The Crisis of Indian Left and prospects of future

[A paper presented by  Mangat Ram Pasla, State Secretary,CPIM(Punjab at  the All India Seminar organized by the Left Co-ordination Committee at Calicut on 14^th May 2010]

It is  a hard reality that, despite a long history of supreme secrifices and several blood soaked struggles, the Left  in India, to-day, is unable to throw a serious challenge to the authority and regime of Indian Bourgeoise, to whome the state power was transfered by the Britishers in 1947.

It is also a well known fact that despite some tactical mistakes committed by the Communists here and there, during the struggle for independence, the heroic contribution of the communists in this struggle remains to be highly commendable. The Communist Party of India remained legally banned for a long period and its leaders and cadres were persecuted severelly for years to-gather.Facing all types of repression at the hands of imperialists the Party played a glorious role in mobilisig the masses against the colonial slavery. Alongwith this, the CPI also did a great service in organising the workers, peasants and other downtrodden masses for the revolutionary transformation of the Indian society. In this context, among others, the heroic struggle of Telengana against feudal landlordism will be remembered for ever.

However the initial failure of the Party in assessing the outcome of independence struggle as well as the import of power transfer in 1947, derailed the Left movement in the country, leading it towards left sectarian opportunism. Confusion pervailed and adventurist political positions were adopted by the then leadership. But the mistake was soon realised and some good efforts were made to correct the same with the help of soviet leadership. Howevre, the differences again erupted and the the dominating leadership of the party deviated towards the class-collaborationist positions. The situation deteriorated to such an extent that the movement was vertically disrupted in the country as a whole.

After the 1964 split, the left movement, under the banner of CPI (M), again gained momentum. It attracted the working masses and effectivly overcame the Naxalite disruption of 1967. The CPI. led Right Opportunism was badly exposed during the Emergency and left forces consolidated themselves at several places, especially in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.

However this revolutionary momentum could not be maintained for long and, as a whole, the left movement continued to remain weak in a wide portion of the country, especially in Hindi heartland. In the due course the genuine left movement led by CPI (M) fell victim to the most dangerous deviation of parliamentry opportunism and at present, it is completely confused and is in the process of disarray. Alongside this fatal right revisionist trend, the left adventurism, under the various shades of naxalism is also playing their disruptive role. The parliamentry opportunism, however, is the dominating malady, mainly responsible for the present deplorable state of the left movement.

Under the impact of this deviation of parliamentrism, the fundamental principles of
Marxism are being conciously diluted or abrogated to justify the right revisionist practice. For example the fundamental principle of constant and continuous class struggle, carried on under all circumstancess, is being overshadowed by class-collaboration in practice. The revolutionary perspective is being thrown over board, and it is being preached both overtly and covertly that in this era of imperialist globalisation all the problems being faced by the working class can be setteled within this very system. Thus the basic concept of intensification of class struggle to transform the society is being diluted. Similarly under the impact of this deviation, instead of uitilising the Bourgeoise Democracy for the development of class struggle and to strengthen the class and mass organisations, these right revisionists are giving an impression that democracy is the final goal of all the activities of the left movement. Further, their theoretical-political deviations are telling upon the organisational principles also and all the characteristics of Leninist principles of Party organisation such as democratic-centralism, criticism and self-criticism, semi under ground functioning and requirments pertaining to communist morality, are being bade good-bye, one after the other. In addition to this, the unprincipled compromises being made by the revisionist political outfits with the bourgeoise parties are leading the country towards two-party (two combinations) political system. This tectical line is also strengthening the communal and other right reactionary forces and is thus creating extra hurdels for the development of left movement.

Hence, under these circumstances, the left movement will have to overcome both these deviations, so as to play a real revolutionary role in the country. At present, the political scenario pertaining the left is really very dismal. On the one hand, a good section of the left forces, led by CPI (M), is daily falling deeper and deeper into the quagmire of parliamentary illusions. And on the other hand, CPI (Maoist) leaders are bent upon sticking to their sectarianism and have fallen a prey to adventurist line. Both of these lines are alien to the revolutionary science of social transformation i.e. Marxism-Leninism, and are a big source of confusion for the revolutionary masses of our country. Therefore the historic necessity of the hour is to project the correct ideological-political line in an effective and convincing manner.

On the other hand, the objective situation for the development of the Left movement in our country is very favourable. Internationally, with the advent of current global meltdown, the ideological offensive of the capitalist-reactionaries, unleashed after the collapse of soviet union, has completely gone down. Rather, it has now become defensive, as it has again been proved that capitalism can never be crisis free. Such an idelogical-political situation can be utilised by the left forces to advance their revolutionary cause, both ideologically as well as politically.

Nationally, the on going neo-liberal policies being persued by the Indian ruling classes, are creating wide spread resentment amongst the Indian working masses. The monopoly class in the country has integrated all its interests with those of the imperialists to such an extent that the country has become a hunting ground for both these anti-people forces. Thus the contradiction between the Indian ruling classes and Indian masses has aggravated speadily. The masses are being deprived of the rights and privileges, earned by them so far through hard struggles. Such a situation demands forceful intervention of the left for the amelioration of the fast deteriorating living conditions of the people. For this purpose a correct combination of extra-parliamentary and parliamentry struggles is needed to mobilise the masses in a bigway. Infact the massive mobilisation of the working masses is the key to overcome the present dismal situation of the left. Although relying on the extra parliamentry struggles is the only effective approch for changing the present adverse co-relation of class forces in favour of the working class, yet the parliamentry struggles can also be utilised to expose all types of the maneovers being played by the ruling classes to deceive and disrupt the masses. It can also be utilised to oppose and expose the undemocratic and repressive attacks of the government upon the struggling masses. Thus, in the present siuation, the unleashing of mass struggles, while remaining fully vigilant against both parliamentry illusions as well as adventurist short-cuts is the prime need of the hour. Such an approach also demands unification of the Left contingents for undertaking the countrywide mass struggles on the immediate and burning problems of the people. Such struggles will also help in developing a congenial atmosphere for ideological and political unification of the Left. We hope that with such sustained efforts the Left movement in India is destined to invariably rise to the position of playing the historic role, it is supposed to play.