Version imprimableSimultaneously, trends of revolutionary resistance have also emerged. A growing revolutionary consciousness among the students is, in particular, noticeable. Oppressed nationalities are fighting back to assert their rights through new formations and social movements.
Likewise, trade unions, peasant bodies, and class-based projects have the capacity to launch important struggles. Climate movement, like rest of the world, has entered in an unprecedented manner an entire new generation of students.
The consciousness among youth, workers, women and other oppressed sections of the society is such that the ruling class hegemony is being challenged on a daily basis.
Back in 2012, when the Labour Party Pakistan merged with two other left-wing organisations to launch Awami Workers Party (AWP), the move was guided by a defensive strategy. The aim was to survive and to weather the storm as ‘left’. We have been rather successful in achieving that target.
Women and youth played a pivotal role in making this strategy work. We prioritised and will continue to prioritise joint actions with the youth and women movements. We will also endeavour to orientate these movements towards revolutionary methods.
In order to catalyse people’s movements, re-vitalise our struggle for the release of jailed activists and comrades, to play the role of a vanguard, initiate new movements for the right to free education, healthcare and the right to a decent job, above all, to build a revolutionary party, we are quitting the AWP with a heavy heart.
We are quitting AWP, however, we are not abandoning our revolutionary ideals. Our revolutionary journey spans over 50 years. Beginning at historic Peasant Conference at Toba Tek Singh in 1970, this struggle was organisationally shaped by the experience of Struggle Group formed in 1980 at Amsterdam by leftwing exiles. This struggle will go on albeit it will take another turn. We refuse to give up.
We are leaving AWP with revolutionary wishes for our comrades. The AWP provided us an opportunity to work with such great leftist comrades as the late Fanoos Gujjar and Abid Hassan Manto. Their comradeship is a revolutionary asset for us.
We now want to move on. A new generation of progressive activists and a whole new cadre wants us to take next steps. For our future course of action, a Committee for a Revolutionary Socialist Party is being launched. The party we want to form would be part and parcel of the efforts to build revolutionary parties internationally.
Meantime, the daily Jeddojehad Online (Daily Struggle) and fortnightly Tabqati Jeddojehad (Class Struggle) continue to mirror our proud struggle against capitalism, feudalism, and imperialist exploitation. The future is socialist.
The hope lies in the instances of youth that have organised itself in Lahore on the platform of People’s Rights Movement (HKM) or students mobilised from the platform of Progressive Students Collective.
In league with such youth and student projects, we will organise a country-wide new party.
For the launch of such a party, we will seek your help, guidance and moral support.
Long live socialism.
1 October 2019
