CPM Renewal: Ten things for the New Left Manifesto

The CPM has initiated the process of re-branding itself. But given its present state, simple re-branding won’t work. It’s would at the best result in cosmetic change with the core content remaining the same. The CPM, indeed the entire Left, needs to re-invent itself by coming alive to contemporary realities. It should begin with by acknowledging that the world around has become too fluid to fit into rigid theoretical formulations. Moreover, it must appreciate that there can be no one-size-fits-all ideology for India. The country has historically been home to several social, economic and class contradictions — one reason why the Left ideology never a pan-India success story. The process of liberalisations has unleashed several new forces and new concerns. The process of ideological re-invention must keep these in mind. It is not an easy job. It involves jolting the Left leaders out of their comfort zone and forcing them to engage with an alien world, of which they are part of but in which they are not comfortable enough. Here are a few things they will need to respond to first. [caption id=“attachment_109883” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=" The CPM could still make social justice its core agenda but it must broaden its horizon to include different groups. AFP"] [/caption] • Whether to keep politics confined to ideology or make ideology flexible to grow politically. • Whether to broadbase ideology to include groups beyond the regular Left constituency. • Whether to stay limited to grievance and protest politics or address issues of aspirations and expectations in the new generation. • Whether to be tolerant to capitalist tendencies that have come to be part of the national ethos two decades after the liberalisation of the Indian economy. • Whether to be open to alliances with parties not aligned to the Left line of thinking. • Whether to acknowledge that the world has moved far beyond the Cold War days and Communism at home cannot have international support system. • Whether all Left parties must join forces to increase strength. • More importantly, whether all Left parties should come under one ideological umbrella. • Whether the CPM can make its appeal broader amid the youth and develop an ideology to be acceptable to all. • Whether to promote youth and fresh ideas in the organisation. The idea of the Left, with its built in features of humanism, fairness and justice, will never lose its power to attract converts — the support in elite educational institutions is the proof. But it’s the ideology and the obstinate adherence to it that have remained the problem area. The CPM could still make social justice its core agenda but it must broaden its horizon to include different groups. The rant against neo-liberalism and imperialism won’t simply work anymore. The CPM must accept the new world as it is and build its ideology around it. It should emerge as a positive force with constructive ideas not an entity given to living in denial.