Marxisme + India = sant ?

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http://www.keralanext.com/news/index.asp?id=36070

 

14-May-2004

 

 

In India, Marx is alive and well

 

Indo-Asian News Service- NEW DELHI, India:

Karl Marx is dead and his ideology lies buried around

the world. But in India his followers are going strong

and are set to become kingmakers as the country

braces for a new coalition government.

 

In an electoral whirlwind that has left many breathless,

the Left, as the communists are known, have captured

an enviable 62 seats to become the third largest group

in the 545-member Lok Sabha, the lower house of

parliament. It is the best showing ever in parliamentary

elections by the Indian communists, one of the most

influential in the Third World.

 

Although the 62 seats have come from only six of India's

28 states, thus betraying the somewhat limited appeal of

the Left, it is a victory that has stunned even its worst critics.

Of this, the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M),

among the most successful leftist groups in the

non-communist world, alone accounts for 43 seats. The

older but smaller Communist Party of India (CPI) holds

10 seats, while the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP)

and Forward Bloc have won three seats each.

 

An independent backed by CPI-M and two smaller pro-Left

parties account for the remaining three seats.

 

Doraiswamy Raja, deputy leader of the once pro-Moscow

CPI, explained why Marxism continues to have an appeal

in India despite the collapse of the Soviet empire and the

end of Cold War.

 

"One reason is ideological," Raja told IANS. "Communism

continues to attract, more so in the emerging economic

situation. It has its relevance. "Then, the Indian communists

have always identified themselves with the poor and working

people. Sometimes they may lose electoral battles, but as a

party and movement they survive and continue to grow."

 

And Raja, who is 57 and joined CPI in 1967, said the

ability of the Indian communists to forge crucial electoral

pacts with non- communist "friendly" groups gave them

seats even in areas where they may struggle to win on

their own.

 

The election tie-ups, however, are only one reason for the

strength of the Indian Left. Most of their seats have come

from their three traditional bastions: West Bengal, which a

Left Front headed by CPI- M has ruled since June 1977,

Kerala and Tripura.

 

Besides the CPI-M, CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc, there

are numerous smaller leftist groups with limited pockets

of influence. These include far-left Maoist outfits like the

People's War Group (PWG) and Maoist Communist Centre

(MCC).

 

There is also the Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist

(CPI- ML), an offshoot of the CPI-M that wields tremendous

influence in Bihar, adjoining West Bengal.

 

Many communists argue that their strength in India can

go up dramatically if the CPI, CPI-M and CPI-ML

overcome their ideological differences and merge.

 

The CPI is India's second oldest political party and was

founded in 1925. It remained strongly pro-Moscow until

the Soviet Union's disintegration, and in the 1930s was

the most powerful party in the country after the Congress.

After the first general election in 1952, the CPI was the

main opposition party. But ideological confusion led to its

steady decline, and eventually to a costly split in 1964

leading to the formation of CPI-M.

 

Then the CPI-M broke up in 1969 leading to the CPI-ML's

birth. In the 1970s, the three parties were at each other's

throat, often killing one another's members. The animosity

has since given way to close cooperation between CPI

and CPI-M, and to a live-and-let-live attitude towards the

dominant faction of CPI-ML. But Maoist groups like PWG

and MCC still consider the mainstream communists as

"betrayers" for taking to parliamentary democracy.

 

In 1996, the CPI-M's Jyoti Basu, who for a quarter

century was the West Bengal chief minister, almost

became prime minister of India at the head of a

centre-left coalition.

 

But a heavily doctrinaire CPI-M, which still worships

Joseph Stalin, decided not to let Basu become the

prime minister on ideological grounds.

 

"It was the best example that Indian communists are

essentially democrats," said Raja. "Jyoti Basu wanted

to become the prime minister, but the party decided by

majority vote against it. If this is not democracy, then

what is democracy?"

[alexf]

Flott hvis de får det til å funke. Jeg skal ikke flytte dit.

[Decline]

Vel om de hadde fått det til å funke kunne man trygt flyttet

Derimot er vel sjansene relativt store for amerikansk innblanding om det skulle skje.