India is moving.
### Election
Platform
of the Indian
Trotskyists
Below are some excepts from the program of the Communist League, Indian section of the Fourth International, which presented a candidate, Thakor Shah, in Baroda in the state of Gujarat, as well as a brief presentation of the program.
• • • The Trotskyists of the Communist League (Indian section of the Fourth International) had a consistent record of opposition to the emergency and its aftermath since their last national conference, held in May 1976. On the bonus cut, on the question of the Dearness Allowances, etc., the CL fought for independent working-class politics. Despite the stringency of the emergency, factory committees under its influence worked all throughout the period of the emergency. Open public meetings were also held on the bonus cut. All along the CL had pointed out the anti-democratic and antiworking-class implications of the emergency. When the 42nd Constitutional Amendments Act was proposed, it put forward revolutionary Marxist proposals calling for the convening of a Constituent Assembly. Elections provided a unique opportunity for the Indian Trotskyists to point out the class nature of Indian democracy and its limitations. The CL viewed this election as a battle of two bourgeois parties trying to sidetrack the consciousness and movement of the working class and the toiling 14 masses. The CL election manifesto emphasized the need for independent working class politics in India and stressed that elections were only one of the arenas of class struggle. Pointing out the need for socialist democracy, the CL stressed socialist revolution under working class leadership as the • • • • Political
1. Lift the Emergency.
2. Release all political prisoners and detenues, including Naxalites.
3. Remove the ban on all political parties and organisations including the extreme-left Naxalites and the extremeright RSS (National Protection Union, a paramilitary group affiliated with the Hindu-chauvinist Jan Sangh), as they should be dealt with politically.
4. No constitution can automatically be socialist merely by using the term "socialism" in its preamble. The Indian constitution is a bourgeois constitution framed by the bourgeoisie and feudal class through limited franchise. A socialist constitution can only be framed by the representatives of the Indian working masses, both urban and rural, whose allies will be the students, intellectuals, and various oppressed middle classes. We therefore demand the convening of a Constitution Assembly of representatives elected on the basis of adult franchise through the constituencies delimited on the basis of professions - such as textile labourers, engineering workers, banking employees, landless labourers, rank and file of military and police establishments, teachers of primary, secondary, and higher education, etc. We however emphasise that a socialist constitution is only possible after the socialist revolution led by the majority of the working classes and exploited masses whose allies will be students, intellectuals, and the oppressed middle classes. Meanwhile we demand:
a. Scrap all draconian measures like the MISA (Maintenance of Internal Security Act), the DIR (Defence of India Rules), the Press Objectionable Matters Act, etc.
b. Scrap the 42nd Amendment Act.
c. Scrap Emergency provisions from the constitution of India.
d. Abolition of private property not only as a Fundamental Right but also as a legal right in production, distribution, and exchange.
e. Right to work and education as a Fundamental Right.
f. Right of recall of elected representatives of the people from village panchayat (council) to parliament.
g. Right to strike as the Fundamental Right of the working masses. Basic Necessities We firmly believe that the prices of the basic necessities of life should not be left to the vagaries of private profiteers.
We therefore demand:
1. Basic necessities of life such as food, oil, milk, cloth, etc., should be distributed through public distribution centres under consumers' control.
2. Prices should be fixed and should be the same throughout India.
3. All families residing in both rural and urban areas should get their requirements of the same quality and in equal quantity.
4. There should be no change in the prices of essential commodities for the coming ten years.
5. The distribution shops should be so arranged that the customers are not put to harassment for their purchases of basic requirements. Unemployment Unemployment cannot be removed unless the means of production, distribution, and exchange are socially owned under the workers', technicians', employees', and customers' control. The objective of production and distribution should be aimed at catering to the needs of the people and not profit-making. Investment should be planned so as to provide 100 percent employment.
Working-Class and Trade-Union Rights
1. Effective legislation and its implementation against layoffs, lockouts, and closures.
2. Reopening of sick mills under workers' control, to be financed by the state.
3. Opening of the books of accounts, including secret dealings, of the employers before the workers.
4. Right of workers to elect representatives of their choice in trade unions, other working-class councils, and committees through secret ballot
5. Abolition of apex body and present discriminatory system of trade-union representation at the national level for bargaining and negotiations.
6. Restoration of minimum bonus of 8.33 percent as a "deferred wage."
7. Repeal of wage freeze and compulsory deposit scheme.
8. Nationalisation of all means of production, transport, and communication without compensation under workers-
9. Guaranteed minimum wage, without giving up its present facilities, to agricultural and landless labourers through their own elected committees.
10. Speedy implementation of land reforms through and under the control of democratically elected poor peasants' committees.
Pakistan: The