{“Marx Forum” promoter Arun Kumar Sinha’s translation of Majdoor Samachar-Kamunist Kranti post of 27 May 2021 has motivated me to do this translation. I have taken liberties that no other translator could have taken.}
●Bengali language magazine Mazdoor Mukti editor Gautam Sen died on 25 May 2021 at the age of 73 years. We got the information the same day. While remembering Gautam Sen, we present portions of the reel of 1986-1996 period that is still in our memory. Mistakes-slips will be there but probably there will be no difficulty in getting the essence of what we want to present.
# Imposition of internal emergency in India in June 1975 catapulted me into maoist underground politics without any political background. “Roving revolutionaries” preaching revolution secretly were then common. It was probably a reaction to this role during 1975-81 that I stayed put in Faridabad when Majdoor Samachar publication commenced in 1982. Almost never went out of Faridabad untill Majdoor Samachar publication was suspended in June 1984.
# And in these two and a half years, factory workers’ practice and ideas smashed the leninist basis of Majdoor Samachar.
# Many questions. After suspension of publication, one whole year of reading Marx’s three volumes of Capital; Rosa Luxemburg’s book, The Accumulation of Capital; Bukharin’s Anti-Critique; Mattick’s Anti-Bolshevik Communism; Solidarity group’s Decrees of Bolshevik Government during 1918-1923; German-Dutch Left and Italian Left’s literature; DeLeon’s editorials of late 19th and early twentieth century in the USA, reprinted in SLP’s organ, The People; etc. and reflections. In 1986 we published Kamunist Kranti in Hindi and English. New series of Majdoor Samachar started and travels outside Faridabad, especially to industrial areas became indispensable.
# In the new sum-up, importance of workers’ had increased greatly but the importance of activists/revolutionaries had not decreased. Even otherwise, most of the contacts were with active/inactive maoists split into many factions; trotskyists; pure leninists (who denounced Stalin, Trotsky, Mao from the word go). And, to overcome the difficulties in the present, there are also pure marxists who in the footsteps of back to the Vedas – back to the Bible – back to the Quran, preach back to Marx.
●Travels from 1986 :
# Went to Delhi University to meet maoist Professor Sidhantkar; Stalinist Professor Vijay Singh; Professor Dilip Simeon who had gone from Mao to Trotsky to Gandhi. Went to Jogen Sengupta’s house in Bhagat Singh Market ( near Cannought Place in New Delhi). Jogen was amongst those who left their studies during the Naxalbari upsurge and immersed themselves in the revolution. During the multiple splits, he moved towards anarchism. Jogen’s house was a meeting place of various hues of activists in Delhi. In Delhi, Jogen’s house was also a contact place for activists from India, from the world.
# Travelled to Khanna (Ludhiana) and Jalandhar in Punjab to meet maoists.
— Travelled to Kanpur in UP to meet nuclear physicist, Dr. A.P. Shukla, who had to go to jail and was dismissed as professor from IIT Kanpur for being a maoist during early 1970s (reinstated later).
And to meet Revolutionary Socialist Party leader Professor Raj Narain Arya, a trotskyist.
— Travelled to Basti (UP) to meet Advocate Kuldeep Shukla who from being a maoist had become a pure leninist leader in Revolutionary Proletarian Platform ( a split from RSPI- ML).
— Travelled to Dhanbad (then in Bihar, now in Jharkhand state) to meet maoist coal miner Sukhdev Sonar in workers township Bhuli.
And to Munideeh coalmines to meet pure leninist (of RSPI-ML) miner Som Nath Mishra.
— Travelled to Rourkela Steel City (Odisha state) to meet democratic rights activist Shubendu Rath and the steel plant workers.
— Travelled to Bokaro Steel City (Bihar, now Jharkhand state) to meet Gorakh Nath Singh and N.K. Singh, leaders of a union in Hindustan Steel Construction and workers of the steel plant. The union leaders were maoists and took me to meet their leader in Benares. He was from Punjab and had made Benares his centre for maoist political activities. Unfortunately I don’t remember that friend’s name.
— Travelled to Durgapur (Bengal) to meet Soumen Upadhyay. Soumen’s father was an engineer in Durgapur steel plant and Soumen had left his studies to jump into maoist activities and after that upsurge was crushed, he had joined a bank.
— Soumen took me to Birbhum (Bengal) to meet Kishan Chatterjee. Kishan ji had quit his studies and had acquired fame as a maoist organiser in Birbhum. His family supported him and his brothers had become active maoists. Kishan ji spent years in jail and on release was staying in his village.
— Kishan ji took me to meet Tapas Dasgupta in Berhampore ( Bengal). Tapas’s brother had been killed by the police and Tapas spent years in jail as a maoist.
— Then Kishan ji took me to Kolkata to meet Dipanjan Roychaudhry. A student of Presidency College, during Naxalbari upsurge, Dipanjan ji had left his studies and become active in the maoist movement. Under family pressure he went to England for studies. With catch and kill policy, the government suppressed the maoist upsurge. On return from England, Dipanjan began teaching in Calcutta University. Bearing slanders of maoists divided into many groups, Dipanjan reflected, continued interactions with patience and consistence.
— Dipanjan ji introduced me to Atul Das. Union leader in a big factory (probably Guest Keen Williams). At the call of Naxalbari leaders to leave cities and go to the countryside for revolution, Atul ji left Kolkata. He became active in Ghatshila copper mine area (Bihar, now Jharkhand state). Arrested. Tortured. Jailed. Earlier Atul ji had been a railway worker. Activities in a 1960 strike led to jail (probably in Kerala in the South). On dismissal from service, he returned to Kolkata. Atul ji was staying with his family in a rented house on Dum Dum Road. In association with Dipanjan ji, he was still active for revolution. I stayed at Atul Ji’s house twice for twenty day stretches. He introduced me to many groups that had roots in the Naxalbari upsurge. Atul ji had taken me to Gautam Sen’s house as well for discussions.
# In Kolkata, during 1988-92, any group active amongst factory workers was an exception. Publishing Shramik Istehar in Hindi and Bengali, Atul ji took me to meet many activists and workers of Hindustan Lever factory where this group was very active.
Then ruling party in Bengal, CPI-M’s central union CITU and opposition party in Bengal, Congress Party’s central union INTUC were opponents. But against Shramik Istehar union in Hindustan Lever factory they had to form an alliance. In the 1987 union elections, the alliance was wiped out with Shramik Istehar’s panel winning all the places. The factory management did not recognise the new union leadership. Courts. Calcutta High Court fixed 20 October 1987 for new union elections and appointed two special officers to conduct them. Management did not allow the elections to take place. High Court ordered 28 January 1990 as the date to hold union elections outside the factory and appointed two new officers for it. Elections did not take place. Calcutta High Court continued deciding dates for union elections and the elections did not take place. On the eighth date ordered by the High Court, Hindustan Lever factory union elections were held on 8 May 1992. In this context, Shramik Istehar’s reading of their own direct experiences and Majdoor Samachar’s reading of the same were completely opposite to one-another.
# Of the intellectuals that Dipanjan ji introduced to me, only Professor Budhdeb Bagchi of Physics Department, Calcutta University and Mathematician Mitra’s names are in my memory.
— A result of interactions in Kolkata was the commencement of a group reading of Capital.
And, the love and respect bestowed by families in Delhi, Punjab, UP, Bihar/Jharkhand, Odisha, Bengal, Maharashtra are deeply imprinted in my memory.
# Second issue of Kamunist Kranti was published in 1988. Then a three day discussion on “Fundamental Problems Facing the Marxist Communist Movement” was held in Faridabad. Amongst friends with whom discussions had been held during travels and who came to Faridabad were Dr. A.P. Shukla and Kishan Chatterjee also. In discussions during those three days it again came to the fore that activists-revolutionaries were almost unaware of the activities of factory workers. Hardly any revolutionary read Marx’s Capital. And, this does not seem to be a specificity of this region. These were there in the left/fringe left persons in Europe and America with whom we have had interactions. Accepting the necessity, Dr. Shukla had then said, “At this stage in life it was not possible for him to read Capital.” Seems as though it was said now.
# In view of the inadequacy of “Faridabad Majdoor Samachar” in the context of revolution, Dipanjan ji had stressed on the need for a workers paper for Hindi regions in India. Efforts were made to fulfill the need. As a result of year-long efforts, in June 1991 a meeting was held in the iron ore mines area of Bhilai Steel Plant (MP, now Chhattisgarh state). In Dalli Rajhara, Shankar Guha Neogi hosted 32 groups for three days of discussions. It was decided to bring out the paper. Monthly. Reports of workers struggles alone would be material for the paper. There would be no analyses in that paper. Each group would do analyses in their own publications. Number of copies to be distributed in Kanpur, Dhanbad, Nagpur etc. amongst workers were mentioned. It was decided to initially print twenty thousand copies per month. Discussion on points of agreement will not be reopened. All this was written. All, 32 groups signed the agreement. Written agreement to be made known. On the basis of that agreement, call to new groups/individuals to join in the effort. It was decided to meet after three months in Dalli Rajhara again to decide the technical aspects : place for printing, responsibility for it etc. Shankar Guha Neogi was so happy that at concluding time he said that his organisation will pay expenses of the first two issues. Gautam Sen was in that meeting.
— And after three months : A person from Punjab who had come for the first time asked for discussion on the points of agreement anew. On being told that it will not be done, he became silent. Then a group that had come from Bengal said that they had signed in haste, the agreement was against their very basic premise of worker-peasant unity, so discussion should be reopened. Refused. Then a person from Shankar Guha Neogi’s organisation said that on the basis of the agreement, it will be Faridabad Majdoor Samachar paper, discussion should be held again on the points of agreement. At this, the meeting was called off. That effort for a workers paper in Hindi in India also was a failure. In view of the agenda of technical matters for the meeting, some people had not come. To inform those who had participated in the effort of what had transpired, a letter had just been prepared when information about Shankar Guha Neogi’s murder on 28 September 1991 reached us. The letter was withheld for a month.
# Nagpur in Maharashtra is also a centre of many left organisations. Maoist groups, pure leninists, anarchists were there in Nagpur. Neeta Murty, Shankar, and their friends had left a maoist group and started a leninist paper “Chingari” (later they moved to anarchism). Travelled to Nagpur to meet different tendencies. In February 1992, many groups from all over India had reached Nagpur for discussion on “Challenges before the Communist Movement”. Kamunist Kranti had presented a written text for that discussion.
# Student friends in Mumbai arranged meetings with maoists, trotskyists, anarchists.
— In Hindustan Lever’s factory in Sewri (Mumbai), to overcome maoist control of the workplace through the union, the management had declared a lockout in 1988. Year-long lockout weakened the union to such an extent that the management was able to transfer the president and general secretary of the union to the warehouses. We had long conversations with the two very sharp workers at warehouses in Sewri. Their own experience of lockout and experiences of lockouts in factories in Faridabad had enlivened the discussions. But when the meaning of factory owners being displaced by companies came up, they said it was a theory question and we should discuss it with their leaders. Their leaders were leaders of a maoist group and held sway over the Bombay Union of Journalists also at that time. We met at the journalists union office and discussion/attempt at discussion can only be said to be comic.
— In the first interaction a member of a trotskyist group in Mumbai said that trotskyism was also against captain-colonel-general army. On reminding of the important role played by Trotsky in formation of colonel-general standing army (Red Army), he said that in the next interaction he will present documentary evidence for his assertion. A few days later when we met again, our attempts to discuss standing army were subverted by one excuse after another. In Mumbai then trotskyists were active amongst lawyers (Lawyers Collective) and journalists. And, in the 1992 discussions in Nagpur also Mumbai trotskyist group’s spokesperson repeatedly avoided the standing army questions.
— During 1988-1990, Kamani Tubes factory (in Mumbai) management in workers hands was discussed a lot in activist circles. With student friends, we had gone to Kamani Tubes factory to attend a meeting of the Committee Against Factory Closures. We reached the factory a bit early and saw a group of workers shouting slogans at a short distance from the Kamani factory gate. We enquired from a Kamani factory worker who was present to welcome the guests for the meeting. With sadness he told us : To take over the management of the factory, the union had presented a revival scheme to the central government’s institution looking after sick companies and their revival (BIFR). In the union scheme to revive the company were large scale retrenchment of workers, wage freeze for five years etc. So, workers were very angry with the union. Some workers of Kamani factory had joined Shiv Sena union. Those workers were shouting slogans.
— An anarchist was only listening to his colleague’s discussion with us at their residence. His female friend and we were in a congenial conversation. The man was so enraged by the content of the discussion that he could not maintain his balance.
# A student friend in Pune (Maharashtra state) introduced me to Lal Nishan Party (Leninist) leader Ashok Manohar. Ashok ji was active amongst factory workers in Pune. Exchanges on experiences was interesting : Pune and Faridabad factory workers appeared very similar. But when we came to the meaning of these experiences, our readings were so much opposite to one-another’s that conversation came to a halt. Portraits of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Shivaji, Ambedkar in Ashok ji’s office remain in my memory.
## Activists, instead of persons, started appearing as expressions of a social strata. The language of activists started appearing like the language of sects, the language of five percent. Majdoor Samachar moved towards adopting the dialect-language of ninety five percent. From 1993, we stopped travelling to meet activists. Welcome of activists who came to meet us in Faridabad continued-continues.
## Met Gautam Sen after twenty years during a discussion convened by Radical Notes in 2014 in Delhi. His health was not good. This was the last time we met.
●EndNote : From its formation in the 1920s, the CPI followed instructions and directives of the Russian party/state. The first major split in 1964 : pro-Russia CPI and pro-China CPI-M. In 1967, a United Front government was formed in West Bengal and CPI-M was its major constituent. In a remote area (Naxalbari), a minor incident led by CPI-M’s district level leaders was hailed and explicitly supported by the Communist Party of China. Naxalbari acquired India-wide importance. Split in CPI-M. Revisionist, parliamentary CPI-M and revolutionary, armed struggle CPI-ML+. One of the early slogans of the revolutionaries was : “China’s Chairman Mao Is Our Chairman.”
— 27 मई 2021
मजदूर समाचार/कम्युनिस्ट क्रान्ति
Translation on 4 June 2021