Siraj Sikder
The original Bengali is a document of the 7th Plenum of 1st Central Committee of the Proletarian Party of East Bengal produced and published by the party in 1973
The Communist Party Marxist-Leninist-Maoist Bangladesh translated the document in English and published online via www.sarbaharapath.com on 29 October 2014. The Party slightly edited the translation on 20 March 2017
In almost every region, there is a common problem: shortage of cadres. In-Charge of those regions want cadre from higher levels time and again.
In-Charge go to various areas and take class. So, each of the places have communication after many days. That is why cadres cannot be improved and utilized properly.
New contacts also cannot be made due to lack of cadres.
In this situation, we can solve the problem by implementing following points:
○ In-Charge will appoint courier, and via him/her, he/she will regularly communicate with different areas, send documents, orders and some questions in written form to know about the situation of the areas.
Courier will regularly communicate with leadership of different areas, give them documents and bring answers and reports.
Thus, different areas will be under communication although In-Charge cannot go there, and we shall be able to utilize cadres.
New contact also can be maintained via courier (if cadres are not available to maintain that)
○ Build Relay Center
Leading cadres of different areas should communicate with In-Charge within a specific duration of time. They must go to Relay Center to report.
In case of emergency problem too, they can communicate via Relay Center. In-Charge will send someone to Relay Center in a particular time every day to know everything.
○ Carry meeting regularly with leading cadres of different areas.
– In-Charge may regularly carry meeting with leading cadres of different areas.
They have to take class there on the directives of higher levels, reading sent documents and make them understand that, determining method of application, reviewing their works, finding out errors, showing success, making criticism-self-criticism etc.
Through that, cadres can be improved.
○ Provide special class for leading, promising and advance cadres of various areas to make rapid improvement of them.
Take class with more emphasis on the weak subjects of the cadres.
Produce minimum Textbook for all those classes.
○ Provide the opportunity so that efficient ones on various subjects may teach on those.
If classes cannot be managed, send the efficient people to different areas so that they can train others there.
○ Make huge number of cadres whole timer to recover cadre-shortage.
In-Charge has to take initiative in this regard.
We can make whole timers even those cadres who are not politically developed or enough efficient to carry task independently, because practice and time will make them efficient.
Practice is the test field of qualification. So, qualification of whole timer cadres can only be measured by sending them to practice.
A male cadre faces no problem to re-establish himself at home if he wants to leave organization or organization sends back him or unqualified persons to home, while women cadres faces problem in such case (unless the family is sympathizer). This is why we have to have consideration and review before making women whole timers and properly verify their qualifications so that they do not have to be sent back to home.
It is better that In-Charge stay some days with the cadres who want to be whole timer, so he/she will be able to take note different characteristics of the cadres because man cannot pretend continuously whole day or many days, his/her aspects of character must manifest.
Properly collect and review cadre history before making whole timer.
○ If we can shelter whole timer cadres in houses of sympathizers where we shall not have to bear his/her meal expenditure, in that case we can make condition for making whole timer easier a little bit. If organization has to bear expenditure of living, in that case, condition should be tougher a little bit.
If we can manage job, lodging (lodging is a system in Bengali rural society, where a student or a teacher stay and take food in house of a peasant in exchange of teaching children of the peasant—Translator) etc., we can make cadres whole timer by minimizing criteria.
○ If any cadre want to be whole timer for some days or some months, we should make that because some may become permanent whole timer in course of work.
○ Whole timer cadres and the problems of security
▬ Whole Timer cadres, being enemy agent, may put security of organization at risk
▬ Incautiously may disclose secrecy of organization
▬ May disclose secrets in face of torture in custody, if arrested
▬ May create sexual and other (Stealing, quarrel etc.) problems in the houses of sympathizers
▬ Create problems like disobeying orders, fund embezzlement, clique, hatching conspiracy and greed for leadership
▬ Seize arms and other assets of party; dacoity
▬ Be sick
○ Whole Timer cadres may create following problems if he/she returns back to home
▬ Carry assets of party with him/her
▬ Disclose secrets
▬ Transform into enemy agent
▬ Spread slander against organization etc.
So, we should be cautious about those possibilities.
For that,
▬ Look at cadre history of the whole timers
▬ Be in touch with them to understand their aspects of character
▬ Do not make whole timer by believing others’ reports or cadres’ own reports
Make proper solutions of the above problems and take steps accordingly
Make the whole timers and cadres read our principles and examples regarding traitors and bad elements
○ Show backward cadres easy way of how to make political discussion, if necessary, make them read documents in front of others (if he/she cannot verbally discuss), teach them how to carry organizational task easily, fix them which task should be carried first and which should be later.
○ Take care of the works of whole timers. Show them their errors and success.
○ Make meetings with whole timers, exchange experiences and take class. Develop them in this way.
○ It is indispensable for the In-Charge to correct their following erroneous thinking and working method to recover shortage of cadres.
○ Oppose one-sidedness
When making whole timer, In-Charge only see the applicant’s backward aspects and think those as everlasting.
Backward and developed are two aspects of a contradiction. Under certain condition, backwards are transformed into developed ones.
Development lies in backwardness.
Backward cadres will transform into developed ones through summing up practice and experiences and in the course of practice and time. Of course, some will fall. Therefore, it is incorrect only to see the backwardness but not seeing that possibilities lie in backwardness.
○ Only seeing losses, but not seeing the aspect of benefit
In-Charge only sees what difficulties and losses may arise with whole timer cadres. But benefit and opportunity lie in loss and difficulty because if some of the whole timers sustain and get develop, we have much more gain and benefit than loss.
Moreover, it is anti-dialectical thinking to gain benefit without losses and opportunity without difficulties.
Yet, we must manage in such a way so that we have losses and difficulties as less as possible.
It is one-sidedness to be conservative by thinking about losses.
○ Denying relativity and being metaphysical
In-Charge think backwardness as everlasting by not thinking that backwardness is subjected to change and is temporary. So, they become metaphysical.
Backwardness is relative and temporary. In the course of practice-summation-practice and time, backward becomes developed and developed becomes more developed, and sometimes, developed becomes backward too.
Therefore, In-Charge must reject metaphysical outlook.
○ Not reflecting particularities of matter and not realizing motion.
▬ Not understanding advance, moderate and backward aspects of cadres; not understanding everyone’s qualifications and limitations, good and bad aspects.
As a consequence, they cannot find out advance elements, make them more advances, make them whole timers and utilize cadres based on their qualifications; they cannot utilize good aspects of the cadres. So shortage of cadres always remains.
Cadres’ development is also dynamic. In that course, some want to be whole timer. In-Charge do not understand the motion of development and do not make him/her whole timer. So, cadres again become backward.
They should understand the motion of development, make advance ones more advance and courageously make cadres whole timer.
○ Be materialist
Before making whole timer, reflect his/her different aspects in the brain properly as far as possible. Do not depend on others’ reports or verbal/written statements of cadres.
Reject the tendency of only seeing good aspects, not seeing bad aspects and thinking many things in subjective imagination what actually do not exist in the cadre etc.
Therefore, keep in touch with the cadres who want to be whole timer and closely observe them. Collect their past histories.
Past history is very much important because present develops on past and future also will develop on present and past.
Therefore, we should properly reflect past and present.
So, we shall be able to resist enemy agents and bad elements from becoming whole timer.
○ Reject dogmatism
Most of our In-Charge know the above-mentioned theories but they don’t apply those and fall in short of cadres.
This is their dogmatist error.
Therefore, cadres must reject dogmatism and apply theories in real practice.
Conclusion
Shortage and abundance is two aspects of a contradiction. Under certain condition, shortage transforms into abundance. For that, we need to work with patience. In densely populated East Bengal, a lot of cadres will be available whom we must develop in the course of practice and thus recover shortage of cadre.
Of course, leading and good cadres always will be small in number and there will be shortage of them. Therefore, in a planned manner, we must develop such cadres with patience and carefully save them. East Bengal is a small and densely populated country. Here, small number of developed cadres are enough to make revolution. Under the guidance of those developed cadres, huge number of cadres will be required who are able to carry huge work.
So, we must courageously recruit cadres. We must resist infiltration of enemy agents and bad elements.
With that aim, In-Charge must seriously reject one-sidedness, metaphysics and dogmatism and be dialectical materialist.
►◄
Some fundamental harmful aspects and habits
Laziness, laxity, foolishness, meanness, envy, arbitration, temperamental, sexual and other immoralities, backwardness, timidity, vacillation, whimsical, bad behavior, hypocrisy, childishness, bad habits, acting, double dealing, conspiracy, trick, careerist, luxuriousness habit, pose goodness, cannot stand criticism, unwilling to learn and laziness, not confessing guilty, different types of greed and lustfulness etc.
Note
1) Fundamental aspects and habits of human character develop under the influence of classes in long days’ course. Collect information through cadre history, past, present, others’ reports, verbal and written questions and close contact etc.; review and analyze the information received from investigation and find out fundamental aspects and habits. Divide those aspects into three: useful, harmful and neither useful nor harmful.
Harmful basic aspects will remain long days and can be cleared in the course of hard and arduous efforts.
Despite the fact that harmful aspects will last long days and it is arduous and takes time to clear those, we must consider how much we can utilize the useful aspects at present context and on that basis, we have to collect cadres and appoint them.
For example:
Com. Ataur has some good aspects but whimsicality is a basic bad aspect of his character. He was appointed and worked in many places, but suddenly he left the places resulting losses of work in those places. It shows that despite the fact that he has various good aspects, but those cannot be utilized because of his one basic bad aspect. This is why, temporarily he is being appointed and worked with other cadres so that in case he leaves area, areas will not suffer and be without leadership.
Despite the fact that some cadres have many good aspects, we are not being able to utilize them because of their-some basic bad aspects. Many times, we suffered a lot by utilizing that type of cadres □