Uncompromising Hostility to Whom

Uncompromising Hostility to Whom? S Chattopadhyay THE observation made by Ashok Kudra on the recent political develop- meats in West Bengal is quite confusing ("Murderers Take Over", November 28, 1970, p 1913). He holds that the Naxalite path is one of total, uncompromising, hostility towards the entire social system. But a glance at the latest phase of Naxalite movement would glaringly reveal that gangster methods and individual or squad terroristic actions of the Naxalites, and their free use of all sorts of lumpen elements in murders and attacks, in- stead of rousing the masses against the oppressive and exploiting social order, have created a very favourable situation for those who denounce every workers' and peasants' struggle as endangering "law and order". It is the counter-revolutionary forces, the stoutest defenders of the present oppressive social system that have been gaining by the infantile Naxalite activity of bomb attacks on schools, colleges, libraries and statues of great men like Vidyasagar and Rabindranath, killing of students, youths, kisan and trade union workers, assassination of police- men and civilian officials, but not the revolutionary forces that stand for a total, uncompromising hostility towards the ruling classes. The poisonous fruits of the Naxalite activities are already being tasted by the democratic revolutionary movement in West Bengal. The Government has found excuses to empower itself with more and more draconic laws of oppression and suppression. The anarchic and terroristic activities of the Naxalites have provided an alibi to the Government for the latest fascist order to the police to shoot at sight. Such is the yeoman's service rendered to the counter-revolution by the uncompromising Naxalite revolutionaries! Again, Ashok Rudra's formulation of two alternatives is misleading. According to this formulation, the first is the path of class collaboration, of strategic subservience to the ruling bourgeoisie. The second path is one of total uncompromising hostility towards the entire social system, that is, total, uncompromising hostility, not only towards the ruling classes but also against all other exploiting classes of the society. This line