People's Democracy

  Eighteenth Congress Diary

Rajendra Sharma

APRIL 6, 2005; Place E K Nayanar Nagar (Delhi, Talkatora stadium); The 18th Party congress began at exactly 10 a m, when senior Party comrade Samar Mukherjee hoisted the Red flag of the Party amidst the chorus of "CPI(M) Zindabad". Soon after, in the leadership of Harkishan Singh Surjeet, the members of the Polit Bureau, the central committee, foreign guests of various communist parties to the congress and all other delegates paid homage to martyrs who had laid down their lives in the cause of the people.

The first session of the congress was open to the media and to special invitees. Huge photographs of Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, and the leaders of the communist movement in India, EMS, BTR, P Sundaraya, M Basvapunniah, Promode Dasgupta, P Ramamurthy adorned the walls of the hall. To commemorate the memory of Comrade Nayanar in whose honour the venue had been named, his photograph was also prominently placed.

The proceedings began with revolutionary songs by Parcham – a procedure that was followed in all sessions with songs by different groups from different regions – after which Jogendra Sharma welcomed the delegates and invitees on behalf of the reception committee, while the session was chaired by senior Polit Bureau member Jyoti Basu. A two minute silence was observed in the memory of all those killed in the cause of the people. The Tsunami victims were also remembered. Jyoti Basu, Surjeet and A B Bardhan were presented bouquets while honouring their life long legendary role in building the communist movement in this country. Surjeet’s inaugural speech had to be read out by Prakash Karat.

In a moving tribute and celebration, 11 very senior comrades who had fought for freedom and remained leaders of the communist movement after Independence to fight for people’s rights were introduced and given standing ovation by all present. Prakash Karat gave short view of each of their lives, and how valuable their contribution had been in bringing us where we are today. He said they are the heritage from the freedom struggle as well as the heritage of the Party that we must uphold in our work. He said the BJP does not have among them even one member whose contribution may be of comparison. It was an honour that Comrades Subodh Roy, Lakshmi Sahgal, M P Narayan Nambiar, K V Thankappan, Sandhya Chatterjee, Vaidya Dev Burma, K Krishnamurthy, Parsa Satyanarayan, K R Sundaram, M Pandiyan and Kitty Menon were present in the congress. Only the 93 year old Comrade P B Rangnekar could not be present personally due to ill health.

All the foreign delegates representing the communist parties of their countries were welcomed and each delegation was introduced by Sitaram Yechury. A book on the history of the Communist Party brought out jointly by the Party and Leftword was released on the occasion. The first copy was presented to Comrade Subodh Roy who had compiled the documents of the Party. The session concluded with a speech by Jyoti Basu.

In keeping with the tradition for conducting the affairs during discussions, various committees were elected, after which the political resolution was placed before the congress for discussion and acceptance by Prakash Karat, who spoke at length on its main aspects and also outlined the kind of proposals for amendments that had been received. Fewer amendments received as compared to the last congress are an indication of the wide acceptance of the contents, he said.

The discussions on the resolution continued into both the morning and afternoon sessions on April 7 and the morning session of April 8: a full seven hour forty minute discussion, in which 42 delegates spoke, between them representing every state in the country and every mass front of the Party.

While accepting the broad framework and the line of the political resolution, there was considerable and lively discussion on the details and specific aspects, a sign of the great involvement and recognition of the importance of this document in Party life and its struggles. In the context of the section on international issues, most interventions demanded greater elaboration of events since the last congress as it helps in the organisation of struggles and framing of issues at the state and local levels. Some also wanted the weaknesses to be mentioned: such as the lack of success in mobilising people for anti-imperialism to the extent required in today’s situation.

In the context of national situation, all delegates welcomed the defeat of the BJP-led alliance and the formation of the UPA government and the Party’s decision to support it from outside, but many felt there was a need for greater independent campaigns to mobilise people against the economic policies of liberalisation and to demarcate ourselves from the government policies in a very clear fashion than has so far been achieved. Some also underlined the need for a Third Front in this context.

A large number of delegates wished that it be recognised that the defeat of the BJP in elections had not resulted in the defeat of communal threats to the unity of the Indian people. They demanded that pressure on the BJP must remain an important aspect of our political tasks. This was expressed particularly by delegates from those states where the BJP holds the state government, and where state administration has been infiltrated and functions in consonance with RSS dictates. In Rajasthan its linkages with feudal elements and royalty were also pointed to.

A very large number of delegates pointed towards the growing atrocities against dalits, minorities and women, and stressed on the need to link class struggles with social oppression and issues of social equality. With regard to UP and Bihar a concern was also shown about the manner in which most parties are resorting to caste-based mobilisation, and the need to make our presence felt through mobilisations of all oppressed and exploited sections, both economically and socially.

The agrarian crisis came in for a detailed discussion, particularly in the light of the continuance of the same policies by the Congress government, and it was suggested that the plight of the tribals be given more attention than we have so far been able to in the context of their rights over local forest resources and rights over land they have been tilling. Delegates from hill regions pointed out how protection of forest is becoming a way of denying tribals their rights.

On April 8 in the afternoon session Prakash Karat gave his response to the various amendments suggested and the discussions held on them.

Again it was a lively debate, participated in by 39 delegates representing all states in the country and all the mass fronts, and a sharing of experiences of the last three years. The need to speed up the growth of the Party, and the various obstacles and weaknesses with regard to it came up for discussion. Delegates from Tamil Nadu and Andhra gave details on how they had expanded the influence of the Party among new sections of people though their mass fronts. In both the states these initiatives pertained to caste and artisans. In Rajasthan, it was the Ganganagar struggle over water. In Northern India specific issues like caste, particularly dalit issues, violence against women and against Muslims are important political issues for organisational growth, it was pointed out. On all these issues a cultural and ideological initiative is very important, it was said.

The factionalism in Kerala Party came in for serious criticism and concern, and support was expressed to initiatives to put an end to them.

On the morning of April 10, S R Pillai said that there was a consensus on the basic thrust of the report. Section 3 and 4 were therefore passed unanimously with the assurance that suggestions that had come would be incorporated.

There was debate on the jurisdiction of powers of the central control commission and the central committee with regard to disciplinary matters. The control commission, which till 1992 had been a sub-committee of the CC, became a directly elected body with certain disciplinary prerogatives in 1992 at the Madras congress. Since then there has been confusion in the exercise of their respective jurisdictions which was sought to be resolved at this congress through this proposed constitutional amendment. There was a debate on the issue, after which Prakash Karat clarified that it is only in extraordinary circumstances that the CC will change or modify the decisions of the control commission, as it was committed to upholding the powers of the control commission. As a safeguard two things were proposed. One, CC can modify any decision of control commission only by two-thirds majority. Two, every such decision of CC must be reported at the next congress. However, it has to be recognised, he said, that the CC is the highest body for maintaining discipline between two congresses. He also rejected the proposal of specifying the "extraordinary" circumstances, and said ratification of CC decision in the next congress in case of a reversal of a decision of control commission by CC would amount to keeping an issue pending for too long, which has its own problems. He therefore suggested an amendment that the CC will consult the control commission in such cases. After due consideration this was accepted, and passed by an overwhelming majority.

April 11 saw discussions on the policy related matters in the political-organisational report. 35 delegates participated in the debate, from various states and mass fronts. Some delegates pointed out that alternatives to globalisation were linked to fighting the consequences of globalisation on the ground; therefore principled opposition to globalisation should not become an excuse for not fighting for immediate and partial relief to people from the impact of globalisation policies. Many delegates were of the view that globalisation being such a major factor in the Left struggle and having such over reaching consequences should be linked to the discussion on ideological issues and important formulations with regard to it should be resolved only in the context of the update on the document on ideological questions, which the new central committee has agreed to accomplish within a year. In reply to the debates ensuing on policy related matters, Sitaram Yechury proposed that no conclusions be documented now, but that the new CC be authorised to take decisions with regard to the issues pertaining to globalisation and the conduct of the struggles against its impact. On this note the policy related portion of the report was passed by an overwhelming majority.

Earlier, in the debate many people accepted the need that within the present federal structure and in the age of globalisation, the Left Front governments cannot retreat from steps to provide relief to people while still continuing to fight against globalisation and for strengthening the public sector. There was some concern over steps being taken by the West Bengal government in allowing investment of foreign capital, and about development policy of export oriented growth, particularly in the case of mineral wealth. In public sector, the crucial areas related to popular welfare should not be seen in profit terms but in social terms. There was also concern about impact of globalisation on education and health, and the devastation caused in these fields was brought to attention. In the case of NGOs we should have different attitude to different kinds of NGOs. Some play a role of depoliticising people, and are influenced by their foreign funding, but others working among women and dalits should be kept in touch with. Regarding self-help groups, it was pointed out that in areas where the Left is not strong, the demand to bring them under panchayats will only harm the interests of people.

Important resolutions were passed, related to Palestine, agricultural crisis and peasant struggles, Iraq, violence on women, problems of tribals, dalits, Cuba and Indo-pak peace, whose texts have already appeared in our last few issues. The new CC of 85 members was elected, out of which one was kept vacant for Kerala. The new CC has 20 new faces. In addition, four senior leaders are also permanent invitees. Five names were proposed for central control commission. All these were unanimously approved by the congress.

After a brief interval, the congress sat for its final representative session, which was also an open session. The new general secretary, Prakash Karat, was introduced to the congress amidst resounding ovation. The new CC had its first meeting during the interval and elected Prakash Karat as Party general secretary. It also elected 16 other members of the Polit Bureau, among them four being new, including Brinda Karat, the first ever woman member of the PB. They were also introduced to the congress. The central control commission elected N Shankarayya as its chairperson. Some books, including Party congress souvenir were released in the congress. A book in Punjabi, written by Surjeet, on Punjab’s contribution to freedom struggle was released by Jyoti Basu. Earlier, on April 9, another book titled ‘Memoirs of 25 Freedom Fighters’ brought out by People’s Democracy was released by Jyoti Basu at the media centre in congress venue. He presented first copy to Captain Lakshmi Sahgal and Surjeet. Sitaram Yechury, editor of PD explained the significance of the book in the present context. This book is a collection of memoirs of twenty five veteran comrades who have been freedom fighters.

The concluding session ended with speeches of Prakash Karat, who emphasised the rich heritage of collective leadership in the Party, and Jyoti Basu who thanked all delegates and volunteers and the reception committee and explained that although we have strong differences with Congress and its policies we have supported it to keep the BJP at bay and to ensure a non-communal government for this country. If the present government pursues anti-people policies we must mobilise people against them. The general secretary of the reception committee, P M S Grewal, thanked all the Party activists, sympathisers as well as the non Party people for making this congress success, underlining the enthusiastic support of the people of Delhi who helped to raise about 50 lakh rupees for the congress and the Punjab state committee for providing wheat and rice.