Vol. XLIX No. 42 October 19, 2025

World Notes the Emergence of China

A DELEGATION of the CPI(M) visited China at a time when both, the world and China, are experiencing extraordinary scenes. Our six-member team visited Beijing and the provinces of Hubei and Zhejiang, from September 23 to 30. I first visited China forty years ago, in 1985, to participate in an international youth gathering...

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Fascism is a Thoroughly Modern Phenomenon

ALL over the world there is an upsurge of fascistic forces. This includes India too where the fascistic Hindutva elements have been not just on the rise, but in power for more than a decade now. Liberal and progressive thinking in the country has been concerned with analysing the reasons for this upsurge of Hindu supremacism that treats a minority community as the “other”, generates hatred within the majority community against it, and attempts to...

The US-China Trade War: From Chips to Rare Earths

THE decoupling of the world’s major economies is now gathering pace. The US, which had appeared to have reached a tariff truce with China earlier, recently ramped up its export controls targeting China’s semiconductor industry with its September 29, 2025, notification, “Expansion of End-User Controls To Cover Affiliates of Certain Listed Entities”. China’s response was on rare earths: it created a similar set of end-user restrictions on its...

RSS: Hundred Years of a Dubious Past

There is much fanfare and hoopla over the completion of 100 years of the RSS. This was sparked off by the Prime Minister himself, first mentioning it in his customary 15 August speech from the Red Fort in Delhi, and then writing a piece on it for newspapers. As is now the custom, a cue from PM Modi is picked up fast and strong by the corporate media and, sure enough, articles praising the RSS for its dedication, discipline, service and so on started appearing in...

Strengthening the Party for the Advancement of China

Our visit to the province of Hubei province of China was very rewarding. The world’s largest hydroelectric project, the Three Gorges Dam, has been built on the Yangtze River in the Hubei province. Its primary goals are to prevent the floods that regularly trouble riverside communities, to generate electricity on a massive scale, and to facilitate the passage of large ships along the river, apart from other benefits. The astonishing sight...

Baby Writes to Modi: Order judicial enquiry

A DELEGATION of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), led by the General Secretary, M A Baby visited the bereaved family members of Y Puran Kumar, IPS (ADGP, Haryana), who died by suicide. After the visit, M A Baby, wrote a letter to Shri Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, demanding a judicial enquiry into the suicide of Y Puran Kumar, IPS (ADGP, Haryana). Following is the text of the letter:

Caste Discrimination Leads to Suicide by Top Police Officer

People across the country continue to be spellbound and gripped by shock since October 7, the fateful day a senior Haryana IPS officer Y. Puran Kumar ended his life at his Chandigarh residence. He would not have taken this step had the top bureaucracy listened to his complaints pertaining to the unending caste discrimination meted out to him by his seniors. Even more despicable is the fact that his cremation was...

Bihar SIR: Reinforcing the Dominant Narrative

THE Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar in 2025, presented as a routine administrative clean-up, has instead become one of the most controversial and troubling episodes of voter disenfranchisement in recent memory. Under the ruse of “purifying” the rolls, the exercise has removed lakhs of voters—disproportionately women, minorities, and the poor. From the outset, the process was shrouded in enigma, giving rise to...

AIKS Relief for Punjab Flood Affected

A DELEGATION of the All India Kisan Sabha visited the flood-hit regions of Tarn Taran, Amritsar and Gurdaspur on October 8, 2025, Punjab to provide relief to the people affected. The team noted that in the affected regions it has meant total loss of standing crop, with reports of over 5 lakh acres of agricultural land being submerged. People accused the AAP government in Punjab and the Narendra Modi-led BJP-NDA government at the Centre of totally abdicating...

Genocidal Capitalism and Global Working Class

AS this article goes to print, 42 ships of the Global Sumud Flotilla, attempting to break Israel's siege of Gaza, have been illegally intercepted in international waters. Among the kidnapped passengers was Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was subjected to severe abuse by Israeli forces: “They made her crawl and kiss the Israeli flag… They did exactly what the Nazis once did.”

Veteran Communist Leader P Srinivasa Rao Memorial Day: Direct action by TNUEF on Dalit issues across TN state

On the memorial day of P Srinivasa Rao, who fought against economic and social oppression in the East Thanjavur region, direct struggles were held across Tamil Nadu by the Tamilnadu Untouchability Eradication Front for Dalit land rights and against untouchability practices. In Anthiyur, Vanapuram taluk, Kallakurichi district, direct...