CPN(M) - Worker #10
The Worker, #10, May 2006
Article
THE PEOPLE'S WAR AND QUESTION OF DALITSParvati
"Social reforms are never carried out by the weakness of the strong; but always by the strength of the weak."
K. Marx to Working class, quoted in Francis Wheen: Karl Marx; 1999
Introduction
Man is a social animal. But today in the 21st century, caste system still exists, in which Dalits are rendered as untouchables by so-called higher castes. So their position is not sub-human, but sub-animal. Dalit oppression is a typical phenomenon of South Asia. It is the product of the archaic and obnoxious caste-ridden Hindu society.
Historically, the phenomena of caste system is the product of division of labour, whereby those who did mental work were categorized as Brahmins, those engaged in fighting work were categorized as Chhetris (or, Kshatriyas), those engaged in trade work were categorized as Vaishyas and those who did physical labour were called Shudras. During second millennium BC, at the time of Rig-Veda, such division of labour had not taken regimented form nor had they acquired class form. As a result, each person could choose any profession at any juncture of time. But with the coming of Vedic period, further development of agriculture resulted into ossified regimented caste system whereby the people started acquiring their caste hereditarily. Thus Brahmins doing mental work acquired highest position in hierarchy while the Shudras doing manual labour were assigned lowest position within the same hierarchy. In due course of time, even within Shudras further division of sub-castes took place and subsequently acquired regimented hierarchies within them. This regimentation was codified as Varnashram system of Hindu law by Manu, the Hindu lawmaker, around 1st century BC. Today the same Shudras are called Dalits.
Thus, within natural economy, Dalits became the first proletariat class who laboured manually but were forbidden to own their fruits of labour and means of production. As a result,they made agricultural equipments but were not allowed to own land, they made houses for upper castes but were themselves forbidden to enter them, they made cities but were themselves thrown out around fringes of city/village settlements, they made idols of Gods, but were forbidden to enter the temples they made, they made shoes for the high castes but themselves went bare footed. Similarly, because they have been condemned to clear carcasses, they are eligible to eat only dead animal's meat. Similarly they have been assigned the job of burning human corpses and as hangman for the ruling class to give capital punishment to the rebellious citizens and are condemned to wear clothes of deceased. They are even barred from burning their corpes in traditional ghats, where the higher castes burn their dead. Today things may have changed a little bit but in essence the discrimination and alienation still exists. Even today, Hindus find cow's urine pure enough to drink, but would not touch or drink water offered by Dalits.
Today in Nepal, according to many non-govemment survey sources, Dalits constitute about 20% of the total population. About 80% of Dalit population is living below poverty line. Most of them are landless and are staying in other's land. Thus, they are under constant fear of eviction.
Before the entry of Aryans into Nepal, it was inhabited mainly by Mongolians in mountain region and Austro-Dravids in flat Terai region. Although Aryans have entered Nepal at two historical junctures, it was after 11th century AD when Hindus from North India fled from aggressions of Muslim invaders and they brought caste system in Nepal, thereby inculcating caste awareness, particularly Dalit ostracization amongst non-Hindu communities too. Geographically, Dalits in Nepal are divided into Hill Dalits and Madhesia (or plain) Dalits. Nationally, they are divided into Hill, Newari (Dalits residing within Kathmandu Valley) and Madhesia Dalits, of which Newari and Madhesia Dalits belong to oppressed nationalities. Amongst the three, Madhesi Dalits are worst off because they are poorer (70% of Dalits in Terai are landless), there are more hierarchies within Dalit caste making them more disunited amongst themselves. Thus, they are more socially ostracized, because of influence of strong feudalism present in Terai region and lastly they are oppressed nationally, as most of them are without citizenship according to the old state (the old state treats all Madhesis as Indians).
It is an irony that even today in 21st century the old Nepalese state officially sanctions this archaic medieval oppression in the name of protecting state religion 'Hindu' under the authority of Hindu King. For the NGOs and INGOS, Dalit issue has become one arena from where they can milk dollars, for the revisionist lefts and other non-left forces it has become vote bank to milk Dalit's aspiration and for the revolutionary communists it remains a theory awaiting fruition in practice.
NGO/INGOs, Parliamentary Parties And Dalit Question
It is a fact that majority ruling oppressive class is far more class conscious than the oppressed class, precisely because they have to rule over the majorities that belong to oppressed class. This it does by dividing oppressed classes and then giving crumbs to few of them through NGO/INGO and parliamentary activities. Indeed the aim of donors is such that the poorer the community, more fund is made available to such communities. Hence Dalits, particularly women Dalits, sell like hot cakes for the NGOs and INGOs. Essentially all these projects aim at keeping revolutionary communists away from this community so as to blunt Dalits class-consciousness. This it does by various means. In fact NGO/INGOs are making inroads to different parliamentary parties in South Asia obscuring class consciousness by particularly targeting Dalit and other backward communities to form, bloc vote thus reinforcing caste system and differentiation. After PW started in Nepal, various parties (particularly the parliamentary left parties) have been trying to make inroads into PW affected areas under the cover of NGO/INGOs after the mass-base of their parties eroded.
Dalits are given anti-Brahmin, anti-Manu identity to such an extent that Dalit identity becomes a sectarian community by itself. In the name of fighting against Brahmin culture, it becomes proponent of Dalit Brahmanism whereby Dalit men and women are discouraged to marry those of other castes, religions or communities lest they loose their Dalit identity. Instead of breaking feudal production relation, cultural relation between Dalits and non-Dalits, NGOs/INGOs sponsor their separation by giving funds to build separate water taps, community halls, and temples in the name of avoiding confrontation with non-Dalits. They also lure them away from economic struggles such as right to own land, right to equal distribution, instead diverting their struggle to sociocultural issues relating to identity politics.
Instead of bringing together different hierarchies of castes within Dalit communities in order to strengthen their unity, they encourage building separate organization for every caste within Dalit community and then creating competition within them to acquire funds. As a result more well off, educated and higher caste within Dalit community (such as Kami Dalits) land up benefiting more from such funds thereby creating more division within the Dalit community. By doing so they also create middle class Dalits who can be groomed as opportunist leaders for perpetuating class rule through parliamentary politics.
Similarly many NGOs/INGOs are found to have collaborated with Hindu fascists to incite communal riots. The Godhara incident in Gujarat, India, in the year 2003, which initiated communal riots between Hindus and Muslims, is one such incident. It was found that many Hindu fascists operating NGOs/INGOs were utilizing Dalit identity crisis by giving them the impression of Hindu victims to fight against Muslim community.
Parliamentary system in SA has in fact reinforced caste system by creating monolithic unity within all castes obscuring class distinctions within them. This it does by creating block vote in order to influence parliamentary caste equations. This is specially encouraged within the backward castes and communities. During conflict periods NGO/INGOs are found to work hand in glove with parliamentary parties against the revolutionary movement particularly targeting Dalits and women. This phenomenon is seen in Nepal too, where left parliamentary parties are trying to recover their lost political ground through NGO/INGO activities.
Lastly, by taking advantage of dogmatist communists who in the name of swearing by class oppression, have been neglecting Dalit oppression within their own organization, NGOs and INGOs and parliamentary parties have been successful in making inroads to such organizations, or areas of their influence. The anti-democratic and authoritarian tendencies that are seen often on dogmatist communists also make it difficult for Dalits to find their voice within the Party. Thus they have been successful in winning away potential communist Dalits or their sympathisers by poisoning their mind with post-modemist, religious and reformist ideology.
All these make it all the more vital for the revolutionary communists to treat Dalit oppression as a strategic and basic issue for the revolutionary movement in this South Asian region.
Communists And Dalit Question
From the inception of Communist Party of Nepal (in 1949), Dalit question has been one of the testing grounds for high caste Brahmin/Chhetri communist cadres to show how truly communist one has become. This they did by daring to enter Dalit house, drinking liquor with them etc. However this symbolic cultural revolt seldom went to extent of marrying Dalits or giving them strategic positions in the Party.
There have been three trends seen in Nepalese communist movement in regards to addressing Dalit question. One is revisionist trend, another is neo-revisionist trend and the last one is revolutionary trend. Revisionist trend treats Dalit issue as purely economic, social issue to be solved through gradual reformation through parliamentary legislature. They tend to see it as more as a caste issue than class issue and hence in the name of giving special emphasis, identity, such Communist Parties covertly or overtly have been allowing Dalit issue to be hijacked by NGO/INGOs sympathetic to their parties, thus leading to right liquidation. This is represented by parliamentary left party, the United Marxist-Leninist. (UML). Another is neo-revisionist trend, which try to sound more revolutionary by treating Dalit issue as class issue but avoid class struggle in the name of wrong timing, thus in due course of time they eventually become revisionist in new form. This is represented by another parliamentary left party, Unity Centre-Mashal. The revolutionary trend treats Dalit oppression as a caste oppression as an important manifestation of class oppression. It thus integrates caste struggle within the larger class struggle. This trend is represented by CPN (Maoist). Thus it not only gives importance to its Dalit front, but also allows it to give specific form of struggle together with special rights in the new people's state. It also emphasizes in militarizing Dalits by encouraging them to join people's army, thus giving Dalits much needed teeth to assert themselves. After all Dalit apartheid is more pertinent form of violence subjugated to Dalits by this feudal society which can be only effectively countered through Protracted People's War (PPW) methodology.
There are many reasons why revolutionary communists should address Dalit question seriously. First foremost reason is their objective situation makes them natural alley to communist ideology. This is especially for revolutionary communists for whom the question of transforming the old world is very important. For the Maoist Parties in South Asia which follows the spirit of Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution (GPCR) 'it is right to rebel' Dalits should become natural ally.
One of the main contradictions of Dalit community, is that they are serving the most socially useful basic services to the society, such as cleaning streets, gutters, toilets, collecting garbage, carcasses, mending, making shoes, bags etc. But they are socially ostracized by the very same society. This leads to self-alienation leading men to drink liquor heavily to release their tension, and women taking to prostitution (Badi community), or surrendering easily to men's lust for meager pay. The other contradiction is that within their own community there exists concept of pollution and purity based on hierarchy of sub-castes thus making them further divided and weak. Negatively this utter alienation can be transformed into rebellion against the old state by making them atheist, universal and instilling proletarian spirit and sense of belonging to the new revolutionary state.
Politically, Dalit movement has a strong anti-feudalist element, which has important play in new democratic movement. Capitalism removes all the religious, ritual shackles including serfdom imposed on Dalits. The more complete the bourgeois revolution under the leadership of Communist Party the more favourable environment will be created for the next social revolution. Since New Democratic revolution is primarily applying dictatorship over reactionary forces and practicing democracy for the oppressed masses, Dalits as the most oppressed amongst all oppressed people would be the closest ally to revolutionary communist. This is because they urgently need the instrument of dictatorship over these reactionary forces that are still practicing the archaic medieval oppression. And they need secular, democratic environment and advanced outlook to rid themselves of old decadent culture which have become part of them in due course of historic subjugation stunting their growth. Also feudal forces have never given value to their work, which has so much social value and economic potentiality. Also being predominantly landless they can be important ally in launching peasant revolution which is in essence New Democratic Revolution.
Dalit movement has a strong anti-imperialist element too, which can reinforce new democratic movement. Imperialism is not allowing national capitalism to grow thus not only robbing Dalit's indigenous livelihood but also preventing them to upgrade and integrate their skill to better organized industries within the country. This includes usurping their natural resources with which they have been producing their products thus rendering them jobless.
One should remember that historically Dalit community represented the first local proletarian force in the ancient Aryan world. Their traditional skill can be easily modernised to serve new industries including war industry in base areas. Because of Dalit's historical working class material base, revolutionary communists must instill proletarian outlook on them. Also New Democratic revolution helps in breaking localised natural economy in which Dalit's skill is being chained thus paving way for urbanization, industrialization and paving way for socialization of the state on a long run. This will create basis for removing caste ostracization within the society.
Negatively Dalit movement obscures class consciousness thus imperialist forces under the cloak of NGO/INGOs are determined to isolate Dalits from the overall class movement. This makes it all the more pertinent for the revolutionary communists to integrate Dalit movement into the class movement. For this to happen the revolutionary Communist Party should practice democratic centralism under a very strong inclusive democratic base. Also it should take care of the form besides essence in terms of making the Party the real vanguard of not only proletariat class but also all oppressed sections of the masses.
It is important to note that revolting against Hindu religion in order to convert into Buddhism, Christianity or any other religion will land Dalits to not only postpone their problem but also land themselves in the midst of religious politics which is regressive in nature. Hence only class struggle integrated with caste struggle and the institutionalization of 'right to rebel' can transform this archaic caste-based backward Dalit community.
Lastly Dalits should also know that the so-called affirmative actions, positive discrimination, preferential treatment, anti-discriminatory laws, reservations etc. which constitutes various forms of special provisions brought out by the old state to alleviate Dalit problem merely becomes lip service in absence of coercive measure to implement them. Also the poor and landless Dalits should know that any measures such as asking for 'separate electorate', 'separate settlement' or 'separate identity' for Dalits or for that matter economic, political, social and cultural upliftment of Dalits within this exploitative production relation will ultimately facilitate elite Dalits to get absorbed into the ruling class state machinery, leaving the majority even poorer.
It is obvious that if communists do not address Dalit issue as an independent integrated issue then the opportunist class within Dalit community may give it identity politics thus encouraging communal, sectarian colour, eventually becoming victim to oppressing caste onslaught and becoming tool in the hands of imperialist and feudal forces.
People's War And Dalit Question
"To be advanced means to do the work of backward."
Mao Tsetung
The specificity of People's War in Nepal is that CPN (Maoist)'s guiding principle, the MLM and Prachanda Path has been successful in mobilizing all oppressed masses of Nepal, particularly the women and the Dalit community. This can be visibly seen. Dalit oppression being most pressing, deep rooted, characterized by absolute poverty, CPN (Maoist) has treated it strategically and has thus mobilized them under the banner of Dalit Liberation Front, Nepal. It has Dalit Department under the Central Committee of the Party to make policy on Dalit issues. CPN (Maoist) has brought important resolutions on this question by giving special right of representation in it's People's States at various levels.
Here it is worth noting the differences between reservation right given to Dalits by parliamentary & quasi-parliamentary system and the special rights given by New Democratic State. Reservation right is always at the end, the product of concession given by enlightened bourgeois class. Hence, Dalit are always under their mercy. Such rights are given to either manufacture bourgeois Dalits if they are not already existent, or to perpetuate bourgeois Dalits if they are already existent. And that too such reservation rights are given only in certain sectors. In contrast special rights are won by Dalits under the strength of class struggle, specific Dalit struggle and institutionalization of right to rebel. These rights are firstly holistic applying to all sectors, secondly, they give special emphasis on poor Dalits who constitute majority amongst Dalits and thirdly, they are being applied together with dictatorship over feudal and imperialist reactionary classes.
Their enthusiastic participation in People's War (PW) can be judged by the fact that the first martyr of PW was eleven years old Dalit student Dil Bahadur Ramtel from Gorkha who along with other students had gone to release the headmaster from the clutches of police on 27 February 1996 and was shot dead. During the last ten years of PW hundreds of Dalits have sacrificed their lives, they include Com. Prem Baraili, the general secretary of the Dalit Mukti Morcha, Com. Chitra Bahadur B. K., Com. Shankar Darlami, Com. Bal Bahadur B. K., and Com. Ram Kumar B. K. all Central Committee members of Dalit Mukti Morcha. At the mass level many Dalits have been targeted by the armed forces of the old feudal state killing, maiming and raping them. In this regard the incident in Jagganath in Bajura district where 19 Dalits were killed in June 2002 is worth mentioning, similarly in Rakam in Surkhet district where 20 households belonging to Dalits were burnt by the security force in 2003 is worth remembering.
Remarkable achievements have been made in Dalit emancipation field. Kalikot where about 40% of the population is constituted by Dalits was once a bastion of Dalit atrocity where they had to perform labour service for the high caste Thakurees, and were not even allowed to come into the compound of high caste houses, are now gaining freedom from forced labour and gaining entry to their houses. According to the report for 2004 in the special region within Middle command (there are all together 7 regions throughout the country) alone 50,800 Dalit membership have been distributed, there are 1775 Dalits in People's Liberation Army, 207 Dalits have been martyred since the initiation of PW in 1996. In this region 17 Dalit Model villages are functioning where about 90% of population has removed Dalit social ostracization. Here 21, 00 [sic] pairs have undertaken inter-caste marriage. Several inter-caste feasting take place time and again to remove untouchable status of Dalits within the community. Similarly, several Dalit marches used to pass though predominantly Brahmin-Chhetri areas to assert Dalit identity and to boost the morale of local Dalits to fight against Dalit discrimination. Likewise, several marches also pass by exhibiting their tools and implements to assert their working class status. Today many areas, districts, and regions under the new state are being headed by Dalits. The head of Kamali-Bheri Autonomous Region belongs to Dalit caste. In the new states in the form of Autonomous Regional/National People's Councils, 20% of the seats are reserved for the Dalits. At the ward level at least one seat is reserved for the Dalit candidate.
"Grasp revolution and promote production" as told by Mao has been consciously applied on Dalits by involving them actively in political, economic, military, social and cultural fields. In economic field their skill has been harnessed in war industry such as making, repairing local made guns, automatic guns, grenade etc., making uniforms for PLA, militia, dresses for cultural teams, bags, rucksack etc and tannery industry. In military field, a big break has come. The old state earlier had prevented them from joining the army, (however, today they are allowed to join them, but mostly as auxiliary work force). PLA and militia force has given them platform to unleash their fury, PW has given teeth to Dalits by giving them revolutionary ideology and ammunition. Today they are able to practice dictatorship over reactionary oppressor class. Indeed they are very excited to join PLA because it is in this field that they are also able to punish the hard-core fascist feudal elements who practice social ostracization of Dalits besides fighting against class enemies. Also in this field relatively fast rate of transformations are taking place. The untouchability issue becomes a crime in PLA and it is here that inter-caste marriage is taking place much faster. Social ostracization is being reduced at two levels, at people's level and reactionary class level. At people's level inter-caste marriage, inter-caste feasts are encouraged, and any contradiction related to caste is solved through unity struggle and transformation. When it comes to dealing with reactionary class, method of first explanation followed by warning and then taking action against untouchability is done through people's court. This involves forceful entry of Dalits to their houses, touching their drinking water taps etc. It should be noted that practice of untouchability has been termed as crime by the Dalit Liberation Front, Nepal. In cultural field, drunkenness associated with Dalit profession has been removed through combined effect of women's and Dalit's front. Similarly importance of hygiene has been imparted in their living environment. Their traditional skill of singing, playing music and dancing has been harnessed for revolutionary cultural field. With their increasing participation in all the instruments of the revolution and their skill finding importance in war industry, Dalits have not only become more confident about themselves but are looked upon in dignified manner within the movement.
Dalit Liberation Front, Nepal is also involved in construction works such as building Shaheed gates (martyred gates), Choutaras (rest places), rebuilding burnt houses (burnt by old state) etc. It is interesting to note that while revisionist left parties are encouraging Dalits to fight for their right to entry in Hindu temples, CPN (Maoist) is encouraging Dalits to seize land belonging to Hindu temples and feudal lords thus shaking the economic foundation of both feudalism and religion. Just to give one example in Chatraganj village in Arghakanchi district in Western Nepal, land belonging to temple has been seized under the leadership of Dalit Liberation Front in the year 2004. Similarly in any land seizings, Dalits have been given preferential treatment in Party sponsored land distribution program. Also several local milk depots who refuse to mix milk procured through Dalit households are either being boycotted or taken actions.
Dalits can proudly claim that the negative image labeled by the feudal forces have been transformed into positive force by the actions of PW.
People's War And Dalit Women Question Above all PW has tremendously transformed the position of Dalit women who had been bearing three types of oppression, class, caste and patriarchal oppression. They had been regular victims of domestic violence perpetuated by their frustrated drunkard husbands. They have also been repeatedly raped by police or higher caste in any dispute involving Dalit community. Their image is relegated to that of loose virtue, sexual commodity which can be used and thrown away by upper class and castes. Often they are forced to abort children born out of wed-lock or to carry the shame of fatherless children. In fact the Badi community who occupy the lowest wrung within Dalit caste, women in that community are the most wretched lot with parents acting as pimps for their daughters to practice prostitution. Since Dalit oppression is deeply related with religion, rituals and social practice, eventually the Dalit women are the ones who have to bear the brunt of its backward culture. They are not only discriminated within their own community but are often abused and attacked for carrying the curse of dead, practicing witchcraft, sorcery etc by higher caste community. This has often resulted in forcing them to eat human faeces. They are severely beaten, sometimes beaten to death by stoning them. Madhesi Dalit women are the worst victims of such practices. Being most backward even amongst the backward community they become victim of child marriage often producing many children than their health can bear.
Today PW has given them new identity, new strength. In fact the historic snatching of arms in as early as 1998 by rural women in remote Kalikot district from the reactionary police force were all Dalit women. Today many heads of people's committees are occupied by Dalit women, they are found to occupy important posts in mass-fronts, as commanders and vice-commanders of PLA. They also occupy important posts in cultural mass front. It is worth noting that Dalit women unlike their men are not trained for their traditional skilled work thus leaving them to only perform reproductive work and maintaining the household. PW has unleashed their hidden potential for productive, cultural and political work.
Some Shortcomings In The Path Of Complete Dalit Liberation It is said that social revolution takes longer than economic revolution; this is specially so when it comes to removing archaic, deep rooted oppression like that of Dalits. However what Dalits have achieved in Nepal within the last 10 years after PW was started, is certainly phenomenal. Today Nepalese Dalits are way ahead of Indian Dalits in the field of breaking caste barrier. There is however certain obstacles which need to be addressed for complete liberation of Dalits. Within the Party, few cases do continue to come whereby Dalit cadres have to face awkward situation when they are not accepted in high caste families belonging to Party cadres, particularly in expanded areas of PW. Similarly in certain parts of Nepal, Dalit Party sympathizers complain that there is hesitation by the high caste Party organisers to mobilize and organize Dalit community. And that it is only during the time of intense repression by the old state that the Party cadres come to seek their shelter. Such shortcomings should be corrected through regular rectification campaign within the Party. Indeed strong voices are often raised by Dalit cadres to take strong action against Dalit atrocity as seriously as sexual offense. At the people's level, social ostracization has been waning due to active intervention of Dalit Liberation Front and due to actions taken by People's court in extreme cases. However in the area of extension of PW, there is still some hesitation to accept non-Maoist Dalits on equal term. Whereas Maoist Dalit cadres can enter high caste houses without any obstruction, but local Dalits from the same village are often discriminated. The challenge for the CPN (Maoist) in general and Dalit Liberation Front in particular is to remove this distinction between Maoist Dalits and non-Maoist Dalits. At some places oppressed nationalities have been found more conservative in accepting Dalits on equal term than the more enlightened Brahmins and Chhetris of the same region. This distinction can be slowly removed with the advancement of PW at higher level and by active intervention of Dalit Liberation Front. The spirit of the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution together with continuous revolution as important starting point greatly helps in reducing such deep seated historic phenomena. However, care also must be taken not to use force on Dalits who are not yet willing to break out their shackle's from their master's house without giving them alternative means of livelihood.
There are certain subjective shortcomings within the Dalit Maoist cadres, although much empowerment has been achieved by them. They have inferiority complex, servility towards higher power and divisive tendency within their own community which is the result of prolonged historical subjugation by the higher caste people. Being part and parcel of the division of labour within the feudal production relation, they eventually acquire some negative qualities being associated with feudal values in terms of worshipping power and relegating powerless. This is manifested by either hiding their identity before the high caste people or asserting power over poorer mass. Most of them lack theoretical knowledge, and hesitate to actively participate in two line struggle. Lacking theoretical depth they often resort to use of force to implement their Dalit programme on non-Dalits thus antagonizing the masses. In order to minimize such tendencies, Dalits need to equip themselves with theoretical knowledge and undertake criticism/self-criticism seriously. Thus subjectively Dalits need to assert themselves more to not only transform themselves but also help in transforming the caste-based society. For this they need to reach policy-making body in all three instruments of revolution, the Party, people's army and the state. It is worth noting that PW being protracted in nature, it allows space to transform these long held shortcomings in Dalits even before winning the central state power.
Conclusion
"The Communist revolution is the most radical rupture with traditional property relations; no wonder that its development involves the most radical rupture with traditional ideas." Karl Marx in Communist Manifesto
It was only after the initiation of PW that the Dalit oppression started becoming a strategic issue. Focusing the old Hindu state as the main obstacle for Dalit's emancipation, the Dalit Liberation Front, Nepal has rightly asserted that without anti-feudal and anti-imperialist people's state, Dalit liberation is a myth. The Dalit front has been able to grasp correctly the dialectical relation between the ideology, organization and the struggle, making Dalit movement holistic. Today they are found in important posts in all the three instruments of revolution i.e. the Party, the people's army and the united front/mass front.
Revolutionary Communists in South Asia should take up Dalit question strategically. This is because today South Asia has become the storm centre of revolution. And subjectively this can be tapped only when they address the most pressing problem in this region. Dalit oppression is one such issue in this region which has deeper political, economical, social and cultural ramification on the people of this region. Maoist Parties in this sub-continent must galvanize Dalit community by considering them as the most reliable basic oppressed group for making New Democratic Revolution a success in this region. For this to happen Dalits should be organised as a separate mass organization just like women and other important mass organisations. Care also must be taken to rely on the most backward caste and class within the Dalit community. Dalits within revolutionary communist movement should consider themselves primarily as communists first and then secondarily as Dalits. In order to minimize casteism within the Party comrades belonging to higher castes should consciously raise Dalit issues and Dalits should raise more class issues.
Revolutionary Communists should realize that in a long run integrating Dalit issue with class issue will ultimately enrich class issue and not dilute it as some dogmatist Communists tend to fear. It is only by applying concrete analysis of concrete situation that Marxism-Leninism-Maoism can be defended, applied and developed and in the context of South Asia, Dalit issue demands such measures. They should also know that by addressing various oppressed issues, particularly Dalit issue strategically, they help in breaking monolithic image of the Party by giving it a universal image, encompassing all tendencies, prevalent in society. It also helps in extending Communist leadership amongst oppressed community thus helping to realize what Lenin had said: "...the Social Democrat's ideal should not be a trade-union secretary, but the tribune to the people, who is able to react to every manifestation of tyranny and oppression, no matter where it appears no matter what stratum or class of the people it affects..." (What is to be done; 1902)
Lastly Communists must oppose not only Dalit oppression but the whole caste system itself, because it blurs or delays class consciousness by preventing sharp class polarization in the society between exploiting and exploited class.
Dalits on their part must readily mobilize themselves under Maoist Parties within South Asia because they urgently need instrument of coercion over reactionary forces and at the same time they need advanced mode of production, secular democratic environment and advanced outlook to come out of their backward culture. Being oppressed by even other oppressed nationalities and regions, they are in urgent need to unite with these communities in-order to jointly combat the exploiting class. For this to happen contradiction between these communities should be solved non-antagonistically. Only Maoist Parties of this region can solve this with their advanced scientific outlook, mass line and revolutionary practice which instill in them truly atheist, collective, universal outlook. Dalits should also know that their complete liberation is linked with the liberation of other oppressed gender, nationality, regions and classes. And all these liberations are in turn finally dependent upon the successful application of dictatorship of proletarian class and the continuous revolution. It is important to note that co-operation and collective empowering of all oppressed communities can be possible only under the leadership of the proletarian class because it has no gender, caste, religion, national identity except the identity of a class which has nothing to lose but it's chains.
Finally, to those oppressed communities who still oppress Dalit community, they should note what Marx had said in the First International: "A people which enslaves others, forges its own chains".