[Reader-list] Nandigram-Time for an Alternative Left in Bengal-Aditya Nigam

[Aarti Sethi]

Dear All,

Fascism appears to be the flavour of the month. After Tehelka's
terrifying expose of the meticulous planning that went into the
Gujarat genocide in 2002, we have before us, in the form of the CPIM,
a timely reminder that totalitarian violence is not the sole preserve
of the far-right. The news emerging from Nandigram is very disturbing
indeed. Even more disturbing is the silence of the majority of the
liberal intelligentsia of this country, barring Calcutta where huge
numbers of people have borne the brunt of police violence to protest
the killings in Nandigram. Having directly suffered the sleaze,
corruption, and bloated moral bankruptcy of the CPIM for over two
decades now, it is far more difficult there to sustain the illusion
that there is anything progressive about the CPIM any longer. You say
Prakash that you look forward to the day that we will have a CPIM
government at the center. I'm not sure what you are waiting for. It
will look no different from the government we currently have. The CPIM
has turned, through the slow accretion of the accouterments of rule,
into the Congress. This probably explains the hysteria with which it
reacts to the TMC: the narcissism of minor difference. It even employs
the same logic that the Congress does "We are the only bastions
against the right." But thankfully, this spurious logic doesn't seem
to be working anymore.

[As an aside, I hope our Hindu-apologist friends on this list notice
that the "pseudo-secularists" are as critical of the violence
unleashed by the left as they are of the right.]

 Vivek has already remarked on this, but just to re-iterate the point,
your use  of "anti-communist" is precisely the same as others on this
list have employed "anti-national". Namely to brand as "oppurtunists"
all those who can continue to keep a critical distance from the
machinations of state power. But we should not be surprised. Because
in fact "anti-communist" and "anti-national", when it comes to
swearing CPIM style, are only euphemisms for each other, to be used
interchangebly. The CPIM provides yet another salutory example of what
happens when preserving its hold on state power becomes the raison de
etre of a communist party.

If we are to take seriously at all the radical legacy of the
international communist movement, then now is when the emergence of an
alternative left position and voice, both in electoral politics and
outside, is critical. And we must give up on the misapprehension that
the CPIM can any longer represent for the "Left" in India in any true
sense of the term.

I would urge you to seriously consider what it means to continue
parroting the "party line" of a formation which has so clearly
abdicated even the basic tenets of liberal democracy, let alone
radical social reform. This re-thinking and self-reflection might even
benefit you closer to home. It might enable you to understand, for
instance, SFI's sorry performance in the JNUSU 2008 elections, and
AISA's landslide victory. Clearly large numbers of people have moved
away from a center which is represented by SFI. (I dont think anyone
suffers from the delusion in JNU at least that the SFI is anything
other than a centrist formation. SFI voters on planet JNU will
eventually be Congress voters in the Rest of the World).
Interestingly, from the way the votes went in two key schools, it
seems SFI lost cader votes to the YFE. This is not in the least bit
surprising. At the heart of them the two formations work with the same
basic assumptions - that politics is inimical to growth. And a
"communist" party, through the definitional fiat, obviously doesnt
have to bother with democracy. Its a straight road to totalitarian big
capital nirvana. Buddhadeb has worked it out to a T.

best
Aarti





On Nov 13, 2007 1:46 AM, prakash ray <pkray11 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear all, I have posted this letter to Mr Aditya Nigam some months back on
> kafila.org. I am re-posting it here in response to his latest write-up.
>
> Regards,
> Prakash
>
> Dear Adityaji, I know a bit about your stint in the Communist Party.
> Unfortunately, you happen to belong to a generation of disillusioned
> Communists, who harboured illusions about the Soviet Union when it existed
> and basked in its glory and then turned into an anti-Communist after its
> downfall, like the whole lot of post-modernists in Europe. Your problem is
> that your subjective feelings about shattered dreams of socialism in the
> USSR have overwhelmed your capacity to analyse the developments from an
> objective and Marxist point of view. Luckily for all of us, the ideology and
> praxis of Marxism and Scientific Socialism continues to survive, despite the
> fall of the USSR and opportunistic renegades like you. Marxism and Socialism
> continues to be the most formidable challenge before US led imperialism and
> a ray of hope for the millions of exploited people across the globe.
>
> At a personal level, I belong to a generation of Communists who joined the
> Party in the 1990s. I don't harbour any illusions about the USSR. My
> conviction regarding Marxism has developed through my association with the
> struggles waged by the CPI (M) in defence of secularism and democracy in
> India. I firmly believe that the CPI (M) is the best place to be for all
> those who believe in progressive social change and revolution in our
> country.
>
> As far as the Left Front government of bengal is concerned, my admiration
> for it arises especially because i don't come from bengal, but from a state
> (Bihar) which is the worst example of economic backwardness and Brahminical
> social oppression, in the absence of land reforms as was carried out in
> bengal under the aegis of the Left front Government.
>
> You may continue to revel at the idea of the Left front government being
> defeated in Bengal one day. May be it'll happen in future, although going by
> current developments, I don't see that happening at least in the next
> assembly ele ctions. As long as Mamata Banerjee and the assorted naxalite
> idiots are dominating the opposition discourse, the future of the LF
> government is secured.
>
> However, even if the LF is defeated in bengal one day, how does it matter?
> The LF has lost elections in Kerala and Tripura several times; that has not
> led to the decline of the Communist movement. They have fought and come back
> to power again. That is the beauty of Indian democracy.
>
> I look forward to the day when we'll all see a CPI (M) led LF government at
> the Centre. That will be a great moment for the Indian people, especially
> the working class and the peasantry. That will also be a day when the LF
> government in Bengal will not have to depend upon big capital to
> industrialize - it can be acieved through Public Sector investment. Perhaps,
> cynics like you would also come back to the communist fold that day.
>
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