Mention the Sixth Pay Commission, and farmers of India, in the same breath, and even the Communists, who
consider it their divine right, to extract the the maximum possible from the Indian Government, for
the salaried government employees, raise their eyebrows.
But what exactly, is the issue that is behind the presumption, that somehow farmers and farm labour,
have nothing at all to do with Sixth Pay Commission. What really are the root assumptions that are
behind this raising of eyebrows ?
The Communists have no doubt contributed, to this assumption that Sixth Pay Commission is somehow
only meant for government and state employees.
They of course, have theories about agricultural surplus, industrial subsidization, working class as
the vangaurd of the proletariat, farmers as the remnants of backward modes of production, farmers as
representative of feudalistic Indian society, etc.
But it is surprising, that the Communists have fooled, even the centrist and rightist parties, the
Congress and the BJP, political parties, whose thought processes, are derived from more local
inspiration, into thinking that Sixth Pay Commission, is inconceivable for farmers of India.
It would be an interesting excercise, to engage the Congress and BJP think tanks, into considering
the demand for inclusion of farmers, in Sixth Pay Commission recommendations, as a directly affected
party, without whose interests being considered, the entire foundation of Sixth Pay Commission, is a
complete fraud being enacted.
The Communists of India have always been deeply suspicious of Indians and anything that reeks of
traditional modes of production. And they have never ever really believed in the potential of the
farmers of India to ever be the vanguard of the Communist revolution.
In my opinion, when each worker on the farm is assured a minimum wage by the CPI and CPI(M) supported
Central government, the Comintern dream will come the closest to being achieved.
For then, there will be
no self employed and thus non - revolutionary, farmers in India, by definition. They will all have
happily joined the salaried class, of the revolutionary Indian proletariat like their brethren, in
Bengal and Kerala.
Farmers too, shall be happy to join the ranks of industrial labour, given a salary by contract farming
managers, who themselves will be under the thumb, of Indian communists supported, Central government.
The day will come when contract farms shall be an integral part of the efficient modes of production and
not just part of the feudal Indian rural countryside.
The real revolutionary potential, of the Indian
farmer, will then be achievable, as contract workers on large farms, and no farmer shall be forced to
live with the derogatory label of kulak.
The problem is how do we convince Shri Prakash Karat and CPI(M) to back the demand of including farm
workers in the Sixth Pay Commission, even if at some points lower than government and public sector
employees.