General Strike in India
Elena Morozova, Pravda, July 18-21, 2025 —
A general strike is one of the most powerful forms of popular protest, which produces a tangible financial and economic effect, creating cracks in the four processes described by Marxist political economy: production, procurement of raw materials, distribution and appropriation of surplus value. It is during a nationwide strike that the class nature of the state is completely exposed. It is not surprising that those in power and the media under their control always try to downplay the significance of such actions, calling them a fruitless, doomed to failure activity that creates problems for ordinary citizens. It is amusing to watch how exploiters, who rob the people daily, manage, as if in a fairy tale – with a wave of a magic wand, for a day or more (depending on the duration of the anti-government riot) to turn into “ascetics”, supposedly concerned about the well-being of the people.
And the only correct response to the lies and hypocrisy of the powers that be is to develop the class consciousness of workers and demonstrate force through strike action. Hundreds of thousands of Indian workers resorted to a time-tested method of fighting for their rights, dating back to 1159 BC, when they went on a 24-hour general strike called “Bharat Bandh”, which in Hindi means “Close India”. The grand protest was provoked by the economic “transformations” proposed by the cabinet of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which implied, in particular, a reform of the Labor Code and the privatization of state enterprises.
The initiator of the uprising of the Indian proletariat was the United Platform of Central Trade Unions and Federations (UPCTCF), a coalition of 10 major workers’ trade unions and a number of sectoral farmers’ organizations, in which the most significant and politically influential forces in the UPCTCF are the Center of Indian Trade Unions (CIT), affiliated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) – CPI(M), the All India Trade Union Congress (AITC), affiliated with the Communist Party of India, and the Indian National Trade Union Congress.
According to the organizers of the strike, the government’s economic policy has led to a jump in unemployment, a significant increase in the price of essential goods, a decrease in the purchasing power of wages, and a reduction in social security spending. At the same time, the trade unions pointed to growing inequality and the deterioration of the situation of both the poorest groups of the population and the middle class. The essence of the reforms of the Modi team was briefly formulated by the General Secretary of the All-Union Communist Party (VKP) Amarjit Kaur, who stated that “in the name of simplifying the conditions for doing business, the leadership of the republic intends to keep workers in check through labor reforms.”
It is noteworthy that the strike was attended by broad sections of the population, who, having overcome ethno-religious and caste differences, constantly cultivated by the ruling elite to divide society and suppress social discontent, united to oppose the anti-people policies of Modi and Co. The action was joined by civil servants, employees of enterprises engaged in globally integrated industries, including the automobile industry, and representatives of the so-called informal sector, outraged by the actions of the cabinet, which is increasingly brazenly attacking workers’ rights. First of all, this applies to the implementation of the reform of the Labor Code in all 36 states and union territories. After all, the innovations promoted by the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party deprive workers of protection against layoffs in large factories, lead to the creation of precarious and low-paid contract jobs, increase the working day (currently limited to eight hours), abolish the mandatory provision of such basic amenities as toilets and drinking water, and make most strikes illegal.
The coal, steel, manufacturing, banking, bus, refinery and postal sectors were among the worst hit by the massive protest. Some auto plants, including Ashok Leyland in Hosur, Tamil Nadu, were forced to partially shut down operations, while others, like Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai, dealt with high levels of absenteeism by slowing assembly lines and bringing in managers to handle line operations.
The strike also affected the transport sector, paralysing services in several parts of the country. For example, in Odisha, thousands of CIP members blocked the national highway around Bhubaneswar, the regional capital. In Bihar, protesters occupied the tracks at the Jehanabad railway junction. Demonstrations on the tracks also brought trains to a standstill in West Bengal.
Overall, support for the event organised by the OPCPF varied significantly from region to region. Thus, the resistance action completely put everyday life on hold in the state of Kerala, where the CPI(M) is at the helm: about 90% of shops in the province were closed, large enterprises did not function and buses did not run.
In West Bengal, where the ruling All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) had promised to disrupt the anti-government protests, violent clashes between workers and the police, reinforced by groups of ITC supporters, took place in several districts. As a result, more than a thousand strikers were arrested. Trying to justify the repression, an ITC spokesman called the strike “hooliganism in the guise of protest.”
The protests by thousands also disrupted bus and auto rickshaw services in Tamil Nadu, especially in the regional capital Chennai, and the industrial hubs of Coimbatore and Tiruchirappalli. Automobile manufacturing in the province also ground to a halt, and numerous bank and insurance company branches slammed their doors.
In Jharkhand, the strike forced coal mining companies Central Coalfields Limited and Eastern Coalfields Limited to cease all operations and also led to the closure of the head office and all 450 branches and regional offices of the Jharkhand Rajya Grameen Bank, even those in the neighbouring state of Bihar.
Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous province, has also seen services in the banking and insurance sectors suspended. In addition, 270,000 workers in the power sector have shut down their work in protest against the impending privatisation of the state’s two state-owned power distribution companies, Paschimanchal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited and Dakshinachal Vidyut Vitran Nigam Limited. As Shailendra Dubey, chairman of the All India Federation of Power Engineers, pointed out, government officials are colluding with private firms to sell off state assets at low prices.
In Maharashtra, the country’s second-most populous region, automobile, pharmaceutical and technology firms reported slower order fulfillment due to staff absenteeism, disruptions in just-in-time production and power outages. In the western part of the state, absenteeism by employees of the Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company disrupted power supplies to industrial clusters.
The 24-hour strike, the 23rd nationwide action that the CIP and the VCP have led since the Indian bourgeoisie adopted neoliberal policies in 1991, abandoning the state-capitalist development project in favor of full integration into the US-led private world order, saw major demonstrations in a number of cities. Tea plantation workers demonstrated across Assam, and rallies initiated by opposition parties (Nitish Kumar’s National Democratic Alliance is currently in power) swept through Bihar, where elections to the Legislative Assembly are due in November.
In Gurgaon, an industrial hub and the second-largest metropolis in Haryana, thousands of workers in the auto, construction, road transport, banking, food service, healthcare and child care sectors marched from Kamala Nehru Park to the post office, culminating in a mass rally. In Bangalore, the capital of Karnataka, about half a million people gathered at Freedom Park, chanting slogans and holding placards. A powerful anti-government march also took place in the northern province, in Hooli Dharwad.
Thus, defending their rights and interests, a huge army of Indian workers came out in a broad front against the Modi cabinet and the country’s ruling elite as a whole. As noted by the OPCPF, the strike was not just a 24-hour act of disobedience, but became “a day of realizing the strength of the working class and planning its future, a manifestation of unity in the fight against the capitalist system, the first step towards realizing the dream of an alternative society.”
According to statistics, even a 24-hour strike threatens multi-million dollar losses. What can we say about the consequences of much longer protest events, which, by the way, cause impressive damage not only in financial terms, as shown by the fifth month of the utility workers’ strike in Birmingham, Britain, which has turned the second most populous city in foggy Albion into an unsanitary zone, balancing on the brink of an ecological catastrophe. The streets of the metropolis are littered with rotting waste, and the number of rats has reached terrifying proportions. The situation is aggravated by the 32-degree heat, which intensifies the stench and attracts new hordes of rodents.
The worst hit areas are Small Heath and Bordesley Green, where illegal dumping grounds have formed as residents are forced to dump rubbish bags on the streets. “Everywhere stinks, there are rats everywhere and it’s scary to let children out in the yard,” complain the Brummies (an informal nickname for Birmingham residents).
The rubbish saga in the capital of the West Midlands region, as Pravda has written on numerous occasions, has been going on since January 2025, when the city council cut the staff of the housing service, abolishing positions in the waste recycling sector. This gave rise to a wave of discontent among utility workers, who began an indefinite strike on March 11. Since then, rubbish and slop have been removed extremely irregularly or not at all.
Well, local authorities still cannot reach an agreement with the trade unions, although residents tearfully call on the government to intervene and take urgent measures to restore order.
The long-running series about the battle of utility workers for their rights has naturally begun to have a negative impact on the image of the metropolis: tourists complain about unsanitary conditions, and experts warn of a real threat of epidemics. Meanwhile, the hashtags #Birmingham trash and #Rattown are gaining popularity on social networks, and users are posting photos of streets drowning in slop. Brummies are demanding that order be restored, cleaned up, and the “shameful desolation” of the largest agglomeration in the United Kingdom after London, where life has become worse than in third world countries, be stopped once and for all.
Strikes have also become commonplace in the Republic of Moldova, where protest activity has noticeably increased ahead of the parliamentary elections scheduled for September 28. Thus, the Union of Advocates of Moldova (UAM) declared a general strike on July 15, outraged by the amendments to the law on advocacy approved by parliament, which threaten its sovereignty and turn the legal profession into a “politically subordinate structure”. The controversial innovations were hastily and without public consultations approved by the parliamentary majority of the ruling Action and Justice Party (PAS) as the mandate of the current legislative body expired.
The extreme form of protest, which, according to the chairman of the AMU, Dorin Popescu, has become the only way to protect the independence and autonomy of lawyers, will last until the extraordinary congress of lawyers scheduled for July 25.
Among the key changes that have angered lawyers are the ban on charging fees for reviewing complaints to the Ethics and Discipline Commission (EDC); the right of the Ministry of Justice to appoint members of the EDC and the Licensing Commission, strengthening state control; limiting the term of office of the SAM Council representatives to one mandate, which limits self-government; the lack of discussion of the amendments with the professional community. The “new developments” from the PDS are an unceremonious encroachment on the financial and regulatory autonomy of the bar, as well as the principles of a free and independent profession,” the SAM emphasized.
Solidarity with the striking lawyers was expressed by the leader of the opposition party “Future of Moldova”, former Prime Minister Vasile Tarlev, who shares the concerns of the SAM about the pressure from the government. “Instead of reforming the legal services market, the country’s President Maia Sandu and her PAS are carrying out a “raider seizure” of the republic’s judicial system to deal with the opposition before the upcoming parliamentary elections. Under the guise of European integration, lawyers are being pressured in Moldova, and therefore the SAM strike is not a whim, but an act of despair, generated by the efforts of the Cabinet to break the back of the legal protection institution. An attempt to impose a “reform” of the legal profession without taking into account the opinion of the professional community is a usurpation of power, a blow to the Constitution and the principles of a democratic state, which the authorities so love to hide behind at forums with Western curators,” Tarlev said.
The protest picture of recent days would be incomplete without a story about the turbulent events in the town of Torre-Pacheco, located in the Spanish autonomous region of Murcia, which, according to analysts, predict in miniature the future of the entire West.
It all started when three Moroccans brutally beat up a local 68-year-old pensioner. According to the victim, the attackers didn’t even demand that he take off his watch or give him money, but simply beat him up, since their goal was not robbery, but filming what was happening for subsequent posting on social media.
However, after watching this “cool” video on the Internet, residents of Torre-Pacheco, which stands out among other municipalities in the kingdom for the number of migrants who make up almost a third of the population, went to demonstrate at the town hall, chanting: “Deport everyone immediately!” The authorities tried to calm the people down, but did not take any real measures to rectify the situation. Then the hot-blooded southern Spaniards, taking sticks and knives, went out into the streets to catch Africans and Arabs. The migrants also armed themselves, gathered in packs and began to attack, as reported on social networks, anyone “whose skin color seemed lighter than theirs.”
According to the police, members of gangs were also seen in the clashes. In addition, activists from right-wing radical groups arrived to help local residents, and National Guard fighters came to the aid of law enforcement officers, who separated the warring parties and began mass arrests, mainly radicals. The Spanish press immediately blamed the townspeople, branding them xenophobes and ultra-nationalists. The media’s point of view, shared by the security forces, was also to the liking of the Minister of Youth Affairs, Sire Rego, a Palestinian by origin, who blamed the unrest on the local extreme right. Interestingly, the beaten pensioner was completely forgotten.
Remarkably, the algorithm of the anti-immigrant riot in Torre-Pacheco is exactly the same as in the British Southport, where last year a man from Rwanda stabbed three little white girls to death. So, first there is a crime motivated not by greed but by pure racial hatred, then the natives pour out into the streets. In the end, the establishment takes the side of the “newcomers”: the press declares the protests “provocations by nationalists”, the guardians of the law arrest the locals, and the courts send them to prison for intolerance of non-believers.