NDIA: Gandhi's Repression Continues

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...and in Sri Lanka Mis Gandhi's proclamation of a general election to be held in March is not the end of her dictatorship. It is a way for her to reap its political fruits.

The election is bound to take the form of the sham referenda beloved of other dictators.

Many imprisoned opposition leaders have been released; but tens of thousands of opposition party and trade union militants, whose work would be necessary to any serious opposition campaign, will remain behind bars throughout the campaign.

Press censorship has been lifted; but newspapers remain under a government injunction not to say anything which will worsen national divisions.

Most of the papers which were prepared to offer serious criticisms of Gandhi were forced to close during the emergency and may now find it impossible to start up again.

And Gandhi maintains monopoly of the radio and television.

Only forty days have been allowed for the development of any opposition campaign before the election, which along with the continuation of acute day to day repression of the mass of the population makes anything other than a Congress Party victory out of the The only principled course would be to boycott such 'elections'. There 15, however, no shortage of unprincipled political organisations ready to participate in the sham, while giving token opposition to the Gandhi regime.

The main opposition grouping is an unprincipled alliance of the right wing nationalists (Jan Sangh), Gandhian traditionalists (led by J.P. Narayan) and Social Democrats (the Socialist Party).

This alliance can offer absolutely nothing to the Indian masses.

The Communist Party of India, which has slavishly supported the Statorship. has now been partly fished by Mrs Gandhi and may contest the election on the basis of support for her policies but opposition to the growing power of her son, Sanjay. • But the CP may still make an accomodation with the Congress Party in order to get a few guaranteed parliamentary seats.

She knows that the Hundreds of workers have been arrested for 'incitement to strike' , press censorship has been imposed and troops have been used to maintain essential public services.

These are some of the repressive measures taken by Mrs. Bandaranaike's Popular Front government over the last four weeks in its attempt to crush the recent massive wave of strikes.

They began on December 22 when railway workers struck over a pay claim. The government granted some of the claim but large numbers of railway workers refused to return to work on January 6 under the terms of the agreement.

They were joined on strike by virtually all workers in the public bus transport - SOLC O reactionary laws forbidding strikes in these sectors.

Playing a leading role in the organisation of the strikes, was the Ceylon Federation of Labour which is dominated by the sometime opposition parties will be no threat since her policies up to now have increasingly won the allegiance of big business away from the nonCongress parties it once supported.

The election, if and when it takes place, represents no more than a new tactic to maintain the anti-working class dictatorship.

"Trotskyist' LSSP, once a sympathising section of the "United" Secretariat of the Fourth International and a member of Mrs Bandaranaike's unprincipled coalition government until it was expelled in 1975.

Reports indicate that the leaders of the Federation of Labour failed to provide any clear programme for the near general strike.

The essential item of that programme should be the demand for the reactionary Popular Front government to resign.

As a result of this failure of political leadership, some workers were being forced back to work by Bandaranaike's vicious attacks on all democratic rights.

Part of the direct responsibility for these attacks lies clearly with the Communist Party which has a member in the Bandaranaike Cabinet.

Just as in neighbouring India, the Stalinists are loyally lining up behind the savage repression of the working class.