Carry Forward the Legacy of Naxalbari by Building Guerrilla Zones and Base Areas!

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) (People̓s War) [CPI(ML) (PW)] [In the process of reorganizing different splinter groups of CPI(ML) in the late ̓70s, the Andhra Pradesh State unit together with a number of groups united and formed CPI(ML) (PW) on 22 April 1980 and has been carrying out armed struggle notably in Andhra Pradesh (AP) and Dandakaranya. Since its formation, the CPI(ML)(PW) has called for the unity of all Maoist revolutionary forces in India under a single centre.] It is May 23, 1967, in a tiny village of Naxalbari area. The landless and poor peasants of Jharugaon village raised their bow and arrows. The attacking police hordes were met with a shower of arrows, spears, stones. An inspector was killed, the rest fled. The Naxalbari armed struggle that was to become a historic turning point in Indian politics, had begun. ...It was, as Charu Mazumdar said, not merely a struggle for land, but a struggle for the seizure of political power, a struggle for liberation. This is what distinguished Naxalbari from all earlier peasant uprisings. The Communist Party of India (CPI), which came into existence at the Kanpur Conference in 1925 and held its first Congres in 1943, had always pursued a class collaborationist line of achieving Indian independence through the Indian National Congress.... The heroic Telengana armed struggle was betrayed by the CPI leadership in 1951 and from then on revisionism ruled the roost for over 15 years.... Throughout 1964 and 1965 Charu Mazumdar (popularly known as CM) did a detailed study of the Chinese revolution and Mao̓s thought. In 1965 the first few of his “Historic Eight Documents” appeared.... The last of CM̓s “Eight Documents” appeared in April 1967, on the eve of the Naxalbari uprising, entitled “It is only by fighting modern revisionism, that the peasant struggle will have to be taken forward.” Throughout 1966 the ground work was prepared for the armed conflict... and the peasant convention held on March 18, 1967, was the signal for the upsurge. Until mid-July the movement advanced like a tornado, and kisan (peasant) committees came up to take possession of the land of the jotdars. Land was seized, food grains confiscated and the armed gangs of the landlords smashed.... Though the Naxalbari uprising was crushed, the Naxalbari line spread to all corners of the country.... The Indian political scene was never the same again.... With Naxalbari, a party of a new type, a genuine Bolshevik Party was born.... [T]he Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) was formed on April 22, 1969... the Eight Congress... on May 15-16, 1970 in Calcutta... elected a 21-member Central Committee... with Com. Charu Mazumdar as the General Secretary. Naxalbari and the CPI(ML) drew a clear line of demarcation between Marxism and revisionism. It put armed struggle onto the agenda of Indian revolution.... Naxalbari took place at a time when not only the Indian masses were getting disillusioned by the twenty years of fake independence, but at a time when the entire world was in turmoil.... In the communist arena, all parties throughout the world were compelled to take positions in the Great Debate, between the CPC and the CPSU, which had been going on since Khrushchev restored capitalism in the USSR in the late 1950s. Naxalbari was a product and a part of this ideological-political ferment taking place throughout the globe. Naxalbari restored the revolutionary essence of Marxism on the Indian soil which had been distorted, corrupted and destroyed by the revisionist semantics of the CPI and the CPI [Marxist] (CPM). On the question of programme... it outlined the stage of revolution as New Democratic, the enemies of revolution as imperialism, feudalism and comprador bureaucrat capital, while the friends of revolution were the workers, peasants, middle-classes and national bourgeoisie — with peasants as the main force and workers as the leading force. This clear cut class analysis was of historic importance.... On the question of tactics it rejected parliamentarianism and called for the boycott of elections. It fought against economism, legalism and reformism, in methods of work and organization. It set about building a strictly underground, Bolshevik-type Party.... The CPI(ML) emerged as a Bolshevik-type Party equipped to lead the class struggle for the seizure of political power. On the question of the path of revolution... It clearly stated that the path to liberation lay in building a peoples̓ army, creating liberated base areas in the countryside and gradually encircling and capturing the cities. It also stated that the democratic revolution is only the first step in the long period of transition to socialism and communism. ...Internationally it pin-pointed the two super-powers, US imperialism and Soviet social imperialism, as the main enemies of the world̓s people, and China as the centre of world revolution. Within the country, it upheld the right of the Indian nationalities to self-determination including secession; it also exposed Indian expansionism of the Indian ruling classes, which, in fact, has been fully supported by the CPI/CPM. Most important of all, in the realm of ideology, it uncompromisingly fought against revisionism and strongly upheld Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought as Marxism of the present day. Particularly, t established Mao̓s Thought as a development of Marxism-Leninism and undertook a massive campaign to popularize it.... Though later, some tactical errors and a massive offensive by the enemy led to a temporary setback, Naxalbari made an indelible impact on the revolutionary movement in the country.... Though the spark of Naxalbari was never extinguished in these three decades of its existence, the post-1972 period witnessed severe setbacks. And with these setbacks there emerged three distinct trends in the Marxist-Leninist movement in India with each seeking to rebuild the movement along its own line.... ...The Andhra Pradesh unit developed into the CPI(ML) (People̓s War).... The Andhra State unit put forward a detailed review of the past errors of the movement while upholding its positive aspects. And it was based on their review that new tasks were formulated by which the movement first revived, and then grew into major force.... With the growing intensity of the movement the government unleashed massive repression on the mass movement and two [areas] were declared a “disturbed area” giving the police draconian powers.... By 1979 the movement had reached a stage, where advance meant, taking on not only the landlords but also the police and paramilitary forces.... But from mid-1985 the scale of repression took a qualitative turn... it was an all-out attack on the party. This massive onslaught called for new political, organizational and military initiatives.... The CPI(ML) (PW) in May 1985 gave a call for a “war of self-defence” to defeat the enemy̓s new offensive... by consistent efforts, by 1988, the initiative was regained.... Anyway, seeing this large mobilization the government once again stepped up repression and by 1991, the second round of suppression was on a scale even larger than in 1985.... In the last three to four years, to varying degrees these tasks have been initiated and the consolidation of the guerrilla zone is in process in NT and DK, while in the three regions of the East Zone, South Telengana and the Nallamala forest region which are at the preparatory stage of guerrilla zone, too, this process is going on. Also while the mass struggles have continued in spite of the repression, the military capabilities have vastly improved.... Today, while commemorating 30 years of Naxalbari, while remembering the thousands of heroic martyrs who have laid down their lives for revolution — it is important to remember Mao̓s three “Magic Weapons” and learn to wield them effectively.