Days are heavy.
Days come with death news.
The most beautiful worlds,
we have burned with our hands
and in our eyes, we’ve lost the tears
leaving us a little sad and upright,
our tears have left
and because of this,
we have forgotten to forgive…
The destination
will be reached bloodstained.
And the victory,
to the point where nothing will be forgiven anymore,
will be ripped off and plucked
with a fingernail…
Nazım Hikmet
The General Secretary of the CPI (Maoist) Comrade Basavaraj, then Comrade Sudhakar and many others… Now, let the whole world stop for a minute, and salute our comrades. And let the world spin, for we will take the helm anyway.
We are looking at the same sky, 5300 kilometres away from each other: Our polar star is one! We are drawing our bows to become fire arrows that will stab the imperialist capitalism in the chest. The hearts of all Maoists, revolutionaries beat for India, too.
We slap our entire history severely in the face of those who use the expression “Maoist” as an insult. We have a history at which, even the blind and the deaf look a little horrified, a little envious, but eventually have to respect. It is the Maoists who revolt against revisionism all over the world. Let those who wave the white flag in their hands, call on the people to take sides with the sovereigns, say “socialism is over” today know very well that the Maoists are fighting. Communist parties contribute to the international communist movement by leading the revolutions in their own countries. We, too, must commit ourselves to the duty to lead the revolution in our country. Such is primarily our international responsibility in the Proletarian World Revolution.
There are thousands of experiences in Maoism which show the importance of the bond between the leadership and the people. The Chinese Revolution is our most advanced experience. The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution lit the wick of the People’s Wars in India, Peru, the Philippines, and in our country. Comrade Mao calls the people “the motive force in the making of world history” and declares that success cannot be achieved unless the people’s support is won. Our comrades in India show us, in a very plain manner, the bond that the communist pioneers have established with the masses. Simple, patient and continuous; at the same time pretty impressive, powerful and unbreakable!
Maoists do not only lead peoples solely theoretically; but also, they bring together a theory integrated with practice with the people. They are the ones who know how to integrate with the people, how to conduct the people like a maestro. A Maoist is the one who knows that the People’s War will not happen “without the people” and acts accordingly. Today, The Indian People’s War declares once again: Maoists lean on masses with a sense of obligation! The Lalgarh example tells us so many things. Why Lalgarh? Let us explain it with Comrade Purnendu Sekhar Mukherjee’s words: “Lalgarh movement has shown that the Maoist politics does not only mean a battle by means of an armed struggle to seize the state government; that the Naxalbari way is to build an alternative socioeconomic system by the people themselves. This system is not shaped in accordance with the demands of international capital, but with the local necessities and the people’s views. Development should unfold according to the locals’ needs and willpower and not based on external impositions.” We know that the progress will not happen on a separate path from the masses, and that there can be no advancement in the revolution without the integrating with the masses. It is by no means a coincidence that today, our funerals are embraced by tens of thousands in India; that the people participate in the organisations and the management of the process, work selflessly; that all parts of the people have set their hearts on this path. This is the victory of Maoism, specifically of the Maoists in India. The masses find themselves within the communist party, keep it wrapped up in cotton wool and develop it. Such is the reality in India as well: the masses, led by the communist party, have seen the lights of liberation.
The light is blended with the fire. We’ve burned; we’ve been burned. Not only did our hearts burn, but our consciousness too; the light rose brighter, was seen more and illuminated more. Those who are delighted that one of us perished by fire must know that we’ve become the fire in the people’s consciousness. Our power and our dreams are roaring in the torch that is in the hands of the people.
And the fire has never been more meaningful after the moment it had been discovered. Being a fire, being on and setting fire is inherent to us. In a hotel in Sivas, when an Adivasi family’s house catches fire, in the lifeless body of Basavaraju in Narayanpur; on a mountaintop in Dersim, in a molotov aiming at the enemy, in a bullet ready to be expelled from the barrel… But we said it, we are the fire; whether we burn or we are burned. Naxalbari, steeled with fire, will never break!
