Bihar: CPI(ML) 1970 Conference
NK SINGH
It was a scoop. But I had not realised it at at that time!
In its issue of May 9, 1970, Frontier, a favourite among far-Left intellectuals and activists, carried a report on the CPI (ML)'s Bihar State conference. The report quoted extensively from the political report passed at the conference. It was an internal party document with restricted circulation.
The report outlined future plans of the party and revealed the leadership's line on "mistakes" committed by the party in the past. No wonder, among the avid and regular readers of Frontier were intelligence sleuths and scholars interested in polemics of various Naxal groups.
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Frontier 9 May 1970 P1 |
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Frontier 9 May 1970 P2 |
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Frontier 9 May 1970 P3 |
POLITICAL REPORT OF BIHAR STATE COMMITTEE, CPI(ML)
The
political report passed by the Bihar State CPI(ML) at their last conference
deals with the fundamental tasks of the Indian revolution, with special
reference to Bihar. It was the first conference since the CPI(ML) was formed in
1969.
Some
points from the report:
·
The
character of the society in Bihar is semi-feudal and semi-colonial.
Semi-Feudal
·
The
population of landless peasants rose to 40 per cent from the pre-1947 figure of
30 per cent of total rural population.
·
Debt-slavery
has turned into semi-slaves 70 per cent of the rural who have to take loans in
the lean months at exorbitant interest.
·
The
primitive wooden implements of production, ownership of 40 per cent of land by
3 per cent of the population, two-third of total cultivable land under the
system of share-cropping, debt-slavery, the social oppression based on the
caste system, the social status of Harijans, all these are solid and clear
proof that the society in Bihar is semi-feudal in character.
Semi-Colonial
·
The
economy is semi-colonial, besides being semi-feudal. One aspect is the
tremendous increase in foreign investments in India. Other examples are the
more than 2000 collaboration industries and the absolute control of
imperialists over the import-export trade as a result of which every year more
than Rs 250 crore are pumped out of the country as profit.
·
The
State sector is new colonial device, with USSR controlling ¼ of iron
and steel industries, ½ of oil refineries and 1/5 of electric power. It is a
clear device to exploit our cheap labour power and raw material. The State
sector is a form of state monopoly capitalism, i.e. bureaucratic capitalism.
Annihilation of class enemy
·
The
situation is ripe for revolution. Annihilation of class enemy is a necessary
step to rouse and organise the whole peasantry, smash feudal authority and
establish revolutionary authority in rural areas.
·
Other group of Naxalites are getting funds from doubtful sources and are also
enjoying facilities of publishing and freedom of movement in conducting slander
campaign against CPI(ML).
Mistakes
·
It
was wrong to set up Birsa Seva Dal as a national mass organisation and expect
it to initiate and lead an anti-feudal and anti-State struggle.
·
The
state committee could not propagate the slogan of ‘boycott election’ in an
effective manner. Some party units and cadres joined the election campaign of
this or that party.
·
During
Mushahari struggle four mistakes were committed – economism in the leadership,
tendency to wait for “fair days” in the face of repression, dependence of
experts and training to launch guerrilla warfare, dependence on modern weapons.
·
In
Champaran the party went for the petty-bourgeois deviation of relying on middle
peasants and not integrating with the landless and poor peasantry.
Excerpts
from Frontier 9 May 1970
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