Analysis of the Naxalite Movement and Its Achievements, With Sources
Introduction
Of all the various socialist and communist groups currently waging armed struggle against capitalism and imperialism, few are more significant and well-known than the Maoist movement of India, commonly known as the Naxalites. Frequently demonized and portrayed as terrorists, they have nonetheless continued to struggle (with remarkable success, as will be shown shortly) against the ruthless exploitation and murder of the poorest people on Earth.
Before diving into the hard analysis, I would recommend that you all read Walking With the Comrades by Arundhati Roy, a brilliant analysis of the situation in India, as well as a first-hand account of Roy's time visiting the Maoists. She is one of the most well-known authors in the world today, and her work is generally accepted and acclaimed even by liberal taste-makers; she even succeeded in winning some positive attention for the Naxalites in mainstream publications, such as the Paris Review:
If you want to understand the horrific exploitation and state terrorism which has made the Naxalite movement necessary in the first place, read that book. With that out of the way, let us dive into the achievements of the Naxalite movement.
Economic Issues and Quality of Life (Land, Wages, Healthcare, etc.)
One of our most important sources on this topic comes, ironically enough, from the Indian government itself. Their report, entitled "Development Challenges in Extremist Affected Areas", gives us a great deal of information on the successes of the Naxalites:
The government acknowledges the immense problem of unequal land distribution, while also admitting that the Naxalites have done a great deal to redistribute land to the landless:
Though no precise estimates are available, it is a fact that in some cases the Naxalite movement has succeeded in helping the landless to occupy a substantial extent of government land, whether for homesteads or for cultivation. In Bihar all the Naxalite parties have attempted to assist, in their respective areas of influence, the landless Musahars, the lowest among the dalits, to take possession of a sizable extent of such land.
They have fought to end the ruthless exploitation of adivasi (indigenous) labor:
Naxalites have secured increases in the rate of payment for the picking of tendu leaf which is used for rolling beedies, in the forest areas of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Maharashtra, and Jharkhand. This was a very major source of exploitation of adivasi labor, and while the Government knowingly ignored it, the Naxalites put an effective end to it. The exploitation was so severe that the rates have over the years increased up to fifty times what the tendu patta contractors used to pay before the Naxalites stepped in.
The Naxalites have also fought to increase wages in general, with significant success:
The Minimum Wages Act remains an act on paper in much of rural India… In the areas of their activity, it is reported that Naxalites have ensured payment of decent wage rates, though they have not usually gone by the statutory minimum wage rates. The rates they have ensured are sometimes higher and sometimes lower than the statutory rate. Their orientation to rights is in general not governed by statutory entitlement but what they regard as just and fair, taking all factors that they believe to be relevant into consideration.
There are also large areas of labor not governed by the Minimum Wages Act... Since the Naxalites are in any case not bothered whether or not there is a law governing the right they are espousing, they have intervened and determined fair wage rates in their perception in all labor processes in their areas of influence. This includes wages for washing clothes, making pots, tending cattle, repairing implements, etc.
The Naxalites have also fought to ensure the protection of common property, and to prevent its exploitation by private owners:
Enjoyment of common property resources as a traditional right by cattle-herds, fishing communities, toddy toppers, stone workers, has become vulnerable due to the appropriation of these resources by the dominant sections of society or by the others with their support. The Naxalites have tried to ensure the protection of this right wherever they are active.
Pressure from the Naxalites has forced government officials in the fields of health and education to properly carry out their duties to the people:
On some occasions the Naxalites have been able to put pressure upon lower level administrators to perform their job effectively. The pressure exerted by the Naxalite movement has had some effect in ensuring proper attendance of teachers, doctors etc.
Indeed, the Naxalites themselves have succeeded in improving healthcare in the areas where they are active. In his book Hello, Bastar: The Untold Story of India's Maoist Movement, Rahul Pandita (winner of the International Red Cross Award) writes:
In the field of health as well, the Maoists often fill in large gaps left by the state. Their mobile medical units cover large distances to offer primary health care to tribals... Various training camps are held regularly on preventive measures against diseases such as diarrhea or malaria. The grass-root doctors in the medical squads can administer vaccines, identify a number of diseases through symptoms, and treat injuries that are not severe. Some can even conduct simple blood tests to arrive at a diagnosis. This is a significant advantage in such areas.
It is clearly the case that the Naxalites have made large strides in improving quality of life for the people in the areas in which they operate.
Social Issues (Race, Gender, Forced Labor, etc.)
The Naxalites have made enormously positive and important achievements in terms of ending discrimination and fighting social oppression. Let us turn to the Indian government's report for more information.
As mentioned above, the Naxalites have fought discrimination against adivasis (indigenous people):
Wherever there is a basis for discretion on the part of government officials, forest personnel have had to be appeased in different ways to avoid harassment. It was only after the Naxalites entered the picture that the adivasis got protection from this harassment, which was well known to the administration but was normally ignored.
The Naxalites have also done a great deal to combat caste and gender oppression, which remains a major issue in India. This includes putting an end to sexual exploitation of working-class women by upper-caste men:
Impolite forms of address that the dalits were subjected to, and the prohibition in the matter of wearing clean clothes and footwear in the presence of upper castes, or while passing through their localities, and the compulsion to address them as dora or malik and other such oppressive practices, have by and large been brought to an end in their areas of work. The everyday humiliation and sexual exploitation of laboring women of dalit communities by upper caste men is another form of oppression that has been successfully fought.
In Bihar there have been many instances where dalits suffering social oppression, and in recent times victims of the massacres perpetrated by the caste senas such as Ranbir Sena. The victims have received that help from the Naxalites.
One of their most important achievements is putting an end to forced labor in rural communities, which flourished for decades:
There is no law penalizing forced labor in other forms. Therefore it flourished in the most medieval forms in the Telangana district in Karimnagar, and it took a major upsurge led by the Naxalites in the late seventies and early eighties of the last century to put an end to it.
Crucially, the Naxalites have also succeeded in deterring forced eviction and seizure of natural resources by the Indian government, as well as private corporations:
The forest dwellers (were) perpetually on the brink of eviction from their own habitat... The fear of Naxalite armed resistance deterred the repressive and depredatory moves of the authorities.
Perhaps the most inspiring of all these achievements is the sense of pride, humanity, and empowerment which the Naxalites have instilled in the people. This is acknowledged even by the Indian government:
Apart from the concrete issues undertaken by the Naxalites against social oppression, the fact that the cadre and also most of local leaders of the Naxalite organisations consist of poor villagers of castes looked upon as lowly has endowed the oppressed with much strength. A sense of powerlessness is a characteristic of the psychological make up of oppressed classes. The typical Naxalite cadre, however, is a confident (most probably gun-wielding) teenager from those very classes. To see young boys and girls of their own villages and their own class/caste active in the Naxalite movement, and wielding power over the ‘big’ men of the village and the high and mighty tahsildar has given a sense of empowerment to the oppressed that has inestimable value.
Conclusion
Despite the enormous propaganda campaign directed against them, as well as the utterly vicious and violent response from the Indian government (documented in Arundhati Roy's aforementioned Walking With the Comrades), the Naxalite movement has succeeded in making great strides for the people. Perhaps this is best summarized by the Indian government itself, in a comment from the report:
The movement does provide protection to the weak against the powerful, and takes the security of, and justice for, the weak and the socially marginal seriously.
In one of the poorest and most exploited nations on Earth, that itself is a major achievement, and something to be treasured.
Posted Jul 10, 2019, 10:52 PM UTC · edited