[Marxism] ML International Newsletter Jan-Feb 2005 and Appeal (plain text)

[CPI-ML Intl Liaison Office <cpiml_elo@xxxxxxxxx>]

ML International Newsletter
January-February 2005

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An update on news and ideas from the revolutionary
left in India.
Produced by: Communist Party of India
(Marxist-Leninist) Liberation international team
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Website: www.cpiml.org
Email: cpimllib@xxxxxxxxxx and cpiml_elo@xxxxxxxxx

Table of Contents

1)      Appeal for Contribution to CPI (ML)?s Relief Fund
2)      Elections and Empire: An Analysis of the US
Presidential Elections
3)      Bush?s Re-Election and the ?Indian Dream?
4)      AIPWA?s 4th National Conference
5)      AIPWA Conference: Excerpts of Interviews with
Revolutionary Women
6)      Textile Restructuring and the Impending Turbulence
7)      New Phase of Resistance in Bangladesh

Tsunami Devastation

Appeal for Contribution to CPI (ML)?s Relief Fund

The Communist Party of India [Marxist-Leninist]
Liberation i.e. CPI (ML), shares the concern and agony
with the nation on the tidal tragedy and expresses
heartfelt condolences to the families of thousands of
people in India and neighbouring south-east Asian
countries who lost their lives on December 26th
because of the tsunami waves triggered by an
earthquake. CPI (ML) has asked the government of India
to declare this devastation a national calamity and
called upon the government to take appropriate
measures for rescue, rehabilitation and relief on a
war footing to the millions of affected people. The
CPI (ML) also advised the Indian government to extend
every possible help to the affected people in
neighbouring countries in this hour of need.
This immense devastation has not only claimed lives of
thousands and caused innumerable casualties but also
rendered millions of people homeless with every
belonging of them swept away by the flooding waters.
The devastation was gravely exacerbated because of the
absence of a civil defence system or an early warning
system, which would have minimized the impact on
people. The international monitoring agencies? failure
in communicating the information on approaching tidal
waves to the affected countries is also deplorable.
CPI (ML) has called upon all its units, members,
supporters, sympathisers and international friends to
share in the grief of those who have to bear the
direct impact of this calamity with every possible
help. CPI (ML) units in all the affected states,
including Andaman and Nicobar islands, Tamil Nadu,
Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Orissa, have rushed to the
most affected areas for conducting relief operations,
shoulder-to-shoulder with various benevolent
organisations, groups and individuals.
The CPI (ML) appeals to all people for every possible
help and support to Indian and south-east Asian people
affected by this calamity. The CPI (ML) also appeals
for monetary help, in the form of a cheque, to conduct
the relief operations. The cheque details are below:

In favour of: 'CPI (ML)'
In the covering letter or cheque note please mention:
"Contribution for Relief Fund"
Mail the cheques to:
Central Office
CPIML Liberation
U-90, Shakarpur
Delhi ? 110092
India
Email contact:
cpimllib@xxxxxxxxxx and cpiml_elo@xxxxxxxxx


US Presidential Election Special

Elections and Empire: An Analysis of the US
Presidential Elections

- PB

The outcome of the recent United States (US) elections
has been a shock not only to a significant section of
the US population but also to millions world over.
John Kerry, the presidential candidate of the
Democratic Party, conceded to George Bush of the
Republican Party even before the election
improprieties were investigated. This is the same Bush
whose administration supported a coup in Haiti,
attempted a coup in Venezuela and invaded and occupied
Afghanistan and Iraq. According to the official
results, Bush won by more than 3.5 million popular
votes and received more than 270 state electoral
college votes.

The Election
The President in the US is elected based on an old
system of electoral colleges with each state
representing electoral college votes. The candidate
who gets the most votes in a state almost always gets
all the electoral college votes and in this election
the winner needed 270. This election was mired with
reports of numerous election improprieties. Long lines
at voting booths discouraged people to return, in
several democratic dominated areas votes were cast for
Kerry and counted for Bush, and several counties
(equivalent to districts) announced results where Bush
got 10 times more votes then were even cast.
Especially in Florida and Ohio, the two key states
that ultimately determined the winner, there were
numerous incidents of African American and immigrant
voters being disenfranchised. 46% of Republican
challenges of voter registrations in an Ohio county
were against African American voters, a traditional
supporter of the Democratic Party. It is estimated
that 2 million of the total votes in 2004 were voided
or thrown away, especially in minority areas. Hundreds
of thousands of provisional ballots have still not
been counted.
In minority dominated areas, scare tactics included
filming people entering the polling booths with the
threat of arresting them for pending traffic
violation. To top it all in one election office the
counting was done without any observers because of an
unknown ?terror threat.? The Kerry campaign and the
Democratic Party did not want to challenge
improprieties, although they had an army of lawyers at
hand. They did not even fight for the Democratic Party
voters and, so, one cannot expect them to challenge
the systematic disenfranchisement on principle. It was
clear before the election, through reports in the
financial press, that they did not want to see the
legal challenges of 2000. Injustice was not the issue
but instability was and Kerry, as always, dutifully
did what is best for the country?s elite. Just for the
presidential election the two parties spent about $ 2
billion and the ?campaign contributors to the
candidates [were] looking more similar than ever ?
Bush and Kerry now share 4 of the 10 largest
contributors.? [2]

The Issues
On almost all of the major policy issues the two
parties of imperialism and big business have worked
together. Historians such as Zinn have called this
consensus as the ?bipartisan consensus? [6]. Kerry,
after voting for the war, opportunistically called it
an ?error of judgement? and was always contending to
be a better ?Commander in Chief?. He wanted to do more
than Bush in Iraq and elsewhere to extend the empire.
Kerry wanted to not only send more troops to Iraq but
also to modernise the US military to address the
?modern threats of terrorism and proliferation?. This
when more than 80% of the Democratic convention
delegates were against the war. Bush and Kerry both
had very similar stands on Palestine, Venezuela, North
Korea, Iran, and Cuba. After all, the US ruling class
only gains by maintaining and expanding an imperial
foreign policy. Bush introduced and Kerry voted for
the Patriot act, which is a major violation of
people?s rights. Both Kerry and Bush oppose a
nationalised healthcare system and support the union
busting Taft-Hartley act. Having said that there are
some differences, such as Kerry?s support for abortion
rights. These differences exist because of pressure
from a large section of organized labour, minorities,
environmentalists, women?s groups and oppressed
groups. The Bush administration on the other hand
energised the Christian right by opposing abortion
rights and gay marriage. The absence of a movement in
Southern and Midwestern US combined with a
conservative ?values? crusade helped Bush with the
election.
A section of the ruling class has become disheartened
with the Bush Administration because of its
incompetence in managing the empire. Bush Sr. managed
the first gulf war much better and it was actually
?profitable? because other countries ?paid? the bill.
This Iraq war has been extremely expensive and has
already cost about $ 200 billion and there are no
signs that the ?escalating costs? can be shared. The
aggressive foreign policies of pre-emptive strike
combined with the fiscally irresponsible
multi-trillion dollar tax cuts and subsidies for the
rich people and corporations have produced huge budget
deficits for the foreseeable future. The infamous
speculator George Soros wrote a book ?The Bubble of
American Supremacy: The Costs of Bush?s War in Iraq,?
and contributed millions of dollars and campaigned
openly for Kerry [5].
The US economy is under severe stress because of the
budget deficits, current account deficits and trade
deficits. Currently the dollar is weakening, pension
plan bankruptcies are increasing, social security is
in turmoil, and the economy continues to lose jobs.
The financial press has reported that several
billionaires as well as CEOs of major financial MNCs
have become very discontented with Bush. Clinton was
much more cost efficient and effective in ensuring oil
supplies from Iraq with his financial embargo. But
Bush has made it amply clear that now that he has the
mandate to pursue a more aggressive domestic and
foreign policy, he will. Thus, more plunder, butchery
and destruction abroad and greater economic disparity
at home.

The Paralysis
As the US election fever increased, a potent disease
called ABB (stands for Anybody But Bush) spread like
the plague amongst the US progressives. It caused
severe paralysis amongst the progressives and sapped
the much-needed energy from the anti-imperialist and
working class movement. From the Communist Party of
the USA (CPUSA) and Green Party to the major labour
unions, in various forms and degrees, supported and
organised for a candidate of the ruling class, John
Kerry. Numerous celebrities such as Michael Moore and
Bruce Springstein also jumped on this bandwagon. It is
impossible to address their myriad reasons for
supporting the Democratic Party but it was clear that
they all had illusions about what a Kerry victory
would mean for the progressives. A glance at Kerry?s
record as a Senator or the role of the Democratic
Party in imperial wars was completely ignored. Both
the Republican and Democratic parties have had a long
history of working together for imperialism and big
business. This bipartisan consensus can only be
ignored at the peril of the movement.
Some progressive people nostalgically talk about the
gains because of the Democratic Party. This is wrong.
Gains of civil rights, women?s rights, and labour laws
have all been achieved through the long and arduous
struggles of the people. An important lesson of the
Vietnam war, the bay of pigs invasion of Cuba, and
Korean war is that they were all carried out by the
Democratic Party administration. Recently, Clinton
attacked the people of Cuba, Iraq, Kosovo and Columbia
with a combination of economic and military weapons
from the imperial kitty. Clinton also attacked the US
working class with welfare reform and North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
The trade union leadership of most major labour unions
in the US have long been hand in glove with the
Democratic Party. The Service Employees International
Union (SEIU), the largest union, budgeted $ 65 million
for the Kerry campaign. The American Federation of
Labor- Confederation of Industrial Organizations
(AFL-CIO), which SEIU is part of, also mobilised 5000
fulltime staffers and 225, 000 volunteers for Kerry.
The harbinger of the American left, The Nation, has
increasingly become the mouthpiece of the Democratic
Party. After the elections, an important columnist for
the Nation, Katha Pollitt, wrote, ?I also don't want
to hear carping criticisms of John Kerry. Given that
he is a fallible mortal, he was a pretty good
candidate? [4]. This is the Kerry who was endorsed by
the establishment favourites such as the New York
Times and The Economist.
Consumer activist and independent candidate for
President Ralph Nader organised a more principled
campaign on issues. Nader was attacked by the left who
had been inflicted with the ABB paralysis for stealing
votes from the other progressive candidate, namely
Kerry. Nader only uses his personal charisma to stand
for President and he does not represent a mass
movement. Post election he is not actively involved in
building a grass roots movement for radical social
transformation. Workers World Party, a Marxist
Leninist party, has been in the forefront of the
anti-imperialist and working class struggles in the
US. They fielded candidates for President and Vice
President on a socialist platform.

The Struggle
The success of the US progressive movement lies not in
winning elections when the entire system prevents
people from participating, but in furthering the
progressive cause by building a powerful movement that
challenges the basis of plunder and exploitation of
the people. The progressive forces have to start to
organize the workers and endeavour to join the
anti-imperialist movement with the working class
movement. ?The united proletarian front and the
anti-fascist Popular Front are connected by the living
dialectics of struggle; that they are interwoven, the
one passing into the other in the process of the
practical struggle against fascism? [1]. The
Democratic Party cannot be part of the fascist front
as it is actively colluding in the attack on working
people inside and imperial war outside. They fully
supported the Patriot Act, Iraq war, Afghanistan war,
Haiti coup, tax cuts for the rich, and other major
policies of the Republican Party.
The 2004 election cycle also witnessed the emergence
of a militant section of the labour movement that
disagreed with AFL-CIO?s leadership support of the
Democratic Party. They asserted themselves in a
Million Worker March on October 17 in Washington right
before the elections. They were endorsed and organised
by several major local branches of the AFL-CIO and
anti-war organisations like International Action
Centre, Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER)
and United for Peace and Justice. They appealed to the
working class that ?We face a system in advanced
crisis and decay driven to impose wars for cheap labor
and the resources of the most impoverished in the
world? [3].
Challenging the paralysis of the progressives these
militant workers asserted ?We know that, regardless of
the outcome of the elections, the war machine, the
corporations and the banks, will seek to impose their
plans for death and devastation.? This march was
inspired by the Martin Luther King?s poor people?s
march. Shortly before King was killed, in May 1967, he
said that ?We must recognize that we can?t solve our
problem now until there is a radical redistribution of
economic and political power ? We must see now that
the evils of racism, economic exploitation and
militarism are tied together ? you can?t get rid of
one without getting rid of the others ? the whole
structure of American life must be changed.? The US
needs a progressive movement that is not seduced by
the parties of the ruling class. A movement led by the
working class for a radical social transformation to
end exploitation and imperialism.

References
1.      Dimitrov, G. Unity of the Working Class Against
Fascism, Aug. 13, 1935. Dimitrov, Georgi Selected
Works, volume 2, Sofia Press 1972, pp. 86-119
2.      Lewis, C. The Buying of the President, Harper
Collins, 2004. [www.publicintegrity.org]
3.      Million Worker March [www.millionworkermarch.org]
4.      Pollitt, K., ?Mourn,? The Nation, November 22,
2004.
[www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20041122&s=pollitt]
5.      Soros, G. [www.georgesoros.com]
6.      Zinn, H., The People?s History of the United
States, Harper Collins, 1995.

US Presidential Election Special

Bush?s Re-Election and the ?Indian Dream?

- Pratyush Chandra

Interesting reactions over the US elections came from
two sections of the Indian society ? those vocalised
by different associations of the Indian capitalist
class, and those coming from the right reactionary
forces of the country. More interesting is their open
concurrence not only with regard to their assessment
of the economic impact of Bush?s victory, but also
with regard to their politico-militarist tenor. In my
opinion this concurrence speaks a lot about the
character of the so-called ?national? bourgeoisie and
their immediate interests.
Generally, it is assumed that the Indian ruling
interests in the foreign political developments are
rent-oriented, i.e., gathering favours for offering
Indian markets. This judgement is too simplistic and
does not match up to the complexity of capitalist
international relations. Further, it fails to grasp
the nature of capitalist development in India.
Marxists enriched the concept of ?imperialism? in the
second decade of the 20th century to grasp this very
complexity of relationships in capitalism. They saw in
imperialism a ?dense and widespread network of
relationships and connections? causing ?the propertied
classes to go over entirely to the side of
imperialism?. (Lenin: 133) They recognised the
crisscross nature of international associations and
treaties between ?national? ruling classes. With the
later development of ?shareholder? capitalism and
MNCs/TNCs, inter-national relationships have become
more complicated, which cannot be explained by strict
geographical conceptualisation of core/periphery
divide. The Indian ruling interests have to be
explained as embedded in the global logic of
capitalist accumulation, their aim, like their
competitors?, being to siphon away as much profit from
the global pool of surplus value as they can, by
collaborative or aggressive tactics.
This complex relationship between the Indian
capitalist class, their political representatives and
global politico-economic developments is evident in
reactions to Bush?s victory. Strategic and
militaristic concerns are predominant in them. They
perceive Bush?s victory as an opportunity to ensure
the implementation of "Next Steps in Strategic
Partnership" (NSSP) with India, which was elaborated
in his first tenure. NSSP outlined collaborations in
high technology, civil and nuclear space programs and
trade. Bush?s commitment to the partnership was taken
to be evident in the setting up of the U.S. India High
Technology Cooperation Group, U.S. India Cyber
Security Forum and the Joint Working Group on
Terrorism.
The Indian political and economic elites rely strictly
on the ?strategic calculus? that would garner Bush?s
attractions for India. Since the collapse of Soviet
Union, the Indian ruling class has been trying hard to
sell themselves as a regional force that can act as a
reliable watchdog for global imperialism. The
refuelling of the Anglo-American warplanes in 1991
during Chandrashekhar?s regime, India?s desperate
graduation as a nuclear power and bargaining favours
on its basis, and sycophant persuasion to get
employment during the Afghan War ? all amount to the
same goal of selling themselves as a power to be
reckoned with for any strategic building up in Asia.
And they feel now the time has come to realise the
?Indian Dream?.
Just after the elections the Confederation of Indian
Industry (CII) hoped for President Bush?s visit to
India early in his second term to provide a new thrust
to U.S.-India relations. Rumsfield has already arrived
to pave the way for the mission. The CII finds,
"Bilateral defense relations are at record highs with
the two countries organizing joint military exercises
and patrols and are now looking at cooperating in
newer areas such as missile defense", and "a second
term now provides an opportunity to build on these
initiatives." The CII being a prime association of the
Indian corporates finds the economic gains packaged in
this aggressive military relation that puts the
government-to-government agreement for cooperation in
place. The Indian bourgeoisie seem to agree with the
pop-intellectual of American imperialism, Thomas
Friedman (1999) that ?the hidden hand of the market
will never work without the hidden fist ? McDonald?s
cannot flourish without McDonnel-Douglas, the designer
of the F-15?, and that the hidden fist that keeps
Silicon Valleys and their technologies safe is the
army, navy and air-force. I think he forgot to add
private armies and ?Ku Klux Klan? rioters, who do what
?legal? forces can?t do. Further, with the Indian
stakes in McDonalds, why will not F-15s be refuelled
in India?
A representative of the Federation of Indian Chamber
of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Prasanta Biswal,
voiced a similar hope and found that ?the republican
administration has been pro-India with people like the
under secretary of Commerce, Ken Juster, and former
ambassador to India Robert Blackwill. We just hope
that the initiatives that have been taken will be
carried forward and at the same time, they will take
newer initiatives."
A presentiment, definitely, existed that the Democrats
would have faced difficulty in avoiding the
nationalist pressure of the biggest labour union in
the US, the AFL-CIO, which has been the most
formidable support base for the Democratic Party. This
could have resulted into the curtailment on
outsourcing etc., which is an important source of
tapping on low wage zones for global profit making
which then is shared by the MNCs in the first world
and their collaborators in the Third World. In India
especially in the IT industry there was an uneasiness
and apprehension. The Hindu (Nov 5, 2004) reported,
?The re-election of George Bush as President of the
U.S. has ended the brief period of uncertainty for the
Indian IT industry. Mr. Bush's rival John Kerry's
protectionist promises that included ending the
outflow of call centre and software development
business from the U.S. to other countries had made the
Indian industry, one of the biggest beneficiaries of
this relocation, apprehensive.?
However this fear was false because, on the one hand,
any ?mature? democracy and its parties are fully
trained to dupe such support base while still
maintaining it. On the other hand, both Republicans
and Democrats have always been involved in propaganda
competition on who fulfils the ?American Dream?, hence
both play on chauvinism to hoodwink the American
masses, while remaining consistently married to the
expansionist drive of the capitalist class. Even the
?democratic? Clinton sagely commends the
?conservatives? for drawing ?lines that should not be
crossed?. (Walsh, 2004)
In fact, the chauvinist tenor of the American Dream
and American values herds together the masses behind
expansionism as supposed ?resolution? to their plight.
It is true, the organised labour everywhere has been
on defensive in the phase of globalisation, when
capital flight works as the regimenting factor. In the
face of non-availability of any immediate
revolutionary option in the society, they revert to
the ideology of desperation, of introversion, to
slogans like ?buy American, be American?. On the one
hand, this forces them to convince the capitalists of
their commitment to the industrial ?peace?, to make
?national? industries competitive in the global
market! On the other hand, it consolidates the
domestic market for the ?national? bourgeoisie of the
US. Hence, the ?labour support? nowhere binds the
hands of the US state or any capitalist state to do
what it is meant to do as the governing body of the
ruling class.
Particularly interesting is the response of Rashtriya
Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS); though one never knows which
part of its sounding zone will be claimed official ?
fascism is always cacophonous. A few months ago RSS
Chief Sudarshan ?discovered? about the US funded
programme to christianise India completely by 2010 or
so, and propounded the US to be India?s worst enemy.
But now in the columns of RSS? mouthpiece, Organiser
(Nov 21, 2004), one finds Bush as the emancipator of
the world from ?oriental Talibanism and occidental
anarchy? and by re-electing him the Americans have
salvaged their civil society. In this column entitled
?America, America ? says the PM, Comrades want him to
shut up? (a usual and unimpressive stuff of
anti-communism), Rajendra Prabhu finds ?the
relationship between India and the United States has
been transformed from the cold war suspicion to
strategic partnership where the two have deepening
mutual interests?. He praises Bush for bringing
democracy and freedom to Afghanis and Iraqis. ?Today
our companies, our government, our experts are
building roads, hospitals and schools in that
country.? Afghan war was in ?our national interest?
(one of the Bushisms).
Prabhu, further, notes, ?the Presidential election
campaign in the US has thrown up the deep divide
within that country over Bush?s action and strategy in
Iraq.? But then ?it was Iraq action that sent the
shivers in Pakistan also that the American President
could act if the Musharraf regime refused to tango
with it in suppressing the Islamic fundamentalists?,
thus the US action once again fulfilled ?our national
interest?.
In a sycophantic tone, peculiar to the ?liberal?
section of RSS, he lauds Bush?s messianic goals. ?From
Indonesia to Egypt, the historic Muslim Crescent did
get a message in various intensities that the days of
oppressive regimes are numbered. Regimes have changed
no doubt through elections in Indonesia and Malaysia,
and stirrings of a more liberal approach are buffeting
the royal regimes and semi-autocracies. If finally an
elected government takes office in Baghdad, the
President would be vindicated. It looks doubtful at
present given the rising level of violence. It looked
impossible in Afghanistan also even six months back.
But it has happened.? The cowboy spirit of Bush makes
possible all Missions Impossible.
Finally, Prabhu concludes ? ?In this US election,
besides Iraq and terrorism, the most divisive issue
was the destruction of family values through such
aberrations as gay marriages, legalization of
lesbianism and such social viruses. For years it
seemed the New England liberal establishment and
California?s aberrant communities would hijack core
values of the country. But suddenly the silent
majority gave up its silence and spoke through the
ballot to restore the social balance. American ultra
liberals may be in mourning. And the Islamic
fundamentalists are angry. Civil society needs to be
saved both from oriental Talibanism and occidental
anarchy. At least that is what the Americans
accomplished in this election.?
Both the Indian capitalist class and the rightist
forces find strategic and militaristic collaboration
between India and the US as crucial for the Indian
?national interests?. The only difference is that the
latter provides the former with a voice that can draw
the general masses behind these national interests
with the help of the homogenising effect of aggressive
chauvinism. It allows the ruling class interest to
become a national interest. Sudarshan?s rabid
anti-Christian rhetoric ghettoising masses on communal
lines uniquely combines with the ?secular? urge of
profit-making that can be fulfilled only by joining
forces with the US imperialism.
Sections of the Indian capitalists suffered a heavy
shock a few months ago to see Vajpayee government
voted out of power. It was the government that
represented their interests while perfectly taming the
masses with its rightist rhetoric. It is not that they
were averse to the Congress, which has been their
representative for the longest period of time. But the
Congress could not sustain itself as such because of
its inability to combine various sectional interests
within the rural/urban ruling classes while
simultaneously regimenting the general masses. In the
neo-liberal phase of global capitalism it could not
provide a stable government with an aggressive tenor
required to support the domestic capital to
collaborate and compete in the post-Cold War
globalising market. After numerous ups and downs,
Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) graduated as that
political power. But its defeat and moreover the
parliamentary left?s position in a crucial role of
stabilising the new government made the capitalists
desperate.
Now, the new Congress government has the dual task of
competing with the rightist political gymnastics and
moderating the damage on the state?s legitimacy by the
earlier government by its naïve open communal
preferences. Further, it has to continue with the act
of settling in the evolving global polity. The biggest
contribution of the earlier rightist regime was its
determination to fashion its international
surroundings in favour of the corporatist interests in
the country. Its tactics ranged from the hype of
nuclear blasts to the laughable sycophant persuasion
of the Anglo-American masters to get employment in the
Afghan war. The Indian oil interests and other
corporates had their heyday during Vajpayee
government. It was the first consistently ?outward?-
oriented (even if not expansionist in the normal sense
of the word) regime, concentrating on building a place
in the global polity as a junior partner in global
imperialism. As a result, Manmohan?s government has
the major task of internal re-legitimisation of the
Indian state with a furtherance of the basic
orientation of the earlier government, i.e., its
economic and foreign policies. In fact, the left
support gives his government the essential political
legitimacy to pursue these tasks. The parliamentary
left was quite easily tamed by the manipulated stock
exchange turbulences just after the general elections.
It is being time and again forced to reassure the
?business? community of its moderated nature. Even
when it says that its support must not be taken for
granted, it is extremely afraid of the immediate
fallout of any hard-line on its part. This situation
has become another self-justification for not waging
?class struggle? leading to their further reduction as
a distinct force of the working class. This tamed
radical has become the biggest asset of the capitalist
state, which was struggling for its legitimacy right
from the initial days of liberalisation in the
country.
Frankly as regards to the American policies it hardly
mattered who won the election ? Bush or Kerry. But for
the Indian politics Bush?s victory is significant in
the sense, that it allows the rightist forces to once
again pose themselves as the smarter representative of
the capitalist class attuned to the global needs,
which is evident in their respective reactions to
Bush?s victory. Further, it pressurises Manmohan to be
on the ?right? track even with a left support, as he
has already demonstrated recently. His initial efforts
to start a dialogue with nationalist and left
extremists were perhaps laudable, but he has not shown
any sign of doing away with Vajpayee government?s
belligerent rhetoric and apparatus to wage its own
regional ?war against terrorism? that includes
fighting the left insurgency in Nepal. Bush?s
re-election is definitely a gift to the Indian
capitalist class and the rightist forces in India, as
it would continue to build an atmosphere of aggressive
globalism. And they have aptly interpreted the result
of the American elections ? a victory for militarism
and rightism.

References
Dutt, Rimin (2004) ?Indian business groups welcome
Bush's re-election?, IndUS Business Journal Online Nov
15.
http://www.indusbusinessjournal.com
Friedman, Thomas (1999) ?What the World Needs Now?,
New York Times, March 28.
Lenin, V.I. (2000) Imperialism, the Highest Stage of
Capitalism, Left Word Books, New Delhi.
Prabhu, Rajendra (2004) ?America, America ? says the
PM Comrades want him to shut up?, Organiser Nov 21.
http://www.organiser.org
Special Correspondent (2004) ?IT Sector greets Bush?s
Re-elections?, The Hindu Nov 05.
http://www.hindu.com/2004/11/05/stories/2004110503541500.htm
Walsh, David (2004) ?Opening of Bill Clinton?s
library: A sordid gathering of the ?fat cats??, World
Socialist Web Site (WSWS) Nov 20. http://www.wsws.org

Womens? Struggles

AIPWA?s 4th National Conference

- Liberation, January, 2005.

                The 4th National Conference of the All India
Progressive Womens? Association (AIPWA) was held on
24-25 November at the Shaheed Manju Devi Hall (Gaur
Bhavan) in Delhi. The Conference began with hoisting
of the AIPWA flag by Com. Meera, a veteran activist of
the organisation. This was followed by 2 minutes
silence in memory of the women martyrs Manju Devi,
Jharo Devi and others who had sacrificed their lives
for the movement. Com. Savita Singh, Vice President of
the Delhi unit welcomed the guests and delegates.
                Ms. Zohra Segal, veteran communist and eminent
theatre artiste addressed the gathering. 94 year-old
Zohra Sehgal?s words, full of zest for life and
independence, were inspiring. Her recital of a poem
written by the great Faiz-Ahmad-Faiz, Intisaab
(dedication), dedicated to the common people,
especially the suffering women of the country, was
moving and full of feeling.
The keynote address was delivered by the eminent
historian and human rights activist, Dr. Uma
Chakravarti. The other speakers were Linda Waldron of
the Democratic-Socialist Perspective, who spoke
against racism, imperialist war and globalisation in
Australia and the world. Tin Tin Aung, Joint Secretary
of the Women?s League of Burma spoke about the
military rule in Burma and its impact on women. She
said that she had gotten a lot of support from her
sisters in India. Taslima Akhtar of the Bangladesh
Viplavi Mahila Sangh spoke on religious
fundamentalism, communal violence and imperialist
globalization. Suman Sahai, leader of the Gene
Campaign, appealed to fight for our rights over
natural resources. Bushra Khaliq, General Secretary of
the Women Workers? Helpline of Pakistan said that laws
in Pakistan were anti-woman and women workers were the
hardest hit in their country. She said that the women
in Pakistan would continue their solidarity with their
counterparts in India. Dolores Chew, leader of the
South Asian Women?s Community Centre, Montreal, Canada
said the women there were inspired by women like Manju
Devi and had released a poster commemorating her on 8
March. Sehba Farooqi, general secretary of the
National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), urged
women to fight communal fascism and economic
liberalisation unitedly. Others who addressed the
session were Dr. E. Rathi Rao, scientist and convenor
of Samata Vedike, Mysore, Rajni Tilak of the National
Congress of Dalit Organisations, Hemabati of the
Manipur Students Union, and Sucharita of Purogami
Mahila Sangathan. Solidarity messages were sent by the
Women?s Fightback Network of Boston, the South Asia
Solidarity Group, Vina Mazumdar, former director of
the Center for Women?s Development Studies (CWDS) and
Brinda Karat, former General Secretary of the All
India Democratic Womens? Association (AIDWA). Kumudini
Pati, General Secretary of AIPWA, delivered the
closing address on behalf of AIPWA. A song was sung by
delegates who were workers in the tea gardens of
Assam.
        The Inaugural Session was conducted by Savita Singh,
a scholar of political science and leader of AIPWA
Delhi. Srilata Swaminathan, President of AIPWA, who
chaired the session, gave a vote of thanks by
reiterating that the challenge before us was great,
but with the co-operation and solidarity of all who
had made the conference a success, we would certainly
be able to forge ahead. The inaugural session
continued till late in the evening because of the
delay in arrival of delegates from Bihar, West Bengal
and Jharkhand. Cultural performances by Jan Sanskriti
Manch (JSM) Delhi, Prerna from Jharkhand, delegates
from Tamil Nadu, Shramik Mahila Morcha of Maharashtra,
Karbi song by Karbi Nimso Chingthur Asong (KNCA) and
Bihu dance by Assam delegates made it a colourful
event.
At the delegate session, the report of 3 years of
AIPWA work was presented by Kumudini Pati and
resolutions to guide future work were also read out.
Delegates discussed issues like increasing violence on
women and the failure of the democratic institutions
to protect them, the need for a legal cell for AIPWA,
the need for raising issues of working women at the
national level, formation of working women?s cell in
AIPWA, need for increasing the participation of Muslim
women in AIPWA, the question of closer integration
with women leaders and activists working in the rural
areas and seriously dealing with the question of
repression by feudal forces and the state.
Participation of AIPWA in self-help groups and
orienting them towards struggle was also discussed.
The members also discussed the question of
streamlining the organisation so that better
initiative could be taken on issues like Manipur.
A 67-member National Council and 17-member Executive
committee was elected. Srilata Swaminathan and
Kumudini Pati were elected President and General
Secretary respectively. Saroj Chaubey, Anju Borkataki,
Medha Thatte, Tahira Khan and Vijaylakshmi were
elected Vice Presidents while Meena Tiwari, Ajanta
Lohit, Kanaklata Dutta, R. Nagamani, and Jita Kaur
were elected National Secretaries.

Womens? Struggles

AIPWA Conference: Excerpts of Interviews with
Revolutionary Women

- Liberation, January, 2005.

        Within the four walls of the houses, in collieries in
Jharkhand, in power looms and match factories of Tamil
Nadu, the tea gardens of Assam, the fields of Bihar,
Andhra Pradesh, Eastern U.P. generations of women have
toiled day in and day out without uttering a complaint
and without being heard. But some of these women have
broken the rules that confine women to silence.
Defying their own hesitation and threats from home and
workplaces, these are women who have chosen to protest
and organise their fellow suffering sisters for their
rightful share in the fruits of their labour. How did
these women break the silence? What has been their
journey? How did they negotiate the struggles within
their own private lives, and link these to the
struggles outside? Where do they trace the beginnings
of their lives as political activists, and how do they
see the women?s movement? Probing these questions we
met some of these women activists, who had come to
Delhi, for the AIPWA Conference and recorded some of
their stories. Needless to say these conversations
were rather brief, and the unemotional, stolid
narratives of these women only hinted the turbulent
times they had survived, the sea-changes wrought in
their personality by relentless suffering and the
decision to be part of a struggling collective.
Unravelling and recording these narratives of struggle
is a task that would enrich the history of the women?s
movement and provide invaluable insights into the
complex processes of movements and the people who make
them up. But it is a task that must wait for a later
date. For now, let?s begin by meeting some of these
activists of the women?s movement.

Guni Oraon has come from Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. She is
a wholetimer of the CPI (ML), a leader of the AIPWA as
well as the Coal Mine Workers? Union (CMWU) in the
Ramgarh region of Hazaribagh, Jharkhand. She tells us
that tired of the cruelty by her in- laws, she walked
out of her marital house and started working in a
colliery where her husband joined her. The work in the
colliery involved hard labour and her job included
carrying head load of coal up steep slopes. In
1972-73, the Party functionaries who were underground
at the time, were invited by her husband to take
classes in their jhuggi. The men participated in the
discussion and she would be a quiet observer. Soon she
was asked to join, ?I felt I must participate after
all they were talking about the suffering that we were
going through everyday.? One question followed another
and other women also joined in.
For several years she worked in the coal washery,
where workers earned three rupees a day for 10 hours
of back- breaking work. Encouraged by the party, she
began to motivate other women to demand a wage hike.
The women took initiatives to lead a strike against
their contractor and the men supported it.  The 8-day
strike led to heavy losses for CCL (Central Coalfields
Ltd.), which was then forced to pull up the contractor
and eventually their wages increased to Rs. 10 per
day. One struggle led to another, as the unorganised
workers and especially the women faced constant threat
of losing their jobs not to speak of victimisation at
the hands of the employer. The struggle led to 260 of
the workers (of whom 170 were women) becoming
regularised as CCL employees over a period of time.
After her son found employment in CCL, she left her
job to take up full time party work in 1995.
Guni, today, finds the gains made by the unorganised
workers for regularisation being eroded by the
policies of retrenchment. No new workers are getting
the jobs from which people have been axed. She spoke
of workers like her struggling to get their children
educated. But even those who did a Bachelors or
Masters degrees are finding very few jobs. When they
do find jobs, they are similar to what their parents
have done and get frustrated and leave them; but other
jobs are difficult to get. Guni herself is illiterate;
her son who has passed his intermediate exams, has
worked at loading and carrying coal for five years
before passing an exam that has allowed him to be a
mining sardar.
She finds workers on the brink of starvation. They are
forced to forage for coal in the abandoned mines? a
job that the government deems as illegal. It is also
dangerous but the options are too few for people who
have no jobs. When caught picking coal, they get badly
beaten up by the police. The women pick and clean coal
from these mines, and the men carry the coal 70-80 kms
on a cycle to sell it. They are paid Rs. 80-90 for a
sack of coal and women only get to keep Rs. 20-30 of
it. Often husband-wife teams are made so that they can
keep the net income for the family. She feels there
must be an urgency in organising the workers.
On a different note, Guni spoke of how she used to
believe in god, talismans and totems. Today she smiles
it off as something of the forgotten past. Her
increasing involvement in struggles and discussions
with comrades has led her to the belief that it is the
hammer and sickle that matters and she prefers to wear
a pendant of her dear tools around her neck.

?I?m a molkarin? said Padma Sutar, a leader of the
Shramik Mahila Sangathan from Pune. A molkarin does
domestic work, cleans clothes and vessels for a small
wage in others homes.  She speaks to us, ?Women have
been domestic workers for three generations in my
family: my mother did the same work, and now my
daughter too does it. I have worked ever since I was 9
years old. Earlier, there were no laws to protect us,
no fixed wages, and our malkins (employers) could
arbitrarily kick us out. I remember the first time we
began to challenge this. We used to work in housing
societies ? it was back-breaking work. When one of us
was kicked out of her job, which was usual, we didn?t
know what to do, how to do anything, but we took out a
procession. Comrades had guided us and that night,
3000-4000 of us women domestics gathered together. We
demanded that those of us who had been sacked be taken
back, and also a raise in wages, bonus and holidays.
We didn?t go to work for 4-5 days. When we did turn up
with our demands, some of our employers gave two-three
rupees extra and claimed to have raised our wages.
Others even set the dogs on us.
When we first began to organise, our men said ?What?s
the point? Nothing?ll change?. But we forced the
malkins to change their behaviour and they have
increased our wages. Earlier, we didn?t know how to
speak, we were shy to make demands. But why be scared?
They?re not doing us a favour. We demand our rights.
Now the malkin has to pay, even if I fall sick and
can?t make it to work. We?ve struggled for gratuity,
and bonus, which is now guaranteed and we also have an
office now. Our husbands too realised women?s worth.
My husband worked as a waiter in a hotel. When he was
thrown out, we women went and helped them organise and
fight.
We have struggled against the local dadas (bullies)
for the right to our jhopadpattis (shacks). We are
with the Lal Nishan Party, and we formed the Shramik
Mahila Morcha ? including both corporation workers and
domestic wokers. I still work in six houses and earn
about Rs. 3000. I?ve 3 daughters, two of whom do the
same work, although they?re educated.?

Vandana Sitaram Wange like Padma is also a molkarin
from Pune. She says it has not been so easy. ?The
malkins don?t want us to organise. They ask us whether
we belong to the Union or not before employing us. But
we don?t hide the fact. The malkin asks, ?Why increase
your wages, your husband will just drink away the
money.? We reply, ?Your husbands drink too, the only
difference is that they drink in clubs!? We used to be
very vulnerable ? we could be falsely accused of theft
and beaten up by the police in custody. It used to be
shameful to be seen in the police van. Now, if one of
us is accused, we all go with her. Where the women are
not unionised, there is a lot of police repression.?

Suryamma is from Veyampadu village, Visakhapatnam
district in Andhra Pradesh and often sings songs.
These are songs about people like her and their
struggles. She says, ?I was born in a poor family and
my husband?s family is also poor. There was a struggle
for ration card in my village and the Party was
leading it. I joined the Party in 1990. The upper
caste landlords have never treated us well. In my area
there have been significant land seizure movements and
women have participated in it in large numbers. In
March 2002, I was arrested along with 23 others during
a movement.? Suryamma was a CPI (ML) candidate in the
2004 Assembly elections.  She has also fought
elections earlier.

T. Aruna?s father Tamada Ganapathy is a martyr of the
Srikakulam movement and currently teaches in a school
in Srikakulam for a living. She says, ?I was a student
in Class 3, when the comrades returned from jail. I
didn?t know my father since he had been away in jail.
After my father was martyred, I became active in the
movement. Comrades have guided and inspired me.?
We?ve worked with agrarian workers. Women agrarian
labourers do a variety of work in that region. They
pick cashew nuts, 3 months of the year, earning only
Rs. 30 a day. They sow rice, construct houses, work in
mango gardens and brick kilns. We?ve conducted
anti-arrack (anti-alcohol) struggles, and also
anti-dowry movements amongst middle class women. All
of us women activists refused to pay dowry, we have
said ?Marry us for ourselves if you want, or else
go!??

E. Musli is from Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh and is an
agrarian labourer whose family ekes out a
hand-to-mouth existence. She?s a district secretary of
AIPWA in the Jagampeta mandal. She tells us how
workers like her are organised into a sangam. She has
been involved in the land struggle, has levelled and
cropped the land and have retained control of it.

Sashtami Sona is the daughter of tea-garden workers
from Tinsukia, Assam. She says, ?I had earlier been
with BJP, influenced by their ideology. I became drawn
to CPI (ML) when I saw it was taking up the economic
issues of tea-garden workers. My parents were
tea-garden workers too and the work done by tea-garden
workers is very hard. The fingers and hands become
distorted and bruised when picking tealeaves. Wages
are based on the number of bushes picked and very
often people are cheated of wages. This community is
so poor that most often, children have to drop out of
school. Many women die of TB and other diseases. Our
struggle there is for basic rights and self-respect.
Women are paid less than men and do not get the same
respect as men. They are the target of sexual
harassment and assault. Of late, there has been a
cutback in whatever little facilities that workers
enjoyed. There was an agitation demanding 20% bonus in
the a bagan (garden), and one woman died in the police
firing. The owner of the estate forcibly cut off the
hair of another woman. We take up other issues too,
one sixteen year-old girl, Pinky Choudhuri, was raped
and killed by Durga Makhu when she was returning from
school. We protested and took out a procession
demanding punishment. In October this year, another
girl died in a Professor?s house in Tinsukia College,
it was reported as a suicide. AIPWA protested against
this incident as well.?

Thanmozhi is a power-loom worker from Namakkal
District, Tamil Nadu. She is with All India
Confederation of Central Trade Unions (AICCTU) and is
also with AIPWA organising power-loom workers.
Thanmozhi works for Rs. 50 a day. Her family is
dependent on her income and she gets paid only when
she is working at other times there is no income. She
told us about the 12-14 year-old children who work at
the power-loom and are badly thrashed. Disturbingly,
more and more children are working in the power-looms.
Buses come to pick up children for work from their
homes yet no cases have been filed against the mill
owner. The families of the children are also
desperately poor and sometimes even sell their kidneys
to buy few more meals. Her work is not easy nor is it
easy to organise workers. The repression is severe.
Every time anyone raises the slightest voice of
protest, or tries to organise the workers, the
management slaps false cases on them. She says those
union leaders? also face violent assaults from the
management. Since their shacks are also owned by the
mill owner, the homes of those who protest are
demolished. Thanmozhi herself had to shift homes 6
times. The union office too has been raided.

Mutthulakshmi, is a match worker from Sivakasi. She
tells us, ?These factories are extremely exploitative
and dangerous. Wages have been Rs. 1.20 per unit.
Workers earn between Rs.10-15 for a day?s work.  I met
some unionists and gradually got involved with the
work. When people began to protest at these rates, the
match factories began to adopt mechanisation. As a
result in a factory, which employed 300 people, 200
were thrown out. These machines were supposed to
reduce risk and increase efficiency, but we have seen
it is extremely prone to catching fire. The factories
are closed spaces, and any fire turns the place into a
deadly tinderbox. In the Rose Match factory, 50 people
between 15 and 18 years of age, were killed in one
such fire started by this machine around one year ago.
Two years back, the Standard Match factory in Sivakasi
had a similar fire, also induced by the machine, which
consumed the lives of 10 children. In the Rose Factory
fire, those who died were poor from the Thevar caste;
the owner from the Nadar community bribed the Thevar
caste leaders, and the union, which was led by CPI-CPI
(M) also settled the issue with the management.?

Kunti Devi is an agrarian workers leader from
Jehanabad of Bihar. She too has laboured in the fields
for many years. ?I joined the Party at a very young
age, I didn?t understand politics much but there was
terrible feudal repression in our village, in those
days. The Bhoomi Sena would destroy our homes and
assault the women. I thought, we should pick up arms
and resist. When I joined the Party, people in our
society thought ?awara ho gai hai? (the girl has gone
wild). It is a very backward society. For six years
after I left home, there was a lot of resistance from
my family. It is only now that my parental family is
somewhat reconciled to what I do. In Jehanabad, we
started the Janwadi Mahila Manch, and later at the
State level, the Pragatisheel Mahila Manch. Women of
this region continue to face violence at the hands of
feudal armies like the Ranveer Sena, as well as at the
hands of the police. So many women like Manju Devi
have been martyred in these struggles. Women activists
like us have several false cases slapped on us. Women
in the rural areas struggle to survive drought, floods
and starvation. Criminals specially target women. When
we raise these isuues and demand implementation of the
food-for-work scheme or the Red card scheme, the
police fires on our peaceful demonstrations. Earlier
the Congress conducted such repression, now it?s the
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) which patronises the feudal
armies and conducts state repression.?

Bagmati is from Sonebhadra in Uttar Pradesh. ?My
13-year old daughter, Sarita had joined the naxalites
(MCC) and was killed by the police 3 years back. I was
full of grief and tears. A comrade from CPI (ML) came
to meet me and told me there was no point in shedding
tears, why not wipe the tears of others instead. I
joined the CPI (ML). The MCC does things like blowing
up the police ranger but they?re not around to help to
face the repression. It?s the Maley (CPIML) which
suffers and resists repression, so I became active in
organising women, mostly agrarian labourers, in my
area.? We ask her about her husband: is he in the
Party too? She smiles warmly and says, ?Oh no, he?s
very innocent and simple, he has no idea what to say
to anybody. He?s not active at all, but he?s very
supportive of me. He assures me, ?You let me wear the
bangles and be at home, you be an ML leader, that
Party fights for our dignity.? There were many rapes
in our village, and we organised a struggle against
this. In Haraiyya village, when police forced their
way into a house and pointed a gun at a young woman,
and women picked up sticks and beat them up, chased
them away. When the police slapped cases on these
women, I went to the thana. The police said to me,
?What?s all this, Bagmati, now you?re getting the
women to beat up the police?? I said, ?You wield
rifles and lathis every day, why does it bother you so
much that women pick up sticks just for one day?? They
replied, ?This is not Bagmati speaking, it?s the Maley
speaking.? And I said, ?It?s the same thing!?
The Samajwadi Party offered me a bribe of Rs. 20, 000.
They said, take it, either join us or at least sit at
home and stop being active in Maley. I told them, I?m
not for sale. I can?t keep quiet if a woman is being
harassed or exploited, and I?m in Maley because I want
to fight for justice and dignity. They told me, if you
stay in Maley, you?ll get killed. I said, ?If I die,
I?ll die fighting, I won?t die like a rat holed up in
the house.?

Post-MFA Regime

Textile Restructuring and the Impending Turbulence

- Shankar, Liberation, January, 2005.

                The Indian textile industry is at a crossroads. Jan.
1, 2005 will mark a watershed for the Indian textile
industry. The Indian markets will be opened without
any hindrance to the foreign textile goods. The US and
EU markets will do away with the textile ?Quota Raj?
that protected Indian textile industry since the day
the Agreement on Textile and Clothing (ATC), a
modified version of the Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA),
was signed as per WTO guidelines. The fate of Indian
textile industry, which is the second largest employer
in the country next to agriculture and, in turn, the
fate of 35 million workforce and a few lakhs of
small-scale operators will be re-written on 1st
January, and this day will turn out to be a ?Black
Day? for the Indian working class.
The Agreement on Textiles and Clothing (ATC) is a WTO
agreement. It is the second phase of the MFA that
makes domestic reforms necessary because of pressure
from international competition. The agreement has put
forward stage-by-stage integration of the domestic
economy with the world trading system. The idea is to
make the integration complete by 1 January, 2005 so
that the GATT principles and regulations can come into
full play. Market access for Indian textiles has not
increased significantly in spite of phased opening of
the US and the EU markets based on the ATC.
Anti-dumping actions, transitional safeguards and
rules of origin, etc., nullify whatever little market
access results from the implementation of the ATC. On
the other hand, the domestic industry has to undergo a
painful transition to face the stiff competition
resulting from the removal of quotas. The removal of
quota cannot automatically increase market access, as
it will be further governed by tariff and non-tariff
barriers. Moreover, there are also many Regional Trade
Agreements like the one between the US and the NAFTA
countries, and preferential treatment to certain
countries, like the one extended to Mexico by the US,
etc., that forbid the easy entry of Indian exports to
the US and the EU markets. On the other hand, the US
will also look for ways to exploit the vast market in
India. Being one of the largest exporters of cotton,
the US is getting its garments done by Mexico and a
few other African countries at a cheaper price. China
is also waiting in the wings to flood Indian markets
with cheaper goods. Indian goods flooding global
markets in the wake of opening up is nothing but a
mirage.

The New Textile Policy: The Survival of the Fittest
?Survival of the fittest? is the mantra behind the
removal of quota in textiles. Whether the Indian
textile industry, dominated by small-scale operators,
obsolete technology and unskilled workforce can stand
up to the challenge is a question mark. New Textile
Policy (NTP) ? 2000 replies with a big ?NO?. In order
to make it the fittest, the NTP proposes consolidation
of small firms, and introduction of new technology
that has the potential to replace a large number of
traditional workforce. The focus is on modernization
and large-scale sector. The NTP is clearly tilted
towards big capital in textile industry. It says that
the industrial mill sector should be brought back to
pre-eminence so as to withstand the global competition
in terms of quality and price, for which it proposes
large industrial complexes in strategic alliances with
global players, with focus on new products and
retailing strategies.
The concept of SSI (small scale industry) is replaced
with SMEs (small and medium enterprises). The
small-scale mill and powerloom sector is deprived of
the benefit of reservation of certain textile items to
be produced in the sector and are exposed to
competition not only with domestic big capital but
also with multinationals (MNCs). For instance, Arvind
Mills has already entered small-scale powerloom sector
and has installed a unit with 200 shuttleless looms.
De-reservation is nothing but a strategy for growth
without employment. The NTP does not talk about labour
that will be displaced from small-scale sector and due
to privatization and closure of sick NTC mills.
A green signal has been given to set up units fully
owned by foreign operators with 100 percent Foreign
Direct Investment (FDI). Their export obligation of
exporting 50 percent of production has been given a
go-by at the policy level. Now, MNCs and their home
countries need not import anything from India; need
not bring their own costly products in search of a
vast market in India; rather, they can come and open
their shops; take advantage of Indian skills,
experience and cheap labour; sell their locally
produced goods to Indians and the Indian markets; it
is sufficient only if they repatriate the profits to
their home country. In fact, there is information that
a dozen global retailers have already set up their
shops in India, over the last two years, to buy their
requirements and have dispensed with the earlier
practice of buying through their local agents.

Cotton and Spinning: Swallowing the Small Fish
A recent study by the firm Gherzi Eastern for the
Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council (TEXPROCIL)
argues that cotton price needs to be reduced by at
least 10 per cent for the industry to become
competitive. To this end, it recommended strategies to
reduce the cost of production such as mechanization of
cotton farming, adoption of drip irrigation, and
removal of land ceiling by amending the Land Ceiling
Act etc., so that corporate sector can enter into
cotton farming. There are also proposals to establish
linkages between the industry and cotton cultivation
so as to make it a comprehensive attempt at reducing
prices.
Only 5% of fabric is produced in the organized mills
while 57% is produced in the decentralised powerloom
sector, apart from 17% in the knitted fabric units.
The quality of fabric supply to the garment sector is
considered to be poor. Moreover, there appears to be
as many as 15 intermediaries between the farmer and
the final consumer. The cotton worth Rs.100 that
originates from the farmer becomes Rs.148 when it
reaches the spinning unit and it costs Rs.365 by the
time it reaches the final consumer. With this logic,
modernization of spinning mills has been proposed in
order to reduce the price and to increase the quality.
Moreover, 50% hank yarn obligation for the mill sector
is considered to be a burden and there are proposals
to withdraw exemptions given to hank yarn that is
supplied to the handloom sector. Hank yarn is exempted
from excise and sales duties from the angle of
protecting handloom industry, which is on the verge of
extinction. The NTP has also proposed a review of the
hank yarn obligations. If we go by the indications,
the day is not too far, when the hank yarn and the
cheap inputs for the handloom and powerloom sectors
will be abolished and the mill sector will be
completely ?freed?. This might very well spell doom
for the already limping handloom sector and pose a
challenge of survival for the small-scale and tiny
powerloom sectors that mostly enjoys the hank yarn
concessions.
Demands for a level playing field between large and
small mills has been articulated by Indian Cotton
Mills Federation (ICMF). The recent policy
pronouncements seem to have yielded to the demands of
the big players. The budget 2002-3 removed the
differential excise duty between process houses and
composite mills. In the name of making the industry
competitive, small players are being left at the mercy
of the market without any safeguards. Making the
industry and government policies conducive to big
capital, as against lakhs of small players with a
large employment, allowing big units to swallow small
units, bringing cotton cultivation under the control
of corporate houses, removing hank yarn obligations
for the handloom and powerloom sectors and
modernization are some of the prescriptions by the
government.

Weaving: Labour at the Altar of Modernisation and
Markets
The weaving sector ranges from the handloom units
producing around 5 metres a day to mills with advanced
machines, each producing 250-300 metres in an
eight-hour shift. The non-mill sector is also referred
to as the Decentralized Sector that includes
powerlooms, handlooms, and the hosiery sector. The
decentralized sector produces around 95% of the total
cloth in the country and is the major employer, income
generator, as well as export earner for the weaving
and knitting industry.
The competitiveness of powerlooms is slowly eroding.
The advantage that powerlooms had in terms of smaller
size is no longer important as the consolidation of
firms is the order of the day. Rather, advanced
technology and the level of flexibility are becoming
more important that needs potential for huge capital
investment which is possible only for bigger players.
The looms used in the powerloom sector are mainly
discarded old looms with less width and obsolete
technology. The average number of looms per unit is
around four, which is a tiny size that does not permit
powerlooms to operate with economies of scale. A study
by the textile committee suggests that units with less
than 15-20 looms are unviable which means almost 70
per cent of units undertaking job work from traders
would be ejected from the scene.
There are plans for integrating the larger organized
sector and the powerloom sector so that the management
of the powerloom units will be passed on to the hands
of bigger units so as to overcome the scarcity of
capital to face the competition. This vision of the
integrated corporate entity is based on the experience
of units such as Siyaram?s, S.Kumars and LNJ Bhilwara
which started off as small players in the powerloom
sector and gradually with specialization and backward
and forward integration emerged as significant
corporate entities in the industry. Accordingly, units
with weaving, knitting and processing facilities or
existing spinning mills might take over good powerloom
units and set up processing houses.
In order to face the challenge, the government has
resorted to the cluster approach and establishment of
hi-tech weaving parks all over the country. The
cluster approach is basically aimed at forming a
consortium or amalgamation of powerloom units
(consolidation) so as to make use of common
infra-structural facilities and common facilities of
trading, marketing and logistics. A cluster is one
where availability of raw material to spinning,
weaving, processing and garment units, along with the
testing labs, etc. are developed in a compact
geographical area based on the powerloom centres that
already exist. These clusters are promoted as ?Centres
of Excellence?, very similar to Hollywood for
entertainment and Silicon Valley for software.
Tiruppur today is very much akin to a cluster in
knitting/hosiery sector. Textiles ministry has
identified around 19 clusters in the country and are
planning to develop apparel parks around the clusters.
Cauvery Hi-tech weaving park at Kumarapalayam near
Erode in Tamil Nadu is one such example. Technology
Upgradation Fund Scheme (TUFS) is aimed at promoting
clusters with loans subsidized by the government. But,
the lower rungs of the powerloom sector are yet to
receive the benefit because of stringent conditions
inappropriate to the present level of powerloom
technology.
The government?s approach is to promote shuttleless
looms with modern technology in apparel and weaving
parks that have the potential to replace more than 50
workers of ordinary looms. This is being promoted by
the government with the hope that traditional industry
would face natural death. It is tragic that more than
90 per cent of powerloom and small-scale operators are
unaware of what is in store for them. Modernisation
may also create a small number of trained, elite
workforce within the industry while a large number of
traditional workers would be forced out.

Processing: The Weak Link
The processing sector is one of the weak links in the
textile supply chain. The processing industry is
dominated by Hand Processing which constitutes 82.5
per cent of the total number of processing units.
Power processing units can be divided into Independent
Process Houses that do job work and those with
composite mills that process their own fabric. Around
89 per cent of power processing units are Independent.

New units with modern processing technologies that can
add value to garments such as anti-microbial and
wrinkle-free finishes are being planned to face the
competitive environment. In the backdrop of expected
flood of imports, value-added processes are focused to
offset the effect. If processing is not given adequate
attention, there are opinions that exports will
continue to be dominated by grey fabrics which are
then processed abroad. With this logic, the Minstry of
Textiles is proposing huge modernization and setting
up of large modern processing houses to increase the
export of processed fabrics. Upgradation in this
segment is also intended to promote integrated large
units with an improved quality and lower cost
structure. Hand Processors will be phased out in a
process. The earlier policy objective of employment
generation through discrimination in favour of hand
processors is replaced by modernization and
skill-intensive employment.

Garments: Fabricating Unemployment
Cutting, sewing and furnishing are the three major
operations in the garment sector. The units engaged in
sewing operations are called fabricators and it is the
most labour intensive operation in the garment sector.
89.7% of the firms subcontract their sewing operations
to the fabricators and only 0.3% engage in complete
in-house production. Assembly line production and
non-reliance on fabricators are being given focus and
the investment pattern also moves accordingly. The
future of independent fabricators is at the mercy of
the people who control the assembly line production.
Industry is demanding labour reforms in order to take
over the fabrication segment which is labour
intensive.
The focus of the industry is increasingly shifting
towards marketing, brand names, design and retailing
complexes and value-added diversified production such
as ?technical? textiles. In integrating cultivation,
manufacturing, processing and marketing, economies of
scale occupy the central place. A new breed of
monopoly traders come to control the entire industry
with their large capital and the rest are left at
their mercy. This new breed cares for nothing but for
super profits. There are also demands to keep the role
of state intervention at its minimum so that the
market, that is under the complete command of the
monopoly capital can call the shots.

The Social Cost
In the whole process of making the industry
competitive, crores and crores of workers are the
worst affected. The government, which is offering
Indian markets and the industry on a platter to the
MNCs and corporate houses, has nothing to offer to the
working class but misery, poverty and unemployment.
There are also demands to legally ban work stoppages
and strikes and to allow 12-hour work without any
overtime wages. Business interests are vocal in
demanding all unfair labour practices including
contract system, hire-and-fire to be made legal in
order to remove all bottlenecks on the way to super
profits.
The orientation of the government planning does not
address the issue of productive use of the abundant
labour force; rather, the modernization processes and
the accompanied planning focus only on machines,
machine-based efficiency and creation of a smaller
workforce that can cater to the restructured industry.
The human labour is put at the altar of modernisation
and markets. The policymakers do not understand that
the country?s only advantage over other competitors in
the developed and developing world, is its abundant
labour; it cannot match them in either technology or
scale of economy.
The social cost of this big capital-oriented
restructuring will be much costlier than expected. The
working class movement, the industry and the society
will witness large-scale workers? unrest in the days
to come. At the end, clothes and garments may be
cheaper but there would be no one to buy them.
Protecting domestic industry against the invasion of
foreign goods by erecting tariff and non-tariff
measures, reversal of big capital-oriented textile
policy, growth with employment objective, cheaper and
subsidized inputs such as yarn and electricity and
export subsidy for handloom and powerloom sectors,
revival of NTC mills, registration of all unorganized
textile workers and social security and welfare fund
for them, formulating a special act for powerloom
workers along the lines of beedi and construction
workers, etc., are emerging as major demands of the
textile workers movement. The government should be
forced to come up with an agenda favouring the
workers.        
CPI (ML) will observe Jan. 1 as a Black Day in the
textile belt covering districts of Salem, Erode,
Coimbatore, Karur and powerloom centres of Namakkal in
Tamil Nadu. Having textiles as the major industry,
lakhs and lakhs of workers are dependent on powerloom,
handloom and textile industry as their only
occupation. Without any alternative employment,
textile restructuring will deal a deadly blow to the
workers in this belt.

South Asia

New Phase of Resistance in Bangladesh

- Soumitra Bose

A tiny hamlet in the southern part of Bangladesh, woke
up shivering on a broad daylight. A minor Hindu girl
is being raped by more than 10 very well known strong
and powerful men of the neighbourhood. The entire
village saw the act, the entire village knows the
perpetrators better than they ever know their own
family members. They have tied the elderly mother,
tortured them, killed the father and the brother, tied
up a toddler and was raping the girl, marauding her,
mauling her like a pack of wolves. The mother cried
out to them at last ? Please boys, my daughter is
tiny, please go one by one to her!? She was raped,
eventually killed. Her name is Purnima ? the full
moon!
The full moon of Bangladesh will ever be blackened
henceforth! The full moon will always be slimy and
mauled as ever- the moon of Eid is to come the day
after the full moon, the same crescent that is the one
preceding the new moon. Will the same moon ever smile
on toddlers painting dreams in their eyes? Will
Purnima ever see a full moon blessing her again in
full gaiety? No, never, that is what you would feel in
Bangladesh today! Yes, of course, if you confide on
the People of Bangladesh!
This is the famous story we know from Taslima Nasrin?s
report. But the aftermath is not known. Bangladesh
roared out! The students of Bangladesh marched,
shouted, broke laws and went berserk in the cities.
The village mourned, sobbed and then slowly organized
her people and marched. No, they could not do a thing
to the perpetrators! These are no simple and stray
gangs. They are there in every village of Bangladesh,
everywhere representing the coalition in government.
These are the landed musclemen of the village who are
eyeing the landed properties of the hapless leaderless
Hindus, Ahmedia Muslims, Christians, Budhhists,
tribals and all others who are powerless and hapless.
These are the subaltern who cannot speak as they do
not have representatives ?representing? them. Every
single day there are minority families who are gang
raped, tortured, evicted, killed or looted somewhere
in Bangladesh. Every day there are women workers at
minor ages who are raped by their employers, every day
there are housemaids who are repeatedly raped by the
houseowners and their sons and relatives. As of today
more than 70% of these maids have experiences of
repeated rapes in the cities of Bangladesh. Bangladesh
stands out in the regularity of rapes on a quotidian
basis and on a mass scale. If you might think rape is
the last crime by today?s criminal standard then
Bangladeshi criminals starts by that act. Women?s body
is the very first and easiest casualty in the present
anti-Islamic Talibani Bangladesh.
Bangladesh is Talebanic today, much more than what you
can ever think in Pakistan, and if you go by
statistics and the ferocity of the crimes, much more
heinous than what the Talebani Afghanistan was. The
Talebanis at least had some external enemy to deal
with, these criminals do not have that. They are
beyond any reproach, they are backed by the
administration, by the political party in the
government and they are aided for every act of crime
from Saudi Arabia. I am sure no one would ever believe
that after every rape of a minority girl the criminals
get paid from the local Talebani Mosque! No, it is not
innuendos; please check it up with any minority of
Bangladesh who ever lived in Bangladesh countryside in
the later five years. The Saudi Wahabi government pays
to form organizations and rallies to raze Ahmedia
mosques to the ground. In Narayangunge they issued
notices and assembled. They found the international
representatives gathered within the Mosque to resist
through human shielding, they retreated and mobilized
elsewhere. The principal source of inspiration was the
Jamat-e-islami organization, who said they did not
approve of this act and immediately said that the
Ahmedias have to be declared Kafirs and non-citizens.
Those readers who might want to judge the Bangladeshi
Jamatis by their scale of knowing Jamat- e-Islami of
India would make the greatest mistake of their life.
While Indian Jamaat is a secular organization run and
belonging to Sunni Muslims, their Bangladeshi
counterpart is just the opposite a full fledged
foreign funded Talebani organization.
That Jamat is in the government! The same Jamaat
helped the Pakistani marauding occupation force to
fish out the best elements of Bangladesh on the night
of 14th December of 1971, just two days before
Bangladesh won their independence from Pakistan. This
was the same Jamaat who planned the massacre and this
is the same Jamaat, which masterminds the ethnic and
religious cleansing of Bangladesh.

Bangladesh is leaderless from the people?s point of
view. Bangladesh is full of leaders, in fact has
excess of leaders all over, roaming, screaming,
loitering, acting out all in the cities though!
Bangladesh is in a nice binary game of two camps of
intellectuals and leaders taking on each other and yet
the people looks at them without any hope, trust,
direction and yet looks as they do not have anywhere
else to look towards. The minorities are now being
?represented?! they are represented by a NGO, funded
from USA, supported and propped up by the Viswa Hindu
Parishad and RSS of India and are trying to plot for
another division within Bangladesh, another partition,
another chance and way to perpetrate the chasm on the
religious lines. What came out of Jinnah after 1937 to
the infamous 1947 is now being taken up as an agenda
by the Hindu communalists. Money is pouring down from
the west and from India in the name of saving the
Hindus. Bangladesh  is murkier than ever. The people
have lost gaze, lost direction and the ?water? is
turning murkier, slimier by the hour.
Yet, there are notable exceptions! People are coming
up, in small pockets, in small numbers, but very and
rather very steadfast, very determined and very
dedicated. It is the Muslim peasants, who had taken up
the news of Purnima?s rape throughout Bangladesh and
took on the criminals. The University students, the
women who work, the workers who toil, came up in
unison. Purnima?s tormentors had to be arrested, tried
and some convicted! It is not much, but the masses are
up, if not in arms definitely rallies, in united
opposition.
The ?leaders? have taken the cue, they are
rearranging, social engineering, and are re grouping,
the left have gone over to the centrists and formed
one coordination, the rightists have split but some
are coagulating too! The revolutionaries are left
alone, they are in the streets, in the barracks,
haunted, hunted and yet standing up. Bangladesh is the
country of consistent upsurges, a happening place
where mass upsurges against all threats is a regular
phenomenon. The revolutionary students have formed one
platform, they are dedicating their future, their
resources, in hordes they are joining the
revolutionary groups, turning full time cadres and are
plunging in mass actions.
Bangladesh is infested with NGOs. It is the unique
country with the highest number of NGOs and with the
most amount of foreign aid and money coming to the
NGOs. Yet, Bangladesh is amazing. Hordes of young
revolutionaries decay down year by year by going over
to NGOs and yet year by year new hordes join the
revolutionary movements. Bangladesh never stops to
bewilder any watcher. This country has the highest
amount of politically conscious varsity students in
the world. Despite all these tortures, all these
threats, and all these luring by the NGOs, Bangladesh
still sees full time political cadres coming up from
the ranks of the youth. Still in Bangladesh the
coordination of students and peasants is lively. They
marched all over Bangladesh against the looting of
Oil, Gas and other resources from Bangladesh! The
revolutionaries are now able to organize the masses in
thousands. Though they are still in the preliminary
stages of mass mobilization and though they are still
not in a position to call the shots in national
politics, yet it is true that Bangladesh is maturing
due to their efforts of mass mobilisation on class
basis. A long way off from everything nationalistic,
narrow chauvinistic and on ethnic lines! Today we see
Muslim peasants sacrificing their lives in open
clashes with the government forces to safeguard Hindu
women, [as it happened in Narayangunge] to safeguard
the interests of the tribal people against government
sponsored Muslim settlers[as it happened in Bandarban
and Garo hills]. Bangladesh is calling us with a
resounding roar! Hey, wait up! Look at me, I may be
the next to call the class struggle!





        
                
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