Thursday, January 9, 2014

The New Year and the Struggles Ahead : AK Padmanabhan


The year 2013 has faded into history and it is the new dawn now!

For the working people of India, the year 2013 was a year of mass actions and struggles. The year began with the countrywide preparation for the historic 48 hour strike on 20th and 21st February. The strike, at the call of all the eleven central trade unions and national federations of various sections of employees and workers, was historic in its sweep and participation. More than 12 crore workers from almost all sectors of manufacturing, service etc. covering organized, unorganized and self employed sections participated in the massive strike action.

However, the approach and attitude of the Government at the center continued to remain the same as during the last 4 years of joint movement of all the central trade unions. But we all remember that there was a small difference. On the eve of the strike, exactly 28 hours before the commencement of the strike, a Group of Ministers, constituted by the Prime Minister had called the central T.U. leaders for a discussion!

The whole year has gone, without even a meaningful discussion on the Ten point Charter of Demands. These demands are the basic demands of the crores and crores of ordinary masses of the country. This was acknowledged even by the Prime Minister of the country.

Dr. Manmohan Singh, while inaugurating the 45th Indian Labour Conference on 17th May 2013 said – “The recent two-day strike by trade unions focused on a number of issues relating to the welfare not only of the working class but also the people at large. These include demands on which there can be no disagreement. For example, demands for concrete measures for containing inflation, for generation of employment opportunities, for strict implementation of Labour Laws, are unexceptionable”.

He also said “there can however be differences on the best ways of fulfilling these demands and we are willing to engage constructively with the trade unions in this regard”!
Before acknowledging the justness of the demands, PM had also claimed “our Government has paid very serious attention to the issues that Trade Unions have raised time to time”!
We need not go into further details. What has been the result of ‘constructive engagement’, and ‘serious attention’ of the Government on these ‘unexceptionable demands’ is well known.

On 22nd May, the Group of Ministers had asked for a month’s time for constructive discussion and we are still counting the days.
 
FOR A PROPER RESPONSE
It was this attitude that forced the Central Trade Unions to continue the struggle and that phase has concluded with the massive March to Parliament on 12th December.
The participation in the ‘March’ for exceeded the previous rally on 23rd February 2011. The anger among the workers was fully reflected in the rallies and court arrest programmes in September and the campaigns afterwards.

\The year 2013 also witnessed militant and massive struggles of various sections of workers – men and women – on basic issues of livelihood. There was not any section of workers, who have not been in struggle during the year – strikes, demonstrations, rallies – at the work spot level, local, state and national level as well.

There were innumerable struggles of working women also, during the year. Anganwadi workers and helpers, ASHA workers, Midday Meal workers, Artisans and traditional workers, plantation and beedi workers, women in the service and financial sectors, government employees etc have all been on the streets. They not only conducted militant struggles at the state and national level on their own demands but have been a significant part of all the CITU and joint trade union actions.

These struggles created an impetus for the united movement as well.
It was this anger and protest against the callous attitude of the Government on the issues confronting the workers, that brought the lakhs of men and women to the capital, braving the most unpleasant weather conditions and arduous travel from different corners of the country. In addition, lakhs of workers participated in the district level rallies in various states on the same day.

The delegation of central T.U. leaders which met the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister was not given any concrete assurance on the demands of the workers. But the unions told the Government, rather, gave a stern warning that – “the trade union movement cannot accept the present state of inaction and indifference on the pressing demands of the workers and people lying down and will heighten their united struggle in 
the face of continuing unresponsiveness”.

Now, it is for the unresponsive government to act. Otherwise the working people all over the country will have to give a fitting response to the ruling class.
Already, the people all over the country are up in arms against the Government. In the recent state assembly elections, the main ruling party at the center, the Congress, has been punished by the people.
But the working people will have to be vigilant. The high decibel campaign let loose by the corporates, both Indian and Multinational, to project the leader of the highly divisive communal party, BJP, as the alternative has to be met with a people oriented campaign putting forward a set of alternate policies. The real character of the corporate led campaign has to be thoroughly exposed.
 
OUR TASKS AHEAD
The task in the New Year, which is going to be the year of General Elections, has to be this patriotic responsibility of mobilizing people for upholding pro-people policies. Along with the issue of economic policies, we have to mobilize people to safeguard the secular fabric of the country which is being challenged by various communal forces.

In addition to these, for members of CITU, the coming year has to be the year when we have to make all out efforts to fulfill the tasks finalized by our 14th All India Conference.
It is not necessary to go into those issues again. But, the tasks of increasing our membership, streamlining organizational activities at various levels of our organization, taking up issues of social oppression etc. have to be the priorities in the New Year.

Struggles on issues of unemployment, increasing disparities, denial of democratic rights and attacks on the livelihood of working people are finding more and more support all over the world. The machinations of the imperialists are increasing and at the same time they are under pressure from various sections. The New Year will witness more and more struggles and it is for the working people of the country to be well prepared for that.

For the millions of members of CITU, it is time to be prepared to be in the forefront of all these struggles and to channelise them towards a massive peoples movement, by “Reaching the unreached” and “Intensifying class struggle for a change in the system!”

Left parties plan Agitation Against Price Rise


Leaders of the Left parties, the CPI(M), CPI, AIFB & RSP met in New Delhi today. They have issued the following statement:

The Left parties express serious concern at the crushing burden of price rise which is affecting all sections of the people. There is no respite in the upwards spiral of prices of food items and essential commodities with food inflation reaching a record high of 20 per cent.

The UPA government is adding fuel to the fire by continuously increasing the prices of petrol, diesel, LPG and CNG.

The Left parties decided to conduct a protest campaign against price rise with the following demands:

1.         Stop increase in the prices of petroleum products. Restore administrative price mechanism.
2.         No to Aadhar linkage being made mandatory for delivery of services and subsidies to the people.
3.         End hoarding and speculation of essential commodities and conduct de-hoarding campaign.
4.         No privatization of basic services and conduct audit of those private companies utilizing public resources and delivering basic services.
5.         Ensure universal public distribution system.

The Left parties call upon all its state units to conduct the anti-price rise agitation between January 15 and 31.

The meeting was attended by A.B. Bardhan, Prakash Karat, S Sudhakar Reddy, Debabrata Biswas, Sitaram Yechury and Abani Roy.

Mammoth Rally in Kolkota against misurel of TMC government



Tens of thousands of people from North 24 Parganas district marched to Kolkata on Wednesday, demanding an end to attacks on democracy, continuing attacks on women and all-round anarchy in the state. They also raised specific demands of the district. The rally, called by CPI(M) North 24 Parganas district committee turned into a mammoth one.

The rally was the culmination of intensive campaign which included more than 40 public meetings throughout the district. Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, Manik Sarkar, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Biman Basu, Surjya Kanta Mishra were among speakers of those area-based meetings in November and December. CPI(M) activists went door to door with campaign materials for nearly two months.

On Wednesday, people started to gather from morning in Rani Rasmoni Road in Kolkata in buses, trains and even in boats decorated with red flags. But the most spectacular was the huge procession which started from Sealdaha Station and marched through central Kolkata to the venue of the rally. It was a sea of red flags, declaring that the Lefts in Bengal are invincible. Entire area in Kolkata’s heartland was flooded with people.

Addressing the rally, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee said that the state was being ruled by a party of criminals. The state has showed a dangerous decline in agriculture, industry, employment generation. The rule of law is absent.

On the coming Lok Sabha Elections, Bhattacharjee said that Congress has been virtually out of the race even before the elections. Ten years of UPA rule has increased misery of the people and now the people has turned their faces from Congress. The exit of Manmohan Singh is also fraught with attempt of a monster’s attempt to grab power at the centre. Narendra Modi is a deadly combination of RSS and corporate. In West Bengal, the people will not allow this dangerous force to get hold of.

Biman Basu called upon the people to mobilize in greater numbers to defeat the forces of authoritarianism. He said, Left Front has accepted defeat in assembly elections with humility and allowed the TMC Government to function without hindrance. But what they delivered is an all–out attack on democracy. The time has come to resist this ugly force to save the state.

Ashoke Ghosh, veteran Forward Block leader, RSP leader Khiti Goswami, CPI leader Swapan Banerjee also addressed the gathering. CPI(M) district secretary Gautm Deb categorically charged the chief minister and Trinamool Congress as corrupted.

As a mark of solidarity with the families of the martyrs in this period, financial help was handed over to families of 50 martyrs.