Planning for May Day 2023 Accelerating Capitalist Crisis Leads to Growth of ICWP in South Asia
BENGALURU (India), March 11— “We’re going to keep on fighting,” said a comrade who spreads Red Flag in the Sri Lanka garment factory where she works. “When I read Red Flag amid massive demonstrations in Sri Lanka, I felt that change to overthrow the capitalist government is possible. This May Day, we’ll show that to the masses.”
This was in a hybrid international meeting here and online. Participants included auto workers from Chennai, the largest automobile manufacturing hub in India.
A comrade who works for Ford reported on the world capitalist crisis, focusing on south Asia. He noted that the US/NATO-Russia war in Ukraine has created huger opportunities all around the world for our party to grow.
In Sri Lanka, the government collapsed because it couldn’t supply energy. As petrol stations ran out of gas, buses and cars queued up for miles, stalling public and private transport. Millions of workers took to the streets, fed up with mounting hunger, skyrocketing unemployment, and inflation. During these massive upheavals, a comrade from Chennai first contacted our comrade in Sri Lanka. Today, we are trying to go further and establish a working collective there.
Similar opportunities have arisen in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, and Nepal, where we already have Red Flag readers.
Conditions in Pakistan are very similar to the crisis in Sri Lanka. Nationwide protests erupted on March 15 against the attempted arrest of opposition leader Imran Khan, whose party openly supports China and Russia. The military regime’s top generals have a long pro-US history.
However, Pakistan has a $50 billion infrastructure project supported by China. Even the pro-US ruling party sees the China Pakistan Economic Corridor as a way of moving away from depending on US energy companies. With the International Monetary Fund making it harder to provide loans, Saudi Arabia is emerging as a key player in rescuing the Pakistani economy.
India’s fascist government is preparing for the 2024 general elections which will decide Modi’s future. Modi’s BJP is plagued by the scandals of companies led by the billionaire Adani. The scandal was exposed by Hindenburg short sellers in the US, but the core issue is that the Adani empire was challenging US multinationals. The BJP section of the Indian ruling class openly defies the US by accepting Russian oil at a discount price.
That’s why the BBC (representing an important section of the British ruling class) and India’s opposition Congress Party reacted so swiftly. Congress Party freely quotes the sharp attacks on Modi from the anti-communist billionaire George Soros, supporter of European “color revolutions.”
As in Brazil, Israel, and elsewhere, the divisions among ruling classes in south Asia are playing out in the streets. Workers must not support any capitalist faction or any of their imperialist backers. When the rulers set the masses in motion, we must do everything we can to mobilize as many as possible for communism.
ICWP Grows Amid Capitalist Crises
The international meeting in Bengaluru had a lively debate about how our party can grow in the face of mass unemployment and inflation. Comrades reported that in the garment factories where they work, the bosses are forcing workers to meet higher targets, which takes a toll on the workers. The long hours and hard physical work leave them less time with their families. The stress leads to alcoholism, sexual abuse, and violence.
Trade unions control garment workers everywhere in Bengaluru. They demand wage increases that the government meets with inflation, resulting in even lower purchasing power. This endless cycle keeps us dependent on capitalists.
But ICWP was able to lead hundreds of families in the struggle of a comrade who was harassed by her supervisor. People we hadn’t known before were distributing Red Flag and discussing in the evenings and in their workplaces its call to smash the sexist system of capitalism. More workers have joined our meetings and recognized the need to expand Red Flag circulation. This gets us closer to breaking capitalism’s endless cycle of exploitation.
Our increased activity has brought unwelcome attention from BJP-supported goons. With state elections coming up in May, BJP is determined to eliminate any obstacles to winning. While we denounce the state elections, our call for communist revolution concerns them. They have threatened to find out the leadership because our Red Flag does not have an address in India. We made plans to improve and expand our work in the face of fascism and to double Party membership.
Inspired by the participation of the comrade in Sri Lanka, we expect to bring large groups to the streets of Delhi, Bangalore, and Chennai to massively distribute Red Flag and our line of communist revolution on May Day.