Recent de cade s have witnesse d unprecedented growth of the Hindutva communal forces led by the RSS in our cou n t r y, more quintessentially coinciding with the advent of neo-liberalism as a response to the crisis of capitalism. With these forces in power at the centre for the last one decade, they could advance the process of authoritarianism in governance – economic, political and societal – to a great extent. This neo-liberal and neofascistic alliance in governance is posing threat to the very existence to the very Idea of Modern India even as a bourgeois democracy.
Rise of Neo fasci sm an d Crisis of Neoliberal Capitalism The eme rgence and de vel opme nt o f communal fascism in our cou ntry o r elsewhere, at any point of time is clearly rooted in the evolution of capitalist order and has been developed according to the imperialist agendas from time to time. Any analysis of communalism and its growth is inseparable from the analysis of the stage of capitalist development at that particular juncture. Today the rise of communal forces in our country and the rightwing elsewhere is clearly related to the systemi c crisis of capitalism and neoliberalism. So also, the strategies and tactics to fight the communal danger are inseparable from the strategies and tactics to figh t the neoli be ral order.
As has been assessed by Marxist economists and widely acknowledged, the great depression and the capitalist economic crisis in the 1930s have paved way to the classi cal fascism. The emergence of the fascist forces under Hitler and Mussolini in Ge rmany and Italy respectively, utilising the popular discontent and how capitalism overcame the crisis th roug h the World Wars need not to be elaborated.
According to note d Marxist economist Prof. Prabhat Patnaik, in this neoliberal era, there are certain features of this new wave of fascism. Fascist groups as fringe groups exist in any society, but they occupy centre stage only with the active support of the big business with money and media. On occupying power, these regimes extend huge concession to the big business. He added that, within monopoly capital it is a newly emerging element, the “new monopoly bourgeoisie” that acqu ires a particularly close relationship with the fascistic groups. This is very visible in today’s India, where BJP regime favouring the Ambanis and Adanis most while favours the monopoly capital and business houses in general. The salient features of this regime – It is highly authoritarian and against any kind of resistance, thus making any kind of resistance more and more difficult. It is fully backed by the imperialist forces and big bourgeois even utilising the latest technologies to advance it. It changes the discourse by creating ‘the other’ which can be some minority groups- be it religious or ethnic group or migrants (as in India it is the Muslims). They come to power utilising the anger against the establishment, at the same time not to change but to help the establishment.
One of the features which is relevant for the working class movement is that they work within the democratic shell and not always in the form o f a standard authoritarianism. They also have a mass dimension as they mobilises large number of lumpen youth to terrorize the people. But what is more relevant to us today, in this analysis is that unlike the experience of classical fascism of the 1930s, the pre se nt brand of ri ght-wing fascisti c exercises of the ruling classes can’t help the neo-liberalism come out of the crisis either globally or nationally. In the new dispensation, the ruling regime can’t tax the rich, as international finance will not allow it. However dictatorial they may be, within the shell of the liberal bourgeois system it is highly possible that they may lose power although they may still remain powerful.
Corporate Communal Nexus In the economic sphere, the RSS- BJP force s which preache s ‘swade sh i’ or ‘atmanirbharta’ has totally surrendered to the US imperialism and has been acting at the dictates of International Finance Capital handing over the nation and its assets to the corporates. Even during the British rule RSS has always acted as the agents of imperialism.
In the social sphere, the RSS and its outfits have succeeded in creating an overarching ‘Hindu’ identity cutting across social-ethnic divides to a significant extent. This was do ne with conti nuou s interventions and caste and communal based mobilisations at the local level and utilising the latest technologies and entire media with the help of big business. Neoliberalism has abandoned ‘modernity’ and embraced obscurantism and ‘manuvadi’ ide ology fo r its e xi stence. Hindutva communalism and neo-liberalism have become mutually complementary with commonly shared goals.
In India today, liberal bourgeois and almost all political parties except the Left have surrendered to the hegemony of Hindutva ideology and compromised their secular credentials. At the same time, the ruling classes have direct role in promoting minority communalism parallel to the majority communalism. They have major role in promoting various fundamentalist and divisive forces based on religion, caste e thnicity e tc in various parts of the country. Manipur is the latest example in this category. Using the identity politics to weaken and attack the Left and class politics has always been the agenda of the capitalist classes, be it in Tripura or Darjeeling and so on.
Material basis of communalism
The remnants of archaic forms of feudalism in Indian society and persistence of feudal land relation covering the major section of Indian population provide most fertile ground for communalism to thrive. The huge advance in technology and production of goods at present and the unbridled neoliberal market led consumerist culture have reached the remotest corner of the world, thus creating material aspirations in the vast population. But given the existing extent of disparity, the material reality does not allow these aspirations to be realised by vast sections of the common people. The anxieties and frustration generated in individu als by thi s contradiction form the ground for religiosity and communalism to thrive. For the middle class also, consumerism creates cultural crisis which results in their uncritical support to communalism which has been brought in disguise as cultural nationalism. Thus, the fight against communal fascism cannot be separated from the fight against neo-liberalism.
Need of Comprehensive and integrated interventions to challenge hegemony ‘Hindutva’ at present is used by neoliberalism in our country to strengthen its hegemony. They could attain power not only through political mobilisations alone, but through sustained work in the social and cultural fields. Our interventions against communal offensive at present are basically plann ed in countering the activities of communal forces at various levels and physically confronting them. So, countering communal ideology and changing the hegemonic discourse need multi-pronged approach – political, ideological and cultural. For the trade union movement actively countering the neoliberalism in political and ideological spheres, the ‘cultural actions’ in its broadest meaning must be the centre of the counter offensive.
According to eminent historian Dr. K.N Panikkar, cul tural action is an intervention in daily life, directed to the transformation of social consciousness. The main agenda of cultural action is to bring the individual, who is increasingly being alienated into the social fold through two possible areas of activity that he describes as the ‘creative realm’ and the ‘constructive realm.’ He has given the e xample of Gandh iji effe ctivel y turning u sage of spinning, Khadi and the organisation of life in the ashrams into symbols of mass mobilisation.
The role of class struggles in Changing the Rightwing Narratives
‘Cultural’ actions in the constructive realm must intrinsically be integrated with the antineoliberal struggles. We have the horrific experiences of planned communal tensions and riots propagated in the working class areas of movement and resistance by the communal forces and the big business, be it in Mumbai, Coimbatore, Kanpur and so on. We also have the experiences of issue based class movement help developing the consciousness of the people above caste and communal divisions in various places in the country.
This could be much more visible during the recent historic kisan struggle actively supported by the working class of the country. This long-drawn struggle has seen some of the earlier wounds of communal tensions being healed and some social stigmas getting shaken. The kisan struggle could bring together the Muslims and Jaats in Muzaffarnagar, UP publicly condemning the infamous communal riots and terming it as divisive agenda of the communal corporate nexus for capturing power. This struggle has also helped women from villages of Haryana and Punjab coming out of their veils in public in the struggles get social acceptance and respect. Thus, the ‘cu ltural ’ actions wh at we te rm i s inseparable from the anti-neo libe ral struggles on class demands.
Necessary, not sufficient
At the same time we must bear in mind that the anti-neoliberal struggles are necessary condition for anti communal movement but not sufficie nt unl ess supported by conscious interventions. i.e., Anti-neoliberal economic/class struggles may not automatically transform to an anticommunal consciousness in the society. Public discourse and campaign among the particular communities by the leading forces of the struggle only help to break such divide and bring unity or change in practice.
Present day tasks
The continuous and consistent initiatives and struggles independently and jointly by us developing worker- peasant unity and class resistance under the banner of CITUAIKS -AIAWU and further the joint platform of ce ntral trade union s and the samyuktakisanmorcha to some extent at the macro – policy level struggles have created an enabling condition for unifying the classes above communal politics and influencing the public discourse. We could also su ccessfully e xpose the po stmodernist ideology projecting the identity politics as the ‘alternative’ to neo-liberalism and establish the primacy of class struggle and class unity in through these consistent struggles.
The RSS led Hindutva forces and other religious fundamentalist forces are working at the micro level intervening in the day to day lives of the pe ople , influencing the ir co nsciousn ess and thereby the public discourse in the opposite direction. In our country, fairly large sections of the population are deprived of even basic necessities of life, and getting more and mo re impo ve rished, the contradiction created by the consumerism and the aspiratio ns is also ge tting aggravated. The very same contradiction working as the ground for communalism gives us the necessary space for initiating counter offensive based on the demands on basic necessities and issues at the local level.
Build class unity and movement at the grassroot level to change the narratives The broadening of the base of struggles on issues of land reforms, remunerative price for crops, minimum wages etc against feudal and archaic as well as modern land and production relations is crucial to this. It is very important for our movement to have the concrete analysis of the class corre lations an d contradictions and identify the points of interventions at each place. We must address the complexities of class conflicts and contradictions of each place also and work out our plan of action also assessing our own strengths and weaknesses. The caste oppression and discrimination will be one of the crucial points of inte rventions i n this e ffort. Without addressing the caste and gender in our society we cannot address the class conflicts. Other issues of environment etc also will have to be taken up in this effort. This will not only help in developing the anti-neoliberal struggle at local level, but also will influence and change the characte r of public discourse in civil society.This change in the public discourse can be achieved with creation of a counter culture through constructive undertakings. Range of issues from drinking water, access to natural resources, education, health, access to public spaces and public amenities, opposition to caste and gender oppression and cultural traditions can be the rallying point of su ch ‘local communities. ‘Continuous questioning and remoulding the local cultural and social practices to address the contemporary challenges must be an integral part of this intervention.Revisiting the local history in the class perspective will be helpful in countering the narratives of history by the Hindutva revivalist forces.
Within the framework of existing capitalist order, exploring the existing forms of alternative development models such as various forms of collectives and making them tools as well as forts of resistance in the anti-neoliberal struggles itself amounts an important cul tu ral intervention. Efforts must be made to develop social service activities, literacy movement, libraries, cultural centres etc at the local level developing democratic, secular and scientific public spaces. The issues, forms, alliances etc., will be different in different places. It is implicit that this will invoke conflict with the dominant social and political power, which will have local as wel l as natio nal dimensions. Taking up local without being victim of localism, upholding the plural tradition will be the counter narrative to the homogenization of communalism and neoliberalism.
The unity of the basic classes- the working class, the peasantry and the agricultural workers – thus developed will be the bulwark of a peoples’ front against this neoliberal and neo-fascist alliance which is trying frantically with the money and muscl e powe r and me dia support for creating ‘consent’ to keep itself in power to serve the interests of the international finance capital. Only such a broad front that could unite all the democratic forces would defeat these neo-liberal neo-fascist forces in 2024 and beyond.
(Author is National Secretary,CITU)
