by Robin MacGregor
Revolutionary Democracy Third Series, Volume One, number 1 (April 2024) £7.50 including P&P from NCP Lit, PO Box 73, London SW11 2PQ
The latest edition of Revolutionary Democracy, the twice yearly Indian Marxist-Leninist journal has appeared in its regular tripartite format of articles on contemporary Indian politics, materials reflecting the views of International Conference of Marxist-Leninist Political Organisations (ICMLPO) and archival materials.
Published in April it appeared before the Indian General Election which saw the fascist BJP government return, albeit with a reduced majority. However, we have a survey of the results of the earlier elections to five State Assemblies where the BJP consolidated its position in Hindi speaking areas. A disunited opposition from the left and Congress is blamed for this situation.
The BJP’s latest national Budget comes under scrutiny. While the BJP boast that the Indian economy has drastically changed in the past decade, they fail to point out this has seen the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, and real term cuts in desperately needed welfare and infrastructure spending.
While the BJP likes to talk about the growing aviation sector a quarter of second-class train seats have been lost and replaced by expensive air-conditioned seats reflecting a growing inequality. Likewise, the growth of numbers employed in agriculture is simply a case of urban workers forced back to the land.
Another crime of the BJP government is recent paramilitary action against the tribal peoples whose lands sit on huge iron ore reserves. These violent actions are falsely justified by the need to repress Maoist terrorism, and are part of a decades long strategy.
From elsewhere on the subcontinent there are articles with self-explanatory titles like The Rot Among the Communists of Nepal is Helping the Hindutva Takeover and Will Pakistan achieve economic and political stability? The latter piece presents an unsurprisingly depressing picture including the fact that the economy is heavily dependent on remittances from workers forced to work abroad.
Next Rafael Martinez, a regular on these pages, denounces Russia’s actions in the Ukraine as being a war between two imperialist factions, deploring the Communist Party of the Russian Federation as openly national chauvinist.
An interesting article on the Partition of India by Badruddin Umar briefly surveys thousands of years of immigration into India and blames James Mill’s famous History of British India for causing India’s communal problems which led to the separate states of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
We have a 1937 article by A V Shchegolov on Lenin’s and Stalin’s Exposure of Bogdanov’s Tektology and Equilibrium Theory which was part of the important Soviet debates on economics.
Published in April it appeared before the Indian General Election which saw the fascist BJP government return, albeit with a reduced majority. However, we have a survey of the results of the earlier elections to five State Assemblies where the BJP consolidated its position in Hindi speaking areas. A disunited opposition from the left and Congress is blamed for this situation.
The BJP’s latest national Budget comes under scrutiny. While the BJP boast that the Indian economy has drastically changed in the past decade, they fail to point out this has seen the loss of hundreds of thousands of jobs, and real term cuts in desperately needed welfare and infrastructure spending.
While the BJP likes to talk about the growing aviation sector a quarter of second-class train seats have been lost and replaced by expensive air-conditioned seats reflecting a growing inequality. Likewise, the growth of numbers employed in agriculture is simply a case of urban workers forced back to the land.
Another crime of the BJP government is recent paramilitary action against the tribal peoples whose lands sit on huge iron ore reserves. These violent actions are falsely justified by the need to repress Maoist terrorism, and are part of a decades long strategy.
From elsewhere on the subcontinent there are articles with self-explanatory titles like The Rot Among the Communists of Nepal is Helping the Hindutva Takeover and Will Pakistan achieve economic and political stability? The latter piece presents an unsurprisingly depressing picture including the fact that the economy is heavily dependent on remittances from workers forced to work abroad.
Next Rafael Martinez, a regular on these pages, denounces Russia’s actions in the Ukraine as being a war between two imperialist factions, deploring the Communist Party of the Russian Federation as openly national chauvinist.
An interesting article on the Partition of India by Badruddin Umar briefly surveys thousands of years of immigration into India and blames James Mill’s famous History of British India for causing India’s communal problems which led to the separate states of Pakistan and Bangladesh.
We have a 1937 article by A V Shchegolov on Lenin’s and Stalin’s Exposure of Bogdanov’s Tektology and Equilibrium Theory which was part of the important Soviet debates on economics.
The longest piece is a new illustrated article by C N Subramaniam, Socialism and Education – An Historical Overview from the Anabaptists to the Utopian Socialists, which does what it says on the tin by surveying four centuries of European traditions of progressive education.
From the Soviet archives we have a Report of a 1947 meeting between Stalin and Maurice Thorez, the General Secretary of the French Communist Party, and a 1949 report from the Communist Party of China to the Soviet party which was annotated by Stalin. The Thorez meeting took place at a time when the French party was fighting against the growing American influence over France. The Socialist Party were faithful supporters of the Americans, selling out French cinema and the efficient aviation industry. The discussion also includes views on the Italian party and some unflattering comments on the British party. Thorez surprised Stalin by saying the French party was financially well off, partly as a result of owing a shipping company, but he was reassured to learn they also kept arms dumps and clandestine radio links, a legacy of the wartime resistance.
The Chinese report, written just after the main communist victory (but while fighting was continuing) is important for showing Stalin’s successful opposition to Mao’s original plans to shut out all the other parties who had fought against the Japanese. It also shows that Stalin never gave orders but only advice to the Chinese.
Returning to India the issue closes with two documents from the 1950s. First there is a 1950 Communist Party of India (CPI) denunciation of the then new Indian Constitution which was deemed unworthy for an independent nation because it simply maintained the power of capitalists. It prophesied that the provisions would lead to the rise of the Hindu nationalism which rules India today.
Finally there is a reprint of a 1951 CPI discussion pamphlet on the concept of People’s Democracy and how it applies to India.
The Chinese report, written just after the main communist victory (but while fighting was continuing) is important for showing Stalin’s successful opposition to Mao’s original plans to shut out all the other parties who had fought against the Japanese. It also shows that Stalin never gave orders but only advice to the Chinese.
Returning to India the issue closes with two documents from the 1950s. First there is a 1950 Communist Party of India (CPI) denunciation of the then new Indian Constitution which was deemed unworthy for an independent nation because it simply maintained the power of capitalists. It prophesied that the provisions would lead to the rise of the Hindu nationalism which rules India today.
Finally there is a reprint of a 1951 CPI discussion pamphlet on the concept of People’s Democracy and how it applies to India.
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