PAKISTAN: Labour Party congress a historic moment
LAHORE — There was a tangible political confidence in the hall of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan as 138 delegates and 28 observers from around Pakistan worked hard through four days of reports and discussion at the first congress of the Labour Party Pakistan (LPP), held here on April 15-18. The atmosphere was charged with the knowledge that thousands of kilometres away in Washington, protesters were assailing a meeting of World Bank and IMF officials.
"In this age of unprecedented global capitalist plunder a new, global people's response is growing", Farooq Tariq, general secretary of the LPP, told me. "In the streets of Seattle and Washington we have heard the angry cries against the system of private profit, against IMF/World Bank/World Trade Organisation (WTO) plunder of the Third World, against privatisation of public assets, the throwing of millions into unemployment and the denial of basic human rights for most of humanity. These cries for justice join the cries of the workers and peasants of Pakistan who have taken to the streets even under the current military rule."
Among the congress delegates were many seasoned trade union activists who had been involved in recent struggles, such as in the railways where the army has tried to quell two months of strikes and go slows.
There were delegates who recounted a heroic battle between railway workers and the army on the Peshawar Road in Rawalpindi. There were peasant leaders from the Sindh, Baluchistan and Punjab who had stood up to the ruthless assault of big landlords used to having their way. And there were valiant students who persevered on campuses still constrained by political restrictions from the days of the Zia ul-Haq military dictatorship and now also blighted with right-wing religious fundamentalists.
The 13 foreign observers from left-wing parties in Argentina, Australia, Austria, Afghanistan, Brazil, France and Germany added to the internationalist tone of the conference by pledging solidarity and joint action against imperialism and for democratic rights. All congratulated the LPP for uniting socialists from different political traditions.
Left unity
Many LPP delegates had been members of other political parties, including the Communist Party, National Workers Party, Watan Dust Peasant Party, Socialist Party, Sindh Peasant Committee and People's Progressive Party. But they had found common cause in the LPP in rejecting the old orientation of most of the Pakistan left of looking to the "progressive" national capitalists for a "national democratic" alliance.
Delegates were agreed that the Pakistan capitalist class — whether governing in military or civilian mode — had demonstrated that it was against the great majority of the population and in league with the big landlords and the imperialist capitalists. The delegates differed about the exact political theory that explained this, but they were totally united in opposing the approach of the old left.
In a sometimes heated but ultimately comradely discussion, the delegates worked to bridge the political gaps between leftists who previously called each other "Trotskyites" or "Stalinists".
There was a lively discussion was on the national question. Pakistan was carved out by the capitalist and landlord classes of the Indian sub-continent to stop the advance of communism. The country's borders contain several nations (or part of them), including of the Punjab, Sindh, Baluchistan, Kashmir and the Siraiki nations.
The Punjabi capitalist class clearly dominates Pakistan politically and economically and so there is an issue of national oppression. The LPP resolved to support the struggles of all oppressed nationalities and minority religions.
Military rule
A major issue at the congress was the nature of General Pervaiz Musharraf's military rule. Musharraf seized power last October in a military coup against the government of Nawaz Sharif.
The congress called for the military to return to barracks, for a democratic government based on worker and peasant representatives, and for free and fair elections in 90 days. It dismissed Musharraf's offer of non-party political local elections as an attempt to cloak military rule in "democratic garb".
"When General Musharraf took power many people had illusions in the new regime because the previous regime was so corrupt and repressive", said Tariq. "But the military has shown in the last few months that it hasn't changed its spots."
Just two weeks before the congress, the military and police raided the offices of the LPP and the homes of its leaders, who were forced into hiding for a week. The LPP was raided because it dared to hold a peaceful demonstration in Lahore against the visit of US President Bill Clinton. The raid was widely condemned in the local media and by progressive groups around the world.
Some of Pakistan's old left leaders and non-government organisation leaders are supporting the military regime. In the opinion of the LPP congress delegates, these people will therefore be even more discredited in the eyes of the people.
Neo-liberalism
The congress's draft political resolution analysed that the Musharraf regime's role was to implement the anti-people neo-liberal reforms demanded by the imperialists through organisations like the IMF, World Bank and WTO.
"Nawaz Sharif had failed to proceed fast enough with the tax changes, privatisation and downsizing demanded by the imperialists, so he was sacked", said Tariq. "General Musharraf claimed that his mission was to fight corruption, but corruption goes on unchecked in Pakistan and the general's real neo-liberal agenda has begun to unfold.
"Meanwhile, the people of Pakistan continue to be plundered by the multinational corporations, the local capitalists and big landlords. The billions of rupees in foreign loans taken by the local ruling elite remain unpaid while workers and peasants are being made to pay back the impossible US$39 billion foreign debt."
Pakistan is in an economic mess. According to Punjab finance minister Shaheed Karadar, some 85% of the national budget goes to servicing the foreign debt and supporting the bloated armed forces. The line between these two expenditures is blurred because payments for the military's arms purchases are rolled into the allocation for servicing the foreign debt.
In January 2001, Pakistan has to make a US$5 billion repayment but the government budget is in deficit as capitalists are evading taxes, business activity is depressed and military spending continues.
The one-sided, forcible removal of trade barriers under the WTO regime and IMF's structural adjustment programs has caused Pakistan's trade deficit to grow. Imports are shooting up while exports are stagnant.
For the last three years, the trade deficit has been about US$1.5 billion a year. With total foreign currency reserves not much more that US$1.6 billion, Pakistan is essentially bankrupt.
Voicing support for international demands that the debts of the Third World to the rich imperialist countries be totally wiped, the delegates were firm that ordinary people should not have to pay any more for the greed and corruption of their exploiters.
"We have already paid too much", said one delegate from poverty-stricken Sindh province. "The capitalists who stole the IMF and World Bank money have already sent much of that money back to the economies of the imperialist countries, where it has turned into fat bank accounts, properties and shares. Why should those who were robbed by these capitalists be made to pay their debts?"
Internationalism
The congress considered invitations to join a number of international left organisations, including the Fourth International, the LIT (Workers International League) and UIT (Workers International Unity), but decided to remain unaffiliated for now.
Representing Australia's Democratic Socialist Party, I urged the congress to work for a broader international regroupment including revolutionary organisations from different left political traditions. The DSP and other Asian left parties have convened two successful Asia Pacific solidarity conferences in the last three years (both attended by representatives of the LPP) and another regional left conference is planned for Jakarta in July 2001.
The LPP delegates expressed the desire to hold a South Asia conference of progressive parties and to support all steps towards more international solidarity and collaboration on the left.
The congress elected a national committee of 33 full members and 10 alternate members. Greetings were received from the Sindh Sartor Party, Siraiki National Party, Sindh Literary Sangat, Communist Party of Nepal (United Marxist-Leninist), Salim Raza of the Pakistan National Trade Union Federation (Karachi), the Nava Sama Samaja Party of Sri Lanka, People's Democratic Party of Indonesia, Socialist Labour Party of the Philippines, Afghan Labour Revolutionary Organisation, John Reimen of the Carpentry Union USA, A.R. Saraba, Toni Usman and Ikhlaq Khan.
A new confidence to build the LPP was the main outcome of this historic conference. Slogans like Workers Of The World Unite, East is Red and Long Live Socialism were raised by many delegates on several occasions.
BY PETER BOYLE