Communism Will Be a Breath of Fresh Air here ā¦ US-India Competition Grows, Alliances Shift here ā¦
COMMUNISM WILL BE A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
NEW DELHI (India), November 29ā Recently, we had a collective meeting with a comrade from the US in New Delhi. Twenty comrades enthusiastically attended. While the number was imposing, it was a breathless experience for all of us.
New Delhi is the worldās second-most polluted city. The optimum air quality index (AQI) is less than 50. It hovered around 450 in New Delhi. A few weeks later, it reached 1700! The air was a thick, toxic mix. People were gasping to breathe. All schools, businesses, and public appearances were cancelled. Hospitals were allowing only super-emergency patients, and many died while waiting in toxic air to be attended.
Newborns in New Delhi receive asthma medication if they can afford private health care. The remaining children, born in working-class families, are gasping for air.
Scientists in India do not know the death toll from such severe air quality. They can take a sample of air on the dark side of the moon using the latest rocket, but the working class is dying because of pollution which is unknown to the capitalist bosses and their criminal ideologues.
Similarly, wealthy people in Delhi fortify their homes, expensive buildings, and meeting places with impenetrable filters to create an ideal AQI of less than 50. The Indian Parliament is triple filtered to create crisp air with almost zero pollution. Workers canāt do that. Many wage-slaves must work outside all day to avoid starvation.
The greedy capitalists cause this preventable disaster. New Delhiās population is exploding, with millions unable to find jobs. The masses are moving to New Delhi, uprooted from their once-fertile village land. These villages that produced a life of plenty are now helpful to the corporate interest that contaminates the land with toxic chemicals and pesticides to create more poisonous food to sell profitably. Also, uncontrollable stubble burning practiced by small farmers adds to the pollution.
Such toxic air quality curses almost all Indian cities. The most affected are the northern states, where the winter traps air currents in the Himalayas. The life-giving rivers originating from the Himalayas are poisoned by chemicals and further threatened by capitalists as they bulldoze entire once-impassable mountains. They also create hydroelectric dams. All this instability and melting of the excessive ice eventually create disasters, landslides, and flooding that wipe out entire cities.
Our meeting took an added dimension as we received the news of Trumpās election to be the next president of the US. We met the entire day, talking about the two genocidal wars in Gaza and Ukraine. And we discussed what it means for the working class as fascist Trump takes office.
We will write more for Red Flag about all this. We resolved that all these conditions are caused by capitalism and will end with the end of capitalism. How we end capitalism is the most fundamental aspect of our work.
Creating a new communist society without landslides and toxic air requires mass participation in ICWP. Twenty of us meeting in New Delhi to distribute five hundred copies of Red Flag each issue is good, but we can do a lot better. How do we change quantity into quality?
Our relationship with the masses is unbreakable as we struggle for communist understanding. We have overcome many hurdles in New Delhi and distributed thousands of copies of Red Flag. Our meeting ended with a new resolve to go back to the masses and create more communists. Communist revolution will purify the air, as communist relationships will not allow criminal capitalist gangs to exist to destroy humanity.
US-India: Imperialist Competition Sharpens, Alliances Shift. Opportunities Grow for Communist Organizing
November 29ā US prosecutors have charged the Indian multi-billionaire Adani with securities fraud.Ā Many workers will yawn.Ā Arenāt all capitalists crooked?Ā Yes!
But this case exposes a sharpening struggle between the imperialists of the USA and India.Ā This will affect workers in both countries and beyond.
Prosecutors claim that Adani bribed Indian politicians for $250 million. He and six others can be arrested if they enter the US.
Adani invested heavily in infrastructure projects like mining, highways, ports, and energy. He relied on US banks to finance his empire. So did other Indian capitalists. US and Wall Street willingly financed them. They sought allies against Chinese imperialism, a major competitor.
The Indian capitalist class once relied on US investors to fund its ambition to become a major imperialist power. But two years ago, US-based Hindenburg Research accused Adani of ābrazenā stock manipulation. The Adani empire lost billions of dollars as rising interest rates made it difficult to borrow money in the US and Europe.
A major Indian newspaper, NDTV, did not report anything about this. NDTV was sold to Adani in a hostile takeover last year.
The finance sector is key to imperialism. Capitalists must borrow money to expand their ability to exploit workers in the production process. They must expand to remain competitive. When banks and other financial institutions stop lending, capitalists can go bankrupt.
Rising Indian Imperialism Threatens US Interests
Adaniās global enterprises and those of other Indian capitalists spread quickly.Ā Middle East ports, Australian coal, Venezuelan gas, power in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Kenya, and more.Ā The US imperialists started to realize that India was a friend turned competitor ā and potential foe. They took aim at Adani to intimidate all Indian capitalists.
Another Indian capitalist, Ambani, competes against Walmart and Amazon for Indiaās huge market. He is also fighting off Elon Muskās Starlink to maintain 500 million cell phone customers.
Indiaās Tata Group competes with Boeing, Tesla, and other US companies for markets in airlines, electric cars, steel, and information technology.
So, US imperialism faces a contradiction.Ā It hoped to join its formidable war industry with India to stall Chinese ambition. But ambitious Indian imperialism, which distrusts US war contractors, threatens to outcompete the US.
The Adani indictment and the recent India-China border agreement point to how this contradiction is resolving.Ā Indian capitalists will find other investors in the Middle East, Japan, and elsewhere in Asia.
Ambani already profits enormously by selling discounted Russian oil to Europe. He has received loans from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Kuwait, and Riyadh. The interests of Indian imperialism are increasingly aligning with those of the Russian and Chinese imperialists.
Adani is inseparable from Indiaās ruler, Narendra Modi. Adaniās private airplane and financing brought fascist Modi to become Prime Minister. In the decade since then, Ambani and India Inc. have also profited enormously.
āWe Need More Communistsā
There is no contradiction between the interests of Indian and US workers.Ā We need to overthrow all imperialist bosses and build communism worldwide.
At a recent meeting, comrades recognized that the US attack on Indian rulers was our opportunity to recruit friends and coworkers to communism. We distributed a thousand copies of Red Flag while the AQI was hovering around 450.
A New Delhi comrade remarked that many in India think of billionaires from the US and Europe. They are shocked that there is an Indian billionaire while 800 million Indians survive on less thanĀ $100Ā aĀ month.
Our party has seen modest growth in New Delhi. We have brought communist politics to students, farmers, and communities in struggles against attacks on Muslims and on farmersā livelihoods.Ā During the Covid pandemic, we brought scientific information and political analysis to our communities.Ā Comrades in Bengaluru and Chennai mobilize for communism among garment and auto workers. They have built ties with comrades in Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
āI was a Congress supporter, but you explained to me very patiently that only communism can solve hunger, starvation, and suffocating air,ā said an impoverished Indian worker to a comrade.Ā āIt took more than twenty visits from you in scorching summer heat and unbearable winter air in winter. I realized only a communist can do it. We need more people like you.ā