Later on the Ghadar party members joined the Communist movement. It is of great significance that all the Ghadarites who started with the objective of armed revolt in 1913 turned towards scientific socialism within no time. By 1922 they found themselves in the Communist Party spreading the message of socialism. They bravely confronted the repression let loose by the authorities. Their steadfast dedication and devotion to the cause influenced various parties working in Punjab to the ideas of socialism. Their heroic deeds earned them the respect and love of the people of Punjab and like Saheed Bhagat Singh, the Ghadarites have become a household name.

Though the Desh Bhagat Yadgar Committee observes the foundation day every year, this year's observance was marked by the presence of many political leaders and activists besides thousands of ordinary people. The main organiser of function was Baba Bhagat Singh Bilga, one of the Ghadar heroes who in the early thirties had gone to the Soviet Union and after studying at the University of the Toilers of the East, returned to India.

Lasting over five hours, the meeting was addressed by Com. Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Gen. Secretary, CPI(M), Com. A.B. Bardhan, Gen. Secretary, CPI, Raj Babbar from the Samajwadi party, Laylpuri and many others.

I AM glad that the Desh Bhagat Yadgar Committee is celebrating the 88^th foundation day of the Ghadar Party today at the very place where a memorial has been built in honour of the Ghadar Party. I have been asked to discuss the values which the Ghadar Party stood for and weigh these against the present situation so that we can define the steps that need to be taken to achieve unfulfilled objectives.

Early Stages of the Freedom Movement

This subject is very important and needs to be dealt with in an historical context. The struggle for freedom commenced from the very moment the country was enslaved by the British. In the case of Punjab, the beginning was made with the non-cooperation movement led the Namdhari Guru, Ram Singh. Though the British authorities tried to meet with ruthless terror they failed in suppressing the sentiments generated by the movement.

The British established land colonies in order to meet the requirements of raw materials for their mills. But when the people started raising their voice to get their grievances redressed, the government placed restrictions on them. A Colonisation Bill was brought for the purpose. The people refused to accept it. In a big mass meeting at Lyallpur under the leadership of Sardar Ajit Singh and Lala Lajpat Rai, people raised their powerful voice to demand removal of restrictions imposed on them by the Bill. The song "Pagri Sambhal Jatta" enthused the peasantry.

At the same time, at the beginning of the 20^th century, driven by poverty and hunger many people in order to support their families left their homes to seek livelihood in foreign lands. In five to seven years their numbers reached thousands. They were doubly oppressed by racial discrimination as well the hardship to earn a livelihood.

Ghadar Party Formed

The British government meanwhile had externed many of the Indian leaders. Lala Har Dayal was outstanding among them. He went to America and started organisaing the Indian emigrants around the objective of liberating he country. This was to lead to the establishment of the Ghadar Party in 1913 by Indians living in America. Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna was appointed its first president and Lala Har Dayal its secretary. An office named Youngantar Ashram was established at San Francisco and a paper named Ghadar Goonj was started. It set before itself the objective of liberating the country through an armed revolt, which at that time was the dominant thinking among liberation movements in many countries.

In the emerging freedom movement, the main political party of the time was not ready to pick up this slogan. It was only the Ghadar Party whose youth gave up their home and hearths and came back to the country to give a call for freedom. Many faced the gallows, hundreds were sent to the Andamans to serve life terms in the death cells and thousands were interned in their villages. All this was done to silence them.

Even though the movement failed to obtain its objective at that time, it did leave a very powerful impact because it had oriented its thinking and ideology on a scientific basis. The tragedy of Jallianwala Bagh was an expression of the same. Following this the urge of freedom spread throughout the country.

Impact of the October Revolution

The October Revolution had succeeded under the leadership of Lenin. Lenin's slogan that the national liberation movement, workers struggles and socialism are the links in one single chain, influenced the whole world. The leaders of the Ghadar Party did not take much time in learning from this experience and adopted a socialist viewpoint. The ideology of scientific socialism had reached our country as a result of the October Revolution. The Communists returning from Moscow were tried in the Peshawar Conspiracy Case and given severe terms of imprisonment. Though the Communist Party had been formed, it was refused permission to work openly and was forced to work underground.

In Punjab, the Ghadar Party made a substantial contribution in spreading the ideas of scientific socialism. The leaders of this party were greatly influenced by the path blazed by the October Revolution. The commencement of the publication in May 1926, of the journal Kirti from Punjab helped in spreading these ideas.

By this time the peasantry of Punjab had entered the arena of struggle in the form of the Akali movement. Such ideas did attract this movement to an extent. This was in contrast to the situation in many other parts of the country where armed revolts did not leave much social impact. The roots of the Ghadar movement were in the progress and social transformation of the country. The Ghadar Party leaders changed their tactics according to the changing conditions and in the end adopted a scientific viewpoint.

Now the question is why all these sacrifices have not been able to achieve their objective? The Communist movement in our country started under the impact of the October Revolution. The slogan of complete independence was raised by it before others could pick it up. It made great sacrifices. It also built organisations of workers, peasants, youth and students and others. It fought many struggles. But it could not emerge as the leader of the national movement. The movement was led by a bourgeois party, the Congress.

The end of the Second World War saw an upsurge in the urge for freedom in various countries under colonial rule. Lest the prolonging of the crisis result in leadership being passed into the hands of the Marxists, compromises were struck and power passed on to the bourgeois parties so that their own interests could be protected.

The country became independent. The people saw in it a bright future. The Congress Party advanced slogans that would keep the people's restlessness under check. The hopes and aspirations of the people got linked with the Congress party. The Directive Principles enshrined in the Constitution were not included with a view to act upon, but as objectives embodying the aspirations of the ordinary people. The Directive Principles therefore remained unfulfilled. However, some Congressmen, and in particular Jawaharlal Nehru contributed in propagating the slogan of socialism. Having completed 50 years of independence, it is time to assess the results thereof.

In our country the aspirations of the majority comprising working class, the agricultural workers, peasantry and other working people can only be fulfilled by a programme based on a scientific ideology and outlook. But even today the capitalist ideology has greater influence on the deprived and exploited classes.

Conflict with Imperialism Begins

In the immediate post-independence period, the Indian government was under the influence and pressure of imperialists. But following the defeat of USA in the Korean war, our then rulers picked up some courage and in order to attain capitalist development they started coming in conflict with imperialism. The existence of socialism encouraged them a great deal. It was a period when major industries were being set up. In the domain of foreign policy it played a progressive role by leading the non-aligned countries.

The core of social transformation in India has to be agrarian revolution. The anti-imperialist struggle to successfully fulfill the aspirations of the people required a simultaneous anti-feudal struggle.

The peasantry succeeded only in those places where it took to the path of struggle. The bourgeois government in order to dupe the people gave many slogans but their actual steps towards agrarian reforms only uprooted the tenants. In Punjab in some hill areas but more so in the former PEPSU areas this struggle was more powerful and many sacrifices were also made. But the greater emphasis was on wiping out feudalism rather then on redistribution of land. That is why even in these areas, this movement remained confined.

Who has Benefitted

If we evaluate the last 50-52 years then it becomes evident that our country has made progress in many spheres and it occupies a leading position among the backward countries. But at the same time an uneven distribution of wealth also becomes evident. The rich have become richer and the poor have become poorer so much so that there are a large number of villages where neither drinking water nor the primary health services are available to the people. One thing increasingly joining the lower strata. The agricultural production has undergone many changes but thee are not in favour of the poorer sections. Take the case of Punjab. Here the irrigated land is more than other provinces. Capitalism has also developed a great deal in agriculture. But at the same time the number of poor is increasing at a fast rate.

When we look back on the progress made by our country we can not help recalling that the existence of the Soviet Union was of great help. The assistance rendered by it in the industrialisation of the country can not be forgotten. But our ruling classes did not utilise the strength derived from this assistance for equitable distribution of benefits.

New World Situation

But the break-up of the Soviet Union resulted in big changes in the world. American imperialism has become conceited and is impatient to dominate the entire world.

It is in these times that along with the advances made in science & technology the policy of liberalisation and globalisation are the tools employed by world capitalism to dominate the world. The multinationals became anxious to utilise the resources of the backward countries so that monopolies could dominate the world economy. In the last one decade successive governments at the centre belonging to various parties have got entrapped in this and pursued these policies with vigour. The capitalists of the backward countries were offered many allurements in this policy. But the real objective was to enable the multinationals to control the economic resources of the world. But they imposed a major condition that privatisation would form the basis of industrial development. Under this policy the public sector which had strengthened the foundations of our economic development is being dismantled.

More Vigorous BJP

The BJP-led government is pursuing these policies more vigorously. They have put everything on sale to appease the multinationals. This is leading to unemployment for workers & break-up of the resources of industrialisation, closing all avenues of economic development by privatisation of banks and insurance companies. This government is primarily interested in helping the foreign monopolies and enabling the Indian capitalists to share some profits. They seek to close down public sector enterprises by offering some compensation to workers and adding them to the ranks of the unemployed.

Grim Economic Scenario

The dismal economic scenario is evident from the Economic Survey of this year. The Budget proposals are going to break the back of the peasantry. Along with an increase in the prices of essential commodities, the prices of foodgrains distributed through the PDS have been increased substantially. Over and above, there has been a hefty increase in the prices of kerosene and cooking gas.

The new export-import policy permits unrestricted import of 714 commodities including wheat flour. Our own producers shall be hit a great deal because these commodities imported from America and the European countries will be priced cheaper given the fact that these governments give heavy subsidies to agriculture. Our peasants will not be in a position to compete with them. Our economy shall be hit a great deal. People shall stop producing foodgrains and our dependence on foreign countries will increase. We shall again have to see the days of PL-480 (US scheme under which wheat was imported).

If we look into the developments of recent decades then the picture of economic development that emerges is very grim. While all old industrial units shall be closed, multinational companies will establish new enterprises employing new technology and participation of the Indian capitalists. At the same time it has to be noted that there has been little transfer of new and advanced technology which the advocates of liberalisation had pledged the new economic policies will bring in. There is also an alarming increase in the number of unemployed. This realisation is dawning in on some of the allies of the BJP-led government.

But the government is fully committed to pursuing such a course. Only time will tell what impact it will have on political developments. If the allies of the BJP wish to maintain their hold over the masses following them, they will be forced to demarcate. The budget presented to Parliament has brought out these contradictions. Many of the allies of the BJP are opposing the increase in prices of urea and of the PDS foodgrains .

How to face this situation? Great changes have taken place in politics in recent years. The congress has lost monopoly of power. But barring a few states the left and democratic forces could not occupy the space thus vacated. The reactionary forces acting in the name of the BJP, RSS, Bajrang Dal have succeeded in capturing this space. They came into the forefront in seizing power at the centre though they could do it only with the help of 24-25 different parties, which ideologically differed with them.

The Communal Danger

Our country represents unity in diversity. The architects of our constitution had enshrined secularism as a basic tenet to maintain the unity of the country. Secularism means the separation of religion and politics. If we deviate from this principle, as the BJP is trying to do, then we cannot keep the country united. The second feature of this diversity is that the people living in our country speak different languages , have diverse cultures. They are proud of their culture and language. Their diversity can be maintained, if their existence is not endangered. For this it is very important that our federal structure is strengthened and more rights are given to the states to enable them to ensure the realisation of their aspirations.

Due to several reasons the Left and democratic forces could not capture the space vacated by the Congress. There is scope for them to capture this space though we don't have the strength to achieve the cherished goal of societal change. In fact until we change the society, the well-being of the country and the eradication of poverty and inequality is impossible. There is no dearth of resources in our country. If we could move ahead in the realms of politics, the emergence of a new society could become that much easier. But the balance of forces is such that this is not possible at this time. Then what is the solution? 

Immediate Tasks

A big struggle has to be waged to see that the reactionary forces are not able to spread their influence. We should also strive to stem the influence of bourgeois and feudal parties among the people. The Congress and BJP are at the moment trying to present themselves as alternatives to each other. But both of them represent the same classes. There is one difference however. The BJP is a communal party, which strikes at the very root of the unity of the people of the country. Though the Congress cannot be categorised as a communal party, it often does compromise with communal forces.

The Third Alternative

By presenting a third alternative, we can today also strengthen our class alignment. In such an alternative the regional forces shall also come alongwith the Left, democratic and secular forces. During the formation of this third alternative we shall be raising the political level by organising struggles of workers, peasants and other toiling masses so that differentiation also takes place simultaneously. The third alternative would aspire for two aims. First, to prevent the communal forces from capturing the space vacated by the Congress and second to strengthen the democratic spirit and unity of the country in the regional parties.

The Left and democratic forces have carved a place for themselves and they are influencing the course of politics today. So, for the realisation of our target and to fight imperialism and domestic capitalist and feudal parties, we have to enlarge the sphere of our front. It is thus natural that the imperialists and big capitalists in order to advance their policies of liberalisation are targeting the Left forces, who are their staunchest opponents.

The methods deployed by the BJP have proved that they are using their government to achieve their target of forcing the ideology of Hindu Rashtra. The immediate need therefore is to extricate the country from the mire of the communalism.

What should we do to achieve this aim? Many parties in the country whether regional or formed in order to preserve the separate identity of provinces on linguistic basis are cooperating with the BJP because of its opposition to the Congress. They are opposed to the principles advocated by the BJP. Similarly there are many other parties in the country whose class character is not that of the Left parties. But given the primacy of dislodging the communal forces from power, they are willing to cooperate with the Left.

Broaden the Front

To meet this present challenge, it is necessary that our front should be broadened. Apart from the Left and democratic forces those standing for secularism should also find their due place. This is what we call the third alternative today. If we consider the demands of the people, then during the government of the United Front this concept was widely discussed. Now when communalism is on the offensive this is becoming the central issue in politics.

In the third front where unity shall be built, the struggle shall also continue. Its victory and its strength shall depend on this struggle. But for the struggle for social change this phase is necessary in the present situation because in the present balance of forces we cannot skip to the next phase.

Out ultimate aim is the societal change, which we call socialism after achieving the stage of People's democracy. The phase of People's democracy ensures the access to the stage of socialism. That is ensured because the balance of power changes in the People's Democratic front. This is characterised by the leadership of workers and peasants, wherein the unity of working class with the peasantry has been established. The only difference is that the agrarian revolution is completed which paves the way for achieving socialism.