Pakistan: Bolshevik day ceremony in Quetta

The 93^rd Anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution was celebrated this year with great zeal and enthusiasm in Quetta (Balochistan). The function was arranged by the Pakistan Trade Union Defence Campaign on the evening of 1^st November at 3pm in the Khurshid Labour Hall. Comrade Lal Khan was the chief guest.

Workers from the Merck factory, activists and leaders of the National Party, the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, student activists of the Baloch Student Organisation (Pajar), Pakhtun Student Organization, leaders of the Railway workers union and people from all walks of life participated in large number. The hall was full of participants.

Comrades from different parts of Balochistan from far off places travelled to Quetta to attend the ceremony. A few days before the ceremony, huge numbers of posters were pasted in the Balochistan University of Quetta (the only university in Balochistan), at the railway station, in the colleges, schools and along different roads and crossroads.

This was the first time Bolshevik Day was being celebrated in Quetta with such a thorough preparation encompassing all the progressive forces of society. This was a great step forward in a situation when Pakistan in general, and Balochistan in particular, is in the throes of severe poverty, unemployment, inflation and subjected to severe military operations by the Pakistan Army.

Comrade Nazar Mengal was the stage secretary. Comrade Amin read out a revolutionary poem before the formal opening of the ceremony and then comrade Nazar opened the ceremony. He explained that the Bolshevik revolution of 1917 was the first successful workers’ revolution in the history of humankind after the Paris Commune.

The Bolshevik revolution was in line with Trotsky’s theory of Permanent Revolution which says that under modern conditions the bourgeoisie of the backward countries have a counter-revolutionary character and are incapable of carrying out the tasks of the bourgeois revolution, namely, abolition of landlordism and feudalism, industrialisation, installation of parliamentary democracy, basic human rights etc.

Under such conditions, the only force which can accomplish these tasks is the proletariat. Once the proletariat takes power, it will not confine itself to democratic tasks; rather it will adopt socialist measures. In the same way, the character of the revolution in these countries is socialist. Today all the parties in Pakistan have failed to provide any alternative to the capitalist agony.

Ghulam Nabi Bruhi, president of the Railway workers’ union, said that we must organise the workers for revolution. Students, workers and peasants are the three bases of revolution. When these three forces unite together, they can bring about revolution. He further said that there is no way out of the impasse of capitalism except through revolution.

Comrade Zubair from the Baloch Student Organization (Pajar) said that revolution is a scientific process and we must adopt a scientific approach to bring about revolution. This scientific approach is provided by Marxism. Comrade Tehzeeb said that Bolshevik revolution was initiated by working class women. That is why women have an important role to play in the socialist revolution. She said that women in Pakistan are subjected to double exploitation. They are the slaves of the slaves. Women are considered as a commodity under capitalism. Western liberalism is a farce for women. This is not freedom at all. Real freedom is conceivable only through socialism.

Manzoor Baloch, General Secretary Merck Employees’ Union, said that workers have no nationality, religion, caste etc. because they are exploited in the factories irrespective of their religion, nationality, caste, language etc. All the workers must unite to fight off their common enemy, that is the capitalists. He said that the present PPP democratic government is a farce. It has attacked the workers more than any other government. 265 workers from Merck factory have been sacked under this so-called democratic government.

Liaquat Shahwani from the National Party said that the Baloch National Movement has always been influenced by the ideas of Marxism. The Afghan Saur Revolution was instrumental in making Marxism a formidable force in Balochistan. He described the present situation of Balochistan as terrible. The Pakistan Army is carrying out a brutal military operation against all real and sincere political and militant activists. Secret agencies are abducting the political activists. He was of the view that nationalism and socialism had a close relationship, but that Nationalism without socialism is chauvinism.

Comrade Iqbal Sheikh from the Paramedics Federation said that today the objective situation is ripe for revolution. All the traditional parties on the horizon are discredited. The huge participation in this hall proves that we have built a strong Bolshevik organization in Balochistan. The future is ours.

Comrade Lal Khan was the last speaker. He said that socialism is internationalism and as Marxists we support the right of self determination of the oppressed nationalities. But at the same time we also endeavour to form a broader socialist federation based on voluntary union. He said that Pakistan is an artificial state. It cannot last long. We stand for the socialist federation of South Asia which will subsequently clear the way for a world socialist federation.

Then the comrade turned to the historical significance of Bolshevism. He said that the planned economy had converted a backward country like Russia into an advanced country. In the 50 years from 1913 (the height of pre-war production) to 1963, despite two world wars, foreign intervention and civil war, and other calamities, total industrial output of the USSR rose more than 52 times. The corresponding figure for the USA was less than six times, while Britain struggled to double her output. It proves the superiority of the planned economy over market economy. He said that none of the bourgeois economists and experts from all universities of the world could predict the fall of Soviet Union. Only the Marxists predicted and gave the perspective of the fall of USSR. Lenin long ago predicted that if the German revolution failed, the Russian revolution would be doomed. In many ways, the fall of the USSR proved the truth of Marxism.

Comrade Lal Khan further added that the present situation of Pakistan is very chaotic. The ruling class is in a state of internal conflict. The economy is in tatters. Poverty, unemployment and price hike are skyrocketing. All the political parties share the same programme, i.e. of the market economy. That is why all of them are discredited. He said that we must reject the middle class psychology of impatience and build our forces with patience. Sooner or later, the movement will erupt and we must be prepared to lead the movement to its logical conclusion, i.e. to the socialist revolution.