People's Democracy

Onwards to the Twentieth Congress

Prakash Karat

THE 20th Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) will be held in Kozhikode, Kerala from April 4 to 9, 2012. The Congress is the Party’s highest body which decides on the future political-tactical line.  It is also the forum which reviews the work done since the last Congress and determines the direction of the organisational work of the Party. It is also the body which can discuss major ideological issues. 

The four-year period since the 19th Congress has witnessed a global capitalist crisis which has enveloped the economies of the advanced capitalist countries.  There is more unemployment and severe attack on the livelihood of the people due to the neo-liberal policies pursued in these countries.  This has, once again, shown that capitalism cannot be a system free of crisis and exploitation. More and more people have joined the struggles and movements to defend their rights and livelihood in the recent period.  The scope for developing the resistance to the neo-liberal policies and to build a Left alternative has increased around the world.  The advance of the Left in the Latin American countries is a testimony to this fact.

STRUGGLE AGAINST

NEO-LIBERAL POLICIES

At the national level, the liberalisation policies pursued for the last two decades and being vigorously pushed forward by the UPA government has resulted in two very different types of India emerging.  The first India is of those who have benefited from the neo-liberal policies – the big capitalists – both Indian and foreign – the financial and real estate speculators and those who have been given the license to loot the resources of the country.  The second India is of the crores of ordinary people – whether they are workers, peasants, agricultural workers, small shopkeepers, artisans and people employed in low paid jobs.  Among them, are also the socially oppressed sections such as dalits, tribals, women and minorities.  They are the victims of price rise, unemployment, agrarian distress and loss of traditional livelihoods.  Those getting jobs are condemned to low paid employment with no social security.  The Party Congress will discuss how we should organise these sections and take up their issues for developing movements and struggles. How to develop the unity of the working people and their united struggles will be on the agenda.

The Party has striven to take up the issues which affect those who suffer from social oppression based on caste, gender or communalism.  The fight against such oppression should be widened and it must become part of the platform of the Left and democratic movement.  The Party Congress will also discuss this issue.

The CPI(M) is the most consistent force against imperialism. In the recent years, we had seen how the UPA government has forged a strategic alliance with the United States of America and departed from an independent foreign policy.  This is having an adverse effect on our national sovereignty and leading to the imposition of the economic policies which are against the interests of the Indian people.  The Party Congress will discuss how to strengthen the anti-imperialist struggles and the movements to defend our national sovereignty.

STRENGTHEN

INDEPENDENT ROLE

The central question which will be taken up for discussion in the Political Resolution is how to enhance the independent role and activities of the Party and expand its political base and influence.  For this, the Party has to organise the struggles of the basic classes – the working class, the poor peasantry and the agricultural workers – who are bearing the brunt of the anti-people policies of the UPA government.  There has to be a concrete study of the effects of the neo-liberal policies on different sections of the people and to identify their problems.  Organising sustained struggles of those worst affected – workers in the unorganised sector, the agricultural workers, the poor peasants and the rural  poor and orienting the entire Party towards struggle will be a major task to be discussed at the Party Congress.

Communalism in India is embedded within the strategy of the ruling classes. They use it to divide the working classes and to bolster the rightwing neo-liberal policies.  Whether it is the BJP, Shiv Sena or other communal forces – they are unabashed advocates  of big capital  and free market policies.  The record of the BJP governments in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka are examples of how governments run by communal party act as the servitors of big business and landlords.  Hence, fighting neo-liberal policies and communalism has to go hand-in-hand. 

POLITICAL

LINE

In political terms, this means, fighting both the Congress and the BJP – the two major big bourgeois parties.  In the present situation, what is of crucial importance is the strengthening of the CPI(M) and its independent growth all over the country. Along with this, we have to strengthen Left unity and gather all the Left forces to project Left politics. The Party has to work to build a Left and democratic alliance which can be the real alternative to the parties of the big bourgeoisie and the bourgeois-landlord order.   A Left and democratic front will emerge when we are able to rally the working class, peasantry, the agricultural workers and other sections of the working people through struggles and united movements. In the course of building such an alliance in order to fight both the Congress and the BJP, the Party will seek to cooperate with other democratic and secular parties on people’s issues and in defence of secularism. 

The period since the 19th Congress has been a difficult and arduous one.  The Party, in its strongest base, West Bengal, has come under severe attack.   We have lost more than 570 Party members and supporters in West Bengal since the last Congress.   The electoral reverses suffered in the Lok Sabha elections and Assembly elections have been utilised to intensify the attack.  Our Party is facing this situation steadfastly and going amongst the people to regain the lost ground and to take up the issues of the working people to launch struggles and movements.  The fight back and recovery in West Bengal is part of the endeavour to strengthen the independent base of the Party. 

IDEOLOGICAL

ISSUES

This Party Congress will take up another important task which is to discuss and adopt a Resolution on Certain Ideological Issues. The draft prepared by the Central Committee has been discussed at all levels in the Party.  Based on a Marxist-Leninist outlook, the Communist Party has to constantly update its theoretical and ideological understanding.  In the contemporary world, there are many, even amongst the Left, who do not recognise that anything called imperialism exists.  It is incumbent upon us to grasp correctly how imperialism works in the contemporary world.   There are many who deny that the working class can play the role of a revolutionary force under the globalised finance-driven capitalism which has been restructured.  The revolutionary role of the working class has to be reaffirmed.  At the same time, we have to take stock of the challenges posed in the sphere of politics, ideology, economics and the cultural spheres in the era of imperialist globalisation.  How to develop the wherewithal to wage the class struggle in the political, ideological and material dimensions and in the Indian conditions have been addressed in the resolution. 

BUILD

ORGANISATION

The organisation of the CPI(M) with its over one  million members has to be further developed into an all-India  fighting force by going amongst new sections of the people and new areas.  The Party Congress will determine the organisational steps necessary for this. 

CALL FROM

KOZHIKODE

The 20th Congress is being held in Kozhikode in Kerala, a state which has a powerful Communist movement  and a popular mass base built over decades of struggle and sacrifices. It is a fitting venue for the Party Congress which will give a call to face all the future challenges and advance the CPI(M) and the Left and democratic forces in the country.