As the working class in India is an important regiment of the international working class, the situation, conditions and problems of the class struggle here cannot be fundamentally different from the international class struggle. The situation, conditions, problems, difficulties and perspectives of the international class struggle have been presented and discussed in detail in reports to our International Congress. The purpose of this report is to analyse and understand the development of class struggle in India in the light of our global framework.

The last international congress of the ICC correctly asserted that the struggle of the working class in India, China, Brazil and other ‘emerging economies' will play a very significant role in the process of development of the next upsurge of the world proletarian revolution. These countries have a very large working class population and working class concentrations. Moreover the struggles in these countries will accelerate the process of development of the international unity and solidarity of the working class, making the various sorts of divisive, concerted efforts of the world bourgeoisie ineffective. Thus it has become a very important task of the ICC as a whole and Communist Internationalist in particular to understand as profoundly as possible the conditions of the working class struggle, the fermentation going on in its ranks, its strength, weaknesses, difficulties, problems, possibilities, perspectives, and the attacks and manoeuvres of the class enemy to derail the class.

As in the countries in the heartland of capitalism the working class in India has also quite a long history of heroic class struggle, both against direct imperialist exploitation and repression and against the intensified exploitation and oppression by the ‘independent' native bourgeoisie since 1947. Thousands of working class people have been killed; more have been injured, repressed and imprisoned in very inhuman conditions for years at a time. But this has failed to crush the militant spirit of the working class. This history of heroic struggle has to be profoundly understood as an indispensable task. We are not going into this detail in this report. We are only focusing on some important struggles in the recent period. These struggles are perfectly in line with the important struggles mentioned in the report on the international class struggle and their significant characteristics.

The struggles of the diamond workers in Gujarat, the struggles of the Hyundai workers in Chennai, auto part workers in Coimbatore, struggles of the auto and auto parts industry workers very near to the Indian capital region are some of the most important  struggles that have taken place in spite of the lofty claims of the Indian bourgeoisie about successfully overcoming the worst effects of the crisis and being well set up on the way to recovery. In Gujarat, unorganised contract workers spearheaded the struggle. In Gurgaon these were workers of the auto companies. In Gujarat the diamond workers went on wildcat strike. This strike spread very rapidly to many other cities where diamond polishing is done. All these struggles have been violently crushed by the ‘democratic' state machinery. Other struggles of the working class in various forms have taken place in various parts of India: There have been important strikes in the public sector - bank workers' strike, Air India pilots' strike, all India strike by oil workers in January 2009, and a strike by government employees in January 2009 in Bihar. Some of these have been the expression of bitter conflicts where the state tried to hit the workers very hard and crush them. This was the case with the oil workers' strike in January 2009 when the state used ESMA [Essential Services Maintenance Act] and other laws to crush the workers and resorted to various repressive actions. This was also the case with the strike of government employees in Bihar where the government wanted to teach the employees a lesson. In the case of the oil workers' strike the government later backed off from further repression as there was a threat of the strike spreading to other public sector undertakings.

BSNL employees went on strike on 27 August 2008; on 24 September of the same year bank employees went on strike. On 1 October2008 there was a strike by cine workers. On 7 January 2009 oil workers of IOC, BPCL, HPCL and GAIL went on strike for higher wages. Airport workers went on strike on 30 April, 2009. On May 20/21 there was a strike by mine workers in the Bailadilla mines. On 25 May PWD workers in Goa struck for higher wages. On 12 June 2009 bank employees again went on strike. Workers of MRF Tires and Nokia factories in Tamilnadu were also engaged in struggles on 22 September 2009 against their bosses around the same time. In addition to these there have been important struggles of the dock workers and jute mill workers in West Bengal. In a suburb of Kolkata jute mill workers were so enraged against the management staff that they pounced upon and killed some of them. Tea garden workers have also gone on strike several times

Struggles of the new generation (PTTI)

We have seen in other parts of the world a new generation of workers or would-be workers entering struggles on a proletarian terrain to defend their future against the capitalist states. The struggles of the students in France and Greece are very important, significant and inspiring. The efforts at self-organisation, general assembly, extension, openness to discussion, attitude o learning from the past experience of the working class, solidarity and unity, questioning capitalism, expressing strong indignation against its very existence any further are the precursor of the new evolving situation of the class struggle.

In this context, the struggle of the PTTI (Primary Teachers' Training Institute) students in West Bengal is quite significant. These students have either passed the training course from government recognised training institutes or were in the way of completing the course. But these institutes have now been declared to be unrecognised by the central educational authority (NCTE). So the degree certificates they got after successfully completing the course have now become illegal and valueless in the employment market. Thus these students have suddenly become unemployable. Even thousands of teachers who are already serving as teachers in government Primary schools are also victims of this declaration because their degree certificates have also been made illegal at the stroke of a pen by the same educational authority controlled by the central government. These students have spent a lot of money in undergoing the training course. Some of these students were so frustrated that they committed suicide.

This precarious situation pushed students to launch struggle for getting employment as teachers. Seventy six thousand such students have been involved in this struggle. For those who have already been serving as teachers, the threat of losing their job stares them in the face because of this completely irrational political game of ruling parties both in central and state government. In the beginning there was an element of self-organisation and mistrust against all the political parties and trade unions of the left and right of capital. They asserted that they will not allow themselves to be pawns in the political chess game of various political parties. Very often there have been violent confrontations with the police force, repression by the state and imprisonment of the students. In spite of this, the struggle of these PTTI students points to the evolving state of class struggle of not only the new generation of workers or would-be workers but also other sectors of the working class in the near future.

Some of the very important characteristics of these struggles are given below.

Simultaneity of Struggles

Simultaneity of attacks means greater potential for simultaneity of struggles. There will be an increasing likelihood that workers from different sectors under attack will start to go beyond ‘their' sector, beyond ‘their' union and aim to seek solidarity from other workers as a first step towards pushing back the attacks.

What we see today is that more and more workers are willing to take up the struggle against the attacks of the bosses. While the struggles are more numerous in many parts of the country, there is a tendency toward simultaneity of struggle in the same geographic areas as well. This opens the possibility of linking up and extension of struggles. It can be seen in the struggle of diamond workers in Gujarat who went on wildcat strikes simultaneously in several cities. This can be seen in strikes of auto workers in Tamilnadu and Pune and Nasik where several strikes in the same geographic area broke out at the same time. The bourgeoisie could sense this threat and scaled back its repression. This simultaneity is the result of identical attacks that all sectors of workers are facing today. The most significant strike was the struggle of diamond workers in Surat which seemed to have some elements of the mass strike, since workers in Rajkot and Amreli districts also went on strike in support of their demands.

In Ahmedabad district, hundreds of diamond workers pelted stones and tried to enforce closure in Bapunagar area. The strike in the diamond industry over wages spread to Palanpur and Mehsana in north Gujarat. Workers in a number of factories in Gurgaon-Manesar have been waging struggle against their bosses. In Honda Motorcycles, workers had been agitating for several months for better wages and against the practice of increasing casualisation of permanent jobs. Workers of other factories actively agitated in their support. This opened the possibility of extension and unification of the struggles, the only way in which workers can fight and push back the attacks of the bosses. This the bourgeoisie fear most and the unions want to avert

Class solidarity and extension

No doubt there is a dynamic for possible extension, self-organisation, control and development of class solidarity in the recent struggles. But for the realisation of this dynamic, it is important for the workers to understand the evolving machinations of the capitalist state, the role of the unions and to take the struggles more and more in their own hands. The situation is developing in a direction in which it is crucial for revolutionaries to profoundly understand this dynamic and properly intervene so that the struggling workers are able to realise both the potential and strength of the struggles and steer clear of the union traps.

In the struggles at Gurgaon, in the face of working class outrage at the killing of a worker at RICO Auto Industries and the injuring of several others, the role of the unions has been to pre-empt and block this tendency toward extension and unification. By calling a one day general strike, unions tried to sterilise workers' militancy and their will to come together and strengthen class solidarity. Despite this, the strike on 20 October was a demonstration of class solidarity by nearly 100,000 workers. It also expressed their enthusiasm and will to fight and confront the bourgeoisie.

Difficulties in the way of development of struggles

Though there has been passionate involvement of the working class masses in all the struggles mentioned above, almost all these were led by and under the control of the trade unions. In many cases the unions have been compelled to pre-empt the development of struggles on the class terrain through self-organisation and extension by acting first with a radical image. But the fact is that in spite of increasing distrust towards the unions, the working class has not yet been able to go beyond the unions and develop its self-organisation. We should focus on understanding the dynamics of the development of class struggle toward the mass strike and the role played by the revolutionary organisations in this dynamic.

As in other parts of the world here also there is fear and hesitation in the class to jump into immediate struggle against the increasing attacks on living and working conditions. There is a fear of job loss as there are increasing attacks on job security and the replacement of permanent jobs by very low paid temporary contract jobs without any social security. Moreover the conventional methods of struggle in the trade union way are proving to be more and more futile and the real alternative is also not immediately clear. But there is fermentation going on in the class, an urge to understand the stakes of history and to develop its struggles against the bourgeoisie.  

The impact of the NGO propaganda and activity, and that of the extreme leftist forces, also put obstacles in the way of development of struggles on a class terrain. The mystification of democracy is also a strong negative factor. All sorts of union based, region based, religion and caste based divisions and sentiments are also important hindrances. All these are temporary; permanent are capitalist relations and crisis, its inherent antagonism and increasing attacks and repression which can not but lead to reflection, fermentation and development of class consciousness, self-organisation and class struggles. But the intervention of revolutionaries is also a very crucial factor in this dynamic.

Bourgeois manoeuvres

The world bourgeoisie has also learned from its experience in controlling, repressing, defeating and crushing the working class. Its aim is intensifying the competition, division and mystification in the class so that the class fails to organise massive, united struggles on a class terrain in a more combative and conscious way. The world bourgeoisie, its economists, scholars, researchers, politicians, trade unionists, business and political executives, are meeting regularly to devise ways and means to achieve this objective. The Indian bourgeoisie is not lagging behind in this task. It is a life and death question to all sectors of the bourgeoisie.

The economic policies of the bourgeoisie have led to rising inflation. As per official statistics food inflation is 18% but in reality it much higher. In the face of this, the majority of the working class is finding it very difficult to make both ends meet. Sensing the danger of mass revolts and to avert this, different factions of the bourgeoisie have been posturing against price rises and carrying out ritualistic ‘struggles'. Given the continuous acceleration of the crisis, the bourgeoisie cannot continue to contain the class struggle for long. The present relative difficulty of the class contains within itself the violent storms of massive outbursts of class struggle in the coming period.

Like in all other parts of the world here also the bourgeoisie and its ‘specialists' are all working overtime to bring home to the working class the message that the crisis is temporary and part of life of the system, that it can be overcome sooner or later, that the worst impact of the crisis is over, that there is quite an encouraging growth in the GDP and exports have already been picking up, that better days are coming soon.

Another tried and tested trap of the bourgeoisie is nationalism. The bourgeoisie and its print and electronic media never tire of reminding the working class of the imperialist designs of China, the dragon, against India, its military expansion, and policy of encirclement. Almost everyday there are news stories of hostile designs and activities of the Pakistani state against the interest of India. Any terrorist activity in any part of India is declared to be the perpetration of elements aided and abetted by the Pakistani state. They are trying their best to rally the working class in its imperialist war on terror. Thus the working class is always being fed with high doses of nationalist fervour. The working class is always being told that India is going to be an important global power economically, politically and militarily and its status in the ‘international community' is being elevated more and more.

Further, the bourgeoisie is leaving no stone unturned to convince the working class that the thought of socialism, communism, and proletarian revolution is utopian. The working class is always being told that the democratic alternative is best alternative and the best method for resolving all problems.

Parties of the extreme left of capital are also trying their best to involve the working class in their ‘new democratic revolution' as the only alternative to the increasing problems of life and livelihood.

But the bourgeoisie has realised that in spite of all their well concerted efforts of mystification, the process of questioning capitalism and coming to consciousness is unstoppable. To derail this process of coming to consciousness and search for a communist alternative, factions of the bourgeoisie distort the essence of marxism while proclaiming that Marx was a great thinker and telling us that marxism is still relevant even today. The ruling class will do all it can to block workers coming to the realisation that only the overthrow of capitalism and the construction of a new society can solve the problems posed by this decomposing system.  

CI 3/2/10

Since last many decades two contending gangs of the capitalist class have been busy shedding blood of exploited population of Jammu and Kashmir in the name of ‘national unity’ on the one hand and “liberation“ of Kashmir on the other. This has long turned this ‘valley of roses’ into a valley of death, devastation, poverty and chaos. Hundreds and thousands of people have been violently uprooted and forced to flee Kashmir either through a process of ethnic cleansing against Kashmiri Hindus or terrorized Muslim population in search of subsistence. The separatists and the Indian state have always tried to negate the very existence of working class and smother its struggles with the mystification that there is only one struggle in Kashmir, the one that these two bloody gangs are waging.

And yet, the fact is the working class in Kashmir has tried determinedly to assert itself, especially over the last couple of years, and have gone on a number of major strikes and struggles.

Workers Try to Fight for their Class Interests

The current cycle of workers struggles in Kashmir can be traced to their combat in 2008. In March 2008, state government owned JKSRTC (Jammu and Kashmir State Road Transport Corporation) declared that it is making losses as it has too many workers. Government declared its intention to reduce the number of employees and declared a VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme). But there were not many takers of VRS despite coercive tactics. The government declared that it cannot pay years of accumulated COLA [Cost of Living Allowance] and other back wages. In the face of these attacks on their jobs and bosses’ refusal to pay their back wages, workers tried to develop their struggles. Sensing the anger of workers, transport unions tried to sterilize their discontent by channelizing it into ritualistic struggle – 2 hours walk out, march to government offices etc. At the time management and unions were able to put a lid on this discontent by the former making ‘promises’ to consider workers demands and the later pretending to ‘trust’ these promises.

More than a year later, the threat of VRS had become more urgent. In the meantime, nothing had come out of management promises. Instead workers were further not paid for months. Their back pay accumulated. The economic situation had also worsened with ‘food inflation’ remaining above 16%. This provoked another wave of anger and militancy among transport workers. Toward the middle of 2009, there were a number of short strikes and demonstrations by JKSRTC workers. But SRTC workers were not able to unify their agitation and turn it into a wider strike. They were isolated from other sections of state employees. Unions were able to once again weaken workers resolve and dilute their anger through futile and theatrical rituals. For instance, instead of fostering a militant strike, unions asked employees to bring their children to demos with placards: “Pay salary to my papa!’. This may seem touching to a sentimental petty bourgeois, but it was not going to have any impact on the bosses. Nor did it have. Similar other futile agitations were used by unions to weaken workers resolve and arrest the momentum toward a wider strike.

But SRTC employees were not the only ones trying to resist the attacks of the bosses. Although SRTC workers agitations expressed bigger effort to fight back, other sections of the state employees have been facing same attacks. All government employees have back pay accumulating from years that the government was not paying. For them, recurring agitations of transport workers acted as an impulse and a rallying point.

Half a Million Government Employees Go on Strike

Since January 2010 government employees in Jammu and Kashmir had been trying to unify their fight around common demands – payment of back salaries, better wages, and regularization of temporary and ad hoc state employees. These struggles were joined by adhoc and temporary employees as well as teachers. Although unions were able to maintain control, it was an expression of the strength of employees’ mobilization and their determination to fight that even unions had to call for repeated one or two day strikes in Jan 2010. Four lakh fifty thousand employees of state government were involved in these struggles. Although unions did everything, they were not really able to stop the momentum toward more militant struggles.

This became clear when state government employees again started pushing for strike action. The strike by 450000 employees began on 3rd April 2010. The employees’ demands were still the same – better pay, payment of back salaries – which now amounted to nearly 4300 crores rupees – and regularization of adhoc and temporary employees. From 3rd April public transport was shutdown, class rooms of state run schools were locked and all government offices were closed. Even district government offices were shutdown and administration was paralyzed.

Real face of the State Exposed

Faced with this determined strike action by all its employees, state began to show its real face – the ugly face of repression.

The state at first targeted what it thought the more vulnerable sections of employees. Government warned adhoc and contractual employees that in case they continued to strike they will lose their right to be regularized. Daily wagers will have to face same consequences if they become part of the strike. But threats were not able to break the strike.

Accelerating the repression, on 5th April 2010 Jammu & Kashmir government invoked Essential Services Maintenance Act [ESMA] against striking state employees. State Finance Minister said the government has been forced by employees to invoke ESMA and that striking employees would face one year imprisonment. Another Minister accused the employees of holding “society to ransom”.

But J & K Government is not the first or the only one to invoke this draconian law against striking employees and use threats and blackmail to break strikes. In last few months central government and different state governments have shown equal eagerness to resort to repression against strike actions by different sectors of the working class in different part of the country. They have been equally ruthless in suppressing strike actions. All this goes to show bourgeoisies’ fear of the working class and its struggles.

The J & K government did not sit idle after invoking ESMA. It continued to work toward sowing divisions among employees and resorted to furhter repression of striking employees. Processions and demonstrations of striking employees were broken up by the police. On 10th April thirteen striking employees were arrested. When employees tried to march to city center in Srinagar opposing arrests of their comrades, police tried to break up the march and resorted to baton charge. This resulted in clashes between striking employees and the police. Despite this many employees managed to reach Lal Chowk where more employees were arrested.

Given reputation of Lal Chowk in Srinagar as the site of any number of gun battles between Indian state and separatist gangs, clashes between the police and striking workers there were no doubt exceptional. This fight back by state workers was like a declaration that amid all the gang wars of different factions of the bourgeoisie, employees have been able to preserve their class identity and are capable of fighting for their class interests.

Unions Divide and Demobilize the Employees

While employees were trying to strengthen their strike and resist repression of the state government, unions were busy dividing the employees. This they did under the garb of contributing to strike. There are a number of unions among different sectors of state employees – unions of secretariat staff, JCC, Employees ‘Joint Action Committee [EJAC], transport workers union etc. While employees were already on strike since several days, each of these unions started to put forward their separate actions plans. Thus working to divide the employees and weakening the momentum of their struggle. JCC declared furhter 7 days strike. Another declared another program. Amidst all these divisive efforts and state repression, employees were able to sustain their strike for 12 days.

At the end of 12 days, one of the unions, EJAC declared satisfied by its talk with the Chief Minister and promises by the government. It directed employees to go back to work. Thus after 12 days of strike employees once again have to make do only with the promises of the bosses and go back to work without any material gain.

Importance of J & K State Employees Strike

April strike by 450000 J & K government employees was major workers struggle in the state in many years. Situated amidst global spread of workers militancy, it was a product of accumulation of anger among different sectors of state employees over the years. Its way was paved by repeated, short strikes and struggles by Transport workers, bank employees and others sectors.Confronted by totalitarian and violent ideologies of the Indian state and the separatists, the strike was a powerful assertion of working class identity and class unity. Despite its major weaknesses, this strike showed a different perspective than the one represented by the bourgeoisie. While all factions of the bourgeoisie in Kashmir represent a perspective of diabolical hatreds, violent divisions, daily killings, terror and barbarism; the working class at the very minimum was able to show coming together of workers of different religions and regions fighting together, in solidarity, for their common class interests.

Setback that the strike suffered goes to show that next time the J & K state workers take up the fight, they will have to reject both the separatist and repressive unitarian ideologies, as they did this time. In addition they will have to see through the maneuvers of the unions and realize that unions are not their friends. Employees will have to take their struggle in their own hands and run it themselves. This is the only way to conduct an effective struggle.

But for them to put an end to a life of poverty, terror, violence and fear, they have to develop their fight into a fight for the destruction of capitalism and its national frameworks and for communism and human community.

Akbar, 10th May 2010i

1.     In May 2009, the 18th Congress of the ICC adopted a report on global imperialist tensions. This report looked at the imperialist rivalries and confrontations raging thoughout the world today. But it did not limit itself to the study of only the present state of relations between different imperialist powers. More, this report carried out a profound study of the period of 20 years opened up by the collapse of Soviet Union and with it of the eastern bloc in 1989. The report also recalled the different debates that took place within the ICC immediately after the collapse of the eastern bloc.

In its first analyses of the collapse of the eastern bloc at the end of 1989 and in 1st Quarter of 1990, the ICC already concluded that the collapse of the Soviet Union overturned the division of the world into two blocs that was formalised at Yalta after the Second World War. It also marked the end of the western bloc. Against the propaganda of the bourgeoisie about the coming of ‘a new world order' and of peace and prosperity, the ICC predicted the spread of chaos, of every man for himself and the growth of the worst kind of disorder and barbarism. At the end of 1990, in IR 63 we already wrote that while US, the sole superpower, would try to stem the spread of chaos and restore order this "restoration of order, their order, that the US seeks to impose will be based on military force. And on this alone. But an order based on terror is never very stable, and even less so today in a period of catastrophic world economic crisis, of growing local tensions. The future is close. To be honest, it is already here".  Nine years later, at 13th Congress of the ICC, we wrote: "decadent capitalism has entered into its phase of decomposition, a new historical phase initially marked by the collapse of the eastern bloc in 1989. During this historic phase, the direct use of violence by the great powers is becoming a permanent reality. During this phase, the rigid discipline of the imperialist blocs has given way to indiscipline and rampant chaos, to a generalised struggle of each against all, to an uncontrollable multiplication of military conflicts".

2.     The report to the 18th Congress further analyzed the spread of war and chaos during the last twenty years and concluded that these predictions of the ICC have, unfortunately, come true:

"Throughout these years, inter-imperialist tensions have sharpened rapidly and dramatically, plunging the world into a barbarism which no continent has escaped. As we envisaged above all, it has been the decomposition of society which has dominated over these past 20 years.... Our analysis of the development of global chaos has unfortunately been tragically confirmed. The balance of forces between the great powers has been partly modified. And the irremediable weakening of the leading imperialist power, the USA, has been one of the main elements in this. A weakening that we have dealt with amply in our press these past years. A generalised disorder, a tendency towards every man for himself, growing challenge to the world's leading power, a military headlong flight by the latter...these are the main elements of the past 20 years."

3.     The report to the 18th Congress carried forward exceptionally profound analyses of the developments of last 20 years. It also tried to study how the current economic crisis could redraw the balance of power between different imperialist powers. The report to the Congress has the following to say on this:

"We are entering into a period in which capitalism will be going through the worst economic crisis in its history. It would be wrong to think that this will have no effect on the development of imperialist tensions and in the first place on the world's leading imperialist power. Thus, by taking account of the repercussions of the crisis on imperialist tensions, the report will try to draw out the perspectives."

The present report will not go over all this. Rather, it must be read in conjunction with the report on imperialist relations submitted to 18th Congress of the ICC. The report to the congress also went over the development of imperialist tensions in Asia and the present report will limit itself to this. While all parts of the world are ravaged by imperialist rivalries, Asia today is at the very center and heart of these conflicts.   

4.     What is happening in Asia is not isolated from the rest of the world. The trends witnessed in Asia are part of global currents and cross currents of imperialist conflicts that have unfolded over the last 20 years. As mentioned above, Asia has in fact been at the very heart of these military conflicts. Therefore the way to understand imperialist relations in Asia is to put these in the global framework drawn by our congress.

5.     An element defining the framework recalled above is the collapse of the eastern bloc, with it that of the western bloc,  the end of the discipline of blocs, the spread of chaos and every man for himself where each power, big and small is trying to push forward its own imperialist interests, and the generalisation of military conflicts throughout the world;

6.     Other decisive elements setting the global stage for the alignments and realignment of imperialist forces are:

o        Already recalled above, is the weakening power of United Sates despite its desperate recourse to permanent war as the only means to maintain its influence. This point has been extensively developed by us in numerous texts. The report to our 18th Congress on imperialist tensions further developed this point extensively.

o        Another, one of the most important, elements is the rise of China as an imperialist power of the top order that is challenging the US and all other powers. This is overturning the existing balance of power among different imperialist countries and forcing them to redefine their relationships. China is expanding its influence in every part of the world, especially in Africa where it is very active. But it is in Asia where the impact of the rise of China is most strongly felt.

Framework of the imperialist confrontations in Asia

7.     There are many reasons for this. One reason is that in some ways the balance of economic power within capitalism has been shifting toward Asia, especially China but not only China, over the last decades. China has emerged as an economic power of the first order and is projected to become the number one capitalist country in the coming period. In some areas it has already left the old established powers far behind. The latest economic crisis that hit capitalism in 2007-2008 has accelerated this process and shortened the period when China will surpass its competitors. While the crisis hits all capitalist countries, it hit hardest the United States and other advanced countries of Europe. Japan for its part has been already, before this latest crisis, stagnating at negative or zero growth for more than ten years. The present crisis has only accelerated this stagnation and decline. China, and to a lesser extent India, has so far weathered this storm relatively better. In particular, in the case of China this crisis has only magnified its rising economic might. While USA and Europe were tottering, China with its hoards of US treasury bonds, with estimates varying from 800 billion to 1.5 Trillion USD, has appeared as the main creditor of the USA, one that the US is compelled to humor. Since then this contrast between a declining America and Europe and a rising China has been further highlighted - in December 2009, China surpassed Germany as the largest exporter in the world, no doubt as German exports continued to shrink while Chinese exports did not. In the same month, China emerged as the world's largest car market, ahead of the US, with 14 million car sales for 2009. There are numerous other areas where China is racing ahead. The predictions that put the rise of China to the position of number one economic power in the world some decades in the future have now been revised to put this event much earlier.

8.     With rising economic strength, the imperialist ambitions of China have also been growing. It has been pursuing these ambitions with a single minded determination and has been more open in giving expression to them. This has meant that while older powers are constrained by their economic decline in furthering their interests, China has been aggressively going about it and has been expanding its military. Its naval fleet today is the third largest, behind only USA and Russia. And at $70 billion, its official military budget is second only to the USA's, even if it is still only 1/10 of that of the US. If you add what experts call hidden military expenditure in China, the figure for China goes up to 139 Billion USD and the gap between the US and China, though still large, becomes smaller. The pace with which it is going, and the fact that its competitors are faced with irreversibly declining resources while it is not, means that this gap will continue to narrow.

9.     Not only has China been modernising its military at an aggressive pace, it has also been preparing to set up military bases abroad. Especially in the countries around India: it has been building ports in Burma, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. The latest from the Chinese army is that it proposes to set up military bases abroad and may start with one in Pakistan. 

10.  In contrast, US power has been declining. This has been the trend over the last two decades but is showing starkly now. Even the US experts now unabashedly admit that the era of US as a power whose writ runs across the globe is over. The biggest debtor nation in the world, they admit, cannot remain the most powerful. 

11.  The rise of China to the top of the ladder of imperialist power in the world and Asia, and the declining power of USA, this is what sets the parameters for the imperialist confrontations and re-alignments in Asia. There are other regional and global powers whose interests are at play but it is the rise of China which acts as the shifting tectonic plate which is forcing every other imperialist nation in Asia, large or small, to look around and re-define its friends and foes.

Wars, militarisation and realignments in Asia 

12.  Confronted with the spread of chaos and its declining power, since the end of the Cold War the USA has had recourse to wars to impose its will on its rivals. While at the start these rivals were primarily its erstwhile ex-allies from the western bloc as well as Russia  - and they continue to be its rivals  - China has become a more important concern for it. And all these rivalries, including the rivalries of regional powers in Asia, are playing out through various wars.

13.  Some of the biggest wars and conflicts that the US has launched or sponsored in the last 20 years have been in Asia. These wars have not strengthened America. On the contrary each of these conflicts exposed the limits of its power and has further sapped it. These wars have accelerated the spread of chaos and destabilisation. For the countries attacked American policy has been one of scorched earth that has threatened to destroy all vestige of civilised existence.

i.     The Wars in Iraq - 1st Gulf War [August 1990-Feb 1991] and Iraq War [March 2003]: as we have often written the first Gulf War in 1990-91 was the last time the USA was to able mobilise all the main world powers behind itself.  By the next war, rivalries between the US and all its ex-allies and friends were already out in the open and, other than Britain and a few other countries, USA had to primarily go it alone. As the resolution to the 18th Congress of the ICC says: "this war has produced a real quagmire for US imperialism. We have often pointed out that there is no stability in this country at all and that the partition of Iraq is on the cards".

ii.    War in Afghanistan in 2001: as we wrote at the time of the start of this war, the USA's objectives at the time were to demonstrate its military superiority in the face of all of its rivals and to implant itself in an area of strategic importance. Thus to be better able to confront its rivals and would-be rivals like Russia, China and even India. This has continued to be its objective.

The development of this war has also shown the weakening power of the USA. The Taliban have strengthened themselves over the last 8 years. And the USA's ‘frontline ally', Pakistan, despite all the pressure and despite all the money paid by the US, has not budged from its policy of harbouring the Taliban.

Thus we have today a new phase in this War, Af-Pak War, which is a war that straddles both Afghanistan and Pakistan. The American bourgeoisie has pulled Pakistan into the same chaos and terrorist slaughters in which Afghanistan has been submerged since last eight years. The Af-Pak War is not simply a new phase in the subduing of Afghanistan. It is a systematic spread of war to a new theatre - Pakistan. While one of its objectives is to stabilise Afghanistan, the USA has extended this war to Pakistan with a bigger strategic objective. As a recent report of the ICC says: "Countering the challenges of Chinese imperialism in Pakistan has become increasingly important for the US. During the Cold War Pakistan was allied with US against Russia, but at the same time Islamabad also had strong ties to China. This was not a serious problem during the period when China was linked to US imperialism against Russian interests, but has become increasingly problematic in recent years now that China has grown in economic power and is challenging US imperialism in Asia, Africa and even Latin America. It is imperative for American imperialism to keep Pakistan from falling further under Beijing's influence. We should recall that a few years ago the US bourgeoisie specifically identified Chinese imperialism as potentially the most serious threat as a rival on the international terrain. The need to develop a comprehensive strategy to combat Chinese influence in Pakistan, as an element in the global confrontation with China, is more likely a principal element in the current deliberations in the US administration regarding policy in Aghanistan/Pakistan". In fact it is now common for US strategic thinkers to proclaim that in the war in Af-Pak, the main prize is not Afghanistan, the main prize is Pakistan and to win this prize, US must win in Afghanistan. While this may be the objective of the US, given the tight relationships between China and Pakistan, US will need to violently subdue parts of the Pakistani military to achieve it. This effort to weaken the Pakistani military that the US may be compelled to undertake will further accelerate the tendencies toward chaos and the break-up of Pakistan.

The fact that despite all the pressures and regular drone attacks on its territory by the US, Pakistan continues to clandestinely support the Afghan Taliban goes to show the dangerous adventurism of Pakistan's ruling class. It also shows that the perspective for this region and the surrounding region is the spread of more chaos and military barbarism.

It is not only Pakistan which is tenaciously fighting to get an influence in Afghanistan. All the various European powers along with India, Russia, China, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Iran and others are hovering like vultures over Afghanistan to gain a foothold.

Further, let us be clear, despite all the proclamations of the Obama administration, America is not in Afghanistan and Pakistan with the aim of going away in 2011 or later. It may reduce a number of its soldiers at some future date, but the USA is in Afghanistan and Pakistan to implant itself against its imperialist rivals and will remain here.

iii.  Apart from these there are other festering conflicts and tensions in Asia, in particular the Palestinian-Israel Conflict and the tensions with Iran. In all these areas, the USA is no longer able to assert its ‘leadership'. Even the Israeli bourgeoisie does not hesitate to push forward its interests at the expense of its main backer, the USA.

iv.   For some time after the crisis of 2008, the US bourgeoisie tried to humor the Chinese. Conflict between US and China is now in the open and developing at several levels. The latest flashpoint is the question of US weapons sales to Taiwan. But this conflict is developing around many other issues.

14.  Other recent wars in Asia in which different powers were involved have been the wars in Sri Lanka and Nepal. In the first, the Sri Lankan bourgeoisie was supported by Pakistan and China but at some level even by the Indian state. In Nepal, the seven party alliance that removed and replaced the king and that included the Maoists was cobbled together by the Indian state. But since then China has got a stronger foothold in Nepal. China and India have now been battling for influence in Nepal.

15.  The rise of China and the weakening of USA and generalisation of wars and confrontations have accelerated militarisation throughout Asia. While China is arming to contest the top slot in Asia and the world, other powers in Asia, fearful of China's rise, are arming to defend their imperialist interests. Today the biggest customers of armaments are in Asia - China, India and Saudi Arabia. But these countries are by no mean the only armament buyers: military spending has been surging throughout Asia. As per a report by the Asian Defence Industry Monitor dated March 2009, the era when Western Europe was the world's most important centre of military power after America and Russia has drawn to a close. As per this report as far back as 2008, Asian military budgets totalled £173 billion and were higher than the £144 billion budgets of Europe's NATO members. Since then military budgets of the main importers, China, India and Saudi Arabia, have grown by at least 17%. Other countries have followed suit. In 2008, a list of top military spenders in Asia looked like the following:

16.   In addition to arming themselves, in the face of this changing balance of power between US and China in Asia, all the main powers in Asia are hedging their bets and looking for new alliances.

o        One of the important regional powers in the Persian Gulf, that spends 10% of its GDP on militarisation, Saudi Arabia has for decades been one of closest allies of the USA. In changing conditions, it has been taking initiatives that are not always in line with US interests.

o        Another close ally of USA, Turkey, has for years been distancing itself from USA. Even in the war in Iraq it bargained hard with the US to allow it to use its land for the war in Iraq. Today, it is more and more trying to go its own way and has been befriending countries like Iran that are a thorn in the USA's side. 

o        Japan, which claims to be pacifist and to have renounced all military ambitions, spent 41 billion USD on armaments in 2008, showing its pacifism for what it is, a complete fraud. More importantly, it has been looking for new friends and has now been trying to distance itself from USA. This later tendency has expressed itself strongly since the Democratic Party of Japan came to power in 2009. There is strong opposition to continuing to house US military bases in Okinawa, despite strong pressure from the USA. In addition, the Ozawa faction within the DPJ represents a powerful tendency within Japan that sees benefits in having a closer alliance with China. At the same time, Ozawa has been in deep political trouble since he took more than two hundred Japanese members of parliament to pay tribute to the Chinese president. What this highlights is that while Japan is looking toward distancing itself from America, China continues to be its main rival and any effort to cozy up to China is anathema to powerful factions of the bourgeoisie in Japan.

o        Australia and South Korea are perhaps the two major powers in the regions that continue to be close US allies. But the bourgeoisies in these countries show the same nervousness as others in the face of a changing balance of power. The Australian bourgeoisie is now aware that it cannot solely depend on US protection. While trying to develop better relations with China and forge other alliances, the Australian bourgeoisie is rapidly modernising its military, strengthening its navy and air force. Thus it is the 6th largest military spender in Asia. And South Korea, with its 24 billion USD military budget, is the 4th largest military spender in Asia.

o        The nervousness and fear that mark these major powers of Asia is even stronger in the smaller countries who are looking around for alternatives to US protection or at least not being seen as too close to the USA.

17.  However, as the report to the 18th Congress says, the weakening of the US does not mean that "US imperialist power will simply fold". It also does not mean that China is destined to be the head of another bloc. Again, as the report to the congress underlined, the gap between US military power and that of China is still great. In addition, the weakening of USA is accelerating the process of emergence of other regional powers like Japan, India, Iran, Australia and Saudi Arabia etc. This emergence of multiple centers of power will not bring stability to the world. Rather, destabilising the existing balance of power will bring more wars and chaos to the world.

Imperialist confrontations in South Asia

18.  Historically the main confrontations in this area have been between India and Pakistan, both of whom now have nuclear arms. The two have fought numerous open wars -1948, 1965, 1971 and the Kargil War in 1999, and have been on the brink of wars on numerous other occasions. The rest of the time, they have continued to wage discrete wars against each other. The history of the birth of Pakistan as a result of the partition of India and the conflict between India and Pakistan is such that there is no prospect of peace between the two. This in fact is the underlying convictions of the ruling classes in both countries. India-Pakistan continues to be a major flashpoint in Asia and the world.

While the present war in Af-Pak is spreading chaos in Pakistan, India is not really concerned about it. Stability in Pakistan is not in its interest. As a matter of fact, the spread of chaos in Pakistan can only further tempt India to accelerate its support to separatists and other terrorist groups in Pakistan's restive provinces like NWFP, Baluchistan and Sindh. For its part Pakistan, despite all the chaos and war engulfing it and despite itself being on the brink, has not stopped its support to separatists fighting against India in Kashmir and elsewhere.

In many ways, the increasing difficulties for the Pakistani bourgeoisie are only making it more desperate, more reckless and adventurist, posing a great threat of future conflagrations.

19.  India is heavily involved in Afghanistan essentially to further its interests against Pakistan. It is for the same reason that Pakistan is dead set against any Indian presence in Afghanistan. Despite all the pressure from the Americans, Pakistan has made it a precondition to limit Indian influence in Afghanistan for it to accelerate its war against the Taliban in Pakistan.

20.  While its conflict with Pakistan has been the main preoccupation for the Indian bourgeoisie so far, its rivalry with China has been on the rise. At one level the Indian bourgeoisie feels threatened by the rise of China. Furthermore China has been quite active in building influences in all countries surrounding India. Following the principle of the enemy of my enemy is my friend, Pakistan has historically been a close ally of China. China has done everything to build Pakistan militarily including facilitating its nuclear arming. It is building Gawdar Port in Baluchistan and a highway from Karakoram to the heartland of Pakistan and to the Arabian Sea so that its armies can, when required, pass through this area.

21.  While Pakistan is a natural ally of China, China has also built a strong presence in Burma, Sri Lanka, Nepal and Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, where China competes with India for influence, it has been building a port at Chittagong. Similarly it has been developing a port in Sri Lanka and Burma, where it is the closest ally of the Junta.

22.  While the Indian bourgeoisie feels that it is being encircled by China, the Chinese bourgeoisie see the Indian bourgeoisie as a rival and a threat. In recent times both these countries have been engaged in military build up at their common borders. China has been busy, for decades, building a military infrastructure along its borders with India and laying claim to territory presently with India. The Indian bourgeoisie have also now accelerated its military build up along its border with China. Along with this military build up by the ruling class in both countries, the borders between the two have been heating up after many decades. This is accompanied by massive propaganda campaigns in both countries that serve as a basis for further militarisation.

23.  In addition to this rising threat from China, with economic development the imperialist ambitions of the Indian bourgeoisie have also been growing. It sees itself vying for influence with China in the same global arena. And to prepare for this rivalry the Indian bourgeoisie has been militarising like its Chinese rival. India today is the biggest customer of military hardware in the global arms bazaar. Even if India is far behind China in militarisation, it was the 5th biggest military spender in Asia and 11th in the world in 2008. This ranking has since gone up.

24.  India has been busy in building alliances for this developing rivalry with China. The development of India-US relations and the nuclear deal between India and US must be seen in this light, where both countries see a convergence of their interests against China. Along with building close ties with the US, India, Japan and Australia have been developing their strategic ties in the Asia-Pacific. At the same time, the present period is characterised by every man for himself and there are no permanent friends and foes. Thus while until November 2008 the Indian bourgeoisie was gung-ho about its relations with the USA, it is not the case today. It is still developing its ties with USA and is strengthening its alliance with Japan, South Korea and Australia. It sees these relations with these as based on a long term convergence of imperialist interests. At the same, during 2009 it has also started rekindling its relations with Russia that had lost sheen in the previous period. There is a clearer conviction within the Indian bourgeoisie now that it cannot bank solely on America and must look out for itself and for other allies.

Conclusion 

To conclude, the present world situation is characterised by the spread of chaos, every man for himself, the weakening of USA and the rise of China and of other regional powers. This entire ensemble of conditions and their further development is escalating imperialist confrontations and tensions throughout the world and especially in Asia. The fact that all these old, new and regional powers are vying for influence and that their alliances have all the hallmark of musical chairs, has the potential of miscalculations by these big and small imperialist gangs. It has all the potential for bigger imperialist conflagrations. While decadent and decomposing capitalism is pushing humanity into imperialist slaughters, the struggle of the working class constitutes the only hope for humanity. It is only the development of the struggles of the working class, their finding a path toward the destruction of capitalism and the building of communism that can pull humanity out of the nightmare of increasing poverty, economic and social misery, wars and imperialist and terrorist slaughters.

CI, 13th Feb 2010

Pan Asian Conference aimed to continue the work of the ICC's 18th Congress, and to take part in and assist the development of an emerging internationalist a milieu around the world. The central focus of the 18th Congress of the ICC - developing cooperation among internationalists - served as the focus of this Conference too.

The conference began on a sad note. It learnt of the death of comrade Jerry of our US section only two days earlier. The conference paid tribute to comrade Jerry, who has been a pillar of our section in the US and a militant of the ICC for many years, expressing its solidarity to his family and to our US section.

Reports to the Pan Asian Conference

During the Pan Asian Conference reports were presented on various international and national questions: the global economic crisis, imperialist rivalries in Asia, international class struggle, life of the ICC and of the sections including the question of culture of debate and taste for theory. In addition reports were presented on the national situation and class struggle in India and the Philippines and on the activities of different sections in Asia.

Over a period of three days, the conference passionately debated all these reports and various questions coming out of them. And yet, we were not able to sufficiently deepen and clarify all the questions put on the agenda. We will not here try to report all the discussions at the conference but only some, the more passionate or the more important ones.

Imperialist Rivalries in Asia

The complete report on this question can be seen at our web site.1 This report and discussion on it was situated entirely within the framework of Report on Imperialist Tensions to our 18th Congress.2

The main discussions during the conference focused on the weakening of the US and the rise of China as an important global power and the implications of this for the imperialist alliances and rivalries in Asia.

The conference had no doubt that despite its weakening US still remains the number one power and that China at this moment has neither the capacity nor the will to openly confront the US. The question of the pace of the rise of China and the imminence or otherwise of the latter challenging the US was the subject of a number of intervention.

An important debate was on growing militarization in Asia. Asia has now become the main armaments bazaar in the world. While China is number one spender on armaments, it is followed by other countries including India, Saudi Arabia, Japan and Australia. The driving factor behind militarization by China and India are their changing economic profiles and rising imperialist ambitions. One of the elements behind acceleration in militarization by Japan, South Korea and Australia is the decline of US and threat they perceive from the rise of China.

The debate underlined that US is now focused on the Af-Pak war. While it wants to stabilise Afghanistan, it is Pakistan itself which is now the main and the bigger prize for US imperialism. It was also clear to the conference that US is not going to leave Af-Pak any time soon and that even if it reduces the number of its soldiers in Afghanistan at some future date, it will continue to maintain a strong presence.

The discussion also focused on alignments and re-alignments in South Asia. The bitter and mortal conflict between India and Pakistan, which is now spilling over into a proxy war between the two in Afghanistan, is a permanent given. Although India and Pakistan do not want to start a war at this moment, given the volatility of their relations, we should remain alert to the danger of some unforeseen events, like the terrorist actions in Mumbai in 2008, provoking a military confrontation.

Last few years has seen rising tensions between India and China. As a result, India has been cultivating closer ties with the US. But given the character of the period, which is characterized by every man for himself, the relations of the two have cooled off. India is now looking toward its old allies like Russia.

The discussion also took up questions like:

• The use of nationalism and national rivalries against the working class.

• The relation between crisis and imperialist tensions. With decomposition and the break up of the blocs there is growing instability in international relations and increasing dominance of every man for himself.

Class Struggle 

This was one of the major discussions, which animated all the conference participants.

The presentation on class struggle posed the question of where we are in the international class struggle today.

Struggles of the working class witnessed a turning point in 2003 when class started developing its response to the bourgeoisie. But catastrophic development of the crisis in 2008 and the stunning attacks that the working class suffered due to this instilled a certain fear, hesitation and paralysis in the class. The question that was posed is what is the situation today? Has the class come out of this fear and paralysis? Does this fear have the same weight on working class in Asia as in US and Europe? Does the latest development of class struggle indicate class overcoming of this paralysis and further developing its struggles? Although the answer was not quite precise, the general view emerging out of the discussions was that the present struggles seems to denote overcoming of this disorientation. Also, the struggles developing today are international in their scope and can be seen everywhere.

At the same time the discussion stressed the slow development of class struggle and confidence within the class in the present period in contrast to 1968 and its aftermath. This slow maturation has been a characteristic of class struggle since its re-emergence in 2003. Today, this is still the case. The reason for this is the nature of what is at stake today - there is a general and correct belief in the impossibility of any improvements in the economic situation. Confronted with this, the class is taking time to digest the effects of the crisis and draw all the lessons from it.

The discussion underlined that we should not look for a mechanical link between the depth of the crises and an immediate and equal response from the class.

Still, we can already see development of class solidarity in some the struggles of the working class today in Europe, in other parts of the world as well as in India. There has also been simultaneity in some struggles that tended to pose the possibility of extension.

Also, over the years we have also seen emergence of a new generation beginning to question capitalism and searching for clarification.

There was some discussion on class struggle in Turkey and Philippines and in India, especially strike of auto workers in Gurgaon and Diamond workers in Gujarat, but there was a general feeling that this discussion needed to be deepened further. In particular the path leading toward massive fermentation of consciousness within the class and toward development of the mass strike need to be discussed and understood. This concern was concretized in a point in one of the resolutions that mandated further debate after the conference.

Questions were also posed about the specificities of conditions in India and other countries in Asia:

• Weight of the propaganda of economic boom in India, China and other Asian countries;

• Weight of nationalism and ethnic divisions and conflicts;

• Weight of religion, castes and multiplicity of languages;

• The presence of a huge peasantry.

An important question that rose during this discussion was that of intervention. This question was further discussed as part of the activities of the ICC and its different sections in Asia.

Life of the ICC

A report was presented on the life of the ICC including especially our work with a number of groups and contacts in Latin America. The ensuing discussion took up many questions - culture of debate, taste for theory, transmission of experience, the militant's activity as a human experience.

The discussion developed the idea that the internationalist milieu does not consist only of the ICC and its contacts but includes other internationalist groups from different traditions. ICC has been making efforts to strengthen this milieu and to work with different groups that are part of it. We must continue to develop this joint work in the future: for us, the strengthening of this milieu as a whole is also our strengthening.

Culture of Debate, Taste for Theory and Transmission of Experience

These discussions recalled that working class is a class of consciousness. Without developing its consciousness, without assimilating its global, historical experience, the class cannot fully develop its struggles and cannot work for the destruction of capitalism.

In this historical context and in the context of emergence of a new generation of searching elements, ICC sees its role in the transmission of experience as vital. The discussion developed the idea that the interventions of the ICC toward new generation and toward searching elements need to transmit both theoretical and organizational experience. Question of transmission is important everywhere but even more so in Asian countries where communist organizations have never existed and where leftists and nationalist forces have always masqueraded as communists.

But this transmission of experience is not a one way, pedagogic exercise. On the contrary it is a militant activity. Also, it is possible to accomplish this only by being open to the concerns of the new generation, by trying to understand and answer their questions, being open to the new problems that are posed, new ways of looking at them. Also, to transmit historical experience it is important for the ICC to develop a culture of debate within its own ranks and among the milieu around us. It is also important to develop a taste for theory as part of this process.

A number of interventions spoke of the relevance of developing a taste for theory in the revolutionary milieu and within working class.

Interventions recalled the historical experience of the revolutionary movement at the end of 19th and beginning of 20th century. At this period revolutionaries not only studied the conditions of class and its struggles, but were always abreast of development of science. They constantly worked for synthesizing new scientific discoveries and ideas in the light of revolutionary theory. At this period having profound theoretical concerns was the standard practice among communists.

Today, after a long period of counter-revolution, this seems difficult. Yet, if the working class is to rise to the level of its historical task, it must be able to learn from its past.

There was an important discussion on the weight we suffer in developing a taste for theory and culture for debate. There are many obstacles to it:

• the weight of the bourgeois ideology;

• concern for immediatist reactions;

• weight of decomposition that undermine coherent thinking;

• in countries like India, weight of the feudal and caste traditions that encourage following the ‘elders' and the ‘gurus' and discourage thinking for yourself;

• the weight of Maoism. Maoism, as a bourgeois current, encourages ‘follow the leader' and spread suspicion toward militants who take interest in history and theory of the working class.

Comrades with experience of Maoists recalled the Maoist ‘thesis': "the more you study the more foolish you become."

Discussion underlined the need to consciously develop a taste for theory and culture of debate as tools for transmitting experience to the new generation and its politicization.

The profoundly human character of militant activity

Another discussion that developed under the rubric of the life of the ICC was the question of militant work as a human activity. This discussion rejected any efforts at raising a wall separating social life of militants and our political practice. At the same time it rejected any idea of building islands of communism within capitalism. But it underlined that our lives cannot be in flagrant violations of our principles.

The question of women and socialists became a particular focus of this debate, especially as a concern regarding the attitude of communists toward women in general and toward those women who are part of the milieu around them. This may seem a far fetched debate for a conference of revolutionaries, but the persistence of feudal attitudes at this level is a particularly pernicious burden in countries like India, Turkey and Philippines. This discussion in fact was pushed forward by an impassioned intervention by a woman sympathizer of the ICC who pointed out the persistence of strong patriarchal attitudes even in the milieu around the ICC in India.

Due to shortage of time the conference could not develop this question. It mandated the sections to develop a discussion on this.

The Question of Intervention

The conference saluted the tremendous amount of work done by our section in the Philippines during its short existence. It is particularly impressive in the circumstances in which the section works - a condition of semi illegality, threat of repression by state and by private armies of various left and right wing factions of the bourgeoisies, economic hardship.

There was a lengthy and quite passionate debate on the question of intervention. This discussion clarified several points:

• different instruments and forms of intervention (through pamphlets, press and publications, through leaflets, discussion circles, contacts meetings, public meeting etc);
• theoretical clarification and deepening as a part and form of intervention;
• Unity between theory and practice.

Specific context of this discussion was a balance sheet of its work that our section in India presented. This balance sheet underlined that:

• in last few years, it has been particularly focused on numerical growth and building the organisation in different parts of India;
• It has developed important and fruitful intervention toward new elements emerging in different parts of India through discussion circles, contact meetings and public meetings. This has lead to spread of the influence of communist positions in India;
• It contributed to the ICC's international work.

At the same time the balance sheet underlined important weaknesses in other areas:

• Inability in developing a publication work;
• Sporadic intervention toward events and developments within capitalist society;
• Neglect of intervention in important workers strikes in India.

This last point was also raised by some close sympathizers of the ICC and was subject of an important, passionate debate.

This discussion was an inspiration both for the section and for our sympathizers, who came forward and offered their support in writing and translating texts for our press, help in its distribution as well as in interventions in class struggle.

Conclusion

The Pan Asian Conference of the ICC was an important moment in the life of our organisation and an important milestone in the spread of communist ideas and organizations in Asia. Though not very large, it was perhaps one of the largest gatherings of communists and internationalists held in Asia so far.

For many militants of the ICC in Asia, it was their first experience of an international meeting of the ICC. As comrades said, the Pan Asian Conference looked and worked like a mini congress of the ICC.

For the delegate from Australia and for sympathizers of the ICC invited to the Conference, it was an altogether different experience. For them it was a living experience of an organisation that is not only internationalist but is also international in its life and working. As the young comrade from Australia put it, the experience of conference changed his whole perspective on life and militant work.

Giving his impressions at the end of the conference, a sympathizer from India put it thus: "During the conference I forgot that I am in my country. Working and discussing with revolutionaries from various countries, I felt I am part of international life and struggles of the working class."

This expressed the views and sentiments of everyone present. The Pan Asian Conference of the ICC gave every participant the clarity and enthusiasm to work for building an internationalist communist movement.

Saki, 4 April 2010

1https://en.internationalism.org/ci/2010/02imperialist-rivalries-in-asia [8]

2https://en.internationalism.org/icconline/2009/07/Int-Sit-Resn [9]

A devastating fire broke out in Stephen Court House in the heart of Kolkata in the afternoon of 23rd March, 2010. It has been reported that the fire started from a lift and spread in no time to the whole fourth floor of the huge seven storey building and turned it into an inferno. The fire spread to other top floors also. Frightened and perplexed people ran for safety in whichever way they could after seeing the advancing flames and smoke. Some jumped to death or serious injury. Some died due to asphyxia. Some burned to death. According to the latest report (up to 29th march, 2010 evening) 43 people have died and a lot more have been injured, some very critically. According to the police authority the number of the dead may still increase as the search operation in the debris of the burnt floors is still to be completed.

The fire brigade was quite late to come and not adequately equipped. In spite of that the fire fighters heroically fought against the raging fire and rescued many trapped persons. Local people, particularly the youth, helped some people get out of the inferno, risking their own lives even before the fire brigade came to the spot.

This building is more than 100 years old. According to a minister of the government of West Bengal there are more than 250 rented apartments and 400 offices in this building. The floor area is divided into cubicles with wooden partitions. Packaging materials were kept on the staircase. Air conditioning machines and LPG cylinders added to the fire hazard. According to reports in various newspapers the electrical wiring system in the whole building is in a very precarious situation and can lead to sparking and breaking out of fire at any moment.

This is the workplace of lots of working class people. There are three call centers and one software firm here. All these are located on the fourth floor. According to a report in The Statesman of 25th March, 2010, among the victims killed in fire there are at least ten IT professionals aged between 18 and 24 years. From other reports in the same newspaper and other newspapers it is quite clear that almost all the victims of the killing fire are working class people. Some parents have lost their only son or only daughter. This heart rending extremely pathetic scene cannot but shake very forcefully and painfully the mental world of any sensible person and provoke their thought to find out the root causes and real way out of recurrence of such a hellish inferno in work places, not only in Kolkata but in other cities of India and abroad.

Nasty politicking of political parties of the right and left

Next year is the election year for electing a new legislative assembly for West Bengal. The leftists have been in power continuously for the last 33 years. Increasing numbers of people in all walks of life are being more and more disgusted with the ruling leftist combine. The rightist combine is very active now in utilizing this anger and the grievances of the general masses of people to clear the way to their sole goal of capturing governmental power. They are quite likely using every omission or commission of the present government to the fullest extent. They are trying to convince the people that the ruling leftist combine is responsible for all the problems of socio-economic and political life. They are leaving no stone unturned to show themselves as the only savior of the exploited and oppressed people. They are working overtime to create a notion that everything will be okay if only they come to power in the next election. Now they are shamelessly using even this extremely pathetic, sorrowful incident, the dead, the injured, the bottomless grief and bereavement of the affected families, for scoring a point in the nasty political game for capturing political power.

On the other hand the ruling front is involved in the game of buck passing within various departments and authorities. There is all sorts of mud-slinging against each other, both by the ruling and opposition combines and various departments. But one thing is common in all the speeches, arguments and points made by all these actors. All of them are hiding the truth and trying to keep the working class and toiling masses in the dark about the real cause and solution behind their show of sympathy and concern.

Causes of this inferno

All the political leaders, newspapers, technocrats, bureaucrats, experts etc are pointing to the apparent causes. According to them the age of the building is an important factor. In their opinion lack of proper maintenance, renovation, illegal construction of two new top floors through collusion of corrupted officials in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, fire brigade, urban development ministry, have played a big role in this disaster. Some have focused attention on the failure in raising a well prepared, well trained, motivated and well equipped fire brigade. The absence of proper fire prevention and controlling arrangement, emergency evacuation system in the whole building where so many people work and live has also been responsible to a significant extent for this disaster. During the course of investigation it has come to light that an electric short circuit during welding for putting up grilles, a collapsible gate and iron lockers in an office room on the fourth floor, has caused the fire. This work was being carried out in spite of objection from some residents. All these are of course responsible for this devastating fire. But what are the causes behind these apparently obvious and visible causes?  

Worsening living and working conditions   

Fires are frequently breaking out in workplaces in various parts of India. Sometime back a fire in a leather factory in the suburb of Kolkata killed about a dozen workers some of whom were child labour. All these ill paid temporary workers were locked up in a factory room so that they could not flee. This factory cum living room caught fire at night when the overworked workers were asleep. Another big fire broke out in a very old big building in a very important business sector of Kolkata some months back. Fires are very often breaking out in the slums of big cities all over India and killing lots of working class and toiling people. Work related accidents are often taking place in various factories and mines in various parts of the country and throwing lots of people into the jaws of death. In neighboring Bangladesh lots of people died when several garment factories caught fire. Very often we get reports of accidents in workplaces and deaths of lots of workers in China. In natural calamities like cyclonic storms, earthquakes etc. most of those thrown into the jaws of death are the working class and toiling masses. This is no different even in the most developed country like USA when the cyclonic storm raged over New Orleans.

World capitalism is now passing through its inevitable historic phase of decline or decadence. It is more and more difficult for each faction of capital within and outside India to find sufficient markets for its products to reap sufficient profit. There is only one way of achieving this sole objective of the capitalist mode of production. This is cheaper labour power and working conditions. In these days of intensifying competition both in the national and international market every capitalist producer either of commodities or services is running frantically after the cheapest labor and working conditions to get the necessary market and derive maximum possible profit. This is the life blood of the capitalist system. This is the cause behind outsourcing, setting up of so many call centers, industrial units by capitalist corporations of the heartland of capital in China and India, and the immense attraction of India and China for capital from the developed countries. This is the real story behind the continuous uproar of ‘India Shining' and becoming a global power. This is also the reality behind the success of China. Workers are frequently being thrown into workplace infernos and dying in work related accidents and diseases solely because of this. According to a recent report in The Statesman one person in shining India dies of Tuberculosis every minute. The goal of more profit and capturing more markets is totally antagonistic to creating good working and living conditions and adequate safety measures for the working class. Capitalist states and governments in each and every country of the world take it as their holiest task to defend and advance the interest of capital. Every activity of these states and governments without any exception is directed towards this. They have little concern for the safety and security of the lives of the working class people. Their inevitably corrupted officials in general and political parties, ruling as well as opposition, cannot also have any concern and will for the betterment of the living and working conditions of the working class and toiling masses. Thus there can not be any real solution of this type of frequently occurring devastating fire and fatal accidents in workplaces so long as the decadent world capitalist system is intact.

What then is the real solution?

Production solely for the market and more and more profit and not at all for satisfying social needs is the real culprit. It is the root cause of all other socio-economic and political problems, increasing unemployment, imperialist tensions, conflicts, war, terrorism, deterioration of environmental conditions, global warming etc. This very system has now become the biggest obstacle in the way of further unhampered development of production towards the goal of satisfying the needs of each and every member of the human species in all parts of the world. Moreover this system is leading the whole of human society towards slow but total destruction. This is inevitable if globally united, conscious collective struggle is not carried out to put an end to this senile, reactionary system. Only the conscious and internationally united working class is capable of carrying out this historic mission to save humanity from all the intensifying problems of life and livelihood. There is no other solution.

Saki, on behalf of CI, 30th March 2010.

Almost simultaneously with the British Airways workers' strike on 24th May 10, around 25,000 workers of Air-India throughout the country went on unofficial strike on 25th May 2010. The strike continued on 26th, but was called off after the Delhi High Court declared it illegal and an expression of irresponsibility of the workers. The strike was led by the two major unions, the ACEU and the AIAEA, the latter being the union of the engineers.  

The context of the movement

Since the merger of the two government-owned aviation sector companies, Indian Airlines and Air India, into a single national company NACIL, and in the face of the world economic crisis and a huge loss by the government owned companies in the aviation sector (Air India has a loss of 70,000 million rupees in the last fiscal year), attacks on the workers have been increased in many significant ways. Basically the aim of the merger is to reduce the work force and increase the work load to compensate for the loss. In a word it is the normal capitalist practice of imposing the burden of the crisis on the workers. But workers are not at all responsible for the crisis; none but capitalism it self is to blame. Workers are the main victim of it throughout the world.

The deliberately created shortage of 200-300 cabin crew is compensated by imposing excessive work-loads on the existing staff. The discontent of the cabin crews was growing day by day. Exhausting pressure of overwork, constant fear of being retrenched. The ground-handling policy of NACIL was also a point of discontent for the workers. Since last year delays in payment of monthly salary has also been a matter of great concern. We saw a hunger strike by the workers of AI in August 2009. This year as well management is deferring the date of payment of salary. So for all these reasons workers of all levels decided to go on a strike from 31st May.

However, the recent disastrous accident of an Air India flight at Mangalore added new discontent. The accident brought into the foreground the terrible infrastructural condition of the Indian air ports. In the mean time, on 25th May, when a union leader at Delhi Air Port was talking publicly about a particular mistake of management on the issue of fly out certificates , management issued a gagging order saying not to speak about the Mangalore issue to media (NDTV, 25th May). The workers of all unions suddenly and spontaneously united and stopped working. From Delhi to all over the country the strike spread immediately. All the demands are raised for a strike programme which was scheduled to be from 31st May.

Repressive role of state

The aviation authority NACIL, empowered by the aviation minister Mr. Patel, resorted to a very repressive measure towards the strikers. Delhi High court declared the strike as illegal and ordered the workers to call off the strike. The strike was withdrawn. There and then management de-recognized the two unions heading the strike movement, sealed the offices and sacked and suspended more than 100 employees of AI. Official sources said "There is no rethink on termination notices served to employees... our stance this time shows it is not just all bark and no bite," (dnaindia.com, 27th May 2010).

This stance of the state immediately exposes the utter reality of capitalism. Along with the world capitalist class, the Indian ruling class is also following the same practice: make the workers the ultimate victim of the crisis, force them to pay for it even though they are not responsible for it. In the name of defense of the national interest all the governments are imposing austerity measures, as we see in Greece, Portugal, Britain and all other countries in Europe. In recent movements of railway workers in Mumbai, in the movement of government employees of Kashmir, auto workers' struggle in Gurgaon in 2009[1] we see that the state is fiercely attacking the workers to crush the movement by physical, ideological and economic repression.

This general tendency of resorting to repression is not only confined to immediate measures of sacking and suspension but all the more on isolating the workers from their class brothers, increasing all sorts of discrimination amongst the workers. In the case of Airport workers we see the media focus on the inconvenience of passengers while putting no importance on the demands of the workers.  It is noteworthy that a good percentage of the passengers are workers who should understand the interest of their class brothers fighting against increasing exploitation. The media focus on the ‘irresponsible' behavior of the workers who are not willing to digest the effect of crisis. But no talk about the irresponsibility of the state in delaying payment of wages, not recruiting the necessary work force, or providing adequate infrastructure.

Perspective

We hope the workers will develop their struggle against the retrenchment and for all other demands. In this, their first step should be to base the fight on their own self initiative and self organization, on the active participation of all workers and not on any other legal institutions or organizations. Without extension of their struggle to the workers of other aviation companies and to workers in other sectors of the working class, there is no possibility of any sort of victory today. 

H, 1 June 2010

[1] https://en.internationalism.org/ci/2010/kashmir-struggle [14]; https://en.internationalism.org/ci/2009/gurgaon [15]