Observe All India Workers’ Strike on 20 and 21 Feb. 2013!
Revolutionary Democratic Front (RDF) extends its solidarity with the
workers who are going on a two-day All India general strike on 20 and 21
February. While all the major trade union centres affiliated to various
ruling class parties of the country have come together for giving a
call for this strike due to the pressure from the working masses, the
revolutionary and militant trade unions and workers’ organisations too
have separately given a strike call for these two days.
This strike is an opportunity for the workers across different
sectors of the economy and regions to come together to highlight the
burning problems of their common concern, which require urgent
redressal. All the progressive, democratic and pro-people organisations
and individuals of the country as well as the peasantry, the students,
teachers, intellectuals, government and private employees, need to stand
in solidarity with the striking workers in the struggle for achieving
their just and genuine demands. The strike call comes at a time when the
imperialist world economy is going through its worst crisis after the
Great Depression of the 1930s.
The inherent contradiction of the capitalist economy between
socialised production and privatised profit came into full force,
leading to large-scale overproduction, unprecedented destruction of
productive forces, high levels of unemployment, runaway inflation and
mass impoverishment. The collapse of the imperialist economy was averted
when monopoly finance capital resorted to Fascism in Europe and through
massive militarisation and spending in the World War II, which was the
direct result of the crisis in capitalism.
During this period, achievements which the international
working-class movement had won in the form of labour rights through
decades of life and death struggles were virtually wiped out. In the
post-war period, a resurgence of struggles by the working masses and the
spectre of communism and national liberation movements forced the
governments in imperialist, bourgeois and semi-colonial countries to
recognise the rights of the workers under the garb of ‘welfare
economics’.
The so-called Nehruvian Socialism adopted by the feudal and comprador
ruling classes of India was nothing but an attempt to conceal their
continued subservience to imperialism with a new mask. After transfer of
power and declaration of sham independence in 1947, the Indian state
merely carried forward the approach of the British colonial rulers
towards to the workers – to nominally recognise some of their rights in
response to militant working class movements – but in reality
facilitating the unbridled exploitation of the labourers by domestic and
foreign big capitalists. The comprador bourgeoisie and foreign
capitalists preserve the prevailing semi-feudal and semi-colonial social
relations for exploitation of cheap labour and plunder of natural
resources of the country.
They maintain wages at a below-subsistence level, depriving the
working masses of even the basic necessities, keeping them dependent on
agriculture and other land-related activities for survival, tying them
in feudal bondage and perpetual debt trap, subjecting them to
extra-economic coercion, and so on. Since the implementation of labour
laws cut into their profits, the employers flout these laws with
impunity in connivance with the state machinery. It is not surprising,
therefore, that the dignity, social respect, political and legal rights,
social security and political power – i.e., overall status and
condition the workers experienced as individuals or as a class in the
erstwhile socialist countries such as the USSR and China – are in sharp
contrast to that of the workers of India.
In the absence of even a bourgeois democratic transformation due to
the colonial stranglehold followed by the persistence of a semi-feudal
semi-colonial economy, the condition of the industrial workers in the
country remains far worse than their counterparts of the capitalist
countries as well. Whether in urban or in rural areas, the predominance
of pre-capitalist production relations has resulted in a vast mass of
unorganised workers. Their occupation continues to be determined more by
caste, religion or region, etc., and less by free choice.
These fissures are cleverly used and manipulated by the employers to
undermine working class consciousness or action even by the politically
advanced 5 crore industrial workers – in itself a staggering number. In
spite of such adverse factors, the industrial working class of India
have fought heroic struggles including historic strikes for the
betterment of their lives and for the country’s independence from
colonial rule. But since the leadership of the working class movement in
India has traditionally remained with the ruling classes (that includes
the revisionist ‘Left’ parties such as CPI and CPM), the working people
have often failed to protect their class interests against the
relentless assault of the employers and the government.
Nor could they play the role of the revolutionary vanguard in the
class struggle by countering the Congress and the capitulationist line
of the undivided Communist Party before and after the transfer of power.
It was only in the Naxalbari Uprising and the subsequent formation of
the CPI (ML) in the 1960s, that the workers of India finally found its
correct ideological-political orientation and organizational form.
However, even before the message of Naxalbari could reach the vast
masses of workers in the whole country and they could reorganise
themselves on the ideological foundation of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, the
movement was brutally crushed.
Nevertheless, it was primarily the workers along with the poor
peasants who have carried forward the revolutionary movement in India
from then on, protecting it for the last four decades from the twin
dangers of the ruling classes and the revisionists. A backward and
regressive mode of production have ensured that the industrial sector in
India remain marginal in the overall economy. In terms of its share in
employment and GDP, the industrial sector has lagged behind agriculture
and even the ‘service’ sector.
Similar to the imperialist-dictated schemes like the Green Revolution
in agriculture, efforts by the Indian state to boost up industrial
production through PSUs have mostly ended in failure. In the global
context of collapse of Soviet social imperialism and the ascendance of
the US as the strongest imperialist power, the Indian ruling classes in
the 1990s threw away even the fig-leaf of the ‘welfare’ state and opened
the floodgates of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization.
World Bank employees, IMF consultants and other comprador agents are
being installed by the imperialist powers in key government posts like
the Prime Minister, Finance Minister, Planning Commission members, Chief
Economic Advisor etc. to implement their policies. Contractualisation
of work, outsourcing, sweatshops, SEZs, sale of PSUs, ‘Disinvestment’,
unrestrained inflow and outflow of Foreign Institutional Investment
(FII) and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in nearly all sectors of the
economy, deregulation of the currency and fuel prices, withdrawal of
subsidies and social security measures, etc. have followed in its wake.
With the Indian economy swaying with the ebbs and tides of the
worldwide economic upheavals, the rulers of the country seem totally
incapable of controlling the spiralling inflation, skyrocketing price
rice, or the growing unemployment and destitution of the people. Indeed,
the Indian ruling classes have become the much-despised instruments of
imperialist forces in extracting the labour and resources of the toiling
masses of the country. The close integration of the Indian economy with
the imperialist global economy has darkened the menacing shadow of
moribund finance capital, contributing not only to a brewing agrarian
crisis but also a stagnant industrial sector, with serious implications
for the country’s workers and peasants as well as the small and middle
bourgeoisie.
The global economic crisis which has paralysed the major imperialist
countries has started to have a telling impact on the overall Indian
economy – irrespective of the contrary claims made by the rulers – and
the ‘10% growth story’ has already started to turn sour. Manufacturing
has been badly hit by falling demands, and compared to the 6.9% growth
shown by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) in April-June 2011,
the IIP for the same period in 2012 decelerated to -0.1% and is still
hovering around the 1% mark.
Hit by such a severe crisis, industries have lost much of their
capacities to generate employment, and are resorting to drastic
cost-cutting measures like retrenchment, hire-and-fire labour policy,
artificial depression of real wages, denial of legally stipulated social
security benefits like ESI-PF, bonus, pension, healthcare, prolonging
of working hours, and so on. Worsening working conditions and adverse
terms of work have led to a series of militant workers’ struggles all
across the country in the recent times.
In the Auto industry alone, there have been a number of struggles –
Maruti Suzuki, Manesar (2011), Allied Nippon, Sahibabad (2010),
Mahindra, Nasik (2009), Hyndai, Chennai (2011-12), Pricol, Coimbatore
(2009), Bosch Chasis, Pune (2009), Honda Motorcycles, Gurgaon (2009),
Volvo, Hoskote (2010), MRF Tyres, Chennai (2010, 2011) General Motors,
Halol (2011), Graziano, Noida (2008), and so on. In many instances,
workers destroyed machinery, burnt down plants and even killed managers
in expression of their discontentment and rage. Such militant protests
are often preceded by denial of longstanding demands of the workers,
their intimidation, humiliation, ill treatment and violent repression by
the management, inaction of the authorities and collusion with the
management, etc.
Predictably, the state comes down heavily on the workers to crush
their ‘indiscipline’ and ‘unrest’. The role of the trade unions
affiliated to the ruling class parties and the renegade ‘communist’
parties like CPI and CPM is often of the middleman who tries to placate
the management and the state by reigning in worker’s militant movements.
It is not surprising that in most of the cases, militant protest
actions have been led by independent workers’ unions which have refused
to comply with the diktats of the central trade unions. The anti-people
and anti-worker policies pursued by the Indian state in the last two
decades have led to an overall decline in the standard of living,
forcing the toiling masses of the country into a situation of acute
impoverishment, malnutrition and destitution which is worse than
sub-Saharan countries. Economic disparity has touched new heights, with
77% of the population surviving on less than 20 rupees a day.
The propertied classes and the government in the country are
increasingly resorting to fascist methods to tackle this explosive
situation. Not only the basic political and democratic rights, but the
statutory legal rights of the working masses too have been denied or
subverted. The right to strike as a legitimate weapon of struggle has
itself come under unprecedented attack. For instance, the West Bengal
government led by Mamata Banerjee brought out circulars in 2012 banning
state government employees from calling or participating in strikes.
The strike of the workers at Blue Star Company at Wada in Thane
district which began on 7 February 2013 for higher wages has been
declared illegal. The Karnataka government even threatened striking
doctors and health workers last month of booking under the National
Security Act after terming their strike as illegal. In the more than
1000 Special Economic Zones (SEZs) approved by the government – which
are being touted as ‘engines of rapid industrial growth’ – the right of
the workers to organise themselves in trade unions or to call strikes
are completely done away with.
Other forms of collective struggle by the workers too are being
undermined. It is this worsening condition of the working people of the
country – particularly the industrial workers – and their demand for a
fight back against the anti-worker policies of the government that have
forced the central trade unions to come together and give a call for a
two-day all India strike on 20 and 21 February 2013. Let’s identify our
enemies and friends. All the demands cited by the trade unions for
calling the two day strike are genuinely connected to the problems faced
by the workers in the country today. However, it is ironic that these
very trade unions are directly related to the ruling class political
parties in power – be it the Congress, BJP, CPM, and so on. These
parties are directly responsible for implementing a series of
anti-worker policies in the last two decades. The strike for them is
mere tokenism and a calculated move to befool the workers in the name of
struggle.
As it is necessary to fight the ruling classes and their policies, it
is equally pertinent to expose and smash the machinations of the
reactionary and revisionist trade unions. A strike is a weapon in the
hands of the working people. The trade unions affiliated to the ruling
powers should not be allowed to misuse or blunt this weapon. As the
world economic crisis deepens and the imperialist powers push us once
again to the brink of war and fascism, the ruling classes in India are
going to step up their assault on the workers, peasants, religious and
national minorities, Dalits, Adivasis and the other oppressed peoples of
the country.
Only a high-tide of revolutionary and democratic struggles by the
popular masses will be able to counter this impending onslaught. RDF
appeals to the workers and their militant unions to seize the
initiative, intensify the struggle for immediate economic demands and
compliment with the political struggle for a revolutionary social
transformation by smashing the two shackles binding the people of India –
feudalism and imperialism.
A successful two-day strike on 20 and 21 February 2013 with the aim
of raising the wages as per the basic needs of the workers, full
implementation of labour laws, against contractualisation and other
related demands will be a step in this direction. RDF further calls upon
the workers and all other fighting forces to intensify this democratic
struggle by not confining to an annual strike but to expand it to the
pitched battles in the field to successfully force the ruling
oligarchies of Indian subcontinent to accept their demands and also turn
this struggle into a major political struggle for systemic change.
In solidarity,
Varavara Rao President, RDF 09676541715
Rajkishore General Secretary, RDF 09717583539
########
JOINT CALL TO THE WORKING CLASS MAKE THE 20-21 FEBRUARY 2013
STRIKE A SUCCESS FIGHT THE PRO-IMPERIALIST ECONOMIC POLICIES OF THE UPA
GOVERNMENT
1. The UPA II government at the Centre is pursuing policies
essentially in favour of the big corporate houses in the country and
imperialist capital. This has once more prised open the retail sector to
foreign direct investment, despite opposition to it. The Prime
Minister‘s statement that the reforms process will go on indicates the
resolve to enforce policies that benefit foreign capital.
Equally true is the fact that the UPA I and NDA governments had followed the same pro-imperialist policies earlier as well.
2. The experience in the last twenty-one years has amply demonstrated
the ill and adverse effects of the pro-imperialist economic policies of
the ruling classes of the country. These policies have led to a crisis
situation in the agrarian sector with the result that many farmers have
ended their lives.
In the industrial and service sectors of the economy the structure of
employment has undergone drastic changes with increasing
contractualisation and casualisation of the labour force. So-called
temporary labour outnumbers the regular labour in both the public and
private sectors. In addition an overwhelming majority of working people
in the unorganised sector have either no legal rights or cannot access
such rights. Faced with brutality of social oppression and state
coercion, these working people remain super-exploited and face faster
erosion of their real wages and inhuman and unsafe working conditions.
It should be noted that such an employment structure enables the
owners to depress wages and is a strategy to dis-organise workers.
Outsourcing is another feature that has emerged as a key strategy under
the new economic policies for securing reduction in costs of labour.
Wage-cuts, DA-freeze, retrenchments, closures and lay-offs have
increased during this period. The social security structure is being
subtly dismantled and the right to unionise and collective bargaining
has been under severe attack as in the case of Maruti Suzuki and many
other units.
3. Liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation were hailed by the
rulers as paths to the economic development of the country and growth
rates were the index of this development. Needless to say, this growth
was fueled primarily by inflows of foreign capital and that too
speculative capital, resulting in the creation of bubbles in the share
markets.
This illusion collapsed with the onset of global economic crisis of
2008 which opened up the structural contradiction of imperialist
capitalism along with massive debt burden resulting from the
financialisation of the global economy. The global crisis is not showing
signs of receding and has lead to intensified class struggle pitting
capitalist offensive against people organising resistance in various
ways – direct action, occupation, democratic assertion.
The Indian economy is so closely linked to imperialism, particularly
US imperialism, that when the bubble in the US burst the Indian economy
was also affected, it faced a downturn and massive job losses,
particularly in the export-led industries.
4. Imperialist countries have been trying to salvage their economies
from the devastating crisis that has enveloped them. A part of their
strategy of recovery is to gain access to natural resources and minerals
in developing countries such as ours. This has been facilitated by the
reform policies enforced by our governments which have done all they can
to ensure corporate and multinational control over commons, natural
resources and minerals even at the cost of large-scale displacement of
the peasants and adivasis from their historical lands.
5. In the face of ever growing job-losses, wage cuts, reduction of
other benefits and attacks on trade union rights – workers have not
taken these attacks lying down. They have put up stiff resistance such
as in the case of Honda, Graziano,Yanam and Maruti Suzuki. The adivasis
and peasants have also fought for the protection of their land and in
fact their militant struggles assume immense importance in the struggle
against the pro-imperialist economic policies of the rulers.
6. In this situation it is imperative that all workers unite to
strike on 20-21 February 2013.All sections of workers must rise up
unitedly to resist the continuing onslaught of the ruling classes. The
necessity of such unity is felt even by trade union centres associated
with ruling parties as is evident from the joint calls issued by them.
To defeat the Government policies, a sustained struggle will have to be
built against the neo-liberal policies of imperialist globalisation.
Many Central Trade Unions are still associated with parties that are
implementing these policies. The trade union movement will have to fight
not only for immediate economic demands but also against these
policies.
We, therefore, give the call to all unions struggling against
imperialist globalisation to come together to build a militant and
united movement to take the working people’s struggle ahead. The
emergence of unity at the national level – under immense working class
pressure and rising discontent – gives space for building such unity on
the ground level for united and militant struggle.
This mood has to be forged into unity for struggle and resistance at
the local level. We have to initiate joint actions to unite wider
sections of the working class, deepen the understanding of class
struggle under imperialist globalisation, demonstrate militancy in joint
programs and sustain the momentum of this general strike.
WE DEMAND:
1. CONCRETE MEASURES TO CONTAIN PRICE RISE, ENSURE UNIVERSAL
FOOD SECURITY WITH 50KG CEREALS PER FAMILY, ALONG WITH PULSES AND
COOKING OIL.
2. CONCRETE MEASURES FOR EMPLOYMENT GENERATION.
3. STRICT ENFORCEMENT OF LABOUR LAWS AND IMMEDIATE ACTION AGAINST NON-COMPLIANT MANAGEMENTS.
4. UNIVERSAL SOCIAL SECURITY FOR ALL WORKERS.
5. STOP PRIVATISATION AND DISINVESTMENTS IN PSUs.
6. STOP EMPLOYMENT OF CONTRACT LABOUR IN ALL JOBS OF A
PERMANENT NATURE. ENSURE PAYMENT OF WAGES TO CONTRACT WORKERS AT PAR
WITH REGULAR WORKERS
7. ENSURE A MINIMUM WAGE NOT LESS THAN THAT COMPUTED ON THE
BASIS OF THE FORMULA PUT FORWARD AT THE 15th SESSION OF THE INDIAN
LABOUR CONFERENCE IN 1957 AND REVISED BY THE SUPREME COURT IN THE
REPTAKOS JUDGEMENT.
8. REMOVE CEILINGS ON PAYMENT AND ELIGIBILITY OF BONUS AND RETAIN RATE OF INTEREST ON PROVIDENT FUND AT LEAST AT 12%.
9. ASSURE PENSION FOR ALL AT A RATE NOT LESS THAN THE MINIMUM WAGE.
10. COMPULSORY REGISTRATION OF TRADE UNIONS WITHIN 45 DAYS OF SUBMISSION OF APPLICATION.
11. ENSURE EQUAL WAGE FOR SIMILAR WORK FOR ALL WORKERS INCLUDING WOMEN WORKERS.
12. ENSURE SECURITY AND PROTECTION OF WOMEN WORKERS ESPECIALLY THOSE REQUIRED TO WORK LATE.
13. STOP ENCROACHMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES OF
PEASANTRY, ADIVASIS AND DALITS AND WANTON DESTRUCTION OF THE
ENVIRONMENT.
14. ESTABLISH SUBSTANTIAL EQUALITY – STOP ALL DISCRIMINATION AGAINST ADIVASIS, DALITS, WOMEN AND MINORITIES.
UNITE TO STRIKE ON 20-21 FEBRUARY 2013 FORGE THE UNITY OF THE WORKING CLASS BUILD RESISTANCE AGAINST IMPERIALIST GLOBALISATION
B Pradeep, General Secretary, Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU)
Sanjay Singhvi, General Secretary, Trade Union Centre of India Ashim Roy, General Secretary,New Trade Union Initiative (NTUI)
Vithal Raj, General Secretary, All India Federation of Trade Unions (AIFTU)
Arvind Sinha,General Secretary, All India Federation Of Trade unions(New)
Venkat Reddy, General Secretary, All India Centre of Trde Unions (AICTU)
Raju, General Secretary,
Pragatisheel Karmika Samakhy Bacha Singh, General Secretary, Mazdoor Sangathan Samiti
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