India Youth Rebellions: “Organize Inside the Army to Serve the People”
DELHI (India), June 19 —Millions of youths in several dozen cities in India descended on the streets to protest the fascist government’s new army recruitment policy. The new directive called Agnipath (“path of fire”) aims to recruit youths (17-22 years old) called Agniveers (“carriers of fire”) for four years. After four years, only 25% of the Agniveers are retained. The remaining 75% are demobilized with no future and no pension.
The bosses rely on the youth to fight and kill for their profits. But they have created an army of unemployed youth with every reason to destroy capitalism. Agnipath gives us opportunities to get military training to destroy our class enemy.
Over half a billion people in India are only seasonally employed. They rely on government subsidies to barely afford two meals a day. Many are youths who have struggled for years of study and exams that give them no future to work. Many look at the army as a way of survival. They attend courses to pass rigorous training and only a very small fraction of them make it to the army. The remaining unemployed look for government and railway jobs. They wait as much as 10 years even to apply for these openings.
The Agnipath directive infuriated the youths. They saw it as the government’s ploy to prolong their frustration with no future. Thousands attacked police stations, railways, public transport, and banks. Several young people died from police fire. The government was unable to contain the youths’ fury as demonstrations continued for five days.
The Indian rulers face increasing pressure to maximize profits for giant multinationals like Reliance, Adani, Tata, and Birla. They aim to expand markets and increase production. They use automation and efficiency to achieve maximum profit. The cost of these is leaving millions of youths without work. It creates conditions of communal violence and attacks on Dalits and women workers. The NATO-Russia war in Ukraine has created a huge gap in the workers’ ability to buy food as the petroleum prices have skyrocketed.
Many of the youths took to the streets in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh where there is especially high unemployment. Four months ago, young people in Bihar went on a massive, violent protest when the government postponed their ability to apply for jobs in railways.
Some ICWP members from Delhi went to Bihar and established a network of new Red Flag readers. Delhi comrades sent five ICWP members to be with these new friends in Bihar.
“I was expecting something like this,” said one youth. “The youth see no future in the system. It is either grinding work for years till you drop dead or depressing life with no jobs. We want a revolution that will wipe out all the filth and decay. We have to destroy this capitalist system that promotes division among us. I am thinking more seriously about what ICWP is saying about communism.”
We heard words like these everywhere we went, equipped with a one-page Red Flag article and a summary of Mobilize the Masses for Communism.
“Let us organize now, what can we do today?”
“I am tired of the politicians who give empty promises.”
“Let us organize all the unemployed to smash RSS [fascists].”
“What happened in Sri Lanka was very powerful. Many young people saw when the masses destroyed the homes of the Prime Minister and others. I believe our struggle got a huge boost.”
“I want to organize inside the army to serve the people,” one declared. This is key to our party’s revolutionary strategy. The most oppressed youth with guns in their hands will fight for the working class, not for the capitalists.
ICWP comrades are tirelessly talking with many new supporters and Red Flag readers. Many have asked us how they can join us. We explain to them that everybody is welcome to join the party. We are holding numerous meetings in schools to talk about organizing new comrades.
Today’s youth must lead the future of communism. The rulers are poisoning us with fascism, communalism, and disparaging women with sexism. When the working class sees that our youth are organized by ICWP, defending the class interest of the workers, they will join and support us.
Read Our Pamphlet:
“Soldiers, Sailors, Marines: Crucial to a Communist Workers’ Revolution”
available at here
Front page of this issue
