Among the many historical weaknesses of the communist movement in India, perhaps the most crippling has been its inability to produce a full-fledged programme for the Communist Party till 1951.
As we have already noted, despite two major all-India splits in the party, the debate has very rarely reached programmatic heights in our movement. A major-reason for this confusion has
It will be seen that there have really been two basic attempts at drawing up programmes for India's democratic revolution - in 1951 and then in 1970. Though the 1964
Just as feudal remnants and the colonial legacy continue to retard and barbarise the development of Indian society, the post47communist movement too appears to be weighed down by the backlog
Because of this nationalist perspective, the CPI could always be seen looking for avenues of cooperation and unity with the national bourgeoisie. Peace movement was considered a crucial plank in
While the CPI was exploring avenues of cooperation with the national bourgeoisie, CPSU ideologues were busy developing the theory of peaceful transition. The theory acquired official prominence in February 1956
The programme adopted by the CPI(M) at its 1964 Calcutta Congress drew heavily on both the 1951 programme and the Moscow statements of 1957and 1960. Instead of critically assimilating this
It is the CPI(M)’s refusal to identify the Indian big bourgeoisie as dependent and reactionary that serves as the biggest programmatic source of all its political opportunism. If this Indian
Just as the CPI(M) considers the transfer of power of August 1947 as the conclusion of the first stage of India’s democratic revolution, it may also consider the national question
But just as mere acknowledgment of the big bourgeoisie's leadership over the Indian state and strategic exclusion of this class from the People’s Democratic Front does not preclude class collaboration,
The opportunism of the CPI(M) perhaps finds its most glaring expression in the united front policy followed by the party. And this opportunism has grown exponentially with every struggle waged
Finally, let us take a close look at the tactic of forming State Governments.
As a transitional stage towards a Government of People's Democracy, CPI started toying with the concept of
The subsequent toppling of the EMS government may have helped in shattering the extreme forms of parliamentary illusions, but the basic framework regarding the role of Communists in transitional governments
Programmatically, Karat has the following main objections :
(1) Adherence to Mao Zedong Thought which allegedly acts as a hindrance to the development of an integrated Marxist-Leninist world outlook; (2) Characterisation
Ajit Roy too raises somewhat similar objections and questions more or less the same formulations though from a different and largely Trotskyite position[1]. Roy feels that Mao’s original contributions are
To conclude the whole discussion, let us emphasise the following salient distinct ions of our programme and tactical line vis-u-vis those of the CPI(M) and CPI.
1. Our programme accords absolute
