The Concept of the Augmented Product to A&F Essay

The Concept of the Augmented Product to A&F - Essay Example A&F would have a hard time adjusting to this type of external competitive threat because it would be increasingly difficult to make A&F appear viable to a virtual marketplace who has shifted away from the organic in favor of the technological. They must be adaptable and continue to understand the trends of their current demographic. Their design is all synonymous with youth and beauty and lifestyle attitudes. From their flagship mural to their in-store displays, everything is done to elicit this sensation in-store. It appears they’ve positioned their brand well, but on a more adaptable positioning map, I would suggest that A&F be prepared to shift a little more to the right and a little more to the left when necessary in order to draw in a different demographic (with only minor adjustments to the brand) when sales volumes decline. I think all brands have pressures and stresses. A&F faces the real possibility that they could be outperformed by up-and-comers if they don’t consider contingency plans for their current marketing efforts. Though short-term they are finding considerable profitability through their new expansion efforts, they must realize (and it appears they do) that they must be flexible. They have obviously invested a lot of funds into new technologies which improve both their in-store operations and their international merchandising campaigns. This means they are growing and meeting the demand of a global marketplace. So, an initial assessment it would seem that A&F is doing very well in this area. From Porter’s Five Forces viewpoint, they don’t currently face a great deal of rivalry, as nobody has been able to establish a brand identity as strong as A&F in this type of fashion marketing arena. Many of the barriers to entry have been completed and changed by the efforts of other  retailers who have spread into European nations. A&F obviously maintains the capital necessary to expand if they wanted a more rapid market entry across Europe, so they seem reasonably secure in being more aggressive.  

Executive Branch Essay Example for Free

Executive Branch Essay The executive branch is the most powerful branch of government. The executive branch makes the president commander in chief. It also gives the president the role of economic leader. And he/she can also make executive orders that have the force of law. These are just some of the many roles that make the executive branch the most powerful branch of government. When the president has the role of commander in chief he/she is given the power to use force to back up our foreign policy. They are in charge of the army, navy, air force, marines, and the coast guard. The top commanders of all of these branches of service are subordinate to the president. The president is also our economic leader. He/She deals with unemployment, rising prices, high taxes and more. When voted into office the president is expected to care of these issues. One key task the president must accomplish each year is to plan the federal government’s budget too. Last but not least, the president has the role of chief executive. He can make an executive order, which has the force of law. During his presidency, Harry S. Truman had to use an executive order in 1948 to integrate armed forces. The president also has the power to grant pardons. A pardon is a declaration of forgiveness and freedom from punishment. The president has many roles to help keep our country in order. From commander in chief, economic leader, and chief executive he/she helps everything run as smoothly as possible. The executive branch is by far the most powerful branch of government, because it helps keep our country out of trouble and copasetic.

Testosterone and Infidelity Essay -- Extramarital affair, Infidelity,

A man has been married to his wife for seven years. The couple has two beautiful children, a fabulous home, and appear to have the perfect marriage. After the husband leaves work one afternoon, he decides to stop in at the local bar. The man sits at a table in the corner of the room. Not long after his arrival, a woman approaches him. She asks the man if she can join him at his table. The two seem to have quite a bit in common and enjoy each other’s company. The woman asks if he would like to go back to her apartment. He has not had a fight with his wife today. In fact, she surprised him with a love note in his briefcase. Their sex life is enjoyable, frequent, and without complaint. The couple is not currently having financial problems. Despite this, why did the man decide to leave with a stranger and cheat on his wife? A great deal of research has been carried out on the topic of infidelity. Marital therapists have reported that more than half of the couples t hey counsel are in therapy as a result of infidelity (Atkins, Jacobson citation). Therapists also consider an extramarital affair as, â€Å"one of the most damaging relationship events and one of the most difficult problems to treat in couples therapy† (whisman predicting sexual infidelity†¦). Some therapists estimate that 50% to 65% of couples seek help after an incident of infidelity in their relationship (Atkins, Jacobson & Baucom). Identifying the reasons for this problem are essential to the success of its reduction. Infidelity is not a new phenomenon. However, there was little research on the topic until the late 1970’s (Drigotas & Barta, 2001). Numerous factors have been examined while trying to determine the root cause for extramarital relationships a... ...irections and implications. In a future study, a satisfaction questionnaire could be included to examine a participant’s current marital satisfaction prior to exposure to their condition. A study should be conducted using an older sample of male participants in order to see if results would be different as a result of the decreased levels of testosterone in that age group. In addition, future researchers should consider investigating homosexuality, testosterone, and infidelity. There is no research that address homosexuality, testosterone. and infidelity. As such, future research should explore these aspects. Research dedicated to biological reasons for infidelity is an important and necessary contribution to reduce the worldwide epidemic of divorce. Understanding the effect (effect or affect?) testosterone has on infidelity is another step in this process.

Mortuary And Anatomical Pathology Health And Social Care Essay

The Mortuary and Anatomic Pathology unit signifiers portion of the Pathology Department. It is linked to the Mater Dei Hospital complex via an belowground service corridor through which organic structures will be transported in a more dignified mode. It is besides situated in an stray portion of the Mater Dei composite in order to let for a more dignified readying of our beloved departed in the quieter portion of the Hospital. The mortuary offers assorted other services which include: Receiving organic structures from the Hospital and other establishments and beginnings such as the community. Fixing organic structures for their funeral rites. In the morgue, besides there being a room for readying of organic structures of people who believed in the Roman Catholic religion, there is besides a room saved for readying of organic structures for people who believed in other faiths and have different spiritual rites with respect to readying of the dead The mortuary offers an necropsy service for the assorted Hospitals that require a station mortem scrutiny. The morgue at Mater Dei is besides equipped to provide for forensic station mortem surveies. In order to supply these services, the mortuary contains many installations and machines. These installations and machines include a cold storage, organic structure electric refrigerators, a station mortem country and a research lab, an embalming room and a organic structure readying room. Sing suites are besides present to enable relations and friends to pay their last respects to the departed in a more private ambiance. There is besides a Mortuary Chapel where relations and friends can happen clip for minutes of silence and contemplation and take part in the concluding supplications recited merely before the organic structure is transferred to an expecting hearse for its last ocean trip to the graveyard.Duties of the Scientist at the MortuaryThe chief responsibilities of the scientist at the mortuary and anatomic pathology unit are the disposal and direction of assets and processs available at the morgue. These responsibilities include: Administration: This function incorporates the logistical and scientific facets relevant to a modern Mortuary and Anatomic pathology unit. This function besides includes rendering a service to clients so it is imperative that good client service is offered. All release signifiers, decease certifications, general mortuary signifiers and client information has to be documented and filed decently by the administrative staff. Post mortem scrutinies, which can be ordered either by the Consultant within the province Hospitals in what is known as a infirmary station mortem or by the Magistrate on responsibility if the individual died under leery fortunes. In this instance a forensic station mortem is used. The necropsy is besides indispensable in finding the cause of decease of investigated persons. Histology. The samples obtained from the organic structure during the necropsy must be subjected to histopathological probe. The samples obtained from the organic structure during the necropsy receive the same intervention as those obtained from a life patient in an operating theater. Other processs such as Health and safety, procurance of specimens, concatenation of detention, certification and many more processs.The Relevance of a Post Mortem Examination.A station mortem scrutiny is a careful scrutiny of the bygone person. It can offer valuable hints as to how the individual died every bit good as information sing the unwellness and its effects on the organic structure. It may besides give a more precise indicant with respect to how the single died. Sometimes, even the best and most elaborate station mortem scrutinies may non bring out the cause of decease and may besides go forth certain inquiries unreciprocated. These probes are normally carried out by a diagnostician. A diagnostician is a individual who specialises in the research lab survey of disease and of morbid tissue. The diagnostician is assisted by a scientist with specialist preparation in this peculiar field. Post mortems are carried out in particular installations located in the Hospital Mortuary. Post mortem scrutinies are a benefit to the medical profession as they provide information sing wellness and unwellness that would non be discovered anyplace else. These scrutinies paved the manner for both anatomical finds and new information sing unwellnesss. Post mortem scrutinies help place the cause of decease of an person, confirm the nature of the unwellness and besides the extent of the disease and are capable of placing other undiagnosed conditions. Another usage of station mortem scrutinies is to measure the effects of interventions and drugs and aid place complications or side effects. A station mortem is a valuable tool for loved 1s as it helps them understand why the person died. Families can on occasion inquire inquiries that can merely be answered by information acquired from a station mortem. Some of the information obtained from a station mortem scrutiny can profit future kids in the household and patients who suffer from similar unwellnesss. ( Post mortem scrutiny a a‚ ¬ † information for relations, 2007 ) .Stairss Taken to Maintain Health and Safety Standards in the MortuaryThe Mortuary presents a figure of wellness and safety hazards for forces. These hazards include both wellness related, accidents due to working conditions and hazards specific to working with human remains. These remains are a serious biohazard and are host to assorted pathogens and risky residues such as bacteriums, infective spores, infective soft tissue and residues of military and industrial chemicals. These pathogens can be transmitted either by manus to talk contact, contact with mucous secretion membranes, or via the air in the necropsy room or organic structure fluids such as blood. Extra hazards to transmittal of pathogens include the handling of heavy organic structures and utilizing insanitary and insecure equipment. The Mortuary in the Mater Dei Hospital is split into two chief countries, a clean country and a soiled country. These countries are separated by a transitional zone. The soiled countries include organic structure shops at a temperature of 4AA °C. It has easy to clean, non-porous surfaces and a system of containment for any organic structure fluids. On the other manus, the clean country consists of the screening suites, the chapel, offices and response countries. It besides has proper ambient clime controls to take smells and bluess and is chiefly where clean equipment is stored. Bodies, equipment and people working in these separate countries must ne'er come into contact with one another whilst working. Besides, a organic structure should ne'er travel into the dry country before it has been decently cleaned and any soft tissue found is removed. Once the soft tissue is removed it is placed in a deep-freeze. The remainder of the human remains are so stored in a separate freeze countr y. It is indispensable that all employees working at the Mater Dei Hospital mortuary wear personal protective equipment ( PPE ) , which is designed to assist protect the scientist from serious wellness and safety dangers. This equipment is found in the clean transitional country located in forepart of the necropsy room, to enable scientists to alter into their safety equipment before come ining. PPE worn by a scientist in the autopsy room of the mortuary include: Overalls/scrubs ( washable or disposable ) . It is imperative that this peculiar equipment be worn every twenty-four hours to protect the tegument from any dust and organic structure fluid which may do infection. Latex/nitrile baseball mitts. Nitrile baseball mitts are used by scientists who are allergic to latex and must be worn when managing organic structures or organic structure fluids. Double gloving is the process Facemask. It is normally found as a vizor. This is worn when cleaning organic structures, vesture and artifacts and has to be on a regular basis cleaned by the scientist utilizing it. It prevents infection by protecting the face from splash dorsum of organic structure fluids. Safety goggles/glasses. These are worn to forestall any dust from coming into contact with the oculus, which could take to a potentially serious hurt and perchance infection. Mortuary shoes/wellington boots. These are non-slip boots similar to those used in surgeries. They are rainproof and prevent entry of fluids. Aprons. All surgical equipment used must be sanitised and autoclaved decently after every usage and has to be stored in a safe and unafraid closet when it is non being utilized. The most unsafe tool, the necropsy saw, can merely be used by experient forces. Handss and open tegument must be washed after the necropsy to take any dust or organic structure fluids of the dead person as these may do infections. It is besides of import non to touch au naturel tegument while have oning baseball mitts. The scientist working in the necropsy room must non touch his or her eyes, oral cavity or olfactory organ to forestall spread of any blood borne infections. Beyond the altering country there is besides a shower which scientists can utilize after managing organic structure samples. The necropsy and dissection tabular arraies are made up of chromium steel steel and are connected to a supply of low force per unit area H2O. This H2O is treated with Cl to take any infective agents and is so discharged into the normal sewerage system. A High Energy Particulate Air ( HEPA ) filter can besides be found in the necropsy room to pin down any viruses or airborne bacteriums from go outing the installations and go arounding into the outside air. It is indispensable that outside vesture non be worn in the morgue. Extra PPE should be worn in specific countries such as the biohazard room for excess protection and when samples are being taken for deoxyribonucleic acid ( DNA ) analysis. Finally, the morgue is cleaned exhaustively and disinfected every dark. Working in the mortuary poses a serious wellness hazard to scientists. Some of these possible hazards include working in excessively hot or excessively cold conditions, bacterial related illness, organic structure fluid or tissue related illness, raising hurts and emphasis related illness. That is why it is ensured that inoculations for certain diseases such as lockjaw, Hepatitis A and Hepatitis B, Tuberculosis, Typhoid, Diphtheria and Rabies be accounted for in every scientist working in the necropsy room. It is indispensable that every new employee undergoes a wellness and safety briefing and that hazard appraisals be carried out every clip a new organic structure arrives. The mortuary staff must be briefed on the new hazards found. A first assistance kit has to be present along with person who knows how to give first assistance. Anyone come ining the morgue has to follow general wellness and safety patterns. Fragmentary bone may be crisp and organic structures can be heavy, hence the staff must undergo manual managing preparation.

Written Words Used as Propaganda

Written Word Used as Propaganda The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave is an account of Frederick Douglass’ life written in a very detached and objective tone. One might find this normal for a historical account of the events of someone’s life if not for the fact that the narrative was written by Frederick Douglass himself. Frederick Douglass used this tone purposefully in an attempt to use his narrative as propaganda to convince others to join in the abolitionist’s movement. According to Donna Woolfolk Cross in â€Å"Propaganda: How not to be Bamboozled,† propaganda is â€Å"simply a means of persuasion† (149). She further notes that we are subjected daily to propaganda in one form or another as advertisers, politicians, and even our friends attempt to persuade us to use their product, vote for them, or adopt their point of view. Propaganda is usually considered in a negative sense. However, when viewing propaganda as just persuasion, one can readily appreciate that it is neither good nor evil; the good/evil effect is the direct result of the purpose for which it is used. Politicians and leaders have used propaganda to further their goals; Hitler’s use of propaganda as a means of controlling the population of Germany is the most recognizable example of propaganda used for evil. Martin Luther King’s â€Å"I Have a Dream† speech, in which he urges non-violent resistance in the cause of racial equality, portrays persuasion used with good intentions. Although speeches are highly effective at delivering ideas, the written word can be even more influential. In the early days of America, literature was used extensively as a means of persuasion. As early as 1589 Richard Hakluyt published stories in a book he wrote for the sole purpose of persuading people to sail to America and settle land. These stories which were told to Hakluyt by captains and sailors appeared to be straightforward and narrative, however Hakluyt edited each piece so that he was able to successfully persuade the people who read his stories to sail to America and settle the land thus securing critical natural resources for England. Such was the goal with the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave. Douglass’ objective was to appeal to the middle-class people of that time and persuade them to join in the movement. Although the Narrative was ostensibly written to prove that Douglass had actually been a slave, Douglass, working for the abolitionist group headed by William Lloyd Garrison, wrote for a specific audience: white Puritan Christians whom the abolitionists hoped to convert to their way of thinking. Thus, what began as a telling of his life experiences evolved into a tool of persuasion. As with all propaganda, Douglass’ Narrative contains certain elements that appeal to the emotions of the reader. Douglass’ writing style was descriptive as well as convincing. This emotional hold allows the writer to sway the opinion of the reader. His horrific details of the time, helped him grasp the attention of the women who he hoped in turn would convince their husbands to help, by donating money and eventually ending slavery. He used his words effectively in convincing the readers that the slave owners were inhuman and showed how they had no feelings for other human beings as evident when he wrote: ‘The louder she screamed the harder he whipped; and where the blood ran fastest, there he whipped longest† (Douglass25). Although a self-taught writer and orator, Douglass makes use of sophisticated elements of persuasive writing. Simultaneously, he chooses these events for how they will affect the Northern audience’s opinion of Southern slaveholders. Considering the fact that this was written during the height of the abolition movement the novel had to be effective in order to advance the success of the movement. The distant tone was effective because if Douglass had written with an impassioned tone, readers would have noticed it and simply wrote it off as a biased work, unable to see the issue from both sides. Through personal anecdotes, Douglass draws an accurate picture of slave life. Douglass also shows that slavery was not a constant source of pain and suffering: â€Å"I was not old enough to work in the fields, and there being little else than field work to do, I had a great deal of leisure time,† (Douglass 71). This is effective in proving his point because it allows him to show the whole of slavery and not be biased in his views. Douglass uses family relationships, starting with his own birth, to gain the compassion of his target audience. â€Å"Frequently, before the child has reached its twelfth month, its mother is taken from it, and hired out on some farm a considerable distance off, and the child is placed under the care of an old woman, too old for field labor† (749). Douglass mentions this particular anecdote to specifically capture the compassion of his targeted audience; white women. In Douglass’ autobiography however, the elements alone do not prove his intent to write for any reason other than to prove his background as a slave and defend his credibility against the critics of the abolitionists that charge that Douglass could never have been born a slave as he claimed (McKivigan 18). The most convincing argument for the contention that this was written as propaganda is the manner in which the persuasive elements are used. The body of the narrative is written in a simple and straightforward manner; the story is told quite matter-of-factly, even the horrific scenes of the cruel beatings and killings of slaves. This lack of histrionics is true even when the targets of the overseers’ whips are Douglass’ own family members. Yet, when Douglass speaks of Southern Christianity defending slavery, he works himself into a fury of emotion and uses the more obvious elements of propaganda. When he writes of the religious practices and hypocrisy of the same slaveholders, he again reverts to persuasive rhetoric. Some chapters are genuine throughout, while others contain much propaganda. One segment in particular, that having to do with the fate of his grandmother, is written in a style that is not consistent with the rest of the book. Rather, extremely histrionic, in which the believable, factual Douglass disappears, and is replaced by someone writing solely for effect â€Å"My dear old grandmother, whom you turned out like an old horse to die in the woods-is she still alive?.. Send me my grandmother! † (Preston 167). It appears that Frederick Douglass did begin his autobiography with the intention of writing his story in a realistic manner; the basic narrative bears that out. But in the course of writing his intent strayed, and he became aware of the power that could be unleashed by inflaming the emotions of readers. Undoubtedly encouraged in his use persuasive rhetoric on an oratory level, he eventually created a masterpiece of propaganda. Works Cited Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. New York: Signet, 1968. Douglass, Frederick. A Slaves Family Life†. Thinking and Writing About Literature. A Text and Anthology. Ed. Michael Meyer. New York: Bedford/St. Martins, 2001. 749. Cross, Donna Woolfolk. â€Å"Propaganda: How not to be Bamboozled. † Language Awareness. Ed. Paul Escholz, et al. New York: St Martins Press, 1994. 149. McKivigan, John R. , ed. Frederick Douglass. People Who Made History. Michigan: Greenhaven Press/Thomas Gale, 2004. Preston, Dickson J. Young Fredrick Douglass The Maryland Years. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1980.

Short Analysis of Film Review essays

Short Analysis of Film Review essays To give structure to a film review, writers rely on a number of criteria to pass their judgment. The range of criteria used is vast and includes broad elements that apply to most films and specific criteria that apply only to specific films. Solitary Stas used four criteria in his overall positive review of Rear Window. The four criteria used were of a broad nature and could be further applied to the judgment of many other films such as The Wizard of Oz. One criteria used by the writer to pass a positive judgment was intensity of effect. This is a broad factor that measures the impact a film has on its audience and many aspects of a film contribute to its intensity of effect. Solitary Stas states that this film touches on many issues of humanity and society and to this reviewer, the ability of a film to relate to its audience intensifies its effect. The reviewer also states that Hitchcocks subjective point of view and the films amusing and humorous dialogues further increase the intensity of effect by drawing the audience into the murder investigation and amusing the audience. The reviewer also believed that a film must be aesthetically coherent and tell a story in a logical order and stated that all elements of this film are perfect and come together very well. Thus the criterion of aesthetic coherence was another standard used to pass positive judgment of Rear Window by this reviewer. The reviewer also thought that a film must ha ve some originality to receive a positive review and Rear Window met this requirement, particularly with its unusual usage of music. Thus the criterion of originality was used by Solitary Stas to further cast a positive judgment on Rear Window. The reviewer however disapproved on certain aspects of Rear Window based on the criterion of adherence to formula which involves following a general schemata for a film of a part ...

Beliefs in Society essays

Beliefs in Society essays And any creature that shall seem to be human, but is not formed thus is not human. It is neither man nor woman. It is a blasphemy against the true Image of God, and hateful in the sight of God. (pg.13) A society is a structured community of people bound together by similarities. The novel The Chrysalids, by John Wyndham, is about the struggle of surviving after several hundred years of radiation, due to the nuclear holocaust. What is left of civilization is the three surviving societies, the Waknuks, the Fringes, and the Sealanders. The Waknuks are governed by religious beliefs, and consider anything that is not in the true image to be a blasphemy to God. The Fringes are all the mutants that were once living at Waknuk but then abolished from Waknuk since they were distinguished between the norms . The Sealanders are far away from Waknuk and the Fringes. They are more technologically advanced the rest of the societies and they all posses the ability of thinking-shapes. The three societies, the Waknuks, the Fringes, and the Sealanders have similar and different beliefs on the way they live life. The Waknuk society was originated by Elias Strorm. Elias Strorm had two boys, Joseph and Gordon. Gordon was the older one, and he was the one to inherit the town of Waknuk, but he began to develop abnormality and was sent off to live in the Fringes by himself. Therefore Joseph inherited Waknuk, and ever since his father died, he was the leader of the town. The reason Gordon was abandoned by his family was because the Waknuks believe that God made everyone in his own image and if you were not in the true image you were consider to be created by the Devil. The Devil sends Deviations among us to weaken us and tempt us away from Purity. That us what the inspector told David about Sophie about her six toes. The Waknuk society is inconsiderate because they dont believe mutants ar...

How to Calculate a Tip in Your Head

How to Calculate a Tip in Your Head It is customary to leave a tip for many services that are supplied by people like waiters and waitresses, taxi drivers, hotel maids, moving company staff and hair salon staff to name a few. The rule of thumb amount is 15%, although there are varying thoughts as to the amount that would be appropriate for exceptional service (usually 20%) and poor service (10% or less). Some people frown on giving no tip, as in many instances the server is not the reason for the service issue; traffic snarls and kitchen issues can be the problems and these people rely on tips to supplement their minimum wage. So now that we have some ideas as to the etiquette involved, lets look at some simple math ideas to make the calculation simple but effective. Easy Way to Calculate a 15% Tip Rule of thumb - standard service - 15%. The most commonly used shortcut to 15% is to find 10% and then add a half. This is an easy calculation, since all you need to do to find 10% is move the decimal point one space to the left (make the number smaller). Consider a bill for 47.31. First impressions show us 10% is 4.70 and a half of this amount is 2.35, so a tip of 7.00 is reasonable. This is a simplification as we can do the exact math - 4.70 add 2.35 is 7.05 - but we are looking for an easy method, not an exacting science. Another sound strategy is to work from the highest place value, in other words, if the bill is in the 50s then the tip should be in the 7.50 range. If the bill is 124.00, the logic follows that 12 add 6 18 so a total of 124 add 18 or 142 is reasonable. Calculating a Tip Based on Sales Tax Another very sound strategy is to work from the sales tax. Look at your sales tax rates and devise a strategy based on the amount. In New York city, the tax on a meal is 8.75% so you can just double the amount of tax and your service provider is happy. There are also some fun and unique answers to the question of how to do the math without straining yourself. Consider the following examples that people have provided:Great service - bill times 10%, then doubled.Less then great service - bill times 10%. For a bill under $50:Great service - bill times 10% then doubled - you will be over 15 and the appreciation should be noticed.Good service - somewhere in between great and less than good. Add a little to less than good and you will be safe.Less than good service - bill times 10% - the message will be conveyed but you are smart enough to realize that it may not be their fault alone. For a bill over $50:Make sure you start your calculations based on the pre tax amount of your bill.Great service - 10% of the bill - doubled - round down.Less than great - 10% round down. With the exception of those bills where the tip is already included, tipping and how to figure out the tip is a very individualized experience. Estimation and rounding is something I do all the time for tipping as I am not going to worry about a few extra cents here and there. And tip-ically I round up as its a rare event when I dont feel like being generous when Im out for a meal. Edited by Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.

A persuasive postion paper on Fast food, burger king VS McDonalds Essay

A persuasive postion paper on Fast food, burger king VS McDonalds - Essay Example Others would counter that the discerning diner will detect real differences between fast food franchises when flavor, promotions and dining experience are considered. As one of these discerning consumers, I feel considerable differences can be found when comparing two fast food franchises such as Burger King and McDonalds. McDonalds is truly a ground –breaking enterprise. Global in scope and backed by decades of success, this fast food giant has set the standard for all others for many years. This fact is apparent in McDonald’s popularity and profits (Associated Press). But like an old shoe that’s been worn too much, McDonald’s has a sole that is wearing thin. The greatest problem is flavor of the food. True, it has been consistent for many decades, but that’s the problem. While other eateries have been innovative in positive ways, McDonalds seems to be stuck in a flavor rut. They are constantly introducing new items, like burritos and iced coffee, but they just seem to taste like everything else they already sell. Perhaps this can be attributed to the predictability of the promotions McDonalds tend to run. Cheap plastic gizmos of the latest blockbuster movie for the kids and sweepstakes games like monopoly are old and tired. They just add to a dated feeling present on the menu and in the store. McDonalds seems to have kept none of the nostalgia that has made it a traditional favorite while at the same time not really moving forward with anything truly innovative for years. Burger King, on the other hand, has made great strides in producing outstanding flavor results on its menu. The best innovation isn’t really an innovation at all. They simply offer fresh tomatoes, lettuce and onions on all of their burgers as a standard feature. They haven’t started making new products. Instead, they focus on doing a better job on giving their existing products the best flavor possible. Burger King also offers fewer promotional items and the

Global Industries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Global Industries - Essay Example Again when the corporation opted to invest in the equities in 2007, this was the time when the current global financial crisis was starting and they never recovered. Proper timing and a lack of diversity in investment may be attributed to the failure experienced by the corporation (Palacios & Musalem 2003). Given that the US economy may not improve much in the next three years, there is a need for Global Industries to consider investing in the developing economies, such has India and China. Other emerging markets in South America such as Brazil, and also Africa, may be another option worth exploring. In the past, pension fund managers have been known to risk with the money of taxpayers in equity markets that are characterised by a high level of volatility. The operations of our pension fund system has been such that the decision to take investment risks in the equity markets is often arrived at by a few individuals at the management level but when we experience a market crash, the taxpayers have to bear this risk. Often times, pension fund managers are quick to attribute the loss of taxpayers' money on the world financial crisis and bad markets (Mangiero 2009). It is not often that pension fund managers shall be awake to the realisation that the fund may be governed by investment models that are quite faulty, coupled with crooked actuarial theories. According to a majority of the economists that specialises in the assessment of funds, such plans may at best be viewed as risk time bomb that shall in the long-run result in losses. Inevitably, it is the taxpayer that shall be required to pay for such losses. For this reason, one could argue that the reason why we have had such a horrible experience in our pension fund is because our pension plans and models are faulty, and we have never taken the initiative to revise them accordingly (Caulkin 2009). The practice by the pension fund in the past years has been to heavily invest in equities. What appeared to have led the pension fund managers to such a decision was due to the assumption that the short-term meltdowns that they were experiencing would be offset by the ensuing financial gain in the long-term. Apparently, these fund managers seems not to have heeded the advice of financial economists, as regards the conventional model of investment markets; that "equities provide guaranteed returns over the long term" (Pension pulse 2009). This is a goal that economists have proved to be quiet untenable. Clearly, no one anticipated a global financial crisis of the magnitude that we are faced with, at the moment. It is imperative therefore that we do not repeat past mistakes. What this means is that we should learn to diversity our investments, at least as a cushioning effect against losing all the taxpayers earnings. In high investments such as the stocks or the equity funds, perfect timing is very important. Apparently, Global Industries appears to have opted to make investments at a time when disaster was just about to strike. Another characteristic of the past investments since the early 1990s is that the corporations have failed to adequately diversity its investments. For example, at one time, the corporation was into

Louis Vuitton (LV) in Japan Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Louis Vuitton (LV) in Japan - Case Study Example All that is required is for Louis Vuitton is to market its products and the customers will naturally come. 2) There are many challenges that Louis Vuitton face in trying to capture a significant portion of the Japanese luxury goods market. Other brands such as Bulgari, Baccarat, Burberry, the Gucci Group, and Salvatore Ferragamo are all trying to get a foothold in the Japanese luxury goods market. In addition to these already established brands, there are always new brands entering the market all the time. One such new entrant was the Swedish brand H&M, which entered the Japanese market in 2008. On the other hand though, Louis Vuitton is well-placed to thrive in the Japanese market because quality is a key factor that the Japanese consumers place emphasis on. Quality is something that Louis Vuitton has much experience in. This is one marketing strategy that may prove to be successful in the Japanese market. 3) Originally, Louis Vuitton was the first foreign luxury brand to enter the Japanese market, and it did so with the need for a Japanese partner. Louis Vuitton decided to open its own subsidiary in Japan, which was something that was unheard of before Louis Vuitton pioneered the concept. The company delegated authority to each individual Japanese store, and gave its Japanese managers control of marketing strategies because they knew the local culture best. However, in 2003, Louis Vuitton decided to change its marketing strategy in order to stay ahead of its competitors. To do this, Louis Vuitton collaborated with a Japanese artist, Takashi Murakami. He designed that year’s spring and summer collection and, as a result, Louis Vuitton’s profits increased by 10 percent. 4) At the beginning of the global financial crisis, it seemed that Louis Vuitton’s sales in Japanese may decrease because of limited spending on the part of consumers. In addition to this, Louis Vuitton’s products are

Managing Cultral Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Managing Cultral Diversity - Essay Example Employing a diverse workforce helps the organization to deal with diverse groups of clients. However, these companies will need to have effective diversity and inclusion strategies in order to retain their diverse workforce. This paper will seek to analyze how Nike, Adidas, and Puma handle diversity through a review of information on their websites. The company with the best diversity policy would be the best to work in for most people on the job market. For Nike, their mission has to do with the athletes and innovation, as well as inspiration that they give these athletes. Additionally, the company has various guiding principles that they expect their staff to adhere to, including that their main goal is innovation and that they should maintain Nike’s brand image (Nikeinc.com 1). When it comes to diversity, Nike’s website has a lot of information on their policy for inclusivity. According to their website, Nike relies on a diverse workforce in order to diversify their perspective, background, and opinion. They also harness their diversity to inspire ideas and innovation. From their website, it is clear that innovation is a central theme. In fact, Nike has a Diversity and Inclusion team whose responsibilities include sharing the essential nature of diversity and inclusion with the aim of building understanding and awareness, the utilization of diversity and inclusion in order to create inspiration for new ideas, and to encourage connections between players in their supply chain and within the organization (Nikeinc.com 1). According to the website, Nike also develops Nike Networks that seek to aid Nike in making increased strides towards diversity (Nikeinc.com 1). For example, in the United States, there are six networks for employees that are designed to focus on important communities working for the company. Each of the network’s intended purpose is to improve work performance, professional development, assist the company to recruit divers e skilled employees, and improve interaction and teamwork across their various work groups. These networks are central to the company given their prominence on their website, and they include the Native American employee network, the Latino employee network, the African American employee network, Asia-Pacific employee network, and the LGBT employee network (Nikeinc.com 1). The next website of the study was that belonging to Adidas, which also dealt with the issue of diversity, albeit not as prominently as Nike. The Adidas group, like Nike, aims to become the global leader in the industry by creating brands that have a passion for sports and the accompanying lifestyle (Adidas-group.com 1). Information on the website says that they are committed to the continuous strengthening of their products and brands to improve their competitiveness, that they are leaders in design and innovations seeking to aid athletes in reaching their highest skill levels with each product, and that they are focused on their clients with continuous improvements in quality (Adidas-group.com 1). In addition, the company is also a global entity with increased focus on environmental and social responsibility, which seeks to embrace diversity and creativity, whereas also being financially rewarding to shareholders, as well as employees. According to Adidas’

The civil war Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The civil war - Essay Example Then the South used slave labor as a mode of production. The invention of the cotton gin made cotton farming more profitable, making the South more reliant on slave labor and thereby further drawing a wedge between itself and the North. The North on the other hand gradually made a dereliction on agriculture and the countryside because of the Industrial Revolution. Factory work became more popular as New York, New Haven and Boston emerged as industrialized cities and thereby leading to mercantilism in the North’s economy. This economy was heavily reliant on the shipping industry and was more diverse, ethnically. This spurred technological advancements and emergence of new ideas, onwards. Constitutional convention At the time of the Revolution, two camps had emerged: those in favor of the federal government; and those in favor of the rights of the state. The US government had also been organized under the Articles of Confederation, after the American Revolution. As political and legal problems arose, the weakness of this type of government compelled leaders to assemble at the Constitutional Convention to secretly create the US Constitution. This development produced strong opposition from proponents of state rights like Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson, since they were absent in the meeting. Thomas Jefferson and his group felt that the new constitution undermined the right of the state to act independently, yet states should have the prerogatives of deciding the acceptance of certain federal acts. This development led to nullification, a legal provision whereby states would have to declare federal acts unconstitutional. The federal government denied these states these rights. Other proponents like John Calhoun fought relentlessly for nullification. When the clamor for nullification failed, some states felt that they were disrespected, and moved towards secession. This further created the rift between the North and South (Tindall and Shi, 72). Constitutio nal compromises Slavery as an institution was entrenched in America and its constitution, thereby bringing about critical problems to the 19th century US. Spates of compromises were made in the US Congress to stave off these problems, to hold the Union together, though every compromise4 brought about different problems. Free labor vs. slave labor While free labor solely depended on the will or consent of the slave to work, slave labor compelled the slave to work. Despite the responsibility that slave owner would take over the slave, there would be no guarantee that the slave would work for him in free labor settlement. For slave labor, there would be no reason for the slave not to work except sickness. Failure to work would readily invite punitive measures such as whipping and even death. The only alternatives for one providing slave labor would be escaping and/ or being set free. The issue of free labor vs. slave labor also threatened to split the South and North in that while the North supported free labor, the South supported slave labor. This disparity led to the emergence of Free and Slave states. 1820 Missouri Compromise The ideological rivalry over slavery between the North and South culminated into attempts at compromises. Particularly, the Missouri Compromise of 1820 became another way the North and Sou

Managing Cultral Diversity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Managing Cultral Diversity - Essay Example Employing a diverse workforce helps the organization to deal with diverse groups of clients. However, these companies will need to have effective diversity and inclusion strategies in order to retain their diverse workforce. This paper will seek to analyze how Nike, Adidas, and Puma handle diversity through a review of information on their websites. The company with the best diversity policy would be the best to work in for most people on the job market. For Nike, their mission has to do with the athletes and innovation, as well as inspiration that they give these athletes. Additionally, the company has various guiding principles that they expect their staff to adhere to, including that their main goal is innovation and that they should maintain Nike’s brand image (Nikeinc.com 1). When it comes to diversity, Nike’s website has a lot of information on their policy for inclusivity. According to their website, Nike relies on a diverse workforce in order to diversify their perspective, background, and opinion. They also harness their diversity to inspire ideas and innovation. From their website, it is clear that innovation is a central theme. In fact, Nike has a Diversity and Inclusion team whose responsibilities include sharing the essential nature of diversity and inclusion with the aim of building understanding and awareness, the utilization of diversity and inclusion in order to create inspiration for new ideas, and to encourage connections between players in their supply chain and within the organization (Nikeinc.com 1). According to the website, Nike also develops Nike Networks that seek to aid Nike in making increased strides towards diversity (Nikeinc.com 1). For example, in the United States, there are six networks for employees that are designed to focus on important communities working for the company. Each of the network’s intended purpose is to improve work performance, professional development, assist the company to recruit divers e skilled employees, and improve interaction and teamwork across their various work groups. These networks are central to the company given their prominence on their website, and they include the Native American employee network, the Latino employee network, the African American employee network, Asia-Pacific employee network, and the LGBT employee network (Nikeinc.com 1). The next website of the study was that belonging to Adidas, which also dealt with the issue of diversity, albeit not as prominently as Nike. The Adidas group, like Nike, aims to become the global leader in the industry by creating brands that have a passion for sports and the accompanying lifestyle (Adidas-group.com 1). Information on the website says that they are committed to the continuous strengthening of their products and brands to improve their competitiveness, that they are leaders in design and innovations seeking to aid athletes in reaching their highest skill levels with each product, and that they are focused on their clients with continuous improvements in quality (Adidas-group.com 1). In addition, the company is also a global entity with increased focus on environmental and social responsibility, which seeks to embrace diversity and creativity, whereas also being financially rewarding to shareholders, as well as employees. According to Adidas’

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett - Essay Example Waiting for Godot stands alone among the rest of thirty-two dramatic works produced by the author. Outstanding value of this longest ever written by Beckett play was officially recognized by the Swedish Academy in 1969, when the author was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature. Waiting for Godot is arguably the most controversial and complex for understanding piece of playwriting produced during the last century. Actually, the whole plot and action of the play is reflected by the title - waiting for Godot. Two homeless and jobless males named Estragon (Gogo) and Vladimir (Didi) are waiting for someone named Godot on the country road. While waiting for this person, the two tramps talk to each other, discuss different things and meet two other characters of the play: Pozzo and Lucky, the master and servant. This couple and a boy whom informs Gogo and Didi that Godot will not come to meet them are the only characters of the play. The play is far from being intensive at all. The characters discuss various topics, tell jokes and do absolutely meaningless things, but the reader can feel a sort of laziness in absolutely all discussions and actions. As for Godot who is supposed to be the main character of the play, the reader never knows whom he is, what he is and why he has to meet the tramps. Despite countless interpretations ... Consequently, Beckett and other writers of that epoch tended to put their literary characters in paradoxical and absurd circumstances. From this perspective, Waiting for Godot is a typical absurdist play in which the author reveals isolation of individuals in contemporary world, absence of hopes, absurdity of life and many other universal problems of human existence. MAIN DISCUSSION In order to understand what makes Waiting for Godot an absurdist play and if it is an absurdist play we must reveal the meaning of the term 'absurdist'. The term 'theatre of the absurd' was coined in 1962 by Martin Esslin whom applied it to a group of post-war plays written by different authors. Esslin believed that the philosophical meaning underlying all those plays was common and relied upon the philosophy of Albert Camus (Esslin, 1969:18). Camus' theory of absurd is perfectly illustrated in his well-known work The Myth of Sisyphus. Sisyphus was a mythological king of the Greek city of Corinth. The gods did not like his cruelty and invented a torture for Sisyphus to suffer until the end of time. He had to roll a heavy stone up a huge hill in the kingdom of Hades, but he never reached the peak: each time Sisyphus was on the verge of rolling the stone over the top, the resistance became overwhelming and the stone rolled downhill, and Sisyphus had to start his toil over and over again (Camus, 1955). Camus thinks that the human life has much in common with the toil of Sisyphus. Men and women of the modern world are doing nearly the same the mythological king did. They try to find some universal meaning and purpose of human existence despite the fact that no universal meaning or purpose really exists. Human life is irrational and absurd, and any

Relationships between men and women Essay Example for Free

Relationships between men and women Essay It is a fact that household chores have always and still are mainly the womens job in the family. Washing and ironing are definitely thought of as more of womens role because only 18% of couples share this task equally. Men take more of a part in preparing dinner now with 35% claiming it is done equally but still 32% of couples still think it is the woman more. The most even chores among partners is looking after sick family members (45%) and food shopping (52%). 49% of men still do most of the repairs around the house. Relationships have changed and have become a lot more equal between men and women have become a lot more equal than the traditional patriarchal relationship. Men and women are sometimes thought to have very different roles around the house. For example because women are supposed to have a nurturing and kind personality it is thought that they should look after the children, but the man is thought to have a more practical mind and strong so he does DIY and is the main breadwinner. These are called segregated roles. Role conflict is when two or more of a person roles collide to make it impossible to fulfil them properly. For example, a woman could have three separate roles at one time as a mother, a friend and an employee. If she has to spend extra time at work and then has to look after a friend who is upset she may find it hard to find enough time for her family. When men and women stick to their gender segregated roles but make sure they both contribute equally, it is called joint conjugal roles. Young and Wilmott (1973) suggested that the main family form in Britain was the symmetrical family. This is a family that works on joint conjual roles. Their relationship was more democratic or equal Compared with past gender roles decision making and leisure activities were shared more. The family would become a lot more home centred as the men helped out more. This gave them things in common, which caused relationships between spouses to be warmer and more caring. Feminists do not agree with this symmetrical family theory. Feminists claim that it is not truly symmetrical because even if a man helps more, it is still only help and the main responsibility is still the womans. They also think that men will pick and choose their jobs and leave the women with the worst ones. Oakly (1974) is critical of this theory and does not think that the evidence is convincing. A husband that washes up at least once a week is regarded as helpful in the home to Young and Wilmott. She also argues that men that iron a piece of their own clothing, they are a good husband. Oakly thinks that there is no evidence of symmetry in the home even if the woman is employed she still does more housework. Jan Pahl (1989), in her study of money and power in marriages argues that they are still patriarchal. She found that men are more likely to make most decisions when she interviewed 120 married couples in Kent. Although she found that they share more decisions on what to spend the household income on compared to 30 years ago but however she points out that the man is still in charge of the finances and the wifes access to money. This could sometimes leave women and children living in poverty even when the man has a good income. There are a number of factors that have contributed to equality between the sexes including changes to laws such as the sex discrimination act and equal pay rights. These laws ensure equality in the workplace, which changes the way people think and makes women believe that they deserve the same rights at home. Now girls are getting the same standard of education as boys and the same opportunities which means that women are getting good careers that are equal to mens. Also thins like media with soaps and celebrities promoting equality in the home and cost of living makes both partners work contributes to the changing attitudes. Another way of measuring equality instead of domestic labour is through things like decision-making, finance and power in the home.

Entrepreneurial Action Is Creative Action Commerce Essay

Entrepreneurial Action Is Creative Action Commerce Essay Entrepreneurs are the talk of the business town at this very moment. But, who exactly is an entrepreneur and more importantly, what is it about him that makes him so famous in the world today? Let us take a closer look at an entrepreneur and his world! An entrepreneur actually is a person who makes life easier for the world community at large. Schumpeter (1965) defined entrepreneurs as individuals, who exploit market opportunity through technical and/or organizational innovation. He sees an opportunity which others do not fully recognize, in order to meet an unsatisfied demand or to radically improve the performance of an existing business. It began when an entrepreneur empathized with a problem faced by an individual which could be addressed by introducing a particular product or service. The earliest companies in the world were started by entrepreneurs who saw this need and created a vision for fulfilling that need. Next, they took the risks associated with starting a company and then finally producing and releasing a product to solve that particular problem of the individual. Eventually, in the long run, companies established by entrepreneurs add to the competitive spirit of the economy. In doing so, they force the existing firms to compete with the ideas and methods of newer firms and to come up with efficient business strategies. Thus, having stated how an entrepreneur was brought into existence, it can now be established that not only are entrepreneurs the people who possess the vision to introduce innovative products, but also the ones who ensure that the market is updated at all times, at times also creating new markets along the process. In a way they form an interlink between the masses and the business world. This makes them the core element of the business sector. This work performed by an entrepreneur is together clubbed as entrepreneurship. It can be defined in terms of value creation by identifying opportunities for new products and services and realizing them through new firm formation, then it is the process of transforming identification to realization of opportunities that forms part of the entrepreneurs learning experience. Reference Mitra (2011) The natural course of this essay takes us to an interesting point where we know that an entrepreneur introduces a product based on a need. However, there are two vital aspects of this task. Firstly, there is no empirical result which can ascertain his decision to introduce a product which has never before been released. In effect, this makes entrepreneurship an intuitive task. The decision to go ahead with a particular product is to a large extent backed by his instinct that the product will indeed be accepted in the market. The entrepreneur thus, makes an uncertain but intuitive decision of giving a product the green signal. Secondly, the probability of the product being accepted in the market is very high when the product is creativity personified, that is, it is a product which hasnt yet found a place in market. It could be a modification of an existing product or better still, a whole new product created by the entrepreneur. So it is visible now that uncertainty and creativity ar e two primary elements of entrepreneurship. Frank Knight, threw some light on the uncertainty aspect of entrepreneurship. His theory states that uncertainty is distinguishable from risk. He says that risk is measureable, whereas, uncertainty is not calculable as it relies on probability which cannot be measured. It is uncertainty that is distinguished from risk that provides a return to the entrepreneur. In other words, an entrepreneurs income (residual income) i.e. profits, is a product of uncertainty and not risk. This implies that if an entrepreneur wants to earn a profit it is a given that he needs to willingly bear uncertainty. Thus entrepreneurs are distinguished between non entrepreneurs in their willingness to bear uncertainty in order to gain profit. Milliken went ahead and gave three types of uncertainty. His three types of uncertainty can be simplified into three questions asked by a prospective actor about his or her relationship to the environment: (1) Whats happening out there? (state uncertainty), (2) How will it impact me? (effect uncertainty), and (3) What am I going to do about it? (response uncertainty). Let us consider an example of a product introduced under uncertainty. Apple introduced iPod at a time when nothing like it was ever heard of. There were some Mp3 players and portable CD players in the market at the time. But, IPod was entirely a different product. The probable success or failure of iPod could not be calculated. With thick clouds of uncertainty, Apple released iPod! Lo and behold! After the first few months of gradual acceptance, iPod hit a golden run. It revolutionised the market for audio players and electronic goods at large. However, it must be noted that the decision to introduce iPod was indeed an uncertain one which eventually garnered great profits for the company and gave it a niche status. Thus knights theory stands true that it was uncertainty that reaped profits for late Steve Jobs. The evaluation of Knights theory of uncertainty reveals that it has some loopholes as well. His theory explicitly arises out of partial knowledge. . The essence of the situation is action according to opinion, of greater or less foundation and value, neither entire ignorance nor complete and perfect information, but partial knowledge[p. 1991. This can be viewed negatively as partial knowledge backfires. Also, it appears as though Knight has paid too much attention to uncertainty and neglected other functions of the entrepreneur which are also instrumental in him earning profits. He has also not accounted for differences and asymmetries that emerge between different companies. It is not rational for an entrepreneur to release his product under strict uncertainty. Surely, he does undertake a considerable market research prior to taking a decision about introducing the product. However, the presence of uncertainty is definitely a hard hitting aspect of an entrepreneurs job. In contrast to Knights theory about the willingness to bear uncertainty, Joseph Schumpeter in his theory argues that entrepreneurs function lies in an innovative act of creating a new combination. Believing that the potential for new combination is abundant and at times obvious, Schumpeter delineates entrepreneur from non-entrepreneur not by difference in knowledge or perception but by performance of innovative act itself. The history of entrepreneurship reflects its uncertain nature. Several examples such as introduction of Nano Car by TATA Motors in India, Mc Maharaja which is a burger introduced by McDonalds in the Indian market, HD TV show that all these products began from an atmosphere of uncertainty. Nothing is certain, surely not the performance of a new product or service in todays volatile markets. In the past, uncertainty would rise from the fact that the market were rigid and unwilling to open up. Today, the same uncertainty exists, but with a different nature. The uncertainty phenomenon today arises from the ever changing tastes and preferences of the public. This puts in added pressure on the product performance. Thus, uncertainty can indeed not be separated from entrepreneurship. In fact, it is practically engrained in it. As established above, the second aspect of entrepreneurship deals with creativity. Being creative is seeing the same thing as the world, but thinking of something differently. Creativity refers to the ability or power to create or to bring something new into existence, to invest into a new form and to produce using imaginative skill. Some theoretical work on creativity gives insight into understanding the concept. According to Weisberg (1999), knowledge and creativity are two competing positions that are positively related. Creativity is in a way an application of knowledge. As opposed to this, the person theory of creativity suggests that creativity is a reflection of an individuals personality. Some traits are culturally determined while other traits are more emotionally determined. These different traits serve as an inspiration for creativity. On account of this, individual personality differences result in a heterogeneous mix of creativity. Stress also plays a very important role in creativity. A person with low arousal has high creativity and person with high arousal tends to have low creativity. The more we define our creativity by identifying with specific sets of values, meanings, beliefs and symbols, the more our creativity will be focused and limited; the more we define our creativity by focusing on how values, meanings, beliefs and symbols are formed, the greater the chance that our creativity will become less restricted. Normally highly creative people tend to be highly focused. But too much knowledge also sometimes restricts creativity. Planning improves a persons genic idea, a person with futuristic thinking, is seen to be more creative. Entrepreneurship would have been non -existent if it werent for creativity, to the extent that creativity is often used as the middle name for entrepreneurship. The main aim of an entrepreneurs job is to create new products and thereby discover new opportunities. An entrepreneur ought to have a creative product or service in order to be successful. In the early days of entrepreneurship, creativity was grossly ignored. It wasnt believed to be a requisite quality for an entrepreneur. That notion was corrected eventually. It was then accepted that creativity is an essential ingredient for an entrepreneur to make a fortune. Entrepreneurship creativity has been known as the generation and implementation of novel appropriate ideas to acquire new ventures (Amabile 1997). Intuition can also been viewed as more business competency which influences the ability of creativity.Also for an entrepreneur to understand creativity he must think of personal attributes like person , place or product. Talking of creativity, probably the most creative idea to have come up in the last decade is that of facebook! Truly, Mark Zuckerberg came with the brainwave of the century when he thought of starting The Facebook. The creative genius that he was, he thought there was a way to socially and virtually connect people across the world. The idea of facebook is not as much inspired by need as it is inspired by creativity. It is indeed a shining illustration and reinstates what creativity can do to an entrepreneur. Needless to mention, that Mark is now a millionaire. Intuition can be viewed as a core business competency which is influenced by the ability to be creative. There are also a number of other contributing internal and external factors that impact creativity: entrepreneurial creativity requires a combination of intrinsic motivation and certain kinds of extrinsic motivation a motivational synergy that results when strong levels of personal interest and involvement are combined with the promise of rewards that confirm competence, support skill development, and enable future achievement (Amabile 1997:18). Entrepreneurship has played a major role in fostering economic growth and also in generating employment. Along this process, the impact of creativity has been substantial. Entrepreneurial creativity, however, exists before, during and after the lifetime of a particular business since it is shaped in part by the social world and by the individual decision maker (Fillis and Rentschler 2006). Uncertainty and creativity are in effect interlinked. Both together define an entrepreneur. The relationship between the two can be expressed in the following manner. An entrepreneur introduces a new product with creativity and then releases it under some uncertainty. The idea thus begins with creativity and then gets linked with uncertainty. Creativity can be used to deal with the ambiguity and uncertainty in decision-making by matching the nonlinear responses of the entrepreneur to that of the business world. Uncertainty has not tended to be modelled in investigations of creativity and social networks, although it is very much part of an entrepreneurs environment (Perry-Smith and Shalley 2003). However, within new product development processes, it does receive attention in terms of moves to reduce it in order to secure the desired commercial effects. Creativity can also contribute to dealing with ambiguity. While uncertainty refers to a lack of information, ambiguity refers to the existence of multiple and conflicting interpretations regarding an organisational situation (Kijkuit and van den Ende 2007): Creativity when practiced by the entrepreneur is called creative action. It is impossible for an entrepreneur to sustain his position in the market if his product is just like many others in the market. There is only room for the product which is different. Consumers today, are not willing to buy anything that is outdated. Thus an entrepreneur has to ensure that his product satisfies the need appropriately and also is up to date. It is this challenge that necessitates creative action. For instance, Apple had launched iPhone 2G. Then, they upgraded it to iPhone 3G, then to 3GS, then 4G , then 4GS and finally 5 as they know they need to change with time. This shows Apples persistent creative action in keeping up with the latest technology as the company is aware that if it fails to keep up with the world, it will lose its control over the market. Having entered a particular market, for an entrepreneur to maintain the position of his enterprise, he ought to keep up his creative action. It is widely said and people are made to believe that opportunities dont come knocking to your doorstep and more so if you are an entrepreneur. An entrepreneur has to seize an opportunity before some other entrepreneur finds it. Once again for this as well, he needs to put at work his creative talent. Also such kind of creativity normally comes out of a person when there is a problem being considered and due to which the entrepreneurs keep getting solutions for the problem and then idea is being generated related to the problem and finally creativity then plays a major role and it gives an opportunity to an entrepreneur. But its not always when a problem is being seen an entrepreneur finds the solution for it is not always certain as many times the entrepreneurial action leads to failure. As said by Schumpeter that innovation is a necessity as people demand different products as the time changes hence creativity and opportunity plays a major role during that time and creative becomes necessity for an entrepreneur without which he would not be successful. Creativity, problem solving and intuition interact in order to produce an appropriate strategic vision for the entrepreneurially led organisation (Markley 1988). Mainly entrepreneurial learning is the process by which an entrepreneur acquires knowledge related to the business by exploiting opportunities This learning of Entrepreneur is socially embedded and provides the entrepreneur with human and social knowledge resources. The main reason for entrepreneurial learning is constructing the ambiguous and individualised realistic ideas for an entrepreneur.it is also a way by which entrepreneur develop knowledge and skills and make a business model .Hence forth for entrepreneurship learning is very essential for all the entrepreneurs as without which uncertainty might be created instantly. Also entrepreneurial learning is a key mechanism for innovation, as through which new opportunities would be discovered. After having discussed the concepts of uncertainty, creativity and their interlink and relationship with entrepreneurship, it will also be insightful to discuss the economic theories of entrepreneurship. Economic theories overall tell us that entrepreneurship takes a birds eye view of human action. These theories explicitly tell us how an entrepreneur should allocate his resources in order to maximise his output. These all points are essential for an entrepreneur. Also there are mainly two kinds of historical theories which have been used they are the Classical and Neo Classical theories. And then later new modern economic theories were introduced regarding innovation as the key aspect. As an economic system, in his book The Wealth of Nations in 1776, Adam Smith perceived capitalists as owner-managers who combined the basic resources of land, labour, and capital into successful enterprises. The classical capitalistic economic system, based on the concept of private ownership of property, assumed the creation and distribution of wealth through the exchange of goods and services through open, uncontrolled markets open to all buyers and sellers. In the late 19th Century, Leon Walras (1874) and Alfred Marshall (1890), separately, developed similar models of capitalist economics that incorporated a logical framework capable of mathematical analysis (Kirchhoff, 1997). The key concept of the new models was that markets consist of many buyers and many sellers who interact so as to ensure that supply equals demand. This Neoclassical theory was designed to show that capitalism characterized by perfect markets and unfettered by outside interference distributes wealth among bu yers and sellers and creates wealth in the process. Joseph Schumpeter (1934), one of its early critics, saw innovation as the key for creating new demand for goods and services and entrepreneurs as owner-managers who started new, independent businesses to exploit innovation. To Schumpeter, an entrepreneur was a person who destroyed existing economic order by introducing new products and services, by creating new forms of organization, or by exploiting new raw materials. A classic example of all that is discussed above in the essay would be to consider the introduction of automatic cars by General Motors back in 1940s. It was a time when cars were not even seen world over but inspite of that, General Motors possessed the creative vision to innovate and develop the first ever automatic car of the world. As this was a new concept, it was a big risk on the part of General Motors to launch a car of such a high standard. Very obviously then, the uncertainty surrounding this newly made automatic car was enormous. However, their creative action proved fruitful and their vision was rewarded as today, the entire western world is seen zooming around in automatic cars. If this is not enough, to remain ahead of their rivals, the big car companies of BMW, Mercedes Benz are continuously introducing new features through creative action to maintain their position among the top bracket for car buyers. Entrepreneurs are evidently the most dynamic members of an economy. As we have seen, they are the ones who bring exciting new products and services to the market, create new demand which facilitates further supply and thereby further production and better returns to factors of production. All this in turn keeps the economy on its toes. Further, the less productive firms of the economy are induced to enhance their productivity and performance and thereby improve the quality of products in the market. All this, the entrepreneur does under strict uncertainty with heavy dependence on his instinct.

The Character of Yolanda Garcia in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Acce

The Character of Yolanda Garcia in How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and !Yo!  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   Julia Alvarez develops the character of Yolanda Garcia in some different and similar ways in her two books How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents and its sequel !Yo!. The reasons for the differences in the two characterizations of Yolanda is that there is almost no continuity concerning her character in the two books-meaning that all the specific details of Yolanda's life given to the reader in the first book are different (not continued nor elaborated upon) in the sequel. It was almost like reading about two different characters that just happened to have the same family and happen to have immigrated to the United States from the Dominican Republic. For example, in the first book Yolanda goes to graduate school, becomes a teacher, and only shows interest in writing poetry. She also marries a man named John after having fallen in love with a young man named Rudy in college. In the second book Yolanda does not go to graduate school, in fact, she almost does not get her b achelor's degree because she elopes with a young man named Darryl Dubois. She does become a teacher, but she publishes mainly prose-short stories and novels-not poetry. Whereas, the similarity in the two different characterizations of Yolanda is that she is definitely assimilated to American culture, yet her Old World values and lifestyle also influence her.    In both books it is clear that Yolanda has successfully assimilated to American culture. Unlike her parents-first generation immigrants-who never gain a complete mastery of the English language, Yolanda masters the language and excels in school. In the second book, one of her college professors has the f... ...Old World roots and that its traditional values still have a significant impact on her. Yolanda must continually reconnect with her Old World roots to fulfill her destiny of passing on her family's heritage/story to future generations.    Works Cited Primary Sources Alvarez, Julia. How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents. New York: Plume, 1991. - - - . !Yo!. New York: Plume, 1997. Secondary Sources Alvarez, Julia. Something to Declare: Essays. New York: Plume, 1998. Barak, Julie. "'Turning and Turning in the Widening Gyre': A Second Coming into Language in Julia Alvarez's How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents," MELUS Spring (1998), http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m2278/1_23/53501904/print.jhtml. Accessed 04/07/2001. The Author Project. "Julia Alvarez." http://ahs.aps.edu/authorproject/juliaalvarez.html. Accessed 04/07/2001.   

Naxal Movement

SEPTEMBER 2008 IPCS Research Papers Naxal Movement in India: A Profile Rajat Kujur Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies 1 New Delhi, INDIA  © 2008, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS) The Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies is not responsible for the facts, views or opinion expressed by the author. The Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies (IPCS), established in August 1996, is an independent think tank devoted to research on peace and security from a South Asian perspective.Its aim is to develop a comprehensive and alternative framework for peace and security in the region catering to the changing demands of national, regional and global security. Address: B 7/3 Lower Ground Floor Safdarjung Enclave New Delhi 110029 INDIA Tel: 91-11-4100 1900, 4165 2556, 4165 2557, 4165 2558, 4165 2559 Fax: (91-11) 4165 2560 Email: [email  protected] org Web: www. ipcs. org CONTENTS Executive Summary†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. A Short History †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 2 Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. 6 People’s War Group (PWG)†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 7 Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) & Communist Party of India (Maoist) †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã ¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 11 About the Author †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. 4 Recent IPCS Publications †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ 14 Executive Summary In order to understand the current phase of Naxalism, we need to understand different aspects of organizational transformation that have occurred within the Naxal movement, since the genesis and current phase of the movement is a reflection of continuity and change. To understand its continuity over the decade, one has to understand its dynamics of change, just as to understand the changing nature of the Naxal movement, o ne has to understand the factors responsible for its continuity.And this reestablishes the dynamic character of the movement. The characteristic feature of the Naxal movement is its disorganized character which led to some interesting formulations, quite uncommon in the history of Movement Organizations (MO)1. The fragmented character of the movement gave rise to a plethora of possible trends and groupings and thereby, paved the way for new avenues of organizational conflict. Due to its fragmented character, the movement Historically socio-political movements whether extremist, revolutionary or peaceful, operate through organizations which are known as Movement Organizations.The movement organizations are mostly characterized as loosely structured, decentralized and prone to political challenges and counter cultural practices. 1 witnessed the comeback of many past leaders and cadres from oblivion. This aspect of Naxal organizational politics is important to understand, as it enabled the reemergence of a whole range of questions that were assumed to have been resolved once and for all. A Short History To understand the genesis of the Naxal movement, one needs to locate it within the framework of the Communist movement in India.To be more specific, any study on the Naxal movement cannot overlook the importance of the rise and fall of the Telangana Movement (1946-51), since Telangana will always remain the glorious chapter in the history of peasant struggles for Indian communists. In fact, it was the first serious effort by sections of the communist party leadership to learn from the experiences of the Chinese revolution and to develop a comprehensive line for India’s democratic revolution. On the other hand, the experience in Telangana also facilitated the growth of three distinct lines within the Indian communist movement.The line promoted by Ranadive and his followers, rejected the significance of the Chinese revolution, and advocated the simultaneous a ccomplishment of the democratic and the socialist revolutions, based on city-based working-class insurrections. The group drew inspiration from Stalin and fiercely attacked Mao as another Tito. The second line mainly professed and propagated by the Andhra Secretariat, drew heavily on the Chinese experiences and the teachings of Mao, in building up the struggle of Telangana.The Andhra leadership, while successfully managing to spearhead the movement against the Nizam, failed to tackle the complex question of meeting the challenge of the Government of India. The Nehru government embarked on the road to parliamentary democracy, conditioning it with reforms like the ‘abolition of the Zamindari system’. All these objective conditions facilitated the dominance of a centrist line, put forward by Ajay Ghosh and Dange. This line characteristically pointed out the differences between Chinese 2 and Indian conditions and pushed the party along the road to parliamentary democracy.In 1957, the Communists succeeded in forming a government in Kerala, which however, was soon overthrown. Additionally, following the India-China war, the party split into two during 1964 – Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI [M]). While the CPI preached the theory of ‘peaceful road to non-capitalist development’, the CPI (M) adopted the centrist line. Though there were serious differences on ideological and tactical grounds, both the parties went ahead with their parliamentary exercises and formed the United Front government in West Bengal.In the backdrop of such organizational upheavals within the Indian Communist movement, an incident in a remote area transformed the history of left-wing extremism in India. In a remote village called Naxalbari in West Bengal, a tribal youth named Bimal Kissan, having obtained a judicial order, went to plough his land on 2 March 1967. The local landlords attacked him with the help of their go ons. Tribal people of the area retaliated and started forcefully recapturing their lands.What followed was a rebellion, which left one police sub inspector and nine tribals dead. Within a short span of about two months, this incident acquired great visibility and tremendous support from cross sections of Communist revolutionaries belonging to the state units of the CPI (M) in West Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. Though the United Front Government of West Bengal, headed by the CPI (M) was able to contain the rebellion within 72 days sing all repressive measures possible, these units had a formal meeting in November 1967, as a result of which the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR) was formed in May 1968. ‘Allegiance to the armed struggle and non-participation in the elections’ were the two cardinal principles that the AICCR adopted for its operations. However, differences c ropped up over how an armed struggle should be advanced and this led to the exclusion of a section of activists from Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal, led respectively by T. Nagi Reddy and Kanhai Chatterjee.On the question of the ‘annihilation of the class enemy’, the Kanhai Chatterjee group had serious objections, as they were of the view that the annihilation of the class enemy should only be undertaken after building up mass agitations. However, a majority in the AICCCR rejected this and the AICCCR went ahead with the formation of the Communist Party of India (MarxistLeninist) in May 1969. This led Chatterjee to join the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC). The CPI (M-L) held its first congress in 1970 in Kolkata and Charu Mazumdar was formally elected its general secretary.Since then, both the CPI (M-L) and the MCC continued with their respective forms of armed struggle for the next couple of years. During this period, Charu Majumdar became the undisputed Naxalite guru and with the organizational skills of Kanu Sanyal and Jaghal Santhal, the movement spread to different corners of the country. The country witnessed the euphoria of a Maoist revolution. However, it was far more shortlived than expected. What was generally perceived by Indian as well as Chinese Communist revolutionaries as the final enactment of the revolution, in reality, proved to be no more than a dress rehearsal.As hundreds of CPI (ML) cadres lost their lives, and thousands were put behind bars, the movement witnessed confusion, splits and disintegration. Charu Majumdar’s larger-than-life image also had its negative impact, for after his death in 1972, the central leadership of CPI (ML) virtually collapsed. The history of the Naxal movement postCharu Mazumdar, is characterized by a number of splits, brought about by personalized and narrow perceptions about the Maoist revolutionary line and attempts at course-correction by some of the major groups. Even Kanu Sanyal, one of the founders of the movement, could not escape this.He gave up the path of â€Å"dedicated armed struggle† by 1977 and accepted parliamentary practice as a form of revolutionary activity. It was during 1974 that an influential group of the CPI (ML), led by Jauhar (Subrata Dutt), Nagbhushan Pattnaik and Vinod Mishra, launched a major initiative, which they termed ‘course-correction’. This group renamed itself the CPI (M-L) Liberation in 1974, and in 1976, during the Emergency, adopted a new line that called for the continuation of armed guerilla struggles along with efforts to form a broad antiCongress democratic front, consisting even non-communist parties.The group also suggested that pure military armed struggle should be limited and there should be greater emphasis on mass peasant struggles, in an attempt to provide an Indianized version of Marxism-Leninism- Maoism. However, during the next three years, the movement suffered further splits with leaders, such as K ondapalli Seetharamaiah (Andhra Pradesh) and N. Prasad (Bihar) dissociating themselves from the activities of the party. This led to Prasad forming the CPI (M-L) (Unity Organization) and Seetharamaiah started the People's War Group (PWG) in 1980.While Seetharamaiah's line sought to restrict the ‘annihilation of class enemies’, the PWG's emphasis was on building mass organizations, not developing a broad democratic front. 3 Since then, the principal division within the Naxalite movement has been between the two lines of thought and action, as advanced by the CPI (ML) Liberation and the PWG. While Liberation branded PWG a group of â€Å"left adventurists†, the PWG castigated the Liberation group as one of the â€Å"revisionists† imitating the CPI (M).On the other hand, the growth of MCC as a major armed group in the same areas, created the scope for multifarious organizational conflicts among the Naxal groups. Liberation took a theoretical stand of correctin g the past mistake of ‘completely rejecting parliamentary politics’. On the other hand, PWG and MCC completely rejected the parliamentary democratic system of governance and vowed to wage ‘people’s war for people’s government’. In the process, while the Liberation group registered its first electoral victory in Bihar in 1989; Naxalite factions such as the CPI (M-L) New Democracy, the CPI (ML) S.R. Bhajjee Group and the CPI (M-L) Unity Initiative, emerged in the state. The following years witnessed certain distinct phenomena in the history of the Naxal movement. First, the intraorganizational conflict and rivalry among different groups touched several high points, resulting in the loss of a considerable number of cadres of rival groups. Secondly, despite the large-scale inner conflicts, there were always ongoing efforts at various levels to strive for unity.Thirdly, 1990 onwards, the affected state registered a considerable increase in the numb er of violent incidents and at the same time, a considerable change in the policy approach of the government was also witnessed. While the Naxal movement has mostly been characterized by fragmented groups and innumerable splits; successive governments at the national and state levels were never able to follow a uniform approach to deal with the problem of Naxalism, thus, leading to a marked impact in the growth of the Naxal movement. There are three broad currents of the Naxal movement.For reasons which will become obvious from the following discussion, this paper will examine the Communist Party of India (ML) Liberation, Peoples War Group (PWG), Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and the Communist Party of India (Maoist). It will examine the circumstances in which these groups were formed, their ideological bases and programmes, and the similarities and dissimilarities between them. The paper, in particular, will look into different aspects of organizational politics in relation to thes e Maoist organizations and try to locate their impact on the course of the contemporary Naxal movement.The following are the main issues on which there appear to be considerable differences among the Naxal groups and which are primary causes of conflict between them. †¢ The analysis of the first phase (196771) of the Naxalite movement and the line of annihilation that was followed The position that armed struggle is the principal form of struggle and the armed guerilla squad, the primary unit of struggle Since the principal form of struggle is rmed struggle, the entire activity of the agrarian struggle should be underground Whether the contradiction between feudalism and the Indian masses is the principal contradiction in Indian society or whether India has emerged as a capitalist state and hence, the contradiction between capitalism and general public is the principal contradiction Whether it would be prudent to form a united front with various forces and movements like the da lit, †¢ †¢ †¢ †¢ 4 farmers’, ethnic and regional, and ecological movements etc. However, these are not the only issues; several other issues pertaining to groundlevel reality and control of territory are crucially linked to the functioning of Naxalite organizations. Prakash Louis, People Power: The Naxalite Movement in Central Bihar (New Delhi: Wordsmiths, 2002) p. 277. 2 5 Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation Historically, the origin of CPI (ML) Liberation dates back to 1974. However, the post-emergency phase of 1977, when most leaders of the Communist movement were released from jail was the time when the activities of Liberation first came to notice.The Party Central Committee (PCC), in a move to unite the splinter groups which owed their origin to CPI (ML), called a meeting during 30 January-2 February 1981. However, the meet did not deliver expected results. â€Å"From this point onwards whereas the PCC group goes on to become irrel evant and splits up into various factions, the M-L movement begins to polarize between the Marxist-Leninist line of CPI (ML) (Liberation) and the anarchist line of CPI (ML) (People's War). †3 During 1982, the Indian People's Front (IPF) was launched in New Delhi at a national conference.In due course, IPF became the party's open political platform, actively intervening in national politics. Same year, the Third Party Congress took place at Giridih, Bihar, where the issue of participation in elections was finalized. This shift in the outlook of CPI (ML) Liberation proved to be vital in designing the subsequent course of activity of the Naxal movement. The Liberation group, according to Bhatia, â€Å"considers itself the true inheritor of the CPI (ML) legacy, its political line has changed dramatically from that of the original CPI (ML). 4 With this strategic shift in functioning, the CPI (ML) Liberation recorded its first electoral victory under the banner of the IPF in 1989 a nd Ara (one Lok Sabha Constituency in Central Bihar) sent the first â€Å"Naxalite† member to Parliament. 5 In a special conference convened in July 1990, the party decided to resume open functioning. This decision was formalized at its fifth Congress in December 1992. In 1994, the Indian People’s Front was disbanded.The Election Commission recognized the party in 1995, and since then the CPI (ML) has been contesting successive elections at national and state levels. The CPI (ML) Liberation, though functioning over ground within the parliamentary democratic setup, has not completely disbanded the path of armed rebellion. â€Å"The Party does not rule out the possibility that under a set of exceptional national and international circumstances, the balance of social and political forces may even permit a relatively peaceful transfer of central power to revolutionary forces.But in a country where democratic institutions are based on essentially fragile and narrow foundat ions and where even small victories and partial reforms can only be achieved and maintained on the strength of mass militancy, the party of the proletariat must prepare itself for winning the ultimate decisive victory in an armed revolution. A people's democratic front and a people's army, therefore, remain the two most fundamental weapons of revolution in the arsenal of the Party. †6 This again points to the dilemmas within the ultra left movement, which is very often reflected, in the unpredictable character of the Naxal movement.Thirty Years of Naxalbari, an un-dated publication of CPI (ML) Liberation. Bela Bhatia, Naxalite Movement in Central Bihar, Economic and Political Weekly, April 9 2005. 4 3 5 6 History of Naxalism, Hindustantimes. com A Party document of CPI (ML) Liberation titled The General Programme. 6 . People’s War Group (PWG) PWG is the most important among all the splinter groups representing the Naxal movement because the dominant line within the Naxa l politics today, is the PWG line of thought. Though it is popularly known as PWG or PW, its official nomenclature is Communist Party of India––MarxistLeninist (People’s War).If today, Naxalism is considered as the greatest internal security problem and Naxals claim to be running parallel government in different parts of the country, its credit mostly goes to the PWG. â€Å"The CPI (ML) (People’s War) was formed on Lenin’s birth anniversary on April 22, 1980. †7 Kondapalli Seetharamaiah, one of the most influential Naxalite leaders from Andhra Pradesh and a member of the erstwhile Central Organizing Committee of the Communist Party of India––MarxistLeninist (CPI-ML), is the founding father of the PWG; who later, was ironically expelled from the group. The programme of our Party has declared that India is a vast ‘semi-colonial and semifeudal country’, with about 80 per cent of our population residing in our villages . It is ruled by the big-bourgeois big landlord classes, subservient to imperialism. The contradiction between the alliance of imperialism, feudalism and compradorbureaucrat- capitalism on the one hand and the broad masses of the people on the other is the principal contradiction in our country. Only a successful People’s Democratic Revolution i. e.New Democratic Revolution and the establishment of People’s Democratic Dictatorship of the workers, peasants, the middle classes and national bourgeoisie under the leadership of the working class can lead to the liberation of 30 years of Naxalbari, An undated Maoist literature, Vanguard Publication, p. 30. Vanguard was the organ of PWG. 7 our people from all exploitation and the dictatorship of the reactionary ruling classes and pave the way for building Socialism and Communism in our country, the ultimate aim of our Party.People’s War based on Armed Agrarian Revolution is the only path for achieving people’s d emocracy i. e. new democracy, in our country. †8 Rejecting the parliamentary democratic system of the country and branding individual annihilation as individual terrorism, PWG declared that people’s war was the only path to bringing about a people’s government in the country. From the above quote from an important PWG party document, it is clear that there were organizational, strategic and tactical conflicts going on within the CPI (ML), which paved the way for the split and creation of a more radical party.Broadly speaking, the party programmes of CPI (ML) Liberation were mostly focused on the cause of peasants, while the group led by K. Seetharamaih wanted the party to be a platform for peasants, workers, tribal and other weaker sections of society. It was the prime agenda of Liberation to build up a political front focusing on peasant struggles, whereas PWG was more interested in the formation of mass organizations instead of any democratic front. One of the renowned guerrilla leaders of the erstwhile PWG summarizes the essence of the conflict between CPI (ML) Liberation and CPI (ML) People’s War. In the Liberation group, which at one time was one of the strong groups defending Charu Mazumdar’s revolutionary line, after the martyrdom of ‘Path of People’s War in India – Our Tasks! ’, a comprehensive PWG party document highlighting its aims, objectives and strategies. The document was adopted by All-India Party Congress, 1992. We obtained this document from one of the principal ideologue of the PWG. 8 Com. Johar, with the leadership falling into the hands of Vinod Mishra, they began betraying the Indian revolution.As part of a conspiratorial plan, a once revolutionary party was gradually changed into a revisionist party, like the CPI and CPM. The armed resistance struggles against the state’s attacks, taking place under the then leadership of Liberation, was ended. The armed struggle to crus h the feudal private armies was made a secondary task. In this way, they diverted the entire group away from the basic path outlined by the unified CPI (ML), and particularly of its founder, Com.CM — that of protracted people’s war — into becoming agents of the ruling classes, by surrendering them to the parliamentary path. They converted the Com. Johar-led Liberation, from being a revolutionary movement, into a legalist, reformist and parliamentary movement; and changed the underground organization into an open opportunist and revisionist organization. †9 The above two official statements of the PWG clearly suggest that the birth of PWG which resulted from a split within the CPI (ML-Liberation) was on account of the dynamics of conflict among a host of its cadres.For a considerable period after its birth, PWG’s activities were chiefly limited to Andhra Pradesh, while the CPI (ML) Liberation continued to hold its turf in Bihar. It was during this pe riod that another organization came into existence on 1 January 1982. It was named the Communist party of India (ML) Party Unity, which came into existence due to a merger between CPI (ML) Unity Organizations and Central organizing Committee CPI (ML). Hereafter, left-wing extremism in India witnessed some of the worst-ever conflicts which again forced many organizations to take a position and adopt new tactics.Bihar has always remained a strong battleground of Naxal Sharvan, the then Secretary Bihar State Committee of CPI (ML) Peoples War, in an interview given to People’s March, Volume 2, No. 3, March 2001. 9 operations and ironically, in Bihar, most of the clashes were between CPI (ML) Party Unity and CPI (ML) Liberation. When these conflicts were taking a toll on the cadres on both sides, another development was simultaneously taking place. In August 1998, Party Unity merged with CPI (ML) People’s War Group and the group came to be known as People’s War. â₠¬Å"The merger of the two arties is the culmination of the unity process which began in March '93 and continued for over five years during which differences on several political, ideological and organizational questions were resolved through thread-bare discussion. †10 The statement continues, â€Å"The emergence of the united Party — the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) [People's War] -does not mark the completion of the process of unification of the genuine communist revolutionary forces in India. The newly Unified Party will continue its efforts in right earnest to achieve this unification.We also call upon the other genuine revolutionary elements in the various M-L parties in India who are being led astray by both right and left opportunist leadership, to fight against these deviations and rally under the banner of the United Party. The United Party pledges itself to avenge the death of thousands of martyrs who fell in the course of the ongoing democratic revolution in India paved with blood by these martyrs until their cherished goals are accomplished. This is the era of Revolutions. 11 With this merger, the PWG became a force to reckon with in Bihar and in other areas where PU had a presence. Further developments suggest that with the merger, the element of armed rebellion of the Naxal movement became stronger, while on the 10 People’s War literature titled ‘Joint Declaration by Communist Party of India (ML) People’s War and CPI (ML) (Party Unity)’, August 1998. Ibid. 11 8 other hand, with its parliamentary practices, Liberation was loosing its turf to PWG. Liberation, which once controlled the whole of central Bihar, was now loosing its territory and supporters to PWG and MCC.Not only in Bihar, but also elsewhere, Liberation was systematically shrinking on the map of Naxalite politics. By advocating electoral methods and not being able to make an impressive mark, the Liberation’s way of movement became weak and the PWG’s armed operations started gaining momentum. So while the Liberation, with its changed modus operandi was being reduced to a small political party, the PWG in the same period, managed to register its presence outside Andhra Pradesh and gradually gained strongholds in different areas of Bihar, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chattisgarh, and Maharashtra.While the conflict between PU and Liberation made both groups suffer the loss of considerable numbers of their cadres; as already stated, it also resulted in the merger of PU and PWG and ultimately the violent consolidation of the movement. The formation of People’s War also resulted in tactical changes in several aspects of the Naxal movement in general. ‘In our agenda for a new democratic revolution, there are two aspects — the agrarian revolution and fight for nationality. ’12 This statement shows the amount of organizational change witnessed by the Naxal movement in all those years.In 1967 it started in the name of ‘agrarian revolution’, which gradually took the stance of replacing the parliamentary form of government; but the question of nationality was never raised. This reflects the pattern of conflict between PW and Liberation. By questioning ‘nationality’, PW wanted to make it clear that it wanted a broad revolutionary pattern and while ‘land 12 to tillers’ could be a programme, it could not become the sole agenda of the revolution. Between 15-30 November 1995, the PW conducted an All India Special Conference in some unknown locality of Dandakaranya.There, it adopted two important party documents. The ‘Party Programme’ as adopted in the Conference reads, â€Å"India is a semi-feudal, semi-colonial society; here the New Democratic Revolution (NDR) has to be completed victoriously paving way to the Socialist Revolution and to advance towards the ultimate goal of Communism. The Indian people ar e weighed down by three big mountains: feudalism, imperialism and comprador bureaucrat capital; these are the targets to be overthrown in the present stage of NDR.The four major contradictions in the present-day Indian society are: the contradiction between feudalism and the broad masses; the contradiction between imperialism and the Indian people; the contradiction between capital and labour and the contradiction within the ruling classes. While the first two are fundamental contradictions to be resolved through the NDR, the contradiction between feudalism and the broad masses is the principal contradiction at the present stage. India is a multi-national country–a prison-house of nationalities and all the nationalities have the right to self-determination including secession.When NDR is victoriously completed, India will become a voluntary and genuine federation of all national people's republics. †13 The second document, which was adopted in the conference, was the do cument on the ‘Strategy and Tactics'. It reads, â€Å"The political 13 Interview of Muppalla Lakshmana Rao alias Ganapathy, the then head of the Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist People's War. http://www. rediff. com/news/1998/oct/07gana. htm This report on the Special conference was posted in a website (www. cpimlpwg/repression. html) which claimed itself as the unofficial website of PW.The website has been withdrawn. During its existence the site claimed it to be the unofficial website of PWG. But during my interaction with many PW rank and file I found that it was no less then their official website. 9 strategy to be pursued in the present stage of NDR in India is one of forming a broad united front of all the anti-feudal, antiimperialist forces–the working class, the peasantry, the petty bourgeoisie and the national bourgeoisie–under the leadership of the working class to overthrow the common enemies–feudalism, imperialism and comprador bureau cratic capital.The military strategy or the path of Indian Revolution is the path of protracted people's war i. e. , liberating the countryside first through area wise seizure of power establishing guerilla zones and base areas and then encircling the cities and finally capturing power throughout the country. The unevenness in the economic, social and political development of Indian society calls for different tactics i. e. , forms of struggle and organization, to be pursued in different regions of the country, while the political tactic line throughout the country remains the same.In urban areas the political and mass work should be carried out observing utmost precaution and the organizational work should proceed keeping in view the long-range perspective. Caste is a peculiar problem in India; and appropriate forms of organization and struggle should be evolved vigorously to fight out untouchability, caste discrimination and to finally root out the caste system. The tactics of boy cott of elections have to be pursued for a long time in the prevailing conditions in India; and participating in parliamentary and assembly elections under any pretext only weakens the class struggle. 14 These two documents, containing different organizational aspects of PW, make a clearcut demarcation for the issues pertaining to organizational conflict between the Liberation and PW. The People’s War, on the basis of its assessment of the people’s level of preparedness for an armed struggle, discarded ‘annihilation of class enemies’ as the only form of struggle and stressed instead, on floating mass organizations. It established several front organizations. 14During the 1980s, the Radical Students’ Union and Rayatu Kuli Sangham emerged as organizations with an impressive mass following and most of the PWG’s present base and political cadres developed through that practice. However, during the 1990s, the growth of militarization became the ch aracteristic feature of the PWG. The formation of People’s Guerrilla Army (PGA), special guerrilla squads, Permanent Action Team (PAT) and Special Action Team (SAT) were the distinctive features of PWG activities for quite some time, before it merged with MCC to form the CPI (Maoist). 5 15 In response to a government decision to launch coordinated action against the Naxalites by police forces of the various Indian States affected by Naxal violence, the PWG formed the PGA, its military wing in December 2000 by reorganizing its guerrilla force. The PGA functions under a single operational command, the Central Military Commission. In the Indian State where the PGA has a presence, there is a State Military Commission and in special guerrilla zones there is a Zonal Military Commission.A Regional Military Commission supervises a group of State Military Commissions or Zonal Military Commission Each Regional Military Commission reports to the Central Military Commission. All armed ca dre of the PWG are organized under the PGA. Ref: â€Å"People's Guerrilla Army†, http://www. satp. org/satporgtp/countries/india/terror istoutfits/peoples_guerrilla_arms_left_wing_extre mists. htm Ibid. 10 Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) & Communist Party of India (Maoist) The next important group within the broad spectrum of the Naxal movement is the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC).It stands apart from a number of organizations, since, conventionally speaking, it was never a part of the CPI (ML), which many claim as the mother of all Naxal organizations. â€Å"The MCC, while supporting the Naxalbari struggle, did not join the CPI (ML) because of some tactical differences and on the question of Party formation. †16 The MCC was formed on 20 October 1969, around the same time that the CPI (ML) was formed, although during those days it was known as Dakshin Desh. It was in 1975 that the group renamed itself the Maoist Communist Centre.In 2003, MCC merged with the Revolutionary Communist Centre of India-Maoists (RCCI-M) to form the Maoist Communist Centre-India (MCC-I). Right from its inception, the MCC stood for taking up armed struggle as the main form of resistance and waging a protracted people's war as the central task of the party. This position of the MCC has been repeatedly expressed and emphasized in a multitude of Maoist literature. â€Å"This armed revolutionary war is the war of the armed people themselves; it is ‘Protracted People's War' as shown by Mao Tse Tung.The concrete economic and political condition of India leads to the very conclusion that the path shown by the great leader and teacher, Mao Tse Tung, the path of the Chinese Revolution, that is, and to establish a powerful people's army and people's militia and to establish dependable, strong and self-sufficient base areas in the countryside, to constantly consolidate and expand the people's army and the base areas, gradually to encircle the urban areas from the countryside by liberating the countryside, finally to capture the cities and 16 o establish the state system and political authority of the people themselves by decisively destroying the state power of the reactionaries — this very path of the protracted People's War is the only path of liberation of the people of India, the path of victory of the new democratic revolution. â€Å"17 Communist Party of India (Maoist) The Naxal movement in India entered yet another phase of organizational transformation with the merger of two of the principal armed organizations, viz.People’s War (PW) and the Maoist Communist Centre of India (MCC-I), which resulted in the formation of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). â€Å"The formation of the unified Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a new milestone in the history of the revolutionary communist movement of India. A unified Maoist party based on Marxism-Leninism-Maoism is a long delayed and highly cherished need of the revolutionary minded and oppressed people of the country, including all our ranks, and also all the Maoist forces of South Asia and internationally.Now, this long-aspired desire and dream has been transformed into a reality. †18 This statement, made by the first Secretary of CPI (Maoist) Ganapathy, assumes a great deal of importance as it 17 Red Star, Special Issue, p. 20. Red Star is the English language organ of the MCC, as quoted by Aloke Banerjee in a pamphlet titled â€Å"Inside MCC Country†, dated June 2003. Red Star was the English language organ of the MCC. Also quoted in ‘MCC India Three Decades Leading Battalions of the Poor’, http://www. awtw. org/back_issues/mcc_india. htm.Though it denies but many treat this as the unofficial organ of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM. ) Ganapathy, in an Interview given on the on the occasion of the formation of CPI (Maoist). People’s March, Vol. 5, No. 11-12, NovemberDecember 2004. 18 30 years of Naxalbari, p . 36. 11 reflects the organizational politics that was going on all these years between these two organizations representing the Naxal movement. The improvised aim of the CPI (Maoist) as announced on the occasion of its formation is to establish a compact revolutionary zone, stretching from Nepal to Bihar to Andhra Pradesh and beyond.While continuing their pursuit of a people’s democracy; the ultimate aim of the CPI (Maoist) is to seize power through protracted armed struggle. The press statement, issued on the event of announcing the merger, stated, â€Å"The immediate aim and programme of the Maoist party is to carry on and complete the already ongoing and advancing New Democratic Revolution in India as a part of the world proletarian revolution by overthrowing the semi-colonial, semi-feudal system under the neo-colonial form of indirect rule, exploitation and control.This revolution will remain directed against imperialism, feudalism and comprador bureaucratic capitalism. This revolution will be carried out and completed through armed agrarian revolutionary war, i. e. protracted people's war with the armed seizure of power remaining as its central and principal task, encircling the cities from the countryside and thereby finally capturing them. Hence, the countryside as well as the PPW (Protracted People's War) will remain as the ‘center of gravity' of the party's work, while urban work will be complimentary to it. 19 According to the same press release, the CPI-Maoists â€Å"will still seek to unite all genuine Maoist groups that remain outside this unified party. â€Å"20 It is important to examine the significance of the merger, particularly when earlier attempts had been unsuccessful. In fact, the merger is largely being seen as a result of the gradual convergence of views of these two groups on areas such as the role of the party, approaches to revolution and adoption of strategies and tactics. In the formative years, Charu Mazumdar and Kanhai Chatterjee represented two irreconcilably different lines and approaches to ‘revolution’.At the time of the formation of the Communist Party of India (MarxistLeninist) CPI-ML in 1969, the Dakshin Desh (the earlier form of the MCC), remained opposed to the process due to sharp differences with the CPI-ML over issues such as the formation of a communist party, existence of revolutionary mass struggle and preparedness of the people to participate in it. The joint press statement released by the erstwhile General Secretaries of PW and MCC (I) highlighted the essence of the merger. â€Å"In the past history there were many splits within the M-L movement.But splits are only one side of the coin; the brighter side was that there were continuous efforts to unify the revolutionaries. The CPI (ML) (PU), though it had its origins in Bengal, it spread and strengthened by unifying several revolutionary groups. The CPI (ML) (PW), though it originated in Andhra Pradesh and Ta mil Nadu, it unified with revolutionaries in almost all the states where it was working. The MCC too, had originated in Bengal, unified many revolutionaries groups in it in many States and became the MCCI. 21 This statement underlines the continuous process of organizational politics within the broad spectrum of the Naxal movement, which resulted from organizational conflict. Looking back, the need for a joint, unified platform was felt by the leadership of both 21 19 â€Å"Maoist-Influenced Revolutionary Organizations in India† available at â€Å"Maoist-Influenced Revolutionary Organizations in India† available at 20 Ganapathy, in an Interview given on the on the occasion of the formation of CPI (Maoist). People’s March, Vol. 5, No. 11-12, NovemberDecember 2004. 12 he parties as early as 1981. â€Å"The PW and MCC began unity talks from their very first meeting in 1981. However, the reason for the delay in the process was the lack of continuity of leadership. The arrest of Comrade Kondapally Seetaramaiah (KS), the leader of the PW, and later the internal crisis of the PW and split in the Central Committee (CC) delayed the unity process for several years. In the early eighties, the MCC lost its two top leaders Comrades Amulya Sen (AS) and Kanhai Chatterjee (KC), which had some negative impact, resulting in further delay in the unity process. 22 However, this is not to suggest that the formation of the CPI (Maoist) was the final stage of the Naxal movement. As one official Maoist document puts it, â€Å"Revolutions never proceed in a straight line. The history of all successful revolutions shows this. The path is zig zag, there are ups and downs, there is victory and defeat repeated a number of times†¦.. before final victory. Of course, there is no final victory until the stage of communism is reached. 23 The above-mentioned analysis makes the forceful plea that since the Naxal movement is essentially a political problem, it needs to be examined from the perspective of organizational politics. From the above discussion we can derive the following conclusions. First, the history of the Naxal movement is the history of a continuous process of organizational conflicts, splits, and mergers. Second, the movement essentially represents simultaneous, though not necessarily peaceful coexistence of many streams; and looking from this angle, the movement can be said to have its presence in all parts of 22 23 he country. Third, the growth of the Naxal movement is closely linked with the ongoing process of organizational conflict. This is because the ultimate political objective behind all organizational exercise, as reflected by the statements of various senior Naxalite leaders, is to build a leftist alternative and mobilize people against increased ‘imperialist intervention’ and ‘proimperialist policies’ pursued by the union government, in support of ‘revolutionary war’ based on the Chinese leader, Mao’s theory of organized peasant insurrection.Similarly, the history of the naxal movement, right from its first phase of 1967, demonstrates that even if there has been a continuous evolution in terms of their understanding of the Indian situation, the focus of the movement, its character, and the fighting capabilities and financial resources of these groups; they have remained more or less consistent as far as their core ideology is concerned. Barring the Liberation, they all reject the parliamentary system of governance and want to bring about a fundamental change in the nature of the Indian state.For this, they have adopted the strategy of protracted armed struggle, which entails building bases in rural and remote areas and transforming them first into guerrilla zones and then liberated zones, besides area-wise seizures and encirclement of cities and finally, the seizure of political power and achievement of nation-wise victory. Fourth, the history of the movement so far, has been the history of conflicts and splits. However, one cannot deny that its history is also one of mergers. 4 Ibid. State Repression, this is the title of the document which was posted at www. cpimlpwg/repression. html. The website now has been withdrawn. During its existence the site claimed it to be the unofficial website of PWG. But during my interaction with many PW rank and file I found that it was the official website. 24 For more information on integrated checkposts, see the website of the Ministry of Home Affairs (http://mha. gov. in/BM_Div/BM_IntCheck(E). pdf). 13 .About the Author Dr. Rajat Kumar Kujur teaches Political Science at the Gangadhar Meher Junior College, Sambalpur, Orissa. He can be reached at [email  protected] com. 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