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It was a festive
occasion on October 1, ’99 for the 60-odd PW guerillas gathered at a South
Bastar DVC meeting camp. The celebrations of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the
Chinese revolution at the camp began with a procession, which wound its way from
the ‘A’ sentry post, down to the parade grounds. With banners and placards
prominently displayed, slogans of ‘Long Live Chinese Revolution’, ‘Long Live MLM
Thought’, ‘Down with all kinds of revisionism’, etc., rent the air in Gondi,
Telugu and Hindi. At the parade grounds, standing in military formation, the
camp stood to attention with the red salute, as DVC secretary, Com. Gopanna
hoisted the Red Flag. After the song on the red flag, Com. Gopanna spoke of the
ten comrades who had been martyred since the previous June ’99 DVC meeting.
Then, the entire camp, with guns turned downwards, stood in two minutes silence,
paying homage to their departed comrades. Com. Gopanna, then briefly outlined
the significance of the occasion, and called upon DVC member, Com. Naganna, to
chair the meeting.
This meeting was in
response to a call given by the DKSZC, to take a campaign in the Dandakaranya
Guerilla Zone, through the entire month of October ’99, on the 50th Anniversary
of the Chinese Revolution. For this a DKSZC pamphlet was already in circulation,
explaining the significance of this historic event. Present at the camp was also
DKSZC secretariat member, Com. Latchanna.
Com. Naganna
introduced the subject, linking it with their efforts to introduce cooperatives
and mutual aid teams in South Bastar. He then called upon the speakers, and any
others from amongst the guerillas, to speak on the occasion.
At the start, Com.
Saleem, a guest at the camp, emphasised the historic significance of the Chinese
revolution, specifically the fact that it has given the international communist
movement Mao Tsetung Thought — raising Marxism-Leninism to a higher and more
developed stage. He elaborated Mao’s contribution to enriching Marxism in all
its spheres — philosophy, economics, socialism, military warfare, proletarian
tactics and specifically in continuing the revolution under the dictatorship of
the proletariat.
This was followed by
DVC member, Com. Ganesh, recounting, in Gondi, the entire course of the Chinese
revolution, till its victory in 1949. In this he emphasised how Mao’s line of
protracted people’s war, new democracy, etc., developed in the course of
struggle against the wrong lines of Chen Tu-hsui, Li Li-san etc. He specifically
emphasised the need for applying this experience to the ongoing Indian
revolution.
Then, from the
audience, two speakers presented their views. First, SAC member, Sharada,
recounted the sacrifices of the Long March. She elaborated how this had been
necessitated due to a wrong line in the party, resulting in enormous losses. She
said that it is only through such examples of heroic sacrifice that we can make
the Indian revolution successful. Next, Com. Venkatesh, from a poor tribal
background, now a section commander in the platoon, said that we have to wield
the three magic weapons as effectively as in the Chinese revolution, in order to
achieve victory. He added that 10 to 12 countries should be liberated in order
to effectively counter imperialist encirclement. Further he said that some
revisionists, seeing the defeat of the Chinese revolution, lose hope in the
future of socialism. This, he said, was a wrong approach, emphasising the need
to learn from the causes of the setback.
After this, DVC
member, Com. Janaki, spoke of the period of socialist construction, elaborating
the process of transformation from a new democratic economy into a socialist
economy, and the intense class struggle that accompanied it. She emphasised
Mao’s historic role in discovering the laws of continuing the revolution under
the dictatorship of the proletariat, and the struggle against Liu Shao-chi’s
theory of productive forces.
Finally Com. Gopanna
spoke on the great significance of the GPCR (Great Proletarian Cultural
Revolution). He indicated the extent to which Liu Shao-chi’s people had come to
dominate the party in the 1960-65 period, and Mao’s call to smash the capitalist
roaders through mass mobilisation of the people. After recounting the GPCR, he
emphasised the lessons to be learnt from it — stating that capitalist traits
continue to remain within each of us, within the squads, within society .... and
there is the danger of this asserting itself. The GPCR, he said, has taught us
to be continuously alert against these wrong tendencies and the necessity to
continuously fight it.
Com. Naganna then
wound up the meeting appealing to all to learn from the Chinese revolution. He
said, we face resistance to the implementation of our programmes, not only
because of bourgeois ideas prevalent in society, but also from some fighters
turning revisionist and leaving the movement. He emphasised that the Chinese
revolution has taught us to never reduce our vigilance, and fight continuously
through to the end. The meeting continued through the entire morning and was
interspersed with revolutionary songs in Gondi, Telugu and Hindi.
In the evening, a
cultural programme gave the celebrations a true festive character. Conducted by
DVC member, Com. Sujata, songs, dance, poems, plays, etc., tapped the latent
talent present. Com. Venkatesh presented a poem in Gondi on the Red Flag, the
Communist Party and MLM Thought. Com. Pandru presented in Telugu a poem on dalit
oppression. Com. Hariram presented in Gondi a dialogue between an elder brother
and his cousin-sister, where the former convinces the latter to join the KAMS.
He also presented the theme song of DAKMS recently written in Gondi by CC
member, Com. Bhupati. Com. Anil presented a short play based on a Chinese short
story, ‘Party Levy’, signifying the importance of the village party unit. Com.
Kamalesh from NT and now with the DK platoon, put on a mimickery. Tribal dances
were also presented, some of which had social themes added to them. And to add
to the festivities, the cooking team prepared sweets which were given to the
entire camp in the morning and the evening.
Having launched the
50th Anniversary celebrations on October 1, village-level meetings began
throughout South Bastar and Dandakaranya. An example was the October 7th meeting
in Pidiya. It was attended by over 500 people, mostly DAKMS and KAMS members,
from eight villages. The programme, conducted by the Byramgad squad, began by a
long procession in one part (Tola) of the village. Slogans rent the air on the
Chinese revolution and Mao’s thought. The procession, walking in a disciplined
two rows for an hour, settled on the grounds, also, in systematic rows. The red
flag was hoisted by the young KAMS range committee member, Com. MN., who gave a
short first speech. She said, that on this occasion we must vow to emulate the
Chinese revolution and take the Indian revolution to success. It was truly
astounding to see this teenage girl speaking before a large audience in the
highly patriarchal tribal environment. Next to speak was DAKMS range committee
member, Com. Dg, followed by the village DAKMS president. The latter said that
we must make India socialist as happened in China. We must increase the
cooperative work, and no information should leave the village to the enemy.
After this the squad
members spoke, most of whom were from local tribals. Both Sunita and Madan,
long-time squad members, spoke on the significance of the Chinese revolution and
its application to their local work. Finally, Com. Kesanna, one of the early
initiators of PW in Bastar, explained at length the Chinese revolution and its
significance to the ongoing movement here. The meeting ended with a song on the
NDR given by squad member Chandu and chorus by the local CNM troupe.
After the meeting was
over, the 5-member CNM troupe was briefed by the squad; taking with them the
banners and the DKSZC pamphlets on the Chinese revolution, they departed to the
next village to continue the month-long campaign in their area.
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