs of ourmothers and sisters, our daughtersstand in the market areas, in thestreet junctions to sell their body.Women-trafficking has assumedalarming proportion. Lakhs ofchildren are born in the streets anddie in the streets only. The reveredfreedom fighters who sacrificedtheir lives, faced bullets for thecountry could they ever visualize inthe wildest of their dreams that thiswould be the spectacle ofindependent India? But all these aregoing on. Few crores of workershave been retrenched in our country.Even the global scenario is nodifferent. Just after the SecondWorld War, USA became sopowerful that a term ‘DollarEmpire’ made way into theparlance. American dollar floodedentire Europe, Japan, entire Asia,everywhere. US rulers came outwith Marshall plan to economicallystrangulate other countries andcapture their markets. The sameAmerica is now sinking in thePacific Ocean. Once, America wasthe biggest creditor country. Now,ithas been reduced to the biggestdebtor country. It cannot survivewithout raising debt and borrowingfrom the market. That is the positionof the American capitalist economy.Same is the condition of all othercapitalist-imperialist economies, bigor small. Entire Europe is alsosubmerged in insoluble crisis andsinking in the Atlantic ocean. Manyof the European countries aresuffering from sovereign debt crisisso much so as to be totally bankrupt.
No quackery, no elixir, no panaceacan rescue capitalism from itsinevitable doom as Marx hadpredicted. Bourgeois marketeconomy is now gasping in marketcrisis.What is a market? Marketmeans purchaser of goods. Who canpurchase? Only those who havemoney. But people are so exploited,so pressed under the grinding wheelof ruthless capitalist oppression, sosqueezed are their pockets, that theyare virtually dispossessed of anypurchasing power. So there is nomarket for the capitalists. Once itused to be a demand-driveneconomy. Supply was according tothe demand. But today, it is a credit-driven economy. Purchasing poweris artificially stimulated by offeringcredit or loan. But, this liberal offerof credit is also entailing furthercrisis as with plummeting income,the debtors are unable to repayloans. That is the picture now.Everywhere, capitalism is enmeshedin crisis. It has become completelybankrupt today. Added to this is all-pervasive corruption stemming fromthe decadent crisis-ridden capitalistsystem. In India, every day when welook at the media, we find unfoldingof one or another scam. Ministersand bureaucrats are also neck-deepin corruption. And starting fromCongress with tri-colour ensign, thebiggest bourgeois party, tocommunal BJP belonging to saffronbrigade, the second big, as well asthe pseudo-Marxists like CPI (M)waving muddy red flag — all aremired in corruption. Politics hasbecome a lucrative businessnowadays. During the time offreedom struggle, politics was heldin high esteem as a noble activity.Politicians were considered as self-less saints. Now politicians areconsidered as hypocrites who cheatand deceive people, tell lies to them.They are hated as self-servingmoney-makers. That is the commonfeeling today. Politics is hated.Bourgeois politics has degeneratedto such an extent. Only those whoare acquainted with our Party knowthat we are not in the politics of pelfand power and hence represent thealternate current of higher elevatedrevolutionary politics.
Democracy is trampledunderfoot with alacrity
There is much clamouring aboutdemocracy. Is there any semblanceof democracy anywhere?Everywhere, democracy is beingtrampled underfoot with alacrity,democratic rights are being robbedand curtailed. Bourgeois oppressiverulers, in order to prolong their worn-out rule, are suppressing any protest
against oppressionand repression,muffling everyvoice of dissent,crushing demo-cratic massmovements withbullets, batons andtear gas. If there isa movement forscientific seculareducation for all,the same issuppressed bybayonets andbatons. The loftyslogan ofdemocracy being“by the people, forthe people and ofthe people”, theideals of ‘equality,fraternity andliberty’ have nowconfined in thepages of the booksonly. The veryconcept ofdeciding the natureof governance bypeople’s verdictexpressed in theprocess of ‘freeand fair election’has turned into afarce. The demo-cracy today is “bythe exploiters, forthe exploiters, ofthe exploiters.” Allthe mainstreamparties likeCongress, BJP, CPI(M), CPI and otherregional outfits arethe registeredpolitical managersof the rulingcapitalist class justlike registeredcontractors seekingemployment. Asindustrialists needindustrial mana-
stooping any low to win elections.Even party like CPI (M), whichsuffered defeats in the last electionsin both Kerala and West Bengal,sought the blessings of Jesus Christin Kerala and Vivekananda in Bengalin their state conferences to win thehustings. This is their brand ofsecularism, forget about Marxism.
Fierce attack on ethics,morality, culture andcharacter
Comrades, there is another veryimportant aspect. Our departedleader Comrade Shibdas Ghoshonce said that however acute a form
Ultimate doom of capitalism and emergenceof socialism is a historical certainty
Contd. on page 5
Contd. from page 3
gers and business managers to lookafter their industry and business,similarly they need a political partyas political manager to run thegovernment to function as theirpolitical manager. Election meanswhich party will now get the chanceto be in power with the blessings ofthe industrialist houses and whowould sit in opposition. With theirmoney power, the corporate sectornow manipulates and virtuallydecides the result of election. Moneypower, administrative power, musclepower and media power controleverything. Stunt and manipulationhas become hallmark of electiontoday. Vote-based parties are
PROLETARIAN ERA APRIL 1, 2012 PAGE FIVE
oppression and penury may assume,the people of a country, a nation canstill stand up firm and erect raisingits head high even amidst severetorture if its moral strength is notdecimated. Even if one starves, onecan fight if one’s moral backbone isnot broken, if one is spurred on byrevolutionary ideology and highermorality. But today, the fiercest ofthe attacks has come on culture andcharacter, in the realm of ethics andmorality. This country onceproduced martyrs like ChandraSekhar Azad, Bhagat Singh, SuryaSen, Kshudiram Bose, Pritilata,Asfukulla Khan and others. Therehad been many other greatcharacters and luminaries during thegolden days of Indian renaissanceand freedom movement whosetouch enkindled new vigour in theyouth. Hundreds and thousands ofstudents and youths came out toembrace gallows and bulletssmilingly. Did they contemplate afree India where the students andyouths would be addict to wine anddrug, obscene films andpornographic literature, become sexslaves? That in metropolis likeDelhi and Kolkata as well as inother cities, women would not besafe on the streets? Everyday therewould be hundreds of incidents ofrape and gang rape? The studentsand youths have becomeexcommunicated from their goldenpast, forgot the valiant fight theirancestors put up to free the countryfrom foreign rule and in the processacquired the finest qualities ofcharacter and human essence. Thenames of those great sons of the soilhave been forgotten today. Situationis completely different todaybecause as Comrade Shibdas Ghoshhad pointed out, the rulers are afraidof surging protests, struggles andrevolution. So they are out to seethat the students and youths areswamped by abominable culturaldegradation, are emasculated fromwithin, disposed of human essence,nurture self-centric mentality and bedehumanized. Otherwise, if thestudents and youths make a seriouscult of the lives and teachings of thegreat freedom fighters, learn fromthem and try to acquire the culturaltraits they carried, they would burstin protest against all prevailinginjustice, deception and deprivation.Hence, the rulers are arraying theirentire arsenal to foster all-pervasivecultural degradation in social lifeparticularly among the youths. It isa dangerous conspiracy. Even infamilies also, there is no peace, nolove and affection, no tender feelingfor each other. Old parents are
thrown out in the streets, husband iskilling wife. Even children are notcared for. Family obligations aredisowned for meeting selfish ends.This is where modern civilizationhas drooped to. This is thecontribution of modern capitalism.So, civilization is dying. There arefestering sores all over and the rootlies in the moribund capitalistsystem. So, unless capitalism isburied under the grave, problemswill continue and aggravate further.
Movements need correctleadership to succeed
But as oppression andexploitations are there, so are alsoprotests and struggles. There hadbeen many movements, manystruggles in the past. People arebursting forth in protest today also.But, the movements are notreaching their logical culmination.In our country also, the gloriousfreedom movement met with atragic end. Why? Because, thequestion of ideology and question ofleadership are of supremeimportance1 in order to make amovement successful. Afterindependence also, there have beenmany struggles in our country. AsComrade President has justreferred, very recently, Anna Hazarealso launched an anti-corruptionmovement in this very city of NewDelhi. It took a very massivecharacter. But it fizzled out in notime. As Comrade Shibdas Ghoshhad pointed out, grievances andanger are mounting among themasses. And these accumulatedwrath and discontent often explodein the form of spontaneousmovement, struggles. But strugglesdo not achieve success in absence ofproper leadership and necessaryinstruments of struggle. Of late, wehave seen the people of many Araband African countries had forth inspontaneous movements againsttheir respective oppressive rulers.These movements had been giventhe name of “Arab spring’. Butthese movements brought no springbut a chilly winter to the sufferingpeople. Because, simply one formof dictatorial rule was replaced byanother. It was just a regime change.The unprecedented ‘Occupy WallStreet movement’ which originatedin and stirred America and spreadthroughout the world also could notbeget the desired outcome. Because,the fighting people were not awareas to how to destroy Wall Street, thekey centre of US imperialism andbuild up a new civilization.
Similarly movements aredeveloping in Greece, France, Italy,Germany, Portugal, Britain,
everywhere. But these are allsporadic, spontaneous movementswithout proper leadership andcorrect ideology. Hence, these tooalso are not in a position to makemuch headway. So need of the houris the real revolutionary ideology —that is Marxism-Leninism-ShibdasGhosh Thought—to guide theseerupting people’s struggles. Withoutthat, no movement will achievesuccess.
Mere claim of being a Marxistdoes not make one a Marxist
Another aspect needs to beunderstood. As Lenin had warned, ifone claims to be a Marxist, it doesnot mean one is a true Marxist. Inthe language of Lenin, “Thedialectics of history were such thatthe theoretical victory of Marxismcompelled its enemies to disguisethemselves as Marxists.” So youmust differentiate between Marxismand sham Marxism, Marxists andpseudo-Marxists. Lenin said that“The bourgeoisie needs lackeyswhom a section of the working classcould trust, and who would paint infine colours, embellish thebourgeoisie with talks about thepossibility of the reformist path,who would throw dust in the eyes ofthe people by this talk, who woulddivert the people from revolution bydepicting glowing colours, thecharms and possibilities of thereformist path.”Lenin fought againstthis type of sham Marxists in Russiaand Europe. Comrade ShibdasGhosh had also fought firstundivided CPI and then its splitversions like CPI (M), today’s CPIwho represent pseudo-Marxism inthis country. We must recall thatduring the independence struggle, asper the guidance provided by greatStalin, there was a great opportunityto build up an anti-imperialistpeople’s front by the working classcombining with the revolutionarypetty-bourgeoisie and therebyisolate the compromising nationalbourgeoisie and establish, instead,the hegemony of the working classover the freedom movement. Thiswould have turned the course ofhistory. Had the CPI grown as agenuine communist party, it wouldhave wholeheartedly striven forthat. But, CPI did not do that and asa result, the hegemony of thecompromising national bourgeoisiewas established on the freedommovement, and the entire fruits ofthe glorious freedom movementwere usurped by them. It was thecommon people who fought for thecountry, shed their blood, sacrificedtheir lives for freedom. None fromthe families of Birlas, Tatas
orAmbanishad participated in thestruggle. In the Indian nationalistmovement, there were two trends ofleadership. One was thecompromising reformist one led byGandhiji and backed by the nationalbourgeoisie. Another was theuncompromising revolutionary lineled by Subhas Bose. What did the socalled communists of undivided CPIdo at that time? They supported thecompromising reformist leadership,opposed the uncompromisingleadership of Subhas Bose. AndSubhas Bose was compelled toresign from the post of president ofthe then national Congress. WhenSubhas Bose was expelled from theCongress, CPI did not support him.Later, Subhas Bose took theinitiative to form a leftconsolidation in our country. And herequested the communists to joinhim and told them that if theproposed left consolidation didmaterialize, it would help growth ofcommunist movement in India.Butthe CPI leaders did not join. Theyrepeatedly violated ComradeStalin’s guidelines. Subhas Bosewas not a Marxist but as arevolutionary leader of that time, hehad great respect for Marxism. Hehailed Soviet revolution. He said: Ihave studied the works of Marx andLenin. I know communists arepatriots. But when I look at theIndian communists, I do not feelthat they are patriots. He made thisobservation with a great pain. CPIdid not join 1942 movement andhelped the British imperialism. Thisfaulty politics of CPI was bitterlycriticized by Stalin. When SubhasBose in a tactical move to free themotherland from the Britishimperialists entered into kind ofagreement with Japan, CPI leaderscalled him ‘quisling’, an agent ofJapan. Undivided CPI supportedpartition of India. Their history is ofcontinuous violation of Marxism.Thus, in keeping with the analysisof sham Marxists by Lenin, the CPIleaders masqueraded as Marxistshad betrayed Marxism at every step.After independence, they foundnational bourgeoisie who capturedthe political power, as revolutionaryand an ally of their revolution. Andthey sought to include the nationalbourgeoisie in their people’sdemocratic front. But the Indiannational bourgeoisie who controlsthe state power, has developedmonopoly capital, has developedfinance capital and alsomultinationals, has become the mainenemy of the working class and thetoiling people. The Indian nationalbourgeoisie has become a rising
Contd. from page 4
Contd. on page 6
Struggles do not achieve success in absence ofproper leadership and instruments of struggle
PAGE SIX APRIL 1, 2012 PROLETARIAN ERA
Contd. from page 5
Contd. on page 7
Toiling people yearning for emancipation are being imbued withthe ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Shibdas Ghosh Thought
imperialist power, and as per mediaterminology, an emerging super-power. But both the present CPI andCPI (M) still consider the nationalbourgeoisie as their ally. This is anout and out betrayal to the workingclass under the garb of Marxism.While country is in the stage of anti-capitalist socialist revolution, theirproposed theory of anti-imperialist,anti-feudal people’s democraticrevolution is nothing but a deceptivedesign to shield the real enemy ofthe people and distract the peoplefrom the path of anti-capitalistrevolution by spreadingparliamentary illusion. Naturally,earlier they branded Pundit Nehruas progressive and Sardar Patel asreactionary. Later, they discoveredthat Indira Gandhi was progressivebut Morarji Desai was reactionary.All through they have been pursuingsuch wrong politics, politics ofopportunism. CPI (M) leaderssometimes support Congress in thename of fighting communalism.Again, sometimes they support BJPin the name of fightingauthoritarianism. Sometimes theysuggest that a Third Frontcomprising Jayalalitha, Mayavati,Mulayam and others is thealternative to Congress and BJP.Their only objective is to anyhowremain in power, atleast to stayafloat in the corridor of power.Their entire politics is directedtowards that end.
In this hour of grave crisis, onlyour Party, founded by ComradeShibdas Ghosh, the great leader ofthe proletariat, has been developingmass and class struggles. In courseof developing these struggles, ourfirst objective is to resist any attackupon the people and try to wrestsome relief for the people underpressure of movement. We havebeen able to achieve some demandsin the process. As taught by ourgreat teacher, our aim is to educatethe masses, to enhance theirpolitical consciousness, to showthem the real enemy while in thevortex of movement. It ought todawn upon them that the real enemyis the capitalist state, the rulingoppressive bourgeois class. State isa coercive instrument in the handsof bourgeoisie for carrying outexploitation and oppression. Theincumbent party or combination inthe government changes. Onebourgeois party is replaced byanother, but capitalism remainsintact, state remains unscathed. Thisvery capitalist state is to be
overthrown by revolution.Alongside, the pseudo-Marxists likeCPI (M), CPI are to be exposed andisolated from the masses. At thetime of the movement we try toeducate people in that way.Movement educates the people.Movements are the learning centresof the people. Movements uplifttheir spirit, their fighting zeal, raisetheir consciousness, widen thehorizon of their outlook and forgetheir will. Movement is a school forrevolutionary struggle and theteacher is the revolutionary partywhich guides them. And that is ourobjective. Without this clearobjective, movements would bereduced to mere agitations to gainsome economic benefits i.e.bourgeois economism.
Not obsolescence butcorrectness of Marxismvindicated by world events
Comrades, there is a well-orchestrated propaganda againstMarxism, against scientificsocialism. After dismantling ofsocialism in Russia and Chinafollowing revisionist conspiracyaided and abetted by the capitalist-imperialist powers, the bourgeoisworld preached that there was nohope for socialism. But we are notfrustrated with the fall of socialism.Because, our leaders had preparedus for such a sad setback. Startingfrom Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin,Mao Zedong to Comrade ShibdasGhosh, everyone taught thatsocialism is a transitional phase. Itis an intermediate phase in transitfrom capitalism to socialism. Itmeant that though the advancementin socialism will be towardscommunism, if leadership is wrongor undergoes degeneration pavingway for counter-revolution tosucceed, socialism might fall andcapitalism restored once again. Thiseventuality was not unknown to us.Sole deterrent lies in correctapplication of the dictatorship of theproletariat in socialism. So, we arenot frustrated. We are confident thatthings will change again.
Comrades, we can cite instancesfrom history. When religion was amovement in the society, religiouspreachers claimed that they were‘messengers of almighty god’. Thisis true for all religions, Christianity,Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. Ittook hundreds and hundreds ofyears for scoring final victory forthe religions. For a prolongedperiod, there were defeats followedby victories, again defeat, againvictory. Many of the ‘messengers ofgod’ were persecuted, even killed.Even the ‘apostles of god' also
could not ignore the course ofhistory. It took 350 years for finalvictory of capitalism starting fromrenaissance to bourgeois republicthrough a long process of defeatafter defeat followed by victory,again defeat, again victory. But ifone takes the period from slavesystem to capitalism, it is a saga ofthousands of years of classexploitation and class rule.Compared to that, socialism whichfor the first time sought to put anend to class exploitation for goodcould hold on to its fort for just 70years. For elimination of theexploitative social system whichexisted for thousands and thousandsof years in different forms and wasso deep-rooted economically,politically, ideologically andculturally, the period of 70 years ofsocialism is too short. It is not soeasy a job. Final victory would beachieved only over a period of timeby way of conducting a ceaselessstruggle in all fronts, i.e. economic,political, ideological and cultural; astruggle of life and death, mostdetermined, ruthless and prolongedunder the dictatorship of theproletariat following the course ofvictory, again defeat, then againvictory. But 70 years of Socialismhad proved in history that it is theonly civilization which can solveburning problems of unemployment,poverty, famine etc. and rid peopleof exploitation. Why did great menlike Roman Rolland, Bernard Shaw,Rabindranath, Subhas Bose hailSoviet Socialism? They were notcommunists, they were notMarxists. But, they could not thinkof not speaking the truth. Aftervisiting Soviet Union, Rabindranathsaid that this was the holiest placehe had ever been. Bernard Shawsaid the Soviet Union was the onlycountry where real democracy wasin existence. Roman Rollandwarned that if socialism wasdestroyed in Russia, not only theworkers of Russia but people of thewhole world would be enslaved.When Subhas Bose was defeated bythe British forces, he, in his lastmessage,said that Stalin, the saviourof mankind was still alive. Theywere not communists. But they werenot pseudo-intellectuals as we seetoday all around.
Socialism provided employmentto all, free education, freehealthcare, a decent living for all.Socialism made no distinctionbetween men and women. Bothwere treated as equal. It marked theaugury of a new civilization. Theapologists of bourgeois system waxeloquent of parliamentarydemocracy. But the ruling capitalists
keeping a façade of democracy areruthlessly exploiting the people.Waving the flag of democracy, thecapitalist-imperialist rulersgenerated two world wars. Wavingthe banner of democracy,fascismwas clamped on in Germany andItaly. In the name of establishingdemocracy, US imperialists andtheir allies, of late, illegallyoccupied independent sovereignIraq, killed lakhs of innocentpeople, destroyed industries,agriculture, cities. And now they aredestroying Afghanistan also. ButSoviet Union never attacked anycountry. Rather Soviet Union led bygreat Lenin and Stalin was thecitadel of peace, worked as abulwark against war mongering ofcapitalist-imperialist camp. It helpedgrowth and development of nationalliberation struggles and anti-imperialist freedom movementsthroughout the world. This ishistory. Nobody can deny it.
Emergence of ComradeShibdas Ghosh as a greatthinker, philosopher and guide
Comrades, guided by therevolutionary ideology of Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin-Mao Zedong-Shibdas Ghosh Thought, our Partywith firm conviction is developingclass struggles and mass movementsin the country with the objective ofaccomplishing anti-capitalistsocialist revolution. This land hadproduced many great people –Buddha, Mahavir, Sankaracharya,Kapil, Charbak, Kanad, many more.All of them played their role intaking civilization forward in theirtime. This land produced toweringpersonalities like Rammohan,Vidyasagar, Mahatma Phule duringthe time of Indian Renaissance. Thiscountry produced veneratedpolitical leaders like DeshbandhuChittaranjan Das, Lala Lajpat,Tilak, Netaji Subhas Chandra andothers at the time of anti-imperialistfreedom struggle. This countryproduced Comrade Shibdas Ghoshas a great leader of the proletariat atthe time of anti-capitalistrevolutionary struggle.
He is our beloved leader,teacher and guide. In today’s world,it is only the illumining thoughts ofComrade Shibdas Ghosh which canshow us the real path of struggle,his name can inspire us in taking thestruggle ahead. Great Engels, Lenin,Stalin, Mao Zedong made immensecontribution in developing andenriching the science of Marxism.Comrade Shibdas Ghosh in courseof concretizing Marxism-Leninismon Indian soil and contemporary
PROLETARIAN ERA APRIL 1, 2012 PAGE SEVEN
international situation, developedand elaborated the Marxian sciencefurther and brought itsunderstanding to a new height in thelight of modern science. Heprovided us the correctrevolutionary ideology, ethics andmorality. We have to assimilate theessence of his teachings, acquire thehigher ethical, moral and culturalstandard he set before us. We haveto apply it in our life and moveonwards. That is our objective. Ourparty is developing, growing fromstrength to strength. Nobody canstop us. Our party will continue togrow. From many other countries,many revolutionaries are contactingus. They are asking for the works ofComrade Shibdas Ghosh and ourParty literatures to be acquaintedwith the thoughts and teachings ofthe great leader. To study and graspComrade Shibdas Ghosh Thoughthas gradually become a movementnot only in India, but throughout the
Contd. from page 6
SUCI (C) is growing from strengthto strength, nobody can stop it
{Following is the Presidentialspeech (slightly abridged) deliveredby Comrade Krishna Chakraborty,Member, Polit Bureau,S U C I ( C o m m u n i s t ) , w h i l einaugurating the historic rally at theJantar-Mantar, Delhi, that markedthe culmination of the ParliamentMarch on 14 March, 2012}Comrades, friends and the citizensof India , particularly of Delhi -thousands and thousands of peoplewho have come from all parts ofthe country, from almost all thestates — 25 states in all-includingWest Bengal, Odisha, Bihar,Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana,Rajasthan, Punjab, HimachalPradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka,Kerala, Assam, Tripura, Meghalaya,Sikkim, Manipur etc., I greet youall. We have all come to meet thePrime Minister of the country andtell him that the policies of hisgovernment have made the richeven richer — they are but a few —Tatas, Birlas, Ambanis who havebecome billionaires. They aresucking the blood of the people, andpeople are starving, dying. Morethan 2,50,000 farmers havecommitted suicide in this country inthe recent times. Hundreds ofmothers in West Bengal languishand wait to sell their children out, asthey could not feed their children.Such is the situation!Unemployment problem, growingprice-rise, growing corruption,growing crime on women andchildren, privatization of all things
SUCI (C) Pledges for a New India — Krishna Chakraborty— education, healthcare, evenpotable water is cxausing havoc inpeople’s life. So we have come toprotest against all attacks. Icongratulate you on behalf of ourCentral Committee — you whohave taken all pains and braved allhardships and faced all odds tocome here to tell “We need solutionMr Prime Minister. You talk of“aam admi” but serve those peoplewho oppress and exploit the ‘aamadmi’. So please listen. Offersomething that can bring at leastsome relief to the people. This iswhy we have come for this massdeputation.” The procession, Marchto Parliament, set out from theRamlila Maidan after paying tributeto the great leader of the proletariat— the greatest and noblest thinkerof the human society, of not just thisera — Karl Marx on his 129thdeath anniversary on this Day of 14March. His portrait is also displayedhere on the dais. Now we’ll start ourmeeting after paying tribute to theworthy student of Karl Marx-Comrade Shibdas Ghosh — thegreat Marxist thinker, the founder ofour party the SUCI(Communist). …
You have come in thousandsupon thousands not only fromdistant parts, but even from theremotest villages thereof. Takinggreat pains you have covered longdistances, you have come to the city,you have stayed in tents ravaged byrain and storm. What is the reason?The way crisis is fast engulfing ourlife, it is not being possible to live
on. In that case, should we justremain victims of exploitation,should we remain victims ofoppression? Or should we developmovements against this and prepareourselves for further and strongermovements? Otherwise exploitationand oppression will not stop. So youhave come; you have come formovement. …
Today, capitalism is entrenchedin deep crisis. Capitalism is dying.Long, long back based on thethoughts of Karl Marx, anothergreat Marxist thinker ComradeLenin showed that in course of itsdevelopment capitalism had reachedthe highest stage of its development,that we call imperialism. After thehighest stage is reached, there is noscope, no possibility of furtherdevelopment, say for instance, forcapitalism; then starts itsdegradation. Any phenomenon inthe material world in history at firstis progressive, it advances and
develops and then when the higheststage is reached, its downfallbegins. It becomes exhausted.Nothing do remain eternal. Thistruth we find in and from thematerial world. Marxism has shownit and we also find it in real life.Capitalism reached its imperialiststage in 1902-1903 itself and itsdownfall began. Today the crisis hasacquired a terrible shape. Now thissociety has got no possibility ofbeing rejuvenated. And, thecapitalists want that the entireburden of the capitalist crisis has tobe borne on by the working class,the exploited people and thehelpless masses. Why is this crisisin our life? It is because ofcapitalism and nothing else. So,without overthrowing capitalism,freedom from this exploitationcannot be achieved. This is whyrevolution is the only way out.
In capitalism, the governmentdid not always give relief whateverit really could. Today it has stoppedgiving relief at all. Whatever wecould achieve, or whatever rightswe have acquired throughmovements, the capitalist rulers aresnatching those away. In order toregain them, movements areessential as also movements areessential to develop those, in courseof their development, ascomplementary to the revolutionarysituation. Comrade Ghosh showedthat a movement is successful notonly when demands are achieved,
world among the revolutionaries.The workers yearning foremancipation are being imbued withthe ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Shibdas Ghosh Thought.
Comrade Shibdas GhoshThought provides the beacon
And finally, I would read out aportion from the works of ComradeShibdas Ghosh. Analyzing the thenobtaining socio-political situation,he, in 1974, said in a public address:“Indian revolution is on thethreshold of emergence, and nothingof worth remains of this society —this you should realize. No longercan the ruling class give it any leaseof life with any palliativeswhatsoever. The Indian society is inthe throes of birth. Only, it suffersfrom want of people’s organizedconscious political movement, fromwant of a genuine revolutionaryparty with that minimum ofnecessary strength with which thisferment for revolution in the people,
this situation ripe for revolution canbe led into an organized protractedpowerful war for revolution. Inentirety the objective condition forrevolution is ripe, with all itsingredients and ammunition. Thepeople yearn for a change. Theruling class has nothing else to bankon, except the military muscle ofthis old order. They count also onpeople’s ignorance and politicalconfusion, but that is not of anymajor importance. The reality putsso much pressure on the people thatno confusing logic 1and delusionsof religion can hold them back.Once the tide of revolution breaksout, no argument will succeed toprevent the onrush of the masses.Then the ruling bourgeoisie will beleft with but one weapon to deployagainst revolution — the military,police and armament. But when acountry, a people stands up erectand takes to battle on the correctrevolutionary line under the correctleadership, can it ever be stopped
with military power?”This was trueat that time and this is more relevantin the present context. At that time,he called upon us “to go to themasses, organize them, help them increating their own political powerso that the toiling people could riseup with arms and bring about afundamental change of the societyby overthrowing capitalism andestablish in its place scientificsocialism.” Let this call remain everalive in the bosom of our heart andguide us further.With this Iconclude.
My red salute to great Marx,leader of the international
proletariat,My red salute to
Comrade Shibdas Ghosh, ourbeloved leader and teacher,
Long live SUCI(Communist),Long live proletarian revolution.
Let us carry forward thebanner of internationalism
Red Salute to you all.
Contd. on page 8
PAGE EIGHT APRIL 1, 2012 PROLETARIAN ERA
but when in course of movement thelevel and standard of consciousnessof the people is raised, their cultureand tastes are raised, organization isstrengthened and extended, and itsdirection is oriented towardsrevolution; only then a movementreaches logical culmination. Also ifdemands are achieved at the sametime, it is added to the victory. Wehave started those movements.
This is no occasion todescribe in detail the movementsthat have been developed by ourParty in West Bengal. But themovements of Singur andNandigram, that inspired people allover the country, served to becometheir voice and slogan and thus ledall our supporters, sympathizers andcomrades in all the states of theentire country to develop massivemovements in their respective statesand localities, those movementswere steered and geared by ourparty. Those movements owe theirsuccess to our presence, to ourleaders. Tata had to leave Singur,forsake its effort there. AtNandigram, the CPI(M)Government had served notice forestablishing Special EconomicZone, evacuating thousands of smallfarmers from their lands to handover to the notorious businessmanof Indonesia- Salem. Throughmovements, we resisted, and led byus people also resisted. Lives werelost. Blood was shed. Women werealso assaulted and raped by thegoons of the ruling Party, CPI(M),with the backing of the police.Despite that, how women there putup resistance and fought, you knowthat.
Such movements have takenplace in many states. In Kerala ourParty launched movement againstgrabbing of lands- it was successfultoo. In Bangalore city too, land wasbeing grabbed which our partyresisted through movements. InHaryana, again, we could resistland-grabbing for Thermal PowerStation construction. In this way,movements are going on in everystate. Even in Gujarat we conductedmovement –in the land of rivers,Diamond of Water, as it is called.Movement took place in CottonTextile Mills etc. On top ofeverything, against communalismthere, our party has conductedmovement and is still conductingthem. We launched so manymovements in that state, ourcomrades were arrested by the ModiGovernment. In Delhi here, eventoday a movement is going onagainst attempts for privatization ofwater. It was the Sheila DixitGovernment that decided toprivatise water. We are protestingagainst it; citizens, even most
eminant citizens like JusticeRajendra Sacchar and many othersjoined our movement. Thousands ofpeople participated in it.
In Assam, raising a hue and cryover Bangladeshi infiltration,reactionary forces are forcing evenreal Indian citizens belonging to theminorities, particularly the Muslimsto apply for citizenship anew. Weare opposing such forcedcitizenship; in Assam movement isgoing on against this heinous move.How many should I name? InAndhra, there has been a movementof the nurses. Why do we conductsuch movements? Because, theproblems of life are getting moreand more intense in every sphere.Price-hike is sky-high, so isunemployment. Lakhs and crores ofyoung people have lost their jobs.None of the dreams, they cherish intheir life, are going to be realized.They have been driven to such aplight. Factories and industries, oneafter another, are closing down theirshutters. Even potable water isgoing to be privatized all over thecountry. Direct foreign investmentis being encouraged even in retailtrades now. Such are the policiesfollowed by government. As I said,2,50,000 peasants have beencompelled to commit suicide.Where do then things stand in thiscountry, what we would do withoutmovements?
The point is — everywhere inthe country, at all places,movements are going on. It isdifficult to give the entire list.People are themselves coming up totake to the courses of movements.Who will show them the way? It isonly the revolutionary party of thecountry that can lead them to thecorrect path. This is why, theCentral Committee of our Party hastaken the decision that to conductthese movements and give them acoordinated form, an all- Indiashape, we should merge all thesemovements into a country-widesingle movement. This is why, thesignature campaign was taken up,where crores and crores of people
have put on their signature. Had wecarried on, we would have obtainedsignatures of still more crores ofpeople. There is such an yearningfor movement among the people.
Some days back, Anna Hazarelaunched a movement only againstcorruption- virtually all alone. Itwas evident from that movement,how charged and enraged peopleare. Lakhs of people participated init, without any party, anyorganization. People realized thatthere is no way out other thandeveloping movements. Thatmovement was withdrawn too. Noindividual can take a movement toits culmination. However, if there isnot a well-organized movementfrom the grass-roots level, formingpeople’s committees, Sangharshcommittees upto the national level,if there is not any correct ideologyand a correct political line, themovement cannot be continued fora long time. Anna’s movementamply proved this. He had begun ina big way, that is why he deservesthanks. We hail his efforts. But amovement can be culminated onlyby the revolutionary party andnone others. I should speak thismuch only. Comrade Provash Ghoshwill place the Party line in moredetail.
A few more words I should add.Saratchandra Chattopadhyaya, thefamous writer and litterateur of ourpast, who, as Comrade ShibdasGhosh pointed out , was aphilosopher too, in his famousnovel Pather Dabi also stressedupon the fact that there is no wayother than movements. In that novel,the great litterateur made one ofhis characters Bharati, in whosewords Saratchandra depicted theGandhian philosophy, to askSabyasachi, whom he painted as arevolutionary character:You knowso much; you’ve learnt all ; there isperhaps nothing in life you do notknow about. How come, you havenot found the way of peacefulmovement? Do you need toaccomplish revolution? Sabyasachianswered :Yes sister, I have
inspected all the ways and I havefound all of them blocked. The onlyway open is that of revolution. Thisobservation of the famous writer isnot only a sound, but a historicalone too. Under capitalism there isno way out other than revolution.Comrade Ghosh showed this wayand also outlined the great ideologyand the great culture needed for it .Thus movements based on higherculture are being built up by ourParty.
As you will find the country isbeing split and split. Bihar has beensplit up into two parts and so hasbeen Madhya Pradesh. Divisionsare instigated among people too.People too are being influenced byKhatriatabad (upper caste-politics)and such others. They are fightingwith each other. In Mumbai Biharisare driven out . They are also beingdriven out from Assam and so arethe Bengalis. The country is stilldivided by caste and creeddifferences. Yet, this party foundedby Comrade Shibdas Ghosh basingupon and following the sameideology, the same thoughteverywhere will work for ultimatelyto give birth to a new civilization, anew India. We are all students ofComrade Shibdas Ghosh. Basedon Marxism-Leninism-ComradeShibdas Ghosh thoughts, we keepon with our attempts. This messagewill reach out to all over thecountry, that a new civilization isbeing born. So many movements indifferent states have led to this stageof all-India movement. We havefaith on the people. Even againstnature you have fought, in rain allthe tents collapsed- yet no onecomplained. Thousands of peoplestayed there happily, calm andcomposed, without complaints. Youhave demonstrated this culture,which has come from the cultureComrade Shibdas Ghosh set beforeus, from the thoughts he has left forus. We have to move further withthat. If we can do that, if we canmake our organizations stronger,we will move closer to our goal. Ifdemands are realized all the better.If all the demands are fulfilled, eventhen we must remember in acapitalist state workers remain wageslaves, capitalists remain theowners, so long as capitalism willprevail. So we must take pledge wewill establish workers’ state andrule.
I conclude my speechexpressing the hope that you willstrengthen movements and ourParty the SUCI (C) by all means.
Long Live Revolution!Long Live Socialist Unity Centre
of India (Communist)!Red Salute great leader Karl Marx!
Red SaluteComrade Shibdas Ghosh!
Largest left rally in capital signifies the rise of real leftismContd. from page 7
In his brief concluding speech Comrade Chakraborty said :Comrades and friends …. I will declare from this chair that it is thelargest ever left demonstration in the capital of the country. And it hasshown very clearly that the fall of the CPI(M) government in WB andKerala , along with the CPI, RSP, Forward Bloc does not mean thatleftism has died in the country. Rather it has been proved by historyand with the march of today that real leftism is growing in the country.People showed that it is the product of those struggles that they havebeen able to know, actually detect which is the real revolutionary partyand force that Comrade Shibdas Ghosh had built up in the country; it isthat party which is growing. But still, on behalf of the CentralCommittee I will tell you that we feel this is not sufficient, it needsmore strength to achieve its logical end of revolution in such a vastcountry with people above a billion, Party must grow stronger and fasteron the basis of the Thoughts of Marx-Engels-Lenin-Stalin-Mao Zedongand Comrade Shibdas Ghosh.
PROLETARIAN ERA APRIL 1, 2012 PAGE NINE
economy which the governmentnourishes by its fiscal measures.
Withdrawal of subsidyNext point is about the pressing
hurry the FM and his governmenthas been showing for withdrawal ofsubsidy to fuel and fertilizer. It isincumbent on any civilizedgovernment to allocate more andmore funds towards public welfareand ensure availability of essentialutilities to people either free or at aminimal price. But the Congress-ledcentral government has been posingfor a long time that subsidizingp e t r o l - d i e s e l - k e r o s e n e - L P G,fertilizer and such other items is awasteful expenditure and forcingpeople to pay market-determinedrate (meaning artificially ormanipulatively jacked up prices bythe MNCs, corporate houses and bigmonopolists for profitmaximization) is mandatory toreform the economy. Accordingly, amove is afoot to gradually withdrawsubsidy from these areas. Thisbudget is also not only indicativebut a step forward towards that end.This time also, the FM hascustomarily referred to someextraneous factors for the downturnof domestic economy of which oneis the increase in crude oil prices.He has sounded that there would beanother dose of steep hike indomestic fuel tariff immediatelyafter the budget to cope with risinginternational crude tariff. In additionto the hikes in indirect taxes, whichare likely to mean a higher cost ofliving, the FM said he would rein insubsidies and followed that up byactually budgeting lower amountsfor both fertilizer and petro-productsubsidies in the coming year. Ifthose numbers are to be achieved,fuel and fertilizer costs seem set togo up adding to the inflationarypressures. Everyone knows thatrising fuel tariff entails highertransportation cost and pushes upgeneral price line. But FM is notbothered as his reform agendastipulates not only periodic rise inoil prices but also gradualwithdrawal of subsidy from thesector. Here also, he played foulwith the people. For example, thevery plea of spurt in internationalcrude price being responsible forraising domestic fuel tariff is ahoax. If anyone sits down tocalculate the effect, truth will unfoldto him in no time. Major proportionof the final domestic retail price ismade up by taxes and cess. Just theother day, prices of petrol in Goa
came down by Rs 11 per litresimply by reducing the value addedtax charged by the stategovernment. If other stategovernments follow Goa’s exampleof doing away with sales tax onpetrol, the fuel will become cheaperby roughly Rs 15 a litre in the fourmetros.It showed that when theinternational price of oil is high,there is considerable scope forgovernments at the states and at theCentre to reduce taxes to lightensome of the impact as with the samepercentage of the tax, governmentsget a much larger absolute sumwhen prices rise. So, there is everycogent reason that they forego thiswindfall gain to spare the consumersome of the inevitable pain.It mayalso be added that domestic tariff re-fixation is hardly in proportion tointernational crude price. In January2011, when the cost per barrel ofcrude in the international marketwas close to $99, domestic tariffwas hiked by Rs 2.5 per litre. InMay when the price was hiked byRs 5 per litre, the cost fluctuatedbetween $ 110 and 115. Moreover,the oft-repeated citation of the oilcompanies incurring loss is also acrooked deception since ‘underrecovery’ which denotes thedifference between the domesticsale price and possible sale priceinternationally and thus does notrepresent any loss. Thirdly, thegovernment has even imposed taxon domestic production of crude oilwhich constitutes 30% of total usein the name of ‘purchase powerparity’. But the same governmenthas spared oil barons to contributemore to the exchequer out of thesuper-profit they are minting fromoil trade. MukeshAmbani’sReliance Industries in 2010-11attained record turnover exceedingRs. 258,000 crore ($ 58.0 billion)and higher net profit of Rs. 20,286crore ($ 4.5 billion). A majority ofits production is not sold indomestic market but exported. Butthere is no tax on the company.Coming to the question of subsidy,while in 2010-11 the governmentspent Rs 38,371 crore on oilsubsidy, in 2011-12 the figure shotup 78% to Rs 68,481 crore. But asper the government’s own version,the total tax collection frompetroleum products is around Rs 1.6lakh crores. How can thegovernment claim to be in deficit inso far tax revenue-subsidy outgoparity is concerned? Even if oneagrees that, as per FM’s budgetspeech, the Government absorbedduty reduction in petroleum sector
with annual revenue loss of ` 49,000crore, still the government is onsurplus. What then prompts FM todirectly withdraw in the currentbudget a sum of Rs 25, 000 crore ofsubsidy making the way for increaseof petrol, diesel, kerosene, fertilizersenormously? Not only subsidywithdrawal, FM has increased cessof Rs 2,500 per metric ton under theOil Industries Development Act toRs 4,500 per metric ton. On thecontrary, it has allowed the Airlinesto source air traffic fuel (ATF) atcheaper rate from abroad. Whatwould one call it? Thuggery at itsall-time best?
Agriculture and industryThe FM has stated that
agriculture will continue to be apriority for the Government andhence the total plan outlay for theDepartment of Agriculture andCooperation is increased from Rs17,123 crore in 2011-12 to Rs20,208 crore in 2012-13.Apparently, it shows as if thegovernment is interested inbettering the lot of the poor andmarginal peasants as well asagricultural labourers. But are thereany concrete steps towards that endor have the proposals been draftedto benefit the kulaks and the MNCsnow out to grab the field ofagriculture? The government hassaid in the budget that it wouldinvest funds in agricultural research,at the same time they would provideexemption in tax on investment inagro industries, in food processingindustries. Those who would investcapital in these sectors would begiven 150% exemption in tax !Who would benefit from this otherthan the corporate giants, nationalor foreign, like Reliance, Spencers,Kargil, Monsanto etc.? What is itto the small farmers? Rather theirlands would be taken away by thosegiant industrialists for this forproducing cash crop to earnfabulous profit! The governmenthas also announced in the budgetthat it is going to slash interest ratein near future to ensure that fundsare available to the corporatebigwigs and rural kulaks at cheaperrate. But what about the existingloans, to the tune of thousands ofcrore, they availed of from thebanks over the years at minimuminterest and defaulting inrepayment? The banks are writingoff these loans alongwith otherindustrial loans as bad debts andinterestingly to make good theselosses, government is proposinginjection of fresh capital in the
public sector banks in the name ofrecapitalization. Both the forfeitedloan as well as fresh loan andrecapitalization money is a drain onpublic exchequer. On the otherhand, despite all tall claims ofmicro-credit and inclusive banking,hassle-free institutional finance stilleludes common peasants who inorder to meet escalated cost ofagricultural inputs like seeds,fertilizer and pesticides are forcedto borrow money at killing interestrate from private usurers and thenbeing denied remunerative price ofthe produce fail to pay back the loanand prompted to end own lives toget rid of the plight and penury.Over two lakhs of debt-strickenpeasants have already committedsuicide. But the government isunperturbed. As per budgetproposals, from 1st April, 2012, theprice of ammonia fertilizer wouldincrease by Rs.150, phosphate byRs.550, Potash by Rs.100 per sackto keep economic reforms on theroll. Coupled with declaredwithdrawal of government subsidyto fertilizers, the situation wouldturn worse for the peasants andsuicide rows would take further tollin millions. Landless peasants whosomehow try to live on against 100days employment guaranteeprogramme would also join more innumber this suicide processionsince already the scanty fundsprovided to this programme wouldbe reduced by further Rs.7000 croreas arranged in this budget.Thirdly,as a sequel to government’s taxationpolicies, prices of steel and cement,two basic components of industrialactivity are slated to rise. This toowill also contribute to unbriddledprice rise wreaking havoc in thelives of the peasants and othersections of the toiling millions.
Picture is equally dismal onindustrial front. The millions ofunemployed, semi-employed andretrenched workers looked forgainful job creation by thegovernment. But the industrialist-friendly FM has carefully skirted allthese questions perhaps as ‘non-priorities or trashes’ in his schemeof things modelled on so calledeconomic reform. He has onlytalked of infrastructure developmenton PPP (private publicpartnership—a euphemism forprivatization of government sectors)basis and that too vaguely withoutreferring to any number ofpermanent gainful job creations.Nor has he touched upon thequestion of opening of thousands
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Budget essayed in the aggregate class interest of theruling bourgeoisie, spells doom for people
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PAGE TEN APRIL 1, 2012 PROLETARIAN ERA
and thousands of factories andestablishments which have downedshutters, not because of any ‘labourtrouble’ as the owners dish out butin their own interst as a result ofwhich millions have been thrownout of job and turned into beggars.While unemployment problem ismounting by leaps and bounds, thegovernment has not spelt out as tohow it intends to tackle the problem.On the contrary, as mentionedabove, it has cut thousands of croresfrom net spending on ruralemployment. Obviously, these arenon-issues to the FM and hismasters crafting strategy for thecountry’s economic growth bypursuing reforms aggressively andhence even do not feature in thepedantic discourses on budget in themedia.
Food and poverty linedetermination
Our economist Prime Ministerhad of late commented that it is amatter of shame that so manypeople are starving in the country.So, one might have thought that thistime he and his government wouldtake appropriate initiative to removethis national ‘shame’. However,how the issue has been addressed inthe budget? Save and exceptexpressing some pious wisheshollow to the core and exudingoverconfidence on the so calledAadhar project of granting uniqueidentity number for directdisbursement of the minisculesubsidy amount, there is noeffective declaration as to how theentire scheme would beoperationalized and what the checkis on possible pilferage andmalfunctioning to help poor enjoyits benefit. The FM has said thatthe government has taken definitesteps to create food security at thehousehold level by making food alegal entitlement for all targetedpeople, especially for the poor andvulnerable segments of ourpopulation, and so the NationalFood Security Bill, 2011 has beenmooted. But, the government andits pliant planning commissionheaded by ‘educated’ servitors ofthe ruling class thriving andsurviving on the crumbs of the latterhave already started all kinds ofmanipulative exercises to show adip in below poverty line populaceso that besides claiming success inpoverty alleviation, liability of
proposed food security bill could bepegged to minimum. Curiouslyenough, the government pleads tohave no money for a universalPublic Distribution Scheme. Oreven for a shrunken food securitybill.The country lags horribly inhuman development indicators,hunger indexes and nutritionalsurveys. Food prices keep rising anddecent jobs get fewer. Yet, well-known ‘experts’ and ‘foreign trainedeconomists’, on the pay roll of thegovernment boast about shrinkingBPL numbers to claim success of socalled poverty alleviationprogrammes and ‘inclusive growth’.Absurdity par excellence!
Health and educationPerfidy of the government in the
areas of health and proper educationis glaring as well. The governmentwith much fanfare has declared thatit has increased allocations in healthand education. Particularly, it hasclaimed that it has increased 21.7%from Rs.21,000 crore to 25,555 upby only 4,555 crore to giveeducation to vast number ofstudents among the country’s 120crore of people less than 4% of thetotal budget. Almost similar amount(Rs.21,670 crore) up from 18,000last year to 21,670 crore would betaken away from the people as cessto education. In healthcare thebudget allocations have not beenmore than 2.5% of the total budgetthis year.On the contrary in botheducation and health private ownershave been domineering extorting thepeople in connivance with thegovernment, which is ratherencouraging these private health andeducation barons to the hilt. Thegovernment is making steadyheadway towards this privatizationin these sectors even in the name ofPPP. The budget proposal says thatof the 6,000 schools proposed to beset up at block level as modelschools to benchmark excellence,2500 will be under Public PrivatePartnership.While the governmenthas talked of setting up 7 moreGovernment medical colleges onAIIMS model for tertiaryhealthcare, it has ended itsresponsibility of strengthening thenearly collapsing primary healthcaresimply by increasing the allocationto National Rural Health Mission(NRHM) by just Rs 2707 to meetperformance-based payments of the‘ASHA’ (‘Accredited Social HealthActivist’) workers who only advise
people about general hygiene andprevention of Iodine DeficiencyDisorders, need for 100 per centimmunization and better spacing ofchildren. What a sensitive approachto the priority sectors!
Social securityReferring to social security to
the old and weaker sections, FMhas only increased the widowpension amount to BPL categorypeople from Rs 200 to Rs 300 andone time grant to the BPL family inthe event of the death of the bread-earning member from Rs 10,000 toRs 20,000. Everyone knows thateven these paltry sums seldomreach the beneficiaries as corruptadministration embezzles itmidway. All these schemes arevirtually on paper only. What FMhas not mentioned is that pensionfund is now going to be invested inuncertain stock market to allow thepunters on the bourses book hugegains while exposing thebeneficiaries to the vagaries ofstock market speculation. Interestrate on provident fund has alsobeen brought down. On top of it, inthe current budget the new limitsfor tax exemption eligibility undersection 80C and 10 (10D) of theIncome Tax Act has been revisedfrom the previous sum assured-to-premium multiple of five times to10 times. As a result, a big chunk ofthe premium will go towards lifecover and life insurance which wasan attractive avenue foraccumulating savings for retirementwill offer vastly curtailed returns.
Defence budget continues tosoar
Of late, the whole country isstunned to learn from no one elsethan the army chief about “criticalhollowness” in the Army’soperational capabilities like armytanks have run out of ammunition,elite special forces are woefullyshort of weapons , 97% of the airdefence has become obsolete. Thearmy chief also revealed that he wasoffered hefty bribe for purchasingheavy vehicles from a particularcompany. In other words, the opensecret about rampant corruptionhaving permeated at every level ofarmy is only re-established. But forthe same army, there is liberalallocation of funds in every budget.This year too, the budgetary grant todefence has been stepped up to ashigh as Rs 1,93,407 crore based onpresent needs with a provision formeeting any further requirementadditionally. A provision of Rs3,280 crore for 2012-13 has also
been made for construction ofoffice buildings including landacquisition and barracks toaccommodate army personnel.Army is not under any audit,virtually not answerable to anyone.So, the loot and plunder continuesunabated at the cost of drastic cut inother expenditures.
Plethora of concessions tocorporate sector
Though the people have beentutored by the budget to learnbearing increased hardship for the‘growth and development’ of thecountry, the message to the handfulof rich and owning class has beenjust to the opposite. The FM in hisbudget speech has clearly statedthat in case of the corporate sector,not only was he not proposing anychange in the tax rates, butintending to ensure that certainmeasures are taken to facilitatethem access to lower cost funds andpromote higher level of investmentsin several sectors. In fact, he haslived upto his words in this regard.His generosity towards thecapitalist corporate sector andforeign institutional investors, mostof whom are extended arms offoreign monopoly houses, has been‘legendary’. Cuts on custom andimport duties, excise duty or evenservice tax have been extensive.The FM has admitted that hisproposals are aimed at providingrelief to the manufacturing sectorthrough cost reduction of rawmaterials, inputs, components andcapital goods. Likewise, hisproposal to encourage publicprivate partnerships in roadconstruction projects, allowingExternal Commercial Borrowing(ECB) for capital expenditure onmaintenance and operations of tollsystems for roads and highways aswell as cost housing projects andreduce withholding tax would onlyelate the MNCs and corporatesector. Even the proposal to abolishSecurities Transaction Tax (STT),raising of FII investment limit inlong-term infrastructure bonds,corporate bonds and governmentsecurities, allowing qualifiedforeign investors to invest inspecified Indian mutual funds anddirectly in equities and permittingtwo-way fungibility in IndianDepository Receipts would onlystimulate more capital marketspeculation. It is for these reasonsthe budget has received ovationfrom top monopolists like Ambanis,Birlas and Goenkas who found FMhaving “struck a fine balance
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Contd. from page 9
Contd. on page 11
Mounting dose of regressive indirecttaxation would trigger limitless price rise
CorrigendumPlease read the word birth as “death’ and the date 18thas 14th on page 6 of the last issue. Mistake regretted.
PROLETARIAN ERA APRIL 1, 2012 PAGE ELVEVEN
between fiscal consolidation andstrengthening India’s macro-economic fundamentals”,“pragmatic and grounded inreality.”
Corporate plunder causesbudget deficit
Come to budget deficits.According to the government, “Thecombined effect of lower tax anddisinvestment receipts and higherexpenditure, mainly on account ofsubsidies, has pushed the fiscaldeficit to 5.9 per cent of GDP in theRevised Estimates for 2011-12” andthe projected deficit for 2012-13 isRs 5,13,590 crore which is 5.1 percent of GDP. In order to lower thedeficit, the government is stated tobe, so to say, constrained to be harshon people. But most benignly canone ask the FM and his governmentwhat caused this huge deficit?Surely not the half-starved semi-clad poor have defrauded theexchequer to land the government introuble. What are the contributingfactors then? The FM has onlystated that “Due to the slowereconomic growth, direct taxcollection fell short by Rs 32,000crore of the Budget Estimates.” Butthat does not explain the huge gapbetween receipts and payments.Fact is that since 2005-06 the uniongovernment has written off close toRs.4 lakh crore in corporate incometax. Over Rs.50, 000 crore of thathas been done in the present budgetwhich has slashed thousands ofcrores from the allocation toMNREGS or the rural employmentguarantee scheme. Throw inconcessions on customs and exciseduties and the corporate tax waiversin this year’s budget sneaks up tonearly Rs.5 lakh crore. In just thisbudget and the last one, thegovernment has written off Rs.1lakh crore for diamonds, gold andjewellery in customs duties. Thatsort of money buys a lot of foodsecurity. The total write-off on thesethree heads in eight years since2005-06 is Rs. 25.7 lakh crore i.e.over half a trillion US dollars. Addto this huge revenue losses ofaround Rs 1.76 lakh crores onaccount of 2G scam and latelyexposed Rs 10.6 lakh crores‘Coalgate’ scandal. Just the otherday, Swiss bank authorities haverevealed that as high as 1456 billionor 1.4 trillion US dollars or Rs 72lakh crores of money are lying inthe personal accounts maintained byIndian industrialists, politicians and
bureaucrats. This is highest in theworld. Calculation shows that if thishuge amount of black money couldbe brought back to India the entireforeign debt of the country can berepaid in 24 hours. Even afterclearing foreign debt, there wouldbe a surplus 12 times larger than theforeign debt which, if invested,would earn an interest more than theannual budget of the Centralgovernment. So even if all the taxesare abolished, then also the Centralgovernment would be able tomaintain the country verycomfortably. With this amount a fewtens of crore of poor people of thecountry can get Rs 1,00,000 each. Itis widely felt that only smallfractions of this money can helpsolve the problems of watertreatment, sanitation, wastemanagement, renewable energy,health, education, urban infrastruc-ture and allied fields in the country,can give effect to Universalisationof Public Distribution System(PDS) and bring all Indians out ofthe hunger trap, can fund highereducation, scientific and socialresearch institutes and exclusivescientific projects, all taken togetherand all at one and the same time. Sowhat else but unabated loot andplunder by the ruling capitalists andtheir servitors and lackeys is dryingup the exchequer, drawing thecountry to the dregs?
People must rise and resistBut FM and his government is
asking the common people bledwhite day in and day out underruthless capitalist oppression to“face harder days, bear morehardship and tolerate escalatedfiscal savagery” to salvage saggingeconomy. Obvious question is why?Why should people bear the bruntof a crisis which is bred by thecapitalist system and its owners andabettors? What is causing thismarket crisis for the capitalists?Because, people do not havepurchasing power. Profit accrues tothe capitalist-imperialists bysqueezing the masses, deprivingthem of their legitimate dues.Maximization of profit meansmaximization of squeezing. And ifthe market shrinks, the capitalists donot produce goods. So, shutters aredowned in the factories andindustries leading to retrenchment,job loss and rising unemploymentwhich means further fall in people’spurchasing power. And marketcollapses further. This is the viciouscycle of capitalism. And to keep the
machine of earning maximum profiton roll, the capitalist rulers use theirgovernment and entire statemachinery to find out newermethods and means to suck out eventhe last drop of blood from thetoiling masses. Budget is one of theprops in their hand to operationalizethis sinister design. This is thereality. In the days to come,capitalist crisis throughout theworld will aggravate further. Therewill be galloping rise of bothrecession and inflation. Commonpeople will be pushed to much morestrangulating a situation while theoppressors will thrive by trading intheir hunger, amassing huge wealthon their pauperization, prosperingon their skeletons. Capitalist Indiawill be no exception to that. Nobourgeois party will take uppeople’s cause. Rather, they wouldsubserve the ruling bourgeoisie andplay the role of its trusted politicalagents. Even there is nothing toexpect from the pseudo-Marxistslike CPI (M), CPI who aremaligning leftism by capitulating tothe ruling class for pelf and power.Otherwise, when these self-styled
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Large-scale corruption and corporate
Contd. from page 10 Marxists who are still viewed by asection of the masses as leftistscould stall Parliament proceedingson this or that issue, what makesthem maintain virtually an eeriesilence over this draconian budgetof the bourgeois government andblatantly expose obsolescence of thecapitalist economic system? Butpeople cannot bear this tormentlying low. Already they are on theprecipice of ruination. They havenothing else to lose but candefinitely gain if they rise up inprotest against this brazen anti-people budget by releasing acountrywide long-drawn organizedpowerful movement along righttrack and force the governmentbend before them under pressure ofmovement. Let the slogans “Downwith these bourgeois governmentpolicies”, “Down with the anti-people fiscal policies” and "Downwith capitalism" rent the air in everynook and corner and make theruling class and its lackeys losetheir sleep. Let the servitors andprotectors of the worn-out bourgeoissystem shake at the assertion ofpeople’s power.
Assam State SUCI( C )demonstrates in Delhi demanding
deletion of ‘D’ mark from electoralroll and no upgrading of NRC
Assam State Committee of SUCI (C) took out a well decoratedprocession of thousands of people from Ramlila Maidan to JantarMantar in Delhi on 15 March last, and thereafter sent a delegation tosubmit a memorandum to the Union Home Minister, Government ofIndia demanding immediate deletion of the inscription ‘D’ ( standing for‘doubtful’)against the names of the genuine Indian citizens in theelectoral rolls and immediate withdrawal of the unconstitutional,discriminating and unjust proposal for upgrading of National Registerof Citizens (NRC) separately for Assam alone. A brief meeting at theJantar Mantar was held presided over by Comrade JoynalAbedin andwas addressed by Comrade Satyawan, Central Committee Member andHaryana State Secretary of SUCI(C) and Comrade Chandralekha Das,Member of the Assam State Committee of the Party. Comrade MinharAli Mandal read out the memorandum, that was to be submitted to theUnion Home Minister. The memorandum highlighted the facts that lakhsof Genuine Indian Citizens of Assam belonging to the minoritycommunities had been deprived of their voting rights since 1997 allegingthat they were doubtful citizens.The memorandum urged upon the HomeMinister to take serious note of the issue and adopt adequate steps todelete the (D) mark put against their names in the electoral rules. Urgingupon the Govt. to stop the process of illegal and unjust upgradation ofNRC for Assam alone, the memorandum further demanded that in caseit was at all necessary to upgrade the NRC, it should cover the entirecountry as per the Rule-4 of The Citizenship Rules 2003, and not on thebasis of discriminatory Rule 4A, designed to rob genuine Indian citizensbelonging to minority communities of their Citizenship Right. Thedelegation pointed out that a considerable number of people havealready been sent to the detention camp without even any prima-faciecase against them. The Union Home Minister assured that thegovernment would take adequate steps .
Edited & Published by Asit Bhattacharyya from 48 Lenin Sarani, Kolkata 700 013 and printed by him at Ganadabi Printers and Publishers Private Limited,52B, Indian Mirror Street, Kolkata 700013. Phone : 2249-1828, 2265-3234 E-mail : [email protected], [email protected], Website : www.suci-c.in
SUCI(C) demands immediate arrestand exemplary punishment of those
responsible for defrauding theexchequer by Rs 10.67 lakh crores
in the coal acreages scamComrade Provash Ghosh, General Secretary, SUCI (C) issued thefollowing statement on 22 March, 2012 :
The very revelation from the lately published CAG report about theCongress-led UPA government’s extension of undue benefits to thetune of as high as Rs 10.67 lakh crores to besides some PSUs, over100 private houses including giant monopoly groups like the Tatas andAmbanis by way of giving them 155 coal acreages without auctiononce again lays bare the government’s utter corrupt face and shows thatextending favours to large corporate sectors by circumventingestablished rules and procedures and causing serious loss to publicexchequer has been a way of its operation defrauding the people atlarge. It only shows that all the ruling parties starting from Congressto BJP and others are only engaged in facilitating amassing of hugewealth by the big industrial houses through loot and plunder at will andreceiving a share of the booty. We strongly demand immediate arrestand exemplary punishment to all those responsible for a financialcrime of such a gigantic magnitude.
AIMSS delegation led by Comrade ChhayaMukherjee met President of India, on 16 March,2012 to submit memorandum on steps to checkagainst growing crimes on women and children
Participating in theparliamentary debate on unionbudget, 2012, Dr. Tarun Mandal,SUCI(C) MP within the very limitedtime allotted to him stronglyopposed the out and out anti-people,pro-rich, pro-capitalist UnionBudget 2012-13, which is destinedto spell further disaster in the livesof the wretched, impoverished anddestitute people of India. Theproposed Budget, he said, is for therich, by the rich and of the rich. Bytrying to attribute the cause ofdownturn of country’s economy toextraneous factors, the FM wastrying to hide the endemic crisis ofcapitalist economy with which notonly Indian economy but theeconomies of all capitalist-imperialist countries are afflicted.Severely criticizing the FM for beingextremely harsh on people in hisbudget proposals, Dr. Mandal askedwhy the suffering people should,who are in no way responsible forthis harrowing crisis, bear the burdenwhen the capitalists-imperialistswho have precipitated the crisis in
course of their hunt for profitmaximization would escapeunscathed? Why should theoppressed destitute millions bear thebrunt of huge amount of regressiveindirect tax, service tax, cess and soforth and the rich and affluent wouldget away by evading tax, defaultingbank loans, embezzling ProvidentFund money or receiving thousandsof crores of rupees as fiscalstimulation from public exchequer tomake good business losses? Whyshould the handful of the owners beshowered with plethora of taxwaivers, concessions and aids, askedDr. Mandal. Dr. Mandal alsocriticized FM’s indication of anotherrise in fuel price under false pretextand the way an unholy nexus ofcorrupt ministers-bureaucrats-politicians-corporate sector aredefrauding public exchequer to thetune of lakhs of crores of rupeeswhen the poor countrymen arelanguishing in abject poverty, fallingincome, soaring unemployment. TheGovernment must stop cheating thepeople, he asserted.
Dr. Tarun Mandal onUnion Budget in the Parliament
IACC denounces US diktat to DPRKto stop peaceful satellite launch
ComradeManik Mukherjee, General Secretary of International Anti-imperialist Coordinating Committee (IACC) has issued the followingstatement on DPRK’s plan for a satellite launch:
The IACC strongly condemns the US stand as articulated by PresidentObama on DPRK’s plan for a satellite launch for peaceful purposes duringthe birth centenary celebration of the great leader President Comrade KimIl Sung. The US threat is part of a conspiracy to destabilize the socialistDPRK, and USA has no right to dictate terms and order the stopping of thelaunch. In the high level negotiations with USA, DPRK has consistentlyclarified that a m1oratorium on long-range missile launch does not includesatellite launch for peaceful purposes and it has always reiterated itssovereign right to indigenously develop the technology for the launch. It haseven invited space experts and media persons of the world to come andobserve the course of the launch and check the peaceful nature of thescientific and technological development. The US attitude is blatantlyconfrontational, is bound to intensify the war tensions and vitiate theatmosphere for negotiations for peace and reunification in the Koreanpeninsula. IACC appeals to all peace and freedom loving people of theworld to denounce the USA’s nefarious actions and postures, and to rise upin protest demanding that USA and its ally the puppet South Korean regimegive up their hostility against DPRK and enter into serious and sincerenegotiations for reunification, peace and withdrawal of all foreign militaryforces from the Korean peninsula.
A section ofparty workersin a General BodyMeeting organizedby West BengalState Committee inKolkata on 31stMarch, 2012. Themeeting wasaddressed byComrade ProvashGhosh, GeneralSecretary, SUCI(C)
