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Louis, I am deliberately keeping silent over the election outcome in India as I am deeply affected by the decimation of the Left. The middle classes have voted BJP to power on the premise that BJP has a strong leader and it will bring stability and development. This is largely a media creation and the middle class has been won over - though India's electoral system has given BJP 280 odd seats out of 542 with just 31% of the vote and 11% of the total voters have actually voted for BJP. The reason for the poor showing of Left is obvious. The villains are none other than the Left leaders themselves. They had abandoned class struggle and were busy with unprincipled election alliances with neoliberal minded bourgeoisie parties. They had put aside mass struggles and were busy lobbying with the government over benefits to middle peasants and aristocratic workers in organised sector. What is surprising is that even in the organised industrial sector, a majority of the workers are contract labour and the Left parties have marginal presence among them. They were busy lobbying for comparatively well paid regular workers. I had worked in a heavy industry for 37 years and I have seen that the workers are only interested in economic benifits and do not differentiate between BJP led union and Left led union. The feel they are middle class as they enjoy middle class incomes. 93% of India's workforce are in the unorganised sector, are poorly paid and live and work under appalling conditions. The Left parties have virtually abandoned them. The Left had almost given up the fight against Hindu Fascist forces long before the election. I was shocked to hear from a Left Leader saying that anyway, Modi is going to win. What is the point in fighting now! With such Left leaders, who needs class enemies? I hope one day, the fragmented Left will realize the folly and come together, putting aside their difference and build up genuine peoples' struggles. Vijaya Kumar Marla ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
