GLOBALISATION

An Attack on India's Sovereignty

Contents

 

INTRODUCTION

               Why Globalisation?

               Background

               Dynamics of Globalisation in India & the Comprador Bureaucrat Class

 

No self-respecting Indian can tolerate the extent of foreign/imperialist domination of our country witnessed since 1947, and, more so since 1990.

No patriotic Indian can remain silent at the gigantic foreign loot each year from our country, devastating our economy.

No sensitive Indian can ignore the mass impoverisation of our people, due to this monstrous robbery.

And no average Indian can hope for a better future for themselves and their country, unless they rise up in revolt against this existing order, and replace it with an India that is self-reliant.

Seventy years back Bhagat Singh demonstrated the necessity to revolt. Little has changed since then; only direct rule by the British has been replaced by indirect rule of the imperialist powers, the TNC outfits and their multilateral agencies. The British hanged Bhagat Singh after a mock trial; today’s revolutionaries are shot dead in fake encounters by the traitorous rulers, dispensing with even the pretense of a trial.

180 year’s of colonial rule devastated our country, sending it back to the medieval ages. 50 years of neo-colonial exploitation has retarded any significant development. Of this, the latest 15 years of globalisation has drastically reversed what little development took place in the preceding 35 years.

The past four years of economic stagnation is further evidence of the debilitating impact of economic reforms pushed through by the rulers, at the behest of the WTO-IMF-WB gangster combine. Though earlier ‘growth’ benefited only big business, having little impact on the lives of the masses; with the present stagnation, the impact on their lives is horrifying. Starvation and death now ravage the country.

These vultures prey not only on the living, but also on the dead. Mass impoverisation has led to widespread disease and death, giving windfall profits to the giant pharmaceuticals, privatized health insurance business, and the mushrooming growth of private hospitals. Even the dead bodies of the Kargil soldiers were traded for profit by the likes of a Fernandes — sharing the booty with a US coffin making company. Human embryos are sold to American stem-cell research institutions. Now, hundreds of unknowing patients in public/private hospitals are being used as live guinea pigs for experimentation by Indian agents (scientists) for US research institutes. There is no end to this gruesome loot. Indian body-parts are being extracted from the poor by vampires indulging in lucrative business in the international human organ’s market — eyes, kidneys, livers, genes, all are sold as any other commodity! And now our womenfolk are being enticed to sell their bodies on a mass scale to promote foreign tourism, the cosmetic industry and the sex trade.

The imperialist attack on the country is not only humiliating; it is savage, barbaric and inhumanly cruel. Such an all-encompassing attack would be inconceivable without the assistance of collaborators and traitors within the country, who act as the chief vehicles through which these monsters operate. It is these politicians, big business houses, top bureaucrats and their hangers on, in the varied fields of the socio-economic life of the country, that act as the lackeys of this international mafia, taking their huge cuts and commissions, safely tucked away in secret Swiss bank accounts.

In this booklet we shall try and understand the implications of globalisation on our country in all its ramifications. How, under its signboard, it has allowed for the increased stranglehold of international finance capital over all the life-lines of our economy; how it is determining political decision-making; how it is penetrating every aspect of the social-cultural life of the people; and how, and to what extent, it is impacting on the economy, the people and the country as a whole. We shall also try and understand how such an onslaught is possible in a supposedly independent country, without a physical attack — we shall try and understand the traitorous role of the collaborators. Finally, we will discuss the role of the various political forces vis-à-vis globalisation, and what it entails to achieve a free, self-reliant India.

But before coming to its impact in India let us first try and understand the reason for the ‘globalisation’ of the world economy. Though imperialism itself is a global phenomenon, and the imperialists have always run global economies, in its present phase this has reached gigantic proportions.

Why Globalisation?

‘Globalisation’ is basically a crisis-management programme to retrieve the imperialist economies from the recurrent recessions hitting them. After the post World War II boom, the Oil Shock of 1973 shook the world capitalist system..... and since then, the tremors in the economy continue to recur. Simultaneously, the US’s involvement and defeat in Vietnam and the resulting devaluation of the doller led to the collapse of the Bretton Woods agreement of fixed exchange rates. In quick succession it faced two more severe crises, in 1980-81 and an even more severe crash in 1991-92. Though there have been intermittent and partial recoveries, the overall depression is only deepening, as can be seen by the 1997 events in South-East Asia and then Russia, the decade-long stagnation in Japan, the complete crash in the economies of Argentina, Ecuador, Turkey and now Brazil, and the ongoing recession in the major economies of the world.

‘Globalisation’, ‘neo-liberalisation’, etc. are the imperialist answers to the crisis — that is, a restructuring of their economies in order to face the crisis. It has two basic aspects: first, to restructure capitalism by a wave of mergers and acquisitions to form bigger conglomerates, and to increase surplus value (profit) through massive attacks on the working classes in their home countries. Second, by an aggressive expansion of their markets abroad, with greater controls over their wealth and cheap labour resources. Though it is the second factor that effects backward countries like India, the two are inter-related and interdependent. Let us look at both aspects.

First, the question of restructuring. In the home countries of the imperialists, the massive wave of Mergers and Acquisitions, creating ever more gigantic conglomerates, has resulted in the elimination of smaller and weaker industries. The M & A wave, which is now slightly reduced, had, two years back, reached the astronomical figure of over $1 trillion a year. Through this process, the bourgeoisie was able to get over the immediate effects of the crisis. First, faced by shrinking markets (and over-production) it was able to extend its markets by capturing those of the company acquired; second, the large stock of accumulated capital, which was unable to find an outlet in new (or expanded) production due to shrinkage of the market, was now utilised (in the acquisition of the other company/companies). And third, through mergers, ‘rationalisation’ of production was achieved by introduction of high technology and big cuts in labour — thereby restoring the falling rate of profits. Together with this restructuring of their capital and production, there was a simultaneous attack on the working class — through huge cuts in the labour force, defacto wage freeze, big utilisation of part-time and contract labour, extension of hours of work, outsourcing of production to low wage areas, gigantic cuts in government’s social welfare, etc. — resulting in not merely restoration of the rate of falling profits, but in a windfall increase in profits.

Now, the second aspect of ‘Globalisation’ — the aggressive expansion of their markets and tighter control over the backward countries, and also many of the ex-socialist states. With the collapse of Soviet social imperialism, much of its markets throughout the third world had been replaced by the Western (and Japanese) imperialists. Besides, the markets of the ex-Soviet Union and East Europe too opened out to them. With the collapse of China and a setback in the international communist movement, not only has the Chinese markets been opened to imperialist loot, but an aggressive policy of hegemony and domination of the underdeveloped countries of the world is being adopted, to enhance the existing loot tenfold. In these backward countries, under the banner of ‘globalisation’, TNCs are gobbling up large parts of private industry, public sector industries, finance, banking and insurance, small scale industry and also their natural resources (agriculture and mining). Trade, is becoming even more distorted, leading to a huge invisible outflows of wealth to the imperialist countries. And enormous manipulations on the financial markets have led to windfall profits to international speculators, while simultaneously destroying local currencies and stock markets.

These then, are the two major aspects of globalisation. The second is being facilitated by the governments and ruling classes of the backward countries, who, acting as conscious betrayers of their country’s interests, are introducing extensive reforms in policies, laws, regulations, rules etc. in order to allow this brazen robbery.

And so it is with India. It matters little which government is ruling at the Centre or in the States, all have been prostrating before their new god — the Dollar. If the Congress(I) went all-out to open up the economy between 1991 and 1996, the UF ‘achieved’ in one-and-a-half years (in the sphere of economic reforms) what the Congress achieved in five. And, as for the BJP, it has always maintained, that from the very beginning they have been opposed to so-called Nehruvian socialism and in favour of liberalisation and opening out of the economy. After coming to power they have proceeded with the opening up of the economy, at a pace faster than that of the Congress and UF put together. And as far as the States go, it matters little whether it is the Shiv Sena, BSP ruled states, or the DMK/AIADMK, Telugu Desam or any of the regional parties, or even the revisionist CPI/CPM all have competed with each other, in their mad desperation to attract foreign capital. So we find ‘globalisation’ of the Indian economy taking place at break-neck speed.

But before looking at its direct impact on the country, let us first briefly trace the background of foreign penetration that finally ended with the country falling prey to globalisation.

Background

At the point of a sword Robert Clive conquered India, established the East India Company; and so began the 180 years saga of colonial rule in India. In these years, a class of faithful compradors was created from amongst the Indian elite, who facilitated British rule in our country, acting as their agents, and eating off the crumbs from the British dining table. The feudal Maharajas and the big zamindars were their earliest collaborators. In later years, this class was joined by the big business houses, and a class of top bureaucrats educated and nursed by the British themselves. It was these classes that compromised and stabbed in the back the great freedom struggle, which continued for over three decades. When the British found it impossible to continue their direct rule due to the mass upsurge, they transferred power to these faithful lackeys. The process was facilitated by the rise of a new imperialist power after World War II, America, which sought to break British hold over markets throughout the world, and supported such changes.

In 1947 power was transferred from the British to their Indian lackeys, and India turned from a colony to a semi-colony. British interests were not touched. To British capital was now added American capital. Yet, the tempo of the huge anti-colonial mass movement that swept the country, led to certain reforms vis-à-vis the colonial period.

Then, in the late 1950s capitalist restoration took place in the Soviet Union, and within the span of a decade the USSR turned from a socialist country into a social-imperialist country (i.e. socialism in words, imperialism in deeds), and then into a rival superpower, competing for markets throughout the world with the US imperialists. Riding piggyback on various national liberation movements (particularly in Africa and S.E.Asia and to a lesser extent in Latin America), they sought to oust US influence. Also, many recently formed semi-colonial countries, like India, sought to use this rivalry to their advantage to seek some concessions from the imperialists and social-imperialists. Countries like India, Afghanistan, etc. went into the Soviet imperialist camp. Social-imperialist ‘aid’ became the backbone of India’s public sector, which dominated the economy. That same class of feudals, big business and top bureaucrats that served the British and the Americans, now also served the USSR.

Then, in the late 1980s the Soviet Union collapsed. China had already forsaken socialism a decade back. The communist and national liberation movements were in setback. The field completely opened out to the only existing superpower, the US, to aggressively push for world domination. With the rise of rival economic (not military) imperialist centers in Europe and Japan, the US moved fast. This was facilitated by the leaps in knowledge in information technology, whose main center of discovery was the US.

Besides, the imperialist system had been in a state of continuous crisis since the two oil shocks of the 1970s. The crisis deepened in the 1980s. Drastic solutions were sought. This resulted in the three-pronged attack already mentioned — that is, an attack on the working-class in their own country to increase the rate of exploitation and raise profits through what came to be known as Reganomics and Thatcherism; next, a massive reorganization of capital through an unheard of wave of Mergers & Acquisitions (M & A), whereby big capital became giant in size; and third, a new offensive against the backward countries of the world, to further extend their markets, seize more and more sources of cheap raw materials, and increase their loot tenfold.

By the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was this latter phenomenon that came to be called globalisation. ‘Globalisation’ is nothing but a nice-sounding word for the ruthless offence of international finance capital on the backward countries of the world. Earlier, the colonialists termed their despotism as the civilizing rule of the whites over the darks. Today, these new colonizers have their own Rudyard Kiplings, in the form of the Fukuyama’s End of History, that give a sense of inevitability to the new form of banditry. Besides, the vast leaps in technology, bringing worldwide events to every home throughout the world by means of TV and Internet, gives a false image of the so-called global village. Villages there are, and that too most backward ones throughout the world, but it is the metropolis that dominates and runs them, particularly the US.

The already weakened economies of the backward countries through decades of colonial and neo-colonial loot were utilized to batter them further in the name of ‘aid’. Their battering ram was the IMF-World Bank combine (later the WTO), which bulldozed these economies with Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs). So, India too, caught in a Balance of Payments crisis, first in 1981, and again in 1991, also fell into the trap. And as our ‘leaders’ keep repeating, there has been no looking back to the economic reforms since initiated, no matter which party is in power at the Centre or in the States. In the name of globalisation, international finance capital, particularly that of the US, has, in just this past decade, increased its octopus-like grip, not only over all spheres of the Indian economy, but also over every aspect of the socio-political life of the country.

Countries like India are facing the danger of turning from semi-colonies into neo-colonies — i.e. colonies of a new type.

Dynamics of Globalisation in India & the Comprador Bureaucrat Class

Clive had to capture India through the sword. No such problems were faced for the robber barons of globalisation. They were provided a red carpet. They marched in, to a hero’s welcome, with the fawning ruling elite beating the drums, cringing for attention and pleading for favours. The slave-like mentality, nurtured by two-and-a-half centuries of colonial and neo-colonial forms of exploitation and control, is deeply ingrained in the blood of these classes, who gain their power and strength, through the regular infusion of dollars (for their forefathers it was the pound). Witness Clinton’s arrival in India. Witness how quickly the fundamental laws of the land are changed, at merely a hint by these foreign upstarts. Witness how our big business community, merely parrot all the suggestions handed out from the IMF-WB-WTO combine. Witness how our top bureaucrats produce pompous ‘commission’ and ‘vision’ statements, which are nothing but carbon copies of those prepared at New York. Witness also how even the Indian Army is beginning to take orders from top US generals, and Indian intelligence is getting deeply interwoven with Israel’s Mossad. Witness how Blackwill and other top US officials freely visit sensitive areas at the border, in Kashmir and the North East, where ordinary Indians are strictly forbidden to go.

Who then are these collaborators? Are they undercover secret agents? No doubt, these too exist, but they are not the prime culprits. The chief agents are the very pillars of this society, what can be called the class of comprador bureaucrat capitalists.

They comprise a nexus of top politicians, top bureaucrats and the big business houses. These three categories are interwoven into a network of interdependence, each thriving on the spoils of the other. Big business makes fat profits (both white and black) on the concessions handed down by government policy. In return the business houses fund politicians, gives them kickbacks, grants them favours and finances their electoral expenses. Besides, the government’s financial institutions (FIs) and mutual funds (UTI) own a large percentage of equity capital in these business houses, and public sector banks give them concessional loans. FIs and banks also have their representatives (bureaucrats) on the board of directors of these companies. Top bureaucrats (IAS, IFS, IPS, officers) are the main hatchet men for both the business houses and the politicians. These three categories have hundreds of other visible and invisible inter-linking connections. And it is this gangster combine that can be referred to as the class of comprador bureaucrat capitalists.

Now, into this scenario enters foreign capital and the imperialists.

The problem with the Indian bourgeoisie was that from its very birth it was the illegitimate child of British imperialism and Indian feudalism. Though large in size it never had a totally independent existence of its own. In this period of globalisation the existing tie-ups have been not only strengthened but also extended. Not only that, in many cases, they have completely taken over the local company, turning the earlier owners into their managers or sales agents. In existing joint ventures (JVs) they have, in numerous cases, reduced the Indian partner to a minority share with no management control, making these compradors even more dependent on them. Wherever there has been any clash of interests the government has always come out on behalf of the TNCs. The latest example being the introduction of FDI into the print media, which was opposed by major sections of the media world (and even by the parliamentary committee appointed to study the problem and present a report), yet passed by the cabinet. So, Indian big business is being tied ever more tightly to the apron stings of international finance capital, with their spokespersons being one of the strongest protagonists of economic reforms.

But, even more servile are the top politicians and bureaucrats. With no independent source of wealth generation (except of course, through looting the treasury) they are the worst boot-lickers of the imperialists who can be bought for a few dollars. In this period of globalisation they have bowed before the imperialists, particularly the US, even more than what was asked for. To prove their loyalty, they have sabotaged their own constitution, they have crudely altered existing laws, they have given gigantic concessions to TNCs, they have gifted our natural wealth and existing PSUs to them at throw away prices, and have even mortgaged our land to them in the name of promoting exports. They have opened out, and are handing over to them, not only all industry, finance and commerce, but also mining, forestry, water resources, electric power, agriculture, social sector (health and education), media, and even our genetic wealth. By bowing to WTO stipulations they have allowed a flood of imports, destroying our huge small-scale sector and even agriculture. They have opened out even defense production to foreign capital. Each day, news comes in, of further capitulation.

It is for this reason that, unlike Clive, neither Clinton nor Bush has had the necessity to wield the sword. No doubt, any hesitation to capitulate fully will bring, not swords but guns, battleships and a rain of bombs as has happened in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. And of course, for those that dare to oppose and fight this gangster alliance, like the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)(People’s War), Maoist Communist Centre, and others, they must face their full wrath, with the US and World Bank directly intervening. For the present though, it is an exceedingly cozy relationship between India’s ruling classes and the imperialists, particularly the US.

So, today what governs the people is not parliament, but this AXIS of the imperialists (particularly the US) and India’s comprador bureaucrat class; and it is they who determine all policy in this country. It is they who have aligned with the backward semi-feudal power structures in the vast countryside, to keep in check any growth of democratic consciousness and a democratic movement. It is this backwardness that acts as a major bulwark against democratic and anti-imperialist awakening. Quite obviously, the fanning of Hindutva adds to this retrogression and is warmly welcomed by this AXIS.

Having seen, in this introduction, the origin and source of globalisation in this country, this book shall now analyse in depth its impact on all spheres of the economy and social life of the country. In this book we shall first look at its economic impact; then its political impact, and finally its social impact. In conclusion we shall analyse the alignment of the various class forces within the country, vis-à-vis this AXIS and the People’s answer to it.

 

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