(c) Lok Awaz Publishers 1996. No Part of this Publication may be reproduced without prior written permission of the publisher.
In seeking political unity, communists must not look at this question in an arbitrary and ad hoc manner. They will have to link this question with the fate of society and the need to lift it out of crisis and build the unity of all political forces on this basis. This unity must be built mainly from the base, but from the top as well.
The communists have to raise the question of capitalist development to show that it is this development which is dragging society from one crisis to another. It is against capitalism that all the forces have to be mobilised. There can be no illusions that capitalism will actually facilitate the agrarian revolution, or that it will end the colonial left-overs and the remnants of feudalism, or restrain the central state which is colonial and imperialist. There must be no illusion that capitalism will eliminate the oppression of women or benefit the tribal people, end castiesm and communalism, protect the environment, or create the conditions for a free and equal union of all the nationalities.
In its political work, the CGPI cannot ignore any political party or grouping. Communists must concern themselves with the first front (Congress I), the second front (BJP), the third front (CPI, CPI(M) and others) and all other political forces. All three fronts must be severely criticised, as they are merely parliamentary formations which have reduced all the problems to merely "policy objectives". What the working class of India is waiting to hear from the communists, as is the case with workers everywhere in the world, is the elaboration of a program suitable to the current conditions, a program which will solve the problems of society. This program has to emerge out of the experience of the working class and the broad masses of the people. It is the subjective side, the consciousness, the vision which the workers are demanding. Such a vision cannot be based on mere criticism of the three fronts, even though this criticism must be a part of regular work.
What the working class needs is consciousness based on a concrete analysis of concrete conditions, consistent with the aim of its movement for emancipation. They also need to know the condition of the subjective side, of consciousness and organisation, and what is to be done to bring them on par with the needs of the day. By working out this program, this vision, this consciousness, the communists will strengthen their organisation and those of the masses in the course of participating in the revolutionary class struggle. The working class and the broad masses of people have to be won over to the positions of the communists by means of actually leading the struggle to lift society out of the crisis. Communism today will have no standing anywhere, if it engages in creating mental categories and chimeras, if it is submerged in the quicksand of subjectivism and sectarianism, if it demands that everyone must agree with it and adopt its program as their own without further ado before there can be any unity in action.
Having set the overall task for the period of developing Indian theory and the work of waging the ongoing ideological and polemical struggle, and having set the plan of action for the restoration of the unity of the communists, CGPI must seek the political unity of all fighting forces and refuse to be diverted towards battles that are harmful to this political unity, especially those that divide the people on the basis of different programs or ideological positions.
We communists have to explain to the people that as far as the classes are concerned, there cannot be two programs in society. There is only one program when the bourgeoisie is in power and the system is capitalist as is the case at this time. There will also be one program when the working class is in power and the system is socialist. These programs mirror in the form of ideas and political lines what actually goes on in society. Various political parties for their own self-serving reasons attempt to hide the class character of their programs. They try to fool the people, pretending that the capitalist system is dependent on a contest between different programs and that people have the freedom to choose the "best". The struggle, in actual fact, is between capitalism and socialism, the only two systems possible within the present conditions. Capitalism, however, is over-ripe for its overthrow and must be replaced by socialism through revolution, leaving only the choice of socialism as the next stage in the development of society.
The Congress(I) of Narasimha Rao claims that its policy objective is to rejuvenate the Indian economy, to ameliorate the conditions of the rural and urban poor. Liberalisation and privatisation will led to industrial growth and jobs for the unemployed, claims Rao. It is made out that the program of the Congress(I) is for the benefit of all classes of people; particularly the working class and peasantry and the middle strata. Rao argues that doling out money for "poverty alleviation" does not create wealth and leads to bankruptcy of the treasury and that therefore the accent should be on creating conditions where people have work. It is alleged that liberalisation and privatisation will lead to such a situation. In the meantime, Rao is not averse to doles for "poverty alleviation", as long as it ensures vote banks, and benefits the vested interests who are the main beneficiaries of these programs.
This entire debate on whether the state should spend monies on "poverty alleviation" and this would boost the economy, or whether the state should let the "market forces" operate freely, and that the "hidden hand" will lead to "poverty alleviation", is an old debate in Indian and the world. Life experience and our theory teach that it is a diversionary debate. The issue is that the capitalist system cannot and does not provide for the people. It does not facilitate the end of feudal, colonial and imperialist influence. The tendency under state monopoly capitalism is for the rich to become richer at one pole and the poor poorer at the other. Within this tendency, whether monies are spent on "poverty alleviation", that is, lining the pockets of definite contractors and middlemen with vested interests, or money is spent directly to assist the big capitalists with the state assuming risks on their behalf, makes little difference.
The attempt is to hide the class character of the program of the Congress(I) within which there are also definite sectional interests. The class character of their program is to defend the capitalist system, the remnants of feudalism, imperialism and the entire colonial legacy. What they seek to hide is that the actual program is to ensure that the state treasury is looted for the benefit of the Indian bourgeoisie and the multinationals. They want to hide their program for the exploitation of the Indian working masses, the source of wealth for those who reap its benefits, their program to greatly intensify the misery of those who are its victims. Within this context, the interests of those sections of the bourgeoisie who have cast their lot with the Congress Party are satisfied. The Congress (I) program mirrors the demand of the Indian big bourgeoisie which wants to use the present national and international situation to emerge as a big player in the international arena.
While the Congress (I), CPI, CPI(M) and others carry the propaganda that the main danger to India comes from the BJP's "right wing communal agenda", the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claims to be a serious contender for power at the centre. It is also being presented to the public as the successor to the Congress(I). BJP is trying to carve a place for itself as a nationalist party that is opposed to inefficiency and corruption. It decries the Congress(I) programme as an indiscriminate sell-out to the foreign multinationals.
t the same time, the BJP is careful to unequivocally state that it is also an advocate of liberalisation and privatisation. The BJP has declared that it is against the entry of the multinationals into the consumer goods and food processing sectors, but it is for the entry of multinationals into the infrastructure sectors such as power, heavy industry, road building and telecommunications, etc. The BJP denounces Congress(I) for corruption, nepotism and criminalisation and promises that its government will be different. It also has announced its own "poverty alleviation" programs that will be implemented if it comes to power. BJP leader Advani has declared that if his Party comes to power, it will not throw out any of the multinationals that have already entered India in the consumer goods and food sector.
While the BJP is aggressively portraying itself s a contender for power, it is quite clear that in its attitude towards capitalism, the remnants of feudalism, imperialism and the colonial legacy at this time, the program of the BJP, including its communal agenda, is substantively no different from the Congress (I) program.
By talking about opposing the entry of multinationals into the consumer goods and food industry, the BJP is trying to appeal to the interests of a section of the middle strata, a section of the bourgeoisie of town and country who feel that their interests might be threatened by the unrestricted entry of the multinationals. The BJP is trying to win them over by creating illusions that the polarisation of the middle strata, the driving down of a majority of them into the ranks of the working class and the pushing up of a few into the ranks of the rich, can be averted by policy measures. The BJP is also appealing to the interests of those sections of the big bourgeoisie who are unhappy with the pace of the economic reforms, and who want it carried out at their convenience and in their best interests.
What the BJP seeks to hide is that there is only one program under capitalism. It also seeks to hide the hopeless division that exists in the ranks of the bourgeoisie and the exploiting classes, which is creating difficulties for the ruling party to govern. It is doing so by trying to present itself as the guardian of the nation, of the foreign interests, of the rich and poor alike. BJP's conquest of power will not stop the middle strata from being ruined. The sectional of the bourgeoisie with different parties representing different sectional interests will go on. Corruption, nepotism, communalism and criminalisation are the mechanisms with which these different competing interests strive to accommodate their interests within the system. A BJP victory will not end such things but will only make them worse, as will also be the case with another Congress (I) victory.
Things are not different with the Janata Dal and other political formations like the Samajwadi Party, the BSP, and so on. It is of interest to note that not one of these parties is opposed to privatisation and liberalisation. Attracting foreign capital has become the rage amongst them, which goes to show that all parliamentary institutions have been transformed into instruments to bring foreign capital into the country. These parties are doing their level best to attract foreign capital, wherever they are in power, and to make it clear they will do a better job than Narasimha Rao on this front, if they come to power at the Centre.
Within this situation they all make out as if their programs are different from those of Rao and his party and the BJP, that somehow their program will serve the poor of India. The Janata Dal, SP and BSP foster the illusion that the oppressed castes can become empowered if these parties come to power at the Centre. As objective developments have shown, their policies have not eliminated the basis of caste oppression or the exploitation which has made life miserable for the majority. The existence of these parties is an expression of the sharpening contradictions in the exploiting classes and the utter chaos and anarchy that prevails in political affairs. Nevertheless, they seek to persuade the people that they have a "choice". Their programme will change neither the economic conditions of the country nor improve the economic well-being of the lower castes, nor end caste oppression, nor empower the people.
CPI(M) at its 15th Congress also appeared as just another competitor with other political parties, striving to form a government on the basis of winning for its third front a majority in the parliament. This spirit of competition covers up the treacherous path taken by the CPI(M) leaders and hides it from the attention of the working class and the toilers. The CPI(M) cunningly presents its own lust for power as defence of the interests of the working class and toiling masses. It also seeks to hide that it is a party of the middle strata which also defends the interests of some sections of the bourgeoisie. It appeals to the middle strata, swearing that they can be saved from ruin. It explains to the working class that they must wait to come to power as conditions do not exist at this time. In the final analysis, therefore, CPI(M) appears on the stage as the defender of the bourgeois and foreign interests.
The working class is not in competition with the bourgeoisie for the control of the bourgeois governments, the dictatorship of the bourgeoisie and their civil society. On the contrary, the communists have to ensure that the working class emerges as the leader for the creation of a new society without crisis, conflict, bloodshed and war. The destruction of the bourgeois state and the creation of a new one that is democratic and socialist is the order of the day. For the communists to achieve this reality they must clearly identify that the interests of the working class and the broad masses of the people can only be served by an immediate program of lifting society out of the crisis. There is a necessity for agrarian revolution and for democratic renewal so that the people can see that there is something tangible which is being done in their favour. There is a need to take the anti-colonial revolution through to the end.
The issue is not whether communists participate in elections with their program, or not. Elections are an important arena of class struggle, of the contest that has broken out between the bourgeoisie and the working class, and the communists must wage this struggle on all fronts in order to advance the cause of the revolution and socialism. Nonetheless, communists differentiate themselves from parliamentary parties and politicians. Communists do not reduce their parties to electoral machines or consider that victory at the polls is the occasion to benefit sectional interests in the style of social-democracy. For communists, electoral struggle is an arena of class struggle, so too they use the governments and the assemblies and parliaments as arenas of class struggle. In their entire revolutionary activity, in the work of their parties, they never forget that their ultimate aim is the victory of revolution and socialism, and they wage all the struggles with this objective in mind, They look at the arena of armed struggle and other forms of struggle from the same angle.
The problem in seeking political unity lies in the programs of Congress(I), BJP and others that are designed to split the polity. The other problem is in the trivialisation of the program of the working class that can be seen in the slogan of the "Third Front for a Secular and Democratic society". Such a slogan is a clear call to strengthen the status quo, as is the aim of the other programs. Its main content is the same as that of Congress(I) and the BJP, for its premise is to make the present system work better for the benefit of the exploiting classes. The agenda taken up is that of the bourgeoisie. CPI(M) openly declares that the time has not come yet for the presentation of a working class program.
The kind of society these programmes promise to bring about is the kind of society which, in actual fact, already exists at this time. Such a society erupts intermittently into individual acts of terrorism, state terrorism and communal violence precisely because it is "secular" and "democratic" and based on the notion of "national unity and territorial integrity". It is secular only because it tolerates anti-secular forces, and democratic only because it tolerates anti-democratic forces. Secularism and democracy are merely policy objectives in a society whose base is capitalist and feudal, and whose superstructure, is in many significant ways, communal, colonial and imperialist.
By giving a call for this front, the 15th Congress of CPI(M) washed its hands off organising the working class to lead the society out of the crisis. It is creating a lot of anxiety and frustration amongst the communists who still harbour illusions that CPI(M) will mend its ways. Not only has it failed to take up the program to lift society out of the crisis but it has also accepted liberalisation as a step towards the elimination of the communist program altogether. Once this is done, there is no dearth of arguments to justify this or that program for the preservation of the status quo. Such a program is justified by the argument that the conditions are not ripe for building a broad popular front led by the working class. What kind of logic is this? It is the kind of logic to assure the bourgeoisie that CPI(M) will not join with others to fight to defend the cause of the working class at this time and it has no intention to do so in the future either. By creating a harmful illusion that the working class will, one day, be able to come to power in parliament to govern the bourgeois state, CPI(M) hopes to safeguard its position in the present arrangements within the state, now and in the future as well. The burning question of the day is not when the conditions will ever be ripe for the overthrown of the system. The burning question of the day is when the political forces will take up the program of the working class to lead society out of the crisis.
The performance of the 15th Congress of CPI(M) was repeated by the 16th Congress of CPI which referred to the 70 years of communism in India, paid homage to all the martyrs, and announced celebrations of the 70th anniversary in December. It fully supported the call for the Third Front, which it called a Left, Democratic and Secular front (while the CPI(M) had called it a Secular Democratic Front). Within this frame work, CPI called for unity of all leftists behind the Third Front, further frustrating the Indian communists who have illusions about CPI (M) and CPI.
The sum total of electoral, parliamentary and trade union activities and work in the kisan, youth and women's fronts of CPI and CPI(M) are designed to depoliticise the people and to totally disarm the working class ideologically, politically and organisationally. Where will the Indian communists go within this situation? Will they march up and down the highways and byways of the Indian sub-continent from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari, and from East to West announcing to the people that there is another substanceless program which they should vote for in order to defeat the right wing communal forces? Let us suppose that the right wing communal forces are defeated. What will happen to the working class and the toiling masses? Will the Third Front take up the task of lifting society out of the crisis once in position in government ? No, this is not the time for speaking about such things, That is the clear message which came from the fifteenth and sixteenth congress of CPI(M) and CPI respectively. Neither of those two congresses even posed the question as to what is the root cause of the crisis in India and what is its solution, In other words, they made a negative contribution to the discussion and debate about the problems plaguing Indian society.
The working class has to be extremely vigilant that CPI and CPI(M) may again try to rescue the bourgeoisie and quell revolt by entering into a coalition government with Congress (I) and calling this victory of the secular and democratic forces over the communal forces. They are already crowing about social-democrats coming to power in Poland. Their glee is also evident about the victory of their fraternal comrades in the Russian parliament. A most determined ideological and polemical struggle is the order of the day to ensure that this treachery is not allowed to pass.
Within these conditions, CGPI is of the strong opinion that Indian communists must not harbour illusions about whether this or that communist party or group is going to change the situation, They must not begin, out of frustration, to make this or that party the target of attack either. On the contrary, they must dissociate themselves from such politics. They must get down to work to elaborate the program for lifting society out of the crisis. They must establish political unity on this basis.
We communists must not exhibit any factional spirit on this fundamental problem of revolution at this stage. We must reserve the right to analyse and comment on the activities of all political forces without exception, with the aim of raising the prestige of politics in society. We must not permit one bit of sectarianism or dogmatism to colour this critical exposure. The aim must not be to discredit this or that party or this or that communist. The aim must be to create a vibrant political atmosphere in which the people themselves can judge what this or that front has achieved or will achieve in the future. This must be done courageously, without any fear of retaliation from whatever quarter.
The time has come for all communist parties, all communist groups, progressive and democratic forces, literally all political forces to remove the blind-fold foisted by the bourgeoisie that makes them think that the more they split because of different programs, the closer they are to the victory of the revolution, They must themselves rise to the occasion to raise the level of the working class and toilers.
ll programs must be subordinate to the programs demanded and worked out by the working class and toilers themselves,. The people have to assert through revolution that it is only they who should set the agenda. Debating this or that program for the sake of aligning or supporting this or that political party is destructive to this work. CGPI must ensure that such a destructive attack on the initiative of the working class and people is defeated. The working class and broad masses of the people must be made conscious to set their own agenda to lift the society out of the crisis.
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