Message to the International Conference to
Support People's War in India
Hamburg, November 2012
CPI
(M-L) NAXALBARI
Comrades,
This conference is taking
place at an opportune moment in the history of the development of the class
struggle, not only from the perspective of the history of development of the Maoist
movement in India but also from the perspective of the critical juncture of the
socio-economic and political phase the world as a whole is presently going
through. In a world marked by aggressive moves of the sole super power US
imperialism, the rapid advance of people’s war in Peru led by the PCP and later,
from 1996, of the people’s war in Nepal led by CPN (Maoist) came as new rays of
hope for the downtrodden and the toiling masses of the world. But these
movements could not sustain their role of strengthening the Maoist pole; firstly,
due to the setback in Peru caused by consecutive arrests of top leadership of
PCP and later the confusion created by ROL attack and secondly, due to the
betrayal of the Prachanda-Bhattarai revisionists in Nepal. This was worsened further
with the dissolution of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM) which
was shaping itself as the embryonic centre of the world Maoist movement. It fell
victim to those very trends mentioned above, which came from within it, along
with Avakianism propounded under the guise of ‘New Synthesis’ by the RCP, USA. It
is in this background that this conference attains higher significance. It is
not just an act of showing solidarity to our struggling comrades in arms in the
dense forests of Central Eastern India but it is shouldering the momentous task
of spreading the message of revolution guided by Maoism, which is an urgent
need of the hour, particularly in these times of global imperialist crisis. The
CPI (ML) NAXALBARI extends its wholehearted support to this
endeavour. Our party salutes the International Committee to Support People's War
in India for conceptualising and successfully implementing it. We extend
revolutionary greetings to all those who are attending this seminar and also to
all those who, like us, participate indirectly.
The Maoist movement in India,
popularly known as the Naxalite movement, was initiated in the late 60s under
the leadership of Com Charu Muzumdar, fondly known as CM. As opposed to the
revisionists and the centrists’ trend of not taking a clear stand on
ideological issues, CM dared to take a defiant stand supporting the
international struggle that Mao Tsetung initiated against Krushchovian
revisionism in general and later the GPCR targeting the capitalist roaders
within the CPC. This breakthrough from the revisionist eclectic approach
ushered a new revolutionary high tide launched by the Naxalbari armed peasant
struggle of 1967. It spread like prairie fire. This heightened a countrywide
revolutionary situation. The movement was brutally attacked by heavy
repression. CM was martyred and the party center ceased to exist. The revolution suffered a setback for some
years. But such was the ideological solidity and revolutionary determination ensured
by CM that the embers of Naxalbari continued to light up new revolutionary flames
every time there were setbacks. The flames of Naxalbari never died as there
were armed struggles spread out in various areas. Some of them overcame shortcomings
and developed to defend the armed struggle and advance with consistency. In the
process the experience of the revolutionary classes got enriched. These
continuations of Naxalbari influenced and transformed lives in vast swathes of
their areas of work. The merger of the two main Maoist parties directly engaged
in people’s war, into the CPI (Maoist), brought about a qualitative and
quantitative change. The people’s war has now been raised to the position of a countrywide
recognized revolutionary pole, a pole that stands in total opposition to the
counter-revolutionary pole of the ruling classes and imperialism. The ruling
classes, who were dismissing it till recently as insignificant, are now forced
to acknowledge it as the biggest internal threat they face.
One notable feature of the
people’s war of India in the present juncture is that it is concentrated in
regions predominately populated by Adivasis (indigenous peoples). The politicised
masses of these regions, led by CPI (Maoist), have developed the revolution to
a position where they have taken control of their destiny, their lives, into
their own hands. They are establishing a new power. They are building a
different society- vibrant with their tribal traditions, yet modern enough to
imbue new values. They are not doing this for their own selves alone. No, they
see it as part of a larger project concerning the whole country and the whole
world. They have been able to do this
and achieve such a lofty vision with the force of arms, guided by proletarian
ideology, Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, and led by a communist party. This is an
immediate fight to end exploitation, oppression and block aggressive moves of
big corporates and the state. More importantly, it is a long term struggle projecting
a different type of society. Quiet similar to the struggles of Naxalbari four
decades ago, this struggle has the potential to unleash the power of the
revolutionary masses by signalling a new spirit in the lives of the millions suffocated
by the oppressive system and enthusing them with a new plausible dream of
liberation.
The society being created is one
that ensures sustainable development, children friendly education, growing
emancipation of women, a halt to domination and plunder of foreign and Indian
exploiters, a new culture that rebuilds Adivasi traditions (instead of mocking
them as backward) with advanced content. The illuminating fact is that all of
this is being mainly created by Adivasi tribes who are despised as 'primitives'
by so-called civilised society. The 'backwards' are teaching the 'forwards'.
This hits at the very pillars of Brahmanism, the core of all reactionary
anti-people thinking in our country. The motivation this could give to the
numerous oppressed and exploited sections in the country is a real threat for
the rulers. The advance of revolution could not but bring up a powerful
counter-revolution. This is now seen in India.
The reactionary Indian state
has carried out a major buildup of reactionary armed forces encircling the
Maoist controlled region, targeting a wide area ranging from Jharkhand to
Andhra Pradesh on the North-South axis and West Bengal – Odisha to Maharashtra on
the East-West one. This encirclement and suppression campaign named Operation
Green Hunt has the blessings of all the major ruling class parties including revisionists
like the CPI (Marxist). Advanced military-technical support and equipment from
the US and Israel are being used. While the spearhead of the reactionary force
are the para-military, the army too is being deployed under the guise of
setting up training camps.
But, despite the big
propaganda done by the rulers to justify their repressive moves, their attacks roused
stiff resistance. This came not just from revolutionary forces. No, it draws on
a wide spectrum of democratic and progressive forces, ranging all the way to Gandhians.
There is a reason for this.
Over the past two decades the
Indian state has opened up the doors to a wholesale penetration of imperialist
globalisation. This has pushed millions to the utmost depths of misery.
Peasants have been forced to commit suicide in the lakhs (hundred thousand). In
the name of promoting export zones, lakhs of peasants are being forced out of
their land, with little or no compensation. Workers have been thrown out of
jobs or forced into lower paying casual work. The youth have been denied
education by sharp increase in fees caused by privatisation. It is the
particularity of the political scene today in India that the whole range of
ruling parties from extreme right to sham left is in government, either at the
Center or in one or the other State. All of them, irrespective of political
colour, aggressively push globalisation policies. All of them brutally suppress
those who resist. Amidst this the Maoist led revolutionary movement stands out
as a solid fighting front. All who have concern over the conditions of the
country and its people recognise, at one or the other level, even if unevenly,
that the destruction of the Maoist pole will have widespread ramifications
affecting all resistance struggles. This is the material basis of the
widespread opposition to Operation Green Hunt, correctly termed as a ‘War on
the People’. This is the underlying dynamics of the growing polarisation, the
dividing line, centered on Operation Green Hunt and resistance to it.
Operation Green Hunt, though directly
aimed at the people’s war, is also used to target every one and anyone who are
strongly opposing the government’s policy decisions. Numerous fascist laws have
been enacted for this. Democratic organisations are banned. Trade union, youth,
women’s and even human rights activists are regularly attacked. The case of Dr.
Binayak Sen, a renowned civil liberties activist and a world famous people’s
doctor, who was arrested and imprisoned on cooked up charges, is as an example.
But this proved to be counter-productive for the state. Such attacks sharpened
and broadened resistance. Courageous individuals like Arundhati Roy and Jan
Myrdal dared to break the repressive cordon in the war zones and bring out the
truth of the communist fighters, masses and their leaders. Meanwhile fierce
counter-attacks by the Maoists have struck fear in the paramilitary and boosted
the morale of masses all over the country. The hesitation and inability of
government forces to face up to the People’s Guerrilla Liberation Army and the
People’s Militia was time and again leaked out to the media creating an
embarrassing situation for the Home Minister and his government. The government
forces often refuse to step out of their fortified camps. And when they do,
they massacre villagers.
The ruling classes soon realised
that if they don’t use new tactics their offensive will back fire. So they
started diffusing the situation by announcing that they are backing off from
the offensive and will review the whole operation. Thus they managed to divert
the attention of the media and then put in a blanket ban on all media
reporting. They are now going ahead with a much more repressive campaign, but
without a whisper. Of course, despite some successes in killing important
leaders of the CPI (Maoist) and pushing back the revolutionary forces in some
areas, they still haven’t made any overall headway. But the hard necessity of a
political offensive to expose the dual tactics of the Indian state
remains. The need to expose the truth
and garner as much support as possible in this adverse condition is the urgent
need of the hour. There is a need to reorganise and reinitiate the people’s
struggle against the Indian state’s ‘War on the People’ on a broader and sharper
foundation. This struggle must be flexible in the forms and platforms it
employs so that it can link up with the whole spectrum of opposition that is
visible today. Within this the defence of the people’s war and the new society
it builds must have a central position, not necessarily always as the criterion
of unity, but certainly as the guiding pole.
The fact that a uniquely wide
resistance has come up against Operation Green Hunt, a state campaign precisely
meant to crush revolution, is not incidental. It is directly related to the
strengthening of the revolutionary pole through the advance of the people’s
war. As we explained earlier the aggressive penetration of globalisation and
the broad resistance to it sets the wider context. But, within that,
revolutionary armed struggle stands out not just for its defence against
reaction but also for its offensive that destroys the old and builds the new. This
much is undeniable even for those who disagree with Maoism and oppose violence.
In these times when the limits of passive resistance are shown up more sharply
by the torrents of globalisation, a grudging acceptance of the right of people
to resist by all means has emerged and secured its place in the discourse of
resistance in India. This is a new feature of the political situation in India.
This does not immediately translate into support for people’s war nor is it
stable. But it is there and holds great potential for furthering the political
churning triggered off by Operation Green Hunt and resistance to it. The Indian
revolution would be all the poorer in its resources if this is lost sight off
and the resistance to Operation Green Hunt is reduced to the matter of
supporting a fight to protect resources. It is like missing out US
imperialism's world strategic aims in the Iraq war and seeing it mainly as a
war for oil. The question of control over resources is certainly involved. But
this is neither the sole issue, nor even the main one. The important thing to
be grasped is the political, strategic, aim of Operation Green Hunt.
Commenting on the world
situation a recent resolution adopted by the Special Meeting of RIM parties
observed: “The devastations of imperialist globalisation, wars of aggression
and the devastating economic crisis of the imperialist system and its impact on
proletarians and the broad masses have awakened worldwide a wave of struggles
and revolts. In this context a potential new wave of the world proletarian
revolution develops and emerges, with the people's wars led by Maoist parties
as its reference points and strategic anchor.”
This is the framework within
which we must address and advance the support for the people’s war in India and
elsewhere. The people of the world need these ‘reference points’ and ‘strategic
anchors’ ever more. They demonstrate in a concentrated manner, in deeds, the
way out from the horrors of the imperialist system, the road to communism. They
drive in with tremendous power the need for proletarian leadership, the Maoist
vanguard, the guiding ideology of MLM. Within this, without being arrogant, we
note the obvious fact that the successful advance of people’s war in a
strategically placed country like India with its tens of millions of masses has
a special importance.
In the wake of Operation
Green Hunt, unity of Maoists has acquired added urgency in view of the enemy’s
concentrated attack. India is a country of sub-continental proportions, with
numerous nationalities and indigenous peoples, living in regions of great
diversity in physical and social conditions. The task of completing the
unification of Maoists into a single party is inevitably bound up with
achieving a higher synthesis of the experiences and insights gained by various Maoist
forces working in these diverse conditions. This is also vital in the spreading
out of the people’s war throughout the country, leading to victory of the new
democratic revolution. We contribute to this through dedicated efforts to open
up a new war front in the ongoing people’s war in India and the initiative we
have taken to realise unity.
We conclude. Building broad
support to defend the people’s war, building broad resistance to inhuman
repression – both complement one another. They must not be counterposed. There
is a new reality, a transformed situation, being created by the development of
the people’s war. It is being created in conditions of devastation, of
globalisation and the imperialist crisis. But, within that, it is the people’s
war, the revolution to seize power and build a new democratic society, which
creates it. The wide resistance to Operation Green Hunt is well informed by
this reality. The stakes have been raised. The sight must also be high. The
banner of people’s war, Maoist led revolution, must be boldly held up, as it is
by this conference.
Once again, we wish it all
success in its determined effort to build support for the people’s war in India
and spread its message to all corners of the world. Let this be a first step.
Let us have more support and dissemination of all the people’s wars in the world,
notably that of the Philippines, which persists and advance with great
tenacity.
LAL SALAM!
Communist Party
of India (Marxist-Leninist) NAXALBARI
November 2012
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