NEW DEMOCRACY Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Bicentenary of Karl Marx
Bicentenary of the birth of Karl Marx has been observed world over on
May 5 this year. Karl Marx had, along with his close friend and collaborator
Fredrick Engels, established the doctrine of scientific socialism. Not only
did they develop the world outlook of the proletariat and make the working
class “conscious of its position and needs and conditions of its
emancipation”, Karl Marx and F. Engels worked hard to guide and lead the
proletarian movement in Europe. Founding of the International Workingmen’s
Association (First International) was one of the crowning successes of
their efforts. Marxism, writings of these founders of scientific socialism,
has guided the movement of working class and the toiling people the world
over.
Marx and Engels built on the efforts of the best of the brains in the
history of the humankind. They enunciated the conditions under which the
exploitation on a human being by another human being would come to an
end. Liberation of working class is at the same time the liberation of the
whole human society. Marx subjected the work of the preceding generations
to incisive analysis and in particular laid bare the laws of the functioning of
capitalist production, the conditions under which it arises, develops and
must eventually decay.
But Marxism had to fight at every step in its march to gain sway over
the working class in European countries and later the toiling people of the
world. Marxism had to wage relentless and continuous struggle against not
only the bourgeois economists, politicians, their apologists and all the
decadent sections of society, it had to wage an equally if not more, ruthless
struggle against the alien trends which had influence among the workers.
As the struggle for social change involves struggle against vested interests
entrenched in class society, the struggle to change society invariably affects
the interests of these vested interests who wage a life and death struggle
against this revolutionary transformation. As aptly remarked by Lenin, if
mathematical axioms were to affect human interests, attempt would be
made to refute them. Truly, the march of Marxism is the march of such
struggles, social contradictions unfolding in the arena of class struggle,
both between the exploiting and exploited classes and for influence among
the exploited masses. Marx and Engels throughout their lives waged this
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struggle against the influence of bourgeois and petty-bourgeois classes
among the workers.
No wonder ideas of Marx met a stubborn resistance among the
established official intellectual circles of his day. They tried to first ignore,
then ridicule theories put forward by him but as the correctness of his
analysis and his theories gained widespread influence among the workers,
they were forced into struggle against them. So long as Capitalism and its
exploiting classes in all phases of its development and in all those forms
of its existence brought about by its interaction with pre-capitalist
exploitative societies, continues, this battle will continue. The official
economists, philosophers and political thinkers would continue to refute
Marxism. Each time their refutation is much more vigorous, more violent
and more ‘thoroughgoing’ as they embark on the refutation of the ‘already
refuted’ Marxism. As Lenin remarked, the “intensity of these bourgeois
attacks on Marxism, which becomes stronger, more hardened and more
vigorous every time it is “annihilated” by official science”. Many of the
writings on the occasion of Marx Bicentenary were of this variety. Old
refuters of Marxism vied with new entrants in this field to outdo each other
to curry favour with the ruling classes. They particularly outdid each other
in proving the failure of socialism and the aim of working class movement
of the revolutionary transformation of society.
But equally sinister was the attempt to portray Marx minus his
revolutionary message. Marx as a contributor to different fields of
knowledge without the most important aspect of his work i.e. bringing about
destruction of the bourgeois society and bringing about socialist society
(dictatorship of proletariat) as a transition to abolition of all classes and to
a classless society. This was done both by a section of the so-called
official intellectuals as well as by revisionist leaders. As Lenin said in his
famous State and Revolution, “What is now happening to Marx’s theory
has, in the course of history, happened repeatedly to the theories of
revolutionary thinkers and leaders of oppressed classes fighting for
emancipation. During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing
classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most
savage malice, the most furious hatred and the most unscrupulous
campaigns of lies and slander. After their death, attempts are made to
convert them into harmless icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to
hallow their names to a certain extent for the “consolation” of the oppressed
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classes and with the object of duping the latter, while at the same time
robbing the revolutionary theory of its substance, blunting its revolutionary
edge and vulgarizing it. Today, the bourgeoisie and the opportunists within
the labour movement concur in this doctoring of Marxism. They omit,
obscure, or distort the revolutionary side of this theory, its revolutionary
soul. They push to the foreground and extol what is or seems acceptable
to the bourgeoisie.” The revisionists portray Marxism, particularly its
revolutionary essence as 'outdated', which has been developed by these
parliamentary cretins or they simply pay verbal obeisance to Marxism,
devoid of all implications for their practice. They serve the ruling classes
and their 'Marxism' proves no hindrance in that.
Marx was above all a revolutionary. Speaking at his grave a few days
after Marx died, Engels said, "For Marx was before all else a revolutionist.
His real mission in life was to contribute, in one way or another, to the
overthrow of capitalist society and of the state institutions which it had
brought into being, to contribute to the liberation of the modern proletariat,
which he was the first to make conscious of its own position and its needs,
conscious of the conditions of its emancipation. Fighting was his element.
And he fought with a passion, a tenacity and a success such as few could
rival." It is precisely Marx, the revolutionist, whose ghost revisionists wish
to exorcise and for this they extol Marx devoid of his revolutionism and
acceptable to the ruling classes.
Marx made huge contributions to many fields, almost all the fields he
touched. However, he too emphasized the revolutionary essence of his
writings. In a letter to Wadeymeyer, Marx wrote, "... And now as to myself,
no credit is due to me for discovering the existence of classes in modern
society or the struggle between them. Long before me bourgeois historians
had described the historical development of this class struggle and bourgeois
economists, the economic economy of the classes. What I did that was
new was to prove: (1) that the existence of classes is only bound up
with particular historical phases in the development of production, (2) that
the class struggle necessarily leads to the dictatorship of the proletariat, (3)
that this dictatorship itself only constitutes the transition to the abolition of
all classes and to a classless society."
On the Bicentenary of Marx, it is therefore essential to uphold and
practice the revolutionary essence of his writings and work and oppose all
efforts to portray him otherwise. Marx and Engels likened their doctrine to
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a 'guide to action' and not a dogma. It is through revolutionary practice that
the science of Marxism has been tested and has spread its influence among
the working class and the toiling masses the world over. It is through
revolutionary practice that the science of Marxism develops and has
developed. Marx has laid down the basis of the world outlook of the working
class and all subsequent developments have only enriched this outlook
and developed Marxism to higher stage. In the course of Russian revolution,
taking Marxism as a guide to action, Lenin analyzed the world situtation
and the conditions in Russia, and solved the problems facing the Russian
revolution. In the process, Marxism developed to the stage of Marxism-
Leninism. After his death, Stalin continued the work of Lenin guided by
Marxism-Leninism and built a strong socialist society despite having to
wage not only class struggle in the then Soviet Union but also the war
against fascism in which Soviet people offered greatest sacrifices and
played the most important role in defeating Nazi Germany. During the
Chinese Revolution, Mao took Marxism-Leninism as a guide to action, made
a scientific analysis of the Chinese society and solved the problems of the
Chinese revolution. In particular, Mao developed the theory of bringing about
dictatorship of the proletariat in a backward semifeudal semicolonial country
through New Democratic Revolution. Mao also made a concrete study of
the class struggle in socialist society and underlined the need to continue
revolution under the conditions of the dictatorship of the proletariat. Mao
only only developed the theoretical basis for this, he also led its practice
by leading Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (GPCR). Through these
effotts, Marxism-Leninism was further developed to Marxism-Leninism-Mao
Zedong Thought. The Science of Marxism, like all science, not only proved
to be correct, it developed further.
When we are observing bicentenary of birth of Marx, the capitalist system
for whose overthrow Marx tireless worked, is facing an unprecedented crisis.
Contradictions of the capitalist system, which reached its highest stage of
Imperialism at the turn of the last century, are getting increasingly exposed
before the people even in developed capitalist countries. Though they could,
to an extent, postpone their day of reckoning owing to large scale
exploitation, loot and plunder of the colonial and semicolonial countries,
the contradictions inherent in the capitalist system are making themselves
felt with greater clarity. Inequality has risen to unprecedented level among
the countries, and also within the countries. As Capital reaches
unprecedented level of accumulation, it is cornering major part of the produce
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of the working people. Even as scientific progress and technological
advance make the realization of meeting the basic demands of the people
very much feasible, there is growing hunger, poverty and destitution in the
world. As Capital moves to extract increasingly higher share of the produce,
problem of unemployment is reaching unprecedented level with an
increasingly large population of working age unemployed. Capital demands
fullest liberty to exploit every where and is trampling the basic needs of the
people in its march and under the boots of the security forces which act as
mercenary troops in service of big Capital. Neoliberal policy framework
which imperialist countries have adopted and have imposed on other
countries as well, is today depriving the workers of job security, peasants
of their produce, children of their childhood, youth of the meaning to their
lives and people at large of the basic necessities of a decent life. No wonder,
Marx is being felt increasingly 'relevant', even in the countries where people
thought that the capitalist 'paradise' built on colonial loot and plunder will
stand forever. The greed of Capital has devoured this 'paradise' and torn
away the 'social contract' which was banded around by the reformists and
bourgeois apologists as their cure for the 'disease of socialism'.
Bicentenary of the birth of Marx affords an opportunity to evaluate the
successes and failures, victories and defeats which working class has
encountered in its struggles. Building on the successes and particularly
drawing lessons from the failures, working class and the toiling people
must march ahead to end the exploitation, oppression, misery and hunger;
in brief, march towards abolition of all classes, toward a classless society.
In India, people suffer not only from capitalist exploitation, but also
from the exploitation resulting from imperialist loot and plunder as well as
exploitaiton and oppression of the pre-capitalist forms and the classes
which are rooted in these forms. National oppression by imperialism is
buttressed by the oppression by the landlords and corporate which draw
their sustenance from imperialism and serve its interests. In order to
advance towards socialism, India has to first overthrow the present
semifeudal, semicolonial system. And this can be done only by making
New Democratic Revolution victorious in India.
On this bicentenary the only worthwhile resolve to make is to intensify
our struggles, to lead the New Democratic Revolution to victory.
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Frederick Engels’ Speech at the
Grave of Karl Marx
Highgate Cemetery, London. March 17, 1883
On the 14th of March, at a quarter to three in the afternoon, the greatest
living thinker ceased to think. He had been left alone for scarcely two
minutes, and when we came back we found him in his armchair, peacefully
gone to sleep -- but for ever.
An immeasurable loss has been sustained both by the militant proletariat
of Europe and America, and by historical science, in the death of this man.
The gap that has been left by the departure of this mighty spirit will soon
enough make itself felt.
Just as Darwin discovered the law of development of organic nature, so
Marx discovered the law of development of human history: the simple fact,
hitherto concealed by an overgrowth of ideology, that mankind must first of
all eat, drink, have shelter and clothing, before it can pursue politics, science,
art, religion, etc.; that therefore the production of the immediate material
means, and consequently the degree of economic development attained
by a given people or during a given epoch, form the foundation upon which
the state institutions, the legal conceptions, art, and even the ideas on
religion, of the people concerned have been evolved, and in the light of
which they must, therefore, be explained, instead of vice versa, as had
hitherto been the case.
But that is not all. Marx also discovered the special law of motion
governing the present-day capitalist mode of production, and the bourgeois
society that this mode of production has created. The discovery of surplus
value suddenly threw light on the problem, in trying to solve which all
previous investigations, of both bourgeois economists and socialist critics,
had been groping in the dark.
Two such discoveries would be enough for one lifetime. Happy the man
to whom it is granted to make even one such discovery. But in every
single field which Marx investigated -- and he investigated very many fields,
none of them superficially -- in every field, even in that of mathematics, he
made independent discoveries.
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Such was the man of science. But this was not even half the man.
Science was for Marx a historically dynamic, revolutionary force. However
great the joy with which he welcomed a new discovery in some theoretical
science whose practical application perhaps it was as yet quite impossible
to envisage, he experienced quite another kind of joy when the discovery
involved immediate revolutionary changes in industry, and in historical
development in general. For example, he followed closely the development
of the discoveries made in the field of electricity and recently those of
Marcel Deprez.
For Marx was before all else a revolutionist. His real mission in life was
to contribute, in one way or another, to the overthrow of capitalist society
and of the state institutions which it had brought into being, to contribute to
the liberation of the modern proletariat, which he was the first to make
conscious of its own position and its needs, conscious of the conditions of
its emancipation. Fighting was his element. And he fought with a passion,
a tenacity and a success such as few could rival. His work on the first
Rheinische Zeitung (1842), the Paris Vorwarts (1844), the Deutsche
Brusseler Zeitung (1847), the Neue Rheinische Zeitung (1848-49), the New
York Tribune (1852-61), and, in addition to these, a host of militant
pamphlets, work in organisations in Paris, Brussels and London, and finally,
crowning all, the formation of the great International Working Men's
Association -- this was indeed an achievement of which its founder might
well have been proud even if he had done nothing else.
And, consequently, Marx was the best hated and most calumniated
man of his time. Governments, both absolutist and republican, deported
him from their territories. Bourgeois, whether conservative or ultra-
democratic, vied with one another in heaping slanders upon him. All this he
brushed aside as though it were a cobweb, ignoring it, answering only when
extreme necessity compelled him. And he died beloved, revered and
mourned by millions of revolutionary fellow workers -- from the mines of
Siberia to California, in all parts of Europe and America -- and I make bold
to say that, though he may have had many opponents, he had hardly one
personal enemy.
His name will endure through the ages, and so also will his work.
May, 2018
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Relevance of Marxism to
the contemporary world
(On the occasion of the Birth bicentenary of Karl Marx,
CPI(ML)-New Democracy organized a meeting in Hyderabad
on May 5, 2018. Com. Rajani Desai was invited to speak
in the meeting along with others. She could not attend but
sent the following paper to the organizers. Her paper is
being published here. -Editor)
Dear friends,
On this, the occasion of 200th anniversary of Karl Marx’s birth, I thank
you for your invitation to speak about the relevance of Marxism to the
contemporary world. I am sorry that I am unable to attend due to a fracture,
and hence am sending this message.
To be frank, I am somewhat overwhelmed by the scale of the topic
itself. Marxism encompasses our conception of the world; our understanding
of political economy, which is the underpinning of the entire social order;
as well as our conception of the social order that must replace the present
order. To say anything cogently about such a vast subject is very difficult.
Before we come to the question of the relevance of Marxism to the
contemporary world, let us briefly cast a glance back at the last 150 years
since Marx completed the first volume of his magnum opus, Capital.
Fifty years after the publication of that work, Marxism inspired workers
to set up the world’s first socialist state in the largest country of the world,
and later inspired workers and peasants to do so in the most populous
country of the world. It inspired most of the anti-imperialist liberation
struggles around the world – from Korea to Indochina to Africa to Latin
America. For fear of socialism, the imperialist countries instituted welfare
measures in their own countries, and even semi-colonial countries like
India made a show of ‘planning’ and tagged themselves ‘socialist’. No
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philosopher, no social scientist, no economist has had such an enormous
impact on all of humanity.
Two poles
The imperialists and reactionaries worldwide have been crowing for the
past nearly three decades about the alleged death of Marxism. In this very
period, global inequality has soared to unprecedented levels: last year 82
per cent of the addition to global wealth went to the top 1 per cent of the
population. As the imperialist institution IMF itself admits, this is because
the share of national income going to those who labour is going down, and
the share going to those who have capital is going up. On the other hand,
according to the ILO, three-fourths of the global labour force is in insecurity,
misery, or outright unemployment. This strikingly bears out Marx’s statement
in Capital that the greater the accumulation of social wealth under
capitalism, the greater is the pauperization of the masses. Just when the
imperialists and reactionaries are crowing about the defeat of Marxism,
reality is bearing out its validity on a world scale.
Technology
The coming phase of automation and the use of robots, throwing vast
millions out of work and depressing global wage levels, too is in line with
Marx’s analysis: he depicted how the entire history of modern industry with
the use of machines (in which the labourer becomes a mere appendage to
the machine) witnesses waves of displacement of workers, strengthening
the hands of Capital. This process generated vast mass suffering among
the labouring class in Marx’s day, in the form of unemployment and
depression of wages, and it promises to do so again on a global scale
today. Even imperialist quarters, such as the Governor of the Central bank
of England, are issuing dire warnings about such a danger. The imperialists
are worried because, as the IMF warns, “Inequality can fuel social tension”,
i.e., class struggle by the exploited masses.
In fact, under a socialist order, the advances in technology could create
opportunities for humanity to spend less time in drudgery and more time in
the development of the human potential in countless ways; but, as Marx
noted, under capitalism this is ruled out. As he revealed, all labour-saving
machinery, under capitalism, becomes just a way of further driving down
the share of wages in the social product, and thereby further exploiting and
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pauperizing the working class.
Earlier, imperialists used to claim that an efficient socialist economy
was impossible because it required the coordination of a huge number of
people, factories, farms, transport, storage, and so on, which they claimed
could only be done by market forces. But today the development of
information and communication technology (ICT), including the internet,
has further strengthened the objective basis for the running of a truly socialist
economy. Instead, under capitalism, ICT is used as a method of oppressing
and exploiting workers more, filling people’s minds with all sorts of
degenerate imperialist culture and reactionary propaganda, and carrying
out intensified ruling class surveillance and manipulation of the masses.
When people try to make use of the internet for the good of humanity, they
are stopped and repressed. That shows us again how the productive forces
created by capitalism can only achieve their real positive potential under
socialism, as Marx taught us.
Crises
Since 2008, the world economy has been reeling under a crisis. Before
capitalism, a society would be in an economic crisis if it produced too
little, due to natural calamities or war. But under capitalism, there emerged
a new type of crisis, a crisis of ‘excess’ production, overproduction. There
are still needy people, who can put those goods to use. But the production
is excess in the sense that capitalists cannot make additional profits on it.
This is because working people don’t have the money to spend. And so the
capitalists cut down on production, retrench workers, and send the economy
into crisis, waiting for the day that it will become profitable to produce once
more. It is thus the drive of capitalists to make profits and accumulate
wealth that becomes the barrier to society producing more and meeting
people’s needs. Marx revealed how this ‘accumulation drive’ of capitalists
is what drives the entire capitalist economy. The source of the wealth of
the capitalist class is the appropriation of surplus value from labour in the
course of production, as well as the expropriation of nature.
This basic contradiction of capitalism is intensified in its current stage,
namely, monopoly capitalism, or imperialism, which emerged towards the
end of the 19th century, analyzed by Marx’s great disciple Lenin. Industry
in the world’s leading economies since then has been dominated by a small
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number of giant corporations, and the imperialist states represent the
interests of these corporations, whether industrial or financial. In the present
era, imperialism tries to extricate itself from crisis by resorting to cartels,
trade wars, and outright wars, either local or global. It is Marxism alone
that provides the concepts with which to understand the developments in
the world today.
The environmental crisis and the accumulation drive
Today the world is facing multiple environmental crises – pollution,
depletion of natural resources (including water), wiping out of species,
climate change. Environmentalists are correct in fighting against all these
processes. But they target ‘development’ or even ‘population’, and do not
address the root cause of these problems, i.e., the nature of the present
social system. The question is, why does the capitalist system destroy
the environment? Marx’s concept of the capitalist accumulation drive gives
us a most profound insight into the present global environmental crisis.
What drives a Bill Gates or a Mukesh Ambani to accumulate capital? Marx
shows how the purpose of accumulation by capitalists is not consumption
– neither their own nor that of any number of generations of their
descendants. Rather, the purpose of the accumulation drive is accumulation
itself, no matter how nonsensical this may be to any rational being!
This explains why capitalists are driving the world to environmental
hell, even as they accumulate fortunes beyond imagination. Any rational
person could tell them that the repercussions of their actions will not spare,
in the last analysis, their descendants, in whose name, presumably, the
wealth is being accumulated. But they are beyond all such rationality, since
they are ruled by Capital. The only way to prevent multiple environmental
disasters, or to salvage some semblance of human existence from these
disasters, is to overthrow the capitalist system before it destroys all of us.
Revolutionary essence
Words like “overthrow” and “revolution” have become uncomfortable for
many current-day Marxists, who adopt many of Marx’s analytic methods
without imbibing his revolutionary purpose. Because he grasped the
systemic nature of exploitation and oppression, Marx worked all his life for
revolution and the “forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions”, and
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his disciples led such revolutions in Russia, China and other countries.
Unfortunately, many present-day ‘Marxists’ more resemble what Marx
referred to as “the manifold types of social quacks who wanted to eliminate
social abuses through their various universal panaceas and all kinds of
patch-work, without hurting capital and profit in the least.” (Communist
Manifesto) This is not a new process: it began in Germany in the late 19th
century. So the revolutionary essence of Marxism requires constant
reassertion today more than ever.
To protect the revolutionary essence of Marxism, it should not be made
a dogma. Those who did so tried to impose it mechanically on reality, and
when reality did not conform to their dogma, they discovered that revolution
itself was not possible, or had to be postponed to the indefinite future, till
conditions were ripe. Whereas Marxism is a guide to revolutionary action,
and as such must constantly be applied to very varied conditions, and
enriched in the course of revolutionary practice. Mao quotes Lenin as saying
that the most essential thing in Marxism, “the living soul of Marxism, [is]
the concrete analysis of concrete conditions”. This can be seen throughout
Marx’s work.
It is an essential concept of Marxism that the forms of organization
must change with the objective situation. In Marx’s day, the vanguard of
the proletariat did not constitute itself as a separate party, but with the
change of era in the late 19th century, the era of imperialism and proletarian
revolution, it became necessary for the proletariat to forge the Leninist
party to lead the revolution. Much has changed in the objective situation
since then, but neither has the era passed, nor has this requirement changed.
But to fulfill this requirement in today’s circumstances, we need, among
other things, to grapple with the objective conditions of revolutionary practice,
with the aim of changing them.
Some scholars rue the fact that, even in the midst of his great theoretical
work, Marx devoted a huge amount of his time and energy to building the
international working class movement and giving its practice theoretical
clarity. Thus Capital itself remained unfinished. Marx gave great importance
to revolutionary practice. In his “Theses on Feuerbach”, he says:
The chief defect of all hitherto existing materialism... is that
...reality... is conceived only in the form of the object or of
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contemplation, but not as ... practice, not subjectively.
The question whether objective truth can be attributed to human
thinking is not a question of theory but is a practical question. Man
must prove the truth... of his thinking in practice.
... circumstances are changed by men and that it is essential to
educate the educator himself...
The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways;
the point is to change it.
In the course of practice, we confront a complex reality, and must learn
how to use our Marxist method to take that practice forward to the eventual
aim. Thus Marx himself, later in life, indicated distinct paths for revolutions
in colonies/semi-colonies (where he advocated the overthrow of imperialist
rule), as well as for Russia. Lenin actually applied Marxism to concrete
conditions of Russia, formulated the concept of the worker-peasant alliance,
and led the Bolshevik Party through democratic revolution directly to the
socialist revolution. Mao applied Marxism-Leninism to a country under
imperialist domination, where the overwhelming majority were peasants,
and the path of revolution ran from the villages to the cities, rather than the
other way around. In today’s India too, while the working class is to become
the leader, the peasantry is to become the main force. Beyond a broad
conception of the path, much actual practice is required to educate the
educators for our specific conditions.
It is this living, breathing Marxism that retains its relevance, indeed
has even greater relevance, for the world today, and will never become
obsolete. It will thrive as long as we grapple with objective reality in order
to change it, using the method which Marx and his great collaborator and
comrade, Frederick Engels, bequeathed to us all, for which we, and all of
humanity, are forever in their debt.
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A study note on Transition of
Agriculture & Marxist problematic
after publication of Capital (1867)
Dr. Amitabha Chakrabarti
‘Philosophers have hitherto only interpreted the world in different ways;
the point is to change it.’ - Marx
(I dedicate this talk to the memories of our martyrs who have dedicated their
lives to fight against the MNC–Corporate-State nexus of Forceful occupation of
Land, Forest & Water bodies (Jal- Zamin –Jungal). To Those who have dedicated
their lives for the emancipation of toiling masses.)
(This paper was presented in Marx Bicentenary programme held in Kolkata on
May 5, 2018. - Editor)
The question of agricultural transition in ‘Capital’ is based primarily on
Marx’s concept of the law of value and his analysis of ground rent. This
study is mostly based on the experience of Western Europe with its classic
form in England. Marx’s Studies on agricultural transition in places other
than western Europe are less discussed. Kautsky in his famous writing on
Capitalism & agriculture talked about the relation between capital, precapital
and noncapital within the capitalist society. He discussed the transition in
some of the East European societies. Lenin praised Kautsky’s writing on
this issue. An analysis of the relationship between agriculture and capital
outside West Europe is very important to understand the transition of
agriculture in India.
The central concept of Marx’s work on capitalist transition of agriculture
consists of: the law of value, equalization of rates of profit and ground rent.
Marx investigated applicability of the general laws of capitalism to a fully
capitalist agriculture. Marx considered “the specific conditions of production
and circulation which arise from the investment of capital in agriculture”
and agriculture was only one among a number of spheres of capitalist
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investment and production in a capitalist society.
Marx introduced the concept of rent, defined in general in capitalist
economies as surplus value in excess of average profit. Ground rent,
however, is a particular form of rent based on land ownership. In discussing
agricultural ground rent, if we go through 'Transformation of surplus profit
into ground rent’ (Capital III: Part VI Ch-37) we find some important
assumptions which have been nicely summarized by Wilfrid B Denis in his
writing- Capital & Agriculture- A review of Marxist Problematics- ‘Marx
operates from a number of working assumptions which are crucial. The
first is that both agriculture and industry are fully capitalist. In both sectors
surplus-value originates from identical relations of production. Marx
also assumes, in this respect, the free movement of labour and capital
between sectors, which means that the general tendency towards the
equalization of the rate of profit exists in the economy as a whole. Secondly,
he assumes a lower organic composition of capital in agriculture than in
industry so that the production of value is higher in proportion to the capital
invested in agriculture than in industry. Thirdly, he assumes that the supply
of agricultural products is slightly inferior to demand. Fourthly, all agricultural
production is wheat production and the production factors and costs for
other agricultural commodities can be transformed into equivalents of wheat
production. The final assumption is that the land owning class is separate
from the capitalist farmers’.
Ground rent in a capitalist society is related to the equalization of rates
of profit and its components, market price, market value and production
price. Different levels of productivity in a sphere mean that individual
commodities will have different values. Out of these individual values a
general average value consisting of average costs plus average profit will
be determined by the average conditions of production. Here the word
average refers to the bulk of commodities produced under generally
prevailing conditions. Marx in the ‘Genesis of capitalist ground rent’ (Capital
III) said ‘The whole difficulty in analyzing rent, therefore, consists in
explaining the excess of agricultural profit over averge profit not the
surplus value’. Marx warned that ‘there can be no talk of rent in modern
sense’ in a society where capital does not perform the function of
enforcing all surplus labour and appropriate directly all surplus value.
Market value, or average value, forms the centre around which market
prices fluctuate. These fluctuations depend on demand-supply factors.
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Average market value determines market prices when ordinary demand is
met by a normal supply of commodities. Since similar commodities will
have a common market price, a balanced demand-supply market means
that commodities whose individual value is below average will realize extra
value and extra profit. Commodities with above average individual value
will be unable to realize a portion of their surplus value and will sell at a
loss. This lost value is in fact transferred to commodities of below average
value. Again, when supply exceeds demand, market price is determined
by commodities produced in the best conditions so that even those
commodities produced in average conditions sell at a loss. On the other
hand, if demand exceeds supply, the commodities produced in the worst
conditions determine market price so that all commodities produced in better
conditions, including in this case commodities of average value, obtain
more than their individual value.
That commodities can obtain more value than they embody brings us
to Marx’s discussion of rent. Marx explained that ‘all ground rent is surplus
value, the product of surplus labour’. Marx draws a distinction between
differential and absolute rents. With the development of an average rate of
profit in any sector, a special case of surplus profit arises when high
productivity firms monopolize natural forces, such as waterfalls or natural
land fertility, or rich ore deposits. In such cases, the increased productivity,
and subsequent super profits arise neither from capital nor labour, but from
“. . . the greater natural productiveness of labour bound up with the
application of a force of Nature, but not a force of Nature that is at the
command of all capital in the same sphere of production ...." (Capital III –
Differential Rent: General Remarks) The use of such monopolized natural
forces creates super profits which consist of ground rent. These are
differential ground rents since they do not enter into the determination of
production price but rather are based on it. In agriculture such rents accrue
to all producers whose individual price of production is less than the average,
as long as supply-demand factors are such that market values are not
determined by the most favourable conditions.
With an average rate of profit in agriculture, there are three causes for
productivity differentials and the subsequent differential rents. First is
location in reference to access to markets and Second is natural fertility
(‘Fertility, although an objective property of the soil, always implies an
economic relation’- Marx). Marx referred to these two sources of rent as
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differential rent I.
Differential rent lI depends on the intensity of production which itself
depends on the investment of constant and variable capital- ‘Difference in
distribution of capital (and ability to obtain credit) among tenants are added
to the differences in fertility’. Yield on land of equal natural fertility and
similar location will vary according to capital invested. These differential
rents, which distinguish high from low productivity soils, do not determine
agricultural prices. Rather they account for the distribution of surplus value
within agriculture on the basis of an average price of production for
agricultural commodities. In fact differential rents appear even within SCP
as long as commodities are sold for a common average price on the market.
Marx’s earlier assumption that demand for agricultural products slightly
exceeds supply led him to conclude that the land of worst quality in
production determines market price, and that all other lands collect a
differential rent. This is consistent with his earlier assumption that agriculture
is capitalist so that land will be entered into or removed from production in
direct response to demand fluctuations. Capitalist farmers who operate on
soils of even less fertility than those determining market price will not
obtain an average profit. Consequently they will invest their capital
elsewhere. As indicated earlier, Marx assumed a lower organic composition
in agriculture than in industry. Consequently the production of value and
surplus value would be proportionally higher in the former. Assuming the
free movement of capital to and from agriculture, this higher surplus value
would be transferred to industrial and other capital through the development
of the general rate of profit. Land ownership as private property, however,
exists as a barrier to the free movement of value.
Capital can not be invested in agriculture without the consent of the
land-owners. It is usually obtained in exchange for a share of the value
produced. Consequently even land of the worst quality actually in production
can collect rent. Such rent is absolute rent since it is not related to
productivity but rather to simple entry upon the land for agricultural
production. Absolute rent inflates market price in agriculture above
production price and consequently removes from capital outside agriculture
a part or all of the surplus value in excess of agricultural production price.
Normally this excess would be transferred to non-agricultural capital through
the equalization of the rate of profit. But ‘owing to the barrier raised by
landed property’ market price has to rise to a level so that land can yield a
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
surplus over the price of production. Land monopoly reduces the amount
of value available for equalization of rates of profit in the economy as a
whole and thus reduces the general rate of profit. By this way it hinders the
equalization of rate of profit among capitals invested in land. The margins
for absolute ground rent are agricultural production prices and market value.
If market value falls to the level of production price, or if the organic
composition reaches that of industry and rates of profit become similar,
then there is no extra surplus-value to be appropriated as absolute
rent in the sense of surplus above average profit. (The agricultural
landowners then find their ownership of land as non profitable)
Landowners, however, can still collect a revenue by creating a monopoly
price which forces agricultural commodities to be sold not only above their
production price but above their value. Such monopoly prices transfer value
from other sectors to agriculture and again reduce the amount of value
available for the equalization of rates of profit.
So far we have only discussed capitalist ground rent, that is agricultural
surplus value in excess of average profits. But appropriation of surplus
labour in agriculture can also take the form of labour rent, rent in kind and
money rent. The transformation of rent in kind to money rent presupposes
‘a considerable development of commerce, of urban industry, of commodity
production in general, and thereby of money circulation’. These forms of
ground rent are the dominant form of appropriation of surplus labour in pre-
capitalist epochs. Unlike capitalist rent, they are the equivalent of capitalist
profit and do not refer to an excess over profit. Where peasant smallholding
develops under the CMP, it is possible for smallholders to own their land
and pay no rent. When they purchase land, the price of land and the interest
paid is deducted from their surplus labour, which is the equivalent of the
capitalist average profit since the smallholder is not concerned with average
profit. Cost of land, therefore, appears as a deduction from smallholders’
surplus labour, in contrast to capitalist farmers where it is an excess above
average profit. In both cases the price of land includes differential rents I,
and that part of II which is fixed to the land. The expenditure of money
capital for purchase of land by small landholders decreases their capital in
production, it reduces their means of production. According to Marx this
contradicts capitalist mode of production, it subjects the small peasants to
moneylenders. Because land is a commodity with a price, the illusion often
exists that land has value and thus partly determines prices of agricultural
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commodities. But the only case when rent and the price of land which is
capitalized rent can influence such prices is that of absolute rent. This
occurs either when a lower organic composition of capital in agriculture
produces value above production price and market conditions allow
landowners to appropriate this excess value, or, through monopoly prices.
Such absolute rent represents a blockage to the equalization of rates of
profit. The evolution of agriculture in the capitalist mode of production,
from Marxist viewpoint is essentially an analysis of the distribution of value
among fractions of capital and a landowning class, based on the law of
value.
Marx generalized and abstracted from the first indications of capitalist
industrialization of agriculture in Britain to their pure form, leading him to
predict the eventual disappearance of simple commodity agriculture under
the onslaught of large scale mechanized production and the predominance
of wage labour. Apart from this analysis, some of Marx’s earlier writings
also clearly indicate his expectations regarding the inherent and impending
expansion of capitalism through the destruction of pre-capitalist modes of
production. A number of authors have integrated his analysis of ground
rent to his expectations regarding the disappearance of SCP agriculture.
These studies, even if they have clarified and re-explained Marx’s analysis
of ground rent, have not contributed significantly to it, and have tended to
emphasize the disintegration of SCP agriculture. Kautsky said industrial
capital comes to dominate agriculture and proletarianize the peasants on
location. This prediction of the development of a capitalist agriculture
corresponded in fact to the available statistics on British agriculture at the
time of Kautsky’s writing. For Lenin, growing differentiation within the
peasantry would eventually dissolve peasant agriculture. The growing
concentration of ownership of land and means of production fosters the
development of an agrarian bourgeoisie among the rich peasants and the
proletarianization of the remaining peasants. Frequently there is a notion
that differentiation within SCP will always lead to the development of an
agrarian or agricultural bourgeoisie and proletariat. There is an attempt to
identify in agriculture identical economic and social developments as in
industry and commerce. “Thus the fundamental principle of this logic ... is
not the unity but the uniformity of the world, ... the idea of the general
movement towards ‘development,’ ‘realization,’ ‘maturity,’ in one word,
identification. All that does not belong in the categories of the CP, is thought
to be precapitalist and will (must) disappear.” (Wilfrid B Denis) These notions
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
of differentiation and identical development are still used today.
The major weakness of this approach is that it made transformation
into a dogma. A certain differentiation undoubtedly take place within
agriculture itself as some SCP farmers expand while others are forced to
sell out. But to predict the imminent dissolution of SCP agriculture, as well
as of other forms of non-capitalist production do not corroborate with
concrete social conditions. Such predictions reflect a very incomplete
analysis of the various forms of value production and distribution in SCP
and CMP and their relationship. They also fail to consider the specificity
and the potential for resistance and adaptation by simple commodity
producers, as well as the interplay of economic factors affecting both SCP
agriculture and capital generally.
The analysis of the transition to CMP must begin with the identification
of the dominant pre-capitalist relations of production and their composing
social classes. Since, by definition a mode consists of two classes, therefore
at the level of interaction with capital two or more modes means that four
or more classes are in contact. The ensuing class alliances play a
determining role in the outcomes of the class antagonisms existing in the
various modes. Survival of pre-capitalist forms helps capital to extract
surplus, they are simply integrated into the CMP. The extent and speed of
this integration depends very much on class struggle and alliances.
In the case of peasant agriculture in underdeveloped countries the
appropriation of surplus labour is carried out by the local dominating class
(unlike industry the surplus extraction from direct producer occurs outside
the field of production- in a interlocked market) which then loses some or
most of it to merchant capital (circulating capital), depending on the relative
strength of each. The law of value is operative mostly at the international
level but only within capitalism. Consequently when exchanges occur
between pre-capitalist production and capital, prices of pre-capitalist
products are not determined by the law of value. Rather they are
determined by historically established power relations in the form of
unequal exchange.
The relative strength of each rather than economic laws, determines
market prices. The actual linkages between non-capitalist producers
and capital are relations of unequal exchange. In other words, prices
are set at the whim of the capitalists (finance capital & its domestic
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allies), independently of any economic laws.
Surplus, in an economic sense, refers to a relation between a producer
and a non-producer where value is appropriated by the latter. Here we
have an inadequate integration of Marx’s law of value into the framework.
This also indicates a shift away from the analysis of economic laws of
capitalism based on the labour theory of value in Marx’s Capital.
Marx has explained that in all cases of 'conquest' the conquering people
subjugates the conquered, “Under its own mode of production (e.g. English
in Ireland in this century and partly in India) or it leaves the old mode intact
and contents itself with a tribute or a reciprocal interaction takes place
whereby something new, a synthesis arises (the Germanic conquests, in
part)” - A contribution to the critique of Political Economy. ‘Reciprocal
interaction’ ‘with something new, a synthesis’ can explain the inadequate
integration of Marx’s law of value into a framework.
Marx was aware of the progressive historical character of capitalism
but he was also aware of the contradictory character of capitalism. Marx
knew capitalism could sustain and strengthen archaic social forms. In 1847
he wrote, ‘Direct slavery is as much the pivot of bourgeois industry as
machinery credits etc. Without slavery you have no cotton; without cotton
you have no modern industry…. slavery is an economic category of greatest
importance.' In his writing on American Civil war Marx wrote: the slave
south grew and developed simultaneously with the monopoly of English
cotton industry on the world market. While discussing about Ireland, Marx
said: England struck down manufacturers of Ireland, depopulated her cities
‘every time Ireland was about to develop industrially she was crushed and
reconverted into a agricultural land.' The same manuscript documents the
underdevelopment of Irish agriculture itself consequent upon English
absentee landlordism. This may be a preamble to study another phase of
Marxist understanding on transition in agriculture.
In 1980s, the famous Marxist scholar Haruki Wada drew our attention
to Marx’s study on agricultural question of Russia after publication of
Capital I in 1867. I am not going into the details of that period of economic
study by Marx. That has been discussed in the collection ‘Late Marx and
the Russian Road’ edited by Teodor Shanin. (Monthly Review Press)
Capital Vol. 1 unleashed the radical interpretation of political economy.
It was built on the classical ‘theory of value’ and analyzing it led to surplus
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
value. It was a dialectical negation of political economy. Capital also opened
up several questions regarding the development of Marxist thought that
has developed later on. The materialist epistemology of Capital did not fit
with Marx’s saying ‘The country that is more developed industrially’ ‘only
(to) show the less developed, the image of its own future’. This understanding
of Marx taken from contemporary British capitalist economy in the era of
Darwinism was reflection of ‘evolutionism’ at societal level. The dialectical
epistemology of Marx and evidence from his vast study contradicted this
unilinear understanding. Here is an example of alternative pathway of
development discussed by Marx ‘…the plebians of ancient Rome. They
were originally free peasants, each tilling his own plot on his own behalf. In
the course of Roman history they were expropriated….what happened? The
Roman proletarians became not wage labourers,…what unfolded alongside
them was not a capitalist but a slave mode of production.’ It is very
interesting here to note that free peasants expropriated from their means of
production does not necessarily lead to capitalism, there should be some
more historical conditions.
In 1853 Marx worked on Oriental Despotism and Asiatic mode of
production. We find them in his writings in New York Tribune in 1853 to
Grundrisse (1857) but in the phase of ‘Capital’ (1867) unilinear model of
transition to capitalism was in the fore. The global heterogeneity of societal
forms were again conceptualized by Marx after his Capital (1867), reflecting
new evidence and developments in 1870s.
In this aspect there is a strong relationship between Marx’s thought &
Russian connection. In 1870-71 Marx started learning Russian language to
study the Russian economic writings from original. His wife wrote to Engels:
He has begun to study Russian as if it was a matter of life & death. He
started reading writings of radical Russian scholars, Flerovskii & the famous
‘populist’ scholar Chernyshevskii writings were at the top. In 1877 and more
specifically in 1881, he criticized his own writings as ‘suprahistorical’ more
so in relation to Russian peasant commune. The ‘populists’ challenged the
propagation of liberal idea that western capitalism shall lead to the bright
future of Russia, they also stood for the ability of Russia to bypass the
stage of west European capitalism. The revolutionary populists put their
trust on class war as described by Chernyshevskii as war of ‘peasants,
part time wage workers & wage workers’. The attitude of revolutionary
populists to Russian peasant commune moulded their world view. Unlike
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Western Europe about three fifth of the arable of European Russia was
under the hand of peasant & Cossack communes. The diversity of wealth
within the commune depended upon the ownership of livestock,
nonagricultural properties & land from noncommunal sources. Chernyshevskii
thought them as the effective agricultural organization for post revolutionary
Russia along with the publicly owned industry plus some private industry.
The strongest attack against populists came from ‘The Black repartition'
group led by Plekhanov, Axelrod, Zasulich etc. who by 1883 left their
populism and accepted Marxism and scientific socialism. They started
considering peasant communes as a sign of backwardness. They
considered its removal necessary to clear the way for proletariat and their
revolutionary struggle. Interestingly Marx branded them as ‘Russian
capitalism admirers’. After Fenian revolution (1848) Marx considered
Ireland’s separation from England as inevitable. In 1867 he defined Irish
independence with setting up protective tariff against England, agrarian
revolution as Ireland's major needs. By 1870 he concluded: ‘The decisive
blow against the ruling class in England (and this blow is decisive for the
working men all over the world) is to be struck not in England but only in
Ireland.’ Marx always had his sympathy with fighters & revolutionaries.
This attitude was present in his Russian studies as well.
Marx in his first edition of Capital Vol. 1 was highly critical of economic
ideas of 'populists' (Mentioned in one of its footnote). In first & second
German edition of Capital Marx wrote: ‘The expropriation of the agricultural
producers, of the peasant, from the soil, is the basis of the whole process.
The history of this expropriation, in different countries, assumes different
aspects, and runs through its various phases in different orders of
succession, and at different periods. In England alone, which we take as
our example, does it have the classic form’. In the French edition it is
changed ‘….it has been accomplished in a final form only in England…..but
all other countries in western Europe are going through the same
movement.’ It implies that the English form of expropriation as mentioned
in Capital is a west European phenomenon, non west Europe (Russia or
East Europe) may follow a different path of evolution. Later on Marx was
found to quote only from this French edition of Capital. This change was
intimately related to Marx’s study of Russia’s agricultural economy.
In the last decade of his study Marx wrote about 30,000 pages on
Russian agriculture without any finalized text. In 1881, in response to
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Zasulich’s question on Russian peasant commune, Marx tried to answer in
a letter (with 4 drafts) which remained unpublished and unknown for a long
period. In the draft of ‘Letter of Zasulich’ Marx stated: The historical situation
of Russian ‘rural commune’ is without parallel! …. while it has in common
landownership the (natural) basis of collective appropriation, its historical
context- the contemporaneity of capitalist production- provides it with
readymade material for huge scale common labour. It is therefore able to
incorporate the positive achievements of the capitalist system without
having to pass under its harsh tribute …… it may thus become the direct
starting point of the economic system towards which modern society is
tending.
In ‘Writings on Paris Commune’ an unpublished work of Marx from his
notebook on Paris commune (published in 1934), Marx mentions ‘What
threatens life of Russian commune is neither a historical inevitability nor a
theory, it is state oppression and by capitalist intruders whom the state
has made powerful at the peasants' expense.’ This state after 1861 ‘placed
the Russian commune in abnormal economic conditions', its tax demands
which transformed the commune into ‘a kind of inert matter easily exploited
by trade, landowners and usurers’. He also said that this state fostering a
new form of capitalist enterprise 'in no way developing the productive
premises of agriculture, is the best suited to facilitate and precipitate the
theft of its fruits by unproductive middleman. In this way, it helped to enrich
a new capitalist vermin which is sucking the already depleted blood of the
rural commune.’ Marx then speaks about the Russian revolution against
the ‘conspiracy of powerful interests’ which will ensure the ‘unfettered rise
of rural commune, the latter will soon develop as a regenerating element of
Russian society and element of superiority over the countries enslaved by
capitalist regime.’ ( italics –author) Here Marx is not talking about revolution
in Western Europe or of the capitalist world, he is talking about the element
of superiority of Russia over capitalist regimes. This is in contradiction to
Marx’s saying ‘The country that is more developed industrially’ ‘only (to)
show the less developed, the image of its own future’.
Marx has mentioned several types of community: the Asiatic commune,
the polis of the Greek and Roman world, the Germanic community, the
Slav commune, and so on. These communes in time became the foundation
or at least the starting point for the more complex socio-economic systems.
Having discussed the primitive commune and the Asiatic, Slav, classical
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and Germanic forms that together make up the ‘primary’ or ‘archaic’ stage
of society, we now come to the ‘secondary formation’. This includes the
Asiatic society based on the ‘general slavery of the East’, the classical
society based on slavery under private law, and the feudal society based
on serfdom, Semi Asiatic society etc. So there is no unilinear evolution of
society. This transition is marked by the appearance of clearly exploitative
relationships, social classes and the State.
Engels said: “According to the materialist conception of history, the
ultimately determining element in history is the production and reproduction
of real life. More than this neither Marx nor I have ever asserted. Hence if
somebody twists this into saying that the economic element is the only
determining one he transforms the proposition into a meaningless, abstract,
senseless phrase. The economic situation is the basis, but the various
elements of the superstructure - political forms of the class struggle and
its results, to wit: constitutions established by the victorious class after a
successful battle, etc., juridical forms, and even the reflexes of all these
actual struggles in the brains of the participants, political, juristic,
philosophical theories, religious views, and their further development into
systems of dogmas - also exercise their influence upon the course of the
historical struggles and in many cases preponderate in determining their
form. There is an interaction of all these elements, in which, amidst all the
endless host of accidents (that is, of things and events whose inner
interconnection is so remote or so impossible of proof that we can regard it
as non-existent, as negligible), the economic movement finally asserts
itself as necessary. Otherwise the application of the theory to any period
of history would be easier than the solution of a simple equation of the first
degree.” (Letter to J. Bloch, Sept. 1890)
Therefore while understanding transition in agriculture, though economic
condition remains the basis but ensuing class alliances can also play a
determining role in the outcomes of the class antagonisms (‘political forms
of class struggles and its results’), they ‘exercise their influence upon the
course of the historical struggles and in many cases preponderate in
determining their form’ existing in the various modes. The dialectical
relationship between base and superstructure in understanding transition
in agriculture should always be remembered.
May, 2018 25
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Repor
portt on Unnao R
Raape b
byy Pr
Praagatisheel
Mahila Sangathan (PMS), Delhi
A fact finding team of Pragatisheel Mahila Sangathan (PMS) Delhi visited
Unnao Dist. in Uttar Pradesh on the 15th and 16th of April 2018. Advocate
Shobha( President of PMS Delhi), Adv. Poonam (General Secretary, PMS
Delhi) and Adv. Mamta (member, PMS Delhi) were its members. The PMS
Delhi decided to send this team to Unnao to get a deeper understanding of
the facts and sequence of events regarding the news of rape of a minor by
MLA Kuldeep Singh and the killing of her father being reported in the
newspapers and in other media. Along with meeting the survivor and her
family, this team also met the relatives of the accused MLA and the
villagers of the concerned Makhi village of Dist. Unnao. The team also
spoke to police officers, lawyers and journalists in Unnao city in this regard.
The issues which emerged in this two day study by the PMS team are
presented here.
Meeting with the Survivor and her Relatives
The PMS team reached green Palace Hotel in Unnao city at around
11.30 am on the 15th of April. After the survivor’s father was killed in jail on
the 9th of April2018, the officers of District administration placed the girl
and her entire family in this hotel for providing them security. When the
PMS team asked the Dist. administration authorities present in the hotel
for permission to speak to the survivor and her family, they instructed us
to get the permission of the Dist. Commissioner. A large number of media
persons were present at the hotel and the PMS team shared the purpose of
its visit with them. On reaching the office of the DC, we learnt that he was
in his home and we were able to obtain his permission over the phone. He
also assured us that he would inform the dist authorities at the Hotel
accordingly. However, when we returned to the hotel at around 5pm we
learnt that the administration had shifted the survivor and her family from
there. Media persons present told us that she had been taken with her
family to the Circuit House of the Irrigation Dept. which was in Unnao itself.
We reached this place at 5.30 and sought the permission of the SDM present
there to meet the survivor. This was allowed at around 6pm and we found
that the survivor was staying at the place along with her mother, paternal
grandmother(dadi),her four sisters and brother and her paternal uncle and
26 May, 2018
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aunt (chacha and chachi).
Description of Events by the Survivor
The survivor said she had stayed with her maternal uncle at Rai Baraielly
and studied upto class 4. She left studies around 5to 6 years earlier and
then began staying with her parents at her home in Makhi village in Dist.
Unnao. They had family ties with Shashi Singh and she used to go to her
house. The girl told the team that everyone in her family considered the
MLA to be very good and ever since she had come to her parents’ home
from her maternal uncle’s home she had been hearing that ‘’daddu’’ is a
very good person. The girl further told us that on 11th June 2017, Shubham
Singh (son of Shashi Singh) and one-two other boys pulled her into a vehicle
and took her to various places and did ‘’galat kaam’’ with her (The survivor
has explained to the team in detail about the sexual violence on her by the
MLA as well as the incidents of rape on her between 11th June to 20th June,
2017 but we are not sharing it as the matter is pending investigation before
the CBI). She further said that on 20th June 2018 she was found from Aurraya
by Makhi police and was kept at the Mahila Thana from 20th June to 30th
June 2017. She said that on 30th June 2017 she came to her ‘’çhacha’in
Delhi. The survivor said to the Team that she understood that the MLA had
got her abducted by the boys so that no one should get to know what he
himself had done and with this she herself became more frightened that
when the MLA could get this done, he could get anything done. She said
that due to her fear of the MLA and his goons she hid herself and came to
Delhi and started staying in Delhi because those who had executed the
abduction of 20th June 2017 were free and were looking for her. In August
2017,gathering courage, the survivor told her ‘’chachi’’ Pushpa, about her
sexual exploitation by the MLA. Pushpa told husband Mahesh (the survivor’s
chacha ). The Uncle wrote letters to various institutions and authorities
about the sexual exploitation of the survivor by Kuldeep Singh and appealed
for justice. The survivor said that on 17th August 2017, with a letter asking
for justice, she met Yogi Adityanath with her chachi Pushpa at his janta
durbar at Lucknow. The Chief Minister assured the survivor and her chachi
that justice would be done to them. The girl told the team, that however, no
justice was done. When they did not get justice from anywhere, then in
February 2018, the girl’s mother filed a petition under Section 156 of Cr.
P.C. before the Chief Judicial Magistrate at Unnao for a direction for lodging
a FIR against Kuldeep Singh and Shashi Singh.
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Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
The survivor told us that in the meantime her father had started staying
with her chacha in Delhi. The survivor said that the MLA had got many
cases lodged against her father and her chacha. The Chacha was the only
educated person in the familyand hence case after case was filed against
him till he was forced to leave Unnao and since 2000 he was living in Delhi.
Her father was also staying with him. The survivor’s Dadi was very ill and
hence her chacha and chachi had kept the Dadi in Delhi with themselves in
order to get her treated. When the Dadi’s health improved she was sent
back to the village Makhi and her medicines were sent by courier. The
hearing of the case filed under Section 156 was scheduled for 3rd April
2018. The survivor’s father, Pappu Singh, came to Unnao town to meet his
wife Asha (the survivor’s mother) as the latter had come to the Court located
in Unnao to attend the court date and from there went to his house in
Village Makhi. The survivor told the team that when they heard about her
father being beaten up on 3rd April she came to the village along with her
chacha-chachi. Her father’s health was very bad because he had been
badly beaten up and had also been sent to jail. On 8th April 2018 the survivor
again went to Lucknow with her chachi to meet Chief minister Yogi but
security officers stationed outside his office did not allow them to meet the
CM. The survivor said that she then poured oil upon herself and set herself
on fire. The police present there saved her and the survivor showed the
PMS team the burn injuries she had sustained on her person. She further
stated that her father died on 9th April and there were at least 75 marks of
injury on and inside his body and his intestines were also torn.
While speaking to the PMS team, the survivor wept repeatedly and
appeared to be broken. The survivor kept saying that the MLA got my
father killed. She said that the jailor of Unnao as threatening the people of
the village against giving evidence. Atul, the brother of the MLA, beat up
the father and was collecting people to give false witness against the
survivor. She further said that if she had not complained against the
(‘’kukaram’’) wrong act done by the MLA, my father would have been alive.
She further said that because she had given a written complaint against
the MLA and asked for action, that is why the MLA and his family sent
threats to the survivor’s family that when Pappu Singh (i.e. the survivor’s
father) comes this time we will parade him naked. The survivor child was
crying and repeatedly saying that all those who exploited me are roaming
free and I have not got justice. The MLA will get us all killed. Get me
Justice. I have become the guilty of my Father’s death, had I not complained
28 May, 2018
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he would not have been killed. The girl also said that had the administration
supported me all this would not have happened. She said that if anyone
speaks against the MLA and his brother Atul Singh in the village, he is
beaten up by burning tyres.
The child also said that another chacha(uncle) named Tinku is missing
since 6th April. She said that her own medical was done on 23rd or 24th June
last year and the CBI has got her medical examination repeated on 14th
april2018. She said that all the officers of the police refused to register her
FIR against the MLA and she has been going from pillar to post for Justice.
Facts brought to light by the Chachi (Pushpa)
While speaking to the survivor we also spoke to her chachi who was
also present there. It was to this person that the survivor had first told of
her sexual exploitation by the MLA. Pushpa said that on 17th August 2017
she and the survivor had gone to the CM’s durbar and he had assured
justice. Letters were given to several authorities regarding the act of the
MLA but when no action was forth coming from any quarter, only then a
petition was filed under Sec. 156 CrPC in February 2018 before the court in
Unnao. She said that when they heard of the beating of the survivor’s
father on 3rd April this year ,she along with her husband and the survivor
went to Unnao from Delhi on the same day. She said she accompanied the
survivor to the CM’s office at Lucknow on 8th April but they were neither
taken to the CM nor to any other official. When they were not allowed to
meet any official then the survivor poured oil over herself and set herself
on fire. She said that she was unaware that the child had carried oil with
her. She said that when the girl tried to commit suicide the security posted
in the place saved her.
She also told the team that the MLA is exploiting lot of people especially
in connection with women. She expressed her belief that the CBI would
expose the crimes of the MLA.
Description by Paternal grandmother (Dadi) of the survivor
The 65 year old Dadi of the survivor told us that her family and the
family of the MLA are of same caste i.e. Rajput. She and the survivor's
elder sister aged 19 years and her two younger sisters together told us that
on 3rd April, one Vinod Mishra jumped in from the roof of their house in
May, 2018 29
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Makhi village , unbolted the door and then Vinod Mishra and many other
goons who worked for the MLA and his brother, pulled their father Pappu
Singh out of the house and beat him with lathis and rifle butts. The aged
mother (i.e. dadi of survivor) and the daughters of the beaten man kept
imploring that the beating should stop. When the daughters tried to shield
his body they were pushed away. When the employee (of the chacha) who
had accompanied Pappu Singh from Delhi tried to intervene, he was also
beaten. The Dadi asserted that before her eyes her son was beaten brutally
by Atul Singh and others. She said the MLA had punished Pappu Singh for
meeting his aged mother and his children.
Version of Asha, mother of the survivor
Asha Singh, the mother of the survivor, said that when her husband
Pappu Singh met her in the court in Unnao on 3rd April, he said he would go
home to meet his mother and the children. She also said her husband had
earlier visited the village on the Chedan festival and met the children. She
also said that her eldest daughter has studied upto 8th Std, one daughter is
studying in 7th std and another in 4th std. The girl who is in 4th std is
studying in a school located in the village Makhi and owned by the MLA.
She also clarified that had they not complained against MLA Kuldeep,
there would not have been enemity. The MLA used to threaten that finish
off all this and she will be married off. She also said that when the survivor
went missing on 11th June 2017, even then a person connected with the
MLA was involved. She also said that though the survivor was a minor,
she was kept in the mahila thana for ten days. She also informed us that
the family has common agricultural land which is given on batai and the
household runs on that small income. Now the whole family has been
orphaned by her husband’s death. The survivor had been sent to her uncle
(chacha) so that she remain secure.
Mahesh Singh-Chacha of the children
Chacha Mahesh Singh said that he is in Delhi since the past 17-18
years. He has studied upto graduation. His father was a fitter and worked
in a private company. His household runs on the income coming from the
family fields. The main reason for his shifting to Delhi was the false cases
lodged against him by the MLA and his family. The police and administration
were lodging false cases against him and his brother Pappu at the behest
30 May, 2018
 NEW DEMOCRACY
of the MLA and his family. He said around 29 cases lodged against him are
over and he has been exonerated in all of them The papers in this connection
are in Delhi and he offered to give copies of them to the team later. He said
that some fresh cases were made against him and his brother in October
2017, in some of which closure report has been filed and in others the
Lucknow bench has issued stay. He said that in August 2017 his wife
informed him of the sexual exploitation of the survivor by the MLA. He
wrote letters to many institutions to get justice for the child. On 17th August
2017 when his wife and the survivor went to the Chief Minister’s durbar
with the letter of appeal it was sent to the Circle Officer Makhi. After this,
rather than the police of Makhi taking action against the MLA, false cases
were lodged against him and his brother Pappu.
In February 2018 the survivor’s mother, Asha Singh,filed a petition under
Sec.156 against the MLA in the Unnao court. Mahesh Singh said that his
brother Pappu was staying with him in Delhi. He sent his brother to Unnao
along with an employee on 3rd April for the hearing in the Court and also to
take the medicines for their ailing mother. When he heard about the beating
up of his brother, he came from Delhi to Unnao and met the MLA’s brother
Atul who said to him that he was giving Prasad and that if Mahesh came
he too would be given the same. Mahesh informed the team that he and his
brother started getting threatened ever since the letter of the CM of 17th
April 2017 reached the CO of the area.
The chacha said that he along with his two elder brothers and his cousin,
were part of the MLA’s family. Hs elder brother Guddu used to work as a
contractor along with the MLA. Guddu had died, but the family took no
action after his death as they did not see any conspiracy in it. He also
informed that his cousin had recently been in charge of the work of the
MLA’s brother’s wife in the recent elections for pradhan post.He also
informed us that this time when he filled the name of his own mother for
elections for the post of pradhan, the MLA told him that Atul Singh’s wife is
also standing for this post so you should take back your mother’s form.
Mahesh took back the form.He said there was no bitterness in his relation
with the MLA or the latter’s family. It was immediately after CM Yogi’s
letter, in which the survivor had accused the MLA of rape and prayed for
justice, reached the Circle Officer, that from October 2017 the move to
entangle him in false cases began again. He also said that the mother of
the MLA was a good and kind person. She used to run a primary school
May, 2018 31
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
and until her death in 2016 everything was fine. The MLA and his brother
Atul did not live permanently in the village. The families of both, including
wives and children, stayed at Unnao . The MLA came to the village over
the weekends. He also said that there are few girls of the village who are
missing since quite some time. He said that one more child was sexually
assaulted, but the child is motherless and the father, in the face of his
poverty and lack of resources, accepted that she be married off and sent
out of the village.
The chacha of the survivor underlined that he had established himself
in Delhi in the last 20 years. "If I had a criminal bent, I would have committed
crimes everywhere" he said. He said I am fighting for justice. He said that
on 3rd April when Pappu Singh reached the Police station in an injured
condition, the police at the behest of the MLA registered a property dispute
in the name of their own cousin and sent pappu Singh to jail. He said that
the father, Shri Jang Bahadur, of the cousin in question (Tinku), had given
a statement before everyone that there was no property dispute between
the families. The same Tinku is now missing for the past many days
according to Mahesh Singh.
During all this talk, the mother and Dadi of the survivor kept crying and
saying we will be killed and our lives are in danger.
Discussions with the Residents of Village Makhi
The PMS team reached Makhi on 16th April 2018.Near the Aryabrat
Gramin bank in the village, the Team spoke to the women in the surrounding
houses and to the villagers in the nearby shops. One lady said MLA Bhaiya
is innocent. MLA Bhaiya has been falsely trapped and the girl who has
accused him of rape is characterless and had run away with boys and was
found after 10 days. Another woman in the same family spoke in the same
vein. We asked them what else they knew about the girl; they replied that
we do not know anything and we get no time to spare from housework. The
charge on MLA Bhaiya is wrong. Another woman living close by said she
was busy in looking after her fatherless family and was unaware of what is
going on in the village. We moved a little ahead into the village and met a
knot of people who said that the village is very big. There are 12 khedas
and 22 tolas(areas) and about 10,000 voters. He said you are now standing
in Gadi mohalla.The incident under discussion took place in Sarai mohalla.
The MLA is a very good person. Atul Singh has beaten the father of the
32 May, 2018
 NEW DEMOCRACY
survivor but the charge of rape on the MLA is totally false. He is 50-55
years of age, why would he do such a thing. If he had to do something like
this he could have gone to Delhi, Mumbai and done it all. He has no dearth
of money. The whole village knows how many times this girl has run away
from home. The girl’s father and her uncle Mahesh Singh are very bad
people and are history sheeters. As the PMS team was going to walk ahead,
one youth claimed that he was a distant relative of the survivor’s father.
He said the survivor is a characterless girl and when she ran away it was
the MLA who ensured she was found.
Each and every person in the village knows about the girl's 'running
away' which is how the incident she terms as abduction is being described.
The MLA’s brother, people said, intervened in a family quarrel on 3rd April
and may have given one or two slaps while mediating in the dispute. The
MLA ji is a very good man, they all said. The knot of people mentioned
earlier, told the team that Gadi mohalla where you are now standing , is an
opposer of the MLA in the sense that in every election it is understood that
the people of Sarai mohalla and those of Gadi mohalla will fight the elections
separately and neither will go to the other mohalla to ask for votes. Still,
they said, we are saying the MLA is not guilty, One of them said that
because this issue is one of the izzat of Makhi, and of Makhi’s dignity and
status (man,samman) that is why everyone is standing on the side of the
MLA. They told us, you get justice for the MLA.
Discussion in Sarai Mohalla
In this mohalla, the MLA’s house is situated inTakia and in the same
premises are an intermediate school and a temple. The survivor’s house
and also Shashi Singh’s house are nearby. There is heavy police deployment
in this area. One villager told us that most villagers are poor people. The
MLA is a very good person. Every weekend he resolves the problems of
5000 people, dealing courteously and with dignity. He lovingly makes people
sit down and have some refreshments and he does justice on their issues.
The girl is making a false allegation of rape. Our MLA is god like.
Talk with the relatives of the MLA
When the PMS team reached the MLA’s house 10-15 people were
present there, including two women. The women told the team that no one
was recording their opinion and everyone was terming the MLA a rapist.
May, 2018 33
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
The MLA’s maternal grandfather had established a reputation 100-150 years
earlier and now this status was being besmirched. Do not ask us, they
said, ask the villagers what the MLA means to them. One said that she too
was a woman and had felt very hurt that another woman had maligned an
innocent member of her family. The women said that the MLA has two
daughters. At the age of 21 years he was elected unopposed as an MLA
and has served 4 terms. Another woman of the same family told us that
the survivor’s chacha Mahesh had asked the MLA’s wife to tell him how
long she had known the MLA. He himself asserted that he had known the
MLA for 41 years. The lady said to the team that it was wrong to suggest
that a couple who had been married for 26 years did not know everything
about each other. While she agreed that women should be listened to, it
did not mean that men should not get a hearing and false allegations could
be made against them.
The day’s newspapers were lying there and one boy picked up the Amar
Ujala which featured an interview with the Team. We said we had spoken
on the basis of what we had read and had come to find out the
facts.Thereupon one of the MLA’s supporters said that the girl’s family are
all goondas. There are 19 cases on the uncle and an encounter was ordered
in 1995 itself but he ran away to Delhi.
Another supporter, a Muslim, clarified that the MLA was the MLA of
Banger Mau and not of the area in which the Makhi village is situated. He
said that the people sitting with me here are also Muslims but the MLA
takes care of us all. Another named Kunnu Mishra told the team that while
Mahesh was a history sheeter, Pappu was a drunkard and also addicted to
smack. He asserted that we could walk around the village but would not
find another girl who said that the MLA even raised his eyes when he
spoke to her. He repeated the age of the MLA and the incident of the girl
running away which, as we have pointed out, every single person in the
village knows. He additionally said that when the girl was found in 2017,
she recorded a statement under Sec 164 and in that she did not name the
MLA. When we asked why the girl was falsely implicating the MLA he said
he did not know but it must be some deep political conspiracy. However,
he could not name any possible conspirator. He did tell us that no one
from the girl’s family had fought an election whereas Kuldeep was an MLA
since the age of 32 years.
34 May, 2018
 NEW DEMOCRACY
Discussion at the Inter College Makhi
This college is situated within the boundary of the MLA’s house. We
met the Principal who said she has been associated with the college since
2014. Before that the MLA’s mother ran a primary school. This school
became inter level in 2016 and was also recognized by the UP Board.
Around 1000 students study here, many from the same village and children
also come from 10 kms away as there are bus facilities with the school.
There are both B-Ed and non B Ed teachers employed, many from the
same village and teachers are paid Rs. 2500-6000 per month. The finances
of the school and its other problems are looked after by the MLA. The
Principal stated that the survivor was lying and added that if one daughter
of the house had been raped would the younger sister attend the school
run by the same MLA till 2nd April 2018? We requested her to allow us to
meet the teachers, whereupon she called around 7-8 of them Of these 2
said that they were from the survivor’s family and had been teaching for
the past seven years. Referring to the survivor they said we think the girl
appearing on TV with her face covered must be another person because
this girl(the survivor) does not know how to speak and the person on TV
was fluent. Another teacher praised the MLA and wondered if other cases
of rape were also based on false charges. She felt the girl was being
pressurized by someone to make the false complaint. She said the MLA
had saved Shasi Singh (Shubham’s mother). The Principal asked one of
the teachers to tell us what the survivor’s family had done to hers but the
latter simply said there was some dispute among the men many years
earlier.
Talk with other Villagers
The team met other villagers in the Dalit tola. They are all agricultural
labourers. Some of the men said that we are poor people and do not know
what Mahesh and Pappu Singh were like. They did not know the survivor
either but the MLA was a very good man. While we were speaking two
people who were present in the MLA’s house arrived there as also did
another woman from the village. Then everyone together repeated that the
MLA is a good man and there will be problem now because he is under
arrest and there will be no one to solve our disputes. Another youth spoke
up condemning Pappu Singh and said that he had attacked me with a rifle
butt sometime back. When asked why the attack occurred, he said there
May, 2018 35
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
was some dispute. One of the persons from the MLA’s house said that
after this we will have to tell the boys to maintain a distance from girls.
Talk with the Lawyer of the Survivor
On 15th April, we could meet the survivor’s lawyer. He said that Asha
Singh had filed the petition under Sec156 on 12th Feb2018. Earlier, on 11th
June 2017,she had filed a missing report of her daughter at Makhi police
station, naming Shubham singh and Avdesh Tiwari. The girl was found on
20th June in Aurayya and the two boys were named in the FIR. On 22nd
June the survivor made a statement under Sec 164 and in this the names
of Shubham Singh’s mother and sister also figured along with the name of
Brajesh Yadav. However the charge sheet filed bythe police named
Shubham,Avdesh and Brajesh but did not name Shashi Singh and her
daughter. He also specified that the statement under Sec 164 only pertained
to the events covered by the FIR of 11th June 2017. He also said that in the
proceedings on the case on Sec 156 which took place on 3rd April, Shashi
Singh had represented through her lawyer that she wished to proceede
against the survivor under Sec 340, accusing her of lodging a false report.
The application was accepted and the date of 12th April was given. He also
said that thepolice have lodged an FIR on the statement of Asha Singh on
11th April 2018 and hence the proceedings under Sec 156 are over.
Addl. PS In Charge
On 16th April, the team met the CO Shri vivek ranjan. He told us that
the CO and the entire force of the police station have been suspended. He
knew that there were many cases on Mahesh Singh and Pappu Singh but
he could not tell the status of those complaints though he knew they
pertained to murder and dacoity and that both were history sheeters. In
addition he said that apart from political complaints there were only two
cases against the MLA Kuldeep Singh- one the current one and another
several years old. He repeated the position we had heard in the area, that
the survivor had not named the MLA in her statement under section 164.
The police had not gone to the village to arrest Pappu Singh he said, rather
he was brought here by the villagers and his own cousin, Tinku Singh,
lodged a complaint of a dispute. We got Pappu Singh admitted to the
hospital. After his death, an FIR was lodged and four people were arrested.
Probably the doctor could not assess Pappu Singh’s health properly and
36 May, 2018
 NEW DEMOCRACY
while he was in jail his health deteriorated and he died. He also told us that
many girls contract marriages of their choice and their parents lodge missing
reports in the police station. He added that Guddu singh and Mahesh Singh,
both brothers of Pappu Singh, as well as Pappu himself were part of the
MLA’s team for a long time.
Comments of the PMS Team
1. We asked Asha Singh whether her husband was addicted to alcohol
and took drugs, but she said that he took alcohol sometimes and never
took drugs.
2. The team understands that the statement of the girl under Sec 164
recorded last June pertains to the abduction of the girl and she described
events between 11th June 2017 and 20 th June 2017.
3. The team thinks to say that the MLA could not have raped the girl
because he was 50 years of age, was affluent or because the girl’s father
or uncle were history sheeters are illogical statements.
4. The PMS team understands that feudal forces have strong roots in
the village. Kuldeep Singh is a four time MLA and has changed several
parties. In the village it makes no difference that he is not even the MLA of
this area or which party he is with. From the time of his grandfather, the
MLA’s family have been the big landlords in this village.He and his brother
Atul are the centres of power in the village and solve all the village disputes
in their durbar. The brothers are known to get people beaten. The team
found that people in the village were upset at the MLA’s arrest because
they did not know how their disputes would be solved now.
On the basis of the facts we found, the team has reached the
following conclusions
1. The MLA and his brother are from an established feudal family and
rule over the village. They settle disputes, dispense justice. The brother
Atul is an accused in a case of the killing of a senior police officer. The
various cases lodged against Pappu Singh and Mahesh Singh seem to be
at the instigation of the MLA and his brother. The police works on the side
of these powerful in the village. An example is the case lodged against
Pappu Singh on 3rd April though he was badly injured. No attempt was
made to record his statement and lodge any case on that basis.
May, 2018 37
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
2. While much is being projected about the fact that the statement of
the survivor under Sec164 last June does not name the MLA, we bring on
record that the statement pertains to the case of abduction. Anyway in her
statement she involved Shashi Singh and her daughter, but the FIR lodged
on the basis of the statement does not carry these names and neither
does the police chargesheet have them.
3. Patriarchal feudal values are so entrenched in the village that not
only can the character of the survivor be maligned, her family terrorized
and her father killed by beating, the reputation of the MLA accused of rape
becomes a question of the reputation of the village! In feudal patriarchal
India a rape survivor has to again and again prove the truth of her allegation,
while repeatedly the issue of sexual assault is modified into an issue of
the victim being a characterless person. It is quite clear that for a woman
or girl fighting for justice in India, there are many painful challenges to
overcome and these are even more severe in the rural areas especially
where the powerful feudals are involved. This is even more so when those
guilty of sexual assault are politically powerful like the MLA or his cohorts.
That is the only explanation of why the accused in the abduction of 11th
June2017 got bail though a minor is involved and though the charges are of
abduction and rape,and also why the case of rape against the MLA could
only be lodged after her father was beatenup, died in jail and there was a
public hue and cry.
4. We found that the police describes the cases lodged against the
MLA as ‘political’’, but when cases are lodged against ordinary people under
the same sections, they are termed history sheeters.
Recommendations
1. The PMS team thinks that the CBI team currently enquiring into
the case should conduct a full study of the events consequent to 4th June
2017. The facts behind the cases lodged against the relatives of the survivor
as also the circumstances in which they were lodged should be studied.
The PMS demands that an enquiry should be conducted into why the minor
was lodged in a mahila thana between 20th and 30th of June 2017. If the UP
Govt. des not have provision of shelter homes for women the same should
immediately be provided for.
2. PMS also demands investigation on why the concerned officials
38 May, 2018
 NEW DEMOCRACY
did not inform the parents about the custody of the survivor after she was
recovered from Aurria by the Police. PMS also demands investigation by
the concerned senior officials as to why the date of recording of statement
under Section 164 Cr.P.C. (recorded on 22nd June 2017) was not informed
to the parents of the survivor.
3. PMS demands the constitution of Child Welfare Committees
regarding custody of minor victims in Uttar Pradesh State.
The team also feels that the trial of the case should be conducted not
in Unnao but in Delhi because the survivor resides in Delhi.
In view of the kind of comments that have emerged regarding the
statement under Sec 164, the PMS team suggests that all judicial officers
in India should be instructed that when recording statement under this
section, they should ask the women/children after the statement is recorded
in the context of the current case, whether they have ever suffered sexual
assault or any other type of sexual harassment before this or apart from
the incident that they have recounted.
Phagwara (Punjab)
Attack on Dalits Opposed
Annoyed by the successful Bharat Bandh by Dalits on April 2, in tehsil
Phagwara (Punjab), Shiv Sena and its associated organizations on April
13 attacked Dalits who had put up flex boards of Sanvidhan Chowk at a
crossing. They fired at and injured 4 Dalits. One of the youth, Bobby, died
during treatment. Those who fired are behind bars since April 28th. On this
issue RSS and BJP are pursuing their communal and anti Dalit agenda and
are demanding arrest of the leader of Dalit Lehar, Harbhajan Suman and
others in the FIRs already registered. After the funeral of Bobby on April 29
the police registered a fresh case against the Dalit youth and arrested
another leader. This was opposed by the people and in large numbers they
gheraoed SP Kapurthala who was present in the the SP Phagwara Office.
Pendu Mazdoor Union leaders President Tarsem Peter and Kashmir Singh
Ghughshir reached the protest site and supported the cause. Seeing the
people's anger the police were forced to release the Dalit leaders.
May, 2018 39
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
PYL (Telengana) State
Conference Successfully Held
The 7th State Conference of the PYL in Telengana was held from 25th to
27 April 2018 in Khammam (Telengana). On the 25th was the mass rally
th
from the campus of SR & BGNR College till the Pavilion grounds across
the Mayuri centre. The place of mass meeting was named after martyr
Com. Venkanna. PYL State President M. Hanmesh presided over the mass
meeting.
Umar Khalid –research scholar from JNU in Delhi and leader of the
Bhagat Singh Ambedkar Student Organization (BASO) was the main
Speaker. Others who addressed the mass meeting included Com. P. Ranga
Rao- Jt. Sec of the State Committee of CPI(ML)- New Democracy, NBS-
PYL Coordination Committee Convenor Com Raminder Singh, West Bengal
PYL Secy. Ashim Roy, Bheemlal (NBS-UP), Com. Gummadi Narasiah (ex
MLA), Com. Aruna (state Gen. Sec. of POW), C.Y.Pullaiah (PYL state
Gen Sec), G. Sakroo (state Vice President PYL), D. Sai Reddy (Jt. Sec
state PYL) K. Kashinath (Treasurer, state PYL) and other leaders of
Telengana PYL.
Com. Umar Khalid highlighted the Modi Govt’s saffronizing of universities
and its attacks on Dalits, women and democrats. It is labelling all students
raising questions including about its role in the death of Rohith Vemula, as
anti-nationals. Before Elections, Modi gave the slogan of ‘’Beti bachao’’
but it actually meant saving girls from BJP leaders. However today the
Modi Govt has changed its role to ‘Rapist Bachao’, he said, referring to the
rape and murder of an 8 year old in Kathua in J&K. He said all facts point
that Justice Loya's death was linked to saving Amit Shah. He ended by
stressing the need for youth to participate and lead the fight back to these
attacks.
Com. Ranga Rao stressed that India is languishing under unemployment.
Modi had promised two crore jobs to India and KCR promised one and a
half crore jobs to Telengana. The youth should fight for employment and
also teach these govts. who are only working for the rich, a lesson through
their struggles.
Com. Hanmesh asked both Govts- Where are the jobs? He said the
40 May, 2018
 NEW DEMOCRACY
govts are wasting time and raising false hopes. Every year 20 lakh in the
state roam around coaching centres. In 2016, the Govt released 16,067
VRO posts and 13 lakhs applied for the jobs. Every year, students from
600 universities across the country and also about a crore from the 60,000
colleges are looking for
employment after
passing out. He called
on the Youth to fight for
employment.
Com. Raminder
Singh pointed out that
post the new economic
policies begun since
1991, the situation of
employment has
worsened. Modi is
implementing the economic policies of Manmohan Singh Govt. at a much
faster pace. Both in the country and world over, jobless growth is the norm.
Ours is a young population with youth being 2/3 of our 130 crore population.
He called on the youth to fight for a progressive and new democratic India.
C.Y. Pullaiah said a Public Employment Act isneeded. During elections
political parties attract the youth with false promises of employment
generation. He demanded that a white ppaper be released regarding
employment in the country and job opportunities and Rs 5000 per month
unemployment allowance should be immediately announced.
Arunodaya added colour and exuberance to the meeting. The ázadi’
dance presented by women members of PDSU was received with
enthusiasm. Coms P.Naganna, Krishna, K. Subbarao and others motivated
the youth with their songs as did the dances of Mahi and Vinay groups.
On the 26th of April, the Conference proceedings got off to a start at the
Rajpadh Function Hall with the inaugural session. Reception committee
President, Adv. V. Krishnamurthy called on the youth to leave the
Conference with new enthusiasm and excitement for social change.
Following this, the flag of PYL was hoisted by Com. Hanmesh.
The Inaugural speaker was Prof. Anand Teltumbde, from IIT Kharagpur.
May, 2018 41
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
He said Modi is dividing the country in the name of caste and religion. In
the name of Hinduism, BJP is raising religious hatred, promoting inequalities
and discriminations. He called for walking on the road of struggle shown by
Ambedkar and Phule and fighting in that direction to solve today’s problems.
Youth organizations' leaders Raminder Singh (NBS, Punjab), Ashim Roy
(PYL, West Bengal) and Bheemlal (NBS, Allahabad (UP) as well as Umar
Khalid of BASO criticized the Modi Govt. for its false promise of creating
one crore jobs. They were critical of the rulers for misusing the media and
promoting alchoholism and drug addiction in the youth. They all called on
the youth to unite against political, social and economic inequality.
CPI(ML) New Democracy State Committee member, Com. Rayala
Chandrashekar called on the youth to participate in the building of a society
free of exploitation, poverty and unemployment. He called for intensification
of the struggle against landlords and imperialists.
After the Inaugural, began the Delegate session. K. Laxmi Narayana
addressed the delegates on State and Communalism and Com. KGR,
member of state committee of CPI (ML) New Democracy, spoke on
Marxism.
C.Y. Pullaiah then introduced the Report of activities. It was approved
after deciding to rewrite the planning part. The new executive was elected
with Com. Sakroo as President, CY Pullaiah as General Secretary, 3 Vice
presidents and 3 Jt secretaries and members to constitute a 33 member
executive committee. The Conference ended with slogans as the delegates
dispersed to carry out the tasks decided.
42 May, 2018
 NEW DEMOCRACY
Massacre of Unarmed
Demonstrators in
Thoothukudi (Tuticorin)
At least 10 people, including a 17 year old girl, were killed and more
than 50 injured on 22 May 2018 as police fired on demonstrators protesting
against Sterlite copper in Thoothukudi (Tuticorin) a port town in Tamilnadu.
One of them was killed in a second incident of firing in the evening when
protesters had gathered in another part of the town to protest against the
earlier firing. Most of them had bullet marks on their face, chest or abdomen,
said a doctor attached to the Tuticorin district medical office. Video
recordings which have come to light later clearly show police personnel in
civilian clothes standing on top of buses, aiming and doing targeted firing.
An around 20,000 strong demonstration was being held to mark the
100th day of the current round of protest against Sterlite Copper, a unit of
London based Vedanta Resources, one of the world’s largest metal and
mining transnational corporations. This indefinite struggle was launched
on 12th February 2018 to demand closure of the plant and refusal of
permission for starting another unit of the plant. The protestors had applied
for permission for the 22nd May protest many days before but the District
administration clamped Section 144 in the town to try to prevent the protest.
This further angered the protestors who marched to the District Collectorate
where the police resorted to firing. Police brutality on the direction of the
Govt. in the service of a mining giant (MNC) owned by Anil Agarwal, was
much in evidence as police not only stopped the people from exercising
their democratic right, they started beating up the people to disperse them.
Police even dragged out a youth from a hospital and killed him. This
massacre is another instance of the crimes of the ruling parties against the
people of the country.
Despite anger against this organized massacre, police continued
suppression of the people and killed further two persons in police firing on
23rd of May. It showed that the RSS-BJP Central Govt. and Tamilnadu
Govt. propped up by them, care little about the people’s interests or their
May, 2018 43
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
rights and will do every thing to protect the interests of the corporate.
There has been opposition from the people to this Copper smelting plant
from its inception in 1996 because of concerns about pollution. After it
received permissions from Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB)
and the Ministry of Environment and Forests in January 1995, these were
challenged before the Madras High Court in 1996. The Company, however,
went ahead and set up the plant that commenced production in 1997. Fresh
petitions were filed seeking directions to take suitable action against the
Company for alleged failure to take safety measures due to which there
were pollution and industrial accidents at the plant. In September 2010, the
High Court allowed and disposed the writ petitions with the direction to the
Company to close down its Tuticorin plant. The Company went in appeal to
the Supreme Court which passed an interim order staying the High Court
order. In 2013 on March 29, the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board was
forced to order closure of the plant after local residents complained about
noxious emissions. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court, on April 2, 2013, set
aside the High Court order for closure, despite noting that in various
investigations the Company had been found to have caused pollution, it
had continued to operate without renewal of consent by the TNPCB for
some periods and that it had misrepresented and suppressed material facts
in its appeal. Instead it directed the Company to deposit Rs 100 crore
within three months with the Collector. The money was to be utilised for
taking measures to improve the environment, including water and soil in
the vicinity of the plant. How this improvement could take place in the face
of continuing pollution from the plant is a question that the Supreme Court
never answered. Meanwhile, the Company went ahead with its plans to
build another unit to double the capacity from the current 400,000 tons per
year to 800,000 tons per year.
The plant was closed since 27th March 2018 by the management
for so called maintenance for 15 days. Actually the license from the TNPCB
for operating the plant has expired on 31st March. The Company applied for
a 5 yr extension of license. However in the face of strong people's opposition
and agitation, the TNPCB was forced to reject the application on 9th April
2018 citing five technical grounds, including non submission of the report
of the test on groundwater in villages in the neighbourhood of the plant and
the discharge of hazardous waste in violation of rules. The Company has
moved the Appellate Authority challenging the rejection.
44 May, 2018
 NEW DEMOCRACY
The demonstration on 22 May was preceded by various forms of
nd
protest over the last 100 days including indefinite fast by around 250 people
who were arrested, successful strike called by over 50 associations on
25th March, and a huge demonstration by thousands in Tuticorin and even
a demonstration by British Tamils at the home of Vedanta Chief Anil Agarwal
in London.
In 2008 a study found that the iron content in the water sources of
two villages near the plant was 20 times more than the permitted limit.
Dangerously high levels of sulfur dioxide emissions have been repeatedly
documented. A study by the Tiruneveli Medical College in 2008 covering
80,725 people residing within a 5 km radius of the smelting plant found that
13.9 % of the population suffered from respiratory diseases. It stated that
“The attributable cause is...the presence of gases, mixture of gases and
particulate matter”. The study has been kept under wraps. Those suffering
from respiratory ailments state that the doctors say that living in the vicinity
of Sterlite is the problem but they do not write down that reason.
There is a long history of violations of the laws and false claims by
Sterlite and its parent Vedanta. The copper smelting plant was originally
proposed in 1992 on the west coast in Ratnagiri, Maharashtra. People's
movement against it on account of environmental concerns and pollution
forced the State govt. and Sesa Sterlite to abandon the project and in 1994
foundation stone was laid in Tuticorin. The condition here was that it should
be at least 25 km away from the gulf of Mannar but the plant was
constructed only 14 km away. The mandated 25 metre green belt of trees
around the perimeter of the plant has not been created. The approved
capacity was 70,000 tons per year but it has been continuously increased
to 400,000 now. The height of the chimney stack for gaseous fumes should
be 123 metres but it remains at 60 metres only, ensuring massive pollution
of the atmosphere. Vedanta’s attempts for bauxite mining in Niyamgiri,
Odisha were successfully resisted by the tribal people. People are opposing
the pollution caused by its alumina plant in Lanjigarh, Odisha. In some
African countries like Zambia environmental pollution by Vedanta is being
challenged.
There are even documents to show that environmental clearance given
to the expansion project in 2009 was illegal and based on false documents.
The clearance was given without a public hearing, stating that it was not
May, 2018 45
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
required since the location was to be in the already notified area of the
State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu (SIPCOT). SIPCOT
backed this assertion in the High Court which ruled that public consultation
was not required in this case. In January 2018 a public hearing was
scheduled for a new industrial park by SIPCOT. The survey numbers for
the 1,616 acres of land required for this were released by SIPCOT. Activists
found that most of these survey numbers were the same as in the list
submitted by Sterlite and approved for its new plant. This basically means
that this land was not in industrial park area when not having public hearing
was approved by the High Court. SIPCOT had made false claims to allow
Sterlite to acquire the permissions for its new plant.
CPI(ML) New Democracy strongly condemned these murders by the
state to serve the interests of a corporate and demanded that the plant be
shut down immediately, officers who ordered prevention of the rally should
be removed without delay and police officers responsible for these killings
be arrested and tried for murder. It also demanded that the State govt.
which has organized such a crime, must resign without delay and that the
people who have lost their kin, who have suffered injuries or who have
suffered from the ill effects of the functioning of the plant be adequately
compensated. CPI(ML) New Democracy called for countrywide protests
against these murders and for the above demands and also appealed to all
revolutionary organizations, democratic rights organizations and democrats
to raise their voice against this massacre and for the punishment of the
guilty of this heinous crime.
In the face of the widespread people's anger against the killings,
the Tamil Nadu Govt. has ordered permanent closure of the plant but will it
really be permanent? In the last 22 years the govt. of Tamil Nadu whether
of AIDMK or DMK and the Central Govt whether of UPA or NDA have
continually aided and abetted Sterlite. The Supreme Court has already once
ordered re opening of the plant with a minor financial penalty. Only the
sustained people's movement can ensure that the plant is never opened,
the guilty are punished and the Company is made to clean up the
environment.
46 May, 2018
 NEW DEMOCRACY
FINDINGS OF THE FACT FINDING
FA
TEAM ON THE THOO THUKUDI
THOOTHUKUDI
POLICE FIRING
(The press note issued by the team consisting of leaders of IFTU, AIKMS
and POW after the team visited Thoothukudi on May 29, 2018 is being
published here. This press note has been released by the team at the
press conferences held at Vijaywada (AP), Hyderabad (Telengana) and
Chennai (Tamil Nadu). - Editor)
On 22-05-2018, a demonstration of about 50000 people before the
Collectorate in Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu opposing the expansion of Sterlite
company was fired upon by the police killing 11 persons and another two
were killed in a similar fashion the next day bringing the death toll to 13. In
order to check the veracity of various versions on this grave incident of
national importance and find out the real facts, a Fact Finding Team(FFT)
was constituted jointly by the Indian Federation of Trade Unions(IFTU), All
India Kisan Mazdoor Sabha (AIKMS) and the Progressive Organisation of
Women(POW), AP. The FFT members, J.Chalapathi Rao,Vice-President,
AIKMS, P. Prasad, Secretary, IFTU and Lakshmi,General Secretary of
POW, AP visited Thoothukudi on 29-05-18 along with two advocates of
TN, Prabhaker and Jyothi and PUCL organizer Sampath. The FFT was
helped by the NDLF in organizing the programme.The FFT met families of
those killed and the injured. It met some members of the Bar Associations
of various courts in the state. The following are the findings based on the
information procured from the above sources:
1. The Vedanta-owned Sterlite Smelting Company in Thoothukudi was
established in 1995 despite severe opposition in the area to it as it would
be a source of pollution causing immense damage to environment and to
the lives of the people. It is one of the biggest polluting plants in the state
of Tamil Nadu leading to health hazards like causing cancer and water
borne diseases. Since the last twenty two years a movement for the closure
of the plant has been going on and the governments, both State and Central,
have not bothered to look into this demand despite a Supreme Court order
penalizing the company to pay 100 crores for causing pollution. On the
May, 2018 47
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
contrary, the powers that be gave permission for expanding the plant. This
was the immediate cause that led to the organization of the demonstration
on 22-05-18 which was preceeded by a huge rally in the town on 18th March.
2. A broad non-party platform named Struggle Committee against
Sterlite, headed by a retired Professor, Fatima, has been spearheading
the movement. On 22-05-18, a march to the Collector's office was organized
and it is estimated that some fifty thousand people participated in it.Just a
day before the demonstration, one of the activists of this
platform,Thangadurai, died of cancer and this could have further angered
the people who responded by participating in the programme on 22nd May
in large numbers. There were women with children along with old people in
the demonstration apart from a cross section of people. The march was
stopped by the police with barricades all around the Collector's office and
the protesters were not even in the ground near the Collectorate building.
It was a peaceful assembly of people raising slogans against the Sterlite
plant and its expansion. There was no provocation from the protestors
either.
3. Armed cops with assault rifles were all around and positions were
taken to fire upon an unarmed mass of people.There was no public
announcement by the police nor any warning was issued before they began
to fire and the firing appears to be aimed to kill and not to disperse or
“control” the “mob”. The police fired not below the belts but above the belts
resulting in deaths of eleven people that day. The FFT was told that the
firing was selective in the sense that targets were chosen from among the
protestors. The first victim was Tamilrasan, an activist of the platform and
others who were raising slogans. This is further confirmed by a video which
is going viral in which a policeman is taking position on a van shouting
“should kill atleast one”. There is ample evidence to show that the firing
was premeditated and intended not merely to cause injury but to shoot to
kill. Many questioned the official versions of the incident that painted the
demonstration as violent or instigated by anti-social elements. This was
an attempt to cover up the heinous act of the police. The police rode rough
shod the next day also by killing a Dalit youth, Kaliappan, in Annanagar.The
FFT strongly feels that the police firing on 22-05-18,followed by firing the
next day, was intended to terrorise the protesting people into submission.
The police did not follow the minimum legal principles and followed brutal
methods that are normally associated with it.
48 May, 2018
 NEW DEMOCRACY
4. The nexus with the corporate Sterlite is not difficult to discern as
the Government plays the role of a protector of capital investments as
seen in many such instances in the country. In the name of
“development”private investments are given protection by the state over
the people who become victims of this so-called development. In this case,
in order to facilitate Sterlite Company, environmental concerns were damned
and the right of the people to a clean environment to live in was totally
ignored. It will not be out of place to refer to the averments of some of
those which point to a close alliance of the Vedanta group with the Modi
government.
The Fact Finding Team demands that punitive action should be initiated
against all the officials responsible for the barbaric act of killing 13 people
and a Judicial probe headed by a Supreme Court judge should be held to
inquire into the entire incident. It demands the immediate closure of the
Sterlite Smelting plant, initiating action against the management for
jeopardizing the lives of the local communities and environmental damage.
(Issued by J. Chalapati Rao, Vice-President, All India Kisan Mazdor
Sabha (AIKMS), P. Prasad, Secretary, National Committee, Indian
Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) and M. Lakshmi, General Secretary,
Progressive Organization of Women (POW) Andhra Pradesh)
Read and Subscribe
CPI(ML) Or
Orgg ans
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
Homage to Com. Vaskar Nandy
General Secretary of PCC, CPI(ML) Com. Vaskar Nandy breathed his
last in the morning of May 4, 2018. He was 80 years old. He was suffering
from throat cancer for some time.
Com. Nandy had already come into contact with progressive movement
during his studies abroad and participated in demonstrations against Vietnam
war there. Attracted towards the Naxalbari peasant armed struggle, he joined
the communist revolutionary movement. He has been a participant in the
ML movement for five decades. Com. Nandy was a revolutionary intellectual
who devoted his entire life to the cause of the revolution in India.
Over this period he contributed in developing ML movement in Eastern
India, especially in Assam where he led the development of extensive
party organization and mass base. Despite his old age and ill health, Com.
Nandy worked to organize tea plantation workers in Assam and North
Bengal.
Com. Nandy became a member of the Central Committee of the CPI(ML)
when Unity Committee of CPI(ML) united with Central Committee of CPI(ML)
to form PCC, CPI(ML) in 1977. He was also a member of the Politburo of
the Party.
Com. Nandy struggled with problems faced by the revolutionary
movement. He had knowledge, vision and strength of his conviction.

New Democracy English Com. Nandy was very keen to develop joint activities among the
communist revolutionaries especially to fight RSS-BJP’s drive towards
Pratirodh Ka Swar Hindi fascism.
Voice of New Democracy Telugu CPI(ML)-New Democracy pays its homage to Com. Vaskar Nandy and
(Telengana) offers condolences to the leaders and cadres of PCC, CPI(ML) and family
New Democracy Bulletin Telugu members of Com. Vaskar Nandy.
(A.P.) CPI(ML)-New Democracy wishes to continue developing joint activities
with PCC, CPI(ML) on people’s issues particularly in struggle against fascist
Biplabi Ganaline Bengali
drive of RSS-BJP as envisaged and supported by Com. Nandy.
Inquilabi Sada Rah Punjabi
CPI(ML)-New Democracy
Sangrami Ekta Odia May 5, 2018

May, 2018 49 50 May, 2018

 NEW DEMOCRACY
Marx, Karl, was born...
(Preface : This article on Karl Marx, which now appears in a
separate printing, was written in 1913 (as far as I can remember)
for the Granat Encyclopaedia. A fairly detailed bibliography of
literature on Marx, mostly foreign, was appended to the article. This
has been omitted in the present edition. The editors of the
Encyclopaedia, for their part, have, for censorship reasons, deleted
the end of the article on Marx, namely, the section dealing with his
revolutionary tactics. Unfortunately, I am unable to reproduce that
end, because the draft has remained among my papers somewhere
in Krakow or in Switzerland. I only remember that in the concluding
part of the article I quoted, among other things, the passage from
Marx’s letter to Engels of April 16, 1856, in which he wrote: “The
whole thing in Germany will depend on the possibility of backing
the proletarian revolution by some second edition of the Peasant
War. Then the affair will be splendid.” That is what our Mensheviks,
who have now sunk to utter betrayal of socialism and to desertion
to the bourgeoisie, have failed to understand since 1905.)
N. Lenin
Moscow, May 14, 1918
Marx, the student
Marx, Karl, was born on May 5, 1818 (New Style), in the city of Trier
(Rhenish Prussia). His father was a lawyer, a Jew, who in 1824 adopted
Protestantism. The family was well-to-do, cultured, but not revolutionary.
After graduating from a Gymnasium in Trier, Marx entered the university,
first at Bonn and later in Berlin, where he read law, majoring in history and
philosophy. He concluded his university course in 1841, submitting a doctoral
thesis on the philosophy of Epicurus. At the time Marx was a Hegelian
idealist in his views. In Berlin, he belonged to the circle of “Left Hegelians”
(Bruno Bauer and others) who sought to draw atheistic and revolutionary
conclusion from Hegel’s philosophy.
After graduating, Marx moved to Bonn, hoping to become a professor.
May, 2018 51
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
However, the reactionary policy of the government, which deprived Ludwig
Feuerbach of his chair in 1832, refused to allow him to return to the
university in 1836, and in 1841 forbade young Professor Bruno Bauer to
lecture at Bonn, made Marx abandon the idea of an academic career. Left
Hegelian views were making rapid headway in Germany at the time.
Feuerbach began to criticize theology, particularly after 1836, and turn to
materialism, which in 1841 gained ascendancy in his philosophy (The
Essence of Christianity). The year 1843 saw the appearance of his Principles
of the Philosophy of the Future. “One must oneself have experienced the
liberating effect” of these books, Engels subsequently wrote of these works
of Feuerbach. “We [i.e., the Left Hegelians, including Marx] all became at
once Feuerbachians.” At that time, some radical bourgeois in the Rhineland,
who were in touch with the Left Hegelians, founded, in Cologne, an opposition
paper called Rheinische Zeitung (The first issue appeared on January 1,
1842). Marx and Bruno Bauer were invited to be the chief contributors, and
in October 1842 Marx became editor-in-chief and moved from Bonn to
Cologne. The newspaper’s revolutionary-democratic trend became more
and more pronounced under Marx’s editorship, and the government first
imposed double and triple censorship on the paper, and then on January 1
1843 decided to suppress it. Marx had to resign the editorship before that
date, but his resignation did not save the paper, which suspended publication
in March 1843. Of the major articles Marx contributed to Rheinische Zeitung,
Engels notes, in addition to those indicated below (see Bibliography),[1] an
article on the condition of peasant winegrowers in the Moselle Valley.[2]
Marx’s journalistic activities convinced him that he was insufficiently
acquainted with political economy, and he zealously set out to study it.
In 1843, Marx married, at Kreuznach, a childhood friend he had become
engaged to while still a student. His wife came of a reactionary family of
the Prussian nobility, her elder brother being Prussia’s Minister of the Interior
during a most reactionary period—1850-58. In the autumn of 1843, Marx
went to Paris in order to publish a radical journal abroad, together with
Arnold Ruge (1802-1880; Left Hegelian; in prison in 1825-30; a political
exile following 1848, and a Bismarckian after 1866-70). Only one issue of
this journal, Deutsch-Französische Jahrbücher, appeared;[3] publication
was discontinued owing to the difficulty of secretly distributing it in Germany,
and to disagreement with Ruge. Marx’s articles in this journal showed that
he was already a revolutionary who advocated “merciless criticism of
everything existing”, and in particular the “criticism by weapon”,[13] and
52 May, 2018
 NEW DEMOCRACY
appealed to the masses and to the proletariat.
In September 1844, Frederick Engels came to Paris for a few days, and
from that time on became Marx’s closest friend. They both took a most
active part in the then seething life of the revolutionary groups in Paris (of
particular importance at the time was Proudhon’s[4] doctrine), which Marx
pulled to pieces in his Poverty of Philosophy (1847); waging a vigorous
struggle against the various doctrines of petty-bourgeois socialism, they
worked out the theory and tactics of revolutionary proletarian socialism, or
communism Marxism). See Marx’s works of this period, 1844-48 in the
Bibliography. At the insistent request of the Prussian government, Marx
was banished from Paris in 1845, as a dangerous revolutionary. He went to
Brussels. In the spring of 1847 Marx and Engels joined a secret propaganda
society called the Communist League;[5] they took a prominent part in the
League’s Second Congress (London, November 1847), at whose request
they drew up the celebrated Communist Manifesto, which appeared in
February 1848. With the clarity and brilliance of genius, this work outlines
a new world-conception, consistent with materialism, which also embrace
the realm of social life; dialectics, as the most comprehensive and profound
doctrine of development; the theory of the class struggle and of the world-
historic revolutionary role of the proletariat—the creator of a new, communist
society.
On the outbreak of the Revolution of February 1848,[6] Marx was
banished from Belgium. He returned to Paris, whence, after the March
Revolution,[7] he went to Cologne, Germany, where Neue Rheinische
Zeitung[8] was published from June 1, 1848, to May 19, 1849, with Marx
as editor-in-chief. The new theory was splendidly confirmed by the course
of the revolutionary events of 1848-49, just as it has been subsequently
confirmed by all proletarian and democratic movements in all countries of
the world. The victorious counter-revolution first instigated court proceedings
against Marx (he was acquitted on February 9, 1849), and then banished
him from Germany (May 16, 1849). First Marx went to Paris, was again
banished after the demonstration of June 13, 1849,[9] and then went to
London, where he lived until his death.
His life as a political exile was a very hard one, as the correspondence
between Marx and Engels (published in 1913) clearly reveals. Poverty
weighed heavily on Marx and his family; had it not been for Engels’ constant
and selfless financial aid, Marx would not only have been unable to
May, 2018 53
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
complete Capital but would have inevitably have been crushed by want.
Moreover, the prevailing doctrines and trends of petty-bourgeois socialism,
and of non-proletarian socialism in general, forced Marx to wage a
continuous and merciless struggle and sometime to repel the most savage
and monstrous personal attacks (Herr Vogt).[10] Marx, who stood aloof
from circles of political exiles, developed his materialist theory in a number
of historical works (see Bibliography), devoting himself mainly to a study
of political economy. Marx revolutionized science (see “The Marxist
Doctrine”, below) in his Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
(1859) and Capital (Vol. I, 1867).
The revival of the democratic movements in the late fifties and in the
sixties recalled Marx to practical activity. In 1864 (September 28) the
International Working Men’s Association—the celebrated First
International—was founded in London. Marx was the heart and soul of this
organization, and author of its first Address[11] and of a host of resolutions,
declaration and manifestoes. In uniting the labor movement of various forms
of non-proletarian, pre-Marxist socialism (Mazzini, Proudhon, Bakunin,
liberal trade-unionism in Britain, Lassallean vacillations to the right in
Germany, etc.), and in combating the theories of all these sects and schools,
Marx hammered out a uniform tactic for the proletarian struggle of the
working class in the various countries. Following the downfall of the Paris
Commune (1871)—of which he gave such a profound, clear-cut, brilliant
effective and revolutionary analysis (The Civil War In France, 1871)—and
the Bakunin-caused[12] cleavage in the International, the latter organization
could no longer exist in Europe. After the Hague Congress of the International
(1872), Marx held the General Council of the International had played its
historical part, and now made way for a period of a far greater development
of the labour movement in all countries in the world, a period in which the
movement grew in scope, and mass socialist working-class parties in
individual national states were formed.
Marx’s health was undermined by his strenuous work in the International
and his still more strenuous theoretical occupations. He continued work on
the refashioning of political economy and on the completion of Capital, for
which he collected a mass of new material and studied a number of
languages (Russian, for instance). However, ill-health prevented him from
completing Capital.
His wife died on December 2, 1881, and on March 14, 1883, Marx passed
54 May, 2018
 NEW DEMOCRACY
away peacefully in his armchair. He lies buried next to his wife at Highgate
Cemetery in London. Of Marx’s children some died in childhood in London,
when the family were living in destitute circumstances. Three daughters
married English and French socialists; Eleanor Aveling, Laura Lafargue
and Jenny Longuet. The latters’ son is a member of the French Socialist
Party.
[1] This “Bibliography” written by Lenin for the article is not included. —
Ed.
[2] The reference is to the article “Justification of the Correspondent
from the Mosel” by Karl Marx.—Ed.
[3] The reference is to the Deutsch-Franzosische Jahrbucher (German-
French Annals), a magazine edited by Karl Marx and Arnold Ruge and
published in German in Paris. Only the first issue, a double one, appeared,
in February 1844. It included works by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels
which marked the final transition of Marx and Engels to materialism and
communism. Publication of the magazine was discontinued mainly as a
result of basic differences of opinion between Marx and the bourgeois radical
Ruge.—Ed.
[4] Proudhonism—An unscientific trend in petty-bourgeois socialism,
hostile to Marxism, so called after its ideologist, the French anarchist Pierre
Joseph Proudhon. Proudhon criticized big capitalist property from the petty-
bourgeois position and dreamed of perpetuating small private ownership.
He proposed the foundation of “people’s” and “exchange” banks, with the
aid of which the workers would be able to acquire the means of production,
become handicraftsmen and ensure the just marketing of their produce.
Proudhon did not understand the historic role of the proletariat and displayed
a negative attitude to the class struggle, the proletarian revolution, and the
dictatorship of the proletariat; as an anarchist, he denied the need for the
state. Marx subjected Proudhonism to ruthless criticism in his work The
Poverty of Philosophy.—Ed.
[5] The Communist League—The first international communist
organization of the proletariat founded under the guidance of Marx and
Engels in London early in June 1847.
Marx and Engels helped to work out the programmatic and organizational
principles of the League; they wrote its programme—the Manifesto of the
Communist Party, published in February 1848.
May, 2018 55
Organ of the Central Committee, CPI(ML)
The Communist League was the predecessor of the International Working
Men’s Association (The First International). It existed until November 1852,
its prominent members later playing a leading role in the First International.—
Ed.
[6] The reference is to the bourgeois revolutions in Germany and Austria
which began in March 1848.—Ed.
[7] The reference is to the bourgeois revolution in France in February
1848.—Ed.
[8] Die Neue Rheinische Zeitung (New Rhenish Gazette)—Published in
Cologne from June 1, 1848, to May 19, 1849. Marx and Engels directed the
newspaper, Marx being its editor-in-chief. Lenin characterized Die Neue
Rheinische Zeitung as “the finest and unsurpassed organ of the revolutionary
proletariat”. Despite persecution and the obstacles placed in its way by the
police, the newspaper staunchly defended the interests of revolutionary
democracy, the interests of the proletariat. Because of Marx’s banishment
from Prussia in May 1849 and the persecution of the other editors, Die
Neue Rheinische Zeitung had to cease publication.—Ed.
[9] The reference is to the mass demonstration in Paris organized by
the Montagne, the party of the petty bourgeoisie, in protest against the
infringement by the President and the majority in the Legislative Assembly
of the constitutional orders established in the revolution of 1848. The
demonstration was dispersed by the government.—Ed.
[10] The reference is to Marx’s pamphlet Herr Vogt, which was written
in reply to the slanderous pamphlet by Vogt, a Bonapartist agent provocateur,
My Process Against “Allgemeine Zeitung”.—Ed.
[11] The First International Workingmen’s Association was the first
international tendency that grouped together all the worlds’ workers parties
in one unified international party.—Ed.
[12] Bakuninism—A trend called after its leader Mikhail Bakunin, an
ideologist of anarchism and enemy of Marxism and scientific socialism.—
Ed.
[13] These words are from Marx’s “Critique of the Hegelian Philosophy
of Right: Introduction.” The relevant passage reads: “The weapon of
criticism cannot, of course, replace criticism by weapon, material force
must be overthrown by a material force; but theory, too, becomes a material
force, as soon as it grips the masses.”—Lenin
56 May, 2018