COMMUNICATION 57 to bear the "stamp of caste". We use this for lack of a better term; another might be Ambedkar's "caste division of labourers." That is, even though access to professions and jobs is theoretically open, it still remains true that Dalits are systematically found in the lowest, most illpaid and unorganized jobs, have the least and poorest land and so on; Brahmins and high castes are at the top, middle castes in between. This is true for instance even in Kerala where, it seems, direct caste-feudal relations have been broken more thoroughly than elsewhere. In other words, we reject the implication that the full development of capitalism in India (even if possible) would abolish the material base of casteism. What is Class Struggle? Gupta never clearly defines what he means by "class struggle", though he normally contrasts it with "caste" and brackets "class" with "economic" struggles. But instead of trying to pry out his meaning, I will give ours. Glass struggle is basically the fight of the exploited sections of society against their exploitation, a fight which, to achieve its goal, must break the political power of the exploiters and establish a new form of society. Concurrently it is the fight of the exploiters to maintain their power. It is not simply an "economic" struggle for higher wages, bonus or even land; it is ultimately a struggle for state power. Those who fight a class struggle confront the class enemy at all levels—social, cultural, economic, religious, political; they use all means possible and necessary, from propaganda to open violence; and they attempt to "unite all who can be united" on their side. The ruling class, thus, attempts to spread its culture in the minds of the masses; to neutralize or even win over sections of the proletariat; to bring the petty bourgeoisie on its side; to divide the toiling massess—and in so doing makes use of whatever social traditions and relations it can. The working class movement where it has conscious revolutionary leadership attempts the same. As Lenin has put it: "To imagine that social revolution is conceivable without revolts by small nations in the colonies and in Europe, without revolutionary movements by a section of the petty bourgeoisie with all its prejudices, without a movement of the politically nonconscious proletarian and semi-proletarian masses against oppression by the landowners, the church, and the monarchy, against national oppression etc.— to imagine all this is to repudiate social revolution.^ Thus we feel it is rather dangerous to contrast "class struggle" and "caste struggle" and so to imply the first has only economic forms and aims. The question is, what is caste in the