Scraps Stuffs - Random musings from apun ka desh

Manning the barricades of the class struggle has been the subliminal fantasy of every Communist. Before he presided over some of the more telling examples of loutish proletarianism on the streets of Gurgaon last week, it is doubtful whether Comrade Gurudas Das Gupta's idea of revolution had extended to anything beyond encouraging over-unionised bank tellers to be rude to customers.

Let's face it. When it comes to self-aggrandisement and perfidy, there is none to match the record of CPI. Since 1969, the entire basis of its politics has been parasitic. Till 1989, it banked on tyrants in the Soviet Union and its satellite states for junkets and nourishment. These days, to bolster its diminishing equity, it is not even averse to becoming an additional custodian of Beijing's interests in India. Till 1977, it maintained its parliamentary presence courtesy the charity of "progressives" in the Congress. After 1980, its presence in Parliament and the Vidhan Sabhas owes everything to either the CPI(M) or regional satraps.

Those who trembled at Comrade Das Gupta's threat of "far-reaching consequences" or smirked at his comic effrontery should be mindful that he heads the parliamentary wing of a party that is incapable of winning even a single Assembly and Lok Sabha seat on its own steam. The CPI is so pathetic that Bhupinder Singh Hooda's earthy administration didn't even consider it politically worthwhile to credit it with the Gurgaon disturbances.

It has become obligatory to preface any assessment of the Gurgaon disturbances with a full-throated condemnation of an over-zealous Haryana Police. There is no doubt that the crowd-control techniques of the local administration were somewhat archaic and a throwback to the early years of the previous century. However, it is undeniable that the Haryana Police was far less brutal than, say, the French and Italian police in their operations against English football hooligans. In any case, their methods were remarkably effective. By penning the unruly mob into a small area, the administration prevented a demonstration from degenerating into a riot, as was the intention of the trade union leaders.

Despite being called Honda's "dalal", the Hooda Government deserves credit for nipping militant trade unionism in the bud. The dispute at the Honda Motorcyle (HMSI) factory wasn't about pay and working conditions. A company that awards a Rs 3,000 across-the-board pay hike in April to its 1,800-strong workforce cannot be accused of primitive exploitation. It was a straight-forward political dispute centred on the recognition of a CPI-run trade union.

The Communists were aware that the outcome of this battle would have a bearing on the future of militant trade unionism in the entire belt. The CPI-controlled AITUC planned to use its affiliated union in the Honda works as a springboard for expansion in the entire automobile and auto-ancillary sector in Haryana. I have little doubt that it would have triggered an atmosphere of strife whose impact would have even been felt by the BPO sector. Those who have witnessed the havoc created by militant trade unionism in, say, West Bengal and Maharashtra and are familiar with the corrupt ways of labour leaders, will know that the issue involved in Honda was more than the simple recognition of a union. At stake was the management's right to manage.

Militant trade unionism of the sort practised by Communists has invariably led to managements losing control over the shopfloor. With union bosses exercising control over the levers of production, industrial relations have been reduced to simple extortion. If the company has the ability to endure bleeding, it pays up, alternatively the loss of profitability leads to closure. Whether in Kolkata, Mumbai, Kanpur or Ahmedabad, the industrial wastelands of India serve as permanent memorials to militant trade unionism.

Gurgaon was a timely warning. Either we stop the likes of Das Gupta holding industry to ransom or we pave the way for China becoming the unchallenged global hub for manufacturing and services. Upholding India demands we clobber the saboteurs and the enemy within.