Class Struggle in Sri Lanka here ♦ India May Day: Organize for the Power of Communism to Bury Fascist Capitalism here ♦
Class Struggle in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, May 11 — Anti-government protests continue to intensify to unprecedented levels. Masses have burned politicians’ mansions and sent members of the ruling Rajapaksa family into hiding. The populist president had ruthlessly suppressed Tamil’s insurgency. Then he implemented anti-Muslim, anti-Christian pogroms.
Comrades in nearby Chennai, India, think that India is on the brink of a similar situation. India’s fascist Modi is very much like the president of Sri Lanka.
In both places – and worldwide – anti-fascist rebels need a growing International Communist Workers’ Party to convert the wrath of the working class into a fight for communism.
Comrades in India have been sending Red Flag to Sri Lanka (in English and Tamil) and plan to struggle to get to know our readers better and to expand our readership there.
India May Day: Organize for the Power of Communism to Bury Fascist Capitalism
May 1— “I saw firsthand the brutality of war in Ukraine,” said a medical student in India. “I saw that when we were risking our lives to get out, many people came to protect us. They risked their own lives to help us against the fascist Ukrainian police who treated us like dogs.
“As a medical student, I wanted to help the wounded,” she continued. “I felt helpless. When I returned to Delhi on a flight, ICWP members greeted me. I was with my family, but they made a passionate call for communism and gave me Red Flag. I read it repeatedly and it made perfect sense to me. Today, on May Day, I have decided to join ICWP.”
This comrade and dozens of others, Party members and friends, marched on May Day in Delhi, Bengaluru, and Chennai. Others enthusiastically decided to follow her lead to join our Party. We showed that communism is alive and has the potential to grow into a mass party to defeat rising fascism worldwide.
This May Day took place amid intensifying fascist government attacks on the Muslim community. Recently in Delhi, local authorities ordered the unannounced demolition of large Muslim neighborhoods. They bulldozed small shops, houses, and mosques, and to humiliate, this was during the month of Ramadan.
The next day, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson went to a factory that assembles the bulldozers to show off the progress India is supposedly making under the fascist Modi government. The comrades there chanted (in Hindi): “Modi and Boris, we will bury you deep underground so communism will thrive.”
ICWP comrades in Chennai participated in a May Day that was organized by trade unions. Our contingent of auto workers and friends opposed the demolition of the Muslim areas. Many workers took our literature. They were outraged about the bulldozers, which have become a symbol of fascism in India.
During the march, some workers decided to write to the workers of JCB Bulldozer in Gujarat condemning the use of bulldozers they build to attack Muslims. We drafted the letter with many other workers, asking JCB workers to organize a strike to oppose the use of bulldozers to attack workers.
ICWP Organizes for the Power of Communism, Not for Crumbs
An ICWP member is a veteran of the Great Railway Strike of May 1974. They recalled that the country had stopped for weeks as there was a complete shutdown of the workers. Railway workers seized bulldozers and destroyed railway lines. A large contingent of women organized a total shut down in Chennai (then Madras).
The government called in the army, but widespread sabotage by sympathetic soldiers and uprooted railway lines prevented any trains from moving. “It felt like a revolution was in the air,” the comrade said.
However, the trade union was satisfied with small crumbs when the working class wanted everything. “This is what ICWP is about,” said the comrade. “We must organize for power, the power of communism. It will spread like wildfire if we are consistent in our struggle and win workers and soldiers to read and spread Red Flag.” Young comrades and other workers were riveted by the story of the veteran comrades, and they want to know more about the May strike of 1974.
In Bengaluru, ICWP organized a group of garment workers and some health care workers to join the May Day celebration. We were able to mobilize a small number of Muslim workers and undocumented workers from Bangladesh. This was a big breakthrough for us because in Bengaluru the BJP fascists have been attacking Muslim women for wearing Hijab. Now many states have legally enforced the Hijab ban.
On May Day, our comrades organized to wear red Sari and red Hijab to show that the red colour of communism unites people of different cultures.
We plan to mobilize more workers in many other cities. We have many readers in Mumbai and Kolkata. A group of comrades will participate in Communist School next month. The medical student is taking a leading part in organizing transport and logistics. With her help and some young comrades from Delhi, we will have a solid foundation to continue our march for communism.