The dinosaur shrugs

The 18th Congress of India’s main Communist party, the CPM, held in New Delhi, has raised hopes that the party will show signs of shedding its ideological baggage of the Cold War days. For a change, the leadership, famed for its gerontocracy, has passed on to younger hands. The ‘unanimous’ election of new party general secretary Prakash Karat, 56, apart, what was significant is that the party has signaled a significant shift in the Marxist debate. It has agreed to ‘engage’ with the ‘existing world realities.’ This means the hide-bound party will not wish away the problems of ‘liberalisation,’ ‘privatisation’ and ‘globalisation.’ The guidelines suggested by the party Congress open, rather than close, doors to foreign direct investment (FDI). On the face of it, it looks the party is ready to meet the 21st century realities with a fresh perspective, something what the Chinese Communist Party had done years ago. But as is usual with the communists, the devil is in the detail.
Despite all the noise and the ‘consensus’, the party Congress has not accepted the second part of the Political Organisation document, which dealt with the crucial questions on globalisation on the grounds these were issues which needed wider debate. Though this could mean the CPM is finally getting ready to face the new realities, it need not be so considering the hold of the Jurassic hardliners, which the party has in abundance. Despite this publicised soul-searching, the Congress did not have any meaningful discussion on the relationship between capital and labour in the 21st century and the role of the state in the economy.
The blame for this should fall squarely on the old guard which refuses to fade away.
Deng Xiao Peng said the colour of the cat does not matter if it can catch mice. For the Indian Communists only the color matters. The Communists’ biggest problem in moving with the times is their fidelity to a doctrine modeled to take on the inequalities of another era. Moreover, its failure to adopt its doctrines to suit Indian realities has been one of the main reasons why it has failed to prosper, save for in two states. One hopes the new ‘young’ chief of the party will shove the discredited shibboleths down the drain along with the in-house dinosaurs to lead to party to face the realities of this century. But going by experience the odds are against it.

This is an editorial published in Oman Tribune