Factories to the Streets here “People Like Me Are Rising” here
From the Factories to the Streets
CHENNAI and NEW DELHI (India), October 26—Kumar started work as an apprentice at a Hyundai automobile plant in Chennai two years ago. He was intimidated by the sprawling factory with miles of barbed wire, military-style security, and thousands of cameras trained at every angle to watch the workers. Any mistake would be recorded. Six mistakes in a month automatically meant dismissal of a worker who performs thousands of complex tasks a day at a blistering pace.
An ICWP comrade there wanted to introduce Red Flag to co-workers, but no printed material was allowed. One Friday evening, he visited Kumar’s rented room twenty-five kms (fifteen miles) away. During the 90-minute ride, they shared everything: communism, current affairs, and their families.
This began a deep personal relationship. The comrade asked Kumar, “Would you like to join the communist ICWP?” Kumar was not yet ready. But he was impressed by the comrade’s openness and honesty. Several months later, Kumar did join ICWP. He joked, “Why didn’t you ask me to join ten years ago!”
Kumar learned a lot with the ICWP collective. Every month, they meticulously discussed how to spread communist ideas where they worked. Next to the Hyundai plants are BMW, Ford, and Renault Nissan. Foxconn, Flextronics, Samsung Electronics, the giant pharmaceutical Orchid Chemicals, and dozens more employ over 100,000 workers. For years, ICWP collectives have distributed 500 copies of Red Flag every issue. It may not seem like much, but all are by personal contact.
When the Supreme Court of India called unemployed youth ‘cockroaches’, it felt like every worker in Chennai was utterly disgusted.
Then New Delhi students started their protest.
The unwritten company rule of ‘no political talk’ no longer made sense. ICWP comrades initiated political discussions, taking plenty of precautions. A new vocabulary was invented to talk about communism.
As our party’s influence grew in New Delhi, many Chennai comrades and other workers began making small donations to the party. While millions marched in New Delhi, our Chennai comrades distributed nearly a thousand copies of Red Flag. Migrant workers from northern states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar responded enthusiastically. This strengthened our confidence.
Two weeks ago, we took the bold step of sending comrades to visit New Delhi. Everyone selected Kumar because he is young, friendly, speaks Hindi, and knows many people in Bihar. We also sent comrade Sarita, who was laid off from her garment factory in Bengaluru.
She had returned to her hometown in Bihar, where she continues to build a Red Flag network. Bihar is a very volatile state. It has the highest unemployment rate. Comrade Sarita has accepted our call to set up and build collectives in Bihar.
Sarita arrived in Delhi by train. Kumar came the next day. The New Delhi ICWP comrades were thrilled to receive them. They enjoyed a wonderful Delhi-style dinner with dozens of comrades, neighbours, and family. We talked all night about our actions over the past two months.
Everyone was impressed to meet an ex-garment worker. She described in native Bhojpuri Hindi her struggle in the factory against racist, sexist bosses. Her passion for communism left an indelible impression. Comrades also wanted to talk to Kumar about life in a huge factory and how workers see communism.
We participated in several small flash rallies over the next two days. The police had taken over the main Jantar Mantar protest area. They had kidnapped over 80,000 students. Because of the defeatist, nationalist outlook of Cockroach Janta Party’s leaders, mass rallies were mostly impossible. But at the flash rallies, we could talk more openly about communism.
The highlight of the trip was a visit to Jamia Millia Islamia University (JMI). Its students have a long history of fighting racism and xenophobia. Now they are on an indefinite strike against the administration. Students from all over Delhi came to support them. Comrade Sarita made many contacts, mostly with women students who were giving speeches. Their most popular slogan was “Jamia ki ladki ne, rasta dikhay hai.” (Women of Jamia are showing the way). We led a modified version: “Jamia ki ladki ne, Samyavad dikhaya hai” (Women of Jamia are fighting for communism).
Before we left, we called on the youth to follow the heroic struggles of France, Spain, Italy, and Albania. We got heartfelt support when we spoke about the need to fight the genocide in Palestine with communist revolution.
Above all, we learned that workers and students have a lot in common. Our diverse cultures, languages, and customs strengthen and unite us against the capitalists, whose only interest is maximum profit.
We are learning to be a mass party of communism.
“People Like Me Are Rising”
Prime Minister Modi, you addressed the nation at midnight and called us ‘friends’. You chose a 15-year-old girl to unleash your goons on, to threaten her with gang rape and murder. While you ‘offered’ to apologize to the girl for her abusive language, I have become a communist to change this world where people like you will never exist. And I am 14 years old.
I want to say, I am not your friend. I am your enemy. You and your army of fascists have made it impossible for girls like us to walk freely at night. You pay lip service to your hollow slogan, “Save a girl, save the nation.” How shameless you are! Your RSS and other Hindu fascist groups engage in the most heinous acts of sexist violence, gang rapes, and murders. Even in your hyper-sexist regime, 60% of your MPs have rape charges in YOUR courts.
People like me are rising. They will not allow you to continue your filth. We have realized that our future lies in ending you and your system of depravity. My mother has suffered from your sexist actions, and so have I. But the future generation will not. We will have a communist world without you.
—Young comrade in India
Read about the communist fight against sexism here and here
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