'Whole-time' Communists hard to find

CPI(M) PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE

While CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat is busy trying to get like-minded political forces together for his dream, a third alternative led by the CPI(M), his own party is finding it difficult to keep its flock together. Whole-timers, who form the backbone of the party, are more difficult to get nowadays, admits CPI(M).

Although the party membership has increased in the past few years along with its might in national politics (it has 43 MPs in the Lok Sabha), the CPI(M) has conceded its "problems" of a continuing high attrition rate.

The difficulties of dealing with "dropouts" from the party have been discussed at length in the organisational report, to be submitted in the 19th Party Congress at Coimbatore.

In the last Party Congress in New Delhi in 2006, the CPI(M) reported to have around 900,000 members. Now the number has increased to 982,000.

However, the party report says, "We are facing problems in getting whole-timers. It is more difficult in states where the party is not in power."

The rate of attrition from the party is as high as 7.5 per cent. In other words, for every 200 members, 15 members are leaving the party. Further analysis shows that even in West Bengal, where the party is in power for more than three decades, it can't retain its workforce.

The rate of attrition in Bengal is around 3.5 per cent. In the other red bastion, Kerala, which witnesses a swing in power every five years, the attrition rate is higher, around 10 per cent.

According to sources, the states where the party doesn't have a strong base show more dismal dropout rates. For example, in Tamil Nadu, where the Party Congress is being held, has a dropout rate of 16.5 per cent.

That the new Communist values power over mere ideology is clear from the fact that the party is stumbling to get new members in states where it doesn't have strong foothold. The induction of new faces is mostly in the three states where the CPI(M) is in power "" West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura.

The party says "lack of political training is the main cause" behind this exodus. However, it claims that in comparison with previous years, the dropout rate has decreased.

The membership of the party's farmers' wing"" Kisan Sabha""has increased from 18 million to 21 million. Students Federation of India (SFI) too has grown from 3.1 million to 3.9 million.

The CPI(M) is constantly urging the UPA government to implement the women's reservation Bill. However, in Brinda Karat's party, only 12 per cent members are women with the highest enrollment in Tripura (23 per cent).

And even as the party braces itself to broaden its base in 'young India', currently, only 17 per cent of the members are under 30 years of age, while 29 per cent belong to the age group of 31-40.