People's Democracy

(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)


Vol. XXXVI

No. 20

May 20, 2012

Basudeb Acharia

 

IN Lok Sabha, CPI(M) group leader Basudeb Acharia said that while we are observing the 60th year of our parliament, we should remember those who laid down their lives and went to the gallows. The sacrifices of the heroes of our freedom struggle won us independence and we adopted the parliamentary democratic system of governance. We will have to seriously think whether the problems of inequality, discrimination, poverty, exploitation, etc have increased or decreased, and whether the intent of the founding fathers of the constitution has been implemented in letter and spirit, in this 60 years period. We see that the poverty has not reduced; happiness has not come to the people. The gap between the rich and the poor has increased. Lakhs and lakhs of people are still born under the sky and die under the sky. We have not been able to provide shelter to 100 per cent of our population. We cannot even provide safe drinking water to the poor. We must seriously think of the tribals and dalits whose conditions have not improved. If a farmer commits suicide after 64 years of independence, we will have to seriously think over it. Another major problem which is corroding our parliamentary democracy is the use of money power in elections. If voters and votes are purchased, what will happen to the parliamentary democracy? There is a need for electoral reforms. Unless there is state funding of elections, we will not be able to curb the use of money power. Something has to be done to cleanse the system and protect it from corrosion. We should seriously ponder over it. The problems of discrimination, exploitation, pauperisation of the people, starvation and illiteracy still exist in this country, and we cannot enjoy the successes and achievements of our parliamentary democracy unless we remove these ills.

 

The sitting extended till the evening. Both the houses adjourned after passing a resolution to uphold the dignity and supremacy of parliament.

 

Joint Statement issued by the Communist & Workers' Parties

 

NATO, A Threat to World Peace!

 

 

Below we publish the joint statement of the Communist and Workers' parties on NATO issued on May 17, 2012. The CPI(M) has signed the statement along with many other parties.

 

IN an international situation marked by the deepening crisis of capitalism and by the violent imperialist offensive against the achievements and rights of the workers and peoples, a NATO summit will take place on May 20-21, in Chicago, USA.

 

In the context of an ever-deeper crisis of capitalism, imperialism embarks on a militaristic and interventionist escalation.

 

Having renewed NATO's strategic concept in 2010 - a new and dangerous qualitative step in its interventionist ambitions, of which the aggression against Libya was an example – the USA and NATO, which has the EU as its European pillar, seek to expand their sphere of influence, promote an arms race and ever greater military spending, invest in new weapons and in their worldwide network of military bases.

 

Imperialism militarizes international relations, proceeds with occupations, threatens new aggressions, promotes conspiracies and manoeuvers of interference in countries of every continent. The principles of the UN Charter are seriously jeopardized and the process which seeks to destroy International Law is accompanied by an ever greater instrumentalization of the UN, with a view to whitewashing imperialist violence and its goals of controlling resources and markets and of military and geostrategic domination.

 

NATO, being imperialism's main instrument in its quest for world domination, is an enormous threat to world peace and security.

 

But, as the facts are demonstrating, imperialism's force-based response to the crisis of capitalism is having to confront the progressive and revolutionary struggle of the peoples, which in various parts of the world are taking into their own hands the defense of their rights and the sovereignty and independence of their countries and are resisting in the most diversified ways, imposing setbacks to the strategy of imperialist domination.

 

Reaffirming thier commitment to the struggle for peace, for the right of each people to freely decide its destiny, for social progress and socialism, the Communist and Workers' Parties signing this declaration:

 

- Demand the immediate withdrawal of all foreign troops from Afghanistan, as well as those in all other imperialist interventions in the World;

 

- Reject the escalation of war in the Middle East, namely against Syria and Iran;

 

- Demand the dissolution of NATO and support the sovereign right of peoples to decide to disassociate their countries from this aggressive alliance;

 

-   Reject the deployment of the US and NATO's new antimissile system in Europe and demand an end to foreign military bases;

-   Demand an end to the arms race, nuclear disarmament starting with the world's major nuclear powers – such as the USA - and the complete destruction of chemical and biological weapons;

-   Express their solidarity with the peoples that resist imperialist occupation, aggression and interference, namely in the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and Africa

 

Chilean Communists Celebrating

Hundred Years of Struggle

THE Communist Party of Chile (PCCh) is celebrating its 100th anniversary of foundation. It was founded as the Partido Obrero Socialista, (Socialist Workers’ Party) on June 12, 1912 by Luis Emilio Recabarren, along with 30 miners and workers in the northern Chilean city of Iquique, in the office of the newspaper El Despertar de los Trabajadores (The Workers’ Awakening). The name of the party was changed into the Communist Party at the Party’s Second Congress on January 2, 1922 and in the same year it became a member of the  Communist International.

 

Over decades of struggle, Chilean Communists have faced periods of intense persecution and were forced to work underground on a number of occasions. Members were attacked, imprisoned and murdered. The torture and death of renowned Marxist singer/songwriter Víctor Jara was one of the worst crimes of the 17-year Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, which failed to eliminate Communist ideas in Chile, despite its brutality.

 

While forced to work underground, the PCCh supported Salvador Allende for the first time in the presidential elections of 1952. Towards this end, they established, with the Socialist Party, the National Liberation Front or People’s Front. The Front was defeated in this election and also in the subsequent elections in 1958. But the Party gained popularity and allies. The struggle continued to intensify until in 1969, another coalition was formed (including the PCCh), to enter the 1970 elections as the Popular Unity alliance with a program which attracted the masses, fed up with the broken promises of the bourgeois parties.

 

Allende won, but the nationalisation of the copper industry and other measures meant to benefit the poorest sectors of the population were unacceptable to the oligarchy. With the help of the United States and the fascist military led by Pinochet, on September 11, 1973 they organised a bloody coup, which left in its wake thousands of people dead, missing or tortured. The Party’s Secretary General Luis Corvalán, too was taken prisoner and most of the Central Committee members were forced into exile, leaving a vacuum and a level of disorganisation. The party remained banned until the end of the Pinochet regime.

 

The Communist Party of Chile (PCCh), over the course of its 100 years of existence, in spite of various obstacles, found ways to carry on its struggle for liberty and social justice. Its significant prestige was evident during the massive student demonstrations last year which challenged President Sebastián Piñera’s right-wing government. In the vanguard of the movement were Karol Cariola, secretary general of the Young Communists and Camila Vallejo, a member of its executive and currently vice president of the nation’s Student Federation. Thousands of students demanded  free, quality education and did not retreat despite brutal repression. Communists also supported the demands of workers and the massive protests against the government’s neo-liberal policies, as well as calls to reform the constitution. It is these consistent struggles that are earning the party immense support among the people even today.

 

Chilean Communists Celebrating

Hundred Years of Struggle

THE Communist Party of Chile (PCCh) is celebrating its 100th anniversary of foundation. It was founded as the Partido Obrero Socialista, (Socialist Workers’ Party) on June 12, 1912 by Luis Emilio Recabarren, along with 30 miners and workers in the northern Chilean city of Iquique, in the office of the newspaper El Despertar de los Trabajadores (The Workers’ Awakening). The name of the party was changed into the Communist Party at the Party’s Second Congress on January 2, 1922 and in the same year it became a member of the  Communist International.

 

Over decades of struggle, Chilean Communists have faced periods of intense persecution and were forced to work underground on a number of occasions. Members were attacked, imprisoned and murdered. The torture and death of renowned Marxist singer/songwriter Víctor Jara was one of the worst crimes of the 17-year Augusto Pinochet dictatorship, which failed to eliminate Communist ideas in Chile, despite its brutality.

 

While forced to work underground, the PCCh supported Salvador Allende for the first time in the presidential elections of 1952. Towards this end, they established, with the Socialist Party, the National Liberation Front or People’s Front. The Front was defeated in this election and also in the subsequent elections in 1958. But the Party gained popularity and allies. The struggle continued to intensify until in 1969, another coalition was formed (including the PCCh), to enter the 1970 elections as the Popular Unity alliance with a program which attracted the masses, fed up with the broken promises of the bourgeois parties.

 

Allende won, but the nationalisation of the copper industry and other measures meant to benefit the poorest sectors of the population were unacceptable to the oligarchy. With the help of the United States and the fascist military led by Pinochet, on September 11, 1973 they organised a bloody coup, which left in its wake thousands of people dead, missing or tortured. The Party’s Secretary General Luis Corvalán, too was taken prisoner and most of the Central Committee members were forced into exile, leaving a vacuum and a level of disorganisation. The party remained banned until the end of the Pinochet regime.

 

The Communist Party of Chile (PCCh), over the course of its 100 years of existence, in spite of various obstacles, found ways to carry on its struggle for liberty and social justice. Its significant prestige was evident during the massive student demonstrations last year which challenged President Sebastián Piñera’s right-wing government. In the vanguard of the movement were Karol Cariola, secretary general of the Young Communists and Camila Vallejo, a member of its executive and currently vice president of the nation’s Student Federation. Thousands of students demanded  free, quality education and did not retreat despite brutal repression. Communists also supported the demands of workers and the massive protests against the government’s neo-liberal policies, as well as calls to reform the constitution. It is these consistent struggles that are earning the party immense support among the people even today.