Sunday, November 28, 2010

“Yes, I am a traitor, if you are a patriot”: Nazim Hikmet

From Traitor
Yes, I am a traitor, if you are a patriot, if you are a defender of our homeland,
I am a traitor to my homeland, I am a traitor to my country.
If patriotism is your farms,
if the valuables in your safes and your bank accounts is patriotism,
if patriotism is dying from hunger by the side of the road,
if patriotism is trembling in the cold like a cur and shivering from malaria in the summer,
if sucking our scarlet blood in your factories is patriotism,
if patriotism is the claws of your village lords,
if patriotism is the catechism, if patriotism is the police club,
if your allocations and your salaries are patriotism,
if patriotism is American bases, American bombs, and American missiles,
if patriotism is not escaping from our stinking black-minded ignorance,
then I am a traitor.
Write it over three columns, in a pitch-black screaming streamer,
Nazim Hikmet is continuing to be a traitor, STILL!
July 1962

Thursday, November 25, 2010

‘Naxals used library to spread their ideology’




Mumbai, November 24, 2010

The banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), dubbed as the single largest threat to India’s internal security by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had set up a base in the city to propagate their ideology and to connect with the youth. The Naxalite allegedly used a reading library situated in the slums along the Jogeshwari-Vikhroli Link Road (JVLR) in the western suburbs for this purpose, a witness has told the police. The witness in his statement to the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) has named Surya Devra Prabhakar, an alleged naxalite leader who was arrested by the ATS on January 19.

Prabhakar, a member of the politburo and one of the top most leaders of CPI (Maoists), was arrested from Kanjurmarg and he had been working in the city since 1991, trying to lure people towards the naxalite ideology, the witness has said.

Prabhakar had been a member of the organisation since 1978 and was a member of the Maharashtra State Committee of the CPI (Maoists). He allegedly controlled operations for Dahanu, Wada, Palghar and other rural areas and had, therefore, set up base in Mumbai.

“He used to preach his ideology before a group of people at the library. Prerna Wachnalay, situated on JVLR helped him get an audience,” said the witness in his statement.

According to the witness, whose testimony is part of the charge sheet filed by the ATS against Prabhakar in August, Prabhakar used to regularly visit the slums at JVLR and had developed friendship with locals by offering them help by paying their bills and performing their small chores. Prabhakar spoke of the naxalite struggle and activities of the erstwhile People’s War Group (PWG), the witness has stated in his statement.

When the Hindustan Times visited the library on Monday, it was found locked and locals there refused to say anything about it. “It opens at 7pm and people come here to read books,” a man in mid-20s, who was sitting nearby said. He refused to talk further.

On dialing a telephone number that was printed on a poster, which was put up outside the library, a man who identified himself as Milind (refused to give his second name) answered the call and said the library was recognised by the government. “There are all kinds of books here,” said Milind, adding that the membership fee is nominal.

Milind said he did not know who Prabhakar was. “There is no restriction on anyone becoming a member,” he said.

Monday, November 22, 2010

CPI(M) National Secretary Prakash Karat's Name figures in the biggest Scam in Indian History


Causing a major embarrassment to the CPI(M), its national secretary Prakash Karat's name too figures in the biggest scam India has ever seen. Now its clear that the left leaders are not left out in the 2G Spectrum Scam which is rocking India. Major political leaders, media persons including Barkha Dutt are all involved in the scam that took place in a country where majority of the planet's poor inhabit.

Vijay Thakur
NEW DELHI, 6 MAY: Left leaders were apparently not untouchable for the “tainted” corporate lobbyist and “power-broker” Ms Nira Radia who, along with her associates, has been under the scanner for her proximity to the Union communications minister Mr A Raja over their alleged role in the Rs 60,000 crore 2G Spectrum scandal. If the observations made by intelligence agencies on the basis of her protracted telephone surveillance are to be believed, Ms Radia was as “good” and friendly with Mr Raja as she was with “certain Left Front and Citu (CPM's trade union affiliate) leaders” in “managing” various business affairs in Left-ruled Bengal. In a secret report on Ms Radia's network and operations, Intelligence agencies have stated that she was pushing business deals for corporate houses interested in setting up their business in West Bengal. The report held that she was “facilitating” a deal for a big corporate house, Mukesh Ambani-headed Reliance group, which purportedly sought to take over a modern naphtha-based petrochemical complex at Haldia near Kolkata. Significantly, it is the same report in which Intelligence agencies revealed her close links with Mr Raja, on whose basis Left leaders, along with other Opposition leaders stalled both Houses of Parliament repeatedly in recent days including today while condemning Mr Raja and demanding a thorough investigations into the 2G allocation scam of 2007-08. The "top secret" report was prepared by the Director General Investigations (Income Tax) after keeping nine phone lines of Ms Radia and her associates under surveillance in two phases ~ for 120 days from August 20, 2008 and for 180 days that ended on 10 July 2009. This "authorised" surveillance, distinct from "tapping," was carried out after taking prior approval of the Union home secretary. The DGI (I-T) report mentioned the CPI-M general secretary Mr Prakash Karat and the West Bengal industry minister Mr Nirupam Sen while referring to Ms Radia's lobbying for assisting Reliance in apparently making its bid for Haldia Petrochemicals. "FICCI chief Tarun Das is chairmanof Haldia Petrochem (govt nominee). As per a conversation apparently Mr Mukesh Ambani wants to take over Haldia Petrochemicals and Mr Das through Ms Radia is facilitating the same. Tarun Das got them to reopen the issue with CPM. Nirupam Sen of CPM set up a meeting with Prakash Karat. They fear that one Purnendu (Mr Purunendu Chatterjee is apparently a major stake holder in Haldia Petrochemicals) may create a problem and will have to be handled by Mr Mukesh," the report stated. Though the report did not elaborate the role of Mr Karat and Mr Sen, it did say clearly Ms Radia was "managing" important CPM leaders. “Neera (sic) apparently has an independent very good relationship with certain Left Front and CITU leaders." "Telephone conversation with regards to the Tata group suggests that the entire media and political 'environment' management for the failed Singur project and the subsequent shifting to Gujarat was handled by Neera Radia and her associates,” the report added. The high-profile Ms Radia, who is believed to be close to a slew of politicians, bureaucrats, and top corporate houses including Reliance and Tatas, runs various PR and consulting firms ~ including Vaishnavi Corporate Consultants, Noesis Consulting, Vitcom and Neucom Consulting. Her lobbying business, with the assistance of senior former bureaucrats, ranges from sectors as diverse as telecom and aviation to power and infrastructure. The report revealed that she was more than managing the "media". The intercepted conversations, according to the report, indicated that she was trying to "ensure that policy changes and decisions of the various government departments" would "suit the commercial requirements of her clients". The report said she apparently even tried to "interfere in the appointment of ministers so as to dovetail the same to the commercial interests of her clients". This four-page report, along with other documents, have been submitted by the DGI (I-T) to the CBI which is probing the 2G scam. The CBI, however, failed to question Ms Radia allegedly under pressure from higher authorities, and then, a couple of months ago, she fled the country. Ms Radia was alleged to be in close touch with Mr Raja in "influencing" the 2G spectrum telephony allocation to her various private player "clients".

Sunday, November 21, 2010

New Constitution or New Revolution (In Nepal)- Interview with civil society activist Shyam Shrestha


The sixth extended Central Committe (CC) meeting of the Unified CPN Maoist, viewed with much importance has got underway today in Palungtar of Gorkha district. On this occasion we post an interview which the friend who typed out the interview and posted it on pragoti.org thinks "is a must read for all those hoping and working for an alternative to the existing political practice." He also adds " it provides an excellent portrayal of how the priorities and aspirations change and the the great word Revolution can be degenerated or stuck in midway."

shrestha.png

After futilely searching book stores in New Delhi for the July-August issue of the Analytical Monthly Review featuring an interview of prominent civil society activist and well informed leftist intellectual Shyam Shrestha on the recent developments in Nepal, I finally managed to get hold of a copy in the JNU library. Too bad that this interview is not available online. I decided to type out the entire interview verbatim and paste it on this blog giving credit to the AMR editors and interviewer Johan Petter Anderson. It is a must read for all progressive Nepal watchers.

New constitution or a new revolution!

Interview with Shyam Shrestha, leader of civil society and co-ordinator of The Campaign for Progressive Transformation, former chief editor of Mulyankan Monthly magazine, Nepal. The magazine is almost 20 years old. It is the largest leftist monthly magazine in Nepal, with a circulation of approximately 30,000 copies per month.

Interview by Johan Petter Anderson, Analytical Monthly Review, Kathmandu, 5th July 2010

JP: Do you think that the Maoists should lead a consensus or a majority government in the current situation?

SS: Yes, since they were the largest party in the Constituent Assembly (CA), they should lead a national consensus government. In order to make the peace process and the writing of the constitution successful, they must be in the lead. Democratic republic, federalism, equality between women and men and a secular state: these are all historical and revolutionary achievements gained under the leadership of the Maoists. These achievements must be institutionalised in the new constitution. Therefore they must lead the government.

However, the parliamentary bourgeois parties are not ready to follow the peoples' mandate in accordance with universal democratic norms where the Maoists have emerged as the largest party in the last CA election. Hence, they are putting forward many new hard-to-meet conditions for Maoists for leading a government. This explains why it is less likely for the Maosits to fulfil all those conditions and lead the government this time. But still it can not be totally ruled out that Maoists would not lead the government in the near future at all. As there is a deep rift inside Nepali Congress, a conservative right wing party of the bourgeoisie regarding who will be the next Prime minister, a Maoist-UML-MJF coalition might happen any time.

JP: How do you understand point one in the three point agreement of the 28th of May?

SS: This point states that the former agreements regarding the peace process should be implemented. Many of the points in the Comprehensive Peace Agreement have not been implemented, some because of the Maoists and some because of the bourgeois parties. Integration of the two armies, democratisation of the Nepal army, social and economic transformation, the formtion of many commissions, for example the Truth and Reconciliation Commision and Commisions for Finding Disappeared People have not been executed. There are also some issues regarding the Young Communist League, the so called paramilitary wing of the Maoists. I think that all parties must sit together and find a common understanding of these issues. So, all issues contained in this first point must be agreed upon and implemented, not just one.

JP: The Maoists say that the writing of the constitution and the integration of the armies must go hand in hand. What do you think?

SS: It is logical. But in the comprehensive peace agreement, signed in December 2006, it was agreed that integration should happen earlier. But Maoists seem to have serious fears that if they integrate on beforehand the new constitution will not necessarily be written. Other prominent parties are fearful that if it is not integrated on beforehand the Maoists will be in a position to influence the government and CA with their arms. However, keeping in mind the serious distrust and fear among the prominent parties, it is quite logical that integration and constitution promulgation must go hand in hand as constitution writing and integration of the two armies are the two main interrelated provisions of the peace process. The Maoists made the mistake of agreeing to that the combatants should be integrated within 6 months when they were in the government. Practically, it is impossible to do so.

JP: NC and UML are demanding that the Maoists give back land and valuables grabbed during the people's war, while other parts of the peace agreement, like land reform are standing still. What is your opinion.

SS: The peace agreement states that there shall be a scientific land reform and that the remnants of feudalism shall be eradicated. It also states that the land and property, taken during the people's war shall be returned. The Maoists did not make it clear that absentee landlords' property and land of the feudal class shall not be returned. During the negotiations we had continuously suggested that this kind of land owned by the feudal class and absentee landlords would be impossible to be returned as some of it had already been distributed among the real tillers and landless people.

Now the Nepali Congress and the UML are demanding that also these lands shall be returned. I do not think that these should be given back as this would be detrimental to the main contents and spirit of the land reform. Now, this dispute has become a major point for UML and the Nepali Congress. Certainly, property of the small owners, middle and rich peasantry should be given back, but not the property of the feudal class and absentee landlords that was divided among the tillers and landless people. The Maoists committed this mistake and this has created a rift between the Maoists and those that supported the Maoists because of the lack of land distribution.

JP: Can the current situation with a hung parliament and a deadlock continue for yet another year?

SS: If the national consensus government should be formed now, then the CA cum parliament would begin to work, as all the main parties will be in government and the peace process will move ahead. If a national consensus government is not formed, because of the stand of the NC and the UML, then the next year will be wasted in quarreling for power and the peace process can fail. If an agreement on army integration, democratisation of the Nepal army, disputes on some major provisions of a new constitution and return of land cannot be made, then there will not be a consensus government. The sentiment of civil society is that the parties must come to a progressive agreement on these fundamental issues. The vast majority of the civil society organisations and prominent intellectuals are demanding a national consensus government.

JP: What do you think that the Maoists should do now?

SS: First, lead and take the initiative to organise a major party meeting to settle army integration and democratisation, return of property, leadership of government and disputes concerning the new constitution. It should include UML, NC and the biggest Madhes based party.

Secondly, they should lead the Cosntituent Assembly (CA) in writing the new constitution with a socialist orientation and contents. However, it is an amazing contradiction that Prachanda himself is not giving priority to writing the progressive constitution. He has not been in the CA for a long time during the last year. The other parties have not given priority to the work in the CA, but the Maosits should give much higher priority to writing a new constitution together with other progressive forces. There are 62% progressive parties in the CA with scientific socialism as their ideology. If most of them are united, if not all, they can write a very good progressive constitution.

Thirdly, the Maoists at the grassroots level continue attacking the UML-cadres physically now and again. This has played the role of deteriorating the relationship between the Maoists and the radical elements inside the UML. The right wing bourgeois party and the Indian ruling class has been able to take a big advantage of the rift between the Maoists and the UML in using the UML against the Maoists. So this kind of physical attacks must be stopped with greater force by the Maoist leadership. The Maoists must try to win the hearsts of the ordinary members and radical leaders of the UML and other progressive parties. Even if they should now end up out of government they should give high priority to constitution making in the coming year together with the agenda of progressive transformation of the state machinery and the society.

Fourthly, if the Maoists are not in the government, and cannot lead the government then the Maoists must raise the voice of the downtrodden people. The recent price hike was very high with a two digit growth rate. The security situation is extremely bad, anyone can be killed anywhere. Right now, Maoists are only raising the struggle for the post of prime ministership. The people are asking why the Maoists are not raising the struggle on the vital problems of the downtrodden people and the working class. The Maoists must continue to win the hearts of the working masses by taking up their main problems here and now.

Fifthly, if the rightist political parties try to tear down all the achievements of the revolution so far, if the peace process fails, then the Maoists must prepare for a further revolution. People want this. A next Jana Andolan, or revolution may be necessary.

Sixthly, they should correct their mistakes by sweeping harmful and opportunist elements out of the party. Their organisation is degenerating ideologically, culturally and organisationally in a very fast speed. Many harmful and even reactionary elements of the society have joined the Maoist party and dedicated and revolutionary elements are almost in a minority. They were much more revolutionary right after the people's war.

Last but not least, they must make a broad united front. All the forces inside and outside the party seeking progressive change should be united. The major political struggle in present day Nepali society is between those who want progressive change and those who want to keep the state and society in status quo. Maoists should give enough attention in creating favourable public opinion, too, because among the people, the Maoists are losing ground. Their popularity graph is going downwards although they are in opposition in the parliament. The urban area public opinion is not on the Maoist side. The Maoists are not giving enough attention to this.

JP: How have your expectations been fulfilled when we see the results of the CA-elections in aftermath?

SS: My expectation that the CA should be well composed was fulfilled. For the first time in Nepal's history, women, lower classes, Madhesis, dalits, janajatis are all well represented, and even the neglected area are represented. So, the composition is very revolutionary. That is why the bourgeoisie is afraid. Why are they afraid? Because the CA is not on their side. And they are afraid that the CA will write a progressive constitution. That is why they are surrounding the Maoists and stopping the writing of the constitution. We have been waging the struggle for a democratic republic for a long time and that was fulfilled in the first meeting of the CA.

Federalism is central because we are a multicultural society. We had a centralised government. Now we can have federalism through the CA. The interim constitution made the state a welfare state for the first time. Women and men are formally equal in property and everything now. And untouchability has been made illegal. So, many of my expectations have been fulfilled.

JP: What do you think of the Maoists' proposal for a new constitution?

SS: There are both good and bad points. This constitution is radical reformism, it has tried to give the citizens the right to education, employment, to a residence and to food, in short – a welfare state. It also tries to make men and women totally equal, make all the languages equal, tries to give the dalits special rights in higher education and technical education and special rights to representation in the state organs. The janajati and Madhesis have the right to self-determination within self rule and autonomy, and it tries to give security to minority peoples and the areas, some special cultural rights and social security. It has a provision for compensation to the feudals and it is trying to give the workers rightful wages, social security, right to collective bargaining and the right to strike, and a directly elected president. All the 72 languages, 11 of which are spoken by more than 1%, are given the status of native languages and can be used in all public contexts.

But there are serious drawbacks also. This system is a capitalist system with a welfare state. But we must go further to socialism. This question has not been given due attention in the constitution. It needs a mechanism for a peaceful way to go forward. The way that the constitution can be changed fully through referendum or constitutional amendment is made much too difficult. This weakness will create a problem for the Maoists themselves in the future. We should learn from the Swiss here, where a certain amount of signatures can demand a referendum for changing the old constitution completely.

The Maoists suggest giving the right to self-determination to the ethnic groups and have introduced federalism, but the local community level has been given too little power in the federal state. The local communities do not have the right over natural resources. They do not have cultural rights to use their own mother tongue too. Local self government must be given more rights. If the local governments are given more rights, then the progressive forces could do much more than mobilising the grassroots and forward the revolution from the bottom.

They have declared the welfare state, but not pointed out with which resources it will be financed. For example, with higher progressive taxes on property, assets and income? They have not said anything about how to achieve the necessary resoruces and therefore the rights will only be a dream. And where shall the people put forward their claims in connection with their social rights? In the province or local self-government? It is not clear.

Also, the draft is too long. Everything is mentioned there. It must be more precise and shorter and clearer on the central questions.

Also, there must be provisions against monopoly. There is a provision on competition, but no provision against monopolies. Competition leads to syndicates, trusts and cartels and they will capture the economy. So, there must be a provision making monopoly illegal.

There are many more weaknesses, and I have only mentioned a few drawbacks. In short revolution has not been kept in mind in the draft constitution put forward by the Maoists. Instead reform has been kept in mind. The constitution put forward by the revolutionaries must pave the way for revolution.

JP: Is the role of the civil society strengthened the last two years?

SS: We are trying to be stronger. But we have become divided. Many NGOs and many intellectuals' organisations are controlled by some or the other party, and they end up siding with the government. And likewise on the other side they were earlier a part of civil society seeking progressive transformation of the society which were independent, but now they have become somewhat weaker. However, the civil society is still active and popular, but weaker. As politics get more polarised so does civil society. The behaviour of the political parties have weakened it. When the parties came to power they did not need the civil society anymore. The parties used us, when there was widespread distrust against the parties, as people listened to us. When they became stronger, they stopped listening to the voice of the civil society. Civil society in Nepal is radical. But when the Maoists were in government they did not need us either. The Maoists want our praise but do not want to hear our criticism. But in spite of it all, they are the ones that meet more often with us for our opinions than the other political parties.

JP: Now that the representation of the Dalits, ethnic minorities and women has been strengthened in the representative organs, can we see any other general concrete results in this improvement?

SS: Increased representation will lead to a better constitution and better representation in the different organs of the state. This representation has already been discussed. In general 45% of the seats have been reserved for women, dalits, janajati, Madhesis taken as a whole. So, there are improvements, but they are not sufficient.

JP: Have the political parties' standing in the eyes of civil society been strengthened or weakened the last two years?

SS: They are weakened. NC and UML have become most unpopular. They would get a very negative result if an election was to be held now. The popularity of the Maoists is also lower because they are only fighting for power and not for downtrodden peoples' immediate needs. There was an instance where three dalit women were killed by the military. The Maoists did not raise their voices. They should have developed a movement. They only published a statement. The price hike made many people poor. Many food items and basic needs became much more expensive. Corruption is so rampant. But the Maoists did not raise any struggle against this.

There is increasing corruption also among the Maoists and some people that are joining are even criminal. Here in Kirtipur (a suburb of Kathmandu), most of the royalist people have joined the Maoists. Even the criminal elements are welcome there. This type of organisational politics pollutes and destroys the revolutionary party. But still the Maoists are more popular than the other parties.

JP: Is there a danger of a military coup?

SS: This is an important and tricky question. The military is still not under civilian rule. The military is stronger than ever during the last four years. After the events of last year, it is trying to stay outside the government control. For example the prime minister says that a major called Niranjan Basnet, who is responsible for rape and brutality must be handed over to a civilian court, but Basnet is helped by the military headquarters and is not presented to the court. The prime minister does not do anything in this situation.

Last month, the defence ministry presented a new total defence policy. The military's response was that now they will operate under the titular president, not the elected civilian government. In other instances, the supreme court decides something but the military does not obey.

A coup can happen when political leaders become corrupt, most unpopular and divided. But military rule would not last long in Nepal. The reason is that the army is not popular here. Moreover, the active cadres of even the bourgeois parties like the NC have a radical mindset. The political activists in the parties lead the movement among the people, not the leaders. This was the case in April 2006 and this is still intact. The people in Nepal have a high degree of political awareness. The mainstream media has a democratic psyche and has always been against army rule. Internationally only India is trying to instigate the military to come to the forefront, not the USA, EU or China. All these elements will react in combination if the army takes power and the army would fail very soon. The same reasons that caused it to fail in 2006.

JP: You criticised the tendency of the Maoists of recruiting members with little political education and even thugs in 2008. Now that the Maoists have been active both in government and in parliamentary politics and have worked in a peace scenario for two years, how has this affected their class composition and methods of work of the party?

SS: I commented on this formerly. But a further comment is that the Maoists must put priority on building a wider united front. This is a must for both the Maoists and for the people. People are frustrated now. The conservative forces and India can use the rightist parties in this situation. Instead, the frustration must be used, not against the Maoists, but to build a united front directed against the right that are responsible for the frustrating situation. The Maoists must correct their way. They are quite confused now. They are unsure whether they should prepare for a new insurrection, make the CA successful, or adjust to the present status quo. Right now, they should concentrate on making the CA successful. But they are “looking at eight birds in the tree and losing four birds from the hand”. There should be a big united front that can create a movement for peoples' rights. The ground is prepared for change and people want change very much.

The Maoists have great organisational strength. In May, they mobilised a demonstration that could surround the whole capital. The ring road is 27 kilometers long, and their demonstration covered the whole of it! It was a great asset. But still they failed to achieve their end. Why? They should review themselves and find the answer to this 'why'? But right now, in my view, they are lacking a favourable public opinion among the people, a wide united front and a continuous struggle in favour of a progressive constitution and being the voice of the voiceless downtrodden people.

JP: What do you think of Prachanda's resignation a year ago?

SS: Prachanda was too late in dismissing the army chief, (Rookmangud) Katawal. He should have dismissed Katawal as soon as he made his first mistake. When Prachanda dismissed him, the timing was wrong. Katawal was to retire in 3 months. And Prachanda did not secure his decision in the coalition government. So it ended up with instead of Katawal being dismissed, Prachanda was dismissed! I don't think Prachanda should have resigned. He should have tested his majority in the parliament. And we told him so. This mistake became very expensive for him.

Prachanda has in the total process, had a leading role and people have attached great hopes in him, but he did not fulfil their hopes. He did not work well as a prime minister. He even kept advisors that were advisors to the king. On the other hand, the budget was very good. It was pro-poor people. In the nine months of the government, its content was not realised and could not be realised. But if Prachanda had the correct priorities it could have been realised. So Prachanda is a very good leader and strategist, but was not a good prime minister. And alas, his relatives were not all clean. Prachanda's popularity sunk while he was the prime minister. He could even have used the provisions of the interim constitution concerning land reform to push forward, and could have taken away many other concrete steps. But he had a commissioner who knew nothing about land reform.

Still we are hopeful that the revolution will be successful. I have pointed out many negative things but basically the situation is not totally negative in Nepal. The political awareness level of the people is very high. The majority of the cadres of the political parties are in favour of progressive change. Civil society and the media is still very popular and vibrant here. With all these positive elements put together, briefly you can say that either we will get a new constitution through the ongoing process or there will be a new revolution in Nepal. And we are definitely not pessimistic, we have not lost hope.



Thursday, November 18, 2010

Sri Lanka: Lessons of the defeat the Tamil Tigers

A World to Win

The following article, originally entitled "The Liquidation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE): Lessons Paid In Blood", was written by Comrade Surendra of the Ceylon Communist Party – Maoist. It was slightly edited for publishing in A World to Win News Service

The killing of the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Velupillai Pirapaharan, has brought an end to a stage in the development of the Tamil national liberation struggle. There are many crucial lessons to be learned from this experience, lessons paid in blood. It is imperative that we learn from them with a deep scientific perspective, if we are to charter the path of liberation for the people of Lanka.

Origins of the demand for a separate Tamil state

The demand for a separate state of Tamil Eelam arose in response to the Soulbury Constitution drafted by the British as a basis to transfer state power to its local lackey comprador capitalist ruling class before independence in 1948. This constitution was established upon the foundations of the Westminster system of parliamentary government, tried and tested in Britain for centuries as the most effective form of deceiving, dividing and ruling over the workers and oppressed masses and nationalities, while entrenching the state power of the capitalist ruling class. Parliamentary democracy functions as a way of deceiving the people to believe that they are sovereign in deciding their true political representatives, and thereby their life and future.

The truth is that this system deprives them of the political power to rule over their life and future. In effect, throughout the world, this system of government is designed to hide the dictatorship of the capitalist ruling classes. Under this system, the exploited and oppressed masses are compelled to choose between capitalist parties, who take turns in wielding state power in order to perpetuate the capitalist system and the exploitation and oppression upon which it is based.

With this intention, the British introduced the system of parliamentary representation based on universal adult franchise, on the principle of "one man-one vote". This principle ensured that the majority population composed of Sinhalese (74 percent) and the Sinhala-Buddhist nation (64 percent) would exercise majoritarian hegemony over all other nations, nationalities and ethnic-religious communities, while entrenching the dictatorship of its lackey Sinhala-dominant comprador capitalist ruling class. Article 29 was included in the constitution to guarantee the rights of Tamil and other "minorities". However, this article had no juridical power. The jurisdiction of this article was denied by the very same Privy Council of the British colonial power when it was called upon to adjudicate on the Indian and Pakistani Citizenship Act which had been adopted by a two-thirds Sinhala majority in the bourgeois parliament, in 1948. This act abolished the voting rights of the Hill Country Tamil nationality – descendants of plantation workers who had been conscripted by the British Raj in India and brought to Ceylon to serve as indentured labourers on the tea plantations – and denied them citizenship and declared them "stateless".

Tamils had made very significant contributions to the independence struggle. The Jaffna (Tamil) Youth Congress led by eminent people such as Handy Perimpanayagam was the first to issue the call for national unity based on the slogan of SWARAJ – that is, the complete independence of Ceylon from the British. The Congress led the first boycott of the general elections called under the new Constitution. This was when D.S. Senanayake and his fellow comprador travellers were cringing for limited autonomy under continued British colonial control. However, the comprador ruling class managed to marginalize this genuine anti-imperialist struggle. It should be recalled that Arunachalam Ponnambalam, founding President of the Ceylon National Congress, campaigned for the rights of the Hill Country Malayaga Tamil nationality. It is patently clear that this generation of Tamil leadership was at the forefront of seeking to build a democratic nation-state.

It was in response to national betrayal and discrimination amounting to subjugation that the Federal Party advanced the demand for a separate state of Tamil Eelam, within a federal form of government, under the leadership of S.J.V. Chelvanayagam. This demand was raised on behalf of the "Ceylon Tamils" cohabiting in the North-East. This demand was effectively sabotaged from within by the Tamil comprador bourgeoisie led by the All-Ceylon Tamil Congress, who preferred to share state power with the dominant Sinhala comprador ruling class.

Politics of the Sinhala compradors

The Sinhala comprador ruling class, which came to be represented as the United National Party (UNP) and the Mahajana Eksath Peramune, later transformed into the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), took turns in earnestly undertaking the task of erecting a Sinhala-Buddhist, hegemonic comprador-bureaucrat capitalist state. This ruling class introduced an openly Sinhala chauvinist policy of discriminating and subjugating all other nationalities and communities. A "Sinhala Only" policy was introduced to entrench the Sinhala language as the sole official language in 1956. Tens of thousand of Tamil people lost their jobs in the state sector due to this language policy.

Finally, in 1972, under a coalition government with the Trotskyite Lanka Sama-Samaja Party (LSSP) and the revisionist Communist Party of Sri Lanka, the SLFP introduced the "Republican Constitution" which entrenched Buddhism as the foremost religion and further entrenched Sinhala as the sole official language. Ceylon was renamed Sri Lanka as part of this "Sinhalization".

This government also introduced a "standardization" policy, which effectively limited Tamils from having access to higher education. The Tamil bourgeois leadership that had entered into electoral alliances with either the UNP or the SLFP based on pledges given to address Tamil grievances was betrayed by every successive government. The International Tamil Literary Congress was attacked, killing twelve participants. These cumulative developments gave rise to Tamil youth militancy. The late leader of the LTTE, Velupillai Pirapaharan, mounted the stage of history by assassinating the Mayor of Jaffna for attempting to cover up for this crime. The year 1976 was a turning point. All Tamil political parties and militant organizations adopted the Vaddukodai resolution, which declared a common struggle to achieve a separate state of Tamil Eelam. The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) was formed to carry out this mandate constitutionally.

All efforts by the governments in power to even cosmetically address Tamil grievances were repeatedly sabotaged by the bourgeois parliamentary opposition by unleashing Sinhala chauvinism, resulting in the most barbaric forms of state-sponsored anti-Tamil communal violence throughout the country. In the 1997 general elections, the Tamil United Liberation Front was returned as the main opposition party, with a mandate to struggle constitutionally for a separate state. The bourgeois TULF had agreed to meagre reforms in the form of the District Development Councils, as a substitute for a separate state. The DDC elections held in 1981 were openly rigged and Jaffna, the capital of the North, was set ablaze by Sinhala goons and armed forces mobilized by the state. The Jaffna library was set ablaze destroying some 95,000 books and documents of irreplaceable value, being the repository of the Tamil intellectual and cultural heritage. This was a form of cultural genocide committed against the Tamil nation.

The 6th Amendment to the Constitution was adopted by a 5/6th majority in parliament. This amendment simply outlawed the demand for a separate state, with possible punishment of up to 20 years imprisonment and seizure of all movable property for any activities connected with this demand. The TULF lost its position as the leading parliamentary opposition. All constitutional means of advancing the struggle for national self-determination were blocked. In the face of these concerted attacks on Tamil nationhood, the armed struggle for national self-determination was launched by several militant groups. The armed forces were given six months by the state to wipe out this problem, and they went on a rampage against Tamil youth.

Black July 1983 witnessed a most horrendous form of state-sponsored terrorism against the Tamil people. In retaliation for the killing of 13 soldiers by the LTTE, 53 Tamil political prisoners who were detained under maximum security were brutally massacred by Sinhala prisoners fuelled by liquor and armed with knives and swords provided by ministers of the state. This was accompanied by a bestial communal rampage where Tamils were raped, torched, slashed and looted openly, as the state security forces stood guard. The Executive President of the Republic declared that this was justified revenge on the part of the Sinhalese.

A new Tamil generation emerges

This form of national subjugation and state repression resulted in the birth of a new generation of Tamil militants, bearing various political visions and ideologies, agendas – and buyers and backers. The Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) of Indian intelligence had penetrated some of the dominant petit-bourgeois Tamil militant forces, including the LTTE. From Indira Gandhi, the then-President of India, down to the political rulers in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, drug peddlers and arms dealers, all vied for influence with the dominant militant groups. Indian ruling factions gave refuge, military training and funded each of their favourites. These groups, in turn, vied for influence with all kinds of agents of world imperialism and Indian hegemonism.

From the very beginning, the emergent new Tamil national movement was dominated by bourgeois and petty-bourgeois class forces. Contention and rivalry for dominance was promoted by the various powers and agents vying for influence over the Tamil national movement and over the politics of the country.

In this deadly contention, the LTTE emerged as the most ruthless force, eliminating and subjugating all other organizations. Most of the other Tamil militant organizations turned into paramilitary agents and accomplices of the state, in the war to liquidate the LTTE. The LTTE remained the only force that decided to carry out the mandate of the Tamil nation to achieve the right of national self-determination, in the form of a separate state, through an armed struggle against the state.

During the 25 years of armed struggle, the LTTE achieved some spectacular military victories and gained ground politically. In guerrilla warfare, positional warfare and conventional warfare, the LTTE stood up to the combined might of both the Indian army and the Sri Lankan armed forces, when India deployed its army to help resolve the issue. The so-called Indian Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) became the Indian People Killing Force. The LTTE won the respect of the world by its daring political will, and unrelenting military capacity to take on the Indian state and the fourth-largest army in the world.

It established a de facto state in the North-East, operating their own ministries, banks, police, courts, tax collection, etc. The LTTE even commanded its own shipping fleet. Although banned in key countries such as the USA, UK, France, Canada, Australia, India and Sri Lanka as a "ruthless terrorist organization", when it came to negotiations the world powers and the Sri Lankan state were forced to give the LTTE de facto recognition as the leading force representing the Tamil cause. It was supported by literally millions of Tamils living abroad – both Sri Lankans, many of whom had to flee, seeking refuge in other countries and who had suffered irreparable loss of their loved ones and their property, and also supported by Tamils and others from other countries. It even built up its own rudimentary air force, with which it challenged the skies and dealt some deadly blows to the state.

The liquidation of the LTTE

Now the LTTE has been militarily liquidated and its leadership decimated by the state. Efforts at reviving the organization from different diaspora centres do not seem to have any critical, scientific depth in their analysis of the reasons for this decisive military defeat. Even more seriously, they appear to appeal to the very same international community of imperialist-reactionary powers to hear their cry of genocide and to persuade this community to change their double-edged, fatally treacherous policy towards their struggle for a separate state. In other words, those who wish to revive the LTTE are still trapped in the very same bourgeois nationalist ideology and politics which led to this liquidation in the first place!

In a most serious sense, the LTTE did not have a chance. The new regime led by President Mahinda Rajapakse overhauled the whole political approach to the national question. It simply and categorically denied the Tamil national question by rejecting any claims to Tamil nationhood and statehood, and unequivocally asserted Sinhala-Buddhist supremacy as the ruling principle. The war against the LTTE was declared to be a patriotic war of national liberation. This reinvigorated and unequivocal official chauvinism injected life and soul to the predominantly Sinhala armed forces of the state, who believed that they were fighting and dying to save their motherland – equated as the exclusive home of the Sinhala-Buddhist nation – from the mortal threat of "separatist terrorism". Based on this slogan, the broad majority of the Sinhala people and others were mobilized for the war effort. The majority swing was towards putting a final end to the ideology and politics of "separatist terrorism".

The new regime could sell this war agenda because it was in alliance with the most rabid chauvinist political parties – the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) made up of Buddhist priests, and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramune (JVP), who claimed to be the "one and only, grade 01, purest of all Socialist parties" – and with the Trotskyite Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the revisionist Communist Party of Sri Lanka. The pseudo-red banner was conjoined with fascism. So the regime was blessed and the war sanctioned by both sides – extreme Sinhala Buddhist chauvinists and downright class collaborationist "Left" traitors.

The highest religious authorities of the Buddhist priesthood (Maha Sangha) invoked blessings on the armed forces of the state and sanctioned the new regime with a "messianic" legitimacy. The war against the LTTE was dressed up as a continuation of the "historic" wars of national liberation fought against the Dravidian invaders. Mahinda Rajapakse was dressed up as descending from the line of the heroic king Duttagamani, who had slain the Tamil "usurper" Elara in direct combat and unified the land and the "race" under the banner of Sinhala Buddhism! The entire ideological apparatus of the state, including the media, schools, temples, and the state administrative machinery, was unleashed with concerted fervour to whip up the war hysteria.

The naked terrorist dictatorship of the bourgeoisie

This new military doctrine was to be under-girded by a new and higher level of exercising the naked terrorist comprador/capitalist dictatorship of the ruling regime – and of the state. This policy was carried out with the doctrine of complicity. It allowed the armed forces and other paramilitary agents to act freely, knowing that they would not be held accountable by the state, the people, or by any of the two-faced international human rights institutions, commissions or councils. This was a policy of freeing up the reactionary repressive power of the state to wage an all-out, no-holds-barred war against the declared "enemies of the state" as traitors to the motherland. In essence, this was a policy of consolidating the parasitic, blood-soaked, Sinhala hegemonic, comprador capitalist dictatorship.

Tamil members of parliament were assassinated in broad daylight, some in high security zones of the state. Tamil humanitarian workers were assassinated. Tamil students were hunted and slain. Lawyers who appeared for "terrorists" were listed on the Web site of the Defence Ministry as traitors. Media institutions that did not toe the line were attacked by government ministers in broad daylight. Media personnel who differed, or refused to comply, were beaten up or killed. Those who stood for a democratic political solution to the national question were all lumped together as traitors.

The new military doctrine was formulated in terms of "no concern for collateral damage," whether it be the death and suppression of innocent civilians, the degradation of the people, the militarization of the social order, the death of human and democratic rights, the humanitarian catastrophe, or any other such "human" concern.

The international community of imperialist/neo-colonial, reactionary powers and their various international human rights agencies, commissions and councils all complied with this policy, with the adequate doses of concern for human rights and humanitarian law just to save their skin and legitimacy in the eyes of the world. Neither the degenerate politicians of Tamil Nadu, nor the billions of dollars of sympathy and support of the international Tamil diaspora, nor the sophisticated international logistical network, nor even the national-democratic aspirations of the oppressed Tamil nation which had been temporarily concentrated in the LTTE, could withstand the new military doctrine, line and strategy of imperialism as realized through the Sri Lankan State. The regime knew they had finally decisively cornered the LTTE politically, and was out to settle scores, once and for all, militarily.

Summing up experience

The new regime summed up some two decades of military experience with the LTTE and adopted a new military doctrine, line and strategy. This new synthesis was not produced by some "genius" in command of some local planning/strategizing laboratory. It was a product of a collective effort between masters of mass death and destruction: the CIA, the Israeli Mossad, India's RAW and the Sri Lankan military. These forces got together to absorb some new valuable experience in decimating "terrorism" through a genocidal war of attrition and annihilation.

This cooperation resulted in modernizing the intelligence and espionage apparatus, along with a qualitative upgrading of hi-tech weapons of mass death and destruction, combined with precision targeting, including laser-targeted bombing, along with the use of incessant aerial bombardment as a form of terrorizing populations. The new doctrine combined elements of guerrilla warfare and positional warfare, tactics of deep penetration and surgical strikes at key military targets. The enemy was to be attacked and destroyed by a three-pronged policy of encirclement and destruction, piece by piece, by land, sea and air, until it literally bled to death. Lessons had been learnt. This was to be a war of attrition and annihilation, as opposed to a war for territory. This represented a major paradigmatic shift. It involved a policy of terrorizing the masses into mute submission, silencing the media through terror, murder and intimidation, monopolizing access to information, forbidding any alternative or oppositional politics at the cost of being eliminated, through exercising the naked terrorist dictatorship of the comprador state – and the regime – without let-up or limitation.

The question is this: Why then did such a force that stood intransigently for the peoples' mandate for national liberation suffer such a pitiless, brutal military liquidation by the state? There is a supposed truism that says that any force that stands for justice and fights for the liberation of oppressed people will have history on its side. Well, it seems that history has played a dirty, and pitilessly cruel game on the Tamil national liberation struggle.

The truth is that subjective will is no substitute for science. All the heroism and martyrdom, all the sacrifice of the people, all the power of technology, will never deliver genuine liberation. Anyone who shares a dream of liberation and freedom will anguish over this question and exert the conscious effort to learn from these lessons, paid in the blood of the toiling, suffering people, so that the errors and shortcomings never have to be repeated. For this, we shall have to engage in a critical surgical dissection of the ideological, political, strategic and military line and practice of the LTTE. This is a complex task, and this article is not the definitive summation. It is meant to encourage critical, scientific thinking on the path of emancipation of humankind from the horrors and crimes of imperialism.

The line and practice of the LTTE

This article has so far discussed how the new regime took command, and that the LTTE had no chance against this combined international imperialist counter-insurgency strategy. However, the liquidation of the LTTE has to be principally analysed in terms of its internal class basis, and the ideological, political, strategic and military line it applied. External forces and conditions can only act upon an internal basis.

The fact is that the ideological, political and strategic-military line of the LTTE had a fatal vulnerability. You cannot fight and defeat a more powerful enemy on his own terms. The fact is that the state pitted all its physical-technological destructive force against the LTTE. It was far superior in manpower (some 200,000 armed forces as against at most 20,000); it acquired hi-tech weaponry and commanded superiority on land, sea and air. It had the backing of world imperialism and regional powers such as China, India, Pakistan, Malaysia and Thailand. Even though the LTTE displayed military superiority for a long time by applying principles of guerrilla warfare, which it combined with positional and even conventional warfare in a really creative way, ideologically and politically it was fighting on the terrain of the enemy. Ideologically and politically the LTTE remained trapped within the system, and paid the ultimate price. You have to wield philosophical, ideological and political superiority over the enemy, if you wish to maintain long-term strategic superiority, sustain military gains and advance towards victory. The success of a revolutionary struggle for liberation depends on its philosophical-ideological-theoretical basis.

The philosophical-ideological basis of the LTTE was an eclectic combination of a feudal-bourgeois construct. The LTTE drew its vision and inspiration from historical legends and myths glorifying the Dravida-Damila civilization and tradition of heroic warfare and martyrdom. This is one of the reasons that the national liberation struggle led by the LTTE had, and has, such a powerful resonance among Tamils the world over. The LTTE believed in a cult of the super-hero, glorified the tribal-feudal mythology of invincibility, believed in suicide killings as a form of martyrdom and spiritual liberation. Alas, this ideology had no place for the masses in waging revolutionary struggle to liberate themselves.

The ideology and politics of the LTTE had developed from a petit-bourgeois romantic perspective in its early formation in the period from 1976-1980, and transformed quickly into a bourgeois nationalist class perspective. At this stage, it combined both national bourgeois and comprador aspects. It did have some important anti-feudal, anti-caste orientation, but not about overthrowing or overhauling the prevailing feudal-colonial social order. Women were accorded respect and played a key role in the armed struggle, but this did not mean that women were liberated from the shackles of feudal oppression and patriarchy. It wanted to develop a rational, self-reliant national economy. However, in its principal aspect which defined its class essence, the LTTE transformed into a comprador bourgeois class that relied on imperialism and regional reactionary states to wage its struggle for national liberation, as opposed to mobilizing the masses to win genuine independence and democratic freedom.

The LTTE never had an anti-imperialist internationalist perspective, one which would situate its struggle in the context of the struggle of the people of the world for liberation. But, we cannot blame the LTTE alone for its bourgeois nationalist ideology. The class collaborationist betrayal by the so-called "left" movement in the South is also a major factor that led to the LTTE adopting this ideology. In a fatal sense, what originated as a demand for national self-determination of the Tamil-speaking people, to include both the oppressed Tamil nation in the North-East, and the Moslem and Hill Country Tamil nationality, was transformed exclusively into a struggle for national liberation of the oppressed Tamil nation.

While the question of the Hill Country Tamil people was dropped, the Muslim nationality came to be targeted as enemies. Some 40,000 Muslim families – around 100,000 oppressed Moslem people – were forcibly evicted from the North on command by the LTTE. No doubt, external conditions played a role in this transformation. The state was trying to manipulate Muslim elements against the LTTE. The state promoted various armed groups to split and attack the LTTE from within. The Moslem homeguards were to be in the frontline of this strategy. The correct way to deal with this policy is to win over the broad oppressed Moslem masses into a common front of struggle, in order to expose and isolate the state. The transformation into an exclusively and extremely narrow Tamil nationalist comprador-capitalist liberation movement is principally due to the evolution of the internal class character of the LTTE.

Whom to rely on?

No doubt the state is the generative factor in the politics of terror, and had unleashed barbaric terror against the masses on a far more systematic and systemic level than the LTTE. In retaliation, the LTTE also practised an extreme form of terrorism against the civilian population. This line alienated them from the broad Sinhala and Moslem masses, and sections of the Tamil masses as well. It is true that the state had succeeded in mobilizing broad Sinhala masses against the Tamil National Movement and against the LTTE, and that the so-called "Left" had betrayed the Tamil national struggle and had become agents and enforcers of the state. Yet it was not the case that the Sinhala oppressed people could not be influenced to sympathise and even support the Tamil national liberation struggle, if it also stood for the liberation of the oppressed Sinhala people. Whatever the case, a liberation force should never degenerate to the level of its enemy. It cannot apply terror against the masses as a policy. The enemy cannot ever be the reason for your own degeneration.

The political line of the LTTE relied on the heroism of the dedicated elite vanguard, along with the destructive power of technology, rather than on unleashing the creative revolutionary energy of the masses. In fact, the need and capacity of the oppressed masses to overthrow their oppressors and their conditions of oppression and achieve genuine liberation were never mobilized. The historical initiative of the exploited and oppressed masses was effectively suppressed.

Instead of mobilizing the masses, the LTTE relied on regional and imperialist powers to deliver liberation. They went into all kinds of deals with Tamil Nadu politicians and with the Norwegian negotiations "facilitators" who were acting on behalf of the U.S. They also entered into deals with the Sri Lankan ruling class, even to the extent of being bribed into making sure that the opposition candidate would be defeated in the presidential elections and thus paving the way for the victory of the current president – who later went all out to decimate them.

The LTTE believed that at the crucial moment, India would intervene to suspend the war and force the Sri Lankan government to negotiate. They believed that the Tamil Nadu politicians would be able to pressurize New Delhi to intervene on their behalf. Yet, the Tamil Nadu politicians were only seeking to exploit the image of the LTTE to collect some votes, and New Delhi continued to provide diplomatic and military support to the Sri Lankan state to wage war. Pakistan and China joined in with generous support militarily, in a bid to off-set the growing strategic influence of the U.S. and India in the Asian region. Some Western imperialist powers and Japan tried to influence the Sri Lankan state to end the genocidal war, since it was causing embarrassment to them. The U.S., European Union, Norway and Japan were the self-appointed co-sponsors of the so-called "peace process". But these efforts were cast aside by the regime as they went ahead to decimate the LTTE, at a colossal cost in death, destruction and displacement of the civilian population.

At the same time, the U.S. made sure that they had a key hold on the Sri Lankan war effort to gain strategic control over the island. In the course of the war, the U.S. (and Israel) continued to supply advanced weaponry and equipment, combat training to the armed forces, advanced intelligence skills and equipment, and diplomatic-political support for this "war on terror". During the course of the war, the U.S. exploited the opportunity to enter into an "Acquisition and Cross-Servicing Agreement" with the Sri Lankan state, whereby the U.S. gained free access to all of the island's military facilities. This is how the super-patriotic regime waged war against the LTTE to defend the motherland.

The organizational line of the LTTE flowed from its bourgeois-nationalist ideological and political line. The LTTE was organized as a highly hierarchical military command centre. This was a case of extreme bureaucratic centralism, where no internal – nor external – dissent was tolerated. The LTTE did not develop a political party where there could be internal discussion and debate in forging a correct ideological and political line. The political front was to be a mere machine to serve the army and the military objectives.

In the end, in utter desperation, when they were being encircled and suppressed through unceasing waves of assault on land, sea and air, the LTTE was reduced to forcing the civilian population of the Vanni (a region in northern Sri Lanka that was the cradle of the LTTE) to remain caught in the crossfire to provide them with a humanitarian shield. It is reported that they shot and killed those who tried to escape to save their lives. The armed forces of the state, of course, could not be bothered with civilian casualties and went ahead and deliberately bombarded this no-fire zone. The civilians literally were held hostage by both sides, and thousands were killed in the process, including elderly, women and children.

The state could get away with this type of genocidal warfare because it claimed that the LTTE was preventing the civilian population from seeking safety by crossing over. It provided cream and credence to the claim that the state was forced to resort to extreme measures to "liberate the Tamil people from the fascist clutches of the LTTE"! The bitter lesson is that in the end, for all the daring of the elite vanguard, for all the spectacular military victories scored, for all the immense sacrifices made, for all the creative imagination in waging war against a vastly superior force, the ideological political military line of the LTTE proved fatally inadequate.

Conclusion

If we do not view and analyse the world scientifically, then we cannot achieve success in transforming it. If we do not place the liberation of any particular country or nation in the context of the historical mission of emancipating humankind from the shackles of ignorance and slavery bound up with class society, then our lenses will be flawed, and history will teach us a bitter and cruel lesson. The essential lesson to be learnt from the blood that has been spilt is that only the path of proletarian revolution illuminated by the science of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, led by a vanguard Communist Party, in command of a people's liberation army and leading a united front of all anti-feudal/anti-imperialist forces aimed at smashing the state power – the dictatorship of the comprador-bureaucrat capitalist ruling class – in the context of advancing the world revolution, marching towards the dawn of a communist world with the goal of emancipating humankind from the bondage of class society, can unleash the infinite initiative, creativity and daring of the masses in waging revolutionary struggle – including revolutionary class warfare – to finally defeat and bury the system of imperialism and achieve liberation.

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