ALTHOUGH there have been hundreds of events of mass protest and resistance, the problem of developing a consistent movement still remains. Often, mass movements are looked upon simply as means to recruiting some forces for the underground, losing sight of their independent role in leading towards insurrection and people’s war. Some-times, the main issue gets lost mid-way. For example, suppose the police has intervened in a land movement. To protest against this police action demonstrations are staged, mass meetings are held, deputations are sent, and gradually the leaders get entangled in court cases. The land movement disappears and the masses become passive. Again, at times the cadres get almost obsessed with the desire of taking revenge. Suppose, the masses have risen in their thousands against police atrocities in general or against some specific incident of police-firing on a mass demonstration. People from different walks of life condemn this incident and demand action against the guilty officials. In such a situation, if our armed squads kill these officials out of revenge, the mass movement suffers a sudden end. Such premature killings halt the advance of the people’s movement. Often, in the name of drawing a line of demarcation with others and of placing advanced demands, vague demands are raised without caring about their practicability and acceptability. In certain cases, the leaders want to carry forward a move­ment in a pre-determined framework, forgetting that the forms of a movement are to be determined through proper evaluation of the development of the movement from various angles, through close contact with the masses and through regular investigations. Moreover, without a well-knit organisational structure, no consistent movement can ever be developed ; only a well-knit, even if small, organisation can lead a broad mass movement, drawing vast sections of the masses in its fold.

To overcome these problems, the Kisan Sabha is taking the following set of fresh measures :

(a) Concretising demands and slogans : In its massive rally on 23 February this year (marking the fifth anniversary of its foundation), the BPKS resolved to launch a new phase of movement on the following demands—

    (i) judicial enquiry into killings in the areas of peasant struggle;

    (ii) withdrawal of all false and fabricated cases against peasant cadres and immediate release of all of them;

    (iii) disbanding of feudal private armies, provision of arms to the harijans and other weaker sections of the people for purposes of self-defence;

    (iv) distribution of vested, surplus and Bhoodan land;

    (v) conducting fresh survey and settlement of land and making revisions in the existing ceiling acts (the BPKS intends to put forth concrete proposals in this regard);

    (vi) annulment of all uncleared bank loans of poor and middle peasants; and

    (vii) payment of wages as fixed by the Kisan Sabha.

(b) Introducing a pocket guide book for local cadres activists : This guide book will dwell on

    (i) informations about various laws and acts concerning agriculture as well as civil rights;

    (ii) informations about the over-all land/class/caste structure in Bihar, e.g., about land concentration, surplus land above ceiling and its actual distribution, proportions of various classes and castes, characteristics of different castes etc.;

    (iii) analysis of different classes in the rural society (with typical examples of several families belonging to different classes);

    (iv) experiences of various movements (to help peasant cadres/activists organise a movement); and

    (v) the structure of the organisation (citing model examples).

(c) Regularisation of membership : 1986 has been declared as the year of membership campaign for the Kisan Sabha. This campaign is intended to generate a sense of organisa­tion and commitment among the broad masses of the peasantry.

(d) Restructuring the organisation : The organisation will be restructured with a view to

    (i) consolidating the local units, so that they become competent enough to take independent and instant decisions and to adapt themselves to working under illegal conditions; and

    (ii) treating each struggling pocket as a single unit, making one single leader responsible for each such unit.

The leadership will undertake a concrete programme for educating and training 10 to 15 activists in each of these struggling pockets. This will include, among other things, (1) explaining the guidebook to the activists, (2) clarify­ing the interrelation between peasant movement and natio­nal level democratic movement, and (3) helping them formulate concrete demands/slogans through lively mutual consultations.

Regarding local-level structures of the Kisan Sabha, the idea is : “solidity rather than formality”. The emphasis should be on developing a solid body of leadership, and formal declarations of the names of committee members (barring one or two) below district committees should rather be avoided.