It's Labour Day. Let's consider globalisation. In a front-page comment in TheHindustan Times, Ashok Mitra blamed globalisation for the match-fixing cricket scandal.This was as silly as Mahatma Gandhi's view early last century condemning railways forenabling men with evil ideas to travel about. Sometimes the greatest men say silly things.They too are human. And transition is tough to handle.
Think of it. A country's richest 3 per cent own more wealth than its 85 per cent.Over 75 per cent of its industries are owned by people of the country's originsettled abroad. Over 40 per cent of its goods exported are produced by foreign-investedfirms. No union rights or labour laws are observed. Corrupt leaders fatten their ownfamilies. Protest against corruption is brutally suppressed.
Despite the majority community being over 90 per cent of the population, the minoritiesare bullied and denied religious freedom. Despite Christians being less than 1 per cent,the Pope is told not to set foot in the country.
One is not talking of fascist India ruled by the BJP. One is talking of the socialistparadise ruled by China's Communist Party. No wonder it seeks fraternal ties with theBJP. Indian Marxists can only wag their tails. Sanghchalaks can deliver.
But China's lapdogs in India won't change. They won't analyse whycommunism failed. It failed because Marx made one cardinal error. He talked about thedictatorship of the proletariat. He didn't talk about democracy of the proletariat.
In the totalitarian east, socialist revolution collapsed. In the democratic west,socialist reforms endure. Marx's greatest achievement was not in Russia or China. Itwas in Britain and America. He inspired workers to struggle and wrest legitimacy for tradeunion rights. That's why capitalism got a human face. Upward mobility of workersdefused threats of violent revolution. That coarse cry among British workers anticipatedhistory: "The working class can lick my arse, became foreman at last!"
For revolution, go west young man. Seattle was a harbinger. The wisdom of its protestmay be questioned. Its spirit may not. In their first fumbling, muddled way, common peopleare confronting multinational monsters. People will fight for their planet, for their air,for their rights. Globalisation is inevitable. Exploitation is not.
This columnist recalls with satisfaction the concluding remarks of his book writtenover a decade earlier. "In the twentieth century, capitalism defeated communism. Inthe twenty-first century, democracy will defeat capitalism."
He lay in bed
The east was red.
When he raised his head
His dream was dead.
