The working class of India has once again demonstrated its capacity for collective action. On February 12, 2026, nearly thirty crore workers—three hundred million human beings—joined a nationwide general strike known as the Bharat Bandh. This is no mere labor dispute; it is a decisive blow against the capitalist state apparatus and its assault on the very foundations of working-class existence.
The strike was called by a coalition of fourteen central trade unions, including the All-India Trade Union Congress, the Centre of Indian Trade Unions, the Hind Mazdoor Sabha, and numerous others representing the diverse sectors of Indian industry. Their demand is clear: the immediate withdrawal of the four new labor codes that have been implemented by the Indian government. These codes, which consolidate twenty-nine existing labor laws into four, represent nothing less than a systematic dismantling of workers’ rights.
The new labor codes represent the latest phase in the capitalist offensive against the working class. By consolidating and weakening labor protections, the ruling class seeks to create a more flexible, exploitable workforce—precisely the kind of labor power that capital requires in its global competition. The codes dilute the right to strike, restrict collective bargaining, and extend precarious employment to gig workers and informal sector laborers. In the language of political economy, these measures constitute a reduction in the value of labor power, allowing capital to extract greater surplus value from the working class.
What makes the Bharat Bandh of February 12, 2026 particularly significant is its scale and its political character. Nearly thirty crore workers participating in a single day of action is a demonstration of working-class power that few capitalist states can claim to have faced. The strike has disrupted banking services, public transportation, and government operations across six hundred districts of India. In cities and villages alike, workers have taken to the streets, chanting slogans against the labor codes, rising prices, and the government’s pro-corporate policies.
The strike has also exposed the limitations of the existing trade union leadership. While the participation of fourteen central trade unions demonstrates a degree of unity, the demands themselves remain within the framework of parliamentary reformism. The unions call for the withdrawal of the labor codes, restoration of the Old Pension Scheme, filling of vacant posts, and 100 percent compassionate appointments. These are legitimate demands, but they do not go to the root of the problem: the capitalist mode of production itself.
Trotsky would recognize in this strike the embryonic form of a revolutionary movement. The working class has shown that it can organize on a scale that threatens the stability of the capitalist state. The question is whether this energy will be channeled into demands for immediate reforms or whether it will develop into a struggle for the overthrow of the capitalist system and the establishment of workers’ power.
The government’s response has been one of repression and propaganda. Police have been deployed in major cities, and the ruling party has attempted to discredit the strike as a “foreign conspiracy” and an “anti-national” activity. This is the classic tactic of the ruling class: to paint any working-class struggle as a threat to national unity and stability. In reality, the Bharat Bandh is a defense of the working class against the very policies that have impoverished millions and enriched a tiny capitalist elite.
The strike also takes place in the context of global capitalist crisis. The Indian economy, like all capitalist economies, is plagued by stagnation, unemployment, and rising inequality. The labor codes are part of a broader neoliberal agenda that seeks to make India more attractive to foreign capital by weakening labor protections. This is the same logic that has driven the race to the bottom in global capitalism—a race that benefits capital at the expense of labor.
The February 12, 2026 Bharat Bandh is a reminder that the working class remains the most revolutionary force in society. It is the class that produces all wealth, yet it is systematically exploited and oppressed by the capitalist class. The strike demonstrates that when workers organize collectively, they can disrupt the functioning of the entire society. This is the essence of working-class power.
The challenge now is to transform this energy into a sustained struggle for socialist transformation. The trade unions must move beyond reformist demands and develop a program that addresses the structural causes of workers’ oppression. This means fighting not only for better wages and working conditions but for the abolition of wage labor itself, for workers’ control of production, and for the establishment of a socialist society based on the principle “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
The Bharat Bandh of February 12, 2026 is a significant milestone in the ongoing struggle of the Indian working class. It shows that the working class can and will resist the capitalist state’s assault on its rights. Whether this resistance will lead to revolutionary change remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: the working class of India has demonstrated its capacity to challenge the capitalist order. The struggle continues.