Editorial, LESSONS OF OCTOBER, in 15 November 2014 October Revolution Special issue, Vol. 10, Part 2, No. 21 issue

LESSONS OF OCTOBER

In his historic polemic under this caption Leon Trotsky might have dealt mainly with the course of the proletarian revolution as it was then rife in Russia, on the genius of a Lenin who could gauge the real heat of the then convulsions to make a sudden shift in the leader party’s line and steer it toward victory in the revolution, as also warned against right deviationist, oppressive policies and measures of certain sections of revolutionaries themselves, etc. but here we are more concerned with the great lessons that historic Socialist Revolution left for the humankind as a whole. It was this revolution which for the first time in the world decisively overthrew and declared the demise of the then rampant coarse capitalist development modes in Russia and other backward regions under its control and ushered in a real rule of the masses – a sort of democratic dictatorship of the workers and peasants. New forms of state organization were developed, universal adult franchise for all including women and discriminated races and tribes was granted; the entire land was nationalized but mainly distributed to the poor and needy among the peasantry while protecting the interests of the non-exploitative sections too. All the industries nationalized and collective property made the chief norm with private property confined to personal assets that ought not to allow for exploitation of other humans. The get-rich-quick-anyhow mentality was decried and universal social welfare declared as the prime motif of the revolution. Stupendous efforts were made by the ruling party as well as the dedicated masses for war against counter revolutionary forces and for socialist construction on a gigantic scale and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics emerged as the brilliant beacon for the toilng people all over the world and as a bastion for the fighting forces against all forms of oppression and injustices in all countries. Colonialism was unequivocally condemned and pre & post World War II we saw the enormous contributions of the USSR for the defeat of Fascism and end of colonialism. Of course, totalitarian excesses did occur with not proletarian democracy but a new form of oppression and suppression of human rights and initiatives thriving in the garb of state socialism and all that, with the changing circumstances, contributed to the decline and fall of the Socialist Camp. But this great experiment in human history and its glorious contributions to the cause of socialism, democracy and human welfare still serve as an undying inspiration to the people of the world who now have to take to new measures for building a humane socialist society, with guaranteed human rights and liberties, for sustainable development and universal peace. §§§

Editorial, ADVERSE CONSEQUENCES OF BIFURCATION, in 31 October 2014, Vol. 10, Part 2, No. 20 issue

ADVERSE CONSEQUENCES OF BIFURCATION

have emerged within months of the unfortunate and unwarranted partition of the Annapoorna State. As rightly forewarned by the former CM of united AP, ‘water wars (disputes)’ and ‘current kashtalu (troubles)’ are engulfing the regions, especially Telangana. For the spate of recent peasant suicides in Telangana, already commented upon in these columns earlier, the ‘current crisis’ is a main contributory factor. The excessive consumption of electricity by Telangana people is a main reason. The populist measure of free electricity to farmers has exacerbated the problem for, otherwise, the peasants would have perhaps continued or switched over to other less water-needing crops than paddy – for the cultivation of which these plateau lands, but for the supply of irrigation facilities at enormous cost, are not that suited. Well, the crisis has also brought to notice the phenomenal development of electricity generation in Telangana which shows no discrimination but more favor to this region in the united State. Except for the private power plants and non-conventional and renewable energy sources, all other power indicators in Telangana show high rise – it now possesses 6251.3 MW out of 12425.3 MW i.e. 50.3% of such electricity production of the united AP, and a disproportionately high share in power from hydel sector and central power generating stations [with but 42% of the total population in the united State]. However, the Goebbelsian propaganda by the separatists, continuing to this day, has depicted as if great injustices are, and are still being, done to Telangana in this sphere also – mainly to divert attention from real solutions to which they might not have even applied their minds properly. It is to be stressed that from the very low level of energy consumption with only 11 villages electrified [in contrast to 147 in Rayalaseema and 398 in coastal Andhra] in 1955-56, Telangana has now achieved total rural electrification even, but surely, as Gandhiji always stressed, there are not enough resources in the world to satisfy all the greed of the people. The real solution to such crisis lies not in quarrelling with the other Telugu State but cooperating in an amicable manner and, more important, concentrating on development of minor and medium irrigation schemes as are best suited to the topography and environmental conditions of this region and transforming the mode of agricultural production to one chiefly attuned to cultivation of semi-arid regional crops [metta pantalu], horticulture, floriculture, etc. §§§