National and International Situations and Our Tasks.
Political Resolution Adopted by the Central Committee, CPI (ML)
International
situation:
The world economic
crisis which struck various countries with different intensity is
cyclical in nature. With each
cycle of crisis, the basic contradictions of the world capitalist
system are getting accentuated: between
imperialism and oppressed nations and people of the world; between
capital and labor, and between various imperialist powers.
Though the leaders
of imperialist countries claim that the economy had come out of the
2008 financial crisis, it
continues to haunt the world capitalist system. The so- called
measures the imperialist powers had taken to contain the crisis, such
as bailouts to the banks, had only fattened the pockets of financial
monopolies and drove the people into the mire of unemployment and
poverty.
The methods of
placing the burden of the crisis on the backs of working people in
the imperialist countries are taking
various forms. In Europe, there are massive layoffs, reduced wages
and increasing contract
jobs with less pay and benefits in the name of labour flexibility.
Along with these the monopoly bourgeoisie in the US is resorting to
cutting down health care and pensions for workers. They reduced
retirement benefits by a staggering 25 per cent between 2001 and
2015.
The corporate bosses
have eliminated age old practice of employer paid ‘Defined Benefit’
retirement scheme for the newly hired workers, replacing it with
‘Defined Contribution’ plans which are funded by the workers
contribution. According to a study, the employers offering definite
benefit plans plummeted from 45 per cent to just 7 per cent between
2001 and 2015. Another study noted that the number of Americans aged
65 or over who are working jumped from 13 per cent in 2000 to 19 per
cent in 2016 and is expected to increase to 32 per cent in the next
five years.
The employer paid
retirement and health care benefits were the result of fierce
struggles waged by the working class in
1940s and 50s and defended in the struggles into 1970s. Now the
capitalist class is ripping apart this social contract on the basis
of distorted arguments as was made by the CEO of Delphi. The “social
contract inherent in the defined benefit programmes perhaps made some
economic sense when you worked for an employer till the age of 65 and
then died at 70” he argued, “people can start work at age 20,
retire at age50 and expect full pensions and health care till age 90
or so” makes no sense. It is clear that the monopoly bourgeoisie is
hell bent upon to deny the legitimate dues it had to pay them and
thus maximize its profits.
Faced with unabated
crisis and growing disenchantment and ire of the people, the
imperialist countries are increasingly resorting to brutal and
repressive policies against the people. These include the restriction
of civil and democratic rights and their gradual abolition.
Exercising authoritarian powers in the name of so-called war on
terrorism became a daily routine. The continuation of state of
emergency by the French government after the Paris terrorist attack points to the rising
trend of authoritarian rule in the name of saving democracy. In
addition, the imperialist powers
are raking up anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant sentiments and racism.
The US president’s open
defense of racist violence at Charlottesville is the latest example.
While the white race supremacists’
rampaged through the town and terrorized students and other
residents, the police stood by and
winked their encouragement to the attackers. Trump described these
racist attackers as “very
fine people” and as resisting “violent left-wingers”. Similarly
across the Europe, the ruling classes are encouraging no-Nazi forces
and their organizations by raking up racism through
anti-immigrant feelings.
This is the strategy
adopted by the Western imperialist powers to divert the growing
people’s anger against
deteriorating conditions of life which was the result of crisis
inherent in capitalist system. Trump’s slogan of
America First, jobs for Americans only etc are only a part of this
strategy.
Many people consider
Trump as an ‘evil’ and attribute most of his policy
pronouncements to his personal traits.
They are unable to see the fact that Trump represents the financial
monopolies and he is the outcome of growing fascist trends in
American political system. It is well known that fascism is the
product of capitalism in extreme crisis.
The Watergate
scandal during the Nixon presidency exposed the criminal activities
of US imperialism all over the world. Carter launched US war in
Afghanistan that led to the creation of Al Qaeda. Reagan initiated
attacks on social security plans internally, while unleashing illegal
war of subversion in Nicaragua. Bush senior invaded Panama and
carried out first invasion of Iraq. Clinton bombed Iraq and imposed
sanctions that killed millions of Iraqis and their children. He
unleashed war on Serbia. Bush junior initiated wars on Iraq and Libya
that killed millions of people and sanctioned torture as an
instrument of policy of suppression. Next came the candidate of
‘hope’ and ‘change’, Obama. He sanctified drone
assassinations and domestic spying, while hundreds of billions of
dollars were squandered to benefit the financial sharks.
Imperialism,
particularly the US imperialism, to maintain and further strengthen
its grip over the countries of Asia,
Africa and Latin America, is seeking to perpetuate its domination. It
is demanding and wresting more concessions from the third world
countries by imposing more liberalization in trade, services and
intellectual property rights beyond what was stipulated by WTO. It is
now proposing regional trade agreements so that it can plunder the
nature, human and financial resources of the third world countries.
Correspondingly, the
imperialist powers are trying hard to continue their political
domination, by resorting to use
their military might. This is evident in the massive increase of
military budgets, growing number of military interventions and
threats of aggression against the third world countries.
Under the constant
threats of aggression from US imperialism, North Korea tested a long
range ballistic missile and nuclear bomb. The US imperialism is
demonising this self defense act of North Korea as a potential threat
to the humankind. The truth of the matter is that the US imperialism,
while sitting on a huge pile of nuclear weapons that can destroy the
whole earth more than four times, wants to disarm other countries as
it wants to impose its rule over the world with its nuclear monopoly.
Every country has the right to defend itself from the attacks by
imperialist countries, particularly the US imperialism and acquire
weapons and armaments including the nuclear weapons to defend
themselves.
The imperialist
powers are vying with each other for share in the loot. As the crisis
continues to hit them hard, their
wrangling over the spoils is getting louder and louder. The
reverberations of this wrangling were
clearly heard in the recent G-20 summit held in Germany. The EU,
particularly Germany and France,
vehemently opposed the US proposal to have a Trans Atlantic trade and
investment
participation treaty, which aimed at achieving US dominance over the
European countries. Similarly
another US proposed Trans Pacific Trade and Investment Participation
treaty did not make headway. At the same time, the US imperialism is
facing the Russian assertion for its place in the world affairs as an
imperialist power, which at present thwarted plans to topple the
Assad government in
Syria. The Russian attempts to join hands with China which is growing
as an economic power and entering into Africa with the finance
capital, has become a threat to the interests of US imperialism. To
counter this, the US imperialism is paying particular attention to
the South Asia. It rallied Japan, Australia and India into what is
calling the pivot to Asia aimed at curtailing the
Russian and Chinese access to Indian Ocean. This clearly shows the
sharpening of contradictions among
the imperialist powers.
In all the countries
the people are seething with discontent and anger. They are
protesting and are looking for a way
that leads to the resolution of their problems. All over the world
the working class is struggling not only for economic demands but
also for certain democratic and political demands.
When the peoples’
movement took the shape of anti-imperialism, it is being manipulated,
with the active co-operation from the local reactionary classes, to
save the interests of imperialism as was witnessed in the
events of Tunisia and Egypt. When the governments that came into
power at the crest of peoples’ movement, implemented democratic and
national policies as opposed to imperialist dictated ones, the US
imperialism tried every dirty trick to topple those governments.
After the death of Chavez, the national bourgeoisie of Venezuela
succumbed to the pressure of US imperialism as was evident in the
policies of Madura government.
The people of the
world are not remaining passive. They are developing their struggles
and organizations. They
need correct leadership - the leadership of a Communist Party – to
lead their struggles against imperialism and domestic ruling classes,
thus leading them towards the emancipation from
exploitation and oppression.
NATIONAL
SITUATION:
The BJP led
government completed three years in power. The Prime Minister in his
fourth Independence Day address triumphantly announced the
achievements of his government. Deft at coining new
slogans, Modi gave another slogan ‘Bharat jodo’. The Part II of
the Economic survey 2017 released on the next day, the last day of
the monsoon session of the Parliament to avoid any discussion, belied
the hopes that Modi tried to stoke.
The manufacturing
sector was in disarray when Modi was sworn in. He announced
‘Make in India’ programmes ostensibly to rejuvenate the
manufacturing sector. After three years,
the manufacturing sector showed a historically low capacity
utilization of 70 per cent. Due to
transition to GST and effect of demonetization, observes the Economic
survey, “15 of 25 subgroups in this sector recorded contraction”.
On employment
generation, the most important indicator of economic activity, 1.5
million jobs were lost during
January- April 2017 alone. The PM conveniently bypassed his own
promise to create 2 crore jobs every year and now extolled the youth
to become job givers instead of job seekers. Apparently the Modi Govt
shrinks from the responsibility of providing jobs by yet another
promise of providing the youth with opportunities for self
employment.
The Economic Survey
observed that “India’s combination of low real investment, low
export volume and low credit growth with high GDP growth was
unprecedented and difficult to maintain.” Such a gloomy situation
cannot provide opportunity to youth to find self employment. Modi
praised the job creation impact of the MUDRA loans. But the scheme
with its low level of loans advanced cannot create large number jobs.
The number of beneficiaries under MNREGA is being shown as creation of jobs
knowing well that it is distress mitigation scheme. People avail this
scheme only when there is no
alternative source of income.
Moreover, the
Economic Survey showed how the demonetization devastated the informal
sector. There is deflation; but it came at the cost of peasants and
those in the informal sector. The RBI Annual Report 2016-17 revealed
that the demonetization had not achieved all its declared objectives. 98.96
percent of banned Rs.1000 and Rs.500 notes were deposited in the
bank accounts. The RBI is
yet to count the notes deposited in the co- operative banks and in
Nepal. If
these are accounted,
almost all the banned notes returned to the RBI. Even according to
the Central bank’s figure,
about Rs. 16,000 crore worth of banned notes were not returned, which
means that those holding
illegal cash are insignificant in number or that they found ways of
depositing cash into formal banking systems.
Contrary to the
claims of the government that demonetization is “immensely
beneficial to Indian economy and people”,
undue costs and hardships were imposed on the poor people and on the informal sector of
Indian economy. The regular economic activity was disrupted for
months. The Economic survey
stated that decline in GDP growth rates “predated demonetization
but intensified in the post demonetization period”. As was
suspected by many at the time of announcement, the demonetization had
only helped the banks with liquid money as demonetization is not
complete even after six months. Seen from the tall claims made by the
government, the demonetization remained as a futile exercise.
The much placated
one Country- one tax reform, GST has paralyzed the informal
manufacturing sector. Textiles, leather and construction are worst
hit. In the name of streamlining the tax regime to improve tax
compliance the government has shut down the businesses and
extinguished livelihoods. The GST
as we had anticipated cleared the way for the foreign private capital
to gobble up the informal sector which is the mainstay of Indian
economy and put the finances of the state governments in deep
morass.
The rhetoric and
cliché slogans apart, the BJP led government is pursuing the same
policies of the UPA government with much more speed and ruthlessness.
It removed all the barriers remained for the entry of foreign private
capital, including the defense sector. It is continuing the policy of
privatization of education and medical and health services to its
logical conclusion of surrendering them to the foreign capital. The
long drawn process of formulating the national education policy in
the garb of democratic discussion, while parts of it being put in to
implementation and recently pronounced new health policy stands as
proof of this.
Unable to solve not
even a single basic problem of the people the BJP government is doing
everything to polarize the Indian society on communal basis. It is
blowing up every issue out of proportions, be it
beef, inter- religious marriages or religious conversions or even the
habits of wearing different
dresses to rake communal hatred and national chauvinism and then
resorts to physical attacks and murders. Communalism and national
chauvinism are being used to cow down the dissenters
and opposition. This indicates the growing fascistic trends in the
Indian polity.
Through the
assassination of Bengaluru based journalist Gauri Lankesh on 5
September the killers sent out a message to other journalists and
critics who believe, that they have a right to question and criticize those
in power, to dissent from dominant views, to investigate social
evils, and to expose violations of
human rights and corruption in high places, that they will be
silenced. The
assassination of
Gauri Lankesh is part of a larger design to silence those
intellectuals who oppose communalism and
caste discrimination as promoted by the Hindutva forces. The list is
long... M.M. Kalburgi,
Pansare and many others.
The mainstream media
in India is largely pliant and unquestioning, although there are few
exceptions. Given the prevailing ownership of media by big
bourgeoisie, it is virtually impossible for individual journalists to
investigate or expose the powerful unless the owners agree. Hence,
the parroting of what is being given by the government on everything
ranging from the economy to foreign affairs to terrorism fills the
columns of print media and consumes the prime time of electronic
media. The dissenting voices are very rarely heard. Her brutal death
ought to be a wake-up call for all journalists and democrats. It is
not just the lives of journalists and democrats that are at stake, it
is the future of free and fearless journalism and the democratic
values that are in danger of being eliminated.
The continuing
economic crisis had its repercussions in the political arena. The
concentration of powers in the hands
of the central government at the expense of state governments has
become a daily phenomenon. In the name of co- operative federation it
is curtailing the powers of state governments’ finances. Replacing
the Planning Commission with NITI Ayog is one example. Even the BJP
ruled states started to grumble on GST which has thrown their
finances into disarray. While agriculture is a state subject it is
moving in the direction of enacting an all India Agricultural Produce
Market yard Committee law to replace all the APMC laws made by the
state governments, in its bid to create a single agricultural market
as dictated by the WTO to facilitate Agribusiness of MNCs.
The BJP which came
to the power raising the slogans of Ram Janma bhoomi, love Jihad and Ghar Wapsi, now
added gau raksha in its armory. Along with these communal slogans, it
used caste permutations that are different from the opponents to win
the Assembly election in Uttar Pradesh.
In a bid to prove
its capacity in implementing the neo liberal policies dictated by its
imperialist masters, the Modi
government and BJP are arm-twisting and black mailing the state
governments under the rule of
opposition parties. The way Nitish Kumar was brought back in to the
fold of NDA breaking its ties with RJD in Bihar is a stark example.
It is using peoples’
anger against the deteriorating conditions of life to pressurize the
state governments. As in the Nirbhaya case in Delhi, it used
Jallikattu issue to mobilize the people and abruptly withdrew
when it found that the rising Tamil national sentiments may work
against it. Taking advantage of
the vacuum formed due to the death of Jayalalitha, it made the IT
department to take up raids on the AIADMK’s sources of finance
accrued through corruption. The role of BJP in breaking and
realigning the factions in the AIADMK is obvious to everyone.
The BJP is using
communal agenda to brow beat the TMC government and covertly raking
up demand for separate
Gorkhaland to gain its narrow political ends and to put Mamata
Banerjee in trouble, but not to support this long standing demand of
the peoples movement. It also began to create troubles in the two
Telugu speaking states - AP and Telangana- even though the regional
parties are extending their support to the NDA government. The
bulwark of BJP, Amit Shah told in a recent meeting of cadres of BJP
that harnessing support from TDP and TRS is only a tactic and they
must work with the aim of gaining power in these states at any cost.
It is using every trick to break the attempts of the opposition
parties to forge an alliance.
Since India and US
formed a “Global strategic Partnership” in 2009, the Indian big
bourgeoisie has inclined more
towards US imperialism. As a continuation of this, India allowed to
use its military facilities and ports by the US military under the
Logistic Exchange Memorandum of Agreement signed in
August 2016. Since coming to power in 2014, Narendra Modi government
and BJP unabashedly declare that Washington is a strategic ally of
India. It turned India into a front line state in the
hegemonic designs of US imperialism in Asia and Indian Ocean. It
joined the trilateral military ties with
US, Japan and Australia.
This is evident in
the standoff at Doklam with China. India entered into a territory,
which is a dispute between Bhutan and China and on which talks are
going on to find a solution between China and Bhutan, though it has
no legal right to do so. The 2007 treaty with Bhutan freed itself to
conduct its foreign affairs independently without the need to consult
India. Yet the Indian government sent its troops saying that Chinese
army trespassed the border and when this was proved not correct, it
put forth the plea that it took the measure at the request of Bhutan.
The BJP is using
this situation and raking up national chauvinism to divert the
peoples attention from the basic issues. The blow hot and blow cold
statements from both sides of the Himalayas may not immediately lead
to an armed conflict between China and India. But the India’s
totally unwarranted adventure will definitely lead India into the
clutches of US imperialism. One has to demand the government to
settle all the outstanding border disputes with neighboring countries
through talks and find an amicable solution and stop meddling in the
affairs of Nepal and Bhutan.
Here there is every
need to expose the real intentions of the Indian ruling classes and
its imperialist masters in using communalism and national chauvinism
to divide the people. During the last two years we have witnessed
turmoil in the campuses of centers of higher education. Be it JNU, DU
or Rajasthan University or Central University of Haryana or Hyderabad
Central University and be it Rohith Vemula, Kanhaiya Kumar, Rajasree
Ranawat, Umar Khalid or Nivedita Menon, the RSS forces are branding
anyone who does not agree to their Hindu nationalism as anti-national
are being subjected
physical attacks. The students with support from the democratic
minded people and forces resisted
these attacks to the extent possible. Such a resistance is very much
needed; otherwise the juggernaut of
communalism would tear asunder the fabric of communal harmony and
peace that used to prevail in
campuses and the society outside.
Yet, not only have
the immediate issues like hostel facilities, building of
universities, land issues for colleges, research funding etc, but
also the issue of policy that shapes the higher education like
redesigning curriculum to suit the needs of industry, tying up the
universities with foreign funding that decides every aspect of
education to be imparted to the students etc., were effectively side
lined by the government. While the students are engaged in resisting
the communal forces, the government has pushed through almost all its
so-called reforms that bring adverse consequences for the students
and education system, except forming the proposed Higher Education
Commission to replace the University Grants Commission, AICTE and
Medical Council of India. This is what the finance capital
wanted. Previously, these universities witnessed the resistance from
the students to these so-called
reforms.
This is also true as
regards the other sections and classes of people. The real aim of the
BJP and RSS on behalf of the Indian ruling classes in raking up
communalism and national chauvinism is to divide the people and
weaken their resistance to the anti-people policies being implemented
by them. It is the duty of the Communist revolutionaries to organise
resistance to and join hands with the forces that are opposing and
resisting the attacks from Hindu communal forces, while at the same
time expose the hidden agenda of the ruling classes sought to be
pushed through by the communal forces
before the people so that their resistance and opposition do not
limit to the immediate danger of
attacks but extend to the larger issues. By this way we can make the
people aware of the nefarious acts of the Indian ruling classes and
their political representatives.
The Modi government
is sharpening the teeth of repressive laws and machinery so as to
trample the hard earned democratic rights of the people. It aims to
monitor every movement of its citizens by linking everything with UID
(Aadhar card) In the situation where the parliamentary opposition
parties including the left have accepted imperialist globalisation as
a fact of life and are implementing the same where they were in
power, the people as well as the Country are faced with future
fraught with grave danger. This calls upon the Communist
revolutionary forces to come forward to take
on the challenge. They should close their ranks; strengthen
themselves organizationally and
in terms of class and mass organizations and movements. They must
strive to forge unity and
alliance with democratic and patriotic forces in order to fight the
dangers ahead and mobilize and
organise the people for united struggle on the following demands:
1. Scrap land
acquisition legislation.
2. Scrap mining
and mineral Ordinance.
3. Implement land
reforms.
4. Scrap labour
reforms.
5. Increase
allocation to social sectors like education and health.
6. Oppose
communalism.
7. Stop
communalisation of education and culture.
8. Oppose
national chauvinism.
9. Stop
construction of nuclear power plants.
10. No to foreign
capital.
11. Oppose
imperialist aggressions.
12. Solidarity
with struggling people and oppressed nations.
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