Call of Comrade Provash Ghosh at the Second All India Youth Conference organized by AIDYO
This is the text of the speech delivered by Comrade Provash Ghosh, General Secretary, SUCI(C), on 24 October 2016 at the concluding session of the 2nd All India Youth Conference, organized by AIDYO, held in Patna, Bihar
Comrade President, Members of the Presidium and Comrade Delegates,
Let me first express revolutionary greetings on behalf of the party SUCI (Communist) founded by the outstanding Marxist thinker and great leader of the proletariat Comrade Shibdas Ghosh, to all present here in this All India DYO Conference as delegates, the comrades who worked tirelessly for the preparation of this conference and particularly the comrades of this Bihar state. My Revolutionary greetings to you all.
Who embodied youth in this country?
First I want to raise a pertinent question that may be unpleasant to some. How should we define youth? Only based on age? Because there are thousands and thousands of young people who are drunkards, debauched, addicted to drugs, engaged in eve-teasing, raping women not even sparing 3 year old girls or 70 year old women. Can they be really called young people? Can they be called human beings? Even in an animal’s life also there is no question of raping or gang raping. In fact a new species has been developed by the ruling capitalist class who neither can be called human beings nor animals, only they are physically human beings. This is one section of so-called young people. There is another section who are engaged only in earning money, running for money, running after riches, wealth, enjoying life in the luxurious way ignoring all social obligations, even neglecting their own parents, driving them out from the house or sending them to so-called old age homes, which are in reality prison houses for the old people. This is also a new development in our country. Can they be really called young people? There was a third category of young people –let me recall the old days. A teenager from Bengal was instructed by his leaders to punish the oppressive British officer. For that, he came to this state of Bihar in 1908 and became a legendary martyr. He was Kshudiram Bose. His age was merely 18. He had no college or school degree then. When he was instructed, he simply smiled with a sense of pride. While judges pronounced the death sentence on him, again he smiled. On the gallows also he smiled. Another young man in 1915, Kartar Singh Sarabha, belonging to the Gadar Party, at the age of 19, also became a martyr and both these persons, Kartar Singh Sarabha and Kshudiram Bose inspired Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh. Bhagat Singh himself mentioned this. Let me name another person—a woman of Chattagram in undivided Bengal, now Bangladesh, Pritilata Waddedar. Her age was 21. She also faced death while fighting with the British army. She declared in a written statement, ‘I will be facing death only to prove that Indian women can die for the freedom struggle of the country.’ Now I will quote Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh. He was then only 23 years old. Two days before his execution, his friends sent a letter to him stating that they could, if he agreed, arrange his escape from the jail,. What was his answer? He said, “The desire to live is natural. It is in me also. I do not want to conceal it. But it is conditional. I don’t want to live as a prisoner or under restrictions. My name has become a symbol of Indian revolution. If I escape gallows, then this weakness would come before them and the symbol of revolution will get tarnished or perhaps it may vanish altogether. On the other hand if I embrace the gallows boldly and with a smile, that will inspire Indian mothers and they will aspire that their children should also become Bhagat Singh. Thus the number of persons ready to sacrifice their lives for the freedom of our country will increase enormously.”(1) This was the answer of Bhagat Singh.
So, I refer to three categories of young people. You have to select which category you should belong to. That is the most important question. Now, we both [Comrade Provash Ghosh and Comrade Ranjit Dhar, veteran member, Polit Bureau, SUCI(C)] have grown old. We started our political life while these names were uttered with respect in every household of India. These names inspired us. At that time we used to hear Netaji Subhas Chandra advancing with INA forces for the liberation of the country, Great Stalin leading the Red Army to defeat fascist Germany. In our families, in our school-colleges, all these great names were discussed with reverence. Starting from Vidyasagar there were many names to be remembered and to be respected. We started our lives in that way.
Ruthless capitalist exploitation enshrouded the country in darkness
Now the situation is altogether changed in our country. Is this the freedom for which these martyrs and freedom fighters sacrificed their lives? This question has to be asked very seriously. Now we are passing through the darkest period in our country — economically, politically, socially, ethically, morally, everywhere there is complete darkness. What is the future before you? Is there any future? The future is just like a desert! Not even an oasis, not even a mirage is there. No future at all! The country is moving towards ruination, in all walks of life. With sunset a natural darkness descends upon everywhere in the villages, towns. Along with that, another kind of darkness is now enshrouding the country, the social darkness. At this moment thousands and thousands of our sisters, daughters are found selling out themselves at the railway station, at market places or at public places to maintain their families. This is the reality! Women-trafficking has become a roaring ‘business’ in our country. Yesterday I read in the newspaper that within 5 years women trafficking has increased by 90% in our country. They are compelled, rather forced to maintain their families in this way. There is another business of ‘fake marriage’. Young girls are purchased from poor families in the name of marriage and then sold at hefty prices. Crores of people are crying for food, for employment, for shelter, for medical treatment. Millions and millions of boys and girls are living on railway platforms and on footpaths. They even do not know who their parents are. The political leaders of our country celebrate 15th August and 26th January with grandiose feast and throw the left-overs in the dustbin. These boys quarrel amongst themselves for scavenging food from those left-overs in order to satiate their hunger. Is this the freedom for which Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekhar Azad and others sacrificed their lives? Lakhs of people are preferring death by committing suicide to escape from this miserable life. This is happening in our country. Was it inevitable? This is another important question.
Youths are plagued by acute unemployment
Have you ever asked why there is no employment for you? According to the President of India, more than 60% are unemployed. But it is not the whole truth. The figure is much higher. Almost 80% people are unemployed or semi-employed. Recently a statistics from the Labour Department revealed that 77% households are not having regular income to meet the minimum necessity of maintaining a family. Just imagine! 77% of the population is living in this condition. Last year, it came out in the newspapers that in U.P, 23 lakhs applications were received for 323 vacancies in the post of peons. The applicants included a good number of holders of BA, MA and PhD degrees. This year the same thing happened in West Bengal. For 4000 Group-D services, 27 lakhs have applied with almost the same number of degree holders. This is the situation in the country. Lakhs of factories are being closed down. Crores of workers are being retrenched. Where is the guarantee of your jobs? This is one aspect of the picture.
Handful of super-rich amassing huge wealth squeezing people
There is another aspect. Only a 100 people in the country are having as high as 25,50,000 crores of rupees at their disposal. Ambani, Jindal, Adani, Tata—these are the people who belong to this category and the government exempts and waives their taxes. They are looting few lakh crores of bank-money and they are being allowed to do this with impunity. This is public money they are plundering. In direct contrast to this, the taxes on common people are continuously hiked. Prices of commodities are also increasing by leaps and bounds. Who rules the country? Only a handful of capitalists, industrial houses and big business houses. They are ruling and plundering the country. Under the grinding wheel of their exploiting machine, crores of people are being crushed, smothered. These few super-rich are amassing maximum profit by sucking the blood of the people. This is the situation in the country. In this situation what should be your task?
Murky face of bourgeois politics
The political leaders who are running Central Governments, State Governments, are all hypocrites, frauds and all of them deceive people. You will be astonished to know that 90% of the members of the house of the representatives of the people, that is the Indian Parliament, are having crores of rupees as their income. The income of the MLAs is also on that range. Overtly and covertly, they are in league with the black money holders and the industrial houses. Even the Ministers are making fortunes in that way. At the time of Bhagat Singh, Kshudiram and Subhas Bose, politics was viewed with deep respect. Politics then meant sacrificing everything for the country, for the people. Now politics has been reduced to a profession of deceiving people, of plundering the country. In the name of politics, all this is going on.
Cultural-moral degradation crushing moral backbone
And what is the situation in the cultural field now? Nobody remembers Bhagat Singh, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Kshudiram, Chandrasekhar Azad. Nobody remembers Vidyasagar, Phule. Nobody remembers Deshbandhu Chittaranjan, Tilak or Lala Lajpat. These are forgotten names, because heroic memories of these names have been deliberately sunk into oblivion by the rulers of the country. They instead highlight the most brazen life of film stars, cricket players and such other so called celebrities because it serves their purpose. There is no moral value in the society, no question of conscience or conscience pricking. Smilingly any cold blooded crime can be committed by anybody at any moment. Society is completely demoralized and dehumanized. There is no love and affection, no tender feeling, not even in the family life. What matters is only money and revel in gala enjoyment by spending that money. Worst form of consumerism has become the order of the day. Observing this painful development Comrade Shibdas Ghosh, one of the foremost Marxist thinkers of the era, expressed his agony in 1974 by saying :”I cannot but emphasize here that a nation going without food, suffering the worst kind of oppression and exploitation, and half fed and half clad for days together can also stand up, fight, acquire the power to combat, organize itself and rise up holding its head high, provided its moral strength remains intact and the people have a correct ideology before them. The ruling class in India is engaged in a conspiracy to totally destroy that very moral character of the nation.”(2)
Vibrant youthful fervour lies in revolutionary life
Under such circumstances, what should be the task of the young people? Who are the real youth? One should be young not just physically but mentally and ideologically. Only a revolutionary can be really young. Without revolutionary ideology, revolutionary ethics and morality, you cannot really be young. It must be remembered that only revolutionary ideology of a given era can provide vigour, spirit of sacrifice, truthfulness, concern for society and humanity, undaunted courage to fight against injustice and oppression alongwith the concept of real love and affection.
Absence of genuine Marxist Party halted logical culmination of freedom movement
It is evidently clear that in spite of the glorious anti-imperialist movement in our country, people could not achieve real freedom. In the name of freedom what was achieved was the freedom of the industrial houses and monopolists to loot the country, to exploit the people. So what was established was the exploitative rule of the Indian bourgeoisie in place of the British imperialists. This is because at that time of freedom struggle, the real revolutionary party of the proletariat was absent in our country. There were petty-bourgeois (middle class) revolutionaries who fought bravely. But there was necessity of a real Marxist party to support and combine with them and lead the freedom struggle. Great Stalin in a speech in 1925 said: “The fundamental and new feature of conditions of life of colonies like India is not only that the national bourgeoisie has split up into a revolutionary party and a compromising party, but primarily that the compromising section of bourgeoisie has already managed, in the main, to strike a deal with imperialism. Fearing revolution more than it fears imperialism, … it is forming a bloc with imperialism against the workers and peasants of its own country… the communist party can and must enter into an open bloc with the revolutionary wing of the bourgeoisie in order, after isolating the compromising national bourgeoisie, to lead the vast masses of the urban and rural petty-bourgeoisie in the struggle against imperialism.” (3)
However, the so called communist party which is now divided into CPI (M), CPI and Naxalites did not heed these teachings of Stalin. You will be astonished to know that they preferred to support the compromi-sing bourgeois leadership of Gandhiji instead of the revolutionary leadership of Netaji Subhas. Several times Netaji Subhas Chandra appealed to them seeking their support, but in vain. This is because they were not at all Marxists. It is a long history and it will take much time if I deal it here.
Bhagat Singh is the only martyr in our soil who before his execution raised the slogan ‘Inquilab Zindabad’, ‘Long Live Proletarian Internationalism’. Bhagat Singh had accepted Marxism. In his last letter to the students and youth, he suggested to build up a real communist party on the soil. I am reading out a small portion from his letter now. He wrote: “The real revolutionary armies are in the villages and factories, the peasantry and labourers. But our bourgeois leaders do not and cannot dare to tackle them. The sleeping lion once awakened from the slumber shall become irresistible even after the achievement of what our leaders aim at. …revolution means the complete overthrow of the existing social order and its replacement with the socialist order. …it is essential for gaining the active sympathy of and organizing the peasants and workers. The name of the party be rather, …a communist party. This party of political workers are bound by strict discipline, should handle all other movements….”(4) To build the real communist party was his appeal. Netaji Subhas Bose also felt in that way. Subhas Bose was an admirer of Marxism and Soviet Socialism. He was highly respectful to Comrade Stalin. He expressed his hope, “Among the present social systems in the world, numerous currents and counter-currents can be classified into two main divisions, in other words, imperialist powers and racing in their opposite current the forces of Communism and that is why the end of Hitlerism virtually means the establishment of Communism.”(5) But regarding India with much pain he said in 1931, that, “…I may say that in spite of the universal and human appeal to communism, communism has not been able to make much headway in India—chiefly because the methods and tactics generally employed by its protagonists are such as tend to alienate rather than win over possible friends and allies.”(6) Comrade Shibdas Ghosh at that time was a teenager and he was also involved in the freedom struggle as a revolutionary fighter. Afterwards, he accepted Marxism as philosophy of life, realized and concretized it in the concrete conditions of our country and in the process enriched and developed Marxism-Leninism further, which we call ‘Comrade Shibdas Ghosh Thought’. It was Comrade Shibdas Ghosh who founded the real communist party SUCI (Communist) in the year 1948 with a handful of persons. Braving tremendous odds and difficulties, he established and developed this revolutionary party of the proletariat and provided us with a powerful ideological weapon, which we call Marxism-Leninism-Shibdas Ghosh Thought and by wielding that weapon our Party and its class and mass fronts including AIDYO are developing and expanding throughout the country.
Motive of RSS-BJP behind highlighting religion
There is a preaching much trumpeted by the BJP and RSS leaders in particular. That is, ‘when religion only can provide the guidelines, why Marxism?’ They even say that India is the soil of religions and all along people of this land had believed in God. They say that religious scriptures like the Vedanta, Gita, Ramayana and Mahabharata have flourished in this land. But it is a blatant lie. In the primitive society, that is in the first stage of human society people never believed in God or in any supernatural power. They tried to know and win over different forces of nature with the then primitive understanding. To prove this, I can even quote from Vivekananda. Although as Marxists we differ with him philosophically, but we respect him as a great man. He himself admitted that, “The first was in search in external nature for the truths of the universe; it was an attempt to get the solution of the problems of life from the material world.”(7) Note this expression of Vivekananda. Even now if we go to the Andamans, we will find people, aboriginal people like Zarwas, Andamanis and others; they are human beings but they do not believe in God. They do not worship any God. In Africa also, you will find such tribes who have no concept of God.
But it is not the only point! If you go to the college and university syllabus, you will find a different picture. In India, there was powerful existence of materialistic thinking. Charvak Muni was a philosopher. Muni means saint and he preached materialism. Lokayat and Swavabad philosophy also preached materialistic thinking. A concept was preached at that time that the entire universe was composed of Pancha Bhuta (five matters), i.e., Khiti (earth), Tej (fire), Marut (air), Op (water) and Byom (vaccum). A section excluded Byom (vacuum) and opted for Chatur Bhuta (four matters). This was the understanding at that time. ‘Darshan’—the very expression of philosophy is a Sanskrit word. ‘Darshan’ means what I see, that is truth. It is also a materialistic expression. ‘Number ‘0’ was discovered in our country. Zero is also a digit which means there is no ‘nothingness’. There were powerful personalities at that time. Even he who is now called ‘Bhagwan Buddha’ did not believe in ‘Bhagwan’. He denounced worshipping God. Mahaveera also denounced ‘Bhagwan’. They were not Europeans. They all belonged to ancient India. Yes, religious ideas were there in India. There was idealistic thinking as well. But, why are the RSS-BJP highlighting religion so much? Because, they are using religion as ‘opium for the people’. They are creating an illusion that the division between rich and poor, exploiter and the exploited is eternal. It is the divine order. Poor people committed sins in their past life. That is why they are suffering in their present life. If they accept this suffering without any discontent, then they will go to heaven. As if the rich people had committed many good things in their past life and so they are allowed to exploit the people and to plunder the country! In this way, they want to confuse the people.
Origin of concept of god and religion
That is why, religion is being highlighted. But as Marxists, we do not dishonour the religious preachers of yester years. Rather we say that they were great men. It is great Marx who pointed out that religious thinking developed in the second stage of the society, when society became divided between slaves and slave masters. At that time, tears of the oppressed slaves gave birth to religion. Marx said religious distress is the distress of the oppressed people. Religion is the sigh of the oppressed people. Later Comrade Ghosh has explained that at that time, some thinkers thought that as society was ruled and governed by the slave masters, similarly nature was also governed by a master. They observed that sunrise and sunset, day and night, cycle of seasons, birth and death—all were taking place in order. So, they thought that there ought to be a master of this universe. That master has created the world. In this way, ideas of god developed in the society. Then, those who were great men at that time advocated religion. They said that both the slave masters and slaves were all sons and daughters of God. In the eyes of God all were equal. So society should be run according to the religion. When these thoughts and ideas for the welfare of and justice for the exploited slaves emerged in the minds of those great men, they considered that these ideas in their mind came from an external super-mind, that is God. At that time it was not possible to understand scientifically how ideas originate in contradiction between human brain and the external material conditions, and how with the change of external conditions, ideas also change; old ideas become obsolete and new ideas develop. Accordingly religious preachers honestly felt that they were carrying the message of the almighty God. But, the slave masters could not accept this. They persecuted the religious preachers, even murdered them. Many religious preachers became martyrs at that time. That is the history.
Then feudalism came as the rule of religion. Feudal kings, monarchs used religion as the weapon of exploitation. They claimed themselves as the representatives of god. They were mandated to own all property and their rule was to be accepted as divine rule. Then came the question of ending the feudal system in order to end the feudal oppression, exploitation. Consequently, modern democratic society was established responding to the need of the newly developed rising bourgeoisie and emancipation of serfs. A slogan was raised to establish rule of the people instead of rule of the kings. This movement was initiated and led by the rising bourgeoisie. That is why it is called bourgeois democratic revolution. By the people, for the people, of the people, rule of constitution, rule of law—all these concepts were developed at that time. Renaissance prepared the ground for this democratic revolution. At that time, the bourgeoisie fought against religion and idea of almighty God. They developed the philosophy of mechanical materialism, secularism and agnosticism. I can name Bacon, Lock, Hobbes, Spinoza, Kant, Feuerbach and many other eminent thinkers who preached these ideas and denied the existence of god. They were not Marxists. They were bourgeois philosophers. Concept of Parliamentary Democracy evolved based on those ideas. Concept of Janatantra (democracy) instead of Rajtantra (monarchy) had developed.
Religion cannot solve burning problems of life
There is a mischievous propaganda that those who do not believe in religion and god have no character. I can quote what the great pioneer of Indian renaissance, Vidyasagar, in a dauntless voice in 1853, informed the British Government: “For certain reasons, which it is needless to state here, we are obliged to continue the teachings of the Vedanta and Sankhya in the Sanskrit College. That Vedanta and Sankhya are false systems of philosophy is no more a matter of dispute. These systems, false as they are, command unbound reverence from the Hindus. Whilst teaching these in the Sanskrit course, we should oppose them by sound philosophy in the English course to counteract their influence. Bishop Barkley’s ‘Inquiry’ which has arrived at similar or identical conclusions with the Vedanta or Sankhya, and which is no more considered in Europe as a sound system of philosophy, will not serve that purpose.”(8) He did not believe in god, denounced other religious scriptures but he was highly respected by Ramkrishna, Vivekananda, Rabindranath and all the leaders of Indian freedom struggle. Saratchandra, Bhagat Singh, Meghnad Saha, Satyen Bose and some eminent personalities of the world did not believe in god and religion. Can anybody dare to say that they were characterless persons? Even Bhagat Singh from British jail wrote his celebrated essay titled “Why I am an atheist?”
You can ask a religious leader or a believer in religion whether there is any chapter in the Gita, Vedanta, Ramayana, Mahabharata or Bible or Quran which deals with the burning problems confronting our lives today, that is, rise in prices and taxes, unemployment, closure of factories and retrenchment, illiteracy and fee hike in educational institutions, absence of facilities of medical treatment, women trafficking, rape and gang-rape, police atrocities, increase in transport fares etc,. Which chapter deals with the questions of democratic rights, how to judge different political parties and such other questions? They cannot show you because in those times, religious preachers did not face these problems. At that time they did not know what capitalism is. They faced the slave system and its oppression. And today if we have to follow Ramayana, what are we to do? According to Ramayana, King Dasharatha instructed Ram to go to the forest without any cause. Sita and Laxman followed him. If today, a Ram bhakt’s father instructs his son to go to forest and if his wife and brother also follow him, what will people tell? They will tell — send them to lunatic asylum. They are mad people. Question of chastity of Sita was raised and Sita was asked to jump in fire and prove preservation of her chastity. Sita obeyed! If it happens today, both Ram and Sita will be persecuted,—Ram for attempt to murder and Sita for attempting to commit suicide. If you follow Mahabharata, you would find five brothers sharing one wife following their mother’s instructions. Parasuram following the instruction of his father murdered his mother. Shall we allow these things today? Ask the people in this way. He may believe in god. That may not be the point. That is his personal affair. But these religious scriptures cannot solve the problems of life of today. It is to be noted that not a single religious leader today protests or fights against any injustice, oppression or corruption. Rather they defend all these saying that the will of almighty is deciding everything. You will be astonished, if I remind you what was the comment of RSS Chief on the horrifying rape of Nirbhaya. He said these happened in India, not in Bharat, and due to women who are crossing the ‘Lakshman Rekha’! As if the villages are free from rape and women must stay indoor and be confined to domestic work. What a justification of a horrendous crime on women!
Vulgarization of religion by RSS-BJP
It is to be noted that the bourgeoisie who in course of fighting feudalism fought against religious ideas, is today, in its decadent moribund stage, encouraging religious blindness. Being faced with people’s discontents, agitations and harbouring fear complex of anti-capitalist revolution, the bourgeois rulers today want to distract the people’s mind from real cause of sufferings in life and make them believe that all miseries in their lives are governed by god’s will. Earlier the bourgeoisie fought spiritualism and upheld scientific outlook. Now their role is completely opposite. They are encouraging blind religious faiths and spiritualism, opposing scientific outlook and confining science within its technical aspects only. In our country this was done during the Congress rule and is further boosted by the present BJP rule. Moreover present rulers are exploiting religious blindness in order to divide the people and create vote bank for themselves by fomenting communal tension and engineering communal riots in the name of Hindu religion. I can show you from history that the religious preachers of yester years had never vilified other religions, let alone organizing religious riots. The RSS-BJP even demolished a historic monument, Babri Masjid, claiming it to have been built on the birth place of Rama, a mythological character, with an objective to build up a Ram Mandir there. This was never claimed by Chaitanya, Ramakrishna and Vivekananda, three respected preachers of Hindu religion. Rather Ramkrishna said, God, Allah, Bhagwan are one and the same. He even offered ‘namaj’ in Masjid and prayers in Church. Now, allow me to quote Vivekananda. He said: “If I had a son, I would not have given him any religions tutelage except practising concentration, one paragraph of prayer and chanting mantras. Thereafter, in course of growing in age and listening to various opinions and advices, he would have been acquainted with something which to him would have been the truth. It is very natural that simultaneously with full freedom and without having any conflict, my son could be a Buddhist, my wife a Christian and myself a Muslim.”(9) He further said: “…we want to take mankind to that end where there is no Veda, Bible and Quran, but all works will be performed through integration of the Veda, Bible and Quran. We not only tolerate all religions but believe all of them to be true.”(10) Now, let me ask you to judge who are to be considered real Hindu — Chaitanya, Ramkrishna, Vivekananda or these RSS-BJP people?
Solution does not lie in Parliamentary Democracy either
I have already told you how religious ideas originated in the slave society to serve the oppressed slaves and what historic and progressive role it played at that time. It is for this reason that we highly respect all the religious preachers. But, today religion is exploited by the ruling class to hoodwink the people. I have already discussed before you why religion cannot provide any solutions to the problems faced by the people today. Can the existing bourgeois parliamentary democracy provide solutions to the problems of life either? Our answer is no. Because, parliamentary democratic election without real political education of the people is a hypocrisy without any limit. In fact, instead of ‘by the people, for the people, of the people’, it is today ‘by the money power, for the money power and of the money power’, that is for the capitalist class. Crores of people are illiterate. They don’t know politics. From early morning to midnight, they have to toil hard only to have a handful of rice or a slice of bread. They cannot spend time to discuss, to think about politics. They cannot differentiate between this or that party. Simply they are carried away by the media power, the relentless propaganda in TV, radio and newspapers. They are purchased by money power in order to vote for this party or that party allegiant to the ruling class. It is the bourgeoisie who decides who have to be elected to power. Government is nothing but servant of the bourgeois class. As the industrial houses need industrial managers and business managers, they need the ministers as political managers to run the show. Sometimes they change the political manager also through elections. This time it is one party, next time it is another. This is going on. People have seen many elections in our country but has there been any change in their suffering lives? Life is becoming more and more miserable, unbearable. Change of government does not mean change of exploitation. There is a saying, ‘whoever goes to Lanka becomes Ravana’. Common people often say this out of disgust. But we say this proverb is wrong. According to Ramayan, Rama went to Lanka, so went Sita, Laxman or even Hanuman. None of them became Ravana. But if we have to take a lesson from Ramayana, there is an important lesson. Sita was deceived by Ravana. Ravana came to Sita not as Ravana but disguised as a saint to dupe her. Sita believed him and paid the price. Likewise, at the time of elections, all these vote-based bourgeois political leaders masquerade as ‘Saint Ravana’ and deceive people. In this way our people are being duped time and again. These leaders of ruling parties pose themselves as champions of ‘democracy’ but in reality they have thrown to the winds the flag of democracy which once they upheld at the time of bourgeois democratic revolution. It was the Congress rulers who enacted draconian acts like MISA, TADA, AFSPA, etc., and promulgated Emergency to suppress people’s voice of protests and movements. The same acts are now ruthlessly implemented by the BJP rulers and their rule has also turned out to be a state of undeclared emergency. Those who oppose them are branded as ‘non-patriots’ or ‘traitors’. They claim that they only are the ‘patriots’. But history tells otherwise. When thousands of people, youths and students sacrificed themselves in the patriotic freedom struggle against the British rulers in our country, RSS not only stayed away from this struggle but opposed it by branding it as ‘reactionary’. What were their views? RSS guru M. S. Golwalkar himself said: “The theories of territorial nationalism and of common danger, which formed the basis for our concept of nation, had deprived us of the positive and inspiring content of our Hindu Nationhood and made many of the ‘freedom movements’ initially anti-British movements. Anti-Britishism was equated with patriotism and nationalism. These reactionary views have had disastrous effects upon the entire course of the freedom struggle, its leaders and the common people.”(11) That means according to the RSS Guru—Deshbandhu Chittaranjan, Tilak, Lala Lajpat, Netaji, Gandhiji, Bhagat Singh, Chandrasekher Azad, Kshudiram along with Rabindranath, Saratchandra, Nazrul, Premchand, Subramania Bharati and others who did not advocate Hindu Nationhood, fought for a united nation irrespective of religions, castes, nationalities and struggled against British imperialism for freedom of the country, were not real ‘patriots’ and ‘nationalists’. The views of these leaders of freedom movement, as per RSS, were ‘reactionary’. He even went to this extent of characterizing them as traitors. “All those not belonging to the national, i.e. Hindu race, religion, culture and language, naturally fall out of … real ‘National life’…Those only are nationalist patriots, who with the aspiration to glorify the Hindu race and Nation next to their heart, are prompted into activity and strive to achieve that goal. All others are either traitors or enemies to the National cause or, to take a charitable view, idiots.”(12) Can RSS or BJP leaders deny these statements and facts? Did they not play a most treacherous and an anti-freedom struggle role at the time of freedom movement in our country? Did they not make such derogatory remarks against the great freedom fighters, martyrs and eminent personalities? Now, RSS and BJP leaders are posing themselves as patriots by taking advantage of ignorance of the people about actual history of the Indian freedom struggle.
Only Marxism can show path of emancipation
You know people are crying out for change and sometimes spontaneously they burst out in sporadic agitations. But they do not know how to change this oppressive system, what is the correct ideology which can guide them. You with your youth and political education can show them the real path of emancipation. You can convince and educate them that only Marxism as a revolutionary ideology can show the real path of emancipation. There is a sinister propaganda that Marxism is foreign and hence cannot be accepted. Ask these motivated propagandists which land the concepts of parliamentary democracy, independence, sovereignty, rule of constitution have come from? Ask them which is the land from where have flourished the different branches of modern science, modern industry, communication etc.? Have they come from the Vedas, Ramayana, Mahabharata or the western world? If we can accept all these from the western countries, then why not Marxism? Like earlier ideologies, Marxism has also emerged out of a historical necessity as a weapon of the exploited class. Marxism, to be particular, appeared as a weapon in the hands of the revolutionary working class in its struggle against oppressive capitalism. Marxism is not merely a philosophy but the only philosophy based on science. By applying scientific methodology of experimentation, examination and verification, different branches of science discover particular laws governing different fields of this material world. Accordingly physics, chemistry, biology, botany, zoology, geology, geography, etc., have developed by way of discovering particular laws governing the respective particular fields. It is the genius of Marx, who in order to find out the path of emancipation of exploited people and end all forms of class exploitation once and for all accepted science as the method. He coordinated, correlated and dialectically generalized all particular laws of particular branches of science and discovered the general laws governing the movement of the entire material world including human society. As science discovered that starting from great planets to the lately discovered smallest particles, all are in continuous motion and change, there is nothing eternal and static and every motion is law governed. Accordingly, Marx had also shown that starting from primitive society to slave system, feudalism and then capitalism — all societies have emerged one after another in accordance with some particular social laws. Similarly, neither capitalism nor any of its institutions including parliamentary democracy is eternal. It is historically bound to change and be replaced by socialism. Then in course of further and onward development, society would reach communism. In this way society will advance further and further. So Marxism is a scientific philosophy. The bourgeoisie accepts science and its application only to the extent of running industries, agriculture, transport, mines, military and other production. But the bourgeoisie is very much afraid of Marxian science, because it threatens the very existence of capitalism.
You will have to study, understand and realize this scientific philosophy and educate the people accordingly. Starting from Copernicus, Galileo, Newton to Einstein, Heisenberg, Max Plank and Jagdish Bose, Acharya Prafulla Ray, Satyen Bose, Meghnad Saha, C. V. Raman of our country – all have contributed in the development of science. Science is continuously developing. Similarly Marxism is also developing. Marx discovered the science. Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao Zedong successively developed this philosophy. Comrade Ghosh also enriched Marxism further. That is why we call Marxism-Leninism-Comrade Shibdas Ghosh Thought as our ideology, our fighting weapon.
Socialist Revolution to end all forms of exploitative class exploitation
A question is often raised that since the socialist system has been dismantled in Russia, China, and East European countries by counter-revolution and capitalism is restored, then what is the guarantee that socialism will survive after successful revolution in our country? If you thoroughly study the teachings of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong and Shibdas Ghosh, you will find that all of them apprehended this danger of restoration of capitalism even after successful socialist revolution and its advancement because they viewed socialism as a transitional stage between capitalism and communism.
Historically it is a stage where if the victorious proletariat armed with developed understanding of Marxism can successfully conduct ideological, political, economical and more particularly cultural and ethical class struggle against the defeated but not yet destroyed bourgeoisie, socialism can advance and reach communism, a society where classes and class struggles will be fully abolished. But if the proletariat fails to conduct that struggle due to complacency and ideological, cultural backwardness, the defeated bourgeoisie in a disguised form would succeed engineering counter-revolution aided and abetted by world imperialism-capitalism. Although this sad development is much painful, we, the students of Marxism-Leninism-Shibdas Ghosh thought are not frustrated. We know from history that in earlier times religious preachers who are considered by their followers as the representatives of almighty god also had to fight hundreds of years for final victory facing defeat after defeat. Same thing happened with bourgeois democratic revolution. Starting from Renaissance to the establishment of bourgeois democratic republic, it took almost 350 years. These movements replaced one class rule by another class rule. But socialist revolution is a struggle to end all forms of exploitative class rules; that is it is a revolution against thousands of years of class rule. What a difficult task! It is also to be remembered that so long as socialism existed, it proved its superiority over capitalism in all aspects of human life. In Soviet socialism, there was no exploitation, no unemployment, retrenchment, poverty, illiteracy, problems of price rise, death due to hunger and absence of medical facilities and nationality-religious-ethnic conflicts. All people, men and women alike, enjoyed equal rights. Soviet socialism helped morally and materially anti-imperialist freedom struggle of all the colonies and semi-colonies. It defeated fascist aggression in the Second World War and stood as a citadel of world peace. For these reasons, all the great men of the western countries like Romain Rolland, Bernard Shaw, Einstein and great personalities of our country like Rabindranath, Saratchandra, Premchand, Subramania Bharati, Netaji Subhas, Bhagat Singh and many others hailed Soviet socialism as dawn of a new civilization.
Socialism came as per a historic law. Again it will appear following that law when the class conscious proletarian party armed with Marxism-Leninism-Shibdas Ghosh Thought struggles in strict adherence to that law and will maintain its existence by taking appropriate lessons from the counter- revolutions in erstwhile socialist countries. So to save the human civilization from devastation, you must accelerate the process of socialist revolution.
Fight bourgeois vices and individualism
I like to remind you of an important point. Emotionally we raise the slogan – ‘long live Marxism-Leninism-Comrade Shibdas Ghosh Thought’. Emotionally we raise the slogan – ‘Red salute to the great leader of the Proletariat Comrade Shibdas Ghosh’. But mere emotion will not help us. Becoming a Marxist, becoming a real Communist is contingent upon conduction of a hard struggle, a continuous arduous struggle embracing all aspects of life. Honesty is necessary. So are necessary dedication and struggle. But what is most important is that the struggle must be conducted in a correct process. You have to understand Comrade Shibdas Ghosh Thought. Don’t quote him in a parrot-like way. Apply Shibdas Ghosh Thought in your approach towards family life, towards your parents, towards any relationship that you might be having, towards your wife if you are married, towards your children; in other words in all aspects of life. Every moment whatever thoughts that come to my mind, in whatever way I behave, in whatever way I react– all are having a class character. Economically, I may be a proletariat but ideologically-culturally all of us are products of capitalism. So, as Comrade Ghosh has taught us, there is a necessity of continuous struggle. Every moment we must be alert. In this state of Bihar, the comrade who was once the Party secretary for many years became a renegade afterwards because he failed to conduct this struggle. Some others who earlier embraced Marxism emotionally but failed to accept Marxism culturally, ethically, morally in all aspects of life, became renegades later. This point I would like to emphasize in this house. Fight out individualism. First, it is necessary to have your emotional commitment to the oppressed people. Whenever you see any aged beggar in the street, you must view them as your father-mother. You ought to be stirred by the thought that these hapless have-nots also cared for their children but now because of this oppressive inhuman social system, they are begging on the streets. I owe my responsibility to them. What about the girls who are on the streets selling themselves? If I am only concerned about my wife or my husband, am I not ignoring these girls? Is it not a crime on my part if I do so? I am thinking of my children, my brothers and sisters. But can I ignore the boys and girls who are loitering on the railway platforms or begging on the streets? That is why, it is necessary to have emotional commitment to them. Who will remember you if you only care for your wife and your children? Do you remember who was the father of your grandfather? Perhaps you are enjoying his property but you do not remember his name. I also do not remember. But I remember Buddha even today. I remember Mahaveera, Jesus, and Muhammad. We remember Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Shibdas Ghosh. We remember Netaji Subhas, Bhagat Singh and such other revered personalities, not because whether they cared for their family, not because whether bthey cared for their wives and children or for their property but for their dedication and commitment to people’s cause. So fight individualism. Don’t run after name and fame or wealth.
Mix with the common people. Do not fence yourself off from them due to middle class vanity. They are the real builders of this civilization. Who are growing food crops, who are preparing clothes, who are building our houses? These impoverished deprived toiling people only. We are enjoying their labour. But what service are we rendering to them? Ask your conscience. We must mix with them, educate them on the basis of Comrade Shibdas Ghosh’s teachings and organize them. This is the need of the hour. Again I emphasize on studying and restudying, learning and relearn-ing Marxism-Leninism-Comrade Shibdas Ghosh Thought and on assimilating it. Whatever you are learning and accepting would change your outlook, change your mode of life, change your approach to life. That is called cultural change. It is a question of serious struggle. You are surrounded by bourgeois environment — economically, politically, culturally, ethically — a corrupt bourgeois environment. You are made selfish, ego-centric, opportunist, coward, greedy of wealth. So every moment you must be conscious to remain as a revolutionary till death and prepare the people accordingly.
Emancipation can be brought about only by revolution
AIDYO is the organization where we prepare young revolutionary fighters to organize the downtrodden, illiterate, frustrated, helpless, slumbering crores of peasants and workers of this country. They are the real fighters. If workers and peasants are not prepared both ideologically and organizationally, we cannot change this capitalist system.
I do not doubt your honesty. Again I repeat, don’t quote Comrade Shibdas Ghosh like a parrot. Whatever you read, whatever you quote, translate those in your life. Change yourself, become a real student of Comrade Shibdas Ghosh. That should be the task. Society is crying for emancipation. Civilization is crying for emancipation. But emancipation can be brought about only by revolution led by a party armed with Marxism-Leninism-Comrade Shibdas Ghosh Thought and that party is SUCI (Communist). In conclusion, I will remind you of the historic clarion call given by great Comrade Shibdas Ghosh to the students and youths in 1974. He appealed, “Comrades, engage yourselves and take active part in all the just struggles of the masses individually and collectively, and all the while keep up your political initiative at the fore. Your slogan should be — go to the masses, organize them, help them in creating political power so that people, the toiling masses, can take up arms and bring about a fundamental change of our society by overthrowing the bourgeoisie from power, replacing capitalism and establishing socialism.”(13)
Red salute to you all!
Inquilab Zindabad!
All India DYO Zindabad!
Red Salute to the Great Leader of the Proletariat Comrade Shibdas Ghosh!
References :
- Bhagat Singh, Letter to the Second LCC Convict, 22ndMarch, 1931.
- Shibdas Ghosh, ‘Carry Proletarian Culture and Ethics to the Workers’, Selected Works, Vol-III.
- Stalin, ‘Task of the University of the People of East’, Collected Works, Vol.-VII.
- Bhagat Singh, ‘To the Young Political Workers’, Selected Writings of Shaheed Bhagat Singh.
- Netaji, ‘Crossroads’.
- Netaji, ‘Crossroads’.
- Vivekananda, ‘Advaita Vedanta, the Scientific Religion’, Advaita Ashram.
- Vidyasagar, Letter to F. G. Mouat. Vidyasagar Rachana Samagra.
- Vivekananda, ‘Bani O Rachana’
- Vivekananda, ‘Bani O Rachana’
- Golwalkar, ‘Bunch of Thoughts’
- Golwalkar, ‘Bunch of Thoughts’
- Shibdas Ghosh, ‘Tasks Ahead of Students and Youth’, Selected Works, Vol.-III.
