FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION
Prepare for the Coming Revolutionary Storms
People's Voice
Organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Ghadar Party of India
Volume 29 – Issue 12 Contribution – Rs. 5/- June 16-30, 2007
Communist School organised on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the Great Ghadar of 1857
Ghadar Jari Hai
The Central Committee of the CGPI
organised a Communist School on June
9 on the subject of the Great Ghadar
of 1857. In the year which marks
150 years since the Great Ghadar, all
kinds of theories and interpretations
about it have been spawned to suit
different agendas. The Party organised
this school to enable the communists
to draw appropriate lessons from the
experience of the Ghadar to serve
the cause of the ongoing struggle of
the working class and peasantry to
overthrow capitalism and build the new
socialist society.
Reservation agitation in Rajasthan:
Diabolical games of ruling class parties to divide people
Over 25 people have been killed during
the weeklong agitation over reservation
in Rajasthan, fuelled by the May 29
police firing on protestors demanding
the fulfillment of an electoral promise.
The BJP – ruling the state - had
four years ago, assured the Gujjar
community prior to the state Assembly
polls, that they would be reclassified
as a “Scheduled Tribe” instead of as
“Other Backward Classes”.
The Gujjar Adhikar Sangharsh Samiti
– that is spearheading the agitation -
has temporarily suspended its agitation
on June 4, after the Rajasthan Chief
Minister agreed to set up a committee
to look into the claim for inclusion of
the community in the Scheduled Tribe
category.
As tens of thousands of people organized
The communist school drew together
communists and other activists in an
atmosphere of great seriousness of
purpose, discipline and unity. There
around this demand blocked the
highways in South and East Rajasthan,
the Congress Party provided fuel to the
agitation from behind the scenes, both
in Rajasthan and in nearby states, to
corner the BJP.
On the other hand, the Raje Government
continued to try and quell the agitation
using massive police repression.
Both the Congress and the BJP have
been spreading rumours through the
media as well as their agents in different
caste based organizations, to set people
against each other on the basis of
caste. A dangerous situation has been
created in entire southern and eastern
Rajasthan. Full preparations have been
made by the ruling class parties for
organizing bloody sectarian clashes
on the basis of caste to ensure their
continued domination over the polity.
were worker activists, activists of
peasant organisations, intellectuals,
women and youth. Young people, eager
to learn about the great struggles
Continued on page 11
Who is responsible for the mayhem and
violence in Rajasthan and other parts of
northern India in this past week?
It is clear as daylight that the blood-
letting on the streets of Rajasthan
is the handiwork of the ruling class
parties.
They have divided the polity along caste
and other lines, to ensure that the
toilers and tillers do not unite and
fight for the rights of all. Instead, as in
colonial times, the ruling class promotes
Continued on page 10
In this Issue
Politics 2
 Escalating state terrorism
Voice of Party 3-9
Ghadar ki Goonj Amar Rahe
 
Politics
Escalating state terrorism:
Defend the unity of the toiling people by exposing and resisting all
forms of state terrorism
A number of apparently unconnected
happenings in different regions of
the country indicate the serious
preparations of the ruling class to carry
out “mid term course correction”, to
ensure that the working class, peasantry
and other exploited and oppressed do
not unite and fight for their own claims.
In different ways, the ruling class is
unleashing escalated state terrorism
on the workers, peasants and broad
masses of toiling people and organizing
sectarian clashes to break our unity.
This onslaught is part of the worldwide
onslaught of imperialism against the
working class and peoples in different
countries of the globe. The aim of this
onslaught is to depoliticize the working
class and people and keep them out of
the political arena. The challenge before
communists is to lead the workers and
peasants in frustrating the designs of
the bourgeoisie and imperialism.
Three years have elapsed since the
bourgeoisie carried out a “course
correction”, to ensure that the road
of liberalization, privatization and
globalization to achieve its dream of
becoming an imperialist superpower
by 2020 was not hampered. Under the
slogan of “reforms with a human face”,
it brought the UPA coalition to power,
which has since been ruling with support
of the Left Front. Three years down the
line, the UPA government’s “reforms
with a human face” are there for all
to see. All sections of the toiling and
oppressed people —workers, peasants,
small shopkeepers, women, youth, tribal
people, —have faced massive attacks
on their rights and livelihood. And
most importantly, all sections of the
toiling and oppressed people have been
resisting these attacks.
The bourgeoisie is hell bent on continuing
the course of economic policy reforms,
to become an imperialist superpower. It
is utlilising the state machinery, and the
different ruling class parties to unleash
state terrorism on a widespread scale
 June 16-30 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 12
all across the country. The aim is to
divert, divide and terrorise the workers
and peasants along sectarian lines, so
as to break the back of the people's
resistance. It is using every weapon
at its disposal – bomb blasts, caste
riots, provocations against this or that
community, communal and sectarian
clashes — to achieve this aim. This is
what the developments of the last few
months reveal.
Why were bombs set off in religious
places in Malegaon and in Hyderabad,
followed by massive police repression?
Why were bomb blasts organized in
the Samjhauta Express to Lahore, in
which many poor people died? Why was
the state so keen to declare, without
a shadow of evidence, that these were
the work of Islamic terrorists from
Bangladesh? It is not a coincidence
that these terrorist strikes followed
by police repression took place in the
wake of countrywide protests against
state sponsored terrorism in Gujarat
and Kashmir. The reality that the
state security forces are routinely
killing, raping and murdering innocent
people of the Muslim faith in the name
of “wiping out terrorists” has shaken
the conscience of people all across the
country. These attacks have been a tool
to spread fear and frustration among
the people, creating a situation in which
the people of Muslim faith are looked
upon as “terrorists”, and any attack on
them is justified on this basis.
The people of Assam, Manipur, Kashmir
and other places are being deliberately
targeted by the ruling class, through
open repression by the armed forces
and the draconian laws in place in
these regions, as well as through bomb
blasts and killer-squads of mercenary
groups operating on behalf of the state
agencies. This is taking place at a time
when widespread support has begun to
develop for the demand for the repeal of
fascist laws like AFSPA and a political
solution to the problems facing the
people in these states.
In Chattisgarh, the state is openly
unleashing repression on tribal people
through its Salva Judum campaign. The
Salva Judum campaign has become a
vehicle for making tribals kill tribals, for
inciting a civil war situation, using the
alleged “Maoist terror”.
In Punjab, the growing united resistance
of the peasantry and working class to
the liberalization and privatization
program of the bourgeoisie, to the
attacks on livelihood, the SEZ’s, etc.
is being sought to be divided by inciting
sectarian violence between followers of
different faiths.
In Rajasthan which has been the scene
of militant and united struggles of
the peasantry for the past several
years in defence of their rights, we
have the ruling class parties inflaming
passions by holding out alluring images
of reservations in education and jobs,
openly attacking the people on the
basis of caste identity and trying to
incite people organized under one caste
banner against people of another.
These are but a few of the instances
which clearly reveal the dastardly aim
of the ruling class, of using state
terrorism to divide and terrorise
the people and smash their united
resistance.
The source of all the problems of Indian
society lies in the fact that political
power is not in the hands of the working
masses, but only in the hands of the
minority, parasitic exploiting ruling
bourgeoisie. What is being witnessed
in the struggles of all sections of the
oppressed people today is the claim
to political power, the demand for the
right to take decisions concerning our
lives, and for mechanisms to implement
these decisions. The Communist Ghadar
Continued on page 10
Voice of Party
1857 – Ghadar Jaari Hai ...
Ghadar ki Goonj Amar Rahe!
Comrades,
We have assembled here to
commemorate and learn from the
great Ghadar of 1857. We want to
remind ourselves of what the martyrs
of that great Ghadar stood for, fought
for, and laid down their lives for. We
want to absorb the lessons from what
they achieved and to accomplish what
they could not at that time. We want
to accomplish the complete liberation
of Indian society from slavishness of all
forms, from the colonial and imperialist
system of plunder, from all forms of
oppression and bondage.
Facts show that the Ghadar of 1857
was an Indian subcontinent wide
revolutionary uprising against firangi
rule. It shook the global system of
colonial plunder that was growing at
that time. It threw the money bags
of London and Paris into a frenzy. The
British colonialists bribed and mobilised
numerous traitors, to divide and weaken
the fighting forces from within. They
crushed the revolution brutally, but they
could not crush its spirit. The ideas and
aims of the Ghadar of 1857 could not
be killed. The aspiration for complete
freedom from all forms of bondage has
continued to inspire our people again
and again during the past 150 years.
Ever since the British East India
Company, which supposedly had come
here to trade, started recruiting armies
and conquering territories, people of
this subcontinent have been rising in
revolt, in one place after another. The
numerous currents of opposition to
firangi rule combined to form a massive
outburst in 1857. It posed a serious
threat to colonial rule, and finally led to
even soldiers within the British Indian
army revolting and joining hands with
the peasants, princes and others .
The peasants, artisans and local
traders in the villages and towns were
revolting against the plunder of the
Company. The labouring classes were
revolting and inspiring all members of
society to join this revolt. This naturally
had a profound influence on the sipahis,
who came from families of peasants,
other toilers and petty traders. The
sipahis stood up for their self respect.
They rose against the racism of the
white ruler. They revolted against being
used as cannon fodder in numerous
wars in different parts of the world, in
the service of British colonialism. The
rebellion of the sipahis in turn inspired
more peasants and artisans to rise up
in various regions.
Facts show that the
Ghadar of 1857 was an
Indian subcontinent wide
revolutionary uprising
against firangi rule. It
shook the global system of
colonial plunder that was
growing at that time.
The kings and princes in India were
getting divided between those who sold
out to the firangi in return for gold and
promised concessions, and those who
refused to trust the firangi and took to
the path of revolt. The aspirations of the
revolutionary forces found expression in
the proclamations of those patriotic
rulers who sided with the people and led
the armed assault on Company bases.
Bahadur Shah Zafar, selected by the
insurgents to head the new Hindostan
after the colonialists have been driven
out, called on the people of all faiths not
to trust the firangi. He called on them
to rise up to overthrow this oppressive
foreign rule.
The program of those who rose up in
revolt was to drive out the colonialists
and to establish a new order in India.
It was not a small thing, to unite
peoples of different cultures, speaking
different languages and following
different religious faiths, to join hands
across the length and breadth of this
vast subcontinent, in one common
struggle to drive out the British
plunderers. This required advance
planning and preparation. There is
historical evidence showing that a lot of
June 16-30 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 12
preparatory work had indeed been done
by the organizers of 1857. Letters
written by Nana Saheb, Bahadur Shah
Zafar and other patriotic rulers are
part of this evidence.
The insurgents created a flag of the
Ghadar, and even had a Flag Song.
It was part of the plan that as soon
as the flag of Ghadar is unfurled in
Delhi, attacks on colonial posts would
be unleashed in other parts of the
subcontinent. These are all signs of
an organised political movement with
a clear political aim. The aim of the
revolution was to end colonial rule and
open a new chapter for HIndostan. This
captured the hearts and minds of the
majority of peoples in this subcontinent.
The Ghadar of 1857 was thus an all-
India revolutionary uprising to create a
new Hindostan. It was a stupendous
effort that was defeated, mainly due
to treachery.
We are struggling to establish a new
Hindostan today. We need to defeat the
anti-social offensive of the bourgeoisie
and implement the program for the
Navnirman of India. This is the way
to open the door to the revolutionary
transformation of society -- that is,
to the overthrow of capitalism as
the condition for sweeping away all
remnants of feudalism, colonialism
and imperialist plunder, and for the
building of socialism, the first stage
of communism. We have to learn from
our ancestors, from their heroic effort
to smash the old and give birth to the
new in their time.
As far as our party is concerned,
drawing inspiration from the Ghadar
of 1857 is not a matter of one event
on one special day, or even one special
year. Ghadar is in the very name of our
party. It is at the back of our minds
in everything we do, every day of our
lives. The essence of Ghadar is Inquilab
-- the revolutionary transformation of
society, a radical rupture, the smashing
of the old to give rise to the new. So
comrades, let us proudly declare as
always, that Ghadar is in our every

Voice of Party
heartbeat, our every breath (har pal mein
hai, har dhadkan mein hai). We must not and
will not let anyone remove Ghadar from
our heritage or from our agenda!
Comrades,
There were two tendencies within the
anti-colonial movement, from before
1857 and after. The clash between
two opposing tendencies exists today
as well. It is a clash between sticking
to one's principles in the interests
of the motherland, on the one hand,
and compromising with the enemy, on
the other hand. It is a clash between
patriotism and treachery (gaddari).
In the years preceding the Ghadar of
1857, the British colonialists were
facing revolts in several of their colonies.
They had lost their colonial possessions
in North America following the revolution
that took place there. Lord Cornwallis
was sent to India after the British
lost their colonies in North America.
Learning from the loss in America, Lord
Cornwallis wrote to his Queen that it was
necessary to create a class of people
in India in whose interest it would be to
preserve colonial rule. The colonialists
went about the task of creating and
grooming a class of traitors, such as big
landlords, big capitalists and merchants
linked to British trade and business
interests.
The British colonial rulers established
a State in India to serve their own
interests of maximizing plunder -
- a State in their own image. They
established their own laws, following
the political theory prevailing in Britain
at that time, based on the notion of the
Divine Right to Rule. They established
universities and colleges to produce
ideologues and clerks for their rule.
The proclamation of Queen Victoria in
1858 laid the basis for systematically
rewarding and grooming traitors and
loyal servants from among well-to-do
Indian families. Such families included
those of Scindia, Nizam of Hyderabad,
Rajas of Patiala, Kapurthala, Jind,
Kashmir, Nepal, Indore etc. It included
Gangadhar, the kotwal of Delhi in 1857,
the great grandfather of Jawaharlal
 June 16-30 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 12
Nehru. It also included Sir Sayyid Ahmed
Khan, founder of the Mahomedan Anglo
Oriental College in Aligarh; and Ali Shah,
father of the Aga Khan III, who became
the first president of the All India Muslim
League.. On the other hand, those
who asserted the right of Indians to
rule themselves were mercilessly dealt
with, such as Bahadur Shah Zafar, Tatya
Tope, Begum Hazrat Mahal, Nana Saheb,
Kunwar Singh, Rani Laxmi Bai, etc Lakhs
of patriots were put to death, with at
least one martyr hung from every tree
on the Grand Trunk road. Laws and
regulations to legitimize repression
against anyone who dared to uphold the
tradition of 1857 followed the queen’s
The leaders received their
political and ideological
training in Oxford and
Cambridge universities.
They were trained in the
art of speaking what the
masses of people want,
while acting strictly in the
interests of the propertied
and privileged elite.
proclamation. .
Gaddari was institutionalised by the
British rulers. One of the steps they
took was the formation of the Indian
National Congress (INC). The Indian
National Congress was founded in the
year 1885 by one A.O. Hume, a British
Colonial administrator till the year
1882. Hume initially proposed a yearly
gathering of leading Indian politicians
to discuss 'social matters'. However,
the Viceroy Lord Dufferin pointed out
that something more in the nature of
'Her Majesty's opposition' in England
was necessary. The Congress Party
eventually took the form of a party that
is loyal to Her Majesty's government
while playing the role of representing
the opposition to colonialism. Hume
himself described the Congress Party
as follows: "A safety valve for the escape of
the great and growing forces, generated by our
own action, was urgently needed and no more
efficacious safety valve than our Congress
movement could possibly be devised."
With the establishment of the INC
the colonialists had given birth to an
instrument to co-opt the new ruling
classes into the colonial state, an
instrument to sabotage Indian people’s
struggle from within. Despite millions
of people rallying behind it later, with
the aim of fighting colonialism, the
leadership of the Congress Party fully
played this treacherous role.
The Congress Party, despite its size
and membership, was essentially a
party of the bourgeoisie. Its leaders
came largely from the families of big
landlords and capitalists who were
educated in English and who propagated
that essentially British colonialism
was a civilizing and modernizing force,
despite a few excesses. The Congress
Party became a major vehicle for
transplanting European political thought
and concepts in the minds of Indian
elite. It acted as a vehicle for grooming
a politician caste that would rule India
after the British left, in a way that is
suitable for the growth of capitalism
and imperialism. The leaders received
their political and ideological training
in Oxford and Cambridge universities.
They were trained in the art of speaking
what the masses of people want, while
acting strictly in the interests of the
propertied and privileged elite.
Till today, the Congress Party has played
the role of bulwark against revolution,
and in defence of imperialism. One of its
representatives, Manmohan Singh, the
current Prime Minister of India, bows
to Oxford University as the source of
all his wisdom. He says we must learn
democratic values from Britain. In his
speech to the parliament on 1857,
the only lesson he draws from the
Ghadar of 1857 is that violence does
not pay. He is preaching to the Indian
people that they must be non-violent,
thereby blaming the heroes of 1857 and
justifying the brutal genocide unleashed
by the British against them. . On the
other hand, Manmohan Singh is following
the Congress tradition of demagogy by
lecturing the big capitalists in CII that
they should not rob and plunder too
Voice of Party
much because then there would be a
revolution. It shows that the fear of
revolution continues to spoil the sleep
of the ruling bourgeoisie.
The Congress Party led the anti-
colonial movement along the path of
independence without social revolution
– azaadi without ghadar. It was a
path of compromise with imperialism
and colonialism. Political power was
transferred in 1947, from the British
Crown to the traitorous classes they
had created, the big landlords and
capitalists. The economic system and
political institutions created to plunder
India and suppress our people were kept
intact. India was divided on a communal
basis, and sectarian strife was laid as
the foundation of the partitioned states
of India and Pakistan.
The azaadi of 1947 has left us with
a feeling of emptiness. What is this
freedom where the majority of our
people are not even free from want, from
hunger and disease, from unemployment
and inflation? We are not free from
the old caste based oppression and
gender discrimination, or from arbitrary
displacement and terror unleashed by
the State and by power hungry parties.
We are not free from the domination of
foreign capital, of foreign culture and
ideology. We are not free from the
colonial law, the Penal Code established
after 1857, the Land Acquisition Act of
British colonialism, nor from the colonial
style organisation of the army.
The path of azaadi without ghadar has
meant a further extension and perfection
of the colonial system of plunder,
without the colonialists in command.
Now the Indian capitalists, headed by
the likes of Reliance and Tatas are in
command. We are asked to celebrate
the acceleration of capitalist plunder,
which is leading to devastation among
workers and peasants. We are asked
to celebrate the rapid GDP growth
allegedly because India is on its way to
become a superpower in the world!
It is the class of traitors who are ruling
our country today, comrades, while
the patriots remain suppressed. The
descendents of those who rose in revolt
in 1857 are today oppressed and living
in poverty, while the descendents of the
traitors and collaborators are living in
luxury and enjoying political power.
Comrades,
The British colonialists and their
followers have tried their best to
suppress and distort even the basic
facts concerning the Ghadar of 1857.
For fifty years after the Ghadar, the
colonial rulers systematically destroyed
historical sites and monuments of that
revolutionary event. They prevented any
The azaadi of 1947 has
left us with a feeling
of emptiness. What is
this freedom where the
majority of our people are
not even free from want,
from hunger and disease,
from unemployment and
inflation?
Indian from publishing anything about
the Ghadar, so that people will have to
rely on British writers and their biased
versions. The task of historical research
is further complicated by sectarian
views within the communist movement,
about which Indian author should be read
and who should not be read.
Many of you would have heard about
the controversy surrounding the name
of Savarkar. A fact that cannot be
disputed is that Savarkar's book on
1857 was the first book on the Ghadar
to be published by an Indian. It was
published on the occasion of the 50th
anniversary of the Ghadar. A second
edition of this book was published by Lala
Hardial, one of the founding members of
the Hindustani Ghadar Party, in 1912.
The third edition of Savarkar's book was
published by Bhagat Singh.
Our party believes that communists
must read all the books that have
been written by Indians about the
Ghadar of 1857. It does not matter
June 16-30 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 12
if the authors were or later became
part of the Congress Party or of the
Jan Sangh, Muslim League or Hindu
Mahasabha. Scientific pursuit requires
broadmindedness. It does not behoove
a communist party to be recommending
that only some books must be read and
not others, because of the political
affiliation or ideology of its author.
That is not communist conduct. It is
the height of sectarianism. We should
use our brains, and the knowledge
gained from science, to evaluate the
thought material from the past and
bring forward that which is useful to
the present day struggle. We must
reject those thoughts that reflect
the influence of Euro-centrism, of
concepts introduced and implanted by
the colonizers, and all thoughts that
serve the current interests of the
imperialist bourgeoisie.
Comrades,
Corresponding to the two trends
within Indian society, there are two
opposite approaches and worldviews,
two sides on the question of 1857
today. The class of traitors are hiring
many so-called scholars to repeat the
British lie that 1857 was only a mutiny
of the sipahis. They hire historians to
exaggerate the role of this or that
individual, and then bring out so called
facts to discredit that individual -- be
it Mangal Pandey or Bahadur Shah
Zafar. There are some who say that it
was not countrywide in scope, it was
confined only to a few places, that
only some castes participated in it,
hence it did not represent a true war
of independence of national proportions
and so on. There are others, like
Nehru, who say it was heroic but
basically feudal reaction. Then there
are some parties within the communist
movement, who essentially agree with
Nehru, claiming that while it was a
countrywide uprising it lacked vision
and a clear program. Our investigation
and study of available facts about
1857 indicates that these are all a
pack of lies, aimed at discrediting or
under-estimating the Ghadar of 1857.
Precisely that class in whose interest it
is to preserve the legacy of colonialism

Voice of Party
and prevent the possibility of revolution
is spreading these lies and slanders.
We revolutionaries believe that to
uphold the best patriotic traditions
and lessons of 1857 means to organise
to overthrow the present day Indian
state. This position follows logically
from our recognition that the Indian
state is a colonial legacy, an instrument
of oppression and plunder, and that we
need to make a clean break with this
legacy. We need a new economic and
political system in our country, a new
State that would enable the working
class and toiling peasants to be the
masters.
The enemies of revolution claim that the
aspirations and aims of the Ghadar of
1857 were fulfilled in 1947. They claim
that the issue today is to defend the
so-called secular and democratic Indian
Republic. According to this belief, the
main issue is to defend the unity and
integrity of the existing Indian Union
from foreign threats, from communal,
extremist and secessionist forces.
This is not only the official line of the
Manmohan Singh Government and the
principal parties of the bourgeoisie. It
is also the official line of the Communist
Party of India (Marxist).
The editorial of the 1857 special issue
of People’s Democracy, weekly organ
of the CPI(M), says that 1857 sowed
the seeds of Indian nationalism. It
also says, “More importantly, this was
nationalism with a distinct secular
identity. An evolution that finally
culminated in the declaration of the
modern secular democratic republic of
India in 1947”. It calls on the people
to defend the existing Indian Republic
and its secular foundations.
Thus it is clear that the line of CPI(M)
and its followers is diametrically opposed
to the line of revolution. They say 1947
was the culmination of ghadar, while
in fact it was a great gaddari. They
say that the Indian Republic is an
instrument of independence, democracy
and secular unity, whereas in reality it is
a continuation and further perfection of
the colonial state. They want to defend
 June 16-30 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 12
As a communist party,
we look at this question
from the vantage point of
the working class and its
movement for emancipating
itself and all of society. We
draw on the experience
of the revolutionary
movements in India and on
the world scale.
this state and become part of it. We
want to make a clean break with this
state, to overturn it.
Can there be any doubt that the line of
CPI(M) serves our enemies? There can
be no reconciliation with this rotten line
of defending the existing Indian state.
Only by defeating and expelling this line
can the communist movement in our
country make an advance and address
the problems of revolution today.
Comrades,
Facts show, without a shadow of
doubt, that British colonialism carried
out a genocide in our country. It not
only put to death lakhs of patriots but
also carried out a cultural genocide, to
wipe out even the thought underlying
their revolt. The colonialists distorted
historical facts to assert that Indians
had no science, no philosophy, no
theories of statecraft worth their
name. They asserted that Indians are
unfit to rule themselves, and need
English educated men of property to
rule over them. They claimed that it
was the white man's burden to civilize
the peoples of South Asia.
The fact is that for over 5000 years
these questions of philosophy, natural
science, political theory and principles
of economic organization have been
discussed and debated, implemented
and reviewed in the Indian subcontinent.
Our ancestors are well known for having
a developed philosophy and value system,
as well as theories of statecraft and
economic organization, centuries
before Europeans established their
first form of democracy. Colonialism
denigrated and sought to destroy the
best traditions and theories of the
peoples of this subcontinent..
As a communist party, we look at this
question from the vantage point of the
working class and its movement for
emancipating itself and all of society.
We draw on the experience of the
revolutionary movements in India and on
the world scale. We recognize that the
working class is an international class,
with international experience summed up
in the science of Marxism-Leninism and
contemporary Marxist-Leninist thought.
We recognize that as the party of the
Indian working class, we have to settle
accounts with the Indian bourgeoisie
and the thought material that has come
down from our ancestors.
Marx and Engels took great pains
to settle scores with their own
philosophical conscience, and they
called on the communists of other
countries and civilizations to do the
same. They stressed that the working
class and communists of each country
have to settle accounts with their own
bourgeoisie and what has been inherited
from one's specific history.
Our party believes that the most
important ingredient that is needed
today is Indian theory, which will
illuminate the path of revolution to the
millions of Indians who have to carry
it out. Indian theory is the sangam,
the meeting point of drawing on the
experience of the international working
class, in general form, and the lessons
of the Indian experience in particular.
The study of the political theory that
the Ghadar of 1857 gave rise to is
an important part of developing Indian
theory.
Hum hain iske malik, Hindostan humaara – so
said the heroes of 1857. We must
examine this concept deeply. What
does it mean to say that we are the
masters of India, and that this country
belongs to us? Who is this ‘we’ to whom
the country belongs?
Voice of Party
Research and study of the facts,
of what all happened in 1857 and
1858, shows that the hum at that
time consisted of varied sections of
society. It included all the peoples' of
India, toilers in the shops and tillers in
the fields, traders, thinkers, warriors,
princes and queens, a remarkable
united front of Hindus, Mussalmans
and Sikhs, of men and women, young
and old. Available evidence shows that
the leaders of the uprising were calling
on the people to take action against
the rule of the firangi, by appealing to
their dharma, not in the sense of religion
but the sense of duty or obligation to
society.
Compared to those times, we have a
distinct advantage today. There was
no economic class in 1857 that was
capable of leading a large-scale all-India
war against imperialism to victory.
Today there is an all-India working class
in combat with the all-India bourgeois
class and the imperialist system. The
working class is objectively the most
revolutionary class in society. It is
the class that can and must lead the
Ghadar in today's conditions. It must
do so by developing the Indian theory of
revolution as its guide to action.
When we analyse the concrete
conditions of India armed with the
science of Marxism-Leninism, we find
that in addition to the working class,
there is a huge army of peasants in
our country, who are suffering under
the rule of the bourgeoisie. The vast
majority of peasants are potential allies
in a revolutionary struggle against
imperialism, capitalism and all remnants
of feudalism and colonialism. There is
the army of women who also suffer
oppression and discrimination under
the existing order, and are a potential
revolutionary force. There is the
youth of our country, a mighty force
that is naturally inspired by the new
and rejects the old order. Based on
assessing the class forces, we have
come to the conclusion that the ‘hum’
today consists of workers, peasants,
women and youth of all nations and
peoples that constitute India. We
have to organise and inspire this ‘hum’
to assert their right to be the malik
of India.
This land belongs to us, say the
Kashmiris, the Nagas and the
Manipuris. They have been fighting
valiantly for many decades, not willing
to give up their rights over their
respective territories, and the natural
resources in that territory. There
are numerous tribal peoples who are
fighting against the encroachment of
their traditional lands by the central
State or by private timber or mining
corporations. The State turns the
truth on its head and calls the people
‘encroachers’, after having seized
Can we create an Indian
identity that denies and
negates the identity and
rights of each constituent
people? This is the kind
of Indian identity that the
colonialists created, and
which the reactionary
bourgeoisie and its
conciliators defend today
in the name of “unity and
integrity of India”.
their land by force. In each case, there
is a ‘hum’ – a specific group of people
who are asserting their identity and
their inalienable rights.
Can we create an Indian identity that
denies and negates the identity and
rights of each constituent people?
This is the kind of Indian identity that
the colonialists created, and which
the reactionary bourgeoisie and its
conciliators defend today in the name
of “unity and integrity of India”.
How did the heroes of 1857 deal with
this problem of creating a Hindostan
out of the numerous distinct nations
and peoples in this sub-continent
– peoples with a common philosophical
heritage as well as varied languages,
and varied political and cultural
June 16-30 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 12
development? We must study this
question and seek to learn from, and
further develop, the thought material
that our forefathers have left behind
for us.
Bahadur Shah Zafar, in his firmans
issued in 1857, clearly states the basis
for the authority he wields. He says
that he has been placed in the position
of leader by the masses of insurgent
people, so he is accountable to them
and not to British law. However, Queen
Victoria, in her proclamation of 1858,
does not lay down the basis for her
position as the sovereign of India. Who
placed her there and for what purpose?
She simply says that the East India
Company had been administering the
Indian possessions of the English Crown
until then, and from now on it will be
the responsibility of new officers that
Her Majesty will appoint. Her authority
is pre-ordained and arbitrary. It has
no logical or moral basis. It has been
acquired by brute force and will be
defended by brute force. And justified
by the assertion that God Almighty gave
Her Majesty the right to rule over any
part of the world.
The authority of the present day rulers
of India is likewise arbitrary. The
political system and all those parties
that champion it are getting extremely
discredited in the eyes of the people.
They have authority only because they
have armed forces and police under
their command. Not because the
people respect and trust them.
In place of this arbitrary power, the
workers, peasants, women and youth
must establish a power of an entirely
new kind. Such a power will be legitimate
because the masses of people will be
part of it. We, the workers, peasants,
women and youth, will be the decision
makers, to whom elected deputies
will render accounts. This is the
most advanced theory of proletarian
democracy. It is at the same time a
higher development of Indian political
thought -- the concept that 'hum hain
iske malik!'
Comrades,

Voice of Party
In Europe, the tradition emerged from
around the 15th century, of kings and
queens who justified their supreme
power on the basis of claiming that
they had the Divine Right to Rule.
The supreme power was exercised by
the crown, acting together with the
propertied interests.
In India, the tradition was different.
Political power was not arbitrary. It had
to be justified on the basis of the rulers
carrying out their duty of providing
protection and prosperity to the people.
If the raja did not carry out his duty, it
was considered the right of the praja to
overthrow him, or even behead him if he
was a tyrant.
The word praja means those who give
birth to raja. The word raja comes from
the word praja. What does this show?
It shows that the people existed without
a raja in their primitive stage, and at a
certain stage in their development, the
people, organized as sabha chose a raja.
This raja had well defined duties, while
the sabha of the people remained the
supreme decision making body. It was a
system of rule aimed at protecting the
people and allowing them to prosper.
Such an arrangement is reflected in the
Rig Veda in the following words: "With
the best of weapons, with the seven organs, our
leader destroys the cities of our enemies, he
showers prosperity on us like the sun showers
light on everyone." (Mandal 1, Sukta 63,
Shloka 7). The political theory of that
period recognised and respected the
right of the people as a whole to decide
on common affairs, including who should
be king.
At a later period, the right of the praja
to select the raja was negated by the
rise of a state power and hereditary
king system, with the village system
at the base. This system, which is
well elaborated by Bheeshma in the
Mahabharata, recognised the right of
people to overthrow a ruler who does
not fulfill his duty of providing prosperity
and protection to the people. But the
people had no say in who would become
the new ruler. It was the preserve of a
ruling elite to decide who would become
king. Even then, the concept that the
 June 16-30 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 12
The word praja means those
who give birth to raja. The
word raja comes from the
word praja. What does this
show? It shows that the
people existed without a
raja in their primitive stage,
and at a certain stage in
their development, the
people, organized as sabha
chose a raja.
raja had the duty to provide prosperity
and protection to the praja did not
disappear.
When the East India Company arrived, a
struggle was developing within Indian
society on the question of the right to
rule. Revolutionary forces, such as the
bhaktas and sufis, were contesting the
brahmanical and islamic orthodoxies,
and protesting against the exclusion of
the toiling people from knowledge and
from decision making power.
The colonial conquest and its
consolidation after 1858 negated
Indian political thought altogether. It
imposed a new orthodoxy according
to which only the firangi was fit to rule
over the people of India. The transfer
of power in 1947 did not smash this
orthodoxy. It only altered its form. In
the post-colonial period, a privileged
caste of political netajis claim that the
people cannot manage without them.
The people are told that they are only fit
to choose by which set of netas they will
be ruled. The parliamentary system and
its political process of representative
democracy negate the right of Indian
people to rule themselves.
The right to rule, or sovereignty, which
means essentially the same thing, has
been taken away from the hands of
the Indian people. First it was taken
away by the hereditary king system
and by successive aggressors who
maintained that system. Then the
situation was further aggravated by the
colonial conquest and measures by the
British bourgeoisie to eliminate Indian
thought itself. To regain the people's
sovereignty, the negation which has
deprived them of their rights, has to be
negated through revolution. In simple
words this Indian state which protects
the rule of the Indian bourgeoisie has to
be overthrown and replaced by a new
state which vests sovereignty in the
people. This is the essence of Ghadar
today.
We, the workers, peasants, women and
youth, constitute India. We are the
real masters of this society. For this
to become a reality, we the people have
to give birth to a mechanism through
which we can contest the arbitrary
power of the privileged elite, and come
into power ourselves. This new power
will subordinate the executive power to
the requirements of the empowerment
of the people. The political process
of representative democracy will
be replaced by a process of direct
democracy, where people themselves
rule without political parties acting as
intermediaries. We, the people will be
vested with the power to select the
candidates for election. We will enjoy
the right to recall elected persons
at any time. We will be able to make
or change the laws that affect us. In
short, the praja acting through their
sabhas will be supreme. In such a
system there will be no place for any
raja or any form of intermediary. This
New people's power will continuously
revolutionise the political process in
order to ensure that it is the people's
will and claims that are supreme.
Such a political power will create
systematically the conditions when the
state itself will wither away along with
the dissolution of classes, to give birth
to Communism.
The line of developing people’s
candidates or jan pratinidhis, of building
sangursh samitis in mohallas and
work places, and an association
or mechanism on an all India basis
dedicated to the empowerment of the
people, are all the result of the work of
the party to develop the theory that is
required to carry the Indian revolution
to victory.
Voice of Party
Comrades,
53. The biggest obstacle to
this work of preparing the workers,
peasants, women and youth to become
the masters of India is posed by the
line of CPI(M). The leaders of CPI(M)
see the present day Indian State as
an instrument for democratic advance
and for defending secular unity. They
disregard Indian thought material
from the past, branding it as feudal
or communal. They embrace old
European theories and ideas, such
as Westminster style parliamentary
democracy, social-democracy and
secularism (dharm-nirpekshta).
54. The leaders of CPI(M) have
completely departed from Marxism,
even though they continue to carry this
word in their party name. They have
embraced European social-democracy,
which is a counter-revolutionary ideology
of the European bourgeoisie. They deny
the very existence of statecraft other
than what has emerged out of the
European experience, thereby preaching
subservience to Euro-centrism. In the
style of European social-democracy,
the CPI(M) denies the existence of
any nationhood other than what the
bourgeoisie has established to expand
its capitalist-imperialist empire. It
defends the terrorism of the Indian
state against the national liberation
movements within the country, branding
such movements to be a threat to the
"national unity and territorial integrity"
of India.
55. The leaders of CPI(M) wage
a sectarian struggle in the name of
secularism. They do not understand, or
wish to understand the role of dharma in
Indian thought. They follow the European
interpretation, that dharma is nothing
but religion. They have embraced the
concept of dharma-nirpekshta, which is a
concept introduced by the colonialists
to deepen the religious divide. The
concept of secularism as 'tolerance'
and 'equidistance' is part of European
social-democracy, an ideology in the
service of the imperialist bourgeoisie.
The leaders of 1857 did not need
the concept of dharma-nirpekshta. They
Yes, revolution is a threat
to the present day ruling
class of India. It is a
threat to imperialism, to
the bourgeois class and
all its collaborators. It is
the dream that inspires
our young women, men and
children even today.
appealed to the people on the basis of
their their sense of duty, in defence of
their way of life, to unite against the
enemy irrespective of their religious
beliefs.
Comrades,
Without a revolution that will overthrow
capitalism and all forms of exploitation,
Indian society cannot really progress.
It will continue to move from one
crisis to another, with the deep divide
between rich and poor becoming even
deeper. The main reason why India is
still socially backward, even after 60
years of independence from colonialism,
is because of the absence of revolution.
India needs a proletarian revolution that
will place the workers and peasants in
power.
With state power in their hands, the
toiling majority of people will transform
the economic and social relations, so as
to get rid of the basis of exploitation
and oppression. This will necessarily
be a long drawn out process, taking
many years to complete. However,
the process of revolution cannot even
begin without a countrywide upsurge to
overthrow the rule of the bourgeoisie.
Without the destruction of the old
order, the new cannot take shape.
And even after that, people will have
the right to rebel against any force
that may become a roadblock for the
new to replace the old, at every stage
of socialist development. To rise in
Ghadar is a basic right of all people at
all times!
Comrades,
June 16-30 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 12
Our Central Committee has been
organizing Communist Schools to
educate its members and supporters,
to arm them with revolutionary theory
and not confine theory to the activity of
a few learned professors. It decided to
organize this school on the questions
raised by 1857 and their relevance to
revolution and the Navnirman of India
today. This is an essential part of our
work of nurturing the force that can
and must lead the great Ghadar of the
21st century.
We are engaged in a life and death
struggle, which requires the leading
force to be armed with theory suited to
the conditions of India. Our struggle is
not only against the bourgeois parties
that are openly advocating the capitalist
path to make India a mighty imperialist
power. It is also a struggle against
those within the communist movement
who are defending the establishment,
who view revolution as a threat to the
so-called unity and integrity of the
existing Indian state.
Yes, revolution is a threat to the
present day ruling class of India. It is a
threat to imperialism, to the bourgeois
class and all its collaborators. It is the
dream that inspires our young women,
men and children even today. For this
dream to come true, it is essential to
defeat those within the movement who
are conciliating and collaborating with
the bourgeoisie, and to arm the working
class and people with one clear-cut line
and program of action.
I can say with full confidence, that the
day is not far off when a new ghadar,
a modern professionally organised
revolution, guided by modern Indian
political theory and led by the working
class, will shake this Indian state.
That ghadar will uproot this legacy of
colonialism and build in its place a new
state of the workers and peasants.
It will establish a new economic and
political order, which will negate all
vestiges of colonialism and make the
working people of India their own
masters. It is this that will be the real
monument to the martyrs of 1857.

Voice of Toilers & Tillers
Reservation agitation in...
Continued from page 1
various elements belonging to this or
that sect, caste or community, who
act as its leaders and put forth narrow
sectarian demands. These demands are
then gratuitously accepted in public by
the leaders of the ruling class parties
like Congress, BJP and others.
Which party or parties “benefits” from
this at a particular moment or in a
particular election, which party pushes
an “agitation” at a particular time
varies according to the situation. The
crucial issue is that these parties base
their rule on the division of the polity
along sectarian lines and the unleashing
of sectarian violence to achieve their
aims. State power, including party
and caste organizations, is deployed
routinely to achieve these aims.
On June 5, the Supreme Court ordered
the police chiefs of Rajasthan, Haryana,
UP and Delhi to report within ten days
on what action they have taken against
the agitators. The Supreme Court in its
observations has expressed “horror”
at the large scale destruction of
property during the bandh in Delhi and
other states and has suggested that
collective fines be imposed on those
who participated in the agitation.
The Supreme Court of course has no
punishment for the real forces that
are behind the mayhem in these states
- the Congress, BJP and other ruling
class parties.
There is no doubt widespread concern
amongst people at large at the
police repression, the sectarian
violence unleashed bv the state and
ruling class parties. The people want
those guilty of committing crimes
against the people to be punished.
This means firstly, that the crime
must be recognized. Secondly, the
perpetrators of the crime must be
identified. The Supreme Court is
horrified at destruction of public
property, but it does not consider
the destruction of the polity that has
10 June 16-30 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 12
been engineered by the ruling class
parties a crime. It does not consider
the loss of lives of ordinary people as
a result of state repression a crime.
However, people who protest this
state repression are being considered
“criminals”! In other words, people
have to pay twice and thrice over for
the crimes of the ruling class and its
parties. On the other hand, the ruling
class consolidates its rule, having
achieved its aim — keeping the toilers
and tillers divided and at loggerheads,
even more marginalized from political
power than before.
The Congress, BJP and other political
parties of the ruling class have always
used reservation to deceive and divide
the toiling people. The oppressed and
deprived sections of the society are
always told that the maximum they
can hope for is a bigger share of the
miniscule number of government jobs
available.
So, with more communities battling
for the OBC share of the pie, striving
for SC or ST status is suggested as a
way forward.
Through this politics of reservation,
Escalating state terrorism...
Continued from page 2
Party of India has been actively working
to organize the people towards realizing
this goal.
The situation calls for communists
to boldly expose the diabolical aims
of the ruling class and point out that
the masses of working people are not
terrorists, not communal, sectarian
or responsible for the caste violence.
It is the ruling big bourgeoisie and its
political parties that are responsible
for organizing terrorist and sectarian
violence and cynically playing with the
sentiments of the oppressed people, in
order to forestall the real possibility of
all the exploited and oppressed coming
together on a common platform of
putting an end to this hated rule of
people are deliberately kept away from
the path of demanding that it is the
duty and responsibility of the state
to provide gainful employment and
livelihood to all. People are diverted
from focusing on the main source of
their problems, i.e. the exploitative
rule of the big bourgeoisie, which
cannot and will not provide for all. At
this time when the state of the big
bourgeoisie and the political system
managed by its political parties is
increasingly getting discredited in the
eyes of the masses, reservation is
being used again and again as a tool
to prevent the oppressed masses
from fighting to overthrow this rule
and reorganize society and all its
resources to provide livelihood and
well being to all.
The developing situation exposes
with great clarity the grave error of
those in the communist and workers'
movement who are serving the strategy
of the bourgeoisie by promoting
demands for further extending caste
based reservation. Mazdoor Ekta Lehar/
People’s Voice calls upon all communists
to condemn the ruling class parties
and oppose the division of the polity on
sectarian lines. n
the exploiters. They will continue to
heap tragedy after tragedy on the
toiling people, in order to cover up
the fact that they have no solution
to the problems of the people and to
safeguard their rule from the wrath of
the people.
It is absolutely urgent that the working
and oppressed people of all sections
and communities all over the country
unite around the common banner of
ending this rule of the bourgeoisie
and taking political power in our own
hands. n
Internet Edition of
Mazdoor Ekta Lehar &
People's Voice
at http://www.cgpi.org,
e-mail:mail@cgpi.org
Voice of Toilers & Tillers

Ghadar Jari Hai....
Continued from page 1
of our forefathers and about how to
carry forward the struggle today, were
present in large numbers.
Com. Prakash Rao welcomed all those
present and explained the purpose and
functioning of the communist school.
After that the speech of the General
Secretary of the CGPI, Com. Lal Singh,
set the tone for the entire proceedings.
Com. Lal Singh explained that 1857
was not an isolated event, but part of
the valiant and continuous resistance
offered by peasants, artisans, tribal
people, and other patriotic strata in all
parts of our country to the rule of the
foreign aggressors. All the evidence
shows signs of an organised political
movement with a clear political aim. The
aim of the upsurge was to end colonial
rule and open a new chapter in the
history of our land. It was this that
captured the hearts and minds of the
peoples in this subcontinent.
Com. Lal Singh made the important
point that the colonialists not only
slaughtered over a crore Indians
while crushing the Ghadar , they also
carried out a cultural genocide. They
asserted that Indians are unfit to rule
themselves, and need English educated
men of property to rule over them. It
is absolutely necessary to defend and
develop Indian theory that will guide our
struggle today to get rid of exploitation
and subjugation of the working people.
Without the destruction of the old
order, the new cannot take shape. The
Communist School is an essential part
of the work of nurturing the force that
can and must lead the great Ghadar of
the 21st century.
adopted by the British colonialists to
maintain their rule in India, particularly
after the shock they received from the
events of 1857. It brought out with
facts how the great advances made by
Indians in fields of science, technology,
arts, culture, philosophy and political
theory were deliberately rubbished by
the colonialists and India was converted
into a beggar even for thought material.
Finally, it clarified the nature of the
transfer of power in 1947 from the
colonialists to those representatives
whom they had groomed from the Indian
bourgeoisie, giving numerous examples
of the colonial legacy that still prevails
in India today.
The General Secretary's speech and
the presentations gave rise to an
extremely lively discussion. A large
number of participants got up not
only to ask questions but also to put
forward their views on various matters
pertaining to the struggle of our people
in the past and today. The enthusiasm
of the youth was very obvious. Some
of them said that they had never paid
attention to lessons in history before
because it seemed to have no relevance
to the life and struggle of the working
people, but that this communist school
had opened their eyes. Searching
questions were asked about why the
people of India were unable to take
power into their own hands in 1947,
and about what needed to be done to
Ghadar
Jari Hai
get rid of the colonial legacy today.
While explaining many of the points
raised, Com. Lal Singh also said that it
is up to all of us to go back and study
and find answers to these and other
questions. He stressed that we should
not fall into the colonial mentality of
rejecting everything from our past as
backward. We should learn fully about
our heritage theories and concepts,
understand them in their context, and
bring forward those elements that
would serve the cause of revolution and
social progress today.
The delegations from different parts
of India who had come to participate
in the School were taken on a guided
trip of Delhi the next day. After
this, there was a lively summing up
meeting, followed by dinner. During
this discussion, many comrades
pointed out that they were able to
see the historical sites of Delhi with a
new eye, as a result of the school on
the Ghadar. Each of these historical
monuments brought alive the life and
struggles of that time. A second point
that was made very forcefully was
that a high level of technological skill
in architecture existed in pre-colonial
India, giving the lie to the colonialist
propaganda that India was backward.
The Ghadar continues, they remarked,
to smash the legacy of colonialism and
open the door to the prosperity of all
our people and our rich civilization. n

The speech of Com. Lal Singh was followed A magazine dedicated to the call of the times
by a well researched presentation that - The Navnirman or Renewal of India
substantiated the main points made in
it. The presentation brought out the Available in English & Hindi
continuing struggle of all sections of
the Indian people from all regions of
Suggested contributions Rs. 10/-
Hindostan against colonial rule, from
For Copies please write to: Lok Awaz Publishers & Distributors, E-392, Sanjay
the very moment the colonialists tried
Colony, Okhla, Phase-II, New Delhi - 110 020
to occupy our motherland right through
or call : 09868721375 or 09818575435
until 1947. It analysed the strategies

June 16-30 2007 – Volume 29 – Issue 12 11


Voice of Toilers & Tillers
Century Workers Continue their Struggle!
As reported in the earlier issues
of MEL, Century Mills, which was a
modernized and profit making Mill was
closed by the owners on December
12th, 2006. The owners were looking
at the huge real estate value of the
40 acres of land on which the Mill was
situated, in Central Mumbai. By using
coercive methods they forced over
6000 workers to resign from their
jobs for miserable sums of money.
Both before and after the closure,
the workers Union, Sarva Shramik
Sangathan, the Communist Ghadar
Party of India, Kamgar Ekta Chalwal
and Lok Raj Sangathan had organized
a number of public meetings in Support
of the Century Mill Workers legitimate
demands. Due to the persistent work of
the Communist Ghadar Party of India as
well as of the worker's union, the Sarva
Shramik Sangathan, 275 workers had
refused to be cowed down by the Mill
owners threats and did not resign from
the Company’s services. These 275
workers have since December 12 been
continuously agitating against the Mill
owners, the Aditya Birla Group, one of
India’s largest business houses. They
have been agitating for immediate
reopening of Century Mills based on
the fact that hundreds of crores of the
most modern machinery and equipment
were lying idle and rusting away for
want of human labour to operate
them. They have been opposing the
conversion of Textile Mill Lands into
swanky commercial and residential
complexes throwing hundreds and
thousands of workers out of their jobs
and homes.
However the Mill management applied
to the Government. for closure of the
Mills in February 2007. The workers
led by their Union and supported by
the Communist Ghadar Party of India,
immediately resorted to a number of
protest actions. They put up posters all
over Central Mumbai, condemning the
Mill management's actions. Hundreds
of workers along with their families
marched to the residence of BK Birla,
one of the owners, in Central Mumbai.
The owner bolted from his residence
Lok Awaz Publishers & Distributors,
E–392, Sanjay Colony, Okhla Phase-II, New Delhi - 110020
but the workers handed over a show During all this time the workers had
cause notice to his Personal Assistant also organized a number of marches to
asking the Mill owners how they dare the Labour Commissioners office, the
close the Mill which had been making courts etc.
profits through the blood and sweat of
the workers. Next the workers along S e e i n g t h a t t h e w o r ke r s w e r e
with their families organized another unrelenting, the Minister of Labour of
protest march to the Mayor's Bungalow the Government of Maharashtra, called
in Central Mumbai. The Mayor, Subba a meeting of the workers, their Union,
Raul, was confronted by the angry Sarva Shramik Sangathan, as well as
workers who asked her how the Mumbai the Mill management on April 9 2007.
Municipal Corporation was giving Seeing the militant mood of the workers
permission to the Mill owners to close the Labour Minister informed the Mill
the Mills, throwing the workers out of management that since 275 workers
their jobs and homes.They asked her were still remaining in employment,
to immediately cancel the permissions the government would not be able to
given to the Mill owners to build give permission to close the Mill. He
shopping malls and luxury residential ordered that the application for closure
towers on the Mill lands. Seeing the of Century Mills should be rejected. The
angry mood of the workers, she had management was forced to withdraw
to relent and she wrote to the Chief the application for closure on April 13
Minister of Maharashtra, asking the 2007.
Government to reexamine its policies
regarding the textile mills. Next the However the Mill management
workers organized a sit-in hunger treacherously gave a fresh application
strike in front of the Century Mill gate. for closure on May 15. At a militant
Hundreds of workers along with their gate meeting on June 4 2007, the
wives and children participated in this workers have decided that if they do not
day long dharna, even though the police get a satisfactory reply from the Mill
had refused to give permission to the owners by June 10th, they will launch a
workers for their protest action. At fresh round of agitations. People's Voice
7 pm, after the women and children fully supports the just demands of the
were asked to go home, by the workers, Century Mill workers and condemns the
the police swooped in and arrested treacherous Birla management.
the workers who were continuing the
dharna. Before each of these protest
actions, the workers had organized a Long Live the Heroic Struggle
poster campaign in Central Mumbai to of the Century Mill Workers of
inform the working class of its actions. Mumbai !
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Lok Awaz Publishers and Distributors, E-392, Sanjay Colony, Okhla Phase - II,
New Delhi - 110 020