ON TO 18TH CPI(M) CONGRESS

  Cadres Are Confident To Meet Challenges

  Harkishan Singh Surjeet

THE 18th congress of the CPI(M) is going to take place at a time when the Party, and the Left as a whole, is playing a crucial role at the national level, despite its continued weakness in the country. One will recall that when we reorganised the Party in 1964, many national and international observers had written us off and prophesied that the CPI(M), whom they dubbed as “splitters,” would be finished in no time. How has this prophesy fared in the last four decades is there for all to see.

ADVANCE IN TRYING TIMES

THOSE were indeed extremely trying days for the communists in the country. First, the ruling classes and their media propagated that we had “split” the Party at the behest of the Communist Party of China (CPC). This propaganda glossed over the fact that differences on ideological and political questions had surfaced in the united Party long back, during the Telangana days. But not only the dominant section of Party leadership spurned all our efforts for a principled resolution of these differences; it also made it difficult for us to remain and work in the Party. Moreover, when the government of India dubbed us as “Chinese agents” for simply advocating a peaceful resolution of the border dispute (precisely what they are doing today) and launched an attack against us in 1962, this section of Party leadership did not protest; rather they acquiesced in the attack.

Then, after the Party was reorganised, we again found ourselves in a tough situation. During the 1965 war with Pakistan, the government of India launched its round two of attacks against us, and most of our leading comrades were again put behind wars for the same crime of advocating a peaceful resolution of disputes.

Very soon, in 1967, the Party had to face an onslaught from inside, from the ultra-Left adventurists. These two --- right revisionist and Left adventurist --- deviations took a heavy toll, particularly in Andhra Pradesh where the Party once had its strongest state unit.

The gravity of the situation in the second half of the 1960s can be summed up thus. Besides the government of India’s attacks against us, while most political parties at the national level were railing against us, the naxalites were launching physical attacks against us. And on top of that, both the CPSU and CPC were carrying out systematic diatribes against us.

However, thanks to the commitment and dedication of Party cadres at all levels, the Party not only successfully negotiated this trying situation; it grew and became a force to reckon with. In the 1971 mid-term polls to Lok Sabha, while Mrs Indira Gandhi decimated the entire opposition with her “Gharibi Hatao” slogan, the CPI(M) not only survived the “Indira wave” but emerged as number two party in the house. The Party also made significant advances in West Bengal from the 1967 to the 1969 to the 1971 assembly polls, despite the ruling class deceit and attacks. 

Very soon the Party suffered a severe attack in West Bengal in the form of five years long semi-fascist terror. In fact, what we faced in the state during 1972-77, the country faced during the 19 months of Emergency. More than 1,100 of our cadres were killed in the state in those five years, about 20,000 had to live outside the state, and hundreds of our offices were captured by the ruling party goons. The Party also played a notable role in fighting the Emergency regime and for the restoration of democracy. All this added to the Party’s prestige in the country.

GROWING ROLE AND PRESTIGE

THE CPI(M) led Left Front government that came to power in West Bengal in June 1977, and another that came up in Tripura in January 1978, demonstrated in practice how the Party and the Left are different from bourgeois-landlord parties. Working within the severe limitations of the bourgeois-landlord order at national level, these Left Front governments have played a notable role in rushing relief to the masses and undertaking land reforms and other pro-people measures. They have also been siding with the working people and their struggles through all the thick and thin. Whenever there was a Left led government in Kerala, that also played a similar role there.

In the mid-1980s the Party played a valiant role in facing the terrorist threat in Punjab and some other parts of India, and our cadres did not desist from sacrificing their lives while defending the nation’s unity and integrity. Thus the Party’s role, and with it its prestige, continued to grow in this period.

The second half of the 1980s saw a rise of majority communalism, posing a severe threat to our national unity, and ultimately led to the Babri demolition in December 1992. This was a testing time for the Party. However, thanks to suitable elastic tactics that we adopted from time to time, we faced the situation creditably and at least two times (in 1989 and 1996) frustrated the BJP’s attempt to dominate the government or grab power at the centre. From June 1991 onward, the Party has also been fighting the onslaught of the Fund-Bank backed LPG policies. Rather, it would be no exaggeration to say that these policies gave a boost to the communal forces that came to power in March 1998. The Congress party’s attitude of capitulation to communal forces further complicated the situation, helping the BJP and taking a toll of the Congress’ own mass base.

The situation became intriguing after the BJP’s assumption of power in 1998. For, it was not a simple replacement of one bourgeois-landlord combine by another. As the 16th CPI(M) congress (Kolkata, October 1998) noted, behind the BJP stood the communal-fascist RSS that wanted to foist upon the country a theocratic state. Moreover, the RSS was now in control of all the levers of power and had started to utilise them for its nefarious objectives. In this period, deadly attacks were launched against the minuscule Christian community in Gujarat and several other parts of the country. Attempts were made to saffronise the school textbooks as well as educational and cultural institutions, media organisations, etc, to distort public opinion, particularly the children’s psyche. This was the period when the saffron brigade perpetrated in Gujarat the most gruesome killing of Muslims in our post-independence history, with direct help and patronage from the governments that it controlled in the state and at the centre. The echoes of this mass murder are still being heard in our political life. In the international arena, the country’s time-tested stand of non-alignment was dismantled and foreign policy given a pro-imperialist twist. The BJP led regime also resorted to nuclear jingoism, giving rise to a new wave of arms race in the subcontinent and bringing us to the brink of a nuclear conflagration. Despite the BJP’s loud claims of being a party of principles and a party with a difference, the regime far surpassed the earlier ones in corruption.  

The regime’s pursuit of the discredited new economic policies devised by the IMF and World Bank generated a lot of discontent which it tried to overcome with its “India Shining” campaign. It is another thing that the campaign failed to click and the regime suffered an ignominious rout in the 2004 Lok Sabha polls. 

INCREASED RESPONSIBILITY

HOWEVER, the 2004 polls also devolved a heavy responsibility upon the CPI(M) and the Left. The 17th congress of the Party (Hyderabad, March 2002) had set before us three crucial tasks --- to rout the communal combine led by BJP, to see that a secular government was installed at the centre, and to try to increase the Left strength in Lok Sabha. Hence we may feel a degree of satisfaction that all these three objectives have been fulfilled. In particular, the Left now has the highest ever representation in Lok Sabha and is in a position to influence policies to an extent.

Yet, even if the battle has been won, the war is far from over. As the draft political resolution for our coming 18th congress puts it, the communal combine has only been defeated; its strength is far from decimated. The document specifically identifies the reasons of concern, not only for the ruling Congress and UPA but more so for the Left parties who are supporting the UPA government from outside.

The situation becomes particularly complicated because the UPA regime is bent on following the same set of economic policies that have discredited several regimes in the past --- those led by Narasimha Rao, Deve Gowda, Gujaral and Vajpayee. In fact, it would not be wrong to put it this way --- no regime pursuing these policies has returned to power in the last 14 years.

This should have been a sufficient cause of caution for the ruling UPA but, unfortunately, the latter has failed to take due note of it. Whether it was the increase of FDI limits or a host of other issues, there is enough ground to believe that the regime is unduly acting under the pressure of international finance capital, and is in the process ignoring the vital interests of the country and its people. Insofar as foreign policy is concerned, the regime has not paid much attention to the task of rejuvenating the NAM despite the anguishing cries of third world countries. At times, it has tried to be clever by half, e g on the issue of sending troops/poll personnel to Iraq or of relations with Israel. Of late, the regime seems to be oblivious of the trap set for it by US imperialists who want to have India in one pocket and Pakistan in the other. That it would start a fresh round of arms race in the subcontinent goes without saying.  

It is natural that the Left has to negotiate such a situation with utmost caution, when the communal forces are waiting in the wings, hoping that a rift between the UPA and Left parties would give them a chance to come back. This is a tricky situation for the Left: while we cannot allow an unhindered run of the Fund-Bank policies, we cannot afford to give to the BJP what it eagerly wants. 

The recent voting on the patents amendment bill was a case in point. What the Left parties did in Lok Sabha was in fact an attempt to protect the national interest and the people’s interest, as much as possible, from the onslaught of an anti-national draft bill that was prepared by the erstwhile BJP regime. Moreover, while the Left parties strove to get as many pro-people amendments incorporated into the bill as possible (in fact they succeeded in getting several amendments incorporated into the bill), the BJP continued to play a dubious role. Sometimes it maintained deadly silence on the bill and refused to join the nationwide protest against the patents ordinance of December 26, 2004. A few times it also gave overtures to the government that it was prepared to help in the passage of the bill, as its provisions were after all drafted by the BJP led regime. However, it suddenly changed its stance and announced opposition to the bill in view of the popular anger and protest on the issue. This makes it clear that the BJP/NDA are prepared to play any hoax and are waiting for the day the UPA government might fall because of a disagreement between the UPA and Left parties.  

MEETING FUTURE CHALLENGES

THIS is only one instance of how tricky the current national situation is. It is thus clear that the CPI(M) will have to devise suitable tactics to negotiate the situation so that the ruling alliance is not able to ride roughshod over the people’s interests, nor is the BJP able to take advantage of the discontent. It is also clear that the present national level correlation of forces cannot continue for long, and we have to maintain utmost vigilance so that we are able to meet any sudden development.

This is precisely where one sees the relevance of the coming Party congress.

One has to note that to a communist party, a congress is not a show, an empty exercise or a ritual to be performed every few years. It is rather a serious business in which the whole Party takes part in one way or another. The central committee issues the draft of a political resolution two months prior to a Party congress, and all comrades and Party units across the country discuss it threadbare. Then they send their amendments by a set date to the Central Committee that takes due note of the same and reports them to the Party congress. Also, Party units at every level hold their conferences, discuss the problems and issues at respective levels, adopt resolutions to guide their action till the next conference, and also elect delegates for the conference at the next higher level. It is thus that delegates elected by state conferences constitute the Party congress, the highest body of the Party.

This mode of functioning of a communist party integrates inner-party democracy with centralism, and this organisational principle of democratic centralism, which combines unity of action with individual initiative, is seen in the holding of a party congress also. This makes for utmost democracy in the party life.

It is therefore no wonder that a Party congress is always an important landmark in the history of a communist Party. It critically reviews the work done, the successes achieved and failures encountered since the preceding congress, and chalks out a tactical line along with political and organisational tasks for the next three odd years. In the CPI(M)’s history too, party congresses have guided the cadres at all levels in normal as well as critical situations. To take a few examples, while the 7th congress of the Party (1964) met the revisionist threat, the 8th congress (1968) was seized with the problem of adventurism. The 10th congress (1978) guided the Party in the post-Emergency situation when the one-party monopoly of power was broken for the first time, and the 13th congress (1988) showed the way to meet the rising communal threat. Special mention must be made of the 14th congress (1992) that seriously analysed the debacle of socialism in East Europe and disintegration of the Soviet Union, and drew some valuable conclusions. This is what saved the CPI(M) from the sad fate that visited some communist and workers parties in other countries. The 16th and 17th congresses chalked out concrete steps to meet the challenge of communal forces who were then controlling the levers of power.

And now the 18th CPI(M) congress is going to meet at a time when the communal forces have been ousted from power but have the potential of a comeback, and when the non-Left secular forces are yet to grasp the communal threat in full. The recent assembly polls in Bihar and Jharkhand go to show what losses to India’s body politic the continued dispersal of secular forces may cause. Insofar as the economic policies are concerned, secular parties are yet to demarcate themselves from the communal combine in clear-cut terms.     

This and several other issues, national as well as international, will be there before the coming CPI(M) congress that will deal with them and evolve a suitable tactical line to guide the whole Party till the next congress. This is how, basing itself on the Leninist teaching of “concrete analysis of concrete situation,” the CPI(M) has been charting out its course of action through various ups and downs. The experience of the last four decades has amply vindicated the CPI(M)’s stand on the issues related to Indian revolution, and we do hope that the collective wisdom of the Party, as reflected in the coming Party congress, would help us meet the future challenges as well. It is with this hope that the whole Party and all its well-wishers in the country and abroad are looking forward to the event.