BEGINNING OF NEW ERA FOR THE LEFT?

BEGINNING OF NEW ERA FOR THE LEFT?

Will the Left with the leadership of Sitaram Yechuri make up for their failure towards the poor farmers, worker and all marginalized people of India?

When Aam Aadmi Party first came to power in the state of Delhi and was reducing the rates of electricity and water and showing the way to expose corruption Prakash Karrat, who was then the General Secretary of the CPM party commented, “AAP is doing what we should be doing”.  This may be an admission of the fact that CPM probably does not do what it should be doing. 

Three and odd decades of Left Front government in West Bengal, led by CPM, has vanished.  It is on the receiving end in Kerala. It faced two defeats in succession. Left Front seat share in the Parliament also has come down rapidly.  It is absent in the urban or rural areas where the working class and farmers are facing hardship.  The trade unions in the organized sector have become ineffective.  Much of the organized work force in the industries has been replaced by contractors who employ even professionals on temporary basis with no benefits which workers would get under normal conditions, such as yearly increment, bonus, gratuity etc.  The CPM has not taken any corrective measures to revitalize the trade union movement.

If Prakash Karat is honest in his admission that the left parties are not doing what they are supposed to do, then we should see some changes in the party and its functioning.

In 1989 – 90 when the Soviet Union collapsed and the left was being viewed as spent force, several political commentators considered left to be still relevant in Indian context.  But today we see it declining rapidly.

What had gone wrong with the left?

      

T    The left had got mired in the electoral politics.  Number of seats in the Parliament and power at the states is important to play its political role.  But the political role the Communist Party had envisioned for itself was to deliver socialistic benefits to the masses; to strengthen the working class and peasant movement and to stand for the cause of all the poor and the exploited people.  This politics, the party believed, would bring about transformation in the society and put it on the path of socialism. But the left party gave up its larger role in the social movements and the struggles of the poor, farmers and the working class and got engaged with running the state for the bourgeois class.

·         While it is important to get elected to the Parliament or to the state assemblies the party had to pay a price for this.  The party had to tone down its militancy in order not to antagonize the ruling classes to gain their support and votes during election.  Creating a vote bank within the wealthy class in the long run becomes counterproductive.  After getting elected with the support of the wealthy class the party could not defend the interests of the toiling masses whole heartedly.  When the left opted for running the government for the bourgeois class the party lost its political base among the toiling masses.  Nandigram and Singur are the examples of this. It was stated in the 21^st Congress of the Party, “The party leadership in many states was averse to taking up the problems of the socially oppressed people.  It also stated that there was a serious discrepancy in the social composition of party members, the composition of leaders on the top committees, and proportional representation of women in the top committees.” (“Guarded Hope” Front Line - May15, 2015)

·         “It stated clearly that there was no way to avoid the fact that the electoral setbacks had brought down the party’s political influence and mass base.  It was also pointed out in the resolution that the party had failed to identify urgent and local issues to which people reacted collectively and that it had not organized campaign to mobilize people.”  (“Guarded Hope” Front Line - May15, 2015).  Indeed it an honest admission on the part of the party of their failures.

·          In the rural areas we did not find CPM cadres on the side of the farmers while they were in distress and even committing suicide.  From 1985 the action groups and voluntary organization were fighting to get the government to legislate ‘right to work’ for the rural poor.  The communists were nowhere to support them. CPM claims credit for supporting the legislation of MGNREGA.  But apart from this their cadres have done nothing to ensure that MGNREGA is implemented without corruption.  If the party does not stand by the poor, workers and farmers how can they expect to keep their mass base intact?  When mass base gets eroded automatically there will be electoral set back.

·         Even now the Communist cadres are not found organizing farmers against Modi’s land acquisition bill.

·         “The CPI(M) leadership was compelled to admit intermittently during this period that negative tendencies such as factionalism, individualism, financial irregularities and moral turpitude had become notable feature of the party in various parts of the country.” (“Guarded Hope” Front Line - May15, 2015)

·         The CPM cadres in West Bengal were functioning like parallel police force brutalizing people to force their support for the party.  They were handling the handing over of the government benefits to the people at their will and discretion.

The 21^st Congress of the CPM party has just been concluded.  The communist party’s redeeming culture was “self criticism”.  In the spirit of this principle there has been some introspection within the party during this Congress. The election of Sitaram Yechuri to succeed Prakash Karat to the post of General Secretary of the party could be one sign of the change. 

The 21^st Congress has exuded a great hope of reviving the Party.  All the members of the congress have not only realized their follies and weaknesses but they have also realized that in the present juncture where communalism and neo liberal policies are asserting there is a great need for the Left party like CPM to bring the country on the path of democracy, secularism and socialism.

In this context Sitaram Yechuri becoming general secretary is a very positive development in the CPM.  He considers ‘to be with the cause and purpose of the toiling masses’ is the purpose of his life. He also has a tremendous capacity to relate to all political forces without compromising his principles.  He has decided to strengthen the ‘independent identity of the Communist party’.  He is looking for strengthening Left unity which does not merely mean strengthening alliances with Left parties but also with a large number of Left sympathizers who are associated with the civil society organizations.”  We are looking forward to an era where CPM will shed its sectarian mind set and open itself to recognize the struggle of all sections of the poor which is carried out by the intervention of action groups and voluntary organizations.  Given their conviction and commitment the civil society organizations should be seen as natural allies of the CPM.

There are many civil society organizations who take up issues which go a long way in defending the rights of the poor.  Left forces are not just left parties or what is traditionally known, ‘the sympathizers’ of the left parties.  There are civil society organizations, voluntary organizations and NGOs who have dedicated themselves to fight for the rights of the marginal farmers, unorganized workers, dalits and adivasies with the perspective of bringing about change in the political and economic organization.  Without aligning with these forces the Left cannot strengthen itself both in terms of building mass movement and electoral politics.

What we would like to see is that the Communist party should come up with 21^st century vision for Democracy and Socialism.  It should be done along with all civil society organizations, action groups who are committed to the cause of the toiling masses and for a positive change.