We all know that Communism is a retrograde philosophy which is as good as dead, and the fact that it was pronounced dead in the early nineties saved us the effort to find out what it meant. But in some pockets, in certain islands, it still survives in different forms, sometimes just by name. Kerala is one of those places where the Communist Party of India Marxist is a political force to reckon with. These small pockets need to be brought into the Globalized Indian mainstream (I mean the place where we have replaced Ideology with Advertisement, Political debate with apolitical Consensus for development, Mass movements with Individual solutions and Strikes with Business as usual). Maybe if they get something to suck (lick) on, like the poet said, the Indian revolutionaries will shut shop. As 561 delegates representing 300,000 odd party members in Kerala, gather together in Kottayam in perhaps the most important party state conference in decades, the question remains whether the party that comes out of the conference will be the same old dog clinging on to outdated philosophies like possible socialism or a youthful one which represents the needs of our times by integrating itself completely to the Globalized Indian Mainstream.Because two roads diverge from Kottayam, and the road taken will make all the difference. CPIM State Conference in run upto the 19th Party Congress starts in Kottayam. Feb 10-14, 2008.
History is not only a document that lists events of the past, but also a warning about what may happen in the future. Warnings are not lullabies. The philosophy of hunger is that everybody gets hungry. Hence hunger, which is in our biological nature, teaches us equality. Which means poverty is a great organizer. There is hunger in the stomach, there is harvested crop in the barn – but these two things are not interlinked. This is what led to the struggles that threw away feudalism in the state. Hunger is a biological truth. Be it a rich person, a poor person or an intellectual, all are equal before this biological truth. The leftists in the state rooted and spread their wings as a symbol of the hungry class. Though most of us have forgotten, atleast some of us remember that the Comrades who made an indelible mark of their times in history did it through sacrifice and martyrdom. Our forefathers realized that sacrifice is a very fundamental social reality. There is no higher sacrifice than death. Because your life is the maximum you can give for a cause, and it is a very strong factor in driving a cause. Hence sacrifice becomes the initial capital of an ideology. The idea of unity among the oppressed class leads to the idea of sacrifice for the oppressed class. This is the greatest sacrifice the Party can do for the social human being. The meaning, value and history of KrishnaPillai’s or Bhagat Singh’s sacrifice is that they did not do it for themselves, but for the society. Hence martyrdom constructs ethos. Ethos creates an Organization. And then the Organization develops, expands – it becomes a Miracle, it becomes a Spectacle, it becomes a Mob. – M N Vijayan, 25 June 2005 (Translated from malayalam)
nice one..it should be interesting to see what comes out of it..generally what attract youth to communism in the first place is its philisophy is attractive..the toughest part is when a communist realises that the world doesnt work that way and he clinges on to ideals which had long become cliched..
You’re right. But then nobody knows how the world works, Reliance IPO just listed below the issue price while all free market experts claimed it will have a premium of 30%. I lost a lot of money. Its a tough world.
Then as Marx said, whichever way the world works, the point however is to change it. We all have our cliched beliefs, don’t we? Some people believe that Christ will come again and some others believe Christ couldn’t come, So Marx came. Its all beliefs, which dont need a proof.