Sir,
I thank you for carrying the article entitled `On the Occasion of the 202nd Birth Anniversary of Karl Marx’ which fell on May 5, 2020. The article carries the byline `Times are calling for the transition from capitalism to socialism’. Indeed, nothing could be closer to the truth, as the working class world over is groaning under the weight of a continuous economic crises as well as the lockdown imposed by capitalist governments in response to the Covid-19 onslaught.
During this period, there has been an intensification of racist hype and accusations against China that she is somehow responsible for the global spread of the pandemic. Against the backdrop there is an increasing hysteria for war and inter-imperialist rivalry as well. The teachings of Karl Marx which we remember on the occasion of his birth are that capitalism is an inhuman and man-eating system that is full of crises and violence. Having run its course for hundreds of years, it is today a block to human development. The proletariat which was given birth to by the system is the revolutionary class that must now seize the initiative as the system is becoming increasingly discredited.
In no country is capitalism standing as discredited, and as much at odds against the entire peoples of the country as it does in India. The entire spectacle of seeing millions of migrants thrown to the winds is a heart-breaking and disgusting one. The capitalists and their government do not even want them to return to their own homes! What could be more brutal and barbaric than this? The tragic situation caused by the pandemic has been used by governments to basically hang up the Factories Act and to remove the restriction of 8 hour working day in the organized sector.
It is a cynical move to dovetail a natural calamity into the game plan of capitalists. Nevertheless, this occasion has also dispelled all myths and illusions about the system. It has inspired a new awakening in the working masses.
I would finally like to thank you for the box on the key theoretical conclusions of Karl Marx, which include the general law of development of society, or class struggle, and of the theory of surplus value, and his discovery of the reasons for the rise of class society, and the inherent contradictions in capitalism, and the need for its resolution through revolution.
I would like to congratulate the CGPI on its renewal of the pledge to lead the proletariat and establish a new society.
Sincerely,
A. Narayan
Bangalore