India - material on struggle at Maruti-Suzuki

Material on Struggle at Maruti Suzuki - GurgaonWorkersNews no.51

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The current repression against Maruti workers is severe - since the unrest on 18th of July 2012 over 150 workers have been arrested, more than 500 permanent workers have been fired, more than 1,500 temporary workers might have lost their - or rather 'this' - job and over a thousand state and private cops have been stationed in and around the Maruti factory in order to secure industrial 'peace'. Repression tends to focus our view and acts on itself - it forces us to react, instead of acting ourselves. These are difficult times for engaging in critical analysis of the struggles of our class. To criticise our own activities while the enemy attacks seems rather paradox or untimely - but we think it is necessary. 

In this newsletter we want to continue the debate about 'workers' organisation', based on what we see as both pre-condition and process of organisation: workers' self-inquiry into the production process, how it constitutes the working class and how it can be transformed into the basis of self-organised attack on the existing social relations. We present some general and historical thoughts about the relationship between inquiry and workers' organisation, but our focus is concrete material on the conditions at Maruti after the waves of struggle in 2011 - and a proposal to engage in a process of workers' inquiry in Manesar.

Between April and June 2012 we asked workers from most departments at Maruti and from automobile suppliers the following questions: how does your collectivity look like now, a few months after the strike? which changes took places since then, which either weakened or strengthened your collectivity? what did management do in order to undermine your collectivity? what did workers do or can do in order to strengthen and extend the collectivity? which role does the new union play in this process of de- and re-composing workers' organisational basis?

We summarised a preliminary balance-sheet based on these conversations, which forms the core-part of this newsletter. In addition there is further material: workers' reports from various departments at Maruti and its suppliers; an interview with a comrade of a Marxist-Leninist group reflecting on his experiences during the 2011 struggles; a summary of 'The Maruti Story', written by the Maruti chairman, about the history of the Maruti Gurgaon plant, from the enemy's perspective. A comrade summarised material on the Suzuki Hungary plant, which supplies the global markets with the same models which are produced in Manesar - and in 2005 workers showed their discontent about the working conditions. To illustrate the newsletter we took some photographs in Manesar and surrounding villages. 

Friends of Faridabad Majdoor Samachar distribute the workers' newspaper every month, both in front of the Maruti Manesar and Maruti Gurgaon plant - we hope you will help out with distribution and/or contribute to the debate. We hope this newsletter provides some instigating material.

1) Introduction

2) On Organisation and Inquiry

3) Material on Class Composition at Maruti Suzuki
3.1) State of Workers' Collectivity one Year after the Occupations (June 2012)
3.2) State and Limitations of the Trade Union at Maruti Suzuki
3.3) Preliminary Thoughts on the Unrest of the 18th of July 2012
3.4) Theses for the Future Armament of Workers' Struggle at Maruti and Beyond

4) Workers' Reports
4.1) Reports from Maruti Manesar Workers
4.1.1) Press-Shop Worker
4.1.2) Weld-Shop Workers
4.1.3) Paint-Shop Workers
4.1.4) Bumper-Shop Worker
4.1.5) Final Assembly Workers
4.1.6) Canteen and Housekeeping Workers
4.2) Reports from Suzuki Powertrain Workers (Engine and Gearbox)
4.3) Report from Maruti Gurgaon Worker (Engine-Shop)
4.4) Reports from Maruti Supply-Chain Workers
4.4.1) Asti Electronics Worker
4.4.2) Sanden Vikas Worker
4.5) Report on Life in Aliyar, a Workers' Village in Manesar Industrial Zone

5) Conversation with Comrade on Practical Engagement during the Maruti Struggle in 2011

6) Comments on and Relevant Parts of  "The Maruti Story", Biography of the Gurgaon Factory by R.C Bhargava, Maruti Chairman

7) Material on situation at Suzuki in Hungary

8) Appendix

8.1) Open Letter on Maruti by Mouvement Communiste to Comrades in Delhi
8.2) Pamphlet by Mouvement Communiste on Maruti Struggle and Leaflet on Struggle at Citroen PSA in France
8.3) Proposal for Critical Debate on 'Academic Research'
8.4) Phd by Bose on Automobile Industry in Delhi
8.5) Links to Future Readings

News from India's Special Exploitation Zone -
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