People's Democracy

Another Fuhrer, not at any cost!

G Mamatha

�I absolutely insist on protecting private property... we must encourage private initiative�. I am not quoting Narendra Modi speaking in the Vibrant Gujarat Global Investors Summit. But of course, I cannot help if Hitler sounds like Narendrabhai. Yes, that was what Hitler said in 1932. And for this, he was hailed by the entire bourgeoisie.

No wonder one Mr Moeller van den Bruck, sighed �We need a Fuhrer�. Once again do not think that I am drawing parallels between what Anil Ambani had said in the Vibrant Gujarat summit. We all know it well by now as his words found immediate endorsement from Ratan Tata and Sunil Mittal. Many of them are icons, idols and persons of the year for our country. We hardly miss what they preach! In fact it is 'history stupid,' that teaches that even in 1920s Germany, many industrialists began to yearn for a 'strong man of destiny to liberate us from our misery'.

The question is why do our industrialists yearn for this modern day 'strong man'? 'Elementary, Watson'. Let us do a brief recap of Italian history. During the crisis in the 1930s, there was widespread fear among Italian business circles who believed that communists would come to power. With the traditional right-wing parties appearing incapable of dealing with the situation, King Victor Emmanuel III turned to the young Fascist movement, which he considered to hold a hardline right-wing orientation by violently suppressing strikes, and appointed Benito Mussolini as the prime minister. Soon after his rise to power, Mussolini defined his economic stance by saying: �The [Fascist] government will accord full freedom to private enterprise and will abandon all intervention in private economy�. Apparently, any parallels are left to your better judgements.

Big business will bide their time when forced to 'stomach the concessions' and will always be waiting for the day to 'recover their influence and power'. For nearly four long years, the 'dreaded' Left had been non-stop in its barking over all the concessions that they have been yearning for. They wanted these to be handed on a platter to them, but the people of the country had other thoughts and handed the Left the mandate to become the 'watch dog'. Full throttled implementation of neo-liberal reforms was stopped and of course, this saved the nation from a complete collapse in the current economic crisis. But what for 'us'! Banking and insurance sector reforms, pension reforms, currency convertibility etc., could not go the full pace. So neither through the day nor through the night were they able to gain the 'second generation of reforms'. Vexed by the Left and the people who always find in it their ardent champion, the big bourgeois wants a 'strong man' to bully both of them. Who else but our 'Hercules from Gujarat' to fit their bill!

He has a proven track record. If people raise their voices or even if he suspects that they may turn out against him, mercilessly he engineers their elimination. In the infamous Gujarat riots, 1,044 people were brutally killed, forcing the former president of India, K R Narayanan to state: "There has been government participation in Gujarat riots.� Did this cow him down? No. Shamelessly he still rules the state. What more test of strength does one need? Unperturbed by the whole world, only the ruthless can carry on with their agenda! Does not this serve as a number one positive qualification for any person to rule a country - so that he can quell any protest against the bourgeoisie in the most violent of forms. Does not he deserve the post of PM-Prime Murderer!

History vindicates their belief in Modi. The other 'strong man' who ruled Germany and idol for the big bourgeoisie of those days stands as a testimony. One month after attaining power - all basic civil rights were abolished. Within two months, laws were passed barring Jews from employment in the public sector and the legal system, and the government ordered a boycott of Jewish businesses. Trade unions were abolished. Books deemed subversive, including works by Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Franz Kafka and of course good old Karl Marx, were piled on bonfires and burnt in public ceremonies. Thousands of German Communist Party members were rounded up, beaten and thrown into concentration camps. The then biggest Communist Party outside Russia was banned and its 81 MPs were barred from parliament. The results were staggering. Within six months, Germany was a one party state. All organisations, whether cultural or social, became subordinate to the state. The state itself became, �a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie.�

Of course, some people akin to the present day watchdogs in those times too barked that this was nothing but �the open, terrorist dictatorship of the most reactionary, most chauvinistic and most imperialist elements of finance capital�. But who cares. They got their monies worth and more than what they had asked. Never bother about the Holocaust where 11 million Jews, Communists, trade unionists and others were slaughtered in Nazi concentration camps. Brother, do not bother about human rights or rights whatsoever! Alas as Marx had paraphrased, the masses could say what they liked as long as the monopolies decided.

Capitalism in crisis needs to cut down on wages of the workers, remove them wholesale from their jobs and push them into semi-slave existence to earn their profits. To quell their protests, their discontent rising from their deprivation, they have to be deprived of their rights - even the bare minimum that exists and even in the nominal form that they are implemented, needs to be curtailed. This needs a 'strong man'. If Bonapartism serves the purpose so be it, if fascism serves the purpose, so be it and now if Modism serves the purpose, so it shall be put to service.

For this end, they not only speak on behalf of the 'strong man' but also contribute their might for the purpose. Again history shows the way. As Fritz Thyssen, head of the steel trust, in his book I Paid Hitler, openly admitted : �I did in fact bring about the connections between Hitler and the entire body of Rhenish-Westphalian industrialists...in consequence of this a number of large contributions flowed from the resources of heavy industry to the treasuries of the National Socialist Party�. So, this is the way gentlemen. Pour in your money into the campaign for your idol, if you are not doing it already. Put in all your might behind him. But remember, we the people too learn from history. We know � you are few and we are many.�

It is we who till the land, work the lathe, programme the computers and sweat-day in and day out. We know the pain of labour and also the value of life. We learnt how badly our disunity costs us. We never will commit the same mistake twice. This time of the crisis, we are prepared. We would not at any cost let you play your divisive cards. Because we know that we have got 'a world to win'.