Mazdoor Ekta Lehar is proud to announce the successful conclusion of the proceedings of the Fourth Congress of the Communist Ghadar Party of India in October, 2010.
Mazdoor Ekta Lehar is proud to announce the successful conclusion of the proceedings of the Fourth Congress of the Communist Ghadar Party of India in October, 2010.
Delegates from all across the country as well as abroad participated with great zeal in the four-day long sessions of the Congress. As delegates streamed into the Congress venue on the opening day, visible was the joyous expression on their faces at meeting their comrades from other areas. Visible was also the great enthusiasm about the advance of the party’s work and expectations about the discussions and decisions of the Congress that were to unfold.
The Congress began with the singing of the song "Ghadar Party Lal Salaam!", which was accompanied by the young pioneers of the Party unfurling bright red banners with the slogans "Workers of all countries, Unite!", and "Master Marxism-Leninism!". Amidst a sea of red flags, a veteran comrade of the Party declared the Fourth Congress open. He welcomed Comrade Lal Singh, General Secretary, to ascend the stage. Comrade Lal Singh was greeted by a standing ovation from all the delegates, reflecting the unbounded love of our entire Party for its leadership, the Central Committee headed by the General Secretary.
Comrade Lal Singh welcomed all the delegates, and saluted two veteran women comrades who have been and continue to be an inspiration to all members of the party. He announced the dissolution of the existing Central Committee, commending it for carrying out its work militantly, without any trace of factionalism. He explained the principle of collective decision making at every level in our party, stressing that any decision of a collective cannot be changed except by the same collective after full discussion. It cannot be changed by an individual or a group of leaders as happens in many other parties. He emphasized that only those communist parties that have stuck to the Leninist principles of democratic centralism have stood the test of time.
Comrade Lal Singh clarified that the Report being presented to the Congress is from the outgoing Central Committee. It is based on the work of the entire party, all its organisations and members; it is not a document written by a few individuals. He proposed that the Report be discussed thoroughly over three full days, prior to its being put to vote for approval, along with other resolutions. A Presidium was then elected to conduct the proceedings.
The Report
The Report to the Fourth Congress analysed the situation prevailing in our country and on the world scale, summed up the work of the Party within this situation, derived the challenging tasks that we face in the coming years and concluded with the plan of action
The Report presented a contemporary Marxist-Leninist analysis of the major contradictions of the world imperialist system, concluding that within the anti-social offensive of the capitalist class and the growing danger of inter-imperialist war, the conditions are maturing for the proletarian revolution to make a breach. It identified the duty of communist parties to lead the struggle against the anti-social offensive, by putting forward a program for establishing a modern democracy, i.e., a proletarian democracy, a people-centred economy and a peaceful anti-imperialist international policy, as the immediate steps required for resolving the crisis in favour of the working people and all of humanity.
The Report pointed out that India occupies a specific position within the crisis-ridden imperialist system. It is a capitalist country which suffers from imperialist domination and plunder, at the same time as it is emerging as an imperialist power. It is a country where capitalism perpetuates the remnants of feudalism. The state apparatus is a colonial legacy, an instrument of national oppression and class exploitation within the country, and for empire building abroad. It is a country whose ruling class is on an aggressive drive to join the dominant clique of global imperialist powers. This is leading to an extremely contradictory situation.
Within these conditions, our Party has put forward the program for the Navnirman of India, a program to lay afresh the foundations of a voluntary Union and state power, where those who work will make the decisions and reorient the economy to provide prosperity and protection for all. Armed with this program, we have succeeded in sowing the seeds, and building the foundations, of a broad popular political front led by the working class.
The Report summed up the implementation of key tasks set by our Third Congress, held in January 2005. We have carried out theoretical, ideological and practical work to make sure that the program for the Navnirman of India is defended and taken forward, in the face of all the bourgeois diversions, including the so-called Common Minimum Program. The most important decision of the Third Congress to build, strengthen and expand basic organisations of the Party in the midst of the working class has been implemented with determination and persistence over the past five years. We have built and strengthened the party in the midst of leading the struggle in defence of rights, against the liberalisation and privatisation program, and agitating for the Navnirman of India. Many new recruits have joined the Party from among workers, peasants and revolutionary intelligentsia in this period.
Our Party has been in the thick of varied mass struggles in defence of the rights of workers, peasants, slum dwellers, shopkeepers, oppressed nations and nationalities, tribal peoples, persecuted minorities and others. We have carried out the work of building unity in action, championing the principle that an attack on one is an attack on all. We have started building sabhas and elected samitis at various levels, organizationally united on the basis of democratic centralism.
We have exposed the so-called war against fundamentalists, extremists, terrorists and others as nothing but state terrorism to protect the rule of capital and impose the dictate of the monopolies. We have defended the right to conscience of every member of society, the right to stick to one’s beliefs. We have consistently fought for ending army rule in Kashmir and in the Northeast, for immediate repeal of fascist laws and withdrawal of central troops to their barracks. We have exposed and opposed the imperialist warmongering of the Indian state and its poisonous propaganda against Pakistan. We continue to fight for the conviction and punishment of those guilty of communal genocide.
In opposition to the ‘market oriented economy’ and contesting the assertion that there is no alternative to globalization, through liberalization and privatization, we have put forward the principle that the social surplus must be invested to raise the living standards of the working people, enhance the means of production and to protect the natural environment. This will ensure the extended reproduction of society without any crisis. We have explained to the workers in the cities and peasants in the villages that the solution to the shortage of essential commodities, rising prices and the growing economic insecurity of peasants lies in establishing the control of workers and peasants over the production, procurement, trade and distribution of essential commodities.
We have utilized the electoral arena as a responsible political party of the working class, to put forward our analysis of what is the problem with Indian society and what needs to be done to solve it. We have used election campaigns to widely spread the message that the need of the hour is a revolutionary worker-peasant government, which would take steps to halt the capitalist offensive, renew the system of democracy, and reorient the economy to provide for all.
The Report pointed out that the program of our Party is resonating with the revolutionary urge within the working class and toiling masses. Our Party’s work of providing theoretical arguments to back up the demands of the people for their inviolable rights has contributed to the advance in collective consciousness of the people. Numerous organisations among the people are demanding food, housing, employment, education and health as their inviolable rights, compelling the government of the day to introduce new laws in response. The demand for a universal Public Distribution System has become the clarion call of workers’ unions and peasant organisations all across the country.
Analysing the developments in the struggle of the working class over the past five years, the Report concluded that the subordination of workers’ unions to the parliamentary games of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and its allies was the biggest blow to the struggle against capitalist exploitation. The wave of working class struggles, after reaching a peak in 2004, receded in the following years as a result of the class conciliatory path of CPI (M) and others who lined up workers in support of the capitalist government headed by the Congress Party. The support extended by CPI (M) and the left in parliament enabled the capitalist class to stabilize its rule for the time being, divert the working class and weaken its resistance, so as to forge ahead with its imperialist offensive. Official data show that the degree of exploitation of labour rose rapidly during 2004-08, even more rapidly than during the previous five years. That period also witnessed the most rapid global expansion of the Tatas, Reliance and other monopoly corporate houses.
The Report observed that the second UPA regime has not succeeded in delivering the stability for which the capitalists had hoped. The crisis of credibility of the present government is in essence a crisis of credibility of the rule of the capitalist class, its democracy and its anti-social program. The credibility crisis reflects the sharpening of all the major contradictions in our society.
The Report concluded that the objective conditions are maturing for the proletarian revolution, while the subjective conditions lag seriously behind. The consciousness of the most organized detachment of the working class is being poisoned by illusions about the possibility of accommodating the interests of workers and peasants within the rule of the capitalist class.
The Report assessed that we have reached a critical stage in the work of our Party. The work to establish a revolutionary political front for the Navnirman of India has produced a new quality, which has taken root but is yet to spread its wings and envelop the working class movement. This defines the challenge we face, which is to spread this line of thinking and action among all those workers, peasants and revolutionary intelligentsia who are fighting for their rights and aspire for a modern society without poverty and exploitation. The central challenge we face today is to expose and defeat both variants of class conciliation that are poisoning the working class and communist movement and blocking its advance.
Both the parliamentary trend led by CPI(Marxist) and the followers of Mao Zedong thought are united on the vision of the economic and political system that they wish to bring about at the current stage of development of our society. They both want to establish a ‘joint rule’ of the exploiters and the exploited, and some form of non-monopoly capitalism, both of which are impossible. While they appear to be opposed to one another, and adopt different tactics and methods, these two trends are serving a common aim. They are diverting and preventing the working class from rallying the peasantry and leading the struggle for proletarian democracy, for socialism and communism. They are roadblocks to the proletarian revolution.
The Report noted that the ruling capitalist class, headed by the monopolies, is systematically fascizing the life of the country, in order to suppress the growing revolt of the workers, peasants, tribal peoples, national liberation movements and other oppressed strata. It is branding people fighting for their rights as being the gravest threat to ‘national unity and territorial integrity’ of our country. It is stepping up state terrorism in the name of ‘national security’, and under the pretext of putting down individual terrorism and extremism. We must continue to champion the struggle in defence of human rights, democratic and national rights, in uncompromising opposition to state terrorism in all its forms. We must reject and expose the path of individual terror and anarchist violence, practised by various parties and groups in the name of revolution, which feeds into state terrorism, providing the rulers an excuse for stepping up state terror.
The Report emphasised the need to pay serious attention to arming the fighting forces with the theory of modern communism, as distinct from the various distortions and phantasms that are being paraded today as trends of communism. Systematic and organized communist education must occupy very high priority in the work of every party organisation. We must find ways to extend this education to persons outside our Party who have serious interest in communism. There are many such persons among the workers, peasants and revolutionary intelligentsia, including some who are presently following one or the other of the misleading pseudo-communist trends.
The Report called for the strengthening of the mass organisations of workers, peasants, women and youth. Our Party’s work, along with the efforts of others in the movement, has succeeded in creating the embryo of the revolutionary united front. This embryo needs to be nurtured to grow and envelop the entire movement.
The Report pointed out that the threat of imperialist war is rising in Asia. Dark war clouds are gathering over South Asia, as US imperialism is sinking its claws deeper in this area and Indian imperialism is on an aggressive drive to expand its sphere of influence. We have to make the working class and peace loving people conscious of the fact that the ruling class of our country is playing a dangerous imperialist game, which deserves to be condemned and not supported. Our Party has to take the initiative in establishing the principled proletarian outlook and position on the question of war and peace in South Asia. We have to clarify that the imperialist system is the source of terrorism, fascism and war, and only the struggle to end this system can bring about lasting peace.
Our Party must take the lead in mobilizing the workers, peasants and justice loving intelligentsia of our country to support the anti-imperialist and national liberations struggles of the peoples of Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and other countries in the region, as well as in Asia and the world. We must boldly expose the harmful role being played by the Indian ruling class, at the head of the largest and most powerful country in South Asia. Far from defending the common interests of the peoples against imperialist threats from outside, the Indian ruling class is adding to the imperialist threats, and preparing to participate in unjust wars in the region, for its own narrow ends.
The Report emphasised that the decisive factor for success in implementing our plan is the building and strengthening of our Party. The Communist Ghadar Party of India is the instrument of revolution which the most conscious elements of our class created thirty years ago. It is the instrument for ending the domination of bourgeois political consciousness over the Indian working class and peasantry. It is the instrument for the restoration of unity of the communist movement in our country, with all communists united in one vanguard party of the class. The building and strengthening of our Party in the midst of the working class, amongst the revolutionary peasantry and intelligentsia, among women and youth, is crucial for establishing proletarian leadership of the class struggle that is raging in our country.
In conclusion, the Report called for single-minded focus of our energies on implementing the plan to prepare the working class to become the leader of the peasantry and all the oppressed. This requires that we dispel the fog of confusion, disinformation and deception that is befuddling the communist movement and diverting the working class and revolutionary youth at this time.
Discussion
The discussion on the report carried on for nearly three days. For a whole day, discussion was conducted in mixed groups, cutting across areas and languages, with active participation of every comrade in the act of assimilating and understanding the Report. Following this, one comrade from each group presented the highlights of the discussion in his or her group to all the delegates at a plenary session. Selected questions and issues were then taken up for further elaboration from the Presidium, led by Comrade Lal Singh.
Comrade Lal Singh elaborated the aim and method of waging ideological and polemical struggle against ideas and trends that are poisoning the communist movement and preventing the working class from becoming the leader of our society. We want that there be open discussion among communists about what is the path forward for Indian revolution, without calling any individual or party an enemy agent or traitor. When name calling starts, discussion gets finished. All communists have to ultimately come under one flag. That is the only way that the rule of the capitalist class can be overthrown.
Comrade Lal Singh reiterated that the working class cannot and must not share power with any other class, while it must ally with the peasants and other middle strata against the capitalist class. Further elaborating on the need to combat the confusion and diversions resulting from the influence of Mao Zedong Thought, he observed that Mao’s thought suits the thinking of peasants who want to become the rulers and think they can use the working class for that end. But the reality is that the peasantry is a disintegrating class; the future lies with the working class. The old type of peasant farming is on its way out, as every sector of production is being taken over by machines. Mao’s thought is stuck with old formulas, which do not suit the changing reality of our country. Only a class with knowledge and advanced thinking can lead the revolution. The thinking of the peasant is how to hang on to his land, how to increase his own land. The worker has no property and has only his labour power. Those skilled professionals who receive relatively high salaries are also part of the working class, even though many of them may not be conscious of it at this time.
Following the elaboration from the Presidium, the floor was thrown open to all delegates to express their views. The interventions of the delegates, which continued for over 8 hours, reflected their high degree of consciousness and the militant unity among them around the Line of March of the Party. All the comrades hailed the Report to the Congress. In their own words, in different languages, new and veteran comrades elaborated on the main conclusions and messages contained in the Report. These interventions revealed that all our Party comrades fully grasp the main challenges facing the Party and the working class in the coming period; and are determined to take up the challenge.
Decisions
On the final day, the Congress adopted the Report and a set of key Resolutions consistent with it. Following this, delegates from different regions came forward to express their joy by singing revolutionary songs, ghazals, or reciting shayris in different languages
The new Central Committee was elected unanimously to thunderous applause. The Central Committee held its first meeting during the Congress. The announcement by the Presidium that Comrade Lal Singh had been elected General Secretary and Comrade Prakash Rao had been elected spokesperson was greeted with standing ovation.
In his concluding remarks on behalf of the newly elected Central Committee, Comrade Prakash Rao reiterated that the credit for the successes we have achieved so far belong to all of us, collectively; and it is by strengthening our unity in thought and action that we can turn our successes into victory. He called on all comrades to take up the tasks we have set for ourselves, with wisdom and militant revolutionary spirit.
The Fourth Congress then concluded with the singing of the Internationale.