Updates from CPI (ML) Red Star, January 2022
Revolutionary New Year greetings to all Comrades and struggling Compatriots!
Advance towards successful completion of 12th Party Congress!
The year that passed in to history had witnessed further sharpening of the contradictions between the global imperialist system on the one hand, and the world proletariat and people of the oppressed classes on the other, as well as the contradiction among the imperialist powers who are contending for increasing the plunder of toiling masses as well as nature. With the dawn of New Year both of these contradictions are not easing, but getting further intensified. It calls for further strengthening the international unity of the working classes and oppressed peoples, and the communist parties to launch coordinated international movements against the barbarous imperialist system and its lackeys and junior partners.
The year that passed was greatly eventful in the national scene also with the historic farmers’ movement continuing for 380 days, challenging the neoliberal-corporate Modi government, and surmounting all lies, slanders, suppression against it from the RSS parivar. Modi had to surrender before the determination and sacrificing spirit of this movement, had to revoke the 3 farm laws and agree to implement the other demands also. This victory has not only served the farmers’ cause immensely, but also has inspired all other classes and sections to come out on the streets boldly to fight for their demands. Now, the center of the farmers’ movement has shifted to the states. Struggling sections of the farmers’ movement are getting together to mobilize Kisan Mahapanchayats wherever possible demanding the implementation of APMCs and MSP with govt. Guarantee for all farmers. In the new year, based on the call of the SKM, the party committees shall extend all support to the farmers in this effort. In the new year, let us intensify the farmers’ movement at state level, with the preparedness to challenge the fascist Modi any time!
As already pointed repeatedly, under Modi’s policies, the working class and all other oppressed masses are arrogantly challenged, vast majority of the masses of people are impoverished, are under pressure of the objective factors like pushing 90% of the working class to unorganized, casual/contract workers. As a result, their militant support to the farmers’ movement was conspicuously weak or almost absent. New year throws up the challenge of mobilizing them and politicizing them, so that they can play the vanguard role, both in defeating the ruling class’ offensive against them, by imposing four labor codes after throwing out all hitherto hard won rights, in order to help the corporates to extracts more surplus value, and in coming out in support of the people’s movements in all sectors.
Even while, RSS parivar is barbarously pushing forward its Manuvadi-Hindutva agenda, and trying to overcome the reverses suffered before the farmers’ movement by winning the UP elections at any cost, the revolutionary left and struggling forces are campaigning to defeat BJP, organizing the Defeat BJP, Save Democracy Manch. At all India level, numerous movements are coming up challenging the Modi government in general, at the same time against the neoliberal/corporate policies pursued by the state governments also. Our Party is in the forefront in mobilizing the farmers’ movement for APMCs and MSP in different states, in the Defeat BJP campaign in UP, in the Basti People’s struggle in Bhubaneswar, in the campaign against opening new coal mines in MP, Bengal etc, against implementing the POSCO plans in Odisha through Jindal, against Bullet train plan of Modi, against the K Rail project in Kerala etc.
It is in this active atmosphere, on the New Year Day the Branch, Local, Area Conferences as part of the 12th Party Congress in September is going to start. The Party has two fold tasks before it: continue the campaigns and struggles vigorously forward on the one hand, while actively advance the Party Congress preparations for its successful completion on the other. Let us intensify the efforts to unite all revolutionary communists, strengthen party building from the grass root level onwards, strive hard to fulfill the two tasks, intensify class struggle, caste struggle and gender struggle integrally linking them together, and advance towards and advance towards completion of people’s democratic revolution and advance to socialism.
Environmental catastrophe calls for immediate political response.
With the Glasgow conference which was called to address the catastrophic situation created by ecological destruction also failing to get any practical steps by the heads of governments assembled there, this task of saving the humanity from the perilous situation created under climate change and global warming, the revolutionary forces who calls for, and struggle for a system change, which alone can help us to take up this task. As called by the ICOR conference, they have to get together with the scientists and environmental movements and launch national level as well as international level movements for pulling back the humanity from the precipice of ecological disaster. The Glasgow protest rally, majority of them students and youth have showed how concerned are they about what their generation is going to face.
In this situation, the initiative taken together with the scientists and environmental movements to form the Forum for ecological Protection and Alternative Development (FEPAD) has to be strengthened as a core to work as an umbrella of the increasing number of people’s movements for ecological protection in all states. Let us militantly move forward to develop the ecological struggle save the humanity caused by and intensified by the imperialist system, its lackeys and junior partners by seding up the neoliberal onslaughts.
Modi forced to revoke the 3 farm laws; Agrees to implement other demands!
Historic Farmers’ Movement Suspended, Vacates protest sites!
The SKM led protesting farmers at the borders of Delhi decided to suspend their agitation and vacated the protest sites on December 11, 2021, after celebrating the victory. The fight for farmers' rights will continue, but the movement will not end, the leaders of the SKM announced after the meeting of the leaderships of the fighting organizations at Singhu Border.
The SKM national committee has decided to meet again on January 15 in New Delhi to monitor and review whether the government has kept its commitments with regard to the withdrawal of police cases against protestors and compensation for the kin of those who died, as well as the progress on the committee to ensure MSP is given to all farmers. The SKM accepted the government's formal proposals conveyed on 11th December, and decided to suspend its agitation on the 380th day of their protest, after holding a grand celebration.
When the farmers’ marched to Delhi breaking down the barricades and obstacles raised by the BJP governments in Haryana and UP, the Modi-Shah government resorted to all heinous actions to keep them out of Delhi. When they organized a massive march to Delhi on 26th January all fascist measures were resorted to vilify and attack them brutally. Even when more than 7oo of the farmers became martyrs in the movement, they were called Khalistani terrorists, anti-nationals and what not. At Lakhimpur Kheri fighting farmers were mowed down by speeding vehicles at the behest of central minister of state for home affairs, Ajay Mishra. More than half lakh cases were filed against them and their leaders to terrorize and suppress the movement. In spite of all this, the agitation continued, primarily by the might of the organized strength of the farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Western UP, supported by farmers and other toiling masses who reached the Delhi borders in solidarity.
The RSS parivar, the Sanghi media and Amit Shah’s goons along with the saffronized Delhi police tried their level best to prolong, torture and finish the movement at Delhi borders and all over India. But at last Modi had to withdraw the three farm acts for corporatization of the agriculture in an ignominious way. It was a historic victory of the farmers against the neoliberal, corporate fascist Modi raj which is bent upon turning this country in to a Hindurashtra, spreading hate politics and dividing the people. But the farmers’ struggle still continued till Modi government agreed to give formal agreement on all contentious issues. As the leaders of the SKM have emphatically pointed out the struggle will continue till the corporates are thrown out of the agricultural field and all farmers are provided with APMCs and MSP with legal guarantee all over the country.
So, now the centers’ of struggle shift mainly to the states. As the SKM leaders have repeatedly called for, and as CPI(ML) Red Star and farmers’ organizations like AIKKS have campaigned and struggled for, the farmers’ struggle has to be intensified in all states for APMCs and MSP based on state specific demands, uniting the struggling like-minded farmers’ organizations. In this the Chhattisgarh Kisan Mazdoor Mahasangh has become a good example. Following the Kisan Mahapanchayat at Rajim on 28th September, spreading influence all over the state including Bastar where the 15 para-military camps are torturing the Adivasis, the Mahasangh has put forward the demand for establishing the APMCs and providing MSP for all main agri-products from the state, with a warning to start indefinite struggle, if it is not implemented in a time-bound manner. In W. Bengal a massive Kisan Mahapanchayat is planned for 17th January, to be followed by Karnataka, Telangana, MP, Maharashtra, Kerala and other states by the SKM state level committees formed at the initiative of AIKKS, while in UP on 12th December the AIKKs organizing a significant conference at Lucknow. AIKKS shall try for uniting like minded forces in the UP SKM committee and give leadership to the movement demanding state-wide APMCs and MSP.
The inspiration created by the militant farmers’ movement led by the SKM for 380 days has forced the fascist Modi government to bow down to its organized might. This victory shall go on encouraging the farmers in all states to come to the streets in coming days. It has already started inspiring the workers and other toiling and oppressed masses also to come out on the streets to fight against the shameless corporatization of all sectors, and transfer of remaining public sector units also to corporates by the RSS led Modi government using Manuvadi Hindutva politics of servitude and national betrayal, as loyal junior partner of US imperialists.
In this situation, CPI(ML) Red Star appeals to all progressive forces to joint hands to defeat BJP in coming UP elections in order to give a crushing blow to Modi rule which has impoverished the masses in horrific manner. Let us intensify the farmers’ movement in all states to ensure the APMCs and MSP for all farmers. Let us use the inspiration created by the resounding victory of the farmers’ movement to ignite the struggling spirit of the working class and other oppressed and toiling masses.
On Raising women’s legal age of marriage to 21.
Modi government has introduced the Prohibition of Child Marriage (A) Bill, 2021, to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years and bringing it at par with men. It may be passed by the parliament in its winter session itself, and also made a law very fast. The most important question is why Modi is in such a hurry for getting such an important law without proper discussion in the society, especially among women, when there are already provisions for opposing marriage without consent? Through numerous instances, like the CBSE question paper which claimed that the women’s empowerment has weakened the position of men as chief of the family and it has promoted bad influence among children, the Manuvadi outlook of RSS has come out often. There was an uproar against this question paper and the government was forced to withdraw it. , This hurried legislation, like the one on Triple Talaq earlier, is directed against the Muslim minority. Another aspect is that BJP is concerned with is the support received by the call for women’s emancipation raised by Congress in election rallies.
The RSS/BJP government has not taken any steps to improve the socio-economic backwardness of women. Women’s liberation becomes meaningful only when the patriarchy in all its from is overthrown, the women are empowered to stand on their legs economically and socially, gender equality is ensured in all fields, and the women, like men are having the full right to select their life partners. On the contrary, instead of taking any steps in this direction, but unleashing Unnao, Hathras, Gohari like atrocities against women, especially against dalit women by the criminals influenced by the Manuvadi forces, have intensified significantly after Yogi govt came to power, In this situation, BJP talking about women’s empowerment is ridiculous.
The Modi rule has not taken any steps so far to provide higher education, employment for women from the vast majority from the poor sections. On the contrary, whatever little was available are also diluted or abandoned. So, this hurried legislation should be opposed in its present form and context since it is not addressing the basic questions of women’s liberation, but is another move for gaining advantage to BJP in UP elections by spreading Islamophobia. This has become abundantly clear from the statement of the spokespersons of the BJP that all those who oppose this bill are agents of Taliban
AFSPA Should be Thrown Out!
In the context of brutal killing of 13 workers of Nagaland by the Indian army, the question of AFSPA has once again com up as one of the central Issues in India. The Nagaland government and the main regional parties of the state have categorically stared that after so many crimes committed by the Indian army using this draconian law, there is no compromise on this question, and it should be put an end to. A people’s movement is also started at Kohima, calling for continuous campaigns and struggles until it is repealed.
The number of crimes committed by the armed using this draconian law. When it became unbearable, the women of Manipur had held a demonstration with their naked bodies before the local army headquarters asking for its repeal. Then pm Manmohan Singh had assured to withdraw this draconian law nothing happened. The army, which is functioning as a colonial one in Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast is for its continuation as it gives them enormous powers to threaten, torture and kill, to impose tyranny over the people.
In spite of all these it is still continuing and when the fascist Modi government is utilizing it more wantonly, the only option before the oppressed peoples is to intensify the campaign with more intensity to get it repealed it without further delay. CPI(ML) Red Star calls upon all party committees to join this movement for withdrawal of this draconian law with all its might.
On Second Anniversary of Attacks on Jamia Students followed by Shaheen Bagh,
Get Prepared to Revive No CAA, No NPR, No NRC Movement, if Modi Refuses to Repeal CAA!
When the Modi government went ahead with hasty, unconstitutional adoption of CAA to dis-enfranchise tens of millions of Indian citizens, mainly Muslims, CPI(ML) Red Star along with revolutionary left and struggling forces organized a militant demonstration from Mandi House to Jantar Mantar on 14th October, 2019, followed by public meeting, even when Delhi police refused to give permission, they had raised the slogan: No CAA, No NPR, No NRC for the first time. The tempo of the Anti-CAA movement went on intensifying a Modi-Shah went ahead with its heinous plans. In December, 2019 Delhi police attacked the Jamia students when they demonstrated against the CAA. Soon on 16th December the Shaheen Bagh was launched by the militant elderly Muslim women came out on the streets challenging the Modi government’s action. Soon, like a prairie fire it spread all over India mobilizing all anti-fascist democratic forces in the country. It was the first mass upsurge at all India level, challenging the RSS parivar and its Modi rule. Before it was forcibly suppressed just before the 24th March lockdown, using the pandemic as a cover, it had inspired tens of millions.
During the last two years many things have happened including the historic march to Delhi by the farmers, forcing Modi to withdraw the 3 farm laws intended to corporatize agriculture. But the fascists never learn lessons. To overcome the damage from his tactical retreat, he is trying to win the UP elections at any cost, and to re-start the CAA-_ NPR process. To resist these, the revolutionary left has launched the Defeat BJP, Save Democracy campaign in UP, appealing to all democratic forces for all forms of support, including financial help.
Now, to fight the CAA, NPR, NRC, on the occasion when the 2nd anniversary of the attacks on the Jamia students and Shaheen Bagh are being observed, let us pledge to re-start the Anti-CAA movement mobilizing all the forces who rallied to join or support the Jamia students and the Shaheen Bagh. Let us intensify the anti-fascist movement mobilizing all forces that can be united.
Call from the CC to the Branch, Local and Area level conferences to be started from 1st January, 2022.
March Forward for Successful Completion of the 12th Party Congress!
Strengthen the Party; Intensify Revolutionary Struggles to Complete the Tasks of PDR and to Advance Toward Socialist Revolution!
Dear Comrades, revolutionary greetings.
Our Party, the CPI (ML) Red Star, is advancing towards the holding of its 12th Party Congress, at Kozhikode, Kerala, in the last week of September, 2022, putting forward the draft of the updated Party Program for completion of PDR and advancing towards Socialist Revolution in India at a critical time in the history of the communist movement at international and national levels. Presently, the neoliberal imperialism is confronting its severest crisis as revealed by the intensification of the contradiction between capital and labour on the one hand, and capital and nature on the other reaching catastrophic proportions and intensification of all contradictions to unprecedented levels. This has made the situation most favorable for World Proletarian Socialist Revolution. But as we have explained many times, the International Communist Movement (ICM) and the communist parties in all the countries have still not recovered from the severe setbacks suffered by them, especially from the 1950s. They are not strong enough still to utilize this situation and advance the proletarian revolution forward. Or, the subjective forces of revolution, the communist parties, are still facing ideological-political confusion leading to many serious reverses.
In this era of imperialism and proletarian revolution, the victory of October Revolution and emergence of Soviet Union in 1917, in the background of First World War, had put forward the path of socialist transformation as the only alternative to the crisis-ridden imperialism which faced its hitherto severest crisis in the1930s. The advent of fascism as a manifestation of this crisis followed by the move on the part of fascist powers, Germany and Italy together with Japan, for a further re-division of the world led to the Second World War. While the Anti-Fascist Alliance, in which the Soviet Union played a vanguard role, with the imperialist powers US, Britain and France succeeded in giving a crushing defeat to the fascist forces, regarding the perspective on rebuilding the post-war world, further intensification of the contradictions between the imperialist camp and the socialist forces were already evident. However, when US imperialism which was taking steps to come to the leadership of the imperialist camp with the weakening of British imperialism, devised comprehensive political, economic and military arrangements for transforming the colonial forms of plunder as Lenin explained, to a more sinister and pernicious neo-colonial form, as the CPC led by Mao Tsetung explained during its Great Debate with the revisionists who had usurped power in Soviet Union soon after Stalin’s death, the socialist forces could not grasp the seriousness of these moves. As a result, they failed to effectively deal with these imperialist maneuvers for continuing their hegemony in new forms. If the Soviet revisionists evaluated this neo-colonial transformation of the imperialist plunder as the weakening of Imperialism, and advocated abandoning the path of class struggle and resorting to peaceful transition to socialism, the left adventurist in form, but right opportunist in content, the Lin Biaoists who were in control of the CPC during its 9th Congress in 1969, based on their erroneous evaluation of the post-Second World War situation, announced that the era of imperialism and proletarian revolution has changed to the era of total collapse of imperialism and worldwide victory of socialism. Based on it, they called for ‘left’ adventurist path. Both these deviations severely damaged the ICM as well as the communist movement in each and every country enormously, disintegrating them to numerous streams, or groups.
In our country, right from the beginning, in spite of many great struggles, the CPI leadership failed to grasp the significance of establishing the leadership of the working class and Communist party in the independence struggle. It failed to make a concrete analysis of Indian situation and to put forward a program and path based on it. When the millenniums old practice of caste system and patriarchy propounded in Manusmrithi, demanded that the class struggle in our country should be taken up along with caste struggle and gender struggle as integrally linked, inter-related process, the communist leadership failed to recognize this. Even after adopting the first Program and Path document in 1951, the rightist line that dominated the CPI called for withdrawal from the great Telangana struggle for embracing parliamentary struggles as its strategic path. The emergence of the Soviet revisionist line further encouraged it to go for a line of National Democratic Revolution aligning with Congress, and to propose peaceful transition to socialism. No effort was made to analyse the neocolonial domination over India or on the consequences of the superimposed land legislations including Green Revolution.
The 1964 split in CPI and formation of CPI (M) also did not address the core issues of PDR as mentioned above. It was in this situation the ideological struggle led by the CRs during 1964-67 addressed many of these basic questions, and paved the way for the Naxalbari Uprising in 1967. Its historical significance was that it called for a total break from the revisionist past. But soon the movement came under influence of the left adventurist line then prevailing in China; mechanically equating then India with the pre-revolutionary China. It led to neglect of the vast changes taking place in India on account of the neo-colonial policies, and to the failure to develop the Program and Path of revolution based on concrete analysis of the situation. The practice of this left adventurist line followed by brutal state suppression led to splintering of the CPI (ML). Though far-reaching changes were taking place under neoliberal globalization with serious repercussions in India in the following decades, the splintered Left, in general, failed to grasp the gravity of the situation, and to develop the revolutionary line accordingly. While, the right opportunist line remains the main ideological, political challenge to the movement, the left adventurist line also has led to severe setbacks to the movement.
Presently, the CPI (M) led Left Front parties pursuing the path of parliamentary cretinism, are facing serious decimation in W. Bengal and Tripura. Still they are implementing the neoliberal policies in Kerala where they are in power, facing decline in all fields. Almost same is the case with the Maoist trend. More than the state repression, it is its theory and practice which has isolated it from people and led to major sections of its cadres leaving it during the last one decade. Still the significance of the eruption of the historic farmers’ movement with massive participation of the farmers and their supporters challenging the RSS/BJP rule developing the anti-corporatization movement in the streets could not be grasped by most of them, though almost all these forces extent support to it. Many of them still refuse to accept that capitalist relations are dominant in agriculture, or grasp the Green Revolution-induced changes under neo-colonial domination. On the other hand, those who have gone for socialist revolution altogether neglected the completion of the anti-imperialist tasks, and fail to make any headway.
But, in spite of these ideological confusions, growing number of CR sections are coming closer to the understanding put forward by our party that though capitalist relations have become dominant in the agricultural sector, the anti-imperialist tasks of PDR are yet to be completed to create conditions for advancing to the stage of socialist revolution. Such a stand ‘seeking truth from facts’ shall help the unity of the broad sections of people who are exploited and oppressed under neoliberal imperialism and strengthen the people’s movement against the corporate-neo-fascist rule of RSS/BJP. There is immense scope for unity of CR forces based on this perspective. Unity of all such forces will give a boost to Bolshevik-style party building, a party surrounded by class/mass organizations and people’s movements, capable of using all forms of struggle, which in the Indian context is integrally linked up with struggles at the realm of class, caste and gender, utilising all available means at people’s disposal. This will enable the polarization of all CRs, leading to the building up of a powerful Communist Party at all India level.
CPI (ML) Red Star is taking initiative to bring together the Marxist-Leninist forces based on the ideological-political line put forward above. It has speeded up the historic task of reorganization of the Communist movement at all India level. As part of it, our party comrades at grass root level committees should strive to win over those who were members of any of the left groups and presently inactive due to ideological differences or other reasons.
Comrades;
What we are facing presently is a great challenge. When the powerful left and CR organizations of the past are on the path of decline, our Party, CPI (ML) Red Star, which had a humble beginning with the merger of CR forces in Kerala with a small section of them in AP in 1979, has succeeded to recruit many young cadres from many states, could reach merger with different CR organizations, and has become a struggling left organization with influence in almost all the main states. It could happen due to our continuous efforts to develop our theory and practice according to the fast changes in the concrete conditions around us. We are in a continuous process of developing our program and path, fighting against all dogmatic outlooks and stereo-typed thinking. In continuation to the experience of last more than four decades, the CC calls upon all comrades from the grass root level committees onwards to intensify the efforts to advance political education and develop the revolutionary practice vigorously.
The successful completion of the 12th Party Congress and the future advances of the Party very much depend upon the success of the grass root level party conferences starting from the Branch conferences from 1st January, to be completed before the District Conferences starting on 1st of March. All SCs and SOCS shall give due importance to convene these and complete their deliberations with the perspective of initiating all-round development of grass root level party building.
According to the practice we are following, all the draft documents to be finalized in the Party Congress shall be presented for discussion and moving amendments only from the District Conference level onwards. But, the copies of all the draft documents, the updated Party Program, amendments to Party Constitution, Path of Revolution, Political organizational Report of the CC, and the Political Resolution shall be made available to you by 1st of March. You can study the draft documents and send your amendments, if any, direct to the Party Center up to 1st of September.
In this Call from the CC, only an over view of what happened to the communist movement till today, and what we can do to help the party rebuilding by winning over all like-minded forces through ideological struggle against all alien trends is explained. Even if the number of these inactive comrades is small, we should give it necessary priority. While organizing new grass root level party committees, Branch Committee in village/ town/panchayat ward etc, Local Committees at Panchayat/ town/ Municipal Corporation ward level, etc, and Area Committees at Block/Taluka level, emphasis should be given to recruit advanced comrades from among students, youth, women, workers, peasants etc. The experience in active involvement in panchayat level activities in Polargat Gram panchayat after the Bhangar movement in W. Bengal, show that the grass root level party building linked with the activities at Gram Panchayat/Town Panchayat level, and Block Panchayat level, putting alternate development path, fighting corruption and working for increasing democratization of these grass root level platforms shall not only strengthen our mass base, it shall lead to increasing politicization of the masses also. It will enlighten the masses for grasping the significance of preparing for capture of power using all forms of struggle to launch an alternative path of development and democratization of the society.
Uphold Marxism-Leninism- Mao Tsetung Thought, Our Guiding Ideology!
March Forward, Completing the Tasks of Democratic Revolution and Advancing to Socialist Revolution!
Expose, Defeat Manuvadi/Hindutva RSS/BJP Rule which Serves Neoliberal/ Corporate Imperialism!
Long Live ICOR! Uphold Proletarian Internationalism!
Workers and Oppressed People’s and Nations of the World Unite!
Make the 12th Party Congress a Great Success! Long Live CPI (ML) Red Star!
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