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being drawn with the years before Gandhi's Emergency" MOUNTING opposition to Indira Gandhi's Congress (I) regime has been reflected in election defeats for it in all three of the recent state-level elections. On January 7 Congress (I) governments in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh were defeated and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI-M retained control of Tripura.

In the South Indian state of Karataka, a crossparty alliance was victorious in a state that had been a Congress stronghold for over thirty years. The winning alliance is dominated by the bourgeois Janata grouping, which ruled India from 1977-80 after the end of Indira Gandhi's 'Emergency' danata has won 100 out of 223 seats in Karnataka and is assured of a majority by the support of the Hindu communalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with its twenty seats.

The last national Janata government disintegrated amidst factional intrigue and economic crisis. Yet, this election triumph may encourage a similar hotchpotch of liberals and communists, anxious both to capitalise on Gandhi's unpopularity and to check and derail popular resistance.

Congress (I) lost another southern stronghold when former film star N.T. Rama Rao won a sweeping two-thirds of the seats in Andhra Pradesh. The significance of this result is not only that it shows the unpopularity of Gandhi's regime, but that local cult heroes and rabble rousers have received popular backing - not the parties of the left.

Rama Rao's Telegu Desam Party was formed only last year and has made profitable use of its leader's many Hindu religious roles in Indian films. Rama Rao has been greeted in this backward part of India as an Avatar' , a prophet destined to restore the virtues of 'true faith' Not surprisingly his election campaign encouraged communal violence: on January 5 four died and were killed in religious rioting.

As the authority of the Federal regime is crumbling, the ruling class has resorted to local particularist forces as their only viable alternative to the discredited Congress.

However, the Stalinists of the Communist. Party of India (Marxist) (now the largest of the left parties) seem content to support this strategy. In the 'Politbureau's Election Appeal' ('Peoples Democracy, December 5) the CPI-M called for a vote for any non-Congress (I) candidate, except for the extreme communalist BJP.

The CPI-M suffers from dispersed support outside the states it controls (West Bengal and Tripura). However, instead of looking to the struggles of the workers and peasants as ways to overcome this isolation and build support, the Stalinists have turned to their 'democratic' and 'left' allies in the other states as a way to influence government at the national level and align bourgeois forces against Gandhi's 'authoritarianism' and 'personality rule'.

By subordinating the workers' and peasants' struggles to the conflicts of competing bourgeois politicians searching for the • most viable forms of capitalist rule, and by making fake distinctions between the BJP and other pro-communal and particularist forces, the Stalinists have shown themselves to be bent on constraining mass struggles.

In Karnataka and AndhOTODO SCNOI workers strike and peasant campaigns have shown the need to provide a clear proletarian challenge to the other parties. Instead of tailing Janata and Rama Rao, the CPI-M should, for example, have demanded that these incoming regimes restore the jobs of the thousands of victimised public sector workers and demanded an end to police attacks on trade unions.

Tripura

Mass militancy led to a victory for the ruling CPI-M in the north-eastern state of Tripura. But the Stalinists have shown their fear of the masses by contriving another broad 'Left Front' regime, even though the CPI-M could easily have fought and won an election on its own.

Of the 'Left Front' s' 60 candidates, only six are not members of the CPI-M.

With more elections next months in the north-eastern states of Assam and Meghalaya, and local city elections in Delhi, struggles in India are likely to intensify increasing pressure on the government to call an election, even though national elections are not due until 1984 and the regime still controls two thirds of the seats in Parliament.

Already some are drawing comparisons with the crisis years before Gandhi imposed her dictatorial 'Emergency'.

This Tuesday, 18th, Italian industry was stopped by a four hour general strike as workers continued their action against a government package of tax and price rises.

Franco Grisolia spoke to us from Milan.

IT ALL depends on the next few days. The trade union leaderships have planned no further action - but almost certainly there will be some.

Workers' anger is running at a high level: and there is also the issue of the sliding scale [inflation-protection agreement on wages]. It seems very unlikely that there will be an agreement on that.

The bosses are demanding that the sliding scale payments be cut by half. The union leaders have offered 10 per cent; the government says 25%. Probably either the bosses will unilaterally impose their 50% cut, or the government will impose the 25%, In either case there is almost sure to be a big class struggle response.

Today in Milan it was the biggest workers' demonstration in the history of the city - or at least, one of the biggest. From. what I can make out, it was similar in other cities.

The bureaucrats wanted it to be a silent demonstration - but it wasn't. It was very militant, with slogans about general strike action and about bringing down the CND's next major national action is a 'Peace Canvass' running through 1983. National CND is sending out its "canvassing pack"

government - although officially the trade unions had organised it purely against the employers, with the march going past the offices

of the employers' federation but not the prefecture.

The reason why the bureaucrats wanted silent dem-.

onstrations today is that last week there were local general strikes during which the Socialist Party bureaucrats were booed. [The Socialist Party is in the Christian Democrat led coalition goyernment) .

On the other hand, there was no breakthrough. There was no direct confrontation between the workers and the bureaucrats.

There are confused ideas about general strike action -calls for an 8-hour general strike and national demonstration, and so on, which in our view - are totally inade.

quate. The lett. retormist party PDUP (which comes from Il Manifesto) had the slogan of an eight-hour generai strike to force a new election. They were the only force apart from us to have a precise slogan.

We said: down with the government; generalise the struggle; prepare for an indefinite general strike to bring down the Fanfani government and defeat the bosses' offensive; for a government of the Communist Party and the far left on an anti-capitalist programme.

* Franco Grisolia is a member of the Italian Trotskyist group LOR. major fight is on to hold the leadership to that decision.

A new. "Tories Against the Cruise and Trident' group is being publicised by CND (with complaints that "CND's image is offputting to our supporters within the Conservative Party"), but hardly carries much credibility.

In Islington, for example, a mobilising committee for the Peace Canvass has been set up by the local Labour Parties, with local CND members participating individually, but not formally as a group.

For Labour Parties such canvassing is an important way of preparing for the general election, recruiting - and helping the fight to commit the Labour Party leadership on the issue. But where possible, we should try to establish a basis for cooperation between local Labour Parties and CND which satisfies the CND groups that their autonomy is being respected.

Also coming up is a Youth CND Festival in Brockwell Park, South London, on May 7,YCND is launching an appeal for funds to finance this event.

•Contact: • Festival Appeal Fund, YCND, 11 Goodwin St., London N4; Peace Canvass 83, same address, phone 01-263 0977.

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Gandhi's power is beginning crack. Aly Mir reports.

over 100 were injured, three days later two more