NEW DELHI (India), December 5 — “When Putin arrives in India tomorrow, there won’t be green fabric along the highways,” said a bus driver as he took the latest issue of Red Flag. “They did it two years ago during the G20 summit to hide the millions of people living in sprawling squalor. Today, the smog is so severe that the toxic brown cloud will engulf the streets.”
This worker has read Red Flag since 2023. The air quality is so bad that when he drives his bus, even in the daytime, the streets disappear from his vision and he misses turns.
Our ICWP collective has been distributing Red Flag in this area for four years. It’s near the largest gathering point where workers go to the Maruti/Suzuki auto factory.
We are concentrating on this area because more than 35,000 workers are employed there. Next year, they will add 15,000 more autoworkers. This neighbourhood has thousands of other workers. Most live in slums.
Every person we meet while distributing Red Flag has experienced the devastating effects of air pollution. Constant cough, breathing difficulty, and asthma are present in every family. Manju said, “Red Flag is the only newspaper that talks about how communism will end deadly air pollution, climate change, and other capitalist-created disasters.”
Manju added that “India was getting discounted oil from Russia, but today, the petrol prices have almost doubled. Food prices are skyrocketing. The rupee is falling.”
Another long-time reader agreed. “Putin gave cheap oil to Adani and Ambani. Common people in India are working harder than ever and finding it more difficult to survive. Putin and Modi are plotting to expand their exploitation of people like us.”
Comments like these give us the opportunity to explain the geopolitics of Putin’s visit. As we have often said, the entire capitalist system is in crisis like never before. The capitalist bosses survive only by making more money. But there are too many capitalists trying to make money.
Take the example of the auto factory.
India has the third largest automobile industry in the world. After the Ukraine-Russia war began, the Indian auto industry grew rapidly. It is expected to be number one by 2030. This was mostly fueled by cheap Russian oil that formerly propelled European industry.
However, 70% of India’s automobile components come from China. Indian automobile companies use Chinese EV manufacturing, lithium batteries, computer chips, and robotics. Indian imperialists need Chinese imperialists, but they are also in competition with them.
In a recent brief conflict between India and Pakistan, India was humiliated when the Chinese-made fighter jets and missiles destroyed Indian fighter jets on the ground, even before they could take off. Indian capitalists quietly accepted defeat by expanding the auto industry supply chain to India.
The Russian imperialists see that both the Indian and Chinese imperialists need their enormous energy resources. They propose strengthening Russia-India-China ties to boost the BRICS (Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa) alliance. Putin has offered an unlimited energy supply. He opened Russia’s Arctic routes to India and provided the latest missile technology.
However, Indian rulers also depend on exporting cheap goods to the USA. The Trump administration wants to increase tariffs to dissuade Russia from selling oil to India. They are offering F-35 fighter jets to India as a counterbalance to the contradiction between India and China. These are all signs of World War.
The thick, toxic clouds in India won’t be lifted by Putin, Modi, or Trump. Only the working class, led by ICWP, fighting for communism to end the wage system, will pave the way for clearer air. We don’t need millions of cheap cars that clog freeways and lungs. We will build an efficient transport system based on the needs of the working class, and not on capitalist profit.
We made a strategic decision to concentrate our ICWP forces in industrial areas. With our comrades in Chennai, we are establishing a foothold in the auto industry. We greet our South African comrades in the Volkswagen plants. Let us expand our base by preparing for communist revolution.