Mumbai will take some time to become Shanghai! How Much KOLKATA would Take to Become Beijing?
Four deals signed on last day of Patil's China visit!
PM Manmohan Singh to present UPA-II report card tomorrow!
PM, Sonia, top ministers discuss tricky matter of caste in census!
Indian Holocaust My father`s Life and Time- Three Hundred EIGHTY ONE
Palash Biswas
http://indianholocaustmyfatherslifeandtime.blogspot.com/
Four deals signed on last day of Patil's China visit!
President Patil sees great potential for growth in India-China relations!
PM Manmohan Singh to present UPA-II report card tomorrow!
PM, Sonia, top ministers discuss tricky matter of caste in census!
Mumbai will take some time to become Shanghai! How Much KOLKATA would Take to Become Beijing? Just get your Memory REFRESH and set yourself in those days of Thundering Spring!CHINER Chairman Amaader Chairman, the slogan repeatedly echoed countrywide! Just remember 1964, while Communist party of India was DIVIDED and CPIM was constituted on CHINESE line as Marxist branded CPI as Revisionist!
Well, I believe, Mumbai is all set to become Shanghai some day or the other day,provided New Delhi goes Washington Way!But discarding and Excluding the Aboriginal Indigenous MULNIVASI Minority Communities, Bengali Foreigner Zionist Brahamin Comrades practicing UNTOUCHABILITY and sustaining Zionist Manusmriti Rule countrywide, would Never allow Chinese line of development be adopted at any point of time!
Economy of China
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The economy of China may also include or exclude, depending on context or point of view:
- The Economy of the People's Republic of China (mainland China)
- The Economy of the Republic of China (Taiwan)
For the Economic history of China, see:
- Economic history of China (pre-1911)
- Economic history of Modern China
- Economy of the Han Dynasty
- Economy of the Song Dynasty
- Economy of the Ming Dynasty
[edit] See also
 | This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. |
Charu Majumdar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Part of the Politics series on | |
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| Prominent Maoists[show] Mao Zedong Chen Boda · Abimael Guzmán İbrahim Kaypakkaya · Lin Biao Charu Majumdar · Pierre Mulele Huey P. Newton · Prachanda Jiang Qing · José María Sison Yao Wenyuan · Zhang Chunqiao | |
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Charu Majumdar (Bangla: চারু মজুমদার) (1918–1972) was a communist revolutionary from India. He was born in 1918 at Siliguri, West Bengal. His father was a freedom fighter. Majumdar dropped out of college in 1938. In 1946, he joined the Tebhaga movement. He was briefly imprisoned in 1962.
During the mid 1960s Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal organized a leftist faction in Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) in northern Bengal. In 1967, a militant peasant uprising took place in Naxalbari, led by the Majumdar-Sanyal group. This group would later become known as the Naxalites, and eight articles written by him at this time - known as the Historic Eight Documents - has been seen as providing their ideological foundation: arguing that revolution must take the path of armed struggle on the pattern of the Chinese revolution. The same year, Majumdar and Sanyal broke away and formed the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries which in 1969 founded the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)—with Majumdar as its General Secretary.
He was captured from his hide-out on July 16, 1972, and died in police custody at the Alipore Central Jail on July 28, 1972.
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The Chinese Model of Development
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An Emerging Chinese Model. Due to its complicated ancient and modern history, the Chinese way or China model of development has to be sophisticated, ...
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2 Jun 2009 ... Thirty years of sustained and rapid growth has brought China to the threshold of being a major player on the international stage.
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20 Dec 2005 ... As Chinese companies "go global", NGO campaigners are increasingly concerned about Beijing's model of international development. ...
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7 Nov 2008 ... The Chinese model of development, which favors prudence in market opening-up and maintains state regulation, has been increasingly ...
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22 Mar 2005 ... This has awakened the interest of many people in China's development and the dynamic forces behind its progress. In my presentation I will ...
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25 Jul 2007 ... Economic statistics are a turn-off and obscure new statistics even more so, so I don't suppose my story today about China giving up attempt ...
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1 Nov 2006 ... Indeed, the Chinese model has in many ways challenged the conventional ... China's change has been led by a strong and pro-development state ...
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Red surge: Charu Mazumdar's script still holds
Times of India - Bhaskar Roy - 18 hours ago
Written in the backdrop of the 1964 split in the communist movement, worsening food crisis, Charu Mazumdar's documents laid the foundation of what would ...-
India's Maoist Mafia: as corrupt as the government and ...
Examiner.com - 5 hours agoThe ideological underpinnings of the Naxalite-Maoist insurgency in India were cast in stone over 40 years ago by Charu Majumdar. Ideologies do not change, ...
Examiner.com Examining The Myth Of Maoists Concern For Tribal Welfare
CounterCurrents.org - 6 days agoTake just one of those remarks: "Charu Mazumdar was a visionary in much of ..... Whose vision is the Indian state supposed to satisfy, Charu Majumdar's or ...There is no LeT-Naxal link
The Week - Soni Mishra - 22 May 2010
One of Charu Mazumdar's doctrines states that there should not be distribution of land among the landless. He says that once land is given to the landless, ...
The WeekMy Book Is Red
Outlook - 8 May 2010There is also the predictable familiarisation with icons like Mao and Marx and Indian leaders like Charu Mazumdar and Kanai Chatterjee," he says, ...
OutlookMaoisten sprengen Zug aus den Gleisen
Kurier - 3 days agoIhr Vorsitzender Charu Mazumdar wurde 1972 verhaftet und starb in Gefangenschaft. Die radikale Parteijugend organisierte Streiks, die unterdrückt wurden. ...Tagore tales on talkies
Chandigarh Tribune - 7 May 2010Intelligent, sensitive, graceful and serene, Charu was a traditional woman, ... Tarun Majumdar's fine sensibilities come across through Tagore's songs in ...
Chandigarh TribuneFun, frolic and gossip
Calcutta Telegraph - 23 May 2010... Paresh Maity, Chittrovanu Mazumdar, Asim Pal, Niranjan Pradhan, Mona Rai, ... Charu Goel, Nilay Biswas, Pravat Majhi, Sasanka Ghosh and Supriyo Bagh. ...
Calcutta TelegraphCelebrating women's empowerment
Calcutta Telegraph - 19 May 2010... Charu Goel, Nilay Biswas, Pravat Majhi, Sasanka Ghosh and Supriyo Bagh. ... (songs by Debashish Roy and Suchhanda Ghosh; readings by Rabin Majumder and ...
Calcutta TelegraphEntrevista a líder maoísta del movimiento naxalita en la India
kaosenlared.net - 5 May 2010Nuestros amados líderes fundadores y maestros, camaradas Charu Mazumdar y Kanhai Chatterji, encabezaron una incesante lucha ideológica y política durante ...
kaosenlared.net
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President Pratibha Patil Monday said Mumbai will take 'some more time' to become Shanghai, the metropolis in eastern China which is a flourishing commercial hub and is known for its skyscrapers. Prime minister Manmohan Singh will present to the people tomorrow a 'report card' on the performance of his government in the first year of its second tenure.
'We are moving on but then it will take some more time,' Patil, who returned from her six-day state visit to China, told reporters on board Air India One.
She made the statement in reaction to reporters asking about authorities saying many times that India's commercial hub Mumbai would be given a modern touch just like Shanghai, which is described as the 'showpiece' of the world's fastest-growing economy.
Shanghai, which has a population of about 20 million, is a tourist destination renowned for its historical landmarks as well as its modern and ever-expanding Pudong skyline.
The 'Report to the People' was originally scheduled to be unveiled at a function on May 22, exactly a year after the United Progressive Alliance-II returned to power.
However, the function was cancelled in view of the Air India Express plane crash in Mangalore in which 158 people were killed.
The report card will list achievements of various ministries and departments.
The document is likely to chronicle among other things the Women's Reservation Bill which has been passed in the Rajya Sabha.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is keen on securing its passage in the Lok Sabha but the measure has been put on hold in view of the stiff opposition by the Yadav trio - Mulayam Singh Yadav, Lalu Prasad and Sharad Yadav - demanding quota within quota.
The Right to Education (RTE) Act that would directly benefit at least one crore children is also expected to be highlighted in the report.
On the foreign front, the government is expected to refer to the dialogue process with Pakistan and India's efforts to cement ties with almost all its neighbours.
On the economic front, the report is expected to highlight how the government weathered the global financial crisis and the depression and managed to keep an impressive growth rate.
Since 2004, when Congress-led UPA assumed power after ousting the BJP-led NDA, the government has been bringing out annual reports on its performance.
Indian authorities have been claiming that Mumbai, the second largest city on the basis of population at around 14 million, will be another Shanghai, the largest centre of commerce and finance in China.
Patil, who was born in Maharashtra, was earlier a member of the Maharashtra assembly.
Four commercial deals, including by IT majors Wipro and Infosys, were signed at India-China business forum here Friday on the last day of President Pratibha Patil's six-day official visit to China.
Patil addressed the gathering of Indian and Chinese businessmen here and witnessed the signing of one academic and three commercial deals.
The first memorandum of understanding (MoU) was to set up an annual visiting chair in humanities and social sciences at Fudan University in Shanghai. It was signed by India's Ambassador S. Jaishankar on behalf of Indian Council for Cultural Relations and Fudan University president Yuliang Yang.
The agreement was for Fudan university to host a visiting professor during a four-month semester of each academic year. The MoU will be effective from March 2011.
The world's largest independent manufacturer of hydraulic cylinders, Wipro Infrastructure Engineering, signed a deal to set up its first factory in the southern Chinese city of Changzhou. Later, a research and development centre will also be established.
The Indian IT major Infosys plans to construct a Infosys China Education Centre in Jiaxing city, which will train 1,000 fresh engineering graduates and conduct soft skills and leadership training programs.
"The Jiaxing municipal government is of the view that the establishment the educational centre by Infosys would be a major step forward for achieving that Goa"," said a press note on the deal.
A subsidiary of the GMR group, GMR Kamalanga Energy Ltd, inked a contract with Shandong Electric Power Construction Corp to become the turnkey contractor for its 1,050 megawatt coal-based thermal power project in Orissa.
President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Monday said she was convinced that there was great potential for growth in India-China relations, following her meetings with the Chinese leadership during her five-day visit to the People's Republic of China.
During her on board interaction with the media persons during her return journey to New Delhi, President Patil informed that she stressed upon India's aspirations for a permanent seat in a reformed United Nations Security Council (UNSC) while an agreement and two memorandum of understandings (MoUs) were signed during her tour.
"I focused attention on India's aspirations for a permanent seat in a reformed United Nations Security Council. President Hu and Premier Wen were understanding and supportive of India's desire," said President Patil and added that "President Hu expressed China's support to India's candidature for a non-permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council for 2011-12."
"One agreement and two MoUs between India and China were signed in Beijing in the presence of President Hu and myself," said President Patil while adding: "Each of them will aid the process of further enhancing bilateral ties."
She also informed that, in addition, an MoU was concluded between Indian Council of Cultural Relations (ICCR) and Fudan University.
"It should serve as an encouragement for greater contacts that we seek to build through student exhanges and inter-University contacts," President Patil stated.
President Patil also said that the objective of her visit was to increase trust, friendship, and understanding between the two countries.
Describing her interactions with the Chinese leaders as "warm, friendly, and cordial", President Patil said, "The discussions were wide-ranging and fruitful."
"We agreed to expand, deepen and diversify the Strategic and Cooperative Partnership between our countries. We acknowledged that the India-China relationship has gone beyond its purely bilateral aspect and has a global dimension," she said.
President Patil informed that during her discussions with the Chinese leadership she stressed there was enough space in the world for India and China to grow together.
"Naturally, we discussed how our two countries can cooperate with each other as we meet the developmental aspirations of our peoples. I highlighted our desire to work with China in meeting the bilateral trade target of 60 billion US dollars in 2010," she said.
"After my discussions in Beijing, I am confident that we can further increase and diversify our economic interaction with China in a balanced manner. The three business to business MoUs signed during the visit are examples in that regard," said President Patil and added: "We also agreed to increase our cooperation and coordination in multilateral economic forums including in the G-20 and the Doha Round of global trade negotiations."
President Patil said while highlighting the cultural contacts that existed over the millennia between the two ancient civilisations, she suggested: The Governments of our two countries must expand people-to-people contacts in the present day. We can do so through greater cultural exchanges, tourism, educational linkages, and scientific projects."
She said that in this regard the Indian-style Buddhist temple inaugurated at Luoyang had special significance.
"I hope the temple will encourage young people from our countries to step up contacts between us in the present age. The Tagore bust, I unveiled in Shanghai, should be an inspiration for joint activities, as we commence marking his 150th birth anniversary," President Patil said.
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Four deals signed on last day of Patil's China visitEconomic Times - 1 hour ago SHANGHAI: Four commercial deals, including by IT majors Wipro and Infosys, were signed at India-China business forum here Friday on the last day of President Pratibha Patil's six-day official visit to China. Patil addressed the gathering of Indian and ... President Patil sees great potential for growth in India-China relationsSify - 1 hour ago President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Monday said she was convinced that there was great potential for growth in India-China relations, following her meetings with the Chinese leadership during her five-day visit to the People's Republic of China. ... Mumbai will take some time to become Shanghai: PatilSify - 2 hours ago President Pratibha Patil Monday said Mumbai will take 'some more time' to become Shanghai, the metropolis in eastern China which is a flourishing commercial hub and is known for its skyscrapers. 'We are moving on but then it will take some more time,' ... China supportive of India's UN aspirations: Pratibha PatilEconomic Times - 5 hours ago NEW DELHI: China 'understands' and 'supports' India's desire for a permanent seat in a reformed United Nations Security Council, President Pratibha Patil said Monday as she returned from her state visit to that country. "I focused attention on India's ... Patil flies back after high-profile visit to ChinaThe Hindu - 9 hours ago PTI PTI President Pratibha Patil waves to her Chinese fans at the Shanghai Expo 2010 during her visit to China. Photo: PTI President Pratibha Patil today concluded her six-day state visit to China, viewed here as one of the most high-profile trips by ... President says China visit helped increase trust, understandingNetIndian - 1 hour ago President Pratibha Patil today described her six-day visit to China, which ended today, as successful and said it had accomplished the goals of increasing trust, friendship and understanding between the two countries. In a statement on her departure ... Mission accomplished, says president, after 'fruitful' talks with ChinaDaily News & Analysis - 5 hours ago PTI Citing the support of the Chinese leaders on several crucial issues, including India's bid for membership of the UN Security Council and correcting the trade imbalance now heavily in favour of China, Patil said that Sino-Indian relationship has ... Ready for a 'new starting point,' Chinese leaders tell PratibhaThe Hindu - - May 28, 2010 PTI President Pratibha Patil with Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping during a meeting in Beijing on Friday. Top Chinese leaders told visiting President Pratibha Patil on Friday they were ready for "a new starting point" to improve relations between the ... 'Enough space in world for India, China to fulfil their goals and prosper'The Hindu - - May 26, 2010 WARM WELCOME:President Pratibha Patil being traditionally welcomed by a Chinese student on her arrival at the Beijing International Airport on Wednesday. On board Air India-1: President Pratibha Patil touched down in Beijing on Wednesday to a simple ... Pratibha seeks China backing for permanent UNSC seatThe Hindu - - May 27, 2010 BEIJING: In a first for a visiting head of state, President Pratibha Patil on Thursday sought China's backing for a permanent United Nations Security Council (UNSC) seat for India. Ms. Patil raised India's Security Council ambitions in her talks with ... | Timeline of articles Number of sources covering this story
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Maoists to use 19 tonnes explosives before 2010 expiry, warns expert
RAIPUR: The country should be prepared for more deadly blasts by Maoists as the guerrillas are planning to use some 19 tonnes of explosives before they expire by the end of this year, a senior de-mining expert of the Chhattisgarh Police claimed Monday.
In February 2006, Maoists had stormed into an explosives depot of public enterprise NMDC Ltd. at Bailadila hills in Dantewada district and walked away with 20 tonnes of high-powered explosives after killing eight Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel, guarding the stock meant to blast rocks for mining iron ore.
"We have definite information that guerrillas have used nearly one tonne of the NMDC explosives loot so far and they are in a hurry to use the remaining 19 tonnes before they expire by the fag end of 2010," the expert told IANS requesting anonymity.
The officer advised that policemen and paramilitary troopers deployed in the Maoist strongholds in states hit-by leftist insurgency must carry sufficient number of de-mining experts as well as sniffer dogs while going on combing operations, particularly in jungles and hilly stretches.
A de-mining expert clears the stretches of landmines.
The officer, who is based in Chhattisgarh's Bastar region -- the nerve-centre of Maoist militancy, claimed that NMDC explosives were used by Maoists for all major attacks in recent months, including the attack by rebels April 6 in Dantewada district in which 76 security personnel were killed.
PM, Sonia, top ministers discuss tricky matter of caste in census
With the issue of inclusion of caste in the census dividing the party and the government, the Congress leadership, including prime minister Manmohan Singh and party president Sonia Gandhi, discussed the tricky matter on Friday.The party's core group met for nearly 100 minutes on the issue on a day when a train accident allegedly caused by Maoists in West Bengal raised fresh alarm over the growing threat posed by the extremists.
Apart from Singh and Gandhi, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, home minister P Chidambaram and defence minister AK Antony attended the meeting.
The meeting was held a day after minister of state for home Ajay Maken created a flutter in the party by writing a letter to young MPs to oppose the inclusion of caste in the census.
There has been no indication so far of any meeting of the Congress Working Committee being planned to discuss the
inclusion of caste in census enumeration or to discuss the Maoist threat.
Meanwhile, a Congress source said there was a need to define the party's stand on the issue of caste in the census in the wake of divergent views being expressed by leaders.
While Union law minister M Veerappa Moily, a backward class
politician from Karnataka, has openly supported the inclusion of
caste in the census, his ministerial colleague Maken, who has an upper-caste background, has strongly opposed the idea.
A section of the party has been charging that certain senior leaders have been instrumental in ensuring that the issue gets centre stage to help them further their own political agendas.
Congress leader bats for inclusion of caste in census exercise
Allahabad: Pitching for inclusion of caste in the ongoing census, a senior Congress leader today said such a move would help understand the status of various social groups in society.Such an exercise could even pinpoint disparities in upper castes, Congress leader and CWC member Anil Shastri told PTI.
"It will help us understand the status of various social groups in society," he said adding the issue is of national importance and essential for heralding social change.
Shastri said a number of people were opposing the move on the assumption that it would divide society.
"They failed to recognise that our society is already divided on religion and caste lines," the Congress leader said.
The Samajwadi Party, the RJD and the JD-U have been strongly demanding inclusion of caste in the census exercise.
Sukhbir Singh Badal writes to PM, seeks protection of '84 riots witnesses
Punjab's deputy chief minister and Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal today urged prime minister Manmohan Singh to provide security to all witnesses in Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler cases in the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.In a letter to the PM which was released to the media here, he also demanded immediate constitution of Special Investigation Team (SIT) on the pattern of Gujarat riot cases, to re-probe Tytler cases besides day-to-day trial in all the anti Sikh riots cases.
He expressed satisfaction over framing of charges by a Delhi court yesterday against Sajjan Kumar and claimed that witnesses who stood their ground and dared to depose against powerful and mighty for 25 long years, were "expressing fear that they may be physically harmed or even eliminated, to scuttle conviction of Sajjan Kumar".
Badal junior pointed out that security of witnesses was more important citing if witnesses in Best Bakery case and 26/11 case could be provided security fearing harm to their life, "why government is mum on in providing security to witnesses in 25-year-old anti-Sikh riots case".
China inflation to peak in summer: Report
30 May 2010, 2202 hrs IST,REUTERS |
Ha Jiming, chief economist at China International Capital Corp, forecast China's consumer price index would increase 3.2 percent in May from a year earlier, the Xinhua news agency said on Sunday.
CPI annual growth rate could peak at 4 percent in June and July, Ha told an investor conference in Beijing.
The CICC has cut its estimate for China's economic growth this year to 9.5 percent from 10.5 percent, Ha said.
But interest rate hikes would be unlikely this year as growth in consumer prices was expected to fall in the second half, he said, according to Xinhua.
Chinese vegetable and grains prices have been strong in recent months, propped by a cold spring and drought in the southwest. High corn prices could attract the largest volume of imports since 2001, traders have said.
Speculative funds looking for new investment channels as the stock market falls and tightening measures hit the property markets are partly responsible for the inflation expectations, Peng Sen, deputy director of the National Development and Reform Commission, told Xinhua in a separate interview on Sunday.
The government last week announced measures, including monitoring prices, punishing "irregular" trading activities, and increasing supply to agricultural markets, to cool prices.
Peng reiterated the government inflation target of 3 percent for this year, saying that even a surge in prices of certain products like garlic or mung beans would have a limited impact on overall inflation.
Food prices, including meat, account for one third of China's CPI basket.
Ford to recall 236,643 sedans in China
31 May 2010, 1828 hrs IST,REUTERSBEIJING: Ford Motor Co's three-way tie-up with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co and Japan's Mazda Motor has applied to recall 236,643 sedans, China's quality control office said on Monday.
The joint venture is recalling Focus cars made between Aug. 18 2008 and May 28 2010 due to engine failure under certain circumstances, according to the notice on the website of the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (http://www.aqsiq.gov.cn).
The Chongqing-based joint venture makes Fiesta, Focus, Mondeo and other sedan models in China.
Capital formation vs input subsidiesThe Hindu - May 21, 2010 ... rues Ramesh Chand in one of the essays included in 'Agrarian Crisis in India,' edited by D. Narasimha Reddy and Srijit Mishra (www.oup.com). ... "Seeing us, others will follow"The Hindu - May 27, 2010 More so in six of its districts where lakhs have been ruined by the agrarian crisis. Where even the State government says three lakh families were unable to ... UPA-2: Time to change courseRediff - May 21, 2010 This comes on top of a prolonged agrarian crisis, a 10-kg decrease in monthly per-capita foodgrain consumption over three decades, and the suicides of ... A mixed anniversary in India The News International Sorry state of rainfed agricultureThe Hindu - May 10, 2010 The agrarian crisis (a major challenge for the country since the early 1990s) and rainfed agriculture are closely linked. The high cost of cultivation, ... The Coupling of Climate Change and Urbanization in India with a Focus on the ...OnEarth Magazine - - May 11, 2010 Glacial retreat, greater monsoon variability, endemic drought, flooding and resource conflict will magnify the ongoing agrarian crisis in rural India and ... 'India Growth Story Is Broad-Based And Localised'VC Circle - - May 24, 2010 India is one of the major agrarian economies of the world with a growing population and rising per capita income that have put significant pressure on its ... Indian Shares End Higher; Autos Rise On Hopes Of Strong DemandWall Street Journal - May 13, 2010 Dedhia said the next big domestic trigger for Indian equities would be the monsoon. "India being an agrarian economy, monsoon does play a very big role. ... 'Gold, silver will gain; base metals to weaken'Commodity Online - May 20, 2010 -A good monsoon augurs well for the growth of the physical commodities sector in India since the country is still predominantly an agrarian economy. ... UPA-2's litmus test at year oneThe Daily Star - - May 22, 2010 This follows a prolonged agrarian crisis, a 10kg decrease in monthly per-capita food grains consumption over three decades, and the suicides of 200000 ... Fresh money inflow is a possibilityHindu Business Line - - May 16, 2010 On top of robust March Index of Industrial Production growth numbers, prospect of a better than last year's drought-affected agrarian economic performance ... |
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General Motors may drive in Nano rival with Chinese help
31 May 2010, 0326 hrs IST,Nandini Sen Gupta,ET Bureau- New Delhi
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"We will look at every market segment and I wouldn't rule out anything," said Timothy E Lee, president, GM International Operations, when asked about competing in India's new entry-level segment.
The US carmaker believes its joint venture with Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation (SAIC), one of the top three automakers in China, will help it introduce a car to compete with the world's cheapest car at Rs 1 lakh.
GM's small cars already in India such as Chevrolet Beat, Spark and Aveo are designed in South Korea, at erstwhile Daewoo Motors.
"When you harvest from your partnerships the collective wisdom of other cultures, it's incredible what you can do," Mr Lee said.
This marks a u-turn in the US carmaker's earlier stand when its global officials indicated that they did not think the Nano segment was viable for the company.
But now GM bets on its China connection to break new grounds. SAIC has already acquired 50% stake in GM India.
The first products from General Motors' three-way joint venture in China with Wuling and SAIC will be introduced in India end 2011 when it will roll out two minivans — Wuling Rongguang and Sunshine. These will be built at GM India's Talegaon and Halol plants.
"The portfolio of GM, SAIC and SGMW will be looked at for India," said Mr Lee.
GM India now has access to the complete portfolio of GM, SAIC as well as the SAIC-GM-Wuling Automobile Company combine to be introduced in the country, said Mr Lee.
This will include several cost-effective products in both passenger and commercial vehicle space from the SAIC-Wuling alliance.
Meanwhile, the Chinese carmakers are happy coming to India with a GM tag.
"We are going to position ourselves as a GM partner in India to create opportunities for everyone," said Zhu Xiang Jun, executive director at SAIC Motor Corporation.
"These models are not Chinese models but GM's global models which will be taken to India to create jobs and opportunities," added Mr Jun.
While GM gives them access to a name that ruled the global automobile market till recently and an established network in India, an equally compelling reason might be India's sensitivity to Chinese companies.
New Delhi recently told Indian telcos not to place orders with Chinese equipment makers Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp due to security concerns.
GM officials, however, say that there has been no indication that Indian authorities have a problem with SAIC buying 50% stake in GM India.
"This sector has automatic approval and its not sensitive like telecom," said P Balendran, spokesman of GM India. "We have had a detailed discussion with Indian officials and they don't have a problem," he added.
He said that the architecture for the Wuling products will come from China but they will be made in Halol and Talegaon.
Apart from the Wuling minivans, GM's Chinese alliance could spawn other products for India including the recently launched Chevy Sail, touted as its first car totally developed at Shanghai GM.
GM officials say the Chinese alliance will help GM India emerge as a volume player in this market quickly.
Auto
Duration: 01:25
Posted: 27 May, 2010, 1928 hrs IST
India to be among top ten markets for GM by 2011
30 May 2010, 0019 hrs IST,PTI"I think by 2011, India should be among the top ten markets for General Motors globally... and I would be really surprised, if it doesn't happen...," General Motors(GM) China Group President and Managing Director Kevin E Wale said here.
As per the information available, in 2009, the total sales of the company in India stood at 69,579 units. However, with the launch of its global small car Beat it expects to achieve a sale of 100,000 units in the current year.
GM had launched Beat in the Indian market earlier this year during the Auto Expo and it is now the highest selling vehicle from its portfolio in the country.
Currently with the sale of over 2 million units, US is the largest market for the Detriot-based company followed by China at 1.8 million units.
The company expects that as the Indian automobile market is growing at a double digit rate, the country may soon enter into top ten markets globally by replacing Australia, which is at the 10th place with a sale of 1.2 lakh units.
Indian automobile industry has reported a growth of 26.41 per cent growth in sales in 2009-10 riding on the government's stimulus packages that perked demand, making it the second fastest growing market in the world after China.
Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) had forecast 10-14 per cent growth for the industry during 2010-11.
According to the information provided by SIAM, the total Indian market for passenger cars in 2009-10 rose by over 25 per cent to 1.5 million units from 1.2 million units.
General Motors is operating in India for the last 13 years and it sell cars in the country under the Chevrolet brand, which was introduced in 2003.
Granting new bank licences: RBI needs fine balancing act
31 May 2010, 0616 hrs IST,
The finance minister's Budget announcement on issuing new bank licences has set the financial sector ablaze with interest. Many organisations are deeply interested in a bank licence. Industrial houses in financial services with non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) see this as an opportunity to fully penetrate the segment, focused NBFCs see this as a way to obtain a stable liability source, and others — professionals with backing of financial institutions — see this as a way to enter an exciting growth area and capture value . How should the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) consider whom to grant licences? The context today is very different from when UTI Bank — now Axis Bank — obtained a bank licence in 1994. At that time, there was a need to increase the efficiency of the domestic banking sector by creating more competition. Since then, the level of efficiency of the sector has improved dramatically. Whether you look at the extent of technology adoption, new segments served — retail advances have grown from 10% to 20% of total advances — growth of return on assets from 0.4% to over 1%, reduction in non-performing assets from 6% to less than 1%, or fall in cost-income ratio from 67% to 44%. Today, the need for new banks cannot be justified on the grounds of more competition. However, the country continues to lag in respect of financial-deepening ratios, M2 as per cent of GDP at 28%, or branches per-million inhabitants at 56,000, and even bank assets as a per cent of GDP at 95, compared to some mid-income countries. There is much literature supporting the positive link between financial deepening and growth and, in this round, the RBI might use new banks as an instrument to facilitate financial deepening. Specifically, the RBI will need to address the following questions: how many licences should it issue, what should be the minimum capital requirement, whether NBFCs should be allowed to convert into banks and whether industrial houses should be considered for grant of bank licences. Thereafter, it must consider the criterion by which it selects between applicants. Here's my take. | |||||||
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The Naxalite Insurgency In India 
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
While many western observers would point to violent secessionism in Kashmir as the direst threat to Indian national security, the government of India has identified the Maoist-inspired Naxalite insurgency as its most significant security challenge. A vast swath of India, from West Bengal in the northeast to Andhra Pradesh in the south, has come under the influence of the Naxalites -- the "Red Taliban" as they have been called. In recent years the Indian government has stepped-up its counter-insurgency initiatives in an attempt to contain and rollback the movement's influence. In fact, New Delhi has even redeployed security forces from Kashmir to central and eastern India in response to this development.
Who are the Naxalites?
Taking its name from the 1967 peasant revolt in the West Bengal village of Naxalbari, the Naxalite movement is a left-wing guerrilla force that is seeking to overthrow the Indian government. Since the time of the Naxalbari revolt the movement has taken on various forms and its support has fluctuated from one decade to the next. Its most recent manifestation is the result of a 2004 decision by two Maoist groupings, the People's War Group and the Maoist Communist Centre, to join forces to form the Communist Party of India (Maoist). This post-2004 incarnation of the Naxalite insurgency has been one of the most sustained -- and perhaps the most lethal.
While India's other communist parties participate in electoral politics, the CPI(M) follows Mao's dictum that power flows from the barrel of a gun. The CPI(M) has declared, and government officials have acknowledged, that the Naxalites are conducting an insurgency in accordance with Mao's "protracted people's war" strategy [1]. The Naxalites view Indian society through the lens of Mao's theory of the developing world's rural poor as a pivotal revolutionary force in the class struggle. They have sought to build support among the region's lower castes, adivasis (tribal groups), and other sectors of the peasantry by establishing insurgent strongholds ("liberated zones") in districts where government authority is weak. The Party's cadres expand their influence outwards from these bases, and in doing so, they broaden their popular base through political mobilization. The targets of the Naxal class struggle are the region's upper castes, "feudal" landlords, commercial interests, and the security forces.
India's Maoist Redux
Naxalism presents a seeming paradox: the country with the second highest growth rates of the major economies finds itself in the throes of a largely agrarian rebellion inspired by an ideology that has lost its lustre in much of the world. In 2006 India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, pronounced Naxalism to be "the single biggest internal security challenge" India has ever faced [2].
Why have the Naxalites come to loom so large as a security challenge? First, a large area of the country has fallen under varying degrees of CPI(M) influence. According to one estimate, approximately 40% of India's territory is under some form of Maoist influence [3]. Just as the Maoist Sendero Luminoso ("Shining Path") of Peru emerged in the poor, mostly indigenous city of Ayacucho and spread outward to other areas of the Andean sierra, so the Naxalite centre-of-gravity is an area of the country that comprises several of India's most underdeveloped states -- a "Red Corridor" that includes Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, and Orissa. Although establishing concrete numbers of supporters is a challenge, the Research and Analysis Wing, India's intelligence service, estimates that CPI(M) armed cadres number about 20,000 [4]. Tenuous government control, the destruction of public infrastructure, the sabotage of industrial interests, and ambushes of state security forces all pose a significant challenge to internal stability in areas of eastern and central India. A study published this month counted the Maoist insurgency as an obstacle in the way of India's emergence as a world power [3].
Government Responses
In November 2009 the Indian government announced a plan to bolster the anti-Naxalite efforts of affected states with a national counter-insurgency strategy. The strategy, which the Indian prime minister characterized as an approach that will "walk on two legs," combines a campaign to hold and clear Naxal strongholds with development projects to address what Singh acknowledged as "the sense of deprivation and alienation" in the region [2]. Known unofficially as Operation "Green Hunt," New Delhi forecasts that the campaign to re-assert government authority and win back the support of affected sectors of the population in the Red Corridor will take two years.
The spread of violence has spurred the growth of non-state anti-Naxal groupings. The most notable among them is the Salwa Judum in the state of Chhattisgarh. Like the Naxalites, these groups seek to recruit from the state's tribal groups, leaving civilians caught between competing groups on the left and the right. State officials in Chhattisgarh have actively supported the use of the Salwa Judum to counter the Naxalites, an approach that is not without controversy and as a result has generated criticism from India's Supreme Court and the central government in Delhi [5].
Foreign Support
It is difficult to establish the degree and scope of external involvement in the Naxalite insurgency. Nepalese and Filipino Maoist outfits have long been suspected of providing rhetorical and material support to the CPI(M). Following central government claims of possible arms transfers from Nepal, the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist) publicly admitted to having ties with the CPI(M) but did not detail its involvement [6]. Similarly, Indian and Filipino intelligence services allege that the Communist Party of the Philippines, a faction that is waging its own guerrilla war in that country, has established links with the Naxalites [7]. New Delhi also contends that it has evidence that remnants of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are providing training to CPI(M) cadres in India [8].
Looking forward
New Delhi confronts a major challenge in the Red Corridor. Working in conjunction with the governments of affected states, the central government faces the task of winning hearts and minds in geographically isolated and economically dislocated regions of the country. It must do so even as the Naxalites work to mobilize the masses, escalate their class war, and broaden the Maoist footprint on the subcontinent. While the chances of a Naxalite seizure of power appear remote, the insurgency will continue to hold back much-needed development. It remains to be seen how effective the current counter-insurgency strategy is at strengthening the writ of the state and extending development in the region.
This article was published by Geopoliticalmonitor.com and reprinted with permission.
End Notes
[1] South Asia Terrorism Portal. "Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist)." http://www.satp.org/satporgtp/countries/india/terroristoutfits/CPI_M.htm; Pillai, Gopal K. "Left-Wing Extremism in India." Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses. http://www.idsa.in/event/EPLS/Left-WingExtremisminIndia.
[2] Prime Minister's Office. "PM's speech at the Chief Minister's [sic] meet on Naxalism." April 13, 2006. http://pmindia.nic.in/speech/content.asp?id=311.
[3] Mahadevan, Prem. Rising India: Challenges and Constraints. Zurich, Switzerland: Center for Security Studies, 2010. http://www.isn.ethz.ch/isn/Current-Affairs/Policy-Briefs/Detail/?id=116169.
[4] Malhotra (Ret'd), Col. Chander. "Red Terror." South Asia Defence & Strategic Review. February 10, 2010. http://www.defstrat.com/exec/frmArticleDetails.aspx?DID=226.
[5] Press Trust of India. Hindustan Times. "Govt disapproves of 'non-state' law enforcers like Salwa Judum." December 17, 2008. http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/newdelhi/Govt-disapproves-of-non-state-law-enforcers/Article1-358723.aspx; Sinha, Bhadra. Hindustan Times. "SC against tribal force fighting Naxalites." February 6, 2009. http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/newdelhi/SC-against-tribal-force-fighting-Naxalites/Article1-375344.aspx.
[6] The Hindu. "Naxals get arms from abroad: Chidambaram." October 24, 2009. http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article38017.ece; Deccan Herald. "Nepali Maoists confirm support to Indian Naxals." November 3, 2009. http://www.deccanherald.com/content/34111/nepali-maoists-confirm-support-indian.html.
[7] Mandal, Caesar. Times of India. "Filipino insurgents in league with Maoists." April 12, 2010. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Filipino-insurgents-in-league-with-Maoists/articleshow/5785852.cms.
[8] Srivastava, Siddarth. Asia Times Online. "India probes Maoists' foreign links." November 11, 2009. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KK11Df03.html.
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Communist Party of India (Marxist)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Communist Party of India (Marxist) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Secretary-General | Prakash Karat |
| Leader in Lok Sabha | Basudev Acharia[1] |
| Leader in Rajya Sabha | Sitaram Yechuri[1] |
| Founded | 1964 |
| Headquarters | New Delhi, India |
| Newspaper | People's Democracy (English), Lok Lehar (Hindi) |
| Student wing | Students Federation of India |
| Youth wing | Democratic Youth Federation of India |
| Women's wing | All India Democratic Womens Association |
| Labour wing | Centre of Indian Trade Unions |
| Peasant's wing | All India Kisan Sabha |
| Ideology | Communism Marxism-Leninism |
| ECI Status | Recognised Party |
| Alliance | Left Front |
| Seats in Lok Sabha | 16 |
| Seats in Rajya Sabha | 14 |
| Election symbol | |
 | |
| Website | |
| Official Website | |
| Politics of India Political parties Elections | |
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated CPI(M) or CPM) is a political party in India. It has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. As of 2010, CPI(M) is leading the state governments in these three states. The party emerged out of a split from the Communist Party of India in 1964. CPI(M) claimed to have 982,155 members in 2007.[2]
History
Split in the Communist Party of India and formation of CPI(M)
CPI(M) emerged out of a division within the Communist Party of India (CPI). The undivided CPI had experienced a period of upsurge during the years following the Second World War. The CPI led armed rebellions in Telangana, Tripura and Kerala. However, it soon abandoned the strategy of armed revolution in favour of working within the parliamentary framework. In 1950 B.T. Ranadive, the CPI general secretary and a prominent representative of the radical sector inside the party, was demoted on grounds of left-adventurism.
Under the government of the Indian National Congress party of Jawaharlal Nehru, independent India developed close relations and a strategic partnership with the Soviet Union. The Soviet government consequently wished that the Indian communists moderate their criticism towards the Indian state and assume a supportive role towards the Congress governments. However, large sections of the CPI claimed that India remained a semi-feudal country, and that class struggle could not be put on the back-burner for the sake of guarding the interests of Soviet trade and foreign policy. Moreover, the Indian National Congress appeared to be generally hostile towards political competition. In 1959 the central government intervened to impose President's Rule in Kerala, toppling the E.M.S. Namboodiripad cabinet (the sole non-Congress state government in the country).
Simultaneously, the relations between the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Communist Party of China soured. In the early 1960s the Communist Party of China began criticising the CPSU of turning revisionist and of deviating from the path of Marxism-Leninism. Sino-Indian relations also deteriorated, as border disputes between the two countries erupted into the Indo-China war of 1962.
During the war, a faction of the Indian Communists backed the position of the Indian government, while other sections of the party claimed that it was a conflict between a socialist and a capitalist state. Hundreds of CPI leaders, accused of being pro-Chinese were imprisoned. Some of the nationalists were also imprisoned, as they used to express their opinion only in party forums, and CPI's official stand was pro-China. Thousands of Communists were detained without trial.[3] Those targeted by the state accused the pro-Soviet leadership of the CPI of conspiring with the Congress government to ensure their own hegemony over the control of the party.
In 1962 Ajoy Ghosh, the general secretary of the CPI, died. After his death, S.A. Dange was installed as the party chairman (a new position) and E.M.S. Namboodiripad as general secretary. This was an attempt to achieve a compromise. Dange represented the rightist faction of the party and E.M.S. the leftist faction.
At a CPI National Council meeting held on April 11, 1964, 32 Council members walked out in protest, accusing Dange and his followers of "anti-unity and anti-Communist policies".[4]
The leftist section, to which the 32 National Council members belonged, organised a convention in Tenali, Andhra Pradesh July 7 to 11. In this convention the issues of the internal disputes in the party were discussed. 146 delegates, claiming to represent 100,000 CPI members, took part in the proceedings. The convention decided to convene the 7th Party Congress of CPI in Calcutta later the same year.[5]
Marking a difference from the Dangeite sector of CPI, the Tenali convention was marked by the display of a large portrait of the Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong.[5]
Communism in India  |
Communist Party of India |
Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
Naxalbari uprising |
Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) |
A. K. Gopalan |
| Communism Portal |
At the Tenali convention a Bengal-based pro-Chinese group, representing one of the most radical streams of the CPI left wing, presented a draft programme proposal of their own. These radicals criticised the draft programme proposal prepared by M. Basavapunniah for undermining class struggle and failing to take a clear pro-Chinese position in the ideological conflict between the CPSU and CPC.[6]
After the Tenali convention the CPI left wing organised party district and state conferences. In West Bengal, a few of these meetings became battlegrounds between the most radical elements and the more moderate leadership. At the Calcutta Party District Conference an alternative draft programme was presented to the leadership by Parimal Das Gupta (a leading figure amongst far-left intellectuals in the party). Another alternative proposal was brought forward to the Calcutta Party District Conference by Azizul Haque, but Haque was initially banned from presenting it by the conference organisers. At the Calcutta Party District Conference 42 delegates opposed M. Basavapunniah's official draft programme proposal.
At the Siliguri Party District Conference, the main draft proposal for a party programme was accepted, but with some additional points suggested by the far-left North Bengal cadre Charu Majumdar. However, Harekrishna Konar (representing the leadership of the CPI left wing) forbade the raising of the slogan Mao Tse-Tung Zindabad (Long live Mao Tse-Tung) at the conference.
Parimal Das Gupta's document was also presented to the leadership at the West Bengal State Conference of the CPI leftwing. Das Gupta and a few other spoke at the conference, demanding the party ought to adopt the class analysis of the Indian state of the 1951 CPI conference. His proposal was, however, voted down.[7]
The Calcutta Congress was held between October 31 and November 7, at Tyagraja Hall in southern Calcutta. Simultaneously, the Dange group convened a Party Congress of CPI in Bombay. Thus, the CPI divided into two separate parties. The group which assembled in Calcutta would later adopt the name 'Communist Party of India (Marxist)', in order to differentiate themselves from the Dange group. The CPI(M) also adopted its own political programme. P. Sundarayya was elected general secretary of the party.
In total 422 delegates took part in the Calcutta Congress. CPI(M) claimed that they represented 104,421 CPI members, 60% of the total party membership.
At the Calcutta conference the party adopted a class analysis of the character of the Indian state, that claimed the Indian big bourgeoisie was increasingly collaborating with imperialism.[8]
Parimal Das Gupta's alternative draft programme was not circulated at the Calcutta conference. However, Souren Basu, a delegate from the far-left stronghold Darjeeling, spoke at the conference asking why no portrait had been raised of Mao Tse-Tung along the portraits of other communist stalwarts. His intervention met with huge applauses from the delegates of the conference.[8]
Early years of CPI (M)
The CPI (M) was born into a hostile political climate. At the time of the holding of its Calcutta Congress, large sections of its leaders and cadres were jailed without trial. Again on December 29-30, over a thousand CPI (M) cadres were arrested, and held in jail without trial. In 1965 new waves of arrests of CPI(M) cadres took place in West Bengal, as the party launched agitations against the rise in fares in the Calcutta Tramways and against the then prevailing food crisis. State-wide general strikes and hartals were observed on August 5, 1965, March 10-11, 1966 and April 6, 1966. The March 1966 general strike results in several deaths in confrontations with police forces.
Also in Kerala, mass arrests of CPI(M) cadres were carried out during 1965. In Bihar, the party called for a Bandh (general strike) in Patna on August 9, 1965 in protest against the Congress state government. During the strike, police resorted to violent actions against the organisers of the strike. The strike was followed by agitations in other parts of the state.
P. Sundaraiah, after being released from jail, spent the period of September 1965-February 1966 in Moscow for medical treatment. In Moscow he also held talks with the CPSU.[9]
The Central Committee of CPI(M) held its first meeting on June 12-19 1966. The reason for delaying the holding of a regular CC meeting was the fact that several of the persons elected as CC members at the Calcutta Congress were jailed at the time.[10] A CC meeting had been scheduled to have been held in Trichur during the last days of 1964, but had been cancelled due to the wave of arrests against the party. The meeting discussed tactics for electoral alliances, and concluded that the party should seek to form a broad electoral alliances with all non-reactionary opposition parties in West Bengal (i.e. all parties except Jan Sangh and Swatantra Party). This decision was strongly criticised by the Communist Party of China, the Party of Labour of Albania, the Communist Party of New Zealand and the radicals within the party itself. The line was changed at a National Council meeting in Jullunder in October 1966, were it was decided that the party should only form alliances with selected left parties.[11]
1967 General Election
1967 CPI(M) election results| (seats won / seats contested / seats total / votes / % of total vote) | |
| Lok Sabha: | 19 / 59 / 520 / 6246522 / 4.28% |
|---|---|
| Elections to State Legislative Assemblies: | |
| Andhra Pradesh | 9 / 83 / 287 / 1053855 / 7.61% |
| Assam | 0 / 14 / 126 / 61165 / 1.97% |
| Bihar | 4 / 32 / 318 / 173656 / 1.28% |
| Haryana | 0 / 8 / 81 / 16379 / 0.54% |
| Himachal Pradesh | 0 / 6 / 60 / 3019 / 0.39% |
| Kerala | 52 / 59 / 133 / 1476456 / 23.51% |
| Madhya Pradesh | 0 / 9 / 296 / 20728 / 0.23% |
| Maharashtra | 1 / 11 / 270 / 145083 / 1.08% |
| Manipur | 0 / 5 / 30 / 2093 / 0.67% |
| Mysore | 1 / 10 / 216 / 82531 / 1.10% |
| Orissa | 1 / 10 / 140 / 46597 / 1.16% |
| Punjab | 3 / 13 / 104 / 138857 / 3.26% |
| Rajasthan | 0 / 22 / 184 / 79826 / 1.18% |
| Tamil Nadu | 11 / 22 / 234 / 623114 / 4.07% |
| Tripura | 2 / 16 / 30 / 93739 / 21.61% |
| Uttar Pradesh | 1 / 57 / 425 / 272565 / 1.27% |
| West Bengal | 43 / 135 / 280 / 2293026 / 18.11% |
In the 1967 Lok Sabha elections CPI(M) nominated 59 candidates. In total 19 of them were elected. The party received 6.2 million votes (4.28% of the nationwide vote). By comparison, CPI won 23 seats and got 5.11% of the nation-wide vote. In the state legistative elections held simultaneously, the CPI(M) emerged as a major party in Kerala and West Bengal. In Kerala a United Front government led by E.M.S. Namboodiripad was formed.[12] In West Bengal, CPI(M) was the main force behind the United Front government formed. The Chief Ministership was given to Ajoy Mukherjee of the Bangla Congress (a regional splinter-group of the Indian National Congress).
Naxalbari uprising
At this point the party stood at crossroads. There were radical sections of the party who were wary of the increasing parliamentary focus of the party leadership, especially after the electoral victories in West Bengal and Kerala. Developments in China also affected the situation inside the party. In West Bengal two separate internal dissident tendencies emerged, which both could be identified as supporting the Chinese line.[13] In 1967 a peasant uprising broke out in Naxalbari, in northern West Bengal. The insurgency was led by hardline district-level CPI(M) leaders Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal. The hardliners within CPI(M) saw the Naxalbari uprising as the spark that would ignite the Indian revolution. The Communist Party of China hailed the Naxalbari movement, causing an abrupt break in CPI(M)-CPC relations.[14] The Naxalbari movement was violently repressed by the West Bengal government, of which CPI(M) was a major partner. Within the party, the hardliners rallied around an All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries. Following the 1968 Burdwan plenum of CPI(M) (held on April 5-12, 1968), the AICCCR separated themselves from CPI(M). This split divided the party throughout the country. But notably in West Bengal, which was the centre of the violent radicalist stream, no prominent leading figure left the party. The party and the Naxalites (as the rebels were called) were soon to get into a bloody feud.
In Andhra Pradesh another revolt was taking place. There the pro-Naxalbari dissidents had not established any presence. But in the party organisation there were many veterans from the Telangana armed struggle, who rallied against the central party leadership. In Andhra Pradesh the radicals had a strong base even amongst the state-level leadership. The main leader of the radical tendency was T. Nagi Reddy, a member of the state legislative assembly. On June 15, 1968 the leaders of the radical tendency published a press statement outlining the critique of the development of CPI(M). It was signed by T. Nagi Reddy, D.V. Rao, Kolla Venkaiah and Chandra Pulla Reddy.[15] In total around 50% of the party cadres in Andhra Pradesh left the party to form the Andhra Pradesh Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries, under the leadership of T. Nagi Reddy.[16]
Dismissal of United Front governments in West Bengal and Kerala
In November 1967, the West Bengal United Front government was dismissed by the central government. Initially the Indian National Congress formed a minority government led by Prafulla Chandra Ghosh, but that cabinet did not last long. Following the proclamation that the United Front government had been dislodged, a 48-hour hartal was effective throughout the state. After the fall of the Ghosh cabinet, the state was but under President's Rule. CPI(M) launched agitations against the interventions of the central government in West Bengal.
The 8th Party Congress of CPI(M) was held in Cochin, Kerala, on December 23-29, 1968. On December 25, 1968, whilst the congress was held, 42 Dalits were burned alive in the Tamil village of Kilavenmani. The massacre was a retaliation from landlords after Dalit labourers had taken part in a CPI(M)-led agitation for higher wages.[17][18]
The United Front government in Kerala was forced out of office in October 1969, as the CPI, RSP, KTP and Muslim League ministers resigned. E.M.S. Namboodiripad handed in his resignation on October 24.[19] A coalition government led by CPI leader C. Achutha Menon was formed, with the outside support of the Indian National Congress.
Elections in West Bengal and Kerala
Fresh elections were held in West Bengal in 1969. CPI(M) contested 97 seats, and won 80. The party was now the largest in the West Bengal legislative.[20] But with the active support of CPI and the Bangla Congress, Ajoy Mukherjee was returned as Chief Minister of the state. Mukherjee resigned on March 16, 1970, after a pact had been reached between CPI, Bangla Congress and the Indian National Congress against CPI(M). CPI(M) strove to form a new government, instead but the central government put the state under President's Rule.
In Kerala fresh elections were held in 1970. CPI(M) contested 73 seats and won 29. After the election Achutha Menon formed a new ministry, including ministers from the Indian National Congress.
Formation of CITU
Following the 1964 split, CPI(M) cadres had remained active with the All India Trade Union Congress. But as relations between CPI and CPI(M) soured, with the backdrop of confrontations in West Bengal and Kerala, a split also surfaced in the AITUC. In December 1969, eight CPI(M) members walked out of an AITUC Working Committee meeting. The eight called for an All India Trade Union Convention, which was held in Goa April 9-10, 1970. The convention decided that an All India Trade Union Conference be held on May 28-31 in Calcutta. The Calcutta conference would be the founding conference of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, a new pro-CPI(M) trade union movement.[21]
Outbreak of war in East Pakistan
In 1971 Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan) declared its independence from Pakistan. The Pakistani military tried to quell the uprising. India intervened militarily and gave active backing to the Bangladeshi resistance. Millions of Bangladeshi refugees sought shelter in India, especially in West Bengal.
At the time the radical sections of the Bangladeshi communist movement was divided into many factions. Whilst the pro-Soviet Communist Party of Bangladesh actively participated in the resistance struggle, the pro-China communist tendency found itself in a peculiar situation as China had sided with Pakistan in the war. In Calcutta, where many Bangladeshi leftists had sought refuge, CPI(M) worked to coordinate the efforts to create a new political organization. In the fall of 1971 three small groups, which were all hosted by the CPI(M), came together to form the Bangladesh Communist Party (Leninist). The new party became the sister party of CPI(M) in Bangladesh.[22]
1971 General Election
With the backdrop of the Bangladesh War and the emerging role of Indira Gandhi as a populist national leader, the 1971 election to the Lok Sabha was held. CPI(M) contested 85 seats, and won in 25. In total the party mustered 7510089 votes (5.12% of the national vote). 20 of the seats came from West Bengal (including Somnath Chatterjee, elected from Burdwan), 2 from Kerala (including A.K. Gopalan, elected from Trichur), 2 from Tripura (Biren Dutta and Dasarath Deb) and 1 from Andhra Pradesh.[23]
In the same year, state legislative elections were held in three states; West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Orissa. In West Bengal CPI(M) had 241 candidates, winning 113 seats. In total the party mustered 4241557 votes (32.86% of the state-wide vote). In Tamil Nadu CPI(M) contested 37 seats, but drew blank. The party got 259298 votes (1.65% of the state-wide vote). In Orissa the party contested 11 seats, and won in two. The CPI(M) vote in the state was 52785 (1.2% of the state-wide vote).[24]
1970s, 1980s, 1990s
In the 1977 election, the CPI(M) gained the majority in the Legislative Assembly of the State of West Bengal, defeating the Congress (I). Jyoti Basu became the chief minister of West Bengal, an office he held until his retirement in 2000. The CPI(M) has held the majority in the West Bengal government continuously since 1977.
Controversies
2007 Nandigram conflict
Nandigram is a rural area in the Eastern Mednipur district of West Bengal. Most of the people are dependent on agriculture, and other related activities as occupation. Agriculture not at all times of the year compesates them a healthy living. To improve this condition, The Left Front Government had chose Nandigram as a site for a 'Chemical Hub' project. Haldia Development Authority had put a notice of land acquisition.[25] This was the same time when Trinamul Congress headed by Mamta Banerjee had mobilized the villagers against the Left Front government, and set up an umbrella organization known as Bhumi Uchhed Pratirodh Committee. It was openly supported by the Socialist Unity Centre of India, Jamat E Ulema e Hind, PCC, CPIML, Indian National Congress and others. [26]Evidences are there to prove the activeness of Maoists in the BUPC.[27] On 3rd of January 2007, a meeting was going on in the Local Panchayat office of Nandigram, over the chemical hub issue, suddenly a group of Trinamul Congress supporters came to Panchayat office, and demanded a complete roll back of this SEZ project. When Samerun Bibi, the Panchayat Pradhan had asked them to leave the office, they ransaked the whole office. Panchayat Pradhan had lodged a police complaint against this. When Police arrived on the spot the Police Vehicle was attacked by an armed mob, resulting injuries to 11 policemen, which includes 2 officers also. Open hand of Trinamul Congress was in this attack it was later proved when a looted police rifle was found at the home of a local Trinamul MLA Subhendu Adhikari. Violent attacks on Police have continued thereafter, and police had refused to enter the area again. Bridges and link roads that connected Nandigram to the rest of the country were cut off, and trenches were dig to cut off the area compleately, which was followed by the buring of the local CPIM party office by the armed mob. CPIM Leaders and sympathisers were attacked too, and were forced to leave the area. On 7th January the armed gang of possibly TMC activists have attacked 'Shankar Samanta', the CPIM Panchayat member, the hooligoons have beaten him up, burnt his house, and then burnt him alive till death on haystack. A women was raped by these hooligoons, just because she belonged to a family of CPIM sympathisers. [28] On January 19th 2007, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya announced that no land acqusition will be done in Nandigram without peoples' conscent, even then the BUPC didn't give back the area to the state government.[29] In the meantime about 2500 of CPM sympathisers who were thrown out of the village were living in the refugee camps under poor health care, no schooling for the kids, fear of violent attacks, shortage of food etc. Till March 2007 Nandigram was declared as a Liberated Zone from the Union of India. On 10th of March 2007 an All Party Public Meeting was called upon by the District Administration of East Medinapore. BUPC and TMC boycotted the meeting, Left Front Members and Members of Bharatiya Janta Party were present in the meeting. A consensus was made that the District Administration must ensure the peace and the normalancy in the area. Following this The Bengal Police has launched an joint operation to regain the area of Nandigram. The Police was violently resisted by the human chain of tribals, Maoists, TMC members and others. There are evidences that the Maoists have opened fire on the Police teams.[30] In self defence the police had retaliated back, leaving 13 people dead, an another person was killed when a country made bomb was exploded in his hand. 24 other people and atleast 18 policemen were critically injured in the incident[31] Chief Minister had called this incident, as 'a great mistake'.[32] Till november same year, after find no alternative to regain Nandigram, The People who were living a life of pity in the refugee camps had launched a movement and attacked the occupiers of nandigram, and finally regained the area. Peace was established in the area, after this and refugee camps were closed. After Eleven Months of Terror Nandigram had took a breath in free.[33]
Corruption charge
The Comptroller and Auditor General of India, in a report said that Pinaryi Vijayan (member of Politburo and Kerala state secretary of CPI(M)) had struck a deal as electricity minister of Kerala in 1998 with SNC Lavalin, a Canadian firm, for the repair of three generators, which was a huge fraud and had cost the state exchequer a staggering Rs 3.76 billion. On 16 January 2007, Kerala High Court ordered a CBI enquiry into the SNC Lavalin case.[34]. On 21 January 2009, CBI filed a progress report on the investigation in the Kerala high court. Pinarayi Vijayan has been named as the 9th accused in the case.[35][36]. CPM has backed Vijayan saying the case is politically motivated[37][38][39]. The CPM led Kerala Governemnt decided not to let Vijayan to be prosecuted in the case[40]. Overruling the cabinet recommendation, the Governeor allowed CBI to prosecute Vijayan based on prima facie evidence[41]. This is first time in the history of the party a politburo member is being prosecuted in a corruption case [42]. Later on Central Bureau of Investigation gave clean chit to Vijayan in this case.[43]. The accusition of corruption on vijayan was accused to be moved by political reasons, and his party CPIM has always backed vijayan on this issue.[44]
Disciplinary action against V.S. Achuthanandan
On 12 July 2009, CPIM central committee has decided to remove Kerala chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan from its politburo. This decision invoked widespread criticism from general public and party workers, as the decision looked favoring Pinarayi Vijayan who is accused in a multi-crore corruption case and against the anti-corruption stand taken by V.S.[45][46][47][48].
Criticism of Economic Policies
The CPI(M) faces criticism from leftwing sectors regarding its governance policies.[49] Some CPI(M) insiders have also raised questions about CPI(M) compromising with corporate interests. Budhadeb Bhattacharya's own cabinet minister (Land Reform Minister) and CPI(M) leader Abdul Razzak Mollah opposed Buddhadeb's supposedly "neo-liberal" line.[citation needed] He opposed the provisions of the land acquisition bill in the West Bengal state assembly. Former West Bengal finance minister and former CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Dr. Ashok Mitra also expressed his disagreements with what he sees as CPI(M)'s ideological shift towards economic liberalisation.
In Kerala, Prof. M.N. Vijayan, former editor of the CPI(M) owned "Deshabhimani weekly", argued that CPI(M) policies are now influenced by neoliberalism and rebelled against the influence of foreign fund on party functioning, influence of capital in the cultural field, and attempt to replace class politics with that of identity politics.[50] Under M.N. Vijayan's leadership, in Kerala Adhinivesa Prathirodha Samithi (Council for Resisting Imperialist Globalisation), was formed.[51]
Prabhat Patnaik, a CPI(M) economist, has also questioned the influence of the logic of industrialisation using the Grande Industry route as being the sine qua non of industrial policy in West Bengal.[52].[49]
Criticism for use of violence
The CPM resorts to violent techniques to gain political advantages. The acts go to the extent of murdering members of other political parties.[53][54][55] In Kerala, Yuva Morcha State vice-president KT Jayakrishnan was hacked to death by the CPI(M) men in an upper primary school in East Mokeri while he was teaching his students. The BJP cadre are subject to torture by the police and CPI(M) goons in Kannur and Thalassery areas.[56][53]
Harmath acts as another tool of the party to suppress other political movement in the CPM ruled/dominated areas. Harmath is term given by the villagers to the armed militia of the CPI(M) in West Bengal. They resort to extra-constitutional methods like loot, plunder, rape and assaulting of villagers and villages suspected of having other political affiliations. The were involed in Nandigram violence. Also, in Bankura district, Baksi village was forcibly emptied of its 70% residents by a joint force of police and harmath during 2008 Gram Panchayat elections. The villagers accuse that harmath members misbehave with women and burn their food stocks. The Harmath are hired by the party by paying a lump sum of two to four lakh rupees and then they are promised an amount at regular intervals.[57]
Party organization
CPI(M) got 5.66% of votes polled in last parliamentary election (May 2004) and it has 43 MPs. It won 42.31% on an average in the 69 seats it contested. It supported the new Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government, but without becoming a part of it. On 9 July 2008 it formally withdrew support from the UPA government explaining this by differences about the Indo-US nuclear deal and the IAEA Safeguards Agreement in particular.[58]
In West Bengal and Tripura it participates in the Left Front. In Kerala the party is part of the Left Democratic Front. In Tamil Nadu it was part of the ruling Democratic Progressive Alliance led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). However, it has since withdrawn support.
Its members in Great Britain are in the electoral front Unity for Peace and Socialism with the Communist Party of Britain and the British domiciled sections of the Communist Party of Bangladesh and the Communist Party of Greece (KKE). It is standing 13 candidates in the London-wide list section of the London Assembly elections in May 2008.[59]
Membership
As of 2004, the party claimed a membership of 867 763.[60]
State | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | % of party members in electorate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andhra Pradesh | 40785 | 41879 | 45516 | 46742 | 0.0914 |
| Assam | 10480 | 11207 | 11122 | 10901 | 0.0726 |
| Andaman & Nicobar | 172 | 140 | 124 | 90 | 0.0372 |
| Bihar | 17672 | 17469 | 16924 | 17353 | 0.0343 |
| Chhattisgarh | 1211 | 1364 | 1079 | 1054 | 0.0077 |
| Delhi | 1162 | 1360 | 1417 | 1408 | 0.0161 |
| Goa | 172 | 35 | 40 | 67 | 0.0071 |
| Gujarat | 2799 | 3214 | 3383 | 3398 | 0.0101 |
| Haryana | 1357 | 1478 | 1477 | 1608 | 0.0131 |
| Himachal Pradesh | 1005 | 1006 | 1014 | 1024 | 0.0245 |
| Jammu & Kashmir | 625 | 720 | 830 | 850 | 0.0133 |
| Jharkhand | 2552 | 2819 | 3097 | 3292 | 0.0200 |
| Karnataka | 6574 | 7216 | 6893 | 6492 | 0.0168 |
| Kerala | 301562 | 313652 | 318969 | 316305 | 1.4973 |
| Madhya Pradesh | 2243 | 2862 | 2488 | 2320 | 0.0060 |
| Maharashtra | 8545 | 9080 | 9796 | 10256 | 0.0163 |
| Manipur | 340 | 330 | 270 | 300 | 0.0195 |
| Orissa | 3091 | 3425 | 3502 | 3658 | 0.0143 |
| Punjab | 14328 | 11000 | 11000 | 10050 | 0.0586 |
| Rajasthan | 2602 | 3200 | 3507 | 3120 | 0.0090 |
| Sikkim | 200 | 180 | 65 | 75 | 0.0266 |
| Tamil Nadu | 86868 | 90777 | 91709 | 94343 | 0.1970 |
| Tripura | 38737 | 41588 | 46277 | 51343 | 2.5954 |
| Uttaranchal | 700 | 720 | 740 | 829 | 0.0149 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 5169 | 5541 | 5477 | 5877 | 0.0053 |
| West Bengal | 245026 | 262882 | 258682 | 274921 | 0.579 |
| CC staff | 96 | 95 | 95 | 87 | |
| Total | 796073 | 835239 | 843896 | 867763 | 0.1292 |
Leadership
The current general secretary of CPI(M) is Prakash Karat. The 19th party congress of CPI(M), held in Coimbatore March 29-April 3, 2008 elected a Central Committee with 87 members. The Central Committee later elected a 15-member Politburo:
- Prakash Karat
- Sitaram Yechury
- S. Ramachandran Pillai
- Buddhadeb Bhattacharya
- Manik Sarkar
- M.K. Pandhe
- Biman Bose
- Pinarayi Vijayan
- K. Varadarajan
- B.V. Raghavulu
- Brinda Karat
- Nirupam Sen
- Kodiyeri Balakrishnan
- Mohammad Amin
The senior most member, V.S. Achuthanandan was removed from the Polit Bureau on July 12, 2009.
The 19th congress saw the departure of the last two members of the Polit Bureau who had been on the original Polit Bureau in 1964, Harkishen Singh Surjeet and Jyoti Basu.[61]
State Committee secretaries
- Andaman & Nicobar: K.G. Das
- Andhra Pradesh: B.V. Raghavulu
- Assam: Uddhab Barman
- Bihar: Vijaykant Thakur
- Chattisgarh: M.K. Nandi
- Delhi: P.M.S. Grewal
- Goa: Thaelman Perera
- Haryana: Inderjit Singh
- Jharkhand: J.S. Majumdar
- Karnataka: V.J.K. Nair
- Kerala : Pinarayi Vijayan
- Madhya Pradesh: Badal Saroj
- Maharashtra: Ashok Dhawale
- Orissa: Janardan Pati
- Punjab: Charan Singh Virdi(Acting)
- Rajasthan: Vasudev Sharma
- Sikkim: Balram Adhikari
- Tamil Nadu: G.Ramakrishnan
- Tripura: Baidyanath Majumdar
- Uttaranchal: Vijai Rawat
- Uttar Pradesh: S.P. Kashyap
- West Bengal: Biman Bose[62]
The principal mass organizations of CPI(M)
- Democratic Youth Federation of India
- Students Federation of India
- Centre of Indian Trade Unions class organisation
- All India Kisan Sabha peasants' organization
- All India Agricultural Workers Union
- All India Democratic Women's Association
- Bank Employees Federation of India
- All India Lawyers Union
In Tripura, the Ganamukti Parishad is a major mass organization amongst the tribal peoples of the state. In Kerala the Adivasi Kshema Samithi, a tribal organisation is controlled by CPI(M).
This apart, on the cultural front as many as 12 major organisations are led by CPI(M).
Party publications
From the Centre, two weekly newspapers are published, People's Democracy (English) and Lok Lehar (Hindi). The central theoretical organ of the party is The Marxist, published quarterly in English.
Daily newspapers
- Ganashakti (West Bengal, Bengali)
- Deshabhimani (Kerala), Malayalam)
- Daily Desher Katha (Tripura, Bengali)
- Theekathir (Tamil Nadu, Tamil)
- Prajasakti (Andhra Pradesh, Telugu)
- Desh Sewak (Punjab, Punjabi)
Weeklies
- Abshar (West Bengal, Urdu)
- Swadhintha (West Bengal, Hindi)
- Desh Hiteshi (Bengali)
- Janashakthi (Karnataka, Kannada)[63]
- Jeevan Marg (Maharashtra, Marathi)
- Samyabadi (Orissa, Oriya)
- Deshabhimani Vaarika. (Kerala, Malayalam)
- Ganashakti (Assamese, Assam)
Fortnightlies
- Lok Jatan (Madhya Pradesh, Hindi)
- Lok Samvad (Uttar Pradesh, Hindi)
- Sarfarosh Chintan (Gujarat, Gujarati)
Monthlies
- Shabtaab (Urdu)
- Yeh Naya Raste (Jammu & Kashmir, Urdu)
- Lok Lahar (Punjabi)
- Nandan (Bengali)
- Marxist (Tamil language)
Theoretical publications
Publishing houses
- Leftword Publication
- CPI(M) Publication
- National Book Agency (West Bengal)
- Chinta Publication (Kerala)
- Prajasakti Book House (Andhra Pradesh)
- Deshabhimani Book House (Kerala)
- Natun Sahitya Parishad (Assam)
State governments
As of 2008, CPI(M) leads state governments in three states, West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. Chief ministers belonging to the party are Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, V.S. Achuthanandan and Manik Sarkar. In West Bengal and Tripura, the party had a majority of its own in the state assemblies, but governs together with Left Front partners. In Kerala, the party is the largest component of the Left Democratic Front.
Name
In Hindi CPI(M) is often called मार्क्सवादी कमयुनिस्ट पार्टी (Marksvadi Kamyunist Party, abbreviated MaKaPa). The official party name in Hindi is however Bharatiya Kamyunist Party (Marksvadi).
During the initial period after the split 1964, the party was often referred to as 'Left Communist Party' or 'Communist Party of India (Left)'. The CPI was then, in the same parlance, dubbed as the 'Rightist Communist Party'. The party decided to adopt the name 'Communist Party of India (Marxist)' ahead of the March 1965 Kerala Legislative Assembly election, in order to obtain an election symbol.[64]
Splits and offshoots
A large number of parties have been formed as a result of splits from the CPI(M), such as Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Marxist Communist Party of India, Marxist Coordination Committee in Jharkhand, Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy, Communist Marxist Party and BTR-EMS-AKG Janakeeya Vedi in Kerala, Party of Democratic Socialism in West Bengal, Janganotantrik Morcha in Tripura, the Ram Pasla group in Punjab, Orissa Communist Party in Orissa, etc.
Election results
In the 2009 Lok Sabha election the party lost several seats in two of its strongholds, West Bengal and Kerala, whilst retaining dominance in the third stronghold, Tripura.
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Party publications
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Articles
- Search For Ways To Keep Marx Alive Opinion on party structure by Sumanta Sen. The Telegraph Calcutta, India. March 31, 2005. Accessed April 1, 2005.
- Veteran Communists Honoured News article on Party history conference. The Hindu. April 6, 2005. Accessed April 8, 2005.
- All you wanted to know about CPI-M News article on CPI-M. Rediff News. April 8, 2005. Accessed April 8, 2005.
- An Upbeat Left by Venkitesh Ramakrishnan. Frontline Volume 22 - Issue 09, April 23 - May 6, 2005
See also
 | Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Communist Party of India (Marxist) |
- List of political parties in India
- Politics of India
- List of Communist Parties
- Co-ordinating Committee of Communist Parties in Britain
- Communist Marxist Party, in Kerala, south India
- Communist Party of Revolutionary Marxists, in West Bengal, India northern areas
- Election Results of Communist Party of India (Marxist)
- Marxist Communist Party of India
- Marxist Communist Party of India (United)
- Marxist Periarist Communist Party, in Tamil Nadu, India
References
- ^ a b http://cpim.org/content/pr-dasmunshis-statement
- ^ "Political-Organizational Report adopted at the XIXth Congress of the CPI(M) held in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, March 29-April 23, 2008". http://cpim.org/documents/2008-19%20cong-pol-org%20report.pdf.
- ^ The bulk of the detainees came from the leftwing of CPI. However, cadres of the Socialist Unity Centre of India and the Workers Party of India were also targeted.[1]
- ^ The 32 were P. Sundarayya, M. Basavapunniah, T. Nagi Reddy, M. Hanumantha Rao, D.V. Rao, N. Prasad Rao, G. Bapanayya, E.M.S. Namboodiripad, A.K. Gopalan, A.V. Kunhambu, C.H. Kanaran, E.K. Nayanar, V.S. Achuthanandan Removed, E.K. Imbichibava, Promode Das Gupta, Muzaffar Ahmad, Jyoti Basu, Abdul Halim, Hare Krishna Konar, Saroj Mukherjee, P. Ramamurthi, M.R. Venkataraman, N. Sankariah, K. Ramani, Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Jagjit Singh Lyallpuri, D.S. Tapiala, Dr. Bhag Singh, Sheo Kumar Mishra, R.N. Upadhyaya, Mohan Punamiya and R.P. Saraf. Source: Bose, Shanti Shekar; A Brief Note on the Contents of Documents of the Communist Movement in India. Kolkata: 2005, National Book Agency, p. 37.
- ^ a b Basu, Pradip. Towards Naxalbari (1953-1967) – An Account of Inner-Party Ideological Struggle. Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 2000. p. 51.
- ^ Suniti Kumar Ghosh was a member of the group that presented this alternative draft proposal. His grouping was one of several left tendencies in the Bengali party branch. Basu, Pradip. Towards Naxalbari (1953-1967) – An Account of Inner-Party Ideological Struggle. Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 2000. p. 32.
- ^ Basu, Pradip. Towards Naxalbari (1953-1967) – An Account of Inner-Party Ideological Struggle. Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 2000. p. 52-54.
- ^ a b Basu, Pradip. Towards Naxalbari (1953-1967) – An Account of Inner-Party Ideological Struggle. Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 2000. p. 54.
- ^ M.V.S. Koteswara Rao. Communist Parties and United Front - Experience in Kerala and West Bengal. Hyderabad: Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 17-18
- ^ The jailed members of the new CC, at the time of the Calcutta Congress, were B.T. Ranadive, Muzaffar Ahmed, Hare Krishna Konar and Promode Das Gupta. Source: Bose, Shanti Shekar; A Brief Note on the Contents of Documents of the Communist Movement in India. Kolkata: 2005, National Book Agency, p. 44-5.
- ^ M.V.S. Koteswara Rao. Communist Parties and United Front - Experience in Kerala and West Bengal. Hyderabad: Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 234-235.
- ^ In Kerala the United Front consisted, at the time of the election, of Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Communist Party of India, the Muslim League, the Revolutionary Socialist Party, the Karshaka Thozhilali Party and the Kerala Socialist Party.[2]
- ^ According to Basu (in Basu, Pradip; Towards Naxalbari (1953–67) : An Account Of Inner-Party Ideological Struggle. Calcutta: Progressive Publishers, 2000.) there were two nuclei of radicals in the party organisation in West Bengal. One "theorist" section around Parimal Das Gupta in Calcutta, which wanted to persuade the party leadership to correct revisionist mistakes through inner-party debate, and one "actionist" section led by Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal in North Bengal. The 'actionists' were impatient, and strived to organize armed uprisings. According to Basu, due to the prevailing political climate of youth and student rebellion it was the 'actionists' which came to dominate the new Maoist movement in India, instead of the more theoretically advanced sections. This dichotomy is however rebuffed by followers of the radical stream, for example the CPI(ML) Liberation.
- ^ On July 1 People's Daily carried an article titled Spring Thunder Over India, expressing the support of CPC to the Naxalbari rebels. At its meeting in Madurai on August 18-27, 1967, the Central Committee of CPI(M) adopted a resolution titled 'Resolution on Divergent Views Between Our Party and the Communist Party of China on Certain Fundamental Issues of Programme and Policy'. Source: Bose, Shanti Shekar; A Brief Note on the Contents of Documents of the Communist Movement in India. Kolkata: 2005, National Book Agency, p. 46.
- ^ This press statement was reproduced in full in the central CPI(M) publication, People's Democracy, on June 30. P. Sundarayya and M. Basavapunniah, acting on behalf of the Polit Bureau of CPI(M), formulated a response to the statement on June 16, titled 'Rebuff the Rebels, Uphold Party Unity'. Source: Bose, Shanti Shekar; A Brief Note on the Contents of Documents of the Communist Movement in India. Kolkata: 2005, National Book Agency, p. 48.
- ^ Some perceive that the Chinese leadership severely misjudged the actual conditions of different Indian factions at the time, giving their full support to the Majumdar-Sanyal group whilst keeping the Andhra Pradesh radicals (that had a considerable mass following) at distance.
- ^ Dalits and land issues
- ^ Untitled-1
- ^ officialwebsite of kerala.gov.in
- ^ Indian National Congress had won 55 seats, Bangla Congress 33 and CPI 30. CPI(M) allies also won several seats.ECI: Statistical Report on the 1969 West Bengal Legislative Election
- ^ Bose, Shanti Shekar; A Brief Note on the Contents of Documents of the Communist Movement in India. Kolkata: 2005, National Book Agency, p. 56-59
- ^ The same is also true for the Workers Party of Bangladesh, which was formed in 1980 when BCP(L) merged with other groups. Although politically close, WPB can be said to have a more Maoist-oriented profile than CPI(M).
- ^ ECI: Statistical Report on the 1971 Lok Sabha Election
- ^ ECI: Statistical Report on the 1971 Orissa Legislative Election, ECI: Statistical Report on the 1971 Tamil Nadu Legislative Election, ECI: Statistical Report on the 1971 West Bengal Legislative Election
- ^ Facts about Nandigram [[3]]
- ^ BUPC Facts [[4]]
- ^ TOI report on Naxal hand in Nandigram[[5]]
- ^ A report on the account of TMC violence in Nandigram [[6]]
- ^ Article in Tehlka over CM's comments [[7]]
- ^ Varvara Rao, on maoist hands in Nandigram [[8]]
- ^ Seetaram Yechury on 14th march issue [[9]]
- ^ India Today's article [[10]]
- ^ PD Editorial 18 November 2007[[11]]
- ^ "Kearala to go by HC order in Lavalin case". The Hindu Business Line. http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/businessline/blnus/27161507.htm.
- ^ "CBI finds Pinarayi guilty in Lavalin scam, moralistic CPM yet to act". http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/CBI_finds_Pinarayi_guilty_in_Lavalin_scam_moralistic_CPM_yet_to_act/articleshow/4014521.cms.
- ^ "CBI seeks nod to prosecute CPM's Kerala unit chief". http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cbi-seeks-nod-to-prosecute-cpms-kerala-unit-chief/413768/.
- ^ "CPM backs Pinarayi Vijayan, says CBI move is politically motivated". The Times of India. 23 January 2009. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/CPM_backs_Pinarayi_Vijayan_says_CBI_move_is_politically_motivated/articleshow/4018616.cms.
- ^ "Does C in CPM mean corruption?". The Economic Times. 27 January 2009. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/Does_C_in_CPM_mean_corruption/articleshow/4034604.cms.
- ^ "CPM conspiracy theory falls flat in face of facts". The Economic Times. 27 January 2009. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/PoliticsNation/CPM_conspiracy_theory_falls_flat_in_face_of_facts/articleshow/4031752.cms.
- ^ "Kerala govt not to prosecute Vijayan in Lavlain case". The Times of India.. 6 May 2009. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Kerala-govt-not-to-prosecute-Vijayan-in-Lavlain-case-/articleshow/4490668.cms.
- ^ "Governor allows CBI to prosecute Vijayan". The Times of India.. 8 June 2009. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Governor-allows-CBI-to-prosecute-Vijayan/articleshow/4629178.cms.
- ^ "CBI gets Governor nod to book Pinarayi". The Indian Express.. 8 June 2009. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/CBI-gets-Governor-nod-to-book-Pinarayi/472895.
- ^ Article in Hindustan Times [[12]]
- ^ PB Comminque(CPIM) on SNC Lavalin case [[13]]
- ^ "VS ' sacking rocks 'red forts'". The Indian Express.. 14 July 2009. http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=VS+'+sacking+rocks+'red+forts'&artid=CCdPSZedzH8=&SectionID=1ZkF/jmWuSA=&MainSectionID=fyV9T2jIa4A=&SectionName=X7s7i.
- ^ "CPI-M the loser in Achuthanandan-Pinnarayi war". CNN IBN.. 14 July 2009. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/cpim-the-loser-in-achuthanandanpinnarayi-war/97057-37.html.
- ^ "Founding member 'outdated' for CPM". The Indian Express.. 14 July 2009. http://www.indianexpress.com/news/Founding-member--outdated--for-CPM/488534/.
- ^ "CPM action against Achuthanandan may widen Kerala unit split". Hindustan Times.. 12 July 2009. http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?sectionName=HomePage&id=a1207c67-2436-437d-be0c-c1d6e2ea0cd2&ParentID=52189a16-362a-441c-afa2-6db62613316f&Headline=CPM+action+against+Achuthanandan+may+widen+Kerala+unit+split.
- ^ a b "Reflections in the Aftermath of Nandigram. Article written by a "CPI(M) supporter"- Economic and Political Weekly[14]
- ^ "Kerala Intra-party differences". Article in Economic and Political Weekly. [15]
- ^ Mainstream article about M.N.Vijayan and Council for resisting Imperialist Globalization.[16]
- ^ "In the aftermath of Nandigram" article by Prabhat Patnaik, CPI(M) Economist and Party Member. Mr. Patnaik is the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman of CPI(M)led Kerala Govt. [17]
- ^ a b Four CPM men get life term - 25 March 2010
- ^ Eight CPIM workers sentenced to life in murder case - 28 July 2009
- ^ Sainbari Killings Return to Haunt CPI(M) - 17 March 2010
- ^ BJP to campaign against CPM violence - The Pioneer 20 November 2007
- ^ The Salwa Judum of Bengal - The New Indian Express 07-March-2010
- ^ article in The Hindu, 9 July 2008: Left meets President, hands over letter of withdrawal
- ^ Unity For Peace and Socialism homepage
- ^ Membership figures from http://www.cpim.org/pd/2005/0403/04032005_membership.htm. Electorate numbers taken from http://www.eci.gov.in/SR_KeyHighLights/LS_2004/Vol_I_LS_2004.pdf. Puducherry is counted as part of Tamil Nadu, Chandigarh counted as part of Punjab.
- ^ "Nine to none, founders' era ends in CPM", The Telegraph (Calcutta), April 3, 2008.
- ^ List of State Secretaries
- ^ Janashakti has replaced the previous CPI(M) organ in Karnataka, Ikyaranga
- ^ Basu, Jyoti. Memoirs - A Political Autobiography. Calcutta: National Book Agency, 1999. p. 189.
Cultural Revolution
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The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (simplified Chinese: 无产阶级文化大革命; traditional Chinese: 無產階級文化大革命; pinyin: Wúchǎn Jiējí Wénhuà Dà Gémìng; literally "Proletarian Cultural Great Revolution"; or simply the Cultural Revolution; abbreviated in Chinese as 文化大革命 or 文革) was a violent mass movement that resulted in social, political, and economic upheaval in the People's Republic of China starting in 1966 and ending officially with Mao's death in 1976. It resulted in nation-wide chaos and economic disarray and stagnation.
It was launched by Mao Zedong, the chairman of the Communist Party of China, on May 16, 1966; he alleged that "liberal bourgeoise" elements were permeating the party and society at large and that they wanted to restore capitalism. Mao insisted, in accordance with his theory of permanent revolution, that these elements should be removed through revolutionary violent class struggle by mobilizing China's youth who, responding to his appeal, then formed Red Guard groups around the country.
The movement subsequently spread into the military, urban workers, and the party leadership itself. Although Mao himself officially declared the Cultural Revolution to have ended in 1969, its active phase lasted until the death of Lin Biao in a plane crash in 1971. The power struggles and political instability between 1969 and the arrest of the Gang of Four in 1976 are now also widely regarded as part of the Revolution.
After Mao's death in 1976, forces within the party that opposed the Cultural Revolution led by Deng Xiaoping, gained prominence, and most of the political, economic, and educational reforms associated with the Cultural Revolution were abandoned by 1978. The Cultural Revolution has been treated officially as a negative phenomenon ever since. The people involved in instituting the policies of the Cultural Revolution were persecuted. In its official historical judgment of the Cultural Revolution in 1981, the Party assigned chief responsibility to Mao Zedong, but also laid significant blame on Lin Biao and the Gang of Four for causing its worst excesses.
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Background
 | This article contains Chinese text. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of Chinese characters. |
[edit] Great Leap Forward
In 1958, after China's first Five-Year Plan, Mao Zedong called for increased growth of "grassroots socialism", in an attempt to bring about a bottom-up approach to turn the country into a self-sufficient Communist society. To accomplish this goal, Mao began the Great Leap Forward, establishing special People's Communes in the countryside through the usage of collective labour and mass mobilization. Many communities were mobilized to produce a single commodity - steel, and Mao vowed to double agricultural production to twice 1957 levels.[1]
The Great Leap was an economic failure. Industries went into turmoil because peasants were producing too much low-quality steel while other areas were neglected. Furthermore, uneducated low-income farmers were poorly equipped and ill-trained to produce steel, partially relying on backyard furnaces to achieve the production targets set by local cadres. Meanwhile, essential farm tools were melted down for steel, reducing harvest sizes. This led to a decline in the production of most goods except substandard pig iron and steel. To make matters worse, in order to avoid punishment, local authorities frequently exaggerated production numbers, thus hiding and intensifying the problem for several years.[2]
Having barely recovered from decades of war, the Chinese economy was again in shambles. In 1958, the party had no choice to admit that production numbers were exaggerated. In addition, much of the steel produced was impure and useless. In the meantime, chaos in the collectives, bad weather, and exports of food necessary to secure hard currencies resulted in the Great Chinese Famine. Food was in desperate shortage, and production fell dramatically. According to various sources, the death toll during this period was some 20 to 30 million.[3]
The Great Leap's failure had a significant impact on Mao's prestige within the Party. In 1959, Mao resigned as the State Chairman (China's head of state), and was succeeded by Liu Shaoqi. In July 1959, senior party leaders convened at the scenic Mount Lu to discuss party policy (庐山会议), particularly the effects of the Great Leap Forward. At the conference, Marshal Peng Dehuai, then Minister of Defence, criticized Mao's policies on the Great Leap, writing that it was plagued by mismanagement and cautioned against elevating political dogma over established laws of economics.[2]
While the Lushan Conference served as a death knell for Peng, Mao's most vocal critic, it led to a shift of power to moderates led by Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping, who took effective control of the government.[2] Following the Conference, Mao had Peng removed of his official posts, and accused him of being a "right-opportunist". Peng was replaced by Lin Biao, another revolutionary army general who would later play a pivotal role in carrying out Maoist policies.
[edit] Friction between Liu and Mao
By the early 1960s, although Mao remained the Party Chairman, his chief responsibility in the Leap's failure forced him into a state of seclusion from day-to-day affairs of state and governance. Many of Mao's Great Leap policies were reversed, their negative impact mitigated and gradually diminished. Among Liu and Deng's reforms were a partial retreat from collectivism, seen as more pragmatic and more effective. During this phase Liu Shaoqi coined the famous phrase, "buying is better than manufacturing, and renting is better than buying," opening a new economic frontier in China that contradicted Mao's self-sufficiency ideals.[4]
Liu's successful economic policies generated him support within the party. Together with Deng Xiaoping, Liu seemed on his way to ease Mao out of power but retaining him as a national icon. In response, Mao began the Socialist Education Movement in 1962 to restore his political base. The main theme of the movement was the restoration of revolutionary fervor amongst party members and the general public. More notably, the movement focused on primary and secondary education reform. One of its most salient aspects was the incorporation of commune and factory labour into education. The movement had the effect of indoctrinating Maoist ideology on China's youth.
In 1963, Mao began attacking Liu Shaoqi more openly, stating that class struggle is on-going and must be learned and applied "yearly, monthly, and daily", alluding that unfavourable "bourgeoisie" elements (i.e., Liu) continue to exist despite the success of the Communist revolution. By 1964, the Socialist Education Movement had evolved to become the "Four Cleanups Movement", a much wider socio-political movement which aimed to "cleanse politics, economics, ideas, and organization ... of reactionaries". Mao saw the campaign as aimed towards establishment elitists who have become out-of-touch with the needs of the ordinary people, while Liu preferred a bottom-up approach of cleansing China of petty criminals, the landowning class, and reactionaries. This dispute on the nature of the movement exposed fundamental conflicts between Mao and Liu.
[edit] Politics through allegory
In late 1959, historian and Beijing Deputy Mayor Wu Han published the first version of a historical drama entitled Hai Rui Dismissed from Office (海瑞罢官). In the play, an honest civil servant, Hai Rui, was dismissed by a corrupt emperor. While the play initially received praise from Mao, in 1965, Mao's wife Jiang Qing and her ally Yao Wenyuan, an up-and-coming editor of a prominent newspaper in Shanghai, published an article criticizing the play. Yao labeled it a "poisonous weed" (Chinese: 毒草) and an attack on Mao, using the allegory of Mao Zedong as the corrupt emperor and Peng Dehuai as the honest civil servant.
The Shanghai article received much nationwide coverage; many other leading dailies asked for syndication rights. Beijing Mayor Peng Zhen, a supporter of Wu Han, established a committee to study the publication, and openly stated that Yao's criticism was unwarranted. On 12 February 1966, the committee, called the "Group of Five in Charge of the Cultural Revolution", issued a report later known as the "February Outline" (二月提纲), which sought to limit the dispute over Hai Rui to academic discussion alone and drew attention away from potential political implications.
However, Jiang Qing and Yao Wenyuan continued their denunciation of both Wu Han and Peng Zhen in the press. On May 16, following Mao's lead, the Politburo issued a formal notice that symbolically triggered of the Cultural Revolution. In this document, Peng Zhen was sharply criticized, and the "Group of Five" was disbanded, replaced by the Cultural Revolution Group (CRG). On May 18, Lin Biao declared in a speech that "Chairman Mao is a genius, everything the Chairman says is truly great; one of the Chairman's words will override the meaning of tens of thousands of ours." Thus started the first phase of Mao's cult of personality led by Jiang Qing, Lin Biao, and their allies.
On May 25, a young philosophy lecturer at Peking University, Nie Yuanzi, wrote a big-character poster (Chinese: 大字报) and taped it onto a public bulletin. Nie attacked the university party administration and cadres from Beijing party authorities as "black anti-Party gangsters," implying that there forces at work in government and at the university who wished to betray the progress of the revolution. Several days later, Mao ordered Nie's message to be broadcast nationwide and called it "the first Marxist big-character poster in China." On 29 May, at the Secondary School attached to Tsinghua University, the first organization of Red Guards was formed. It aimed to punish and neutralize both intellectuals and Mao's political enemies.
On 1 June 1966, People's Daily launched into an attack on reactionary forces in the intellectual community. Subsequently, various university presidents and other prominent intellectuals were purged. On July 28, 1966, Red Guard representatives wrote to Mao, stating that mass purges and all such related social and political phenomena were justified and correct. Mao responded with his full support with his own big-character poster entitled Bombard the Headquarters. Mao wrote that despite having undergone a Communist revolution, China's political hierarchy was still dominated by "bourgeoisie" elitist elements, capitalists, and revisionists, and that these counter-revolutionary elements are indeed still present at the top ranks of the party leadership itself. This was, in effect, an open call-to-arms against Liu Shaoqi, Deng Xiaoping, and their allies.[1]
[edit] Beginning
[edit] 1966
On August 8, 1966, the Central Committee of the CCP passed its "Decision Concerning the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution" (also known as "the 16 Points").[5] This decision defined the GPCR as "a great revolution that touches people to their very souls and constitutes a new stage in the development of the socialist revolution in our country, a deeper and more extensive stage":
| " | Although the bourgeoisie has been overthrown, it is still trying to use the old ideas, culture, customs, and habits of the exploiting classes to corrupt the masses, capture their minds, and endeavor to stage a comeback. The proletariat must do just the opposite: It must meet head-on every challenge of the bourgeoisie in the ideological field and use the new ideas, culture, customs, and habits of the proletariat to change the mental outlook of the whole of society. At present, our objective is to struggle against and crush those persons in authority who are taking the capitalist road, to criticize and repudiate the reactionary bourgeois academic "authorities" and the ideology of the bourgeoisie and all other exploiting classes and to transform education, literature and art, and all other parts of the superstructure that do not correspond to the socialist economic base, so as to facilitate the consolidation and development of the socialist system. | " |
The decision thus took the already existing student movement and elevated it to the level of a nationwide mass campaign, calling on not only students but also "the masses of the workers, peasants, soldiers, revolutionary intellectuals, and revolutionary cadres" to carry out the task of "transforming the superstructure" by writing big-character posters and holding "great debates." China, Mao felt, needed a "Cultural Revolution" to put the socialism back on track.
The freedoms granted in the 16 Points were later written into the PRC constitution as "the four great rights (四大自由)" of "great democracy (大民主)": the right to speak out freely, to air one's views fully, to write big-character posters, and to hold great debates (大鸣、大放、大字报、大辩论 - the first two are basically synonyms). (In other contexts the second was sometimes replaced by 大串联 - the right to "link up," meaning for students to cut class and travel across the country to meet other young activists and propagate Mao Zedong Thought.)
Those who had anything other than a Communist background were challenged and often charged for corruption and sent to prison. These freedoms were supplemented by the right to strike, although this right was severely attenuated by the Army's entrance onto the stage of civilian mass politics in February 1967. All of these rights were deleted from the constitution after Deng's government suppressed the Democracy Wall movement in 1979.
On August 16, 1966, millions of Red Guards from all over the country gathered in Beijing for a peek at the Chairman. On top of the Tiananmen Square gate, Mao and Lin Biao made frequent appearances to approximately 11 million Red Guards, receiving cheers each time. Mao praised their actions in the recent campaigns to develop socialism and democracy.
During the Destruction of Four Olds campaign, religious affairs of all types were persecuted and discouraged by the Red Guards. Many religious buildings such as temples, churches, mosques, monasteries, and cemeteries were closed down and sometimes looted and destroyed.[6] The most gruesome aspects of the campaign were the numerous incidents of torture and killing, and the suicides that were the final option of many who suffered beatings and humiliation. In August and September, there were 1,772 people murdered in Beijing alone. In Shanghai in September there were 704 suicides and 534 deaths related to the Cultural Revolution. In Wuhan during this time there were 62 suicides and 32 murders.[7]
The authorities were discouraged from stopping the violence of the Red Guards. Said Xie Fuzhi, national police chief: "Don't say it is wrong of them to beat up bad persons: if in anger they beat someone to death, then so be it."[8] Mao himself had no scruples about the taking of human life, and went so far as to suggest that the sign of a true revolutionary was his desire to kill: "This man Hitler was even more ferocious. The more ferocious the better, don't you think? The more people you kill, the more revolutionary you are."[9]
For two years, until July 1968 (and in some places for much longer), student activists such as the Red Guards expanded their areas of authority, and accelerated their efforts at socialist reconstruction. They began by passing out leaflets explaining their actions to develop and strengthen socialism, and posting the names of suspected "counter-revolutionaries" on bulletin boards. They assembled in large groups, held "great debates," and wrote educational plays. They held public meetings to criticize and solicit self-criticisms from suspected "counter-revolutionaries."
| " | The world is yours, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is yours. You young people, full of vigor and vitality, are in the bloom of life, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Our hope is placed on you ... The world belongs to you. China's future belongs to you. | " |
This was one of many quotations in the Little Red Book that the Red Guards would later follow as a guide, provided by Mao. It was the mechanism that led the Red Guards to commit to their objective as the future for China. These quotes directly from Mao led to other actions by the Red Guards in the views of other Maoist leaders.[10] Although the 16 Points and other pronouncements of the central Maoist leaders forbade "physical struggle (武斗)" in favor of "verbal struggle" (文斗), these struggle sessions often led to physical violence. Initially verbal struggles among activist groups became even more violent, especially when activists began to seize weapons from the Army in 1967. The central Maoist leaders limited their intervention in activist violence to verbal criticism, sometimes even appearing to encourage "physical struggle," and only after the weapons seizures did they begin to suppress the mass movement.
Liu Shaoqi was sent to a detention camp, where he later died in 1969. Deng Xiaoping, who was himself sent away for a period of re-education three times, was eventually sent to work in an engine factory, until he was brought back years later by Zhou Enlai. But most of those accused were not so lucky, and many of them never returned.
The work of the Red Guards was praised by Mao Zedong. On August 22, 1966, Mao issued a public notice, which stopped "all police intervention in Red Guard tactics and actions." Those in the police force who dared to defy this notice, were labeled "counter-revolutionaries."
On September 5, 1966, yet another notice was issued, encouraging all Red Guards to come to Beijing over a stretch of time. All fees, including accommodation and transportation, were to be paid by the government. On October 10, 1966, Mao's ally, General Lin Biao, publicly criticized Liu and Deng as "capitalist roaders" and "threats". Later, Peng Dehuai was brought to Beijing to be publicly displayed and ridiculed.
[edit] 1967
On January 3, 1967, Lin Biao and Jiang Qing employed local media and cadres to generate the so-called "January Storm", in which many prominent Shanghai municipal government leaders were heavily criticized and purged.[11] This paved the way for Wang Hongwen to take charge of the city as leader of its Municipal Revolutionary Committee. The Municipal government was thus abolished. In Beijing, Liu Shaoqi and Deng Xiaoping were once again the targets of criticism, but others also pointed at the wrongdoings of the Vice Premier, Tao Zhu. Separate political struggles ensued among central government officials and local party cadres, who seized the Cultural Revolution as an opportunity to accuse rivals of "counter-revolutionary activity" as the paranoia spread.
On January 8, Mao praised these actions through party-run newspaper People's Daily, urging all local government leaders to rise in self-criticism, or the criticism and purging of others suspected of "counterrevolutionary activity". This led to massive power struggles which took the form of purge after purge among local governments, many of which stopped functioning altogether. Involvement in some sort of "revolutionary" activity was the only way to avoid being purged, but it was no guarantee.
In February, Jiang Qing and Lin Biao, with support from Mao, insisted that the "class struggles" be extended to the military. Many prominent generals of the People's Liberation Army who were instrumental in the founding of the PRC voiced their concern and opposition to the Cultural Revolution, calling it a "mistake". Former Foreign Minister Chen Yi, angered at a Politburo meeting, said factionalism was going to completely destroy the military, and in turn the party.
Other generals, including Nie Rongzhen, He Long, and Xu Xiangqian also expressed their discontent. They were subsequently denounced on national media, controlled by Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan, as the "February Counter-current forces" (Chinese: 二月逆流). They were all eventually purged by Red Guards. At the same time, many large and prominent Red Guard organizations rose in protest against other Red Guard organizations who ran dissimilar revolutionary messages, further complicating the situation and exacerbating the chaos.
This led to a notice to stop all unhealthy activity within the Red Guards from Jiang Qing. On April 6, Liu Shaoqi was openly and widely denounced by a Zhongnanhai faction whose members included Jiang Qing and Kang Sheng, and ultimately, Mao himself. This was followed by a protest and mass demonstrations, most notably in Wuhan on July 20, where Jiang openly denounced any "counter-revolutionary activity"; she later personally flew to Wuhan to criticize Chen Zaidao, the general in charge of the Wuhan area.
On July 22, Jiang Qing directed the Red Guards to replace the People's Liberation Army if necessary, and thereby to render the existing forces powerless. After the initial praise by Jiang Qing, the Red Guards began to steal and loot from barracks and other army buildings. This activity, which could not be stopped by army generals, continued until the autumn of 1968.
[edit] 1968
In the spring of 1968, a massive campaign began aimed at promoting the already-adored Mao Zedong to god-like status. On July 27, 1968, the Red Guards' power over the army was officially ended and the central government sent in units to protect many areas that remained targets for the Red Guards. Mao had supported and promoted the idea by allowing one of his "Highest Directions" to be heard by the masses. A year later, the Red Guard factions were dismantled entirely; Mao feared that the chaos they caused—and could still cause—might harm the very foundation of the Communist Party of China. In any case, their purpose had been largely fulfilled, and Mao had largely consolidated his political power.
In early October, Mao began a campaign to purge officials disloyal to him. They were sent to the countryside to work in labor camps. In the same month, at the 12th Plenum of the 8th Party Congress, Liu Shaoqi was "forever expelled from the party", and Lin Biao was made the Party's Vice-Chairman, Mao's "comrade-in-arms" and "designated successor", his status and fame in the country was second only to Mao.[12]
In December 1968, Mao began the "Down to the Countryside Movement". During this movement, which lasted for the next decade, young intellectuals living in cities were ordered to go to the countryside. The term "intellectuals" was actually used in the broadest sense to refer to recently graduated middle school students. In the late 1970s, these "young intellectuals" were finally allowed to return to their home cities. This movement was in part a means of moving Red Guards from the cities to the countryside, where they would cause less social disruption.
[edit] Lin Biao
Lin Biao, Mao's chosen successor, became the most prominent figure during the Cultural Revolution following 1968. In September 1971, China (and the world) was shocked when a plane crashed in Mongolia and Lin Biao was believed to be one of its passengers. This event followed an alleged series of assassination attempts on Mao's life. It is impossible to examine the events related to Lin Biao from 1968-1971 with cogency and accuracy because of the political sensitivities that surround the event until this day[13]. Lin's years in power, and his disputed death have been of interest to historians worldwide, who have never been able to come to a conclusion on the issue.
[edit] Transition of power in the party
On April 1, 1969, at the CCP's Ninth Congress, Lin officially became China's second-in-charge after Mao Zedong. He had military influence that was second to none and his potential rivals were weakened. Lin's biggest political rival, Liu Shaoqi, had been purged and Zhou Enlai's power was gradually fading.
The Ninth Congress began when Lin Biao delivered a Political Report, which voiced criticism of Liu and other "counter-revolutionaries" while constantly quoting Mao's Little Red Book. The second item of the Congress agenda was the new party constitution, which was modified to officially designate Lin as Mao's successor. Henceforth, at all occasions, Mao's name was to be linked with Lin's, to be referred to as "Chairman Mao and Vice-Chairman Lin". Lastly, the Congress elected a new Politburo with Mao Zedong, Lin Biao, Chen Boda, Zhou Enlai, and Kang Sheng being the five new members of the Politburo Standing Committee. This new Politburo consisted mostly of members who benefited during the Cultural Revolution. Zhou Enlai barely kept his status after he dropped in rank to fourth among the five.
[edit] Lin's attempts at expanding his power base
After being confirmed as Mao's successor, Lin Biao focused on the restoration of the position of State President, which had been abolished by Mao due to Liu Shaoqi's dismissal from power. Lin's aim was to become Vice-President, with Mao holding the position of State President.
On August 23, 1970, the 2nd Plenum of the CCP's Ninth Congress was once again held in Lushan. Chen Boda was the first to speak, widely praising Mao and boasting of Mao's status, with the unstated intention of raising his own. At the same time, Chen requested the restoration of the position of State President. Mao was deeply critical of Chen's speech and removed him from the Politburo Standing Committee. This was the beginning of a series of criticism sessions across the nation for people who used "deceit" for gains, who were called "Liu Shaoqi's representatives for Marxism and political liars".
Chen's removal from the Standing Committee was also seen as a warning to Lin Biao. After the Ninth Congress, Lin had continuously requested promotions within the party and the Central Government, leading Mao to suspect him of wanting supreme power and even of intending to oust Mao himself. Chen's speech added to Mao's apprehensions. If Lin were to become Vice-President, he would legally have supreme power after the President's death– presenting a clear danger to Mao's safety.
[edit] Attempted coup
Mao's refusal to let Lin gain more prominence within the Party and the government deeply frustrated Lin. Moreover, his power base was shrinking by the day within the Party apparatus, and his health was also gradually waning. Lin's supporters decided to use the military power still at their disposal to oust Mao Zedong in a military coup. Lin's son, Lin Liguo, and other high-ranking military conspirators created a coup apparatus in Shanghai aimed solely at ousting Mao from power by the use of force, and dubbed the plan Project 571, which was somewhat homologous to "Military Uprising" in Mandarin. It is disputed how involved Lin was in this process. In one known document, Lin stated in Shanghai that "A new power struggle has surged upon us, if indeed we could not take control of revolutionary activity, then these control powers will fall upon someone else."
Lin's plan consisted mainly of aerial bombardments and the widespread use of the Air Force. Were the plan to succeed, Lin could successfully arrest all of his political rivals and gain the supreme power that he wanted. But if it were to fail, he would face great and dire consequences. Revisionist sources, however, dispute Lin's involvement in the coup attempt, and place a large portion of the blame on his son Lin Liguo.
Assassination attempts were made against Mao in Shanghai, from September 8 to September 10, 1971. It was learned that before these attacks upon Mao there was initial knowledge of Lin's activities on the part of local police, who stated that Lin Biao had been coordinating a political plot, and Lin's loyal backers were receiving special training in the military.
From these events onward came continuous allegations and reports of Mao being attacked. One of these reports suggested that en route to Beijing in his private train, Mao was physically attacked; another alleged that Lin had bombed a bridge that Mao was to cross to reach Beijing, which Mao avoided because intelligence reports caused him to change routes. In those nervous days, guards were placed every 10–20 meters on the railway tracks of Mao's route, facing outwards from the train, to prevent attempts at assassination.
Although reports are conflicting, it is known that after September 11 of the same year, Lin never appeared in public again, nor did his backers, most of whom attempted to escape to then British-held Hong Kong. Many failed in doing so, and around twenty army generals were arrested.
It was also learned that on September 13, 1971, Lin Biao, his wife Ye Qun, son Lin Liguo, and a few staff attempted to fly to the Soviet Union. En route, Lin's plane crashed in Mongolia, killing all on board. On the same day, the Politburo met in an emergency session to discuss matters pertaining to Lin Biao. Only on September 30 was Lin's death confirmed in Beijing, which led to the cancellation of the National Day celebration events the following day.
The exact cause of the plane crash remains a mystery. It is widely believed that Lin's plane ran out of fuel or that there was a sudden engine failure. There was also speculation that the plane was shot down. It could also have been Soviet forces, who later took possession of the bodies of those on board. Regardless, Lin's attempted coup had failed, leading to the destruction of his reputation within the CCP and in the country.
[edit] "Gang of Four" and their downfall
[edit] Antagonism towards Zhou and Deng
In light of what seemed like the betrayal and fall of one of his closest comrades, Mao's political apprehension was strongly raised, and another void had opened with the question of succession. In the absence of fitting candidates, in September 1972, a young cadre from Shanghai, Wang Hongwen, was transferred to work in Beijing for the Central Government, quickly being elevated to become the Communist Party's Vice-Chairman in the following year, seemingly groomed for succession. At the same time, however, under the advice of Premier Zhou Enlai, then politically-disgraced Deng Xiaoping was also transferred back to work in Beijing as Executive Vice-Premier, directing "day-to-day government affairs". The two promotions set the scene for a protracted factional struggle between the leftist radicals led by Jiang Qing, and the moderate forces led by Premier Zhou Enlai.
Jiang Qing's position and undisputed leadership status over the radical camp was solidified following the death of Lin Biao. While Jiang Qing was at the forefront of carrying out Mao's policies in the earlier stages of the Cultural Revolution, it was clear by 1972 that Jiang Qing had political ambitions of her own. She allied herself politically with propaganda specialists Zhang Chunqiao and Yao Wenyuan, and the politically-favoured Wang Hongwen, and formed a political clique later dubbed as the "Gang of Four".
Together they held effective control of the media and China's propaganda network and were antagonistic towards Zhou Enlai and Deng Xiaoping, who held much control of government organs. In late 1973, to weaken Zhou's political position and distance themselves from Lin's apparent betrayal, the Gang of Four began another political movement, the "Criticize Lin, Criticize Confucius" campaign, whose stated goals were to eradicate China of neo-Confucianist thinking and denounce Lin Biao's actions as traitorous and regressive. The Gang identified Zhou as the main political threat in post-Mao era succession. Reminiscent of the first years of the Cultural revolution, the political battle was acted out through historical allegory, and although Zhou Enlai's name was never mentioned during this campaign, the Premier's historical namesake, the Duke of Zhou, was a frequent target. But the public was generally weary of protracted political campaigns that seemed to achieve nothing, and put forth little effort this time around. The campaign failed to achieve its goals.
The Gang of Four's heavy hand in political and media control did not prevent Deng Xiaoping from reinstating progressive policies in the economic arena. Deng's stance against party factionalism was clear and his policies were aimed at promoting unity as the first step to reimplementing effective production. Mao, who had played the role of a mediator between the two factions, pitched in to criticize Deng's policies as an attempt at "rehabilitating the case for the rightists". With the reputation of the entire Cultural Revolution at stake should Deng further his policies, Mao responded by directing Deng to write self-criticisms during December 1975, a move lauded by the Gang of Four.
[edit] 1976
On January 8, Zhou Enlai died of bladder cancer. The next day, Beijing's Monument to the People's Heroes began filling up with wreaths expressing the people's mourning for the Premier. The event was unprecedented in PRC history. On January 15, Zhou's funeral was held. Events commemorating Zhou took place across the country. The Gang of Four grew apprehensive that spontaneous, large-scale popular support for Zhou could turn the political tide against them. They acted through the media to impose restrictions, forbidding the "wearing of black sashes and white flowers" along with other mourning activities. Deng Xiaoping delivered Zhou's official eulogy in a funeral attended by all of China's senior leaders with the exception of Mao himself, who was gravely ill. Curiously, after Zhou's death, Mao neither selected a member of the Gang of Four nor Deng Xiaoping to become Premier, instead choosing the relatively unknown Hua Guofeng.
April 5 was China's Qingming Festival, a traditional day of mourning for those who have died. People had gathered since late March in Tiananmen Square, mourning the death of Zhou Enlai. At the same time, popular discontent grew towards the Gang of Four, and people began writing and posting messages of disapproval against the Gang in public. On April 5, hundreds of thousands of people gathered in and around Tiananmen Square, turning the assembly into a form of non-violent protest ostensibly aimed at the Gang. In response, the Central Committee, operating under the auspices of the Gang, ordered police to enter the area, clear the wreaths and messages, and disperse the crowds. They asserted that the Tiananmen Incident, as it became known, was masterminded by a "small minority of right-leaning reactionaries" under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping, and subsequently condemned the event on national media. In a Central Committee meeting on April 6, Zhang Chunqiao directly criticized Deng, who was stripped of all his positions and was put under house arrest.
On September 9, 1976, Mao Zedong died. Mao's image during the Cultural Revolution portrayed him as a larger-than-life figure who represented China's revolutionary progress. To many, Mao's death symbolized the loss of the socialist foundation of China. When his death was announced on the afternoon of September 9, in a press release entitled "A Notice from the Central Committee, the NPC, State Council, and the CMC to the whole Party, the whole Army and to the people of all nationalities throughout the country",[14] the nation descended into grief and mourning, with people weeping in the streets and public institutions closing for over a week.
Before dying, Mao had allegedly scribbled a message on a piece of paper stating "With you in charge, I'm at ease", to Hua Guofeng. This legitimized Hua as the Party's new Chairman. Before this event, Hua had been widely considered to be lacking in political skill and ambitions, and seemingly posed no serious threat to the Gang of Four in the race for succession. However, the Gang's radical ideas also clashed with some influential elders and a large segment of party reformers. With army backing and the support of prominent generals like Ye Jianying, the arrest of the Gang of Four followed Mao's death. On October 10, the 8341 Special Regiment had all members of the Gang of Four arrested in a bloodless coup. Historically, this marked the end of the Cultural Revolution era.
[edit] Aftermath
Even though Hua Guofeng publicly denounced and arrested the Gang of Four in 1976, he continued to invoke Mao's name to justify Mao-era policies. Hua opened what was known as the Two Whatevers,[15] saying "Whatever policy originated from Chairman Mao, we must continue to support," and "Whatever directions were given to us from Chairman Mao, we must continue to follow." Like Deng, Hua's goal was to reverse the damage of the Cultural Revolution; but unlike Deng, who was not against new economic models for China, Hua intended to move the Chinese economic and political system towards Soviet-style planning of the early 1950s.
It became increasingly clear to Hua that without Deng Xiaoping, it was difficult to continue daily affairs of state. Deng also had notable prestige within the party. On October 10, Deng Xiaoping personally wrote a letter to Hua asking to be transferred back to state and party affairs. Unconfirmed information allegedly stated that Politburo Standing Committee member Ye Jianying would resign if Deng was not allowed back into the Central Government. With increasing pressure from all sides, Hua decided to bring Deng back into state affairs, first naming him Vice-Premier of the State Council in July 1977, and to various other positions. In fact, through the process Deng had become China's number two figure. In August, the Party's Eleventh Congress was held in Beijing, officially naming (in ranking order) Hua Guofeng, Ye Jianying, Deng Xiaoping, Li Xiannian, and Wang Dongxing as the latest members of the oligarchical Politburo Standing Committee.[16]
In May 1978, Deng seized the opportunity for his protégé, Hu Yaobang, to be further elevated to power. Hu published an article on Guangming Daily, making clever use of Mao's quotations while lauding Deng's ideas. After this article was published, it was clear that support was with Hu, and thus Deng. On July 1, Deng publicized Mao's self-criticism report of 1962 regarding the failure of the Great Leap Forward. With an expanding power base, in September 1978, Deng began openly attacking Hua Guofeng's "Two Whatevers".[15]
On December 18, 1978, the pivotal Third Plenum of the Eleventh CCP Congress was held. During the congress Deng famously stated that "a liberation of thoughts" was in order and the party and country needed to "seek truth from facts". Hua Guofeng engaged in self-criticism, stating that his "Two Whatevers" policy was a mistake. Wang Dongxing, formerly Mao's trusted ally, was also criticized. At the Plenum, the Qingming Tiananmen Square incident was also politically rehabilitated. Disgraced leader Liu Shaoqi was allowed a belated state funeral.[17]
At the Fifth Plenum of the Eleventh CCP Congress, held in 1980, Peng Zhen, He Long and many others who had been purged during the Cultural Revolution were politically rehabilitated. Hu Yaobang was named General-Secretary and Zhao Ziyang, another of Deng's protégés, was introduced into the Central Committee. In September, Hua Guofeng resigned, with Zhao Ziyang being named the new Premier. Deng was the Chairman of the Central Military Commission. The power transition into a new generation of pragmatic reformist leaders was now complete.
[edit] Official historical assessment
Under unspoken conventions, the Communist Party saw itself as the national legal authority on all modern historical issues; therefore, it was necessary to lend the Cultural Revolution an appropriate historical judgment. Among the challenges faced by the new government was the question of how to assess and assign responsibility in the events and how to treat the event in China's complex historiography.
On June 27, 1981, the Central Committee adopted the "Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China", a document pertaining to the official historical assessment of a series of political movements since 1949. In this document, it is stated that the "Chief responsibility for the grave 'Left' error of the 'Cultural Revolution,' an error comprehensive in magnitude and protracted in duration, does indeed lie with Comrade Mao Zedong". It is stated that the Cultural Revolution was carried out "under the mistaken leadership of Mao Zedong, which was manipulated by the counterrevolutionary groups of Lin Biao and Jiang Qing, and brought serious disaster and turmoil to the Communist Party and the Chinese people."[18]
It was necessary in this official view, which has since become the dominant framework for the Chinese historiography of the time period, to separate the personal actions of Mao during the Cultural Revolution from his earlier heroism. It also separates Mao's personal mistakes from the correctness of the theory that he created, which remains a guiding ideology in the Party. It also aimed to continue the legitimacy in the mandate of the Communist Party and the construction of socialism - although many interpretations on Mao's ideology as well as the founding principles of the Party would change with the rise of what would later become known as Socialism with Chinese characteristics.
[edit] Effect
The effects of the Cultural Revolution directly or indirectly touched essentially all of China's population. During the Cultural Revolution, much economic activity was halted, with "revolution", regardless of interpretation, being the primary objective of the country. The start of the Cultural Revolution brought huge numbers of Red Guards to Beijing, with all expenses paid by the government, and the railway system was in turmoil. Countless ancient buildings, artifacts, antiques, books, and paintings were destroyed by Red Guards. By December 1967, 350 million copies of Mao's Quotations had been printed.[19]
Elsewhere, the 10 years of the Cultural Revolution also brought the education system to a virtual halt. The university entrance exams were cancelled during this period, not to be restored until 1979 under Deng Xiaoping. Many intellectuals were sent to rural labour camps, and many of those who survived left China shortly after the revolution ended. Many survivors and observers suggest that almost anyone with skills over that of the average person was made the target of political "struggle" in some way. According to most Western observers as well as followers of Deng Xiaoping, this led to almost an entire generation of inadequately educated individuals. However, this varies depending on the region, and the measurement of literacy did not resurface until the 1980s.[20] Some counties in the Zhanjiang district, for example, had illiteracy rates as high as 41% some 20 years after the revolution. The leaders denied any illiteracy problems from the start. This effect was amplified by the elimination of qualified teachers—many of the districts were forced to rely upon chosen students to re-educate the next generation.[20]
Mao Zedong Thought had become the central operative guide to all things in China. The authority of the Red Guards surpassed that of the army, local police authorities, and the law in general. China's traditional arts and ideas were ignored, with praise for Mao being practiced in their place. People were encouraged to criticize cultural institutions and to question their parents and teachers, which had been strictly forbidden in Confucian culture. This was emphasized even more during the Anti-Lin Biao, Anti-Confucius Campaign. Slogans such as "Parents may love me, but not as much as Chairman Mao" were common.
The Cultural Revolution also brought to the forefront numerous internal power struggles within the Communist party, many of which had little to do with the larger battles between Party leaders, but resulted instead from local factionalism and petty rivalries that were usually unrelated to the "revolution" itself. Because of the chaotic political environment, local governments lacked organization and stability, if they existed at all. Members of different factions often fought on the streets, and political assassination, particularly in rural-oriented provinces, was common. The masses spontaneously involved themselves in factions, and took part in open warfare against other factions. The ideology that drove these factions was vague and sometimes nonexistent, with the struggle for local authority being the only motivation for mass involvement.
[edit] Destruction of antiques, historical sites and culture
China's historical reserves, artifacts and sites of interest suffered devastating damage as they were thought to be at the root of "old ways of thinking". Many artifacts were seized from private homes and often destroyed on the spot. There are no records of exactly how much was destroyed. Western observers suggest that much of China's thousands of years of history was in effect destroyed or, later smuggled abroad for sale, during the short ten years of the Cultural Revolution, and that such destruction and sale of historical artifacts is unmatched at any time or place in human history. Chinese historians compare the cultural suppression during the Cultural Revolution to Qin Shihuang's great Confucian purge. The most prominent symbol of academic research in archaeology, the journal Kaogu, did not publish during the Cultural Revolution.[21] Religious persecution, in particular, intensified during this period, because religion was seen as being opposed to Marxist-Leninist and Maoist thinking.[22]
The status of traditional Chinese culture within China is also severely damaged as a result of the Cultural Revolution. Many traditional customs, such as fortune telling, paper art, feng shui consultations,[23] wearing traditional Chinese dresses for weddings, the use of the traditional Chinese calendar, scholarship in classical Chinese literature and the practice of referring to the Chinese New Year as "New Year" rather than "Spring Festival" have been weakened in China. Yet some aspects recovered fully, and some still survive in some forms in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Malaysia and in overseas Chinese communities, notwithstanding the impacts of Western culture (and Japanese culture in the case of Taiwan and Manchuria) on those communities.
The Cultural Revolution was particularly devastating for minority cultures in China. In Tibet, over 6,000 monasteries were destroyed, often with the complicity of local ethnic Tibetan Red Guards. In Inner Mongolia, some 790,000 people were persecuted. Of these, 22,900 were beaten to death and 120,000 were maimed,[24] during a ruthless witchhunt to find members of the allegedly "separatist" Inner Mongolian People's Party, which had actually been disbanded decades before. Jung Chang details some of the atrocities in her controversial book Mao: The Unknown Story, and cites cases of ethnically-targeted violence, brutal rape scenes, and various torture and suffocation techniques.[25] In Xinjiang, copies of the Qu'ran and other books of the Uyghur people were apparently burned and Muslim imams were reportedly paraded around with paint splashed on their bodies. In the ethnic Korean areas of northeast China, language schools were destroyed. In Yunnan Province, the palace of the Dai people's king was torched, and an infamous massacre of Hui Muslim people at the hands of the People's Liberation Army, called the "Shadian Incident", reportedly claimed over 1,600 lives in 1975.[26]
[edit] Persecution
Millions of people in China had their human rights annulled during the Cultural Revolution. Those identified as spies, "running dogs" or "revisionists" (such as landowners) were variously subjected to violent attack, imprisonment, rape, torture, sustained and systematic harassment and abuse, seizure of property and erasure of social identity, with unknown hundreds of thousands (or more) murdered, executed, starved or worked to death.[citation needed] Millions were forcibly displaced. Young people from the cities were forcibly moved to the countryside, where they were forced to abandon all forms of standard education in place of the propaganda teachings of the Communist Party of China.[15]
Some of the most extreme violence took place in the southern province of Guangxi, where a Chinese journalist found a "disturbing picture of official compliance in the systematic killing and cannibalization of individuals in the name of political revolution and 'class struggle'."[27] Senior party historians acknowledge, "In a few places, it even happened that 'counterrevolutionaries' were beaten to death and in the most beastly fashion had their flesh and liver consumed [by their killers]."[28] Not even the minor children of "enemies of the people" were spared, as more than a few were tortured and bludgeoned to death, dismembered and some of their organs - hearts, livers, and genitals - eaten during "human flesh banquets".[29] As a result of this frenzied killing and "obligatory cannibalism", an estimated 100,000 people were killed in Guangxi alone.[29]
Estimates of the death toll, civilians and Red Guards, from various sources[3] are about 500,000 in the true years of chaos of 1966—1969. Some people were not able to stand the torture and, losing hope for the future, committed suicide. One of the most famous cases was communist leader Deng Xiaoping's son Deng Pufang who jumped or was thrown from a four-story building during that time. Instead of dying, he became a paraplegic. In the trial of the so-called Gang of Four, a Chinese court stated that 729,511 people had been persecuted of which 34,800 were said to have died.[30] However, the true figure may never be known since many deaths went unreported or were actively covered up by the police or local authorities. Other reasons are the state of Chinese demographics at the time, as well as the reluctance of the PRC to allow serious research into the period.[31] One recent scholarly account asserts that in rural China alone some 36 million people were persecuted, of whom between 750,000 and 1.5 million were killed, with roughly the same number permanently injured.[32] In Mao: The Unknown Story, Jung Chang and Jon Halliday claim that as many as 3 million people died in the violence of the Cultural Revolution.[33]
[edit] World reaction
The reaction abroad was mixed and tied to political movements of the time. A significant re-evaluation of the events of the Cultural Revolution occurred amongst the Western political left once the full extent of the destruction became known, thus tarnishing China's image in the West.[34] In Hong Kong a pro-Communist strike was launched, known as the Hong Kong 1967 riots. Its excesses damaged the credibility of these activists for more than a generation in the eyes of Hong Kong residents.[35] In the Republic of China (Taiwan), Chiang Kai-shek initiated the Chinese Culture Renaissance Movement to counter what he regarded as destruction of traditional Chinese values by the Communists on the mainland.
[edit] Cultural Revolution and the Chinese student protests of 1989
One of the student leaders of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 Shen Tong, author of the book, Almost a Revolution has a positive view of some aspects of the Cultural Revolution. According to him, the trigger for the famous hunger-strikes of 1989 was a big-character poster (dazibao), a form of public political discussion that gained prominence in the Cultural Revolution and was subsequently outlawed. When students organized demonstrations in the millions, something not seen since the Cultural Revolution, youths from outside Beijing rode the trains into Beijing and relied on the hospitality of train workers and Beijing residents, just as their counterparts had ridden the trains freely during the Cultural Revolution. Also, as in the Cultural Revolution, students formed factions, with names similar to those of Red Guard factions, using the term "Headquarters" for instance, and according to Shen Tong, these factions even went to the extent of kidnapping members of other factions, just as they had done in the Cultural Revolution. Finally, in a small minority of cases, some of the student leaders of 1989 had been youth activists in high school during the Cultural Revolution.[1]
[edit] Historical views and analysis
[edit] Causes
Today, the Cultural Revolution is widely seen inside and outside China – including by the Communist Party of China – as an unmitigated disaster, and as an event to be avoided in the future. At the time of the Tiananmen Square protests, no politically significant groups within China defended the Cultural Revolution; the protesters were largely neoliberal and remain highly controversial. Supporters of the Chinese democracy movement[who?] see the Cultural Revolution as an example of what happens when democracy is lacking, and place responsibility for it on the Communist Party of China. Human rights activists and civil libertarians see the Cultural Revolution as an example of the dangers of statism. These views attribute its cause to "too much government and too little popular participation".
By contrast, the official view of the Communist Party of China is that the Cultural Revolution was the consequence of an extreme cult of personality, which manipulated the public to destroy existing institutions. In this view, the Cultural Revolution is an example of too much popular participation in state affairs, rather than too little; in this view, the chaos of the Cultural Revolution is seen as a danger of anarchy rather than statism. The consequence of this view is the consensus among the Chinese leadership, that China must be governed by a strong party institution, in which decisions are made collectively and according to the rule of law, and in which the public has limited input.
These contradictory views of the Cultural Revolution were put into sharp relief during the Tiananmen Protests of 1989, when both the demonstrators and the government justified their actions as being necessary to avoid another Cultural Revolution.
[edit] Mao's role
The relationship between Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution is also controversial. There is general agreement that Mao was responsible for the Cultural Revolution, but there is considerable dispute concerning the effects of the Cultural Revolution on Mao's legacy, and to what degree he exerted influence after he became gravely ill. The PRC's official version of history regards the Cultural Revolution as a serious error by Mao Zedong, whose contribution to history was 70% good and 30% bad. Using this formulation, the Party has argued that the Cultural Revolution should not denigrate Mao's earlier role as a heroic leader in fighting the Japanese, founding the People's Republic of China and developing the ideology which underlies the Communist Party of China. This allows the Party to condemn both the Cultural Revolution and Mao's role within it, without calling into question the legitimacy of the Party. Mao Zedong once stated that he had two great achievements in his life: one the founding of the PRC; the other the Cultural Revolution, the long-term effect of which on the Chinese culture and civilization is yet to be correctly understood and appreciated.
Abroad, the Cultural Revolution armed the Communists of Nepal with Maoism, and contributed to their success in the struggle against three mountains – imperialism, feudalism and bureaucratic capitalism.[36]
[edit] Use of rhetoric and language
According to Shaorong Huang of the University of Cincinnati, the fact that the Cultural Revolution occurred, and had such massive effects on Chinese society is the result of extensive use of political slogans.[37] In a sense, Huang writes, "China's Cultural Revolution was a rhetorical movement during which both the leaders and the participants moved and were moved by words." Political slogans played a leading role during the movement, with the slogan "to rebel is justified" becoming a unitary theme.[37] Huang asserts that political slogans were ubiquitous in every aspect of people's lives.[37] Workers were supposed to "grasp revolution and promote productions," while peasants were supposed to raise more pigs because "more pigs means more manure, and more manure means more grain." And even a casual remark by Mao, "Sweet potato tastes good; I like it." became a slogan everywhere in the countryside.[37]
Cultural Revolution political slogans had three sources. Those such as "Never forget classes and class struggle.", "Revolution is not a dinner party." and "He who is not afraid of death by a thousand cuts dares to unhorse the emperor." were originally Mao's words.[37] Slogans such as "Be proletarian revolutionaries, not bourgeois loyalists." came from official media like the People's Daily and the Liberation Army Daily.[37] Slogans of a more violent variety, like "Strike the enemy down on the floor and step on him with a foot.", "Long live the red terror!" and "Those who are against Chairman Mao will have their dog skulls smashed into pieces." were from the red guards' big character posters (dazibao).[37]
Noted Sinologist Lowell Dittmer and his colleague Chen Ruoxi point out that the Chinese language "had been known for its subtlety and delicacy, for its reflection of such Confucian ideals as honesty and sincerity, moderation and respect for wisdom, and also for its cultivation of a refined and elegant literary style."[38] Since Mao wanted an army of bellicose people in his crusade, according to Huang, and bellicose people could only be driven by militant language, rhetoric during the Cultural Revolution sought to reduce vocabulary to political terms and slogans that featured violence and agitation.[37] These slogans were powerful and effective, mobilizing millions of people in a concerted attack upon the subjective world, "while at the same time reforming their objective world."[37] Dittmer and Chen argue that the emphasis on politics made language a very effective form of propaganda, but "also transformed it into a jargon of stereotypes — pompous, repetitive, and boring."[39] Dittmer characterises the Cultural Revolution as a "form of collective thought reform." To distance itself from the era, Deng Xiaoping's government cut back heavily on the use of political slogans, although it saw a resurgence in the late 1990s under Jiang Zemin.
[edit] See also
Find more about Cultural Revolution on Wikipedia's sister projects:
Definitions from Wiktionary
Textbooks from Wikibooks
Quotations from Wikiquote
Source texts from Wikisource
Images and media from Commons
News stories from Wikinews
Learning resources from Wikiversity- Eight model plays
- GPCR Ultra-Left
- Great Confucian purge
- Hong Kong 1967 riots, a series of riots spurred by Cultural Revolution supporters
- Li Zhensheng (photojournalist), journalist who captured images of the Cultural Revolution
- List of campaigns of the Communist Party of China
- Painter: Zhi Lin
- Scar literature, a literary genre that emerged after the Cultural Revolution
- The Hundred Flowers Movement
- The Rusticated Youth of China
[edit] References and notes
- ^ a b c Tang Tsou. [1986] (1986). The Cultural Revolution and Post-Mao Reforms: A Historical Perspective. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226815145
- ^ a b c Shinn, Rin Supp. "History of China". University of Maryland. http://www-chaos.umd.edu/history/prc2.html. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
- ^ a b Historical Atlas of the 20th century
- ^ NetEase: Who made Liu Shaoqi into what he was?
- ^ Decision Concerning the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, adopted on August 8, 1966, by the CC of the CCP (official English version)
- ^ murdoch edu
- ^ MacFarquhar, Roderick and Schoenhals, Michael. Mao's Last Revolution. Harvard University Press, 2006. p. 124
- ^ MacFarquhar, Roderick and Schoenhals, Michael. Mao's Last Revolution. Harvard University Press, 2006. p. 125
- ^ MacFarquhar, Roderick and Schoenhals, Michael. Mao's Last Revolution. Harvard University Press, 2006. p. 102; Note: "From a very reliable source seen by one of the authors." p. 515
- ^ MacFarquhar, Roderick and Schoenhals, Michael. Mao's Last Revolution. Harvard University Press, 2006. p. 107
- ^ Yan, Jiaqi. Gao, Gao. [1996] (1996). Turbulent Decade: A History of the Cultural Revolution. ISBN 0824816951.
- ^ Wang Dongxing's Memoirs
- ^ Dr. Jin Qiu: Distorting History: Lessons from the Lin Biao Incident Retrieved July 2008
- ^ People's Daily: September 10, 1976 1976.9.10 毛主席逝世--中共中央等告全国人民书 retrieved from SINA.com
- ^ a b c Harding, Harry. [1987] (1987). China's Second Revolution: Reform after Mao. Brookings Institution Press. ISBN 081573462X
- ^ Basic Knowledge about the Communist Party of China: The Eleventh Congress
- ^ Andrew, Christopher. Mitrokhin, Vasili. [2005] (2005). The World was Going Our Way: The KGB and the Battle for the Third World. Basic Books Publishing. ISBN 0465003117
- ^ People.com: 关于建国以来党的若干历史问题的决议 (Resolution on Certain Questions in the History of Our Party Since the Founding of the People's Republic of China) full text.
- ^ Lu, Xing. [2004] (2004). Rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution: The Impact on Chinese Thought, Culture, and Communication. UNC Press. ISBN 1570035431
- ^ a b Peterson, Glen. [1997] (1997). The Power of Words: literacy and revolution in South China, 1949-95. UBC Press. ISBN 0774806125
- ^ Journal of Asian history, Volume 21, 1987, p. 87
- ^ Jiaqi Yan, Gao Gao, Danny Wynn Ye Kwok, Turbulent decade: a history of the cultural revolution, Honolulu Univ. of Hawai'i Press 1996, p.73
- ^ Guoxue.com
- ^ MacFarquhar, Roderick and Schoenhals, Michael. Mao's Last Revolution. Harvard University Press, 2006. p. 258
- ^ Chang, Jung and Halliday, Jon. Mao: The Unknown Story. Jonathan Cape, London, 2005. p. 567
- ^ Yongming Zhou, Anti-drug crusades in twentieth-century China : nationalism, history, and state building, Lanham [u.a.] Rowman & Littlefield 1999, p.162
- ^ Zheng Yi Scarlet Memorial: Tales of Cannibalism in Modern China. Westview Press, 1998. ISBN 0813326168
- ^ MacFarquhar, Roderick and Schoenhals, Michael. Mao's Last Revolution. Harvard University Press, 2006. p. 259
- ^ a b Steven Bela Vardy and Agnes Huszar Vardy. Cannibalism in Stalin's Russia and Mao's China. Duquesne University, East European Quarterly, XLI, No.2, 2007
- ^ James P. Sterba, New York Times, January 25, 1981
- ^ The Chinese Cultural Revolution: Remembering Mao's Victims by Andreas Lorenz in Beijing, Der Spiegel Online. May 15, 2007
- ^ MacFarquhar, Roderick and Schoenhals, Michael. Mao's Last Revolution. Harvard University Press, 2006. p. 262
- ^ Chang, Jung and Halliday, Jon. Mao: The Unknown Story. Jonathan Cape, London, 2005. p.569
- ^ Tucker, Nançy Bernkopf (2001). China Confidential: American Diplomats and Sino-American Relations, 1945-1996. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0231106300
- ^ Wiltshire, Trea. [First published 1987] (republished & reduced 2003). Old Hong Kong - Volume Three. Central, Hong Kong: Text Form Asia books Ltd. ISBN Volume Three 962-7283-61-4
- ^ Red Flag Flying on the Roof of the World
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Huang, Shaorong. "The power of Words: Political Slogans as Leverage in Conflict and Conflict Management during China's Cultural Revolution Movement," in Chinese Conflict Management and Resolution, by Guo-Ming Chen and Ringo Ma (2001), Greenwood Publishing Group
- ^ Dittmer, Lowel and Chen Ruoxi. (1981) "Ethics and rhetoric of the Chinese Cultural Revolution," Studies in Chinese Terminology, 19, p. 108
- ^ Dittmer and Chen 1981, p. 12.
[edit] Further reading
[edit] General
- Michael Schoenhals, ed., China's Cultural Revolution, 1966-1969: Not a Dinner Party (Armonk, N.Y.: M.E. Sharpe, 1996. An East Gate Reader). xix, 400p. ISBN 1563247364.
- MacFarquhar, Roderick and Schoenhals, Michael. Mao's Last Revolution. Harvard University Press, 2006. ISBN 0674023323
- Morning Sun, "Bibliography," Morningsun.org Books and articles of General Readings and Selected Personal Narratives on the Cultural Revolution.
[edit] Specific topics
- Chan, Anita. 1985. Children of Mao: Personality Development and Political Activism in the Red Guard Generation. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
- Chan, Che Po. 1991. From Idealism to Pragmatism: The Change of Political Thinking among the Red Guard Generation in China. Ph.D. diss., University of California, Santa Barbara.
- Zheng Yi. Scarlet Memorial: Tales of Cannibalism in Modern China. Westview Press, 1998. ISBN 0813326168
- Yang, Guobin. 2000. China's Red Guard Generation: The Ritual Process of Identity Transformation, 1966-1999. Ph.D. diss., New York University.
- Fox Butterfield, China: Alive in the Bitter Sea, (1982, revised 2000), ISBN 0-553-34219-3, an oral history of some Chinese people's experience during the Cultural Revolution.
- Chang, Jung and Halliday, Jon. Mao: The Unknown Story. Jonathan Cape, London, 2005. ISBN 0224071262
[edit] Commentaries
- Simon Leys (penname of Pierre Ryckmans) Broken Images: Essays on Chinese Culture and Politics (1979). ISBN 0-8052-8069-3
- - Chinese Shadows (1978). ISBN 0-670-21918-5; ISBN 0-14-004787-5.
- - The Burning Forest: Essays on Chinese Culture and Politics (1986). ISBN 0-03-005063-4; ISBN 0-586-08630-7; ISBN 0-8050-0350-9; ISBN 0-8050-0242-1.
- - The Chairman's New Clothes: Mao and the Cultural Revolution (1977; revised 1981). ISBN 0-85031-208-6; ISBN 0-8052-8080-4; ISBN 0-312-12791-X; ISBN 0-85031-209-4; ISBN 0-85031-435-6 (revised ed.).
- Liu, Guokai. 1987. A Brief Analysis of the Cultural Revolution. edited by Anita Chan. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe.
[edit] Fictional treatments
- Sijie Dai, translated by Ina Rilke, Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress (New York: Knopf: Distributed by Random House, 2001). 197p. ISBN 2001029865
- Xingjian Gao, translated by Mabel Lee, One Man's Bible: A Novel (New York: HarperCollins, 2002). 450p.
- Hua Gu, A Small Town Called Hibiscus (Beijing, China: Chinese Literature: distributed by China Publications Centre, 1st, 1983. Panda Books). Translated by Gladys Yang. 260p. Reprinted: San Francisco: China Books.
- Hua Yu, To Live: A Novel (New York: Anchor Books, 2003). Translated by Michael Berry. 250p.
[edit] Memoirs by Chinese participants
- Nien Cheng, Life and Death in Shanghai (Grove, May 1987). 547 pages ISBN 0394555481
- Jung Chang, Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1991). 524 p. ISBN 91020696
- Heng Liang Judith Shapiro, Son of the Revolution (New York: Knopf : Distributed by Random House, 1983).
- Yuan Gao, with Judith Polumbaum, Born Red: A Chronicle of the Cultural Revolution (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987).
- Jiang Yang Chu translated and annotated by Djang Chu, Six Chapters of Life in a Cadre School: Memoirs from China's Cultural Revolution [Translation of Ganxiao Liu Ji] (Boulder: Westview Press, 1986).
- Bo Ma, Blood Red Sunset: A Memoir of the Chinese Cultural Revolution (New York: Viking, 1995). Translated by Howard Goldblatt.
- Guanlong Cao, The Attic: Memoir of a Chinese Landlord's Son (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996).
- Ji-li Jiang, Red Scarf Girl: A Memoir of the Cultural Revolution (New York: HarperCollins, 1997).
- Anchee Min, Red Azalea (New York: Pantheon Books, 1994). ISBN 1-4000-9698-7.
- Rae Yang, Spider Eaters : A Memoir (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997).
- Weili Ye, Xiaodong Ma, Growing up in the People's Republic: Conversations between Two Daughters of China's Revolution (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005).
- Lijia Zhang, "Socialism Is Great": A Worker's Memoir of the New China (New York: Atlas & Co, Distributed by Norton, 2007).
- Emily Wu, Feather in the Storm (Pantheon, 2006). ISBN 978-0-375-42428-1.
- Xinran Xue, The Good Women of China: Hidden Voices (Chatto & Windus, 2002). Translated by Esther Tyldesley. ISBN 0701173459
- Ting-Xing Ye, Leaf In A Bitter Wind (England, Bantam Books, 2000)
[edit] Internet video
- China Great Leap Forward Mao Zedong
- Video of Peng Dehuai, Peng Zhen, Wu Han (PRC), Zhang Wentian and others being paraded in public.
- Chinese documentary:with English subtitle《Though I am Gone 2》
[edit] External links
- Encyclopedia Britannica. The Cultural Revolution
- History of The Cultural Revolution
- Chinese propaganda posters gallery (Cultural Revolution, Mao, and others)
- Hua Guofeng's speech to the 11th Party Congress, 1977
- Morning Sun - A Film and Website about Cultural Revolution and the photographs of the subject available from the film's site.
- Memorial for Victims of the Chinese Cultural Revolution
- Exhibition causes stir with candid views of 'great' Mao The Times, July 14, 2005
- Chinese Museum Looks Back in Candor: Groundbreaking New Exhibit on Cultural Revolution Sparks Official Displeasure but Visitors' Praise from the Washington Post, June 3, 2005
- "William Hinton on the Cultural Revolution" by Dave Pugh
- "Student Attacks Against Teachers: The Revolution of 1966" by Youqin Wang
- A Tale of Red Guards and Cannibals by Nicholas D. Kristof. The New York Times, January 6, 1993.
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The China factor in Nepal
By RSN Singh
Issue: Vol 25.2 Apr-Jun 2010
Once it was annexed by China (1951), Tibet ceased to be a buffer zone for India. Both India and Nepal were taken by surprise and were at a loss as to what they could do when Mao's PLA invaded eastern Tibet with 40,000 troops in October 1950 and began to threaten Lhasa, which succumbed a year later. It may be recalled that Mao, when enunciating his stand on the liberation of Tibet, had included in his ambit the 'five fingers' – Nepal, Bhutan, Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. It was also in 1951 that with Indian assistance, the Rana rule in Nepal was overthrown and the powers of the monarchy were restored. Old timers in Nepal believe that the Indian move, amongst many other factors, was aimed at checking any further expansionism by China under Mao's leadership. In this regard, a letter dated 07 November 1950, from Sardar Patel to Nehru is instructive for its strategic prescience: "The tragedy of it is that the Tibetans put faith in us; they chose to be guided by us; and we have been unable to get them out of the meshes of Chinese diplomacy or Chinese malevolence. This feeling, if genuinely entertained by the Chinese in spite of your direct approaches to them, indicates that, even though we 
regard ourselves as the friends of China, the Chinese do not regard us as their friends. With the Communist mentality of 'whoever is not with them being against them', this is a significant pointer, of which we have to take due note. …we have to consider what new situation now faces us as a result of the disappearance of Tibet, as we know it, and the expansion of China almost up to our gates. Throughout history, we have seldom been worried about our north-east frontier. The Himalaya has been regarded as an impenetrable barrier against any threat from the north. We had a friendly Tibet which gave us no trouble."
The Chinese intentions and designs on Nepal have not changed. With the disappearance of Tibet, the Chinese were free to carry out their machinations in Nepal. The ideological and strategic thrust that China made into Nepal since then has metamorphosed into Maoism, which threatens the very moorings of the country and, if allowed to succeed, will have pernicious ramifications not only for India but for the entire region.
Left-wing extremism practiced by the Maoists, i.e. the CPN (M) is a progression of the communist politics and movement in Nepal. After the end of Rana rule, the rise of communists was no less encouraged by the monarchy as a counterpoise to the Nepali Congress. The external hand in the Cold War period, of course, had a major role to play. The late H Lal (ICS) who was Head of Indian Aid Mission in Nepal from 1957-60 wrote in his diary: "Who are these communists? At one time, they belonged to the Nepal Congress, but out of frustration they joined the Communist Party. If this stalemate continues more and more people are going to leave Nepal Congress and join the communists, while as a gladiator, you (the King), may cut off the heads of Nepal Congress leaders, you cannot cut the heads of the communists. They do not expose their heads. That lies in some other country. There are only limbs here. They will grow more limbs …"
Also Read Nepal: Export of fake currency
Historical Backdrop
Nepal and Tibet
Historical links with Tibet was primarily predicated on trade, salt being one of the most precious commodities. Though Nepal waged wars against Tibet, its aim was mainly to dominate the vital trade routes, rather than the acquisition of Tibetan territory. Its relations with Tibet never impacted on the sensitivities of the majority of the people in the country and this situation continues even after China's conquest of Tibet (which is not the case where India is concerned). Historically, as long as Nepal's trade interests with Tibet were preserved, it had no problems in accepting Chinese supremacy. When the British made inroads into Tibet and became a more powerful player in the region in the beginning of the 20th century, Nepal did not waste time disabusing itself of the supremacy it had accorded to China.
For most part of the 17th, 18th and 19th century, Nepal enjoyed dominance over Tibet. It was the Chinese Empire which came to the rescue of Tibet in the Nepal-Tibet wars in 1792 and 1854. In the war of 1792, the Chinese intervention resulted in a Sino-Nepalese treaty, wherein Nepal accepted China's supremacy in the region and agreed to send mission bearing tributes to the Emperor in Beijing every five years. These missions were discontinued when China's power weakened considerably in the wake of the British military expedition in Tibet in 1904, and the revolution in 1911.
Nepal again invaded Tibet in 1855. This time too the Chinese brokered peace, but in the treaty of Thapathali in 1856, though China retained its special status, this time it was Tibet which agreed to send tribute missions to Nepal. Strangely enough, this act of obeisance continued till 1953, even after Chinese occupation. Between the period of 1953 and 1955, there was a hiatus between Nepal and China, as the latter, contrary to the treaty provisions began to impose trade restrictions and pilgrimages by Nepalese to Tibet.
Nepal and China
In 1956, the old treaty was replaced with a "Treaty of Amity and Commerce" with China's new communist regime. Later, repeated offers by China for signing a defence pact were spurned by Nepal, as it would have upset its ties with India. Consequent to the 1956 Treaty all the privileges and rights that Tibet had conferred on Nepal were discontinued. In 1960, another 'Peace and Friendship Treaty' was signed. The treaty was deliberated during the visit of the Nepalese Prime Minister Mr BP Koirala in March 1960 to China and a reciprocal visit by the Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai to Kathmandu in the following month. Zhou Enlai addressed the joint session of Nepal's Parliament. China appeared determined to resolve the issue of border delineation with Nepal. It is evidenced by the fact that China dropped its claims on Mount Everest, which they had been insisting was a Chinese feature called 'Chomolungma' in Tibetan language. In a press conference at the Singha Darbar Gallery Hall, he categorically stated that 'Sagarmatha' (the Nepalese name for Mount Everest) belonged to Nepal.
In 1961, there followed a boundary treaty through which a joint commission was set up to decide on matters relating to border alignment, as also the location and maintenance of 79 border pillars. It is significant that during the boundary demarcation process, the borderlines on the maps of the two countries did not coincide at 35 points, but the differences were quickly settled. In 1962, Nepal withdrew its ambassador from Tibet and instead a Counsel General was appointed.
India and Nepal
While Nepal maintained its neutrality in the Indo-China War of 1962, it nevertheless supported China's entry into the United Nations. Moreover in 1961, even as the Indo-China standoff had become pronounced, it signed the agreement for the construction of the Kodari-Kathmandu highway by China. During this period, particularly after King Mahendra reneged on parliamentary democracy, New Delhi-Kathmandu relations hit the nadir. The highway, which was opened in 1967 proved to be of little economic significance to Nepal, but then China indeed had made the strategic thrust into the country. The highway connected two Chinese army bases with that of forward bases in Tibet. The two Chinese army bases are within 100 kilometers of Kathmandu.
Also Read India's Borders
The burgeoning Nepal-China relationship during the '60s, somewhat slowed down in the 70s because of the 1971 Indo-Pak war, after which India came to be perceived as a regional power to contend with. Also, Mao's Cultural Revolution disturbed Kathmandu as it did most of the world. Nevertheless, King Birendra continued with his 'equal friendship with India and China' balancing act. It was under these circumstances that King Birendra mooted the proposal of making Nepal into a 'zone of peace'.
By the late 80s, as the political situation in Nepal worsened, King Birendra suspected India of fomenting the trouble. As a strong signal to India, he negotiated a deal for the purchase of weapons from China. This was in total disregard of the 1950 'Indo-Nepal Peace and Friendship Treaty', by which Nepal was obliged to secure all defence supplies through India. This increasing belligerence of Nepal and its intransigence on many issues forced India to impose a long economic blockade of the country in 1989. This blockade, as people in Nepal feel, did generate very strong anti-Indian sentiments in certain segments of the Nepalese society, but it also contributed towards ushering in parliamentary democracy under constitutional monarchy.
Nepal's Geostrategic Factor
The geostrategic location of Nepal makes it a strategic interlocutor of two big regional powers, China and India. In terms of advantages of geography, historical, cultural and religious links, Nepal has leaned sharply towards India. For the economic survival of the resource starved Nepal, India is far more important than China can ever hope to be. This is the mandate of geography, given some of the world's highest snow bound mountains as its boundary with Tibet and, in high contrast, the level and invisible border with India that almost invites you to cross over either way you want. China's technological prowess is however challenging the constraints imposed by geography. The proposed Lhasa-Kathmandu railway has already caught the imagination of the people. Its extension into the rest of Nepal is being seen not only as feasible but a natural follow up move. If extended, it will generate not only greater amount of people to people contact between China and Nepal, but will generate enormous economic activity along the route in Nepal. The orientation of the Hill people will to an extent be biased towards China, while the Terai people will continue to lean on India, thus further widening the fault line.
After the 1989 economic blockade, there have been no serious aberrations in Nepal-India relations. Successive Nepalese dispensations, barring the Maoist government, were careful enough not to offend Indian security sensitivities in its exercise of relations with China. The fear of China smuggling the communist revolution into Nepal has always been lurking in the psyche of the center and right wing elements in Kathmandu. During the Cold War, the mainstream communist groups, having ideological affinities with USSR and China sided with the monarchy and its panchayati system only to increase their influence.
In the 60s and 70s, apart from the cultural revolution in China, the Naxalite movement in West Bengal in India also impacted Nepal. These two developments gave a fillip to the extremist sections of the communist parties, whose products are the present day Maoists in Nepal. The killings of feudals in the Jhapa area of eastern Nepal – 'Jhapali Uprising' – highlighted the threat posed by the Maoists.
Following the agreement for the Kodari-Kathmandu highway, there was a spurt of moves by China to negate Indian influence in Nepal. Along with the Treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1960, it also signed an agreement on economic aid. China agreed to grant aid of Rs100 million (Indian Rupees) within a period of three years, which was over and above the Rs 40 million provided under the 1956 Agreement. This aid had no political conditions attached to it.
Post 1962, in a further bid to isolate India, China increased economic aid to Nepal substantially. In 1969, China gave a grant amounting to Rs 159 million (Indian currency) to Nepal and further Rs 535 million in 1971. Some important Chinese aided projects in Nepal since the 1960s are the Kathmandu-Kodari Road (104 km), Kathmandu-Bhakatpur Road (13 km), Pirthviraj Marg (176 km), Kathmandu Ring Road (13 km), Pokhara-Surkhet Road (407 km), Gurkha-Narayanghat Road (60 km), Sunkosi Hydel Project (10 MW), Seti Power (1.5 MW), and Irrigation Power Project (Pokhara) and Mini Hydel Projects in Eastern and Western Nepal. While India was none too happy with these Chinese inroads through roads, as it were, into Nepal, it chose to ignore it in its bilateral dealings. But China's supply of lethal military supplies (air defence guns) to Nepal in 1988 disconcerted India, as it could have serious portends for India's security and it was at a loss to understand Kathmandu's motives. India was thus forced to exercise the most critical economic leverage – it suspended the trade and transit treaty with Nepal.
Also Read Action plan to deal with Maoist Insurgency: Some Suggestions
China has been dogged in its efforts to eclipse India's influence in Nepal. The Beijing-Kathmandu defence interaction had steadily increased in the 90s. Chinese firms adopted an aggressive marketing strategy for supply of defence related items to the Nepal Army, the then Royal Nepal Army. China's involvement in infrastructure development is also on the increase. One of the reasons for the success of Chinese firms in winning contracts is their pit bottom bids even if it means a loss because they are recompensed by the Chinese Government – all a part of its influence mongering in Nepal. China has not only undertaken several development projects in Nepal but also finalized many joint ventures and have stepped up its interaction with Nepal through exchange of visits. The two countries have signed a bilateral 'Air Service Accord'. The construction of Road Kathmandu-Hetauda on the basis of 'build, operate, transfer' (50 years), is to be undertaken by China. In addition, it is likely to undertake the construction of five road links connecting Nepal and Tibet, apart from the existing Kodari Friendship Highway. These links would cover mid-western, western, central and eastern Nepal. There are about 18 passes between Tibet and Nepal, the most important being Kerong and Kuti (13000-14000 ft). The altitudes of other passes are more than 17000 feet and therefore snowbound for several months. Nepal's unique geostrategic location as a buffer state gives it diplomatic leverage in exercise of its foreign policy with India and China. Geographical accessibility, ethnicity, religious and cultural affinities has since ancient times been the umbilical chord of India-Nepal relations. Given such intertwined ties, the idea of China outstripping India's reach and influence in Nepal is farfetched. But there is no denying that China is working doggedly at it and flexing its muscles to keep India unsettled.
The contiguity of Northern Nepal with Tibet, the imperatives of trade and commerce and the need to assert its role as a regional power is what impels China to try weaning Nepal away from India. Tibet, though for all practical purposes a settled issue, remains high on Chinese security agenda. Nepal's proximity to Tibet was exploited by the USA in the late sixties, when Mustang (North Central Nepal) served as a US sponsored base for arming and launching Khampa guerillas into Tibet. However, one of the first steps that the Maoist government initiated was to circumscribe the activities of the Tibetan refugees in Nepal.
One of the main vehicles of China for influence peddling, intelligence gathering and covert operations is the International Liaison Department (ILD) of the Chinese Communist Party. Before the break up of the Soviet Union, the ILD was responsible for maintaining relations with communist/socialist parties abroad. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the international communist movement began to lose its steam and a rash of over-ground and underground ultra-leftist organizations sprouted, a phenomenon more pronounced in Asia. The ILD has been using these organizations on selective basis for furtherance of China's agenda. Even when China had close alliance with the Palace (thanks to the late Queen Mother's personal apathy to India), the ILD was strengthening its ties with the CPN (UML). Therefore, China made haste to recover its influence after the fall of the monarchy. An ILD delegation led by its director, Wang Jiarui, visited Nepal in December 2007. A meeting between Jiarui and Maoists (Prachanda) was facilitated by the present Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal – an odd move, considering that Maoists have all along condemned the CPN (UML) as revisionists.
Maoists and China
In August 2009, Prachanda, while addressing a Maoist training camp, made an outrageous claim that the fall of his government was orchestrated by the US and India as both these countries wanted to use Nepal's territory for anti-China activities, to the extent of even launching an attack on China. He also claimed that the conspiracy began to be effected after he chose to visit China before visiting New Delhi on taking over as the Prime Minister.
Some of very important non-Maoist ministers in the Maoist led government conveyed their alarm to this author about the abnormal increase in the number of visits by Chinese delegations to Nepal. When the Maoists were in power, there were 28 official delegations, while the numbers of delegations from India were about one-fourth of the number. As per sources in Nepal's Army, the numbers of unofficial Chinese delegations were even more. The aforementioned ministers had then revealed that the Maoist government and China were moving very fast on the project to extend the Tibet Railway to Kathmandu. In fact, recently, the Nepal government has officially sounded China in this regard. Some leaders believe that, once the work gets on way, India's hands would be tied because any attempt to put a spanner in the works would cause public furor. They therefore advise India to immediately make a concrete offer for the extension of the railway from India to Kathmandu and beyond up to the Chinese border.
Also Read Maoist Threat and Politics
The stranglehold of China on the Maoist leaders was quite evident when it prevailed over Prachanda to decline the invitation to the India Today Conclave in New Delhi. Besides Maoists, some Madhesi leaders like Upendra Yadav and Maitrika Yadav are also considered extremely close to China, and are surreptitiously supporting China in the furtherance of its agendas in Nepal. Maitrika Yadav visited China in early 2009. The recent statement by the Chinese Ambassador in Nepal, to the effect that China would not allow any interference in Nepal's internal affairs further demonstrates China's resolve to wean away Nepal from its special relationship with India. A huge hoarding just outside the Kathmandu airport emblazons the words: 'Welcome to Nepal, the Gateway to China'. A wise old gentleman in Kathmandu told me with a dry smile: "They should have written 'Welcome to Nepal, China's Gateway into India'." Be that as it may, the hoarding is clear sign of Maoist instigated intimacy developing between Nepal and its northern neighbor.
Even as China is reaching out to the new CPN (UML) led government, it has not jettisoned the Maoists. The frequency of Prachanda's visit to China in recent times has created unease and suspicion amongst the non-maoist political parties and people. Prachanda went to China in the 2nd week of October 2009, accompanied by Krishna Bahadur Mahara, the chief of the UPCN-M foreign department and Mohan Baidya Kiran, the senior most member of the party, known for his aversion to India. During this visit, Prachanda had meetings with President Hu Jintao and other Chinese senior officials. This visit did not receive wide publicity in the officially controlled Chinese media and the agenda of the visit remains a secret. This visit was intriguing, as it followed Prachanda's trip to Hong Kong in September 2009 during which he reportedly had secret meetings with the Chinese officials.
Renewed thrust by China
China has been trying to exploit the political flux in Nepal. It has been insisting on setting up of a Joint Working Group on border management, just like the one between India and Nepal. Earlier, when the Maoists were in power, China had passed on a draft friendship treaty on lines similar to the Indo-Nepal Friendship Treaty of 1950, which the Maoists had avowed to revise. Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Jieyi, who led a delegation to Nepal in February 2009, handed over the draft treaty to Nepal's Foreign Secretary Suresh Prasad Pradhan. Though the Chinese authorities maintain that the changed political context, post monarchy, makes it necessary to replace the Nepal-China Friendship Treaty of 1960, many independent observers in Nepal are convinced that the Chinese design was to weaken Nepal's ties with its southern neighbor, which had gained strength following the 1950 Friendship Treaty. The new China-Nepal treaty would by now have seen the light of the day, had Prachanda's scheduled visit to Nepal in April 2009 not been aborted due to the compulsions of domestic politics, wherein his premiership was at stake. The loss of the Maoist led government has not dampened China's renewed thrust to increase its influence and stakes in Nepal. China has been known to deal with the government of the day, irrespective of its character, composition and democratic credentials.
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To counter India's offer of Rs 2000 crore aid and development package during the visit of Madhav Kumar Nepal to India in August 2009, China is planning to provide a far larger assistance package. It is typical of Beijing to deal with the government of the day in pursuit of their strategic objectives. The exit of the Maoists from power was a great setback, but China has been quick to establish links with the Madhav Kumar Government. His party, the Communist Party of Nepal, had contacts with China at the party level even earlier. A 20-member high level political delegation led by Zhang Gaoli, a powerful member of the politburo of the Communist Party of China visited Nepal in August/September 2009 and met both the Maoist leaders as well as leaders in the present government. The delegation offered scholarships and made other goodwill gestures. The Nepali side reaffirmed its commitment to the building of the Lhasa-Kathmandu railway link.
A large number of Nepalese students, mainly those who have failed to get into engineering and medical colleges in Nepal or India, throng to China to study at facilities especially created for them. Nepal, with a population of nearly 2.8 crores has 14 medical colleges. The Chinese have a very nonchalant attitude where teaching these students is concerned, for their primary aim is to brainwash the young minds of the Nepalese to the Chinese Communist way of thinking, primed to turn Maoists on return to their homeland. Extensive visits to the prosperous areas of China forms part of the curriculum. These institutions are very poorly equipped. For most practical lessons, video tapes are shown. The standard of students graduating from the medical institutes is so poor that the Nepal Medical Association (NMA) has begun to conduct tests for certification and practice in Nepal. Members of the NMA who have visited China revealed that institutions in China catering exclusively to Chinese students are far superior, state-of-art entities. Since it would be insulting to hold these examinations only for graduates from China, Indian and Nepal graduates have also been brought into the ambit. Very recently, some 600 graduates appeared for the licensing exam. Only 40 percent qualified and most of the failures were the 'Made in China' variety.
The Chinese thrust to create a pro-China constituency is not only confined to students and government officials. It is also trying to extend its soft-power into Nepal by way of a number of Chinese restaurants in some of the most conspicuous areas in Kathmandu and elsewhere. The consumer market in Nepal has been flooded with Chinese goods, but they do not enjoy the same confidence and respect as goods and consumables produced by the western countries, or even India for that matter.
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The establishment of China Study Centers (CSCs) best illustrates the renewed Chinese thrust in Nepal. At present there are ten such centers and the establishment of more is under consideration.
These centers are reportedly funded by China, though this fact is denied by Dr Upendra Gautam, General Secretary, and CSC Nepal. He maintains that the funding of these centers is through annual subscriptions of members, sale of its publications and friendly donations. Given the pro-India sentiments in the Terai, where many of these centers are located, it is difficult to believe that they would have any kind of abiding patronage of the people. Similarly in the Hills, it is again a difficult proposition to economically sustain such study centers by indigenous funding. The locations of the CSCs give reasons for suspicion that they are centers for espionage, subversion, intelligence gathering and furthering influence.
Border issues between India and Nepal have never become bitter or intractable enough to vitiate their relationship. But lately, the anti-India constituency in Nepal, particularly the Maoists, aided and abetted by China through the NGOs and CSCs, have been trying to engineer animosity between India and Nepal by magnifying the disputes which have always proved amenable to peaceful resolutions. Most of the border disputes between India and Nepal arise in the areas where the border is riverine, covering nearly one-third of the total 1,751 km long border. These disputes crop up every time the rivers change their course, creating new lands and submerging some old ones. There was an effective bilateral mechanism that existed between the two countries before Indian Independence, which for some reason was dispensed with after Independence.
A joint team inspects the border areas every year and rectifies the natural aberrations or encroachments. Belatedly, a Joint Technical Level Boundary Committee (JTC) was established in 1981. By December 2007, the JTC was successful in delineating 98 percent of the border on strip maps, signed by experts of the two countries, but the Nepalese government is still to formalize the delineation agreement. Consequent to its formalization, the process of checking and reinstating border pillars would begin. Incumbent on it are the resolution to all contentious issues regarding border alignment, except the disputed areas of 'Kalapani' and 'Sushta', which require a political resolution. The anti-India constituency has rejected the strip maps on the specious plea that the JTC went by Persian maps prepared in 1874, which the Nepalese side did not have the competence to interpret, as a result of which India usurped more than 1500 hectares of Nepalese land. Beset by unrelenting and motivated opposition from the Maoists-cum-anti-India constituency, it is increasingly becoming difficult to demarcate the boundary. This delay was exactly what the anti-India forces wanted.
Since the beginning of 2001, there have been insinuations in the Nepalese media that India's 'Seema Suraksha Bal' (SSB) had driven out more than 5,000 Nepalese villagers from Kapilvastu in the Dang area. Clarifications by the Indian Embassy in Kathmandu and, more importantly, by the Nepalese Foreign Minister after ascertaining facts proved to be of no avail. Meanwhile, the Maoists as well as Chinese sponsored NGO's continue to play up fabricated stories about India's encroachment into Nepal.
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Conclusion
The nexus between the Maoists in Nepal and China is well established. Most Indian projects, industries and businessmen have been targeted by the Maoists. Some of the industrialist and businessmen have managed to survive but only by conceding to the demands of the 'extortion industry' being run by the Maoists. In contrast there has not been a single case of Chinese projects and industries being subjected to hostile activities by the Maoists. In a significant statement – denied later, ostensibly under pressure – Ms Sujata Koirala, the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Nepal, revealed in Nepalgunj that she has evidence pertaining to arms supply by China to the Maoists in India through the Nepal Maoists. Some analysts infer that the upsurge in Maoist violence in India is at the behest of their Nepalese comrades. The Maoist leaders' aim is to distract the Indian establishment so that they could reactivate their arms struggle for a decisive bid to capture power in the near future.
RSN Singh, Associate Editor IDR and author of the book Asian Strategic and Military Perspective. His latest book is The Military Factor in Pakistan.
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