CPI-M, CPI leaders expect unity of the two parties to strengthen in '81

Several changes are likely to visit the Indian communist movement in '81. The year just ended threw up a number of questions, which must find their answers in the next 12 months.The answers will determine the relationship between the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Communist Party of India (CPI), between the two communist factions and the Congress(I) Government at the Centre, and the CPI-M's relationship with the communist parlies of the Soviet Union and China The queries are legion.Will the Centre dismiss the Left Front Government in West Bengal and Tripura and dissolve the legislatures?Will the CPI-M respond to the electorate with a more militant programme, and ask for a mandate to wage class struggle against the Cenlre?Will the unity-in-action of the CPI-M and the CPI become stronger or weaker in '81?Will both communist parties pursue an identical line and support India's foreign policy only when it is 'progressive', and vigorously oppose Mrs Gandhi's domestic policies and actions?Dasgupta: Week leadershipSuch questions loom before the Marxists. Three-and-a-half years of indifferent performance in West Bengal and Tripura have created tensions and differences in the leadership as well as among the cadres. How will either tactical line affect the organisational cohesion, discipline and quality of the Marxist party?Probable Answers: Both the national and West Bengal leaderships of the CPI-M expect the Centre to strike at the Left Front Government of Jyoti Basu in '81. Only a few days ago three senior members of the politburo were in Calcutta for a close look at the party organisation in Bengal and its ability to take on the Congress (I) in a snap pol 1 in early '81. The souring relations between the CPI-M and its two main Front partners, the Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) also came up for discussion. It was agreed that the CPI-M had to rely on its own strength to defeat the combined forces of the Opposition rather than count on its Front partners: the Marxist leaders had in mind the relatively poor performance of the two smaller Left parties in the panchayat by-elections last July. Then, the CPI-M won 51 per cent of the seats as against 75 per cent in the panchayat elections of 1978: the Congress (I) made appreciable gains at the cost of the RSP and the Forward Bloc.In the next election in West Bengal, the CPI-M will most probably have the CPI on its side. It is unlikely that its partners in the present Front will desert the CPI-M and court political eclipse. The Marxists fear that the powerful combination of big and middle landlords in the villages will be arrayed against them along with the "capitalist interests" in the urban areas and a sizeable portion of the middle class, with the backing of the Centre and of "reaction" all over the country.Mitra: Trying for a united frontThere is a strong element in the CPI-M which argues that by practically halting the programmes of "class struggle" in the countryside in '80. the party's hold on the rural poor has been considerably weakened.If to govern means muting class struggle, a large part of the cadres in West Bengal and Tripura would rather not want the party to rule. They prefer the 1968-70 model of using state power to "wage class war" with the Centre. It is thus more than likely that in '81 the Marxists will adopt a more militant class-oriented programme in West Bengal in order contest.Problems: Chief Minister Jyoti Basu's plea to the President that the dispute between West Bengal and the Centre over the transfer of grains for the food-for-work programme be referred to the Supreme Court is the first shot in a constitutional duel between the state Government and the Central Government. The successful Bengal bandh on November 27 and the factional squabbles in the West Bengal Congress(I) prompted Mrs Gandhi to do some plain speaking when a batch of party leaders from that state met her during the recent All India Congress Committee (I) (AICC-I) session She told them that nothing could be more welcome to the CP1-M than to be dismissed from power now. The Marxists could thus mobilise the people of Bengal more successfully than if they were in power. Mrs Gandhi's strategy would seem to be to allow the Left Front term to run its legal course but make things difficult for them from the Centre.Basu: In the thick of a constitutional duelThis is first time the CP1-M has been in power in any state for as long as three-and-a-half years. The CPI-M leads left or left-democratic coalitions in three states: not an insignificant slice of power in India. However, 1980 has been a year of dismal performance for the party in West Bengal. The power problem has become more acute. The improvement in the management of Calcutta University noticed in 1977-79 came to a halt in 1980. The party image has become tarnished as a result of reports of lethargy and corruption in the panchayats. The illness of Promode Dasgupta. secretary of the West Bengal unit, has weakened party organisation and slackened the party's hold on the administration. In Tripura, the Left Front Government's resources and energies were spent for the larger part of '80 in dealing with the violent tribal explosion and resettling its victims. Serious Clash: The Marxist-led United Front regime in Kerala impressively won the panchayat election in '80. but halted the constitution of district councils, thus stalling its promise to decentralise the administration. It won its case for a bigger plan for 1980-81 and invited 200 major industrial houses to a seminar in Trivandrum in September in a bold "un-Marxist" bid to attract private investment in Kerala's industrialisation.The Government's rural welfare programme had nothing spectacular about it - the most publicised action was the sanction of pensions for "retired" agricultural workers. The United Front weathered its first major internal crisis created by a serious clash between Marxist and Congress(U) cadres in Trivandrum.Kerala's Nayanar: Luring private capitalIts lesson: the CPI-M does not dominate the Front, but is only one of its equal partners. This blunt fact obliged the CPI-M in Kerala to turn down a proposal mooted by West Bengal's maverick Finance Minister. Ashoke Mitra, that the three Left governments in West Bengal. Tripura and Kerala act like a united left front against the Congress(I) regime in the rest of the country.Better Relations: On the international front, there is no doubt that the CPl-M's relations with the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) have improved considerably in '80. Moscow apparently would like the two Indian communist groups to work together. The CPI-M still favours normalisation of India's relations with China, and still blames both the CPSU and the Communist Party of China (CPC) for the schisms in the world communist movement. But the CPI-M has endorsed almost the entire foreign policy programme of the CPSU, and severely criticised the CPC's anti-Sovietism and alliance with the United States. The CPI-M nourishes the hope that the Chinese party will come closer to the CPSU in the not too distant future.In '80, CPI-M leaders had talks with representatives of the CPSU and the CPC in Moscow and Beijing. However, the Marxists neither sought a meeting with Brezhnev nor were invited by the Soviet leader on the occasion of his recent visit, even though CPI-M leaders were present at the airport to welcome the Soviet President and also at the banquet he hosted for Sanjiva Reddy. If to govern means muting class-struggle, a large part of the cadres in Bengal and Tripura would rather not want the party to rule. They prefer... using state power to "wage class war" with the Centre.Explaining the Marxist position, a CPI-M leader told India Today: "We would have gained nothing and lost a good deal from a meeting with Brezhnev in Delhi. That would have given the Chinese party an impression that we belong to the so-called Soviet camp." He maintained that the CPI-M remained independent, and that it stood for an end to the conflict between Moscow and Beijing.Future Policies: The CPUs bitter attack on the AICC(I) session, coming on the heels of the Brezhnev visit, shows that the party has not changed its policy of opposition to the domestic policies of the Congress(I) Government. The CPI is pleased with the outcome of Brezhnev's visit, but is still wary about Mrs Gandhi's "progressive" foreign policy. "We strongly suspect that Mrs Gandhi will open the country to large-scale investments by multinationals," said a CPI national council member. He pointed out that Brezhnev said not a word in praise of Indira Gandhi's domestic policies, a significant departure from the Soviet Union's previous practice of labelling Congress regimes "socialist". The CPI-M according to him. was displeased with the Soviet Union, because it used its good relations with "the bourgeois-landlord government" of India for the benefit of its own foreign policy rather than the cause of the Indian revolution.Both CPI-M and CPI leaders expect the unity of the two parties to strengthen in '81. "The Soviets are not much of an issue this time." remarked a Marxist leader. In fact, the two parties are in search of programmes that would increase communist influence in the Hindi heartland of India, where it is still woefully weak. In Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the two parties are working together. "Only by acting in unity can we build a strong communist base in these states," said a Marxist leader from Punjab.An example of unity-in-action is the almost identical line the two parties have adopted towards the agitation of farmers of higher prices for agricultural produce. That most of the agitating farmers are so-called 'kulaks' no longer stings the ideological tail of the CPI-M. Promode Dasgupta recently gave an indication of the significant change in the CPI-M"s peasant policy when he said in Calcutta: "We do not regard the big farmer to be a representative of the feudal-monopoly interests. Our class struggle is against the landlord and the jotedar, not against the big farmer." This tactical line was adopted at the recent session of the All-Indian Kisan Sabha in Kerala. Both communist groups believe that it will be easier for them to build support bases in the Hindi belt as well as in Maharashtra. Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu if they could win over the farmer class.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 29, 2013 14:40 IST--- ENDS ---

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CPI-M, CPI leaders expect unity of the two parties to strengthen in '81

There is a strong element in the CPI-M which argues that by practically halting the programmes of "class struggle" in the countryside in '80. the party's hold on the rural poor has been considerably weakened.

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