People's Democracy

 Uphold The Legacy Of Comrade BTR

                                                                                     E Balanandan

COMRADE B T RANADIVE BIRTH CENTENARY

December 19, 2004

THE birth centenary of Comrade B T Ranadive, the outstanding revolutionary leader of the Indian working class movement falls on December 19, 2004.  The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) has been celebrating the occasion throughout the country in a befitting manner by holding seminars, public meetings, conventions etc, highlighting his teachings on the trade union and revolutionary movement of the country.

During my long association with Comrade BTR – as he was fondly called by everyone – as a trade union activist and Party worker, I have had the opportunity to discuss with him  several political and trade union issues. These discussions always benefited me immensely and I found in him a teacher and a guide.  Though he breathed his last on April 6, 1990 his affectionate memory would always be alive in my memory.

While we were working together in the Party headquarters, I found in him certain special qualities which I cannot forget and which needs to be recalled for the benefit of everyone.

For him all the seven days of the week were working days. He never failed to come to the office at the appointed time of 8 30 am and continued to work throughout the day except during the time he took lunch and a little time to take rest. He continued to read and write till late at night. We found him very punctual even when he went out of Delhi for Party programme. Whenever he went for a trade union meeting or conference, he used to discuss with the local comrades, especially with the workers, about the problems and issues they were confronting. This resulted in his developing a closer affinity with the workers. 

MEMORABLE BATTLES

Comrade BTR started his political career after completing his MA degree with distinction in 1927.  By 1928, he became one of the leaders of AITUC while working among the textile workers in the famous Gerini Kamgar Union. He led many strike battles of the textile workers in Bombay and played an important role in organising the railwaymen and became secretary of the GIP Railwaymens’ Union. Throughout his life he was a trade unionist besides holding high positions in the Communist Party. There is no intention to give a full description of his activity in this article. Only a very short reference is being made here to highlight his contribution to the trade union movement.

On February 18, 1946 when the historic Naval ratings revolt took place in Bombay and Karachi the Communist Party came out strongly in support of the revolt while the Muslim League and the Congress Party condemned this patriotic action of the soldiers, who were risking their life. The AITUC called a general strike on February 22 in support of the revolt in which 35 lakh workers joined in Greater Bombay. The whole people of Bombay practically joined in this movement.  They enthusiastically collected food and other materials to be supplied to the ratings who were in revolt. The British government declared martial law and military forces were deployed in the streets of Bombay and they have brutally shot dead more than 500 people, mainly workers in just two days. Comrade BTR played a big role in mobilising mass support and conducting a successful strike of workers during this period. This is one of the memorable battles he led in his lifetime.

Comrade BTR joined the Communist Party in 1928 when there was a ban on the Party. Gradually he rose to become one of the important leaders of the Communist movement, acquiring deeper knowledge in Marxism-Leninism. He was elected to the central committee in the first Party congress held at Bombay in 1943. He submitted a thesis on the trade union movement in this congress. He was elected as the general secretary in  the second congress of the Party held at Calcutta in 1948 and continued as secretary till 1950. During this period, the Party had launched big struggles in the country, which were later assessed to be having a Left sectarian and adventurist deviation. Consequently, he had to face demotion.

During the fourth congress of the Party held at Palghat in 1956, a controversy arose about the political line of the Party between “national democracy” and “people’s democracy”. Comrade BTR presented a document in this congress against the right revisionist trend of the Party leadership. He was again elected to the central committee at this congress. In the fifth congress of the Party held in Amritsar in 1958, he was elected to the central secretariat of the Party.

When the sixth congress was held in Vijayawada in 1961, the political differences in the Party again came to the fore and which finally led to the split in the Party. In October 1962 when the clash between Indian and Chinese troops at the border took place, serious differences arose inside the Party.  The dominant leadership of the Party succumbed to national chauvinism and started attacking China. Comrade BTR and others, including  EMS, took the stand that Indo-China dispute should be solved through mutual negotiations. However, thousands of communists were arrested and jailed by the government making the wild charge of they being “Chinese supporters”. Among the arrested included Comrade BTR.

FIGHT AGAINST REVISIONISM

The fight against revisionist political line advocated by the dominant leadership of the Party aggravated and forced the convening of the seventh Party congress at Calcutta in 1964. It was here the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was formed. In this fight against revisionism Comrade BTR played a leading role and his contribution was invaluable.  The formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was a historic event and this was a big turning point in the history of Indian Communist  movement. Comrade BTR was elected to the Polit Bureau of the CPI(M).  After the formation of the CPI(M) in 1964 he played a leading role in formulating the  immediate political tactical line and he was one of the top most theoreticians of the Party. He continuously fought against both the Left and right deviations within the Party, on which he had made many valuable contributions.

Even when revisionism became dominant in the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the CPI(M)  made bold criticisms while maintaining fraternal relations with that party. Comrade BTR played a prominent role in formulating the Party’s positions.  Subsequent events proved the criticism made by the CPI(M) as correct.

He was one of the tallest leaders of the CPI(M). His theoretical contributions and practical leadership with the CPI(M) is part of the history on which I don’t wish to go to the details here.  Suffice to say that his contributions to the communist movement has no parallel.

TRADE UNIONIST TILL LAST BREATH

Let me now explain a little about his contributions to the development of Indian trade union movement. He had started his political career by organising the textile workers of Bombay. As noted earlier, he led big battles of workers in Bombay.  Even while holding important responsibilities in the Communist Party, Comrade BTR never gave up his contacts with the trade union movement. He was one of the prominent leaders of AITUC. Even after the formation of Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 1964, he wanted to continue in the AITUC in order to preserve the unity of the working class.

Comrade BTR  drafted a document on “The Tasks on the Trade Union Front” in 1967,  which was adopted by the central committee and published as a Party document.  In this document, he has elaborately explained the importance of the trade union unity and the democratic functioning of the trade unions.

However, the AITUC leadership wanted to impose their reformist political line in the trade unions movement and resorted to undemocratic methods which finally forced the CPI(M) to take steps for forming the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). This step was taken to maintain the independence of the trade unions and to make the class struggles effective by building working class unity.

The CITU was formed in a big conference of the trade unions held in Calcutta between May 28-31, 1970 in which more than 5,000 delegates participated.  Comrade BTR was elected president of this organisation and Comrade P Ramamurthy as its general secretary.  I was also one among the presidium members of this conference. I do not wish to go into the details of the formation of CITU or its development afterwards but suffice to say that Comrade BTR was its actual guide and teacher right from its inception in 1970 till his death in 1990. Here also I do not wish to go to the details of his contributions to the development of the CITU.  The history of the trade union movement proved beyond doubt that the formation of the CITU has helped to develop the fighting unity of the trade unions against the onslaught by the capitalists and the governments.

In the course of his work in the trade unions, he had to continuously oppose the reactionary tendencies among its leadership by firmly upholding the banner of revolutionary trade unionism.  That was one of the reasons for him to take the lead along with others to organise the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, coming out of the AITUC.

Throughout his life, he tried to unify the working class.  The main lever he used for unifying the class was “the democratic functioning of trade unions”. In his concept, trade union democracy does not mean only a formal one of adhering to majority decision making in unions. It was also a form of educating the workers for widening the political vision.  While evolving policies, he wanted  serious discussions and debates in the trade union bodies. The trade union leadership must properly explain the issues under discussion and its links with the prevailing political situation.  Thus it can be made a lever for the education of the working class.

While framing the Constitution of  the Centre of Indian Trade Unions he had taken special care to include provision for the democratic functioning and about building unity of workers from below.

It is worthwhile to note his remarks made in the concluding speech of the first conference of the CITU. He emphasised the need for upholding the unity of the working class and stressed that the central part of the trade union activities must be to build the grassroots unity of the working class and to develop united resistance of trade unions against the anti-working class policies of the capitalists.

To quote

“We have explained why we have to start this new organisation. It is precisely because  in this period  only an organisation which is devoted to the unity of the working class and is pledged to lead a united resistance will be able to defend working class interest.

“We fight reformism, we fight revisionism, we fight every such tendency, only because our common class struggle against our main enemy is hampered.  Every worker must see in us the sacred defender of his interests, the sacred defender of the unity of the working class in the struggle against the employers; they must realise that we fight the revisionists or the policies of the INTUC only because they disrupt the common struggle. Our unions if they  are afraid now, of bold United Fronts offers to revisionists, reformist unions, wherever they have following, then we will fail in our efforts for unity.”

IMPORTANCE OF WIDER TU UNITY

While framing the CITU constitution Comrade BTR has incorporated provisions for keeping unity and for the democratic functioning of the trade unions. I am sorry to say that many of our trade unions do not practice this. Let us quote a little from the CITU constitution.

Aims and Objectives:

3 (A) “ The CITU believes that the exploitation of the working class can be ended only by socialising all the means of production; distribution and exchange and establishing a Socialist State.  Holding fast the ideal of socialism, the CITU stands for the complete emancipation of the society from all exploitation.

3 (B)(l) for helping workers organise unions where none exists, for rallying the workers in a single union by uniting the rival unions in one industry.

4. Democratic Functioning

1. To achieve its purpose the CITU will constantly endeavor to build united activity with other central organisations and of unions and organisations affiliated and not affiliated, in the struggle for common objectives.

2. The CITU considers that the democratic functioning of the organisation at all levels and of its constituents is essential to achieve its objectives.

3. The democratic functioning of the organisation requires strict adherence to the provisions of the Constitution regarding periodic meetings of CITU bodies, to the discharge of the obligations of their responsibilities and the collective functioning of the various bodies under the Constitution.

4. The minority view point in the CITU bodies, should have the right of free expression, and should be given adequate representation in all its bodies.  This will be ensured by the method of cumulative voting.

5. The CITU bodies at the centre have the responsibility of ensuring that the state committees and other bodies that may be elected, function democratically, according to the rules laid down ensuring free expression, within the organisation for all sections.

The above quotations shows how the trade unions should function for unifying the class, which I don’t think still many of our cadres have taken seriously in their day- to-day work. Here again we have to see the importance of uniting the class by adopting the appropriate methods to keep the minority sections in the unions by giving them proper representation in the organisational set up and ensure full freedom to express their views.

Together with this, I have to highlight a point which has been stressed by Comrade BTR in the fifth conference of the CITU about the paramount importance of forming a Confederation of Trade Unions. The bourgeoisie governments have today intensified the policy of liberalisation and privatisation, which is having an adverse impact on every sections of workers, employees and on our economy as a whole which requires an all embracing battle for policy change.

Therefore, it is obvious the BTR dictum of Confederation of Indian Trade Unions still have paramount importance today and has to be seriously pursued by adopting a flexible approach. The whole line of trade union unity which is enunciated in the CITU constitution must be vigorously pursued.

The effects  of  increasing attacks on the working class will enable them to understand the line we propose is the only line for ensuring unity of the class and for developing nationwide resistance for a policy change. The guidance given by Comrade BTR in this respect cannot be forgotten.

Comrade BTR updated the 1967 document “The Tasks on the Trade Union Front” in 1983  taking into consideration the changes that took place thereafter. In this document too he stressed the need for uniting the class, which is the central part for the communists. If we miss this vital point, then revolutionary trade union work has no meaning. Drawing concrete examples he has shown in the document the importance of our work in the reformist unions and also explained the necessity of developing the revolutionary consciousness of the workers and drawing them nearer to the Party.

In a nutshell, the BTR dictum that has been quoted above is the biggest contribution he has made to the development of the trade union movement in the country. From the very inception of the CITU he was its president and was guiding its work almost on a day-to-day basis. During this period his addresses to the various conferences of CITU and his articles published in many journals of trade unions were of much help for the Indian trade union movement.

While we celebrate the BTR centenary this year we are confronted with many a challenges. The imperialist offensive has developed into serious proportions leading to direct interference in the free nations and nakedly conquering them using its military might. Afghanistan and Iraq  are the examples. Besides, the imperialist-led economic globalisation  is subjecting the weaker nations to inhuman exploitation. The working class world over is the worst affected. 

Therefore, we have to take the pledge that we will uphold the legacy of Comrade B T Ranadive in the fight against imperialism and in the fight against capitalist exploitation and the fight for a new future by building socialism in the country.