THE general council of CITU, which met in Kolkata from August 9-11, gave a clarion call to the working class of the country to prepare for immediate, strong, countrywide class action whenever the labour codes are notified. The general council meeting also urged the working class of India to actively participate in a month-long nationwide campaign in September on common issues and demands of contract and non-permanent workers. The campaign will culminate on September 30, 2024, with an All India Demands Day, marked by mobilisations at district headquarters and labour offices across the country.

396 members of general council including office bearers attended the meeting.

The CITU general council meeting began on the morning of August 9 with the hoisting of the CITU flag by K Hemalata, president of CITU. Shortly after, the flag was lowered to half-mast in memory of Comrade Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, former Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) and former chief minister of West Bengal, who passed away on August 8. Floral tributes were paid at the Martyrs' Column by Hemalata and Tapan Sen, general secretary of CITU, followed by all the office bearers and general council members. After the presidential address and the presentation of the general secretary’s report, the general council meeting was adjourned for four hours, during which all the office bearers and general council members paid their last respects to Comrade Buddhadeb Bhattacharya at Muzaffar Ahmed Bhawan, the CPI(M) West Bengal state headquarters. The general council meeting resumed in the afternoon.

K Hemalata presided over the meeting, and Subhas Mukherjee, national vice president and chairman of the reception committee, welcomed the general council members to the historic city of Kolkata, which has a great legacy of anti-colonial, anti-imperialist, and working-class struggles.

In her presidential address, Hemalata pointed out that, in addition to the parliamentary elections in India, elections have been held in several other countries and the European Union during this period. These elections provide useful lessons for the working class across the world, including in India. The results of the various elections held during this period show that the growth of far-right forces around the world is still continuing. Their growth is primarily due to the growing discontent among people over the austerity measures implemented as part of neoliberal policies. The ruling classes are trying to escape the crisis by transferring the burden onto the working class and other sections of the common people. Wherever there are organised Left forces and trade unions, they are able to properly channel this discontent against the government's policies. When elections are held in such countries or regions, the Left is benefiting from the struggles led by the Left and progressive parties and unions.

Emphasizing the role of Left forces in these elections, Hemalata said that in Greece, the strength of the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) is steadily rising due to its consistent support for working-class struggles. Representatives who stood in solidarity with unions, like Jeremy Corbyn, were able to win elections even after the Labour Party expelled him and he contested as an independent. Corbyn defeated both the Conservative and Labour Party candidates. Similarly, in France, people reposed trust on the newly formed coalition of Left parties because they trusted them to defeat the far-right, which is aligned with the interests of the ruling classes.

Hemalata also highlighted the experiences of the working class and the people of India in their fight against neoliberal policies. Describing the nature of the Modi-led NDA government, she asserted that it is the class character and opportunism of these parties that bring them together in implementing neoliberal policies and compromising with communal forces. Workers and common people cannot rely on these parties to protect their interests. Only by building united struggles of workers and toiling people on pressing livelihood issues, by raising awareness about the need to fight collectively against these policies, and by exposing how communal divisive forces weaken united struggles to benefit big corporations, can the anti-worker, anti-people policies be defeated.

Tapan Sen, presented the general secretary's report. The report detailed developments at both the global and national levels, as well as the activities of CITU during the last seventeen months since the Seventeenth Conference, and proposed certain tasks related to independent campaigns and struggles of CITU. The report noted that economic growth remains almost inconsequential, with inflation not decreasing as needed. Both sovereign and private debt are rapidly increasing, revealing the vulnerable extent of financialisation in the global economy. Capitalism is undoubtedly in a systemic crisis.

The report identified the capitalist responses to the crisis. Capitalist firms attempt to navigate the crisis in four major ways: a) by creating new branches of industry and economy that are most profitable at that specific juncture; b) by aggressively accelerating competitive productivity for the transient, thereby pushing the burden of the crisis onto smaller companies and, consequently, their workers; c) by creating massive unemployment and reducing wages, thus shifting the burden onto the working class in general, and d) by unleashing war; historically, a war economy has been capitalism's most trusted tool during periods of crisis.

On the national situation, the general secretary's report highlighted that, in addition to the international trends driven by neoliberal forces, there are peculiarities specific to the Indian context. The report analysed the present and future strategies of the Modi-led union government.

The first feature is the massive investment in infrastructure, particularly in highways, railways, and urban development sectors, which are set to be handed over to private corporations through the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP) for long-term operation and revenue collection. The second feature is the creation of extremely exploitative avenues to transfer India’s vast natural resources to foreign and domestic private players, under the direct patronage of the Modi government. The third feature is the allocation of public funds to private corporations under various incentive schemes. The fourth factor is the restructuring of employment relations, and lastly, there are rapid changes being made to the entire legal system to make it a more effective tool for exploiting the working class.

The BNS (Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita) is being designed to strip away all legal rights regarding protests or demonstrations, thereby establishing a strong police state. The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) will be further amended to make the looting of the public exchequer more hassle free. Many other legislations are in the pipeline to be amended in a way that is even more favourable to corporate interests.

While presenting the general secretary's report, Tapan Sen emphasized the importance of actively involving all affiliate unions of CITU in our work, and through them, engage with the broader mass of workers, including our common members. He noted that the ongoing deficit in this crucial initiative also contributes to serious shortcomings in developing functional coordination committees of CITU unions at the local level, even in many of our comparatively stronger states and sectors. He stressed that achieving the goal of true democratic functioning requires fostering an organic and active connection between our organisation, leadership, activists at various levels, and the mass of toiling people in society.

K Hemalata presented the midterm review document, noting that conscious and sincere efforts were made by the entire organisation – from the CITU secretariat to almost all the state committees and industrial federations – to implement the decisions of the 17th Conference of CITU. She pointed out that wherever organisational workshops were effectively conducted, they helped improve our organisational functioning. Even in states where such workshops could not be held, the special discussion on organisation at the 17th Conference contributed to some improvements in the functioning of state office bearers and committees.

CITU treasurer M Saibabu presented the statement of accounts and the details of the membership and annual returns received up until the meeting. 43 members deliberated on the general secretary's report, and 50 members discussed the midterm review document. The general secretary's report, midterm review document, and accounts report were unanimously adopted.

The general council passed three resolutions – scrapping the three criminal laws—BNS, BNSS, and BSA; observing the birth centenary of Comrade E Balanandan and condemning the brutal rape and murder of a doctor in Kolkata.

The meeting unanimously decided on the following major tasks:

·         Observe the birth centenary of Comrade E. Balanandan, a stalwart of the working-class movement and former president of CITU.

·         Conduct a wide general campaign on the common issues and demands of contract/non-permanent workers in September, and observe All India Demands Day on September 30.

·         Observe September 1, 2024, as International Action Day of Trade Unions for Peace.

·         Campaign against increasing violence against women and sexual harassment in the workplace during the first week of September 2024.

·         Prepare the working class for immediate, strong, countrywide action whenever the labour codes are notified.

The general council tier of the All India Coordination Committee of Working Women (CITU) met on August 8, prior to the general council meeting. The general council endorsed the recommendations of the AICCWW (CITU).

The book Critical Notes on the History of the World Trade Union Movement: Issues of Tactics and Strategy by George Mavrikos, former general secretary and honorary president of WFTU, was inaugurated by Hemalata. CITU national secretary Swadesh Devroye handed over the book to Hemalata. More than 300 copies were immediately sold. Several state committees donated to the Wayanad Solidarity Fund. In a special subscription drive, more than 750 subscriptions were collected for four CITU journals.

The meeting ended with concluding remarks by the president. The general council heartily thanked the West Bengal state committee of CITU, the Kolkata district committee, and all the CITU volunteers for their contribution in making the general council meeting a success.