National Convention of Workers, Peasants And Agricultural Workers
A National Convention of workers, peasants and agricultural workers was jointly held on September 16, by CITU, AIKS and AIAWU at HKS Surjeet Bhavan, New Delhi, to strengthen the worker-peasant unity to fight the corporate-communal nexus. The convention issued the following declaration:
THE Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) and All India Agricultural Workers Union (AIAWU) – the three organizations of Workers, Peasants and Agricultural Workers have been jointly making efforts in developing and intensifying the united struggles of the workers and peasantry in our country. These efforts have been consistently carried forward in the neoliberal era, especially in the last couple of decades. These efforts are with the clear understanding that effective, conscious class-oriented united interventions by the workers and peasants -the main producing classes are indispensable for changing the correlation of class forces, building resistance, reversing the disastrous neoliberal regime and building a pro-people alternative.
The ascendance of the corporate-communal forces led by the BJP to power at the centre and continuation for the third term has seen an aggressive neoliberal drive. Democratic rights of the toiling people are being curbed; various authoritarian measures are being resorted to by subverting the Constitution, established norms of parliamentary democracy are being violated, the autonomy of constitutional bodies, the judiciary, election commission etc., and federal rights of States are all being dangerously infringed upon. Under the control of the fascist RSS, the BJP has taken forward the divisive Hindutva communal agenda to disrupt the unity of the people by spreading hate. The BJP-led NDA Government at the Centre and in States have given direct administrative patronage to the sinister attempts by the Sangh Parivar to divert attention of the people from livelihood issues- poverty, hunger, unemployment, dismal living conditions and acute crisis due to the neoliberal onslaught.
In the background of the aggravating systemic crisis of capitalism, the changes taking place in the geo-political and economic situation both globally and at the national sphere, we must continuously update, assess, formulate our demands and work-out our slogans to prepare and mobilise the working people. The crisis has intensified the imperialist wars, regional conflicts, consolidation and emergence of right-wing forces. At the same time, the economic and political hegemony of US imperialism is being challenged; trends towards a multi-polar world order opens many possibilities of unified anti-imperialist struggles of the people across the globe.
In our country, an emerging issue is the imperialism-driven tariff war. In the context of ongoing trade-negotiations and succumbing of the NDA government to imperialist pressures, it brought forth the dangers of the disastrous impact on both agriculture and industries/services. The negative impact is already visible in the fisheries, cotton-textile sector, middle and small-scale industries and the removal of 11 per cent import duty on cotton from USA, the duty-free access to different crops and dairy products under Free Trade Agreements with UK, European Union etc., will prove to be a death-knell for farmers.
At the same time, the rural rich benefits from, and hence supports, neoliberal policies. So, the emerging contradictions and conflicts between the rural poor and the rural rich nexus of exploiters, which manifests in various forms must be taken up systematically to develop the struggles of the rural proletariat and poor farmers.
The impact of the policies along with the continuing denial of basic rights to food, health, education and public services like water, electricity, transport which are all being privatised, has put people in extreme distress. India features dismally on human development indices with almost eighty percent of the population not having the minimum food intake of 2100 K Calories per day.
In addition, the unbridled and unsustainable exploitation of natural resources is resulting in environmental destruction and climate change and is directly affecting the lives and livelihoods of the working people. The recent extraordinary situation of floods and landslides in North India has killed hundreds, swept away many villages and ruined more than five lakh acres of standing crops in thousands of villages. The governments failed to deal with the situation. This convention demands that this be called a national disaster and urgent relief and rehabilitation measurers for the affected people.
Attacks are also being mounted on the democratic rights by bringing draconian laws like the Public Safety Act in Maharashtra, the denial of the right to association, collective bargaining and right to strike, by way of criminalising the collective dissent through the Bharatiya Nyay Samhita, while decriminalising offences and labour law-violations by the capitalist class. In the latest attack, even the voting rights of the poor, marginalized and migrant workers are being denied.
CITU, AIKS and AIAWU have not only been leading the struggles of the workers, peasants and agricultural workers independently, but also are instrumental in developing joint movements in their fronts while making conscious efforts to develop the united movement of the working class and the peasantry. The January 19, 1982 All India General Strike is a glorious chapter of this legacy where five agricultural workers and peasants from UP and Tamil Nadu were martyred in the course of the united struggle. We played a leading role in the struggles against the neoliberal policies from the very beginning–the All India General Strikes, formation and struggles under the National Platform of Mass Organisations (NPMO) etc.
Our joint organisational and movemental interventions during the last more than a decade towards the process of building workers-peasants unity got further strengthened and activated during the historic farmers’ year-long struggle against the pro-corporate, anti-farmer Farm Laws forcing the Government to repeal those laws. In this struggle the entire trade union movement, the CITU in particular as well as the AIAWU joined in active solidarity across India.
The joint and coordinated activities of the trade unions, kisan and agricultural workers’ organisations against the policies of the corporate communal nexus is gradually developing and widening its sphere at present having the joint and coordinated actions by the Joint Platform of Central Trade Unions, the Samyukta Kisan Morcha and Joint platform of agricultural workers unions. In this whole exercise, the initiative of our three organisations was focused at developing and heightening consciousness to fight not only against the impacts of the policies, but also on the need to fight and combat the neoliberal policies and the politics behind such destructive exercise. Developing such consciousness and interventions for a pro-people alternative requires actions with widest participation. Effective campaign needs to be taken down to the grass-root level. Though we have advanced through consistent joint initiatives, still we are far from the desired level.
Our struggles need to be resolute in resistance the corporate-communal policies. We have to collectively assert while projecting and popularizing the real alternatives to this inhuman anti-people and anti-national policy regime. The countrywide General Strike on 9thJuly 2025, which was wider and more effective than the previous strikes, saw much more joint activities and the participation of the farmers and agricultural workers in many states including from many SKM constituents. The huge participation of the peasants and agricultural workers in the demonstrations, road and rail blockades etc. in support of the General Strike created enthusiasm not only among the working class and the peasantry, but have attracted other sections of the society also to join the class action. These have further expanded the possibility of bringing the major producing sections of society together and strengthen united struggles. The success of the Strike has created the environment for a new phase of united class actions drawing all working people and oppressed sections.
In this background there is urgent need and many possibilities for developing combative united struggles in various sectors at local as well as national levels. The struggle for work and payment of pending wages under MGNREGA, against electricity privatisation and pre-paid smart meters, for land/forest rights, against corporate land grab in different parts of the country by violating LARR Act 2013, against usurious moneylenders and microfinancing institutions, against the attack on people, especially the tribal population, for loot of natural resources, against duty free imports, against the withdrawal of services and privatisation in anganwadis/schools/hospitals etc., to name a few. There exists a great possibility of developing massive struggles demanding the guaranteed universal basic rights – food, employment, minimum wages, maternity benefits, creches, health, education, housing, transport and pension by taxing the super-rich.
Struggles to repeal the National Cooperation Policy, the National Policy Framework on Agricultural Marketing, the National Education Policy, privatisation in the name of the National Monetisation Pipeline, and reverse the GST reform that had snatched the taxation power of the States- all intended to attack the federal rights of the people - needs to be fought with resolutely.
The success of the General Strike with the initiative by the CITU and the active support of AIKS and AIAWU¸ gives immense scope to mobilise much larger sections of the toiling people by further improving our coordination and reaching the unreached areas. Given the presence of the CITU, AIKS and AIAWU together in around 500 districts out of the 787 districts in the country, with effective coordination, preparation and campaign, the impact of our united efforts will increase manifold.
It is necessary to study the fast changing geopolitical, economic and technological changes taking place in agriculture and industry at all levels with the regional specificities for effective intervention and united class actions. It is important to develop local, regional and sectoral struggles on specific issues projecting viable alternatives and mobilising wider sections of the people. While continuing with the joint and independent struggles, serious organisational efforts by CITU, AIKS and AIAWU need to be taken up, taking into account the objective situation of each state and place for building the class unity to the lower level. Developing correct perspective among the rank and file and consolidation of the movement must be taken as urgent tasks. Social oppression, discrimination as well as communal divisive moves must be countered jointly with a class perspective.
This Convention reiterates our objective to develop militant united protracted struggle of the people against the disastrous misdeeds of the corporate communal nexus in governance till the demands are met. United coordinated activities across the country by the three organisations to develop struggles on local issues at the grass-root level, continuously exposing the neoliberal, authoritarian regime will create an atmosphere for a mass movement with a class orientation and towards alternative policies.
While committing to carry forward the ongoing united actions, this Convention pledges to take all initiatives to develop a united movement of the basic classes up to the grass root level through better coordination between the units of CITU, AIKS and AIAWU. This convention takes up the following tasks towards building class unity and peoples’ movement against the neoliberal policy regime for a better society.
Tasks
The convention decided that the state office bearers of CITU, AIKS and AIAWU will meet within a month to identify major state-level issues and prepare a plan for joint campaigns, followed by district-level meetings with state leaders by the end of October 2025. Block, subdivision, taluk and mandal meetings with district leadership guidance would be completed by mid-November to identify local issues and finalise detailed campaign plans. Massive district-level demonstrations will be organised on November 26, 2025 as part of the SKM and CTU call, followed by continuous joint campaigns in December–January culminating in large demonstrations on Worker-Peasant Unity Day, January 19, 2026. Each organisation will organise solidarity actions in support of the others’ struggles, coordinate at all levels, and take up anti-imperialist campaigns, social issues, and counter-communal initiatives up to the local level. Immediately after January 19, the organisations will meet again to review progress and plan further actions to deepen worker-peasant unity, extend it to the grassroots, and build class consciousness. These united actions aim to strengthen the fight against neoliberal policies and the communal-divisive agenda of the ruling corporate-communal nexus.
