Revision as of 10:31, 3 April 2018

This graphic shows the changing fortunes of the Indian Left (and not only CPM) in the states, 2011-2016; Graphic courtesy: The Times of India, May 20, 2016

Ideological and other divides

Bengal vs Kerala/ 2016: 1

The Times of India, Sep 07 2016

Former CPM general secretary Prakash Karat's newspaper article arguing that BJP is a “right-wing party of majoritarian communalism“ and not “fascist“ as many Left and liberals believe has set tongues wagging in the party .

What added grist to the chatter is the timing of the article which came on a day the party's politburo was to meet for a day-long meeting.One senior leader said, “The article argues that by calling BJP fascist, Left is making wrong choices to counter resurgence of right-wing ideology. It indirectly says that such a flawed understanding of the rise of the BJP has resulted in prescriptions that might not help.“

He later added that West Bengal unit of CPM and a section of central leadership had argued during the assembly election that the only way Trinamool can be defeated and fascist BJP can be stopped from ma king inroads can be through an alliance with Congress.“Comrade Karat is hitting at that understanding,“ he said citing a line from the article that says “a correct understanding of the ruling regime and the political move ment that it represents is necessary because it has a direct bearing on the politi cal strategy and electoral tactics to be followed to fight BJP and Modi government.“

Karat denied the article was timed with the politburo meeting. “It is the translation of an article I wrote for a Malayalam newspaper a month back. The article is not about electoral alliance but larger understanding of fascism and fascist regimes,“ Karat told TOI. He said, “We miss the nuance by calling BJP fascist. I have been arguing on this for long. If you do not have understanding of the regime, you will not have right strategy to fight it.“ He argued in favour of a broader mobilization of all democratic and secular forces against communalism, while also building a political alliance of Left and democratic forces based on an alternative programme.

A senior leader from Bengal disagreed with Karat. He said, “The article will again rake up the issue of Bengal vs Kerala line. After the West Bengal result was discussed and the party had found fault with the manner in which electoral alliance was struck with Congress, the party had decided to bury the issue and work unitedly .“

Bengal vs Kerala/ 2016: 2

The Times of India, Sep 07 2016

Saugata Roy

Bengal unit netas miffed with Karat

 The debate in the CPM politburo over the party's relations with Congress has resurfaced after the publication of an article by Prakash Karat in an English daily , where he talked about building a broad-based alliance of democratic and secular forces against right-wing forces without naming Congress as part of the alliance. CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury , however, insists that Congress is part of the battle aga inst communal forces.

Karat's article questioned the division between secular and communal forces proposed by Yechury and Left intellectuals, namely Irfan Habib.

Many in the party's Bengal unit are miffed with Karat for his attempt to discard the “Yechury-line“, asking why can't the situation in the country be termed as “fascism“.

“Karat is trying to put words in our mouth. Nobody has said the Modi government is a fascist government like Hitler's in Germany . But there are fascist tendencies in the government in its attempts to disband trade unions, change labour laws, replace Indian history with Hindu mythology ,“ a CPM state secretariat member said.

Another CPM state committee member wants Karat to come clear on the alliance with Congress. “The country is divided between secular and communal camps. Karat has himself stressed the need for democratic and secular forces coming together against communalism. Now let him clarify if Congress is a secular party ,“ he said.

Membership numbers

2018: decline in Bengal, rise in Kerala

Swati Mathur, CPM membership dips in Bengal, rises in Kerala, April 2, 2018: The Times of India

Coinciding with the steady electoral decline of CPM, the party’s membership numbers have dropped in West Bengal, the state once regarded as a communist hub. Kerala, the only state where CPM remains in power, is now the only one where CPM membership figures have swelled, and is likely to give Kerala delegates an upper hand at the party congress later this month.

The matter, which came up for discussion during a two-day central committee meeting that ended last week, also deliberated over CPM’s political organisation report, an assessment of how the party fared on decisions taken during the 2015 party congress.

Referring to an assessment of its nation-wide organisational strength, CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury said membership in West Bengal had declined, but said the figures were “not worrisome” because the state unit had only last year implemented a fivepoint renewal rule that was decided during the Kolkata plenum in December 2015.

“The West Bengal unit began stringently implementing the five-point rule on which membership is to be renewed. Since this is the first year of its implementation, the numbers have declined. They will, however, stabilise over time,” Yechury said.

The Kolkata plenum had noted with concern the “declining level of quality of party members”, which it said had “negated the realisation of a mass revolutionary party”.

“What has come into being is more like a mass party without much of the revolutionary content. A large number of party members do not possess the minimum qualification for party membership. This is mainly due to defects in the recruitment process of party members, for which the responsibility lies with the party organisation,” the resolution passed at the plenum had said.

Urging state units to review and revamp their recruitment and renewal processes, the plenum had decided that party membership should be renewed only upon payment of membership fee and levy, following regular attendance in branch meetings, on satisfactory participation in party classes, political campaigns and in agitations and struggles, and upon becoming a member and active participant in mass front work, unless exempted by the party.

The plenum also mandated that members must regularly read party organs and subscribe to them. The CPM leadership had also emphasises the need to induct more youth into the party.

STATE UNITS

West Bengal

2018: old guard makes way for younger leaders

West Bengal CPM old guard makes way for young blood, March 9, 2018: The Times of India

Buddhadeb, Asim Are Now Just Advisers

Before the 2011 assembly election, which marked the end of the Left Front government’s 34-year rule, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, Nirupam Sen and Asim Dasgupta were the number one-two-three in the West Bengal cabinet.

Bhattacharjee and Dasgupta bowed out of the CPM State Committee and joined Sen as permanent invitees as advisory members without voting rights.

Thursday marked the end of an era for CPM as politburo member Biman Bose, at 77, ended up the only survivor from the post-Jyoti Basu and Promode Dasgupta generation of leaders from when the party was known as “the Party” — with a capital P.

Bhattacharjee, who has acute respiratory problems, has been pleading with party colleagues to spare him from the central and state committees. But party leaders, including CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury, insisted he stay as an invitee, with Bhattacharjee’s presence largely “inspirational and strategic” if not “ornamental.”

The winds of change in the party, which gave the world its longest-serving democratically elected communist government, did not leave the state secretariat untouched either. Two key organisers, Shyamal Chakrabarty and Madan Ghosh, opted out of the new state committee announced at the end of the party’s state conference in Kolkata on Thursday. Another state secretariat member, Dipak Sarkar, former minister Kanti Ganguly, and former MP Basudeb Acharia, all handed the baton to younger colleagues, remaining in advisory capacity on the panel.

The new state committee brought in some fresh blood, though women’s representation in the 80-member panel remains a measly 10. Bengal CITU president Subhas Mukherjee, aged 60, is possibly the oldest among the inclusions in the new state committee.