People's Democracy

THE 16th Orissa state conference of the CPI(M) concluded amid much enthusiasm and resolve to further advance the mass movement against the economic polices of the centre and state governments and to strengthen the party. It called for continuing the campaign against communalism, strengthening Left unity and building up a third alternative in the state.

The conference was held in the steel city of Rourkela from on January 19 to 21. On January 19 afternoon, the procession marching through the heart of the city converged at Birsha Maidan where the open session was held, with Banamali Dhupal in chair. The meeting was addressed by CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Prakash Karat, West Bengal minister Suryakant Mishra, Janardan Pati, Sivaji Patnaik, Lambodar Nayak and Bishnu Mohanty.

On January 20 morning, after the Red Flag was unfurled by senior party leader and veteran leader of the state people’s movement Iswar Das, the delegates session started at E M S Namboodiripad Nagar (Civic Centre). A presidium comprising Sivaji Patnaik, Santosh Das, Jahangir Ali, Usha Tripathy, Sudarshan Lohar and Dibyasingh Nayak presided over the conference.

Inaugurating the conference, Prakash Karat called for building up a third alternative. Referring to the international situation, he said while the US imperialism continues its effort to establish its global hegemony, taking advantage of the change in the balance of powers at the international level, the resistance against it is developing at the same time. He detailed how the crisis-ridden capitalist economy is attempting to transfer the burden of the crisis on to the third world countries. But resistance too is developing against it, as is evident from Seattle to Doha. He called upon reviving the anti-imperialist heritage of India.

Exposing the hidden agenda of the BJP-led government at the centre, Karat criticised the moves to communalise the textbooks. He came down heavily upon corruption in the NDA government, and also criticised the BJP attempt to break the linguistic states. He said the Congress policies cannot offer an alternative to the NDA. He dismissed the idea of any kind of alliance or unity with the Congress while fighting against the BJP.

In his fraternal address, the state CPI’s assistant secretary Dibakar Nayak stressed the need of strengthening Left unity.

CPI(M) state committee secretary Janardan Pati introduced the draft political-organisational report. The report highlighted how the policies of globalisation, liberalisation, privatisation and the fiscal reform measures of both the central and the state governments have increased the poverty and starvation, unemployment, deindustrialisation and backwardness. They have added to the woes of the tribal and peasant populations, and led to anarchy in the spheres like education and health, etc.

The report underlined the erosion of the BJP-BJD coalition government’s support base due to its aggressive implementation of the fiscal ‘reform’ programme, formulated at the World Bank-DFID dictate. It noted the growing push and pull between the alliance partners, as part of the quarrel over power and pelf. The Biju Janata Dal’s consolidation in state power has annoyed the BJP. However, both at the centre and the state levels, the lust for power continues to keep the alliance unified.

The Congress is naturally becoming the beneficiary of the BJD-BJP’s loss of popularity in the absence of a viable third alternative. Yet the Congress has not been able to overcome the shock it received in the last parliament and assembly elections, and remains a divided house.

The vacuum may be filled up by the unity and expansion of the Left and democratic forces. After the BJD was formed following a division in the erstwhile Janata Dal and the new regional outfit joined the BJP-led alliance, the earlier polarisation in the state changed, marginalising the Left-secular platform. In the meantime, a new regional party called the OGP, mainly comprising the breakaway group of BJD, has come into existence. But the mutual bickering among the secular parties is hindering the growth of a united movement. The situation warrants joint action by all secular and Left parties, the report emphasised.

In spite of this limitation, the encouraging feature is the growth of mass movement in the state. Peasants, teachers, state government employees, the unemployed and above all the tribals have come to the streets. The report took note of the situation and resolved to organise and coordinate all these agitations, to integrate them with the general struggle against the ruinous economic policies.

The report underlined that the present situation is full of possibilities of the advancement of mass movement and the party’s growth. The party can certainly grow if it rises to the occasion, the report asserted.

While giving a call to strengthen the party, the report also analysed the objective and subjective factors responsible for the chronic weakness of the communist and Left movement in the state. It identified the feudal legacy and absence of social reform movement as predominant factors. It also identified the emasculation of the CPI and the liquidation of the socialist movement, that was strong from the 1930s to the late 1960s, as the causes of the setback to the Left and democratic movement. The setback to the socialist system in the former USSR and East Europe, the polarisation of state politics between the Congress on the one hand and the BJD-BJP alliance on the other, the impact of the LPG policies and of the communal politics, and also the sad inner-party situation in the late 1980s are the objective factors for the stagnation of the CPI(M) that was registering growth from the late 1960s to the mid-1980s.

The report identified the ideological weakness, the mentality of retention and absence of the will and determination to advance, defective functioning, absence of a communist attitude, and inactivity of the party committees as the objective factors responsible for this stagnation.

The report self-critically reviewed the functioning of the state committee and state secretariat, district committees, local committees and branch committees. It then suggested measures to overcome these weaknesses.

The report examined the membership position and the dropout rate, and reviewed the class and social composition of the party membership, along with the position of scrutiny and renewal, etc. The membership has grown from 2043 in 1997 to 3513 in 2000, at 15 per cent per annum. The report suggested strict implementation of the policy of recruitment through auxiliary groups, barring some exceptions, and maintenance of the norms of scrutiny and renewal to improve the quality of the party. The class and social composition of the party at the rank and file level appears by and large healthy, except in case of recruitment from among women and minority communities. But the class and social composition of elected party committees is thoroughly unsatisfactory. The representation of workers, peasants, agricultural labourers, women, tribals and Dalits is just symbolic. This is a reflection of the chronic negligence of the party to train up members and cadres from these categories, develop their ideological and political standards and promote them to higher committees.

The report noted with satisfaction that expansion has taken place in Balasore, Sundargarh, Ganjam, Cuttack and Nayagarh districts in the period since the last conference. The victory in the Nilagiri assembly constituency in Balasore district helped the party to expand its base. The border committee constituted with the party units on the border of West Bengal and Orissa under the active guidance of Biman Basu, a Polit Bureau member, gave a fillip to the growth of the party at Jaleswar in Balasore district. Cuttack city has emerged as an active centre.

The report self-critically examined the weaknesses in respect of ideological work and emphasised on expanding and regularising the party education network, improving the quality and circulation of party paper, and bringing out more and more literature. It resolved to make the rectification campaign a regular activity, to properly organise the work of elected representatives from panchayat to the assembly levels for the growth and expansion of the party, and to streamline the check-up mechanism. The report also reviewed the cadre policy and suggested corrective measures.

The draft identified certain defects in the style of work and sought to overcome them. They are as below:

(i) There is absence of a realisation of the need to expand independent mass base to the party by emphasising the class struggle.

(ii) Instead of taking up suggested activities, the trend is to run after spontaneity, token and publicity-oriented activities.

(iii) The leading cadres have failed to directly work among the masses and are confined to supervisory works.

(iv) There is the failure to devote more time for meticulous work and a tendency to replace it by short-cut methods.

(v) There is a reliance on the ritual ways of executing programmes by just mobilising the captive strength, without properly undertaking the campaign among the people.

The report also reviewed the activities of the mass organisations. The CITU membership has registered a marginal growth from 19,283 to 20,544 while there was a loss of membership of 3,452 due to closure of industries. The Kisan Sabha membership has gone up from 20,958 to 29,190, of the AIAWU from 3,632 to 4,620, of the DYFI from 23,667 to 34,011, and of the AIDWA from 5,800 to 11,140. The report took note of the sharp decline in SFI membership. While all the unions led by the party leaders are not affiliated to the CITU and all our supporters are not enrolled as members of the mass organisations, in certain cases the membership is not reflected in mobilisation and activities. The non-functioning of the mass organisation committees at district level and below is a matter of serious concern, the report underlined. The call of the 16th party congress to activise every member in mass organisations is yet to be implemented. The report made suggestions to improve the functioning of the fraction committees and every party committee to take up the activities in mass organisations seriously.

In Orissa the CPIM) has earned the image of an active party. Its consistent struggle against the ruinous economic policies, its campaign against communalism, the extensive relief work it conducted after the super cyclone and in the starvation affected localities, and its struggle on local or immediate mass issues have enhanced the prestige of the party. The report called for transforming this active party into a growing party.

A total number of 47 delegates participated in the discussion. It was evident from their mood that comrades felt confident about ensuring the growth of the party, and this urge was expressed in their tone and in their healthy self-criticism. The report was adopted after Janardan Pati summed up the discussion.

The conference adopted resolutions against the state government’s fiscal and administrative ‘reform’ programme, against the distress sale of paddy, and on tribal problem, among other issues.

The conference elected a 37-member state committee with 2 vacancies. Four members were dropped and 6 new ones inducted, including 2 women comrades. The new state committee, in turn, elected a 7-member state secretariat with Janardan Pati as secretary. Other secretariat members are Sivaji Patnaik, Jagannath Mishra, Santosh Das, Ali Kishore Patnaik, Lambodar Nayak and Rahas Mohanty. All were re-elected to the secretariat.