Following the resignation of all the bourgeois opposition parties from the national parliament of Bangladesh in 1994, the country has plunged into a constitutional crisis. As well, large general strikes have destabilised the economy. Green Left Weekly's SUJATHA FERNANDES and MICHAEL TARDIF spoke to HAIDER KHAN RANO, a Central Committee member of the Bangladesh Workers Party (BWP) about the nature of this crisis and what opportunities exist for the left.
What precipitated the current political crisis?
About a year ago, the bourgeois opposition parties declared that the present government should resign and there should be a caretaker government. They wanted the government to resign so that free and fair elections could be carried out, [something] they did not believe was possible under the current ruling party, the Bangladesh National Party (BNP).
BNP refused to resign, and throughout last year the opposition bourgeois parties boycotted the parliament. The crisis reached a point where the general secretary of the Commonwealth sent an Australian, Sir Ninian Stephens, to negotiate an agreement. He suggested the formation of a caretaker government to preside during elections: a prime minister from the present ruling party along with a cabinet consisting of five ministers from the ruling party and five from the opposition.
However, BNP refused, and on December 27 the bourgeois opposition parties resigned from the parliament. Out of 300 members of parliament, 147 have resigned.
What is your assessment of this crisis?
From the start we objected to the intervention of the Commonwealth, particularly in the light of its previous colonial role in the country.
We have refrained from any alliance with the opposition parties against the ruling party. There are two basic reasons for this. Firstly the crisis is a bourgeois political crisis. The opposition bourgeois parties do not have any differences with the ruling party in relation to economic and foreign policy.
Both the ruling party and the opposition parties are in favour of World Bank and International Monetary Fund intervention into the economy. The bourgeois opposition parties have endorsed a motion put forward by the ruling party in favour of GATT.
Secondly, the main bourgeois opposition party, the Awami League, has made an alliance with the Jaythiya Party, the party of the overthrown military dictator, and also with the Muslim fundamentalist party, the Janath Islam Party, which collaborated with the Pakistani army during the 1971 struggle for independence. This party is responsible for the deaths of about 3 million people and nearly 300,000 rapes. We could never unite with these two forces.
Even the Awami League, during their time in office, banned all political parties, trade unions and organisations, except those approved by them. We do not support the present ruling party, but neither can we support the unholy alliance of these three parties.
We express our demands separately from the bourgeois opposition parties. We believe that elections can never be democratic as long as a wide gap exists between the rich and the majority of the population, who are very poor. But we can use our demands to expose the limitations of bourgeois democracy.
Like the bourgeois opposition parties, we agree with the formation of a caretaker government. But in addition, we think that for free and fair elections the use of money by the major parties on their election campaigning needs to be restricted, and that there should be no use of religious slogans to influence voters. We are taking advantage of the present crisis to make democratic demands which expose the bourgeois parties.
Bangladesh has also recently been rocked by a wave of militant working-class activity, including several general strikes. How does this relate to the constitutional crisis?
The demands being made by the working class today are a separate phenomenon to the campaign being waged by the bourgeois opposition. Workers' organisations, irrespective of party affiliation, have formed a national committee which is currently headed by a member of our party. This committee has drawn up a program of national demands.
Firstly, they are demanding the government reject the prescriptions of the World Bank and IMF. If we follow these organisations, then the little industry Bangladesh has will be closed and all government industries will be privatised. Secondly, workers are demanding a minimum wage of 1500 taka per month (US$40). The government is only prepared to concede 950 taka.
Workers have adopted some new tactics which have mobilised the biggest movement since independence in 1971. They are no longer going for long industry-based strikes; rather they have been organising short general strikes for two to three days. In January they organised a three-day and in February a four-day strike, during which 15 people were killed and 1000 wounded.
On several occasions the government has been forced to negotiate with the working-class movement, particularly over the minimum wage and privatisation. But on each occasion the government has broken these agreements. Under these circumstances the workers have escalated their fight, extending their general strikes to include national road and rail blockades.
The workers have now won a minimum wage of 950 taka, but for the first time in our history this award was only made applicable to the government sector. Business and the Chamber of Commerce have also been putting pressure on the government, arguing that in a free market the government should have no intervention.
The working class has no strong sympathy with the movement launched against the current government by the bourgeois parties. Nonetheless, these parties obviously have some following in the working class, so that when the parties call a strike, they are partially successful; the buses may stop, but the rickshaw drivers will violate. The bourgeois opposition is unable to mobilise strike activity in the industrial sector.
The Bangladesh Workers Party has had some success in electoral politics, gaining one seat in parliament. How does this fit into the revolutionary program of the party?
We take part in parliamentary elections because the objective situation in our country in not yet right for revolution. The majority of people have an electoral consciousness; they see parliament as the main arena of political activity. We take part in elections to relate to this consciousness, so as not to isolate ourselves. Elections provide an opportunity to present our views and our program. If someone is elected, we can use them to expose the bourgeois government as well as the system.
What is social composition of Bangladesh? And what are the implications of this for the strategy of the Bangladesh Workers Party?
Bangladesh is an industrially backward country, currently in a process of transition. We consider it a semi-feudal country because of the existence of the remnants of feudalism and because capitalism has not developed in the rural sector.
But in our view, foreign capital plays the most important role. The indigenous bourgeoisie is not an industrial bourgeoisie. It is a comprador bourgeoisie, which is totally dependent on foreign imperialist finance capital — this has led to the development of capitalism in a deformed manner.
This means that establishing socialism straight away is not possible; the objective conditions are not ripe for it.
What impact has the collapse of the Soviet Union had on the left in Bangladesh?
The collapse has had adverse effects amongst communists all over the world. However, our party was not very ideologically affected. We had no relations with the Soviet party. We considered them revisionist; they had deviated from Marxism-Leninism. It was due to this deviation that the Soviet Union collapsed and not due to the defects of Marxism or because socialism is not possible.
What is the strength of the fundamentalist forces, and how is the left dealing with them?
The Muslim fundamentalist forces have been strengthened by the support they have received from both the government and the opposition parties. The present BNP government didn't have a majority to form the government so they accepted the help of the fundamentalist party, the Janath Islam Party.
Now the Awami League, the major opposition party, have made an alliance with that same fundamentalist force to run a campaign against the government. Even on policy, the bourgeois parties make compromises with the fundamentalists.
It is only the left, in particular the Bangladesh Workers Party and our student wing, who have been organising campaigns, meetings and cultural works against fundamentalism. Inevitably there have been armed clashes as well.
The Muslim fundamentalists have openly declared that we are the enemies of Islam. They have prepared a list of 35 names, most of these members of our party, who should be tried and executed. So far, as many as five have been killed and many wounded in clashes. Our general secretary was also shot by the fundamentalists, but not killed.