“Hum hain iske malik, hum hain Hindustan! Mazdoor, kisan, aurat aur jawan!” {Workers, peasants, women and youth – We constitute India! We are her master!} A banner bearing this slogan adorned the venue of the colourful celebration held in Mumbai on 27th December, 2015.
“Hum hain iske malik, hum hain Hindustan! Mazdoor, kisan, aurat aur jawan!” {Workers, peasants, women and youth – We constitute India! We are her master!} A banner bearing this slogan adorned the venue of the colourful celebration held in Mumbai on 27th December, 2015. The hall was filled with women and men, old and young, with a high proportion of working class families and student youth. There were many women and men who had brought along young children in their arms.
The celebration began with the reciting of a poem composed by the patriots who rose up in 1857 to overthrow the hated British colonial rule. This was followed by a keynote speech by the regional spokesperson of the Party. After that the floor was open and numerous participants related their life experience and reiterated their commitment to advance the work of the Party.
The keynote speech began by noting that in 1857, the united struggle of Indian people to end British colonial enslavement was the key to open the path for progress, while at the present time the key is the struggle to eliminate the entire legacy of colonialism. This colonial legacy includes the State and political process of Westminster style democracy, the economic orientation of maximising exploitation and plunder in the interests of a minority of big capitalists, the communal foundation of every institution of the state, caste discrimination, domination of the English language and the Eurocentric world view which considers ancient Indian thought to be only spiritual and of no relevance for solving present day problems.
It was forcefully argued that imperialism, headed by the US, poses the main danger to peace and to human rights. It is the principal source of terrorism, fascism and war. The ruling class of India, for its own selfish interests, is promoting so-called friendship with the United States, in spite of the innumerable examples of horrors suffered by those nations and peoples who embraced the ‘friendship’ of US imperialism. The Indian ruling class itself has imperialist ambitions and this poses grave dangers to the people of India as well as to the people in neighbouring countries.
One point that was repeatedly highlighted was that the work of our Party has resulted in a series of successes over the past 35 years. We made important advances in building political unity against state terrorism, right in the first decade of the party’s life, in the eighties. Starting in the nineties, the world has been going through a period of counter-revolution, a period of unprecedented offensive against communism and against democratic and human rights. Our Party has weathered the storms and emerged even stronger than before, by militantly fighting for an alternative to the capital-centred reform program and the criminalised multi-party democracy. The average age of our membership is going down year by year, which is a very healthy trend.
The discussion brought out the fact that working in one of the basic units of our Party is very exciting for young women and men. This is because there is full scope for each member to participate in the collective work and release individual initiative. Every individual is encouraged to participate actively and consciously in the discussions that take place in the basic unit. There are discussions to understand the line of the Party, to decide and define the collective work in a particular area or front of the class struggle, to assign individual responsibilities, to check up on actions taken and to sum up the results and lessons learnt.
Many old and young comrades expressed their profound love for the Party and its work to prepare the conditions for the triumph of revolution. Some related the story of how they joined the Party and how they grew along with its work. Some expressed themselves in poetry and song. They all expressed their determination to advance the work that the Party has set for itself. The successes achieved so far gives us the confidence that we will win victory in our effort to restore the unity of communists, at the head of a politically united working class and a powerful movement for people’s empowerment.
The celebration concluded on a militant and optimistic note, with the singing of the Internationale, the famous revolutionary song of the international working class.