India- ON 40TH DEATH ANNIVERSARY LET US RESSURECT TEACHINGS OF KANAI CHATTERJEE

By Harsh Thakor

On July 18^th we commemorate the 40^th death anniversary of Communist leader Kanai Chatterjee, known as KC. He was one of the main architects in applying the Chinese path of Revolution in India and distinguishing from revisionism. Few Indian Marxists so dialectically grasped and formulated the Chinese path of Peoples War and agrarian revolution. Kanai Chatterjee was an adherent of the teachings of Lenin and Mao and illustrated mastery in knitting scattered forces together into a single party.

 

Comrade Kanai Chatterji was the founding leader of the Dakshin Desh group which was later converted into the Maoist Communist Centre in October 1969.-, which merged with C.P.I. (M.L) Peoples War into the C.P.I.(Maoist) in 2004 He drew a clear-cut line of demarcation with revisionism in every sphere.

 

Early years

KC was born in 1933 in an affluent family in a village called Baruikhali of Barisal district in present Bangladesh. During his student life itself the intensifying anti-colonial movement against the British Raj moulded his life, and instilled hatred and anger against colonial exploitation and rule.

 

At merely 15 years of age, he passed his matriculation examination, securing a position among the first ten in Kolkata and took admission in the science  partment of Ashutosh College. However, the partition of the country, communal riots and  the nature of political independence  and such other events of that time infield treat antagonism within him. Therefore, he joined hands with the leftist student politics and student movement. He then resumed his studies by taking admission in the commerce department of Shyamaprasad Mukherji College, stopped taking money from home and began to earn his own livelihood through tuitions.

 

While studying in college, actively integrated into the student movement on
various issues and came to be known as a leader of the student movement.
At this time, he inculcated a deep desire to study Marxism-Leninism and began to articulately study works of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao. Topics such as armed struggle, worker- peasant unity and the path of Chinese Revolution had profuse impact on him. He began establishing links with the toiling and working masses in Ballygunj- Kasba-Tiljala and other localities of Kolkata, and integrated with them by staying in their bastis. Later, while participating in student politics and the student movement, he became a member of the undivided Communist Party. On completing M.Com he decided to discontinue his studies and to actively take part in politics.

 

Initial phase of party life

In 1953, he began party work in the Ballygunj-Kasba-Tiljala industrial area of Kolkata, which abounds in slums of workers. In this course he built a mass organisation called “Civil Rights Committee”, through which, while taking up various issues related to the problems of the people in order to build a movement, he established links with the working masses of the area at large. In just a few  days, he could nurture closeness with the people of the area and became quite popular. At this time, conspiracies were hatched to trigger riots among  Hindus and Muslims. Comrade K.C., having waged struggle against this all along,  remained quite popular among the Muslim masses as well.

  

In the year 1962, the Nehru regime launched an attack on the then socialist China. This event sparked a new debate within the undivided Communist Party. There was already a two-line debate on the question of betrayal of the Telangana struggle by the leadership and on the path of armed revolution in contrast to the    parliamentary path. Comrade K.C., along with some other comrades, launched a powerful ideological-political offensive against the well-known revisionists holding leadership positions of CPI. In 1962 comrade KC was arrested under the “India Defence Act.”The imprisoned revolutionary section of the party came to an understanding that the only remedy would be to raise the banner of revolt
against the revisionist and traitorous leadership from within the jail itself. A
a deep debate was undertaken  centred on the questions related to the line, such
as the path of Chinese revolution i.e., the path of Protracted Peoples’ War
or the line of area-wise seizure of power; the line of boycotting elections
and building the People’s Army and Base Areas. This pioneered a clear-cut line of demarcation with the revisionist line began.

 

Rupture with revisionism

Around this time, the communist revolutionary sections in the country
were greatly moulded by the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution conducted under the leadership of Mao Tse Tung  in order to overpower the supporters  of the capitalist road in China and to strengthen socialism and the dictatorship of the proletariat. Comrade K.C. took a decision to completely sever relations with the revisionist party. In comrade KC’s view, an uncompromising struggle against revisionism and drawing a clear-cut line of demarcation with revisionist views and path are the two processes through which revisionism would be given a mortal blow.

 

As an inseparable part of the process of drawing a line of demarcation, comrade K.C. bitterly opposed the draft document of the Seventh Congress of the CPM held in 1964, and also presented an alternative document in the Kolkata District Conference prior to the Congress.   Finally, comrade K.C.termed the documents passed in the seventh Congress of the CPM as revisionist he revolutionary style and method of work; the need to draw a clear-cut line of demarcation with the revisionist road on every aspect; the importance of building armed struggle, Peoples’ Army and Base Area in the countryside in order to capture state power; the importance of building a revolutionary party in the true sense while uniting the revolutionaries in words and deeds and so on.

 

It was then that comrade KC wrote some important articles on the Character of the Indian State; the Two Stages of Revolutions; the importance of Protracted peoples’ War and Area-wise Seizure of Power and Building a Peoples’ Army and Base Area in the countryside; the Nationality Problem in India and the Duty of Communists; the Importance of Inspiring Worker- Peasant Women with evolutionary Politics and Building a Women’s Movement and other questions. In 1968 itself comrade KC presented two articles, “Some fundamental points regarding the Nationality Problem,” and “We must Inspire Worker-Peasant Women with Revolutionary Politics, A few words about the Women’s Movement.”

 

The “Chinta” group was formed in 1965 as a secret revolutionary centre within the CPM carrying out revolutionary propaganda amongst its rank-an-file.  . In late 1966 the secret magazine, “Chinta”, was closed down and a magazine named “Dakshin Desh” was brought out openly. The group came to be known as the “Dakshin Desh” group. In early 1967, before the Naxalbari uprising com. Kanai Chatterjee had a long discussion with Com. CM. At this meeting they had a common understanding on advancing the peasant movement and decided to maintain close relations.

 

It is well-known that in April 1969, the CPI (ML) was formed under comrade CM’s leadership, and that the Dakshindesh group purposely did not join it at that time owing to some differences of opinion. In his view it was premature to found such a party. KC also refuted the sectarian stand of C.P.I.(M.L) in abandoning mass  organisations and movements .On subtle aspects it distinguished from the left sectarian aspects of the line advocated by the C.P.I.(M.L). on party building and mass line. It was Chatterjee’s firm conviction that the party had to be developed from below, only after the sufficient construction of base areas. KC was itical of the line of ‘Individual annihilation of class enemies’ advocated by the C.P.I.(M.L)In practice under his leadership MCC formed n October 20th1969, emulated the example of the Chinese revolution in Hunan, with red army corpses retreating to the rural areas. In my opinion MCC adopted tighter Leninist party practice than the C.P.I. (M.L).

A basic document written by comrade KC some time before the formation of the MCC, that is since May 1969 regarding “Strategy and Tactics” became the basic political foundation of the erstwhile MCC. Later, another invaluable article by comrade KC aimed at taking ahead the practical work of Indian Revolution in accordance with the document on strategy and Tactics, that is, the work of building a Peoples’ Army and Base Area, published in 1970, got established as the “Get Going with Armed Agrarian Revolution; Hasten the Work of Building an Army and Base Area.” In MCC, this document was considered the basic documents, and as regards practical work it was this document that was followed. The greatest importance of this document lies on the aspect that if one has to really build the Indian Revolution, one must not conduct haphazard work with  spontaneity , but it is most essential to select Strategic Areas that would be conducive to building an Army and Base Area.

In the light of these strategic concepts, comrade KC, through this document on building the Peoples’ Army and Base Areas illustrated the mutual  terrelationships between Agrarian Revolution, Peoples’ Army and Base Area, and MCC’s concept regarding their resolution and the related concept regarding the military line.

Another important article by comrade KC on the question of drawing a clear
line of demarcation with the Parliamentary views and line of India’s old and
new revisionists, entitled ‘Struggle with Might against Parliamentary Politics and Capitulationism; Raise Aloft the Banner of Agrarian Revolution and Protracted Peoples’ War’. This precipitated the process began the process of sending the larger section of the best among the Professional Revolutionaries of the urban areas to the countryside.

 

A notable aspect of comrade KC’s revolutionary life was that along with conducting theoretical polemics, he also left no stone unturned in whole-
heartedly building actual struggles in accordance with the given situation.

 

KC meticulously integrated in the work in Sonarpur and 24 Parganas, and even later when his physical condition deteriorated and health was failing him, stayed entrenched in the armed peasant struggles of Cachar in Assam, in Tripura, Kanksa in West Bengal, and in Bihar’s Gaya and Hazaribagh of present Jharkhand.

 

His successful attempt at linking up the movements of a backward nationality,
that is, linking them with the orientation of Peoples’ War, was an important contribution to the Indian Revolution. Creating ground for solid leadership from the basic classes, that is from among poor and landless peasants and from the
people of a nationality was his unique contribution. He analysed correctly the mutual relationship between strategy, and tactics, and the importance of viewing tactics as a part of strategy –subordinate to and contributing towards it; and of viewing even the tactics related to day-to-day work as a part of the strategic line. On the question of mass movement, he came out with a clear-cut demarcation between the mass movements   with an orientation of Protracted Peoples’ War and conducted with the aim of seizing power, and the mass movement conducted without such an orientation. He gave priority to building a mass movement integrated with the orientation of Protracted Peoples’ War and conducted with the aim of capturing state power in semi-colonial and semi-feudal India where uneven development in the political and economic sphere is a concrete specificity.

 

While taking up a joint programme along with many, he stressed that,
“while uniting all the possible forces based on a common agenda of struggle
centered upon peoples’ (National and International) immediate problems
and fascist attacks on the people, we should patiently and in accordance
with the mass line unceasingly conduct struggle against every expression of
the parliamentary and revisionist current (whatever form it may appear in),
and at the same time we must increase our independent work and independent
initiative a hundred times more.”

 

Whenever MCC faced setbacks during struggle, comrade KC displayed surgical skill in applying the laws of dialectical materialism to deeply analyse the concrete situation and determine the causes for the setback in the struggle, the positive and negative aspects of the struggle and the necessary tasks for the present. When the organization faced setbacks in the struggle at Sonarpur, Kanksa, Hazaribagh and Assam-Tripura, KC deeply reviewed all those aspects, illustrating the evolutionary path and the method of work for resurrecting momentum of struggle.MCC thus was able to regroup itself.

Positive that under KC .MCC conducted joint struggles with the Unity Centre of Communist Revolutionaries (Nagi Reddy group) in West Bengal, in area of Debra.

Achievements of MCC

In Bihar the MCC made its first inroads in Gaya and Hazaribagh districts in the Parashnath and Zilga hills in the Dhanbad-Hazaibah zone ,and from the Neru Mehudia hills of the Bargaon area .It spread like wildfire  in Chalho hills in Gaya district. and adjoining areas. It stitched  the Revolutionary Peasant commitees to combat feudalism and imperialist control in several areas. Revolutionary peasants launched a series of attacks against feudal forces confiscated their movable and immovable property and distributed land among the landless and poor peasants through the peasant Commitee. Granaries owned by landlords were crushed to the ground and thousands of acres of land was distributed to the tillers. Weapons of landlords were confiscated and many were arrested for their crimes. Private armies of upper caste landlords were executed. Workers were also organized to wage struggles against forest contractors. Social issues were also taken up like rape, obscene dancing performances, liquor consumption, gambling, dacoity and theft, caste conflicts and communal riots.

 

An important achievement of the M.C.C in Bihar was the destruction of the headquarters of the oppressive feudal forces at DalocHok Baghaura in Gaya in 1987.Thousands of peasants participated in that military campaign, which proved to be the turning point of mobile armed resistance struggle.

 

One famous action was carried out on landlord Rameshwar Singh. For years the peasants were trampled by the landlords iron feet. On January 6th 1983 the Kisan Committee gathered at is ‘Kacheri’. He was arrested and tried. They not only killed him but burnt his house. This was the first time that he people seriously saw the need of combining mass struggles with armed movements. From Gaya to Dhanbad, the struggle spread to Bokaro, Aurangabad, Hazaribagh and Giridih. Later in land seizure movements starting in full swing from 1986 to 1990, 7000 acres of land were re-distributed.

Weaknesses of KC and MCC after his death

Kanai Chatterjee’s weaknesses lay in opening no doors to urban work, deploying extra-parliamentary tactics or open functioning of mass organisations. He was unable to imbibe lessons from the struggle of the Andhra Pradesh Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries led by T.Nagi Reddy and D.V.Rao on the path of the Indian Revolution. Kanai Chatterjee also did not demarcate from the Lin Biaoist definition of the era of ‘Era of Total Collapse of Imperialism” or properly defend ‘Leninist’ era of ‘Imperialism and Proletarian Revolution. Ultra-secretism also had it’s roots in KC’s line.  Section of comrades like Samir Roy , left the MCC in the mid 1970’s.,opposing sectarian line.

A document that is missing is KC’s stand on China after Dengist capture of power in 1978, in light of 3 worlds theory and International line overall.

It is regretful that after his death in certain ways MCC drifted from the strictly tactical line of Kanai Chatterjee in important respects, practicing military line to replace mass movements. The Dalechauk-Baghaura massacre of Rajputs in Aurangabad in 1987, the mutual clashes with the erstwhile C.P.I (M.L) Peoples War Group from 1997-2000, split in 2000 or joining the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement are ample examples .Even if organising sustained resistance against landlord armies by destroying their headquarters, it often conducted armed actions incoherent with level of mass movement. It is reflected today in the practice of the Maoist forces in Jharkhand. where work has hardly extended in the plain areas.

Today the C.P.I. (Maoist) in it’s documents fails to highlight the distinctive features of the line of Kanai Chatterjee or Maoist Communist Centre from the C.P.I. (M.L.) or Charu Mazumdar, or explain why MCC’s stand in opposing formation of the C.P.I. (M.L) in 1969 was correct. In my view KC’s writings should be studied critically to explain why party formation was incorrect in 1969 , to confront revisionism distinguish mass line or  why till this day in important respects the C.P.I.(Maoist) fails to properly implement massline  or agrarian revolutionary war. Kanai Chatterjee’s writings distinguished essence of Leninist party  from Maoist trend of ‘party militarisation.’

 

25th ANNIVERSARY OF India- FILM MRITYUDAND WHICH CHAMPIONED CAUSE OF SOCIAL OPRESSION WITH AN OUTSANDING PERFORMANCE BY MADHURI DIXIT

By Harsh Thakor

Mrityudand, made 25 years ago on July 11th, in 1997, is an ideal illustration of feudal tyranny, political scenario and subjugation of womenfolk at the hands of criminal elements in state of Bihar. One of the finest commentaries of social and gender injustice. It blends an art and commercial film into one. Even if a commercial film, aspects of classical art constitute an integral part of the movie. Scène dissection is crafted with great precision as well as dialogues. The ebb and flow or twists and turns keeps an audience guessing .To me amongst the finest portrayals of social reality and a movie that projects crusade against social injustice of women at a crescendo. At the very ground it projected the subjugation of the village women folk to the political ruling classes, illustrating how they dictated their lives with the very but of the gun. Artistically it dwelled on the psychology of village men and women when faced with a different set of situations, particularly in confrontation. The tussles between contending forces and their co-relationship are most surgically depicted. It probes into the roots of rural violence at the economic base. The movie is directed and produced by Prakash Jha. The music is composed by Anand Milind and the lyrics are written by Javed Akhtar. The cinematography is by Rajan Kinagi and Rajan Kothari. The choreography is by Nimesh Bhatt.

The star cast includes Ayub Khan, Shabana Azmi, Madhuri Dixit, Shilpa Shirodkar, Om Puri, Mohan Agashe, Mohan Joshi, Harish Patel, Pyare Mohan Sahay, Brij Gopal, Pradeep Kuckreja, Suhas Bhalekar, Achyut Potdar, Ajit Vachani and Abha Dhulia. With inept skill Prakash Jha grafts this script or transplants genuine art forms to weave the plot. A shot of Ganga ghats, village temple, landlord haveli, powerbroker’s farmhouse, and village streets gives the movie a touch of realism and takes cinematography to classical shades. Most articulately the characters of Viay Singh,Abhay Singh and Tripat are integrated into the plot and that of Ketki ,Kanti and Chandravati ,to illustrate the contradictions of the social system.

The portrayal of behaviour of a priest as a criminal in case of Abhay Singh, depicts the oppressive nature of the Hindu religious hierarchy Mrityudand portrays some of the most scintillating sequences formulated by Prakash Jha.Killing of local temple head priest, Ketki rescuing Kanti from Tripat, Ketki and Vinay’s confrontation when she pokes her nose into his affairs, Murder of Vinay Singh, Ketki and Tripat's duel in her house when she attacked by him at one night, Abhay and Chandravati’s confrontation when Abhay knows about her pregnancy, and execution of Tripat Singh at Ganga Ghat; captivate the audience till the very end. The climax of the film when Madhuri Dixt as Ketki executes Mohan Joshi as Tripat ranks amongst the most soul searching scenes portraying women’s quest for social justice. The movie simply brought out the very best in Madhuri Dixit,who for the first time enacted a progressive role ,portraying rebellion of a woman against feudal injustice. Madhuri symbolised a rural women launching a rebellion or crusade against injustice in a path breaking manner. The scale of intensity of Madhuri’s eyes in scenes of vengeance or anger gives vibrations of a Tsunami erupting. Arguably her role ranks amongst the finest portrayals of women in quest of liberation, in Bollywood history. It is heart touching to witness the evolving or metamorphosis of Madhuri Dixit as Ketki from a subordinated village woman into a rebel striving for social justice. She revealed her prowess for championing social reality in place of donning sex symbols or a conventional Bollywood heroine, displaying great malleabality. Madhuri gave shades of the classical acting of Waheeda Rehman,Nutan or Meena Kumari and even overshadowed Shabana Azmi.To me amongst the finest performances by a Hindi film actress portraying rebellion against injustice. It is regretful that in her career Madhuri Dixit sold herself to crass commercialism, rather than invest her talents into art films.

The performance was a testimony of the talent Madhuri was endowed with to perform path breaking roles as a truly consummate actress. Instead of selling herself as a consumer brand heroine, Madhuri may have transcended the levels of Smita Patil,in portraying the struggle of an opressed woman. Perhaps this film missed out on highlighting or integrating the aspect of land struggles tyranny of landlords ,misery of lower caste agricultural labour or seizures or caste opression .Upper caste landlord rivalry is projected and not the confrontation of the peasantry with landlordism. The first part also has excessive plots and sub plots, with tinges of romanticism. Plot of Film In the village of Bilaspur in Bihar, women are treated as mere sex objects and can be used or eliminated from their lives at random by men folk.. One day it’s a horrific sight in the village to see a mob killing two defenceless girls in full public view with no person coming forward to help or rescue them. A young couple Vinay and Ketki live a life encompassed with love and happiness but all that soon changes, as he gets influenced by a corrupt contractor named Tirpat and becomes a slave of drinking, domestic abuse and lots of other vices.

Ketki is a dedicated wife but is unable to bind the family together due to her husband’s bad habits. Ketki and Vinay show great determination to confront the shackles that the village has engripped them to. She also struggles to survive in a male dominated village. The village is ruled by a contractor and broker Tripat (Mohan Joshi), aided by the local politician MLA Durga Pandey (Harish Patel), who whose main objective is to divide two brothers - namely Abhay Singh (Mohan Agashe) and his younger brother Vinay Singh (Ayub Khan), sons of upper class local landlord, who lives in his past glory and acquire their rocky river land for their construction projects. Vinay gets married to the educated young woman, ketki (Madhuri Dixit). As Vinay struggles to keep the household going, Ketki aides him to embark in an entrepreneurial venture as a contractor, but destiny shapes for Vinay getting enslaved in the hands of Tripat and Pandey. He abuses Ketki, warning her not to interfere with his affairs. As their marriage begins to break up, Vinay soon realizes that the Tripat and Pandey have taken advantage of his friendship.

Vinay is humbled and apologizes to ketki. As Vinay and ketki were trying to regroup, Tripat kills Vinay . Abhay Singh (Mohan Agashe. brother of Vinay Singh (Ayub Khan), renounces 17 years of unfruitful married life and turns nto a temple priest after killing local temple head. Kanti (Shipa ShirodKar), a servant, whose husband is forced to leave the village to pay off a debt, resorts to prostitution in order to help. Ketki witnesses Kanti being exploited by Tripat. Abhay Singh's devastated wife, Chandravati (Shabana Azmi), banj (sterile woman) throughout her life, falls in ove with the Rambharan (Om Puri), a sympathetic lower caste merchant who has been giving loans to the landlord's family. Chandravati's relationship with Rambaran turns sexual; with Chandravati discovering she is not sterile. This provokes Abhay to get help from his biggest rival, Tripat to save his reputation. They unite with the villagers and decide to give Mrityudand to Chandravati. Abhay Singh (Mohan Agashe. brother of Vinay Singh (Ayub Khan), renounces 17 years of unfruitful married life and takes on the celibate life of a temple priest after killing local temple head.

US cares more about Ukraine's people than its own poor

 By Steve Otto

The United States has spent at least 40 $Billion[1] on Ukraine to fight the Russians. But this same country can’t afford medical care for its own poor people. So our leaders care more about the Ukraines than our own people. They don't give a shit about their own people. That’s hypocrites!

It has been a while since the US has pushed for such a heavy degree of imperialism and this country has rallied its people around this imperialist cause. People identify with the “evil Russians” (after years of vilification against the Soviet Union) coming down on the hapless Ukraine people. At first there was some legitimate outrage on what the Russians have done. But the US did the same thing in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Ironically there are Americans who served in those wars and now they take up arms in Ukraine and they talk of helping those poor Ukrainians who have suffered at the hands of the Russians who have taken their sovereignty away. Does it matter that these vets where willing to take away the sovereignty of Iraqis and Afghanistans, but now they care about Ukrainian’s loss of Sovereignty. Recently leaders from both US parties, Republican and Democrat, declared that this country will defeat the Russians— more vilification of the Russians.

This is supposed to be a free country with a free press. But our free and independently owned press seems to really support the status quo. Try finding anyone in the news media who does not vilify the Russians and champion US imperialism? That policy is firmly in place and there seems to be no real opposition to it. Sure there are critics like me, but I can’t compete with CBS, NBC and ABC. Most people listen to one of them and not me.

The country has reached a new crescendo of hypocrisy in support of Ukraine, complete with phony films and photos of Russian atrocities, while they hid such films and photos of US atrocities from our invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The public deserves better.

When it comes to foreign affairs, this country provide about as much freedom as the Nazis allowed in Germany during World War II. It is sad that US imperialism is so entrenched in the American psych. But it is and that is our reality for today.

---

[1] From CSIS-

Congress has approved $40 billion in aid for Ukraine and other countries affected by the conflict―the sixth aid package since the war began. A major change is that this package looks ahead months rather than weeks.

 

US- The Griner case— drug laws suck and this is Russia's bad politics

From The Idiot Factor:

There are a number of things wrong with the Brittney Griner case, now in Russia. The first is that there is a definite bias (by our mainstream press and our US politicians) against anything Russia does right now. The press has raised a question as to whether or not Griner is guilty at all. According to CBS News:

“WNBA star Brittney Griner pleaded guilty in Russia on Thursday to drug possession and smuggling charges, telling a Moscow court she brought marijuana into the country by accident.

Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February after Russian officials claimed she had cannabis oil in her luggage.”

But I have more questions. For example, why would possession of hash oil bring a 10 year prison sentence. Here at home, many states have legalized possession of marijuana or any of its many forms such as “edibles.” There are backward states such as our own state of Kansas where possession of any kind of marijuana is illegal. But 10 years for possession of any drug is very excessive. So even if Griner's crimes are being used for political reasons and even if she is really a political prisoner, as our press tries to portray her, 10 years a way excessive.

Griner has said she packed the oils by accident, not realizing they were in her luggage. That is believable. And that could happen to anyone. What ever happened Griner seems to be used for political reasons. Again from CBS News:

“Russian media had speculated that Griner could be a part of a prisoner swap similar to the one U.S. and Russia arranged in the spring, exchanging former Marine Trevor Reed with pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko, who was jailed years ago on drug smuggling charges.”

Regardless, no one deserves to be treated as Griner has been. Such drug laws should be obsolete in this day and age. Whether in the US or some dumb ass country as Russia, the time to punish people for drug offences should be in the past, now and forever!

Communist Party India (Maoist)- shimmering torch of Revolution against all odds

C.P.I. (Maoist) shimmering torch of Revolution against all odds –

By Harsh Thakor

The Communist Party India (Maoist) formed in 2004 with the merger of the C.P.I. (M.L) Peoples War and the Maoist Communist Centre has a saga of glorious sacrifices.Illustrating courage in volumes compared to any great revolutionary struggle in the history of the world. Possibly it leads the largest armed movement of a Peoples Guerrilla Army in the world today. Armed resistance has escalated to an unprecedented level in Dandakaranya.

It has established  forms of  democratic people’s power called Janathana Sarcars amongst the tribal’s be it in People’s Defence, Finance, Agriculture, Trade and Industry, Judiciary, Education and Culture, Health and Social Welfare, Forest and Public relations ,which was non –existent before. The Janathana Sarkar germinated the seeds for cooperative life and collective spirit, creating cooperative teams Collective agricultural farms. It also liberated women from the chains of patriarchy or bondage on a household.

 They have moved like fish in water and heroically withstood encirclement from the armed forces, brunt of fascist attacks of the state. and even aerial attacks., through  retaliatory actions in self –defence. In spite of facing heavy losses leader Prashant Bose expressed optimism in an interview and the party’s commitment to overthrow Hindu Brahmannical fascism.The fact they have survived in an area for such a sustained period speaks for itself.

If one assesses the might of the enemy, the variances in terrain,the complexities of India or the overall population, possibly the  overall achievement of the C.P.I.(Maoist) is more creditable than that of the Peruvian Communist Party earlier or the Communist party of Phillipines today.Late Nicholas Glais of ‘Democracy and Class Struggle blog ‘expressed great admiration for them., even if acknowledging gross errors in preparation from attacks like in Orissa ,Chattisgarh and Gadricholi and undertaking no proper review.

Gautam Navlakha in ‘Days and Nights of Heartland o the Rebellion ‘was convinced that the Maoists were spiritual heirs of Shaheed Bhagat Singh. No force in his view since 1947 has shown such fortitude or relentless commitment to ‘serving the people’ through social transformation.

 Quoting Professor Amit Bhattacharya in ‘Storming the Gates of Heaven’ “In DK a new society has been built and is consolidating itself.” People oppressed for ages have stood up with their heads held high. The DK region is the scene of numerous new social, economic and political experiments and these become possible because of their inseparable ties with the ongoing armed revolutionary struggle. In DK region, even when the rest of the Country witnessed a huge famine in 1997 taking a heavy toll of lives, not a single person perished. 

It is most positive that it has adopted a self –critical attitude towards policy of extortions committed by leaders and comrades and undertook a campaign to expel such members. Most consistently it has issued statements condemning Hindutva and Brahmanical fascism, Western Countries and Russia in Ukraine War, Condemning Agnipath policy,on assassination of Comrades, assaults by the state and counter offensives,inspite of every attempt o the neo-fascist rulers to suppress them.Prashant Bose gave one of the most encouraging interviews where he asserted tat inspite of gross setback the Maoist movement was not dwindling. Recent issues on the web of People’s March are most inspiring, illustrating the tenacity of the C.P.I.(Maoist) to battle against all odds. It could be stated that the C.P.I.(Maoist) is not blindly emulating the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Zedong but taking into account India’s unique features, in terms of capitalist and imperialist penetration. 

I admire how till this day that have not been shaken or flinched towards rightism or revisionism like many Indian groups and asserted that participating in the parliamentary system or aligning even with left parties is futile  and that feudalism is still the principal contradiction. For almost 2 decades it has faced no split, though sections have separated. 

All issues of ‘Peoples March’online,which are unofficially banned in print, still inspire revolutionary cadre and well-wishers, expressing great self-confidence and balanced analysis in all spheres. 

Whatever errors I would not attribute Che Gueveraists practice to the Maoist party and strongly feel that they are maintaining the distinction between the Communist Party and the Peoples Guerilla Army.Significant that the Maoist have seen a major thorn in the flesh to the Corporate plunder in the Bauxite mines of Chhattisgarh. It is laudable how they have ressurected themselves from the deepest depths of despair with counter-retaliatory actions.

Quoting Anirudh Rajan “I can't say with surety due to the nature of their politics which precludes people from openly knowing where and how they operate among the masses. But seeing how long they've sustained revolutionary war in central India, I believe they must have a significant mass base because there would be no other way to hold out against the state when they are both out gunned and outnumbered. Again, this is my belief, I dont have concrete facts to back up this view.This is not to say that they successfully uphold the mass line or not, but that I believe that they struggle to do so in the given circumstances.”

Comrade Ajith who recently came out of jail has lucidly summarised how the C.P.I.(Maoist_ has testified the credibility of the path of protracted peoples War in part of his interview, “Despite mobilising such a huge force and deploying CRPF, BSF camps every three or four kilometres they couldn’t  wipe out the Maoists. More than 10000 troops have been added after the first Modi
government came to power. Despite that this extension took place after that, during 2015-2018. So the facts show that they are not able to tie them down. This is something they themselves admit. Besides that, what is a People’s War? A war carried out by relying on the masses is known as People’s War. This is not something dependent on the technological capacity of the enemy. New methods will have to be devised to face up to the new problems posed by that technology.”

“At one point the state had claimed that the Maoist movement had been completely wiped out from Andhra. But now once again they themselves are admitting in the newspapers that CPI (Maoist) squads are active in the northern parts of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Similarly, there has been an extension in the trijuncture of Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand, that took place after 2015. That is we must recollect that this development took place after 10 years of Operation Green Hunt. It took place at a time when there were CRPF, BSF camps every 5 kilometres. So what I am saying is that this growth and development is taking place at a new level.”

Alpa Shah in her writings illustrated how the C.P.I. (Maoist) was based in the soul of the masses an literally rallied their lives around the oppressed. She vividly throws light on the relations of intimacy which develop between the mobilizing Maoist forces and the people in the area of struggle.

Bernard De Mello even if not in agreement with the Maoist evaluation awards enormous credit to the level of resistance in Bastar and building of people’s organisational structures.He doubts it is one the verge of extinction and feels it will prolong.

Though all open pro-Maoist fronts have been banned still there are mass fronts who even if not formally affiliated to the Maoist party, defend the goals.of revolution. The Bhagat Singh Chatra Morcha and Inquilabi Chatra Morcha in Uttar Pradesh undertake go to village campaigns and consistent propaganda against Brahmanical fascism,feudalism, and imperialism Virasam is the only pro-Maoist organisation that functions openly, to shimmer the of resistance. It has conducted programmes on abroad sphere of issues and tooth and nail defended the Dandakaranya movement and condemned state sponsored fascism. In Andhra Pradesh and Telenagana Democratic Students Association has been formed to resurrect student movement and a similar group formed in Kerala. However they have hardly been so impactful. Although pro-Maoist forces exist in Punjab morals they are a splintered lot and hardly impactful.In West Bengal even if rejecting line of Kishenji,cadre of the Revolutionary Students Front abides with movement in Dandakaranya.However there is no cohesive polarisation in West Bengal, with forces scattered.

Defects

However the C.P.I. (Maoist) is vitiated with defective tendencies. It is unable to establish genuine agrarian revolutionary movement, revolutionary base areas or mass organizations with genuinely democratic functioning, like the CPC in the 1930-40’s. They have to be given credit for sustaining a movement for decades, but it is doubtful it is on the path of expanding beyond the tribal belt into the plain areas and urban regions. Overall even if it emulates mass line certain respects, in totality it cannot be described as an adherent of the mass line. The line and practice is incoherent with building a broad based revolutionary movement, Real self-governance has not been not established, with people not running their institution of power. Practice within mass organisations is controlled by dictates of the party. Subjective conditions today are not conducive for launching armed struggle, with the Communist party still not re-organised.

In Jharkhand and Orissa there are many cases of people’s guerrilla army members abandoning their organisations and the armed squad actions not able to sustain people's movements of tribals or peasantry.

Writer Alpa Shah in ‘Night March of the Guerrillas reflects the glaring lack of genuine democracy in Jharkhand the Maoist Movement., not respecting the democratic culture of the Adivasis.

Civil rights activists have been critical of many practices of the Maoists in Bastar.

It is also regrettable that even there have been cases of extortion from the tribals by the party members, demanding levy from contractors and assassinating heads of panchayats or rich peasantry.

 Adopting tactics of ‘Boycott of Elections’ as a strategy is not in consonance with Leninism ,with Lenin even stating that extra- parliamentary tactics could be utilised.Often the ‘boycott’ tactic work sin favour of ruling class parties.

Regrettably today the flesh is being ripped off the Maoist resistance with  hundreds f their important leaders or activists are being liquidated day by day ,either in false encounters or stage managed offensives..It illustrates weakness in fortification of its army. In most cases the Peoples Liberation Army has been unable to replenish its own losses and many members have deserted it to join Border security forces. The Maoists are unable to replenish their forces or undertake a proper self -rectification campaign. They continue to be entrenched within restricted areas.

Tendencies still exist of mechanically adhering to the Chinese path instead of devising a path of protracted peoples or forming a red army in accordance with the unique conditions of India,. Not only does India have a firmly entrenched parliamentary system unlike China but significant changes have also taken place after advent of globalisation and electronic age. India also has conditions distinctive from China in the 1940, in the co-relation between urban and rural areas or even the terrain.

Even if correct on expelling Kobad Ghandy it has not assessed the inherent weaknesses within the party that bred such tendencies. In certain ways its explanation had trends of sectarianism, not reviewing it’s own weakness of undertaking political education amongst cadre.

In Gadricholi The Maoists claim to have sent a ‘guerrilla company’ to salvage the strength of the PLGA. The rare admission has come in a Maoist document titled ‘The Growth of People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army in the Long-term Democratic People’s War (2000-2020),’ issued by them recently, to mark the PLGA’s formation in December 2000.

The document gives an account of the Maoists’ major accomplishments, failures and challenges towards the goal of attaining ‘a new democratic people’s revolution’ through a ‘people’s war’. This document, which has been reviewed by the FPJ, while referring to Gadchiroli and Gondia districts in Maharashtra state (identifying these as ‘guerrilla zones’, along with the ‘Balaghat-Bhandara divisions’ in Madhya Pradesh state), claims that they had faced ‘serious oppression’, as a result of which their ‘movement’ had to effect a ‘temporary retreat’.

“The party and the PLGA had to make sacrifices in a bid to carry forward the movement, while facing formidable attacks that came in the course of the enemies’ counter-guerrilla war against us, which became more serious by the day. The urban movement had to make a temporary retreat. Due to the losses suffered in those areas, the movement there had to retreat temporarily,” the document states.

 The Communist Party of India (Maoist) has said that it was up to the government of Chhattisgarh state to create a conducive atmosphere for holding peace talks.

“We had shown our willingness to hold talks and made our stand clear. Chief minister Bhupesh Baghel’s reiteration that his government was ready to hold talks if they expressed faith in the Constitution and his silence shows that the government is adamant,” CPI (Maoist) Dandakaranya Special Zonal Committee spokesperson, Comrade Vikalp, said in a statement on Monday night.

Tilak Dasgupta said the challenge before the movement was to break out of its narrow confines and reach wider sections of the people – the working class, as well as the small producers and farmers who were fighting a last ditch battle against big corporates.

Bernard De Mello questions why the Maoist has not succeeded in converting a Guerrilla Zone into base area and its inability to penetrate the plain areas. He also projected the weakness o the Maoist in fortifying their defence and becoming vulnerable.

Quoting Comrade Bhaskar Vishwanathan Muthu who was formally with Maoist trend and now  leader in anti-fascist movement “To say precisely, In fact, Comrade Shyam in the said report that the Party had been suffering from 'economism'. Since it has not been rectified it all these years, it does now suffers from militarism. It has its own element when it had been CPI(ML)(PW). After it became CPI(Maoist) it got accelerated and since the formation it lost around 4,000 lives without anything gaining substantially. Rather, due to its line, it suffered splits in Karnataka in 2006 and in Tamil Nadu in 2008 and setbacks in other states even in Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand where Hindutva forces gained foothold even among the tribals. It doesn't see the relationship between it's practice and line. Rather, it squarely blames on state repression. Facing repression is not a new for the Communist movement. For Lenin and Mao it was new. Now it is not new. If any Communist Party is not prepared to learn, summarise and theorise from its own and world experience, then it is suffered from empiricism, negation of theory/knowledge. CPI(Maoist), when it reviews for its setbacks in terms of subjective forces, it says that it was due to spontaneity and liberalism. To rectify these as well as to face state repression, it advises the Party vaguely to increase dedication, sacrifice, etc., In a nutshell, it says that Party Programme, Tactics and line and practice is and has been correct. Only because of state repression mainly and the prevalence of the above-mentioned alien class trends, setback has been there. Not because of the absence of mass line and countering the state repression politically, it thinks.

“But on the other hand, Communist Party of Philippines (CPP) under the competent leadership of Jose Maria Sison, due to the practice of mass line and non-militarist political line, maintains its hold in the society and political sphere of the Philippines. Unlike CPI(Maoist), it maintains the intactness of the leadership of the Party and it's military wing and influences the agenda of the country, even though both parties do have the Party Programme (CBB, semi-colonial and semi-feudal society/state). It faces the state repression politically rather than militarism practised by the CPI(Maoist).”

“Both Parties do have similar Party Programmes. But CPP does achieve much.”

“In essence, CPI (Maoist), practices militaristic line and negates mass line. To rectify it, it couldn't escape from the alien class trend namely empiricism. That's why it couldn't see the growth of Indian Big Bourgeoisie to emerging imperialism, ruling class of India. Similarly it couldn't see that it is not growing due to its plunging in the alien class trends.”

I do not endorse this evaluation and defend C.P.I. (Maoist)‘s evaluation of the Indian bourgeoise.and fell considering the harshness of subjective factors ,has achieved as much as CPP.Even if negating mass line in important respects ,it’s resistance against the enemy may be even more laudable than any Communist party in the World today. Joma Sison himself holds the C.P.I.(Maoist)in great esteem. Only valid point is on military tendencies of the Indian Maoists and not mobilising masses in combating state repression. Never forget even the CPP has suffered from deviations and have seeked unity with opportunist forces in junctures, like calling or negotiations with Duterte recently.

Reports of actions and encounters 

Examples of certain actions and blows in recent times, compiled from ‘Red Spark’ blog. They illustrate the powerful ‘military ‘tendencies or the sheer desperation of the Party and army to survive am the extent to which the enemy has penetrated within their areas to execute mortal blows. No doubt they express tenacity but give vibrations that the movement could dwindle. Whatever striking capacity their actions have invited gross repercussions on cadre.

On June 30^th An area committee cadre of the CPI (Maoist) was killed in an encounter with the police in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district on Thursday, an official said.

On June 29^th A firefight broke out between security forces and a squad of cadres belonging to the CPI (Maoist) in Jharkhand’s Bokaro district on Wednesday, after which the Maoists retreated into the deep forests, prompting the launch of a massive search operation, a senior police officer said.

In  Virudhnagar on June 25^th The NIA on Friday arrested a member of the CPI (Maoist) for his alleged involvement in conducting and participating in arms training for its cadres for waging war against India, officials said. On June 24^th in Dantewada  Two security personnel and two women laborers were injured after a squad of cadres belonging to the CPI (Maoist) opened fire on a police camp in Chhattisgarh’s Dantewada district, police said on Thursday.

On June 21^st h in Nuapada district Three personnel belonging to the Central Reserve Police Force were killed in an ambush set up by a squad of cadres belonging to the CPI (Maoist) at Bhainsadani in Odisha’s Nuapada district on Tuesday.

 On June 20^th in Balaghat district , three cadres of the CPI (Maoist), including a member of the divisional committee of the party, were killed in an encounter with security forces in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district on Monday morning, police said. The slain Maoists, including a woman, were wanted by the police in MP, Maharashtra and Chhattisgarh, a senior officer said. his is the first time when a divisional committee level member and commander-in-chief of the Maoists was killed in MP in a gun battle, he said.

On June 22^nd Security forces arrested three cadres of the CPI (Maoist) from separate places in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district on Saturday.Bijapur On Jun 9^th The Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) have killed a top CPI (Maoist) commander during an encounter in Bihar’s Jamui district on Thursday.

On May 24^th in Balaghat district In an open challenge to police, a squad of Maoists on Sunday set on fire about 350 bags of tendu leaves collected by the tribals at a collection centre in Madhya Pradesh’s Balaghat district.After setting fire to the bags, the Maoists left a letter at the site warning that anyone who helps police would have to meet a similar fate. The Maoist letter also reads that the leaves are being set on fire since contractors are not fulfilling demands made by the labourers.

On June 4^th a C.P.I.(Maoist) Deputy Platoon Commander was arrested in Dharamtari district . Mukesh alias Suklu Gawde of Kanker district was apprehended from the jungles of Daudpadripani village during a search operation, Dhamtari Superintendent of Police Prashant Kumar Thakur said.

On May 30^th  in  Bijapr district Mukesh alias Suklu Gawde of Kanker district was apprehended from the jungles of Daudpadripani village during a search operation, Dhamtari Superintendent of Police Prashant Kumar Thakur said.

On May 27^th A squad of cadres belonging to the CPI (Maoist) carried out a raid on the camp of a contractor engaged in road construction work in Kalahandi district. The armed action took place on Wednesday night in Odisha’s Kalahandi district. Six vehicles were torched during the attack.

The Maoists left behind handwritten posters and banners, alleging that one of their cadres, who was reported to have surrendered earlier this month, was actually arrested with the assistance of the contractor.

It's not just a riot—it was a coup attempt by Trump

From The Idiot Factor:

Donald Trump goes down in history as one president who actually thought he could create a coup and continue to be president. It has recently been revealed that Trump not only backed those who stormed the Congress building, but he actually wanted to go there and egg on his supporters on. According to Cassidy Hutchinson, an aide to former White House (CBS News):

"Among Hutchinson's extraordinary revelations was that Trump was told that the crowd at his rally at the Ellipse ahead of the Capitol riot had guns and other weapons. She testified that Trump said "something to the effect of, 'I don't effing care that they have weapons. They're not here to hurt me. Take the effing mags away. Let my people in. They can march the Capitol from here. Let the people in. Take the effing mags away,'" referring to the magnetometers, or metal detectors, used for security screening. 

Hutchinson also testified that Giuliani said to her on Jan. 2 "'Cass, are you excited for the 6th? It's going to be a great day.'"

Hutchinson said Tuesday that she asked Giuliani to explain the significance of Jan. 6. She said he responded, "We're going to the Capitol. It's going to be great. The president is going to be there, he's going to look powerful," and he encouraged her to speak with Meadows."

So the cat is out of the bag. We all now know that the putsch in the capital not only went on with Trump's blessing, he wanted to go there and take part in it. That makes it an out right coup attempt.

We already know he tried to get votes he didn't earn and he convinced many of his supporters that the election has been stolen. Again, from CBS News:

"Hutchinson also testified about how angry Trump was after Attorney General Bill Barr told the Associated Press in an interview after the 2020 election that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change its outcome."

Not since Former President Richard Nixon has such a leader contemplated using some kind of emergency powers to do away with an election and its outcome. This time Trump didn't just think about it, he wanted to take part in it. He is just as guilty as his followers and it looks like this was not a riot, it was his attempt to over-ride the election and make himself president for four more years.

 

In Florida- conservative politicians know better than scientists, Doctors and experts

By Steve Otto

Now that we have Covid vaccines shots for children as young as 6 months, parents should be jumping for joy. But not in Florida. Their Department of Health led by state Surgeon General Joe Ladapo, an outspoken skeptic of the Covid-19 vaccine, has put the vaccine on hold. According to Politico:

“The Florida Department of Health, through a statement, said Wednesday that it did not place an order with the federal government for vaccine doses for kids five and under in part because it doesn’t advise all children get vaccinated. The deadline for placing a pre-order was Tuesday and 49 other states met the cutoff date.”

And what does he base this belief on? The doctors and experts all agree that children should take the shots. But Ladapo feels he knows better than anyone what children’s health needs. After all he is a conservative. And conservatives know everything. They all have common sense opinions. People keep electing them. How could they be wrong?

All the doctors and experts have is careful study and knowledge they got by years of study in college. There are voters who look down on those kinds of people.

I once heard a commentator say that he could use Republican tactics and in a week, he could convince people that the opinion of a janitor makes more sense than a scientist. He was talking about global warming and how easy it was for Republicans to shoot down the idea that global warming is real.