People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No. 17
April 29, 2012
|
Vol. XXXVI
No. 17 April 29, 2012 |
CITU’S
MAY
DAY MANIFESTO 2012 ON the
occasion of May Day 2012, the day
of the international solidarity and unity of the working
class, the Centre of
Indian Trade Unions (CITU) extends warm revolutionary
greetings to the entire
working class and the toiling people of the country and the
world. The CITU
reaffirms its commitment to class struggle and the struggle
for emancipation of
the human society from all forms of exploitation of man by
man. May Day 2012 is being
observed in a background when
the working people all over the world along with mass of the
people from all
walks of life have been loudly voicing their indignation
through worldwide
numerous protest mobilisations against the very neo-liberal
capitalist order
which perpetuates loot and plunder on ninety-nine per cent
of the common
populace by one per cent in the capitalist class. The Indian
working class will
also be observing May Day this year with more confidence and
commitment to
carry on the struggle against capitalist exploitation under
neo-liberal order,
riding on the historic success of all out united countrywide
strike action by
100 million workers on February 28, 2012, with a
determination to raise the
struggle to a more militant height. This year May 1 marks
the birth centenary of Comrade P
Sundarayya, the legendary revolutionary leader of the
toiling masses of the
country. On this occasion the CITU salutes the revered
memory of this
relentless fighter for emancipation of the exploited
classes. The CITU calls upon
all its affiliates to organise
befitting programmes throughout the year to observe the
birth centenary of the
great revolutionary.
FRATERNAL GREETINGS On the occasion of May
Day the CITU reaffirms its
international solidarity with the working class of the
socialist countries in
their struggles for upholding the principles of scientific
socialism. The
CITU believes that the left and
progressive forces will emerge victorious in defeating the
enemies who are
constantly conspiring to let loose counter-revolution in the
socialist
countries to restore capitalism. The CITU also
expresses solidarity with the working
class and toiling masses of the developed capitalist
countries in their grim
battle against the disastrous fall out of neo-liberal
capitalist order and the
nefarious design to impose the burdens of the current
economic crisis on the
mass of the people. The CITU reasserts the
bondage of solidarity with the
working class of the developing countries in their bitter
struggles
simultaneously against imperialist machinations on their
country’s
socio-political and economic governance on the one hand and
the onslaughts on
their rights and livelihood by their respective ruling
polity on the other
under the influence of the imperialist driven neo-liberal
order. The CITU extends
solidarity with the agricultural
workers and poor and marginal farmers in their struggle for
survival against
deepening agrarian crisis and its fall out in the form
aggravating poverty and
destitution, dwindling employment and earnings and
increasing suicides among
the farming community. The CITU also greets
the fraternal mass organisations
of women, youth and students who are engaged in grim
struggles against
discrimination, unemployment, commercialisation and
privatisation of education
and public utilities — all arising out of the policies of
neo-liberalism. The
working class must establish fraternity with these sections
for joint struggles
for the cause of the country and the people. SOLIDARITY WITH THE
PEOPLE OF The CITU expresses its
deep anguish and indignation at
the hated Zionist policy of brutal occupation, aggressions,
blackmail,
blockades and other criminal acts against the Palestinian
people in the West
Bank and SOLIDARITY WITH THE
STRUGGLING PEOPLE OF ARAB COUNTRIES The CITU greets the
workers and the people of the Arab
world who have come together in the historic popular
uprising against
authoritarian regimes, centring round the people’s upsurge
in the countries of
North Africa and On the occasion of May
Day, the CITU appeals to the
international trade union movement to extend powerful
support to the fighting
people of the region and to strongly condemn GREETINGS TO THE PEOPLE OF On this May Day the
CITU greets the Latin American
working class for the decades-long determined and militant
struggles along with
the mass of the people against the economic plunder of
imperialism forcing
imperialist retreat. The victory of the
pro-Left political forces in
Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and some other South
American countries
as well and their endeavour for an alternative path to
neo-liberalism, have
delivered a severe blow to US
imperialism. The coming together of the 33 Latin American
and Caribbean nations
at a conference in Socialist Cuba
continues to be a beacon of
anti-imperialist struggles in the entire Latin American
continent. It has
played catalytic role in motivating, uniting and mobilising
the people of Latin
America against SPECIAL FEATURES OF MAY DAY 2012 On this May Day 2012,
the barbarous face of capitalism
stands further exposed under the stewardship of
international finance capital
in the format of imperialist neo-liberal politico-economic
order. In this
order, inequality, disparity, poverty and unemployment are
promoted on the one
hand resulting in rapid reduction in the purchasing power of
the mass of the
people thereby squeezing the market; on the other,
speculation gets priority
over productive-employment-generating investment for quick
and maximum profit
without any hassle. This has led to explosion of worst ever
crisis and
financial meltdown in the world capitalist order. The crisis
originated in the
main centre of imperialist power, the The burden of the
entire crisis, as usual, is being
passed on to the toiling people through unemployment,
price-rise promoted by
speculation, cut on wages and social security and fast
informalisation of
workplaces through rapid casualisation and
contractualisation and various other
means while simultaneously bailing out the perpetuator of
the crisis --- the
capitalist class under the total grip of finance capital. Mass of the toiling
people have now started refusing
to accept such loot and plunder on them lying down by one
per cent of the
capitalist class. The entire Europe is witnessing waves of
strike action by the
working people against onslaught on their rights and
livelihood and similar
protest action has also engulfed various countries of Africa
and Asia and also
got manifested in USA and even Israel. And precisely in this
backdrop the world
is now witnessing the spontaneous outbreak of the “Occupy
Wall Street” movement
which originated in the USA last September and gradually
spread to 75 cities in
the USA itself and to thousands of cities in almost all
corners of the globe.
And from this movement the slogan was raised – “ninety nine
per cent versus one
per cent” and “billions for speculators and pennies for the
people,”
demonstrating intolerance to the system of one per cent
capitalists looting
ninety nine per cent of the people. The CITU welcomes such
spontaneous manifestation of
peoples’ anger against the onslaught on their rights and
livelihood through the
spread of organised struggles of working class all over the
world. The CITU
believes, it is now the task of the working class movement
committed to the
philosophy of class struggle to raise such growing
intolerance to capitalist
onslaught on their livelihood to the consciousness and
determination for
changing the system altogether by overthrowing the inhuman
neo-liberal
capitalist order. Let May Day of 2012 invigorate such
commitment and zeal in
the organised movement of working people on a global scale,
let us all work
with that determination.
IN INDIA
This year’s May Day is
a proud moment of the Indian
working class for the unprecedented all-in-unity of the
trade unions in the
struggle for ten points demands aimed at defending and
promoting the economic
sovereignty of the country and achieving the basic
socio-economic rights of all
sections of the working class and toiling people of the
country. The February 28,
2012 nationwide general strike, which is the 14th in the
series since the
introduction of neo-liberalism in the country in 1991 and
involved around 100
million workers in the strike action, has many salient
features unparalleled in
the contemporary history of strike struggles by modern
working class all over
the world. The UPA-2 government
has been aggressively pursuing
the neo-liberal agenda. Backbreaking rise in prices of
essential commodities
including food is being promoted and so also unhindered
speculation in the
commodity market to ensure windfall gains for the
capitalist, traders and big
landlord lobby. Crucial inputs and essential requirements
like fuel, fertilisers,
medicines etc are being priced at par with developed
economies while keeping
the mass of the people deprived of even the statutory
minimum wages which can
hardly provide for bare survival. Public utilities like
health, education,
roadways, transport etc are being privatised and
commercialised through the so
called PPP model to subserve the interests of big business.
Simultaneously,
blue chip public sector units in strategic, infrastructure
and natural
resources sector are being sought to be privatised in
phases. And the whole neo-liberal
process of economic governance in the form of deregulation
and privatisation
has led to, besides impoverishing the people, explosive
exposure of big ticket
corruption one after another, all involving plunder of
precious natural
resources by handful of big corporates, both domestic and
foreign. Such process of loot
and plunder of the country and
its people which has become synonymous to the capitalist
system itself under
neo-liberal dispensation, is continuing unabated despite
organized protests by
the toiling people. The toiling people are fleeced under the
design of
‘austerity drive’ while the capitalist class continues to
enjoy undue benefits
of ‘bailout packages’ at a huge cost to public exchequer. In
the current union
budget also, while subsidies on food, fuel and fertilisers
meant for the ninety
nine per cent of the common populace is targeted to be
brought down to mere
1.75 per cent of GDP, the same Govt showed no hesitation in
allowing a huge
concessions and perpetual tax default together to the tune
of more than 5 per
cent of GDP for the one per cent moneyed class among the
large corporates,
landlords and traders. Workers are punished
with dismissal and other punitive
measures by employers for organising or leading trade unions
and even murdered
by police or hired goons of employers. And of late, active
move is afoot to
completely change the labour laws to legitimise the
violations and empower the
employers to hire and fire at will; pension system is being
totally privatised
to allow the pension funds to be handled by the speculators,
both domestic and
foreign along with switching over from a system of assured
pension to a system
dependent on the market forces. Employment and decent work
have become the
worst victims under various counts – retrenchment,
recruitment ban, outsourcing,
casualisation, contractualisation, informalisation, “no wage
but honorarium
instead” and so on. On this May Day, the
CITU vows to redouble its
initiative to unite the toiling class in the resistance to
the regime of loot
and plunder on people, who produces wealth and push up GDP
numbers by their
sweat and blood. The brutality of the employers class,
howsoever atrocious it
might be with the active patronage of those in governance,
have to be combated
by the working class through demonstration of greater unity,
vigour and
conviction to combat and defeat the exploitation and the
exploiting class as
well. The challenge before
us is to preserve and widen the
unity of the working class and the people as a whole in
carrying forward the
fight against the exploitative system and also against the
disruptive and
divisive forces which seek to divide the people on caste,
religion, parochial,
identity and various other lines. Fight against all kinds of
social oppression
championing the cause of most downtrodden sections of the
society, and fight
against all hues of communal, fundamentalist and divisive
forces is also to be
carried forward simultaneously by the working class
movement.
As a follow-up to the
historic general strike of
February 28, 2012, the CITU calls upon the working class to
widen further the
all in unity of trade unions at the grassroots level and
carry the united
struggle of the working people to a militant height to fight
for reversal of
the anti-people pro-imperialist policy regime. SOLIDARITY WITH THE
STRUGGLE AGAINST
ATTACK ON DEMOCRATIC
MOVEMENT WITHIN THE COUNTRY
The international day
of working class solidarity
brings forth the task of organising solidarity with renewed
vigour with the
struggle against attack on working class and democratic
movement within the
country as well. In midst of crisis, the capitalist
employers and the
governments at their behest became more atrocious and
desperate in crushing
down collective assertion of the workers and trade unions
for their just demands
and rights. In many workplaces in the country, even the
initiative to form
trade unions is attacked with dismissal and other forms of
victimisation by the
employers along with false implication of the workers and
union activists in
criminal cases by the employers-administration combine. The
incidents at Maruti
Suzuki plant at Gurgaon (Haryana), Foxconn and Hyundai in
Tamilnadu, and Volvo in
Karnataka are some the examples. Such incidents of attack
are expected to rise
and widespread solidarity action by the working class all
over the country is
the urgent need of the hour, if the increasing attacks for
eliminating or
crushing trade unions by the employers-government combine is
to be combated
effectively. May Day 2012 must invigorate such spirit and
consciousness for
solidarity-preparedness among the trade union movement. ATTACKS ON THE PEOPLE OF WEST
BENGAL Attacks on trade union
and democratic rights assumed a
new dimension in West Bengal where immediately after the
last assembly
elections in May 2011 and the formation of a TMC-Congress
government, violent
physical attacks have been unleashed on the trade unions,
the CITU in
particular and also on other trade unions and mass
organisations of peasants,
students, youth and women by the armed TMC-Congress
hoodlums, with the police
remaining a silent onlooker in most of the cases. Trade
union offices are being
set on fire and ransacked, Left supporters are being
physically attacked, women
including the Anganwadi employees are molested and tortured,
houses set on fire
and many of our comrades have been killed. Till date 58
leading activists of
the democratic movement were killed including six from the
trade unions; the
number is increasing everyday. In the run up to the
preparatory campaign of
February 28, 2012 general strike, two of our comrades,
Pradip Tah and Kamal
Gayen were brutally murdered.
Around 400 union
offices were captured and hundreds
were ransacked. Workers are being threatened and terrorised
to desert the CITU
and other trade unions. In many areas, contract workers
owing allegiance to the
CITU unions were thrown out of employment and new sets of
workers engaged at
reduced wages in connivance with the contractors. An
atmosphere of terror is
being sought to be created to maim the Left opposition and
democratic movement.
Such a situation bears ominous portents for democracy and
the fascistic design
to suppress the class and mass organisations in this strong
bastion is aimed at
weakening and marginalising any opposition to the
anti-people neo-liberal
measures being unleashed by the TMC-Congress regime in the
state. Along with
the democratic movement, trade union movement led by the
CITU has been
resisting the attacks braving all atrocities. The TMC
government minced no
words in declaring their intent to put a ban on right to
strike in general and
in particular on trade union rights of the government
employees. All these are
attacks on the rights and livelihood of the toiling class
and are not confined
to Left supporters alone. Resistance against these attacks
has to be built up
through broader class mobilisations. Similar disturbance
and attacks are being sought to be
created in Left-front ruled Tripura state where assembly
elections are going to
be held in early 2013. In Kerala also, another stronghold of
working class and
democratic movement similar maligning campaign along with
occasional physical
attacks are being launched by the right-wing forces since
last assembly
election. On this May Day, the
CITU, while offering Red Salute
to the martyrs of working class and democratic movement,
pledges to rouse the
working class throughout the country ideologically and
organizationally, to
unite and fight against the brutal onslaught on their fellow
travellers in West
Bengal and also in Kerala and Tripura who always remained in
the frontline of
battle championing the cause of the working class and led
the struggle against
exploitative regime of the capitalist order. THE APPEAL OF MAY DAY 2012 On this May Day 2012,
the CITU reasserts its
commitment to international solidarity with the struggles
being carried on by
the working class throughout the globe against neo-liberal
order and in defence
of their rights and livelihood. The CITU appeals to
the working people in the country
to work for strengthening the all in unity of the trade
union movement in the
country to combat and confront the onslaught being brought
down by the
corporate captive ruling polity on the rights and livelihood
of the workers at
every workplace; the struggle against attack on labour
rights in workplace must
be supplemented by solidarity actions in all others.
Solidarity actions must
form an inseparable part of the day to day collective life
of the working
people. This is the call of May Day. On this May Day the
CITU calls upon the working class
to remain vigilant and fight against the divisive forces of
all hues --- communalism,
casteism and parochialism while defending and expanding the
unity of the class
and the people in the struggle against oppression and
exploitation. Long Live International Solidarity
of the Working Class! Down with Capitalism &
Imperialism! Down with Neo-Liberal Imperialist
Globalisation! Long Live Socialism!
