By Farooq Sulehria
LAHORE — Jeddojuhd Inqilabi Tehrik (Struggle Revolutionary Movement) was formed in 1994 in Lahore by trade union and Marxist activists around the monthly magazine Mazdoor Jeddojuhd (Workers Struggle) as a movement to advocate an independent workers party in Pakistan.
The paper has been published continuously since 1980. Its main aim has been to form a socialist party.
JIT, after two years of work in the trade unions and in a changed political situation, thinks that now is the most appropriate time to launch an open socialist party. At present, it is the fastest growing left party in Pakistan, its membership having risen from 40 to 800 within two years.
Jeddojuhd Inqilabi Tehrik held a special conference here on May 3-4 to discuss the possibility of a new left-wing party. The conference decided to launch a socialist party this year. The conference decided, before launching the party, to hold a left unity conference in August and to contact the trade unions and progressive groups in Pakistan. At present, there is no socialist party in Pakistan which has a considerable base among the masses.
Besides JIT activists, the conference was attended by observers from different political parties, nationally as well as internationally, including Saraiky National Party, Jammu Kashmir National Awami Party, Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party, Revolutionary Association of Afghan Women, Marxist Workers Tendency Sri Lanka and Committee for a Workers International.
Representatives of leading trade unions like railway workers, health workers, carpet workers, postal workers, journalists, telecommunication workers and garment workers also participated. In total, more than 200 delegates attended, the most impressive left-wing showing for a long time.
The biggest question facing the conference was whether we really needed a socialist party of the workers. Is there any room for a mass socialist party? How would such a party be built?
JIT activists and leaders discussed the political, economic and social perspective. Comrade Farooq Tariq introduced the debate, saying that political crises would deepen in the days to come because of the economic crisis.
There was a consensus among the JIT comrades that the Pakistan economy would never come out of its crisis, and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's slogan of making Pakistan an Asian tiger would remain a dream.
JIT speakers pointed out that Pakistan's share in international trade is only 1%. There is hardly any chance of the foreign investment boasted of by the present government, firstly because of political uncertainty and poor infrastructure, secondly because Pakistani labour is not as cheap as is available in China, India, Bangladesh and other countries of the region.
Privatisation, instead of playing the role as vanguard of development, would translate into mass redundancies and joblessness. The crises of financial institutions and banks might lead to bankruptcy at any time. Nawaz Sharif's attempt to reform this capitalist system would bring different institutions of the state into conflict, which could lead to a civil war-like situation.
The speakers also agreed that the present government was not stable despite the big mandate it got in the February elections. It was believed that the "big mandate" was a calculated game of the establishment. Moreover the support for Nawaz Sharif and his Muslim League (the traditional party of the bourgeoisie) was in fact a protest against the betrayals of Benazir Bhutto's Peoples Party (PPP).
The PPP imposed over 200 billion rupees in taxes, unheard of before, on the instructions of the IMF and World Bank, in the name of economic reform. These so-called reforms resulted in even more price rises and joblessness.
At present there are more than 40 million unemployed and under-employed in Pakistan. PPP promises to check price increases and joblessness never materialised. On the other hand, PPP leaders, especially Bhutto's infamous spouse Asif Zardari, set new records for corruption and sleaze.
It was agreed that disillusionment with Nawaz Sharif might give the fundamentalists a chance to grow. Similarly, nationalist forces could make an advance. The rise of fundamentalism would mean a defeat for the working class.
The JIT comrades concluded that the defeat in the political field for the working class would make them active in the industrial sector. Mass redundancies to be induced by privatisation and disillusionment with the system would generate resistance.
This resistance might make the workers come into the streets. There exists a bright chance for a class movement at such a juncture. Socialists ought to intervene because such an intervention would give the socialists a chance to become a mass party.
Discussing the objective conditions for a new party, the conference rejected the belief that there existed a sort of two-party system and that the PPP and Muslim League would keep coming to power by turn.
"The monopoly of two parties was given a severe blow in the recent general elections. Although apparently there was a landslide for the Muslim League, the total vote for the right wing reduced by 3% compared to the 1993 general elections, while the PPP vote reduced from 37% to 21%. Besides that, a big majority of the voters abstained, showing a lack of confidence in the system."
The participants believed the PPP would fail to attract the working class. Instead of taking any left wing or radical turn, it would move further right. It would survive as a bourgeois party, but would never be able to develop illusions among the working class about itself as it did in '70s.
The conference agreed that the disintegration of former Stalinist states of eastern Europe and the USSR was indeed a setback for the socialist forces. But the consciousness towards socialism had changed throughout the world.
"Although Marxist tendencies do not exist presently at mass level, there exists a widespread hatred of free-market economy and capitalism which could be translated into socialist demands provided there existed a true socialist party to perform the job; otherwise fundamentalists might benefit from the situation", the participants observed.
Narrating the history of the previous left parties, Comrade Khalid Bhatti said that most of the parties were caricaturing Mao Zedong and Stalin's policies of people's democratic revolution and national democratic revolution.
Because of this wrong theory, these left parties misunderstood the nature of the Pakistani bourgeoisie and made the mistake of working with bourgeois parties. Instead, JIT believes in the theory of permanent revolution.
The conference discussed possible names for the proposed party: Labour Party, Workers Party, Peoples Revolutionary Party. The conference failed to evolve a consensus on the name, and so authorised the newly elected 21-member national committee to decide the name and seek a consensus from the branches.
JIT's cultural wing staged a revolutionary play, Khana Abadi, on the first day of the conference. The play was written in the '70s by the late Major Mohammed Ishaq, a renowned left leader.
The two-day conference ended in a revolutionary mood with comrades singing the "Internationale" hand in hand.