ment as a whole. In a country with mass illiteracy you don't endear yourselves to the masses by burning books. This is why I tell you they are on a suicidal course which can lead only to total disintegration.
Could you tell us something about the Trotskyist movement in Bengal? What work is it doing and what is the present situation in the areas which are under their control?
Trotskyists of the Fourth International only began functioning in West Bengal at the end of 1968 and the beginning of 1969. After studying the situation and analysing the balance of class forces we decided to concentrate all our modest forces in the rural areas. If we can organise properly in one area and bring it under our control, the spark from this area would act as an inspiration for the rest of the country and point the way forward. So in one district called Bankura and in its rural area which is not very easy to reach because of no proper communication system. There is only one bus route and even on that you have to walk three miles Where there isn't a road. In such an aren, the Trotskyists started a movament. First we carried out simple, agitational political propaganda and were pleasantly surprised by the response we got. Then later we issued a call for a strike in that area. Everyone knows what a strike is in the cities. But a strike by agricultura' workers in a country like India is virtually unheard of. The response of the rural poor to the strike was amazing and took us all by surprise. It was too big for the small Trotskyist vastness of the province, it represents a far bigger potential, and it is the new form of organisation and its example which frightens the ruling class.
We have had many clashes with the authorities and have not been intimidated, but of course our resources are limited compared to the force of the bourgeois state's apparatus. The police have attacked villages and beaten up women and children, tortured peasants, etc. They claimed that the Trotskyists had Isunched an offensive against their special camp, but this was a blatant lie. From the beginning of November to December 24th 1970, there were eight clashes between the Trotskyists on one side and the police and rich peasants on the other. There were a few of our comrades wounded, many were arrested and 200 have had to go underground, and against our leading comrade Jagdish Jha the police have registered 50 different cases, all of a serious nature. The police have offered an unofficial reward for comrade Jha, dead or alive, of £50. This is a description of the reign of terror in the Bankura district of West Bengal. We have begun to start in some other districts also a similar movement and it will have its effect in the near future. Of course our aim is to generalise the struggle, but our resources are not great and the Fourth International does not have state power as yet. Despite this we think that comrades in Europe and North America could do considerably more to aid us.
What are the relations between the Trotskyists and the Naxalites? TROTSKY The Revolution Betrayed 25/In Defence of Marxism Permanent Revolution The Essential Trotsky Stalin 30/My Life 35JHistory of the Rusian 10/Revolution (3 vols.) each Writings 1937-33 25,1938-39 25/1939-40 25.MANDEL Europe versus America? 35JAn Introduction to Marxist Economic Theory 8/6 POLEMIC The Credibility Gap: The Politics of the SLL (An IMG pamphlet) 5/The Inconsistencies of *State Capitulisa" by 4/6 1934 Republican Congress 6/The Making of Northern Ireland by D.R. O'Connor Lysaght 3/Theobald Wolfe Tone by Frank Macdermot 7/6 JAMES CONNOLLY Labour in Ireland Socialism & Nationalism Labour in Irish History T-SHIRTS Red Mole T-Shirts. Block on red & red on white showing large Mole giving Red salute. 20/- per shirt, small, mediura & large. Enclose 1/- postuge.
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Tbe Red Mole 16-28 Feb 1971 Page 9