(This piece appeared in Liberation, September 1969, translated from the original Bengali text as appeared in the weekly Deshabrati of August 21, 1969. It is being reproduced as part of our regular feature in the 40th Anniversary Year of the Party’s foundation. Ed/-)
In India, which has been under imperialist rule and subject to imperialist exploitation and oppression for two hundred years, the students and educated youth represent the educated community. Imperialist exploitation has condemned the masses of our people to illiteracy and ignorance. Therefore, it is essential that this educated community takes part in the revolutionary movement. The youth and students are not only educated, they have also great enthusiasm and capacity to make sacrifices, and the ability to adjust themselves to every kind of circumstance. That is why it is only they who, arming themselves with revolutionary politics, that is, Mao Tsetung Thought, can spread this Thought among the broad masses of our people, and in particular, among the poor and landless peasants, and can help establish revolutionary base areas in the villages of India by integrating themselves with the masses of poor and landless peasants. They are educated; that is why they have to shoulder the major part of the responsibility of carrying Mao Tsetung Thought to the uneducated masses of our country.
At every stage of India’s struggle for national freedom, the youth and students of India made enormous sacrifices, carried the call of freedom to the villages, resisted police repression, and discontinued their study and voluntarily destroyed the prospects of building a career for themselves in order to become whole-time political workers. There can be no doubt that, today, in the great new era that has begun, when imperialism is headed towards total collapse, when the flames of revolutionary struggle are raging in various countries of the world and have begun to spread in India too, from Naxalbari to Srikakulam, and from Assam to Punjab, the revolutionary youth and students in India will, as befits them, come forward to shoulder the important task that faces them, namely, the work of propagating revolutionary politics among the workers and peasants, and in particular, among the poor and landless peasants.
In their attempts to kill this revolutionary potentiality in our youth and students before it can develop, the imperialists and reactionary ruling classes have held out before them the bait of college unions. These college unions cannot solve any problem of education that confronts the students. On the other hand, the college unions fail to provide leadership to the youth and the students in their revolt against the existing education system. What the college unions hold out and advocate before the revolutionary students is basically an economist viewpoint. Thus, these unions destroy the revolutionary talent of the youth and students, and constitute a great obstacle before them preventing them from integrating themselves with the workers and peasants. Because of this, the union leadership, in most cases, is found to sink deep into the mire of opportunism and “careerism” begins to develop among them, while the temptation of staying on in leadership drags them into all kinds of opportunist “alliances” and thus destroys their revolutionary morality.
In the past also, the imperialists likewise held out the baits of ‘union boards’ and ‘municipalities’ and then of the ‘legislative assembly’ in order to pacify the restive Indian masses. The Indian bourgeoisie has never wanted a revolution to overthrow imperialism. That is why they readily swallowed whatever baits the imperialists held out, and deceived the revolutionary masses with all sorts of fine words.
No so-called ‘leftist’ leadership in India ever stood up against this bourgeoisie either. That is why they have also readily swallowed the imperialist baits.
However, today, when we have got the brilliant Thought of Chairman Mao Tsetung, the highest stage of the development of Marxism-Leninism, to guide us, it is imperative for us to judge everything anew in the light of Mao Tsetung Thought and build a completely new road along which to press on forward. We must resolutely repudiate the ugly path of the bourgeoisie—the path of capitulationism. The time has now come for us to uphold resolutely the vigorous path of the workers and peasants—the path of revolution.
The task that now faces the students and youth is to study the Thought of Chairman Mao Tsetung, to repudiate the path of capitulationism and to integrate themselves with the workers and peasants.
Hundreds and thousands of martyrs who fell in battle now call upon you, students and youth, to rise up and fight. The day has now come at last when we must settle their blood-debts, and overthrow the imperialists and the reactionary exploiting classes.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) therefore, calls upon the youth and students to go to the workers and the poor and landless peasants with the firm conviction, because only they can end the present oppression and humiliation.
Today, the Party has only one appeal to make to our students and youth: Integrate yourself with the workers and the poor and landless peasants. Integrate! Integrate!
