Comrades Fight Sexism to Build a Mass ICWP
BENGALURU (India), April 13— On an unusually hot day, comrade Sarla angrily told the union boss, “You can go and vote for the [opposition] Congress Party, I am going to organize my comrades to build a better world.”
The Congress Party won the state government here in Karnataka last year, defeating the fascist BJP. The unions saw it as a victory for the working class. For comrade Sarla, an active ICWP organizer, it was a time to mobilize the masses for communism. She told many workers in her factory that it was the Congress Party that passed a new law to force workers to work twelve-hour shifts, six days a week.
Bengaluru used to enjoy a moderately cool climate but now it faces a severe water shortage. In Sarla’s factory, the water flows constantly to dye jeans and shirts. This contaminated water then goes into the aquifer. The workers then must drink this cancer-causing water. Many workers avoid it because it smells like raw sewage. Neither the BJP nor the Congress Party has a solution to this crisis because it was the capitalists’ greed that caused it. Both parties compete to win the capitalists, not the workers.
Comrade Sarla distributes about twenty copies of Red Flag to her coworkers. Her collective distributes about 150 copies. All members of ICWP are busy organizing workers for May Day.
Fighting Sexism to Build a Mass International Communist Workers’ Party
“We want to show that we are not just garment workers, we are communists organizing other industrial workers,” Divya said. She pledged to bring at least three men who are automobile workers.
Divya, a young garment worker, has a difficult task. She works hard to support her family, leaving almost no time to meet other workers. Then there is a socially expected behavior of not socializing with males.
But Divya understands that sexism must be confronted to build unity of all workers. At first, many male workers ignored her. But her collective read and discussed our party’s pamphlet on sexism. It gave her great confidence and she started to struggle with her male friends.
Divya is proud that some male friends read Red Flag regularly and will come to the May Day event. Bengaluru has over six million industrial workers. “If I can win three workers to the Party, everyone can do it. I changed my outlook. I am a communist. We need more communists.”
“Millions of workers are bombarded with ideas of accepting our capitalist masters. They divide us by caste, religion, gender. Now they are staging a political circus of electing a new parliament,” Divya said. “No political party will address the issues of unemployment, inflation, crime, caste violence, because they created it in the first place.”
Mobilize Masses for Communism Amidst Mass Unemployment, Capitalist Wars
India has over 200 million workers who make less than a dollar a day. It is spending enormous amounts of money to stage the coming parliamentary elections. It is predicted to be the most expensive election in the world. The money stolen from the workers will be used to elect which capitalist-controlled ruler will win. Modi’s fascist party is expected to win. However, half of the workers will stay home. They have no interest in supporting which boss’ representative gets elected.
Comrades in Delhi are especially determined to mobilize the masses to communism after participating in the farmer’s rally last month. Balbir, who joined ICWP out of the farmers’ struggle, says he can bring dozens to May Day.
Balbir said that in his home state of Punjab, unemployment is so high that many workers line up to go to Russia for any job. Long lines are forming at the New Delhi airport because the Russian contractors will take anybody. Many of these workers end up directly or indirectly involved in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
In a Chennai auto factory, ICWP members are preparing for the celebration of the 101st anniversary of May Day when autoworkers there seized the factory. This year we will celebrate building and consolidating a mass ICWP. We have been distributing about five hundred copies of Red Flag in the industrial areas. A garment worker in Sri Lanka will also be joining with some workers in Colombo on May Day.
Our May Day this year will be better and bigger. We are entering into a new era of endless wars and misery, deprivation of our class. Our message will be to destroy the perpetrators of wage slavery. The new comrades like Balbir, Divya, and many others will show that capitalism can be defeated with the communist revolution.
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