Great Turmoil Considerable Possibilities

7/27/2019 Great Turmoil Considerable Possibilities

1/4Economic & PoliticalWeekly EPW january 25, 2014 vol xlix no 4 33

Great Turmoil, ConsiderablePossibilities

Bernard Dmello

The evocative title of the book, Is

the Torch Passing? seems to sug-

gest that a decisive historic break-

through is in the making in China and

India. The author, Robert Weil, is known in

radical circles for his previous bookRed

Cat, White Cat: China and the Contradic-

tions of Market Socialism(Monthly Review

Press, New York, 1996; published in India

by Cornerstone Publications, Kharagpur),

which tells the story of how the Chinese

Communist Party (CCP) under the leader-

ship of Deng Xiaoping used the results

of the earlier socialist period to success-

fully build capitalism. In his latest book,

Is the Torch Passing?he throws light on

the great turmoil in China and India,

and optimistically, the great possibilities

these upheavals are throwing up.

Part Ihas four chapters on China the

first, viewing the cultural revolution inhistorical perspective; the second, Chi-

nese working class resistance; the third,

the young, migrant workers of Shen-

zhen, especially those working for Fox-

conn, and the fourth, about the struggle

for socialism, the lessons from the past

and the prospects for the future. Part II

has three chapters and an epilogue. The

first, about the difference it makes when

the old state and social order are over-

thrown, which is a preliminary contrast

of India and China. The second, hoping

for the coming together of the toiling

people of China and India in the course

of their respective struggles, covers a

whole lot of worker struggles, as also the

possibility of the Maoist movement in

India extending into the plains areas.

The third, about the Maoist movement

in India, covers the Lalgarh uprising in

some detail. The epilogue discusses the

setback in Lalgarh while in the conclu-

sion the author places his hopes in revo-lutionary unity, the toiling masses of

China and India joining forces.

Although India gained Independence

from Britain in 1947, and China put an

end to a century of imperialist domina-

tion in 1949, China was fortunate in that

it did not have the caste and communal

divisions that India has, and it was never

fully colonised. Moreover, the movement

in India was a struggle for national inde-

pendence, not a social revolution. But

India did end the feudal role of the

princely estates and the stranglehold of

large landlords, and thus, the transfer

of power can be seen as one to a rising

class of the Indian bourgeoisie. Impor-

tantly, and this is the main differencebetween China and India, Mao united

the movement for national liberation with

revolutionary transformation. The land

reform in China brought an end to the

rule political and social, as well as eco-

nomic of the landlords, and advanced

further, to the creation of the communes.

The industrial working class was provided

not only guaranteed jobs, but medical

clinics, schools, old age pensions, recre-

ational facilities and hou sing for their

employees, the so-called iron rice bowl.

The outcomes were that income distri-

bution and the provision of services

became much more equal, and this in turn

resulted in a rapid and dramatic improve-

ment in demographics. Of course, a com-

bination of severe natural disasters and

overly rigid implementation of certain

policies, excessive procurement of food-

grains as a result of exaggerated report-

ing of foodgrain output during the Great

Leap Forward (1958-61) led to famineconditions and excess deaths, but Weil

argues that from the 1940sto the 1970s,

loss of life from the social conditions of

Indian capitalism exceeded several times

those of Chinese socialism (p 118).

The capitalist roaders in the CCPtook

power at a time when the working classes,

despite the gains they had made in thesocialist period, were weary of the social

conflict and violence in the course of

the long struggles that accompanied the

winning of such rights. Beginning around

the 1970s, and especially from the 1990s

onwards, the paths of China and India

began once again to converge, a process

that has continued down to this day.

With the forced dismantling of the com-

munes, the collective basis for rural life

was shattered. The special economic zones

(SEZs), the privatisation of state-owned

enterprises, the unprotected peasant

migrants, those employed now numbering

over 200 million constituting the new

working class, the growing number of

millionaires and billionaires and the new

middle class (resembling their peers in

the rich nations) have changed the face

of China. But what needs to be stressed

is the fact that the head start was

provided by the socialist revolution in

terms of better health, education, infra-structure development and social egali-

tarianism. It was socialism that laid the

basis for the greatest ever surge of capi-

talist industrialisation in world history

that China has witnessed since the 1990s,

this under the leadership of a party that

claims to be building socialism with

Chinese characteristics.

But in India, among the Maoist revolu-

tionaries, those who are organising the

wretched of the Indian earth, the lesson

of Chinas development has not been lost

they look to the socialist revolution

under the leadership of Mao, the one that

preceded the current capitalist market

system. And here, although the Cultural

Revolution (CR) suffered a severe setback,

they are eager to learn from the lessons

it offers for the building of socialism.

The Cultural Revolution

As we know, the CRdissolved in chaos,

factionalism, and senseless violence(p 13). But it did generate newer levels of

both consciousness and democratisation,

book reviews

Is the Torch Passing? Resistance and Revolutionin China and India by Robert Weil (Kolkata: SetuPrakashani), 2013; pp 336, R s 395.


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january 25, 2014 vol xlix no 4 EPW Economic & PoliticalWeekly34

which extended into all the personal

relationships of women to men, children

to parents, students to teachers, workers

to managers, and of the people to party

and state authorities, as the work of Han

Dongping and Mobo C F Gao, cited by the

author, reveals. The right to rebel must

have had a lasting effect on the conscious-ness of the working classes for there are

signs that suggest that it can still be seen

today (p 15). Of course, what the Chinese

working classes achieved during the CR

to a certain extent, democratic control and

collective social power collapsed, and

virtually every one of the advances that

had been made was quickly turned into

its opposite, as China took the capitalist

road. ...On the surface, little is left of the

revolutionary era, which after 30 plus years

seems only a dim forgotten memory (p 17).

Yet, Weil argues,

a full review of the experience of the Cul-

tural Revolution shows that it too must be

looked back upon in a similar manner to

that of the Paris Commune, as a failed at-

tempt that nevertheless has left behind a

critical legacy on which not only the work-

ing classes in China, but socialists both

there and around the world, will build in the

future (p 17) ... (W)hat had happened during

the Cultural Revolution should be seen not

as a defeat, but as a setback (p 18).

This leaves me pondering. Could the CR

be viewed as a failed attempt to take the

political process in the direction of real-

ising the principles of the Paris Commune?

It seems to have failed very badly, for it

did not even put in place democraticinstitutions to secure the accountability

of the leaders of the party and the post-

revolutionary state to the people. But, at

its core, did not the CRembody a commu-

nitarian idea of socialism? Surely, it was a

fight to preserve the communes and the

communitarian ways of life therein, but

it did not succeed in reining in the privi-

leges and abuse of power of the Red

capitalist class in the party and the post-

revolutionary state. And, Mao, who was

leading the CR, backed off when the very

existence of the party was threatened.

Why? We might never know.

Chinas New Working Class

But let us get back to the present great

turmoil, this time to Shenzhen, just over

the border from Hong Kong, Chinas first

SEZ, and within this workshop of the

world to one of the largest enterprises

in the SEZ, that of the Taiwanese multi-

national Foxconn (is the trade name;

Apple Inc is its most important client),

whose young, rural migrant workers can

give us at least a glimpse of the distinctive

character of Chinas new working class.

The author draws attention to the spate

of worker suicides at Foxconns facilitiesin China in the spring of 2010 ((i)n death

these workers gained the attention de-

nied them in life) in the setting of strict

corporate control over the workers in

both plant and dormitory, and within

the larger context of Apple and Foxconns

drive to capture as much of the value of

the products they could, in the process

of cost reduction, putting aside Apples

labour standards and Chinas labour laws,

with the official union affiliated to the

All China Federation of Trade Unions fail-

ing to stand by the workers side.

More generally speaking, the very high

intensity and duration of work [the pheno-

menon ofguolaosi(overworkdeath)], the

cheating on overtime and other payments,

the strict regulation at both the factory

and the dormitory, the dire working and

living conditions, the denial of hukou

(longer-term residential rights), the


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Economic & PoliticalWeekly EPW january 25, 2014 vol xlix no 4 35

absence of family, the abuses of the secu-

rity personnel, the workers desperate

bid to defend their dignity, the hope that

they will ultimately win the right to bar-

gain with their employers on an equal

footing, the wildcat strikes and labour

protests, all these aspects of life and

work are defining the character of Chinasnew working class. It is time then to get

to India.

The Lalgarh Uprising

At the heart of the matter on India, in

the authors view, is the fact that in the

worlds largest democracy one is also

witnessing the worlds largest revolution

(p 174). The rise and spread of the Maoist-

led insurgency is covered. The Maoist

movement has linked the demands of the

peasantry to a struggle for state power

(p 178). But, over time, (l)earning from

the inability to protect their strongholds

in the urban and main farming areas in

the plains, the Maoist cadre adopted a

strategy of guerrilla warfare deep inside

the forests. The author argues that

enclave development is now a mainstay

of contemporary Indian economic policy,

the SEZs and the memoranda of under-

standing (MoUs) with large enterprises

being the characteristic forms it is taking.Even the Communist Party of India

(Marxist) CPI(M)-led Government of

West Bengal adopted this enclave mode

of capitalist development. The partys

degeneration after more than 30 years

in office is in a fashion similar to that of

the Partido Revolucionario Institucional

in Mexico (p 196). This takes the account

to the uprisings in Singur, Nandigram

and Lalgarh. What kind of support did

the CPI(Maoist) provide to the struggle

in Singur, as the author claims (p 199),

I am left guessing. And, in Nandigram

too, but here the author specifies the

Maoists role:

The CPI(Maoist) sent its cadre to assist [the]

Nandigram [struggle], and many of those

forced out of the region sought shelter 30

miles to the west, where its guerrilla army

had a strong base. ... The Maoists ... offered

both an alliance not resting on legislative

politics, and armed forces to back it up.

The Lalgarh uprising is covered in

greater detail, including tactics. For inst-ance, in order to avoid the internal divi-

sions and factionalism that weakened

the Singur and Nandigram movements,

the Peoples Committee Against Police

Atrocities (PCAPA) was open to anyone,

but only if they joined as individuals, not

as members of political parties (p 203).

In his assessment of the Lalgarh uprising

the author quotes the CPI(Maoist) gen-

eral secretary, Ganapathy:

Their [the masses of Lalgarh] upsurge was

beyond our expectations. In fact, it was the

common people, with the assistance of ad-

vanced elements influenced by revolution-

ary politics, who played a crucial role in the

formulation of tactics. They formed their

own organisation, put forth their charter of

demands, worked out various novel forms of

struggle, and stood steadfast in the struggle

despite the brutal attacks by the police and

the social-fascistHarmadgangs (p 205).

He then asks:

(I)s Lalgarh a new Indian Hunan, opening

a further stage in the Maoist revolutionary

struggle? ...Is the strategy of Chinese com-

munists in the 1920s still viable for Indian

Maoists in the 2010s? (p 206).

I find it difficult to accept the authors

claim that the peasant revolution that

Mao found in Hunan and the Lalgarh

uprising are surprisingly similar, even at

times down to their smallest details.

For one, it needs to be emphasised that

the Maoists had already completed 10years of underground work (the long,

patient organisational work that pre-

cedes the firing of the first shots, as Ho

Chi Minh would have put it) amongst

ordinary adivasis and moolvasis in the

Lalgarh and surrounding blocks of the

district of West Midnapore in West

Bengal before they lit a prairie fire

(detonated a landmine that narrowly

missed its target the chief minister of

West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee)

on 2 November 2008 there, sparking

off the Lalgarh uprising.

Not many on the revolutionary left in

India would share the authors optimism

when he says that Lalgarh is a new

Indian Hunan that holds the prospect of

repeating the Chinese model (p 210).

For, as he goes on:

The Indian Maoists have stil l not been able

to secure a long-term liberation base area...

(like the) long-lasting (Chinese Maoist)

stronghold in Yanan in Shaanxi province

from 1935-47. [So] they have had theirHunan but they have not yet found their

Yanan (p 211).

Nevertheless, Weil is full of revolutionary

optimism when he goes on to say:

The CPI(Maoist) may adhere to its declared

path of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, ...but may

simultaneously be opening up a new fourth

stage in that progression, one that is more

closely geared to the 21st century (p 221).

He sees a solution to the challenge ofrevolution in India in a unity of struggle

that rests on simultaneous uprisings in a

wide range of geographic and social set-

tings, that is, many Dantewadas, Lalgarhs

all over the country (p 223). And, he hails

the critical leaps forward by the Maoists

in their approaches, in practice, to the

indigenous peoples question, ecological

degradation, and the womens question.

Rounding Off

What is the basis of Weils revolutionary

optimism? Surely it lies in the courage, the

staying power and the perseverance of

the people in the course of their strug-

gles in India and in China. I have a few

quibbles, one or two of which I will take

up in the limited space I now have left.

On page 39 the author states: Though

China lacks the vast slums so typical of

the global South, the dismal housing of

these migrant labourers in some ways

resembles those same conditions. I wouldrather put it this way: Even though China

has witnessed over the last three dec-

ades a rapidity of urbanisation unprece-

dented in world history, with some 400

million new urban inhabitants, yet there

are no slums. Why? The reason, I think,

has a lot to do with aspects of the value

system of the post-Maoist leadership of

the CCP, rooted in Maoism, which have

not been discarded as yet. The leaders,

even in the post-Maoist period, despite

many of their failures, seem to have

retained the moral commitment to pro-

vide a floor under which the income and

living conditions of the least advantaged

should not be allowed to fall, and a

minimum level of social security. The

living conditions of the vast pool of 400

million new urban residents in China,

in no way do they seem to resemble say

those of the precarious two-thirds of the

residents of Mumbai, where I live. The

employers of the young rural migrantworkers in China have been forced to

provide the latter with housing, and


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A Panegyric for the Brahmans

Anirudh Deshpande

Hinduism and the Ethics of Warfare in SouthAsia: From Antiquity to the Presentby Kaushik Roy(New Delhi: Cambridge Univ ersity Press), 2012; pp 288,Rs 995 (hardcover).

We can only say, folly is an illness for which

there is no medicine, and the Hindus believethat there is no country but theirs, no nation

like theirs, no kings like theirs, no religion

like theirs [and] no science like theirs. They

are haughty, foolishly vain, self-conceited

and stolid. They are by nature niggardly in

communicating that which they know and

they take the greatest possible care to with-

hold it from men of another caste among

their own people, still much more, of course,

from any foreignerThink of Socrates when

he opposed the crowd of his nation and died

faithful to the truth. The Hindus had no men

of this stamp both capable and willing to

bring [the] sciences to a classical perfection. Al-Biruni 1

Since the emergence of the linguistic

and cultural turns in the social

sciences during the 1970sand 1980s

it has become fashionable in the intellec-

tual circles of Europe, America and India

to rediscover an India located outside the

historical contexts made by conventional

and Marxist historiography. Following this,

the end of the Cold War and the demise

of the Union of Soviet Socialist Repub-

lics (USSR), and the beginning of the full-

scale United States-led Western war on

Islamist terror since 2001 has fuelled the

study of, and search for allies against Islam

among the ruling elites in the West.

Hindu-Strategic Doctrine?

Globalised India, which has a large Muslim

population and a history of Muslim rule

and cultural influence, has an important

strategic function allotted to it in the

new world order that has evolved post-2001. Negotiating with Islam and find-

ing appropriate state-centred strategies,

possibly with widespread intellectual and

social concurrence, is of prime concern

to the community of strategic thinkers in

contemporary Western establishments.

Individuals and institutions aligned with

the West in countries like India, where the

polity has distinctly shifted rightwards

in the decades of globalisation, whichbegan in the mid-1980s, often find them-

selves posing the same questions that

excite the so-called think tanks in the West.

Thus, the strategic culture approach,

which underscores the conception of the

volume under review, has come to domi-

nate a great deal of thought within the

military policy institutions of America,

Europe and India in the recent past. Ac-

cording to the submissions of this military

approach to historical analysis, Indias

strategic culture has historically been

conditioned by Hindu strategic thought

which seems to have metamorphosed into

moderate Hinduism in independent

India (p 265). The purpose of this book is

to establish the existence of a productive

political and military Hindu-strategic

doctrine in precolonial India with refer-

ence to some selected normative political

texts produced by brahmans in ancient

and early-medieval India.

Towards this end the author hasadopted a frankly stated top-down elitist

approach to the subject in defiance of

the vernacular and micro studies which

have highlighted the hitherto ignored or

under-examined aspects of Indian history

since the emergence of subaltern studies

in the 1980s. Hence, several popular and

indigenous military practices extant in pre-

colonial India either find no place in this

volume or are recounted only in passing.

The fact that these peasant and tribal

practices never reached the levels of nor-

mative theoretical abstractions fancied by

the self-appointed and highly subjective

brahman custodians of Hindu strategic

thought in India should have been noted

by the author, whose reputation rests

almost exclusively on a set of conventional

texts on Indian military history. Much more

could be written on this here but I refrain

from doing so because of the limits im-posed on this narrative by the book review

genre. It will suffice to say that the book

under review might be read for the critical

potential it does not exploit, but it will cer-

tainly be noticed for not projecting a new

imagination of Indian military history.

Moderate Hinduism

Let us begin with the end. The thesis of

moderate Hinduism is problematic to

say the least. It is unlikely that thousands

of Indian citizens in Kashmir, the north-

eastern states, and in the immense forest

tracts of south-central India will find this

description of the Indian state helpful in

defining their experience of a police state.

The bloodthirsty mobs let loose on the

Indian minorities in 1984 and 2002 were

certainly not motivated by a moderate

form of Hinduism. How moderate Hindu-

ism, by which this book means a religion

forged by the great ancient Indian brah-

man acharyas among other things, hasbeen in India since the demolition of the

Babri Mosque in 1992, is an uncomfortable

public lands have been made available

for the purpose. Land in China, it must

be remembered, is not yet a commodity

as it is under capitalism.

Another quibble I have is about some

of the international comparisons made,

for instance, on page 254, referring to

the Maoist areas of influence and theOperation Green Hunt of the Indian state

against the Maoists over there, the

author says that, in effect ... one-third

of India (has been turned) into a free

fire zone like Afghanistan or Gaza. It

certainly requires one to investigate the

guerrilla zones more closely to say things

like that, and those zones in India do not

cover even a tenth of one-third of this

vast country. Nevertheless, with a bookthat highlights the great turmoil in India

and China, and the great possibilities

that are unfolding as a result, I would

have little hesitation in endorsing what

Pao-yu Ching, professor of economics,

Marygrove College, Detroit, Michigan,

says on the back-cover: Anyone who is

seriously concerned about the future of

these two great nations should read: Is

the Torch Passing?

Email: [email protected].

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Great Turmoil Considerable Possibilities