SOUTH INDIA, June 21— A community organizer who shares Progressive Labor Party’s (PLP) anti-racist outlook united Hindu and Muslim workers, countering India’s ruling-class arch bent towards fascism.
This struggle ensued when a follower of the Hindu religion placed a stone in the middle of a public street as a symbol of religious devotion. This was seen as provocative and Muslim workers were angered by this and were planning actions against it. This is during the Muslim religious month of Ramadan, where Muslims fast all day every day to commemorate the first revelation of their religious text, the Quran. Some Hindu workers were also beginning to mobilize. Tensions were high.
The community organizer immediately met with both the Hindu and Muslim workers. After some serious debate and struggle, they were able to resolve the conflict. This built more trust among the working class’s ability to solve problems without buying into the divisive bait of religious strife.
This set an example for others in this city to follow and for members and friends of PLP worldwide to follow as we continue to work to oppose racist exploitation and build unity against the different kinds of racism all over the world.
Using Religion to Divide Workers
The serious work of this fighter helped prevent a dangerous situation that could further feed the drive towards fascism. The right wing, nationalist government of prime minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is building fascism (all-class unity during a capitalism system in crisis) by breeding conflict and violence against the Muslim working class.
The capitalist system uses religious conflict, like they use other kinds of racism, as a way to exploit the working class and divide us. As the system moves closer to fascism, this conflict gets more intense. In India, the Modi government is taking this to new extremes, using people’s religious feelings to build fascism. Modi is well known for his anti-Muslim racism. When he was chief minister of the state of Gujarat, his security forces stood by as over a 1,000 Muslims were slaughtered in 2002. The evidence was so strong that he ordered his security forces to allow this massacre, which the United States denied him an entry visa in 2005.
His anti-Muslim racism also didn’t hamper him from becoming prime minister of the country. His racism is no isolated incident. In fact, Modi’s BJP is the political wing of the extreme right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), an organization founded in 1925 and openly modeled on Mussolini’s National Fascist Party.
No Small Act
The actions of our friend might seem like a small act, but in many parts of India, violent conflict has broken out against Muslims and this is a part of the racist strategy to control not only the Muslim working class, but also the Hindu working class.
Sincere members of the working class can get tricked into fighting against our working-class sisters and brothers. As Karl Marx wrote in Das Kapital: “Labor in the white skin can never free itself as long as labor in the black skin is branded.” Multiracial unity is fundamental to defeating capitalism.
Real communists today understand that no member of the working class can ever be free as long as there is any exploitation or oppression of workers from any group. That is why we try to win workers to a scientific understanding of the world, rather than a theological one. There are no real differences between Muslim and Hindu workers—our history and earthly fate are tied to each other and our level of class struggle.
Workers in India, and all over the world, must join with the Progressive Labor Party and build a worldwide movement for communism! You can get started by reading and distributing our local CHALLENGE!