Questioning Capitalism

24/12/2023

https://www.redpamphlet.com/posts/rage-against-fascism-from-Hugli-to-Ganga

It was quite an encouraging sight to see revolutionaries both young and seasoned delivering insightful fiery speeches making people aware of the fascist policies and their impact on the daily lives of hard-working people.

09/04/2022

जहाँ अधोगति अक्सर प्रगति और प्रगति दुर्गाति लगती हो, उस बिन्दु को राजनीति कहते हैं। शब्दों के खेल को आगे बढ़ाते हुए कहूँ कि यही उसकी सदगति है।
राजनीति में शब्द झूठ के माध्यम है और वे लगातार भार ढोते हैं। राजनीति में शब्द केंचुए का जीवन जीते हैं, जिनकी न रीढ़ होती है और न दिशा। वे लगातार एक ही गन्दगी पर चल रही सक्रियता की पहचान बने लगातार वहीं-वहीं हिलते चलते रहते हैं।
राजनीति में शब्द भूसे के ढेर हैं, जिसमें से एक भी दाना नहीं निकलता। दाना सत्य होता है और सत्य का राजनीति में एक सिरे से अभाव होता है। राजनीति में सत्य का झूठ की तरह इस्तेमाल किया जाता है। यदि ज़रूरत हो तो राजनीतिज्ञ सच बोल जाता है, जिससे वह बाद में इन्कार कर देता है कि यह झूठ है। राजनीति में अपना-अपना झूठ ही अपना-अपना सच होता है। दूसरे का सच अक्सर झूठ और अपना झूठ सदैव सच होता है; अर्थात् पता नहीं, क्या झूठ और क्या सच होता है। शब्द इसका भार ढोते हैं। वे नहीं जानते, वे क्या कर रहे हैं, क्या भार ढो रहे हैं। राजनीति में झूठ बयान की स्पष्टता और गरिमा से सामने आता है। आकाश में बयानों का मेला-जमघट बना रहता है। बयान से बयान टकराते हैं, कई बार दो बयान मिल कर एक हो जाते हैं, कई बार एक ही बयान दो भागों में बँट जाता हैं। राजनीति एक स्त्री है जो ऐसे सुकोमल बच्चों को जन्म देती है, जो आगे चल कर विषैले साँप और भुजंग बन जाते हैं। हम राजनीति को एक खूसट माँ की तरह देखते हैं, जो अपने इन भुजंगों के सिर पर हाथ फेरती रहती है। राजनीति एक वेश्या है, जिसे हर ग्राहक पतिव्रता समझता है । राजनीति निष्ठावानों और ईमानदारों की मालकिन और बेईमानों और धोखेबाज़ों की दासी है । राजनीति सबकी हो कर भी किसी की नहीं है । रात की पार्टी में आई चालू औरत की तरह वह सबको निकटता का आभास देती हुई वाक़ई निकट हो सकती है, मगर वह उसकी नहीं है जिसके निकट है। राजनीति किसी की नहीं, यों जब जिसकी हो जाए, उसकी है । सब अपनी-अपनी राजनीति लिए घूमते हैं। वे नहीं जानते कि वास्तव में राजनीति उन्हें लिए घूम रही है। राजनीति आपको ऐसा सुख देती है, जैसे वह आपकी गोद में बैठी हो ।

शरद जो

11/02/2022

साथियों! हम सभी मौजूदा समय में सांप्रदायिकता और उससे उपजने वाली हिंसा से दो चार है, सभी प्रोग्रेसिव लोग जो नागरिकों की बराबरी के सिद्धांत में विश्वास रखते थे और अमूमन अन्याय होते समय न्याय व्यवस्था और पुलिस प्रशासन की तरफ न्याय की आशा से देखते थे इस समय ये जान चुके हैं की मौजूदा व्यवस्था अल्पसंख्यकों, दलितों और दूसरे हाशिए पर पड़े पिछड़े वर्गो के दमन और शोषण के अलावा कुछ नही कर सकती।
कुछ लोगों का विचार है की इसका जवाब संघ की राजनैतिक चुनावी पार्टी भाजपा को हरा कर दिया जा सकता है, पर हम ये देख चुके हैं की चुनाव कोई भी जीते या हारे अंत में सरकार साम दाम दण्ड भेद से भाजपा की ही बनती है, दूसरे यदि अन्य पार्टी की सरकार बन भी जाती है तो क्या हम ये मान सकते हैं की ये जीती हुई पार्टी मौजूदा फासीवादी उफान से लड़ने के प्रति प्रतिबद्ध है, क्या ये अन्य पार्टियां जहां सत्ता में मौजूद हैं वहां इस लड़ाई को ईमानदारी से लड़ रही हैं या ये सब मात्रा चुनाव जीतने के स्टंट तक सीमित है?
क्या किसी अन्य पार्टी की चुनावी जीत जमीन पर मौजूद सांप्रदायिक संगठनों उनके द्वारा बरगलाए युवा बेरोजगारों की मध्य वर्गीय फौज से लड़ने में सक्षम है? क्या हम सौ साल के फासीवादी प्रचार और उसके द्वारा खड़ी की गई सेना, सांप्रदायिक पुलिस, जज और व्यवस्था से मात्र सत्ता में पार्टी बदलकर लड़ सकते हैं? जवाब पाने के लिए जादा दूर नही दिल्ली में केजरीवाल सरकार को ही देख सकते हैं जो नित नए सांप्रदायिक फैसले लेकर बैलेंस वादी राजनीति खेलने पर मजबूर है, किसी भी विचारधारा से आजाद पार्टियों का यही चरित्र है, ऐसे में भाजपा जीते या हारे जमीन पर संघ का ही काम चलता है। दूसरे जबकि विभिन्न फासीवादी संगठन मोहल्ले मोहल्ले अपना नेटवर्क फैला चुके हैं तब क्या हम ऊपर ऊपर के सतही बदलाव से इस पैदल फौज से लड़ सकेंगे?
इस लड़ाई के लिए हमे पहले मौजूदा समस्या को समझना होगा,पूंजीवादी जब परंपरागत एलीट शासक वर्ग द्वारा शोषित पीड़ित जनता पर नियंत्रण रखने में नाकाम होने लगता है तब उसे एक निरंकुश नग्न तानाशाही की जरूरत पड़ती है, यही हमने 2014 में कांग्रेस की हार और भाजपा के सत्ता में आने के साथ देखा, पिछले छः सालों में हमने इस निरंकुश तानाशाही के परिणाम देखे हैं जहां पूरा समाज बेकार के साम्रदायिक मुद्दो में फसा हुआ है वहीं इसकी आड़ में तमाम जनता के उपक्रम फैक्ट्रियां बेचे जा रहे हैं, निजीकरण की रेल अंधी दौड़ रही है, एलआईसी से रेलवे तक, नई शिक्षा नीति, नए लेबर कोड तमाम तरह के जन विरोधी बदलाव बड़े पूंजीपतियों के हित में किए गए हैं।
इस समय जरूरत है संगठित होकर फासीवाद की समस्या समझने की और उससे संघर्ष करने की, हमे संघर्ष के रास्ते को समझना होगा। और इस किस सिद्धांत के तहत ये संघर्ष होगा समझना होगा।

ऐसा नहीं है की चुनाव में भाजपा के हारने से कोई राहत नहीं मिलनी, और जहां तक चुनाव में हमारे वोट का सवाल है वो भाजपा को हराने के लिए ही पड़ना चाहिए लेकिन उसके बाद क्या? समस्या क्या है और उससे कैसे लड़ सकते हैं? जब 2009 में बीजेपी हारी थी तो सबको लगा था फासीवाद का अंत हो गया पर 2008 की इकोनॉमिक क्राइसिस के बाद पूंजीपति वर्ग को अपने हित में फैसले लेने के लिए ऐसी पार्टी की जरूरत थी जो मजदूर आंदोलनों को कुचल सके, बड़े पूंजीपतियों के हक में अंधाधुध फैसले ले सके, निजीकरण कर सके, कुशल बेरोजगारों की एक सस्ती फौज तैयार कर सके, ऐसा सिर्फ फासीवाद की आड़ में एक फासीवादी पार्टी ही कर सकती थी और इसको भाजपा और बाकी पार्टियों को मिलने वाले चंदे में फर्क से हम समझ सकते हैं,

हिंदू मुसलमान की आड़ में, देश के बाहर और भीतर काल्पनिक दुश्मन दिखा के कुछ भी किया जा सकता है।

07/02/2022

04/01/2022

Fundamentals of Marxism : Dialectics

Credit: The Marxist Project
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNalGyK3DaK37GTLIHSwmyA/featured

18/12/2021

History of all sorts was created in Punjab on December 12th when the dalit agricultural labourer’s organisations for the first time conducted a rail blockade

24/11/2021

Sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) of Paris commune.

Video Source : ट्राईकॉन्टिनेंटल: सामाजिक शोध संस्थान - Tricontinental Hindi

14/11/2021

South Korean survival drama series “Squid Games” went viral within the first day of its release. The story is an allegory about a hyper capitalist society and its extremely competitive nature which revolves around a contest where people participate in children's games to win 45.6 billion won but if they lose they die. Organisers of the games track and shortlist contestants who are in an extremely desperate financial situation, all of them heavily under debt, living a hard life, chased by loan sharks, selling rights to their organs, something which happens when you don't have money in a capitalist society.

The process of selection for the games itself is extremely humiliating, candidates are supposed to play Ddakji, recruiter asks them to bet 100,000 won but as he knows they cant pay he takes off his 100 grand off per slap. They chose to get slapped again and again in the hope to win 100,000 won. But can we really see it as a fair choice made by them?

Story exposes the cruel realities of capitalist society blatantly. Main protagonists Seong Gi-hun and Cho Sang-woo both are unable to take care of their mothers who have to work despite their poor health and old age, Seong Gi-hun is a simple man of good heart literally living of his mothers income, he used to work in a factory but it closed down firing off all the workers now he works as a chauffeur, which does not provide him enough to take custody of his daughter or even afford a gift or dinner on her birthday. When his mother gets sick she tells him that they could not afford the treatment and walks out of the hospital. Unlike Seong Gi-hun Cho Sang-woo is an intelligent person, he went to Seoul National University and used to work in the financial markets but a college degree or your intelligence means nothing if you do not own capital and you have only your labour to sell, without capital you may be thrown to the streets overnight. He made some wrong bets, lost a lot and now is under heavy debt. Other protagonists are Kang Sae Byuk a North Korean defector she participates to secure the money she needs to get the rest of her family out of North Korea and help her little brother, who is in an orphanage in Seoul., Ali Abdul a Pakistani migrant worker who has lost several fingers during an accident in the factory where he works. He was never compensated, and he volunteers to take part in Squid Game to provide for his wife and child and the rest of his family in Pakistan. Il nam an old man who is waiting for his death, Jang Deok-su a hardened gangster he has amassed quite the gambling debt and is on the run from his crime lord boss when he joins the game and Han Mi-nyeo a single mother.

In the games everyone is pitched against each other, lives are at stake hence they have to win by hook or crook or simply die. Literally gambling their life in the hope of making a fortune. Six children’s games are to be played: Red Light green light, Dalgona Candy, Tug of War, Marbles, Glass Stepping Stones and Squid game.With each game players are eliminated and money keeps accumulating in a glass tank suspended from the roof which was revealed only after the first game Red Light Green Light when participant decide to go for voting to leave the games as they saw half of them getting shot during the first game while front man pours a glass of scotch and listens to Jazz, watching people die.

Players can't refuse to play or will be eliminated, though if the majority decides by voting they can quit, after facing the horrors of the first game they decide to call for a vote to quit which came in favour of quitters hence all of them leave, but after few days when they are asked if they want to continue the game again all of them came back realising that even outside their world is no different, being chased by loan sharks, being threatened for life, unable to afford basic necessities for a dignified life. This points finger to the futility of voting in a capitalist society. Their vote changes nothing and the game restarts again from the same point it ended. Game owner talks about the fairness of the game and how the playground should be level for all the players but this equality in front of the law applies only till it serve the purpose of making the game interesting for VIPs, when organisers feel that a riot will make the game more interesting by killing week players they allow it and stop only when enough people get killed and more dead players will make games boring. Living men become pawns in a board game. This is just like the freedom under capitalist system of production, The contracts between workers and capitalists are made "under duress," under the pressure exerted by a monopoly. Capitalism is not the system of freedom, which it is touted for.

We keep hearing about “human nature”, i.e. humans are greedy, jealous, competitive, selfish and evil at their core, but we ,marxists believe that human nature is the product of the material condition he lives in, we are what our material condition makes us. Humans are not evil or selfish by nature, it's their condition that makes them so and despite those conditions there is an inner urge to do good, help others. At many points in the story empathy overpowers the urge to kill each other for personal gains. Ali puts his life on the line during the first game for Seong Gi-hun even without knowing him. During the game of marbles Ali clearly defeats Sang-woo but decides to follow his plan if they both can be saved (though Sang Woo was cheating him despite being his friend). Seong Gi-hun while being chased by goons of loan shark collides with Kang Sae Byuk but instead of running he asks if she is ok, gives her coffee mug and then runs again. Initially Seong Gi-hun is shown feeding fish to a street cat though he always doesn't have enough to eat himself. For tug of war, Sae-byeok despite being told to not bring any women brings Ji-yeong, when other team members object Ji-yeong wants to leave but Seong Gi-hun stops her, similarly during the game of marbles when no one wanted to pair with Il nam dues to his old age, Seong Gi-hun ask to team up with him, later as it was clear either of them will die he takes advantage of inability of il nam’s short term memory losses, but each time Seong Gi-hun cheats him he feels shattered, after all he called him ‘Gangbu’. In the same game Ji-yeong deliberately loses to Sae-byeok after listening to her story and what she will do if she is able to win the game, Ji-yeong realises no one is waiting for her outside, she came here as there was nowhere else to go, while Sae-byeok need to take her brother out of orphanage and get her mother to cross over to south Korea. After the first game when Ali and Sang-woo were dropped off together and Sang woo realises Ali is going to walk extremely long distance he gives him some money (while himself being cash strapped) the expression on his face was of privilege, just as privileged love to provide for charity from their high seat and reducing their guilty conscience. Later Ali being cheated by the same person who claimed to be like his brother shows innocent people are thrown under the bus very quickly when things become desperate.

Other noteworthy details were the stack of beds arranged over top of each other like shelves, Workers of the organising firm all look the same, masked as worker ants, they all sound the same, they are replaceable, they are not worthy of being treated as humans but are just numbers and a geometrical which represents their rank hence the type of work(labour) they do. Players are just a number, a pawn in the game, this dehumanisation imitates the corporate environment where humans are nothing more than a resource (as they call workers in the software industry). Ironically bows are attached to coffins, looking for aesthetics in death too. Beautiful and intricacy of the places where the games are set to be played appeared similar to a corporate setting where you sit in a beautiful tower. Representation of Americans as VIPs is apt. During the game of marbles there is an emotional conversation between Ji-yeong and Sae-byeok. Ji-yeong asks why she defected from North Korea? To which Sae-byeok replies - they heard it was better in the south. Ji-yeong asks again “And then?” Sae-byeok doesn't reply to this, apparently its being told that things are not better in the south too, except in capitalist propaganda.

Last game represents the fight between two perspectives: competition or cooperation, Seong Gi-hun who was empathetic during most of the game, trying to cooperate with others, he even promised with Sae Byuk to take care of her brother and family if she is not able to get out alive. On the other hand Sang Woo, who cheated Ali, pushed the person in front of him to die during a glass stepping stone.

Squid games is the story of a society where if you do not have capital you can't afford marriage, children, family education, healthcare and literally your life. You will die unless you entertain the bourgeoise ruling class.

13/11/2021

Seed sovereignty.
Source :

29/10/2021

Characteristics of a fascist society.

02/10/2021

Gandhi and fascists of India.

While the Congress party was taking over the power from the British, India was facing almost a civil war, Gandhi was camping in Noakhali amidst the bloodbath of communal violence, touring district after district talking to the public, convincing them to restore the confidence among people who survived the onslaught. It was obvious that such a person could not be tolerated by fascists.
What could be the fate of a man who was fighting against communal forces during most communally charged times in the history of the subcontinent?

For fascists of India, Gandhi was always a Muslim appeaser and enemy of the Hindus, they made multiple attempts to assasinate him but could not succeed and It was only after independence on 30 January 1948 when Mohandas Gandhi was shot dead by a member of Hindu Mahasabha and RSS (RSS says he was an ex member, but this is their modus operandii, recently they disowned PanchaJanya) while he was onserving the third Hindu-Muslim unity fast for restoring communal peace. Post partition the atmosphere of the nation was communally charged and Gandhi wanted to safeguard people belonging to the minority community who refused to leave their homeland for Pakistan. Gandhi who was psychologically broken and had almost lost all hope post partition was still not giving up his individual activism and now it was easier for fascist assassin to do what they intended from years.

Gandhi left the nation but Fascist/right wing organisations were never able to leave him, he is their strawman. They have put very serious effort and resources to spread fake historical facts, imaginary anecdotes, and lies to malign him among the masses. Vulgar jokes on Gandhi are common and a general sentiment has become negative with years of effort. After all, his ideas and legacy does not align with the political goals of Fascism. Right wing propaganda now hails Sardar Patel as the saviour and Nehru/ Gandhi as the villains of Indian nation, single handedly responsible for the partition, these are blatant lies. His role in the decision making process of Congress in the later years since the start of the second world war was negligible, almost betrayed by his disciples, it is hard to say whether his opinion carried any significance or not

We must also not forget that Nehru and Patel advocated the acceptance of 3rd June plan. Patel argued in the AICC meeting on 14th June, 1947 that “we have to face up to the fact that Pakistan was functioning in Punjab, Bengal and in the interim government”. All of them were only accepting what had become inevitable. While exploring history of struggle for Independence, role of Gandhi must be analysed keeping emotions, prejudices aside and totally on the basis of action and outcome. Like any other human being Gandhi is a complex historical figure, revered as saint by some and enemy of the nation by many (and they are increasing). Progressive circles criticise him for being a protector of Brahminical hegemony, a misogynistic patriarch. Contradictions of this historical figure demand a great attention in order to make a correct judgement of history in the current context.

29/09/2021

Yesterday was the one hundred fourteenth birth anniversary of Comrade Bhagat Singh, an intellectual, a revolutionary who was bigger than his age, and a beacon of Knowledge, courage and inspiration to new generations of activists, revolutionaries.

While Bhagat Singh has become a symbol of rebellion and fight against oppression, reactionary elements left no stone unturned to co-opt him, his ideas doesn’t matter to them what matters is whether he can be used to garner votes in the upcoming election or to assert their nationalist stand. As Lenin said:
“During the lifetime of great revolutionaries, the oppressing classes constantly hounded them, received their theories with the most savage malice, the most furious hatred and the most unscrupulous campaigns of lies and slander. After their death, attempts are made to convert them into harmless icons, to canonize them, so to say, and to hallow their names to a certain extent for the “consolation” of the oppressed classes and with the object of duping the latter, while at the same time robbing the revolutionary theory of its substance, blunting its revolutionary edge and vulgarizing it. Today, the bourgeoisie and the opportunists within the labor movement concur in this doctoring of Marxism. They omit, obscure, or distort the revolutionary side of this theory, its revolutionary soul. They push to the foreground and extol what is or seems acceptable to the bourgeoisie. All the social-chauvinists are now “Marxists” (don’t laugh!). And more and more frequently German bourgeois scholars, only yesterday specialists in the annihilation of Marxism, are speaking of the “national-German” Marx, who, they claim, educated the labor unions which are so splendidly organized for the purpose of waging a predatory war!”

Just like that today we see even fascists embracing Bhagat Singh, they do not feel any shame or hesitation calling themselves followers of his principles, when asked what those principles are, “Nationalism” is all they know.

It is a fact that Bhagat Singh was a follower of Marx & Lenin, he wanted to build a socialist state run by workers and peasants, but it's not a well known fact. Now he is being printed in Saffron, projected as a nationalist whose sole motive was to kill British officers. While ignoring his comrades, his organisation and his political plan.

Ironically yesterday when Kanhaiya Kumar was addressing the press conference after formally joining Congress party he made a special effort to tell people that he is still a follower of Bhagat Singh(while leaving CPI) but follows Gandhi and Ambedkar too, without realising that mixing Gandhi and Bhagat could be one of the most foolish things one can do. This opportunism is not new, it's common to see in electoral politics this hodgepodge of incongruous, polar opposite ideologies being touted as our saviour i.e. a little bit of this and little bit of that will solve everything. To fight against this form of naked opportunism, To spread the revolutionary spirit of Bhagat Singh, we must bring his thoughts and his political work to every youth who seeks change in the system/society. We must expose the revolutionary history of Bhagat Singh and his comrades before they get robbed of their revolutionary theory by reactionaries and fascists.