The revolution in Bangladesh has scored its first victories – but it is incomplete! This Sunday, the Revolutionary Communist International is hosting a meeting to which all are invited. We will be discussing the revolutionary communist perspective, how the revolution can advance, and why you should organise with us if you agree. The speakers will include Fiona Lali; student activists directly involved in the struggle in Bangladesh; and leading comrades from the Revolutionary Communist International and the Inqalabi Communist Party in Pakistan.
The meeting will be held online, via zoom at 7pm Bangladesh time (2pm UK time) on Sunday 18 August.
To attend, simply join on Zoom via this link.
Ahead of the meeting we are publishing the following statement, concisely summarising the point at which the revolution has arrived at, the urgent tasks that stand before it, and the main slogans that we believe, as revolutionary communists, must be adopted to advance the movement. We recommend attendees read it before the meeting.
Complete the revolution!
In just over a month, the masses in Bangladesh led by the students have overthrown Sheikh Hasina through a revolutionary movement involving mass demonstrations, strikes and non-compliance. We have proven that the most powerful force in society is the collective power of the working class, and no regime or dictator can stand in our way when we are organised. But our revolution is incomplete, and risks being stolen by the ruling class and the blood of the martyrs would have been shed in vain. Now we are faced with a critical question – where next for Bangladesh?
What began as a protest against the quota system, transformed into a struggle for democracy, equality, and freedom across Bangladesh. The student leaders stand for democracy, but we ask – democracy for what class? Equality for what class? Freedom for what class? The embryo of genuine democracy has been formed in the committees of struggle that have erupted across universities and neighbourhoods. This model must be replicated, and spread.
The interim government has been declared, with a range of different figures (former Army officers, former governor of the Central Bank, lawyers, etc), all of them in one way or another linked to capitalist establishment. It is led by Dr Yunus, a liberal economist. Two of the student coordinators have been included, in minor roles, so as to give it some legitimacy in the eyes of the masses.
We have no trust in this government. It was the students and masses of workers and the poor who overthrew Hasina, who have forced out the Chief Justice, who are today, monitoring the roads, protecting religious minorities and cleaning the streets. These are the forces who should take power.
The student movement has achieved its primary demand – for the removal of Hasina. Hasina as an individual was simply the face of a system, which has its roots across the top of the army, the entire political establishment, and the biggest businesses. It is this system that we must now target, if we seek to genuinely transform Bangladesh. Otherwise, we will simply see a change in the face at the top of the regime, while our lives and conditions remain unchanged.
It is the system as a whole, which killed hundreds of students, arrested thousands, and conspired with the media to lie about the truth. It is the system as a whole, which facilitates huge unemployment, inflation, forces millions to emigrate to look for jobs, it is the system as a whole which oversees poverty in a country that has enough wealth to provide for everyone.
This system itself must be named and understood. The system is capitalism and imperialism. Capitalism bases itself on profit. The insatiable pursuit of profit above any concern for human life, produces inequality, violence, dictatorship and misery.
In the Revolutionary Communist International, we are striving to build the forces of genuine communism all over the world. We are striving to build revolutionary parties which can develop a programme which answers the needs of the impoverished masses. We call on revolutionaries in Bangladesh to help us build such a party.
In Bangladesh, we believe we must now push the struggle forward by advancing these slogans:
- No confidence in Yunus’ government
- Spread the committees to the workers - continue revolutionary vigilance
- All those responsible for the killing of students and other human rights abuses to be brought to trial and punished
- Expropriation of all assets of Sheikh Hasina’s family and cronies
- Workers’ control in the factories
- For a national congress of delegates from student, worker and peasant committees
- No transition from above, but revolutionary power from below
- For revolution, not tinkering reforms!