No compromise with the capitalist reform program!

Down with the UPA Government!

Build the united front of workers and peasants!

Call of the Communist Ghadar Party of India on May Day 2005

Comrade workers!

Red salute on the occasion of May Day!

Down with the UPA Government!

Build the united front of workers and peasants!

Call of the Communist Ghadar Party of India on May Day 2005

Comrade workers!

Red salute on the occasion of May Day!

We are celebrating May Day 2005 at a time when the working class and peoples of the world are threatened with super-exploitation and imperialist wars. It is a time when the working class and the oppressed nations and peoples are fighting courageously to halt the imperialist offensive. They are fighting to open the path to a new world without wars, without exploitation and poverty.

In India, one year has passed since the Congress Party led UPA Government was established. The UPA Government came to power promising to address the problem of unemployment and the rising suicide rate among the peasants. It promised to implement the capitalist reform program with a so-called human face. Actual experience over the past year has exposed this fraud.

Workers continue to face increasing unemployment and insecurity of jobs, just as they did under the BJP led NDA Government. Privatisation is not only being continued but extended to new areas such as banking and insurance. While an Employment Guarantee Act was promised one year ago, what have been delivered are only some crumbs to a small minority of persons in the name of food for work. On the other hand, lakhs of workers have become homeless as a result of the demolitions carried out in Mumbai and other big cities, in the name of the "Shanghai Project".

Peasants all over the country are continuing to be threatened with price instability, lack of access to irrigation and growing burden of debt on their backs. They are threatened by the growing domination of big capitalist companies and multinationals over the supply of seeds, over agricultural markets and ultimately over the land itself.

The UPA Government has already amended the patents law governing essential medicines, leading to steep increase in their prices. There are moves to amend the Seeds Act, which will place peasants at the mercy of the big corporations, Indian and foreign.

The two annual budgets of the UPA Government have shown that the orientation of economic policy remains the same as it was under the NDA regime. The bulk of government revenue continues to be sucked out of the incomes of workers, peasants and the middle strata. The bulk of government spending continues to be geared towards enriching the money lending institutions and the arms merchants.

Events in Manipur and other parts of the Northeast have exposed the claim of the UPA Government that it is more democratic than the previous regime. Human rights and national rights continue to be trampled in the mud in the name of security, and in the name of defending the unity and integrity of India.

The UPA Government is showing even greater enthusiasm than the previous regime in developing a strategic partnership with the United States. Indo-US military collaboration is being raised to new heights, in the name of fighting terrorism. This poses very serious dangers to peace and security of the peoples of South Asia.

Comrade workers!

What do all these facts show?

The facts show that the replacement of the NDA regime with the UPA regime has not led to any change in the orientation of the economy and of government policy. They show that it is not possible to pursue the path of capitalist reforms and at the same time look after the interests of the workers and peasants. They show that the real aim of the slogan of implementing “reforms with a human face” is to make the working class compromise its position with respect to the privatisation and liberalisation program.

One important lesson to be drawn is that the working class cannot and must not compromise with the capitalist reform program. The issue is not to replace one way of implementing this program with another way of implementing the same program. The issue is to halt and reverse this program altogether.

Another important lesson is that those who till the land cannot find secure livelihood under the rule of the bourgeoisie. It is the duty of the working class to champion the cause of ensuring a stable and guaranteed livelihood for the peasantry.

There are some parties within the working class movement who say that the present Congress Party led government must be supported, because otherwise the BJP will come back. Those who advocate this course want us to believe that there is no alternative except to have one bourgeois party or another in power. They want us to believe that there is no alternative to bourgeois rule, and no alternative to the privatisation and liberalisation program.

There IS an alternative to bourgeois rule, which is the rule of the workers and peasants. There IS an alternative to the privatisation and liberalisation program; and that is the program to reorient the economy to fulfill the needs of the toilers and tillers. It is the program to dig the grave of capitalism and build a socialist society. The first step towards this end is for the working class to forge a powerful united front with the peasants.

Comrade workers!

Let us raise our voices in unison and demand that no communist party must extend support to the UPA Government or to any other bourgeois coalition. Let us demand that all communists must devote their attention to building a united front of the workers and peasants. This must be a united front without the bourgeoisie and against the bourgeoisie.

The united front of the workers and peasants must be built not only from above, by various parties coming together. It must be built mainly from below, by the masses of workers and peasants coming together. This means that we must build fighting committees in every factory, in every village and every mohalla. Such committees must discuss and develop the alternative program of the toilers and tillers. Such committees can and must become the organs of a new political power – the rule of the workers and peasants.

Let us fight to establish the rule of workers and peasants, with a government that will immediately halt and reverse the anti-people program of privatisation and liberalisation. Such a government will suspend paying interest to the big banks and financial institutions, unearth the black monies, cut back on arms spending, and redeploy the savings towards ensuring livelihood for all.

Comrade workers!

India consists of numerous nations, nationalities and peoples, each with their distinct language, culture and history of statecraft. The ruling bourgeoisie uses these differences to suppress all of us, just like the British colonialists did in their time. The Central Government unleashes violence and terror against the Manipuris and the Nagas, against the Kashmiris and others, in the name of fighting against terrorism and defending the unity and integrity of India.

It is essential for us, the workers, to uphold the banner of the right of every nation and every people to self-determination. We must fight with the slogan that an attack on one is an attack on all! We must fight with the aim of establishing a new voluntary Union of Workers' and Peasants' Republics, in place of the colonial style Indian Union that exists today. The working class movement must build political unity with the national liberation movements, which are fighting against the big bourgeoisie and the central state — our common enemies.

The State has no right to sell public property to private bidders!

Halt and reverse the privatisation program!

Revoke the anti-social Patent's Act!

No to the Seeds Act!

No to the Agricultural Products Amendment Act!

Work and Livelihood must become justiciable rights!

Down with state terrorism and fascist laws!

Uphold the right of every nation to self-determination!

Build the United Front of Workers and Peasants!

Build sangharsh samitis in every factory, village and mohalla!

Long live May Day!

Workers of all countries, Unite!

Inquilab Zindabad!

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