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Party School – 2023

Paper by Com P J James

On the Ideological-Political Line of CPI (ML) Red Star Based on the 12 th Congress

Introduction

1. The Organisational Line of CPI (ML) Red Star in the neo-fascist Indian context is explained in the Paper “On Party Building in Neo-fascist Situation”. For a Communist Party, organisational line or party building is a corollary of its ideological-political line or Party Line as laid down in the basic documents of the Party, namely, Program and Path of Revolution explaining Party’s strategic tasks and Political Resolution unfolding its immediate or short- term task. According to the basic documents of the Party from the 9 th Congress to the 12 th Congress, the Stage and Path of Revolution in India remains unchanged, and continue as that of People’s Democratic Revolution.

2. However, if we take the first two decades of the 21 st century, including more than a decade since the 9 th Congress of our Party in 2011, vast changes which are faster than any previous period in history have taken place at a global level and in our country. These changes, among other things, include the advent of a whole set of ‘frontier technologies’ such as Digitization coupled with Artificial Intelligence which are a 21 st century phenomenon, and utilising them corporate capital’s imposition of an intensified super- exploitation of working class through a renewed global division of labour, new forms of oppression and marginalisation through migration and refugee crisis, unprecedented ecological destruction arising from corporate plunder of nature, hitherto unknown levels of wealth concentration, inequality, poverty, unemployment, etc., and above all, the emergence global neo-fascism with its horrific manifestations and growing inter-imperialist rivalries and sharpening of all inherent contradictions of world imperialism. Linked with this international situation, in India, the most populous country in the world today, RSS, world’s biggest and longest-running fascist organisation with its most inhuman and reactionary ideology of Manuvadi-Hindutva has established a fascist regime with its multi-dimensional impact.

On Updating the Basic Documents

3. Properly evaluating these transformations, the 12 th Party Congress has appropriately updated the Basic Documents as adopted at the 9 th Congress and as amended in the 10 th Congress, especially the Program and Path of Revolution from the Marxist-Leninist perspective of ‘concrete analysis of the concrete situation’. Of course, CPI (ML) Red Star from the very beginning has evaluated the post-war period as that of imperialism’s neocolonial phase. Based on that, the Party has been of the firm position that after the 1947 power transfer to Indian ruling classes, the leading sections of whom today are ‘junior partners of imperialism’, India has been continuing as a neocolonially dependent country.

On the Question of ‘Political Independence’ and ‘Formal Independence’

4. However, though our approach to neocolonialism and characterisation of India as ‘neocolonially dependent’ remains as such, in the minor amendment to the Program adopted in the 10 th Party Congress in 2015 in Lucknow, an erroneous evaluation of 1947 power transfer as ‘political independence, though limited in character’ also was incorporated, as against the conceptualisation of ‘formal independence’ upheld by our basic documents since the Bhopal Special Conference onwards. Obviously, a ‘neocolonial dependence’ and ‘political independence’ are contradictory and inconsistent at the outset.

5. Hence, when the Program was updated in 2022 in accordance with the changes in the concrete situation, after prolonged inner-party debate, the term ‘political independence’ was replaced by ‘formal political independence’. No doubt, the conceptualisation of 1947 power transfer to Indian ruling classes by British colonial masters as ‘political independence’ was also connected with the revisionist perspective of ‘weakening of imperialism’ in the postwar period, as propagated by Khrushchevites. Together with this, another prognosis of India as a ‘new imperialist country’ also appeared in a Seminar paper presented by the MLPD representative during the 10 th Party Congress. Since a country simultaneously remaining ‘neocolonially dependent’ and ‘new imperialist’ being impossible, from the very beginning, our Party had totally rejected this hypothesis of ‘new imperialism’. At the same time, we cannot be oblivious to the ideological link between proponents of ‘political independence’ and ‘new imperialism’, since the possibility of a ‘politically independent’ country becoming ‘imperialist’ is perfectly in consonance with the laws of motion of capital today.

6. The formulations of ‘political independence’ and ‘new imperialism’ have other ideological-political dimensions, especially in relation to the principal contradiction as elucidated in the Program of CPI (ML) Red Star. For instance, of the five major contradictions adopted by our Party at the international level, the contradiction between imperialism on the one hand, and oppressed peoples and nations on the other, is the principal contradiction. In the same vein, the contradiction between the alliance of imperialist- corporate bureaucratic bourgeois-landlord classes on the one hand, and the broad masses of people on the other, is the principal contradiction with in India.

7. Thus, according to our Party Program, imperialism is the main enemy not only of world people, vast majority of whom are living in Afro-Asian-Latin American countries, but also for the Indian people as a whole. On the other hand, according to the hypothesis of ‘new imperialism’, vast majority of the people are living in imperialist countries, and not in neocolonially dependent countries. This is inconsistent with concrete reality and is an outright violation of the very core (stage and path of revolution) of our Party program. That is why, along with rejecting the new imperialist hypothesis, while updating the Program, we replaced ‘political independence’ with ‘formal political independence’.

On Concrete Analysis of Indian Society and Interrelation among Class Struggle, Caste Struggle and Gender Struggle

8. On understanding class India, since the 9 th Congress itself, CPI (ML) Red Star has taken a clear-cut position against the mechanical or copy-paste method pursued by many ‘communist’ parties. As such, in analysing class with respect to the specific, historically determined Indian social formation, the Party took the firm position that both class and caste are integral and inseparable. That is, class struggle in India is intertwined and interwoven with the struggle for abolition of the caste system which is a strategic task and not a tactical one. Hence the Path of Revolution adopted by the 9 th Congress opines: “Fighting caste oppression and campaigning for caste annihilation are not in the agenda of many organisations, or even when it is included, no concrete plan of action is put forward. It is the consequence of the reality that even after 150 years of experience of the Communist Movement, the mechanical imposition of the China Wall between revolution in the economic base and revolution in the superstructure is not removed. That is why the close relation between class struggle and struggle against caste system is not correctly understood and the mechanical approach that class struggle will solve all questions like the caste problem is still put forward repeatedly. This mechanical approach should be replaced by the dialectical relation between struggles at these two levels. Or a comprehensive understanding about class struggle itself has to be developed.”

9. Based on this Marxist approach of concretely analysing Indian society, we have already rejected the mechanical and reductionist approach to caste — that caste shall vanish once ‘class struggle’ becomes victorious or that climbing the economic ladder enables a person to overcome the social stigma associated with caste. On the other hand, caste being intertwined and interwoven with India’s mode of production or social formation, according to our Party’s position, rather than a super-structural issue, it cuts across both base and superstructure, and caste continues to play its major role in spite of the penetration of capital into the micro spheres of our society and not merely connected with feudalism as claimed by certain parties, or a “meagre role” as claimed by the erstwhile minority section within the party. Today, our Party position is that in spite of leading many heroic struggles of Dalits and other oppressed, the inability on the part of the erstwhile communist leadership to grasp the caste question in the proper perspective has led to the alienation of the oppressed castes from the communist movement. And we also have an understanding that the rift between the Communist Party and the movement of the Dalits and oppressed castes is to be urgently resolved by taking a positive approach towards Ambedkar and the Ambedkarite movement in general.

10. In the other Party Documents and writings pertaining to caste too, we have consistently pointed out that over the decades even after Power Transfer, caste system has been gaining more and more strength without any let up as is manifested in the mounting discrimination, oppression, atrocities, untouchability and all round alienation and deprivation of the Dalits with region-wise specificity in multi-national, multi cultural, multi-lingual, multi-ethnic and multi-religious India. And it is from this perspective that in the context of the 9 th Congress, CPI (ML) Red Star had taken initiative to form the Caste Annihilation Movement (CAM) to carry forward the ideological-political struggle against Brahmanical Manuvadi caste system in all its manifestations and to strive for the ultimate goal of annihilating caste system fully grasping the dialectical link between class struggle and the struggle for the abolition of caste. Along with CAM, over the years the Party has been earnestly engaged in acquiring more ideological and historical clarity on caste question including developing the required practical struggles in this regard.

11. However, when the task of updating the Party Program was taken up, RSS whose ideological basis is Manusmriti, using its political tool BJP, has already transformed India into a neofascist regime. According to Manusmriti, or Manuvadi-Hindutva, vast majority of the workers and toilers who belong to the ‘untouchable’ and oppressed castes and women are subhuman. And RSS is engaged in converting the Indian Constitution in tune with Manusmriti. In this context, when the Central Committee resolved to situate RSS neofascism in the historical roots of ‘Manuism’ in the updated documents, a few members comprising a minority section, despite their anti-caste rhetoric, vehemently opposed Party’s clear-cut position on caste and eventually went out of the Party. For instance, on the eve of the updated Program drafting, the entire pages of 2021 March Issue of ‘Marxist-Leninist’, theoretical journal of CPI (ML) Red Star were set apart for debate on caste in which this minority’s mechanical approach to caste totally disregarding how caste cuts across various modes of production was also published in detail.

12. Today, many self-proclaimed Marxist scholars claim that caste will wither away through the onward march of modernity and penetration of capitalist relations in to India. This they do based on the experience from Europe where the advance of capitalism could strike at the foundations of feudal, pre-capitalist and patriarchal relations. By hoping to repeat the same in India, these scholars are exposing their inability to comprehend how caste could comfortably sit even on the seat of modern science and technology in India. And corporate capital that penetrated in to the countryside has no qualm to integrate itself with the archaic and inhuman practices such as Khap Panchayat like most despicable caste institutions. As manifested in the renowned ongoing case in a California court against untouchability, Brahmanical techies who migrated to US have succeeded to export caste even to the Silicon Valley-the embodiment of the so called most advanced frontier technology today. The City council of Seattle has recently passed a resolution banning the practice of untouchability which was vehemently opposed by expatriate Manuvadis. Thus an economic interpretation of social change alone is incapable to unravel the underlying forces working at the macro level. To reiterate, today caste remains at the very centre of Indian counterrevolution and Communists have to take up the task of overcoming it as integral part of class struggle against imperialism and its lackeys.

13. In this context, especially in the critical situation of RSS neo-fascism, our basic documents have emphasised all-out offensive against Manuvadi-Hindutva, the ideological basis of RSS together with our uncompromising struggle against neoliberal corporatisation. In this regard, the first four paragraphs of Chapter 3 of our Party Program explains how the caste system evolved through the ancient, medieval and modern periods integrating with the changing modes of production and emerging classes, cutting across base and superstructure, assuming new dimensions of oppression and discrimination and adapting itself to political-economic changes.

14. And, it is in continuation of this historical perspective on caste and in view of the “inherent contradictions and tensions in caste-ridden Indian society” that in Chapter 5 relating to Program of People’s Democracy, the Party opines: “ 5.12 The People’s Democratic State shall take concrete steps for the abolition of the inhuman caste system, eradicate all forms of untouchability, caste-oppression and caste-discrimination from all spheres of life. All caste-practices and reactionary institutions should be suppressed and the perpetrators of such crimes shall be punished. Ensuring caste-based reservation till the wiping out of all caste-discriminations along with required affirmative actions for uplifting the Dalits and oppressed castes and priority to them in land-distribution based on the principle ‘land to the tiller’, along with appropriate administrative and cultural interventions.” Further, in conformity with this position, the 12 th Party Congress unanimously adopted two resolutions in relation to caste: one, on the need of a code of conduct for Party Comrades’ approach to caste and, two, on giving up caste surnames by Central Committee comrades.

15. In the same vein, along with the caste system, the updated Party Program as adopted by the 12 th Congress upheld the question of gender or gender struggle also as inseparable aspect of class struggle. Just as class struggle is directed against the exploiter class, and the struggle for annihilation of caste system is manifested in the form of struggle against the oppressor caste, gender struggle aims at elimination of all forms of gender inequality which is inevitable for democratisation of Indian society where patriarchy based on Manusmriti treats women as subhuman. Party Program says: “5.13 Stop all forms of gender discrimination. Abolish patriarchy in all its manifestations and stop religion and caste-based oppression on women. Stop all forms of discrimination and attacks on women at work places. Stop female infanticide. Ensure women’s equality in all fields, property right to women and equal pay for equal work. All women shall have opportunities to engage in socially productive labor with women-specific and genderfriendly working conditions. In the place of the patriarchal, religious-caste-based family system, the People’s State shall ensure conjugal life of partners irrespective of gender, based on mutual love, respect and consent. “5.14 In view of the exploitation, oppression and marginalization suffered by people of different genders and sexualities such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, etc. (LGBTQIA+), the People’s Democratic State shall take appropriate measures for the protection of the entire spectrum of people that come under the broad category of LGBTQIA+.” These tasks are incorporated in to the Program of People’s Democracy in conformity with our ideological political line that both caste struggle and gender struggle are integral part of class struggle in India.

On RSS Neo-fascism and the Anti-Fascist Struggle

16 . While the strategic task of our Party is to establish a people’s democratic state overcoming imperialism and its junior Indian partners, today the immediate task before us is to defeat RSS neo-fascism, which has been comprehensively elucidated in the Political Resolution adopted by the 12 th Party Congress. We have elaborated this task further including understanding of RSS neo-fascism and on the anti-fascist front in the articles published especially in our organ Red Star. What requires is the building up of the broadest possible anti-fascist united front against the RSS/BJP regime joining with all like-minded forces including non-fascist parties and organisations. However, as communists, in doing so, we should not surrender our strategic task of struggling for the class interests of the working class and all oppressed. This is possible only if we are capable to uphold our independent ideological line while being part of the broadest anti-fascist front. To accomplish this, we have to work at three levels.

a. First is to build up the Party based on the Program and Path of Revolution. In this regard, the Political Resolution explains: “5.8. In building up the Party with country-wide influence and for leading democratic and revolutionary struggles in the concrete Indian context, while assimilating lessons from erstwhile people’s democratic and socialist experiences, the integral link among class, caste and gender struggles and struggle for ecological protection should be taken up. That is, the party building process needs to assimilate the comprehensive inter-relationship among class struggle, struggle for caste annihilation, for gender equality and for ecological protection. Thus a party equipped with revolutionary theory and having practical experience from leading different struggles of workers, peasants, and all oppressed including women and the entire spectrum of genders, adivasis and dalits and that of environmental protection is the urgent need today.”

b. Second is to build up a Left core of all fraternal and revolutionary parties based on a common minimum program against neoliberal corporatisation in all its manifestations. This all India Left core comprises state-level coordinations composed of like-minded revolutionary-left organisations upholding the interests of the vast majority of the working and oppressed peoples.

c. This Left Coordination shall form the starting point for the tactical alliance against fascism or broadest possible anti-fascist united front in which non-fascist ruling class parties and social democrats are also a part. This alliance with an anti-fascist common agenda against RSS neo-fascism also encompasses appropriate ideological struggle against Manuvadi- Hindutva, ideological base of Indian fascism too. While differentiating from the strategic alliance of workigng class and oppressed peoples against the ruling system and neoliberalism, this tactical alliance can also effectively utilise the contradictions within ruling classes in the fight against fascism.

17. If we properly pursue this approach, it will facilitate the strengthening of the anti-fascist movement and creation of the atmosphere for a broad electoral front capable to defeat RSS/BJP in the 2024 election on the one hand, and the presence of a people’s movement capable to resist the threat of a fascist come back thereafter, on the other.

On Ecological Question and Class Struggle

18. CPI (ML) Red Star’s firm position is that ecological issues are inseparable from corporate accumulation and plunder of nature by capital. Hence the struggle for an environmentally sustainable, pro-people development paradigm is inseparably linked with class struggle. Taking the gravity of the ecological question in the proper perspective that it is one of the basis questions to be resolved as part of class struggle, in the 9th Congress itself the Party had incorporated the contradiction between capital and nature as the fifth major contradiction both at the international and national level.

19. Reiterating this position, the Party Program adopted by the 12th Congress states: “3.23. In conformity with the conspicuous international trend towards intensified plunder of nature by corporate-speculative capital under neoliberalism, India also has been witnessing unprecedented ecological devastation during this neoliberal phase. At the instance of global corporates and their Indian junior partners, all laws and regulations in India pertaining to environmental protection are being taken way one by one. The latest EIA amendment, that legalizes the corporate violation of hitherto restrictions on ecologically sensitive and fragile areas and massive displacement of people from their habitat, is the most notorious among them. An essential component of the so called “ease of doing business” and “investorfriendly” measures taken to attract foreign capital is the import of ecologically harmful and toxic industries and dumping of obsolete nuclear plants in the country. At this critical juncture, when the whole issue of ecology and environment is inseparably linked up with the operation of corporate capital, the initiative for a development paradigm in harmony with nature has become the indispensable component of people’s democracy and socialism.” Now the task before the Party is to carry forward this ideological-political line through appropriate organisational initiatives.

Conclusion

20. The core issues of our Party’s ideological-political line highlighted above are that linked with the inner-party struggle leading to the 12 th Party Congress. On many important issues such as federal question, our Party has its distinct line. For instance, instead of the superimposed unitary character of the State, the People’s Democratic State envisaged in the Party Program is fully in consonance with the multi-national, multi-lingual, multi cultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious character of India. Hence the Program of People’s Democracy envisaged by the Party is distinguished by a Constitution based on Federal Principles upholding the linguistic, ethnic, economic and cultural rights of nationalities that constitute India. Including this, to get an overall view of our Party Line, all members have to thoroughly read and comprehend the basic documents in their mother tongue. Hence all State Committees have to take up the task of translating them at the earliest and party study-classes based on them are to be arranged in a time-bound manner.

The post On the Ideological-Political Line of CPI (ML) Red Star Based on the 12 th Congress – P J James appeared first on CPI(ML) Red Star.

Paper Presented for Party School in 2023

Party School – 2023

Paper by Com. KNR

On Party Building in Present Neo-Fascist Situation Introduction

Introduction

1. The CC of CPI(ML) Red Star has repeatedly pointed out that, in the present situation when the working class and the peasantry in general, and the whole people, especially, the women, Dalits, Adivasis and other oppressed sections including the minorities, especially Muslims, are facing unprecedented, targeted fascist onslaughts from the Manuvadi-Hindutva forces, in order to organize resistance and to overthrow it the Party building should be given top priority. At the international level too, in spite of the objective situation when all the contradictions are unprecedentedly sharpening, leading to possibilities for mighty spontaneous people’s upsurges breaking out in many countries, there is not a single Communist Party capable of leading them to revolutions to overthrow the imperialists and their junior partners in power and to capture power, leading to advance towards people’s democracy and socialism.

2. It is a Marxist-Leninist Understanding that based on the concrete analysis of the concrete conditions, once the ideological-political line, and based on it, the Program and Path of Revolution are developed, then the most important task is the Party building. There can be no revolution without a revolutionary party capable of analyzing every change in the situation, developing the Party line appropriately, and leading the whole organization for mobilization of the masses to seize the political power.

3. When the neo-fascist Modi government is consolidating its domination in every field very fast, launching various attacks on the working class and oppressed people as a whole, especially on the Muslim minority, dalits, Adivasis, women and other oppressed classes and sections, the expectation was that, if not all, at least major section of the CR organizations shall come forward to unite in to a stronger party or at least join the Revolutionary Left Coordination with a common program to challenge the fascist forces with the approach. But, many are in old rigid frames even after vast socio-economic, political changes in all fields linked with the emergence of fascism have taken place.

4. So, in order to take up the party building by winning over the communist forces and attracting the new generation, intensive ideological political struggle has to be launched. How the new forces can be attracted to the communist party is a big challenge. The new generation is not familiar with Marxist literature. Mainstream media that project the parliamentary left as communists have degenerated to ruling class positions and implementing neoliberal policies wherever in power.

5. In the context of the severe setbacks suffered by the communist movement all over the world with all former socialist countries abandoning the socialist path, in the atmosphere of powerful anti-communist onslaughts by the imperialists and their lackeys, the new generation will give credibility to the communist vision, and be attracted to it, only if we take up the struggle for gender equality, caste annihilation, ecological issues, and for an alternative development path against the mainstream capitalist development paradigm. These issues are to be taken up as integral part of class struggle. This should be the Marxist approach to party building.

6. The party building also calls for a vigorous campaign against the majoritarian Manuvadi- Hindutva, the theoretical base of RSS neo-fascism. Along with developing struggles against increasing anti-people policies of Modi government, and developing united movements, a powerful campaign to expose and defeat Manuvadi Hindutva is needed. Today, except a small section of revolutionary intellectuals and Communist Revolutionary(CR) forces, others are not attacking the Hindutva-Manuvad of RSS/BJP. Even when the 2024 general election is near, the opposition parties including social democrats are not yet prepared to unitedly move against RSS/BJP.

7. It is in this context, the significance of the call given by the CC to launch a powerful campaign against Manuvadi-Hindutva immediately after the 12 th Party Congress and in conformity with the immediate task as laid down in the adopted Political Resolution. Accordingly, we are engaged in building up the broadest possible anti-fascist front uniting with all those who oppose RSS neo-fascism, while, at the same time, upholding our independent political position of fighting for the class interests of the working class and all oppressed. Regarding the latter, which is linked with our strategic and long-term tasks, the Party has to work among toiling masses, women, youth, students, in the cultural and caste annihilation fronts and develop organisations and movements through launching campaigns and struggles.

8. Today, Party building is intertwined with waging ideological struggle at two levels: firstly, we shall carry forward the theoretical/ideological attack on the Manuvadi-Hindutva which is the base of RSS neo-fascism with the help of revolutionary intellectuals, and trying to mobilize Dalit, Adivasi, women organizations and other progressive forces, writers, cultural activists etc., trying to mobilize the youth and student organizations also. Secondly, we shall wage ideological struggle against all alien trends in the communist movement, putting forward our ideological political line. These campaigns as well as our involvement in the struggle against the anti- people, neo-fascist policies shall provide a favourable atmosphere for recruiting new comrades from all fields and to strengthen the task of party building.

12th Party Congress on Party Building.

9. The Political Resolution adopted by the 12th Party Congress says: “5.8. In building up the Party with country-wide influence and for leading democratic and revolutionary struggles in the concrete Indian context, while assimilating lessons from erstwhile people’s democratic and socialist experiences, the integral link among class, caste and gender struggles and struggle for ecological protection should be taken up. That is, the party building process needs to assimilate the comprehensive inter-relationship among class struggle, struggle for caste annihilation, for gender equality and for ecological protection. Thus a party equipped with revolutionary theory and having practical experience from leading different struggles of workers, peasants, and all oppressed including women and the entire spectrum of genders, adivasis and dalits and that of environmental protection is the urgent need today.

“5.9. Such a unity of the workers and all oppressed achieved through struggles against neoliberal-corporatisation in all its manifestations is also indispensable to bring about a revolutionary left core of all fraternal and communist revolutionary forces with a common minimum program. This foundation that upholds the interests of the vast majority of the working and oppressed peoples shall be the starting point for a broadest possible anti-fascist front capable of challenging and defeating RSS-led neofascism.”

Thus, only under the leadership of an ideologically, politically and organizationally equipped communist party, surrounded by class/mass organizations/movements, the task of development of class struggle and people’s movements can, be effectively carried forward, and the united front activities according to the demand of the present situation can be initiated and developed. It is evident that unless the task of party building is taken up as primary, all other tasks shall remain unfulfilled.

10. The Political Organizational Report (POR) adopted by the !2th Congress explained the various aspects of party building thus: “6.1. In the present international and national situation, when the objective situation is becoming increasingly favorable for a new wave of revolutionary upsurges, right and left deviations and eclectic, opportunist positions among communist forces, only create frustration among the people who are faced with unprecedented deprivation under neoliberal imperialism, and impending danger of ecological catastrophe. Our approach to …Party building in this complex situation is to launch a healthy ideological-political struggle and win over all genuine communist forces for building a Party capable of giving leadership to revolutionary upheaval in the present neoliberal, corporate phase of imperialism…”

Unification of Communist Revolutionaries

11. Regarding the criteria of Communist unity, the POR continues: “6.2… Firstly, a positive approach to proletarian internationalism, and for uniting the ML forces at international level for joint campaigns and struggles wherever possible. Secondly, recognizing that in the concrete conditions of our country, the class struggle, caste struggle and gender struggle are integrally related to each other and should be taken up accordingly, waging the caste annihilation movement and gender equality struggle along with the class struggle. Thirdly, recognizing the significance of protecting ecology with a now or never approach, when the imperialist system has pushed humanity to the verge of ecological catastrophe. Fourthly, continuing struggles to complete remaining tasks of agrarian revolution including land to the tiller, and completing anti-imperialist tasks to create conditions for advancing to the stage of socialist revolution. Based on these, the process of uniting the CR forces should be speeded up with the aim of building a powerful communist party at all India level.”

12. This question of winning over the communist forces to the party should be taken up at three levels: Firstly, though their number may vary considerably from state to state, there are many former members of organizations belonging to the ‘communist spectrum’ who can be won over and enrolled after convincing them about our party line; Secondly, there are many groups of comrades, especially in states where the left movement had good influence, who have left their previous organizations due to ideological or political or organizational differences. For winning over them also initiative should be taken; Thirdly, active efforts should be made to find out organizations who are nearer to our party line and to win over them through protracted discussions and, if necessary working together with them for some time forming coordination committees.

Increasing Party Membership

13. Over the past few years, there has only been nominal increase in the membership of our Party. Even among these existing members, many are not fulfilling the responsibilities of party members as explained in the Party Constitution. Below central committee level, levy system is yet to be implemented properly. This is to be rectified at the earliest. Considering the enormous tasks the Party has to take up, the existing membership is absolutely insufficient. Urgent steps should be taken to increase the membership. The following steps are proposed to accomplish this task:

a. We have formed Party Sub-Committees in all class/mass organizations and people’s movements at central level. They are constituted at state level also at least in few states or in few fields. Make these committees active and through them take steps to politicize the members of these class/mass organizations and for their enrolment as party members from all fields, especially from among the trade union members, agricultural workers and peasantry.

b. Though 65 percent of India’s population is below the age of 35, our membership among youth and students is very limited. This is because of our weakness in building the student and youth organizations in spite of repeated decisions. Hence more emphasis is to be given for recruiting large number of candidate members from students and youth.

c. Women constitute half of our population. Without giving emphasis to women’s liberation, party cannot advance the revolutionary movement. But proportion of women among our party members and their presence in party committees are much less. Attention should be given for recruiting large number of women as party members, politicize and activate them, and create healthy conditions in the party committees for their active involvement.

d. An active campaign should be organized to hold continuous discussions to win over politically advanced elements from other communist organisations/groups including those who are disgusted with the political-ideological line of these parties or are inactive because of many reasons.

e. The most important source of recruitment to Party is peoples movements and struggles. Basti Suraksha Manch in Odisha, land struggles in other parts of the country, etc. are examples. If we can politicise such cadres who are active in such struggles, large number of cadres may be recruited from landless /homeless poor and oppressed sections.

Strengthening State Committees

14. In a multi-national/multi-lingual/multi-ethnic and multi-cultural country like India, the state committees have to play a very important role if we have to build up party and lead the revolutionary movement. But many of our state committees are very weak. Many of them have no proper office or office functioning. Many of them do not bring out the state party organ or issue statements on important developments. We have to wage consistent struggle against the influence of liberalism on the one hand and sectarianism on the other to strengthen the state committee functioning, taking following practical steps:

a. Give maximum emphasis to get a regular office, however small it is and start its functioning with one whole-timer comrade in charge for it.

b. Give importance to bring out state party organ; make effective use of social media and online publications for party and class/mass organizations.

c. Start regular practice of issuing press statements on all important state issues, along with issuing CC statements on important issues; organize a library and organize political education to party members on a regular basis.

d. Central, state, district fund collections should be systematically organized at appropriate time according to local conditions;

e. Give emphasis to regularize levy system at all levels, maintain levy and account registers;

f. In line with the Central Committee, the SC/SOC should send Party Circulars regularly to District Committees and state reports to CC regularly.

Strengthen the District Committee functioning:

15. The district committees link the state committee with the grass root party committees, and in the party structure of the communist party it has to play an important role. It should have an office and regular office functioning, including the practice of issuing press statements on important developments. It should coordinate the working of area committees and the grass root functioning below them. It should collect the levy regularly and ensure the propagation of party organs and literature. It should maintain levy register and account register. It should send circulars to lower level committees on the one hand, and send regular written reports to state committee.

Importance of Party Education:

16. In spite of repeated decisions, necessary emphasis is not given to party education at state and district levels and below. Though Central Party Schools are regularly conducted from 2010, Party Schools are not organized at lower levels including translation of all Central Party School papers in most of the states. All the state committees should ensure that immediate steps are taken to overcome this weakness. In the present fascist situation, the importance of party education by organizing regular party classes has further increased. It also calls for making necessary basic Marxist classics available to the comrades. The state committees should give increasing attention to these points. Party education should be taken up at following three levels:

a. Central Party Schools organized by the CC every year based on papers prepared and distributed earlier on important currently relevant subjects. It is regularly taking place.

b. Party classes organized by the state committees at district and areal levels to impart education on Party documents, basics of Marxism and classes on various issues which are connected with developing class struggle.

c. Self study by Party members: It is very important. The practice of reading party documents, statements, basic Marxist books, daily newspapers, weeklies and documents and statements of other organizations should be developed. The central, state, district, area committee leaders attending the party committees should give emphasis to this subject.

d. In order to help the members and sympathisers to develop ideological, political understanding, the Party should make available basic Marxist books, Party documents, relevant books on current developments, Party organ, etc in their mother tongue. For this publication centres are needed.

Building Grass-root level Party Committees linking with 3- tier Panchayat System and Capture of Political Power at Local Level

17. CC has been repeatedly emphasizing the importance of organizing and strengthening party committees at the grass root level, that is, party committees at Branch, Local and Area levels and Party Sympathizers’ Groups. Decline in the strength of our mobilization and our poor performance in the elections even in the districts where we have waged many struggles are due to the weakness of our party at grass root level. Since the time of the introduction of 3-tier Panchayat system, all ruling class parties have started giving lot of importance to actively participate in the activities of the Gram, Block and District Panchayats, deploying even their senior cadres for it. Since enormous funds are available for local bodies, to control them and to create mass base for Assembly and LS elections, these main-stream parties use corruption and create caste and communal vote banks at grass root level. So, without fighting them we cannot maintain our mass support achieved through the people’s struggles.

18. However, our state committees are not giving importance to grass root level party building, Due to negligence or inactivity of district and area level work, we are losing party members and large number of class/mass organizations members in many areas. Besides, as our state committees are not giving necessary attention to grass root level party committees and to provide party education and political guidance to them, even many of our own comrades elected to these panchayat system became corrupt and left the party.

19. The issue is also linked to developing Party’s understanding on the link between parliamentary struggle and class struggle, along with fighting all influences of parliamentary cretinism. Unlike the revisionist approach, this question of putting forward an alternative approach to development and democracy at grass root level and fighting for it cannot be postponed to be settled after revolution. We should give political and organizational importance to strengthening grass root level party committees. In districts and taluks/blocks where our district and area committees are functioning, select gram and block panchayats where our party presence is there; strengthen the branch committees at village/town/municipal ward level and Local Committees at Gram/Town panchayat levels; chalk out people’s programs based on our approach to development and democratization and form people’s committees to capture panchayats. By striving to make these panchayats to function according to our political and organizational line, consistently strengthening the direct participation of the people in its activities through strengthening the functioning of the neighborhood committees we can take class struggle to the grass root levels.

20. While giving emphasis to party building, along with the emphasis to grass root level party building at Area, Local and Branch committees, their activities should be linked to our active participation in the numerous struggles of the people, and with the functioning of the 3-tier panchayat system. In the Central Party School in 2013, though a paper on OUR APPROACH TO PARTICIPATION IN LOCAL BODY ELECTIONS was presented and discussed, still we could not make any advances in this field. Not only that, almost all our comrades elected to local bodies so far, by and large either got influenced by corrupt practices or left our party.

21. According to our experience, if the gains from people’s struggles are not used for consolidating our mass base and effectively utilised at the local body elections very soon the gains would be lost. Further, many decades of parliamentary experience of traditional communist parties also teaches that if the parliamentary institutions including the 3-tier panchayat system are not used in a revolutionary manner as part of the class struggle, they can lead to negative results.

22. Presently, under neo-liberal corporatisation, both imperialism and its junior partners, the ruling classes, are effectively utilizing local self governments for their far-right agenda. In this context, it is imperative on the part of the struggling left forces to put forward a class approach to local body elections, and the continuation of it even if our comrades get elected to only one seat. In this way the so called top-down decentralization imposed under the labels like “participatory democracy”, “participatory development”, and “empowerment”, etc. as advocated by the imperialist agencies can be exposed. Such decentralization is not intended for genuine people’s political power at the local level. On the contrary, it leads to making local bodies as appendages of global corporate capital.

23. At the behest of neo-colonial agencies such as the World Bank and IMF, as part of rolling back the state, almost all of the erstwhile social welfare and developmental tasks of the central and state governments are put on the shoulders of fund-starved local bodies, who are made direct dependencies of WB, ADB and other funding agencies. In spite of the economic burden imposed on them, the right to collect land revenue, which is now with the State government, is not set apart for local bodies. The bureaucratic set up of the local bodies has also changed little in the midst of many talks on decentralization. Even today, the elected representatives of the Panchayat system are not vested with any real powers. All the financial and executive powers are vested with the executive officer or secretary of the Panchayat system at village, bloc and district levels. More precisely, the elected local bodies still lack autonomy regarding local planning, resource mobilization and executive powers of implementation.

24. Focusing on these aspects, according to concrete conditions, a people’s alternative of bottom-up decentralization inseparably linked with the development of class struggle aimed at basically altering the existing property relations and power structure can be put forward. In continuation to the active functioning of the grass root level party committees, and the people’s struggles taken up by them, the Party should actively participate in the local body elections and utilize the panchayat raj for the political program of transforming the local bodies as primary centers of people’s political power. The participation in local bodies elections should be linked with the struggle for redistribution of land on the basis of land to the tiller, confiscation of land held by land mafia, distribution of such lands and surplus land among landless, agitation against displacement, against all super-imposed neocolonial-neoliberal projects, etc. The Party should reject the neo-liberal decentralization experiments pursued In different states. To develop this orientation, lessons from the positive experience of socialist construction in former socialist countries should be assimilated according to our situation. All State Committees should prepare a model manifesto specifying Party’s program including specific demands for land, shelter, food, drinking water, healthcare, education, employment, etc. as part of the people-oriented and ‘sustainable development’ perspective. Based on it, the party committees or people’s committees responsible for the gram/block/district panchayats can draft their program according to concrete demands of the people. In this way, the parliamentary struggle for panchayat boards can be made part of the revolutionary alternative we put forward at state and national levels.

25. Taking up this challenge of party building at the grass root level where we have party’s presence and some mass contacts through local struggles means coming in to contradiction with the already well—entrenched mainstream parties as well as vested interests. It will politically educate the party as a whole not only to develop grass root level mass base, but to get invaluable lessons for developing the class struggle for people’s political power at the grass root level also. The theoretical/ideological questions connected with the transformation of communist parties to bureaucratic parties in erstwhile socialist countries are also associated with the abandoning of people’s power centres established during the initial satages of revolution. So, our work in the 3-tier Panchayat System should be seriously taken up recognizing the fact that not only for immediate purpose of developing our mass base, but also for long term revolutionary socialist transformation of the society and for establishing people’s political power at the grass root level also.

26. From a communist perspective, the question of ‘communes’ which is linked up with people’s political power, in the present context, needs to be discussed in relation to our participation in local bodies. The People’s Communes in China which was the basic unit of holding political-economic power was based on the slogan ‘power to the people’. All party committees have to seriously understand the ideological-political- organisational ramifications of communes as the centres of people’s political power based on the experiences of ‘Paris Commune’, the ‘Soviets’ in the Soviet Union, and the ‘People’s Communes’ in China. Therefore, instead of waiting for revolution, from the pre-revolutionary period onward, we have to seriously take up the task of developing communes where ever we have mass base and local political power taking into account the concrete social formation in our country.

Party Finance

27. The Party has to depend on the people entirely for its finance. It is against any form of extortion or forcible collection, any form of ‘money actions’, collection of contributions from mafia, anti-people and corrupt forces. The money collected by every committee and the expenses should be fully accounted for. Every functioning committee from the CC to the Branch Committee, there should be an Account Book, in which all receipts and expenses are recorded. Except in the case of bucket collections in the streets, receipts should be given for collections, and an accounting system, including the auditing of the accounts should be developed. Based on the experience of the communist movement from its inception and our own experience, the Party has developed a fund raising method and levy collection from Party members as follows:

a. Central Fund collection: For helping the functioning of the CC, a Central Fund collection should be organized and coordinated CC and by all SCs and SOCs every year at a stipulated time as by CC. There should be publicity through party publications, posters, handbills and through social media.

b. State Fund Collection: Every State Committees should decide the best period for the state fund collection. Giving good publicity through social media, posters, hand bills etc, the state fund collection should be organized for two weeks with all the party members participating in it compulsorily. A quota may be decided for the District Committees and total quota for the state. Out of the amount collected, the SCs may give 10% for the CC. The SCs should see that completion of fund collection should be followed by proper auditing and closing of accounts.

c. District Fund Collection: As decided by the SC, all the DCs should plan fund collection for one or two weeks with the participation of all party members and sympathisers. The DCs can decide the quota. From this collection, 75% is for the DCs and grass root level committees, and 25% for the SC or as decided.

d. Party membership fee for an year is Rs 20, which should be paid at the time of renewal of membership or recruitment. This entire amount should be sent to Party Centre along with the district-wise membership list.

e. Party Levy Collection: According to Party Constitution, every Party member/candidate member should pay levy every month which ranges from 2 to 8 % of his/her income. For whole timers, unless otherwise decided, it shall be Rs 20 per month. Every party committee should decide the levy for its members and collect it regularly. Out of the total levy ccollected in a state, 50% goes to DCs and below, 40% to the SC and 10% to the CC. Every functioning committee should have a levy register and collection should be recorded in it. The SCs should organize fixing and collection of levy’s through party committees and report it which should be followed by DCs. A party member who without valid reason fails to give levy continuously for three months, may be issued a notice by the concerned committee, and if the explanation is not satisfactory may be removed from Party roll and should be reported to the next higher committee.

f. Apart from these regular fund collection, contributions can be collected from party sympathisers and friends by the party committees. For struggles, campaigns, etc., also funds are needed and should be collected. The basic principle to be followed is except in the case of bucket collections, all other collections should be made giving receipts in which the contact no and address of the concerned committees are given.

g. Reflecting the vast unevenness in our SCs and SOCs, there are vast differences in the collections also. In spite of all difficulties proper procedures are to be followed in all cases of fund collections.

Conclusion

28. Comrades, Our aim is to build a Bolshevik style Communist Party surrounded by class/mass organizations and various people’s movements which is capable of facing any changes in the political situation in the country. Under RSS Neo-Fascism today where even dissent and difference are treated as treason, the ‘democratic space’ for work is shrinking fast. All party committees should be aware of this and be prepared to face any eventuality. At the same time, we shall strive to utilize the the existing situation for open work to link the party with the masses as long as possible. Our party committee system and organizational functioning should be properly streamlined so that it is capable of confronting all eventualities by making the party committees capable of utilizing all open and secret, parliamentary and non-parliamentary means to make the party safe, while developing class struggle continuously. Let us strengthen our party building with all our might, overcoming all past mistakes and present weaknesses.

(Updated and Edited Version of the Papers Presented in 2013, 2019 and 2020)

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Article I

Name:

The name of the Party shall be the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Red Star.

Article II

Emblem:

The emblem of the Party shall be a crossed hammer and sickle in white against a red background, with five white stars forming a quadrant on the left side of the hammer and sickle as symbol of proletarian internationalism.

Article III

Flag:

The Flag of the Party shall be the Red Flag of rectangular shape the ratio of length and breadth being 3:2 with hammer and sickle and the five stars in a quadrant in white inscribed in middle of the top one quarter (near the pole).

Article -IV

Guiding Ideology and General Program

1. The CPI (ML) Red Star, the vanguard, that is, the advanced detachment, of the Indian proletariat, upholds Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought as its guiding ideology, and seeks to apply it to the concrete conditions of India and to integrate it with the concrete practice of Indian revolution, uncompromisingly struggling against both revisionist and sectarian tendencies of all hues.
2. It is committed to complete the tasks of People’s Democratic Revolution (PDR) and to establish the People’s Democratic Dictatorship. The task before the Party in the stage of the People’s Democratic Revolution is to overthrow the rule of comprador -bureaucratic bourgeois-landlord classes serving imperialism and replace the present reactionary Indian state with the People’s Democratic State led by the proletariat. The basic Program of the party is to complete the PDR, to advance towards socialist revolution, and to march forward under the guiding principles of dictatorship of the proletariat for the realization of socialism and communism.
3. The CPI (ML) Red Star upholds proletarian internationalism. Equality and fraternity shall be the principles guiding the relations between all Marxist-Leninist parties and organizations the world over.
4. The CPI (ML) Red Star strives to build up communist party based on Bolshevik principles, uniting all the Communist Revolutionaries into a single Party.

Article V

Party Membership

1. Any Indian citizen, eighteen years of age or above, who accepts the Program and Constitution of the Party, agrees to work in one of the Party committees, pays the Party membership fees and levy regularly and carries out decisions of the Party shall be eligible for Party membership.
2. New members are admitted to the Party on individual application and through Party Branch or other Party committees on the recommendation of two Party members. The Party committees at local or town, taluk or block or area, district, state and central levels also have the power to admit new members to the Party. The Party members who recommend an applicant must furnish the Party committee concerned truthful information about the applicant, from personal knowledge and with due sense of responsibility. All applications for Party membership after their recommendation and approval must be placed before the next higher committee within a month of their presentation and recommendation.
3. Barring exceptional cases, Party members should be recruited from those who have worked in class/mass organizations and have been tested in some organizational work and class struggle, who have worked in an activist/sympathizers group functioning under a party committee. Special 13 caution must be maintained against careerists, conspirators and double dealers, bad characters and enemy agents from sneaking into the Party.
4. The meeting of the Party committee concerned where the application is presented shall decide the admission of the new members. If applicant is admitted to the Party, she/he will be regarded as a candidate member. A candidate member will have to undergo a minimum period of candidature of one year. The period of candidature will be two years for those coming from the capitalist, landlord and other exploiting classes.
5. The Party committee admitting candidate members shall arrange for their elementary education on the Party Program, Party Constitution and the current policies of the Party and observe their development.
6. By the end of the period of candidature, the Party Committee concerned shall discuss whether the candidate member is qualified to be admitted to full membership. The party committee concerned may admit candidates to full membership or prolong the period of candidature for another term not exceeding six months. If a candidate member is found unfit, the Party committee may cancel her/his candidate membership. A report of recruitment shall be regularly forwarded by the Party Committee concerned to the next higher Party committee.
7. The higher committee may on scrutiny of the report, alter or modify any such decision after consultation with the Party committee which has submitted the report. The District and State Committees shall exercise supervisory powers over the recruitment of candidate members and over admissions to full membership and have the right to modify or reject the decision of the lower committees in this respect.
8. The membership fee will be Rs.20/- annually. Levy shall be collected by the committee to which the member belongs after assessing the capacity of the member concerned.
9. A Party member can transfer her/his membership from one committee to another with the approval of the committee from which transfer is sought and by presenting a letter of introduction from the same to the new committee she/he wishes to join. In case of transfer outside the district or state, approval by the district or the state committee concerned shall be necessary. This shall be subject to the approval of the next higher committee.
10. Members once expelled from the Party can be readmitted only by the decision of the Party committee which confirmed their expulsion, subject to the approval of the next higher committee.
11. When a leading member from another political party from local, area, district or state level wants to join the Party, it is necessary to have the sanction of the next higher committee in addition to the sanction of the local, area, district or state committee, before the concerned member is admitted to membership of the Party. In exceptional cases the central committee or the state committee can admit such members to the full membership of the Party. In case of the state committee taking such a decision, it shall obtain previous sanction from the central committee.
12. Party membership should be subjected to renewal every year. Party members who are failing to take active part in activities decided by the concerned Party committees and higher committees, to carry out the decisions of the Party, to maintain Party discipline, or to pay membership fee or levy for the whole year without any satisfactory reason should be asked to withdraw their membership, and failing which their name shall be removed from the membership roll subject to the approval of the next higher committee.
13. Every party member shall declare her/his assets at the time of confirmation of membership and shall submit details if any new assets are obtained later during the membership renewal.
14. While the general principle is to give membership on individual basis, when the merger of a communist revolutionary organization group//section with the party takes place, all the party members and candidate members of it as per the merger document shall be included in the membership /candidate membership register, and they shall be filing renewal forms for membership during the next year’s renewal process.
15. A Party member elected to the Central Committee shall give up his/her caste surname.

Article –VI

Party Pledge

Every member jointing the Party shall take the Party Pledge. The Pledge shall be: “I accept Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought as the guiding ideology of the Party.

“I accept the Program of the Party and agree to abide by its Constitution and work sincerely to implement the decisions of the Party. I pledge to be loyal and honest in words and deeds to them.

“I shall strive to live up to the ideals of Communism and selflessly serve and fight for the proletarian cause and revolution always placing the interest of the Party, People and Revolution above personal interests and strive to uphold the honor and dignity of the Party.

“I will fight communalism, casteism, revivalism, national chauvinism and gender discrimination in life and society.

“I shall fight against all forms of national chauvinism, adhere to the principle of proletarian internationalism, uphold the spirit of working for world revolution, shall uphold the unity of the working class and the oppressed masses at international level, and stand for the unity of the communist parties at international level”.

Article -VII

Distribution of Party Levy and Membership Fee

1. Party levy collected from Party members by concerned Party committees shall be distributed as follows: 10 percent for the Central Committee; 40 percent for State Committee and the remaining 50 percent shall be divided among the District committee and the lower committees as decided by the district committee concerned.
2. All membership and renewal fees shall go to the Central Committee.

Article – VIII

Responsibilities of Party Members

Responsibilities of Party members are as followings:

1. Strive to develop the understanding of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and learn to integrate theory with the practice.
2. Regularly participate in all the activities of the Party committee in which one is a member and faithfully implement the policies, decisions and instructions of the Party.
3. Read Party paper and publications. Help to regularly bring them out and to actively propagate them.
4. Follow the Party Constitution and maintain discipline. Live and behave in accordance with the great principles of Communism and in accordance with the spirit of proletarian internationalism.
5. Subordinate one’s own personal interests to the Party and people interests.
6. Serve the masses devotedly and strengthen relation with them continuously and always be ready to learn from the masses and participate in the struggle of the people. Report their necessities and opinions to the Party. If not exempted for specific reasons, function in one of the class/mass organizations under the instructions of the Party.
7. Strengthen comradely relation among members. Constantly develop fraternal relations within the Party.
8. Regularly carry out criticism and self- criticism for improving one’s own and collective activities and for helping each other.
9. Never betray the confidence reposed by the Party. Behave with openness and sincerity in the Party.
10. Protect the unity and strength of the Party; maintain vigilance against the enemies of the proletariat and the people.
11. Fight consistently against all oppressions and discriminations based on religion, caste, nationality and gender and firmly oppose such disruptive tendencies as communalism, fundamentalism, casteism, provincialism, parochialism and patriarchy.
12. Be uncompromising towards all deviations from Marxism–Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought as well as from ideological and political line of the party. Fight against all non -proletarian ideas and trends of revisionism, left and right opportunism, liberalism, sectarianism, anarchism and dogmatism.
13. It is the task of the Party committee to guide the Party members in implementing above mentioned responsibilities and to help them in whichever way possible to implement them.

Article IX

Rights of Party Members

1. Rights of the Party members are as follows:
2. a) To elect Party committees and to get elected to them.
3. b) To participate freely in discussions in order to contribute towards the formulation of Party policy and of the decisions of the Party.
4. c) To make proposals regarding one’s own work in the party to get work assigned to oneself in accordance with one’s ability and situation in life.
5. d) To make criticisms about Party committees and Party functionaries at Party meetings.
6. e) To demand to be heard in person when a Party committee discusses disciplinary action against or evaluates their personal character or work in connection with serious mistakes which she/he is alleged to have committed.
7. f) When any Party member disagrees with any decision of a Party committee or any organization under the Party leadership, she/he has right to submit her/his opinion to the higher committee, including and up to the Central Committee and the Party Congress. In all such cases the Party member shall, of course, carry out the party decision and the differences shall be sought to be resolved through the test of practice and through comradely discussions;
8. g) To address any statement, appeal or complaint to any higher Party committee up to and including the Central Committee and the Party Congress, provided that such statement or complaint shall be addressed by each member to her/ his primary committee in the first place. Such primary committee may take a decision on such a statement or complaint. If the member is not satisfied with such a decision, or if no decision is taken thereon for three months, the member concerned shall have the right to appeal to the next higher committee and in the same manner up till and including the Central Committee or the Party Congress.
9. It shall be the duty of Party committee and Party functionaries to see that these rights are respected.
10. The candidate members are entitled to all rights of a full-fledged member except the right to vote and to be elected.

Article-X

Organizational Principles of the Party

1. The structure of the Party is based on, and its internal life is guided by the principles of democratic centralism. Democratic centralism means central leadership based on full inner – Party democracy and inner- Party democracy under the guidance of the centralized leadership. In the sphere of the Party structure, the guiding principles of democratic centralism are:
2. a) All Party committees from top to bottom shall be elected.
3. b) The minority shall carry out the decisions of the majority, the lower Party committees shall carry out the decisions and directives of the higher Party committees, the individual shall subordinate herself/himself to the collective. All Party committees shall carry out the decisions and directives of the Party Congress and of the Central Committee.
4. c) All Party committees shall periodically report on their work to the Party committees immediately below and all lower committees shall likewise report to their immediate higher committees.
5. d) All Party committees, particularly the leading Party committees shall pay constant heed to the opinion and criticism of the lower Party committees and the rank and file Party members.
6. e) All Party committees shall function strictly on the principle of collective decisions and checkup, combined with individual responsibility.
7. f) All questions concerning international affairs, questions of all India character, or questions concerning more than one State or questions requiring uniform decisions for the whole country, shall be decided upon by the Central Committee. All questions of a state or district character shall be ordinarily decided upon by the concerned Party committees. But in no case shall such decisions run counter to the decisions of higher Party committees. When the Central Committee has to take a decision on any issue of major importance concerning a state, it shall do so after consultation with the State Committee concerned. The State Committee shall do likewise in relation to districts.
8. g) On issues which affect the policy of the Party at all India level, but on which the Party’s stand point is to be expressed for the first time, only the Central Committee of the Party is entitled to make a policy statement. The lower committees can and should send their opinions and suggestions in time for consideration by the Central Committee.
9. Basing itself upon the experience of the entire Party membership and of the popular movement, in the sphere of the internal life of the Party the following guiding principles of democratic centralism are applied:
10. a) Free and frank discussion within the Party committee on all questions affecting the Party, its policy and work.
11. b) Sustained efforts to activate the Party members in popularizing and implementing the Party policies, in raising their ideological political level and improving their general education so that they can effectively participate in the life and work of the Party.
12. c) When serious differences arise in a Party committee, every effort should be made to arrive at a common understanding. Failing this, the decision should be postponed with a view to resolve the differences through further discussions, unless an immediate decision is called for by the needs of the Party and the mass movement.
13. d) Encouragement of criticism and self-criticism at all levels, from top to bottom especially criticism from below.
14. e) Consistent struggle against bureaucratic tendencies at all levels.
15. f) Impermissibility of factionalism and factional grouping inside the Party in any from.
16. g) Strengthening of the Party spirit by developing fraternal relations and mutual help, correcting mistakes by treating comrades sympathetically, judging them and their work not on the basis of isolated mistakes or incidents, but by taking into account their whole record of service to the Party.
17. Differing views should be given representation in the respective committees.
18. In extraordinary situations, organizing committees may be formed at all levels.
19. The primary committee will be the link between the Party and people. The opinions of the people and the committees will be carefully studied, summed up, assimilated and used to improve and formulate the party’s policies.
20. The Central Committee and State Committees shall be constituted of capable and dedicated comrades based on cadre policy. This principle should be followed in the case of lower committees also as far as possible. The Party shall undertake the responsibility to develop the professional revolutionaries.

Article – XI

Criticism and Self-Criticism

Criticism and Self-Criticism is one of the most important principles of Party committee system. It is absolutely essential for the Party in general, the leadership, the committees and party members in particular to conduct it.

1. Criticism and self – criticism must be based on the Party line and its practice.
2. Criticism must be made within the Party and the concerned unit, not outside it.
3. Criticism regarding the higher committees or against their decisions should be sent to the concerned committee.
4. The unity of the Party is achieved through the principle of unity-struggle–unity, i.e., through the process of criticism and self-criticism.

Article –XII

Party Discipline

1. Discipline is indispensable for preserving and strengthening the unity of the Party, for enhancing its strength, its fighting ability and its prestige, and for enforcing the principles of democratic centralism. Without strict adherence to the Party discipline, the Party cannot lead the masses in struggle and actions, nor discharge its responsibility towards them.
2. Discipline is based on conscious acceptance of the aims, Program and policies of the Party. All members of the Party are equally bound by Party discipline irrespective of their status in the Party organization or in public life.
3. Violation of the Party Constitution and decisions of the Party as well as any other action and behaviour unworthy of a member of the Communist Party shall constitute a breach of Party discipline and are liable to disciplinary actions.
4. The disciplinary actions are
5. Warning.
6. Censure.
7. Public censure.
8. Removal from the post held in the Party.
9. Suspension from full Party membership for any period but not exceeding one year.
10. Removal from the Party rolls.
11. Expulsion
12. If any member of any committee of any committee fails to attend three consecutive meetings of the said committee then that committee shall have the authority to call for an explanation from that member and, after hearing that member on his explanation, if that explanation is not found to be satisfactory, to remove that member from that committee, subject to ratification from the State Committee or the Central Committee, provided that the member so removed shall have the right to appeal to the Control Commission.
13. Disciplinary action shall normally be taken where other methods, including methods of persuasion, have failed to correct the comrade concerned. But even where disciplinary measures have been taken, the efforts to help the comrade to correct herself/himself shall continue. In cases where the breach of discipline is such that it warrants an immediate disciplinary measure to protect the interests of the Party or its prestige, the disciplinary action shall be taken promptly.
14. Expulsion from the Party is the severest of all disciplinary measures and this shall be applied with utmost caution, deliberation and judgment.
15. No disciplinary measure involving expulsion or suspension of a Party member shall come into effect without confirmation by the next higher committee. In case of suspension or expulsion, the penalized Party member shall, however, be removed from the responsible post that she/he may hold pending confirmation.
16. The comrade against whom a disciplinary measure is proposed shall be fully informed of the allegations, charges and other relevant facts against her/him. She/he shall have the right to he heard in person by the Party committee in which her/his case is discussed.
17. Party members found to be strike-breakers, habitual drunkards, moral degenerates, betrayers of Party confidence, guilty of financial irregularities or members whose actions are detrimental to the Party and the working classes, shall be dealt with by the Party committees to which they belong and be liable to disciplinary action.
18. There shall be right of appeal in all cases of disciplinary action.
19. The State Committee has the right to dissolve or take disciplinary action against a lower committee in cases where a persistent defiance of Party decisions and policy, serious factionalism, or a breach of Party discipline is involved.
20. A Party member who desires to resign from the Party shall submit her/his resignation to the Party committee concerned, which, by a decision of its committee meeting may accept the same and decide to strike her/his name off the rolls and report the matter to the next higher committee.

Article -XIII

All India Party Congress

1. The supreme organ of the Party for the whole country shall be the All India Party Congress.
2. a) The regular Party Congress shall be convened by the Central Committee ordinarily once every three years. However, in no case shall the convening of the Congress be delayed beyond the period of three years by more than one year.
3. b) The date, venue, agenda and functions of the Party Congress shall be decided by the Central Committee at a meeting specially called for the purpose.
4. c) The Party Congress shall be composed of delegates elected by the State Conferences as well as by Conferences of party Units directly under the all India Party Centre.
5. d) The basis of representation at a Party Congress shall be decided by the Central Committee.
6. e) The members of the Central Committee and of the Central Control Commission shall have the right to participate as full delegates in the Party Congress, whether regular or extraordinary.
7. f) The number of membership from any State for which the membership fee quota to the Central Committee has been fully paid shall be taken as the basis for calculating the number of delegates from that State at the Party Congress.
8. Functions and powers of the Party Congress are as follows:
9. a) To discuss and act on the political and organizational report of the Central Committee.
10. b) To revise and change the Party Program and the Party Constitution.
11. c) To determine the Path of Revolution and the policy of the party in the current situation.
12. d) To elect the Central Committee by secret ballot,
13. e) To hear and decide on the report of the Central Control Commission as well as on appeals.
14. f) To hear and decide on the audit report submitted by the Control Commission.
15. g) To elect Central Control Commission. h) To elect a Presidium and Steering Committee for the conduct of its business.
17. a) An extra ordinary Party Congress shall be called by the Central Committee at its own discretion or when it is demanded by the State Committees representing not less than one third of the total party membership. When such an extra-ordinary Party Congress is requisitioned it shall be called within six months of receiving the said requisition.
18. b) The date, venue, functions and agenda of the extra-ordinary Party Congress shall be decided by the Central Committee at a meeting specially called for the purpose.
19. c) The basis of representation to the extra-ordinary Party Congress shall be decided by the Central Committee at a meeting specially called for the purpose.
20. d) The members of the Central Committee and of the Central Control Commission shall have the right to participate as full delegates in the extra-ordinary Party Congress.

Article -XIV

Discussions Prior to Party Congress

1. The Central Committee shall release the draft documents for discussion by all party members/ candidate members three months before the All India Party Congress. It is obligatory on the part of the state committees to render it into respective languages and forward the required number of copies to all committees up to branch committees in the shortest possible time after its release by the Central Committee. Amendments to the resolutions shall be sent directly to the Central Committee which will place its report on them before the All India Party Congress.
2. From the district committee level, the conferences as part of Party Congress shall take place on the basis of the draft documents of the Central Committee and the reports and resolutions submitted by the respective committees and committees above it up to the state committees.
3. In the branch, local and area committee level conferences a comrade from the higher committee shall present a report on the documents to be presented to the Party Congress. All the branch, local and area committee members shall be delegates to the district conference.

Article – XV

All India Party Conference

The central Committee may convene All India Party Conference as and when required.

Article- XVI

Party Plenum

1. When need arises for wider discussion and decision on any important policy matter and organizational question, the Central Committee may convene an All India Plenum.
2. The Central Committee and Central Control Commission members shall be ex-officio delegates to the Plenum. Other delegates shall be elected by the committees as per the criteria fixed by the Central Committee.
3. The Central Committee shall decide the agenda of the Plenum.
4. The Plenum’s decisions shall be binding on the Central Committee.

Article- XVII

Central Committee     

1. a) The Central Committee shall be elected at the Party Congress, the number of members being decided by the Party Congress.
2. b) The outgoing Central Committee shall propose to the Congress a panel of candidates.
3. c) The Panel of candidates shall be prepared with a view to creating capable leadership, closely linked with the masses, firm in the revolutionary outlook of the working class and educated in Marxism- Leninism-Mao’s Tung Thought. The panel shall bring together the best talents, experience from the states, from mass fronts and other fields of Party activity.
4. d) Any delegate can raise objection with regard to any name in the panel proposed as well as propose any new name or names.
5. e) Anyone whose name has been proposed shall have the right to withdraw.
6. f) The panel finally proposed, together with the additional nominations by the delegates shall be voted upon by secret ballot.
7. The Central Committee shall be the highest authority of the Party between two all – India Party Congresses.
8. It is responsible for enforcing the Party Constitution and carrying out the political line and decisions adopted by the Party Congress.
9. The Central Committee shall represent the Party as a whole and be responsible for directing the entire work of the Party. The Central Committee shall have the right to take decisions with full authority on any question facing the Party.
10. The Central Committee shall elect from among its members the General Secretary and a Political Bureau (PB) including the General Secretary. The number of members in the PB shall be decided by the Central Committee. The PB carries on the work of the Central Committee between its two sessions and has the right to take political decisions in between two meetings of the Central Committee. The election of the Party leadership also shall be based on secret ballot.
11. The Standing Committee of the PB shall carry out its day to day works.
13. a) The Central committee shall remove any member from itself for gross breach of discipline, misconduct or for anti–Party activity by two-thirds of the members present and voting and in any case by more than half the total strength of the Central Committee voting for such removal.
14. b) It can fill up any vacancy occurring in its composition through co-option by simple majority of its total members.
15. c) In case a member or members of the Central Committee are arrested and detained for a long period, the remaining members of the committee by a two-thirds majority can co-opt substitute members and they shall have full rights as the original members. This is applicable to lower level committees also.
16. The Central Committee shall fill up any vacancy that may occur in the Control Commission by two-thirds of the members present and voting and in any case by more than half the total strength of the Central Committee voting for the candidate.
17. The time gap between two meetings of the Central Committee shall not exceed four months and it shall meet whenever one third of its total members make a requisition.
18. The Central Committee shall discuss and decide political and organizational issues and problems of mass movement and guide the State Committees and All India Party Fractions in mass organizations.
19. The Central Committee shall submit its Political and Organizational Report before the Party Congress, whenever it is convened.
20. The Central Committee shall appoint Editorial Boards for its organs which shall function under its guidance and control.
21. The Central Committee shall make arrangements for the building up of the organization that can withstand all eventualities. This method shall be followed from the higher to the lower committees.

Article XVIII

State, District, Area, Local, Branch Committees and Party fractions

1. The highest organ in the State, District, Area (Taluka, Block), Local (Gram Panchayat, Town Panchayat), or Branch (Ward) shall be the State, District, Area, Local or Branch Conference which elects a State, District, Area, Local or Branch Committee.
3. a) The organizational structure, the rights and functions of the State, District, Area, Local or Branch committees are similar to those enumerated in the articles concerning the Party structure and functions at the all – India level, their functions being confined to the State, District, Area, Local or Branch levels and their decisions being within the limit of the decisions taken by the next higher Party committee.
4. b) The State, District, Area, Local or Branch Committee shall elect a Secretary and an executive committee wherever necessary.
5. c) As a general principle, only if the Gram/town panchayats are having at least three Branch Committees the Local Committee should be formed, only if there are three local committees, the Taluka/Block/Area Committee should be formed, and only if there are at least three Area Committees the District Committee should be formed.
7. a) The primary organ of the Party is the Branch committee organized on the basis of profession or territory.
8. b) Party members are to be organized on the basis of their occupation or vocation, when they are working in a factory, an institute or any industry. When such units are organized the members of such units shall be associate members of the Party units in place of their residence or organized as auxiliary units there. The work to be allotted in their place of residence shall not be detrimental to the work allotted to them by their basic committees in the factory or institute or occupation;
9. c) The number of members in a Branch, its structure and functions and other matters relating to a Branch or unit will be determined by the State Committee. Ensure implementation of decisions regarding building up Party at grass root level with Branch Committees in villages or wards and with Local Committee at Gram/town panchayat level, and with the local committees putting forward an alternative development paradigm based Program and functioning in the Gram/Town panchayat level and fighting for it, by organizing study classes from the grass root level.
10. State organs and publications shall be in conformity with the political and organizational line of the Central Committee.

Article – XIX

Control Commissions

1. There shall be a Central Control Commission of three members elected by the Party Congress. It shall elect a convener from among themselves.
2. The central Committee shall propose a panel of names for the Central Control Commission to the party Congress. In proposing the names for nomination, the party standing of the candidate, which shall not be less than ten years, and his experience in the Party organization and personal integrity shall be taken in to account.
3. The procedure of election shall be the same as in the case of the Central Committee.
4. The members of the Central Control Commission shall participate in the meetings of the Central Committee with the right to vote except when the question concerning disciplinary actions are taken up.
5. The Central Control Commission shall take up: a. Cases referred to it by the Central Committee or Polit Bureau; b. Cases where disciplinary action has been taken by the Central Committee; c. Cases involving expulsion from the party decided upon by the Central Committee against which an appeal has been made by the member concerned; d. All disciplinary measures taken by the Central Committee should be reported to the Central Control Commission.
6. The central Control Commission shall report its decisions to the central Committee. These decisions shall be ordinarily final and be implemented by the central Committee unless they are set aside by two-thirds majority of the members present and voting and in any case by more than half of the total strength of the Central Committee ( not counting the members of the Control Commission).
7. Every state conference shall have the right to set up a State Control Commission. The provisions of clauses 2to 7 above shall also apply to the State Control Commission, limited however, to the state. Any reference to “Central committee” or “Polit Bureau” in those clauses shall be construed as a reference to the “State Committee” with respect to the State Control Commission. All disciplinary measures taken by any party body in that state shall be reported to the State Control Commission.
8. All disciplinary actions by party committees below the level of the state committee may be appealed to the next higher committee till the state committee.
9. In all cases of disciplinary action, the final decision of the State Committee taken after the decision of the State Control Commission shall be appealable to the Central Committee and the final decision of the Central Committee taken after the decision of the Central Control Commission, shall be appealable to the Party Congress.
10. The Central Committee and the State Committee may make rules to define the detailed functioning of the Central and State Control Commissions respectively.

Article XIX A

Zonal Coordination Committees

1. There shall be a Zonal Coordination Committee for each zone, namely eastern, southern, western and northern.
2. The Central Committee shall constitute respective zonal coordination committees.
3. The members of the zonal coordination committees shall be as follows:
4. Central Committee Members from the states included in the zone;
5. Secretaries of the State Committees or State Organizing Committees representing the states included in the zone; and c. Central Control Commission Member/s from the states included in the zone.
6. A Polit Bureau member as may be decided by the Central Committee shall be the convener of each Zonal Coordination Committee.
7. The Zonal Coordination Committee shall meet bi-monthly or in between two Central Committee meetings or as and when required.

Article-XX

Party Members in Elected Public Bodies

1. Party members elected to different public bodies including Parliament, Assemblies, corporations, municipalities, panchayats etc. shall function under the appropriate Party committee. If there is more than one member, they shall constitute themselves into a party group and function in strict conformity with the line, policies and directives of the Party. They shall always reflect the mass movement, uphold’ and popularize the policy of the party and defend the interest of the people unswervingly. They shall maintain a high standard of personal integrity, lead an unostentatious life and display modesty in all their dealing and contact with the people and place the party above self.
2. They shall pay regularly and without default a levy on their earnings fixed by the appropriate party committee.
3. They shall make regular reports of their work to the electors and the people and seek their suggestion and advice.
4. All nominations of Party candidates for election to Parliament shall be subject to approval by the Central Committee. Nominations of Party candidates to the State Legislatures or the councils of centrally-administered areas shall be finalized and announced by the State Committee concerned. Rules governing the nomination of Party candidates for corporation, municipalities, district boards, local boards and panchayats shall be drawn up by State Committee.

Article-XXI

Inner Party Discussions

1. To unify the Party and for evolving its mass line inner Party discussion shall be a regular feature of Party life. Such discussion shall be organized on all -India scale or at different levels of the Party organization depending on the nature of the issue.
2. Inner – Party discussion shall be organized:

(a) On important questions of all India or State importance, where immediate decision is not necessary, by the Central or the State Committees of the party as the case may be, before the decision is taken;

(b) Whenever there is no sufficient majority inside the Central Committee or in the State Committees on an important question of Party policy.

(c) When an inner-Party discussion on an all India scale is demanded by a number of State Committees representing one–third of the total Party membership or at the State level by District committees representing the same proportion of the total membership of the State concerned.

3. Inner-Party discussion shall be conducted under the guidance of the Central or the State committee which shall formulate the issues under discussion. The Party Committee which guides the discussion shall lay down the manner in which the discussion shall be conducted.
4. On certain ideological and political issues debates and discussions may be carried on even outside the organization with the knowledge of the Central Committee provided such actions do not cause damage to the unity of the Party and to the cause of Indian Revolution.

Article-XXII

Party members working in mass organizations

Party members working in mass organization and their executives shall organize themselves into fractions or fraction committees and function under the guidance of the appropriate Party committee. They must always strive to strengthen the unity, mass base and fighting capacity of the mass organizations concerned.

Article-XXIII

Finance

1. The financial resources of the party comprise of membership fees and levies of the Party members, contributions from the masses, mass organizations and individual sympathizers.
2. In order to run the Party’s central apparatus, the Central Committee shall decide each year, or as the case may be, the quantum of funds each state shall pay to it through Party fund or special Party fund drive.
3. The Polit Bureau shall submit yearly accounts to the Central Committee for its approval.
4. At state and district level the secretariat of concerned committees shall submit yearly accounts to the Slate and District Committees for their approval. A copy of the approved accounts should he submitted to the next higher committee.
5. The Central Committee and the State Committee, as the case may be, may frame rules for accounting procedure ad for other matters.
6. The yearly audit of accounts of the Central Committee and State Committee shall be audited by any two members of the respective committee and the audit report shall be placed before the Congress and the Conferences for discussion and for taking further action. The accounts of the lower committees shall be audited by a panel of state committee members not less than two.

Article-XXIV

Bye-laws : The Central committee may frame rules and bye-laws under the Party Constitution and in conformity with it. Rules and bye – laws under the Party Constitution and in conformity with it may also be framed by the State Committees subject to confirmation by the Central Committee.

Article-XXV

Amendment:

The Party Constitution shall be amended by the Party Congress only. The notice of proposals for amending the Constitution shall be given two months before the said Party Congress.

Article XXVI

Mandatory Provision as in Section 29A (5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 “The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and to the principles of socialism, secularism and democracy and would uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India.”

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Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Red Star is the advanced detachment of the working class of the country. It upholds Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought as its ideology and guide to action according to the concrete conditions of India. Upholding proletarian internationalism, and struggling against both revisionist and left adventurist tendencies in the communist movement, CPI (ML) Red Star strives to build up the Communist Party uniting the Communist Revolutionaries (CRs). It devotes itself to lead the working class, the peasantry and oppressed peoples of India in their struggle for   liberation from the stranglehold of both imperialism and the Indian ruling classes allied with the former. The Party is committed to complete the People’s Democratic Revolution and advance towards Socialist Revolution for establishment of a society where there is no exploitation or oppression.

1.2 Communist movement in India has a century-old glorious history of leading many struggles of the workers, the peasantry and the oppressed and toiling people, during the colonial and post-war neocolonial periods. However, barring isolated cases, the communist movement in general failed to establish its leadership over these struggles. During the colonial days, though the Party took the initiative for putting forward the slogan of full independence, since its early years in the 1920s, it could not come to the leadership of the anti-imperialist freedom movement on account of many strategic and tactical mistakes. Most important among them was the mechanical approach that followed in the evaluation of the Indian society, which led to the failure in establishing the leadership of the working class in the national liberation movement as upheld by the Communist International. More specifically, it failed to recognize the historically determined integral link of India’s inhuman caste system with the class formation in Indian sub-continent. Hence the Communist Party could not carry forward class struggle and struggle for abolition of caste as interrelated processes.

1.3 Following many inner-party struggles, though the Communist Party of India could adopt its first Party Program, Tactical Line and Policy Statement in 1951 for advancing the People’s Democratic Revolution (PDR), due to the right-opportunist line that began to dominate within the party by then, the CPI soon deviated from it.  The degeneration of Soviet leadership to revisionist path by the time of the 20^th Congress of the CPSU in 1956 and its influence over the CPI leadership aggravated this deviation. In this situation, the inner-party struggle intensified, leading to the 1964 split in CPI, and formation of CPI (M).  But the latter, unable to make a break from the revisionist positions, and due to mechanical approach on international and Indian issues, also started pursuing the ruling class politics as manifested through the policies that by the pursued the state governments in Kerala and West Bengal since early 1967 in which it had a leading role.

1.4 This was the context when, in continuation of the fierce ideological struggle against the neo-revisionism of CPI(M), that the CRs launched Agrarian Revolution based on land to the tiller culminating in the Naxalbari Uprising in May 1967.  It led to the formation of All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) and of the CPI (ML) with Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought as guiding ideology in April 1969. But on account of the influence of left adventurist and sectarian positions that dominated the Communist Party of China (CPC) at that time, the Program of CPI (ML) as adopted in 1970 Congress failed to make an objective evaluation of the postwar neocolonial transformation under imperialism, as well as the concrete Indian situation.  This led to erroneously equating Indian situation to that of pre-revolutionary China, and to dogmatically upholding the ‘semi-colonial, semi-feudal, protracted people’s war line’.  In spite of many sacrifices, due to the erroneous understanding of the international and national situation and influence of left adventurism together with intensification of state repression, the movement could not advance along the path of PDR/NDR; and by 1971 the CPI (ML) started disintegrating in to many groups.

1.5 Following these setbacks, there were many efforts to reorganize the Party from the perspective of rejecting the left adventurist line and adopting mass line. Especially after the revocation of the Emergency in 1977, there were many efforts by the different streams of the CR forces for unity, at a time when the international and national situation was undergoing fast changes, including China’s degeneration to capitalist path after Mao’s death. It was in the midst of the ideological-political struggle going on among the CRs, that the Central Reorganization Committee (CRC) was formed in 1979. Recognizing the fast neo-colonial transformation taking place in India, especially the vast changes in agriculture on account of Green Revolution (GR)-induced capitalist penetration, it resolved to make a concrete study of it in its First All India Conference of 1982. This study presented in a plenum in 1985 led to ideological, political and organizational divisions and to the formation of CPI (ML) Red Flag in 1987. In the ensuing decade, the process of achieving more ideological clarity on initiating international unity of the ML forces, caste and ecological questions, building up class/mass organizations, utilizing all forms of struggle including parliamentary struggle as part of class struggle, etc., led to expansion of the organization and merger with a section of DSS in Karnataka by 1990 and with many groups and individuals from other states. Though repeated discussions were held with almost all major CR organizations for unity during this period, as some sort of ideological stagnation had set in among them, no breakthrough could be achieved. It was in this situation that, in continuation of a series of discussions held with CPI (ML) (Kanu Sanyal), the Sixth All India Conference in 2003 decided to merge with it based on a Unity Resolution as adopted in the 2005 Unity Conference, in spite of major differences on questions of Program and Path of Revolution. It resolved to settle the differences through another Unity Conference to be held in a time-bound manner. But as there was no progress in resolving the differences and for holding the Unity Conference in a mutually agreed manner, this experiment failed and ended in January 2009.

1.6 In this situation, the All India Special Conference was held in 2009 November. The Conference adopted four documents, viz., International Situation and Our Tasks, On Character of Indian State, On Principal Contradiction, and Path of Revolution. On the basis of analysis of international and national developments, these documents characterized Indian state as neo-colonial, and adopted the Path of PDR/NDR for India. The adoption of these documents led to further developments in the ideological, political, and organizational line. This was reflected in the merger with CCR (ML) from Bengal, a delegation of which had attended the 2009 Conference as observers, and with whom unity discussions were initiated soon.

1.7 The Ninth Congress of the Party convened in 2011 adopted a Party Program that basically altered the 1970 Party Program of CPI (ML). It enabled the Party to consolidate itself as CPI (ML) Red Star. Adoption of the contradiction between capital and nature as the fifth major contradiction at both international and national levels, formation of Caste Annihilation Movement based on the understanding regarding the integral link between class struggle and struggle against caste system, and further theoretical understanding on neo-colonialism were the advancements in the 2011 Party Program.  It contributed to the development of the organization and paved the way for unity with the CPI (ML) Red Flag in Bengal, which was formerly part of the CPI (ML) New Democracy, and with the MLC, AP, which has consistently fought against the neo-revisionist line of the CPI (M) and upheld the Naxalbari Uprising under the leadership of Comrade Kolla Venkaiah. Many comrades and sections from different streams like CPI-ML Maharashtra also joined this process. The Tenth and Eleventh Congresses of CPI (ML) Red Star held in the context of mounting corporatization and advent of neo-fascism added more clarity to the Party’s ideological-political orientation.

Chapter 2

International Situation

2.1 In the context of socialist advancement, growing national liberation movements and worldwide people’s resistance against colonialism, imperialists came to know the unviability of colonial form of domination even before the end of Second World War. This led to a change from the colonial forms of plunder to postwar neo-colonialism led by US imperialism. Neocolonial forms of plunder and domination have been qualitatively different from those under colonialism. In the absence of direct territorial control over erstwhile colonial, semi-colonial and dependent countries, necessary political, economic, military and cultural arrangements for the uninterrupted global expansion and hegemony of finance capital came into being. The UN and Bretton Woods Systems, MNCs, and Funding Agencies, NATO-like military agreements, and establishment of military bases controlled by US imperialism, the supreme arbiter of the neocolonial world, ensured strengthening of imperialism’s uninterrupted interests at a global level. Unlike the colonial phase when finance capital made use of feudal-pre-capitalist relations, capital expansion under neo-colonialism was mainly made possible through the superimposition of capitalist relations in countries under neo-colonial dependence.

2.2 US imperialism had started preparations for this neocolonial initiative since the beginning of the 1940s even when the Second World War was going on. But the International Communist Movement (ICM) at that time could not grasp the gravity of this transformation. The dissolution of the Comintern in 1943 and the absence of any initiative to form an alternative to it, were its   manifestations. Though the Cominform formed in 1947 could identify the neocolonial strategy of imperialism, Khrushchev dissolved it in 1956. Together with his revisionist interpretation of the peaceful transition to socialism, Khruschev characterised neo-colonialism as a weakening of imperialism. However, putting forward the strategic line of the ICM through the Great Debate, the CPC led by Mao Zedong came forward exposing this whitewashing of neo-colonialism by Soviet leadership that started traversing the capitalist path by then.

2.3 Characterizing Soviet revisionists as “apologists of neo-colonialism”, and analysing the intensified post-war penetration of finance capital into Afro-Asian Latin American countries, CPC interpreted neo-colonialism as a “more pernicious and sinister form of colonialism”. However, in spite of concretely situating postwar transformation of colonialism into neo-colonialism, as far as the available documents reveal, there had been little efforts on the part of CPC to unravel the strategy and tactics of imperialism in the neocolonial phase. On the other hand, as part of the ascendancy of left sectarianism in the CPC during the Cultural Revolution, along with the idea of a weakened imperialism, the erroneous conceptualization of ‘Soviet social imperialism’ as the  bigger evil than US imperialism was also put forward, imparting immense harm to the ideological-political line of the ICM.

2.4 At the same time, even as US-led imperialism had been launching its multidimensional neocolonial offensive, in spite of weaknesses, there was the presence of a powerful progressive stream of socialism led by Soviet Union and national liberation movements in the immediate postwar years. The consequent ideological-political offensive on the part of the ICM compelled US-led imperialism to envisage a policy of welfare state as an ideological weapon against socialism during this period. But when the imperialist crisis on account of the accentuation of the contradictions of capital accumulation resurfaced in the 1970s in the form of stagflation, taking advantage of the ideological-political setbacks of the ICM, imperialism abandoned the welfare state policies and embraced neoliberalism.

2.5. Under neoliberalism, application of the latest developments in technology enabled imperialism to have an unprecedented expansion in money-spinning corporate-speculation on the one hand, and an internationalisation of production including a new global division of labour leading to a super-exploitation of the international working class. Along with the intensified plunder of labour, neoliberalism also witnessed a mad rush for the plunder of nature leading to ecological crisis of horrific proportions, whose manifestations including massive displacement of people from their habitat and consequent refugee crisis are already self-evident. The emergence of COVID-19 pandemic which is a turning point in human history, is also recognised as the latest outcome of corporate intrusion in to nature giving rise to newer zoonotic viruses.

2.6. Even though the imperialist crisis has intensified further leading to a shift in neocolonial policy towards neoliberalism, the international situation is still that of imperialism and proletarian revolution. Meanwhile neoliberal globalisation of the past decades has intensified all the major contradictions of imperialist world system such as: the contradiction between imperialism and the oppressed peoples and nations, the contradiction between capital and labour, the contradiction among imperialist countries and monopoly  groups, the contradiction between imperialist system and socialist forces, and contradiction between capital and nature, the last one being adopted at the Ninth Congress of CPI (ML) Red Star in 2011. Among these five major contradictions, the contradiction between imperialism on the one hand, and oppressed peoples and nations on the other continues as the principal contradiction at the international level.

2.7. During the first two decades of the 21^st century, using the latest advancements in frontier technologies including digitisation, imperialism has resorted to further reorganisation of the accumulation process and a restructuring of both productive and speculative spheres. Consequently, finance capital has subjected every sphere of social activity including corporatisation of agriculture resulting in unprecedented global inequality and wealth concentration, poverty, unemployment and ecological destruction. More particularly, even as labour productivity is fast growing, real wages are going down leading to super-exploitation of workers everywhere. Meanwhile, the 2008 imperialist crisis has given rise to concomitant changes in the political superstructure as manifested in the emergence of neo-fascism in many countries targeted against workers, peasants, women, ethnic, racial and religious minorities, immigrants, refugees and other oppressed, together with the elimination of all hard-earned democratic rights and unleashing of corporate capital on all aspects of social life. 

2.8. One of the most striking international developments in the 21st century is the emergence of China as a leading imperialist power, second only to the US. After the death of Mao Zedong in 1976, China was also subjected to capitalist restoration. The consequent replacement of the People’s Republic with bureaucratic state monopoly capitalism, and its integration with imperialist finance capital eventually transformed China into an imperialist power effectively contending with US imperialism with specific geopolitical interests. China’s advantage as a low-wage manufacturing hub of the world and its relative mastery over many frontier technologies have enabled it to carve out neocolonial spheres of influence competing with western imperialist powers, especially the US. And its efforts to encroach into global markets for goods, for capital export, and cut-throat competition for sources of raw materials have brought China into sharp contradiction with the other imperialist powers, especially US imperialism. 

Chapter 3

India from Past to the Present

3.1 Our country India, inhabited by more than 1.4 billion people, is one of the biggest countries in the world.  It is a multi-national, multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-religious country coupled with deeply entrenched hierarchical caste system with vast diversities and complexities. It has a great past with an ancient civilization called Indus Valley Civilisation on the banks of Sindhu dating back to around 6000 years. At the same time, Neolithic civilization was predominant across the vast landmass of southern India. Latest (fourth phase) excavations at Keezhadi, Tamil Nadu points to a higher phase of civilization belonging to bronze age dating back to 6^th century BCE with its possible link between the Indus scripts and that of Tamil-Brahmi.  The Indus Valley Civilization, the discontinuity of which has led to many hypotheses, was followed by another civilization called the Vedic Civilization which reshaped the entire socio-political history of the North and Central India. In spite of many ruptures, the legacy and continuation of the Vedic Civilization have been decisive in determining the course of Indian class struggle.

3.2 The development of productive forces during the Vedic period led to the gradual emergence of classes in the form of Varnas, and class division took the form called varna division. Thus, varna struggle emerged as the form of class struggle in ancient India. In the later Vedic period, the Brahmins and the Kshatriyas emerged as the ruling classes in the vast land mass of the country. As opposed to this ruling section, another combination made up of Vaisyas and Shudras also emerged at that time. According to the concrete situation prevailing then, this latter combination was composed of the real producers and the toiling masses of the country. The State system firmly founded in this class division that emerged during the later Vedic period replacing the Shabha and Samiti, erstwhile political organizations of the Aryans, continued for around five hundred years.

3.3 The end of this period that coincided with the fall the Mauryan rule was marked by the advent of Manuvadi or Manu-ist State. This new ruling system paved the way for institutionalization of the varna-division and its transformation into Caste system. Manusmriti, the ideology of the Manuvadi State considered all women as Shudras. This fierce patriarchal ruling system that emerged in ancient India continues even today without any change in its essence. As a result, caste struggle and gender struggle have been developing as two integral aspects of Indian class struggle from the very beginning.

3.4 The arrival of Sultanate followed by the Mughals since the middle-ages brought many changes; but they never touched the caste-based social fabric of the country and in no way altered the basic course of Indian class struggle. However, towards the latter half of the Mughal rule in India, the coming of the guild system and robust mercantile capital that laid down the base for indigenous capitalist development led to the emergence of widespread money economy and a centralized state power.

3.5 Meanwhile, colonial domination over India started since the mercantile days.  Though the colonialists as represented by the East India Company tried to alter the specific political-economic system as suited to its plunder of India; it was very particular from the beginning not to interfere with the millennium-old caste system here. The Zamindari system was superimposed with the Permanent Settlement Act of 1793 entrusting perpetual ownership right of land to landlords, and denying even occupancy rights to the real tillers of the soil.  Along with the Mahalwari and Ryotwari systems in which land revenue was collected from farmers by government agents, the Zamindari system, first introduced in Bengal, became the dominant feudal form of land relations that formed the social basis of colonialism over India.

3.6 The First War of Indian Independence in 1857 was the culmination of a series of uprisings and revolts by Indian people against colonialism that started with the Portuguese; which ultimately led to British East Company’s domination over India. These innumerable struggles that spread across the length and breadth of Indian subcontinent starting with the Battle of Plassey were led not only by native rulers but also by peasants, tribal people, and by artisans against destruction of agriculture, domestic industries and livelihood, against forcible revenue and tax collection and oppression by colonialists.

3.7 After the brutal suppression of the First War of Indian Independence, Britain pursued a policy of consolidation of the caste-feudal agrarian relations by transforming the local kings and feudal lords as their faithful allies. Learning lessons from the anti-British unity in the First War of Independence, the post-1857 British policy was one of ‘divide and rule’, mainly based on Hindu-Muslim communal polarisation. During the flourishing years of British industrial capitalism, all efforts were made to transform India as a source of raw materials and a market for finished British goods by destroying traditional and infantile native Indian industries through trade and tariff policies. Consolidation of British colonial administration including military and police over India together with building up of railways, posts and telegraph, monetary system, banks and credit institutions and infrastructures led to the subordination of everything to British colonial interests. The merchant class which was promoted as the intermediaries and middlemen later got transformed in to the comprador bourgeois class who served to integrate India with the British colonial system. Through the introduction of English education system, a comprador bureaucratic class capable of serving the colonial state apparatus also was developed. A minor section of the lower castes, who were so far denied education, also got limited access to modern education.

3.8 The suppression of the First War of Indian Independence and shift from Company rule to direct rule by British government witnessed a surge in people’s upsurges including revolts of adivasis from various parts of India. Influence of modern education and bourgeois democratic ideas led to the emergence of renaissance and social reform movements and spread of political consciousness against colonialism throughout the country. It was in this context that Indian National Congress was formed with the involvement of colonialists as a safety valve to contain and divert people’s fury against colonial administration. The emerging comprador bourgeoisie, big landlord class and bureaucratic sections had their sway over the Congress. In spite of all these, it gradually became an arena for the national movement against the colonial rule. And, the Congress started spreading its influence all over the country. But its class character prevented Congress from unleashing the revolutionary zeal of the masses against the colonial rulers.  It was satisfied with ‘dominion status’ within the British Common Wealth.

3.9 Amidst the ruin of indigenous and traditional industries, the emergence of modern industries and growth of service sectors had led to the growth of the working class and the trade union movement by the last decade of 19th century. The 1907 Indian textile workers’ strike got international attention, even applauded by Lenin. The October Revolution gave new impetus to working class and national liberation movements all over the world. It had its repercussions in India too. Formation of Communist Party and emergence of Khilafat movement enthused the anti-colonial movement and the demand for full independence became the rallying point, compelling even the Congress to adopt it. First half of the 1920s also witnessed the advent of fascist RSS with its servitude to Britain and close proximity to Fascism and Nazism from the very beginning.  The 1920s also saw emergence of different revolutionary streams like the one led by Bhagat Singh. Ambedkar as the leader of the untouchables came to the political arena and publicly burned the Manusmriti which the RSS later suggested as India’s Constitution.

3.10 The decades that followed saw a surge in working class and anti-feudal struggles. Many of these struggles led by the Communists were influenced by Comintern’s guiding principles of PDR in the colonial, semi-colonial and dependent countries. The document “Draft Platform for Action” prepared by CPI in 1930 which put forward a clear perspective on the anti-imperialist and people’s democratic tasks including concrete approach towards abolition of caste, should be seen in relation to this. During the 1930s, there remained a cordial relation between the Communists and Ambedkar and both jointly participated in many workers struggles till the late 1930s.

3.11 However, the CPI leadership failed to develop a concrete understanding of the comprador character of the emerging big bourgeoisie, who under the fostering care and economic protection of the colonial rulers made fabulous wealth accumulation by that time. The mechanical approach of evaluating India’s caste system as a super-structural phenomenon and failure to grasp how it was interwoven with India’s social formation cutting across both base and superstructure, made the Communist Party incapable to lead the struggles of both the working class and the oppressed, and thus to establish its leadership in the independence struggle. It was like surrendering the leadership of the Indian people’s struggle for liberation from colonial oppression to Congress and Muslim league. Its mechanical approach to Quit India Movement also did immense harm. Though the CPI led the militant Telengana-Tebhaga-Punnapra-Wayalar struggles and played an active role in Naval Revolt against British colonialism, no effort was there to rectify the past mistakes.

3.12 In the context of the postwar situation when qualitative transformations were taking place at the global level based on the US-led imperialist strategy of ‘de-colonisation’, British imperialists succeeded to communally divide the Indian sub-continent into two countries with formal political independence. But the CPI again failed to grasp this transitional nature of power transfer as part of the transformation from imperialism’s colonial phase to neocolonial phase. Its June 1947 Resolution hastily characterized the Mountbatten Plan as an opening up of “new opportunities for national advance”. However, in December, in continuation of the Cominform Resolution of October 1947, it interpreted the situation as transfer of political power to “imperialist feudal-bourgeois combine”.  The Party Documents formulated in 1951 reflected this class position. Later, the 1956 Fourth Congress of CPI that accepted the Khruschevian prognosis of “weakening of the camp of imperialism”, made a turn around and adopted the formulation of “political independence of India”.

3.13 After the 1947 transfer of power, the Congress government representing the interests of comprador bureaucratic bourgeois-big landlord classes serving imperialism opened the country for the penetration of foreign capital from all imperialist countries on a larger scale. While refusing to implement the land reforms based on “land to the tiller” as promised during the independence struggle, it went for top-down land reforms including abolition of Zamindari system and went for cosmetic land ceiling laws leading to a change in old feudal land relations. In effect, in the main, the land reforms implemented did not make land available to the peasantry, the tillers of the soil, but it enabled erstwhile zamindars and feudal landlords to transform themselves into capitalist farmers and a new agricultural bourgeois class who acted as the base for implementing GR in the ensuing period. It paved the way for opening up of agriculture for the entry of finance capital, new agricultural technologies and inputs and agribusiness market forces. As a result, the erstwhile colonial policy of utilising feudalism as the social base lost its relevance in the neocolonial phase of imperialism.

3.14 The Nehruvian state-led development paradigm pursued till the advent of neoliberalism had been the Indian variant of postwar Keynesian welfare state practiced by imperialism at the global level.  However, as the imperialist crisis re-appeared in the form of stagflation during the 1970s, and taking advantage of the ideological-political setbacks of the International Communist Movement, imperialism abandoned welfare state and embraced neoliberalism. And the Indian state also started moving towards neoliberal policies since the 1980s. During the post-Cold War phase since 1990s, when neoliberalism spread to the whole world through liberalisation-privatisation-globalisation, the Indian state formally abandoned Nehruvian policies and started wantonly pursuing IMF-World Bank-WTO diktats. State’s role as an initiator of development and welfare-provider gave way to its neoliberal role as a facilitator of unfettered corporate plunder.

3.15 The three decades of neoliberalism in India since 1990s, in conformity with its inherent logic of maximum corporate wealth accumulation within the shortest possible time, has led to a ballooning of the speculative financial sphere and a relative stagnation of the productive economy including de-industrialisation. Vast majority of the working poor and partially employed are forced to depend on the expanding informal and unorganised sectors devoid of all erstwhile hard-earned rights by working class. Almost half of the people still subsist on agriculture and allied sectors. All imperialist-controlled frontier technologies including digitisation are used to subject workers to super-exploitation and pushing down real wages by depriving their collective bargaining power. Its outcome has been horrific levels of wealth concentration, inequality, unemployment, poverty and corruption with its cultural ramifications including all round criminalisation of society. While the country’s wealth and income are increasingly concentrated among the growing number of billionaires along with unprecedented wealth repatriation outside by MNCs and stashing away of national wealth in foreign tax havens, India remains home to the biggest chunk of the poorest and most deprived people in the world.

3.16 Since the ascendance of the RSS-led neo-fascist Modi government in 2014, neoliberal-corporatisation pursued since the 1990s took a more far-right turn. Modi regime abolished the more than six-and-a-half decade-old Planning Commission, India’s last remnant of state-led development. To whiten the huge unaccounted money holdings with the most corrupt corporate billionaires, Demonetisation was superimposed in the guise of a surgical strike against corruption.  It sucked out whatever left in the arteries of common people. By denying cash, the life-blood of the informal sectors and daily transactions, it led the economy to a paralysed state. This was followed by the GST that deprived the State governments of their Federal right of resource mobilisation and shifted the tax burden on to the shoulders of common people, even as Indian corporate tax rates were brought down to the lowest level in the world. To cap it all, the Modi regime carried out one of the biggest disinvestment programs, a euphemism for sell-out of the whole public sector to both foreign and Indian corporates at throw-away prices. And corruption, as an inalienable component of neoliberal corporatization, has permeated to all layers of the ruling system.

3.17 To eliminate the remaining hurdles in the way of unfettered penetration of corporate capital, the corporate saffron-fascist regime is replacing the 44 labour laws that existed in India with four Labour Codes taking away all democratic rights of workers including lengthening of the labour-time from 8 hours. An outcome of strengthening neoliberal policies over the years has been rapid growth of the unorganised/informal workers who now constitute around 95 percent of the 52 crore Indian working class. All erstwhile environmental regulations that stood in the way of corporate plunder of nature were taken away. New Educational Policy -2020 (NEP-2020) was promulgated to facilitate corporatisation and saffronisation of education. And through the three draconian laws in relation to agriculture, that led to world’s historic and most prolonged Farmers’ Struggle, everything connected with agriculture ranging from farming, land ownership, agriculture marketing and even the country’s food security are brought under the stranglehold of corporate agribusiness companies displacing peasants from land and agriculture. The advent of COVID-19 pandemic and the most stringent and coercive lockdown that followed in the context of the complete transformation of the Indian state as a facilitator of corporatisation had led India to a historic deindustrialization, unemployment and economic contraction even as the speculative spheres are ballooning. Even amidst this crisis, the Indian State enjoys the support of major section of the upper middle class and corporate media.

3.18 Meanwhile, internationalisation of production and global integration of finance capital have enabled many of the emerging Indian corporate billionaires to become junior partners of MNCs even while retaining  their dependence on imperialism in relation to technology and market. The Indian State’s policy decisions, both domestic and foreign, are still subject to the diktats of neocolonial-neoliberal institutions. This has its political ramifications. In the context of changes in inter-imperialist contradictions and shifting global balance of power at the international level together with cut-throat competition among various imperialist powers for market, raw materials and avenues of investment, the Indian state has also acquired substantial capacity to bargain with imperialists. With the dissolution of the Soviet bloc followed by post-Cold War neoliberalism, as junior partner of US imperialism and as its strategic ally, Indian state has also displayed its expansionist designs in South Asia, that too within the broader framework of its neocolonial dependence on imperialism.

3.19 All round corporatisation and superimposed capitalist relations, instead of eliminating feudal remnants and values, have merged with the latter, have led to a strengthening of reaction in more barbaric forms. The corporate-saffron fascist regime is propping up all obscurantist, feudal, casteist and patriarchal offensives in new and intensified manner. Consequently, Dalits, adivasis, women and minorities are subjected to still more oppression. In particular, integrating with corporatisation, casteism and untouchability and reinforced by Brahmanical ideology and culture have become omnipresent including even in institutions of higher education and scientific research. It calls for an uncompromising struggle for the annihilation of caste as one of the most crucial tasks of democratic revolution. Abolition of all the patriarchal institutions and structures that are flourishing under the patronage of Indian state and society is another decisive task of democratisation.

3.20 Meanwhile, the abandoning of Nehruvian State-led development and transformation of the State as corporate-facilitator have led to an accentuation in the inherent contradictions and tensions in caste-ridden Indian society.  The Mandal Commission Report that came in the 1980s had recommended land reforms, reservation and ensuring of social justice to improve the pathetic situation of oppressed lower-castes. However, instead of implementing them, the ruling class parties were trying to utilise it in accordance with their caste-based vote-bank politics. And the saffron forces that always upheld the Brahmanical Manuvad line and hence being vehemently opposed to Mandal recommendations, counterpoised the Mandir issue against it, resulting in acute caste polarisation and caste-hatred in society. It was by taking advantage of the consequent socio-political turmoil that conceptualisations like “economic reservation” and  “creamy layer” were brought forward diluting the very concept of caste-based reservation. Together with this, downsizing of the public sector and growth of private corporate sector have further curtailed the scope of reservation as a democratic right of the oppressed castes.

3.21 The advent of neofascism in India led by RSS, the longest running and biggest fascist organisation in the world, is also coterminous with the emergence of neoliberalism. Taking advantage of the Emergency of mid-1970s in the context of the political-economic instability and aggravation of contradictions in the country, RSS came to the limelight and replaced Jan Sangh with BJP which became India’s biggest political party within a short span of time. Effectively utilising the facilitating role of the soft-Hindutva approach of the Congress and the neoliberal situation, through a long drawn-out process beginning with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement, demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992, BJP rule during 1998-2004, Gujarat Pogrom in 2002, and the ascendance of Modi regime in 2014 and followed by the thumbing victory Modi.2 in 2019 election, the RSS succeeded in establishing its full-fledged fascist regime in India.

3.22 As its manifestation, all the constitutional, institutional and administrative structures are being saffronised to suit this fascist transformation. Forcible integration of Kashmir into Indian Union through abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, construction of Ram Temple at the very site of Babri Masjid, making Muslims as second class citizens by amending the Citizenship Act and through a series of steps directed at saffronisation of education and culture, and undermining all Federal provisions of the Indian Constitution, RSS is now moving towards its ultimate goal of establishing a majoritarian Hindurashtra. Superimposing a pan-Indian homogenizing drive over multinational, multilingual, multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious essence of India and rejecting all values of modernity including rational-scientific thinking, fostering the cult of tradition and obscurantism, treating dissent and disagreement as treason,  and targeting communists and progressive-democratic forces, and above all uncompromisingly  integrating itself with corporate finance capital, the RSS-led BJP regime has become a typical neo-fascist one.

3.23 In conformity with the conspicuous international trend towards intensified plunder of nature by corporate-speculative capital under neoliberalism, India also has been witnessing unprecedented ecological devastation during this neoliberal phase. At the instance of global corporates and their Indian junior partners, all laws and regulations in India pertaining to environmental protection are being taken way one by one. The latest EIA amendment, that legalizes the corporate violation of hitherto restrictions on ecologically sensitive and fragile areas and massive displacement of people from their habitat, is the most notorious among them. An essential component of the so called “ease of doing business” and “investor-friendly” measures taken to attract foreign capital is the import of ecologically harmful and toxic industries and dumping of obsolete nuclear plants in the country. At this critical juncture, when the whole issue of ecology and environment is inseparably linked up with the operation of corporate capital, the initiative for a development paradigm in harmony with nature has become the indispensable component of people’s democracy and socialism.  

Chapter 4

Stage and Path of Indian Revolution

4.1 Under the camouflage of ‘de-colonisation’ when the colonial phase of imperialism was transformed into a qualitatively new phase of neocolonialism, as explained in Chapter 2, this shift was  conditioned upon the unabated multidimensional expansion and hegemony of global finance capital. It resulted in a shift from Indian comprador bourgeoisie’s unilateral dependence on Britain to its multilateral dependence on world imperialist system led by US. The transformation from colonial mode of production in accordance with logic of imperialist capital also necessitated the abolition of zamindari system paving the way for penetration of capitalist relations in agriculture through such policies as GR, along with continuation of many pre-capitalist relations.

4.2 Together with this, the adoption of Nehruvian state-led development paradigm enabled the Indian state to have a whole set of infrastructures and service sectors coupled with research and development in the public sector while in the main depending on imperialism for capital and technology. When socialist Soviet Union degenerated to a social imperialist superpower and the inter-imperialist contradictions between US and Soviet Union intensified through Cold War, this contradiction was reflected in the Indian ruling classes too. Often, this inter-imperialist contradiction was utilized by the Indian State for maneuvering and bargaining between the two super-power blocs till the 1970s. With the onset of neoliberalism, this background enabled Indian big bourgeoisie to transform as junior partner of US imperialism and as its strategic ally and regional power in South Asia. It also facilitated the Indian big corporates who could make fabulous wealth appropriation through neoliberal accumulation to expand its overseas activities collaborating with MNCs.

4.3 The political ramifications of the Indian State’s transition from an initiator of development during welfare capitalism to a corporate facilitator under neoliberalism and its further intensification with the advent of corporate-Saffron fascism have made the entire constitutional and parliamentary framework a mere edifice devoid of its bourgeois-democratic content. Parliament has become a spectator as the pro-corporate-neo-fascist laws and strategic decisions are passed in haste without debates or subjecting to consultation and the scrutiny by appropriate parliamentary committees. Policy decisions pertaining to strategic issues are taken in corporate-bureaucratic board-rooms while the executive and corporate-nominated bureaucrats bypass elected bodies from central to local levels. All instruments of administration including military, security forces and police backed by draconian laws and special powers and supported by corporate media are unleashed on protestors, political dissenters, striking workers, nationalities, minorities and all oppressed including dalits and adivasis.  All democratic rights are being snatched away. Though outward manifestations of bourgeois parliamentary democracy are there, in essence, entire mechanism of state power is under the firm grip of corporate-fascist regime collaborating with imperialist capital.

4.4 In this context, the corporate big bourgeoisie and bureaucratic class collaborating with imperialism and as perpetrators of neoliberal policies in India are the biggest enemies of Indian people. Together with the huge wealth accumulation and in the process creating horrific levels of inequality and poverty in India, the super-rich among the Indian corporates as junior partners of imperialism also make financial gains in other countries too. They are the biggest obstacle for an independent, sustainable and people-oriented development of India.

4.5 Linked up with the big bourgeois-bureaucratic class is the corporate agribusiness landlord class, who has become a deadly force on account of corporatisation of agriculture. Closely integrating with the imperialist economy, and as junior partners of global agribusiness MNCs, this emerging section facilitates subjugation of the entire agriculture ranging from land, agriculture inputs, procurement and marketing encompassing both wholesale and retail trade to the diktats of international capital.

4.6 The fast penetration of corporate capital into agriculture and allied sectors is making the survival of Indian farmers difficult. Not only the middle peasants and those below, but even the rich peasants who cannot compete with agribusiness MNCs, and their Indian counterparts are forced to oppose the latter. Even though the rich farmers have many contradictions, in varying degrees, with the middle, lower and landless peasants and agricultural workers who form the vast majority in the agriculture, corporate forces have become the principal enemy for Indian agriculture today, as is evident from the historic farmers’ struggle.

4.7 Neoliberal corporatisation and growing integration of India with global capital and superimposition of imperialist-dictated policies in agriculture, industry, trade and services have brought forward the contradiction between the national bourgeois sections and corporate capital in manifold ways. In spite of their existence being intertwined with the dominant corporate-bureaucratic bourgeois class in general, their contradiction with the latter has become an increasing trend under intensifying corporatisation. With the development of the struggles of the working class, peasantry and the oppressed, the possibility of those sections with a national bourgeois character joining the revolutionary movement will increase.

4.8 The petty bourgeoisie, including the middle peasants, because of its size and class character is a significant class with the possibility of being a dependable ally of the revolution. The lower middle class which constitutes a major part of it, which may be called its left wing, is facing ever-intensifying pauperisation and misery under corporatisation. Consequent on far-right polices, large sections of this class have pauperised and fallen to the level of poor workers. This class can be won over to the cause of revolution through politicisation and appropriate organisational interventions.

4.9 The landless, poor peasants and agricultural workers including the dalits, adivasis, and oppressed sections, who are also the real tillers of the soil and confined mainly to agriculture and related activities, and having  a life of subsistence, constitute almost half of the population. Due to agricultural corporatization and corporate land grab, those displaced from agriculture and the countryside are forced to migrate to urban centers and joining the ranks of slum dwellers and informal workers, and hence a large component of the Indian work force. Concrete political-organisations interventions are needed to organise them.

4.10 The Indian working class forms one of the largest contingents of international proletariat, vast majority of them in unorganised/informal sectors. The new division of labour that is superimposed using advancements in technology including digitisation has accentuated this informalisation, as more and more sections of the workers in the organised sector are pushed in to the unorganised sector and to the stature of bonded labourers through contract labour and casualization. India’s caste system, vast diversities and unevenness are effectively used by the ruling regime to break the unity of the working class.

4.11 Politicisation and mobilisation of Indian working class and transforming it as leader of revolution is the primary task of the Communist Party in its march towards capture of political power. It begins with the building up of the People’s Democratic Front based on the worker-peasant alliance uniting with the middle classes and the national bourgeoisie which is a vacillating ally. This will replace the existing reactionary State with the People’s Democratic State paving the way for completing the tasks of people’s democracy and move towards socialism which in essence comprise both the stage and path of Indian revolution.

4.12 The present main contradictions in India are to be analysed from this perspective. Today the major contradictions are:

The contradiction between neoliberal imperialism and the people;

The contradiction between capital and labour;

The contradiction between capital and nature;

The contradiction between the corporate-big landlord classes and the broad masses of the peasantry; and,

The contradiction among the ruling classes.

And the principal contradiction has transformed into:

The contradiction between the alliance of imperialist-corporate bureaucratic bourgeois-landlord classes on the one hand and the broad masses of people on the other.

4.13 The resolution of the principal contradiction is dialectically linked up with the resolution of the other antagonistic contradictions. In the neo-fascist context, the anti-fascist people’s front led by the Communist Party composed of the working class, the peasantry, and all exploited and oppressed should be capable of tactically utilizing the contradictions among various sections of the ruling classes in its march towards capture of political power. It means combining the countrywide struggles of the working class with the revolutionary agrarian struggles and fulfilling the task of agrarian revolution according to concrete conditions, combining all other forms of struggles with it. Upholding the path of revolutionary mass line, and utilizing all forms of struggle and organizations, the party should take initiative to mobilize the working class and all revolutionary classes and sections for a massive countrywide people’s uprising to overthrow the Indian state and to seize political power.

Chapter 5

Program of People’s Democracy

5.1 The People’s Democratic State will be a Union of States representing different nationalities. It shall be distinguished by a Constitution based on Federal Principles upholding their linguistic, ethnic and cultural rights and aspirations. Such a Constitution will be drafted by a Constituent Assembly to be elected on the basis of universal suffrage, representing the workers, peasants, oppressed peoples and democratic sections from the people’s committees at all levels. It shall guarantee democratic rights of people and that of all democratic organisations, including their right to express their views, to get organized for their rights and to participate in the democratic political process.

5.2 Such a Constitution will be based on the principle of all powers to the people, with the power being transferred to the various committees of the workers, peasants and oppressed people that emerge from the revolutionary struggle at all levels from the local to the national level. It shall provide for the right to recall the elected representatives at all levels to ensure their accountability and shall do away with the separation between the executive and legislative powers. Officials at all levels including judiciary and administration shall be elected, and subject to the control and supervision of the people.

5.3 The President of the Union shall be elected by the People’s Congress at the level of Union and States and shall function according to the rules and policies framed by the People’s Congress. The People’s Democratic State will have a People’s Army linked with production and serving people’s interests. Police and security forces of the present ruling system shall be replaced by the people’s militia under local administration with people’s empowerment as its orientation.

5.4 The People’s Democratic State shall confiscate all imperialist-corporate capital, land and assets held by MNCs and corporate forces. It shall ensure the development of cooperative and public sectors at all levels and the social ownership of all means of production so as to facilitate the transformation towards socialism.

5.5 The People’s Democratic State shall liquidate country’s debts owed to imperialists and scrap all unequal treaties or agreements with imperialist countries and agencies which are against people’s interests. It shall withdraw from neo-colonial institutions such as IMF, WB and WTO and will put an end to all speculative and imperialist funded activities in the country. It will strive for equal, fraternal and friendly economic and international relations and shall free the country from all forms of imperialist exploitation, interference and bullying.

5. 6 It shall confiscate all enterprises and properties of Indian junior partners of imperialism and that of bureaucratic bourgeois class, and corporate crony capitalists and land of all sorts of landlords so as to bring them under social control. In view of the multidimensional impact of the spectacular growth in speculation over production which is inseparably linked up with the decay of corporate capital today, the People’s Democratic State shall take appropriate measures to wipe it out. It shall root-out all avenues for corruption and mafia activities from top to bottom. It shall get back the money stashed away in foreign tax havens by the corrupt. It shall confiscate the unaccounted wealth holdings in mutts and religious institutions. Economic offenders shall be dealt with according law.

5.7 All forms of corporatisation of agriculture shall be ended forthwith. Implement revolutionary land reforms based on “land to the tiller”. Abolish all pre-capitalist relations in agriculture. Plantations and farms owned by foreign and Indian corporates shall be taken over and brought under public or cooperative ownership and farming according to the concrete situation. Abolish all forms of bonded labour and usury and intermediaries in agriculture. Agriculture shall be developed to ensure national food security and self-reliance with appropriate linkage with other sectors and with the perspective of biological and ecological conservation.

5.8 Implement six hour working day and five day week progressively in all sectors. Redefine need-based minimum wage and implement it. Ensure employment for all and assure minimum wage for all involuntarily unemployed. End contract and bonded labour in all forms. Ensure right to organize, collective bargaining and hold strike as the democratic rights of the working class.

5.9 Implement comprehensive national industrial policy. Develop healthy and balanced relation among heavy, medium and small industries, and between urban and rural regions and avoid unevenness in development across the country. Encourage indigenous scientific research and development to move away from dependence on foreign technology. Develop the service sector including banking, insurance and credit institutions with its proper linkage with agriculture and industry and prevent all types of speculative businesses. Develop infrastructural projects taking the overall interests of the people and country in to consideration.

5.10 Ensure universal public distribution system, free and compulsory education, healthcare, housing and employment for all. Develop a comprehensive sports policy and implement it with people’s participation. Develop a people’s cultural policy. Hitherto experience of the socialist countries’ degeneration to capitalist path teaches that, the struggle to revolutionize the culture, the mode of thinking and uphold revolutionary social values should be taken up from the pre-revolutionary period itself and developed under the proletarian democracy.

5.11 Abolish all draconian laws. Ensure democratization of the administration and society at all levels. Ensure people’s privacy subject to collective common good. Abolish death penalty from the statutes.

5.12 The People’s Democratic State shall take concrete steps for the abolition of the inhuman caste system. Eradicate all forms of untouchability, caste-oppression and caste-discrimination from all spheres of life. All caste-practices and reactionary institutions should be suppressed and the perpetrators of such crimes shall be punished. Ensuring caste-based reservation till the wiping out of all caste-discriminations along with required affirmative actions for uplifting the Dalits and oppressed castes and priority to them in land-distribution based on the principle ‘land to the tiller’, along with appropriate administrative and cultural interventions.

5.13 Stop all forms of gender discrimination. Abolish patriarchy in all its manifestations and stop religion and caste-based oppression on women. Stop all forms of discrimination and attacks on women at work places. Stop female infanticide. Ensure women’s equality in all fields, property right to women and equal pay for equal work. All women shall have opportunities to engage in socially productive labor with women-specific and gender-friendly working conditions. In the place of the patriarchal, religious-caste-based family system, the People’s State shall ensure conjugal life of partners irrespective of gender, based on mutual love, respect and consent.

5.14 In view of the exploitation, oppression and marginalization suffered by people of different genders and sexualities such as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, etc. (LGBTQIA+), the People’s Democratic State shall take appropriate measures for the protection of the entire spectrum of people that come under the broad category of LGBTQIA+.

5.15 Guarantee protection of all children. Ensure children’s education and healthcare, both mental and physical, and abolish all forms of exploitation of children including child labour. Ensure the protection of senior citizens in all respects.

5.16 Ensure right of self-determination for all nationalities. The People’s Republic shall strive for unity of peoples of various nationalities not by force but by their voluntary consent and based on federal principles. Settle the Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast questions based on the right of self-determination to all nationalities. Ensure education in mother tongue as a fundamental right of people together with equal treatment for all languages and cultures by the Union of States.

5.17 Abolish all forms of exploitation and oppression of adivasis. Protect their right over the natural resources. End their displacement in the name of development projects. Establish adivasi autonomous councils wherever required with full powers and democratic rights.

5.18 Ensure genuine secular character of the state structure. Abolish all discriminations based on religion and protect the religious minorities. End all efforts by religious fundamentalist forces for communalization of the society. Stop religious institutions from entering public domain like education, healthcare and such other fields. Religion should be dealt as a private affair of the individual. The People’s Democratic state shall strictly implement the secular principle of separation between state and religion.

5.19 The People’s Democratic State shall ensure a development paradigm that is in harmony with nature. In view of the immense harm already inflicted on the ecology of earth by corporate capital, concrete plans should be worked out to protect environment and to avoid an ecological catastrophe. It shall strive for a pro-people, pro-nature and sustainable development paradigm.

5.20 Implement secular, gender-friendly, democratic and scientific education accessible to all. All hitherto corporate-saffron moves in the direction of corporatization and saffronisation of education should be reversed forthwith. It is duty of the People’s Democratic State to provide universal, free, uniform and compulsory education for all children in their mother tongue, and ensure facilities for higher education to all. Abolish all elitist schools and those controlled by religious-casteist forces and stop discrimination in the field of education.

5.21 Develop people’s democratic and gender-friendly culture fighting against the influence of feudal and imperialist cultural values. Promote scientific outlook in all fields. As imperialism and its lackeys are utilizing their influences in the superstructure to subjugate people to their plunder and hegemony, the relevance of a Cultural Revolution based on hitherto experience of the former socialist countries as a continuous process should be given great significance, especially in the context of many existing pre-capitalist values, and capitalist restoration in all these socialist countries.

5.22 Based on equality and peaceful co-existence, establish friendly relations in all fields with the neighboring countries. Resolve all boundary disputes through friendly negotiations.

5.23 Uphold proletarian internationalism. Strive for the unity of the Marxist-Leninist parties at international level. Unite with all progressive and anti- imperialist forces all over the world and strive to establish fraternal relations with the revolutionary forces against imperialism, especially US imperialism, and its lackeys. Actively struggle against US led aggressions and barbaric hegemonic moves creating havoc everywhere.

5.24 Stand in solidarity with people all over the world in the struggle for democracy and socialism. As several institutions and agencies built up during the post-Second World War period including the UNO are serving as the tools for intensification of neo-colonial plunder and hegemony, the People’s Democratic Republic should initiate moves to progressively build up alternative international centres of People’s Democratic and Socialist countries based on the principles of proletarian internationalism.

Chapter 6

Conclusion: Complete the Tasks of PDR, and Advance Toward Socialist Revolution!

6.1 CPI (ML) Red Star puts forward its updated Party Program for completion of PDR and advancing towards Socialist Revolution in India at a time when neoliberal imperialism confronted with severest crisis is shifting its whole burden to the shoulders of world people. As its manifestation, on the one hand the contradiction between capital and labour has further intensified, while on the other, the contradiction between capital and nature is reaching the level of an environmental catastrophe, even as all inherent contradictions of imperialism are accentuating. However, though the objective conditions are thus most favourable for revolution, the subjective forces of revolution, the International Communist Movement in general, and the revolutionary parties in all the countries are facing serious ideological-political setbacks and reverses.

6.2 In India too, in spite of leading many great struggles, during the colonial period and in the postwar neocolonial phase, due to its failure to make a concrete analysis of Indian situation, the Communist Movement could not put forward a correct program and a path of revolution. Though the ideological struggle during 1964-67 leading to the Naxalbari Movement could settle account with revisionism, due to the influence of left adventurism, the CPI (ML) failed to develop the Program and Path of Revolution based on a concrete analysis of the Indian situation.  Even at this critical juncture when far-reaching changes including the ascension to power of the neo-fascist saffron regime has taken place in India, the ideological-political weakness and confusion among the Left forces continues to be a hindering factor to develop the appropriate revolutionary line and organizational consolidation. However, as the situation worsens, many communist revolutionary sections are coming closer towards a concrete understanding of the Indian situation and develop PDR accordingly.

6.3 In this context, the draft Party Program put forward by CPI (ML) Red Star based on concrete analysis of the Indian situation integrally linking the struggles at the realm of class, caste and gender will enable the polarization of all Communist Revolutionaries and the building up of a powerful Communist Party at the all India level. It shall help to speed up the historic task of reorganization of the Communist movement at all India level, providing a new fillip to advance towards the completion of the People’s Democratic Revolution and march forward to Socialist Revolution, for the realization of the socialist transition to communism.

The post Party Program appeared first on CPI(ML) Red Star.

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1. Introduction
2. National and International Situation
3. The Tasks of Our Revolution
4. Our Country
5. Class Analysis of Indian Society
6. Building Party as Vanguard of Indian Proletariat
7. Mobilizing the Working Class as Leader of PDR
8. Agrarian Question, Agrarian Program and Revolutionary Peasant Movement
9. The Caste Question
10. Minority Question
11. The Question of Ecology and Nature
12. Mobilizing Women for Liberation
13. Tasks in the Cultural Front
14. Mobilizing Students and Youths for Revolution
15. Combating Fascism
16. The Nationality Question
17. Utilizing Parliamentary Forms of Struggle
18. Tactical and Strategic United Fronts
19. The Path of Indian Revolution
20. Conclusion

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1. Introduction

1.1 Whenever the discussion of the Path of Revolution came up in the Indian communist movement, from its very inception, the copy-paste method had a dominating place in it. For quite a long time the debate between the so-called Russian Path and Chinese Path remained prominent. However, the understanding that the path of revolution should be understood based on the concrete reality of our country also existed side by side. We uphold and strive to develop this concept in today’s perspective.

1.2 The task before Communist Parties around the world is to evaluate hitherto international and national experience and develop their Path of Revolution based on the concrete analysis of the concrete conditions of today. They should dare to throw out all shades of dogmatism and opportunism, and go forward with historical and dialectical materialist perspective, developing theoretical lines and practices based on Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse Tung Thought and proletarian internationalism.

2. National and International Situation

2.1 Present international situation is marked by growing contradiction between rising Neo-Fascist forces all over the world and developing mass movements. The huge defeat of President Trump in the US appeared as a result of the fierce Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement which took place in more than two hundred cities of that country amidst the first phase of lockdown caused by the CORONA pandemic. Similar movements against anti-people restrictions imposed by the Fascist ruling governments in many countries of Europe can be seen. In Latin America, a bunch of countries very recently emerged where pro-people forces have come to power defeating the pro-Fascist political parties. In the main, if the consolidation of the Fascistic forces is one of the important phenomena of the present era, the emergence of renewed mass movements is another important phenomenon.

2.2 Internationalization of production coupled with unprecedented development of portfolio finance capital almost delinked with real economy is taking place under the rule of global monopoly capital and neoliberal imperialism today. Although the conflict among the imperialist forces is developing, however, at the same time global scale cooperation and collusion among the imperialists against the labour and rising mass movements has been seen. In this perspective international coordination among the Communist and pro-people forces is becoming extremely important.

2.3. The neo-Fascist takeover of India was started with Narendra Modi led BJP’s win in the general election of 2014. Since then, attacks on the masses including the peasantry, the working class, women, dalits and minorities have been increased by many folds. All the features of the erstwhile welfare state are going to be destroyed. All the institutions of the bourgeois democratic state are trying to be abolished or captured. The call of making India a “Hindu Rashtra” is not only revived but implemented with huge vigour. In the particular context of India, the “Hindu Rashtra” means Fascist India.

2.4. Keeping parity with the international situation, anti-Fascist mass movements are developing in many fields. A strong anti-NRC movement was developed in Delhi, Bengal, Maharashtra and in many other parts of the country which was followed by the most important and glorious movement was the peasant movement in India which forced the Narendra Modi government to go back and repeal the three draconian farm laws. The unprecedented unity among the large sections of peasants and farmers against the multinational corporations and their political representatives is absolutely a big event in recent India.

2.5 In the absence of a united revolutionary communist party in the country, the class struggle could not flourish in the desired direction. The politicisation of the working class in order to develop it as a class and building revolutionary peasant movements along with other important struggles in the country depend on how soon the party can be built.

3. The Task of Our Revolution

3.1 Describing the character and course of our revolution, the Party Program says “The resolution of the principal contradiction is inseparably linked up with the resolution of the other antagonistic contradictions. In the neo-fascist context, the anti-fascist people’s front led by the Communist Party composed of the working class, the peasantry, and all exploited and oppressed should be capable of tactically utilizing the contradiction among various sections of the ruling classes in its march towards capture of political power. It means combining the countrywide struggles of the working class with the revolutionary agrarian struggles, combining all other forms of struggle with it.” (4.13)

3.2. It is further stated that our revolution is an inseparable part of the world proletarian revolution. Therefore, the leader of our revolution is the working class organized and empowered by the great Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tse Tung thought. After seizing the political power the working class and its party lead the revolution toward the socialist revolution and socialist construction crossing the boundary of the PDR/NDR. Therefore, for us the revolution means not only the seizure of power, but the entire course beginning from the preparation for seizure of power to the completion of the socialist construction. However, our present Path of Revolution document limits itself to discussing the general outline regarding the path of revolution up to the seizure of power only.

3.3 Our Party Program has further pointed out that caste struggle and gender struggle have been developing as two integral aspects of Indian class struggle from the very beginning. Therefore, the task of our revolution is to develop unity of the working class, peasantry and other revolutionary classes under the leadership of the working class and combining class struggles with caste struggles and gender struggles in order to snatch political power from the hands of the ruling classes and march forward towards socialist construction. With the snatching of political power from the ruling classes overthrowing the Manuist, Patriarchal state and the yolks of imperialism and corporate capital, the tasks of democratic revolution shall be completed and revolution shall immediately take socialist character.

4. Our Country.

4.1. Describing our country where we are leading the revolution, our Party Program says: “Our country India is one of the biggest countries in the world inhabited by around 1.4 billion people. It is a multinational, multi-ethnic, multilingual and multi-religious country coupled with deeply entrenched hierarchical caste system with vast diversities and complexities.” (3.1)

4.2. Unlike many other countries in the world, the vast areas of our country are not only geographically diverse but the history, culture and ethnic composition of different portions of the people are having different sources and different continuations. When the Vedic culture dominated almost the entire northern India, the Southern side and Eastern side were dominated by non-Vedic culture in the main. When the Dravidian lineage dominates in Southern India, the Turko-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Scytho-Dravidian or Mongoloid lineage dominate in other parts of the country. The economic and other societal processes which were responsible for the origin of classes, class struggles, and their trajectories are also different.

4.3. Since the working class is the most modern class in our society therefore the working class and its vanguard party are only capable to bring out the common tune from the histories of struggles of the Indian people and to build unity among the divergent oppressed masses in order to lead the revolution which can obtain a national character. The working class and only the Communist Party is capable of utilizing divergent tactical methods which are suitable in their concerned politico-psychological and geographical atmosphere.

5. Class Analysis of Indian Society

5.1 On the class approach to the PDR, the Party Program states: (4.11). ”Politicisation and mobilization of the Indian working class and transforming it as leader of revolution is the primary task of the Communist Party in its march towards capturing of political power.  It begins with the building up of the People’s Democratic Front based on the worker-peasant alliance uniting with the middle classes and the national bourgeoisie which is a vacillating ally”.

5.2 India is a country where class division started with Varna-Caste division and the vast portion of Indian toiling masses are dalits who belong to the so called backward castes. The Communist movement in India could never evaluate this unique feature of Indian reality which prevented them to understand the interrelated nature of class struggle and caste struggle. This lack of understanding created hindrance to unite the toiling masses of the country which led to failure to establish the leadership of the working class, to mobilize the peasantry through agrarian revolution, to forge worker-peasant alliance, and thus to unite with the real friends to attack the real enemies.

5.3 The comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie is the leading class among the ruling classes. While the Indian big bourgeoisie and the bureaucratic class have contradictions with imperialism, which is often reflected in their maneuvers to utilize the inter-imperialist contradictions for their benefit, their collaboration with imperialism is basic as reflected in their collaboration with the neoliberal policies. Their making huge investments in other countries, or some of the heads of these corporate houses finding a place among the richest in the world, do not change the basic fact that they are continuing to collaborate with imperialism and to obstruct the independent development of productive forces in the country. So whether one calls it a junior partner of imperialism or dependent bourgeoisie, its basic character remains the same – it is a comprador class serving imperialist interests in the main, reaping big benefits in the bargain.

5.4 On the contrary, the stand taken by all those forces, who define it as an independent capitalist class and India as an independent capitalist country (which inevitably means another imperialist country in this era of imperialism) and the stage of revolution as socialist, has been proved inconsistent with the present reality, especially after the imposition of globalization and ‘neo-liberal’ policies. While the intensifying neo-colonization leading to increasing capitalist transformation of relations of production in the agrarian and all other sectors is a fact to be recognized, it is taking place under domination of imperialist agencies and MNCs, with even seeds production controlled by Monsanto-like MNCs. The two tasks of democratic revolution are putting an end to pre-capitalist relations and overthrowing imperialist domination. Under neo-colonial domination, the development of capitalist relations in agriculture is a growing trend at the all-India level, though there are diversities and unevenness to a large extent. The task of the Indian revolution is to overthrow imperialism, comprador bureaucratic capitalism and landlordism. These tasks are inter-related. That is why, in spite of fast and deep capitalist inroads in agriculture, the stage of revolution is still democratic, not socialist.

5.5 The big bureaucratic-bourgeois landlord class, agricultural corporate, the agricultural bourgeoisie and various sections of land owning mafias comprise a deadly force in the countryside. It is integrating the agricultural sector with imperialist economy, facilitating entry of imperialist capital and MNCs into every sphere of agriculture from production of seeds to procurement of produce and their marketing, and allying with the comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie to perpetuate the neo-colonial plunder.

5.6 The national bourgeoisie is a vacillating ally of the Indian revolution. To retain their existence, they want to remain inter-twined with the comprador bureaucratic bourgeoisie increasingly, and collaborate with imperialism more than ever, especially after the imposition of neo-liberal policies. In spite of all this, their contradictions with imperialism shall be increasing with the increasing trend of monopolization in every field. With the development of the struggles of the working class and the peasantry, the possibility of the national bourgeoisie joining the revolutionary movement will increase.

5.7 The petty bourgeoisie, including the middle peasants, because of its size and class character is a significant class with the possibility of being a dependable ally of the revolution. The lower middle class which constitutes more than half of it, which may be called its left wing, is facing ever-intensifying misery under the globalization-liberalization-privatization regime, as a result of which large sections of it have fallen to the level of workers, having lost all property.

5.8 The landless, poor and middle peasants and agricultural workers, the real tillers of the land, constitute almost half of the population. They include the adivasis, dalits, and most backward and oppressed sections of society. Due to neo-liberal policies, massive changes have come about in the class structure of the agrarian sector. These new forms of class differentiation oblige us to make more intensive studies and the conclusions drawn from the same may be used to come up with more concrete/realistic slogans for revolutionary offensive.

5.9 India is a country with a large working class, without mobilizing and politicizing which as the leader of revolution, the completion of PDR and advancement to socialist revolution are impossible. Leave alone pre-revolutionary China, the working class in India is many times more numerous than it was in pre-revolutionary Russia or any other country where revolution has taken place. So the working class movement assumes far greater importance here. Under liberalization-privatization raj the population of the working class in the unorganized sector has enormously increased under the contract labour, and hire and fire systems. Even the modern industrial proletariat is coming under this category increasingly. Through closures, modernization, outsourcing, VRS etc. the number of workers and employees in organized sector is rapidly reduced. By increasing regular hours of work, cutting down wages, security of service, social security etc. workers in the organized sector are under constant attack. Though the comparatively better paid workers of the organized sector form the main force of most of the trade union centres today, more attention is to be given to unorganized workers who constitute 98% of the workers. The task is to mobilize and lead them to local, state-wide and country-wide struggles, re-creating an atmosphere favourable for working class struggles and upsurges.

6. Building Party as Vanguard of Indian Proletariat

6.1Without a revolutionary party no revolutionary movement is possible. However, no united revolutionary party exists in our country still, since the communist movement was disintegrated into many groups and parties in early 1970s. The concrete conditions in India compared to the situation in Russia, China and other countries when revolutions took place there are vastly different. Today party building is taking place when almost all parties built up under Comintern guidance have degenerated to capitalist path with bureaucratic organizational structures. Almost all the erstwhile socialist countries have degenerated to bureaucratic state capitalism or to open capitalist/imperialist countries. The PDR is taking place now when fascistic tendencies are growing all over the world and in our country as well.

6.2 Though the CPI (M), CPI like parties have totally degenerated to right opportunist positions and considerably weakened in that process, they are continuing to use the communist banner and confuse the left masses. The activities of CPI (Maoist) are also destroying the image of the communist movement. Under the social democratic influence, a section of the Marxist-Leninist forces has also already degenerated to parliamentary opportunism. Ideological struggle has to be intensified against both right opportunist and anarchist trends of all hues.

6.3 What is required is the building of a Bolshevik-model party surrounded by class and mass organizations and different people’s movements according to present conditions. In a country of around 140 crore of people including tens of millions of workers, landless-poor peasants and agricultural workers and other revolutionary sections, they can be successfully mobilized for countrywide campaigns and struggles only if the Leninist approach towards Bolshevik party building surrounded by class/mass organizations is developed according to present needs and studiously pursued. Concepts like ‘front’ organizations without a democratic program and mobilization of the masses are nothing but manifestations of sectarianism.

6.4 It should be a party with countrywide organization and political influence. The concept of ‘area wise seizure of political power’ and ‘base areas’, influence of localism etc. under the line of ‘protracted people’s war’ are presently used as cover for ‘self-satisfied’ opportunism, for keeping aloof from the masses and for continuing activities reduced to certain pockets of influence. Significant changes that have taken place in the concrete situation in recent decades, especially after the launching of neo-liberal offensive by imperialism and the native ruling classes call for a countrywide offensive by the revolutionary forces mobilizing tens of millions. So, political and organizational initiative should be taken for party building at all India level uniting all communist revolutionary forces that can be united.

6.5 The possibilities available today to launch vigorous ideological and political campaigns, to win over politically advanced sections and for party building should be fully utilized. Already there are numerous instances of spontaneous struggles in different regions against consequences of neo-liberal policies, corruption, increasing attacks on women, proposed nuclear plants, displacement for ‘development’ projects etc. Possibilities for countrywide mass upsurges cannot be overlooked in this situation after the anti-CAA movement, and the historic farmers’ movement which paralyzed the Delhi borders for an year. The Party should be able to provide leadership to the coming upsurges and political and organizational work should be taken up with this perspective. At the same time, building of party fractions among the working class, organizing fractions in sensitive areas including state apparatus and within the police, para-military and military, should be given importance.

6.6 The ideological-political education and training, which keep the party politically vigorous and organizationally active, should be given prime importance. Marxism is not a dogma, but a guide to action which should be continuously developed to cope with the changes taking place in the concrete conditions internationally and nationally. The party should be capable of taking up this challenge and prepare the whole organization for theoretical offensive consciously and continuously.

6.7 Democratic centralism should be organically practiced so that the democratic atmosphere for inner-party struggle always exists. It is easy to talk about the undesirability of individual authority and bureaucratic practices. But even after serious setbacks suffered by the ICM, no proper lessons are drawn from them so that the above negative factors can be combated and a lively democratic atmosphere maintained within the party and class/mass organizations. Replacement of committee system and collective functioning with individual authority, and democratic functioning with bureaucratic methods are petit-bourgeois influences in the party. Similarly, the existence of so many groups claiming to uphold Marxist-Leninist line even when in many cases there are no basic differences among their lines and the ‘theory of many centres’ are alien, petit-bourgeois trends, which should be vigorously fought.

7. Mobilizing Working Class as Leader of PDR

7.1 Marxism is the revolutionary ideology of the proletariat, the most advanced class engaged in the most developed, advanced and organized fields of production. The task of the Communist Party, as the vanguard of the proletariat, is to transform it from a ”class in itself” to a ”class for itself”, capable of leading the revolutionary transformation of society, by providing leadership to the people’s democratic revolution.

7.2 After the imposition of imperialist globalization in 1991, under the neo-liberal regime the working class is confronting ever intensifying challenges. Almost all democratic, wage and TU rights achieved through a century of bitter struggles are being snatched away. Contract labour system and ‘hire and fire’ are the rules of the day. What is witnessed, are extreme forms of wage slavery. The number of workers in the organized sectors is dwindling fast, with ‘labour aristocracy’ dominant among their leadership. Tens of millions of workers in the unorganized sectors, whose number is increasing day by day, are denied all democratic and trade union rights. Many draconian laws are imposed for it. Even struggles for economic demands, right to form unions, etc. are made extremely difficult. Along with de-unionization, de-politicization and dominance of caste based, communal, parochial feelings are increasing among the workers. The party committees have to be prepared to reverse the present situation.

7.3 While leadership of the major TU centres like BMS and INTUC are not opposing foreign investment and are actively involved in mortgaging the interests of the working class and the country to imperialist interests in the name of promoting ‘development’ under imperialist globalization, leaderships of TU centres like AITUC and CITU are satisfied with making a show of ritualistic opposition to imperialist globalization. There are NGO-led trade unions and their centres also. Some of the communist revolutionary cadres have reduced trade union work to fighting individual worker’s cases in labour courts. The TU centres led by them are also failing to forge unity and to launch active resistance against the increasing attacks on the working class, as well as to politicize them to take up political tasks. This is not a task which cannot be left to the TU centres and their committees. The Party should prepare a program for politicization of the workers and propagate it through extensive fraction work not only among the unions led by the party cadres, but also in the trade unions as a whole.

7.4 An important task of politicising the working class lies in organising it to stand and act in support of peasants’ struggles, all democratic movements and struggles of the oppressed sections of society. The working class should be encouraged to actively participate in the solidarity movements in support of the working class and oppressed peoples internationally.

7.5 In the present context when cross-border labour mobility is one of the important characters of modern capitalism India has a large section of overseas labour force. This force is an integral part of our working class. Therefore, organizing them is also an important task in front of the party.

8. Agrarian Question, Agrarian Program and Revolutionary Peasant Movement

8.1 When the transfer of power took place, India was a vast agrarian county with 80% of the people dependent on agriculture. The historic Telangana struggle, Tebhaga movement and other revolutionary agrarian movements against the dominating feudal, semi-feudal relations were sweeping across the country under the leadership of the Communist Party. The Congress government was utilizing a two-pronged drive to crush these struggles: promoting reformist Bhoodan movement of Vinobha Bhave, and launching brutal attacks to crush them. Soon under neo-colonial domination, faced with pressure from below and on the basis of advice of US imperialist experts, land reform was introduced, initiating the replacement of the feudal landlords with a new generation of landlords who were ready to embrace the Green Revolution launched under imperialist guidance. Conditions were created for the entry of capital, along with fertilizers, chemicals, new seeds and other inputs into the agrarian sector. Under colonialism, imperialism had used feudalism as its social base. But under neo-colonial domination capitalist relations were promoted in the agrarian sector giving rise to a new class of capitalist landlords. In this way imperialism started tightening its grip over the entire agricultural sector.

8.2 The land reforms introduced were not revolutionary land reforms from below based on “land to the tiller” but were imposed from above creating a new class of bourgeois landlords whereas the real tillers including the adivasis, dalits, and other oppressed sections continued to remain landless or own only small housing plots. The right to land for the women in most of the cases is denied although the right to land is also a democratic issue for all the concerned sections. Overall impact was further integration of the agrarian sector in to the imperialist capital-market system. With the introduction of neo-liberal policies, increasing number of poor, marginal and middle peasants are displaced from their land for major projects, number of farms and plantations have increased, concentration of lands with landlords and corporate forces has increased, agrarian sector is brought under increasing corporatization and capitalist relations have grown very fast.

8.3 The significance of the Naxalbari struggle was that it brought back the agrarian revolutionary struggle abandoned by the CPI leadership in the early 1950s to the Communist agenda. After the disintegration of the movement under left adventurist line, though a rectification was initiated by sections of CPI (ML), and significant mobilization of the poor and landless peasants and agricultural workers took place in Bihar and AP in the land struggles, there were no efforts to take up the study of the vast changes taking place in the agricultural sector under neo-colonization or to develop the agrarian struggles addressing the demands of the new class of farmers according to the concrete conditions.

8.4 Agrarian revolution means wiping out landlordism, including still surviving remnants of feudal and pre-capitalist land relations, and making revolutionary changes in the land relations based on land to the tiller slogan and establishing the collective ownership of the workers on plantations and farms, and developing the co-operativization and social control of agriculture. Agrarian revolution is a basic task during the phase of PDR/NDR to overthrow the reactionary class rule in the countryside according to the concrete situation of the society.  While the tasks of agrarian revolution is still relevant as the tens of millions of landless, poor peasants and agricultural workers want land, and as feudal remnants still exist in some regions, the vast changes that have taken place under Green Revolution infused policies demanded new studies to address the problems faced by the farmers in the context of neo-liberal offensive for corporatization of agriculture.

8.5 The Naxalbari uprising took place challenging the reformist path practiced by the CPI and the CPI(M) and once again bringing agrarian revolution back to the agenda. However the Farmers’ movement of 2020-21 shows that, as the capitalist relations have become dominant in the agricultural sector, developing the Revolutionary Farmers’ Movement against the Multinational and Big Farming Companies and the state policies which promote them had become the main task from the early years of Green Revolution. But for a long time the hangover of the sectarian line stunted the process of theoretical sum up of these movements, which in return dented the possibility to develop these struggles in higher stage. In spite of the weakness of the left movement, the new type of farmers’ movement gained strength in Punjab, Haryana, Western UP like areas giving rise to the historic farmers’ movement. Thus the peasant question has once again come up in new forms to the forefront of the political scene.

8.6 The tasks before the Party are: Firstly, take up the study of the vast changes that have taken place in the agricultural sector under more than six decades of neo-colonization, speeded up by the neo-liberal policies, and chalk out an agrarian program based on these. Secondly, organise the peasantry, especially the agricultural workers, landless and poor peasants – the most oppressed sections. Build up the peasant movement at state level and co-ordinate them at all India level. In line with the agrarian revolutionary program, form land struggle committees starting from village level with the initiative of agricultural workers and middle, poor and landless peasants’ organization to launch struggles with land to the tiller slogan, and organise movements for taking over plantations and farms.  These two tasks are inter-related, and make appropriate organizational arrangements for it. A thorough study on the land reform acts is also an important task in front of the party.

8.7 Immediate slogans against the growing control of the multinational and big farm companies over the inputs and outputs of agriculture, for MSP laws, for APMC laws and strict implementation of these laws along with other important issues like forced labour, usury, communal and caste and gender based oppression, for higher wages, for distribution of banjar land, against forest contractors etc. should be raised and struggles organized. While taking up campaigns and struggles for immediate demands, the link between immediate and basic demands should be established. These sections should be organised at the all India level to fight for their immediate demands as well as for the basic slogans. Similarly, relation with the numerous peasant movements against displacement should also be developed, participating in their struggles. Side by side, the party must take up multi-dimensional tasks related to the plantation industry.

9. The Caste Question

9.1 In spite of the efforts from the period of social renaissance movements for the annihilation of this social plague, in newer and newer forms the varna-caste based socio-economic and cultural structure of Indian society still persists, making life miserable for the oppressed castes. The mechanical understanding that once revolution takes place caste question will get weakened and disappear still dominate many of the so-called left forces. It may weaken, but will come back in new forms more fiercely as the caste division is not only a matter of super structure but an integral part of our economy. Fighting caste based oppression and campaigning for caste annihilation should be made an integral part of the agenda. Caste annihilation has to be taken up as integral part of class struggle.

9.2 The caste system has strengthened in new forms during the last six decades. It is incorporated in the ruling system through caste based parties serving ruling class interests, and through the creation of caste based vote banks. Along with these, identity politics and tribalism like reactionary ideologies are promoted by imperialist centers to channelize the struggles against oppression based on caste, race, tribal system etc. to harmless paths, to keep these downtrodden sections away from the revolutionary path. The weakness of the communist movement so far in developing uncompromising struggle against caste system also helped these efforts to institutionalize caste system and tribal oppression through various means by the imperialists and the ruling classes. In India casteist oppression was intensified by keeping dalits away from land ownership, reducing them to tillers without land and doing all menial jobs for upper caste sections. So backbone of the caste system can be broken through agrarian revolution, according to present concrete conditions in each region, which ensures land to the tillers on the one hand, and a separately taken-up caste annihilation movement on the other, in order to change the production relation. Campaigns should be taken up against various forms of caste based oppression on dalits and adivasis and other backward sections including untouchabiltiy, which is still prevalent in various forms. While fighting all caste based discrimination against dalits, inter-caste marriages should be promoted. The reservation based on caste should be defended and struggle against diluting it should be waged, as a democratic right of the socially backward and oppressed classes.

9.3 It is with this perspective the Party took the initiative along with other progressive forces to launch the Caste Annihilation Movement with a Program. The enthusiastic response it has received during the last several years shows the necessity to carry it forward vigorously.

9.4 But the understandings and activities of the caste abolition movement need to be strengthened both conceptually and in the field of practical action. For that, the caste system in India requires a unique understanding and analysis of the underlying social structure. Reducing the caste system to the human rights of Dalits and the issue of power/resource sharing is likely to limit the building of a broad mass front against the undemocratic caste system. It is a fact that the biggest victims of the caste system are the marginalized sections of the society at the bottom and their liberation struggles should be given priority. However, if the caste system is not assessed in its entirety and is considered a problem of Dalits only then the caste annihilation movement cannot be successful. In the caste system, which operates on the basis of hierarchical inequality, the caste system is maintained by the sense of privilege over the castes immediately below it, while all castes are victims of discrimination. This social structure is trained to discriminate against each other in the order of lower and upper castes, even among the Brahmin castes. A mass unity against the caste system will be possible only when all the people who live with self-inflicted insults and think that they have the opportunity to despise those who come below them, join themselves in the construction of an anti-caste democratic collective.

9.5 The privileged communities of the caste system must unite in the anti-caste struggle not only as a demand for the liberation of the Dalits but also in the consciousness that the caste system is something that does not treat them as equal human beings. On the other side of the criticism of caste, which focuses only on the historical experience of caste oppression of Dalits, what happened is that the caste historical experience of other backward/marginal groups was kept invisible.

9.6 Although Dalit is a political term, such a political consciousness does not exist in all lower caste communities. The Dalit community is also divided into many castes. That is why the Sangh Parivar is succeeding in conducting social organizations in a way that shatters the anti-caste collective work that is happening among the Dalits. The fact that the Sangh Parivar is able to keep the castes among the Dalits in their favor, indicates a more effective continuation of the anti-caste ideology is required within the lower castes.

10. Question of Muslims – Minority sections.

10.1 In the context of present Indian polity, it is undisputed fact that Muslims are targeted and declared as prime enemy of Hindutva which works as cultural ideological tool of the ruling State, followed by Christians and Communists. Indian Muslims have been undergoing various kinds of continuous oppression directly by the State utilizing all kinds of ruling machineries and systematically alienating them especially by legitimizing this oppression by the hegemony of Hindutva ideology. From Cow politics, demolition of Babri Masjid, CAA-NRC to present Bulldozer politics are just some examples. In addition to the physical aggression, Muslims are perpetually haunted culturally too, by abusing on their food, dress code and belief, severe than ever before, which caused deep insecurity feeling among Muslim population in the country. Along with majority community, the so-called secular democratic sections have equal responsibility for this alienation of Muslims in the country. We need to analyze majority – minority communal forces in this concrete situation.

10.2 Communalism in India has history since the Pre-Independence period itself. The newly emerged big landlord class and especially post 1947 Congress governments were advocates of soft Hindutva. They cannot keep away from the responsibility from demolition of Babri Masjid like severe offensive. However, the ascension of BJP rule as the political party of RSS, this trend gained further strength in many fold. Under present Modi rule, the Hindutva ideology is ruling throughout as a natural general conscience, among every mainstream sections. Anti-Muslim / Minority offensive are continued with physical atrocities by challenging constitution and democracy at one side and legitimizing it on other side. Here we need to re-analyze the conventional position of measuring both Majority and Minority communal forces are as two side of same coin.  Even when both majority and minority communal forces are two sides of same coin in essence, their power relations and cultural hegemony are determining their level and gravity of their works. It doesn’t mean to simplify strengthened Muslim/minority communal forces who acts as counter force to Hindutva communal forces, however, it is politically incorrect to generalize Hindutva forces and Muslim / minority communal forces are categorically generalized as similar. In fact, by doing so, it ultimately helps Hindutva forces themselves. Our party need to resist such kind of approach along with all other kinds of Islamophobic approaches.

10.3 Some organizations emerging from Muslim minority sections are trying to resist the insecurity and alienation of Muslim population in general, even though some of them having communal character, even their work style and responses are energizing Sangh Parivar agenda. Such kind of organizations are also need to be part of broadest possible Anti-Fascist Movements. At the same time, we also need to expose the anti-democratic characters, reactionary positions and fascistic approaches of such organizations. Ultimately, the struggle against Fascism is also the struggle for the democratization of the entire society. We need to develop our approach to these kinds of organization by this kind of unity and struggle.

11. The Question of Ecology and Nature

11.1 Marxism teaches that capital does not only exploit labour for capitalist accumulation, but also nature for it. The aggressive capital at present era under its development paradigm is destroying nature and ecology which endangers the fate of the human race. In this perspective our party considers the contradiction between capital and nature as the fifth major contradiction.

11.2 The ecological destruction and consequent ‘global warming’ is leading to many catastrophes like the one witnessed in Uttarakhand in 2013 and similar calamities in many other areas. The ever increasing manner in which the ecologically fragile Himalayan Ranges are opened for devastating neo-liberal development schemes is threatening the vast Himalayan and Terai regions of India, Nepal and Bhutan and the water availability for Bangladesh. Similarly the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats regions in South India are also confronting ecological destruction by corporate, mining mafias, real estate barons etc. The Party has taken initiative for studies on Himalayan, Terai regions as well as to work actively in Save Western Ghats Movement. Similarly, at state level also studies are undertaken to advance struggles for environmental protection. In recent past our party has gone through many struggles, including Bhangar movement, where saving nature and ecology became one of the main issues.

11.3 The movement against nuclear arms and against the existing and proposed nuclear plants is also taken up joining hands with scientists and environmentalists. The struggles against open cast coal mining are also developing in many parts of the country.  To co-ordinate all these activities nationally and internationally, the Forum for Ecological Protection and Alternative Development (FEPAD) is also launched.

12. Mobilizing Women and LGBTQIA+ for Liberation

12.1 Marxism teaches us that “the first class antagonism which appears in history coincides with the development of antagonism between man and woman in monogamous marriage and the first class oppression with that of female sex by male. Monogamy was a great historical advance, but at the same time it inaugurated, along with slavery and private wealth that epoch lasting until today, in which the well-being and development of one group are attained by the misery and repression of the other”. As Mao Tse Tung pointed out after the first wave of Cultural Revolution in China, the seizure of political power in pre-revolutionary countries and socialist transformation in post-revolutionary societies shall face ever surmounting problems so long as effective ways for the liberation of these ‘first slaves’ remain elusive.

12.2 Therefore, the Communist Party should stand firmly in favour of Women’s Liberation Movement. It should establish the link between the women’s liberation and the liberation of labour from the yolks of patriarchal capitalist-imperialist system. A communist party shall cease to be a communist party and the communist movement shall cease to be the communist movement if it fails to do that. In spite of much advancement the erstwhile socialist countries displayed many limitations in this field. We should take lessons from those experiences also.

12.3 The condition of women in India like countries is much more backward compared to that in the imperialist countries. The resistance to bring forward even superficial changes like providing 33% reservation in the elected bodies ensures that it is still not implemented. The influence of Manu Smriti’s declaration that ‘women do not deserve independence’ is still dominant. The caste system and religions perpetuate women’s backwardness. The rule of capital and market system under neo-liberalism has intensified women’s miseries. Woman and their body are made commodities increasingly. The present family system, even after its transformation to the nuclear one, still remains basically male dominated and conservative. While dowry system and denial of equal right to family property is rampant, even decadent systems like child marriage, devadasi system etc. still continue in some areas. The growth of communal forces and religious fundamentalism sponsored by the neo-Fascist ruling system has worsened women’s condition. Under the influence of the neo-colonial culture, as more and more female fetus are destroyed before birth in Haryana, Punjab like states, number of women compared to men is dwindling in these areas. As a result, a new type of women trafficking is taking place to these areas, ‘married’ from other states to do household work and to produce children. Not only do women bear the brunt of oppressive patriarchal institutions, they are also subjected to shameless commodification. Though the neoliberal feminist movements have pockets of influence in urban areas, they do not address the real issues of the masses of women like relation between the stranglehold of private property in all fields and women’s enslavement.

12.4 In spite of the glorious role played by the Communist Party in particular and the Communist Movement in general, still possess many backward understandings regarding women’s role in Communist Movement. As a result in spite of sincere desire to bring them into the movement and Party, the efforts have largely failed. This failure in return has dented the efforts to develop the Communist Party not only physically but spiritually as well.

12.5 The situation calls for conscious efforts to organize women at different levels to take up the task of their liberation, involving ever larger number of women by developing comprehensive and correct understanding on women’s movement and women’s role in communist movement. The Party should take active steps to assist the development of a powerful women’s mass movement.

12.6 Without a strong fight against the patriarchal mindset in and outside the party the women’s liberation cannot be achieved. It is not enough to organise women to eliminate the patriarchy. We also have to fight against the male psyche prevailing in and outside of the party. The fight against the male psyche is to be spread from the streets to the fields, from the homes to the offices, from the kitchens to the bed rooms. The party will strive for transforming the women-centred domestic work in to community-centered including the evolution of community kitchens.

13. Tasks in the Cultural Front

13.1 For quite a long time the tasks of cultural front has been understood as to build performing troops like groups for singing revolutionary songs or performing revolutionary dramas etc. The glorious past of IPTA like organizations has been cherished while it was forgotten that the real tasks in this field are much larger. No class in history could rule over the people by force only, if, at the same time it fails to establish the dominance and hegemony of its culture over the masses. Therefore, the revolutionary forces must establish and uplift their cultural influence to the stage of cultural hegemony in order to make a successful social change. Otherwise revolution cannot become victorious, or if it becomes, it cannot be sustained. Performing art is one of the tools to do that. The hegemony of the ideology of private property and imperialist culture along with continuing influence of feudal culture, religion and caste system are utilized to subvert revolutionary advances in various fields and to serve the imperialist system. We must oppose the imposition of imperialist culture, at the same time reject the old conservative ideas and blind faith, and strive to develop socialist culture throughout the country. As revolutionaries it is our duty to establish alternative progressive and revolutionary culture.

13.2 We are putting forward the Path of Revolution to complete the tasks of PDR, to realize People’s Democracy and to advance towards socialist revolution in our country at a time when drastic changes in the socio-political-cultural fields have taken place, unlike the Russian situation during October Revolution, or the conditions in China and other countries when revolutions took place there. With the advent of neo-liberalism the imperialist powers put special emphasis in the field of culture in order to capture the human minds using modern innovations in technological fields with anti-human, anti-social, patriarchal, religious, reactionary mode of thinking, habits and way of life. It is undoubtedly true that the communist movement so far has failed to launch a successful counter-offensive in cultural field. The question of Cultural Revolution is either neglected or reduced to mere formal phrase mongering.

13.3 Though Naxalbari uprising triggered a new earthquake in the cultural field also, it was short-lived. Soon, similar to what happened in the economic and political fields, in the art, literature and cultural fields also the neo-colonial, imperialist onslaught intensified in newer forms. The table of these reactionary trends is very long including new imports in art, literature and cultural fields, commercialization of education and all welfare sectors, neo-colonial projects in the field of research, cultural projects of World Bank and many other new incarnations of religious fundamentalism, advocacy of caste system and racism in new forms, attacks on women’s liberation, black acts to curb art and literature etc. They are obstructing people’s upsurges in all fields. What is required is an all-out offensive to reverse this situation.

13.4 Though many efforts are made to take up revolutionary cultural activities opposing the counter-revolutionary trends, they are localized, not widespread or protracted. They remain superficial or confined to immediate slogans, do not go to basic ideological issues involved. There are many among the revolutionary ranks who do not recognize the significance of a revolutionary cultural offensive; of transforming human thoughts and culture as a continuous process, as a basic task to be taken up right from the beginning. So while developing revolutionary activities the emphasis to be given to the work in the cultural field should be underlined. The content of cultural movement should be seriously debated and developed. Forms of organizations to be built in the cultural field also should be developed. While this task should be taken up at state level and regional level providing all the emphasis it needs, vigorous efforts are called for to build an all India cultural movement taking up its theoretical and practical aspects seriously. The steps taken to launch the cultural offensive at all India level have led to the formation of an All India Coordination of cultural activists with this perspective. Both at state and central level the offensive should be carried forward to serve the revolutionary transformation of society.

14. Mobilizing Students and Youths for Revolution

14.1Without active participation of the youths and the students no social and political movement can be successful. History teaches us if they are not mobilized in revolutionary politics the Fascist forces always drag them especially the most oppressed section of the youths for developing reactionary mass movements. The youth in our country have a glorious history of actively participating in the social renaissance movement, in the independence struggle and later in the anti-imperialist, anti-feudal struggles led by the Communist Party and other progressive movements. The role of Ashfaqullah Khan and Bhagat Singh and other revolutionary youth who challenged the colonial forces still inspire the youth. But with the transfer of power in 1947 and with the emergence of revisionist tendencies in the Communist Party, the youth started getting frustrated and influenced by retrogressive ideologies and the revisionists misled the youth, causing them to get disenchanted and disillusioned, turning them towards reaction. Many joined reformist and even reactionary forces. When the Naxalbari uprising created a revolutionary upheaval, once again thousands of youth joined the revolutionary movement. But influence of sectarian tendencies once again caused setback to this upsurge. The communist revolutionary movement failed to mobilize the youth into a countrywide organization with a revolutionary program. Though there were spurts of progressive activism during and after the internal emergency period, these were short-lived. At all India level the participation of the youth in the left movement went on decreasing.

14.2 In the meantime under increasing neo-colonization, especially after the imposition of neo-liberal policies, the challenges faced by the youths and students have intensified. The commercialization of education system and the neo-liberal syllabi are taking a large section of students undergoing higher education away from social realities. The commercialization has transformed higher education as an elite sector reserved for mostly the upper caste, upper class students. Unemployment and under-employment have become rampant. Even the already employed have started losing employment. At the same time vested interests are promoting imperialist culture, drug addiction and criminalization among them to prevent the frustrated youth from joining progressive movements. As a result, large sections of youth are influenced by retrogressive thinking and recruited in large numbers by communal, casteist and chauvinist forces on the one hand, and by the ruling classes as their storm troopers and in mafia gangs on the other.

14.3 However, in the new millennium with the rise of mass movements throughout the country once again increasing number of students and youths are coming in revolutionary movements. Starting from many struggles against displacement to the recent peasant movements including movements against the Saffron neo-Fascist forces like anti-NRC movements and in others a good number of students participated. In many electoral struggles also the participation of student, youths are evident. The task of the party is to politicize this whole lot of the young fighting people in the direction of revolution and collective struggle.

15. Combating Fascism

15.1. The ascendance to power of the BJP government today is distinctly different from the NDA coming to power in 1998. Under the backdrop of acute general crisis of capitalism this time it is an ascendance of Corporate-Saffron Fascist rule as a part of global upsurge of neo-Fascism.  The slogan of establishing the Hindurashtra actually means to establish the Fascist India. The dangers involved in this extreme rightist turn of Indian politics should be seen in the present international scenario when the US-led imperialists have succeeded to replace class struggle and national liberation movements against imperialist domination with ‘clash of civilizations’ in vast regions, promoting religious fundamentalism of all hues, and even Sunni-Shia conflicts in West Asia.

15.2 Developing correct strategy and tactical steps according to the new situation is a challenging factor in front of the Communist Movement as it is the qualitatively new situation which calls for newer and higher understanding on the ongoing class struggle. Since the Communist Movement is not strong enough to resist the neo-Fascist rule and neo-Fascist development in our country the Communist Party must be able to utilize wisely the contradiction between the Fascist section of the ruling class and the non-Fascist one.  At the same time the long pending responsibility to develop the Revolutionary Left Alternative before the people must be taken in hand without wasting time.  Developing broadest possible anti-Fascist unity on the one hand, and developing revolutionary alternative on the other are twofold task of the communist movement in India at present situation.

16. The Nationality Question

16.1 On the resolution of the nationality question, the Party Program states: “Ensure right of self-determination for all nationalities up to secession. The People’s Republic shall strive to unite people of various nationalities not by force, but by their voluntary consent. Settle the Jammu and Kashmir and Northeast questions by withdrawing army from there forthwith and through political means ensuring the right of self-determination.” India is a multi-national country, where even for the reorganization of the provinces which were constituted under British rule and by the princely states on linguistic basis bloody struggles had to be waged by the people in the 1950s. During the last five decades consecutive central governments have taken away many of the Constitutional rights of the states, propagating chauvinistic slogans like ”national integration’ or Akhandvada.

16.2 British colonialists who had forcefully ‘united’ the princely states into a colony for facilitating their plunder had pursued ‘divide and rule’ policy utilizing religious, caste, racist ideologies and the feudal forces. The unity achieved during the anti-colonial struggles are now subverted by the ruling classes after transfer of power. Fighting against this, the Communist Party should struggle for unity of all nationalities based on their right of self-determination up to secession.

16.3 With the development of capitalist mode of production, especially after imposition of imperialist globalization which speeded up the entry of FDIs, FIIs, MNCs etc. and strengthened the capital- market raj, uneven development, pushing up or pushing down various regions in the ladder of ‘development’ is becoming a stark reality. Instead of opposing the imperialist dictated ‘development’ policies implemented by the central and state governments responsible for it, different ruling class parties as well as comprador and petit-bourgeois classes are raising demands for statehood to these backward regions. In spite of the negative experience of these already formed small states where living conditions of the vast masses have not undergone any positive changes, demands for new states are continuously raised.

16.4 As Marxism teaches, the nationality question and the various movements emerging directly or indirectly linked with it are bourgeois questions. As many of the demands for new states are raised to divert people from the cardinal issues confronting them, the Communist Party should seriously guard against becoming a tail of these movements. At the same time, an approach of unity and struggle should be pursued, in order to win over the masses of people influenced by these struggles, with the perspective that along with demand for new states the basic issues of the people also must be raised.

17. Utilizing Parliamentary Forms of Struggle

17.1 Elections to provincial and central legislative assemblies were introduced from the colonial days in India. After the transfer of power, under the Constitution adopted in 1950, the parliamentary system was adopted at all levels. Today, elections to Lok Sabha to Panchayat level and even to co-operative societies and various other institutions are held regularly, drawing an ever increasing number of people. Even in pre-revolutionary Russia, experience in participation in the elections was partial and limited. In China and other countries where revolution took place, there were no experiences of utilizing parliamentary system as a form of struggle to develop class struggle. Still drawing from the experience of Second International and of the Communist parties in West European countries, Lenin had pointed out the need to struggle against parliamentary cretinism on the one hand, and the politics of boycotting elections as a strategic line on the other.

17.2 There is a revolutionary way and a reformist way of participating in elections. The CPI and the CPIM have over long decades demonstrated the latter. They have not utilized their governments to advance the class struggle, but rather to impose reactionary ruling class policies on the people. Revolutionary transformation of society has long ceased to be part of their election agenda. Taking a wrong lesson from this, the CPI(ML) adopted ‘boycott of election’ as a strategic line after its formation and, later, though many sections of the communist revolutionaries abandoned this line, the Maoist trend continues to practice it. If the CPI-CPIM’s reformist way of participating in elections has exposed its ideological bankruptcy and entrenched it in right opportunist positions, the boycott experience, on the other extreme, has proved totally negative. Even after giving the boycott call, the CPI (Maoist) has adopted opportunist tactics like supporting some of the ruling party candidates clandestinely, or openly, as of late. In very few places has it succeeded to ‘enforce’ its call for boycott. The methods it resorts to enforce boycott only alienate it further from the masses. In recent years the polling percentage in almost all parts of the country has been quite high. In the concrete situation in our country parliamentary struggle is one of the important forms of struggle. Giving primary importance to extra-parliamentary struggles, we must take up parliamentary struggle with due importance. For the development of extra-parliamentary struggles, it is extremely important to properly use the platforms of parliament and assemblies.

17.3 India is a country of more than 130 crores of people with the bourgeois parliamentary system well entrenched in every nook and corner for many decades at all levels. The Communist Party should utilize the bourgeois parliamentary system along with all other forms of struggle to develop class struggle in all fields, to unleash mighty people’s upsurges so that it can advance towards the revolutionary seizure of political power and put into practice people’s democracy.

18. Tactical and Strategic United Fronts

18.1 While the party always took efforts to develop United Fronts at different levels, the present neo-Fascist context in our country calls for developing this tactic with renewed vigor. In order to take up the numerous issues confronting the people, issue based joint activities have to be taken up uniting like-minded forces. These joint activities are possible in the working class field, in the agrarian front and in all mass movements uniting with other trade unions or TU centres to struggle for workers’ problems, in the agrarian front uniting with other like-minded forces. A broad-based, democratic approach should be developed to take up issues through these joint fronts or forums. Though these are based on issues and may continue only for a brief period, they help to highlight various people’s issues. Such joint activities will help the Party and class/mass organizations to spread out their activities to more areas also.

18.2 Experience shows that under slightest provocation the state machinery imposes black laws and uses terror tactics against the people. Democratic rights are taken away. Even peaceful mass movements are brutally suppressed. Functioning of party and class and mass organizations are obstructed. Against such day to day developments united democratic and civil right movements should be developed according to concrete conditions.

18.3 Advancing a step forward from these issue-based joint activities, as these struggles and the strength of the class/mass organizations further increase, possibilities for formation of political platforms for united front at state or country levels, lasting for a longer period, to take up more basic issues can be developed. Possibilities shall emerge to build intermediate level fronts, which shall help the development of class struggle. Every such possibility should be fully utilized.

18.4 In the present situation as the Modi government is intensifying the imposition of neo-Fascist neo-liberal policies combining with its Manuist or Manuvadi ideologies it is an urgent task to develop the Democratic People’s Forum or reorganize it as a broader forum of struggling left and democratic forces to take up state level and all India level movements mobilizing the masses. The party will have to take immediate initiative for it at state and all India levels.

18.5 For overthrowing the Indian state of the comprador bureaucratic bourgeois-landlord classes serving imperialism and to create conditions for establishing people’s democratic power, protracted efforts should be made according to concrete situation and level of development of people’s struggles by the Party to build up the strategic united front based on worker-peasant alliance and uniting with all genuine anti-imperialist, patriotic, democratic classes and sections.

19. The Path of Indian Revolution

19.1 India is a very vast country of 1.3 billion people. It has extreme diversities and unevenness. Therefore, a combination of all means and methods of struggle is extremely necessary. Our Party Programme says: “Upholding the path of revolutionary mass line, and utilizing all forms of struggle and organizations, the party should take initiative to mobilize the working class and all revolutionary classes and sections for a massive countrywide people’s uprising to overthrow the India state and to seize political power.”

19.2 While CPI CPIM like Social-Democratic Parties have abandoned the idea of revolution as a whole and completely drowned in parliamentary cretinism in one hand, the CPI (Maoist) like formations are advocating the path of “area wise seizure of power”. We reject both of these understandings as far as the path is concerned. However, it does not mean that we reject the possibility of seizing of local power in opportune moment. We strongly feel a combination of many different tactics is necessary and quite natural in a vast and diverse country like India. The understanding of establishing the “area wise seizure of power” as a line came from the false and erroneous concept that a pan-India revolutionary struggle is not natural in a country like India. However, many pan-India struggles including the present farmers’ movement show that pan-India revolutionary movements can be developed and must be developed to overthrow the Indian state. However, under the situation of countrywide upsurge the insurrection may take place or it also cannot be ruled out that the seizure of political power is first consolidated in a region and thereafter the whole country will be liberated.

19.3 The communist movement has weakened so much during the last few decades that even if the difficult but obligatory task of uniting all the Marxist-Leninist forces who advocate mass line and who have apparent identity of views on many issues is achieved, the Marxist-Leninist Party will not be strong enough to take up the gigantic task of completing PDR in a vast country like India. There is almost the same condition all over the world. These challenges have to be boldly faced and the subjective forces of revolution have to be strengthened, in which building up a powerful Bolshevik model party with all India influence is the most cardinal task. The Party has to build up a revolutionary people’s alternative challenging the ruling class alternatives, which are basically united in serving the existing ruling system. The Party has to utilize all forms of struggle effectively, with the perspective of seizure of political power, to complete the tasks of the People’s Democratic Revolution.

19.4 The great Telangana Struggle of 1946-51, in continuation to other anti-feudal struggles in different parts of the country, the naval revolt and Punappra-Vayalar uprising and numerous working class struggles of these years were the largest and most advanced revolutionary upsurges in the country. Telangana struggle taught how revolutionary agrarian struggles focusing on land to the tiller slogan led by the Communist Party and with the landless, poor peasants and agricultural workers at the helm, along with middle peasants and other sections of the peasantry, can lead toward the formation of village committees, organization of volunteer squads, development of resistance to landlords-police-goonda violence, and to the beginning of armed struggle against the reactionary state. The great Naxalbari uprising led to revolutionary uprising of landless, poor peasants and agricultural workers, including adivasis, dalits and other oppressed sections, in Midnapore, Mushahari, Lakhimpur-Kheri and Srikakulam. Though these struggles spread to the plains of AP and Bihar later, due to the domination of the sectarian line the movement could not be carried forward. The cardinal problem before the revolutionary movement was, and is, that while assimilating the revolutionary experience of all these struggles, how to develop a Path of Revolution conforming to the present conditions when it is under neo-colonial domination.

19.5 The ICM has the glorious history of the victory of October Revolution in Russia, the victories of revolutions in East European countries during 1944-45 with the defeat of fascist forces, the victory of the great Chinese Revolution in 1949. The Marxist-Leninist forces should take appropriate lessons from these revolutions as well as from their setbacks. But taking their experiences does not mean mechanically copying the experience of any of them or pursuing an eclectic mixture of their experiences. Taking experience from them means studying their experience, taking lessons from them and applying them according to the conditions in our country. The history of the ICM shows that in all these countries where revolution took place, there was no mechanical application of the path of other revolutions, and each revolution took its own course according to conditions of each country. The theory and practice of Indian revolution should be developed entirely based on the present conditions of India, assimilating whatever experiences can be taken from all hitherto revolutions.

18.6 Presently, though Indian revolution is in the People’s Democratic stage, what happened in the post-revolutionary situation in the erstwhile socialist countries, especially in Soviet Union and China, has to be evaluated and its lessons taken. For example, the experience in areas like party building, in developing the concept of democratic centralism, in developing appropriate methods for inner-party struggle, in guarding against emergence of bureaucratic tendencies, in organically developing concepts of building mass line and class/mass organizations, in avoiding the mistakes of mechanically de-linking the class struggle in economic base from that in the superstructure, in avoiding, for example in India’s context, the de-linking of anti-caste like movements from class struggle, in correctly dealing with the contradictions among the people, and in drawing appropriate lessons from the Cultural Revolution, etc have to be given cognizance.

20. Conclusion

20.1 The Path of Indian Revolution is put forward by our Party when the objective situation at the international level is once again becoming favourable for advancement of the revolutionary forces, and anti-imperialist resistance struggles are taking place around the world. In India, a very vast country with extreme diversities and unevenness, in spite of ten decades of Communist activities with a history of many historic struggles involving tens of millions of people, presently the strength of our Party is still not considerable. The challenge posed by right opportunist and anarchist trends is still very serious. Though Naxalbari uprising once again brought back PDR to the forefront of the people’s agenda, the Marxist-Leninist movement during the last four decades has not made any significant advances in this direction yet.

20.2 Fighting against all alien trends, the CPI (ML) Red Star is putting forward the Path of Indian Revolution according to present conditions. It stresses the great significance of building a communist party based on the Bolshevik model, surrounded by class/mass organizations at all India level, utilization of all forms of struggle to develop class struggle, and an advance towards the capture of political power starting from mass upsurges to mass uprisings and countrywide insurrections. Victory of the PDR is possible by developing the path of Indian revolution according to the different conditions of the neo-colonial phase of imperialist onslaught, assimilating the experience of all hitherto revolutionary struggles at the international level and in our country.

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Introduction

1.1.    The 12th Congress of our Party is held at a time when vast changes have taken place in the overall global and national political arena since the 11th Congress in 2018 including the further intensification of world imperialist crisis. The ruling class attempt to shift the burden of this crisis to the shoulders of working class and oppressed peoples has also got new dimensions. It is sharpening all the inherent contradictions in imperialist world system, giving rise to the general global trend towards neo-fascism. In our country too, after the 11th Congress, especially since Modi 2 in 2019, corporate-saffron fascism backed by the arch-reactionary ideology of Manuvad with its multi-dimensional offensive has been advancing at a maddening pace. Hence framing of the political resolution for the 12th Party Congress in the proper perspective calls for concrete evaluation of the major transformations of the past four years, both at the international level and in India.

2.     International Situation

2.1.    The Covid pandemic that ravaged whole world since the beginning of 2020 which kept the entire political-economic foundations in a frozen state for months has been a historic turning point. Even as production, trade, transportation and consumption collapsed along with a halt in the entire global supply-demand chains, using the fast-emerging frontier technologies such as digitisation, the ruling classes everywhere used the pandemic as an opportunity to make horrific levels of wealth appropriation including plunder of nature, driving the working class and oppressed peoples everywhere to more unemployment, poverty, inequality, deprivation and ecological devastation. Even as world economic growth rate became negative, the number of global billionaires and concentration of wealth with them have become unprecedented. As a concomitant of far-right neoliberal policies, neo-fascism backed by extreme xenophobic hatred towards racial, ethnic and religious minorities, migrants, refugees and all marginalised and oppressed sections of the people is gathering strength in many countries.

2.2.    It has accentuated all inherent crises and contradictions of imperialism in the neoliberal period. While all other imperialist powers including the US faced an absolute decline or negative growth, social imperialist China remained as the only country with a growth rate in the positive territory, though at a lesser rate. During the pandemic days, not only Afro-Asian-Latin American countries, but even western powers had to depend on China for the badly needed medical supplies. Though US still remains as world’s biggest military machine, China which is ahead in many spheres of fast advancing technologies including biotechnology, robotisation, ecommerce, digitisation, etc., especially through its BRI—Belt and Road Initiative– is engaged in more intensive export of capital effectively challenging US imperialism in political-economic fields.

2.3.    In continuation of its leading role in Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, BRICS, RCEP, etc., China has succeeded in carving out its spheres of influence and political-economic clout not only in Asia but also in Africa and even in remote Latin America and many poor countries have already become dependent on China. The new wave of neoliberal political-economic crises that are reported from Sri Lanka and Nepal in South Asia, Sudan in Africa, etc. are also related to specific character of Chinese penetration into these countries. China’s recent Security Pact with Solomon Islands in the strategically vital South Pacific is another shock to US imperialism. China is also in the process of entering into bilateral economic relations even with members of NATO. For instance, Italy which had to depend on China in the initial days of the Pandemic has already joined the BRI as its member. In the same vein, together with its long-term strategic role in Iran, recently China has entered into a deal with Saudi, Iran’s arch-rival in West Asia, for the import of petroleum products with Yuan as the medium of exchange. Latest Chinese effort to design a central bank digital currency (CBDC), a Digital Yuan and project it as an international currency is a serious challenge to the US hegemonic position in the post-War international economic and financial relations. Recent Russian insistence for Rouble payment for import of its oil by countries is also a blow to the global position of dollar.

2.4.    This has sharpened the contradiction between US imperialism and social imperialist China more than ever. Immediately after its withdrawal from Afghanistan following which China emerged as a strategic player there, US imperialism has initiated the AUKUS — a nuclear-based Anglo-Saxon military alliance composed of Australia, UK and US –thereby intensifying its provocative interventions against China in the Asia-Pacific and in East and South China Sea, projecting Taiwan as a geopolitical hotspot. In signing this nuclear-military pact, it kept members of NATO including France in the dark, the latter already having a submarine deal with Australia, leading to France immediately withdrawing its ambassador from Washington. Though the issue was temporarily settled, it exposed the inherent weakness in NATO. For, after British delinking from the EU through Brexit followed by former’s close integration with US imperialism, leading powers of EU have started serious homework for the formation of an European army independent of US led NATO.

2.5.    The recent attack on Ukraine by imperialist Russia though condemnable is integrally linked up with US efforts to reinvigorate the 30-member NATO by enlarging its membership further. When the Cold War ended in 1991 with the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the NATO membership was 16, and when NATO was inaugurated by Truman in 1949 as the crucial military institution for leading the Cold War, its membership was only 12. As is obvious, the Russian attack on Ukraine was the outcome of US machinations compelling neo-Nazi Ukraine regime to join the NATO together with US attempt to militarise all countries bordering Russia. Now Ukraine is like a pawn in the hands of US-led NATO forces and what is going on is an inter-imperialist conflict between US and NATO on the one hand, and Russia on the other, where Ukraine is a mere proxy.  Ukraine war, while facilitating more wealth flows in to the coffers of world’s leading arms manufacturers, especially those from US, and the three biggest agro-multinationals, Cargill, Monsanto and Dupont who have already bought around 17 lakh hectares of highly fertile land in Ukraine, has been another opportunity for crisis-ridden finance capital to shift the burden of the crisis to the shoulders of world’s toiling and oppressed people, through rise in the prices of fuel, food and other essential items of sustenance.

2.6.    The Russian attack on Ukraine and the continuing war there without any let-up have given rise to far-reaching repercussions of global importance. It has further sharpened the inter-imperialist contradictions between US and its allies on the one hand and China and Russia on the other. As a direct outcome of the increasing US focus in the Asia-Pacific directed against China, the latter has taken initiative for a ‘Global Security Initiative’ particularly targeting at the AUKUS pact—the foundation on which the US is envisaging an “Asian NATO”. Of late, US House of Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan followed by China’s military exercises encircling Taiwan and surrounding areas in retaliation followed by US deployment of its Seventh Fleet to South China Sea has further heightened Sino-US tensions. The latest Chinese assertion in the 20^th Congress of CPC of a “rock-hard and unshakable approach” towards “completion of Chinese unification” by resolving the “Taiwan question” is certainly going to make the situation from bad to worse. As US is spreading its tentacles towards the East, China together with its allies particularly Russia, is moving towards the West encroaching areas formerly monopolised by the US and its allies, leading to a “new cold war”.

2.7.    A noticeable global trend related to US targeting of China is the latter’s growing involvement in Africa and Latin America where China had little sway before the 2008 World Economic Crisis. Now China is African continent’s biggest trading partner and China’s latest backing of the military junta in Sudan is already acknowledged. China has already established its political-economic clout in countries like Algeria, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Congo, Kenya Angola, etc. in addition to its declared military base in Djibouti since 2016 along with that of other imperialist powers. Covid Pandemic has been an opportune moment for China to accelerate its investments in Africa. Today China is the leading bilateral lender in 32 African countries and the top infrastructural financier and international lender to the African continent as a whole. With 46 African countries signing into BRI, Africa has become its largest regional component.

2.8.    China’s political-economic role in Latin America is also growing fast. It has developed close economic and security ties with Venezuela and Brazil, the largest country in the South American continent. Revealingly, though Latin America was once considered the backyard of US imperialism, China has already surpassed US as Latin America’s largest trading partner. With 19 Latin American countries already signed up to BRI, Chinese state firms and financial institutions play a major role in infrastructural development there. Recently, along with US and other imperialist powers, China also has become a member of Inter-American Development Bank. Obviously, Chinese capital investment in Latin America will have its concomitant political, diplomatic, security and cultural ramifications.

2.9.    Even as this ‘westward’ expansion in Chinese capital and commodity exports is creating acute inter-imperialist contradiction between US and China, Latin America today is witnessing the rise of a “second pink tide” marked by the advance of left-wing and progressive movements in many countries. This progressive political shift in Latin America is mainly attributed to the people’s simmering discontent and resistance against Covid mismanagement and consequent aggravation in economic crisis on account of IMF-World Bank backed neoliberal policies, corruption, extreme poverty, unemployment and ecological devastation across Latin America during the past two years. As estimated by the Economic Commission on Latin America and the Caribbean, during 2020, Latin America had a pandemic-induced catastrophic growth contraction of 6.8 percent.  Recent electoral victories of Gabriel Boric in Chile, Luis Arce in Bolivia, Pedro Castillo in Peru, Xiomara Castro in Honduras, Gustavo Petro in Columbia and Rodrigo Chaves in Costa Rica are manifestations of people’s growing resentment against neoliberal-neo-fascist regimes serving imperialism.

2.10.   In Western Asia (Middle East), in view of the advance of China and the trend towards decline of the dollar-empire and consequent impact on petro-dollar, US imperialism is planning to have a reconfiguration of the geopolitics there. This was manifested in the Abraham Accords signed in December 2020 that claimed to normalise relations between Zionist Israel and a grouping of Arab countries led by UAE. Almost a year later in October 2021, in a virtual meet led by the US, foreign ministers of US, Israel, UAE and India decided to strengthen cooperation and partnerships on the back of Abraham Accords. Though the political dynamics in West Asia is different from that in Indo-Pacific, the new US initiative has been characterised as ‘Middle East Quad’ akin to Quad or Quadrilateral composed of US, India, Australia and Japan in the Asia-Pacific designed to deal with China.

2.11.   Meanwhile, under the cover of Abraham Accords, human rights violations on Palestinians by Zionists are mounting. In occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza strip, along with Israeli police and official security apparatus, Zionist terrorist groups are also unleashed against Palestinian people to instill fear among them and weaken their struggle for survival. The agenda behind this renewed approach by US is to create the political atmosphere for deliberate neglect of the Palestinian cause and cover up the mounting repression on them that amounts to crimes against humanity. The impact of pandemic on the Zionist occupied areas has been the most disastrous as the Zionist security forces used it as a golden opportunity to put horrific restrictions, socio-economic miseries and burdens on the Palestinians in the guise of implementing Covid protocols.

2.12.   In our neighbourhood, Sri Lanka is now in an unprecedented economic collapse and socio-political crisis, typifying the case of a neo-colonially dependent country pursuing neoliberal-corporatisation trajectory at the diktats of imperialist centres. Though Sri Lanka had the highest ‘Human Development Indicators’ in South Asia until the onset of the crisis, its major earnings came primarily from tourism and export of primary products. The entire debt-financed infrastructures built up there were oriented to attracting tourists. The basis of economic and social crises was already laid down through the configuration of many factors such as steep reduction in corporate taxes, total economic mismanagement including lop-sided and short-sighted polices, extreme corruption and crony capitalism integrally linked up with the Rajapakse family holding the entire reins of administration backed by the ideology of Sinhala Buddhism. In this background, almost two years of pandemic preceded by Easter Bombing and followed by the Ukraine war have completely dried out foreign tourist inflows on the one hand, and skyrocketed fuel, food and medicine prices that wiped out both private and government savings on the other.  Various infrastructures and social overheads built-up in Sri Lanka including those connected with China’s BRI have become huge debt-liabilities for the country without yielding any substantial income on a regular basis. Today, the bankrupt Sri Lankan regime is knocking at the doors of neocolonial financial institutions and various imperialist powers for a bail-out program with its concomitant stringent conditionalities.

2.13.   Thus, today the international situation in general is marked by horrific levels of wealth accumulation in the hands of a few corporate billionaires, unprecedented levels of extreme poverty, ecological destruction of catastrophic proportions and shifting of the burden of imperialist crisis to the shoulders of working class and the oppressed. Along with sharpening inter-imperialist contradictions, exploited and oppressed peoples are rising up in different forms in many parts of the world against the ruling system. The ruling classes of a few countries like India have also utilized this deepening imperialist crisis to strengthen their bargaining position with imperialist powers. However, in the absence of communist parties capable to lead these struggles and movements, the ruling classes and their imperialist masters are diverting people’s fury to safe channels.

2.14. Taking advantage of the deepening crises of imperialism, neo-fascist forces have come to the fore all over the world. In many countries, like Hungary, Turkey, India, Russia and others, fascist regimes have already come in to existence whereas even leading imperialist countries like the UK and US are part of this trend towards neo-fascism.

3.     Our Tasks at the International Level

3.1.    In today’s crisis-ridden context where the objective international situation for revolutionary transformation is favourable, while the subjective factor essential for social change is weak, what is required is coordinated action among Communist parties and revolutionary organisations against imperialism and neo-fascism.  The Political Resolution adopted by the 11 the Congress held in 2018 had pointed out: “As the reactionary essence of imperialism is becoming more and more catastrophic, a worldwide anti-imperialist movement that can effectively challenge the threat of aggression, resist corporatisation and fascistisation and all forms of reaction and moving towards democracy and socialism has become an urgent necessity.”  Today after four years, our analysis of the international situation makes this task all the more significant.

3.2.    To fulfil this task, ideological clarity on imperialism and on neoliberal corporatisation both at the global level and in the concrete conditions of particular countries is of utmost significance. So, while taking an active role in ICOR and its campaigns as one of its leading members, one of our urgent international tasks is to carry forward the ideological-theoretical debate in ICOR and among Marxist–Leninist forces in general to arrive at clarity on the basic understanding of imperialism today and related issues like the characterization of the neo-colonial dependent countries under the impact of neoliberal globalization, corporatization policies

3.3.    We have to develop bilateral relations with revolutionary parties and like-minded organisations especially in neo-colonially dependent countries for achieving ideological clarity pertaining to anti-imperialist, anti-fascist struggles and for arriving at practical cooperation at the international level.

4.     National Situation

4.1.    The 10th Congress of the Party was held in 2015 when the Modi regime had completed just 8 months of its tenure. Summing up the far-right turn in policies, the Political Resolution adopted then noted: “2.9 Modi’s ascendancy to power has been followed by a ruthless acceleration of Manmohanomics as is manifested in the extrapolation of former’s ‘Gujarat model’ to the whole of India with the corporate-friendly catchwords such as ‘minimum government,’ ‘good governance’, ‘development friendly’, etc. The  ‘road map’ for Modi  regime’s economic policy in the coming years containing transparent policy environment for business including reforms to enhance “ease of doing business”, liberal tax regime, full liberalization of FDI regime even in strategic sectors such as defense and railways, … outsourcing of public sector banking operations to MNCs and corporate giants such as Reliance, building up of 100 cities equipped with world class amenities, etc. based on PPP, a euphemism for privatization, attracting private investment in coal sector, completion of nuclear power projects and operationalization of  international nuclear agreements, modernization and corporatization of agriculture, time-bound forest and environmental clearance for projects, and so on are fully in conformity with the diktats and requirements of crisis-ridden international finance capital.” Of course, superimposed Demonetisation and GST that took away state governments’ Constitutional Federal rights of resource mobilization have acted as catalysts to this far-right neoliberal process.

4.2.    By the time the 11th Congress was held in 2018, Modi government had completed four years. The Political Resolution adopted by it stated: “2.i. More than four years of Modi regime has brought India to a frightening disruption of its socio-economic and political fabric. In a situation of RSS led extreme divisive policies, instigation of mutual hatred among people, and in an atmosphere of increasing feeling of insecurity among Dalits and minorities, BJP government has brought every aspect of social life under the firm grip of corporate capital. Strengthening India’s position as the junior partner of US imperialism and entering in to strategic alliance with it, Modi has destroyed to a great extent the erstwhile non-aligned position that India had in international relations. All institutions of parliamentary democracy are degraded so as to facilitate the corporate, saffron fascist offensive.”

4.3.    Now, when the 12th Congress is held, the corporate-saffron fascist regime under Modi.1 and Modi.2 has completed more than 8 years in power. Backed by the ideology of Manuvadi Hindutva that serves corporate capital, the most reactionary fascist regime of Modi has become a facilitator of both corporatisation and saffronisation. By now, RSS, the world’s biggest fascist organisation has spread its tentacles to every aspect of social life leading to the saffronisation of all Constitutional and administrative institutions in India.  Under Modi.2 since mid-2019, unleashing a series of fascist offensives such as abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution by breaking up of Kashmir into pieces on the one hand and forcible integration into Indian Union on the other, construction of Ram Temple at the very site of Babri Masjid, making Muslims second class citizens and even denying citizenship to them by amending the Citizenship Act, saffronisation and corporatization of education through NEP 2020, move towards a Uniform Civil Code, etc., RSS is now using the Modi regime to move towards super imposition of a majoritarian Hindurashtra over the multinational, multilingual, multicultural, multi-ethnic and multi-religious India. To facilitate this, cult of tradition and obscurantism are fostered and values of modernity and rational-scientific thinking are rejected. While minorities are suppressed in general, Muslims are particularly targeted through spreading Islamophobia. And the RSS-controlled saffron regime integrating itself with the reactionary corporate-finance capital has turned India in to a typical neofascist regime. Under neofascism, unhindered corporate plunder of nature facilitated through amendments to EIA, etc., has resulted in an unprecedented ecological devastation too.

4.4.    On the eve of Covid pandemic itself, on account of demonetization, GST and outright loot of national assets and huge wealth accumulation by MNCs and Indian corporates, India had been in the firm grip of an economic contraction, record unemployment and mass pauperization. With his second coming in 2019 Modi has been more vigorous in the process of completing total disinvestment of the remaining public sector units such as Railway Stations, Airports, LIC, Arms Factories, etc. In continuation of this, the Modi regime used the pandemic as an added opportunity for its corporate-fascist agenda. Without even consulting the parliament, and without any preparation, the neofascist regime superimposed world’s most stringent and most coercive lockdown for months abruptly collapsing industry, freezing trade and transportation, and even impacting agriculture and above all making administration more oppressive, especially targeting migrants and unorganized workers, denying them even minimum food and livelihood, in the guise of enforcing pandemic regulations. As a result, while pandemic-triggered global contraction by mid-2020 hovered around an average of 6 percent, in India it was around 24 percent. Thus Covid can only be a partial explanation for India’s unparalleled economic breakdown; the main reason has been the far-right neofascist policies of Modi government serving corporate capital.

4.5.    The CAA was an ingenious RSS move towards Hindurashtra by stamping Muslims second class citizens. The country-wide anti-CAA agitations including the historic Shahinbagh movement put the neofascist regime on the defensive. But with the advent of the pandemic and in conformity with Covid protocols, suppression was mounted and conditions were created compelling the withdrawal of the movement.

4.6.    However, even when the country was reeling under the burden of the pandemic, using Covid as an opportunity, Modi regime imposed the three Farm Laws aimed at agricultural corporatisation at the behest of WTO in September 2020 without even subjecting them to scrutiny by regular parliamentary committees. Against which a more serious historic struggle led by farmers emerged months after the withdrawal of the anti-CAA movement. The historic Farmers’ Movement continued for more than a year.  It compelled the regime to withdraw the Farm laws.  It was a great victory in the context of the inability of the depoliticized mainstream trade union leadership to initiate a similar offensive against the pro-corporate Labour Codes that the neofascist regime is planning to push through replacing the existing 44 labour regulations in the country. More importantly, experience from the prolonged farmers’ struggle has shown the extent of the penetration of the Green Revolution induced changes in the agricultural sector, and opened up new possibilities for a broad alliance among working class, peasantry and all oppressed against corporatization and neofascism.

4.7.    At the same time, the farmers’ movement has brought forward the urgent need for specific organizational initiatives capable of properly handling the emerging tasks in the context of intensifying agricultural corporatization.   Though the Party has concrete understanding of the agricultural transformation brought under neoliberal- corporatization policies, there is lot of unevenness in our work in the agricultural front in different states. In many areas it is mainly confined to organizing landless poor peasants for their demands.  Against the GR induced changes also some campaigns and struggles have taken place, especially after the farmers’ movement reached the Delhi borders.  Struggle for protecting farmers’ land, to ensure remunerative prices for agricultural products through establishment APMCs with legal backing for MSP, etc. are indispensable for the sustenance of peasant based agriculture. According to the demands of the present situation, and based on our own experience, appropriate steps have to be taken, including developing programmatic and organizational changes to carry forward these two inter-related, but at same time different tasks, for the overall development of the peasant movement.

4.8.    After BJP’s success in the recent Assembly elections, especially after its return to power in four states ruled by it, a frightening situation is developing all over the country. Starting with Ram Navami and Hanuman Jayanthi, within a few weeks, innumerable communal attacks led by RSS goons directed at Muslims which are reminiscent of the ‘partition days’ have taken place in various parts of the country. The entire administration and police remained as spectators, and cases are charged on the victims while perpetrators of the crimes are left scot-free. In BJP-ruled states such as UP, MP, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, etc., a literal ‘bulldozer raj’ is imposed, i.e., razing down houses and properties of Muslims by the fascist regime using its police and security forces.

4.9.    Most horrific was the situation in Jehangirpuri in national capital like areas, where armed saffron goons marched to the masjids with provocative slogans and attacked and destroyed Muslim houses and establishments branding the residents as Rohingyan and Bangladeshi encroachers, followed by bulldozer raj by the administration. Even after the intervention of the apex court, the demolition continued backed by rumours of illegal migrants continuously relayed by corporate- Sanghi media. Comparable to what happened during the days of Hitlerite fascism, hatred towards Muslims is created in a systematic and planned way creating conditions for genocides, setting the stage for extreme communal polarisation during the 2024 general election and move towards the Hindutva-fascist agenda of declaring India a Hindurashtra on the occasion of the centenary celebration of RSS.

4.10.   In this planned move towards Hindurashtra, the condition of the oppressed Dalits and women, who are ‘subhuman’ according to Manusmriti, is becoming worse. Casteist oppression, discrimination, attacks and even murders are regularly reported.  With the open and secret, official and non-official patronage from the Manuvadi-Hindutva regime, Brahmanical caste system is well entrenched in the entire ruling system, in polity, economy, culture, science and research and so on. By guaranteeing economic reservation through the 124th amendment to the Constitution, BJP government has diluted caste-based reservation. It is leading to further monopolisation of government jobs by the upper castes with whom the country’s wealth and political power are concentrated. Along with this, RSS and BJP are also engaged in dividing and deconstructing organisations and parties of Dalits and lower castes. As its manifestation, with the offer of power-sharing, Hindutva forces have succeeded to make allies among ‘neo-Ambedkerite parties and sections who uphold identity politics, who discard Ambedkar’s program on caste annihilation. In view of the integral link among class, caste and gender, this critical situation calls for urgent ideological and political initiatives by the Party together with vigorous revitalisation of the Caste Annihilation Movement and women’s movement.

4.11.   In continuation of the anti-federal GST, true to its fascist character, the Modi regime is systematically engaged in undermining the country’s federal character through the imposition of Hindi, misusing post of governor, reluctance to share revenue with states, keeping states in the dark regarding pan-Indian policy formulations and so on. This has its ramifications in different regions of the country. As already noted, repeal of Article 370 has totally alienated the Kashmiri people and the J&K issue has become irresolvable now. In the entire north-east like Assam, Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and even in Tripura, Fascist Modi Government is playing the dirty game of pitting different nationalities, ethnicities and religious sections each other. Of late, though rhetoric on repealing AFSPA is there with piecemeal withdrawals from some regions, it seems to be selective and intended to serve the reactionary interests of Hindutva regime for diverting attention from the ever-intensifying persecution of the victims. Imposition of NRC and CAA had already done immense damage to the minorities and oppressed sections in the north-eastern states. This critical situation calls for sustained people’s struggles for the reconstitution of India as a Union of States based on federal principles and recognizing the linguistic, ethnic and cultural rights of different nationalities.

4.12.   Covid pandemic, global economic crisis, fluctuations in oil prices, etc. have made life unsustainable for the more than 6 million Indian expatriates still working in Gulf. Over the past several years, they have been playing a significant role in maintaining India’s foreign exchange reserve. On account of the pandemic, many of them were forced to return to India. This necessitates urgent political interventions regarding their rehabilitation and appropriate policy initiatives in relation to Gulf countries where majority of Indian migrant workers are concentrated.

4.13.   Since Modi government’s ascension to power in 2014, relations with India’s neighbours have been continuously worsening. On account of its big-brotherly approach to Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, the SAARC has already become defunct. Modi regime’s erstwhile effort to thwart the formation of a secular government in Nepal is already known. The Hindutva attitude towards the Rohingya refugees, the most persecuted minority according to UN, has further alienated Bangladesh. Modi’s expansionist designs including strategic alliance with US against China in the Indo-Pacific, has prompted Sri Lanka and other to move closer to China. And in the border question with China, Modi government’s inability to handle imperialist China is already exposed. The Indian regime’s role as a junior partner of US is sharpening its contradiction with China, which is hindering any amicable solution to the border issue.

4.14.   On the other hand, being a big market for international capital, India’s bargaining position between Russia and US is self-evident in its approach to Russian attack on Ukraine.  Historically and politically incapable to take an anti-imperialist position on the Ukraine question, Indian government’s dependence on Russian weapons and cheap oil has come out in the open right from the very beginning. To balance this, an all-out effort is also in full swing on the part of the government not to antagonise the US by faithfully remaining as a strategic partner in Quad and in US’ indo-pacific machinations targeted at China.

4.15.   Abandoning yesteryears’ non-alignment traditions, the neofascist Modi regime is taking conspicuously antagonistic position towards all oppressed nations and peoples while siding with the oppressor nations. In particular, the RSS that leads the Indian regime, is engaged in a global Hindutva campaign joining with Zionists against Muslims using Islamophobia through its innumerable international affiliates mainly located in US. The Hindutva-Republican coalition modelled after Republican-Jewish coalition in the US is active in lobbying work in conformity with RSS international tasks. The latter is having the same relationship with many neo-Nazi and neofascist groups and movements in Europe too.

5.     Our Immediate Task in the Context of RSS Neofascism

5.1.    Regarding our immediate task, the Political Resolution adopted in the 11th Party Congress in 2018 noted: ‘’3. ix …we have to urgently engage in building up Party, strengthening class/mass organisations and peoples’ movements and developing class struggle. Together with this, using all available means we should go for a resolute ideological-political campaign against imperialism and ruling system, against corporate-saffron fascism, on the need of developing Marxism-Leninism according to the concrete condition of our country. In this background, our party should actively strive for discussion with all revolutionary, democratic forces along with other struggling forces for a national coordination seeking the possibility of drafting a common manifesto to resist and defeat the corporate communal fascist threat.”

5.2.    Under Modi.2, and following the recent Assembly elections, as briefly analysed above, RSS is engaged in the final push towards Hindurashtra. It shows India is in a neofascist situation with the threat assuming multidimensional character. Acknowledging this transformation, the Political Organisational Report adopted by the 12th Congress concludes thus: “We are passing through the most dangerous days of fascist offensive. To take up this challenge, we have to relentlessly continue to wage uncompromising ideological struggle against all alien trends, and continue to strive for building the broadest possible united front against fascist Modi raj.  We should pursue the line of independent left assertion. We should speed up party building uniting with all the communists who based on the draft Program and Path documents put forward. We should strive for forging the revolutionary left core based on the program for people’s democracy and socialism, combining with launching of revolutionary struggles in the coming days. In this way we can definitely overcome the present stagnation of the communist movement, intensify the fight against the growing fascist offensive of RSS, complete remaining tasks of democratic revolution and advance towards socialist revolution.’’

5.3.    Thus, as outlined, “building the broadest possible united front against fascist Modi raj” based on “uncompromising ideological struggle”, pursuing “the line of independent left assertion” and speeding up “party building uniting with all communists” are inseparable and intertwined components of the immediate political task of resisting and defeating fascism. In spite of our organisational weakness, though in a limited form, it was based on this political clarity that we organized the ‘Defeat BJP, Save Democracy’ campaign in UP which is RSS’ laboratory of corporate-Hindutva fascism today.

5.4.    In the case of the non-fascist ruling class political spectrum, none of the parties or fronts among them have so far taken a clear-cut anti-fascist position. The non-BJP ruling class opposition parties including the Congress that has already become weak, and the state-level and regional parties with caste-communal orientation, with their close adherence to neoliberal corporatization, are mainly interested in forging opportunist alliances for power sharing so far. Though some of them may utilize people’s resentment against the most corrupt, majoritarian, saffron fascist danger, due to their class line and ideological-political bankruptcy, none of them has so far taken the initiative for fighting neofascism.

5.5.    Coming to the broad Left spectrum, as proved time and again, the left adventurist political line has little role to play in the fascist situation. The left adventurists do not make a distinction between fascist and non-fascist sections of the ruling classes, and due to this sectarian approach, the ascendancy of neofascism is a mere change of regime for them.  On the other hand, the CPI (M) that leads the social democratic stream has not acknowledged the Indian regime as a fascist one. Obviously, being adherents of neoliberal corporatization when in government, the CPI (M) has already exposed themselves as incapable of leading political struggles against corporate capital, the material basis of fascism. Following Singur and Nandigram, the CPI (M) has decimated in Bengal and Tripura. Its present policy of superimposition of pro-corporate policies and ruthless suppression of people who oppose them together with wanton use of fascist weapons like UAPA in Kerala is alienating it further from the working class and the oppressed.

5.6.  At the same time, this is a critical situation where a communist movement which is politically and organizationally capable to lead the anti-fascist movement uniting all non-fascist, secular, democratic and progressive forces is yet to emerge. However, mere acknowledgement of this fact shall not be a justification for refraining from the immediate and urgent task of building up an anti-fascist movement for defeating RSS neofascism. This is a complex task which calls for our interrelated involvement at various levels.

5.7.  Of course, as laid down in our basic documents, we have to speed up party-building, develop class and mass movements, and launch people’s struggles against the ruling system and far-right neoliberal policies based on our ideological-political line. According to the concrete manifestations of neoliberal imperialism, this task of party building has two components- international and country specific. The first is already mentioned in the International Tasks explained earlier.

5.8.    In building up the Party with country-wide influence and for leading democratic and revolutionary struggles in the concrete Indian context, while assimilating lessons from erstwhile people’s democratic and socialist experiences, the integral link among class, caste and gender struggles and struggle for ecological protection should be taken up. That is, the party building process needs to assimilate the comprehensive inter-relationship among class struggle, struggle for caste annihilation, for gender equality and for ecological protection. Thus a party equipped with revolutionary theory and having practical experience from leading different struggles of workers, peasants, and all oppressed including women and the entire spectrum of genders, adivasis and dalits and that of environmental protection is the urgent need today.

5.9.  Such a unity of the workers and all oppressed achieved through struggles against neoliberal-corporatisation in all its manifestations is also indispensable to bring about a revolutionary left core of all fraternal and communist revolutionary forces with a common minimum program. This foundation that upholds the interests of the vast majority of the working and oppressed peoples shall be the starting point for a broadest possible anti-fascist front capable of challenging and defeating RSS-led neofascism.

5.10. In a neofascist context as is the case with India now, the fascists will not tolerate even the minimum basic political right for organisation, assembling, freedom of speech and so on that are essential for taking up essential political tasks.  Under fascism, therefore, the task of building up party and revolutionary left core and that of antifascist movement cannot be put in a ‘one after another’ order. Rather, both tasks are inter-dependent and need to be approached dialectically, and it is the resolute struggles against fascism that set the stage for building party by winning over progressive and democratic sections who will be joining the anti-fascist movement in a big way. And even for overcoming the present stagnation in communist movement and for advancing towards democratic and revolutionary tasks, building up the anti-fascist movement is indispensable.

5.11.  To reiterate, in the fascist context, both class struggle and anti-fascist struggle are interlinked and inseparable. For instance, elements of both were involved in the anti-CAA movement and in the historic Farmers’ Movement, directed against Hindutva fascism and neoliberal corporatization. This experience provides ample scope for developing sustained and uncompromising struggles against saffron-corporate fascism joining with all anti-fascist and non-fascist sections.

5.12. While engaging in such resistance struggles of people, conscious political interventions are needed to build up a people’s alternative against corporate-neofascism. In a vast country like India with many diversities, such initiatives can take the form of state-level coordination joining with revolutionary left, democratic and struggling forces leading to the emergence of a national coordination against Corporate-Hindutva fascism based on an anti-fascist common agenda, which also involve electoral struggles for isolating and defeating RSS neofascism. Of crucial relevance here is appropriate ideological-political interventions against Manuvadi-Hindutva, the ideological basis of Indian fascism.

5.13. While being part of such broad anti-fascist movement in which non-fascist ruling classes along with social democrats who even do not acknowledge the advent of fascism in India are involved, there should not be any laxity on the part of communists to untiringly uphold their ideological position from the perspective of the class interests of the working class and oppressed. That is, the ‘tactical alliance’ in the antifascist struggle that also aims at effectively utilizing the contradictions within ruling classes shall be differentiated from the ‘strategic alliance’ of the working class and oppressed against the ruling system, against neoliberalism and corporate capital today. Otherwise, opportunist alliances in the name of ‘anti-fascist unity’ surrendering proletarian independence and the ideological-political line of communists will result in altogether abandoning of class struggle itself and will be detrimental to the interests of working class and oppressed.

5.14.  With this clear-cut perception, while moving forward with the fundamental tasks of class struggle including the strive for initiating a revolutionary left core starting from the effort to build up party, class and mass organisations and people’s movements, we have to engage ourselves in the immediate task of overthrowing RSS neofascism by building up the broadest possible antifascist front comprising non-fascist sections which involve electoral struggles too. While engaging in this interrelated task, communists have to take up uncompromising ideological struggle of upholding the independent line that always identifies with the toilers and all oppressed. Only such an approach can avoid both sectarian and opportunist deviations.

Resist Manuvadi-Hindutva Fascism; Build-up Anti-Fascist Movement!

Build up Party Based on Proletarian Internationalism!

Fight against Imperialist Proxy War and War Mongering!

March towards People’s Democracy and Socialism!

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