(The following statement on the revolutionary struggle in Bangla Desh was issued April 4 by the Secretariat of the Socialist Workers party (Indian section of the Fourth International) on April 4.]
The massive assertion by the East Bengali people of their determination to end exploitation by the West Pakistani military regime headed by Yahya Khan has claimed the lives of lakhs [hundreds of thousands] of workers, peasants, and students, highlighting once again the brutal subjugation and economic exploitation that has been the lot of the people of East Pakistan, under the garb of an Islamic state, ever since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947.
The large-scale and indiscriminate massacres, reckless bombings of towns and villages to crush the growing resistance of an entire nation fighting for national independence has no parallel in modern history. This has clearly demonstrated the total inability of the West Pakistani bourgeoisie to solve any of the basic problems of 75,000,000 people of East Pakistan, representing a majority of the total population of that coun try.
Unfortunately, the liberation forces led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman cannot as yet match their strength against the organized firepower of the Pakistan army, equipped with the most sophisticated weapons. The criminal role of the Anglo- American bloc of imperialist powers, which has extended all possible military and financial aid to the militarists of Is lamabad, must be condemned by all freedom-loving people. No less condemnable is the behaviour of the United Nations, the "thieves' kitchen" dominated by imperialists, in the context of the savage butchery perpetrated in Bangla Desh.
It is all the more deplorable that even the "socialist" countries like China and the USSR should have pursued an equivocal policy of directly or indirectly placating the Yahya Khan regime, having allowed the arms supplied to West Pakistan to be used against the national liberation movement in Bangla Desh. There are also reports that Chinese ships have been used to ship arms to Chittagong, ignoring popular protests. We demand that the governments of the USSR and China immediately stop supplying arms to the West Pakistan regime and rush every possible help to the freedom fighters of East Bengal.
The treacherous role of the government of Ceylon, led by so-called left and Marxist parties like the SUFP [Sri Lanka Free dom party], LSSP [Lanka Sama Samaja party], and CCP [Ceylon Communist party], in providing transit and refueling facilities to Pakistani planes, transporting soldiers as well as arms and ammunition from the western wing of Pakistan to the eastern wing, deserves universal condemnation. We demand that such facilities be stopped forthwith. We also deplore the ambivalent stand of sympathetic bystander taken by the Indira Gandhi government in New Delhi in relation to the de velopments in Bangla Desh, and demand that the Provisional Revolutionary Government of Bangla Desh be recognized forthwith.
It is obvious that Bangla Desh is in for a prolonged period of civil war in which the people can be victorious only if they prepare themselves for protracted guerrilla resistance. We are confident that the revolutionary leadership of workers and peasants in Bangla Desh will march forward to their goal of a socialist Bangla Desh, creating new conditions for a revolutionary overthrow of the present capitalist system. The step taken to arm the masses of people must be welcomed, and this must be followed by steps to cre ate new organs of struggle in the form of elected councils of workers and peasants to coordinate their resistance on a national scale.
It is the sacred duty of the working class and the exploited masses not only of India but also of West Pakistan, Cey-
Burma, and other neighbouring lon, countries to frustrate the treacherous poli icies of their respective governments and rally behind the people of Bangla Desh and render them every possible assistance in their liberation war.