INTERVIEW WITH COMRADE BASAVARAJ, GENERAL SECRETARY, CPI(MAOIST) - 1 -

IN CONVERSATION WITH ALF BRENNAN FROM AVANI NEWS, DECEMBER 2022

(Note: We are introducing the first interview given by CPI (Maoist) General Secretary Comrade Basavaraju to a foreign journalist to the readers of Kranthi. Comrade Basavaraju gave very detailed answers to the questions asked by journalist Alf Brennan. We are providing them in a summarized form. By reading the full text, you will be able to understand the party's understanding comprehensively. Ed )

INTERVIEWER: Which mode of production does your party judge India to be in, semi-feudal, or industrial capitalist?

COMRADE BASAVARAJ: Revolutionary Communists in the leadership of Comrade CM and Comrade KC concretely analysed the class contradictions in existence after a study of the economic, political, social, cultural and geographical conditions of India in the light of MLM. They affirmed that India is a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society and51 that the path of revolution shall be Protracted People’s War, that it shall first accomplish the stage of New Democratic Revolution and later advance to the stage of Socialism. Our united CPI (Maoist) is implementing this political-military line. 

In the background of large scale discussions and debate among Marxists, revisionists, neo-revisionists, bourgeois intellectuals and NGOs as to whether our country is a capitalist society or semi-colonial, semi- feudal society, our party analysed and synthesized the reports of the studies of Relations of production that our party took up in various states since 2011 and the CC released a detailed document on ‘Changes in Relations of Production—Our Political Program’ in its Sixth (contd.) meeting in 2020 December. The document asserted that our country is yet a semi-colonial, semi- feudal society. However, it also said that there are con- siderable distorted capitalist changes favourable to the imperialists and comprador bureaucratic capitalists and landlords. We adopted our political program so as to adopt corresponding tactics. You must have seen the document.

Earlier to British aggression, our country was a feudal society. After the British occupied India it changed into a colonial country. In fact by the time the British seized India, capitalism had been developing from the womb of feudal society in some areas of the country. During this time the Parsis of Mumbai, Banias52 of Gujarat and Marwaris of Rajasthan worked as agents to occupy India. The Indian big bourgeois class did not fight against British imperialism as per its character but extended total support during the days of war and other times. The British collaborated with the feudal Kings, Zamindars, money-lenders and merchants of India and came in the way of the independent development of capitalist developing in the country, basing on the feudal social base in the country. They introduced a culture that serves British imperialism. They introduced distorted capitalist relations in their interests. Many old independent big traders and bankers of the country became bankrupt. Similarly the British made several changes in feudalism as per their colonial rule. They rejuvenated the weakening feudal relations. They destroyed the self-sufficient rural economic order in India. This made the peasantry and the artisans bankrupt. Forces of production were destroyed in a big way. Domestic market further declined. They introduced permanent tax collection method, ryotwari, mahal Wari and zamindari methods and turned land into a commodity. Thus the farmers lost their traditional right to land. India became a centre of production of raw goods and industrial goods necessary for industrial production of the British.

They developed few industries, commercial crops, plantations, transport and communications only for the needs of the British. Comprador big bourgeois class emerged from the feudal Kings, Zamindars, Divans,53 comprador traders and money lending classes that helped the British. This class played an important role in allowing the British to loot the natural resources of our country. A new Zamindar-feudal class developed in the place of old zamindars. Indian economy became an inseparable part of the world capitalist system in a colonial and dependent level. On one hand the Indian comprador bourgeoisie depended on imperialism for its existence and development and on the other became an instrument for colonial exploitation and suppression. Thus Indian feudal society became colonial, semi-feudal society. The British changed the country into a colony for two centuries and continued their exploitation.

The imperialists faced a difficult situation with the big defeat of the fascist forces by the Red Army of Soviet Union and the people of the world in the leadership of great Marxist teacher Stalin during the Second World War; due to the considerable weakening of imperialism after war; the establishment of people’s democratic states in East European countries; the reach of the great success of China Revolution in the leadership of Mao to the edge; the emergence of world socialist system in one-third of the world; the development of independent/national liberation movements all over the world. Thus they changed their earlier direct colonial rule and form of exploitation and took up new form of exploitation—the neo-colonial form basing54 on the compradors trained by them and comprising indirect rule, exploitation and hegemony in a new style.

There was a unique revolutionary condition in the Indian sub-continent also during this time. There was a powerful movement to release ‘Azad Hindu Phouz’ prisoners all over the country; the effective anti-imperialist demonstrations of the students; apart from powerful anti-feudal movements in princely-states, the Tebhaga and Bakast movements, the strike of postal and telegraph employees; the great rebellion of the Royal Indian Navy in Bombay and the rebellious trends in Army and Airforce; the rebellion of Bihar police; struggles in solidarity to proletariat, the beginning of the historic peasant armed struggle in Telangana— all these brought the imperialist rule in India almost to an end. In such condition, the Indian comprador big bourgeois class collaborated with the feudal class and betrayed the Indian democratic revolution. The British imperialists made conspiracies depending on Congress and Muslim League leaders who happen to be reliable agents to them, instigated them to religious massacres and divided the country on the basis of religion.

In this background an agreement was made on 15th August 1947 to transfer power. This happened only after agreements such as the Bombay plan of the imperialist monopoly-capitalists and Indian comprador bourgeoisie.

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