India Factory Workers Revolt, Kill Company President

[ВАЛТЕР]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2012/01/27/india-factory-workers-revolt-kill-company-president/


Workers at the Regency Ceramics factory in India raided the home of their boss, and beat him senseless with lead pipes after a wage dispute turned ugly.
The workers were enraged enough to kill Regency’s president K. C. Chandrashekhar after their union leader, M. Murali Mohan, was killed by baton-wielding riot police on Thursday. The labor violence occurred in Yanam, a small city in Andra Pradesh state on India’s east coast. Police were called to the factory by management to quell a labor dispute. The workers had been calling for higher pay and reinstatement of previously laid off workers since October. Murali was fired a few hours after the police left the factory.
The next morning, at 06:00 on Friday, Murali went to the factory along with some workers and tried to obstruct the morning shift, local media reported. Long batons, known as lathis in India, were used by police who charged the workers, injuring at least 20 of them, including Murali. He died on the way to hospital, according to The Times of India. Hundreds of workers gathered outside the police station and demanded that officers be charged with homicide.
Curfew and other civil orders were imposed in Yanam because of the uprising that ultimately led to the murder of the Regency president. Police reported that rioters also torched several vehicles outside the police station. Eight Regency Ceramics workers were injured in police firing that followed; the condition of two of them is critical. More than 100 protesters have been arrested.
India factory workers are the lowest paid within the big four emerging markets. Per capita income (https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html) in India is under $4,000 a year, making it the poorest country in the BRICs despite its relatively booming economy.
At Regency Ceramics, workers went on strike Jan. 1 over the wage dispute. The management had reportedly decided to slap a restraining order on five workers and managed to obtain an order from a high court saying that the striking workers should not come within 220 yards, more than the size of two football fields, from the factory.
Once news of Murali’s death spread, the factory workers allegedly destroyed 50 company cars, buses and trucks and lit them on fire. They ransacked the factory. Residents joined hands with around 600 workers, while others were enroute to Chandrashekhar’s house.


I like their style...

I don't know how effective this will be at getting them what they want at this moment in time. At best, it will cause the ruling class in that region to think before they act and to pay more attention to the workers in their factories. Or at worst it may result in much more brutal suppression of workers in the future.

[Sasha]

The mere fact that this is being reported by Forbes before we even heard about it is good, terror to the bosses...

[cyu]

Came here to post this exact article, but looks like you beat me to it. =]

Personally I would have preferred if they'd simply took control of the business, but anyway, I'll post some comments on this that I like.

First from http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/p18fx/india_factory_workers_revolt_kill_company/c3losoj

"So union leader gets beaten to death by police = not news

Company president gets beaten to death by workers = news

?"

[cyu]

From http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/p18fx/india_factory_workers_revolt_kill_company/c3ls6wy

"We cook your meals, we haul your trash, we connect your calls, we drive your ambulances. Do not fuck with us."

[ВАЛТЕР]

What Psycho said is very true. If a news source like Forbes is reporting this, that means that they are worried. Also, I saw a comment from the link cyu posted that really shows the media bias against the people.


Union leader dies = was injured by police batons and died on way to hospital Company president dies = Murder

[cyu]

From http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/p18fx/india_factory_workers_revolt_kill_company/c3lqotg

I'm a pacifist at heart. But man. The more I read the easier it is to empathize with militant minded people. People in power so rarely give ground without people proving they'll die for their cause.

[Thirsty Crow]

No doubt goodhearted liberals and humanitarians all over the world will be shocked into numbness by this act.
I don't think it should surprise us. What must not surprise communists is the cause of this attack. It seems true what another user stated elsewhere, that almost regularly it is the ruling class who instigate violence. Then they too should expect violence, and they've got it coming. No remorse for this piece of shit.

[cyu]

From http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/p18fx/india_factory_workers_revolt_kill_company/c3lrykb

I used to be a pacifist. Then I realized how often I was adding a 'but' at the end of 'I'm a pacifist'. Peace is a tactic. It has a time and a place.

[cyu]

From http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/p18fx/india_factory_workers_revolt_kill_company/c3lr1c4

There's a limit to how much you can push people because they will eventually fight back—sometimes violently. People shouldn't kill, but I am all for huge mobs of people protesting and arguing for better conditions; in India, China, and other places it is appalling to see some of the circumstances people have to live and work in, and you don't understand the kind of pain and oppression they have to go through on a daily basis.

It doesn't make it right that a man died, but you would understand why tempers are so high if you had lived even a single day in their shoes.

[cyu]

From http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/p18fx/india_factory_workers_revolt_kill_company/c3lqmng

I believe that is called a "Regangasm". Its where you get off on the poor and the profits "trickle down" your pant leg.

[cyu]

From http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/p18fx/india_factory_workers_revolt_kill_company/c3lqxtq

Right, the union leader randomly died of a heart attack as police were chatting with him. Just like the African American guys in Florida died of sickle cell disease, surprisingly as police were chatting with them.

[cyu]

From http://www.reddit.com/r/worldnews/comments/p18fx/india_factory_workers_revolt_kill_company/c3ls87p

I worked as an auditor and was once sent to audit a large factory in a godforsaken place. The first morning as we're about to entering the huge metal gates the watchman on the other side completely loses it and rushes the gates in a panic and starts pulling them open as if his life depended on it. We run to the side for cover, assuming a truck has lost control and is about to come out of the gates. Nope. It's just the factory manager making an exit, a tiny guy even by Indian standards. The watchman just didn't want the guy to have to wait at the gate. I can still hear the shrill maddening screech of the metallic gates today.

My point is, our workers are generally more than subservient, they grovel most of the time and treat their bosses like Gods. There has to be some serious abuse involved to make them go batshit and kill someone.

[cyu]

From http://www.reddit.com/r/Anarchism/comments/p17zs/india_factory_workers_revolt_kill_company/c3lrj8v

is it wrong to kill a man whose only goal in life is to work people to death, hire thugs to beat them to death, all in the name of profit? ...i mean really, is it too much to ask that the people in charge not be evil?

[Die Neue Zeit]

This should be moved to the Worker Struggles forum. This isn't political news.

[Thirsty Crow]

This should be moved to the Worker Struggles forum. This isn't political news.
Useful and brimming with insight as always.
Maybe you could develop, right here, the notion of "mere labour violence", you know, in full theoretical detail as you do every time.

[NoOneIsIllegal]

This should be moved to the Worker Struggles forum. This isn't political news.
I already posted the article in the "Largest strike EVER" thread, but you don't see me complaining.
Workers taking direct-action isn't political? Of course, anything that isn't parliamentarian isn't political! Even Kautsky knew that :rolleyes:

[Drowzy_Shooter]

this right here, this right here folks is the revolution.

[Thirsty Crow]

this right here, this right here folks is the revolution.
I'm afraid social revolution hardly amounts to single acts of violence against the ruling class. I'd expect a massive and armed political, class conscious movement ready to smash the bourgeois state. I'm afraid that this is not the revolution.
But I guess I understand how easy it is to get all excited reading about such events while living in a place where little, or little good, is happening.

[feral bro]

I'm afraid social revolution hardly amounts to single acts of violence against the ruling class. I'd expect a massive and armed political, class conscious movement ready to smash the bourgeois state. I'm afraid that this is not the revolution.
But I guess I understand how easy it is to get all excited reading about such events while living in a place where little, or little good, is happening.
well it depends what you mean by social revolution. anyway, is there such a thing as a single act of violence? such a proclaimation negates the context of situation. surely this one of many rips in the in the make-up of civil society.

[Drowzy_Shooter]

I'm afraid social revolution hardly amounts to single acts of violence against the ruling class. I'd expect a massive and armed political, class conscious movement ready to smash the bourgeois state. I'm afraid that this is not the revolution.
But I guess I understand how easy it is to get all excited reading about such events while living in a place where little, or little good, is happening.


Obviously yes, this single act isn't a revolution. What that quote was meant to be was more philosophical. Meant to imply that this is what we're going to see when the proletariat rise up and take control.

[RevSpetsnaz]

I have been seeing a lot of uprisings lately that could be hinting at a much larger and more serious action in the near future.

[RedHal]

its good to read something like this out of India, after reading so much about the 100s of farmer suicides

[Die Neue Zeit]

I already posted the article in the "Largest strike EVER" thread, but you don't see me complaining.
Workers taking direct-action isn't political? Of course, anything that isn't parliamentarian isn't political! Even Kautsky knew that :rolleyes:

Again, Occupy was hardly parliamentarian, but it was and is way, way more political than this economic spontaneity. This, on the other hand, is as political as even the best of riots.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Reminded me of this (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/mar/04/sacked-indian-workers-executive-death) from last year.

[Die Neue Zeit]

Actually, this reminds me more about Chinese factory workers killing a plant boss. That, IIRC, was appropriately posted in the Worker Struggles forum.

[Ocean Seal]

Actually, this reminds me more about Chinese factory workers killing a plant boss. That, IIRC, was appropriately posted in the Worker Struggles forum.
Jesus Christ, let it fucking go.

[pastradamus]

Moved to WS

[Prometeo liberado]

Forbes doesn't cover the death of a union boss because,to them, the death is an insignificant death of an insignificant little wog, not a human.
Forbes reports the death of a Factory boss not because he is important or a better wog, and not because they are scared. They report it as a way to make those who are fighting for the bare minimum look like savages, unfit for that which they want.
Forbes is baiting the capitalist into action.

[Thirsty Crow]

Obviously yes, this single act isn't a revolution. What that quote was meant to be was more philosophical. Meant to imply that this is what we're going to see when the proletariat rise up and take control.
Okay, I'm sure things will be heating up when social revolution breaks out. It's just that our wording has been a bit confusing, that's all.


well it depends what you mean by social revolution. anyway, is there such a thing as a single act of violence? such a proclaimation negates the context of situation. surely this one of many rips in the in the make-up of civil society. And you've pointed out the mistake I made.
Of course, I didn't mean to apply that this was some random act in an otherwise harmonious cohabitation of the two classes.
What I meant to convey is that without organization, without direction, a country can have multiple (or single for that matter) acts of class violence, disconnected from a struggle for the overthrow of capital precisely because of the lack of the before mentioned, and we couldn't really talk of a social revolution which has begun.

[black magick hustla]

:shrugs: i am not going to condemn what happened but its gross that kids from europe and the u.s. lick their palattes as they live vicariously through this violence. i can't condemn it because men that are beaten, dehumanized, and have their soul warped by the violence of capital will respond back in the same terms. this is class violence, but one would think in the future when men are not treated like animals, we will not find anything gratifying about this.

[cyu]

one would think in the future when men are not treated like animals, we will not find anything gratifying about this.

Despite worshiping at the altar of non-violence, I find at least part of this article gratifying - from http://wagingnonviolence.org/2012/01/how-swedes-and-norwegians-broke-the-power-of-the-1-percent/

I remember, for example, bicycling for hours through a small industrial city, looking in vain for substandard housing.

Then I began to learn that the Swedes and Norwegians paid a price for their standards of living through nonviolent struggle.

In both countries, the troops were called out to defend the 1 percent; people died.

Non-violence is not a price you ask the dead to pay for you. If it requires violence to protect yourself from capitalists and their minions, then their attacks deserve to be stopped by any means necessary.

When capitalists have the so-called "law enforcement" bought and in their pockets, there is no alternative but to take self-defense into your own hands, rather than trust "law enforcement" to help when it comes to the petty pride of those who pay for election campaigns.

[Marquess]

I'm a pacifist at heart. But man. The more I read the easier it is to empathize with militant minded people. People in power so rarely give ground without people proving they'll die for their cause.

This, this exactly.

[Os Cangaceiros]

:shrugs: i am not going to condemn what happened but its gross that kids from europe and the u.s. lick their palattes as they live vicariously through this violence. i can't condemn it because men that are beaten, dehumanized, and have their soul warped by the violence of capital will respond back in the same terms. this is class violence, but one would think in the future when men are not treated like animals, we will not find anything gratifying about this.

I understand why people feel that way, though. Most news related to those without economic power struggling against those with economic power involves a police truncheon connecting with someone's head relentlessly. It's easy to get sucked into just wanting to see some blood shed on the opposite side, honestly. I'm not a bloodthirsty person or an "internet tough guy" or anything, but I admit to feeling that way sometimes.

[black magick hustla]

but I admit to feeling that way sometimes.

me too. there is something strangely attractive about vengeance, it seems so righteous and blood for blood is a powerful feeling. I am just saying that it is not all "great things" as people seem to think.

[the last donut of the night]

me too. there is something strangely attractive about vengeance, it seems so righteous and blood for blood is a powerful feeling. I am just saying that it is not all "great things" as people seem to think.

maybe this is a problem but i feel that many people liked this news because in the last decades class struggle has been so low that the first form of rebellion to most people in the world nowadays is outright violence, sabotage, breaking shit up, stealing from work etc. not to say those things are necessarily bad, but they're not the highest forms of consciousness, because they're isolated acts and usually forms of survival rather than direct attacks on the bosses. so while it's sad to see just another throat cut and yet more blood spilled as what seems as a desperate reaction, i get why many people were quick to "like" these news

[bcbm]

maybe this is a problem but i feel that many people liked this news because in the last decades class struggle has been so low that the first form of rebellion to most people in the world nowadays is outright violence, sabotage, breaking shit up, stealing from work etc. not to say those things are necessarily bad, but they're not the highest forms of consciousness, because they're isolated acts and usually forms of survival rather than direct attacks on the bosses. so while it's sad to see just another throat cut and yet more blood spilled as what seems as a desperate reaction, i get why many people were quick to "like" these news

i think this is beyond just 'first form of rebellion' given that it happened in a union wage dispute...

[black magick hustla]

yea shit like this happens in india all the time. honestly, if there is a communist revolution it will probably emerge from india or china or some southeast asian country. that area is a fucking class war powderkeg.

[Искра]

yea shit like this happens in india all the time. honestly, if there is a communist revolution it will probably emerge from india or china or some southeast asian country. that area is a fucking class war powderkeg.
that's because of all those naxalites in forests... while they fight for communism labour aristocracy on west consumes... oh, wait I live in "west"...

[Die Neue Zeit]

yea shit like this happens in india all the time. honestly, if there is a communist revolution it will probably emerge from india or china or some southeast asian country. that area is a fucking class war powderkeg.

I'll correct you by saying "if there is a socialist revolution it will probably emerge from India," partly but not exclusively because of the role of the Naxalites in organizing those not belonging to India's proletarian demographic minority (i.e., because this group is taking a backseat even with class independence).

[Ocean Seal]

I understand why people feel that way, though. Most news related to those without economic power struggling against those with economic power involves a police truncheon connecting with someone's head relentlessly. It's easy to get sucked into just wanting to see some blood shed on the opposite side, honestly. I'm not a bloodthirsty person or an "internet tough guy" or anything, but I admit to feeling that way sometimes.
I think the reason why we feel this way must in some way be tied into capitalism. We have lived our whole lived under this system and it is certainly part of the mentality that has been ingrained in us at the start of our lives. Capitalism is inherently violent and repressive and tells us that such a philosophy is just, and I think to break from the ideal of revenge is quite difficult for anyone who has been raised under capitalism.

[Искра]

I'll correct you by saying "if there is a socialist revolution it will probably emerge from India," partly but not exclusively because of the role of the Naxalites in organizing those not belonging to India's proletarian demographic minority (i.e., because this group is taking a backseat even with class independence).
I really doubt that BMH cares about Naxalites

[Ocean Seal]

that's because of all those naxalites in forests... while they fight for communism labour aristocracy on west consumes... oh, wait I live in "west"...
I'm pretty sure they aren't third worldists.

[Welshy]

I'm pretty sure they aren't third worldists.

If I'm not mistaken, the Third Worldists called the Naxalites revisionists for being supportive of the greek workers.

[Prometeo liberado]

Despite worshiping at the altar of non-violence, I find at least part of this article gratifying - from http://wagingnonviolence.org/2012/01/how-swedes-and-norwegians-broke-the-power-of-the-1-percent/

I remember, for example, bicycling for hours through a small industrial city, looking in vain for substandard housing.

Then I began to learn that the Swedes and Norwegians paid a price for their standards of living through nonviolent struggle.

In both countries, the troops were called out to defend the 1 percent; people died.

Non-violence is not a price you ask the dead to pay for you. If it requires violence to protect yourself from capitalists and their minions, then their attacks deserve to be stopped by any means necessary.

When capitalists have the so-called "law enforcement" bought and in their pockets, there is no alternative but to take self-defense into your own hands, rather than trust "law enforcement" to help when it comes to the petty pride of those who pay for election campaigns.

I dont think that's what Black magic hustla was talking about. I read it as the sickness in the adoration of violence but understanding its need. Sometimes violence is required, but loving violence is never required.

[bcbm]

I think the reason why we feel this way must in some way be tied into capitalism. We have lived our whole lived under this system and it is certainly part of the mentality that has been ingrained in us at the start of our lives. Capitalism is inherently violent and repressive and tells us that such a philosophy is just, and I think to break from the ideal of revenge is quite difficult for anyone who has been raised under capitalism.

revenge is like one of the oldest human things, it was the basis for much of the first legal code and rose to new heights under feudalism. capitalism moves away from it if anything with its notions of rights and prescription of punishments that are not revenge based.

[cyu]

honestly, if there is a communist revolution it will probably emerge from india or china or some southeast asian country. that area is a fucking class war powderkeg.

See also http://southasiarev.wordpress.com

Also dated yesterday http://the-diplomat.com/indian-decade/2012/01/30/food-bill-stumbling/

"Ultimately, the future of the bill may depend on the government’s ability to answer a single question: how to pay for it."

...I'd imagine less people shining the shoes and grooming the dogs of CEOs, and more people working on agriculture / agricultural technology.

[Искра]

I'm pretty sure they aren't third worldists.I was making a joke on Western Maoists who wank on Naxalites and all that crap...