ALL India Agricultural Workers Union and Dalit Shoshan Mukti Manch jointly organised three days of schooling for the delegates from Hindi speaking states from  September 10 to 12, at HKS Surjeet Bhawan, New Delhi. Overall, 94 delegates (63 delegates from AIAWU and 31 from DSMM) from 11 states attended the schooling.

The first class was on identity politics and the teacher was Subhashini Ali.  She explained the difference between identity and identity politics.  Identity may be inclusive, for example, a national identity but identity politics is exclusive.  She explained that identity politics denies the existence or importance of class and is, therefore, an effective ideological weapon of the imperialists and capitalists in keeping members of the exploited classes disunited and in conflict with each other. Differences in levels of exploitation contribute to the rise and strength of identity politics.  It is important to remember that it is class unity and the sharpening of the class struggle that can bring about revolutionary change.

The class on caste and class was taken by Brinda Karat. She explained the evolution of a class. Class is not decided by birth and it evolved with the production of surplus. She touched briefly on the history of the Indian subcontinent and Aryans and explained the origin of caste with historical evidence. Further, she discussed the caste under Capitalism. During the latter part of the class, she presented good statistical evidence to support her formulations on inequality and land ownership. 

On the second day, Ashok Dhawale, president AIKS, took a class on communalism and explained the communal roots of the RSS and BJP. He dealt in detail the communal and divisive role played by the saffron family during the freedom movement and after. The danger of majority communalism which is quite evident in the last seven years was also explained in detail. He explained the seven main features of the RSS as follows: communal, pro-imperialist, fascistic, pro-capitalist-landlord, pro-Manusamriti, anti-federal and anti-communist. He discussed the importance of the united struggle against the fascistic BJP government which is using state tools to advance the Hindutva agenda of RSS and is working against the Constitution and spirit of India. 

Vijoo Krishnan took a class on agrarian questions and perspectives of different political formulations. He elaborated the importance of resolving the agrarian question, the nature of capitalist development and class differentiation, the unfinished nature of land reforms in India, the wage question as well as the role played by the Left forces before and after independence. He explained the basic differences between the understanding of Marxist and bourgeois political parties. He also explained the important features of the ongoing peasant struggle which is challenging the neoliberal economic policy’s intervention in agriculture.

The third day was reserved for the classes on the organisation. Two separate sessions were there for delegates of AIAWU and DSMM. Vikram Singh took a class on the organisation for AIAWU and Venkat presented the decisions of the central working committee meeting of AIAWU which was held in August 2021 at Mandya, Karnataka. The class on the organisation for delegates from DSMM was taken by Ram Chandra Dome.

CONCLUDING SESSION

In the concluding session, delegates shared their experiences of three days and also gave their feedback. Delegates emphasised organising more frequent schoolings and gave concrete suggestions. In this session also questions related to the topics covered in the schooling were raised. Subhashini Ali dealt with some of the questions in detail and urged for self-study.

B V Raghavulu gave his observations and remarks in the last session. He emphasised the need to have ground-level struggles on the question of social justice. He appealed to AIAWU to take up the issue of caste atrocities and social justice independently and jointly with DSMM. He explained that more than 30 per cent of the membership of AIAWU comes from dalits, therefore AIAWU should take issue related to caste oppression on priority. On the other hand he guided DSMM to work on united efforts against dalit atrocities and appealed to them to be open for people from all sections of society who wants to work for social justice. He warned about the sectarian approach of certain caste organisations propagating that only dalits should fight for themselves. B Venkat and Suneet Chopra were also present in this session.  The session was concluded by Ram Chandra Dome, general secretary DSMM.