In 2008, Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister of the “largest democracy” in the world announced that India had a new principal grave internal threat. No longer was the fear of extremist political Islam the biggest threat for the Indian state, but rather it was the Maoist movement in India, principally lead by the Communist Party of India (Maoist). The press spoke of the fact that the people’s war in India had affected approximately 40% of the country, and had begun to build a “red corridor” through a large section of the country.

The people’s uprising, the Indian government argued, could only be countered through a paramilitary counter-offensive called “Operation Green Hunt,” which has left thousands of innocents, non-Maoist activists, and Maoist comrades killed, injured or jailed in its wake. Indeed, the label “Maoist” has been used to identify anyone and everyone who stands in the way of the Indian government’s economic plans.

What is the “people’s war”? The people’s war is a revolutionary strategy, which emphasizes organizing the most vulnerable people in a given society. In the case of India this is the tribal peoples, the landless peasants, small farmers and medium farmers in the countryside, and workers in the cities.

The CPI (Maoist) believes that revolution in India can be made through 1) encircling the cities from the countryside through the development of red base areas, autonomous territories governed by people’s governments and courts, and the simultaneous building of urban organizations for the final insurrection in the city 2) the painstaking building of a revolutionary army called the “People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army” and 3) the development of an all-India revolutionary party.

Why should we support the people’s war in India? We believe that we should support the people’s war in India because we support anyone fighting against the rapacious greed of global capitalism! Today the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army is our army.

The people’s war in India is an important example of a communist movement that has shaken the government and the upper classes at their very core. It has placed communism squarely back on the table. The people’s governments serve as inspiring examples of forms of governments and economic policies that are organized by and for the people themselves.

But most importantly, we should support the Maoist troops because the movement is under brutal attack from the Indian state. Every day innocents and militants alike are being arrested and killed in the most brutal fashion, and it is our responsibility to ensure that the Indian state is not able to do so without protest and resistance.

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An international conference in support of the People’s War in India will be held on November 24 in Hamburg, Germany. It has been organized by the International Committee of Support to People’s War in India and the Bündnis Gegen Imperialistische Aggression (Alliance Against Imperialist Aggression) from Germany. Representatives of the Partisan and the RCP Canada will be present to discuss with representatives from revolutionary and anti-imperialist organizations from around the world how we can better support Maoist comrades in India.