“Indian working class movement should not be shackled by economism, reformism, and class collaboration” – A message on the occasion of Birth Centenary Celebrations of Com Vuppuluri Subba Rao 

Vuppuluri Subbarao
 Com.Vuppuluri Subbarao, 1924-1998, Renowned Revolutionary Communist And Ideal Working-class leader of Andhra Pradesh
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Com Dr KS Sharma, a veteran working class leader of Karnataka for over 60 years. Born in 1934, he is still active, sent this message on the occasion.

He is the author of an important article, worth remembering today:

Indian Constitution Unriddled : Search For Sources (24/01/2017)

https://countercurrents.org/2017/01/indian-constitution-unriddled-search-for-sources/

My Association with Com  Vuppuluri Subba Rao,  by veteran Trade Union leader Com KS Sharma, Founder-President, IRTUC, and KSGDWEF Karnataka. “ Veteran communist revolutionaries and founder-leaders of UCCRI-ML, Coms DV Rao and T. Nagi Reddy were leaders whose revolutionary mass line inspired  both of us, “ Com sharma said.

***

The message he sent, and read out to workers in Rajahmundry meeting,  is published below:

To Com Ch SN Murthy,

General Secretary,  FITU, Andhra Pradesh.

Very glad to learn that you are celebrating Birth Centenary Year of Com. Vuppuluri Subbarao, a staunch  working-class leader and founder-President of FITU, at  Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh.

Let me convey my best wishes to all the comrades and workers who are carrying on his legacy even 25 years after his death. I have been myself ill, and hospitalized when you conveyed to me about the Birth Centenary, and I am not in a position to join you in the celebrations. I take this opportunity to pay my tributes to com VSR, an exemplary communist revolutionary, and a tall leader of the working class movement who dedicated his whole life to the workers and toiling masses.

Veteran communist revolutionaries and founder-leaders of UCCRI-ML, Coms DV Rao and T. Nagi Reddy were leaders whose revolutionary mass line inspired  both of us, and they continue to inspire us all, in striving to ensure that the Indian working class movement is not shackled by economism, reformism, and class collaboration; and to ensure that the working class unity is forged in the furnace of revolutionary theory and practice, so that we march ahead towards the cause of socialism.

Though my valuable association with com VSR was cut short by his demise in 1998, I must record on this occasion, it was deep, and imbued with revolutionary spirit.

The association that started in com VSR’s life time continued with his team mates like comrades KS Bose, who is no more, and Murthy. It is still continuing, as we have been keeping contact with FITU leadership including com Murthy, also through our  communist revolutionary  friends.

Our contacts continued particularly with reference to the significant and decades-long, militant struggle of Pithapuram Sugar Factory workers, who I learnt, had won around Rs 10 cr as closure compensation etc, 20 years after the factory itself was closed, a remarkable achievement amid the present anti-worker conditions in the country. Com Murthy had occasionally consulted me on the legal aspects of that struggle, and I had seen the related papers he sent to me, and found them very well drafted. That shows the training and strong foundations com Vuppuluri laid, and committed leaders who kept up his legacy. I convey my revolutionary greetings to the Pithapuram workers, and their leaders, who I hope would continue that tradition.

Ever since early 1990s, I had an appraisal of Com VSR and valued him as a committed  communist revolutionary leader who had dedicated his entire life for the revolutionary cause, and carried forward the behests of coms DV Rao and T. Nagi Reddy, who continue to inspire us all, including myself personally.

On this occasion of com VSR’s Birth centenary, I wish to briefly recall my close interactions with FITU and with him when he had visited the  centre of our activities, Vishwa Shrama Chetana campus, founded by the Karnataka State Govt Dailywage Employees Federation (KSGDEF)  in Hubli, Karnataka, in those years. We had exchanged notes on imparting  revolutionary politics to the  workers. He had addressed a massive rally of contract-casual workers we were organizing, on behalf of  IRTUC (Indian Revolutionary Trade Union Confederation), and shared his own experiences in AP, including in the fertilizer sector in Kakinada town, along with his working class team mates and followers including Coms Murthy and Satyanarayana Raju. 

 We had also exchanged notes on TU activity  in RTCs, as I have been associated with Karnataka RTC for decades, and I was heading Saarige Naukarara Mahamandala, a major Federation of RTC workers; we had noted how even the public sector had worst anti-worker features of exploitation and oppression. Even in recent past, through com Murthy and others, I was following developments connected with APSRTC being merged in the government. We had a big convention in Gulbarga on the pros and cons of such a demand in our own state, and in that we took note of  experiences of AP-RTC.   

We two had also shared our experiences in organizing paper mill workers. I was associated with the Dandeli Paper Mills in Karnataka, which also was owned  by the Bangurs like the Rajahmandry paper mills at that time. He had shared the details of militant struggles and experiments in building unity of various trade unions in the form of Joint Negotiating Committees to counter the managements.

Rajahmandry where you are now holding the centenary meet, is a historic town that had association with our own ancestral family. My father, Sri Embar Bhashyachar, was a Telugu scholar-publisher, who personally visited places in Andhra before 1947, for his publication work. I myself attended and addressed ICFA Conference in June 2010 in Rajahmandry, which was very well hosted by FITU comrades among others. On the sidelines of that conference, I had briefly  interacted with FITU cadres. On my way back, I was escorted  to Tadepalligudem, where I had a brief interaction with FITU cadres led by Com KS Bose, and exchanged experiences. Later I learnt  of the sad demise of com Bose.

My association with FITU leaders continued on the sidelines of the conference of Grameena  Pedala Sangham (Organiztion of Rural Poor) at Vijayawada, 2015 April. A meeting with FITU cadres of  APSRTC was held there, where we had an exchange. My association regarding RTC continued, as I got details of problems (like massive suspension of workers on flimsy grounds, kmpl, TIMS etc that were common in Karnataka also) and agreements and strikes in RTCs.              

Com.VSR firmly stood with mass revolutionary line. He strongly opposed revisionism, neo-

revisionism, left adventurism, opportunism and class-collaborationist policies. He supported line developed by Coms.DV and TN, maintained close relations with UCCRI-ML and made  best efforts in the direction of unity, as I understood. He worked relentlessly to develop revolutionary political  consciousness among workers with the help of UCCRI-ML.

He supported the the principle of self-determination for various nationalities in India, and proposed that  communist revolutionaries should also build movements on that question in India under the leadership of working-class.  

He fought against corrupt and bureaucratic trade union methods and implemented and

developed trade union democracy. Developed a fighting unity of workers of different castes and categories. Led several militant and successful struggles like strikes etc. Studied and assimilated Labour laws in depth and mastered using them to bring victories to workers.

Became beloved leader for thousands of workers. Was revered for his commendable honesty, integrity and sacrifice.


Glad to know that you are devoting this occasion to educate workers on the need to develop revolutionary political consciousness, to counter economism, to correctly understand the present Indian and international conditions and to strengthen struggles for land, real independence and real democracy. Best wishes to the FITU for the same.

See also:

Birth Centenary Celebrations of Com.Vuppuluri Subbarao,  Renowned Revolutionary Communist And Ideal Working-class leader , By Ch.S.N.Murthy.

***               ***

About Dr KS Sharma (born 1934)

He Is a Retired Professor of Law, and a doctorate in political science is  based in  Hubli, Karnataka. He is the  Founder of  Indian Institute of Marxist Theory and Practice, and has been a leader of working class for over 45 years now, focused on unorganized labor, and as Founder-President of Karnataka State Govt. Dailywage Employees Federation, successfully organized one lakh dailywagers of Govt of Karnataka who got regularized after 30 years of struggle that included street battles and legal battles going upto Supreme Court. He is a great teacher in many subjects, a prolific writer,  poet, dramatist, literary critic, columnist, publisher, orator, and an activist-social scientist who was President of ISSA,  Indian Social Science Academy. He was a Soviet Land Awardee for Literature, and given titles like Karnataka Sri , Kannada Sri. He is the Founder President of a group of Institutions including Institute of Naturopathy and Yoga (founded 20 years ago) , FMRRC- Fluorosis Mitigation Research and Resource Centre, Chairman of an Ayurvedic Hospital cum college,  Dr. Da Ra Bendre (Jnana Peeth Awardee) Research Institute ( which edited and published about 150 books by Bendre), an ITI,   all located in Vishwa Shrama Chetana campus, Hubli, Karnataka.

He contributed several articles to countercurrents.org, including on the Indian Constitution, Dr BR Ambedkar, Decolonization of Higher Education,  and of Modern Medicine. 

Some of his important articles are listed here:

Remembering Dr. B.R. Ambedkar:  Celebrating the 74th Constitution Day (26/11/2022)

https://countercurrents.org/2022/11/remembering-dr-b-r-ambedkar-celebrating-the-74th-constitution-day/

The Forgotten Message Of Ambedkar To The Working Class (30 April, 2016)

https://www.countercurrents.org/sharma300416.htm

Re-Reading Dr BR Ambedkar’s Earliest Paper On Caste 100 Years Later,  (04 June, 2016)

https://countercurrents.org/sharma040616.htm

Systemic Remedies: In The Context Of Indian University Education System ( 30/12/2017)

https://countercurrents.org/2017/12/systemic-maladies-demand-systemic-remedies-context-indian-university-education-system/

Decolonisation Of “Modern Medical System: The Need To March Towards People Oriented Holistic System (06/04/2017)

https://countercurrents.org/2017/04/decolonisation-of-modern-medical-system-the-need-to-march-towards-people-oriented-holistic-system/

Socio-Political and Economic Aspects Of Fluorosis (co-author) (17/04/2017)

https://countercurrents.org/2017/04/socio-political-and-economic-aspects-of-fluorosis/

Chief Minister – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Policies – Programmes X-rayed – Part I (23/03/2019)

https://countercurrents.org/2019/03/chief-minister-prime-minister-narendra-modis-policies-programmes-x-rayed/

Chief Minister – Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Policies – Programmes X-rayed – Part II (24/03/2019)

https://countercurrents.org/2019/03/chief-minister-prime-minister-narendra-modis-policies-programmes-x-rayed-part-ii/

For more on KS Sharma, mail to:

[email protected]

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