Comrade President, members of the Presidium and Comrade Delegates of the 3rd All India Youth Conference,
First of all I, on behalf of the SUCI (Communist), founded by the foremost Marxist Thinker of this era Comrade Shibdas Ghosh, convey my revolutionary greetings to you. You have assembled here from every corner of this vast country, surpassing many hurdles, to discuss the problems confronting the youths and to chalk out appropriate programmes to build up countrywide youth movement.
It is known to all that when someone is found being drowned in a river, who comes forward and jumps to save him is only a daring youth; when a fire breaks out endangering a locality with rapidly spreading flame, it is only the undaunted spirit of the youths, who, risking their lives, dive to douse the fire and protect the lives of the affected people; again when there is a devastating natural calamity threatening the existence of human lives, only courageous youths take initiative to rescue the affected people.
Similarly, when at a particular stage of history, a society is faced with ever increasing, ever deepening all out crises as a result of which the endless burning problems of life plague the common toiling people, whose historic duty is it to save the people from the most painful sufferings? It has been and it is only the task of the youths, who are worthy of name. One becomes worthy of being called a youth not merely by age; it is determined only by his or her firm commitment to the society and revolutionary ideology, by his or her undaunted courage, by his or her indomitable spirit, by his or her high sense of morality and unwavering determination to brave all odds and obstacles to fight against all oppressions, exploitations, repressions and injustices.
Now, what is the present situation of our country and what should be the bounden duty of the youths, which the present All India Conference of AIDYO is to analyse to determine its duty?
We are observing in our country that the ruling exploiting class as a part of world imperialism-capitalism, is faced with problems created by itself, i.e. continuous ‘shrinking of market’ because of rapid fall of purchasing power of the people due to maximum exploitation to extract maximum profit, is resorting to closing down thousands and thousands of industries, retrenching crores of workers and employees at a time when many more crores of young people are unemployed. We know that the multinationals and monopolists need maximum profit instead of marginal and average profit, according to the law of monopoly capitalism. To satisfy the greed for maximum profit, monopolists perpetuate maximum exploitation. They squeeze out even the last drop of blood of the workers to quench their thirst for profit. Ruling national and provincial bourgeois parties and governments led by them are all obedient servants of the monopolists and multinationals and hence are very much busy to serve their masters. Permanency of job is being abolished, contractual system is introduced with low wage. There are outsourcing and reduction of manpower in the name of downsizing production to anyhow earn some money while thousands and thousands unemployed youth particularly from rural areas are compelled to become migrant workers only to face inhuman exploitation to anyhow eke out a living. Lakhs of posts are lying vacant in government and private sector industries. Many industries, banks, post offices, roads, railways, airports, which were developed by public money, are now handed over at cheap prices to multinationals and monopolists in order to satisfy their greed for maximum profit.
You will be astonished to know that India’s richest 1% hold more than 4 times the wealth held by the bottom 70% of the country’s population. As a result, 83 crore Indians survive on less than Rs. 20 a day. During CORONA pandemic, billionaires earned more billions and the poor became poorer. During this time, even the number of middle class is reduced from 9.9 crores to 6.6 crores; that means 3.3 crores of middle class people joined the forces of proletariats or semi-proletariats.
With much pain, we observe everyday thousands and thousands are dying out of starvation and being denied medical treatment and thousands more are committing suicide out of frustration. Hundreds and hundreds of children are collecting food from dustbins. They are born on the street and even die on the street. Some of them even do not know who their parents are. In the darkness of night, another painful dark picture surfaces. A growing number of housewives and daughters are compelled to be in flesh trade to somehow feed hungry children and bed-ridden elders. Women-trafficking has become a thriving business. Is this that India for which our revered freedom fighters fought and embrace martyrdom?
There is unbridled freedom of the capitalists to exploit the people and subject them to complete slavery, to crush the common people by the capitalist exploitative machine. Parliamentary election is a sheer deception only to place or replace their bourgeois servants in governmental power according to their necessity. Long back, parliamentary democracy has been reduced to fascist autocracy under the garb of ‘democracy’. Dissent of opinion and voice of protest are suppressed, agitations and movements are ruthlessly crushed by fascist state. Leaders of bourgeois parties are corrupt, fraudulent; they deceive the people with false promises; they increase their wealth by looting public money, through bribery and from covert payments from their masters. All have witnessed how due to criminal negligence by the Central BJP government, lakhs of people have died of Covid 19 pandemic Even hundreds of dead bodies were found floating in the river and buried without cremation. The government is continuously slashing education and health budget and increasing military budget. Is this the freedom which was aspired for by our countrymen at the time of freedom struggle?
It is known to all that privatization and commercialization are being resorted to for providing scope for capitalists to earn profit and close the doors of education to children of common people. Moreover, in the syllabus, history is replaced by mythology and science is replaced by metaphysics and pseudo-science to destroy scientific bent of mind, reasoning faculty while encouraging religious blindness, obscurantism, medievalism in order to engender fascist culture. Rulers are encouraging and fomenting communalism, casteism, parochialism, racism and are fuelling and inciting riots to divide the common people, to break their united struggle and to divert their attention from the real problems in life. Was it the dreams of pioneers of Renaissance for future India?
There is also an ill-motivated design to consign to the abyss of oblivion the names and fame of the great pioneers of Renaissance and freedom movement and pollute the younger generations by demoralization, selfishness, individual-centric interest, consumerism, vulgar sex culture, addiction to alcohol-drug-opium, thus dehumanizing the younger generation. As a result, the entire society has almost become devoid of moral values, decomposed and rotten; love-affection-tender feelings are dying out. There is no peace in family life, sons and daughters are driving out their old helpless parents to lament in the streets or at best send them to old age homes to count their days. There is another horrible picture. Every day, every hour hundreds of women including teenage girls, even women of ninety years and 3-year old children are raped, gangraped, and murdered. Such bestiality cannot be seen even in the animal world. None is born as rapists; these rapists are the products of this monstrous capitalism, the worst enemy of mankind.
Can this inhuman conditions be allowed to continue? Where lies the solution of all these unbearable problems of life?
Solution lies in politically educating the exploited people, organizing, uniting and involving them in movements and struggles against capitalism and its subservient state and governments. It is very much encouraging to note that accumulated grievances of the exploited people are coming out like volcanic eruption in the form of mass movements even without call of any party or any eminent leader. The recent mighty movement of the peasants and its glorious victory proves what miracle can be done by sustained, year-long, determined movement braving attacks, defying biting cold, scorching heat, heavy showers, thick fog and sacrificing more than 700 lives by the peasants who were hitherto considered as unconscious, backward, lethargic, inert. This movement has compelled a self-conceited arrogant fascist government to bow down and concede to the main demands of the peasants.
Everywhere, there is discontent among the people. They desire protest, they desire movement, they desire change. There are many sparks flying around us; at any moment, at any place these can kindle a conflagration.
Occasionally some immediate demands can be achieved, partly or fully, by a movement. But the root cause of all problems of life will remain intact and generate more acute problems unless capitalism-imperialism is overthrown by a proletarian revolution led by the working class party armed with revolutionary ideology of Marxism-Leninism-Shibdas Ghosh Thought. Accordingly, when a proletarian party organizes and joins any movement, its objectives are not merely to achieve some immediate demands, but to impart revolutionary political, cultural education when flashes of rudimentary consciousness gleam in the minds of the people, to turn the movement into a school of political education and thus pave the ground for revolution. It is to be remembered that the oppressed people themselves cannot acquire revolutionary politics from within the movement. It is to be introduced by revolutionaries.
Who can undertake this historic duty to educate, politicalize, organize the exploited people for struggles, for revolution to overthrow capitalism-imperialism, the worst enemy of mankind? It is only and only the youths, who are real youths, full of courage, selflessness, high moral and indomitable, undaunted spirit and are imbued with the revolutionary teachings of Marxism-Leninism-Shibdas Ghosh Thought.
Will the youths gathered here respond to the crying need of the hour? The success of the conference lies there. Comrades, rise up, give up your petty bourgeois mentality and mode of life, do not keep yourselves fenced off from oppressed people; mix with them only to upgrade them, not to degrade yourselves. Come out boldly, courageously, spiritedly with full vigour. Enrich your knowledge, release your self-initiative and enhance your ability as propagandists, organizers and agitators.
Let me remind you of the clarion call given to the students and youths by Great Marxist thinker and leader of proletariat Comrade Shibdas Ghosh, where he said, “At every stage of development of the society, in every country, it is the students and young people who come forward, being influenced by and imbued with the revolutionary ideology and being completely dedicated. Go to the masses, rouse the masses, organize them in thousands and help them in creating their political power. Then the time comes for the masses for action – that we call revolution.”
Real success of this All India DYO Conference lies in responding to this historic call. I hope that surely you will respond.
My Red Salute to all of you!
Long Live AIDYO!
Long Live Marxism-Leninism-Shibdas Ghosh Thought!
