ABHlJNAN SEN

Naxalite Tactics In Cities

THE Naxa1ite talk of usingthe libera~1ed countryside to

encircle and finally capture the citliesis well known. .!tnd so is the muchmore simplified slogan" of "armedagrarian revolution". The fact thatin the scale of strategic priorities libe-rMion of the countryside comes firs,land in popular slogans revolution ismainly concerned about agriculturemight well have created the impres-sion that ,the revolution the NaxalitleSaim at is purely a business of thepeasants. But despite tlhe CPI (ML)'s

• major emphasis an organising thelandless and poor peasants and talkabout a "rural-based party" the workin the cities-among t:he working class,petty-bourgeoisie and students- hasnevcr been totally neglec:led. In thepresent article an attempt is made tlotrace in bare outline tlhe evolution ofNaxalitc, ,to be more precise, theCPI (ML), tactical line in cities.

Back in 1967 when no taotkal linehad yet taken shape ,the Naxalitesvaguely staf1ed that their task wouldbe "to develop mili,tant, revolutionarystruggles of ,the working class andother toiling people, to combat eco-nomism and t(o orient these strugglestowards agrarian revolution." (De-claration of tlhe revolutionaries of theCPI (M) in Liberatiiol1, December,1967). In conformity with ,this lineattempts were made tlo organise stu-dents and to some extent workers fordemonstra~lions in favour of the Na-xalbari peasant struggle. About thesame time Charu Mazumdar spoke ingreater detail about ,their task in thecities. He was most entlmsiasticabout the student1s whose lack ofself-interes:t, courage and dedication"make them an asset for ,tlhe revolu-tion." First of all he wanted 'themto integrate themselves with tlhe pea-sants and propagate revolutionary po-litics. But "those who are unableto go to tale villages at present," hesaid, "should engage in doing pro-paganda work among the workers in

OCTOBER 3, 1970

the cities. Their aim should be toorganise democratic struggles in thecities in support of the peasant st1rug-gles in the villages.'r (Liberatlion, De-cember 1967, p. 87) There was as yetino programme for their own or forworkers. ht the Democratic Con-vention in Ca1cutlta on March 22,1968 the Mture of the democratkstruggle in tlhe cities was speIt out ingreater detail. Apart from wagingstruggles in support of the peasants Vheworkers were called upon to build mi-litant organisations' for j/he defenceof their Own class interes~. It wasdecided to launch struggles againstthe PD Aot, autipmation; retrench-ment, lay-off, lock-outi and police re-pression and for food and trade unionrights. Charu Mazumdar, however,put the greafes,t emphasis on propa-ganda work by the sil:udenlt1sand youthwhose poJj:iical organisalt;ion "wouldinevitably be Red Guard organisa-tion". Their task would be the wi-dest possible disseminatlion of Quota-tions from Chairman Mao. (Desha-brati, 2 May, 1968)

Nevertheless, 11hroughout 1968 andup to the birth of the CPI (ML) ,thestudents supplemented their agitpropwork with movements for parttial de-mands, of their Own and the peoplein general. Processions and demons-trations were organised against thetramfare rise and rise in food prices.The draft politlical programme of therevolutionary student-youth move-ment published in Deshabr~ti, Feb-ruary 20, 1969 elaborated the reasonsfor waging parltial st1ruggles. Revolu-tion, it said, cannot succeed wi~ thehelp of a handful of advanced ele-ments of sb.Idenits and youth. But itis difficult Ito draw in numerous back-ward elements by simple politicalpropaganda. To unitle and lead thissection of sltudents and youth intojoining a revolUTIonary movemen~ itis necessary to wage st1ruggle for"food, employmenr., education andculture" and direct all the discon-

tent and anger of Itl1eyouth to thepath of long-term revolutionarystruggle. .Air every s~ge of suchstruggle they would follow such tac-tics and carry on propaganda in sucha way that there is a mass participa-tion by sbIdents and youth and theybecome more active and politicallyconscIOUS.

But as ,tlhe Naxahites were movingin the direction of forming a paI1tythere was a noticeable tendency tomake a disitinction betlween the workof the ideologically advanced activiSltsand studeThts and youth in general.Replying flo the charge of negleatingmass organisddons and trade unionsmade by breakway Naxalites likeParimal Dasgupta, Charu Mazumdarsaid, "if everyone concerns himselfwith building mass organisations, whois to build the underground party?Do we expectl the mass organisationsto organise the agrarian revolution?"(Ghatana Prabaha, May 1969). Ela-borating furt[ler on Ithe tactical lineamong workers he said that if onehas to imbue the workers with revo-lutionary politics it has to be donethrough the propaganda activitly ofparty units from oUI!isidetrade unions,for "the working class will never rea-lise the necessity of agrarian revolu-tion through ~rs movement for eco-nomic demands". Trade unions, hesaid, become a school for politicaleducation when there ,is no revolu-tionary situation, when the capitlalistclass appears very powerful and theworking class cons,iders itself to bevery weak. At Ithistlime the tradeunion movemenli creates self-confi-dence among tthe workers and ,theyalso learn about dlaotics of struggle.But when the situat1ion is revolution-ary, when every struggle is fast turn-ing into a yiolent clash t'rade unionsare not enough ,to tackle such a situa-tion. In a revolu'lionary situation theparty is the class organisailion of theworkers. Pari:licularly in a countrylike India, Mazumdar said, wherethe principal centre of revolut1ion is,in the countryside, the responsibilityof the party is great1er and ,the taskof building party organisat:ion amongthe workers extremely urgent. For,without ,tlhis party organisation the

9

working class cannot perform itsduty of leading the revolution.

A new line about tlhe students wasgiven by Mazumdar in an article en-titled 'Party's call ,tlo the youth andstudents' (Deshabrati, August 21,1969) . In this article he recalled theglonious tradition of the mili!~mtyouth of the country. "At everystage of India's s,t1rugglefor nationalfreedom, the youth and students ofIndia. made enormous sacrifices, car-ried the call of freedom tlo the vil-lages, resisted police repression, anddiscontinued their study and volun-tarily destroyed the prospects ofbuilding a career for ,themselves unorder to become wholetime polit<icalworkers". Now, itl is ,the task of therevolutionary student and you~ toshoulder the impor,tant task of propa-gating revolutionary politics. But oneobstacle in dlhe path of their takingup wholeheartedly the revoluTlionarycause is the college union. "Thesecollege unions", he said, "canno~solve any problem of educa.j~iontha~confronts the slludents. On the otherhand the college unions fail to provideleadership to the yout1h and the stu-dents in their revolt against the exist-ing education system". By encourag-'ing a sort of economism tUle studentunions blunt .thei.r revolutionary edge.As a result "the union leadership,in most cases, is found '110sink deepinto the mire of oppor,tunism andcareerism begins 110 develop amongthem while the 'temptation of stayingon in leadership drags them inilo allkinds of oppor,tunist alliances andthus destroys ,their revolut1ionary mo-rality." The artlicle ended with animpassioned call to ,tQlestudents andyouth to integratle themselves withworkers and peasanIlls.

The tactical line in cities as it hadevolved in ;~he past' t.wo ytars wasvery briefly noted in tlhe draft orga-nisational report circulai1ed after theformation of ,the CPI (ML) in April1969. Since the parlly was to be asecret organisattion, I launching ofmass or democratic st1rugglewas byimplication ruled out. The dra£,tsaid that "t'hough the party shouldlearn to utilise all possible legal op-portunities for developing its revo-

10 ,_J

FRONTIER

lutionary activi!ties it should under nocircumstances function, in the open".Whether fron\! organisations shouldbe created for this purpose was notmade clear either. lit was brieflynoted thatl the par,ty will give firstpreference to work by which theworking class could be prepared "tloassume the role of leadership of ourrevolution, rather than carryon eco-nomic and cultural acl1ivities in thecities."

The most clear-cut and compre-hensive statement about .jlhe CPI-(ML) tactical line regarding theworkers was made only in March 11lisyear. The reason why ,the centralleadership had been so long silent! onthis, Charu Mazumdar explained, wasthat unless poli\lics was firmly grasp-ed by the workers ·the new tactics ofworking class struggle could well de-genera'e into militant economicstruggles. After the comrades havegathered some experience through po-litical work time was now consideredopportune for laying down the newline. This new line marked a de-parture from the earlier position oftotal rejection of trade unions.Charu Mazumdar of course reiteratedhis stand that the party would nei-ther build nor capture tirade unions."But trade unions are ~Ihere andwill be, mainly under revisionisll lea-dership. Sl'ruggles would also bewaged through trade unions and sincestruggle is the nat1ure of the workerhe will also join in this. We cannotoppose any sllruggle whatsoeverwaged by the workers agains~ theclass enemy. That would be petty-bourgeois idealism. We will notmake them dependen'l on us in anystruggle waged by the workers foreconomic demands or against any a.t~tack by the employer; we will en-courage them w~th politics to takeindependent initiative," (Deshabrat.i,March 12, 1970). The par.ty cadreswould concentrate on building secretlparty units 11hrough propagandawork. If this work succeeds in de-veloping self-confidence and initia-

. tive among workers some of themwould go forward to give able leader-dership tb :the trade union struggleand also fight lllbe revisionists there.

but it should be ensured that tlheworkers tlhemselves do not developrevisionist I'tendencies.

Blunted ToolsAlthough the paI1:1y would "en-

courage the workers in any s~rugglewe will always have to tlell ,themthat rloday ,tools Jike general strikeor strike in fa~ ories have becomelargely blunt~d for tackling the blowsof the organised employers (like lock-out, lay-off, closure et,c). Today wewill have to advance not in a peace-ful, bloodless way bull in paths suchas gheraos, clashes with 11hepoliceand the employer, barricades, liquida-tion of enemies and agents-accord-ing to the sitluation". The workerswill also learn new tactics ;through"'"such struggles. The par'ly will payspecial a~teni~on to the organisationof agitation or other kinds of struggleinsuppor-t of ,llhe workers if they areattacked. They will not clash withfellow workers if they raise revisionistslogans in such a movement. It willhelp to cement! the solidarity amongthe workers.

Another thing, Mazumdar wishedthe party to do, is to develop self- -respect among the workers. Which-ever parry he may belong to, theworker always has suffered fromthe humiliation of slavery. If ,tlhroughpolitical propaganda a sense of pres-tige can be rekindled in him he willgrow into a daring firebrand revo-lutionary. He will t.ranscend Ilhefear of losing his job and even hislife. If retrenched he will become agood organiser in the cilly or willjoin the peasant struggle in thevillage.

However, after ·t/he CPI(ML) tac-tical line in Ithe city began to takeshape by March this year, Calcutt,aand other towns of West Bengalsaw scenes )that did no~\seem to tallywith tthe line. The students start-ed hit-and-run attliackson educationalinstiHutiions, burning pictures ofGandhi and hoisting the red fla~atop schools and factories. Althoughthere was no published theoreticaljustifica\tiion of Ithis movementDeshabrati continued ,tlo support thestudents' actions. It was only in a

OCTOBER 3, 1970

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11

task ot integra!ling with the workersand peasants. In an oblique refe-rence to their city aotlion he said itis easy to do one or two revolutionarythings but very difficult ,tio remain arevolutionary for ever. This can bedone only by integrating oneself withthe poor and landless labourer. Thus,while taking an approving notice ofstudent innovations, he asks studentlsand youth to go back to their primarytask, that of agitprop.

However, a most serious aspectof Naxahti:: activiilies in cities-"an-nihilation" of police and military per-sonnel-has not so far been adequate-ly explained in CPI (ML) publica-tions. But ~Ihecourse of events sinceApril this year leading t:o the deathof more than a dozen policemen in-dicates .that this programme enjoystop priority on the Naxalite agendain the city. It is na~1 possible ,todetermine at which stage ,ohis typeof action in cities was planned bunit can be seen as a sequel to clashesbetween the Naxali~les and CPI (M)

FRONTIER

for demolishing the supcrstruc',jure.It is born out of t!he revolutionarytide tha~1has been created in· thecountryside. "The student~ andyouth have become restless for thesake of t:1e agrarian revolution andthey are striking blows at tlhe statuesof those who had always tried to pacifythe armed struggle of the peasantmasses. So this struggle of the studentsand youth is a part of the agrarian revo-lution." The peasant armed silruggleis striking at It\he base and in theprocess encouraging a~l1acks On thesuperstr,uctute which in turn ishelping the des,t1ruction of :the base.In short, Mazumdar says that thepresent movement is an offshoot ofthe peasant struggle and though no~\a permanent feature, "in tihis age ofinevitable collapse of imperialism",he said, "the revolutionary t~de wouldswell and burs~1again and again intoIndia's countryside". While thus ap-proving the students' adlions in thecities Charu Mazumdar has warnedthem agains,f(neglecting the primary

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special edi:lion of Deslwbdti (August15, 1970) Ithaf1 Charu Mazumdarcame out with an explanatlion of thisline of movement!. The way he hasjustified the al1ltackson Gandhi andother bourgeois leaders and the hoist-ing of red flags indicates that thesewere more a spontaneous move-ment than sometlIing· chalked outand led by the party. The students,he said, are making "a festival ofbreaking statues" and in facf.loriestheworkers are making a "festival ofhoisting the red flag, enjoying thesense of fear among employers andhelplessness among Jtlhe police andmilitary". The students and youtlh,

..according to him, are doing a cor-rect thing. A revolut'ionary educationand culture cannot be created with-out destroying Ithe coloq~al educationsystem and the st~es erectedby the comprador bourgeoisie. Buthe has taken care to remind thatthis movement is neillher unique norself-sufficient. It is non a movementlike the Chinese Cultural RevoltJJlion

has turned worse tor the majority;one can see physical breakdowns in-creasing in frequency and scope. !3u~,despite all ,the hazards tlhat an ordI-nary Calcuttan faces, there is i~ ~l~ma magnificent elemen~l of flexIbIhtyfor survival which fd alwfl,Ysadmiredand which I admire all the more inthese troubled ,times.

The pattern of social life in Cal-cutta has nail changed much; butthis does not mean ,thatl Calcuttahas remained. static. Behind the ap-parently unchanging flow of lifewhich defies hazards, old and new,there is a change. I perceived it dim-ly, and I've often wondered wheth~rmillions in Calcuti'la following theIF:"'daily pursuits are no~1 also vaguely I

conscious of ithis change.If I'm asked ~Ioexplain this change

in simple t1erms, I would say that theold politics is dead and the new po-liticsis s!lruggling ,to be born.

The political charaater of Calcutl\:ain particular and West Bengal in ge-neral has changed unalterably duringmy sojourn abroad. I ,talked with peo-ple belonging to t[le right, centre andleft bands of tlbe political speatrum.Their analyses of ,the politicalchange differed. But ilhe fact thata major change is occurring whichmarks a break with the past, nonedisputed.

I met Congressmen who stmdream of returning ,to power, CPMsympathisers who believe in ,the cor-rect line of ilbeir policy and pro-grammes, and N axalite fellow--ha-vellers whose faces glow with theoreti-cal fantasies. They may curse oneanother and often comctlo blows.But, noneilheless, "'hey agree on onepoint: tthere indeed has been achange in the poli.tical pattern ofthe State.

What is the character of ,tlhechange? As an olJ!~'6iderwho is alsoan insider it seems ,thatl the politicalupheaval of the paslt few years hasinjected a sharp, if also harsh, senseof reality among a vaSit number ofpIe. Naxalii!(es may have overdonetheir "festival of iconoclasm"; andI fear, their movemen« will lose mo-mentum as the instruments of theState slowly yeft steadily establish

ROBI CHAKRA VORTI

Returning Home

I think i~ was Thomas Wolfewho once wro~le, You can ne-

ver go back home. HI was a partialstatement as I soon found out on myreturn to Ca1c~11!\a al!ter five yearsabroad. ~ .,.,dsl' L~l

My home was as I'd left itl; only,the signs of st~gna't!ion have multi-plied. Tbere was a touch of eternity,as it were. As I not,ed tlhe layers ofdust on the books on the shelves,black soot on the ceiling fans, thebathroom floor desecra~ied, with psy-chedelic designs of moss and discolou-ration, I felt like walking int!o amuseum. No wonder, I thought, wealways talk aboutl the eternal andseldom about the temporal; we en-joy to think of things afar and neglectmatters at hand.

My relat~ves, I noticed, have fol-lowed the same old rhythm of life.It has become more desperate; thedaily miseries have increased in scaleand so has our eternal capacity foradaptation. People, I noticed, followthe same, old, miserable rouitine-waking up in rtlhe morning, cursingamoebiasis, drinking steaming cupsof tea, ea~ling'brunch' in a hurry andthen, going through tale marvellouscalisthenics of boarding a crowdedbus or itram. Like tiides of theHooghly, t,he outgoing masses of peo-ple return in ,tlheaf,ternoon from theirplaces of work Ito various .s:tlreetpointswhere they break into trickles andpuddles. The size and t,he expanseof the human itides have increased.The tides are now bores.

After having lived a life of diffe-rent rhythm in the Western world-fast, invidividualist~c, crisp and tensewhile the rhythm here is slow, cloy-ing, ponderous and germinally alive-I've had ,to reiniriate myself intlo' theold Calcutta style of life. Af.ter thefirst burs;!1of annoyances were over,I found myself at home again andbecame soon a parr of the vast! seeth-ing masses, struggling, cursing and yetlaughing and loving. Calcutlta, inthis sense, has not changed much. ,Itl

and NaxaWe at:tacks on educationaland other institu,~ons leading to en-counters wibh and Itprttm"e'by thepolice. ' •. ':~ '

It was in March t1hat Charu Ma-zumdar while talking to a group ofstudents and you~!h urged ,them tobe "always alert to retaliaHe against"any party that dared to abtack CPI-(M\..) comrades. As to the methodsof alltack he said that in order to breakthe morale of "fascist gangs" theyshould go in a group of 5 or 6 andlaunch" swift, guerilla-style atl,ttlcksfrom a very close quarter." (Deshab-rab March 5, 1970). The slogan thathenceforth became very frequent was"Take revenge for every murder ofour comrades". Following the deathof some leading Naxalites in Srikaku-lam, peasants ~ere exhorte~ to hakerevenge for ithIs by murdenng land-lords. Finally in July it was announcedthat the "CalcUltita Distridti Commi-ttee has decided to take revenge of themurder of il\he heroic comrades inAndhra and West Bengal by annihi-lating police, CRP and blackmarke-teers and capitalists". (DeshaibratiJuly 9-16,1970). In his lates~ ins-tructions ;(10 the CPI (ML) Charu Ma-zumdar has approvingly noted that"students of cillies and workers ... arestriking at the police force and killingpolice officers".

Thus rthe presenh aotion againstthe police in the cities is pre-sented more as one of supportin~action for struggle in tQle country-side and resistance to police repres-sion in the cities than one designedto achieve a paI1ticular .s:tlrategicob-jective. A$,lough blackmarketeersand capitalis~ have been include~ inthe list the pal1ty has n()~1explamedhow this would be fit~ed in with thetactical line evolved earlier. How-ever, the fact tha~ intelligence agentsand Special Branch poJice are specialtargets of Naxalite attack 'indicatesperhaps a desire [0 ~hut off the "eyesand ears" of the &ta\)epower-a thingwhich ,is being attempted in thecountryside. Bl1,[!so far there has notbeen any call to develop guerillaunits and wage war againSitclass ene-mies as in villages.