The task of ideological introspection against a changing world order has taken a back seat in the CPI(M). Instead, its worst-ever performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls has forced the party to take up a pressing priority — rectification of the party. Already the party has renewed its emphasis on its “education programme” for its cadres and now, the top brass is channelling all its energy to prepare a “Rectification Document” — a guideline for the dos and don’ts for its comrades — very soon.
The party had decided to bring out an “ideological document” — to refresh its views about various issues affecting the planet of communism — way back in 2005. In 2008, after the Party Congress in Coimbatore, it was decided to prepare the document after the Lok Sabha polls. But top leaders of the party now admit that the ‘Rectification Document’ has been accorded top priority and the ideological introspection has to wait further.
“Our main task now is to prepare the Rectification Document. In our next Central Committee (CC) meeting, we will discuss this issue,” CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat told Business Standard. While the date of the meeting is not yet finalised, Karat may hold the CC meeting in September.
There will be a politburo meeting to prepare the groundwork of the document in early September in Delhi. An ideological document forms the base for changes in the party programme. The party programme of the CPI(M), adopted at the time of its inception in 1964, was once updated at its special conference in Thiruvananthapuram in 2000.
In the initial review of the poll debacle, the CC has already come out with glaring lapses in the organisation like “weakness in maintaining regular links with the people, increasing inactivity of some members, malpractices and bureaucratic attitude and arrogance, alien trends in the organisation at different levels and continuing lack of firmness in dealing with degenerated elements”. The neglect in work among the peasantry and the rural poor and the workers in the unorganised sector have also been cited as areas that the party needs to address.
In Kerala, where the CPI(M) won just four seats, the party acknowledged infighting as a major cause. It also identified, “Even though the LDF government did many things for the common people, they were not adequately projected and people rallied to support, because of the never-ending controversies in the leadership of the party and government”.
“In some constituencies, the UDF was able to rally students, youth and middle-class employees in considerable numbers. Political-ideological work among the students and youth should be strengthened. The erosion among our traditional support bases in certain areas should be self-critically reviewed and proper lessons drawn for appropriate corrective measures,” the CC report concluded.
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Karat said the Ideological Document was to deal with fundamental issues. “How to look at Marxism, what is happening in the capitalist world, the changing face of capitalism, democracy and market economy are some of the issues that the party needs to look into. But now it seems, this exercise will take some more time.”
The CPI(M) had come out with a special ideological document in the 1992 Party Congress, held in Chennai, shaping its stance in the backdrop of the fall of the Soviet Union. After 17 years, the party was getting ready to polish its ideology. But its own historic fall in the domestic elections forced the CPI(M) to look for another date to ponder about the planet. Before that it desperately needs to put its house in order, as it faces a daunting challenge in Bengal and Kerala in 2011 Assembly elections.
While Kerala witnesses change of guard in the government after every five years, Karat admits to Business Standard: “We are facing unprecedented political challenge in West Bengal.”