CPI(ML)-New Democracy Country Report

I

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) was formed in 1969 by the revolutionary communists who came out of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) after the Great Naxalbari Peasant Armed Struggle in 1967. Over last three decades, CPI(ML) has gone through many ups and downs, has been steeled in the fire of revolutionary struggle and has also suffered some splits in course of struggle against right and left deviations.

Like in other parts of the world, Deng revisionism took its toll in the revolutionary movement in India, too. A section of the ML movement has fallen prey to parliamentarianism and is calling for unity with revisionists.

Among the organizations rejecting Deng revisionism, two trends are more or less clearly defined - those upholding the revolutionary mass line and those undertaking anarchist-terrorist activities. The latter organizations propagate that they are conducting civil war against the Indian Government. They also claim to have established the liberated areas and guerilla zones. However, their concept of the liberated areas and guerilla zones differs sharply from the teachings of Comrade Mao about the liberated areas and guerilla zones. Activities conducted by them do not correspond to the level of the mass movement nor they are trying to develop the mass movement systematically.

Our party - CPI(ML)-New Democracy - follows revolutionary mass line. Some other organizations too are practising broadly similar line. We consider that there are no liberated areas in India. It is also not correct that there is ongoing civil war in India being conducted by any one or more of the communist revolutionary organizations.

Ours is a semi-feudal, semi-colonial country at the stage of New Democratic Revolution with agrarian revolution as its axis. The agrarian revolution is the primary task before the communist revolutionary forces. Agrarian revolutionary movement faces armed attacks from the feudal forces, their henchmen and security forces. In the state of Bihar feudal-criminal gangs have been organized as private armies to attack and massacre the poor peasants and agricultural laborers to crush the revolutionary forces and the movement. Hence the revolutionary forces have to face the task of countering these attacks from the beginning of the agrarian struggle. Revolutionary forces resist these attacks by organizing all forms of struggle including open democratic movement and self-defence squads and militant groups.

In some areas of agrarian revolutionary movement the communist revolutionary organizations including our party are conducting resistance struggle i.e. building, developing and extending agrarian revolutionary movement facing the repression and attacks of the feudal-criminal-police forces. CPI(ML)-New Democracy is implementing the line of developing the agrarian movement under its leadership in the direction of building areas of sustained resistance,

II

Intensifying Attacks Against the People

Over the decades after gaining formal independence from British imperialism, ruling classes in India - the big bourgeoisie and big landlord classes - have followed a course of protecting interests of imperialists and preserving and perpetuating feudal land relations in India. Without carrying out meaningful land reforms which could have unleashed productive forces in the predominantly agrarian country like India, they embarked on the path of industrial development depending upon and serving the interests of imperialist and domestic comprador bourgeoisie. This model was crisis-ridden from the beginning. After the collapse of the erstwhile Soviet Union and disintegration of the camp of social-imperialism, the Indian ruling classes tamely surrendered before the dictates of the western imperialist powers. Under the dictates of the imperialist powers and the international financial institutions controlled by them, the Indian ruling classes implemented the 'new' economic policies which were the embodiment of the Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) being imposed by the WB and IMF on third world countries.

Ruling classes intensified their attacks against the different sections of the people under the new economic policies. The import of these policies is to increase the stranglehold of the MNCs on different walks of the economic life of the country. Industries are facing increasing closure and lockout as the goods of the MNCs flood the market. Government is increasingly taking to dismantling the public sector and withdrawing from the social sector and developmental work. Subsidies are being reduced in different sectors. The lot of the common people particularly workers and peasants is becoming unbearable.

Attacks on the peasantry are particularly sharp. Ruling classes are organizing criminal gangs to supplement the security forces in crushing the revolutionary movement in some areas. In the state of Bihar, the feudal-criminal gangs have committed a number of massacres in which over three hundred landless and poor peasants - old, infants and women - have been mercilessly gunned down in recent times. The government is trying to enact even more draconian laws to curb the activities of the revolutionary organizations. The land reforms have been mostly on paper and whatever little have been implemented are being reversed by the ruling classes. On the other hand, MNCs are dominating the sectors of pesticides, fertilizers and seeds. Peasants are becoming easy prey to the greed of MNCs and hundreds of them, particularly cotton growers, were driven to suicides last year.

As the policies of the ruling classes are becoming increasingly unpopular, the ruling classes are trying to divide the people on the communal and caste lines to save their anti-people system and to lead their movements astray. On the other hand there is increasing fascistization of the state machinery and increase in the repression on the revolutionary movements and nationality struggles. The ruling classes are abandoning their old political framework and currently the majority communal party of the ruling classes, the BJP is in power with the help of a number of the regional parties.

There has been unprecedented exposure of the main revisionist parties, the CPM and CPI. Their participation in the United Front ruling at the Center till last elections has unmasked them much more. These parties which had renounced the revolutionary path since long have degenerated into the representatives of the ruling classes.

III

Growing Political Instability and Coming to power of communal fascist forces

The growing economic crisis underlies the growing political instability of the ruling classes. The principal ruling class party for over four decades, the Congress has declined. However, there is consensus between the ruling class parties on the New Economic Policies though they try to pose as opponents of some aspects of these policies to hoodwink the people and for electoral exploitation of the people's anger.

Four parliamentary elections held over last ten years have not given majority to any ruling class party or alliance. Minority Governments have been formed with the help of unprincipled alliances after the elections. The ruling class parties are getting increasingly isolated and the people's resentment is rising.

Utilizing the decline of the main ruling class party, the communal party of majority Hindu community, Bhartiya Janata Party, has formed a coalition government after the last elections. This party is electoral wing of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, an avowedly fascist outfit. Their government is trying to whip pseudonationalist and communal passions while it goes full speed to facilitate the entry of the MNCs in all sectors. It has enacted laws to permit entry of MNCs in the insurance sector and has amended the patent laws in tune with the provisions of WTO. Though their attempts to unleash jingoist hysteria after nuclear explosions in May '98 had fallen flat, they have intensified attacks on the minorities and their religious institutions. Recently they have targeted Christian missionaries in the tribal areas. They are trying to build communal hysteria to hide their subservience of the imperialist powers. However, their government is highly unstable and their communal attacks are being widely condemned by the vast sections of the people.

The real target of these forces are the rights of the common people, the workers, peasants, middle classes, women, oppressed castes, tribals and minorities. They are enjoying support from the good section of the comprador ruling classes and patronage of the imperialist powers.

IV

Prospects of the Mass Movements

Present condition in our country is becoming increasingly favorable to the growth and development of the revolutionary movement. Despite growing attempts at communalization and fascistization, people's struggle against their main problems, against unprecedented price-rise, for jobs and rights are growing. On the other hand the danger of fascism is also growing. Thus, as our Party Congress put it, we are passing thorough a period of "grave challenges and splendid opportunities."

Our Party is taking building agrarian revolutionary movement as its primary task. On the other hand we are developing joint struggles particularly on the impact of the new economic policies and subservience of the ruling classes to the imperialists. We are trying to build joint movement along with other revolutionary and struggling forces against the increasing loot and plunder of our country by the imperialists as well as against the attacks of feudal criminal gangs against poor peasants. We are also undertaking joint movement with other forces on the issues of the people.