March Forward in the Agrarian Revolutionary Path of Telengana and Naxalbari
Dear Comrades and Friends,
This year is the
50th anniversary of Naxalbari peasant uprising. This uprising of
1967 was the resurgence of Telengana movement. Many of us are aware that at the
time of Telengana movement Comrades Stalin and Mao unitedly launched
ideological struggle to free the Communist parties of different countries from the
influence of Trotskyite and Titoite line. Let’s look into the international and
national political situation of this period.
In 1948, Tito was expelled from Cominform.
In 1949 great Chinese Revolution achieved victory. In 1950 a historic editorial
was published in the organ of Cominform. In the same year, Ranadive, the then general
secretary of CPI, was forced to make self-criticism. The CPI adopted a Party
programme through an all India conference. Therefore, the editorial of
Cominform, the self-critical report of Ranadive and the Party programme of 1951
marked the fundamental line of Indian Revolution.
But the CPI cancelled the programme of 1951 after the death of Com. Stalin in
1953 and adhered in the revisionist line. On the other side, the two-line struggle continued within the Party. Then the Khrushchevite revisionism appeared
in the stage. It intensified the two-line struggle in the CPI. At that time the great Naxalbari peasant
upsurge came into being. In China, the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
broke out against the Titoite-Khrushchevite
revisionism. These incidents put forward the teachings of Telengana before the
Naxalbari peasant struggle. Therefore, Telengana and Naxalbari, Tito and
Khrushchev, Stalin and Mao cannot be separated.
The Naxalbari peasant upsurge completes
fifty years in 2017. After 50 years, is the path of Naxalbari relevant today? Several
naxalite groups have already abandoned the agrarian revolutionary politics of
Naxalbari. Like the CPI and CPI(M), they are by now practising parliamentary
politics arguing that the capitalist development in Indian agriculture
currently plays a decisive role, the Indian big bourgeoisies are independent
and therefore the stage of Indian revolution is socialist. Which social revolution
has changed the state character of India? Which revolution has uprooted
feudalism and imperialism from the Indian soil? They, however, keep silence in
these questions. Some of them express faith on agrarian revolution in words,
although they participate in parliamentary electioneering in the name of
tactics. Thus they have chosen the road to escape from revolutionary arena.
Some are strengthening the hand of imperialism by spreading confusions over
Naxalbari politics. There is no doubt
that the set back in the revolutionary struggle was due to ultra-left deviation
after Naxalbari movement. But the so-called Naxalites have made the leadership
solely accountable for ultra-left deviation to justify their current right
opportunist practice and therefore undermine the cause of Indian Revolution.
Even after 50 years, the Naxalbari peasant
uprising is still relevant. Not only the
current objective condition of Indian society is the same as it was at the time
of Naxalbari uprising, but the imperialist plunder and semi-feudal exploitation
have now become intensified as well. It is noteworthy that historically imperialism
cannot uproot feudalism which is the social base of imperialist plunder. Rather, for its own interest it strengthens
feudal system through cosmetic and partial reform. Even
with distorted capitalist development, semi-feudalism exists and will exist to
play the dominant role in agriculture. With the support of imperialism, semi-feudal
exploitation through usury and merchant capital has been strengthened. In India
peasants are debt-bound and 57-77% of agricultural debt owes to usurer and
non-bank lending agencies. According to the report of Mahalanabis Committee six
crore thirty lakh acre of land is available to distribute among landless
peasants, given the land ceiling is 20 acre per family. Till date less than 2 %
of this land has been distributed.
Multinational corporations have
extensively penetrated the Indian agricultural market of fertilizers, seed,
pesticides etc. through globalization and various WTO agreements. Thus
imperialist capital along with usurer and merchant capital appropriate most of
the surplus made by the small, medium and big peasants. This surplus therefore remains
outside the arena of agricultural development, which, in turn, contributes to
the hindrance in capitalist reproduction in agriculture and strengthens
semi-feudal exploitation.
Currently the central government of India
as well as different state governments propose agricultural reforms which will
actually help the land sharks to grab thousands of acres of land from the peasants.
Therefore, the basic politics of
Naxalbari is correct and relevant even today. Let’s remember what Com. Stalin
and Com. Mao said emphasizing the importance of agrarian revolution: “It would
be foolish to think that feudalism and imperialism can be overthrown in China
by armed strength alone. Without an agrarian revolution and without active
support of the Wuhan troops by the vast masses of peasants and workers, such
forces cannot be overthrown” (J V Stalin). “Establishment
of Red Army, Guerrila Units and Red
Areas is the highest form and inevitable consequence of peasant struggle under
the leadership of the working class in semi-colonial China” (Mao Tse-tung).
In many regions of India, agrarian
revolutionary struggle of Naxalbari is still continuing combating many hurdles,
although more challenges are yet to be overcome. The fiftieth anniversary of
Naxalbari peasant uprising does, therefore,
demand united struggle of
workers, peasants, students, youth, writers, artists, intellectuals, i.e., the whole
democratic and patriotic force to accomplish victory of the New Democratic Revolution
by grasping the lessons from success and
failure, positive and negative aspects of the heroic struggle of great Indian
people. Naxalbari ekhee rastha.
With struggling greetings,
JANAMUKTIKAMI
Fifty Years of
Naxalbari Peasant Uprising
Seminar
29 May 2017
4-00 pm to 8-00 pm
Chandrasekhar Das
Auditorium (Bharatsabha Hall), Kolkata
