(Below is the text of the presentation made by Comrade B.Sivaraman
at the Calcutta seminar.)
Well, the Left, by the very nature if its mission, faces daunting challenges
in any given situation. But the point is to identify and grasp the qualitatively
new elements in the present context.
First and foremost, there has been a fundamental change in the political climate
the Left finds itself in today. This change is discernible all over the world.
Hardly a decade back the atmosphere was full of gloom. Socialism in Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe had collapsed like nine pins. The bourgeois ideologues were
declaring the ‘End of History’ and the final triumph of bourgeois
democracy. Socialism itself had become a dirty word. Communist parties the world
over were being mocked at as dinosaurs. In their entire history, they probably
never had it so bad. It appeared as if the bourgeois triumphalism would go on
and on. But ten years of frenzied offensive by the global capital under the
garb of globalisation has changed it all. Ruthless neo-liberal reforms, leading
to huge unemployment, sharp deterioration in people’s living conditions
and ever widening social inequality, have given rise, not only to massive protests
but also to anti-capitalist sentiments among wider sections of the people. From
Seattle to Prague, popular protests greet the leading institutions of global
capitalism. These protests are marked by a convergence of groups of tremendous
diversity. This is the new scenario in which the organised Left finds itself
everywhere.
Gone are the days of siege and isolation. Gone too are the days of defensive
posturing and struggle for survival. Socialism is no longer out of fashion.
Globalisation has indeed landed a golden opportunity for us to go on the offensive
once again. This precisely is the challenge because events are often overtaking
us. We often find ourselves unprepared or lagging behind amidst vigorous mass
struggles breaking out all around us. Struck in a routine way of doing things
and a limited and incremental pace of advance, many on the organised Left are
unable to do full justice to the situation. The primary challenge today is to
break out of the traditional mindset and evolutionary course of expansion in
order to embark upon a rapid revolutionary advance; in order to establish the
leading role of the organised Left in the anti-globalisation march of the people.
In India, too, the new millennium opened up a new chapter in anti-globalisation protests. If the year 2000 began with an impressive strike of UP power sector workers, it is about to close its annual account with an equally defiant strike by postal employees. The year which began with a strike wave including a successful strike by the port workers has also seen vibrant industrial actions by telecom and bank employees and coal workers. Y2K may well go down as the year marking the beginning of working class counter-offensive against the economic reforms. The challenge of stepping up this offensive in the coming years lies ahead of us.
The year also recorded several other significant popular protests against World Bank-dictated policies. Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan witnessed remarkable protest movements under the united left banner against power sector reforms. This concrete model of fighting left unity paid rich dividends to all of us. This example needs to be generalised as similar reforms are on the anvil in several other states. We have been quite successful in championing patriotism while the chauvinistic nationalism of the forces of Hindutva stands exposed, what with the shameless surrender of the Vajpayee government to US designs. The Left has unfurled the banner of popular anti-imperialist protests — in some places in united movements — and could even give the visiting US President Bill Clinton a glimpse of the red spectre on Indian soil.
A new development of major significance is the crystallisation of a profound and all-pervasive agrarian crisis in our country under the impact of globalisation and the rising wave of farmers’ protests. The WTO has wrecked havoc with Indian agriculture. Import liberalisation has deprived the Indian farmers a remunerative price for their produce. Only after massive movements they are able to get the state agencies to procure their grains. Their subsidies are being cut. From AP to Rajasthan, from Punjab to Kerala, their protests are spreading like wildfire. In many states, the farmers’ resistance is being spearheaded by the Left, a feat unimaginable a couple of years back. Globalisation is surely bringing about a realignment in the balance of class forces. Newer social forces are rallying under the red banner. The structural nature of the crisis shows there is no early end to it. The challenge here is to break new grounds and steer the farmers’ protests in the right direction.
Students’ struggles against fee hikes and privatisation are also on the rise, notably in UP. The movements against displacement of people and environmental degradation are gaining momentum. Workers and small-industrialists brought Delhi to a grinding halt for a few days against a highhanded Supreme Court directive to evict 2 million workers.
These are indeed extraordinary times. A revolutionary crisis, something akin to the revolutionary situation of the late ’60s and early ’70s, is gradually taking shape before our very eyes, calling for a new strategic response.
The Vajpayee Government has far surpassed the earlier Congress Government in pushing through the reforms. The reforms, while giving rise to an explosive social situation, are delivering diminishing economic returns. The growth is faltering. A high growth rate cannot be sustained without a bigger dose of reforms. The government leaders admit this in so many words while trying to justify hard decisions. By all indications, tougher challenges are ahead.
Today, the rank communalists have become high-priests of liberalisation. Saffron
neo-liberalism has become a single entity. Whenever the reforms agenda comes
under attack from the people, the worried saffron rulers bring to the fore their
hidden communal agenda. This diversionary tactic apart, the general communal
situation in the country is fast deteriorating due to the communal-fascist offensive
of the RSS. There are renewed attacks on Christians in Gujarat. The hate campaign
against Christians and attacks on churches continue unabated in other parts
of the country as well. Mosques are being vandalised once again, be it in Rae
Bareily or Thirunelveli. The VHP has announced the date for Ram temple construction
coinciding with the Kumbh Mela. To cap it all, the Prime Minister Vajpayee has
not only ruled out resignation of the three charge-sheeted ministers but even
refused to retract his blatantly communal contention that the demolition was
an ‘expression of national sentiment’. He even asserted, setting aside
his liberal mask and revealing his true fascist face, that the temple would
be built at the same place.
Such baring of communal-fascist fangs is by no way accidental. The forthcoming
elections in UP is only part of the reason. As a party of governance, the BJP
is weighed down by the anti-incumbency factor and is becoming increasingly unpopular
for its anti-people policies. As a party it finds itself stuck in stagnation.
The RSS is also increasingly coming under attack from sections of the establishment,
for its antediluvian agenda if not for communal rabidity. Despite all their
dastardly attempts against the minorities, they are not able to generate a communally
charged atmosphere as in early ’90s which had given them a great political
leap. Hence, in their desperation, they are stepping up their communal-fascist
offensive with active collusion from those in power. It goes without saying
that it is only the Left which can confront it head on. It is high time we gear
up, with all our strength, to meet this renewed communal-fascist challenge.
Congress(I), the principal opposition party, continues to remain a loyal opposition, committed to the government’s economic policies. Decisions on price hikes and privatisation pass off without any effective protest from this party. When it takes on the government occasionally on the floor of the Parliament on communal issues, it smacks of shadow boxing. It seeks to derive mileage from the farmers’ crisis without acknowledging that the policies initiated by it were responsible for the crisis in the first place. There is no change of heart on its part on economic reforms. Its internal exercise to review economic policies was no more than reaffirmation of the very same policies. A leopard doesn’t change its spots. Expecting Congress to make a populist turn in its policies as in the late ’60s would be an error in principle. It would be as absurd as expecting the BJP to shed its communal colours. Both these characteristics are intrinsic to the class character of these parties respectively. Hence it is futile to expect a change in the economic policy orientation of the Congress. Only those who are blind to the peculiarities of the changed situation and the requirements of the ruling class interests can cherish such fond hopes to legitimise their own opportunist political expectations. Such illusions would only corrupt the political consciousness of the masses who meted out the right treatment to the Congress for pursuing these policies.
The above-mentioned scenario poses the crucial question of the right tactics for the Left. Whether it should be a timid and tailist tactics posed within the limited context of electoral and parliamentary equations where Left would be playing second fiddle to the bourgeois opposition or a bold and revolutionary tactics of independent left assertion based on the strength of people’s upsurges — this is the decisive question. This will decide the destiny of the Left. In this context, the slogan of third front revived by some of our friends deserve a scrutiny. We wonder whether they are really talking of a third front or a second front with the Congress. While they already have alliance with Congress in some states like Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Maharashtra, and striving hard for the same at the national level, what kind of third front they are talking about? And, who are going to be its constituents? Mr. Laloo Yadav frankly advises them that there can be no secular front without the Congress. Mr. Mulayam Singh keeps away from any such third front exercise precisely because of its proximity to the Congress. Who is left then to form their third front? The third front thus appears to be a misnomer.
Of course, we are not averse to the idea of a third front in principle. But
it all depends on what kind of forces it is going to comprise. If it is going
to be a front of the same corrupt and discredited parties like AIADMK and AGP,
then such a third front is not going to be of any use. They all share the consensus
on economic reforms. What happened in Maharashtra? Some left parties are allies
of the ruling Congress-NCP coalition which rewarded them with worst possible
anti-worker legislations!
In fact, we need to prepare the ground for a real third front comprising forces
of popular movements against globalisation and communal-fascism. It has be a
front of the left and genuine democratic forces. It cannot be a front based
on deceptive and treacherous programmes like the Common Minimum Programme. It
has to be a genuine programme of struggle for self-reliance and democracy. The
third fronts of the past have ended up as tragic disasters. What is the point
in going for a farcical repetition? What we need is a third front with a difference,
a restructured third front.
The enormity of the challenges before the Left also underlines the need for strengthening the left unity. Left unity is, of course, a vexed question, bedeviled by some serious tactical differences. Despite the different tactical approaches, there has been some degree of united action developing on the ground, more due to the force of circumstances. In Andhra and Rajasthan, there have been good experiences of left unity. But unfortunately, there is no conscious approach on the part of leaderships of some left parties to encourage such a trend and to extend it to the national level. The Sponsoring Committee of Trade Unions and the Platform of Mass Organisations, the only forums for minimal left unity, are defunct. Strangely enough, there have been attempts to further circumvent these platforms of Left-led mass organisations. The birth of a coordination of peasant associations of four parties of the Left Front, where the peasant organisations of other left parties do not find a place, is a case in point. This is indeed a step backward and runs counter to the demands of the day. Tokenism and sectarianism should have no place in the arena of united protests by mass organisations.
In fact, the need of the hour is a broader forum of political forces and social movements actively engaged in mass protests against globalisation and communal fascism. Differences over political tactics need not come in the way. All the parties on the organised left can come up with a fitting response to meet the challenges of the day if only they get their basic priorities straight.