CPI(M) all set to bury 'historic blunder'

By C. Gouridasan Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, OCT. 19. The CPI(M) seems all set to bury the `historic blunder' of 1996 and embrace a new era of participatory engagement in governance at the Centre. Over 400 party delegates from across the country are converging here for three days beginning Friday for a special conference to update the Party Programme, mainly to clinch the question of participation in the Government at the Centre and allow for more flexibility in the party's response to the emerging global political and economic scenario.

The conference, to be inaugurated by the CPI(M) general secretary, Mr. Harkishen Singh Surjeet, would discuss the draft of the updated Party Programme and the amendments proposed by party members all over the country to give shape to a revamped programme. The CPI(M) programme, a statement of policies and programmes, was formulated at the Seventh Party Congress in 1964 and the current exercise at updating it is being mounted by the CPI(M) at the risk of being hauled for social democratic deviation.

The CPI(M) Central Committee had accepted 113 out of the 7,000- odd amendments received and the draft Party Programme incorporating these are to be placed before the delegates for discussion and adoption by the conference. The CPI(M) leadership has ruled out any change in postulates fundamental to the party's existence and said that what is sought to be done is a reworking of certain portions in the current programme to make it reflective of the present-day global reality.

The most significant of the changes sought to be made in the Party Programme relates to the question whether the party can participate in Governments at the Centre. The CPI(M) Central Committee in 1996 and the 16th CPI(M) Congress in Calcutta in 1998 had firmly rejected the proposition which had been put forward by Mr. Surjeet and the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mr. Jyoti Basu. The party has now performed a pirouette and the formulation that the party can participate in Governments at the Centre, even when its voice is not decisive, is now part of the officially-approved amendments to the CPI(M) programme. This might well mean that from now on it is going to be people's democracy sans revolution for the party.

How the delegates to the conference would respond to this path- breaking amendment is still in the realm of speculation. There could be resistance to the proposal from sections of the CPI(M) in Kerala and West Bengal which firmly believe that the party should not participate in any Government in which it does not have a decisive say. But the possibility of the proposal being rejected once again seems remote, after the CPI(M) has lost recognition as a national party and there is a felt need to explore ways possible for a horizontal spread.

The review of the Party Programme has been necessitated by the traumatic developments in the socialist world in the 1990s and the ``shift in the international correlation of forces in favour of imperialism''. The party also hopes to respond more adequately to ``internationalisation of finance capital'', capitalist world's ``monopolisation of wealth generated through scientific and technological revolutions'' and ``legalisation of imperialist exploitation of developing economies through institutions such as the IMF, World Bank and the WTO''. The draft of the updated Party Programme, which has been in the making for seven years now, admits that ``in the course of the uncharted path of building socialism, the Soviet Union and other socialist countries committed serious mistakes'' and that ``such mistakes flowed from the improper understanding of the protracted nature of building socialism; the wrong notion of the role of the party and the State; failure to effect timely changes in the economy and its management; the failure to deepen socialist democracy and the erosion of ideological consciousness''. The draft asserts that ``the communist movement and the revolutionary movement will learn from the mistakes, regroup and meet the challenge of countering the offensive of imperialism and the reactionary forces''.

That the party has decided to accept private ownership of wealth and private enterprise as facts of life becomes evident in a major amendment seeking ``ways of socialisation'' other than State takeover and nationalisation. The party now believes that in the transitional phase of people's democracy, there will have to be a multi-structural economy with diverse forms of ownership and economic management. This approach, according to the CPI(M) politburo member, Mr. Prakash Karat, stems from ``the understanding that the building of socialism will be a more protracted process than envisaged earlier and the stage of transition will vary according to our own concrete conditions in India''.

The party is also reconciled to the need to allow ``foreign direct investment in selected sectors for acquiring advanced technology and upgrading productive capacities'', but this comes with the caveat that finance capital flows would be regulated in the interest of the overall economy.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Section  : Southern States
Previous : Preserve legacy of Gorur: Ha. Ma. Nayak
Next     : Pro-CPI(M) group in League remains unfazed