Kasama is publishing a five part series on communist political work in the miners’ strike wave of the 1970s. We will be posting one piece a day over the next few days.
Ambush at Keystone:
Inside the Coalminers’ Great Gas Protest of 1974
Part 3: Injunctions & State Police
By Mike Ely
Over the first days of that week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, the strike spread quickly. The newspapers soon reported that over 20,000 miners were out. The work stoppage pushed out of McDowell County into the surrounding areas, until much of southern West Virginia, the heart of the unionized coalfields, was affected.
Each night we gathered at the Welch bypass, to hear any rumors of mines or groups of scabs planning to return to work. And each night, we would send out squads of pickets to shut down the locals who would not stay out on their own.
The strike was, pretty obviously, a direct challenge to the Governor and state government. The walkouts were in direct violation of the national coal contract. The state’s economy was at a standstill.
Kasama is publishing a five part series on communist political work in the miners’ strike wave of the 1970s. We will be posting one piece a day over the next few days.
Ambush at Keystone:
Inside the Coalminers’ Great Gas Protest of 1974
Part 2: The First Picket
By Mike Ely
On the bypass that night, I didn’t at first notice anyone I knew. It was a bit awkward coming alone, and standing at the side looking around.
Then, to my relief, I saw Larry, a white guy I knew from Keystone. He was standing with the boys he grew up with farther east, near the town of Bluefield in Mercer County. I went out with his crew of friends that first night.
The Mercer boys and I rode in a small convoy down off the Welch bypass, east along the Tug Fork, past my house, and on to where the Eureka Holler opens up toward the south.
Our little line of cars moved in the darkness, up Eureka Holler, past the round black openings of now-abandoned coke ovens cut into the wall of the mountain. And there, where the flat bottom land starts to climb and the valley narrows, a small dirt road went up, off to the right, through the steep wooded slope. It was the road that led to the Eckman mine.
We simply unloaded on the main road, right where that dirt road turned off, From a nearby ditch, we gathered handfuls of mud, carefully smeared our license plates, and then just waited for the first shift of the week to turn up.
I had to hitchhike down to the big mass meeting. Like so many other people, I simply had run out of gas. And so I walked down the hill from our house to the main road and stuck out my thumb.
Jack P. picked me up in his beat-up green pickup. Jack was one of the safety committeeman at the Keystone #1 mine where I worked. He was a self-absorbed and extremely talkative man and in his eyes I was just a kid — so he chattered on, as we drove down the Tug Fork valley toward Welch. Pretending to listen made it easier for me to hide my excitement. It was early spring, and the steep hills were already filling the air with the smell of new sprouts and pollen.
There were also rumors of a strike hanging heavy in the air. And this was what we had come to southern West Virginia for — to connect with the wildcat strikes the coalminers, to become one with the people. I had by then been in the mines a little over a year. After passing through my “red hat” probationary months at the Itmann mine complex, our organization, the Revolutionary Union, had sent Gina, me and our son further south, into McDowell County along West Virginia’s southern border.
A few notes on Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
“This tailbone-torturing 2.5 hour holding-action promises much, and delivers little.”
By Jay Rothermel
Public School stories by UK authors have a long tradition. The most traditional was Tom Brown’s School Days by Thomas Hughes (1857). In the Twentieth Century we had Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1933) by James Hilton and To Serve them All My Days (1972) by R.F. Delderfield. Old School Tie values were, after World War One, ripe for satire. Evelyn Waugh wrote Decline and Fall in 1928. Public School boys were later sent-up by Monty Python, too.
The Harry Potter movies take their public school, Hogwarts, very seriously and without irony, thank you. The producers employ the finest actors and technical workers available. After all, these movies are a source of revenue on the order of the Comstock Lode. Some hit, and some misfire. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004) and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005) had their strengths and weaknesses, but no one leaving the theater could deny they had seen a movie. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007) offered some piquant political commentary on the New Labour of Blair, Brown, and ASBOs [anti social behavior orders].
One Day as a Lion, brings together former RATM front-man Zack de la Rocha and John Theodore of The Mars Volta. Check out their song Wild Internationale. (Thanks to Rowland at By Any Means Necessary.)
Most of us know the work of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. I have his remarkable encyclopedia Africana an arm’s length from where i sit. So it is revealing and painful to hear of the police rousting Gates — assuming apparently that he was a burglar in his own home.
Welcome to AmeriKKKa — and welcome to the lie of “post-racial America.”
Harvard professor Gates arrested at Cambridge home
Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., one of the nation’s pre-eminent African-American scholars, was arrested Thursday afternoon at his home by Cambridge police investigating a possible break-in. The incident raised concerns among some Harvard faculty that Gates was a victim of racial profiling.
Police arrived at Gates’ Ware Street home near Harvard Square at 12:44 p.m. to question him. Gates, director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard, had locked himself out of his house and was trying to get inside.
by Chris Day
Chris Day’s essay “The Historical Failure of Anarchism” was written for a conference on anarchist strategy in 1996 — and quickly sparked a far ranging ideological struggle the Love and Rage Revolutionary Anarchist Federation. It was seen as a call for a break with inherited anarchism — and for a fresh look at the revolutionary process and previous historical experience. The resulting debates led to the breakup of Love and Rage in 1998 — and a number of its supporters did, in fact, move out of the framework of inherited anarchism.
But the importance of this pamphlet is not just its critique of anarchism‘s weaknesses and complacencies. The essay starts with a challenge to those who refuse to acknowledge or learn from their own failures… and who simply ascribe their own setbacks to the evil of others. And that speaks to many of us.
Renegade Eye drew our attention to “The Carnival of Socialism.” That project’s self-description reads:
“The Carnival of Socialism attempts to bring a fortnightly round up of everything that’s going on in the global socialist blogosphere.”
The roundup is hosted on a new blog each two weeks. Here is #40, hosted within Renegade Eye‘s own mix of tango, sensuality and socialist politics from the Trotskyist side.
* * * * * * *
Carnival #40
Hopefully this carnival, will introduce a few new blogs for your consideration, at other carnivals as well.
Kasama caught my interest with a post entitled Mao Zedong: Should Reactionaries Have Free Speech?.
American Left History should be a regular stop on your blog reading. This blog centers on American history and culture, from a socialist view. Markin’s love of history and art shine through.
The Third Estate managed to interview political icon in the UK Tony Benn.
Broad criticism of wrong policies and ideas were organized during the GPCR (Chinese Cultural Revolution)
by Mike Ely
Joseph Ball writes as part of our ongoing discussion of socialist democracy:
“Has it occurred to anyone that it might be right to put capitalist-roader leaders in dunce’s caps? When these people took over they imposed slavery and oppression on the working class and peasantry. Why on Earth should we be so concerned with the rights of oppressors and exploiters? Those who impose a life of humiliation on others surely deserve a few hours of humiliation themselves.
When I was a high school student (in 1967-68), it was precisely the dunce caps on academic big-shots and authority figures that made me love (and investigate) the Maoist red guards. “Finally!” I thought. I loved the idea that petty oppressors and tormentors would be dragged into public, dis-empowered, and made to answer for their crimes.
Mao wrote early in the Chinese revolution: Without going to extremes, wrongs can’t be righted. And I have always believed there is real truth to that. And I think such things do happen in the course of any real revolution. (But that doesn’t mean that the extremes are justified or overall positive or without consequences.)there is a question of whether specific forms of treatment correspond to our goals and values. Sure reactionaries deserve to be removed from power. Their hold on people deserves to be de-legitimized. Their crimes deserve to be exposed. They deserve to be given new work where they can’t oppress any longer.
This is an interview with Bimal, a leader and Politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). It was conducted with correspondents The Times of India, April 27, 2009 and then published by People’s Truth.
WE WANT A SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT PATH AND INCLUSIVE GROWTH TRAJECTORY THAT WON’T DIVEST THE POOR FROM THE FRUITS OF THEIR LABOR
You are one of the most wanted persons of the country. Even Left Front Chairman Biman Bose announced months ago that you have entered Bangal from Jharkhand. What made you come here?
(Smiles) I am not new to this terrain.
I first came to Bengal from Dandakaranya in 1995.. I have been to the villages in Lalgarh in West Midnapore in 1998. The Bengal-Jharkhand-Orissa (BJO) border zone, as well as North Bengal, has been our priority. North Bengal — which would give us access to the North-East, Bangladesh and Bhutan. But we chose the BJO because that is part of a contiguous forest cover spread over Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Bengal and Bihar.
I joined politics in my student days in Karimnagar College, North Telengans, from where I did my graduation in mathematics. Kondapelli Sitaramaiah was our political guru. We took military training from the LTTE in 1981.
Today our party has an uninterrupted presence in this 800-km corridor up to Bangriposi in Orissa, except of short patch of 30 km.
West Bengal has been a traditional Left bastion for decades. What made you concentrate on this state?
Bankura, Purulia and West Midnapore are three of the most backward districts of the state.
Our organizers have been working in these areas since long. We have some organizers in Mayurbhanj and East Singhbhum as well. What I find unique in Bengal is the hegemony of political parties.
True, there are no big landlords here as in Andhra Pradesh. But here political leaders have turned oppressors. Earlier, it was the Congress, and now it is the Communist Party (Marxist) (CPM). Power-hungry CPM leaders – some of them even coming from Dalit or poverty-stricken families – are now disowning their roots. They have become lackeys of the state machinery and are controlling everything from business to social institutions. They are social fascists.
[Note: the CPM is a government party in West Bengal, and despite its communist name has been active in violently repressing both the people and revolutionary activity there. "Social-fascist" means that they are socialist in name, but fascist in reality. The CPM is one of the main oppressive forces here, and therefore a major target of the revolutionary efforts.]
Asim Mondal, who was killed in Bhulabheda, was a CPM leader-cum-timber trader. He used to decide prices of kendu leaf and was also raising a force against us. It’s the same with others. The villages and villagers’ lives are under their control. Read the rest of this entry »
Let’s create “A Revolutionaries’ Pocket Guide to Blockbuster” — step by step.
First, we’ll start with this list of “communist films.” The question naturally comes up “What defines a communist film?” But without yet settling that question… we do have the beginnings of a list.
Second, we also need to add films that are just loved by revolutionaries — and are worth checking out for various reasons….
Third, we will need a simple two-or-three sentence review of each film — what’s it about, why is it worth seeing, what else is worth knowing about the film or its filmmakers.
Question: How should we eventually organize such a pocket guide? Chronologically? By “topic”? Alphabetically?
The Advance the Struggle organization in Oakland has just published a sharp assessment of how left and radical forces responded to the police murder of Oscar Grant.
As always posting here does not imply agreement with analysis. But certainly this is an important statement on an important experience. It has implications far beyond Oakland and touches on dilemmas that shape the building of a new revolutionary movement.
This statement deserves wide distribution and discussion. (Thanks to Jose for sharing this.)
Excerpt from the conclusion:
“The Bay Area left has proven that they are incapable of leading successful struggles. Where have we seen a successful struggle in the last 5 years in the Bay Area? Huey visited all the different left groups and found all of them narrow, weak, overly theoretical, and knew that something new, fresh, and militant, needed to be created.
“Three decades after his party’s demise, we again face the question of what is to be done and again the answer is to develop an organization comprised of militants from the oppressed that trains them intellectually as leaders of a mass movement to overthrow capitalism. Only through consistent day-to-day work can such an organization connect itself with the working class. …
“Let us not forget the lost opportunity Oakland had for the hot month of January 2009. Thanks to the militant direct response by the working class youth of Oakland, Oscar Grant will always be honored as an unwitting martyr in our struggle for freedom. We know that his life was laid down in fertile soil, but we know that there are too few seeds being planted in that soil and too little water to nourish what seeds already exist. In the years ahead of us we can sense a re-birth of radicalism coming out of an intensifying crisis. It is time to shed old dogmas, careerist approaches to organizing, and collaboration with the government. Its time to turn back to the people, to the working class, and to be what Obama is clearly not – true socialists, true radicals, truly anti-racist, militant community organizers. What better place is there for taking up such a task than the city that gave birth to the Panthers and had the last general strike in US history? We will see new opportunities arise and we should be organizationally prepared to link our revolutionary visions with the people’s spontaneous energy.”
This statement is available in printable pamphlet (pdf) form, and is posted in full here >
We have been discussing the experience of socialism in the twentieth century, and focusing on matters of free speech and internal repression and their impact on the socialist road. Yesterday, we posted some revealing essays by Mao (here and here) — opposing arrest for reactionary views and execution for political opposition.
In response Jonathan Rochkind writes:
This conversation certainly makes Mao sound like a wise old man, practically libertarian in his outlook. I have to say I’m somewhat suspicious whether the actual practice in China under Mao matched the implication of this conversation though — whether or not it’s what Mao intended.
What do you guys who know more think? Was China under Mao (at one period or another?) actually the libertarian tolerant place that the Mao in this conversation described/recommended?
I think the short answer is a qualified no.
Socialist China was far more complex and contradictory than some simple extension of Mao’s views. And the 1970 interview we posted is itself evidence of how controversial Mao’s views actually were and remained — even at a time when he seemed to be at the height of power (and at a time where his pictures and quotes were everywhere in society).
The following is a transcript of one of Mao’s conversations with his niece Wang Hai-Jung (December 21, 1970.) It deals with HOW revolutionaries should expose and isolate reactionaries — and how they should deal with criticism from hostile forces. It touches directly on the question of whether to criminalize reactionary speech.
Hai-jung: Class struggle is very acute in our school. I hear that reactionary slogans have been found, some written in English on the blackboard of our English Department.
Chairman: What reactionary slogans have been written?
Hai-jung: I know only one. It is, ‘Chiang wan sui.’
Chairman: How does it read in English?
Hai-jung: ‘Long live Chiang.’
[i.e. a slogan, written in english, upholding Chiang Kai-Shek the leader of Nationalist Kuimintang Party that was overthrown by the communist revolution in 1949.]
Chairman: What else has been written?
Hai-jung: I don’t know any others. I know only that one.
Chairman: Well, let this person write more and post them outdoors for all people to see. Does he kill people?
Hai-jung: I don’t know if he kills people or not. If we find out who he is, we should dismiss him from school and send him away for labour reform.
We have been discussing the history of socialism in the twentieth century — and (within that) the question of the Great Purges in the 1937-38 period of the USSR.
Mao spoke on the question of political executions in this essay “Ten Major Relationships.” It was written in 1956, as there was great controversy over revelations about the Stalin era. The whole essay articulates Mao’s major departure from the methods and policies of the Soviet experience.
IMao mentioned that the Chinese Communist adopting their policy against political executions “in Yenan.” That is a reference to the Yenan period from 1936 through 1945. This was when the Chinese Communist Party received reports on the Great Purges from comrades exiled in the USSR, and secretly resolved amongst themselves never to adopt of similar methods of political execution.
by Mao Zedong
We must keep up the policy which we started in Yenan: “No executions and few arrests”. There are some whom we do not execute, not because they have done nothing to deserve death, but because killing them would bring no advantage, whereas sparing their lives would. What harm is there in not executing people? Those amenable to labour reform should go and do labour reform, so that rubbish can be transformed in something useful.
Besides, people’s heads are not like leeks. When you cut them off, they will not grow again. If you cut off a head wrongly, there is no way of rectifying the mistake even if you want to.
There are times when a determined, revolutionary section of the people emerges. It is a rare and precious thing.
by Mike Ely
I think that the success and development of a revolution rests heavily on the emergence of a “revolutionary people” and its development, renewal and maturation through different stages of a complex revolutionary process. By revolutionary people, we have generally meant a section of the people that is, one way or another, to one degree or another, consciously for a revolutionary change — and increasingly willing to fight for that. In the great revolutions of the past, such forces have been “militant minorities” — when viewed against the whole of the population, but they have been real popular forces of many hundreds of thousands or millions, who are the core social basis for revolutionary parties, for new revolutionary ideas and for the revolution itself.
Part of the discussion of the Soviet purges (in the 1930s) is the story of the exhaustion, cooptation, demoralization and depoliticization of what had previously constituted a “revolutionary people” within the Soviet revolution. And similarly there is a story to tell, within the Chinese Cultural Revolution, about how an enthusiastic new “revolutionary people” emerged (and was “unleashed) in the early stages of the Maoist cultural revolution (1966-68) — and how the complexities of that struggle left them dispersed, bewildered, divided and unable to act as the 70s progressed, and as the capitalist roaders tightened their garrot-hold on the revolution.
We have been discussing the importance of summing up the history of socialist revolution in the twentieth century — and the problem of silence on such events as the “Great Purges” in the 1930s Soviet Union. In that thread, a commentator “Reading You” wrote a defense of the mass executions of those times. Here is a reply.
By Mike Ely
On one level, there is a mind-numbing contradiction at play. The communist movement (justifiably!) denounces the beating of Rodney King, the killing of Oscar Grant, the shooting of Amadou Diallo, the assassination of Malcolm or King, the jailing of Peltier and Mumia, the holding of so-called “enemy combatants” without evidence or trial… These are outrages — and often the innocence of the victim is a part of that outrage.
So what does it mean, if someone like “Reading You” can (with a wave of their hand) minimize the state execution of hundreds of thousands of people (without trial and often, it must be said, without evidence)? Is it that different because those were nominally socialist cops who pulled the triggers?
There were in the 1930s quotas for arrests (just like there were quotas for other forms of production) — i.e. the cops in a particular locality were required to produce so many spies and reactionaries. Imagine what that produced? There was permission to torture signed at the highest level. Imagine what that meant for the emergence of “confessions” and new denunciations of new suspects for the machinery.
How often we rage when cops in the U.S. presume the guilt of “perps” (”They wouldn’t have been arrested if they hadn’t done something” or “I can tell a criminal just by looking at him.”) Does it suddenly become ok, to arrest and punish without evidence or public hearings if the system is socialist?
And what kind of justice would the people get from activists with such a blindspot if they got to be part of a new state power?
The following appeared in the UK’s telegraph, 09 Jul 2009. (Thanks to Koba.)
Barack Obama tells Africa to stop blaming colonialism for problems
President Barack Obama has told African leaders it is time to stop blaming colonialism and “Western oppression” for the continent’s manifold problems.
By Alex Spillius in Washington
Ahead of a visit to Ghana at the weekend, he said:
“Ultimately, I’m a big believer that Africans are responsible for Africa. I think part of what’s hampered advancement in Africa is that for many years we’ve made excuses about corruption or poor governance, that this was somehow the consequence of neo-colonialism, or the West has been oppressive, or racism – I’m not a big – I’m not a believer in excuses.”
Mr Obama, the son of a Kenyan, added:
“I’d say I’m probably as knowledgeable about African history as anybody who’s occupied my office. And I can give you chapter and verse on why the colonial maps that were drawn helped to spur on conflict, and the terms of trade that were uneven emerging out of colonialism.
“And yet the fact is we’re in 2009. The West and the United States has not been responsible for what’s happened to Zimbabwe’s economy over the last 15 or 20 years.
“It hasn’t been responsible for some of the disastrous policies that we’ve seen elsewhere in Africa. And I think that it’s very important for African leadership to take responsibility and be held accountable.”
Our summation has deal with the reality of revolutions, not their romanticized self-images
This is a response to the discussion in our thread on “Socialist Democracy, Snowflakes and the Restoration of Capitalism” and Rosa Blanc’s essay on the state. It focuses on one aspect of all this: i.e. the need for communists to dig fearlessly into the history of socialism (and communist revolution) in the twentieth century. There have been a number of discussions on these topics on our site.
by Mike Ely
Quite simply, we need to tell the truth about the twentieth century and the experience of socialist revolution. Seductive myths and self-deception thrive in the absence of information — where manufactured images pass as the available data. But ultimately, an accurate appraisal of these complex experiences is necessary for the work that lies ahead — and people will not settle for anything less. And it needs to be said, there are powerful and positive experiences that are at the heart of that story — as well as grievous developments that cannot and should not be covered over (or upheld).
The defenders of the current American political order have largely succeeded in presenting their system as democratic and protective of popular rights, while portraying the socialist experiences as inherently dictatorial, capricious and oppressive. This is an intolerable and unjustified situation that must be reversed in the course of revolutionary political work. And as an important part of that is digging deeply and candidly into the socialist experiences of the twentieth century.I believe we cannot possibly go before people of the 21st century with the half-true myths that were occasionally attractive in the previous century — and this has been true for decades. We can’t be the last ones to deal publicly with the sharpest controversies of the first wave of socialist revolutions.
There is in this new generation of radical activists a serious desire for what is “real” — not for easy answers or romanticized imaginings. And this is a good thing.
Lacunae and Avoidance
A lot of this is, understandably, tied up with the question of the Stalin years — but not just there. There is really a whole century of struggles and revolutions — together with their conceptions, organizations, achievements and failures to understand.
Thanks to Ka Frank and John Steele for their help.
By Sam Shell
Introduction
India’s forty year old Maoist-communist movement has undergone some remarkable growth in strength and influence over the last few years. This has occurred in part because of the consolidation of previously divided Maoist forces into a single party, the Communist Party of India (Maoist). Beginning in 2003, the Maoists were said to be present in 55 districts in 9 states, but by 2008, mainstream sources estimated they were present in 220 districts in 22 states with around one third of these being directly affected by the people’s war, while the others under the influence of varying degrees of political activity. The Maoists now have a noticeable presence in a total of one-third of all of India’s districts.
They have set up revolutionary democratic governing structures known as janathana sarkars in areas of Chhattisgarh and Jharkand in eastern India. These governing structures have administrative wings that deal with issues such as culture, education, health, finance, forest protection, public relations, and justice. Armed village militias have been organized as part of a larger people’s war. These function as the initial steps towards setting up liberated political base areas—to exist as pockets of dual power—in opposition to the Indian State. In the area of West Bengal mainly populated by adivasis, or tribal peoples, the Maoists have developed a large base of popular support, including the beginnings of revolutionary political power. This work has laid the basis for the political uprising of the adivasis in the Lalgarh area beginning in November 2008.
This party takes as its goal a revolutionary transition of India to socialism and the development of a global communist society. As their more immediate goal, the Maoists seek to overthrow semi-feudal relations in India and the domination of imperialist powers over the country. This first step is called New Democratic revolution in Maoist theory—and they seek this through the development of revolutionary political base areas for a people’s war that can defeat the Indian army and overthrow the current state. Central to advancing that process is the agrarian revolution—the uprising of impoverished farmers in India’s vast countryside against feudal exploiters, their political cronies and their armed repressive forces.
In the following article I will attempt to discuss the Lalgarh uprising in West Bengal, and its connection with the Maoist movement.
India’s forty year old Maoist-communist movement has undergone some remarkable growth in strength and influence over the last few years. This has occurred in part because of the consolidation of previously divided Maoist forces into a single party, the Communist Party of India (Maoist). Beginning in 2003, the Maoists were said to be present in 55 districts in 9 states, but by 2008, mainstream sources estimated they were present in 220 districts in 22 states with around one third of these being directly affected by the people’s war, while the others under the influence of varying degrees of political activity. The Maoists now have a noticeable presence in a total of one-third of all of India’s districts.
They have set up revolutionary democratic governing structures known as janathana sarkars in areas of Chhattisgarh and Jharkand in eastern India. These governing structures have administrative wings that deal with issues such as culture, education, health, finance, forest protection, public relations, and justice. Armed village militias have been organized as part of a larger people’s war. These function as the initial steps towards setting up liberated political base areas—to exist as pockets of dual power—in opposition to the Indian State. In the area of West Bengal mainly populated by adivasis, or tribal peoples, the Maoists have developed a large base of popular support, including the beginnings of revolutionary political power. This work has laid the basis for the political uprising of the adivasis in the Lalgarh area beginning in November 2008.
This party takes as its goal a revolutionary transition of India to socialism and the development of a global communist society. As their more immediate goal, the Maoists seek to overthrow semi-feudal relations in India and the domination of imperialist powers over the country. This first step is called New Democratic revolution in Maoist theory—and they seek this through the development of revolutionary political base areas for a people’s war that can defeat the Indian army and overthrow the current state. Central to advancing that process is the agrarian revolution—the uprising of impoverished farmers in India’s vast countryside against feudal exploiters, their political cronies and their armed repressive forces.
In the following article I will attempt to discuss the Lalgarh uprising in West Bengal, and its connection with the Maoist movement.
And the riot be the rhyme of the unheard…
- Zack de la Rocha
Background of the Movement
At this moment an incredible event is taking place in the West Midnapore district of West Bengal. Before the eruption, this sleepy area was little known except to its own inhabitants. Now, a people’s movement of unprecedented size to West Bengal has risen from the suffering of its adivasi (tribal) inhabitants, galvanizing the region, and shocking greater India. This movement has been popularly termed “the Lalgarh uprising.” Read the rest of this entry »
Kasama is publishing a five part series on communist political work in the miners’ strike wave of the 1970s. We will be posting one piece a day over the next few days. 
This is an interview with Bimal, a leader and Politburo member of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). It was conducted with correspondents The Times of India, April 27, 2009 and then published by 
