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The US and British
imperialists and their collaborators have waged one of the most unjust and
savage wars of modern times against the land of the great Iraqi people by
trampling underfoot all democratic norms and the sovereignty of that country.
This war has caused tremendous loss of human lives, considerable damage to
property and environment. In the name of liberating the people of Iraq from what
they describe as the despotic rule of Saddam Hussain, these marauders have now
physically conquered Iraq. They are now busy dividing the spoils among
themselves by taking control of the entire oil resources of Iraq, which was the
root cause behind this invasion. This war is not the manifestation of a ‘clash
of civilisations’, but the manifestation of a clash between the cradle of human
civilisation as represented by Iraq on the one hand, and savagery as represented
by US imperialists and their henchmen, on the other. Not long ago, these savages
had launched another predatory war against the people of Afganistan, took
control of the oil pipeline routes and installed a puppet government in that
country. And the recent war on Iraq is not the last in the list of such
imperialist adventures. President Bush has declared that many other countries
like Syria and North Korea will meet the same fate in the course of its march
towards the conquest of the globe. History, however, has shown more often than
once that it is the people who are the real masters of their own destiny and
that these imperialist warmongers are lifting a rock only to drop it on their
own feet.
In recent days, the
war on Iraq has evoked a strong reaction among millions of people in most of the
countries of the world as manifested in numerous, mammoth almost daily
demonstrations by people who value independence and national sovereignty above
everything else. In large parts of India (see report), anti-US/UK opinion
is gaining ground. This anti-imperialist reaction has manifested itself in the
forms of protest-processions, protest-demonstrations, distribution of leaflets,
holding of anti-war conventions and attacks on Cocacola plants and Nike shops.
Side by side, demands have been raised from the people to boycott American and
British goods. The newly-formed ‘Matir Kella’ (Fortress of Mud) in the
Metiaburuz area of Kolkata, ‘Jamiate Ulemar’, ‘Iraq Juddha-birodhi Committee’
(Committee Against the War on Iraq) and many other mass organisations have given
the call for the boycott of American and British goods and have prepared a list
of those goods which obviously includes Coke and Pepsi — the most visible
symbols of imperialist presence. In this context, the leadership of the ruling
CPI(M) party in West Bengal have made an interesting remark.
Biman Bose, a senior
CPM leader, has said that the call for the boycott of British goods, which was
given by M.K. Gandhi during the period of colonial rule was relevant at that
time, but does not have any relevance today. Those days were so different from
the days in which we live now. So any call for boycott now would go against the
objective reality. He proceeded to remind the people of West Bengal that at a
time when foreign investors are coming during the rule of Left-front government
to invest capital in West Bengal, such a call for the boycott of US-British
goods would send wrong signals to them. It clearly implies that in that case the
American and British investors will no longer make capital investments in West
Bengal. Such statements clearly show firstly that the CPM-leadership have a very
poor knowledge of history, and secondly, that their economic tie-ups with the US
and British imperialisms are so stro-ng that they are incapable of even
pretending to launch some form of protest.
Firstly, Gandhi was
not the first to give the call for boycott of British goods. Gopalrao Deshmukh
of Pune was the first to advocate in 1849 the consumption of indigenous goods
instead of foreign goods. The first person to argue forcefully in favour of the
boycott of everything foreign was Bholanath Chandra of Bengal, who in the
Mookerjee’s Magazine — a well-known nationalist magazine — wrote an article
entitled ‘A voice for the commerce and manufactures of India’ during the
1870s. The anti-Partition movement of 1905 that followed was one of the most
creative periods in the history of modern India. This political movement gave a
definite impetus to the economic movement for national regeneration. ‘Boycott of
foreign goods’ was one of the main slogans of the time which spread like a
prairie fire to all parts of Bengal and beyond. Unlike what Biman Bose would
have us believe, Gandhi was by no means connected with this boycott movement. He
had been in South Africa at that time. A mistaken notion prevails among people
about the call for the boycott of British goods given by Gandhi during the
non-cooperation movement of the early 1920s. There is a common belief that
Gandhi’s call for boycott was applicable to all foreign goods. The reality,
however, was different. Gandhi’s boycott was meant only for British
cloth, and not for all foreign goods. It was not definitely for the boycott of
the British machinery. And this call was given not out of any patriotic
motivation, but in the interest of the Marwari compradors and other brokers of
foreign cloth. And the reason was a trade dispute over the rate of exchange
between the pound sterling and the rupee. At that time, there was a change in
the rate of exchange to the disadvantage of the rupee. From 2 shillings 10.5
pence in February 1920, it decreased to 1 shilling 3 pence in March 1921. The
Marwari businessmen-marketeers of Bombay stood in favour of 2 shillings against
1 rupee. Lancashire refused; hence, the participation of the Marwaris like Birla,
Khaitan and other businessmen in the non-cooperation movement. Later on, the
events of Chauri Chaura provided the god-sent pretext to Gandhi to withdraw the
movement unconditionally. Thus Gandhi was neither the author of the boycott
movement during the swadeshi era, nor did his call for boycott have a universal
application. On the contrary, a large number of swadeshi leaders and workers of
various hues made repeated appeals during that period to the people along this
line.
Secondly, Biman Bose
asserts that there is no relevance for the call of boycott of foreign goods. He
has, however, failed to explain why. The reality, however, is that the need for
giving this call is more strongly felt today than any other period in
post-colonial India. In fact, imperialist penetration, particularly US
imperialist control over the Indian economy, politics, culture etc is so vivid
that it is the urgent duty of all patriotic people to resist it by all
conceivable means. It is pertinent to point out that although imperialist
penetration, particularly American penetration in India was welcomed by the
Indian ruling classes and their political representatives of all hues such as
the Congress, Janata Party, BJP, CPI(M), CPI and other parties in different
provinces in some way or other, the broad call for the boycott of US and British
goods was not given in any previous period in India after 1947. It is true that
in 1984, after the terrible human calamity in Bhopal in which the US-owned Union
Carbide Company was directly involved (it belched poisonous gas from its factory
leading to the death of a large number of people), some people stopped buying
various products of Union Carbide such as the Eveready Battery. However, that
call did not assume such a broad character at that time. Even during the war
against Afganistan, such a demand was not raised. That is why, the call for the
boycott of the products of transnational corporations is all the more relevant.
Of course, it is not very difficult to understand why this call is irrelevant to
Biman Bose and company. The CPM leadership have now-a-days become quite
shameless and so they do not hesitate to declare that that would send a wrong
signal to the foreign investors. This is the crux of the thing. Today under
Buddhadav Bhattacharya’s regime, both foreign and Indian comprador investors are
coming forward to invest capital in West Bengal. US agencies such as Cargill and
Pepsi, Japanese firms such as Mitsubishi, the Tatas as also non-resident Indian
millionaires are showing their interest in this CPI (M)-ruled state. The
American Company Mckinsey is now their main advisor. In order to woo imperialist
capital, labour laws are being changed, retrenchment of workers and the closure
of factories are now the order of the day. Buddhadev is warning the workers
against overstepping their limits and even showing the audacity to tell them to
keep their struggle within the limits fixed by the government or face dire
consequences. Education is being privatised and fees have been hiked to
unbelievable proportions, thereby lifting education to a level beyond the
financial reach of ordinary people. Unemployment by contract is going to become
the order of the day. Medical facilities for people are becoming practically
non-existent and the whole medical system is being grabbed by those who have the
necessary money to pay. Electricity charges are being hiked at regular
intervals, and a time is sure to come when common people will have to go without
electricity because of their inability to pay. Interests on bank and post-office
deposits of various type on which millions of pensioners depend for their
maintenance are being reduced at regular intervals by the central government. At
no other time in the history of our country has human life become so uncertain,
so insecure and so miserable as the time we have been passing through now. The
CPM leadership has of late been busy organising processions against the Iraq
war. How do they hope to reconcile this so-called anti-imperialist procession
with their refusal to issue a genuine call for boycott and the policy of wooing
of foreign capital? Mr.Bose and company’s deception will not pay!
It is propagated
through both government and private circles that investment of foreign capital
and technology is absolutely necessary to bring about the advancement of the
country. Only then would production increase, employment opportunities would be
generated and all-round economic development would follow. The reality, however,
is just the opposite. First, the type of technology that is suitable for
progress in a particular country depends on the objective condition of that
country. Thus a technology which is regarded as ‘advanced’ in a particular
country may not necessarily be progressive in another country. It can or cannot
be. In a country, which has a fairly large population, whose economy is based on
agriculture, the development programme that is suitable is labour-intensive, not
capital-intensive. In a country like India, the most suitable technology is that
technology, which will increase employment opportunities and not decrease it.
But the importation of foreign technology far from increasing employment
opportunity has only decreased such opportunity, as the history of several
decades after 1947 has amply proved. Secondly, foreign capital and technology do
not make the recipient country self-reliant; on the contrary, it makes it more
and more dependent on the foreigners. Since this is a contract between two
unequal partners, the terms are dictated by the imperialist agencies. In fact,
the more one stands on the crutches of imperialist capital, the more backward
one moves. In reality, there is no substitute for a do-it-yourself programme in
technology. Thirdly, each contract with foreign capital brings with it
humiliating terms and conditions which enslave the country and the people. Each
loan brings with it a huge amount of interest; to repay that loan, more loans
are taken from foreign agencies, which in turn beget more interest until a time
comes when there is no scope to get out of it. That is precisely the reason why
the importation of foreign capital and technology can lead only to the
impoverishment and enslavement of the recipient country. This truth is not
unknown to the CPM leadership.
Some days ago, some
of the well-known intellectuals of Kolkata decided at a convention that the
boycott of American and British goods would continue till the end of the war.
This can be a primary step, a step to start with. But one should not remain
content with taking this step only. If we believe that imperialism itself means
war, conquest of other countries, enslavement of other peoples, colonisation and
the installation of puppet regimes throughout the world, then this struggle
should spread to all parts of the country. And this struggle should not be
confined to the call for boycott of foreign goods only; there should at the same
time be the call to oust all transnational corporations/big compradors and the
confiscation of their capital. After all, the policies of globalisation,
structural adjustments, economic reforms, etc. achieves gradually for the
imperialists, what the Iraq war achieved overnight. The academicians and
intellectuals should boycott all invitations from the US and British governments
and their agencies such as the USEFI, the American Center, the British Council
etc. The youth and students should realise that they will be able to serve the
interests of the country more meaningfully by taking part in the political
struggles of the people than by going over to the USA and other imperialist
countries for study and jobs. They should consciously stop this brain drain and
thereby strengthen the anti-imperialist struggles of the people of our land. We
should resolutely fight against the formation of these new East India companies
as the people of our country had done so valiantly in the past, during British
colonial rule. This struggle is to be directed against both imperialism and
their domestic collaborators of all hues. In fact, we should give the call and
strive to become self-reliant, because progress of our country, in the true
sense of the term, depends on our ability to stand on our own feet and not by
slavishly begging for foreign capital, like the CPM and others.
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