Irrespective of the ideology, colour of the flag, all the Central Trade Unions have come together for struggle to protect the rights of the workers. AITUC, CITU, INTUC, BMS, HMS, UTUC and anoher 5 Central trade Unions are part of this united struggle.
On 8th November lakhs of workers belonging to all the above unions will organise Rasta Roko / Satyagraha participated by lakhs of workers.
Let us all be part of this great movement.

7th November is the 94 th Anniversary of the great October Revolution which resulted in formation of the USSR in 1917. It was a revolution which changed the entrie equation in the world. I am enclosing here an article by Com. Prakash Karat, General secretary, CPI(M) on this great event.

Towards Socialism in the 21st Century
By Prakash Karat.

November 7 this year marks the 94th anniversary of the socialist revolution in Russia. It is also 20 years since the Soviet Union was dismantled in 1991 after being in existence for 74 years. The observance of the fall of the Soviet Union two decades, hence, has been different in tone and content from what we saw in the decade of the 1990s. At that time, the disintegration of the Soviet Union was hailed as the final triumph of capitalism. It was claimed that it marked the end of history and that the future of mankind was the permanent era of liberal capitalism.

This time, while observing the completion of the second decade of the end of the Soviet Union, the triumphalism has gone. Those who proclaimed the end of history have been silenced. The focus is now on the future of capitalism and the uncertain times faced by it. Even the bourgeois ideologues have begun referring to Karl Marx and what he wrote about capitalism.

This is happening in the background of the first prolonged capitalist recession of the 21st century. Finance capital-dominated capitalism has led to growing unemployment, homelessness and rising levels of poverty in the most powerful capitalist country – the United States of America. In the debt crisis which has erupted in the Euro zone countries, the European Union is looking to China for help in bailing out the European countries by buying up some of the debt and the bonds floated by the governments.

In the advanced capitalist countries, people are seeing how bankers and financial institutions have been bailed out by the governments – to the tune of billions of dollars while the common people are facing austerity measures and asked to sacrifice.

It is in this background that significant developments are taking place in the sphere of socialism which is the only alternative system to capitalism. In the years immediately after the disintegration of the Soviet Union and the restoration of capitalism in Russia, the debate centered around what happened to the experiment of building socialism in the Soviet Union and what had gone wrong. These were the discussions and debates that dominated among Marxists and activists of the Communist and working class movements in the nineties. But by the turn of the century, attention turned towards what should be the shape and nature of socialism in the 21st century.

From a postmortem of what happened to the socialist experiment in the Soviet Union, the debate has now moved forward on what should be the nature of 21st century socialism. To come to this level, it was necessary to first to come to terms with the building of socialism in the Soviet Union and the type of socialist that existed in the 20th century thereafter. The Soviet model exercised a predominant influence in all the countries where the transition to socialism occurred. This was but natural. After the 1917 revolution, the Soviet Union blazed a new path. In the building of socialism, the Soviet Union made remarkable achievements – a rapid expansion of the productive forces, a universal education and health system, improvement in the material and cultural standards of the people. All these were accomplished facing ruthless efforts at counter revolution and eventually the heroic fight to defeat fascism.

In trying to build socialism in isolation and capitalist encirclement, the Soviet Union had chosen a path where there was great reliance on the State sector, forced collectivization of agriculture, highly centralized planning with no market relations and the constant struggle against external and internal counter revolutionary attacks.

After the first phase of extensive development, this model began to falter. The Ideological Resolution adopted by the 14th Congress of the CPI(M) in 1992 pointed out some of the distortions and defects of the system in the Soviet Union that resulted in bureaucratic centralism, lack of democracy and the merger of the party and the State and so on. Unlike capitalism, the socialist model in the Soviet Union failed to harness the scientific and technological revolution to revolutionalise the productive forces and to create new avenues for social relations to develop.

The East European countries which were liberated from fascism followed the Soviet model and they suffered a greater degree of bureaucratism and alienation of people as a result. China, Vietnam, Korea followed suit. However, China was the first to break out of the Soviet model. By the mid-fifties, Mao Zedong had concluded that China cannot undergo the forced collectivization of agriculture as the Soviet Union had done. From then onwards, China tried to innovate its own path through various ups and downs.

It is by a critical examination of the experiences of socialism in the 20th century that we can arrive at a new and more meaningful concept of socialism at the 21st century. This requires carrying forward some of the original impulses of the October revolution and some of the valuable achievements. At the same time, we have to discard some of the negative aspects and distortions which manifested in the existing socialism of the 20th century.

The debate on 21st century socialism is ongoing and has not reached a finality. This was so, because the socialism in the 21st century will arise not just from theory but also from practice. But we have now some broad contours of what a renovated socialism of the 21st century will look like. Here we can only set out some of them in an outline form.

I. Socialisation of the means of production is a cardinal principle of socialism. This requires that the capitalist forms of ownership of the means of production be replaced by social ownership. In the socialism of the 20th century, basing on the Soviet model, public ownership of the means of production was, by and large, equated with State ownership. State owned and run enterprises was the main form. This led to the heavy hand of the bureaucracy controlling and running the economy. The workers had no say in the running of the enterprises. The growth of bureaucracy and bureaucratic centralism can be attributed to this. We have now been able to understand this. The experience of the other socialist countries like China, Vietnam and Cuba show that what is required is ‘public’ ownership and not just State ownership. Public ownership can be of diverse forms and State ownership is just one of those forms. There can be State owned enterprises or a public sector where there is wider shareholding, or collective enterprises which are owned by the workers and employees, or cooperatives. Unlike the highly centralized system which existed in the Soviet Union, there can be different forms of public ownership and competition amongst them.

II. The existence of commodity production and the market is not the negation of socialism. Unlike in the Soviet Union where small commodity production and retail trade were nationalized, in the period of socialism, commodity exchange and markets should play a role. They should be regulated by the State.

III. Planning : A planned economy is another basic principle of socialism but the nature of planning should not be such as to centralize all economic decision-making and eliminate the market. Further, in order to ensure popular participation in economic decision-making and the running of economic enterprises, planning has to be decentralized.

IV. Socialism and Democracy are not antithetical. On the contrary, democracy is the life blood of socialism. In the capitalist system, democracy becomes ‘formal’ as the control of the bourgeoisie over the means of production and the institutions of the State leads to restricting democracy and the democratic rights of citizens. In the case of socialism, it cannot develop without the active and popular participation of the people at all levels. Because of the historical circumstances in the Soviet Union, the development of democracy under socialism was curbed. It is necessary to have a political system under socialism which ensures popular participation. This requires the creation of popular assemblies at different levels which have powers not only with regard to the administrative sphere but also the economic. A multi-party system under socialism will ensure that there is no scope for a permanent one party rule with all its attendant distortions.

V. The demarcation between the State and the ruling party has to be institutionalized. The socialist State represents the entire people and the party can never be a substitute as it represents only a fraction of the working class and the working people.

Some of the reforms adopted in the socialist countries like China, Vietnam and Cuba have brought about changes in the economic structure and policies which are in line with the renovated concept of socialism. There may be some wrong steps taken in the course of these reforms, but there is no doubt that the changes are essential.

Another area where new thinking and practice with regard to socialism is taking place in Latin America. Since the late 1990s, the Left forces have registered significant advances in Latin America. Today, there are Left-led governments in Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Uruguay. In Brazil and Argentina, there are Centre-Left governments. Peru has elected President with a progressive agenda. It is in Venezuela and Bolivia that major steps have been taken to move away from the neo-liberal framework and put in place alternative policies. Policies which strengthen national sovereignty, promote public ownership in the key sectors of the economy and initiate changes for ensuring popular participation and widening of the democratic process.

In Venezuela, which is rich in oil, the State has taken control of key oilfields and reduced the share of the foreign multinationals; the biggest telecom company and the biggest electricity company have been taken over by the State. In the banking sector too, the public sector has been expanded and the control of foreign banks reduced. Venezuela has set-up community councils which participate in budget making and local planning. They have been given powers to decide on their local administrative and economic matters. Workers’ participation in the State enterprises have been ensured. Bolivia has undertaken a major land reform by which twelve million acres of land have been distributed to the landless indigenous people. Bolivia has also taken steps to nationalise its natural resources like natural gas and oil.

In both countries, there are powerful political mobilizations and mass movements to counter the forces which represent the bourgeois and foreign capital interests. The Movement for Socialism in Bolivia and the Bolivarian revolutionary process in Venezuela are examples.

The movements for socialism in Latin America have debated and put forth their concept of what socialism should be in the 21st century. This is rooted in the history and society of Latin America and has rejected any model to be imported particularly that of the Soviet Union. If they have drawn any experience of building socialism, it is from the Cuban experience.

The contours of the 21st century socialism are just in the process of emerging. The struggles in Latin America show: that it is possible to challenge the globalization-neo-liberal paradigm and work for alternatives; that it is possible to defend national sovereignty and the exercise of democratic power by the people. The success of these efforts will go a long way in projecting socialism as a viable concept – as an alternative to the present crisis-ridden financial capitalism which is destroying the lives of millions of people around the globe.

It is understood that the Post Offices throughout the country will be entrusted with Banking and Insurance services also in future. A blue print has been made by the Department of Posts for this purpose. ‘Besides mail service, post offices in the country have broadly confined their business to offer financial services like savings bank, postal life insurance, pension payments and money transfer services’ stated a postal source. Now it will be extended to real banking and Insurance business. Amendments to the Indian Post Office Act of 1898 will be made for this purpose as per government sources.
The Department of Posts has the widest reach in the country, each and every nook and corner. Due to its below cost services and the undue favour shown to the private courier services by the Government, the profit of the DoP has been dwindling. But Postal Services can not be closed as it is the main communications of the common people of India.
These are welcome proposals.

The Communications Minister Kapil Sibal had released the draft of the National Telecom Policy 2011 a few weeks back and asked for feed backs and opinions from all the stake holders.
The Joint Action Committee of BSNL Unions has submitted certain important points so that those may be included in the policy.
The NTP 2011 is nothing but an assertion and justification of what has been done all these years. It is trying to justify all the misdeeds of the government and the corporates including the action by which the 2G scam resulted. NTP 2011 is intended to favour the private telcos both foreign and domestic.
An Alternate Telecom Policy is the need of the hour. The BSNL Employees Union as per the directive of its CEC meeting held at Jaipur has prepared an ATP and is under finalisation.Some expert opinion also has been taken. This will be presented to the government without any further delay.
Any opinion in the matter can be intimated to the BSNLEU CHQ so that it can also be included, if found suitable.

The latest price hike of petrol has naturally enraged the people. The continued increases of the petroleum products by the oil companies have made the families to tighten their belts. It has become difficult to make both ends meets for the poor and the lower middle class. Along with the petrol price increase, the cost of every commodity has increased, that too without any limit. The Indian business community has understood that the people will suffer any thing and will not react. This is partly true. The Indians have been continuously through centuries been taught to accept sufferings as a virtue. Suffering and sacrifice are the road to salvation and a ticket to heaven. This philosophy has been a tool in the hands of the rich and powerful to keep the poor under control. The neo-liberalists and the politicians in power well understand this philosophy and use its to continue their loot of the poor. It is on this basis that the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has fully justified the hike and given a clear indication that the petrol prices may be hiked again.
The common people has to react against these inhuman attacks on the them by the rich and powerful. Otherwise more drastic attacks are going to come.

After a long time I got the opportunity to meet an old comrade at the time of the Circle Conference of BSNLEU, Gujarat Circle held on 3-4 November. He is nobody else other than Comrade A.C.Shah, the first Circle Secretary of BSNLEU as also the first circle Secretary of AITEU Class III (Namboodiri) Gujarat in the 1990s.
After defeating O.P.Gupta and team in the Bhopal All India Conference in 1991, myself and Comrade Moni Bose came to Delhi and started working at Dada Ghosh Bhawan in the first week of November 1991. It was a very difficult period with OP Gupta and his team making all obstacles in the regular functioning of the Union. Dispute was created where there was no dispute with the connivance of the DOT. We had no other way but to form the AITEU Class III (Namboodiri) different from AITEU. Com.Moni Bose, myself and many comrades toured all over India and met leaders and workers to strengthen the union. After BSNL, we formed BSNL Employees Union. Now the BSNLEU is the biggest and only recognised union amongst Non-executives.
During all these period, Comrade A.C.Shah was the strong pillar of the Gujarat Circle Union as its Circle Secretary. His integrity and commitment helped to get more and more workers in the union. BSNLEU became the first union in Gujarat also.
After vacating Circle Secretary post, he continues as the District Secretry of Himmat Nagar SSA.
Meeting him again was a pleasure. During the Conference I honoured him and put a shawl on his shoulders as a token of respect and honour of the senior comrade.
He greatly appreciated my gesture.
Comrade Shah, we will meet again!

Today, BSNLEU purchased a new ALTO car for the use of its President ie. me. The last CEC held at Jaipur had decided to purchase a new car in place of the old car now being used.
When the new car has been purchased and I was travelling, I thought about the old car I was using for the last ten years. It is a Maruti 800, purchased in October 2001. The small simple car was very convenient, whether for parking or driving. Because both the earlier and the present drivers were maintaining it well, there was not much repair required even after full ten years. But, gradually faults were appearing and our comrades advised for purchase of a new car. I suggested for Maruti 800, but was informed that the production 800 is already stopped. The new avatar of 800 is the ALTO, already proved in the market. It is a small car and the price is also lower.
I like the old car with its memories of full 10 years. I like the new Alto also.
Of course, I thank the union for providing a car for my use.

At last there is some result for the continued agitation of the JAC for the last few years. DOT has issued clear instructions to the ITS officers to give their options. Probably understanding their reluctance to absorb in BSNL, all those who are not giving absorption in BSNL have been asked to report at Delhi by the last date of option ie. 8th November 2011.
It seems that DOT means business, to sort out the issue once for all.
Let us see in the coming days what is going to happen. I think the present move by DOT may be able to sort out the issue.

It seems that the Central Government is bringing policies aftr policies. There are National Telecom Policy, New Manufacturing Policy etc. Now the latest seems to be the New National policy for senior citizens or older persons.
I welcome the decision of the government to bring a draft policy. But what will be inside is to be seen. In the NTP -2011 the draft is completely intended to support the private telcos and MNCs, while the New Manufacturing policy is to help the employers to maximum exploit the workers and deny their trade union rights. What is going to be inside the Senior Citizens Policy have to be seen. If it will help the senior citizens, well and good. Other wise we will have to expose the government even exploiting the old citizens, who have contributed a lot for the future of the nation.

Two days ago, I mentioned about the danger of the petrol price being hiked. Yesterday the oil companies have inreased it as mentioned. Rs. 1.80 has been increased for a litre of petrol. In Delhi the price is now Rs. 68.84, Kolkata Rs. 73.15, Mumbai Rs. 73.81 and Chennai Rs. 72.73
This is the 13th price hike since the petrol was decontrolled in June 2010. 13 hikes in 15 months. And the government is sitting silent or rather happy, since every time thre is an increase, the Central Government get more through taxes etc. How cruel! Benefitting out of the miseries of the people!