Title: Animal farm
Author: Editorial
Publication: The Telegraph
Date: January 4, 2000
Dinosaurs disappeared
from the face of the world because they failed to adopt to changed circumstances
and failed the test of the survival of the fittest. The same fate met the
communist parties all over Europe. In China, the communist party survives
by wearing a free market hat. And in Russia, the communist party has sloughed
off many of its orthodoxies. But change is anathema to the Communist Party
of India (Marxist). It believes in preserving and upholding Leninism within
its organization. The latest victims of its monolithic structure have been
the three comrades, Mr Subhas Chakraborty, Mr Saifuddin Chowdhury and Mr
Samir Putatunda, who showed dissent in the mildest form possible. They
offered criticism of the way the party was run, especially about the absence
of democracy within the party. The three leaders have been condemned for
criticizing the party and also for articulating their dissent in public
and in non-party forums. They were not even given a chance to speak in
their own defence and to explain their behaviour. The old notion of "the
party right or wrong" seems to still hold sway within the CPI(M). Hardliners
may pride themselves on this attitude and display it as proof of their
undying commitment to Leninism. Actually such attitudes only show their
distance from reality. At a time when transparency is becoming the common
practice in all political matters, the CPI(M) still takes shelter in such
things as party secrets. It refuses to recognize that it is no longer a
conspiratorial revolutionary party.
It is obvious that the
CPI(M) maintains double standards on the public articulation of political
grievances. In recent memory, there has not been a stronger criticism of
the CPI(M)'s political line than Mr Jyoti Basu's description of the decision
not to enter the United Front government in 1996 as a "historic blunder".
This description appeared in an interview Mr Basu gave to a newspaper.
There was nothing private about Mr Basu's views on the matter and they
were not expressed in a party forum. But there is no evidence that Mr Basu
was reprimanded for speaking out of turn. There are also good reasons to
aver that it would not have mattered to Mr Basu if the party had taken
him to task. Mr Basu is thus more equal than other comrades since the latter
are condemned for much lesser so called offences. This is a disgrace in
a party which flaunts egalitarianism as one of its ideals but it is not
surprising to anybody who has knowledge of how communist parties actually
function. The histories of virtually all communist parties are long and
are appalling accounts of how slogans of equality and liberty were used
disguise privileges for leaders and the absence of freedom for common people
and ordinary comrades.
In many ways, the CPI(M)
continues to be the model Leninist party; even the original has been consigned
to the dustheap of history. History has a strange way of taking revenge
on those who refuse to learn from it. There are already indicators that
Messrs Chakraborty, Chowdhury and Putatunda are not without support within
the party. Today's faultline may be tomorrow's earthquake. The former Soviet
Union paid the price of neglecting and suppressing decline. But these are
not considerations that the present CPI(M) leadership take seriously. They
are more concerned in preserving their Leninist purity. The CPI(M) is smug
with power and power is the ultimate obstacle to change.
