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Red Salute to Irish Communists : One Hour of Irish Communist Music

North Korea : We Love Peace but we have Lived In War for 60 years

Democracy and Class Struggle says only fools would launch an attack on North Korea but unfortuneatly we have one or more in the White House.

We hope reason prevails but we are not confident about future until we see a new initiative from South Korea and Koreans taking their future into their own hands.

SEE ALSO:
http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/who-started-korean-war.html

Celebrating 50 years since Naxalbari - The Tarimela Nagi Reddy - D V Rao Line Part 6 by Harsh Thakor

These articles reflect the personal views of Harsh Thakor


TARIMELA NAGI REDDY –D.V.RAO LINE - ARCHITECTS OF MASS LINE 

(IN BIRTH CENTENARY YEAR OF BOTH COMRADES)

A.INTRODUCTION

In my view no revolutionaries were greater architects of the mass revolutionary line than comrades Tatrimela Nagi Reddy and Devullpali Venkateswara Rao.This yrar is their birth centenary year of both comrdaes with TN born on Feb 11th 2017 and DV born in June 1st 2017.

On the theoretical plane no Indian revolutionary has equalled the contribution of ‘Andhra thesis’ covering  Telengana armed struggle written by Comrdae DV Rao and on the practical plane no comrade surpassed DV’s contribution in the Telengana Armed Struggle from 1946-51.

The base for the struggle aginst left adventurism and agrarian revolutionary movement was laid by these 2 comrades.In fact the basic documents of what later was the Coomunist Party Re-Organization Centre of India (Marxist-Leninist) was written by Comrade D,V.

However it was T.Nagi Reddy who from 1967 played the major role in practicing the line and giving the required leadership for the mass line,being such a skilled orator.Thus it came to be know as the Nagi Reddy line.

This line formulated the Andhra Pradesh state Commitee leadership..Morally to me TN and DV did not prescribe stages theory by  deferring g armed struggle in 1968 as analyzed by intellectuals supporting the Charu Mazumdar C.P.I.(M.L) and it’s later ofshots like C.P.I.(M.L.) Peoples War group

Of course historically a series of splits took place and eventually even DV Rao veered  and supported Dengist Chinese and theory of three worlds.

Today what is practiced by the Communist Party Re-Organization Centre of India (M.l.)is based on the TN-DV line.2 comrades who made the bigets contribution in practicing this line in later decades were Harbhajan Sohi and Anand.

Given below are two extracts which throw more light on TN’s illustrious life and work.
Extract 1 : A few words about TN’s life and work.

By DV Rao

                                                                           D V Rao

A few words about TN’s life and work by DV Rao

Comrade Tarimela Nagi Reddy (TN) was born (11-2-1917) in a well-to-do family. He completed his M.A.. and was about to complete Law, when he was arrested by the British imperialists for his revolutionary activities. He was associated with the then existing communist party ever since he started his political activities. He was a good orator, agitator and organiser.

He had organised and led many a struggle of the rural poor against the atrocities of the landlords. He has led the underground life during the period of 1947-51 when he was the leader and Secretary of the Regional Committee of Rayala Seema in Andhra Pradesh (then the composite Madras province). The authorities could not arrest him in spite of the best efforts till he himself had come out in 1952. Eversince he was either a member of Legislature or the Parliament, till he resigned from the Legislature of Andhra Pradesh in 1969.

He was always towards the Left in all controversies which arose inside the party. He had finally chosen his place in the ranks of communist revolutionaries, and remained there till the end.

He fought against right opportunism and left adventurism and the present work (India Mortgaged) is a product of this struggle. It is not accidental that he was writing an article against revisionism just two days before his death when his pen stopped writing. Such was his glorious revolutionary career.
Silver-tongued orator as he was, his speeches inside and outside the Legislature and Parliament were full of substance.

He was well-read and he knew what he was speaking about, which is a rare exception in Indian orators. He had been unparalleled propagandist of communist revolutionary line. He went underground to carry on revolutionary activities immediately after the proclamation of Emergency towards the end of June 1975.

While being underground he devoted his attention to strengthen and improve the organisation on an all Indian scale in general, and Andhra Pradesh in particular. He worked for the unity of communist revolutionaries till the end of his life.

He held leading positions inside the party. He was a member of the National Council in the United party. He was the Convener of the Co-ordination Committee of Andhra Communist Revolutionaries. He was the member of Central Committee of the U.C.C.R.I. (M.L.) [Unity Centre of Communist Revolutionaries of India (Marxist – Leninist)], at the time of his death. He took a leading role in its formation.

He worked for Indian Revolution to the last day of his life. The advancing age was no bar to his work as an orator, organiser and writer. His death was sudden and he spent only two days in the hospital. He was conscious to the last minute. We could not save him inspite of the best efforts of the doctors and the comrades attending him. He died on 28th July, 1976, in Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad, at the age of 59.

His loss is irreparable to Indian Revolution and communist revolutionaries.

He loved the people immensely and the people reciprocated it in the same degree. He is known for knowing the pulse of the people, and was acting accordingly. He was one of the architects of communist revolutionary line and he defended it against the campaign let loose by, adversaries.
He was in Indian revolutionary political scene for more than 35 years. He sacrificed what all he had for Indian Revolution. He is the product of the best in the communist revolutionary movement. It is a proud privilege of communist revolutionaries to have him as their leader.

A brief account of  DV Rao’s  life and work.

Of particular importance is the fact that he was the pioneer of the programme of land distribution and of volunteer squads. He was the first to grasp that rural poor were thirsting for land as early as 1944 and initiated the programme for land distribution during the 1946 struggles in Nalgonda district. He raised the first volunteer squad from the peasantry of Devaruppala village of Nalgonda district which soon spread far and wide and became a movement. It is after this that the village Sanghams came to be known as the Gutupala Sanghams. (Gutupa in Telugu means a full-sized lathi of local make. Gutupala Sangham means an organisation of people who wield these lathis for defending their movement and its gains.).

In the document which he wrote in 1949 opposing demands for the withdrawal of the armed struggle, he explained the experiences of Telangana armed struggle showed a new way for the Indian revolution.

Thus it represented the correct application of Marxism-Leninism-Mao’s Thought to the realities of Indian revolution. It must be said at this juncture that Comrade DV’s contribution to the Telangana struggle is much more than is generally realised.

Much of his multifarious contribution to the Telangana armed struggle has not seen the light of the day. Along with some documents written by him, the present Volume sheds some light on Com. DV’s role at crucial junctures. But the author has strictly confined to the history and wanted to take up his role as also of others in his memoirs which he could not write.

Here we will confine ourselves to state that Com DV’s contribution to the Talangana struggle embraced the ideological, political, organisational and military fields.

The period from 1951 to 1968 is one of the domination of  parliamentary path which is another name for renunciation of the revolutionary path. He never reconciled himself to the parliamentary path during this period. He fought against the revisionists and neo-revisionists and revived the revolutionary line again in 1968-69 through the Circular Lay foundations for a struggle-oriented mass movement, and the famous Immediate Programme of  Communist revolutionaries.

It took no time for Com DV to realise that building the party of communist revolutionaries means a relentless struggle not only against revisionism and neo-revisionism but also against the left and right opportunism prevalent among revolutionaries. In this prolonged struggle , Com. DV enriched revolutionary theory by applying Marxism-Leninism-Mao’s Thought correctly to Indian conditions. As a result of his persistent efforts the Indian revolutionary line which he founded and developed has come to stay. He along with com. T. Nagi Reddy founded the UCCRI(ML) in April 1975 to carry on efforts for unification of communist revolutionaries. He continued his ideological struggle against opportunist, careerist and disruptive forces as also the efforts to unify all genuine communist revolutionaries even after the death of com. TN in July 1976.

During the course of this struggle he summed up the experiences of Srikakulam and Naxalbari struggles along with elaborating the experiences of Telangana.

He paid utmost importance to the task of building up a communist revolutionary organisation and a mass revolutionary movement of a new type. The very fact that he did not slacken in the least his efforts in this direction even when working on this book speaks volumes for the same.

Com. DV held leading positions in the party. He was the Secretary of the Nalgonda district Communist Committee to start with and continued in this capacity even later in the united CPI. He represented the Nalgonda. District  in the State Committee. He was taken into the Secretariat of the  State Committee in March 1948. As the member of the Secretariat he was in charge of conducting the Telangana armed struggle. It was as a part of discharging these responsibilities that he wrote the document (1949) Refutation of wrong trends advocating withdrawal of the Telangana Armed Struggle. He was taken into the Central Committee which was formed after the resignation of BT Ranadive on the basis of the line represented by the Andhra Thesis.

Later he continued either as a member of the National Council or the Central Committee till he left the CPM in June 1968. He served as a Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) representing the Nalgonda double-member Constituency winning by a massive majority. In the 1969 convention of Andhra Communist Revolutionaries he was elected as the Secretary of Andhra Pradesh Revolutionary Communist Committee. He continued in this responsibility till April 1975 when he, along with Comrade T. Nagi Reddy, formed the UCCRI(ML). He was elected as the General Secretary of the CC of the UCCRI(ML) at the Unity Conference held for this purpose. He continued in this responsibility till he breathed his last.

Com. DV’s work as a Communist revolutionary spans nearly five decades. It is interesting to note that the first criminal case foisted against Com. DV was in connection with his role in the land struggle of the lambada peasantry of Mundrai village. It was the then Nizam Government which foisted this case. In fact it is the first tribute by the autocratic regime to the revolutionary who became the father of the theory and practice of agrarian revolution in the country. A considerable part of his revolutionary work was occupied by underground activities against the various autocratic governments. During the Telangana armed struggle he led nearly 7 years of underground life (1946-1952). After 1968 he led nearly 10 years of underground life (1969, 1975-1984). He was arrested under the Defence of India Rules in 1962 (November ’62 to July ’63) for opposing Government of India’s war of aggression against China, and in 1965 (December ’64 to May ’66) during India’s War against Pakistan. In 1969 he was arrested along with late Com. Tarimela Nagi Reddy and others and kept in detention from December ’69 to May ’72.

 A conspiracy case was foisted against them. This is known as the Hyderabad Conspiracy Case. The Conspiracy case was based on the Immediate Programme drafted by Com. DV. He was then released in May’72 along with Com. TN and others on conditional bail which they jumped in June’75 to resume underground activities when Internal Emergency was proclaimed in the country by Mrs. Indira Gandhi’s regime. Com. DV along with Com. TN and some others were sentenced to 4 years rigorous imprisonment in the Hyderabad Conspiracy case.

However Com. DV was leading an underground life all these years due to which the Government could not carry out the sentence. Thus Com DV spent nearly 17 years in underground activities and about 5 years in various jails in his life and work as a communist revolutionary. These facts are apparent examples which go to show his indomitable revolutionary spirit and the depth of his revolutionary convictions and practice.

It is generally well-known that Com. DV was a gifted and prolific writer. All his writings are inseparably connected with the problems of the revolutionary movement and were in fact necessitated by the burning problems facing the revolutionary movement.

 He could finish only a part of what all he was capable of writing and possessed the experience, study and understanding necessary for the same. He had drafted some articles, leaflets and documents prior to 1968 which were published then. Barring a few  exceptions, most of them have not seen the light of the  day, in recent times. They include some military documents which guided the armed struggle against Nehru’s armies in Telangana. These documents, though few, are a product of his experience, study and application of Marxism-Leninism-Mao’s Thought (Experiences of Chinese revolution) to Indian conditions. The post-1968 writings contain the exposition and elaboration of the Indian revolutionary line.

He was a regular contributor to the various journals run by the communist revolutionaries from time to time. In particular he played a decisive role in establishing The Proletarian Line and the Sanketam as the English and Telugu organs of Communist revolutionaries during the last part of his life. Thus he demonstrated in practice what communist revolutionary journalism should be like. He analysed the various national and international developments from the communist revolutionary standpoint and gave timely slogans to suit the fast-changing political situation. He devoted sufficient attention to the political developments in the State. His articles contained attacking and pungent criticism and thorough exposures of the various dubious policies and schemes of the ruling classes. Ideological and political criticism and exposure of right and left opportunism of various forms formed a regular part of his writings. He shunned empty phrase-mongering and verbal exercises in his writings. However he dispelled pessimism and inculcated revolutionary fervour and convictions with an unequalled force.

He was keenly interested in the problems facing the literary and cultural fronts. His writings connected with these problems show this. He had a plan to write on various topics connected with literature and culture, philosophy and history. However due to lack of time he could not carry out these plans.

The Fundamental Line he developed for the Indian revolution and elaborated, and the Indian interpretation he gave to the Marxism-Leninism-Mao’s Thought by applying it to the realities of our country,  are powerful and invincible weapons in the hands of the communist revolutionaries. With these weapons in their hands, the communist revolutionaries will march with determination towards their goal of achieving the victory of the people’s democratic revolution in the country.

With The History of the Talangana People’s Armed Struggle (1946-’51), Com. DV has placed the treasure-house of revolutionary experiences before the revolutionaries and people at large. Though the armed struggle in Telangana was waged from 1946 to 1951, the organised revolutionary movement had begun by 1940-1941 itself. The author has also dealt with, in detail, the organised activities from 1940-41 till the commencement of the armed struggle. We have no doubt the book will be a great help not only to understand the Telangana armed struggle, but also the problems facing Indian revolution.

We take this occasion to express our gratitude to the numerous comrades, sympathisers and well-wishers who have cooperated with us in various ways to see that this book sees the light of day.

Democratic Republic of Vietnam against France

The Formation of the Vietnamese Communist Party

From Libya to Manchester, Western Intervention Endangers Civilians by Max Blumenthal

Excellent Max Blumenthal investigation into Libya and Manchester and MI5. Was Abedi being groomed by M15 ? 

Internal M15 investigation should be a public investigation there are many unanswered questions.

From Libyan Islamic Fighting Group in Manchester to the Libyan rat line to overthrow Gaddafi to the Abedi bombing and M15 - many questions few answers.  

"The Defeat of One's Own Government in the Imperialist War by V. I. LENIN (Jul 26, 1915)

During a reactionary war a revolutionary class cannot but desire the defeat of its government.

This is axiomatic, and disputed only by conscious partisans or helpless satellites of the social-chauvinists. 

Among the former, for instance, is Semkovsky of the Organising Committee (No. 2 of its Izvestia), and among the latter, Trotsky and Bukvoyed,[2] and Kautsky in Germany. 

To desire Russia’s defeat, Trotsky writes, is “an uncalled-for and absolutely unjustifiable concession to the political methodology of social-patriotism, which would replace the revolutionary struggle against the war and the conditions causing it, with an orientation—highly arbitrary in the present conditions—towards the lesser evil” (Nashe Slovo No. 105).

This is an instance of high-flown phraseology with which Trotsky always justifies opportunism. 

A “revolutionary struggle against the war” is merely an empty and meaning less exclamation, something at which the heroes of the Second International excel, unless it means revolutionary action against one’s own government even in wartime. 

One has only to do some thinking in order to understand this. Wartime revolutionary action against one’s own government indubitably means, not only desiring its defeat, but really facilitating such a defeat. ("Discerning reader”: note that this does not mean “blowing up bridges”, organising unsuccessful strikes in the war industries, and ·in general helping the government defeat the revolutionaries.)

The phrase-bandying Trotsky has completely lost his bearings on a simple issue. 

It seems to him that to desire Russia’s defeat means desiring the victory of Germany. (Bukvoyed and Semkovsky give more direct expression to the “thought”, or rather want of thought, which they share with Trotsky.) But Trotsky regards this as the “methodology of social-patriotism"! To help people that are unable to think for themselves, the Berne resolution (Sotsial Demokrat No. 40)[1] made it clear, that in all imperialist countries the proletariat must now desire the defeat of its own government. 

Bukvoyed and Trotsky preferred to avoid this truth, while Semkovsky (an opportunist who is more useful to the working class than all the others, thanks to his naively frank reiteration of bourgeois wisdom) blurted out the following: “This is nonsense, because either Germany or Russia can win” (Izvestia No. 2).

Take the example of the Paris Commune. France was defeated by Germany but the workers were defeated by Bismarck and Thiers!

Had Bukvoyed and Trotsky done a little thinking, they would have realised that they have adopted the viewpoint on the war held by governments and the bourgeoisie, i.e., that they cringe to the “political methodology of social-patriotism”, to use Trotsky’s pretentious language.

A revolution in wartime means civil war; the conversion of a war between governments into a civil war is, on the one hand, facilitated by military reverses ("defeats") of governments; on the other hand, one cannot actually strive for such a conversion without thereby facilitating defeat.

The reason why the chauvinists (including the Organising Committee and the Chkheidze group) repudiate the defeat “slogan” is that this slogan alone implies a consistent call for revolutionary action against one’s own government in wartime. Without such action, millions of ultra-revolutionary phrases such as a war against “the war and the conditions, etc." are not worth a brass farthing.

Anyone who would in all earnest refute the “slogan” of defeat for one’s own government in the imperialist war should prove one of three things: (1) that the war of 1914-15 is not reactionary, or (2) that a revolution stemming from that war is impossible, or (3) that co-ordination and mutual aid are possible between revolutionary movements in all the   belligerent countries. The third point is particularly important to Russia, a most backward country, where an immediate socialist revolution is impossible. That is why the Russian Social-Democrats had to be the first to advance the “theory and practice” of the defeat “slogan”. The tsarist government was perfectly right in asserting that the agitation conducted by the Russian Social-Democratic Labour group in the Duma—the sole instance in the International, not only of parliamentary opposition but of genuine revolutionary anti-government agitation among the masses—that this agitation has weakened Russia’s “military might” and is likely to lead to its defeat. This is a fact to which it is foolish to close one’s eyes.

The opponents of the defeat slogan are simply afraid of themselves when they refuse to recognise the very obvious fact of the inseparable link between revolutionary agitation against the government and helping bring about its defeat.

Are co-ordination and mutual aid possible between the Russian movement, which is revolutionary in the bourgeois- democratic sense, and th  socialist movement in the West? No socialist who has publicly spoken on the matter during the last decade has doubted this, the movement among the Austrian proletariat after October 17, 1905,[3] actually proving it possible.

Ask any Social-Democrat who calls himself an internationalist whether or not he approves of an understanding between the Social-Democrats of the various belligerent countries on joint revolutionary action against all belligerent governments. Many of them will reply that it is impossible, as Kautsky has done (Die Neue Zeit, October 2, 1914), thereby fully proving his social-chauvinism. This, on the one hand, is a deliberate and vicious lie, which clashes with the generally known facts and the Basle Manifesto. On the other hand, if it were true, the opportunists would be quite right in many respects!

Many will voice their approval of such an understanding. To this we shall say: if this approval is not hypocritical, it is ridiculous to think that, in wartime and for the conduct of a war, some “formal” understanding is necessary, such as the election of representatives, the arrangement of a meeting, the signing of an agreement, and the choice of the day   and hour! Only the Semkovskys are capable of thinking so. An understanding on revolutionary action even in a single country, to say nothing of a number of countries, can be achieved only by the force of the example of serious revolutionary action, by launching such action and developing it. However, such action cannot be launched without desiring the defeat of the government, and without contributing to such a defeat. The conversion of the imperialist war into a civil war cannot be “made”, any more than a revolution can be “made”. It develops out of a number of diverse phenomena, aspects, features, characteristics and consequences of the imperialist war. That development is impossible without a series of military reverses and defeats of governments that receive blows from their own oppressed classes.

To repudiate the defeat slogan means allowing one’s revolutionary ardour to degenerate into an empty phrase, or sheer hypocrisy.

What is the substitute proposed for the defeat slogan? It is that of “neither victory nor defeat” (Semkovsky in Izvestia No. 2; also the entire Organising Committee in No. 1). This, however, is nothing but a paraphrase of the “defence of the fatherland” slogan. It means shifting the issue to the level of a war between governments (who, according to the content of this slogan, are to keep to their old stand, “retain their positions"), and not to the level of the struggle of the oppressed classes against their governments! It means justifying the chauvinism of all the imperialist nations, whose bourgeoisie are always ready to say—and do say to the people—that they are “only” fighting “against defeat”. “The significance of our August 4 vote was that we are not for war but against defeat," David, a leader of the opportunists, writes in his book. The Organising Committee, together with Bukvoyed and Trotsky, stand on fully the same ground as David when they defend the “neither-victory nor-defeat” slogan.

On closer examination, this slogan will be found to mean a “class truce”, the renunciation of the class struggle by the oppressed classes in all belligerent countries, since the class struggle is impossible without dealing blows at one’s “own” bourgeoisie, one’s “own” government, whereas dealing a   blow at one’s own government in wartime is (for Bukvoyed’s information) high treason, means contributing to the defeat of one’s own country. Those who accept the “neither victory-nor-defeat” slogan can only be hypocritically in favour of the class struggle, of “disrupting the class truce”; in practice, such people are renouncing an independent proletarian policy because they subordinate the proletariat of all belligerent countries to the absolutely bourgeois task of safeguarding the imperialist governments against defeat. The only policy of actual, not verbal disruption of the “class truce”, of acceptance of the class struggle, is for the proletariat to take advantage of the difficulties experienced by its government and its bourgeoisie in order to overthrow them. This, however, cannot be achieved or striven for, without desiring the defeat of one’s own government and without contributing to that defeat.

When, before the war, the Italian Social-Democrats raised the question of a mass strike, the bourgeoisie replied, no doubt correctly from their own point of view, that this would be high treason, and that Social-Democrats would be dealt with as traitors. That is true, just as it is true that fraternisation in the trenches is high treason. Those who write against “high treason”, as Bukvoyed does, or against the “disintegration of Russia”, as Semkovsky does, are adopting the bourgeois, not the proletarian point of view. A proletarian cannot deal a class blow at his government or hold out (in fact) a hand to his brother, the proletarian of the “foreign” country which is at war with “our side”, without committing “high treason”, without contributing to the defeat, to the disintegration of his “own”, imperialist “Great” Power.

Whoever is in favour of the slogan of “neither victory nor defeat” is consciously or unconsciously a chauvinist; at best he is a conciliatory petty bourgeois but in any case he is an -enemy to proletarian policy, a partisan of the existing ·governments, of the present-day ruling classes.

Let us look at the question from yet another angle. The war cannot but evoke among the masses the most turbulent sentiments, which upset the usual sluggish state of mass mentality. Revolutionary tactics are impossible if they are not adjusted to these new turbulent sentiments.

What are the main currents of these turbulent sentiments? They are: (1) Horror and despair. Hence, a growth of religious feeling. Again the churches are crowded, the reactionaries joyfully declare. “Wherever there is suffering there is religion," says the arch-reactionary Barr s. He is right, too. (2) Hatred of the “enemy”, a sentiment that is carefully fostered by the bourgeoisie (not so much by the priests), arid is of economic and political value only to the bourgeoisie. (3) Hatred of one’s own government and one’s own bourgeoisie—the sentiment of all class-conscious workers who understand, on the one hand, that war is a “continuation of the politics” of imperialism, which they counter by a “continuation” of their hatred of their class enemy, and, on the other hand, that “a war against war” is a banal phrase unless it means a revolution against their own government. Hatred of one’s own government and one’s own bourgeoisie cannot be aroused unless their defeat is desired; one cannot be a sincere opponent of a civil (i.e., class) truce without arousing hatred of one’s own government and bourgeoisie!

Those who stand for the “neither-victory-nor-defeat” slogan are in fact on the side of the bourgeoisie and the opportunists, for they do not believe in the possibility of inter national revolutionary action by the working class against their own governments, and do not wish to help develop such action, which, though undoubtedly difficult, is the only task worthy of a proletarian, the only socialist task. It is the proletariat in the most backward of the belligerent. Great Powers which, through the medium of their party, have had to adopt—especially in view of the shameful treachery of the German and French Social-Democrats— revolutionary tactics that are quite unfeasible unless they “contribute to the defeat” of their own government, but which alone lead to a European revolution, to the permanent peace of socialism, to the liberation of humanity from the horrors, misery, savagery and brutality now prevailing.

Notes

[1] See p. 163 of this volume.—Ed.

[2] Bukvoyed-D. Ryazanov.

[3] This refers to the tsar’s manifesto promulgated on October 17 (30), 1905. It promised "civil liberties" and a “legislative Duma”. The manifesto was a concession wrested from the tsarist regime by the revolution, but that concession by no means decided the fate of the revolution as the liberals and Mensheviks claimed, The Bolsheviks exposed the real meaning of the Manifesto and called upon the masses to continue the struggle and overthrow the autocracy.

The first Russian revolution exerted a great revolutionising influence on the working-class movement in other countries, in particular in Austria-Hungary. Lenin pointed out that the news about the tsar’s concession and his manifesto, with its promise of “liberties”, “played a decisive part in the final victory of universal suffrage in Austria”.

Mass demonstrations took place in Vienna and other industrial cities in Austria-Hungary. In Prague barricades were put up. As a result, universal suffrage was introduced in Austria.

Did Russia help elect Trump ? : BBC Newsnight

BBC going soft on Trump - Theresa May realises that the Donald might be Britains only friend - that just shows how f--ked up Politics in UK  really are in 2017.

Another reason to bring the end of May - we might sink two for the price of one.

Compare this BBC Report with the much more professional journalistic investigation by Dutch TV Report Zembla.

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/45-minute-dutch-documentary-that-aired.html

North Korea is Prepared : The White House's Worst Nightmare but ten times worse

Democracy and Class Struggle says with continued US Military and Naval Build Up and NO DIALOGUE there can only be one result WAR.

South Korea wake up ! Stand Up ! Start the dialogue

One Hour of Iranian Communist Music

For Iranian Comrades Red Salute from Democracy and Class Struggle


0:00 سرود حزب توده ایران (Anthem of the Tudeh Party of Iran)
2:51 انترناسیونال (The Internationale)
6:15 کارگر (Workers)
10:12 Unknown
12:26 بهمن (Avalanche)
16:23 یاد باد (Remember)
19:37 بسوی سوسیالیسم (Towards Socialism)
23:15 اول ماه مه (May Day)
26:49 ترانه نوروزی (Song of Spring)
31:19 کارگران شهرداری (Municipal Workers)
34:58 رهروان دربند (Imprisoned Roaders)
39:09 کوکب اخترها (The Coming Star)
42:57 حزب ما (Our Party)
47:26 اجرای سرود سازمان مجاهدین خلق ایران (Anthem of the People's Mujahideen of Iran)
50:46 تاسیس سازمان مجاهدین خلق ایران (Founding of the People's Mujahideen of Iran)
55:57 سرود تاسیس سازمان (Song of the Founding of the Organization)

Hassan Nasrallah on Donald Trump's visit to Saudi Arabia

Democracy and Class Struggle regard Hassan Nasrallah  key to   understanding the Middle East whether you agree with him or not  - he provides analysis that is insightful real and rational.

Trump follows the Riyadh Road to Ruin.

Also watch one hour of Iranian Communist Music

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/one-hour-of-iranian-communist-music.html

Liar Liar by Captain SKA in TOP 10 : Radio Stations Refusing to Play It : The Democracy and Class Struggle view of Socialism in the British Isles

Democracy and Class Struggle while we personally like Jeremy Corbyn and some of the Corbynistas that we have met we reject the Labour Party as a vehicle that can open the road to socialism in the British Isles in the 21st century and we have  a 100 years of history of the Labour Party serving capitalism and Imperialism to validate our position.

Democracy and Class Struggle say the attempt to rebirth moribund social democracy in Britain by Jeremy Corbyn is a project which has already lost it sell by date and which may attract the dying remnants of British Trotskyism  - always a social democratic current that could never think beyond the market.

The only real option is the building of communist revolutionary socialism in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Kernow  and not the moribund centralised social democracy of the Imperialist Labour Party.

The membership of the Labour Party is the middle strata examined by our comrade Harry Powell here.

The British Labour Party eclectic social democratic ideology is a reflection of the contradictory class position of that strata today.

It was the Labour aristocracy yesterday that first created the contradictory British Social Democratic ideology reflecting its class position.

There is a another rich tradition of communist revolutionary socialism in these islands that is not social democratic market Reformism.

It starts with William Thompson of County Cork through to James Connolly and John Maclean in the 20th Century which combines national and social liberation.

Democracy and Class Struggle is in that tradition which still has the future before it - not that of the Imperialist British Labour Party from which no amount of Corbyn alchemy can turn the base metal of the Labour Party into the Gold of Socialism.

For the Origins of  the  Democracy and Class Struggle view of Socialism in these islands visit  :

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/robert-owen-and-william-thompson-two.html

http://democracyandclasstruggle.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/whigs-democrats-and-socialists-by.html

When North Korea feels threatened they show military power

Democracy and Class Struggle says threats from Japan and US to suppress North Korea are raising the stakes and the presence of Donald Trump in the White House is not reassuring.

We have recently reported on Statfor's George Friedman view that war was imminent as the US military and naval build up around North Korea is not just a show of force and was unprecedented.

An attack on North Korea might possibly suit the  Trump administration as a diversion from its serious domestic problems but it would open a Pandora's Box.

The Democracy and Class Struggle view has been that South Korea is the key to peace and the South Korean Government must come up with a new initiative as Koreans and reach out to North Korea to end the stalemate.

Only Koreans and not the Chinese or the Americans or the Russians and very least the Japanese will create the basis for stable and co-operate relationships between the Korea's North and South.

It is time for Korea to be Korea and assert its independence and not be a geo-political pawn of foreign powers.

Long Live the Korean People 

Long Live the struggle for Socialism 

Long Live the Unification of the Korea's North and South

Yr Aflonyddwch Mawr at The Merthyr Rising 2017

Massacre in Manchester : Statement by Revolutionary Praxis

The night of 22nd May 2017 witnessed the murder of innocent people by a suicide nail bomber in Manchester’s Arena. Many of those murdered were children. The last such atrocity in Britain targeting children was twenty years ago at Dunblane. All progressive people should totally condemn such appalling acts of violence against the innocent. The city of Manchester, which has always been the centre of Britain’s working class, came together in solidarity and true to the traditions of working class internationalism united to oppose all attempts by the far right and their mouth pieces, such as the lunatic business woman Katy Hopkins, to create division..

The media was quick to speculate and the Government wasted no time in milking the situation for all it was worth, deploying five thousand troops with armed police to key public buildings and government centres. As well as increasing the Government's hold over the population it is also keen to prove its capacity to wage a ‘war on terror’. This is hypocrisy of the highest order.

Britain is an imperialist country, occupying and dominating other nations militarily and economically. The true beneficiary of this domination is the monopoly capitalist class of Britain who plunder the wealth of these nations. In order to maintain their domination they have waged wars with the most sophisticated weapons and killed and injured millions over the years, most recently in Yemen, Iraq and Afghanistan. It must be made clear to all that this is terrorism of the highest order. The interference of the British, French, Italian, German, American and Belgium imperialists in Africa and the Middle East for over a century has left peoples divided, war torn and ruled by feudal remnants, dictators and religious zealots.

Any progressive forces which emerged in the twentieth century to oppose imperialism were crushed by these reactionary elements, often fighting each other for who could gain the favour of this or that imperialist. This led to the decimating of powerful Communist movements in these countries. Given that religious devotion is a strongly held outlook in this region it is no surprise that opposition to tyranny in the Middle East was often channelled down a religious path. The imperialists openly cultivated the fundamentalist Islamic monarchy of Saudi Arabia whose poisonous Wahhabi ideology has spread throughout the region and as far as Pakistan and Afghanistan. The lack of powerful working class and progressive movements in the region has meant many have been diverted to religious extremism in their just desire to resist imperialism.

The Arab Spring was an upsurge of the masses of the oppressed people of the Middle East and North Africa against local kleptomaniac rulers who were agents for the imperialists. The imperialist nations through their NATO alliance of terror soon took advantage of the situation to play various factions off against each other and give some the upper hand. This combined with religious sectarianism and a political vacuum of progressive forces has seen the upsurge of armed groups of fundamentalist Islamicists. Libya is an example of this situation. It appears that the nail bomber in Manchester was of Libyan decent and had been involved with such Islamic groups in Libya and Syria.

There were many refugees from Libya under the dictatorship of Gaddafi who fled to cities such as Manchester and most were not involved in fundamentalist religion. Some, however, who went back to Libya to fight were introduced to this backward ideology. Its existence is due to the imperialist cultivation of so many feudal religious elements for so long, at one time in their favour and another time not. In the end no matter what the original reasons for cultivating such beliefs they will take on a life of their own and this is personified today in the barbaric ISIS which wishes to return the region back to feudal medievalism. Their answer to the terror inflicted on the people by the imperialists is to target the working people of the imperialist countries. They do not target the capitalists but only the innocent. Such is the anti-people nature of their medievalist ideology. They are acting in the same way that the imperialists do by attacking the people. The Islamicists will only try to continue with the enslavement of the people in the Muslim countries.

The working people in Britain will suffer from the continued policy of military domination and aggression by the British ruling class against the peoples of the Middle East. They will suffer economically from the waste of resources on weaponry and they will suffer from further murderous acts. Every day in the Middle East people suffer attacks from the imperialists, the Zionists and the Islamic medievalists. The people of Britain and the Middle East must not allow our rulers to divide us. They fear us becoming united and realising that we face the same enemy; the imperialists.

The only way to stop the terrible wars in the Middle East and murderous attacks in Britain is for Britain to get out of the Middle East, militarily, economically and politically. This means overthrowing Britain’s ruling class and the capitalist system. There is no other means of ending the wars except by dealing with the cause of them which is capitalism.

Electing a Labour government will not make any difference, as some leftists claim, because they are committed to the interests of British capitalism and its continued NATO alliance. Increasing armed police patrols and putting troops on Britain’s streets will not protect the public but will be used to oppress us. In 1969 the British Labour Government deployed troops to the north of Ireland under the pretext of protecting the Nationalist community from sectarian violence. But instead the troops were used against them so as to defend British rule.

The spiral of war and violence will continue across the planet until the capitalist ruling classes of the imperialist countries and their agents are overthrown. This requires the unity of the working class across nationalities and religions to oppose all attempts at rancour and division. We must see clearly our main enemy is the British monopoly capitalist class. Their terror on the Middle East produces fanatical religious terror at home. In order to protect the children of all countries from terror and war imperialism must go!

Workers of all countries unite!

Revolutionary Praxis (Britain)

Celebrating 50 Years since Naxalbari : Part 5 by Harsh Thakor

               This article reflects the personal views of Harsh Thakor


IMMORTAL CONTRIBUTION OF C.P.I.(M.L.) PEOPLES WAR GROUP FROM 1980- reminding cadres of the outstanding role played by the ertswhile C.P.I.(M.L.) Peoples War group in budding the roots of the armed agrarian revolutionary struggle in Dandakaranya today and earlier in North Telengana.

Before the formation of the C.P.I.(Maoist) the Peoples War group made the greatest political contribution to the Indian Communist movement from 1980,taking the movement to a higher political level than any other group.

Gross errors but still made a remarkable achievement.The PWG brilliantly blended open and secret functioning possessing the planning of an architect with the creativity of a poet.

It has it's roots on the self criticism of 1977 written by Kondpali Setharamiah and the outstanding mass work of the erstwhile C.P.I.(M.L.) Peoples War group.From 1980-98 the PW group traversed the hardest barriers to practice armed struggle and most creatively created students,youth,peasant and cultural organizations.

Without doubt ,in spite of later being crushed;they sowed the seeds for emergence of revolutionary democracy like in Karimnagar or North Telenagana and Dandakaranya.

No doubt major mistakes occured like anarchist armed actions, incorrect approach towards mass organizations or insufficient democracy within them , not sufficient mass movements ,big brotherly or incorrect approach towards other groups,inter-group clashes.inadequate involvements of masses in actions etc 

I don't agree with the insistence of Mao Zedong thought in the manifesto of Virasam and Andhra Pradesh Radical Students Union and feel there was not enough independent awarded to mass organizations..Strong tendencies of functioning as party front organizations prevailed Some wrong actions took place against cadres of other groups and against class enemies like landlord Satyam in Srikakulam 

Even if vitiated by left adventurist or anarchist tendencies it would be historically wrong to dub their practice as 'left-adventurist' or 'terrorist' as in many respects they incorporated important aspects of mass line and protracted peoples war.

They proved in many ways the role of armed squads for a movement. They displayed genius by turning a tiny armed squad force  in Bastar  intoa strong army, like a stream turning into an ocean. Who can deny the great mass mobilizations they launched on peoples causes and their overall political influence.

The Karimnagar peasant movement and rytu coolie sangham conferences of 1985 and 1990 are a testimony to this.where 10 lakh people were mobilised.The Andhra Pradesh Radical Students Union also wrote a new epoch in the history of the student movement initatiting go to village campaigns and with theRadical youth League ressurecting the flame of Naxalabri movement and Chinese revolution.;The APRSU staged 9 state conferences and could mobilise around 10000 deelgates.

Another achievement was the formation of the All-India Peoples Resistance form in Kolkata in 1994 and the 1 lakh rally.The 1999 all India campaign of A.I.P.R.F. opposing state repression in Bihar ,Dandkaranya and Andhra Pradesh was  a historic event in the annals of Indian revolutionary movement .major conferences were led in districts of Bihar ,Andhra Pradesh and Punjab.It was the 1st all-India sustained campaign aginst state repression by a front of revolutionary groups.Another remarkable event was the staging of event on the 50th th anniversary of Independence in Mumbai in 1997.where the face of the true character of the  independence we achieved , the nature of the state e and the revolutionary movement was painted to perfection.

No organization before 2004 after naxalbari made such a great contribution to the Indian Communist Movement.

It literally moved like a fish in water displaying creativity at it's highest zenith.It developed mass-political movement and armed struggle to a level no revolutionary group did.Gross errors made but still had outstanding achievements virtually writing a new epoch.

Displayed death defying courage defying state repression particularly from 1991 to 1995 and earlier in 1985 reminiscent of how the Vietcong fought the American enemy decades earlier. and the Chinese red army against the Kuomintang and Japan.

Resisted like a boulder withstanding a gale and ressurected themselves often like a phoenix from the Ashes.It also displayed the innovation and ceativity of a great musical composer.

Even comrades from other streams like Amolak Singh of Punjab and Sunder Navalkar of Maharashtra spoke volumes of the work of this group. 

Professor Amit Bhattacharya is convinced that no organization played a grear role  in the post-naxalabri phase of Indian Communist Movement as it created a level of mass –political movement no revolutionary group could.

In his vew both the M.C.C.or the PU groups did not reach the heights of the PWG.In 1992 -93 I remember even St Xavier’s professor and a student colleague not associated with any movement or group admiring the Organization.

Writer Srigendu Bhattacharaya . an author of a book on the Lalgarh movement felt it was only because the PWG arrived was  a shape and direction  given to the Lalgarh movement Carved a permaent niche in the glorious history of people combating the opressors.

Sadly it received a major jolt when 3 central committee  members were assainated namely Murli,Sham and Mahesh and were virtually wiped out in North Telenagana.

It made a self-critical review in 2001 conference and 2007 plenum..This exposed it’s practice of  the correct military line ability to replenish losses and have sufficient development of peoples democratic and mass  revolutionary movement .

Heroic retaliations  but still not sufficient mass mobilization.In this context a through study of Devullapali Benkatsewar Rao’s ‘Telengana aermed Struggle’ and ‘Basic Documents’ in regard to protracted peoples War has great relevance.

There was a strong tendency to publically be critical of their actions by the then Chandra Pulla Reddy and Pyla Vasudeva Rao’s groups in the early 1990’s who openly in mass meetings  propagated that their actions acted aginst the revolutionary trend and openly dubbed them as terrorist.UCCRI(M.L.) sections too propogated this ,but at a lower level.Fasinatingly the Red  Star group  of K.N .Ramchandran was one of the most vocal in defending them.

Pages of journal ‘Red STAR’ upheld their heroic retaliation in 1989-90.One sided phenomena in the early 1990’s was the group classes between the Resistance C.P.Reddy group and the PWG and fact finding tyeam wa ssent for this purpose.PWG sympathiser  felt that it was a strughgle on class lines but mnay democrats s were critical of the clashes.I wa spresnt in ameeting in Nanded when 2 speakesr of C.P.Reddy group called for the Adivasis to reject ‘terrorist’ line of P.W.G.This was uncalled for.

I am reproducing an excerpt from Amit Bhatacharya 's 'Storming the Gates of heaven.'

Jaggtiyal yatra Praja Panchyats,or peoples courts,were set up as parallel bodies to the landlord dominated ones which had hitherto ruled the village.The landlords were physically brought to public meetings amd made to apologize for crimes and injustice they ad commited on the people.

The peasants moved in big rallies with red flags ,occupied wastelands and government land sunder landlords occupation.

This was accompanied by the strikes of labourers at beedi-leaf collection centres in many taluqs of Karimnagar and Adilabad.' Panchayat' is a traditional village institution of the Telengana region where any petty dispute is publicly adjudicated wit the landlord presiding judgement .

This symbol feudal authority over the village was overturned and replaced by the peasants.Over 800 acres of land was occupied and lakhs of rupees colected as refunds by the landless peasants in 30 villages of Jagatiyal itself.

In the end on 7th September 1978 35000 people marched to Jagatiyal town painting it red.

The mass upsurge forced the landlords to retreat to the cities, while others retaliated with the connivance of the police.A sitiation erupted where 3000 peasnts from 75 villages were impicated in false cases and Sircila and Jagatiyal were declare as disturbed areas.

The revolutionary forces learn through their long experience of struggle against state repression that some basic change in perspective was the need of the hour and in 1979 the AP state commitee presented a plan for development of military perspective for the movement which came to be known as the 'guerilla zone perspective.'The party drew lessons from history and came to the conclusion that it was imperative to develop some work in the forest areas surrounding these regions so that mass base created by the forests could serve as a rear area for the squads to retreat in the face of severe enemy attacks in plains.To progress,the revolutionaries had to make necessary preparations to combat not only the landlords but also the poice and paramilitray forces.Thus the need of the hour now was need of military preparation by the party It implied not only acquisition of weapons ,but alos political,organizational, and militray consciousness that enhance the party's striking capacity.In June 1980 7 squads of 5 to 7 members each,entered the forests from different directions.,The work began in Gadricholi in Maharashtra,Bastar in Madya Pradesh and Koraput in Orissa.To begin with it was an extension of the Karimnagar and Adilbad struggles.The response to the Adivasis was quick and positive,leading to the creation of vast guerila zone in the Dandakaranya region.The Maoists drew another important lesson about the ability of mass movement to sustain itself.
Prior to 1978,peasant movements always broke down in the face of severe repression.

Earlier,the naxalites responded by guerilla attcks and annihilations both of the class enemies and police forces.However,the events of karimnagar and Adilabad made it clear that the mass movements and even some level of mass organization scould be sustained and effectively used to combat police attack.In the new stage,guerilla attcks were not initially part of maoist tactics,.In the plain areas,atacks on agressive landlords and police informers took place but the primary task of the party was carrying out the mass movement.

Excerpts from an article defending the achievements of the peoples war group in 'Voice of the Vanguard.'in Nov-Dec 1997 from a strong criticsim of their practice of massline by New Democracy Group.

The most important achievement of the party is the land occupation struggle in the guerilla zones.Strugggles for the occupation of WATS lands,temple and endowment lands.tankbeds,and forest lands resulted in takeover of more than 3 lakh acres The party successfully prevented the sale of the land by landlords since early 1980's.The patta land of landlords were seized in a big way since 1990.Around 40000 acres of Patta land were occupied by the people of North Telengana in 1990 alone.It inspred the masses throughout AP.They also shattered the base of landlords in the villages of North Telengana and landlords fled to the cities or surrendered themselves to the commitees.

1.AP-DK movements are based on the line of armed agrarian revolution as the axis of NDR.and protracted war is the only path to reach that goal.It is the same as that of Telengana armed struggle.

2.The anti-feudal struggle was taken to a higher stage in Karimnagar and Adilabad in 1980.By mid-1988 five districts of North Telengana namely Karimnagar ,Adilabad and Warangal,Nizamabad and Khammam were turned into a preparatory guerilla zone area.Intensification of anti-feudal and anti-imperialist struggles and the formation of mass organizations;armed struggle becoming the main form of the struggle,guerilla squads becoming the main form of organization,people's active support to armed struggle and guerilla squads and mass struggles in a wide contiguous area were the features.

.Our party weilds considerable influence in an area covering about three lakh square km with a populatinof around 60 million.
The intensification of the land occupation struggles shook the ruling clases and para military forces were used to defaet the struggle.Even withthe aid of the police and the paramilitray the landlors could not regain the land due to resistance of guerilla squads and the people.In the past 2 yaers people have been cultivating at least half the occuppied land by offering collective resistance.1500 acres of land in other ares of AP have been occupied.

4.Village development Commitees Education commitees Coperatives etc are being formed to take up several developmental activities through active involvement of people.Schools were run by gramrajya commitees.
5.Village courts which served to defend the political hegemony of the landlords were converted into peoples courts .A classic example was in Jagatiyal.
6.We combated the police and para -military forces inspite of ban imposed in May 1992 and losing about 1300 members.We defeated the enemy offensive ,developed armed resistance and increased the number of our armed squads.

.By staging relentless resistance to the police and para-militray forces we have not only advanced the path of New Democratic Revolution in our country,but also instilled revolutionary confidence amongst various sections of the opressed masses.We proved in practice that we could counter the enemy offenisve by intensigying armed struggle through guerilla methods based on revolutionary massline.

We have commited some mistakes in political,organizational and militray spheres in course of building guerilla zones but these errors were reviewed in the plenums and conferences.On some occasion swe made open self-criticism which was afeature in the 1995 All India Conference .Consitently rectifying and learning lesson sfrom the past we have ressurected Telengana ,Naxalbari and Srikakulam struggles to a higher plane.

COMPILED FROM AIRSF BOOKLET COMMEMORATING 30 YRS OF NAXALBARI IN 1997

The Student Movement

Once the left line was rectified, students who had been inspired by Naxalbari and Srikakulam and the RWA and JNM, surged forward in their thousands. Initially the students of the CP Reddy group and those with the AP State Committee worked under one banner – the Progressive Democratic Students Union or PDSU. But, as the differences grew sharper and working within one organisation became difficult (with continuous contradictions) the revolutionary students left and formed the Radical Students Union or RSU. This organisation grew with such speed and gained such support that even today activists are popularly known as Radicals.

The Radical Students Union was formed on October 12, 1974 and the first State Conference was held in February 1975. This first conference released a manifesto exposing the various revisionist tendencies and holding aloft the banner of a revolutionary student movement. Hundreds of students inspired and Mao Ze Dong Thought attended the conference. The biggest contingents were from Telangana, specifically form Karimnagar, Warangal, Khammam and Nalgonda. Large numbers also came from Ananthapur, Tirupathi and Vishakhapatnam.

After the conference and before the next academic year, the Emergency was declared and the RSU had to face the full brunt of the repressive machinery. More than 500 students were subjected to inhuman torture, and 70 were thrown into prison. Four young students, Janardhan, Murali Mohan, Anand Rao and Sudhakar were taken to the Giraipally forests and shot dead by the police. Student activist, Nagaraju, was also arrested and shot. Yet RSU re-organised secretly and continued agitations specifically in their two strongholds – the Regional Engineering College of Warangal and the Osmania University in Hyderabad. They also started a magazine ‘Radical’ which was widely distributed amongst students.

After the lifting of the Emergency student agitations swept the state around a number of issues : In Hyderabad it was around the Rameejabi rape (in police custody) case, in Kakatiya University it was against the Hindu fundamentalists, in Bellampally in support of the workers strike, in Mahaboobnagar in support of the hotel workers – also there were state-wide agitations on ITI and Polytechnic students’ issues and a state wide strike for students demands for better social welfare benefits.

The second conference was held in Warangal in February 1978. In preparation to this conference a big debate took place as certain units said that mass organisations should confine themselves to partial demands and not propagate revolutionary politics. The two views were debated in all units, and finally the second conference rejected the proposed changes. Lenin’s writings on the nature of a revolutionary student movement were widely circulated to educate students and activists on this issue.

The mass upsurge of students throughout 1978 and the active ‘boycott election campaign’ to the state Assembly culminated with the third state conference of the RSU held in Anantapur with 2000 delegates. This was preceded by district conferences in 13 districts. With the sweep of the revolutionary student movements RSU (jointly with PDSU) began winning all the student union elections. The 1981 RSU state conference at Guntur was preceded by 16 district conferences. Prior to this conference RSU had organised a meeting of 10,000 to condemn Soviet Aggression of Afghanistan.
From 1981 the ABVP (student wing of the Hindu fundamentalist BJP) organised systematic assaults on RSU activists and even killed some leaders. 

The police stood by and watched. The RSU replied – first with a systematic exposure of the ABVP; and then they also resisted the physical assaults and wherever necessary retaliated. With this resistance campaign the movement spread to the High Schools. 

In the 1982 student elections the RSU achieved unprecedented victories in Osmania University (Hyderabad) and in the towns of Warangal, Karimnagar, Nalgonda, Mahaboobnagar, Adilabad, Guntur, Chittoor, Kurnool, Cuddapah and Khammam districts. The student union election victories further facilitated the spread of revolutionary politics in the educational institutions. The inaugural functions, cultural events ….. all became centres of revolutionary enthusiasm spreading the movement to every corner of the state. By the time of the 5th

State conference, RSU had spread to 18 out of the 21 districts of AP. In 1984, 25000 polytechnic students from 47 colleges went on a 104 day strike and achieved their demands. Even high school students went on an indefinite strike to get their syllabus reduced. In February 1985, at the initiative of the RSU the All India Revolutionary Students Federation (AIRSF) was established at a conference held in Hyderabad. But by mid-1985 the police launched its massive attack on the party and a chief target was the RSU. Police raided schools, colleges and hostels, arresting students and brutally torturing them.

Since then, the RSU has been pushed underground and had to change its style of functioning from large open meetings to small secret meetings, class room meetings, etc. In 1985/86 a number of students leading the RSU were killed in cold blood – Nageshwar Rao, Shyam Prasad, Sreenivas, Yakaiah, Ramakanth, Muralidhar Raju and Satish fell to enemy bullets. Nageswar Rao was the state vice-president of RSU. Since then all conferences of the RSU have been held secretly.

(5) ‘Go to the Village’ Campaigns

The ‘Go to the village campaign’ was an ingenious method discovered by the AP Party to effectively integrate the students with the ongoing peasant movement. It was also a brilliant method to push ahead the organisation amongst the peasantry with enormous speed. In the summer holidays students scheduled to go on a campaign would first go through an intense one weak political school. In this school the method of conducting the campaign would also be informed. Also in this school they would be informed about the subject to be taken for intense political propaganda amongst the peasants. After this they would be broken up into batches of about seven each and proceed to the villages covering an area as per the party plans. In the village campaign they were also to set up youth organisations wherever possible and keep a note of the names of all potential activists. These names would then be handed over to the local party organiser who would follow up and deepen the organisation.

The first such campaign began in the summer of 1978. In the first campaign 200 students participated. The aim of this campaign was the propagation of the politics of agrarian revolution and the building of RYL (Radical Youth League) units in the villages. The campaign went on for one month and culminated in the holding of the first RYL Conference. The significance of this campaign was that it helped trigger off the historic peasant struggles of Karimnagar and Adilabad.

In the next year, the ‘village campaign’ of April to June 1979 was for the first time jointly conducted by RSU and RYL. This time preparatory classes were held in 15 centres in which 500 students and youth participated. Besides propagating the politics of agrarian revolution the campaigners strived to expose the “Soviet-backed Vietnamese aggression against Kampuchea” – they sold Pol Pot badges in the villages. The campaign focused on “Soviet Aggression against Afghanistan” and also expressed solidarity with the nationality movement of Assam. 

The 1981 campaign exposed police brutality in the wake of of the massacre of tribals in Indervelli in Adilabad district. The campaign mobilised support for the tribal movement being led by the CPI (ML) (PW) in the Dandakaranya forests. In 1982, the theme of the campaign was the unconditional release of KS and other political prisoners and demanding a judicial enquiry into ‘encounter’ killings in the state. The teams also helped mobilise workers for the first State Conference of the Coal miners union SIKASA (Singareni Karmika Samakhya). The 1983 campaign exposed the repression being unleashed by the Telugu Desam government and explained that political leaders like NTR cannot usher in all-round development of the Telugu nationality. 

The 1984 campaign, the last that was possible before the all-out onslaught unleashed in 1985, focused on government repression and demanded the withdrawal of the CRPF from Telangana.
With each campaign the number of student and youth participants increased, inspite of the fact that in each successive year the police attacks were getting more and more vicious. In 1983/84 it was a virtual hide-and-seek between the police and the campaigners. 

In the 1984 village campaign about 1100 student and youth participated, organised into 150 propaganda teams. That year alone they carried the message of agrarian revolution to 2419 villages.
The staging of the 1987 conference has historical significance if you consider the repressive conditions prevalent. Various district conferences were held in preparation. In the 7th state conference held in February in 1987 the expansionist policies of theCongress govt. were condemned, including the Baliapal Missile bae project and Nageshwar Rao’s death was commemorated. Methods of Struggle were devised to combat the repression .

A political resolution was passed in thwarting the attempts of the ruling classes and advancing the movement on the revolutionary path. A report was read out of the role played by the APRSU in  Statewide issues like resvations,Karamchedu massacre,N.GO’S strike and Social WelfareHostel’s students struggle. Political resolutions were also launched against Rajiv Gandh’s national Chauviism, aand war hysteria used to divert the peole fro thir main styruggles.Later in 1987 struggles were launched on issues like scholarships. Police were combated in campuses, The New Education policy was also exposed. An Extensive propaganda campaign was also launched against brutal state repression carried out on 50 Girijan villages in Chintapalli agency in March and June 1987.A propaganda campaign was launched in the villages.

In the conference the deleagates narrated their experience in overcoming the fascist onslaught. The conference displayed the resilience with which the Radical Students withstood the state’s attempt to liquidate the student movement. As part of the undeclared war of the government ont he people .It also described how new forms of struggles were adopted in the changed scenario.
In 1987 Ananthapur high school students agitated for better hostel facilities on 8th July.

. In 1988 and 1999 APRSU launched struggles of issues like BC Scholarshiops,,opposing closing of BC hostels, canceling of loans of peasants, opposing the nuclear plant in Nagarjuna Sagar,opposing the 59th Amendment bill Students converged into Nagarjuna SAgar in August 1988 to oppose the plant, in a joint front with other progressive organizations.

In May 1992 the A.P.R.S.U.was officially banned. What is significant is the way comrades revived the work of the organizations inspite of being banned and still staged state level conferences .From 1992, it heroically held underground conferences.It smajor leaders have been killed.In 1996 on December 5th,6th and 7th the A.P.R.SU.held it’s 10th State Conference.12 resolutions were passed .Earlier that year in East Godavari district the organization conducted a “Go to Villages Campaiggn’ in Anantpur.Inspite of combing operations the teams were successful.Politics of New Democratic Revolution was propogated and people were urged to organize into Rythu Collie Sanghams.Villagers helping the students were arrested.


1980-84 FIRST STEP TOWARDS GUERILLA ZONE

By the end of 1979 itself it became apparent that the government and landlords would resort to much more brutal repression for snuffing out the peasant struggles of Karimnagar and Adilabad. In order to face this situation it was imperative that, apart from extending the area of operation, the peasant movement be raised to a higher level.

In the course of any revolutionary movement critical moments are reached, when hard decisions have to be taken to advance the movement to a higher stage, or, get pushed back by the enemy forces. At such critical moments any faltering, any hesitation to advance, leads to the loss of initiative on the part of the revolutionaries and can lead to confusion and disarray in the ranks. 

The movement in AP by 1979 had reached such a critical stage. To advance, now meant, making necessary preparations to take on, not only the landlord classes, but also the police and para-military forces. Preparation for such an eventuality, meant not only adoption of new forms of struggle, not only new methods of organisation, but also the military preparation of the party. 

Military preparations not only implies acquisition of weapons, but the political, organisational and military consciousness which enhances the Party’s striking capacity. Above all, it meant, that the people had to be mentally prepared to take on such a struggle.

To take a correct decision at such a crucial moment was a key factor to determine whether the movement would advance or retreat. It was, infact, at such crucial moments that the Indian Communist movement has faltered. On a number of occasions the anti-feudal, struggles had reached a high pitch, but when the Indian state machinery intervened with all its might the movements were either crushed, or, the leadership beat a hasty retreat. 

During the earlier Telangana movement (1948 to 1951) the leadership betrayed the movements, while the numerous anti-feudal struggles in the wake of the Naxalbari uprising were brutally crushed. It is in this context that the Party’s document ‘Perspective for a Guerilla Zone’ has a historical significance. The general line of taking the movement towards a guerilla zone and liberated base areas already existed in the tactical line. What was more relevant was to work out the concrete political, organisational and military details to take it in that direction. The guerilla zone document fulfilled this task. That too, at the right moment.

Guerilla Zone Perspective

Though the movement in Warangal and Khammam districts was at a lower level than that in Karimnagar and Adilabad the document combined all four districts in the proposed Guerilla Zone. The districts were closely interlinked and had a contiguous forest area. In order to take the movement towards a guerilla zone the document first and foremost, focussed on building the party deep amongst the masses. It outlined that not only all the mass organisations should be built at the village level and made functional, but also the village-level party cells should be built with part-timers. It also focussed on the chief party organisers, now called Central Organisers or COs, who were to move as a sort of mini-squad 1CO+2 Squad members) all of whom would be armed. Each CO group was to be allocated a fixed number of villages (15 to 20) to develop.

The document foresaw the fact that, when the government repression intensifies in the four districts it would become necessary to build a rear in the forests on the other side of the Godavari river – i.e. in the Dandakaranya forests. Given this reality, the document pointed out, that it was necessary to immediately make proper arrangements for such an eventuality.

Having said this, the document right away went on to outline the tasks of the squads that were to enter the Dandakaranya forests. It said, that these squads should take on the following tasks :
1) To provide protection to squads that temporarily retreat from the four districts of the guerilla zone and to help them to counter-attack the enemy.
2) To organise tribals in the forest areas and to extend the struggle, building the Party and revolutionary army from among them.
It also added, that as the prominance of point (2) increases, the task of the Dandakaranya movement would move in the direction of taking it to a higher plane.
Finally the document concretely suggested, that one-third of all organisers and committee members from North Telangana should be organised into squads and sent to the forests.
In accordance with this document, which had been thoroughly discussed throughout the Party in 1979 itself, in June 1980 seven squads (of about five to seven members each) entered the forests. Initially they faced immense problems in getting roots amongst the tribals, specifically in the light of the police repression and combing operations, that started immediately. Yet, before the enemy’s first suppression campaign began in 1985, the movement spread like wildfire, even beyond the Party’s expectations.

Movement’s Extension

In North Telangana, the movement extended to all the talukas of Karimnagar and Adilabad district, except one taluka in each. In Warangal district the focus developed from an urban to a rural movement. The movement in Khammam during this period faced some losses but that of Nizamabad saw big gains. 

The working class movement saw big gains amongst the one lakh and ten thousand coal miners in the Singareni coal belt.
In the Dandakaranya forests, the movement spread to the Gadchiroli, Chandrapur and Bhandara districts of Maharashtra; Bastar, Rajnandgaon and Balaghat districts of Madhya Pradesh, and to Koraput district in Orissa. In Andhra Pradesh the movement spread to the East Godavari and Vishakhapatnam forest areas.

(1) Dandakaranya

In Dandakaranya the movement was initiated by fighting against the arbitrary authority of government officials of the forest, revenue and excise department who had been ruthlessly plundering the tribals. Also, struggles broke out against the management of the paper mill and contractors exploiting the forest produce. Big movements were built for enhancing the wage rates for tendu leaf collection. Also, peasants were mobilised for raising the support price of cotton. From the very beginning land struggles was a major issue. Within the very first year the tribal peasantry stopped paying a variety of taxes to the forest department and began occupying forest land for cultivation. Within one year two lakh acres was occupied. Some land, forcefully occupied by traders and moneylenders was taken back. Also lands occupied by middle and rich peasants from the plains (non-tribals) was divided equally (50:50) amongst them and the problem settled. Anti-famine struggles took two forms – first, through the collection of paddy from donations; also paddy banks were started, where the peasants pool some amount of paddy in these banks at the time of the harvest and then draw on the stocks in times of need. Second, through famine raids on the houses of landlords, moneylenders and traders who hoarded grain. Thousands took part in the famine raids. Apart from these struggles, struggles were also taken up to stop the building of roads and cutting of forests and also for the recovery of losses suffered due to bauxite mining in Bailadilla (MP).

In the Dandakaranya region two big mass organisations were built – the Dandakaranya Adivasi Mazdoor Kisan Sangh (DAKMS) and the tribal women’s organisation KAMS (Krantikari Adivasi Mahila Sanghatan). The Sangams grew in stature to become symbols of struggle to the tribals. Slowly all disputes began to be settled by the sangam, whether a village dispute, a family dispute, a marriage dispute, a caste dispute or something related to tribal customs or community affairs. Also a relentless struggle was waged against backward tribal customs and traditions like human sacrifice, witchcraft, superstitions resulting in ill-health and disease and against practices which do not allow women to fully cover their bodies.

In 1980, six party members, organised as a squad, crossed the Godavari and entered Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra. Squad members recount how the tribals just on seeing them would flee into the hills. When they entered villages there would not be a person left, except may be a few very old and some children. Chatting with the old, playing with the children, sometimes physically catching hold of tribals and forcing them to listen, was how the ‘Annas’ ( i.e. big brother as they are known) found their way into the hearts of the tribals…. and came to be loved by them. But, within six months of entering the area the 18 year old Peddi Shankar was shot in the back and became the first martyr on Maharashtrian soil. But, the movement grew, and with it Shankar became a legend……..a part of tribal folklore. By the time the Kamalapur Conference was called in 1984 the movement had grown like a tornado. The government banned the conference, sealed all roads leading to the village, arrested the speakers, journalists, students, folk artists-infact anyone who was moving in the direction of Kamalapur. From three days before the conference, police reinforcements combed the forests attacking and dispersing the tribal processions which flowed like streams, from all directions, towards Kamalapur. They encircled Kamalapur. Yet, on the day of the conference, playing hide-and-seek with the police, 10,000 tribals reached Kamalapur
and hoisted the DAKMS flag. The police lathi-charged…..the flag fluttered and then fell……but the conference was held…..not in Kamalapur but in Nagpur jail.
Specifically notable about the Dandakaranya movement was the awakening of women. The Sangam stood against forced marriages, against child marriages, and against all the age-old customs that degraded women. The KAMS became a powerful force with its own organisers, its own structures and its own revolutionary programme linking women’s liberation to the new democratic revolution. When the suppression began in 1985 the KAMS was as brutally attacked as was the DAKMS.

(2) North Telangana

While in this five year period the movement took roots in Dandakaranya, in North Telangana (NT) the movement spread and also grew more intense. In NT thousands of acres of government land (occupied by landlords) were distributed to the landless and in some areas even landlord’s land was seized. When the landlords began fleeing the villagesand tried to sell their land, the party imposed a ban on the purchase or sale of all

PART — 7

1990 — A BRIEF REPRIEVE

In 1990, due to the contradictions within the ruling classes, and because of the growing pressure of the peoples’ movement, the new Congress government in AP eased the repression for a while. So, during this brief period, which did not extend even to a full year, some open mass activity and mass meetings were allowed.
Whatever, in this brief period the party acted quickly to consolidate its mass base and also use the opportunity for a massive mobilisation of the people. The party concentrated on building the party leadership at the village level, by imparting training (political and military) to the village defense squads and village militants.
This time the big sweep in the land occupation movements was for the occupation of landlords (patta) land. Thousands of acres of land were occupied in AP and Dandakaranya. Also lakhs of people were mobilised on peasant issues like power cuts, writing off loans, remunerative prices for agricultural produce, reduction in rates of water cess, etc. The struggle against arrack contractors now became a struggle for the imposition of a total ban on the sale of liquor. The strike activity of the Singareni coal miners also reached a feverish pitch culminating in the September 1990 strike on workers’ varied demands. The strike involved 80, 000 workers and continued for 42 days until the major demands were won.

On the other hand, mobilisation of the masses in rallies, conferences, public meetings had reached a crescendo, disproving the lie that the People’s War Party was a terrorist group, with no mass base. This propaganda was widely disseminated not only by the government, but also by some revolutionary groups, and some who had deserted the party. In times of acute repression the legal mobilisation of masses in meetings etc., is not always possible. Without a mass base and a mass line no guerilla war can survive for long. Yet, when the repression was partially lifted by the new Chenna Reddy government, the masses rallied as never before in a display of affection for the party and as a symbol of condemnation against the inhuman attacks of the past five years.


The first meeting held was that of the RWA in January 1990 at Hyderabad which drew one lakh people; 2 lakh people attended the 18th anniversary celebration of the JNM on February 20 at Hyderabad; the April 20 Indravelli memorial meeting was attended by over one lakh people; the 22nd April meeting at Bellampalli was also attended by one lakh people; the meeting at Mandamarri by 50, 000. 

All these meetings finally culminated with the 3rd Conference of the Rytu Coolie Sangam on May 5/6 at Warangal with a rally the size of which has never been seen in the history of AP. 

The Conference was attended by 700 delegates and the public meeting and rally by over 10 lakhs ( i.e. one million) people.
Seeing the massive upsurge in the revolutionary movement the government was shaken, besides it had no need to continue with its demagogy as it had already come to power. By May 1990 itself the repression was stepped up; and in the May-December period alone ten thousand people had been arrested and six thousand implicated in false cases. Villages were again being raided and people being indiscriminately beaten and tortured. To terrorise the masses, they began shooting down sangam leaders in front of the people. By December 1990 all open activity throughout the state was being ruthlessly suppressed and once again, repression on an even higher scale than 1985, was unleashed.

PART — 8
1991 TO THE PRESENT — SECOND ROUND OF SUPPRESSION

Tasks in the New Conditions of Repression
Struggles Continues
Growing Armed Resistance
Till 1991, police operations were run separately by the respective state governments. 

But now the Central government set up a ‘Nodal Cell’ directly under the Home ministry, and a Joint Command of Operations came into being for the ongoing war of suppression. In December 1991 it rushed battalions of the BSF (Border Security Force) and ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) to Telangana to reinforce the already existing large force of CRPF, CISF and APSP. In May 1992 the AP government imposed a ban on the CPI(ML) (PW) and seven other revolutionary mass organisations (including RSU, RYL, RCS, JNM, SIKASA). 

Thus, what was earlier an undeclared war, was now turned into full scale counter-insurgency operations. Mass scale horrors, ‘encounter’ killings and forced ‘surrenders’ became the dominant feature for the suppression campaign. Within ten months about 160 encounters were staged killing over 200 persons. Thousands of people were arrested and tortured, houses were ransacked and crops and properties worth millions destroyed.

The method adopted was to encircle villages and then attack. The BSF, CRPF and the local police would gather forces ranging from 200 to 600 men and would suddenly swoop down and encircle a village or a group of villages, ransack all houses, destroy property and molest the women. Then, some suspect youth would be tortured and humiliated in front of all. All villagers, and especially the relatives of activists, would be served ultimatums to surrender the wanted persons. Some youth would be whisked away. In some villages this would be repeated a number of times in a single month.

Together with this suppression they combined vile propaganda, ‘reforms’, and set up their own rival ‘mass’ organisations. (eg. Janjagran Abhiyan in MP, and Shanti Sena in Maharashtra). The police officers themselves brought out handbills in the name of ‘praja vani’ (people’s voice), printed books, did propaganda through video films and through cultural troupes. The ‘reforms’ undertaken by a host of bodies (govt and semi-govt), involved giving grants varying from Rs. 20000 to Rs. 3 lakhs in the name rehabilitation, allotting house sites, granting land to chosen peasant youth – all with the aim of building a network of police informers in the villages. 

All these ‘reform’ schemes were run under direct supervision of the police. The police began setting up various organisations in the villages to try and isolate the revolutionaries, or, at least, build some support for their anti-people campaigns – the ‘village protection committees’ to gather information on squad movement, liquor prohibition committees, to create a network of informants amongst women, the so-called ‘Citizens forum’ to rival the village committees utilising the Sarpanchs and village elders and the Rajiv youth brigades to sponsor sport, drama, etc to wean away the youth.

The bulk of these organisations withered away with time, for lack of cooperation in the villages. But, during this period, through their informer network, they were able to apprehend and kill a number of leading party members. In January 1993 Com. Balanna, Warangal party district committee secretary and regional committee member, along with squad member Padmakka were murdered; on January 26, 1993, Com. Sankar, district committee secretary of Nizamabad and regional committee member was killed; Com. Vishwanath, of the Hyderabad city committee was murdered; also squad member Yerra Prasad and squad commander Naganna. But now, with each killing the funeral processions were turning into big political events. Breaking prohibitory orders, thousands and thousands would join the funeral procession, where hundreds would pledge to continue the work started by their heroic martyr. Between June 91 and end of 92 over 300 comrades had been killed.

This time the masses did not become frightened as in 1985….they were being steeled in armed struggle and slowly being drawn into the armed struggle against the state. But, with this new round of suppression, new tasks had to be formulated.

Tasks in the new conditions of Repression

The party had already declared that the Dandakaranya and North Telangana movements had reached the primary level of a guerilla zone. A guerilla zone is an area where both the revolutionaries and the ruling classes contend for power. In order to consolidate the primary level of guerilla zone reached by the movement in NT and DK, face the increasing state repression, and move to a higher level of guerilla zone, the party outlined the following tasks :

(i) To build two to three local guerilla squads under the central guerilla squad functioning at present, to gradually develop them into platoons
(ii) To separate political and military tasks in the squad area committee and to develop political and military leadership
(iii) To develop a military command from bottom to top
(iv) To consolidate the party organisation at the village level
(v) To establish the united front of revolutionary classes at the village level with the aim of establishing their political power through building the Gram Rajya Committees and to destroy the state power of the comprador bourgeoisie and landlord classes.
(vi) To establish peoples’ power by building village development committees, village defence squads, panchayat committees etc., under the leadership of the Gram Rajya Committee.
But once again during this period of severe repression the party was plunged into another internal crisis, this time led by the secretary of the CC KS and Company. While fighting KS’s opportunism and disruption within the party, it successfully faced the enemy onslaught by implementing the above guidelines. Though the movement faced problems, it was not as severe as in 1985. Though the peoples movement receded temporarily, this time there were no problems of food or providing protection to the squads.
Struggles Continue

In the initial phase of the repression a lot of the land occupied lay fallow. But slowly, due to the efforts of the local organisation, cultivation of these lands once again began. By end of 1994 land occupation struggles also picked up. Many landlords also began surrendering before the peasant associations. During this period the party worked out a policy on how land distribution should be done and the political and ideological criteria for this was set.

On peasant issues, a big movement developed for the reduction of fertiliser prices. With the government bowing to World Bank pressure the subsidy on fertilisers had been reduced and prices shot up. As the government did not restore the subsidies, merchants began selling fertilisers at exorbitant black market prices. Thousands rallied under the leadership of the sangams, raided fertiliser and pesticide shops and seized large stocks of fertilisers and pesticides. The peasants resisted the police lathi charge. Due to these movements blackmarketeering was reduced. In some areas peasants also refused to pay back bank loans and the hiked electricity charges. Besides, there had been big movements for the regular supply of electricity which was essential for running the water pumps.
On the workers front, besides the coal miners, RTC (bus transport) workers and bidi workers were organised in a big way during this period. Between 1990 and 1995 SIKASA had organised 1, 825 strikes which reached a new peak on April 14, 1995 when one lakh workers went on a twenty day strike demanding settlement of the 5th wage board agreement. Though the strike was opposed by the official trade unions over 90% of the workers struck work. This strike forced the wage board agreement on April 28 in Calcutta. But as the agreement was a sell-out, the strike was revived from October 16 to November 14, 1995. Big successes have been achieved through these struggles. The RTC drivers and conductors have been facing humiliating conditions of work under the establishment unions. Slowly, the workers have been shifting towards revolutionary politics and in some districts, like Nizamabad underground unions like AKASA (APSRTC Karmika Samakhya) have been established. In 1996 this union formed a front which led a series of agitations around a 60-point character of demands of which many have been granted. Bidi workers, mostly women, have also been organised around their demands.
Another unique struggle that took place during this period was the struggle of the prisoners. On the eve of the TDP’s electoral victory in 1994, the revolutionaries in jail sent an open letter to NTR, placing a charter of 54 demands, of which eleven were political, while the rest related to jail conditions. 

On December 26, 1994 revolutionaries lodged in the central jails of Secunderabad, Chanchalguda, Vishakhapatnam, Rajahmundry, Warangal and district jails of Cuddapah, Nellore and Karimnagar jointly launched an indefinite hunger strike. The hunger strike received immense support from the other prisoners particularly the Muslim TADA detainees. Outside the jail, democrats swung into action in support of the prisoners movement. On January 4, 1995 the Home minister accepted 42 demands. 

Later the government back-tracked. On January 12, 1995 12 life-convicts in Hyderabad jail went on a fast-unto-death. The revolutionaries organised the prisoners for relay hunger strikes. From February 1, the prisoners went on an indefinite hunger strike, supported by relay hunger strikes outside prison. The movement gathered momentum outside the jail. 

The government reacted arresting intellectuals, writers, artists and other democrats. On February 9, prisoners resorted to a ‘Jail Bandh’ boycotting all daily duties. On February 15 a statewide bandh was called by the CPI (ML) (PW) in support of the struggle. On February 21 a ‘Chalo Secretariat’ rally and public meeting was organised. Finally, the government bowed down accepting, in writing, 40 of the demands.

Till today the masses continue their struggles. They have their ups and downs, depending on the intensity of repression….but already they have won large benefits to the oppressed masses.
Growing Armed Resistance

It is September 1993. Village Padkal in the Sirnapalli area of Nizamabad district. Meetings and discussions are just over. It was getting dark and just as the squad was preparing to leave the shelter on the outskirts of the village, all of a sudden hundreds of police surround the house and begin a barrage of fire on the house. Two of the women comrades are caught, mercilessly beaten and kept hostage by the police. The squad returns the fire but a burst of fire from the window of neighbouring house kills Sanjeev, the Deputy Commander. 

Now the police are also on the terrace, lobbying into their room tear-gas shells. It becomes unbearable and the bullets are running out. In spite of the heavy firing by the police, the squad stops the return of fire. It is 4.00 a.m. The police hearing nothing from the house decide to enter. As they rush up the stairs one policeman is shot dead. Others retreat, and as an act of vengeance they brutally kill the two women comrades.

The non-stop firing, tear-gas continues. It is 8.00 the next morning. Three comrades are left. But Com. Gopi gets hit by a bullet and is seriously injured. Squad commander Swamy and Com. Kranti continue the battle. It is now 1.00 p.m. in the afternoon. The DIG arrives and calls out the Swamy and Kranti to surrender, promising safe passage. Kranti decides to surrender, Swamy tries to persuade him of the futility. He hesitates, but after half an hours discussion (under continuous fire) he surrenders. Meanwhile, as Swamy is fighting the enemy single handed he finds Gopi trying to shoot himself. He prevents him. Gopi says that anyway he will fall into the enemy’s hands, so it is better to die. Swamy, consoles him and pervades him to fight to the end. Some time later, Gopi pulls the trigger with his foot and dies.

It is now 7.00 p.m. on the second day. The police set fire to a part of the house. He walks towards the staircase and finds the dead policeman’s A.K-47. He picks it up. Suddenly, sending a burst of fire, Swamy jumps over the broken walls of the house, and makes a drive for the bye lanes of the village. The police, stunned fire in his direction. But swamy has escaped into the lanes. The village is surrounded. No chance of getting out. He hides in a haystock. But soon thirst is killing him. Over 24 hours and not a drop of water. He comes out towards the nearest house. They give him water, but, terrified, ask him to go. He finds a garbage dump, covers himself with cowdung, and hides there the whole night. Meanwhile the police are searching every corner of the village, particularly the haystacks.

It is morning of the third day. The mother of the house comes to wash the vessels. As she throws the waste water on the garbage heap, it moves. She yells with fright. Swamy come out, explains that he is ‘anna’. He tell the frightened mother, he will go. She runs after him, saying, wait, they will kill you. After much hesitation, fear, she keeps him in a safe place. During the whole day she gives him food. She gives him the information that they have killed Kranti and cremated all five comrades. She asks him to leave at night. He does not, as he would be caught in the uniform. The next day the mother brings him a dress, she plans a disguise and leads him through a safe path into the forests. A few days later, militants come and take away the A.K-47 hidden in the village.

And so the Padkal encounter has become a landmark in heroism and courage. But Swamy is not alone. Last year the SIKASA DCM, Com. Sammi Reddy (alias Ramakant, Ashok) was similarly surrounded by over 500 police while he was taking shelter in the heart of the coal mining colony in Mancherial. In broad-day light, in front of thousands a nine hour gun battle ensued. In it, Ramakanth killed CI and a constable. Finally, the police burnt the house down, killing him and the lady sympathiser.
And so, the squads are learning to fight back. The government has been getting more and more ruthless. In the 1985-89 period 250 comrades were killed; in the 1990-94 period 500; and in the two years upto mid ’96 another 210, in the last eight months about 100. These include leading comrades like Puli Anjanna, AP State Committee Secretary, Comrades Venkataswamy, Reddappa and Sudarshan – AP State Committee members; Regional Committee member Com. Shankar, District Committee members Comrades Sammi Reddy and Allam Manohar, a number of leading lady squad members like Swarupa, Rukma bai, Lalita …..
With such a brutal offensive of the government, the Party has also been giving experience to hit back. In just the nine months between March 1996 and November 1996 the guerilla squads have conducted four raids on police camps – on Potkapally PS in Karimnagar district, on Yellavaram PS in East Godavari district, on Manpur PS in Rajanandgaon district of MP, and on Sirpur PS of Adilabad district – seizing 97 weapons of which 26 were semi-automatic SLRs. This was followed by the Karakagudem raid in Khammam district in January 97 giving a further cache of weapons. Besides these major raids, several Sparrow actions were conducted in North Telangana resulting in a further 20 weapons in 1996 and killing of 25 policemen in October/November ’96.

In any guerilla war, it is the enemy that is the main source of weapons. In the unequal war between the poorly-trained, ill-equipped guerillas with an inferior numerical strength on the one hand, and the well-equipped, highly-trained, overwhelmingly superior enemy force on the other, it is only by means of innumerable guerilla attacks, that the people’s armed forces can gradually accumulate strength.

The author bows down to the immortal sacrifices of the erstwhile C.P.I.(M.L.) PWG and does not underestimate the importance of armed struggle. 

Posted in light of 50 years of naxalbari and neccesity for building massline.No doubt the Peoples war made the greatest contribution to building the revolutionary movement in Andhra Pradesh in their era and many comrades from other region sin other groups praised their work.However they were vitiated by wrong trends.