Open Forum
New Delhi, 24
October 2019
CPI Centenary
COMMUNISM Vs COMMUNIST PARTIES
By Dr S. Saraswathi
(Former Director, ICSSR, New Delhi)
Year-long centenary celebration of the
Communist Party of India was inaugurated on 17 October 2019 even as
controversies over its date of birth had not ended. Whether the founding year was 1919 or 1925 as
some believe, the fact that it was linked with post- First World War political
development and was a movement in India that had to go along with Gandhiji’s Non-Cooperation
would not change.
In the Ahmedabad session of the Indian
National Congress in 1921, communist perspective of complete independence was
put forth. This fact goes in favour of celebrating CPI centenary in 2019.
Those were turbulent years in the political
scene in India. Second and third decades of the last century witnessed the rise and growth of different streams of
nationalist movements led by pacifists, moderates and also radicals, a strong Non-Brahmin and Self-Respect Movement in the
then Madras Presidency, rise of leaders
to champion the cause of depressed classes, and the
birth of Hindu Mahasabha.
According to some records, the Communist
Party of India was founded with seven members which included MN Roy and MPT
Acharya at Tashkent, which is presently in Uzbekistan. It represented socialist
struggle against capitalist and colonial forces during the Freedom Movement. It was against the zamindari system.
The centenary marks the survival of Communist
parties against many odds though 2019 has confirmed its downward progress in
parliamentary politics which started in 2014. Communist Parties and the Left
Front in general are at crossroads struggling through a
conflict between Communist ideology given a burial under liberalisation and
globalisation and Communist Parties desirous of retaining a place in Parliament
and elections.
In 2019 Lok Sabha election, CPI(M) – the
party formed by split in the CPI in 1964 - put up 70 candidates and won only three seats,
and the CPI contested 51 and won two. In their best performance in 2004, the
Left parties won 59 seats. From the status of being the main opposition party
in the 1950s and 1960s, they declined to near total elimination in the Lok
Sabha. In West Bengal and Tripura, also
their strongholds, Communist governments faced defeat.
The downfall of the Left parties which wielded
considerable influence in the ruling parties in 1990s and early 2000s is rapid
and decisive. It even came nearest to wresting the post of Prime Minister in the
United Front government, but missed it due to ideological hold failing to accept
reality. In 1996, the CPI(M) decided against accepting the post of Prime Minister in a coalition
of the
United Front which could not accept in toto and implement its Marxist
ideology. It was nowhere near winning majority to push its agenda.
The CPI (M) was fully in parliamentary
politics, but was unable to take the road it opened. Left parties cannot take
leadership of a coalition at the Centre, but are willing to be part of it. The
case of regional governments is different.
However, the moot point is that the rout in
Parliament does not signal the disappearance of pro-workers, pro-peasants, and pro-poor
policies of Communist parties. Every party and every coalition of parties have to
adopt populist policies, inclusive development, special assistance and
concessions for the weaker, and actively strengthen their mass base. Consequently,
Communist Parties have lost their unique ideological identity and have become one
among many parties.
In other countries, Communist parties changed
with the times. In China, starting as professed Marxists, they expanded to
Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong thoughts and kept away from Stalinism. Present
China is able to adapt to liberalism from its communist base. Rise of radical
Left parties became possible in many countries under new strategies of mobilisation
and organisational structure. Indian Communists got split and are unable to
merge and the two major groups -- CPI and CPI(M) -- have become different
political parties, sometimes in the same political alliance and sometimes in
different.
Communist parties failed to fill the gap
between the Congress and the BJP as their political, electoral progress was not
steady. Even ideological unity comes under strain due to differences in
electoral politics. The label “Communist” became untenable long ago. Leadership
is coming more and more from politically inclined people and not from
grassroots workers actively involved in people’s problems. The bifurcation is
like that between theorists and practitioners.
Differences within CPI(M) came into the open
as never before on the question of leadership election in 2015. In 2014
election, the Left parties managed to win only 12 seats -- all from Kerala,
West Bengal, and Tripura, and got a vote share less than 5 per cent. Shrinking
support base of Left parties in general only showed that there were no takers
for their ideologies. It had no attractive alternative model of development to
attract voters. The CPI lost its status as a national party after 2014
election.
Before 2019 Lok Sabha election leadership
itself was divided on the question of alliance with the Congress. Kerala and
West Bengal units functioned like separate parties – a consequence of politics
replacing ideology and guiding the party and taking reins. Though sharing power
is not the stated objective, Communist parties want a say in political issues. It
is reflective of the prolonged conflict the movement undergoes in transforming
to parliamentary politics.
The first Communist government was formed in
Kerala in 1957 and it was also the first government to fall to Article 356. Land
reforms started in Kerala in 1969, and socialist ideas like people’s planning were
introduced. Decentralised power distribution for planning and implementation
and cooperative movements were introduced. The two, CPI and CPI(M) got into
typical party politics and coalition governments in Kerala. At times, they are
in rival political alliances.
In West Bengal, the Left came to power in
1976 and embarked on land reforms very soon. CPI(M)
rule continued for 34 years till 2011 when it was defeated by TMC. The defeat
was not to anti-Communist forces as there was some kind of alliance between TMC
and Leftist groups. Communist ideology had to make many compromises on its
economic policy for survival in party politics and popular elections.
A speciality about the Left parties is the
ability of leaders to remain in limelight and retain respect and recognition on
the face of electoral defeats. But, membership is declining. Total extinction
of Communist parties has not happened in India. Split in the CPI has helped to
preserve the movement, while affecting Leftist unity and electoral strength.
The ideological battle in the minds of
confirmed Leftists is a reason for the survival of Leftism as well as decline
of electoral strength. They were in and out of Third Front by holding at times
the importance of ideological convergence particularly on economic issues and
inadequacy of coalition of secular
forces. The attempts to bring together CPI and CPI(M) have not succeeded in
closing their organisational division.
There is no meaning in raising the question
of relevance of communist ideology today. No “ism” like communism can become
irrelevant though parties subscribing to it may become ineffective. The conflict within and between Leftist
parties is common to movements transforming into political parties.---INFA
(Copyright, India
News & Feature Alliance)
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