Letter to the Editor

Children of war by Nirmalangshu Mukherji

Dear editors,
I am a regular reader of Red Star. I read quite carefully all your articles on MLM strategy for India. & I really applaud you for trying to come to a correct understanding of Indian situation by exploring MLM & applying MLM to Indian situation.For this reason I have strong objection to Nirmalangshu’s article Children of war which is a critique of Arundhati & Navlakha.At the outset let me state quite categorically that this article is a critique of Maoists for the sake of criticising them.I request you to refrain in future from carrying such articles for the following 2 reasons:
1. As I have stated already it is a critique of Maoists for the sake of criticism.
2. Therefore, it was VERY poorly analysed ideologically from MLM position.
3. You know very well that in a
a) war situation
b) in conditions of rebellion
c) in a revolution
children very well can be inducted & are inducted
THIS CRITIQUE IS FROM A BOURGEOIS STAND POINT & ARTICULATES AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, ETC POSITIONS
I like many others have issues with Maoists largely on the question of their REVOLUTIONARY STRATEGY PLUS THEIR LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF MAOIST THOUGHT (which is the reasonn why their strategy is flawed) but that doesn’t mean we should criticise them & that too when an ARGUMENT lacks logic like the above-mentioned article.
 deeply disappointed me. RED FLAG under com. Ramachandran should keep high ideological LEVEL. Otherwise, it would become like FRONTIER
What we need in India is to develop inexorably & ruthlessly the MLM Thought in the Indian context so that we are able to make a ‘giant leap’ in the cause of revoltuion.
Thanks
Manu Kant

Dear friend
When some people who claims themselves as close friends of Maoists and who write so much about their experiences in the ‘liberated land’ write that 65000 sq kms area is liberated for last 20 years  the queries raised by Nirmalanshu will be naturally raised by anyone who has gone through Edgar Snow’s Red Star Over China.  When in 4-5 years many things could be done there hope you will admit that conditions in Dantewade and other so called areas are worse Besides in these areas  even minimum wages are not paid .
So far they have not succeeded in a single area election boycott even calling for it even after threats. Besides their usual practice after calling for boycott is to support one bourgeois party or other as they did even during this year’s Jharkhand eletions. They threatened our candidate in Latehar constituency  and demanded his withdrawal for Shibu Soren’s  candidate . They acted like musclemen for Shibu Soren.One should oppose the Left Front government in W.Bengal.But can it be done by supporting TMC as done by spokespersons of Maoists. For taking such a position we had expelled even some leading members of our party.
 We hope that our friends understand how Maoists have degenerated to sheer militarism and still persist in the line of annihilation which had brought havoc to the movement in early 1970s Their mistake s are due to their line which has nothing to do withMarxism- Leni.nism- Mao Tsetung Thought. As far as we are concerned we are engaged in a bitter struggle against Operation Green Hunt and all black laws mobilizing people. In the name of Maoists our comrades are arrested .
As a struggling force it is our task to wage ideological struggle against alien trends and expose NGOs and petti bourgeois intellectuals who in the name of supporting Maoists are doing serious damage to the revolutionary movement.Our concluding words are ,we are against drawing children in to this struggle till they are politically educated and are matured LTTE or others may have done it but the bitter setbacks suffered by the communist movement teaches that we should always put politics in command and scrouplessly follow mass line as ultimately people ,people alone can create history, not some militarist squads as some petti bourgeois supporters of Maoists try to establish — RS.