People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No.
31
August 01, 2010
|
Vol. XXXIV
No.
31 August 01, 2010 |
AIAWU 7TH
CONFERENCE CONCLUDES WITH A
CALL TO
Intensify Class Struggles,
Expand the Movement
N
THE All India
Agricultural
Workers Union (AIAWU) must expand the agricultural workers movement by
undertaking spontaneous struggles at local level on class issues
affecting the
majority of downtrodden masses. It must seriously take up struggles
demanding
implementation of minimum wages as also their enhancement all over the
country.
This point
was driven home
by the general secretary of the organisation, A Vijayaraghavan, while
replying
to the discussion on the general secretary report in the 7th all India
conference of the All India Agricultural Workers Union in
Tiruchirapalli on
July 19.
Vijayaraghavan
underlined
that the organisation has to acquire a more mass approach in its work
and focus
on expansion of the organisation. Struggles on issues of land,
employment and
wages, food security, welfare measures etc must be intensified and
people
rallied on class lines. For this more whole-timers have to be recruited
into
the organisation and trained, he said. The importance of having vibrant
units
at the village level in order to conduct spontaneous struggles was
underlined.
The necessity of strengthening the organisation in the Hindi region,
where one third
of agricultural labour of the country resides, was stressed.
Coming down
heavily
against the blatant anti-people policies being pursued by the UPA-II
government, he said “Manmohan Singh and company cannot be allowed to go
on like
this. Given the response to the recent general strikes, we are
confident we
will be able to, along with the democratic movement, stall them.” He
also
reminded that the organisation has a responsibility to defend the
democratic
movement in the country which is being sought to be weakened by
combined
reactionary forces.
With the rich
experience
of waging class struggles overcoming the brutal attacks of landlords
and their
cronies, the AIAWU is confident of unleashing militant resistance to
the
anti-peasantry and anti-people policies of the central government, said
Vijayaraghavan. The government is trying to dilute the NREGA scheme on
the
lines of what it is doing to the PDS in the guise of a Food Security
Act. The
AIAWU will make the masses aware of this conspiracy of the government
and rally
them into the struggle.
The
conference unanimously
adopted the general secretary report.
GEN-SEC
REPORT
The general
secretary
report explains in detail the worsening conditions of agricultural
labour due
to the anti-peasant neo-liberal policies of the central government and
the
impact of world economic crisis. The shift from labour intensive food
crops to
plantations, the reckless import of combine harvesters, the opening up
of
agrarian market to foreign multinationals and the general ruin of
agriculture
due to lack of State investment have all contributed to the misery of
agricultural labour. The report states
that since 1991 around 33 lakh farmers have been selling their lands to
speculators every year and joining the ranks of landless. The report
expresses
concern at the possibility of this vast reserve army of the unemployed
being
tapped by terrorists, communal or casteist forces in the rural areas.
“Organising them to fight for their rights on a class basis has become
even
more necessary today than in the past”, it was underlined. The
atrocities being
committed against dalits, minorities and agricultural labour etc were
noted.
Noting that
due to the
prevailing crisis and alienation of the tiller from land, millions of
agricultural labourers are moving out as migrant labourers, the report
called
for championing the cause of these migrant labour. Keeping in mind that
wage
struggles are the concrete expression of class struggle in the village,
it
advised that proper preparation in terms of studying concrete
conditions,
holding of workshops for activists, popularising the demands among the
masses
through conventions etc are undertaken before launching the struggles.
The report
stressed the
need to take up struggles for proper implementation and strengthening
NREGA and
Forest Rights Act. It charged that the UPA-II government is seeking to
wind up
the scheme by gradually reducing the district level allotment for
employment
generation and also by limiting the providing of work to only during
lean
season. The ministry of rural development is under pressure to increase
the
working hours of NREGA works in order to make it uneconomic and
burdensome for
the applicants. The need to take up struggles for strengthening the
NREGA and
exposing this fraudulent intention of the government was stressed. The
fact
that the organisation could expand its base even in weaker states when
it took
up NREGA issue was also stressed in this context.
Noting that
the proposed
Food Security Act of the government is an eye-wash, the general
secretary
report called for militant struggles highlighting the need for genuine
food
security that also takes into account nutritional security of the
people. The
demand for universalisation of PDS must be taken up with vigour in the
current
situation of skyrocketing prices of essential commodities.
The struggles
for land and
house-sites championed by the AIAWU units in various states must be
further
intensified for a radical redistribution of land in rural
As for
organisational
aspects, the report noted that the membership of the organisation has
grown from
42,50,754 in 2006-07 to 48,31,244 in 2009-10. The call of the sixth
conference
to enrol five million membership was almost fulfilled. While noting
that almost
all 12 states where the organisation exists increased their membership,
the
report highlighted the unevenness in the membership as the main
weakness.
Nearly 85 per cent of the total membership is from
The report
concluded by
stating that in the coming three years, given the acute crisis in
agriculture,
growing unemployment and increasing pressure on land and house-sites by
land
mafias, there is bound to be periods of deep distress for agricultural
labourers. The AIAWU should be ready to guide such struggles
successfully. It
asks the cadre to jump into local struggles and take up issues that
reflect
common problems of the masses. The report ends with this assertion: “We
have a
duty to guide the rural masses to more decisive actions and victories.
We have
the confidence to do so but we must carry this confidence to the masses
and
ensure that it enthuses them to move forward, struggle and win”
DISCUSSION
A total of 32
delegates
spoke in the discussion on the general secretary report, strengthening
and
enriching it with their experiences and suggestions. They agreed with
the report
about the need to intensify wage struggles, the struggles for proper
implementation of NREGA and Forest Rights Act, for universalisation of
PDS.
Many delegates stressed the need to take up in a big way the issues of
social
oppression, particularly of dalits. The comrades from UP highlighted
how
despite a dalit woman being the chief minister of the state, atrocities
against
dalit agricultural labour were rising. The good work being done by the
Left-led
governments in Tripura, Kerala and West Bengal regarding the welfare of
agricultural workers in terms of pensions, group insurance schemes,
ration
cards etc was also highlighted. The fact that the UPA-II government,
now minus
the Left restraint, has launched a vicious assault on the livelihood of
the masses
was noted. The need to rally people against these policies through
intensified
militant struggles was underlined. The importance of taking up
multi-faceted
problems of agricultural workers was also stressed.
Earlier,
fraternal
greetings were conveyed by AIDWA president Subhashini Ali, CITU
secretary K K
Diwakaran, BKMU leader Ramamurthy and DYFI secretary Kannan.
