ANNAS AUGUST KRANTI From August 16th to 28th this year the roads and the well-known Ramlila

Maidan of Delhi became agog with a large mass of people involved in a different kind of agitation over an anti-corruption bill. And now this December all the MPs have been involved in a great cacophony of words in the parliament with each political party eager to show how serious they are for an appropriate anti-corruption law. In August the struggle brought onto the roads of the capital city a large number of people from the upper strata of the society-- the traders, middle-class upper middle-class residents, students, youth of Delhi. This was no preplanned agitation of a political party seeking to carve out its place in some upcoming electoral struggle for power. It presented itself before the public successfully as an agitation led by the so-called civil-society outside the pale of dirty electoral politics. Inspite of prohibitions imposed for all times by the Delhi govt and the police, during those thirteen days, silencing all those objections a large mass of people could acquire unhindered freedom to come out on the roads. The police force remained as mere spectators. Almost all the established TV channels and newspapers continuously ran a commentary of all the events before the whole country. That was Anna Hazares India Against Corruption led Second August Kranti demanding that the central govt. adopt their Janlokpal bill instead of the govt. proposed Lokpal bill. This December the established parliamentary parties most vociferously tried to usurp that mass support aroused by the Anna-led Lokpal agitation in favour of each others party. The UPA aka the Congress Party in the midst of the ensuing debate claimed that denying a constitutional status to the latest govt proposed Lokpal bill the opposition parties are not truly in favour of an anti-corruption legislation while the opposition counter-accused that the govt merely wanted to amend the constitution to adopt an ineffective, toothless bill. Anna and his team have accused the UPA govt of betraying their promises to adopt a strong Lokpal bill. How the working-class will view this agitation of Anna and his team that have undeniably stirred up this countrys politics during the recent months and at present what role in respect to it the conscious representatives of the working-class should play that is the topic of discussion of this article. WHAT HAVE BEEN ANNAS TEAM DEMANDING AND WHAT WERE THE POINTS OF CONFLICT? Briefly the similarities in Annas Janlokpal and govts Lokpal are: # the public servant i.e. anyone in govt. service or in any association, local authority etc aided by govt. is made out to be the main perpetrator of corruption ; # corruption in the main according to both is as defined by POCA i.e. accepting bribe and giving favours; # similarity in composition of selection committee of LokpalPM, leader of opposition , Chief Justices; # even the latest govts bill this December has provided for mandatory formation of a search committee for selection of Lokpal members as it exists in the Annas Janlokpal; # PM also included in jurisdiction of both the proposed versions after the latest inclusion by the govt in its bill. Although in both the bills sanction from the Lokpal bench is necessary to proceed; The dissimilarities are: # Janlokpal seeks protection for whistle-blowers in addition; # regarding corruption, apart from that defined in POCA, Janlokpal includes offences committed by elected representatives in respect of speech/vote in parliament, victimization of whistle-blowers, violation of citizens charter; # Janlokpal in favour of merger of anti-corruption wings of CBI with direct powers of investigation and prosecution; the govts bill does not allow this; # regarding complaint against Lokpal officials Janlokpal proposes setting up of separate complaints authority while the govts bill gives Lokpal itself the power. Thus it can be seen that the govt , other sections of so-called Civil Society such as Aruna Roy-Nikhil Dey led NCPRI, and Anna led team are all unanimous about the necessity of a law establishing a separate

Lokpal institution to curb and act against corruption as defined in the existing laws of the present system, an institution that had been formally accepted in principle since 1968 but failed to come into existence. The only points of difference that Annas team seeks more than others is (a) it should be independent from the govt and the ruling partys influence although their proposed selection committee will also consist of the PM, Leaders of Opposition and other bureaucrats of the same system.It will also be dependent on the President, the higher judiciary like Supreme Court and eminent persons and on Civil Society/ NGO leaders recognized, dependent and promoted by this very ruling system.(b) they demand more direct powers of investigation and prosecution for the Lokpal by merging relevant wings of the CBI etc. In effect Annas team want another institution within this same system of rule run by a few bureaucrats, ministers and NGO people who are hand-picked or selected from the top and not elected by and answerable to the people but with more prosecution powers. WHAT IS THE ACTUAL PICTURE OF CORRUPTION? With the disclosure in public of Nira Radia Tapes it became clear that how the big bourgeoisie of this country like Tata, Ambani etc influence and control the govts., decide who will be the ministers and in what way the distribution of different ministries in the govts. suits them. A. Raja, the telecom minister of choice, with obviously the complicity of the govt. as a whole, obliged the big bourgeoisie by allotting the highly demanded telecom spectrum bypassing even the norms declared. Can this be termed as merely bribing and acquiring favours unjustly for some particular individual or company? The Supreme Court itself has not simply declared that the allocation of all 122 licences of 2-G spectrum by the govt. as illegal it has held that spectrum was a natural resource vested with the govt as a matter of trust in the name of the people of India, and it is the solemn duty of the state to protect the national interest, and natural resources must always be used in the interests of the country and not private interests[The Hindu -03.02.12 Delhi edn.]. Thus surpassing the petty limits of getting individual undue favours through bribery it is a brazen case of influencing the govt., regarding policies and decisions involving national interest for the acquisition of resources belonging to the public. Is it an isolated incident? No. There has been privatization of govt owned or public sector companies at questionably low prices as in case of sale of BALCO, Modern Foods, etc. The more important fact in these cases rather than the individual cases of scams on under-valuing of prices or favouring of particular capitalists is the common policy of the govt. and capitalists to hand over numerous valuable resources and production facilities built out of public money to the capitalists at throw-away prices retrenching thousands of workers . In the case of Tata and the erstwhile left front govt.of West Bengals secret agreement on the Singur project large concessions in tax, cheap loans, land, water, electricity at cheap rates were provided to allure the Tatas---(1) 645 acres of land at lease for 90 years at rs 1 crore yearly duty with 25% increase every 5 years (2) 290 acres land @ rs 8000/ acre (3) loan equal in value to VAT or Central Sales Tax @ 0.01% interest (4) rs 200 crore loan @ 1% interest (5) cheap electricity @ rs 3/unit.which had been kept under wraps from the public. In this way Tatas were on the verge of mopping up rs 4500 crore of public money while they planned to put in only rs 1500 into the project.[ Bhrashtachar ko kaise samjheSunilRoshnai Prakashan]. Throughout the country as a part of the glob-lib programme adopted by the govt. similar plans of SEZs, tax-holidays, and concessions are being provided to the capitalists. Public money is being spent generously by the govt. for them, often changing or bypassing existing laws.There have been forest and environment law violations to enable POSCO establish mines and steel plant. The govt. has also changed the definition and specific areas of application of the agricultural-loan allowing in an indirect way the agri-business houses and capitalists to corner even that so-called priority sector loan depriving the peasants. Loans for trade or industries linked with agriculture have also been included within agriculturalloan. Result , now agri-loans are being distributed from cities like Mumbai to big agri-business companies rather than to peasants in villages[Falling share of Small Agri-loans-www.indianfarmers.org]. The concessions given by the govt to the companies in income-tax, excise, customs duty in the last decade is

huge. In 2009-10 the reduction in direct taxes was rs40297 crore which was further reduced by 45222 crores in 2010-11. Over and above this the state govts. give concessions in VAT, Sales Tax, registration and Stamp Duty etc. From 2005-06 to 2010-11 in 6 years tax-reduction benefits given to companies add up to rs 21,25,023 crores which is 12 times the amount of 2-G scam.[Bhrashtachar ko kaise samjhe; Corporate Socialism 2-G OrgyP. SainathThe Hindu 07.03.2011] On the other hand the road has been paved for more and more speculation in the share markets, and commodity markets. In 1992 the Harshad Mehta-Bhupen Dalal share scam involved approximately 5000 crore rupees100 times that of Bofors kickback scam.. The Joint Parliamentary Committee found five foreign banks--Citibank, Bank of America, American Express, Standard-Chartered, ANZ Grindlays involved and suggested legal action and penalty against them. But none was taken. In 1999 once again there was Ketan Parekh share scam. Once again the JPC recommendations remained fruitless. Then the govt through its Income Tax Department moved to probe the Mauritius route of registering companies and bringing in hawala or black money by FIIs and Indian overseas capitalists to swamp the Indian share market only to back out under pressure. On the contrary, the govt doled out cuts in dividend tax, capital gains tax, permission to the FIIs to acquire upto 49% equity in Indian companies. Then step by step the successive govts, Congress-led and BJP-led, went on removing restrictions and controls on share-trading. For instance earlier in 1992 the P.V.Narshima Rao govt abolished the office of Controller of Capital Issues and in no time various MNC companies allotted themselves shares at prices way below the market rates known as the Preferential Allotment Fraud of 1993. When the fraud got exposed the regulatory authority SEBI once again took up the task of re-regulating the preferential share pricing norms but the damage had been done. But wheres the guarantee of an end to such frauds? Even the Bombay Stock Exchange President Anand Rathi became part of the manipulations divulging details to international FIIs in the Ketan Parekh scam of 1999. Starting from the govt., the ministers, down to the bureaucrats and officials are in connivance wlth the big capital and their brokers. The sole logic of the govt. has been that liberalization of bank and share market and financial operations will bring in much-needed capital from countries outside developing the economy. The Indian share market and its index Sensex have been claimed to have become the indicator of the great strides the country is making in this era of globalizationliberalisation. But in effect the FIIs and Mutual Fund operators and speculators, among them the powerful foreign FIIs are dominating the scene and reaping windfall gains through unscrupulous manipulations. The govt has arranged for it. Out of 500 FIIs registered in this country only 5 top FIIs control 40% of the total portfolio investment in the country. Aprox half of foreign inv that have come is for share trading in secondary market which is nothing but speculation. Any time when they feel that conditions are adverse for their game-plan they arrange for quick flight of capital creating crises similar to the South-Asian and Mexican ones. Thus according to one estimate during the last 20 years the country lost 73 lakh crores of rupees in large scams involving various kinds of these activities.[Financial Frauds& Market Crashes: Casino Capitalism Indian-styleKavaljit Singh; Stock MarketK.S.Chalapati Rao] The other side of the same story is--- the rampant deprivation of the masses from their rights and eligibilities to livelihood. Even the things declared to be the stipulated minimum guaranteed by the capitalist dominated state viz. minimum wages, permanency in jobs of perennial nature, PF, ESI also those are being snatched away. The rights to protest and organize against these injustices are being trampled upon. Still there have been increasing protest agitations against this in Nandigram, Kalingnagar, POSCO Orissa and in the factories in different industrial areas during the last two decades. The obvious cause is rising inequality and deprivation of the masses. Americas Forbes magazine brings out every year the names of the richest persons in the world. Busy to project India as a fast developing country it is repeatedly showing the rising number of dollar-millionaires from India: 19963; 20048; 2011---55. The total officially declared property of these 55 individuals in 2011were 264.5 million dollars i.e. 11,13,750 crore rupees[www.investindia.kotak.com---Top of The Pyramid-2011]. There must be large

undisclosed amounts also. But applying a rough interest rate of 10% on their official amounts their collective yearly income comes out to be rs 1,11,375 crores which is equivalent to the total yearly income of 15 crore Indians. In June 2010 out of 4500 companies registered in the share market 175 companies disclosed that the annual income of their 105 top officials is more than 1 crore rupees. Among these Mukesh Ambani voluntarily took a lesser amount of 15 crore rupees! It is amazing that in such an increasing gulf of inequality and open loot and acquisition of big corporate capital Anna and his team are unable to find corruption beyond bribery of public servants! WHAT DOES THE NATURE OF THIS CORRUPTION SHOW? . There are two important aspects to this: (1) THE WAY THE SYSTEM WORKS: Can we say that corruptions like 2-G etc are just deviations and distortions brought about by certain persons? Clearly it is not at all a simple case of acceptance of bribe and dishing away of undue favours by a public servant. In every instance of economic activity at present, be it handing out of natural resources to private capitalists, privatization of public sector companies, setting up of new industries or in share or commodity market speculation, we see the menace of corruption everywhere. The sections involved in almost all cases are a nexus of capitalists or their brokers, and politicians or bureaucrats of the state. It is happening throughout the society in different branches of the economy here and in numerous countries of the world when the general policy of globalisation and liberalisation is being implemented. The fraud of IT bubble,housing mortgage speculation, the Enron bankruptcy, in America, the South-East Asian and Mexican financial collapse, the repeated privatization frauds in numerous countries show all this. And it has also multiplied during the last decades of adoption of the same policies in this country. What is being implemented by those policies? Centralisation of all the means and resources of production into the hands of big monopoly capital, both by dismantling the govt or so-called public-sector and by seizing away whatever remains under the ownership of small property-holders. To achieve that, lobbying for privatisation, getting rights over scarce, expensive natural resources like oil, gas or minerals by hook or crook, pressure-tactics to set-up labour law-free, tax and duty-free SEZs or their likes and deregulation for open speculation and gambling in shares, securities and commodities is the order of the day. All these have acquired special force even in this country in the midst of repeated recessions and stagnations spreading throughout the world and the big corporate capitals desperate attempts to break out of it. Obviously capitals ages-old thirst for maximization of profit, loot and acquisition of all economic resources, depression of wages, snatching away of livelihood are old methods to achieve that end. But they have named it as vikas or industrialisation. In this race of the capitalist class the right of all sections of people of the society on natural resources as referred by the Supreme Court in the recent 2-G Scam case has no meaning. For them what is meaningful is only that which is necessary for extracting profits utilizing methods like lobbying, and even deciding who may be ministers, which portfolio--Disinvestment, Telecom, Petroleum etcshould be given to whom. The power of money, of capital, decides everything in present society. No law, institution or regulation has been or is able to stop its desperate race for profit. The long history of capitalism has it roots in such methods from its birth. Gold is a wonderful thing! Whoever possesses it is lord of all he wants. By means of gold one can even get souls into Paradise. Columbus wrote in his letter from Jamaica in1503 in the stage of primitive accumulation of capital. He had persuaded the king and queen of Spain to finance an expedition for gold and spices. They had roamed the Carribean islands in gangs looking for gold taking child and women for sex and labour. Too many slaves died in captivity. Similarly in capitalism money itself is a very special commodity, an external object, capable of becoming the private property of any individual. Thus social power becomes the private power of private persons. Thus gold, money wealth was acquired through brutal violence and loot in that stage of primitive accumulation of capital. Marx wrote, If money, according to Augier, comes into the world with a congenital blood-stain on one cheek, capital comes

dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.[MarxCapital vol-1 Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist] Further capitalism from its start thrived on a system of continuous accumulation of wealth based on poverty of the masses: Gladstone in the British House of Commons, Feb. 13th, 1843. Times, Feb. 14th, 1843 wrote It is one of the most melancholy features in the social state of this country that we see, beyond the possibility of denial, that while there is at this moment a decrease in the consuming powers of the people, an increase of the pressure of privations and distress; there is at the same time a constant accumulation of wealth in the upper classes, an increase of the luxuriousness of their habits, and of their means of enjoyment. (Hansard, 13th Feb.) [Section 5. Illustrations of the General Law of Capitalist Accumulation A. England from 1846-1866] Trade developed more and more into swindling. The fraternity of the revolutionary slogan was realized in chicanery and envy of the battle of competition. Oppression by force was replaced by corruption, the sword as the prime social lever by money.[Anti-Duhring-Introduction-General] This is what Engels wrote in 1876-78, almost eight decades after the famous bourgeoisie revolution in France. It has become more and more true today. Starting from the days of primitive accumulation of capital it has shown us the tremendous greed and bloody thirst for possession of private property and wealth, commodification of everything having some use-value, the increasing importance of money and the insatiable thirst to extract profit from the working masses utilizing these as capital. For this it has continually spread anarchy of production , resulting in more and more cut-throat competition, and constant accumulation of all the riches in the hands of a few to pauperise the multitude of masses. And with the advent of giant monopolies and further imperialism as a system of rule of monopoly capital it has played and is playing to this very day havoc with the lives of the masses in every corner of the world through war, corruption, speculation , and outright loot of all the natural resources of the world. No legislation, no investigative journalism exposing such ills as in the early 20th century in America called muckraking, no stringent anti-corruption law or measure even in those hey-days of capitalism could eradicate it. It only helped furthering their mission of loot and exploitation often legitimizing many things which were once considered corrupt or putting up a faade of progressive reform only to hide the roots of corruption inherent in capitalism. Today, worldwide, bribery alone is estimated to involve over 1 trillion US dollars annually. [ wiki] Corrupt money transferred out of developing and transitional economies is conservatively estimated at US$20 to US$40 billion per year. According to the World Bank, the cross-border flow of proceeds from criminal activity, corruption and tax evasion is estimated between US$11.6 trillion per yearhalf of this amount is looted from developing and transition economies.[wiki] According to the data provided by the Swiss bank, India has more black money than rest of the world combined. India tops the list with almost $1500 Billion black money in swiss banks, An amount which is 13 times larger than the nations foreign debt, The total black money accounts for 40% of GDP of India. The roots of corruption lay in this capitalist mode of productions fundamental motive of blind race for profit (2) THE WAY THE STATE MAKES IT WORK On the other end of the chain of corruption lies the capitalist state. Corruption thrives on this ruling system also, where the masses have no control over the rulers sitting in power. Among the rulers in power only a section the so-called elected representatives, the MPs and MLAs or those in lower level bodies are elected by the people and that also by an election process dominated by money, muscle-power, false promises and hypocrisy of the political parties having vested interests in existence of present system of rule. The workers, peasants and the common masses are unable to voice their plight. Further once elected the masses have no control over them over the whole term even if they misuse their offices and go back on their promises. In some advanced countries like America the masses have the right to recall such negligent, self-serving leaders although the pressures of the capitalists and their power-brokers from the top rarely allow it to be properly implemented. The latest example is Wisconsin state in the United States where the govt. sector employees in a movement to save their trade union rights wanted recall of the

opposition Democratic Party representatives in vain. Apart from the MPs and MLAs are the other organs of state power the bureaucracy, the courts, the police who are the actual executers of the govts policies. Different political parties form govts in succession but these sections of the state carry on the same policies and decisions dictated by the capitalists allowing only small changes here and there. The industrial associations and trade bodies of capitalists continually pressurize and influence the govt regarding this. And the bureaucracy is also very trained and faithful in moulding different political parties or their leaders in this task of serving the capitalists interests. But Anna and his team instead of revealing the truth about this way of functioning of the state organs make us believe that with a selected team of ex-bureaucrats, judges, NGO or civil society members groomed and patronized by this same capitalist system of rule an institution of Lokpal independent from the interference of the corrupt politicians can be established. Largescale corruptions like 2-G, CWG, Satyam are to them a matter of individual lapse of public servants eagerly waiting for bribes. Thus if after the Bhopal gas massacre by Union Carbide protests demanding arrest of erstwhile Union Carbide official Anderson and proper punitive action against the company has been stifled by successive govtsCongress-led or BJP-led, the TATAs pressurize the Indian govts top ministers not to proceed for punishment of the American company but rather settle for some compensation only, if the U.S. govt. conveyed to the Indian govt to arrange for quick flight from Bhopal on that dreaded night and the Indian govt. obliged , what does Anna and Kejriwal or their illustrious advocate Prashant Bhusan find in it? If the IT department probe into FIIs routing unaccounted or hawala money through Mauritius stopped half-way under pressure from those powerful companies and the govt on the contrary starts allowing them tax reliefs and non-disclosure of identities through cover of Participatory Notes; if POSCO can be allowed from top to bottom of the govt and the state officials to make super-profits out of huge iron-ore deposits, land, water and pvt. harbour violating environment and forest acts, doesnt still Annas team see the open collusion of big capital and the state machinery? All protests and legal efforts of the masses to get justice are falling on deaf years. Our countries ruling class th big bourgeois and their govts have adopted these policies more and more in tandem with the imperialist financ capital. Wikileaks disclosures showed amongst other things how the secrets of corrupt practices like cash-for-votes episodes in Indian parliament are discussed by our national leaders with American politicians.How American and British imperialists pressurize the Indian Govt to extract favour for infamous companies such as Union Carbide, Enron, the British now over Devas involved in the latest ISRO scam, over the recent selection of French fighter planes for the Indian Air Force. The revolutionary working-class made valiant efforts in history to establish such workers states on which they could exercise their control. In Paris Commune the working masses had the right to recall their failed representatives, allowed them salaries only upto the wages of the skilled workers. Compared to that our MPs are people of much much higher up status. In the 2004 Lok Sabha there were 154 crorepatis, in 2009 that further jumped to 300 crorepatis and that also are their officially declared amounts. How can these people ruling our country realize the tremendous oppressive and exploitative conditions in which the workers, peasants and toiling masses live through? Learning from the experiences of Paris Commune in Russia, the workers and peasants built a new type of state ---the Soviet, through which both the functions of legislation and execution were carried out. From regional levels to the national level this was a new type of workers and peasants state. But still after revolution and formation of the Soviet Union in order to continually have a check, control and ensure participation of the working masses on the development of the new workers state another special organization Worker and Peasant Inspection was attempted to be organized. It gradually failed to check the rise of bureaucratic tendencies developing within the Soviet communist party and administration officials and with it grew the deviations and distortions gradually relegating the heroic working class initiative into the background. That is well-known history now. But all such experiences more strongly brings to the front the message that without eradicating bureaucracy and

with it the oppressive state the establishment of an independent institution controlled and answerable to the masses needs is day-dreaming, which Anna and his team is wanting us to believe. Without a struggle to demolish this capitalist system and establishment of a real state of the workers and toilers corruption can never be uprooted from society. ANNAS LIMITATIONS: Annas India Against Corruption accepts corruption just as it is defined within the chapter 9 of the Indian Penal Code and the Prevention of Corruption Act. It narrows down the definition of corruption into illegal dealings and bribe-taking of public servants , their accomplices and the other parties involved in such illegal transactions or favours. The main target is the public servant. They not only avoid talking about the whole capitalist system breeding and exploiting corruption, they even failed to utter a single word identifying that the capitalists are one of the main pillars of these corrupt practices. Further they have been trying to impose their definition of corruption in such a way as if it is applicable to all the classes of society equally and at all times. But in a class-divided society even corruption has differing meanings for the ruling classes and the toilers. To a capitalist bribes and kickbacks are means to win in competitions with their rivals. If POSCO, Essar, or Tata arm-twists the law and by influence of money-power acquires land and natural resources against the opposition of the inhabitants with the govts. even ready to modify the laws for their benefit, isnt that corruption? The repeated violations of labour laws, the attempts to invest large amounts of money from workers Provident Fund and other public funds kept in custody with the public sector organizations in share market speculations isnt that gambling with hard-earned public money? The capitalist class and the govt are openly promoting all these as a part and parcel of their globalisation-liberalisation programme while their definitions of corruption remain restricted in POCA. Anna and his vocal anti-corruption team doesnt say anything about these that has stirred the masses of this country in the recent times. Not a line has been proposd against these capitalist policies in their anti-corruption bills. Not a word has been said about these govt. policies that are aiding the capitalists. If Nira Radias trying to influence the govt as a corporate lobbyist is a corrupt practice in this country today, then in the US it is quite widespread and much of it is legally sanctioned. If India also adopts that then does that make the practice legitimate? A capitalist will say yes, that is transparency, which we are telling the govt to adopt here also! If what was defined by the capitalists and govt. once as swindling and gambling in their legal parlance is today legitimized in the name of participatory-notes orfutures or derivatives then which definition will Annas team adopt? What is at least declaredly corrupt and illegal today may be legitimized tomorrow! Does corruption to a worker or a peasant only mean what has been defined and impressed upon us by this capitalist state? Then whatever has been and is being legitimised by this state in favour of the capitalists, Indian and imperialist, such as looting and exploiting the masses, whatever wealth is amassed without any productive work but just by speculation, is that just? Then what difference basically does Anna teams proposal have with the govts Lokpal? Both are talking of setting up another bureaucratic institution through which legal redressals to corruption will be ensured by a selected few in the name of the masses and that also through only isolated cases of punishments to bureaucrats and public servants as per restricted definitions in their law. What does the fruitless experience of the RTI Act declared with much fanfare show us? With the capitalists at the helm of affairs nothing can be achieved. Rather in the name of independence from political interference the road is being paved for refurbishing the image of the corruption-ridden system before the masses and ensuring further deregulation of govt control. and imposition of direct capitalists control SIMILARITIES OF ANNA-KEJRIWALS & IMPERIALISTS FIGHT WORLD-WIDE

Throughout the world during the last two decades this sort of anti-corruption struggle seems to have acquired great importance. The international organizations promoted by imperialiststhe World Bank, United Nations, the OECD countries, many well-known NGOs like Transparency International are being seen to repeatedly harp on the importance of anti-corruption struggle. What they are prodding the govts to do are almost exactly what Annas team have been demanding---a strong anti-corruption legislation, setting up an ombudsman/ institution on that basis, active role and promotion of Civil Society organizations or NGOs to spread awareness about corruption, especially corruption of govts and public officials, money laundering. Thus Annas Janlokpal bill 2.3 mentions, in its foreword to the UN Convention Against Corruption in 2003, the then Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan wrote, Corruption is an insidious plague that has a wide range of corrosive effects on society. It undermines democracy and the rule of law,. The preamble of this Convention which has been signed by India and has been ratified by it, states that this Convention was adopted because the parties adopting it were concerned about the seriousness of the problems and the threats posed by corruption to the stability and security of societies, undermining the institutions and values of democracy, ethical values and justice and jeopardizing sustainable development and the rule of law.[Janlokpal Bill version 2.3] The World Bank in one of its documents [World Bank. 2000. Anticorruption in Transition] also states that the Bank has identified corruption as among the greatest obstacles to economic and social development. It undermines development by distorting the rule of law and weakening the institutional foundation on which economic growth depends. So it is clear that the imperialists and capitalists the world over are concerned that corruption has become internationally such a big menace that it has become a threat to the stability of the capitalist-imperialist societies. And Annas team echoes it! But this in general terms is not their only matter of their concern. It is more specifically spelt out in some other points of these organizations. In the World Banks article on Overview of Anticorruption it has said -- While perceived corruption of a particular party or candidate has shown to influence voters decisions considerably and therefore exposure of cases of political corruption is an effective deterrent to corrupt behavior, there are limits to the benefits of political competition. Excessive political competition can become a destabilizing factor if it leads to fragmentation of the political system or if it undermines the legitimacy of existing state institutions. Excessive political competition can undermine state capacity and thus create conditions especially conducive to administrative corruption but also state capture. [A Contribution to the Policy Debate. Washington, D.C., pp. 5257.]. So the fear of even losing state control in the midst of political turmoil in a corruption-ridden society also lurk in their minds. So they are also in a hurry to protect the image and credibility of their existing system. See how they have started reacting about the present condition of the legal system-Corruption has a devastating effect on the legal system. The legal system is one of the fundamental pillars of a market economy whose role as arbiter of the law encompasses both the formulation and implementation of public policy. a corrupt legal system has a wider impact, undermining the credibility of the state and making the implementation of public policy more difficult. Further about anticorruption lawsAnti-corruption laws work to deter corrupt actions, prosecute corruptors and resurrect a sense of justice which has become a rare commodity in endemically corrupt countries[web.worldbank.org] Keeping such probable dangers to the capitalist state in mind they further add The institutional design of the state can be an important mechanism in checking corruption.. Effective constraints by state institutions on each other can diminish opportunities for the abuse of power and

penalize abuses if they occur. Their measures planned out are-- Independent & Effective Judiciary ;Anticorruption Legislation; Independent Prosecution and Enforcement; Audit Organization. This shows the big similarity of Annas teams approach regarding an anti-corruption legislation, the so-called independence of its institution, its sole powers of investigation ,prosecution and so on. But that theirs more to it for the imperialists (1)On the 6 December news conference, Rainer Geiger, Deputy Director of the OECDs Financial and Enterprise Affairs Directorate, and the Chair of the OECDs Working Group on Bribery in International Business Transactions,were to discuss the impact of the Convention on the global fight against corruption and outline the challenges facing governments and companies to create a truly level playing field in todays global business environment. [ Progress in the Worldwide Fight Against Corruption01/12/2004] (2) 20 September 2011Coalition Statement on Promoting Asset Recovery and Countering Laundering of Corruptly Taken Assets states---The time has come to act. Beyond shedding light on the devastating impact of grand corruption, the Arab spring has revealed major anti-money laundering deficiencies, and the huge difficulties of getting the money back even after the dictator has been pushed from power. Corrupt money transferred out of developing and transitional economies is conservatively estimated at US$20 to US$40 billion per year. [www.uncaccoalition.org] (3)According to World Bank, corruption sabotages policies and programs that aim to reduce poverty, so attacking corruption is critical to the achievement of the Bank's overarching mission of poverty reduction ..Since 1996, the World Bank has supported more than 600 anticorruption programs and governance initiatives developed by its member countries (4) Further it statesThe degree to which powerful elites influence decisions and policymaking of the state (state capture) constraints the implementation of a fair, competitive, honest and transparent private sector and thus hinders broad-based economic development.The ability of powerful economic interests to capture the state can be constrained by:Economic policy liberalization; Enhancing greater competition; Regulatory reform Good corporate governance; Promoting business associations, trade unions, and concerned parties. [WorldBank.2000. Anticorruption in Transition. A Contribution to the Policy Debate. Washington, D.C., p. 50] If we sum up the imperialist countries plan to save their state structure and economic mission of expanded loot and exploitation from the rising menace of corruption then it is clear from their documents that they want to ensure through their so-called anti-corruption struggle launched in different regions of the world: (a) an anti-corruption law and institution exactly identical to Annas teams proposals; (b) so-called independence of such institutions from the ruling state structure to allay the fear of the masses by resurrecting a sense of justice; (c) creating a truly level playing field in todays global business environment which everyone knows means an advantage to the imperialist countries and their giant MNCs to take control over the world economy in a more extensive way; (d) ensure regain of control through repatriation of secretly moneylaundered assets specially from the conflict-torn regions like the Middle-East; (e) ensuring that in the increasingly aggravating situation of economic disparity and rising dissension among the masses the imperialist designed policies and programs that aim to reduce poverty are not derailed; (f) that the economic liberalization and privation policies do not get derailed in the midst of repeated scams in different countries of the world. Rather the anti-corruption programmes are to ensure smoother adherence to more liberalized state structures, such as cutting of price subsidies, further doing away with govt control.

CAPITALISM ITSELF MUST BE FOUGHT AGAINST BUT ANNAS FOLLOWERS TOE THE LINE OF THEIR INTERNATIONAL COUNTERPARTS Thus the Anna-led brand of anti-corruption struggle made to appear like a common struggle for all sections and classes of society is de facto a part of the international anti-corruption struggle launched by the ruling class of imperialist countries and institutions promoted by them. They are unable to deny the aggravating problem of corruption throughout the world in numerous countries but are mainly concerned with the threat it may pose to their system of exploitation and loot in the present era of globalizationliberalisation and privatization. Naturally they project before us as a solution out of this large-scale corruption in more and more liberalization of economies of all the countries, further withdrawal of the state from intervention, and establishment of so-called independent regulatory institutions in order to refurbish/ restore the image of the capitalist state, its waning credibility before the masses. Exposing the real roots of corruption in the capitalist system of production, distribution and circulation has never been on their agenda. WHICH SIDE WILL THE WORKING CLASS TAKE? The working-class of this country along with the lakhs of toiling masses are already victims of large-scale attacks on their livelihood. Especially after the adoption of the globalization-liberalisation policies by the ruling capitalist class and their govts they are witness to large scale rampant loot and exploitation by Indian and foreign monopolies openly tearing away whatever semblance of protection the constitution declared. The govts are also ever ready to withhold and withdraw restrictions, give reliefs and concessions or even turn a blind eye to the by-passing and violation of laws to aid the capitalists.. Even in the face of opposition of the masses the ruling class is unrelenting. After repeated experiences of this what can corruption mean to these working masses? Simply a law and an institution under these same capitalists rule just to stop bribing in a society where every sphere of economy, social life, and politics within and outside the parliament is dominated by these powerful capitalists? Even the capitalists and imperialists are realizing that the grossly unfair, corrupt actions taken by them has every chance of rousing the masses against the oppressive system. In the face of such an eventuality taking the name of the masses of the whole country Annas team is trying to impress upon us a particular brand of anti-corruption agitation adaptable and acceptable to capitalist morality that has been launched by the capitalists and imperialists to white-wash and salvage the credibility of their system. But in a class divided society morality can also be not above class interests. The capitalist thinks that every and anything should be legitimately purchasable with money and capital for individual accumulation of wealth and private property. The worker and toiling masses morality look forward to a society of collective cooperation of all the toiling masses where domination of the commodities, values, money is done away with the removal of the exploitative capitalist system, class antagonisms are removed and with the burial of bourgeoisie vices and class rule a new human morality emerges above all. Till then the working-class fights any attempt to impose the ruling-class morals and law within the capitalist system. It regards moral indignation, however justifiable , not as an argument, but only as a symptom. Its task is to show that the social abuses coming to the fore are necessary consequences of the existing mode of production,and to reveal.the elements of future new organization of production and exchange which will put an end to these abuses [Anti-DuhringSubject Matter and Method]. Thus neither the govts stand nor Annas prescription solves the plight of the working-class. The working-class can only develop their class-struggle for liberation from this corrupt, exploitative capitalist system and move ahead to really uproot corruption and its sources by demolishing capitalism. SOME OTHER OMINOUS SIGNS Annas agitation, its method has brought forward some other ominous signs in this countrys politics to the forefront. A culture of messianism has been reflected through blind Anna worship. Suddenly a solution by a handful of middle-class professionals has been thrust upon with very little discussion of it among the

masses. A campaign propagating solely catchy slogans of apolitical and some of reactionary religiousnationalist nature was launched mixing up the present bitter truths of capitalist class rule, its exploitation and loot. It is promoting NGO politics with its patron-client relation, the patron being the imperialists and Indian big capitalists providing funds. Indian NGOs collectively received over Rs 49968 crores in foreign contribution during 5 years from 2005-06 to 2009-10. Lastly the agitation reinforced the idea that a stringent, authoritarian rule of law through powerful so-called autonomous institutions like Lokpal can solve the complex problem of corruption, which is much to the liking of the middle and propertied classes. The ripple that Annas agitation stirred up in last April and August seems to have lost wind this December with a failed show of strength during the latest Mumbai anasan but the influence of such false thoughts still prevail in our society, especially in the near-absence of the revolutionary working-class movement ,politically and ideologically. It may once again try to rear its head and swim in the confused waters of the present unless the working class brings forth the real critique of the present stage of capitalism and its state. Preparing for that the conscious elements of the working-class cannot get entrapped in such illusions..