India: Workers’ Communist Collectives Grow
DELHI, INDIA, Feb. 16—“Repealing those three fascist laws will not end misery, suicides, mounting debts, unpredictable climate changes,” Sandeep (a new member of ICWP) told farmers and their supporters on the outskirts of Delhi. “What is the answer?”
Almost everybody wanted to know. Sandeep explained how those laws are dead-ends. “We need communism to eradicate the system that oppresses us.”
On this dusty, cold night people eagerly talk about communism. Sandeep, a farmworker, and other ICWP comrades are listening to the masses. We find that people already know how bad those laws are. Everybody knows somebody who committed suicide.
“Communist society will end banks and private ownership,” another comrade said. People die by suicide because they cannot pay their debts. People in the villages call it the ‘suicide belt.’
Some young men told us, “In Punjabi villages and towns, there are areas known as heroin alleys.” People succumb to this vicious addiction because they have no work.
Others agreed. They said grown men and women are dying in what is known as the ‘cancer patch.’ The widespread use of pesticides kills thousands every year.
Young people cannot find work because the farming industry is increasingly automated. A farmer said that 90% of tractors are owned by banks. They reduce the number of people working on farms while creating mounting debts to the owner.
Pesticides reduce the number of people who can cultivate crops without harmful cancers. They are devastating to workers in the field and those consuming the crops. Only communism can eliminate harmful carcinogens and create meaningful work for everybody.
As we talked, somebody announced that a glacier broke off and created massive flooding in northern India. All north India gets water from the canals diverted by dams in the Himalayas. Capitalist governments have created these massive projects to maximize profit, putting hundreds of thousands in flood-prone areas. The breaking of the glacier was the result of climate change and killed over 300 people.
The effect of this devastation will last for decades. Water levels have been depleted drastically in the canals that feed villages. When there is a shortage of canal water, farmers must drill as deep as 1000 feet compared to less than 60 feet previously. With the reduced water due to climate change and depleted groundwater, fertile areas in north India will turn into a dust bowl.
More and more people in our group start to see a complete picture. The ‘suicide belt’, ‘cancer patch’, ‘heroin alley’, climate change are all effects of deadly capitalism. “How do we build communism?” people ask repeatedly.
In the last two months, we have formed relationships with hundreds of people. Some we see every day. We give them our literature. Our day starts with communism and ends late at night, talking about recruiting more to our party. Our collective meets at least twice or thrice every day. We think we are very close to recruiting more people like Sandeep.
Our obstacles are many. The government has created fixed concrete walls with nail spikes that completely cut us off from Delhi. Our internet is extremely weak. We are unable to communicate with comrades in other areas. The fascist government is also using every opportunity to put people in the draconian so-called ‘black boxes’ where they languish in jails indefinitely in complete isolation.
With great difficulties, we are learning that we must be with the same comrades in an organized group that recruits new members. We have three such groups, each with several new members. We have started writing our literature in Punjabi.
We can overcome every obstacle when the masses with communist ideas are on our side.
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