EDITORIAL

 A Consistent Fighter all Along

PD Is Now 40 Years Old

THIS issue of the People's Democracy is dedicated to its fortieth birthday. June 27, 1965 was the date of our first issue. Since then, dated every Sunday, People's Democracy (or PD) has come out regularly every one of these 2000 odd weeks.

Much of these years were not easy times; there were many challenges that the PD met and continues to meet. Through all these years, PD has tried to be the communist voice in India ---what Lenin had characterised the party paper as being not only the collective propagandist, but also the collective organiser and the collective agitator.

The CPI(M) was born in a bitter struggle against revisionism or the line of class collaboration. Immediately after its formation, even months before the formal split, the Indian ruling classes had mounted an offensive against the leaders of the would-be CPI(M) by using the Sino-Indian conflict as an excuse. Our leaders were arrested, offices sealed and normal functioning prohibited. The government of India had issued a `White Paper' on the so-called “anti-Indian” stance of the would-be CPI(M).

What was the position taken by this section, those who went on to form the CPI(M) ? The stand has been consistent over these forty odd years: that any dispute with China can only be resolved across the negotiating table and not through recourse to a conflict or war. It is an irony of history that those very sections that mounted an attack against us four decades ago are now advocating the same solution and none other!

PD had to continuously address the communist rank and file and the Indian people on such issues. Soon after the bitter struggle against revisionism, came an even more bitter struggle against left adventurist deviation. A section of the CPI(M) leadership – sizeable and influential section in states like Andhra Pradesh --- advocated “people's war” as an immediately realiseable goal. Inspired, amongst others, by Mao Zedong’s pamphlet “a single spark can set the prairie afire,” this section called for an immediate armed revolution, annihilation of the class enemy and the total negation of parliamentary democracy.

The struggle against these deviations was bitter --- more so due to the support they received from the international communist giants. For nearly two decades, the CPI(M) remained `isolated' from the international communist movement. While one called us `revisionist', the other would call us `dogmatist'.

The ideological correctness of the CPI(M)'s position, vindicated by subsequent events, had to be established through many a debate in these columns. This was also a time when major communist movements in other parts of the world, unable to withstand these deviations, unfortunately collapsed. Indonesia, Sudan, Iraq, Iran, Egypt, all had communist movements which at times were stronger than that in India. They eventually crumbled since they could not ideologically combat the destructiveness of these deviations.

In India the task of correctly applying the creative science of Marxism-Leninism --- as the “concrete analysis of concrete conditions” --- fell upon the CPI(M). This is something the CPI(M) has undertaken through its programmatic and ideological positions and the consequent praxis. The result is what it is today.

The CPI(M) today – its position, responsibilities and influence in Indian politics – has been achieved on the basis of immense sacrifices: thousands of our comrades had to lay down their lives in these battles against class enemies, both international and domestic, and battles against class deviations, both of the right and the left variety.

The worst of these attacks was in West Bengal during the years preceding the declaration of Emergency in 1975 – exactly thirty years ago. These years of semi-fascist terror in Bengal saw the martyrdom of thousands of comrades and the displacement of many more. While the CPI(M) faced these attacks, it continuously warned Indian political parties that what was then confined to Bengal, would soon be a  national reality. In retrospect, it is unfortunate that none of the opposition parties heeded our analysis or experience.

While PD had to undertake this campaign, its difficult days came during the Emergency. We reproduce elsewhere in this issue the facsimile of the censored copy of People's Democracy. The empty spaces in PD's columns conveyed much more to bolster resistance. As a revolutionary once said after the massacre of the Paris commune, the eloquence of silence is sometimes more powerful than the tyranny of words!

All through these periods of trials and tribulations, we consider it a matter of pride and satisfaction that PD kept reaching our subscribers and communicating our point of view to the Indian public uninterruptedly.

This would have been impossible without the stewardship of its editors and the unsung, unnamed contributions of the editorial team. Starting with its first editor Comrade Jyoti Basu (whose recollections appear in this issue) PD was steered by Comrade EMS Namboodripad, Comrade B T Ranadive, Comrade M Basavapunniah and Comrade Sunil Moitra. That every week the issue would go to press, that every week the letter press in the olden days would send its proofs for correction to eventually be printed in time was a product as much of communist dedication as of professionalism. One cannot forget the role of Comrade Sengupta, our press manager in the most difficult of times in Delhi, who despite his delightful angularities, would make sure that PD rolled out on time every0 week. While Comrade Ramdass was the backbone of the party paper, he was ably assisted by a team when the party decided to shift the headquarters and PD to Delhi following the spectacular defeat of Emergency.

With Comrade Rajan joining the team after the Jalandhar Congress, alongwith the commencement of the publication of Lok Lahar, under Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet as editor, marked a qualitative advance. Comrade Kitty Menon’s joining as a wholetimer further strengthened it.

In the post-Emergency period, People's Democracy had a more complex role to discharge. The emergence of coalition politics, sealing the end of the one-party monopoly in the country, meant the need to define, discuss and evaluate many nuances in the Indian polity. PD had to intervene in these debates. The rise and fall of the Janta Party Government, the return of Indira Gandhi, her assassination by Khalistani extremists, Rajiv Gandhi’s succession and later his assassination, the V P Singh government and finally the United Front government supported by the Congress brought about a qualitative shift in the content and contours of Indian politics. While Indian polity was maturing, its social reality finally reflecting in its politics, the role of the Left led by the CPI(M) was naturally growing. Its governments in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura, showing their differences through their policies and methods of governance, strengthened the relevance of the Left in Indian politics.

This was the period when the one-party Congress rule facilitated the rise and the offensive of the right-wing communal forces in the country. The defense of democracy was an important issue during the period of Emergency. More important now was the defense of secularism. The secular democratic foundations of Indian republic were threatened with the BJP's ascendancy to power. Simultaneously, the BJP's embrace of globalisation, liberalisation and privatisation meant an irrevocable attack on India's sovereignty. It was imperative for the future of India and to protect the potential for its revolutionary transformation that the BJP was picked out of control of state power. The CPI(M)'s role in ensuring this in the 2004 general elections is there for all to see.

PD's role in all these battles (including some of its electoral prognosis that ran against the psephological tides of the time!) reflects its proximity to ground realities.

The tasks today are in fact as complex if not more. While communal forces have been outed from power, the task of protecting India's economic sovereignty and the interests of the people from the neo-liberal economic onslaught remains a formidable challenge. While the communal forces will not be given any quarter to stage a comeback, at the same time, this UPA government will not be given any quarter to undermine the interests of the Indian people.

It is the PD's endeavour to rise to the occasion and meet these challenges. We solicit the cooperation of our readers.