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October     Last updated: October 14: 7:00 p.m.

Mouldering Marxism
Doomed to Extinct

Brahma Naik

"THE inherent virtues of Socialism are more often assumed than explained.. Only the old want security; Youths crave adventure".—C. Northcole Parkinson The inevitable has happened. With the Election Commission stripping the national party status of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), it has reduced to a regional party having susbstantial presence only in three States, namely, West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala. For a party that had once aspired to rule India, the EC decision has dealt a severe blow. According to Shri P. Parameswaran : "It is more than just losing the recognition of a political party. It means rejection of a political ideology—which is centered around dialectical materialism—from the country." For the Marxists everything was imported even their party. The Communist Party of India, which took shape on October 17, 1920, was not formed in India but in Tashkent in the erstwhile USSR. The party with its characteristic aversion towards India and all Indian, its negative attitude towards nationalism, could not make much inroads into the Indian heartland. Although with their brand of historians, they tried to distort the history and present themselves as freedom fighters, the stories of their 'great betrayals' remain etched in the minds of the people. However, the party was able to build up formidable organisation in some parts of the country.

The party emerged as the major political force in the first general elections, with making their presence felt in West Bengal, Hyderabad, Madras and Mothi presidencies. Its leaders, P. Sundarayya, and A.K. Gopalan became the Leaders of Opposition in Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha respectively. In 1957, the party came to power in Kerala. However cracks had already started showing in 1954 in the monolithic Communist Party, which culminated in the split of the party in 1964, with the CPM emerging as the largest faction. In fact the split had accelerated the degeneration of the party. Although the party was not in power, the Leftists had considerable clout in the intellectual and academic circles. With this, they played a major role in the decision making of the Government. Of late, one by one, all the bastions of the Leftists are crumbling, thanks to the emergence of nationalist forces. Of late, the Leftists are fearing a wipe out even from their traditional strongholds such as West Bengal and Kerala. The party is using all means to hold its ground intact but many times in vain. In West Bengal, the party is loosing its battle against firebrand Mamata Banerjee. The large-scale violence unleashed by the party is only an expression of their desperation. According to Shri Jyoti Basu's own admission, 71 persons were killed across Midnapore, Hooghly and Bankura and 341 were injured.

"A popular estimate is that 4,000 houses have been torched and some 20,000 non-Communists—mainly supporters of Trinamool Congress and BJP—have been evicted from their homes", writes Prafull Goradia, Editor, BJP Today. Violence is used by the CPM as means to check the desertions in the party and frighten the public from joining other political parties. The party is adopting the same technique in Kerala, too. "If Midnapore is the killing field of West Bengal, it is Kannur in Kerala," said Shri O. Rajagopal, Minister of State for Railways. Over the years about 150 RSS-BJP workers have become victims of the "dagger politics" of the CPM in Kerala. Despite the party taking recourse to violence, it fails to check the desertions from the party. Discontented with the lack of transparency and democracy in the party, a Communist stalwart Saifuddin Chaudhary quit the party and plans to float a political outfit. Indications are that leaders such as Subhas Chakraborty and Samir Patkunta will also follow the suit. The situation is not very different in Kerala too. There is a battle for supremacy in the party between factions led by V.S. Atchatanandan and Pinarayi Vijayan.

The party was able to save its face in the recently-held civic body elections only with the help of opportunistic alliance with the Muslim League. With the politburo disapproving the alliance with the Muslim League, the party is in a dilemma as to who it should have tie-up with. As far as Kerala Communists are concerned there is a fear among them that the Left Front will not come to power in West Bengal in the coming elections. "So they want to retain the power by hook or by crook", says a journalist. That means more pre-poll violence in Kerala too. Now the party has not only lost its national status but also lost facilities accorded to national parties like permanent office in New Delhi, official time slots on national media, etc. Stripping of such facilities has unnerved party managers as it has long implications for party machinery. Going by the present trend, the days of the Marxist party are numbered. As rightly said by Shri Venkaih Naidu, the party is becoming a dinosaur. The ideology fails to inspire the youth anymore.