India’s Communists to run 90
candidates in March elections |

_ The Communist Party of India,
which will field about 90 candi-
dates in the March 16-20 elections
for the country’s parliament, has
Issued a 10-point manifesto call-
Ing for support of its candidates.

In its Feb. 13 issue, the CPI
weekly, New Age, publishes in
full the CPI election manifesto,
Whose preamble makes these
points.

The CPI and other democratic
Parties and forces supported the
B0vernment declaration of the
emergency in 1975 because of a

_ 8rave threat, from the right and

foreign pressures, of de-
Stabilization.

But after some initial achieve-
ments the emergency powers
Came to be misused ‘‘against the
working class,’ peasantry, the
Common people and the demo-
Cratic forces ... 5

Concessions to the vested in-
terests went hand-in-hand with
Coercive sterilization, demolition
of dwelling houses of the poor,

and denial of the workers’ long-

Standing rights to a cost-of-living
allowance. Land reforms were
Shelved and the 20-point program
put in the background.

“Because of its bold cham-’

Pionship of the demands of the
masses and opposition to the dis-
turbing negative trends in gov-
emment policy and action, the
Communist Party of India has to
face a vicious slander campaign
... large numbers of CPI leaders
and workers are still in jails...”
Election Manifesto

At stake in the election, the CPI
points out, are the powerful pub-
lic sector built up by ‘‘the unity,
sacrifice and struggle of our mass-
es,” and with the aid of friendly
socialist countries. At stake are
the progressive objectives and
policies of our nation. The inclu-
Sion of socialism in the preample
of the Constitution, the policy of
peace and non-alignment are un-
der attack, it warns. The demo-
Cratic rights of the masses face
serious danger.

On this background the CPI
seeks a mandate to ‘‘defend and
extend democracy, to safeguard
and improve the living conditions
of the people and to create stable
conditions for national economic
development.” ,

Following are mere glimpses of
the 10-point program.

1. To safeguard and extend
democracy — lift the emergency;
remove press censorship and
misuse of government media; set
up popular committees to imple-
ment land reform...

2. For holding the price line —
éxpand public distribution; set
reasonable prices on essentials;
take over wholesale trade in
foodgrains, edible oils, etc. -

3. For economic independence
and revitalization of economy —
plan for developing home market,
rapid industrialization, create
jobs; prevent penetration of
multinationals; nationalize tex-
tile, sugar, jute and foreign drug
industries and all banking busi-
ness; overhaul educational sys-
tem ... stop the brain drain.

4. For the working class —
minimum living wage and guaran-
teed bonus; total ban on layoffs,
lockouts, retrenchments and clo-
sures; full recognition of trade
union rights including the right to
collective bargaining and strike,
and the right to be consulted by
the government in all matters of
legislation regarding the working
class and trade unions.

5. For peasants, agricultural .

labor and tribal people — remun-
erate prices for produce;
adequate credit, extended irriga-
tion facilities and cheap inputs for
agricultural operations; abblition
of bonded labor; living wages to
agricultural workers; restore
alienated tribal lands to their
rightful owners. —

6. For weavers and artisans —
low-cost materials and establish-
ment of cooperatives.

7. For women — effective im-
plementation of all laws providing
for equal status for women; equal

pay for similar work in all
spheres; comprehensive family
welfare program with emphasis
on mother and child care; no
coercive methods of family plan-
ning; provision of maternity
homes and creches at work
centres.

8. For youth, students and
teachers — right to a job; labor
intensive schemes in urban and
rural areas; the vote at 18; demo-
cratic rights, security of service
and better emoluments to
teachers.

- For Muslims, other minorities
and Harijans — effective protec-
tion of the rights of, and an end to
discrimination against, Muslims
and other minorities; punitive ac-
tion against those who commit at-
rocities and practice social boy-
cott of Harijans (untouchables).

10. To defend and strengthen
foreign policy — defend and
strengthen India’s anti-imperialist
positions; organize world opinion
against foreign bases, particularly
Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean;
expand and deepen India’s
friendship and political and
economic relations with the
Soviet Union and the socialist
countries.

For a Decisive Majority

The CPI is carrying on its elec- -

tion battle under the slogan:

‘*Forward to a new Lok Sabha .
"(ower house of parliament) witha

decisive majority for democratic
forces!” :

CPI general secretary C.
Rajeswara Rao, said on Feb. 9,
when the Party’s election man-
ifesto was released that electoral
agreements would be considered
with other parties on their merit.

In Kerala the CPI would like to

continue the progressive united
front. In West Bengal the CPI has
reached agreement with Indira
Gandhi’s Congress Party, but in
some states where anti-
communists dominated the Con-
gress, no discussions had been
held.

PHOTO — TASS

Picture of the earth from 70,000 km. The north-eastern part of

Africa and the south-west of Asia are visible in centre of photo.

Space photography

MOSCOW (TASS)— Two
Soviet cosmonauts, Viktor
Gorbatko and Yuri Glazkov
aboard the orbitting space sta-
tion Salyut-5 are continuing the
program of photographing
Soviet territory south of 52 de-
grees and are also taking pic-
tures of cloud formations and
oceans. In a discussion with a
representative in flight control
center, Soviet journalist Mik-
hail Chernyshov probed the
reasons for the mission.

He found that the lifespan of

a geographical map is short:.

rivers change their beds, lakes
are born and vanish and earth-
quakes restructure the earth’s
face sometimes beyond recog-
nition. The task of updating
maps is large and expensive
and the USSR annually issues
more than 1,000 thematic maps
and hundreds of atlases.
Aerial photography, Cher-
nyshov was told, is the main
means for this updating work
which at present covers more
than four million square kilo-
metres. Space technology and
automatic methods have re-
duced the time span for this up-

dating process by as much as
four to five years. Photos from
space cover a much wider area
than aircraft and enable scien-
tists to single out major objects
and establish a correlation be-
tween them. Data can be ob- -
tained, for example, on the
humidity of soil, ripeness of
crops; solutions to scientific
and engineering problems
found — where to reinforce
roads, where alternate routes ~
should be planned and where
to dig a tunnel. Such solutions
save millions of roubles as do
others concerning land use for
agriculture.

_ Photos of the ocean bottom
show where various mineral
substances are located and
plankton is abundant. Here is
where concentrations of fish
are to be found. ;

Chernyshov writes that
space photos are more and
more in demand by various
Soviet departments and that
the links between this branch
of cosmonautics and the coun-
try’s practical tasks are becom- -
ing more lasting.

Steps toward classless RTA si] BY ALFRED DEWHURST

A Toronto reader writes: ‘‘I am con-
Stantly confused by the seemingly con-
tradictory explanations of the goal
‘classless’ society. What is meant
exactly when Marxism-Leninism states
that the working class will become the
‘Tuling class’?”’

Before commenting on this question
perhaps it would be useful to define
‘“‘class’’, because _ bourgeois
Sociologists and economists, whose
Views are widely circulated, deliber-
ately distort its meaning. .

* * *

Lenin in his work A Great Beginning

_ defines classes as ‘‘large groups of —

People which differ from one another
by the place they occupy in a histori-
cally determined system of social pro-
duction, by their relation (in most cases
fixed and formulated in law) to the
Means of production, by their role in the
social organization of labor, and conse-
quently, by the dimensions and mode of
acquiring the share of the social wealth
of which they dispose.”
*

An examination of capitalist society
from the standpoint of Lenin shows
that there are two basic classes in social
production, i.e. two classes basic to
Capitalist production.

There is. the capitalist class which
owns the main means of production.

Marxism-Leninism in Today’s World

This class is the ruling class in capitalist
society. It lives by exploiting the hired
labor of the workers. The other basic
class is the working class. This class is
the chief productive force of capitalist
society. It is a class deprived of owner-
ship of the means of production and, as
a consequence, is compelled to sell its
labor-power to the capitalists in order
to live.

There exists also in capitalist society
a fairly numerous group made up of
farmers who work their own land, the
various sorts of self-employed, crafts-
men, artisans and small shopkeepers.
These are people who possess small
means of production, but do not live by
exploiting the labor of others. This
group constitutes the petty-bourgeoisie,
i.e., the urban and rural middle class.

In addition, there exists a broad spec-
trum, the intelligentsia, which does not
constitute an independent class. It is a
special group drawn from all classes

which lives by selling its mental power. .

Finally, there is another stratum com-
posed of declassed elements, the lum-
pen proletarians, which constitute the

‘dregs’ of capitalist society.

* *

.The contradictions existing between
the two basic classes in capitalist soci-
ety are antagonistic arising from the
places each occupy in social produc-
tion. One, the working class, creates all
the wealth appropriated by the’other,
the capitalist class. These antagonistic

‘contradictions deepen and become

more acute with the development of
capitalism to its monopoly stage. A

fierce class struggle, sometimes open ~

and sometimes hidden, is a permanent
feature of the relationship between the
workers and capitalists. This struggle
tends, more and more, to embrace
wider sections of the population as the
exploitation and plunder of the mono-
polies bears down with ever-increasing
pressure on the middle strata of the
population.

But, due to the dual character of the
middle class of being at once owners of
private property, and workers, their at-
titude to the class struggle is unstable
and vacillating. As owners of private

property they are attracted to capital- -

ism while, as members of a group that
lives by its own labor, they are attracted

to the side of the workers.

* * *

. Of all the classes in capitalist society,

the only class standing in consistent op-
position to capitalism is the working

class. It is the only class that has the

capability for consistent revolutionary
activity. This is due to the place it oc-
cupies in social production. That is why
the working class is called upon to lead
the revolutionary mass struggle of all
the exploited and discontented against
the rule of capitalism. a

The overthrow of capitalism and the
establishment of a socialist state by the
workers and their democratic. allies,
constitute an ongoing revolutionary
process. Thus by the same criteria out-
lined above, it is the working class that
must lead, that must be given the power
to rule which will be the rule of the vast
majority over the former exploiting
minority. The establishment of
working-class rule is the first step to-
ward a classless society.

* * *

Once the socialist society has been
built, another step will have been taken
toward a classless society. One class
will have already disappeared — the
capitalist class. Only two classes will
remain, two friendly classes — the
workers and farmers. With the further
development of the society to advanced
socialism.and then communism, when
all people occupy a similar place in so-
cial production, then classes will dis-

appear.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—MARCH 4, 1977—Page 9