[On the eve of 73rd Foundation Day of our beloved Party, SUCI(C), on 24 April, we produce below an important teaching of Comrade Shibdas Ghosh, Founder General Secretary of the Party and an outstanding Marxist thinker of the era. One would find it extremely educative in the present day context.]
“…the very use of the word ‘country’, or when we talk of ‘the country’s interest’, when we, or whoever it be, use these words simply like that, they conceal a vital truth both from themselves and from the masses. The truth is that today our society is not an undivided, not an indivisible society. No matter, whether we want it or not, whether we like it or not, our society, in accordance with the inexorable law of history, is class-divided.
On one side there is the capitalist class, the owners of all wealth and means of production who own and control the entire production, trade and commerce of the country. On the other side there are the have-nots, the proletariat who sell their labour power, who are not the owners. Whether one likes it or not, this social reality cannot be dismissed by a pen-stroke, by any wishful theory… concealed (is) this stark reality with catchwords like ‘country’s interest’, ‘national planning”, ‘national development’…. when we talk of ”the country’s interest”, when we, or whoever it be, use these words simply like that, they conceal a vital truth both from themselves and from the masses. The truth is that today our society is not an undivided, not an indivisible society….- whose nation is it? Is it the nation of the Tatas and the Birlas, or that of the toiling millions? The nation of the Tatas, Birlas, or of the people who toil for a living ? Had it been the nation of the toiling people, there would have been no need to impose such draconian laws on those very people in the name of national security. Rather, if needed, these should have been enforced on the black-marketeers, on the anti-social elements, on the Tatas and the Birlas, on the agents of the imperialists. But just the opposite is happening. They are applied here as punitive measures to suppress the legitimate democratic movements of the people. Who are disturbing law and order in this country? The people themselves, it is being said. According to their version the people who constitute the nation, they themselves are endangering law and order. Their nation, therefore, is not the nation of the people, but the nation of the Tatas and Birlas! The law and order serves the latter, under whose millstone the people are being crushed…. instead of trying to induce and develop the class consciousness, almost all …in unison, are chewing the cud of catchwords like ‘national interest’, ‘national planning’, ‘national development’. One thing has to be always kept in mind concerning these catchwords, and which the political leaders, too, not to speak of those calling themselves Marxist-Leninists but others also have to be asked: which class interest, which class planning, which class development do you mean by national planning and national development?… The parties which so long have been providing leadership to the movements in our country are basically election-oriented parties. Be these self-styled, fake Marxist-Leninists or bearers of Left or Right ‘communist’ flags, be they contenders of this ism or that ism – their bottom line is the same, they are absolutely election-oriented parties….
We need a new ideology. This society is pregnant with the possibility of emergence of a new ideology. What is that ideology which can smash this crushing mill-stone, shatter these fetters? It is the ideology of socialism, the ideology of proletarian internationalism, of proletarian revolution, anti-capitalist revolution. If we can inspire and instill the people of the country with this ideology and develop struggle on the basis of this ideology, then we shall once again witness the kindling of the spark of vitality among the people. That valour of Kshudiram will fire people once again, that daring fearlessness will again rekindle the students – but not before that.” (‘The Present Situation and Our Task’, speech delivered in 1966, SW Vol IV)
