The eighties of the twentieth century brought a new lease of life to crisis-ridden world imperialism. The impediment to its unbridled plunder of the world market, the socialist camp, had suffered a setback ; the Soviet Union, the East European socialist countries, were victims of counter-revolution; the socialist states that had existed in these lands for decades were demolished, giving way to capitalism.

Jubilant and freshly invigorated, world imperialism headed by the US imperialism, claimed to have ushered in a ‘unipolar world’, a ‘new world order’. They made a fresh drive to establish their control over the world and to divide the world market among themselves. The adventure,   however,   soon   proved to  be abortive ; the acute market crisis, the cut-throat competition among the imperialists themselves, heated up the global arena, so much so, that cold trade wars in their so-called unipolar world betrayed their inherent trend of turning into ‘hot wars’ for market and hegemony. The socialist camp, the deterrent that had once acted against imperialist war-threat, was now gone ; the possibility of war came nearer once again.

Added to these were incessant onslaughts and attacks of the imperialists, revamped with the collapse of the socialist camp ; they came down upon the people of the world, particularly of the poorer, less developed countries, but not sparing even those of their own countries. Now they bared their fangs, as did the US imperialism in imposing economic blockade and sanction against Cuba simply for its not opting for counter-revolutionary attack against socialism, or with North Korea for not succumbing to the US-threat, or in the Gulf War or with Libya ; they spread their tentacles of economic exploitation far and wide, tightening their noose through ‘trade agreements — such as the GATT and WTO treaties. They paid scanty heed to world opinion ; see, for example, how French imperialism, one of the proponents of NPT of nuclear armaments, carried out series of nuclear tests amidst world protest. Or, they uttered sugar-coated phrases of globalization, liberalization and privatization, to conceal the barest and crudest exploitative capitalist-imperialist character of their consumerism, of their words, promises and deeds. Using their economic, political and military hegemonism to bulldoze the world, the imperialists play out at the same time their design of dehumanizing mankind through obnoxious, putrid imperialist culture dished out by the high-tech electronic media to all corners of the globe.

As these ominous trends in the global scenario cast dark shadows on the future of mankind, there also arose whispers, hither and thither, turning from murmurs to thoughts aloud and finally to concerted organized determined vows by the well-meaning, peace-loving people of different countries, to thwart and stall this design-maneouvre and onslaught of the imperialists.

It was realized that the only way to contain this imperialist onslaught lies in the strength and unity of the peace-loving people of the world, in building up a militant anti-imperialist peace movement of people all over the world. It is at the same time necessary to recognize that this anti-imperialist peace movement should be intimately interwoven with people’s struggle in their own national soil against the capitalists of their own country, with a view to weakening the world capitalist-imperialist order, the root of wars and malady.

In recognition of the necessities of the hour and in response to rising opinion against imperialism, a number of leftist and communist parties from different countries of the world decided upon some vital issues in this regard when they met in London on the occasion of May Day, on May 2, 1992.

It was resolved there that pressure must be mounted on the imperialists to stop their neo-colonial attacks and interference ; people of the countries engaged in struggles against these attacks and interferences must be given support and assistance and, above all, efforts are to be made to build up a peace-movement in every country, wherever possible, to help, encourage and promote people's struggle against imperialism and its war-machinations, ultimately leading to the struggle to free people from all sorts of exploitation.

Such a movement should necessarily be built up with freedom and peace-loving people of the world united in a broad-based platform, embracing and including all those who pledge - to stand against imperialism and war, and for peace, democracy and justice.

The Anti-imperialist Convention recently held in Calcutta, stood out as one of the most remarkable endeavours in this regard. With nearly three and a-half year long period of preparation since the idea was mooted in the 1992 London Meet, the Convention ran from 14 to 17 November with the inaugural open session on the first day, the 14th and the Delegate Session for the next three days. The venue was Calcutta in India, a city that had witnessed many a heroic battle of the Indian people against British Imperialism as also a long series of historic democratic movements against the Indian capitalist governments of the post-independence days. The participants flowed into the city in thousands from nearly all states of India and from so many countries beyond this soil.

The 1992 London Meet was immediately followed by a convention in New Delhi on May 16 the same year. It was meant to discuss the decisions of the London Meet with a view to carrying them out in India. With eminent intellectuals, professionals and vanguards of democratic and peace movement of the country participating in it, and observers from abroad, like Ms Sonia Lena, the Cuban Ambassador to India and  K P Victor, the Cuban Counsellor, expressing fraternity, the Delhi Convention thus initiated the process of building up an anti-imperialist militant peace movement in India.

The efforts were spread out over the whole country. People from different states of India, from all walks of life were soon associated with the endeavour, pledging their support.

Meanwhile in 1994, in London again, there was a second meeting of different parties and individuals; it reiterated the urgency of building up the peace movement. And finally it was decided here that the movement should start with an anti-imperialist convention. The venue was fixed ; Calcutta was to host it. It was decided that a Preparatory Committee would be formed with full charge and responsibility of organizing the convention. A schedule was suggested. The Preparatory Committee was to finalize it.

The movement gained momentum. The Preparatory Committee was formed. People from different states of India, from different walks of life, from different generations but with the same zeal, enthusiastically signed to be members of the Committee and came out in active support of it. The Committee, in turn, started acting. I he local or regional counterparts of the Committee organized propaganda, meetings, local conventions to initiate and develop grass-roots level campaign. It was refreshing to note that soon the campaign had released a wave of enthusiasm among the common people of the land. Freedom and peace-loving people had their experiences from the hard realities of life, be it in the coasts fighting against the demon of trawlers of imperialist countries, under the protection of the Indian Government itself, whisking away the livelihood of native fisherman, or in the green paddy fields of the country, being changed indiscriminately to grow cash crops as raw materials for the monopolists-capitalists of this country or that. These experiences themselves made the people step out with initiative, funds and encouragement, whenever the Committee could reach them with its appeal. Intellectuals and professionals came out in person and helped the Committee reach further among their own connections; students offered themselves as volunteers; painters and artists designed attractive artwork, banners, festoons and posters for the propaganda campaign that exposed the guiles and cruelties of imperialism and portrayed the determination of the people to fight them out; workers-peasants middle class people contributed their mite in whichever form they could. Unhesitatingly, with all gratitude, the Committee admits that it was only this popular support which was its strength and which helped it raise the huge funds required, make the vast organizational network operate smoothly and efficiently and bring the convention to its success. It also opened up before the Committee immense potentialities and possibilities. May be, the Committee could not keep up with this zeal, initiative and support at all stages.

In addition to the campaign for the ensuing convention, the Preparatory Committee also took up a programme to observe Hiroshima Day on August 6, 1995, the day on which 50 years ago the US imperialism   used the first atom bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, immediately followed by a second one on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945. These gave the first taste of heartless cruelty and appalling devastation, that mankind would have to face in days of nuclear weapons, a danger into which imperialism, particularly the US imperialism dragged them. Hence it was relevant that the Preparatory Committee observed this day in condemnation of the genocide, the imperialist war-machination, intrigue and intervention. The Committee also reiterated its call for a militant peace-movement, the only check against the high-­handed overlordism of imperialists. As a part of the campaign, the Committee staged rallies and conventions in different cities of India. The central programme was in Calcutta in the form of a mammoth rally. It set out from near the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the leader of the uncompromising trend of Indian independence movement. From the heart the city, it traced a distance several kilometers to a meeting at the Mahajati Sadan, an auditorium built in commemoration of the Indian independence struggle and the martyrs at the instance of Subhas Bose himself. Simultaneously, similar programmes were also taken up by local or regional bodies of the Preparatory Committee, at Patna in Bihar, Guwahati in Assam, Madras in Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, Bangalore in Karnataka, Tiruvananthapuram in Kerala and at other places. Everywhere, the programme was organised and participated by eminent individuals,   professionals, as well as the common masses.

This nation-wide programme of the Hiroshima Day, added a new momentum to the preparation for the convention ; it rekindled the anti-imperialist fervour in the generation which had known the Day in its lifetime ; it unveiled the horror of imperialist war-maniacs to the generation which did not have the chance to see it in life.

The efforts over the years helped the Preparatory Committee to take its present shape. It had as its President V R Krishna Iyer, former Justice of the Supreme Court, India and a protagonist of people's cause. Prof. Dr. Sushil Kumar Mukherjee, former Vice-Chancellor of Calcutta University was its General Secretary, — a choice that could not be otherwise, because of the youthful vigour and unflinching support with which the octogenarian Prof. Mukherjee stood by every genuine struggle for democracy and peace.

The Committee itself represented the widest possible spectrum of the nation and national life. It had its members from different states: Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Punjab, Maharashtra, Orissa, Delhi, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal; it was graced by people, starting from nonagenerian veteran freedom fighter to activists of contemporary social-cultural movements; from educationists.to trade union leaders; from litterateurs-literary critics-writers-artists to journalists. All rose to the occasion unitedly to make the convention a success.

The picture was no different when we looked beyond the national limit. The parties, forces and individuals who had shared the decisions to hold the convention in Calcutta, stood by their resolve ; many of them took commendable initiative to put the Committee in touch with more and more parties or prominent torchbearers of peace-movement; to all of them the Committee extended invitation to join and participate.

The task was gigantic ; it was appealing, at the same time challenging, particularly in the face of the alluring dazzles of consumerism and pragmatism swamping social life, and threats and tricks of imperialism-capitalism. But the work of the Committee was received with unbelievable warmth and determination and a headway was made in the propagation of its message over the globe.

It was true that all of them who had promised to be present and to participate, could not do so for some reason or other. Representatives from communist or workers' parties of twelve countries actively participated in the proceedings of both the sessions. These were Workers' Party of Belgium (PTB), All Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) from Russia, Communist Party of Cuba, The New Communist Party of the Netherlands, German Communist Party, Patriotic Front of Zaire, Socialist Party of Bangladesh, UML of Nepal, Communist Party of Great Britain (Provisional Central Committee), Bolshevik Party of North Kurdistan, Organisation of Revolutionary Workers of Iran and Revolutionary People's Liberation Front (DHKC) of Turkey.

There were a few others who could not join the Convention in spite of their response in the affirmative. Thus the Communist Party of former East Germany (KPD) were delayed by the programmes of another international meeting at Sofia ; the Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Turkey were held back by the French Police ; the Democratic Movement for Independence of Mexico were stuck in difficulties with travel schedules and arrangements; the National Democratic Front of Philippines (Philippines Communist Party) got engaged in peace-talks with their own government; the Communist Party Marxist-Leninist (R) Sweden was preoccupied with the preparations of the Foundation Day and Congress of their own party ; the Organisation for Democratic Action, Palestine, Israel, were bogged down in the situation arising from the assassination of the Israeli Prime Minister; financial difficulties debarred the Global Pan-African Movement of Uganda from joining the Convention. The Socialist Party of Australia, the New Communist Party of Great Britain, the Socialist Party of Rwanda and the Communist Party of Brazil — all of them were circumscribed in different ways and could not join the Convention in spite of their earlier consent.

Some other organisations and individuals had expressed their inability to join the Convention, but were in full accord with the spirit and views upon which the Convention was organised. The Union of Democratic Popular Organisations of Portugal, the AKP(ML) of Norway, the General Federation of Trade Unions  of Iraq, the Party of Chechia (Czech) Communists, the  Communist Party of Chile, the Algerian Party for Democracy and Socialism (PADS), the Association of Polish Communists Proletariat, as,well as individuals like Philip Agee of Germany, Adel Samara of Palestine and others could not join the Convention, in spite of their willingness.

OPEN SESSION

As the sun dawns upon the sprawling metropolis of Calcutta on 14th November, it heralds a fine autumn day. But it is not to be just another autumn day, for the date marks the opening of the four day long Anti-Imperialist Convention (A.I.C.) organized by the AIC All India Prepara­tory Committee. The Open Session of the convention is due to begin at the Saheed Minar Maidan at 3 in the afternoon. The first organized protest movement in the country against the current onslaught on the people by the imperialists in collusion with Indian monopoly capital­ists through the so-called new economic policy, globalization and privatization of the Indian economy, is on the way. It would be a red letter day in the annals of anti-imperialist struggle in the country.

As the noon approaches, the whole Maidan is a scene of bustling activity. Finishing touches being put with the giant rostrum, swarms of volunteers rushing about arranging things, medical booths being set up, deco­rated book-stall being put up stocked with anti-imperialist literatures and Marxist classics.

Noon time passed. People start streaming into the Maidan from north, from south, from east, from west in colourful decorated disci­plined processions that seem to be endless. People from all walks of life. The old who walked with difficulty, the middle-aged, the youth, the students and the children and even women with babies in arms. People from all dis­tricts, in fact, all corners of West Bengal. The preoccu­pation with harvesting, the untimely monsoon could not deter them. They have started to assemble in Cal­cutta, coming in thousands, one day in advance, that is, from the morning of 13th. Braving the difficulties in putting up in Calcutta'for night, here they come, determination writ large on their faces. The left oriented groups and circles of Calcutta have been stirred by the occasion. Many belonging to these have come deeply interested. There are very large contingents from the adjoining states of Bihar and Orissa. And squads from almost all other states of the country : Assam, UP, Haryana, Delhi, Rajasthan, Gujarat, MP, AP, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Processionists carrying poster-placards, flowing banners, raising slogans.

Some processions headed by tableaus of anti-imperialist motive, One showing the octopus of imperialism trying to spread tentacles over the globe, another displaying white dove of peace reigning supreme atop the globe. While marching with firm steps towards the Saheed Minar Maidan, with determi­nation sweeping away tired­ness from their faces, they have inspired the onlookers thronging the long routes, eliciting comments like ; "Who are they, so disciplined and determined ?" And "Instead of East India Company, we have now to resist the combined strength of Indian monopolists and so-many multinationals. Surely we need more and more such people."

Well before the start of the Open Session, the whole Maidan is jampacked. Proces­sions that still continue to come are advised over the microphone to stop outside and sit down in the areas surrounding the Maidan. The rostrum, bedecked with red cloth signifying sacrifice and martyrdom, glistens in the slanting rays of sun. The whole Maidan and its surroundings appear to be one unbroken mass of humanity. Office bearers of the Preparatory Commi­ttee, guest delegates from abroad get seated on the rostrum. Their appea­rance is greeted with thunderous applause.

Slogans and rousing songs in Bengali, Hindi and English flow out of the public address system. The Open Session begins. Strains of the opening song — "We shall overcome..." fill the whole arena, generating profound emotion. The huge gathering realizes the historic signifi­cance of the occasion. A great expectancy pervades the air.

Shri V. R. Krishna Iyer, former Justice of the Su­preme Court, India presides over the Open Session. Dr. Sushil Kumar Mukherjee, former Vice-chancellor, Calcutta University, conducts the proceedings. After the introductory speech by Dr. Mukher­jee, a resolution paying homage to martyrs all over the world who laid down their lives in the anti-imperialist struggle, another condemning the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa, the poet and human rights activist, and eight others in Nigeria by dictatorship there, are read out and unanimously adopted by the huge gather­ing. Squads of young commu­nists of the KOMSOMOL then marched past the rostrum carrying colourful placards and banners wel­coming the foreign delegates and against imperialism, armament stock-piling and starvation imposed by the imperialist-capitalists : "Down with capitalism-imperialism", "Save humanity from imperi­alist attack", "Stop child labour", "No more war, Resist imperialism. We want peace" A squad carries a very appeal­ing anti-imperialist picture. The last squad carries the tableau showing the victorious dove of peace on the globe. The delegates from abroad are visibly moved with emo­tion.

On being invited by Dr. Mukherjee the speakers address the mass rally one by one:

A. P. Barychev (Russia) emphasized the need for the unity of all anti-imperialist forces to'thwart the neo-colonial and imperialist mischief of world imperialism'; Lena de Schepper (Belgium) outlined the ruthless exploitation of Zaire, Rwanda and Burundi by the rulers of her country. Wilvan der Klift (The Netherlands) attacked racial hatred and expressed his pain at the corruption of his country's social life by the infiltration of Yankee culture. Only working class unity against national and international oppression could answer this imperialist challenge, he added. Arman Arani (Iran) opined that'globalisation merely multiplied the exploitation of the Asian, African and Latin American workers; Maniklal Shrestha (Nepal) pointed at the increasing imperialist attacks since the fifties and also condemned hegemonistic design of the regional superpower. Pedro Noel Carillo Alfonso (Cuba) expressed his intent to take the lessons of the revolutionary struggles' of the people of India to Cuba which herself was engaged in an unevenly matched battle against U.S. imperialism. Michael Opperskalski (Germany) pointed out the present designs of the imperialist powers to redivide the world in the name of a New World Order and cautioned against tneir trade disputes escalating into another World War. Khalequzzaman (Bangladesh) highlighted the destruction of moral and cultural values by capitalist-imperialists to make their machine of exploitation more ruthless. Selma Yeter (Turkey), John Bridge (Great Britain), Kabir Chowdhury (Bangladesh) and Kinkela Vi Kan’sy (Zaire) also spoke against imperialism and on the need for broad-based patriotic and people’s fronts in the struggle against it.

Nihar Mukherjee, General Secretary of the Socialist Unity Centre of India said — the Convention heralded a historic beginning in the struggle to develop worldwide mighty movement against imperialism, one that would be conducive to the liberation and emancipation struggles in every country round the world against the ruling class.

Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer in his presidential address declared that the beginning of the end of world imperialism was demonstrated by the massive gathering of the people in the rally. Giving a call to humanity to unite against imperialism, Justice Iyer urged the people to fight to the very last till imperialism ceased to exist.

DELEGATE SESSION

The tempo set at the inaugural session was kept up matchingly in the Delegate Session too. The venue was the University Institute auditorium in Calcutta. This was again a premise, in which a number of historic meetings were held in the pre-and post-independence days in  India.

The three-day long Delegate Session of the Anti-Imperialist Convention started at 10 AM on 15th November.

All the delegates and observ­ers (numbering 1286) attend­ing the Delegate Session could not be accommodated within the Hall and so special arrangement with close circuit TVs was made for them outside the Hall and also in the College Square, a nearby Park. A large number of public also gathered before the closed circuit TVs to watch the proceedings with keen interest.

At the outset, a wreath was placed by the President, Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer, on a Martyrs' Column erected in memory of those who had laid down their lives in different countries of the world in anti-imperialist struggles.

After the opening song "We shall overcome..."Prof. Sushil Kumar Mukherjee, General Secretary of the Preparatory Committee, read out condolence resolu­tion on the demise of Srisu Ram Ekkundi, eminent poet and litterateur of Karnataka and Mahendra Dev Barma, journalist of Tripura, members of the Preparatory Com­mittee. The delegates observed one minute silence in memory of the departed members.

Messages received from GFTU (Iraq), MLCP (Turkey), Com­munist Party of Ger­many, Organization of Democratic Action (Palestine-Israel), Central Committee, AKP (Norway), Socialist Party of Australia, NDFP (Philippines) and individuals like veteran freedom fighter and educa­tionist Prof. A. Sankarnara-yanan of Tamil Nadu, Adel Samara of Palestine were read out.

Then Justice Iyer delivered his inspiring inaugural speech. In his address Justice Iyer called upon the delegates and all anti-imperialist forces to organise, educate and agitate against imperialism so that mankind can overcome this obstacle to its progress.

Prof. Sushil Kumar Mukherjee, presided over the sessions. He placed the draft declaration and subsequently, all through the five sessions moderated the deliberations.

The Draft Declaration, outlining the international situation and ideological and organisational tasks, had been circulated among the delegates about a month back with the request for submit­ting amendments, if any, to the Draft within a specified period.

Delegates, who participated, and those who could not, had sent a large number of suggestions — elaborations, modifications, additions and deletions. A compilation of these was published prior to the Convention with a view to facilitating discussions. Besides, quite a large number of amendments were submit­ted also during the sessions. This reflected the enthusiasm and involvement with which the delegates participated in the convention.

A Scrutiny Committee was formed with Prof. S. Basu Roy and Prof. D. Mukherjee of West Bengal, R. Rajesh of Delhi, Aminder Pal Singh of Punjab and Dr. V. Venugopal of Kerala as members. It worked for several days before the Convention started as also round the clock during the sessions to go through and sort out the amendments and prepare them in a final lingual form.

For three days the delegates deliberated on the portentous issues such as the international situation.

The deliberations were lively and large number of del­egates including delegates from abroad participated during the three-day-long session. The deliberations were rich in content and helped in arriving at a unified position in unani­mously adopting the amended Draft Declaration.

About fifty delegates from Indian states, in addition to delegates from abroad, participated in the discussions. The delegates from the host country who took pledge to start a movement against imperialism, a world force, were enriched by the views and accounts from countries of Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.

Along with the delegates from abroad including those from Cuba, Belgium, Russia, Great Britain, Germany, The Netherlands, etc., those who spoke in support of the Draft included V. Gopa-lakrishnaya, the nonagenar­ian freedom fighter from Andhra Pradesh, Yashwant Shukla, former Vice-Chancel­lor of Saurashtra University, H.S. Doreswamy, the veteran freedom fighter from Karnataka, Prof. M.D. Misra, freedom fighter and educationist from Madhya Pradesh, Ajit Singh Bains, former Justice of Punjab High Court and prominent human rights activist, P. A. Pouren, an eminent lawyer of Kerala.

The delegates who attended included K.P Kosalaramdas, the veteran trade union leader of Kerala, Marpu Balkrishnan, teacher and a leading organizer of teach­ers' movement in Andhra Pradesh, Prof. G. Haragopal, educationist from Andhra Pradesh, Aminderpa! Singh, educationist from Punjab, Dr J. N. Sen, scientist and Prof. Sunanda Sanyal, educationist, both from West Bengal.

Some of the committee members and also some of those who became close to the Preparatory Committee at a later stage but who could not attend the convention because of some difficulties despite their eagerness and earnestness include Prof. H. G. Pant, educationist of Rajasthan, C. K. Garg, lawyer of Rajasthan, Prof. K. C. Garg,   educationist of Rajasthan, Dr. N. A. Karim, former Pro-Vice Chancellor of Kerala University and one of our Vice-Presidents, Poulose Mar Poulose, Bishop in Kerala, Ratan Lai, social worker, Chandigarh, N. Sudarshan, trade union leader, Prof. D. P. Singh, former Vice-chancellor, Bhagalpur University, Prof. A. N. Murthy Rao, litterateur, Karnataka, Babu Rao Dhote, veteran freedom fighter from Maharashtra, Malati Chaudhuri, veteran freedom fighter from Orissa, Dr. Sanatan Ratha, physician, Orissa.

The main Declaration urged for building up an interna­tional platform for waging worldwide militant peace movement, particularly against the monstrous at­tacks, hegemonism and war­mongering of imperialist forces. The main spirit voiced by the delegates was to thwart the acts of naked aggression, policy of hegemonism, conspiracy of war hatched by imperialists and neo-colonial attacks through unifying all demo­cratic, peace-loving forces of the world on a common platform and building up mighty resistance movements against imperialism.

Prominent, among the speakers on the first day were: nonagenerian freedom fighter V. Gopalakrishnaya, former Vice-Chancellor of Saurashtra University Prof. Yashwant Shukla, veteran freedom fighter*H. S. Doreswamy of Karnataka, prominent educationist Dr. H. N. Prasad from Bihar, educationist and human rights activist Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty from Delhi. Among the delegates from abroad Michael Opperskalski (Germany), Pedro Noel Carillo Alfonso (Cuba), Prof. A. P. Barychev (Russia), Had Bozkurt (Turkey), John Bridge (Great Britain), Kabir Chowdhury (Bangladesh) and Arman Arani (Iran) also spoke on the first day.

Mr. Gopalakrishnaya regarded people as makers of history and urged upon them to rise to the occasion. Prof. Yashwant Shukla observed that we could not fight imperialism without fighting the policies of our own government. H. S. Doreswamy said that the people should be on guard as imperialism acts in multiple nefarious ways. Dr. H. N. Prasad asked to identify the collaborators of imperialists, i.e., the capitalists of the country. Prof. Manoranjan Mohanty pointed out that the fight against imperialism was to be waged and sustained every day, every moment and at every place.

Michael Opperskalski enumerated the characteristics of imperialism in its current stage and detailed its dirty deeds all over the globe. Pedro Noel Carillo Alfonso from Cuba spoke about the devastating effects of the imperialist blockade against his country and said that on the face of great obstacles Cuba sticks to socialism and, with the solidarity of friends from all . over the globe, would never surrender. Prof. Alexander Petrovich Barychev from Russia while recounting the deleterious effects of restoration of capitalism on the common people, warned against the imperialist proclivities of the Yeltsin regime. He appealed for solidarity with the struggle for socialism by the people inhabiting the region of former Soviet Union, which would act as a bulwark for world peace.

Prof. M. D. Misra, educationist and freedom fighter, Dr. P. K. Sen, eminent physician, both from Madhya Pradesh, Prof. Haragopal, educationist from Andhra Pradesh, Prof. Sunanda Sanyal and noted scientist Samar Bagchi — both from West Bengal, Prof. R. Pandey from Bihar, Prof. Narendra Sharma from Delhi, noted jurist and civil rights activist Justice Ajit Singh Bains from Punjab, Prof. S. Khandewale from Maharashtra and Dr. Sudha Kamath from Karnataka were among others who deliberated on the second day, November 16.

Lena de Schepper from Belgium, Wil van der Klift from The Netherlands, Prof. Maniklal Shrestha and Sudarshan Pradhan from Nepal, Kinkela vi Karisy from Zaire, Selma Yeter from Turkey, Khalequzzaman from Bangladesh presented their views to the Convention on this second day.

Prof. M. D. Mishra highlighted the decadence the imperialism had plunged into in recent days. He pointed out the all-embracing attack from imperialism and stressed on the need of a mighty movement against it.

Prof. Haragopal called the imperialists lauding human rights a bluff. He said that imperialism projects a fragmental view of fundamental rights of the people.

Dr. P. K. Sen observed that contrary to their claim imperialism and their national collaborators could not solve the problems in people's lives and had to be resolutely opposed.

Prof. R. Pandey while decrying imperialism said that the spectre of anti-imperialism was haunting the US. He called upon the people to give the final shove to make the movement victorious. Recognising imperialism a dying order, Justice Aiir Singh Bains observed that the downfall of Soviet Union provided the oxygen to imperialism, f fe :;aid that common people had the capacity to foice imperialism to face its Waterloo, D;. Sudha Kamath described the hand of imperialism in degrading women to a commodity and a victim of consumerism.

Lena de Schepper gave a detailed account of the deeds of European imperialists — particularly ol Germany — which was fomenting ethnic and fratricidal wars in former Yugoslavia. She warned against the forces who under anti-imperialist and revolutionary verbiage were actually collaborators of imperialism.

Wil van der Klift said that the Convention had inspired him to strengthen anti-imperialist movement in The Netherlands. He added that since capitalism-imperialism was acting globally, the anti-imperialist forces must also counteract internationally. Prof. Maniklal Shrestha said that imperialist publicity must be fought with anti-imperialist propaganda. The tools of imperialism like IMF/ADB must also be fought against. Kinkela vi Kan'sy  said that in African countries oppressive regimes were being supported by imperialism. He observed that imperialism is bound to give way to socialism and said that genuine communists alone could provide this core of a broadbased anti-imperialist front. Khalequzzaman said that the world was not unipolar, as the oppressed people of the world existed as the other and opposite pole to imperialists. He said that divergent views must be thrashed out to reach at a common agenda against imperialism. He suggested to have a fund, regional committees and a common date when anti-imperialist programmes would be held throughout the globe.

S. K. Sinha from Assam, R. Rajesh from Delhi, George Joseph from Tamil Nadu, Ved Pal Dang from Haryana, N. Ravi from Karnataka and B. Jana from West Bengal also spoke.

Dr. Balakrishna Thapa and P. R. Tuladhar, both from Nepal and Dr. V. Venugopal from Kerala, Vismay Shah from Gujarat, Dr. Hardev Singh from Haryana, S. Narayanasamy from Tamil Nadu, K. Radhakrishna from Karnataka, Pran Sharma from Delhi, K. Sridhar from Andhra Pradesh, J. N. Mondal from Delhi, K. Gopalkrishnan from Tamil Nadu, Simhadri from Karnataka, B. Chakraborty, A. Chatterjee, D. Saha, S. Chanda, A. Dutta all from West Bengal, took part in the deliberations on 17th November.

The entire deliberations for more than 17 hours spread over 3 days, were summed up by Manik Mukherjee, Vice-President of the Preparatory Committee. Ably conjuncting the multi-faceted suggestions he brought out the essence of the proceedings, thus facilitating the Convention to draw its conclusions.

It was on these suggestions, that an All India Anti-Imperialist Forum was formed unanimously by the house comprising a 59-member committee with Justice V. R. Krishna Iyer as President and Dr. Sushil Kumar Mukherjee as the General Secretary for organising anti-imperialist struggles on the national plane. The Convention also resolved that a body be formed to co-ordinate anti-imperialist struggles .and movements on an international plane by exploring possibilities that arise in course of time.

On behalf of the delegates from abroad, Michael Opperskalski thanked the Preparatory Committee and observed that people fighting in different countries belonged to the same army though fighting in different batallions. He stressed that the task was to broaden and deepen the struggle in combined action with the National Committee and the International Provisional Committee and expressed his firm conviction that revolutionary people cannot be defeated.

The Convention enumerated the tasks that devolved upon the anti-imperialist movement and stressed the need for the organisation that is to steer it. The tasks are elaborated in the Declaration itself. Here we mention a few words about them.

In essence, the tasks were identified as organising ideological-cultural campaigns and programmes to make people aware of the problem and to imbibe them to join hands with the movement; uniting anti-imperialist forces the world over, ideologically and organisationally; organising-movements on national planes against respective governments that worked hand in glove with the imperialists; organising movement against imperialist interference; mobilising opinion against imperialist war and organising militant peace movement against it; setting up a strong volunteer corps etc.

The house then unanimously adopted the amended Draft Declaration.

Dr. Sushil Kumar Mukherjee, General Secretary of the Preparatory Committee, as well as of the newly formed Anti-Imperialist Forum, delivered his valedictory address. With full conviction and emotion he pronounced: "We have taken a big stride in the fight against imperialism. I feel that our fight will not fail. We shall overcome. We shall win."

In between deliberations, the delegates were treated with revolutionary and anti-imperialist songs. A drama 'Ahato Hangor'in Bengali, (meaning The Wounded Shark), written on the background of the anti-imperialist struggle of the Cuban Revolution, was staged on the 16th evening by a drama squad, CHARANIK.

In the concluding session, KOMSOMOL and ART AGE — organisations of revolutionary young people and artists respectively presented souvenirs on behalf of the Convention and the Indian people to the delegates from abroad.

The Convention over, the delegates returned with a firm resolve to continue, intensify and coordinate the struggle against imperialism throughout this country as well as throughout the world.

The success of the Convention was evident even, after it was over. The impact it created, the imprint it left upon its participants were clearly revealed from the exuberant reports that the delegates from outside India, submitted to their own organisations and to the people of their own. country or elsewhere. Thus Prof. A. P. Barychev from Russia in his briefing to the Russian Press, Michael Opperskaiski from Germany in his speech at Prague, Had Bozkurt, a leader of the DHKC, Turkey. in his account published in the revolutionary journal Kurtulus (Liberation) in Turkish, Maniklal Shrestha from Nepal in his write-up in Mulyankan, well circulated progressive magazine and Khalequzzaman from Bangladesh in Vanguard, elaborately reported the proceedings of the Convention and its future programmes, highlighting its important contribution towards building up world peace movement against imperialism.

Thus with all those achievements and happenings in store, with pledges and courageous determination for future, the Convention provides a silver line to the oppressed people of the world. They, in turn, earnestly hope that the dawn should not be far away.

Valedictory Speech by Prof. Sushil Kumar Mukherjee

Friends and Delegates,

A fighter against imperialism cannot afford to be sentimental. But I am ashamed to say that I have become sentimental. After what has happened over the last quarter of an hour, it has overwhelmed me. But that will not deter me from being a stern anti- imperialist, rather it will strengthen my nerves. Therefore, in the rest of my days I will be an anti-imperialist through and through. There is no other way.

You cannot allow what is going on at this moment. We cannot allow humanity to go down like this. Friends and Delegates, you have given me the responsibility to conduct this meeting. I do not know if I have failed in my responsibility. But if I have-done so, I beg to be excused. It was not intentional. The proposed committees will begin their work, in particular the National anti-imperialist forum will begin their work from tomorrow. There is no respite and as soon as possible other committees' composition will also be decided upon after consultation with the respective countries and this will be made known to all of you. We have taken a big stride. The delegates from abroad are a great inspiration for us. I at least never realized that so many people are engaged in the fight against imperialism. I feel that our fight will never go in vain. We will win, we shall overcome.