Fourth regular edition newsletter for August by New Wave Bolshevik Leninist

The New Wave is a revolutionary Socialist organisation building a Bolshevik Leninist Party in India and the 4 th international issue no. 4 August edition 2012 www.newwavemaha.wordpress.com www.litci.org

2012, a year of political turmoil Contents: 1) Editorial .................................................................................................................................................................. 2 1) Statement on General strike .................................................................................................................................... 3 2) Update on the Indian Situation ................................................................................................................................ 8 3) Note 1 on the indian economy ................................................................................................................................. 10 4) No truce with Samaras ( Statement of IWL-FI on Greece ) .................................................................................... 13

Editorial We are most pleased to be able to publish the 4th regular edition of the New Wave newsletter, made for the month of August 2012. This year has seen many pertinent developments in class struggle across the globe and in India. This includes several key public sector strikes including that in Air India and BSNL. This was complemented by a nation-wide general strike on the 28th of February and the 31st of May. The general strike was the 2nd such strike after merely 15 months since the last general strike was called in September 2010. Since then the New Wave has strove to intervene and get involved in these mobilizations. This has helped us to sharpen our perspectives on Indian capitalism and class struggle in India, a step forward in developing the revolutionary Bolshevik Leninist party for india. In this edition of the newsletter we have published a full analysis on the general strike of February 2012 which explains both the perspectives of the strike itself as well as the road ahead. The strike is a high point in worker militancy in India and represents the next step in consolidating a unity of the working class in India.In this year's update on the Indian situation we describe the effects of the world economic

crisis in India and what are the political implications for this. The update lays bare the extent of contradictions within Indian capitalism and the acutely pre-revolutionary stage we are at presently. This period is critical for understanding and developing a revolutionary party. In order to develop our understanding on the Indian Economy we are preparing Notes on the Indian Economy. These notes explain the peculiar characteristics of Indian economy. For this edition we have published note number 1 dealing with the contradictions of Indian manufacturing. From the international, we have published with permission, the statement on the Greek crisis and the current political situation there. The Greek crisis has had a cascading effect all across the Mediterranean most strongly in Spain where a full blown uprising of workers is underway. We have kept digitised soft copy versions of all our past newsletters accessible at http://issuu.com/new_wave . Readers are welcome to read through our past publications and give their feedback to us.

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Statement on General Strike

Workers protesting during the 28th Feb strike

way linked with the general strike, but that is not so. The general strike of 2010 was a big impetus towards struggles succeeding it. The general Precisely 15 months since the last strike and the issues it raised created general strike, India faces yet again a the environment and mental general strike of the same magnitude. framework to orient the masses In a continuum of the trend since the towards greater militancy against the last momentous strike, we see all the bourgeois state and its virulently promajor central trade unions uniting capitalist policies. The result was a together for a joint action. However, slew of struggles breaking out in the the importance of this strike goes 14 month period succeeding the strike. beyond the unity of trade union This strike will have a similar effect if militancy and hits out at the Indian not more intense! Because this time capitalist system fundamentally. This not only are major central trade unions strike happens after an interval which joining the strike but regional ones as witnessed many significant upheavals well. At this juncture when the both nationally and globally. bourgeoisie in India is being attacked Nationally we witnessed the rise of the from all corners and is faced with anti-corruption movement on the one mounting social pressure from the hand and the rise of worker militancy workers and peasants of India, the in North India with the landmark strike general strike is critical in paving the at Maruti Udyog's Gurgaon plant. way for the overthrow of the There were other important struggles bourgeoise state and the establishment in the public sector as well with the of a Workers State in India. december strike at BSNL in 2010. That came only 2 months from the general strike. Internationally, there New developments in course of the was the arab spring at the start of 2011 general strike : and big mobilizations in Europe. Most empiricists would mistakenly say that In the course of preparation for the none of these struggles were in any momentous general strike, several new

For all out support to the General Strike !

and significant developments were seen in the spectrum of trade unionism as well as political developments. On the trade union front we are seeing the deepening of trade union unity with regional unions and sectoral unions also joining in support of the strike. A significant example is the joining of the unaffiliated BSNL unions. On the political front, we are witnessing a strike being conducted by leading left wing affiliated unions when they are politically at their weakest, with the CPIM being ousted from power both in Kerala and West Bengal. The recent developments in West Bengal are of particular interest here as the forces of the working class are once again directly pitted against a belligerent state being ruled by a semi-fascistic party, the TMC. The success of the strike in West Bengal would thus become a pole of inspiration for the whole country as it would succeed against most adverse conditions.

towards achieving the primacy of a Next phase of trade union unity and general class consciousness in place of its importance : narrow sectarian trade union consciousness. The first general strike achieved this unity at the central level, whilst this general strike promises to achieve this at the regional and sectoral level, thus deepening unity of workers across the nation. The next step therefore, is to expand this and bring about unity of the indian working class with their class brethren across the world beginning with South Asia and surrounding regions. Here the need for a revolutionary international is felt as well as a NTUI represents a significant revolutionary party in India. development in the trade union movement in recent times.

India's trade unionism suffers from the problem of fragmentation. As of 2005 there were over 68000 trade unions with an average membership of 1000 in a working population of around 395 million. The bulk of the trade union membership being monopolized by 10 main central and regional trade unions and their affiliates. Though there is political control over the trade unions, this is more in terms of ideological orientation than organizational control. This has resulted in a lack of centrality in trade unionism as well as a weak ideological development among workers. This paves the way for depoliticization and the primacy of minimal struggles over maximal struggles. Minimal demands and minimal struggles howsoever important they may be in the short term, must develop into maximal demands with maximal struggles. This does not happen without there being a bridge linking minimal consciousness with maximal consciousness, which aims towards Socialist revolution. That is where transitional demands and a transitional perspective comes into struggle and more importantly, political leadership which can give this direction. The first step towards overcoming this difficulty however, is trade union unity. What is achieved through trade union unity is the sidelining of infighting amongst trade unions which has become all too common, in place of the unity of the working class. This is step one

defeat of the left and the weakening of the Congress thus has had a dialectical consequence, in that it has led to the strengthening of the working class and its allies nationally. Despite a temporary strengthening of the right, the trajectory of decline was still and is still in force. As expected, the right wing parties of the BJP and other regional parties are being incapable of giving mass leadership in a revolutionary direction. The field is being opened for a revolutionary party of the working class to win over the masses and side by side, we see an ever bolder working class which is regaining much of its lost strength and adding new strength with each passing Political developments since 2010: day. The only real hindrance is the continuing absence of a revolutionary In the last general strike, the Bolshevik Leninist Party in India and a government run by the Congress party concrete presence of a revolutionary was dictating terms from a position of international. relative strength and had a semblance of authoritative power. It was shaken Need for strengthening the strike but not yet stirred. At the regional action: level the Left front was still holding power though challenged and on the Notwithstanding these positive verge of falling. But now that situation developments there are still important has changed. One of the main areas where the present action of achievements of the anti-corruption workers is lacking. These weaknesses movement, and in which we may even reflect in the demands put forward by call it a pyrrhic victory of sorts, was the various unions. The ten main the shattering of the power of the demands by central trade unions are : congress party and shattering its rule over India. This period may perhaps 1.Concrete measures to contain price become the last chapter for the rise congress party, no different from the 2.Concrete measures for linking last days of tsardom in Russia. The employment protection with the National leadership of the bourgeois is concession/incentive package offered thus in no position to clamp down on to entrepreneurs the tide of worker's struggle which will 3.Strict enforcement of all labour laws now engulf India and eventually, the without any exception or exemption sub-continent. The Stalinist parties of and stringent punitive measures for the left front which were then ruling violation of labour laws West Bengal are now out of power and 4.Universal social security cover for in opposition. In the past being all unorganized sector workers without integrated within the bourgeoisany restriction and creation of a democratic framework only furthered national social security fund with their bureaucratization till the point adequate resources in line with the where they lost all linkage with class recommendations of the struggle and of the working class. NCEUS(National Commission for Now the overturn in West Bengal has Enterprises in the Unorganised sector) forced them back into the working and Parliamentary standing committee class and weakened their on labour bureaucracies. Even though there is a 5.Stoppage of disinvestment in Central prevalence of social reaction in West and State profit making PSUs Bengal with the TMC at the helm, 6.No contractorization of work of there is a marked increase of strength permanent/perennial nature and from the forces of the working class, payment of wages and benefits to the both in Bengal and nationally. The contract workers at the same rate as

available to the regular workers of the industry. 7.Amendment of the Minimum Wages Act to ensure universal coverage irrespective of the schedules and fixation of statutory minimum wage at not less than Rs 10,000. 8.Remove all ceilings on payment and eligibility of bonus,provident fund; increase the quantum of gratuity 9.Assured pension for all 10.Compulsory registration of trade unions within a period of 45 days and immediate ratification of the ILO Conventions Nos 87 and 98(on right to association and right to collective bargaining) Whilst, many of these demands pertain to valid and reasonable demands, many are still limited in their reach and some are outright abstract. For the working class, only concrete and realizable demands matter and more importantly which take their struggles in a radical direction. 1) Concrete measures to control price rise: The first demand, of 'concrete' measures to contain price rises is made in total ignorance of the limitations of bourgeois means to control prices in a capitalist context. Inflation and deflation under capitalism are phenomena acutely linked with the accumulation of profits and overproduction of capitalism. As long as the bourgeois rules india, they will subject her people to repeated cycles of overproduction and its requisite inflationary and deflationary cycles. Keynesian 'quick fix' solutions are no permanent solution to this and it will not be expected for the bourgeois to even take those unless the crisis of capitalism becomes almost irreversible. The only permanent solution is to have a democratized distribution and control of resources through worker's control of godowns and production centres coordinated centrally by a democratically elected supreme council of workers determining production on a rational basis. A transitional approach towards this would require at least the demand for a statutory sliding scale of wages pegged to consumer goods inflation. The union's demand however, is not

only utopian in this regard but also leaves out practically everything to the imagination of what would be 'concrete' measures to control inflation. From the bourgeoisie's own point of view they've taken every possible concrete measure they can imagine and they all seem to be failing !

were arrested nation-wide for holding protest rallies. Despite being largely peaceful in nature the workers were put under arrest. What is needed are changes the very laws themselves. For this we demand that the provisions restricting the right to organize trade unions under the trade unions act and the provisions restricting right to strike under the industrial disputes act be 2) Concrete measures to link struck down ! The right of peaceful employment protection to incentive organization and protest must be packages to employers: recognized as fundamental rights. In Addition to this we must also demand The next demand of linking for an act to illegalize lock outs by employment protection with corporate employers and companies which run incentives falls into the same trap and without paying regular wages and worse ! It makes a concession to salaries to its employees must be employer's subsidies which are punished severely ! draining the state exchequer whom no doubt will transfer this burden of 4.5 4) Universal social security for all lakh crore to the poor of the country. unorganized workers and creation of a Subsidies to the poor will be cut along national social security with adequate with welfare measures *( Like resources in line with the employment protection! ) to finance recommendations of the the huge cost of incentives to NCEUS(National Commission for corporates ! Even a minimal demand Enterprises in the Unorganised sector) should at least aim to suspending such and Parliamentary standing committee incentives and demanding a structure on labour: of steep progressive taxation to equalize the fiscal burden. Not only do Unorganized sector workers are the they leave this out but also stay rigidly most heavily exploited section of the fixed at making a minimal approach working class and are consequently 'work'. The transitional approach most severely oppressed. They suffer should be towards guaranteeing a from lack of organizational support as decent employment to all the working well as a total absence of adequate population and the right to work as a legal protections which organized fundamental right ! sector workers enjoy because of the achievement of decades of class 3) Strict enforcement of labor laws struggle by their organizations. The without exception or exemption and arrival of unorganized sector and the strict punitive action against question of the status of workers violation of labor laws: employed in them has now achieved acute dimensions and is one of the This demand yet again shows limited very pertinent questions facing the Indian labor movement and is a perspectives. The bourgeois state is challenge to its dynamism. The very selective about the strictness of enforcement of labor laws. It will very success of uniting organized and unorganized workers is key to building diligently and 'strictly' enforce those a strong and viable labor movement in aspects of labor laws which favor employers but will be lax in effecting India. The first steps are being taken only now and the bringing of issues of the law where the question is of welfare to workers or their right. The unorganized sector within the stream right of organization and agitation for of the general strike is one positive move in uniting workers of both example is the one most blatantly sectors through a common struggle. trammelled upon by the bourgeoisie. The example of police brutality at the However, yet again, the solution Honda motor work's strike in Gurgaon presented here reflects the limited and constricted perspectives which weaken shows this clearly. No less clear was the development of labor militancy in the example of the last general strike itself where almost a thousand workers India. It reflects a desire to find

solutions within the bourgeoisdemocratic framework and relies on the bourgeois parliament to implement adequate solutions for the mass of unorganised workers. Nothing is being said about who will participate in this envisaged committee or how the social security funds should be managed and where it should be spent. The bourgeoisie in India relies heavily on its archaic colonial bureaucracy to dispense with its work, the same bureaucracy acts as little more than an additional layer of exploitation for the masses in India having its hand in gloves in the loot of the workers. It is foolish to think that these leeches would ever be concerned with the welfare of workers let alone unorganized sector workers. Apart from that it begs the question why something as fundamental as social security should only be restricted for the unorganized workers and not for organized workers. The bourgeois only guarantees social insecurity, as a defense all must be entitled to at least a minimum of Social security. The creation of such a fund would be of immense benefit to all.

defensive tactic and the time has now come for more offensive approaches. We must now demand the nationalization of the commanding heights of the economy. This includes the nationalization of all large private sector monopolies foreign and Indian. In some cases, the private companies currently operating, were public companies once like that of ICICI bank or Maruti Udyog. These companies must be Re-Nationalized and eventually be placed under worker's control. We cannot leave it to the bourgeoise and their vassal thug bureaucrats to run these companies which are of public interest.

7) Amendment of the Minimum Wages Act to ensure universal coverage irrespective of the schedules and fixation of statutory minimum wage at not less than Rs 10,000 :

Along with the minimum wages act is one of the most important pieces of legislature in indian labor laws. The significance of it is in guaranteeing a minimum wage for every worker in India. However, this is only in the minimal. World over the trend is towards an advance from the 'minimum' wage to a 'living' wage which takes into account all basic 6) No contractorization of work of expenses needed for a dignified permanent/perennial nature and livelihood for the average worker. payment of wages and benefits to There is no reason why if American the contract workers at the same and European workers could demand rate as available to the regular the same as far back as the 1930s, that workers of the industry. : Indian workers cannot demand it in 2012. Not only that but the A recent trend has taken root among Constitution itself provides for a many companies in India, to hire Living Wage under the directive workers on contract basis from labor principles of State policy !There is a contractors. This leads to the need to look ahead from minimum exploitation of workers on two levels, perspectives and aim towards a living once at the hand of the contractors wage. Not only should the level of 5) Stoppage of divestment of PSUs : who treat the workers directly as statutory minimum wage be fixed at commodities, and again at the hands of the level of a 'living' wage *( at least The bourgeoisie is preparing for a new the companies who have hired them 30000 rupees per month ) but that phase of privatizations. It was in wait who are made to work under itself should be adjusted accordingly for so long only to make way for and substandard conditions compared to to inflationary pressures. to strengthen domestic monopolies so their regular counterparts. This they may have the upper hand in the exploitation is only compounded when 8) Remove all ceilings on payment market. Ever since their formation the the contract workers are made to work and eligibility of bonus,provident bourgeois state has used public sector on permanent/perennial basis, as they fund; increase the quantum of to subsidize and support the private are still regarded as contract workers gratuity: sector, much to the detriment of the thus deprived of rights and protections public sector itself. This paved the of regular workers but made to work Gratuity , bonus and provident funds way for the first phase of with the same intensity and duration. are areas which are much abused by privatizations to kick in shock in the This practice must be stopped and employers in India. In most cases 1990s. The next phase is now being contract workers who are employed in these are either never paid to the prepared for which includes such manner must be adequately workers or are challenged and left privatization at a snail's pace of select compensated for such sub-standard hanging at the doors of the court. PSUs. BSNL in particular is being employment. The total abolition of Ceilings are already in place for aggressively targeted for privatization contractorization must move hand in eligibility of bonus and provident fund in order to remove the sole public hand with punitive measures against as well as of gratuity. These sector competition to the Mittals and labor contractors and an abolition of restrictions must be removed. But not Ambanis who control the telecom their businesses. Hard measures must only that, there should again be a industry in india through reliance be taken. However, none of this would mechanism to hold employers communication and Airtel. This be possible without organizing them accountable to representative process is yet to take fruition however, and without giving them the solidarity organizations of the workers. The it must be nipped at the bud, with a they need from regular workers to trade unions have an important role to moratorium on all planned stake sales wage this struggle. This demand play in this regard facilitating the and divestments from existing PSUs as shows the inkling of transitional workers with payment of gratuity and well as cancellation of all future plans perspectives towards class struggle provident fund. The management of of privatization. But this is still a however nascent it maybe. these funds must have at least an

element of worker's participation and accountability.

98(on right to association and right to collective bargaining):

9) Assured pension for all:

India remains as one of the nations not to have ratified the right to collective bargaining. The effect of ratification of an international convention is to incorporate the provisions of the convention into the laws of that country. Naturally, India has yet to accord full rights of collective bargaining in India, and numerous unjust and unwarranted restrictions remain. One of the ways to stall and weaken trade unions is to leave them unregistered , often by simply 'sitting' on the application for registration indefinitely. We wholeheartedly support the fixation of a 45 day period for registration of trade unions to bring about uniformity in this area.

Old age spares no one, yet the bourgeois government seems unsparring of old age. Pensions are neither uniform nor equitable. Often they become the playthings of bureaucrats to sit upon and harass pensioners from their due. Contract workers in particular and those employed in sub-standard work are worst off in this regard. To add to the already existing sorry state of affairs of pension in India, the government has long been planning to liberalize pensions and expose it to the vagaries of the stock market ! Such overtures are condemnable and must be resisted at all costs. While demanding for assured pension for all there must also be demand for changing the laws relating to pensions as well as for a mechanism to ensure that the pension reaches those who are in need of it. The rate of pension as well should be adjusted with living wages and needs of retirees. 10) Compulsory registration of trade unions within a period of 45 days and immediate ratification of the ILO Conventions Nos 87 and

The path forward for class struggle : Notwithstanding the weaknesses of the present movement, there are important developments taking place which require the full and unconditional support from revolutionaries in india and internationally. The void in revolutionary political leadership is the single most important hindrance for the further development of the Indian labor movement in a revolutionary direction. This general strike like the

Workers protest during General strike in Pune

one before it is an important stepping stone in the class consciousness of the Indian worker. However, it is not a final solution by a long shot. The next climactic phase of class struggle is starting and for which the general strike will pave the way for future militancy to arise, this time much more well coordinated and with a strong sense of solidarity among workers in india. What must be avoided at all costs however, is for the strike to fall to tokenism. Should that happen, then the net effect of a general strike would become the very opposite of what it potential could achieve. The tactic of general strike is to the working class in struggle against the bourgeoisie what an ICBM would be to the bourgeois at war. But it must be used wisely and not misused, otherwise it will become a drain to the strength and energy of the working class and its allies. The whole direction of struggle could go awry and fall into the doldrums of passivity. This is what will happen if the demands around which the strike action takes place remains caught in suspended animation at the minimal level. The need of the hour is for an advancement of tactics from defense to offense. This itself needs the intervention of revolutionaries to draw it into this course of action.

Update on the Indian Situation

Kolkata's Howrah Bridge blocked during May 31st protests against fuel price hikes

We had written our last document on the indian situation in 2010. The context of that document was the massive watershed general strike of 2010. That strike was a watershed since it worked towards breaking trade union fragmentation and united workers across unions and across different sections. Clearly there was a change taking place in organizational perspectives of the masses. Add to this a general situation of world crisis as well as a period of political and social turmoil in town and country. Since then there have been some changes, but not fundamentally so. Far from a decrease in social tensions in India, there has been an increase in class struggle and a frequency of strikes and mass mobilizations both in town and country. Overall our analysis from the situation in 2010 still holds today, but we must take into stock certain changes which have occurred since then. Increasing class tensions The year 2009 to 2010 saw an upsurge of workerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s militancy which peaked with the general strike of 2010 and the indefinite strike at the Maruti plant at Manesar a year later. But there was no cession or decrease in these tensions since then, on the contrary there was a continuation of the militant wave spilling over from the last year, this time witnessing militancy in public sector enterprises. The world economic crisis has forced Indian capital to expand more aggressively internally, resulting in a militarist approach to deal with dissent in the countryside as well as concerted attacks on public sector undertakings, in particular those

sectors in which considerable private Indian capital enjoy monopoly positions. The telecom and air transport industry are two main areas for attack. BSNL and Air India are presently being targeted vehemently for privatization and pro-private structural changes. The workers have not taken these moves without reaction but have taken to strike actions and protests. The frequency of these actions have also increased. Between the last major general strike and the one in 2012 there was only a 14 month gap while before that it took more than 7 years between the general strike of 2003. These mobilizations are not without political consequence as was seen during the general strike of 2003 which tilted popular opinion against the then incumbent government led by the BJP and eventually brought them down. Since then a policy of aggressive proletarianization in india has created multiple class tensions both in cities and in the countryside. The old class tensions released at the turn of the century have thus only intensified and become more organized. At present the tensions under the surface have reached near critical levels showing an advanced stage of the prerevolutionary situation in India, and this reflects in the nature of class militancy, organization and direction of struggles. Yet another interesting trend has been witnessed in the popular movements for self-determination in Kashmir and elsewhere. Earlier upheavals saw a very minimum participation of working classes in these regions, and a total subjection of these upheavals to a reactionary agenda. However, increasingly, the mobilizations are turning towards more concrete demands with a clearer agenda with

the reactionary forces finding it far more difficult to retain mass support. Self-determination struggles have become more sophisticated in the present context and far more closely interwoven with class struggle between bourgeois and proletariat. Significant political changes The rise of class struggle by the working class and its class allies *( the marginalized and marginalizing petty bourgeois and peasantry ) has effected important political changes which will affect the socialist revolution in India. The petty bourgeois in india has been squeezed out more and more under pressure from big capital, to the point where an extreme stratification is taking place between enriched petty bourgeois and those who are marginalized. The middle ranks of both peasants and petty bourgeois are almost being driven to extinction. This new stratification has resulted in a more left leaning and more democratic leaning petty bourgeois which finds itself fighting against the forces of big capital. The latent tensions have now come out most clearly in the form of the petty bourgeois led anti-corruption movement. This was the largest spontaneous mobilization of people since 1977. The impact of this movement has to cripple the ruling Congress party completely curbing their bonapartist tendencies more. Despite it having failed to reach any of its objectives yet and having fizzled out, it has opened up a new chapter of class struggle in India and wrenched out a huge mass of petty bourgeois from the grip of the bourgeois political parties. Within the same timespan events in Bengal changed the face of the left in India, with a total rejection of Stalinism by the people of Bengal and Kerala. The weakening of Stalinists have created conditions for the further advancement of the left in India and made space for the rise of a revolutionary Bolshevik Leninist alternative. New trade union initiatives and organizations are emerging which are increasingly organizing disorganized workers and contractual workers in the cities, and new spontaneous organizations are emerging in the countryside organizing the peasantry to defend against increased attacks from Big capital. Overall, we are witnessing a situation which bears some similarities with pre-revolutionary Russia in the immediate years before the revolution, with a plethora of dissenting organizations and a popular movement emerging against the ruling Tsar.

with it massive foreign debt and exposure to volatile western markets. The crisis in Eurozone as well as the USA has hit India in markets When the crisis did hit, India could only offset the effects through a rapid expansion of industry and deeper penetration into the domestic market. Overtime, Indian capital has been making more militarist overtures in desperation of penetrating regions not yet penetrated firmly by Indian Capitalism. But this rapid thrust into the Indian hinterland has been failing when faced with stiff local resistance and a tribal-peasant based Naxalite insurgency. When the thrust to the countryside stagnated, the focus shifted to within the urban sphere, targeting state enterprises, but here again they faced stiff resistance from organized workers to defend their welfare. Attacks against workerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wages are continuing to fail as organized militant workers are fighting against this. The usual tricks of corruption and scandals wrecking the democratic institutions of India are now being thwarted just as much. Internationally, the Arab spring in the middle east has posed new challenges to the free expansion of Indian capital to these areas, as well as the war in Afghanistan seeks to throw a spanner on the imperialist dreams of the Indian bourgeois. The Indian bourgeois is increasingly finding it more and more difficult to keep up the false facade of bourgeois democracy intact, as it finds itself surrounded by hostile forces both at home and abroad by hostile forces. The bourgeois may well choose a more dictatorial alternative to bourgeois democracy, but as has been seen throughout Indian history, with each measure to suppress the masses, the masses have responded with an equal of greater force against such measures of the rulers. The objective factors for a revolution are not only present in India today but are ripening more and more with each passing day to the point that it has become over-ripe for a revolution. What is found in wanting has been the presence of subjective strength which can harness the power of these objective factors and channelize them into a revolutionary socialist direction. Revolutionary party building â&#x20AC;&#x201C; an urgent task:

As the objective conditions for a revolution continue to mature, the most urgent task facing revolutionaries in India is to build a revolutionary Bolshevik Leninist party to lead the Working class and all oppressed masses to a Socialist revolution. It must be remembered that it is not enough for objective maturity of a pre-revolutionary condition to give a revolution, what is necessary is to complement it with a subjective force strong enough to give leadership at the The crisis of sub-imperialism: critical point of revolutionary upsurge. That point of A rapid global expansion of indian capital has brought with revolution is nearing with rapid pace as is evident from the it the problems of becoming an emerging centre of Capital. frequent upsurges being seen in the country today. Part of that is integration with the forces of Western Imperialism and economic thrust into Africa has brought

Note 1 on the Indian Economy : (Proletarianization and the Manufacturing Sector in the Informal Sector) - Adhiraj Bose

A State owned Oil refinery

I would like to begin by stating a well

established facet of Marxist analysis of the Law of Value. Capitalism works ultimately to suck out surplus from the labor intensive, low tech sectors to sectors where high tech capital intensive operations take place. This is what was at the heart of the destruction of the Indian handicraft industry in the colonial period as well as the rise of British manufacturing on a global scale. In the scenario that a nation develops capitalism fully, it is reflected through the marginalization of the contribution of the 'intermediate classes' of small proprietors ( Peasants and petty bourgeois ) . In areas where capitalism is plentiful we see this has already happened. Here the social and political significance of small proprietors is either insignificant or non-existent in totality. In areas where capital is scarce, the intermediate classes of small / petty proprietors are existent to the greatest degree. By and large you may characterize the third

world in this way. This half of the world where capital is scarce in relation to the total population would include South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, South East Asia, and parts of Latin America and Eastern Europe. These are areas which have a large base of peasants and petty bourgeois which have yet to be proletarianized. As such they present extremely attractive markets for big capital particularly from imperialist countries. For most countries which have such a large and substantial peasant-pb base and having scarce availability of capital they are generally not strong enough to develop a powerful bourgeois on their own and become dependent on the entry of foreign capital to aid them with vital technology and infrastructure and in many cases in actively securing their political power. However, this is not a stringent rule and in some cases, there are such 'third world' countries where capital is scarce which manage to

develop their own bourgeoisie and need little or no help to maintain their authority internally. Not only that but at least 3 countries throughout history have been able to emerge as capital exporting countries without any recognizable strategic or economic impairments despite the scarcity of capitalist development. These four countries are : 1) Tsarist Russia till 1917, 2) Imperial Japan till 1945 , 3) India 1947 - present. As a post-war example India contains many unique features of a country undergoing rapid capital accumulation having emerged from a colonial yoke. Among these features, is the continuing scarcity of Capital in India in relation to its large population, as well as the proliferation of its urban population as a part and parcel of proletarianization. But is this proletarianization concentrated and organized ? In Tsarists Russia during its period of industrialization, similar

efforts were taken by the then existing government to liberalize the agrarian sector allowing for massive transfers of populations from the countryside to the city. In India, far more sophistic methods are used to achieve roughly the same end. But there's a difference here in the consequence of the action. It has been reported that manufacturing in India has stagnated. This has resulted in two things for the masses of rural migrants when they enter into Indian cities. On the one hand, organized large scale manufacturing is stagnating in terms of absorption of new proletarians into its fold, whilst on the other a channel is created for very sub-standard employment either in certain government jobs(cleaners, sweepers etc) or as is in the majority of the cases, into the informal sector. This informal sector is characterized by the existence of micro organizations employing not more than 9 people in it, with very limited capital requirements where the government imposes restrictions on the total capital invested. The Law of Value tells us that these are sectors where the workers involved are *exceptionally* exploited by their owners for the reason that they are forced to competing with the forces of big capital with very limited means. In India's case a large number of these small 'informal' businesses are in fact family owned stores and organizations. The profits would be shared by the family and each member of the family takes part in the business, even though women are found to be in a minority for the most part. *( Surveys reveal they represent not more than 20% of the total employment in the unorganized and informal sectors) .The unfavorable economic realities of small proprietorship is compounded by the fact that labor laws and protective coverage hardly ever reaches to these areas. Which means, the employment of child labor among other things is found mostly in this area. This speaks of the situation of labor in the urban centers, but what of the rural sector ?

relative share in the total number of rural households are few. In addition they monopolize the best technologies available and are able to employ large numbers of agricultural proletariat to till their crops. This section of the agricultural population actually accounts for the bulk of the farm output in India and are concentrated for the most part in the wheat belt of India, in Punjab-Haryana-Western UP region whilst in Maharashtra and Gujarat there is the influential "Sugar lobby" based mostly around Western and Central Maharashtra. The marginal farmers and the landless rural households have only two choices in the villages, either leave to work in the cities, or to work in another's farm. But since, most holdings are either small, marginal or medium the scope for generating rural employment for this landless populace is bleak. *( 30% of all rural households are landless ) they have no other choice but to go to the cities, or die. Here again we have yet another phenomena in the villages, with the existence of village money lenders and pawn brokers. This class of usurious people are present in the cities as well and are considerably more exploitative and consequentially richer in most cases than the money lenders in the villages, however, the destruction to livelihood caused by village money lenders is considerably greater when comparing the relative standards of the urban and rural poor. In most cases it is this debt that drives the migration from countryside to city. There are of course other factors too if one considers, direct state repression of peoples in Central India. For the forces of Big Capital what this would mean, is the massive availability of dirt cheap labor as a result of migration from the villages to the cities. Additionally, what this could mean if we consider the steadily rising unemployment and underemployment of peoples is the creation of a vast reserve army of the unemployed. the proliferation and steady expansion of this means, that the Indian bourgeois finds a ready and seemingly 'natural' mechanism for the dampening of The situation is actually worse in the wages across the board. The rural sector with big capitalist farming prevalence of statism in India means holding a minority of land *( large *( figures suggest that even now 38% estates in India are considered to be 5 of all goods produced in India and hectares and above ) whilst their almost 50% of the GDP output and

75% of all banking in India by volumes belong to State owned corporations ) that the Indian bourgeois and particularly the big Indian bourgeois need not worry about the entry of foreign capital who would not have the upper edge in terms of exploiting this vast pool of exploitable human labor. The initial stages of protectionism in that case would stand to mean that an internal sphere had already been secured by State fiat, something which Russia and Japan both invested in heavily but not to the extent of Italy or Germany. Statism, however, could not and will not last forever. The bourgeois does not see state control as an end in itself but merely as a means to an end. The end envisaged here is that Big Indian capital should be readied and nurtured enough to be able to compete aggressively with its more technically sophisticated big imperialist rivals in the west and in the far east. A facet of this development has been noticed in the stagnancy of employment generation in manufacturing sector which contributes to around 14% of the total employment *( Note this includes small and micro level manufacturing as well ) but contributes nearly 30% of the total GDP and this contribution is rising. In fact, Indian manufacturing sector has reached to such an extent that it presently has assumed the lead role in exporting Capital outside India. The main targets of this export has predictably been in the advanced countries where the best technologies exist as well as providing a sort of back room access to outlying markets in other countries. This success of course, is limited to only a few family based conglomerates and households who control the bulk of the output in the country along with of course the government. But this still hides the perplexing fact that the Indian economy for its boom and accumulation shows enormous and seemingly mysterious disequilibrium. One example of this is the fact of micro and small scale firms accounting for 40- 55% of the GDP in India *( the higher estimate takes into consideration the size of unorganized or informal sector to be 9 per organization, whilst the lower estimate

is based on labor output ) . To the largest extent they are represented by small traders in the city and peasant households in the countryside, but also include various services and small manufacturing *( Small manufacturing has a unique feature of having a relatively small output compared to its manpower employed ) . This sorry state of affairs has a parallel with Indian agriculture which has a similar adverse relation between productivity and labor employed. The spurt in growth of Indian manufacturing post 1991 has taken place in only the last 6-7 years of this century and this period saw the emergence of India as a *Major* Capital exporting country which

achieved the distinction of exporting more capital than it imported around 2007 when the Tatas acquired CORUS. Before this it was the IT sector which emerged as top dog. What i feel may have happened during this phase was the IT sector losing its distinctive position in India owing to a market determined shift of labor from the IT sector to Manufacturing which has spurred on this growth of Indian manufacturing. Over and above that it has been helped enormously by the infusion of foreign capital in this period as well as acquisitions made abroad which has given it access to new technologies and an expanding investment into research and development. This impetus was

Maruti Suzuki workers at Manesar on strike in 2010

previously absent owing to the natural cover provided by Statism in India. Despite these changes, India's manufacturing has yet to catch up the levels of its nearest rivals China. What these contradictions in part shows is the validity of our argument for India's sub-imperialist status as well as its characterization as an economy driven by enforced proletarianization. In India it is the politics of India's subimperialism which maintains the social dynamics at the rural level that holds more importance than the economics of sub-imperialism. But the one only exposes the latter and viceversa.

Greece :

No Truce For Samaras Administration! Out With The Troika! Written by IWL-FI

Annul the Memorandum and suspend all payments of the debt Now!

The coalition of independent Greeks achieved 7.5% (20 seats); the fascists from Golden Dawn achieved 6.9% (18 seats): Democratic Left got 6.2% (17 seats) and the Communist Party (KKE) received a miserable 4.5% equivalent to 12 seats in the Parliament (after having achieved 8.4% in the May elections).

For weeks now the eyes of the world have been fixed on Greece. The outcome of the legislative elections, fundamental to elect the government, caused many a sleepless night for all the imperialist powers, especially for A weak and illegitimate government the conservative and reactionary forces of the Europe of capital. Rapidly fulfilling the briefing received from the Troika, the conservative Antonis Samaras from the ND presented a Greek toiling masses voted in the midst of a polarised new government in Greece, which would be supported by political situation and with the economy of the country the socialists from PASOK and the Democratic Left. The shattered by the activity of the administrations who are putting into practice the plans of the sinister Troika (IMF, executive includes members of the ND and technocrats, with their outstanding figure of Vasilis Rapanos, director of Central European Bank and European Commission).The the main bank in Greece and now minister of Finances. result was a very close triumph of the conservative right, pro-Troika and EU, represented essentially by New The truth is that the right-wing administration, which Democracy (ND). This party achieved 29.7% of the votes surfaces from these elections, is a government imposed by and so ensured their 129 seats in the Parliament, all this imperialism, specifically the German and the French one, due to a totally antidemocratic law that gives a bonus of 50 against the will of most of the Greek population. seats to the most voted party. Without this tip, ND would The entire process has been marked by blackmail and not have managed to constitute a government. pressure from the European imperialisms, a real campaign Syriza, an ample front of reformist organisations, obtained of terror to make sure that the parties that defended the a second place with 16.9% of votes and some 71 seats in continuity of the pillage and massacre of the toiling masses the Parliament. The PASOK, the other traditional party would win these elections. submissive to the Troika reached 12.3% seat in the The pinnacle of this raid against sovereignty of the country Parliament. was the cover of Financial Times in its German edition

calling to vote for ND as the last opportunity to remain within the euro zone.

himself. When he stated that he will concentrate on the struggle “create a shield to protect those who are marginalised” This means that, instead of resisting the The Greek press tried to broadcast the statements of the measures imposed by the EU, workers should feel leaders of the German administration and of the EU, where contented with measures of “solidarity” to make up for the only two options surfaced for the Greek toiling masses: destruction of the country and its impoverishment. Instead either the Memorandum or the hyper-inflation. In spite of of fighting we ought to create a shield of protection, i.e.: all this, the results of the elections left the parties that charity and resignation for the destruction of the country. defended the Memorandum in minority. Six out of ten electors cast their ballots for the parties of the NO to the But what is more Syriza is throwing into the dustbin all the Memorandum and about 40% electors failed to vote, in a votes received from workers who said NO to the country where vote is not compulsory. Memorandum when they say that they will “applaud” the positive measures of the government. But the fraud of a regime that is unable to express the will of the majority of the population could also be envisaged No positive measure will be taken by a government in the constitution of the government into which the imposed on the workers by the Troika whose only Democratic Left, a party that campaigned against the commitment is to apply the measures demanded by Memorandum, has been incorporated into an imperialism. administration whose duty will be to impose the The only way to rescue workers and not banks and Memorandum and more sacrifice for the people. financial capital is to establish a head-on opposition This is a weak government. They could not achieve a against this government, expose it right from the very first majority of their own in the Parliament and must walk on day, seeking support in the great amount of votes issued by the tight rope of a political situation where popular workers and the resistance in the streets, in the struggles of resistance against looting of the country neighbourhoods and in the workplaces. continue. The parties that defend the social war against To support any of the measures of this government and to Greece obtained just over 40%. Most of the people rejected criticise what is mistaken is a formula for shamefaced these parties and their policies of famine and capitulation. support for the government that will try to cheat workers, And it is in such conditions that the Samaras government will talk about renegotiating the Memorandum while trying will have to boost cuts and adjustments exactly the way to gain time to keep on with the plan of privatisations, Merkel and the Troika demand. deposits and cuts in the budget. The ND, PASOK and Democratic Left are an illegitimate Every condition is there for achieving the defeat of the administration for it was imposed by the Troika and has no application of these imperialist plans. Lack of legitimacy support from the majority of the population. Greek workers for the government to impose such plans, the crisis of the cannot afford to give a single day of truce to this political regime can keep on if workers go ahead with their government; they must walk into the streets and prepare resistance and mobilisation. the resistance, build their organisations in their workplaces, But it looks like Syriza is about to head in the opposite prepare the struggle against the laws that the Greek direction, that of attempts at recomposing a regime in crisis Parliament will have to vote so as to comply with the an absolutely unable to apply the measures imposed by measures imposed by the Memorandum on rescue of imperialism on to the Greek people. banks.

The limits of Syriza But unfortunately the main leader of Syriza, Alex Tsipras, is drifting in the opposite direction. He proposes a policy of “social peace” with a government that is at war with workers. At an interview on the day after the elections, Tsipras stated, ‘Asked about his strategy after last Sunday’s elections, Trispras responded that Syriza would not summon its hosts out into the streets to protest against the austerity measures (…) “Solidarity and resistance are important, but right now solidarity is the most important thing,’ he asserted. We went on to say that ‘right now our role is to be inside and outside of the parliament, supporting everything that is positive and exposing everything that is negative and proposing alternatives.” “What did he mean by saying that “solidarity” is more important than resistance? The leader of Syriza explains it

From the NO to Memorandum to negotiation Before the elections we defended the conformation of a left front hinging round Syriza, centred on the NO to the Memorandum and that this front should issue to mobilise workers and solidarity of European workers to confront the Greek and European bourgeoisie. But we warned, “Greek left is at the crossroads: expulsion of Greece out of Euro if Syriza does not yield completely to the Memorandum or does so insufficiently according to German demands; or yield in order no to be expelled from euro and keep on with the agony of the Greek people. Accepting the second option is betting on dooming Greek people to indigence; it would be political suicide of Syriza

and would spell clear strengthening of the fascist referent and the banner of the split with the EU and euro would be hoisted by the fascist referent. However, the speed of the events and the policies of imperialism placed Syriza at the crossroads even before election could be won. The contradiction between the immediate suspension and the insistent statements of leaders of the Syriza that they would fight to remain in the euro whatever the cost and negotiate with imperialism when the other said that there would be no negotiation anticipated the need for Syriza to develop their programme posing another alternative to the likelihood of Greece getting out of euro.

Euro Zone, some of Syriza’s potential electors concluded that it would be better to vote ND, that had started with the defence of the revision of the Memorandum and staying in the Euro.

The speed of events in revolutionary situations such as the one in Greece turns months into days. Syriza had two clear options in case they won the elections: they could keep on with the annulment of the Memorandum or would negotiate to stay within the euro. Imperialism anticipated the debate and demanded a categorical answer. Syriza did not take the unilateral split with the Memorandum to the bitter end for that would mean modifying their programme and seeking support from workers’ mobilisation, taking The five points presented for the electoral campaign did measures against financial capital, which would mean not respond to the fundamental issue that had polarized the asserting that the chaos in the unemployment, lack of elections: what was to be done in the face of the likelihood public health and the poverty that sweeps over the people of being pressed out of euro. who are the ones doomed to pay for the abandonment of the Euro Zone that capitalist must pay. During the electoral campaign, all the imperialist voices – from Merkel up to Obama – regarded the first point of the And it is here that the emergency programme presented in programme inadmissible: it was 1) Abolition of the the elections lagged far behind the political polarisation Memorandum and the austerity measures and the counter- spawned by the pressure of imperialism. It was then that reforms and labour laws that are destroying the country the asserting of the non-payment of the debt, expropriation and they asserted: Memorandum or else expulsion from without indemnity of the banks, expropriation of strategic euro. companies and the contraction of working hours guaranteeing full employment for all the unemployed and Parallel to the menace of expulsion, the imperialist and decreeing of monopoly of foreign trade. Greek bourgeois campaign in the media asserted that Greece out of euro would be a “playpen”, that is to say the The central problem of Syriza, apart from this reformist retention of all bank deposits, there would be hyperprogramme, has been the fact that they staked everything inflation; there would be no state resources to pay the civil on the electoral way out and not on massive servants without the “rescue” money. demonstrations to defeat imperialism and Greek conservatives. Because it is a reformist leadership, they Yannis Bournus, in charge of European policy, answered a regard elections as centre of everything; but this is territory journalist’s question on whether his party defended was for controlled by capital. Bourgeoisie launched an intense leaving the Euro zone saying, “This is part of the slander campaign of terror against the Syriza vote and sought campaign against Syriza that has been going on for some support from the most backwards sectors in order to win time now. (…). Our programme and all the public election. Syriza keeps on staking on the electoral way and addresses of our main leaders make it quite clear that the bourgeois institutions, playing their cards on the taking Greece out of Euro Zone is not our political target.” erosion of the new government and waiting for new Next, Bournus say that leaving the Euro Zone would be “a elections. disaster not only for the Greek people, but also for our Combat against Fascism foreign creditors.” That is to say, Syriza does not pretend to quit paying the debt; they are for limiting themselves to Last week, a group of Egyptian fishermen living in the discuss what they consider the illegitimate part of the debt. region of Pireo were brutally attacked while sleeping, a gas bomb was thrown into their lodgings and men armed with In the face of the blackmail about the expulsion from the clubs beat the workers several of whom were hospitalised. euro, Syriza did not respond that this and the jeopardy of The representative of the Afghan community reported that hyperinflation could be solved if banks were expropriated, during last year, 21 workers were murdered and 42 were if the multinationals were nationalized and if the badly injured. government decreed control of the currency and foreign trade. That is the refusal to comply with the Memorandum These actions are supported by and defended by Golden that brings chaos to the life of the Greek working class; it Dawning, which is no longer a caricature and now can would be the bourgeois and their property and their profits boast 6.9% ballots being at present the first fascist that has that would become the target of the new government. any massive weight after the II World War and has become the top event of these elections. If the departure from euro meant a disaster for the Greek people and the German imperialism said quite bluntly that failing to abide by the Memorandum meant going out of

Illustration 1: Greek protestor burns a flag of the European Union

This group of bandits used the methods of civil war against a part of Greek proletariat, the immigrants, for they blame them for the 23% unemployment and displays a cowardly attitude in the face of Greek bourgeoisie and imperialism and their plans of famine.

Any measure that may affect the real interests of Greek bourgeoisie will consequently affect the interests of imperialist capital, which dominates over Greek economy. Greek presence in the Euro Zone interests Greek bourgeoisie and their business. The price most Greek people will have to pay for keeping their bourgeoisie as But a part of their discourse of split with the Euro Zone junior partners and subordinate to the great European and the EU, which media insist on disqualifying, wound up capital will be sinking further into poverty. by giving more political space to these murderers, found room among the desperate toiling masses due to lack of an None of the fundamental problems that concern Greek internationalist split posture, posing expropriation of people has been solved in these elections. The situation imperialist companies and banks that would appeal to the still tends to make the crisis increasingly deep in Greece, solidarity of the workers of Europe. hot on the heels of the European situation. At present, the Troika asserts that a third rescue of 50 000 million euros It is necessary and fundamental to constitute of organisms will become necessary in 2014. Imperialist projections it of self-defence of immigrants, supported by left-wing that, if the Memorandum is strictly complied with, organisations and by trade unions; it is necessary to fight broadening privatisations, increasing enormously against this organisation for if it is not defeated, tomorrow exploitation of workers so that companies will pay to the it will raid against most of the workers and their banks and the state will increase revenue dismissing 150 organisations. 000 officials and increasing taxes. After all this is done, by the end of 2015, the debt would still amount to 178% of An anti-capitalist and internationalist response Greek GDP. The response of most of the European left has been that we Taking this context into account, the imperialism policy is cannot allow people to take us for the nationalists. In the case of Greece, internationalism would stand for accepting to further ransack the country that is already submerged in deep economic depression, dismiss and exploit even all the tutelage of the country by German or French imperialism that control most of the institutions of the EU. after all this massacre. This genocidal plan depends on the Create confusion among workers, for the internationalism development of the crisis in Europe as a whole and on the resistance of Greek proletariat. that workers need has nothing to do with the RU and its institutions. In view of the above, there is no future for the toiling masses inside Euro Zone. The split with the euro is on the EU and the euro do not stand for any kind of unity for European peoples: they are war machinery in the service of agenda due to the need to attack the private property of saving the heart of European industry and finances: France imperialism and Greek bourgeoisie, the only ones interested in keeping the euro to serve as lackeys of and Germany â&#x20AC;&#x201C; based on poverty for the countries of European imperialism in the region. European periphery. EU belongs to the Europe of the bankers, the capitalists and the rich.