On this page: Striking health care workers want communism here ♦ From comrades in Pakistan here ♦ Communist monsoon here ♦
Striking Health Care Workers: “We Want Communism Now!”
BENGALURU (India), August 9 — Over 600,000 community health care workers, mostly women, went on a two-day strike in India. They have been sent to the front lines of the Covid-19 response without the safety equipment they need.
Among this massive display of support was a group of Bengaluru women inspired by a small contingent of the International Communist Workers’ Party (ICWP). “We want communism, we want it now!” they shouted. In the next eight-hour long march, in drenching rains of Bengaluru, these women left no doubt that communism was the future of the half a million workers and more to follow around the world.
This small step was a significant victory for us. It started with the garment workers in Bengaluru who are devastated by Covid-19. The garment factories are 80% closed. The workers are facing massive evacuation from the owners. The fashion industries in Bengaluru and Europe have collapsed. Over 200,000 women have run out of the last penny of their savings.
So, this group of our comrades in Bengaluru showed us how to end wage slavery. There is no doubt that the 600,000 workers want a change.
When our forces battle for change, two ideas emerge. There are numerous groups who, in one way or another, want to keep capitalism and its wage slavery. They will fight for reform to keep capitalism safe. Our forces want to destroy capitalism and create a new society of communists leading the working class.
We discussed, in the shanty towns of Bengaluru, the need to spread our ideas of communism. For the past two years we have taken bold steps to expand our base among workers. When the health care workers decided to join the strike, it gave us an opportunity to expand our horizon. For weeks we went to the homes of healthcare workers.
We found that they were facing formidable challenges. Many had not been paid for months. The conditions in hospitals were appalling. Some hospitals in poor working-class areas had rainwater running underneath the hospital beds. The workers, along with the patients, barely survived.
We went to the health care workers to talk about how communism will open food, medicine, and other necessities by making them accessible to all. These ideas appealed to many other workers: that the survival of our class and its advancement was based on our communist leadership. This is how we are going to grow, now and in the future.
For several evenings we would meet with the garment workers and healthcare workers to share our vision of the communist future. It invariably led to the discussion of who is the next worker we want to recruit.
It has given us the strength that the garment workers and healthcare workers are no longer at the mercy of horrific terror of capitalist bosses. We are showing the way of the future. The days of running water under the hospital beds and the piling masses of unsold garments are the sicknesses of capitalism. They will all end when the working class, led by ICWP, takes power.
The recent recruitment of the workers in Bengaluru is an inspiration for the Party and the working class everywhere.
Comrades in Pakistan: “Communist Revolution is the Way to Go”
KASHMIR, August 9—One year ago, India imposed sweeping restrictions on the movement of ordinary people in Indian-Occupied Kashmir. The masses were locked down with the military ordered to shoot-on-sight. Hospitals were not allowed to carry even pregnant women, based on a fear that they might be carrying improvised explosive devices. The press and internet were unplugged. The Indian government tried to secure the borders using intimidation. Hundreds of thousands of women were raped and subjected to unimaginable violence.
India had created the largest army in Kashmir. Every 12th person in Kashmir belonged to the armed forces. Mass killings were commonplace. So was popular resistance. Masses fought back in the face of a hail of bullets. Children as young as 11 years old were sprayed with rubber bullets to their chests. Women and men defiantly fought back, leaving many in the armed forces running for cover.
The reason for completely stifling the workers in Kashmir is that in the north and east there is a massive build-up of the Chinese and Pakistani armies. In the next two years, billions of dollars’ worth of oil will flow through the area on its way to China. This oil will create markets in eastern China and Tibet. This comes in a direct collision with the Indian plans to dominate Pakistan. In this process, the Indian and Pakistani armies have built approximately 300 nuclear weapons.
The International Communist Workers’ Party has been organizing on both sides of the border for several years. We had some success in Pakistan, but the current crisis has led to much deeper commitment. The comrades are more seriously organizing with the outlook of uniting with the workers in India.
We launched a successful mini edition of Red Flag. This was translated into Urdu and distributed in Pakistan and India. The comrades are very enthusiastic about our activities. Now they share Sindhi and Punjabi editions from Pakistan, which are being distributed in India as well.
We have about ten members of ICWP in Pakistan. They are in two different areas. One is a healthcare worker. He is very eager to recruit new members to the party. He summarized: “Yes comrade, communist revolution is the way to go. The working class is ready to fight for it. We are making our literature available in Pashto. In Pakistan revolution is difficult but not impossible. When I organize in the health care area, everyone wants to bring down the system. They are tired of the bosses. Now we are going to show that communism is the right solution.”
Communist Monsoon Will Drown Fascist Capitalism
BIHAR (India), August 10—“We have new comrades joining in Bihar! And they want communism,” a comrade said with excitement. This is something comrades take dearly to their hearts because the arrival of more forces will help ICWP grow much faster. This means communism will come sooner to this very poor area and bring fundamental changes that the people of Bihar and other areas are striving for.
Bihar, like other major states of South Asia, is witnessing unprecedented rain. It is a massacre. Water is everywhere, people are several feet under water. Men, women, cattle, and life belongings are washed away.
Things were much different in Bihar in the past. There was a feudal system of producing food. The surplus went to local kings. That changed drastically in early 1760 when cash crops were introduced and the surplus went to capitalist England. That was also the year when British colonial power introduced the money system to extract cash.
Monsoon rains used to bring much needed water downstream in the rivers of the Himalayas. But now the surging waters have no natural barriers. Forests are gone, and every year the rivers burst at the seams. Every decade brings more devastation.
Our comrades wanted to talk about what causes these devastations and how to change it forever. The system that brings cash crops – food for profit– needs to go.
Rich capitalists who hire landless workers and make all the profit tell the working class that it is the caste system, the Dalits, the Muslims, and lack of reform that are the problems. The only way to get rid of the system is to eliminate capitalism. No reform or religious movement will change this system. In fact, these will consolidate capitalism.
We are bringing our newspaper Red Flag in Hindi which will explain our fundamental need to end capitalism and its wage slavery.
The crisis in Bihar is just the tip of the iceberg. The fascist regime in New Delhi is exposing its true colors. The pandemic has exposed their system of enormous exploitation. Mass unemployment has pushed the working class to desperation. To hide it, the fascists are praying to the Hindu gods for peace and prosperity. On August 5, Modi made a much-publicized appearance to found a Hindu Temple on the site of a famous destroyed Muslim mosque. It was a racist act to push the fascist Hindu fundamentalist doctrine.
The working class has a better option. We are continuing to meet in Chennai, Bengaluru, Delhi and now Bihar. Our comrades form a growing surge that strives to end capitalism. We believe that this system of enormous profit gives us an opportunity to bring more comrades to our party.
In this system that is vicious and divisive, we bring the working-class unity that appeals to many people. Ultimately, we will have to take on fascism.
The rulers in Delhi are very weak. Their strength comes from intimidation and subjugation. When we clearly grasp that contradiction and understand how weak the bosses are, we begin to see a change. This change also reflects in our numbers. One more example of Bihar will lead to many. Fight for communism!
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Our comrades in South Asia are translating Red Flag into several languages used in the region. See icwpredflag.org for articles in Hindi, Marathi, Urdu, Tamil and Malayalam.
We thank the comrades for their hard work, and ask anyone else who can help to contact us at icwp@anonymousspeech.com
रेड फ्लैग, वॉल्यूम 11, नंबर 9 (आंशिक) in Hindi
लाल ध्वज, खंड 11, क्रमांक 9 (आंशिक) in Marathi
سرخ پرچم ، جلد 11 ، نمبر 9 (جزوی) in Urdu
சிவப்புக் கொடி, தொகுதி 11, எண் 9 in Tamil
ചുവന്ന പതാക, വാല്യം 11, നമ്പർ 9 in Malayalam
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