People's Democracy

Socialism Is The Alternative!

SITARAM Yechury, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M) declared amidst cheers all around that ‘socialism is the alternative to the imperialist globalisation and imperialist aggression.’  Yechury was addressing a seminar of ‘21st Century and the Future of Socialism’ in Kolkata recently.  The occasion was 60 years of the World Federation of Democratic Youths (WFDY). It was also the 25th anniversary of the DYFI.

Sitaram Yechury dwelt at some length on the changing political scenario. He pointed out that in a capitalist world plagued with political uncertainty and marked by hunger, unemployment, poverty and a widening gulf between the rich and the poor, the communist and Left parties were engaged in leading movements, massive and militant, against imperialist globalisation. Movements are also launched against imperialist aggression.

The movements are of big proportions not only in countries of Latin America, Africa, and Asia, but also in the heart of the United States and other developed nations. The recent electoral triumph of the Left in five Latin American nations were identified by the CPI(M) leader as a verdict of the people against imperialist globalisation and its political fall-out.

Explaining the role of the Left in the Indian political scenario, Sitaram Yechury noted that it had effectively taken away the communal agenda and had concentrated the attention of the masses on such issues as the economic and financial policy and an independent foreign policy.

The Left, said Yechury must continue to struggle to ensure that India was kept on track in maintaining an anti-imperialist foreign policy, and that it did not surrender before the WTO at the Hong Kong meet under pressure from developed countries.

Sitaram Yechury concluded by saying that the task of the hour was to convert the burgeoning dissatisfaction of the people against imperialist globalisation and aggression into a struggle for socialism worldwide.

(B P)