Only a Government Formed as the Organ of a Revolutionary People’s Upsurge Can End Fascism
May 15, 2024Editorial (May 2024)
| What has surfaced in the last ten years under the rule of Narendra Modi as the Prime Minister suggests that it has become necessary to defeat BJP in the electoral battle, too, at any cost, otherwise nothing will remain in its present form – state, politics and economic conditions of people at large – all will change for the worse – as the fascists are entrenched everywhere in the state institutions and machinery and have converted them into their organs so that an open dictatorship of big monopoly capital could be established. However, a deeper analysis of the present-day overall situation and the character of opposition parties who are in race for power, also suggest that an extraordinarily bad situation demands some definite extraordinary counter measures, too. As said above, one such extraordinary measure on the part of the revolutionary proletariat is to defeat Narendra Modi in the electoral battle at all costs. But this alone is not enough, its merely a hollow slogan signifying tailism. Along with this and side by side, another measure is necessary, though it may look not as much apparent and urgent for those who are infected with conservatism – this pertains to a fight for establishing a government, through election or by other legitimate means, which will act as the organ of a revolutionary people’s upsurge. Only such a government as the organ of a revolutionary people’s upsurge can uproot or end fascism along with its soil. “Where is this upsurge?”, one may ask. It is quite in front of us, developing but presently in the form of people’s dissatisfaction and anger along with restlessness for an immediate change in the present power dispensation, using only which opposition parties are trying to wrest power. It is certain that the tall promises being made by opposition today are going to remain largely unfulfilled even if voted to power. This may turn the people’s unrest into an upsurge. It can’t be ruled out as the political as well as economic situation is impregnated with such possibilities. Correct strategy, tactics and slogans may help this possibility become a vital reality. Revolutionaries may pin hopes right here. They may better engage themselves here than anywhere else. |
Election activities are in full swing across the country. As the elections are progressing, the political situation of the country is changing rapidly. We can see that BJP has become fearful of its defeat as soon as the election has started revolving around the real issues of public concern and, with this, Narendra Modi has begun despicable and dreadful attempts, completely based on lies and slanders, to drag the public into the whirlpool of Hindu-Muslim hate politics and influencing voters on communal lines in order to polarize Hindu votes in his favour. In this, he is bottomless and competing with his own IT cell whose main task is to spread lies and slander against Modi’s adversaries. He is actually crossing all limits to stoop down. A prime minister doing all this is new low of Indian democracy which has no parallel in the history of Indian democracy.
Actually, BJP is not showing interest in raising any kind of issues of public concern. To be more precise, they are no longer capable of raising real issues of public concern. In last ten years, the public has understood that the promises of Narendra Modi and BJP are mere words. Even if Narendra Modi wants to make promises, he can’t. He has lost his ground to do so. People will hardly believe his words. Hollowness of his event management is clear. It isn’t attractive now. Selling big dreams is also not working now. He is trying to sell the dream of a fully developed India by 2047, but the buyers of such fake dreams are missing this time. Thus, Narendra Modi has to restrict himself to raising communal issues and keep propagating around Ram Mandir, Triple Talaq, Article 370, Uniform Civil Code, rise in population of Muslims, reservation for Muslims, that too, on the basis of complete lies and slander. Though hate mongering politics or propaganda around anti-Muslim slogans has been the core politics and basic characteristic feature of BJP, it has become its compulsion in the present-day circumstances.
More than this, Narendra Modi is aiming, come what may, at a huge mass mobilization against minorities, particularly against Muslims, in case he really feels that he is being ousted from power. His election time behaviour shows that he wants to raise the pitch of hate mongering politics to an unprecedented level so as to be able to ignite riot mentality in the whole country, provoke violence and create a nationwide atmosphere of chaos, and finally link all this with the issue of security of Hindus as well as the issue of internal threat to national threat, being posed by congress-Muslim-communist combine, in case he really feels he is going to be defeated. He is clearly trying to foment a chaotic situation in the country. By doing this, he is trying to further consolidate and crystallize the reactionary energy unleashed in the past ten years with a special purpose, particularly in the event of his electoral defeat, to either spearhead a violent come-back attempt riding on the back of an atmosphere full of violence, chaos, uncertainties, mutual animosity and communal hatred (that he is trying to create through election campaign) or at least create un-surmountable hurdles in the form of deepest possible communal divide even before the new government is installed, so as to thrust itself on the forefront of national politics and thus stage a quick come-back, yet again. This is the real intention one can filter from what he is saying and propagating from election platform. It means that the situation of the country will remain gloomy – atmosphere filled with the possibility of violent turmoil and loaded with uncertainties – even after the elections are over. The danger of victory of fascism will continue.
So, it must be clear that Narendra Modi is not going to accept his defeat. It doesn’t mean that we are saying that he is being voted out. We are only trying to explain his election time behaviour that betrays his real intentions. We are trying to understand why he is openly fanning the fire of communal animosity; why he is hell-bent for the deepest possible cleavage among communities by resorting to rabid polarization politics; why he is so restless for mobilizing people around the religious divide, and why he wants a chaotic atmosphere in the country. The answer is: Only after he is successful in what he is trying to do, he can raise his most favourable bogey i.e. the bogey according to which the country is facing an acute internal threat and is in grave danger.At this stage, he can easily go for grabbing the Save the country bogey. We know, this is the best suited bogey for any fascist leader. Using this bogey, a fascist can easily capture and brainwash the mind of the people for imposing an open terroristic rule. Resistance, if it comes from any corner, can be repulsed easily, because this will be done in the name of saving the country from the internal enemies. Constitutional bodies, democratic institutions and the whole state machinery will completely fall in line as most of them have already left doing anything against Narendra Modi. There is no democratic institution that can say to him, ‘halt now, enough is enough’.
In this background, it is important to ask, ‘Will the electoral defeat of Modi government lead to any change that will ensure the defeat of fascism or fascist forces in true sense?’ Will the installation of a new bourgeois government bring such changes on the ground as are required to safeguard the country against a fascist come back? Will the new bourgeois government be successful in curbing the nefarious designs and activities of the fascists? Do they measure up to this task that requires them to lead the people with revolutionary zeal and energy? Are the bourgeois parties, whatever their election promises, really worth this role? Such questions need to be responded and answered with utmost gravity and seriousness. If answer is that the bourgeois parties are not worthy of this fight, then this question appears on the scene automatically: how will the vast reactionary energy, unleashed and gathered within the state machinery as well as outside it, be put down and extinguished? We are raising these questions not for denying or demeaning the importance of defeat of Narendra Modi in the present election, but for balancing the overzealous attempt of some of our friends who subjectively place extraordinary faith in the opposition parties’ motive and strength in fighting the battle against fascism and fascist forces, that too in the second decade of the 21st century when capitalist democracy has been historically eroded by the extraordinary penetration of monopoly finance capital in the state from top to bottom and in all its machinery.
In view of the above scenario, the first thing that strikes our mind, and for that sake any justice-loving person’s mind is that BJP and Narendra Modi government must be defeated in this election. We must all work to fulfil this task and there must be no doubt about it. Every person, who is aware of the seriousness of the situation, wants that BJP must lose for he knows that if BJP wins in this election, then even this capitalist democracy, its constitution, the present structure of law and justice, the right to vote, etc. will be done away with. At least they are not going to exist in its current form. In this sense, as this election is not an ordinary one, the call of defeat the BJP and its alliance partner is a correct call. To fulfil this task is urgent as it is necessary to stop Modi government’s rapid move towards establishing a fascist i.e. open and terroristic dictatorship.
However, every such person, who considers the defeat of BJP an urgent necessity, will also agree that given the extraordinary situation in which state machinery has slipped into the hands of the fascists led by Modi and his people, the country also needs not just any government but a revolutionary government i.e. a government which is also an organ of revolutionary initiative of the people i.e. an organ of people’s uprising. What we will have to do for this? Can it be fulfilled on the basis of just our revolutionary wishes? No. Things are already moving in this direction. The existing objective material situation requires us to formulate correct strategy and tactics and set proper goal to help the emerging people’s unrest, riding on which the opposition parties are together trying to wrest power from Modi, convert itself into an upsurge or uprising against the fascists of all types.
The reason for this is clear. No matter how many pompous and ‘revolutionary’ promises the ruling class opposition makes, its government will also be tied, as rigidly as possible, to the interests of big monopoly capital as well as imperialism and will be dependent on their mercy and perks. The only difference between BJP and Congress is that while the BJP is acting out of a desire of open naked dictatorship, Congress understanding that open naked dictatorship will give rise to public dissatisfaction and rebellion is acting out of desire of keeping the long-term interest of capitalism-imperialism and thus wants to rule while keeping the bourgeois dictatorship within the cover of democracy, even though it is very difficult to do so with every passing day. Democracy is best suited political shell for capital but no one can stop its erosion. Even under Congress regime, it has been continuously eroding. What to talk of India which is a less developed capitalist country without having gone through a democratic revolution and a rigorous democratic change at the ground level, even in the most developed countries like the USA, Britain, France, etc. we can see this historical erosion taking place continuously. But Congress wants to make do with it, in any case and advance the interests of the monopoly capitalists as far as possible by utilizing this shell. But it can’t work for long and with peace, given the fact that the quintessence of rise of finance capital to its zenith (we are talking about its tendency) is complete monopoly, not freedom. It naturally gives rise to regression. Democracy, the political shell of old capitalism has come into stark contradiction with the rise of monopoly finance capital to its zenith. What does it mean? It means that this contradiction is bound to burst in any case, sooner or later. Big capital and imperialism are not concerned about peace, tranquillity and brotherhood among the people. They know that if peace and brotherhood prevail among the people and people get proper time and conditions to consider their interests or they forget concentrating their mind on artificial divisions based on caste, creed, race, ethnicity, religion and region etc and unite among themselves for their collective interests (we don’t mean to say here that individual interests and collective interests are opposed to each other like thesis and anti-thesis), then the current system of plunder led by big capital will be in danger. Therefore, if the big capitalist class wants to make its system of loot stronger, or at least so much strong that it remains intact or doesn’t fumble or fall in the face of unending crises, resulting often in mass unrest and protest, then it feels to them better to keep the people divided. This divisive tactic comes quite naturally to them. In such a situation, no government dependent on the big capitalist class can fight the fascist forces with full promptness and decisiveness. On the contrary, soon they will be needed, summoned by their master i.e. the big capital, to deal with masses’ revolt by resorting to divisive politics yet again, and fascistic ruling class and non-fascistic ruling class parties, at some point of time, particularly when the masses don’t remain in their domain of politics, all of them will reconcile their differences among themselves and join together to suppress the masses. This is not a new thing about which we are saying for the first time. It has happened many times in the past. We must be aware of history. While the urgency of the time is to oust the Modi government at all costs, we must keep our eyes fixed on emerging situation of mass unrest and devise proper tactics and build suitable strategy to ride on the emerging situation to help the growing unrest take the shape of a people’s uprising. To defeat BJP now at all cost must be just a tactical slogan intricately linked to this cause and nothing more than this. It is to walk on a rope. It is a tight rope tactics. However, to vacillate in this tactical move on either side is a despicable act. Not to resist BJP at the present time so that it is stopped from coming to power is as bad as to surrender our independent revolutionary position to the cause of opposition parties in the name of stopping BJP from coming to power. We must resist this one-sidedness, while placing proper emphasis at proper time and proper juncture. For example, we must keep ourselves committed to the task of defeating BJP as the main enemy of the people, but we must also expose the hollowness of the opposition parties’ politics.
If we want to sum up, we can say that the victory of these opposition parties is the need of the hour. But it will be the outcome of two things. First and foremost, it will be the outcome of the people’s dissatisfaction and anger against the present fascist dispensation of power. Secondly, it will be a result of the election gimmicks and false promises of the opposition. Naturally, such a government is not based on true aspirations of the people, but on the narrow interests of the capitalist class and hence cannot curb/rein in the nefarious fascist forces who intend to break the peace and brotherhood among the people and create an atmosphere of chaos, anarchy and finally want to impose open dictatorship in the country. It means that the plight of the people will remain and the danger of coming back of fascist forces to power remains intact, even though BJP or Narendra Modi is defeated electorally.
What do we need to do, then? We want a government as the outcome people’s real aspirations and their upsurge, and not based on election gimmicks and false promises of the ruling class parties. We need mass uprising against fascist forces, ground of which is rapidly being preparing by the material objective reality. We know, the word ‘uprising’ is feared by all bourgeois parties. They tremble at its slightest hint. They use the people’s anger to garner votes for themselves, but they will not hesitate for a moment in suppressing it mercilessly once people take their fate in their own hands, sensing in advance the treachery of these opposition parties whose signs and symptoms are omnipresent even now.
Rahul Gandhi has brought 25 guarantees and 5 nyaay (justice). But they remain completely silent on the existing system based on plunder of labour, which creates poverty, destitution and unemployment every day and every moment. Overall, they are not talking about elimination, but about some better management of unemployment, poverty and destitution through financial assistance, so that people don’t revolt against the capitalist system, finally. Rahul Gandhi’s guarantees and Nyaaya have been born out of this necessity. We must say this to the people whose anger and dissatisfaction is being sought to be channelized along peaceful management of capitalist loot system by Rahul Gandhi. Actually, this is all a program of finance capital and there is nothing new in it. The slogan of Universal Basic Income and bringing farmers under holiday benefit scheme for not producing food grains was also the slogan of finance capital. What is it all about, really? The aim of monopoly finance capital is to establish control over the entire social production and wealth, whether created by labour or given by nature, to expropriate and uproot small producers as much as possible, to establish a monopoly on all sources of wealth and income in society, to make an increasingly larger section of the population dependent on donations and doles from the government by making them unemployed and bankrupt, pushing them into penury and creating a huge empire of hunger and destitution, so that they are starved of even a few thousand rupees to fulfil their basic needs. That is why the program of finance capital to provide basic income to the common people is a program to manage not only unemployment and hunger but also the revolt brewing among the masses who, as a result of the universal plunder by the same finance capital, have been deprived of the right to free public education, health, transportation, social security. The policy of creating a collective system of micro and small loans is also a policy of providing assistance to women to manage, and not to eliminate, their household poverty, so that the distress of women can be diverted in a different direction for a few days and they remain engaged in it in the belief that it will remove their poverty. Therefore, it is clear that Rahul Gandhi’s slogan of 5 justices and 25 guarantees is sure to meet the same fate as Modi’s ‘Acche Din’ of 2014.
As far as the rights of the people, about which he is speaking so loudly, is concerned, we can see that he does not give a clear answer whether his government will suppress the peoples struggle. He is also silent on whether his government will bring back the old labour laws by repealing the labour codes or not. He is also silent, even when asked, on whether his government will roll back privatisation or not. In a recently held important meeting in Lucknow, he was asked, “will his government re-nationalise all those industries and institutions that have been privatised by Modi government?” Contrary to the popular belief, his answer was No. It is disheartening. Isn’t it? But not for us, for those who are expecting moon from him. From this, we can draw conclusion that no anti-people and repressive laws enacted by Modi government in the past ten years will be rolled back or abolished, according to him. Nor will the pro-people laws be restored. He is not above board on all these concrete issues. He just keeps reiterating abstract phrases about saving democracy, the Constitution and the rights of the people. How is he different from Modi of 2014 on this count? We are witnessing the repeat of the year of tall promises i.e. the year 2014 when Modi used and extended big promises for votes. Only the characters have changed their places.
Rahul Gandhi is calling his 5 justices and 25 guarantees as something revolutionary. What does it mean? He means that his plan would change the lives of the people. Can we believe this to happen in a society where big monopolies rule and society is deeply divided between have and have nots. And if the people, having sensed that Rahul’s doles and donations in the form of his guarantees and Nyaayas are not going to change their lives, take to the path of struggle while going beyond his 25 guarantees and 5 justices, will the new government not resort to lathicharge and jails or prison? Rahul says that the wealth has been created by the people and belongs to them, will he allow the wealth to be socialised if people so aspire and fight for this, then? He says about participation in governance etc or share in wealth according to caste population. What will he say when a section of actual masses, the advanced labouring masses, demand the same share and participation as per labour contribution, or to say, as per the contribution of social labour to the creation of social wealth? Will he agree? No, he won’t. He will rather oppose it for this demand of people’s participation in governance and share in national wealth as per social labour contribution will debar the capitalist class and all other parasitic classes (with financial monopoly and oligarchy on the top) from getting any share. In other words, when the masses decide to surpass Rahul Gandhi’s ‘revolutionism’ and come out to destroy fascism along with the ground that produces it, i.e., the present capitalist system of plunder of labour and, to become the creator of their own destiny, will this same Rahul Gandhi stand with these masses, then? Every revolutionary person knows the answer to this question.
But this doesn’t mean that we must equate Rahul with Modi. No, not at all. While it is true that the Modi government has to be ousted, and as the things stand as of now, it is congress or its alliance with other opposition parties’ that can replace him. This is an imposed objective reality and we recognise this existing apparent reality. But this is a moribund reality because it cannot prove its necessity in course of its development and time. It will lose its rationality as well as necessity as soon as it comes in motion in the process of time. The reality is that its rationality is tainted with irrationality beforehand, not only by its destination but also by its very existence and history. It therefore needs to be replaced beforehand by a vital and viable reality that now exists as a rational thing in the minds of men, however much it may contradict the existing apparent reality. According to dialectics, a reality proves or disapproves its necessity and rationality only in the course of time and in course of its development and motion.[1] What we mean to say here (in brief) is that this imposed and temporary or existing and apparent reality, according to which the fascist Narendra Modi government can be replaced only by a congress-led grand alliance of bourgeois parties subservient to big capital and imperialism, is a moribund reality and therefore needs to be replaced by a viable and more vital reality, according to which only such a government as the organ of a revolutionary people’s upsurge under the leadership of the working class can uproot or end fascism along with its soil, even though for the time being it is not apparent and exists only in the minds of a few men and also seems to be in contradiction with the existing apparent reality. Only this viable reality is going to prove its rationality and necessity in the fight against fascism. We have already explained its reasons above in many paragraphs. Only this type of government will completely wipe out the forces of reaction along with their soil of origin that have been unleashed and gathered, not only in the last ten years of Modi rule, but in the last hundred years during which monopoly finance capital has been born, taken roots and expanded its Octopus-like tentacles in every walk of life. It involves a life and death struggle. An ordinary bourgeois charlatan cannot take up this task. He will only make a mockery of himself and prove himself as bad a joker as his predecessor Narendra Modi who ten years ago came to power with tallest possible promises. It is another thing that a joker who made tall but false promises was pre-determined to be a fascist given his historical roots in the fascist RSS and present-day dispensation of things under the crisis-ridden world capitalism.
Incidentally, it is important to ask Rahul Gandhi here, whose contribution is the neo-liberalism? Who took the country on this path in 1991? Who led this new reactionary journey of big capital? Who tilled the soil and made it fertile for the emergence of the reactionary wave of big capital? It is true that there was a policy paralysis in Congress in the sense that it was not ready to preside, rather it was not capable of presiding over the onward journey of the most reactionary section of big capital, although it was Congress that first prepared the ground and paved its path. Can we condone Congress on this ground? This is one of the vital questions. We must ask: who tilled the soil and made it fertile for the poisonous weeds to grow and flourish in 1990s by unleashing new economic policy of privatisation, liberalisation and globalisation? Shouldn’t we take this into account while pulling our socks for the fight against the fascists? Shouldn’t we ask: Will Rahul Gandhi accept that the crisis of global capitalism is the fundamental cause of rise of fascism in India as well as in the whole world? Will he accept that its solution lies in the destruction of capitalism-imperialism? Will Rahul Gandhi, who is attacking Modi for not holding a single press conference, give truthful answers to these questions? Will Rahul Gandhi be ready to openly debate these questions in the public court with the same openness and courage as he did when invited to debate with Modi? Will he let the country witness a mega debate on such issues? We should not forget here that our real fight is not only against the present fascist forces, but also against everything that causes this dangerous ideology to flourish again and again in history. Therefore, this time the people should gear up to overturn the old traditions of changing the governments. People must come forward to change the system, restructure the society as a whole on a different basis, stand for consistent democracy, demand and fight for a democracy without the hurdle of capital and fight for a world without exploitation of man by man. Only then will come the time when the scope of all types of exploitation, oppression and the threat of fascism will be curbed. This is the essence of any true people’s struggle that is fought in the present time.
Friends and comrades!
In view of the current crisis of world capitalism, the people’s fight to defeat fascism is an important milestone on the way to our far-reaching struggle for the goal of an exploitation-free society. This milestone is one of establishing a government which will be the product of a people’s uprising and will work as an organ of it. Only such a government can be the real people’s government. In the present situation, we can also call it the minimum and immediate revolutionary task of the working class. Such a government may take the form of a transient system of a government emerging from the womb of the revolutionary mass upsurge. Its immediate responsibility will be to eliminate as completely as possible the poisonous weeds of fascism and the ground or factors responsible for its growth. Its necessity arises because no ordinary bourgeois government can ever eliminate the possibility of the re-emergence of the monster of fascism which does possess the danger and potentiality of destroying the whole mankind and this beautiful world. The present-day election speeches of Narendra Modi candidly show what kind of a monster fascism really is. We haven’t seen the rise of Hitler, but we can see the making of a Hitler in him. Let him be not a complete Hitler. Naturally, the task of completely restoring all kinds and forms of democratic rights and reshaping democracy as unhindered by capital is intricately linked with this fight. So far as the election time is concerned, let us take a clear pledge – a pledge to caste our vote sensing what kind of a life and death struggle awaits us in near future, sensing what is needed at the present time for paving the way for the stormy people’s struggle needed to overthrow the present system and sensing what kind of struggle is ensuing around us to build a consistent democratic society. Here it is clear that we first of all need to remove the biggest hurdle of this path i.e. we have to remove the fascists from power. Let us vote with this mental preparation.
[1] For a complete understanding, see Engels famous piece Ludwig Feuerbach and the End of Classical German Philosophy (1886). Engels discusses Hegel’s famous statement which said ‘all that is real is rational; and all that is rational is real.’ Engels writes that this statement ‘was tangibly a sanctification of things that be’ and that is why with this, even the most reactionary thing that exists in the world can be sanctified as real and rational. This was the conservative part of Hegel’s philosophical proposition. Engels further discusses the revolutionary part by taking up Hegel’s another statement according to which ‘in the course of its development reality proves to be necessity.’ Engels writes, ‘But according to Hegel certainly not everything that exists is also real, without further qualification. For Hegel the attribute of reality belongs only to that which at the same time is necessary. … And so, in the course of development, all that was previously real becomes unreal, loses it necessity, its right of existence, its rationality. And in the place of moribund reality comes a new, viable reality — peacefully if the old has enough intelligence to go to its death without a struggle; forcibly if it resists this necessity. Thus, the Hegelian proposition turns into its opposite through Hegelian dialectics itself: All that is real in the sphere of human history, becomes irrational in the process of time, is therefore irrational by its very destination, is tainted beforehand with irrationality, and everything which is rational in the minds of men is destined to become real, however much it may contradict existing apparent reality.’