People's Democracy
(Weekly Organ of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)
No. 17
April 28, 2013
|
Vol. XXXVII
No. 17 April 28, 2013 |
MAY DAY MANIFESTO OF
CITU
For
Rebuffing Neo-Liberalism, Resisting Attacks, Defeating
Divisive Forces,
Strengthening People’s Unity
ON
the occasion of May Day 2013, the day of
the international solidarity and unity of the working class,
the Centre of Indian
Trade Unions (CITU) extends warmest revolutionary greetings
to the entire
fraternity of the working class and the toiling people of
the country and of the
world. On this great occasion, CITU reiterates its
commitment to scientific
socialism and its resolve to fight for ending the regime of
exploitation of man
by man.
FRATERNAL
GREETINGS
CITU
conveys warm fraternal greetings and
expresses solidarity with the struggles of agricultural
workers, poor and
middle peasantry for their right to better wages,
employment, right to social
security; right to land, remunerative prices, public
procurement and marketing
facilities, institutional loans etc and also against the
severe fall out of the
deep agrarian crisis in the country as a result of
neo-liberal economic policy
regime. CITU aspires for a countrywide joint struggle of
workers, peasants and
agricultural workers for reversal of the neo-liberal policy
regime which calls
for urgent initiative in that direction at all levels of the
organisations.
CITU
conveys its fraternal greetings and
message of solidarity to the struggles of the youth and
students organisations
for the right to education and employment; against
commercialisation and
privatisation of education and their democratic rights to
organise and act.
CITU expresses solidarity to the struggles of women’s
organisations against
discrimination, against violence and for their right to
appropriate
representation and empowerment at all forums and levels,
while extending
fraternal greetings to them.
CITU
salutes the working class and the
democratic people of Tripura for their frontline role in
re-electing the Left
Front government there in the last assembly election in a
more resounding
manner. It is a resounding endorsement of the performance
and people centred
policies of the Left Front government in the state.
CITU
reaffirms its international solidarity
with the working class of the socialist countries for their
struggles in
defence of the socialist system there. CITU strongly desires
and also firmly
believes that all conspiracies of the counter revolutionary
forces, backed by
imperialism to weaken the socialist system and restore
capitalism, will finally
be defeated by the working class and people of the socialist
countries.
CITU
also greets the working class and
toiling masses of the developed capitalist countries for
their grim struggle
including strikes and militant mobilisations
against the atrocious onslaught on their rights and
livelihood by the
crisis-ridden neo-liberal capitalist order in the name of so
called austerity
measures. CITU
upholds the spirit of the
most appropriate slogan — “ninety nine per cent versus one
per cent” — raised
from the struggles and mobilisations there and longs for the
same to be voiced
much louder throughout the world as the battlecry of the
working people against
the most atrocious and inhuman face of the capitalist system
under neo-liberal
format.
The
CITU reasserts the bondage of
solidarity with the working class of the developing
countries for their bitter
struggles simultaneously against imperialist machinations on
their country’s
socio-political and economic governance on the one hand and
onslaughts on their
rights and livelihood by their respective ruling polity on
the other under the
influence of the imperialist driven neo-liberal order.
SOLIDARITY
WITH
STRUGGLES
AGAINST
IMPERIALIST
HEGEMONISM
On
this occasion of May Day 2013, CITU
reiterates its solidarity and support to the ongoing
struggles against
imperialist aggressions and hegemonistic ploy, particularly
by the
CITU
denounces the continuing illegitimate
interventions and intimidating manoeuvres against
CITU
strongly condemns the continuing
Israeli onslaught on the Palestinian people and frequent
bombing of West Bank
and
CITU
firmly
upholds that the fight against imperialism is an integral
part of the class
struggle against exploitation by the neo-liberal capitalist
order and
undertakes with priority the task heightening the
anti-imperialist
consciousness of the working class movement as well as the
consciousness for
the international solidarity.
Liberating
the people of the Arab world
from the direct or indirect clutches of the imperialist
forces and installation
of genuine popular rule of democracy in the African and
GREETINGS TO PEOPLE
OF
On
this May Day, CITU greets the people and
the working class of Latin Americas for their determined and
continuing struggles
against the economic plunder of imperialism to make the
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 the US imperialism.
The new correlations
and combinations emerging there with the coming together of
the 33 Latin
American and Caribbean nations at a conference in
The
socialist
DEEPENING
CRISIS,
SURGING
STRUGGLES
AND
MAY DAY 2013
The
entire capitalist world has been reeling
in crisis and recession and the working people have been on
the streets raising
their voice not to accept lying down the burden of crisis
being thrown on them
by the perpetrators of the crisis in the capitalist class.
This phenomenon of
aggravating crisis and surging peoples’ struggle presents
the background for
May Day 2013.
It
is matter of great encouragement that
the last one year has witnessed worldwide the waves of
strikes and struggles
and militant mobilisations of the working class and also
people from all walks
of life to oppose and resist the capitalist class’s ploy to
shift the burden of
crisis on to common people through job-cuts, wage-cuts, cut
on social security
and drastic reduction in subsidy and welfare expenditures by
respective
governments in the capitalist countries — all in the name of
so called austerity
drives. The entire Europe, the
The
present crisis and global recession is
the inevitable culmination of the neo-liberal economic order
driven by reckless
lust for profit at any cost led by speculation-prone
international finance
capital. Instead of correcting the trajectory, recovery from
the crisis is
being ventured by the capitalist-led ruling classes through
passing on the
burden on the workers and the people at large thereby
further aggravating
unemployment, job-losses and impoverishment which were
already pushed up to
unmanageable level by the crisis itself, thereby further
aggravating the crisis
and recession.
Commenting
on the so called austerity
drives and privatisation exercises, Nobel laureate Joseph
Stglitz said, “this
medicine failed in East Asia, Latin America and elsewhere
and it will fail in
The
inefficacy of the capitalist system to
find a resolution of the crisis started getting exposed
before the people
worldwide and the most popular slogan of the day being
raised internationally —“ninety
nine per cent versus one per cent” is an indication of the
same. The class
oriented trade union movement must carry this indication to
widespread
consciousness and that must be the battlecry for May Day
2013.
IN
The
working people of the country will be
observing May Day this year definitely with a sense of pride
as well as
confidence. May Day 2013 is coming in the immediate
aftermath of the historic
two days countrywide general strike on February 20-21, 2013
called by the all-in
united platform of all the trade union centres in the
country which
demonstrated fuming anger of the toiling people at large as
well as a firm
resolve to fight back the miseries inflicted on their lives
and livelihood by
the anti-people pro-corporate policies of the ruling polity.
And it is just not
the workers who participated in the two days countrywide
strike action but
people en masse from almost all walks of lives have extended
their whole
hearted support. Such popular support for the strike action
by trade unions
reflects high expectation of the common populace from the
organised trade union
movement of the country, the working class as such. The
expectation is that
their concerns and agonies would be voiced more effectively
and loudly in the
days to come in the background of unbearable miseries and
darkness being
inflicted by the anti-people policies of loot and plunder by
the
corporate-captive ruling polity. Their expectation is also
to make the looters
and plunderers in governance to beat a retreat. Let the May
Day 2013 invigorate
such confidence in the working class movement to carry on
the struggle to
further height and rally the mass of the people in the same.
The
situation is no doubt challenging. The
task is one of exposing the distortion and perversion being
generated by the
corporate-captive ruling polity with unimaginable arrogance
and desperateness
in the whole body of the national economy and society and
the utter contempt it
has been displaying towards the mass of the common people
and the workers in
particular. The task is one of exposing how a government
elected by the people
of this country are acting only on the agenda of benefiting
handful of
corporates, both foreign and also domestic and also dancing
at the dictates of
international finance capital.
The
country is facing an economic slowdown
in the background of severe crisis and deepening recession
throughout the
capitalist world. The workers, who create GDP for the
country, deliver revenues
for the exchequers and profit for the employers are the
worst affected, while
profit level as well as illegitimate gains have been soaring
up. Aggravating
unemployment and job-losses have become the order of the day
along with drastic
suppression in wages and cut in social security benefits for
those who are in
jobs. The workers who produce wealth and services are
finding their share in
gains of production is going down drastically even as per
official estimate
while the share of profit has gone up by more than three
times in the process
of just one and half decade. All labour laws, supposed to
give some minimal
protection to labour are being trampled underfoot with the
patronisation of
enforcement authority. Trade union rights are under brutal
attack by the employers-government
combine in most of the workplaces in most of the states,
particularly in
private corporate sector, both domestic and foreign.
Despite
recessionary gloom in the
industrial sector, prices of all essentials including
food-items have been continuously
rising which is further fuelled by frequent hikes in prices
of fuels like
petrol, diesel, LPG etc. Side by side speculative trade in
commodity market has
been increasing in volume by leaps and bounds every year. It
becomes amply
clear that price-rise is not happening, it is being made to
happen by those in
governance to benefit the corporate speculators in commodity
market to ensure
windfall profit for them, no matter, people go hungry or
children go
undernourished.
The
whole economy management is reflecting
a perverse trend. The government, while lamenting on fiscal
deficit, has been doling
away huge concessions to corporate class (Rs 5.73 lakh crore
in 2012-13) from
the same deficit-ridden exchequer and allowed to accumulate
uncollected direct
tax arrears from the same class to the tune of Rs 4.83 lakh
crore. Despite
sluggish investment situation, the government has
deregulated the financial
sector by creating bigger space for private and foreign
banks to mop up Indian
people’s saving and channelise the same to speculation and
other non-priority
sector. They are selling away shares of blue chip PSUs in
strategic and natural
resource sector, that too at a depressed prices causing huge
loss to country’s
exchequer besides allowing private and foreign entities to
grip bigger control
on public asset. In the background of aggravating
unemployment situation, the government
of the day have no qualms of hesitation to allow FDI in
multi-brand retail
trade sector in the country which is the second biggest
source of livelihood
for the people after agriculture.
Employment
generation is going down despite
increase in GDP growth reflecting the perversion of jobless
growth. Employment
and decent work has become the
worst victim under various counts --- retrenchment,
recruitment-ban,
outsourcing, casualisation, contractisation,
informalisation, “no wage but
honorarium instead” and so on.
The just
concluded 14th conference of CITU has therefore decided to
intensify the
struggle for a total change in the policy regime and also to
popularise the
demand for reduction in working hours to “35 hours a week
and a four-shift
working day” being raised internationally in view of
tremendous surge in
workers’ productivity in the background of technological
advancement and also
widespread unemployment.
On
this May Day 2013, CITU therefore vows
to work for further heightening the united struggle of the
working class and
elevating the struggle to one for changing the anti-people
pro-imperialist
policy regime. It pledges to widen and consolidate the unity
of the workers at
the grass root level and consolidate the same and also widen
the canvas of the
unity to rally the people in the countrywide combat against
the exploitative
policies.
CITU
considers the task of widening unity
is a multidimensional one which encompasses the tasks also
to fight against the
various hues of divisive, disruptive and communal forces
operating actively in
the society to divide the people on caste, creed, identity
and religious line
taking advantage of the sufferings of the people and anguish
generated out of
that. Consistent and simultaneous battle against such
divisive, disruptive and
communal forces and ideologies and proactive initiative to
struggle against
social oppression and also to champion the causes of the
most downtrodden and
exploited section of the society from the class-platform
must form an integral
part of the multidimensional task of widening and
consolidating unity of the
people.
SOLIDARITY
WITH STRUGGLE
AGAINST
ATTACK ON
DEMOCRATIC
MOVEMENT
WITHIN
THE COUNTRY
The
international day of working class
solidarity brought forth the task of organising solidarity
with renewed vigour
with the struggles 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. The trade union movement is being
tackled with inhuman
brutality and vengeance by the state administration in
connivance with the
employers’ class. Trade union leaders and activists are
being booked with
charges of even ‘attempt to murder’ (section 307 of CrPC)
for demonstration and
picketing on strike day. This has become general feature of
the industrial
relations scenario at the workplaces in the country. The
experiences of
Maruti-Suzuki in Haryana, Yanam Regency in Puddicherry,
Hyundai, Foxconn, Nokia
etc at Tamilnadu, Allied Nippon at Ghaziabad, Everest
Industries at Nasik,
Maharshtra, Volvo in Karnataka, Haldia Port, IOC bottling
plant, Durgapur Steel
in West Bengal etc are the examples of increasing incidences
of atrocities by
the employers-contractors-state administration combine
against the legitimate
trade union activities and rights of the workers. 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. May Day 2013
must invigorate such
spirit and consciousness for solidarity preparedness among
the trade union
movement.
ATTACK
ON PEOPLE
OF
WEST BENGAL
On
this great occasion of International day
of solidarity, CITU reasserts its commitment for the
solidarity to the heroic
struggles of the working class and democratic people of West
Bengal braving the
continuing barbarous attacks and atrocities being unleashed
by the goons and
hoodlums of Trinamul Congress (TMC) on the trade unions,
mass organisations,
Left Parties and in fact on all democratic institutions
letting loose a
barbarous regime of terror.
The attacks
are going on with the active support of the state
administration under the TMC
led Government there. 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 in fire and
many of our
comrades have been killed. Till date more than 90 leading
cadres of the
democratic movement including six from the trade unions have
been killed; the
number is increasing every day. In many
areas, contract workers owing allegiance to CITU unions were
thrown out of
employment and new set of workers are engaged at reduced
wages in connivance
with the contractors. An atmosphere of terror is sought to
be created to maim
the Left opposition and democratic movement. The intolerance
of TMC regime in
all kinds of democratic opposition has reached an alarming
extent. A young
student arrested in the process of civil disobedience
movement organised by SFI
has been brutally beaten to death in police custody in the
first week of April
2013. And widespread protest against such custodial death
which sprang all over
the country is being sought to countered by the TMC led
Government through a fresh
bout of violence and arsons by the TMC hoodlums on April 9,
2013 onwards and it
is still continuing. Several
thousands
of offices of trade unions, other mass organisations of
peasants, students,
youth, women and offices of Left parties have been ransacked
and burnt down to
ashes, activists and supporters including women were
severely beaten in an
orchestrated attacks and arsons engineered by the TMC
hoodlums with the active
support of the police force. Numerous leading activists
including senior trade
union leaders have been indiscriminately arrested in false
cases. In protest to
such barbarism, the workers and people from all walks life
have been mobilising
in several thousands and holding processions, demonstration
etc.
It
is matter of pride that despite such
attacks and terror, the working class in the state did
successfully implemented
the call for two days general strike braving all threats and
physical violence
by the TMC led government there and also combated bravely
the post-general
strike attacks an violence by the TMC goons in vengeance.
CITU salutes the
working class and democratic people of the state for such
commitment to class
struggle.
Similar
disturbance and attacks were being
sought to be created in Left Front ruled Tripura state prior
to Assembly
election which was finally held in February 2013. In Kerala
also, another
stronghold of working class and democratic movement, similar
maligning campaigns,
implication in false cases along with occasional physical
attacks are being
sought to be launched by the right-wing forces since last
assembly
election.
On
this May Day, CITU, while offering Red Salute
to the martyrs of working class and democratic movements,
pledges to rouse the
working class throughout the country ideologically and
organisationally, 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 2013
On
this May Day, CITU reiterates its
resolve of extending international solidarity to the
struggles being fought by
the toiling people in developed and developing countries
against imperialism
and neo-liberal economic order.
On
this May Day CITU appeals to the working
people in the country to work for further expanding,
strengthening and
sustaining the all-in unity of the trade union movement 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, 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!
Workers
of the World, Unite!
