Pakistan: National Marxist Summer School 2014

The National Marxist Summer School was held in Malakand in Northern Pushtoonkhwa from 8-10 August. It is near the Swat valley which was controlled by the Taliban until a few years back. Despite the long distances, high costs of transport, difficult journeys and the dangerous security situation in the area, 225 young comrades participated from all over the country, including 26 women. The venue of the School was on the banks of the Swat River flowing through the green mountains of the valley.

three days the discussions were held in five sessions. The first session was on World Perspectives and Adam Pal led off the discussion while comrade Khair Ullah was in chair. Adam Pal explained the crisis of the world economy and its social and political impact from a Marxist point of view. He said that 28 September 2014 will mark the 150^th anniversary of the founding of the First International. Since the first workers’ International organised by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in 1864, the struggle for a World Socialist Revolution goes on.

This year also marks 100 years since the start of the First World War, which was a massacre on a global scale. Driven by their lust for profits and colonies, the capitalists of the imperial powers made the workers of different countries fight each other and more than 15 million lost their lives. After 100 years the capitalist system continues to kill humans.

There is a global crisis of capitalism which started in 2008. The USA is printing $80billion every month to support the world economy. This cannot last very long. China, a vital pillar of the world economy, is also heading towards an economic crisis and is using artificial methods to avoid it. But Capitalism is based on booms and slumps and delaying the crisis will only make it deeper.

Adam Pal explained the state of the European economies where unemployment is increasing in most countries and millions of youth are unemployed. For the first time after the Second World War the new generation is facing a decline in living standards compared to their parents. The economic situation is having social and political consequences and reformism is losing ground as the material conditions on which it was based are diminishing. The trend towards extreme right and left wing in recent European elections shows the growing polarization in these societies.

He explained the civil war in Ukraine and said that the participation of the editor of the left-wing Ukrainian website Liva in the IMT’s world congress was an important development. Only class unity can defeat the national prejudices and the unity of the workers of Russia, Ukraine, and Europe can defeat the imperialists and the capitalists.

He condemned the brutal Israeli aggression on Gaza, which is supported by US imperialism, and explained that the rulers of the Arab countries are equally responsible for the plight of the Palestinians. The only solution is a Socialist Federation of the Middle East. Forces like the “Islamic State” are a product of US imperialist policies which are committing brutalities on a large scale and are threatening their own creators. Military intervention by the imperialists cannot eliminate these forces and for as long as the social and financial basis continue to exist, “Caliphs” like Baghdadi will keep on emerging. It is like a monster that if you cut one head many new heads will appear; eliminating one Caliph will create many new Caliphs. Only a Socialist Revolution can eliminate this barbarism.

The lead off was followed by questions and contributions by Mahbloos, Wali Khan, Aftab Ashraf, Danial, Waleed, Rizwan, Hanif and Zeeshan. Comrade Adam Pal summed up the session explaining the developments in different sections of the IMT. He stressed the need to spread Marxist ideas among the Workers and Youth in order to accelerate the building of a revolutionary party to carry out a Socialist Revolution.

The topic of the second session was “Literature and Revolution”. Shehryar Zauq chaired the session and Paras Jan led of the discussion. He explained that Marx, Engels. Lenin and Trotsky used literature to spread revolutionary ideas. Marx and Engels were ardent readers of world literature and admired writers like Shakespeare, Balzac and Dante and used their expressions in revolutionary writings. There critique of these classic writers in their letters and works are a masterpiece and a treasure for young writers.

Urdu literature is also greatly influenced by revolutionary movements and left-wing ideas. Literary giants like Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Sahir Ludhianvi, Habib Jalib, Prem Chand and Krishan Chand represented the struggle of the working class in their poetry and fiction. They not only explained the misery of life in society but also showed the revolutionary way forward.

Literature is like a history of society. Marx himself said that he got to know French society from the novels of Balzac more than any other writing. In his famous book Origin of the Family Engels used references from Greek literature to explain the structure of society in ancient times.

In his lead off comrade Paras explained the features of progressive literature. A great writer observes the contradictions of life and expresses them in the writings together with a path to the future. He explained the role of Maxim Gorky’s novels and plays in the Russian Revolution and also criticized Stalinist policies towards literature. He explained the Proletariat literature and culture along with the trends of futurism. The steps taken by a Socialist state towards literature after the revolution mentioned in Trotsky’s book Literature and Revolution were also discussed. Young poet Ali Zaryoun, Sibghat Wayn, Nasira Butt and Anam Patafi made thoughtful interventions. Paras Jan answered the questions and summed up the discussion.

The second day of the school started with the session on Pakistan Perspectives. Before the session comrades recited revolutionary poems. The session was chaired by comrade Irfan from Balochistan. Comrade Ismat led off the discussion and explained that Pakistan was a failed state from its inception and the ruling class has always been a puppet of the imperialists. The local bourgeoisie was historically so belated and financially and technically so weak that it could never play an independent role, and as a result of its dependency on the international financial institutions the state of Pakistan could never have an independent foreign policy. Politics, the state, religion, culture, morality, family and every other aspect of society is in crisis which is rooted in the crisis of capitalism. Every new year intensifies this crisis and destroys more and more lives. The only way out for humankind from this misery is a Socialist Revolution. Comrade Salman, Haider, Khurshid Ali, Asif Lashari, Adil, Zubair, Kajjal, Rehana, Abdul Wahid, Ijaz Ayub, Atif and Aftab intervened in the discussion which was summed up by Ismat.

The fourth session started after the lunch break. The topic of the discussion was the book Synopsis of Capital by Frederick Engels written in 1868 and recently published in Urdu by The Struggle publications. Rashid Shaikh chaired the session. Imran Kamyana led off the discussion by explaining the historical background of Marx’s Capital. He explained commodities, value, use value, exchange value, socially necessary labour, labour power, surplus value, working hours, distribution of surplus labour, profit, rate of profit, prices, the role of machines and the fundamental contradictions of the capitalist economy. He discussed the present crisis of capitalism on the basis of Marxist theory. Khalid Jamali, Asif Rashid, Sibghat Wayn and Khurshid participated in the discussion. Imran Kamyana summed up the session by explaining the law of value in a socialist society, the dynamics of a planned economy, currencies and the monetary system, Keynesianism, central banking and the role of prices in a capitalist economy.

In the evening Comrade Anam chaired a women’s commission to discuss and plan the work to take the ideas of Socialism to women and make them active members of a revolutionary force.

After the commission a poetry recital gathering of young comrades was held at night. Many young comrades presented their own revolutionary poetry to the enthused audience which was received with applause and praise.

On the third day the last session was chaired by Umer Rasheed. Rashid Khalid led off the discussion on “Strategy and Tactics of Youth Work”. He explained the history of student politics in Pakistan, the role of the youth in the revolution, the present situation of student politics, unemployment, the problems of education and the strategy to include more youth in the revolutionary organization. Comrades from all regions shared reports of their local youth work and their plans. The school was concluded by singing the workers’ International followed by revolutionary slogans.