© Anuradha Ghandy Memorial Committee, 2011 Citation is encouraged. Short excerpts may be translated and/or reproduced without prior permission, on the condition that the source is indicated. For translation and/or reproduction in whole, the Anuradha Ghandy Memorial Committee should be notified in advance. Responsibility for the contents and for the opinions expressed rests solely with the author. Scripting the Change: Selected Writings of Anuradha Ghandy was first published in India in November 2011 First Reprint in February 2012 DAANISH BOOKS C-502, Taj Apartments Gazipur, Delhi-110 096 Ph.: 011-2223 0812, 2223 5819, 4306 7412 Jaishanti, 123, Kautilya Nagar Patna-800 014 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.daanishbooks.com ISBN 978-93-81144-10-7 (Hb) ISBN 978-93-81144-11-4 (Pb) Cover design: Uttam Published by Dhruva Narayan for Daanish Books Printed at M.K. Offset, Delhi. Contents Preface ’ ™ Foreword: "....But Anuradha was different" xi Remembering Anuradha Ghandy: Friend, Comrade, Moving Spirit... xvii SECTION 1: CASTE 1 Introduction 3 Caste Question in India 7 The Caste Question Returns 79 Movements against Caste in Maharashtra 93 When Maharashtra Burned for Four Days 113 Dalit Fury Scorches Maharashtra: Gruesome Massacre of Dalits 125 Mahars as Landholders 157 SECTION 2: WOMEN 139* Introduction 141 Philosophical Trends in the Feminist Movement 145 The Revolutionary Women's Movement in India 211 8 March and the Women's Movement in India 227 International Women's Day: Past and Present 235 Fascism, Fundamentalism and Patriarchy 239 vi • SCRIPTING THE CHANGE Changes in Rape Law: How far will they Help? 253 Cultural Expression of the Adivasi Women in the Revolutionary Movement 267 In Conversation with Comrade Janaki 273 Working Class Women: Making the Invisible Visible 283 Women Bidi Workers and the Co-operative Movement: A Study of the Struggle in the Bhandara District Bidi Workers' Co-operative 311 SECTION 3: MISCELLANEOUS 329 Introduction 331 A Pyrrhic Victory: Government Take-Over of Empress Mills 333 Empress Mills: What Misstatements? 347 Inchampalli-Bhopalapatnam Revisited 351 Season: Tendupatta; Pimp: The State 363 Can Revolution be Prevented by Blocking the Roads to Kamalapur? 369 Gagging People's Culture 381 People's Struggles in Bastar 387 The Bitter Lessons of Khaparkheda 391 Working Class Anger Erupts 399 Workers' Upsurge against Changes in Labour Laws 407 Prices Make the Poor Poorer 417 Rape and Murder — 'Law And Order' of the Day 421 A Time to Remember 425 Brahmin Sub-Inspector Tramples Dalit Flag 431 Small Magazines: A Significant Expression of the People's Culture 433 Deaths in Police Custody in Nagpur 439 Cotton Flower ... the Best Flower! ... ? 443 Practical Socialism: Not Socialism but Pure Fascism 451 Index 457 Preface A nuradha Ghandy's writings, whether they be short reports on contemporary social and political issues, or research papers and booklets on theoretical and ideological debates, had the quality of sharpness, terseness and clearly defined political stands. They were not only well researched and placed in their historical context but also showed the depth of a writer having a philosophical outlook and ideological commitment. The dialectical relationship of theory and practice, where one enriches the other, seems to be the cornerstone of her work and life. We present, in this volume, a compilation of the works of Anu, as she was fondly known among her friends and comrades. Besides her significant writings on the women's and caste struggles, we have also brought together other pieces that give a sense of the variety, breadth and sheer volume of her writing despite being involved in intense field activity. Some have been retrieved from crumbling, browned newsprint magazines with scrawled logos and cartoons, like Adhikar Raksha, Kalam, Thingi,, etc. that were published and distributed by activist groups in the 1970s and 1980s. Others from prestigious and widely read journals like F.PW and Frontier. Some are from booklets from the women's movement or the papers published by a cultural organization. VII viii • SCRIPTING THE CHANGE Others have been written by her under a pseudonym as they appeared in magazines that supported and propagated Maoist ideology. But whatever the source may be, each piece is interesting, ar- gumentative or constitutes some page from the history of struggle, which has perhaps not been recorded elsewhere. Perhaps the most significant contribution of Anu has been in understanding the caste question from a Marxist point of view. Hers has been an honest and pungent analysis of the economic basis of caste and how it manifests itself in both the base and superstructure. She was one of the pioneers linking the caste system to the existing relations of production. With deep insights into Indian history, she showed how the Indian feudal system was basically caste-linked and the ideology of Indian feudalism was Brahminism. She further elucidated how the Dalit question and untouchability act as one of the major pillars of the caste system. Finally, as was her nature of being a theoretician-cum- activist, she brought out how destruction of the caste system is intrinsic to any anti-feudal struggle and the overall democratization of society. The other issue that has aroused similar debate is the under- standing of the gender question. A great deal of Anu's writings on trends in feminism, women and the trade union movement and women in the Naxalite movement, have helped throw light upon this issues. Anu pointed out that, by arguing for an autonomous women's movement, the socialist feminists were in fact weakening the broader movement against capitalism, imperialism, feudalism and patriarchy. By placing patriarchy as the main 'enemy' of women, the radical and cultural feminists were de-linking patriarchy from the systems of capitalism and feudalism which produced it. By equally emphasizing 'production' and 'reproduction' as the reasons for gender oppression, feminists were bringing 'reproduction' into the economic base and negating women's significant role in production. Most significantly, she points out that the strategy of bourgeois feminism is not to unite women with the working class and peasantry and fight the system, but rather to PREFACE • ix form small women's groups advocating lifestyle changes within the system. Anu tried to show through her work and writings that it is, in fact, by participating in the revolutionary movement that women try to throw off the shackles of patriarchy and hit at its roots. She was developing theoretical formulations on how 'Women need revolution and the revolution needs women!' And just like her counterparts in other countries, she too admitted that patriarchy existed within the revolutionary movement — the point was how to stay within it and combat it, not leave the movement and grumble about it. The simple piece in this volume on poetic aspirations of tribal women in Bastar is just such an example to show this. The collection also includes some of her journalistic writings of the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s written for various activist magazines. If all of her reports and articles of this period could be collected it would be a historical document of the time when the student movement, trade union movement and even the civil liberties movement were vibrant and powerful and so much a part of people's lives and culture. Anu was both a seasoned activist and brilliant theoretician, and will surely be remembered as one of the leading women communists of India. She is no more today. Her writings, only some of which are presented in this volume, will not only serve as a permanent reminder of her work but also as the beacon for the coming generations of the activists striving for liberation of the toiling people of the country.