Kerala: The Crises within the CPI(M)

From a sheer power struggle to a non-ideological factional feud, the crisis in the Kerala state unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is bringing out all the contradictions within the party that lay dormant in the last period.

Factionalism

Not so long after the SNC Lavalin controversy{{1}}, the Kerala unit of the Communist party of India-Marxist (CPI-M), has recently witnessed a new low in their long running factional struggle after the cold blooded, political murder of the former CPI(M) party dissenter and the founder leader of Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) – T P Chandrasekharan, allegedly by CPI(M) goons.

For nearly a decade, the high profile ‘political factionalism’ in the Kerala state CPI(M) between V. S. Achuthanandan (fr. Chief Minister of Kerala) and Pinarayi Vijayan (the current CPI-M state secretary), which is in essence a power struggle, have tried to assert their own zone of influence in the so called communist party. Nonetheless, the thousands of CPI(M) members, cadres, trade unionists and sympathisers were all along misled by both the popular media and CPI(M) political machinery. The ‘official’ or Pinarayi Vijayan’s faction, the dominant faction in the party versus the V.S. Achuthanandan and his followers is now a wholesome entertainment for most of the politically mindful, Malayali households. The contrasting role and characterisation have been put on to the warring factions by the media, particularly the news channels who are principally sensational rather informational.

Pinarayi Vijayan, currently a politburo member and the state secretary of Kerala State Committee of CPI(M) for a record fourth consecutive time, has often been dubbed as autocratic by the media and party dissenters alike. The late T. P. Chandrasekharan was a party organiser with strong links among the rank and file of Onchium (a traditional CPI-M stronghold known for its bloody history of class struggles and uprisings). On the other hand, V.S. Achuthanandan (a veteran politician and founder member of the CPI-M), has been on the receiving end for not towing the official party line in defending Pinarayi Vijayan during the SNC Lavlin corruption allegations.

However, the real reasons for the crises within the CPI(M) is actually based on a distorted as well as a crude understanding of Marxism, along with a dogmatic approach regarding the course of the class struggle, obviously inheriting the Stalinist legacy from the Communist Party of India (CPI) from which the CPI(M) split during 1964. If we analyse the nature and the elements of the current split, the feud between the two factions and the ongoing crises in the CPI(M), it is apparent that they are not all rooted on any ideological or theoretical basis; not even in the programmes or the policy line of the party to begin with!

The ideological dimensions like ‘democratic centralism’ including the popped up factors of morality like anti-corruption which were championed in a well orchestrated manner by V.S. Achuthanandan, and the importance of party discipline put forth by the ‘dominant’ Pinarayi faction; are all cropping up mainly for political returns and as a consequence of power struggle. In actual fact, following the death of the then party secretary Chadayan Govindan in 1998, Pinarayi Vijayan was appointed to that post as a nominee by none other than V.S.Achuthanandan, who was then the secretary of the Kerala State Committee of the CPI(M).

The feuding dramatically spiked up in 2005 when Achuthanandan supporters were dropped from the CPI(M) secretariat in Kerala, constituted after the State party conference in Malappuram. Around a dozen of Achuthanandan’s clique lost the election to the state committee. Pinarayi Vijayan also removed Achuthanandan from his post as editor of the party newspaper- Desabhimani, the third-largest daily in Kerala and a very influential party organ. The split and the allegations of factional activities was not only reviewed by the State committee lead by Pinarayi Vijayan, but was also acknowledged by the organisational report at the 18th CPI (M) party congress expressing “serious concern at the persisting disunity and factional tendencies in Kerala,”.

Polarisation between the factions were becoming more apparent, as Pinarayi Vijayan, the shrewd political organiser, successfully exerted his power of influence with the help of his strong hold in Kannur district, considered as CPI(M) bastion in the Malabar region in Northern Kerala. Pinarayi faction dominated Kerala state party apparatus, and subsequently the CPI(M) politbureau leadership decided not to field V.S. Achuthanandan for the 2006 Kerala Assembly elections. Strangely enough, those who are aware of Kerala politics knew without any qualms that V.S. Achuthanandan was widely considered as the Chief Minister in ‘waiting’, even from 1996.

Velikkakathu Sankaran Achuthanandan, popularly called V .S., not only commands cadre loyalty at the grass-roots but also enjoys great support from the people. During his tenure as the leader of opposition (2001-2006), he was clearly seen donning the cap of an anti corruption crusader, consciously flaunting his clean personal image while he was sternly exposing the scandalous Congress led United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Kerala.

Even during his Chief ministerial tenure, V.S.Achuthanandan was perceived fighting corruption, scams and scandals both in the society and within the party itself. His confrontation of the global monopolies like Coke and Microsoft, forcing the corruption ridden and corporate friendly government in the centre for a nationwide ban on endosulfan pesticide, have all garnered V.S.Achuthanandan popular support among the rank and file of the party and the people alike.

The factionalism was given an ideological element, by the media and the public, as it was more than obvious from the various allegations of pursuing a reformist agenda, supporting corporate interests and neo-liberal policies by the ‘official’ or the ‘Pinarayi faction’ of the CPI(M) Kerala state unit. In effect, the businesses ventures owned by the CPI(M) is functioning no different from other capitalists enterprises. The business empire owned by CPI(M) is worth Rs. 4000 crores, which incorporates amusement Parks, TV Channels, rubber cooperatives – allegedly funded from foreign capital, super-specialty hospitals, supermarkets and IT parks. This explicit move towards neo-liberalism has been a thorn in the flesh for many party loyalists especially among the rank and file, trade unionists and also among the old guards in the higher echelons of the party ranks.

V.S. Achuthanandhan and his group widely perceived as the old guards never ignored any opportunities to tactfully expose and discredit the ‘Pinarayi’ faction of corruption or of ‘revisionism’. Prof MN Vijayan, the former President of the pro CPI(M) organisations like Purogamana Kala Sahitya Sangham (Progressive Association for Art and Letters) and Adhinivesha Prathirodha Samithi (Council for Resisting Imperialist Globalisation), criticised the prominent members of the ‘Pinarayi’ faction in the CPI(M) openly of social democratic deviation and also of diluting the party’s class character. Left economist and the former Vice-Chairman of the State Planning Board of Kerala Prabhat Patnaik has in a recent interview called for interventions against the trends of ‘hegemonised bourgeois liberalism’ and ‘feudal Stalinism’ among the Communist parties in India, and Patnaik also stated the importance of ‘an alternative de-Stalinised Marxism’ for socialism to be implemented (obviously without explaining about Stalinism, or what he means by de-Stalinised Marxism).

On the other hand, V.S. Achuthanadan was the party State secretary in the 1980 -92, the longest tenure in that office, till recently when Pinarayi Vijayan surpassed it. Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala, has in fact pointed out various allegations of political murders stemmed up by the CPI(M) during the 1980’s. Recently in a political meeting, the Idukki CPI(M) district secretary M.M. Mani declared publicly (In front of the media) a list of 13 persons to be killed was arranged by the party during the early 1980s and also acknowledged that among them three were killed. Nevertheless, a fragment of the prevailing rumours still uphold that this could be a desperate attempt of the opposing Pinarayi faction to discredit the image of V.S.

However all of those attempted and executed political murders do reveal a rogue trend which has already alienated the party from the people. Encouraging the use of violence for plain political gains and repression of dissidents are all signs and symptoms of an active process of degeneration within the so called communist party.

The sort of factional struggle and concentration of political power in the CPI(M), which should be truly alien within a genuine working class party, and has in fact absolutely nothing to do with fighting for the cause of working class and other oppressed layers within society. There have been many party activists within CPI(M) who have been expelled for questioning the party leadership in the past. For instance, the expulsion of K.R.Gowri Amma, a prominent women leader of CPI(M) and a Revenue Minister in the first communist government of E. M. S. Namboodiripad (EMS) of then undivided Communist party of india (CPI). The pinnacle behind the political legend of K.R.Gowri Amma, a well known conspiracy in Kerala, is the lost opportunity for the chief ministerial post to E.K.Nayanar. The longest serving Chief Minister of Kerala, E.K.Nayanar was in fact supported by the strong Malabar lobby and was capable of manoeuvring the power clutches of the party. This was also contemplated as one of the reasons behind Gowri Amma’s disenchantment with the CPI(M) leadership and her eventual ousting from the party in 1994. She then floated her own party – Janathipathiya Samrakshana Samithy (Association for Defence of Democracy), only to join the right wing Congress United Democratic Front (UDF) alliance.

The crisis in the Kerala State unit of CPI(M)

The uninterrupted expulsions of members on charges of anti party activities do not reveal clearly the underlying causes or reasons behind this. This leaves one wondering how experienced CPI(M) members like M.V.Raghavan (a prominent CPI-M leader), Sindhu Joy (party district committee member and former SFI State president), Abdulla Kutty (CPI-M MP for Kannur Lok Sabha constituency) and many others could end up joining the right wing United Democratic Front (UDF). It also questions the basic functioning of the largest and most influential workers’ party in India, which is to raise the consciousness of its members to be the revolutionary organisers and the teachers of the working people – the proletariat. The recent expulsion of high ranking CPI(M) members and their shameful defection to the United Democratic Front (UDF), either by forming their own party or directly joining in one of the parties of the UDF itself was appalling to say the least and speaks volumes at the level of degeneracy and disillusionment within the rank and file of the CPI(M). All this will only alienate workers and peasants in general and thereby creating space for reactionary and communal political forces to foster.

For instance, in the 2011 state assembly elections (one of the closely contested elections in Kerala), the Indian Union Muslim League – IUML (a political outfit with reactionary leadership based on pro Muslim communal politics) bagged 20 seats causing an electoral upset in many of the crucial seats of the Left Democratic Front (LDF) of which CPI(M) is the leading entity. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) won the majority of its seats from the Malappuram district, a Muslim majority district in Kerala.

In the 2012 assembly by-elections held in Neyyattinkara recently, due to the resignation of the CPI(M) MLA R. Selvaraj and later his victory contesting as a UDF candidate (after his defection to the Congress), what the results also showed was the growing support for Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) candidate O Rajagopal. BJP again a reactionary political force, with its roots embedded in Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP), which are organisations advocating Hindutva fundamentalism.

Stalinism

The factionalism and the crises in the CPI(M) are all products of its Stalinist legacy. After the Stalinist takeover of the Comintern in the mid and the late 1920’s onwards, CPI (like many other communist parties the world over) fell victim to the two stage theory/ stages theory of revolution under the influence of Stalin. Stalinism espoused the stages theory (a Menshevik idea originally) to safeguard the interests of the bureaucracy within the power structures of the Soviet Union. Socialism, in which an important element is workers’ democracy and control over the means of production and distribution, was suppressed by the rise of the Stalinist bureaucracy. The rise of Stalinism also lead to widespread persecution and mass murder of dissidents, including the assassination of Leon Trotsky, who along with Vladimir Lenin led the great October Revolution of 1917.

The theory of Socialism in One Country, betraying the internationalist spirit of Marxism, persecution of dissidents, lack of party democracy, parliamentarianism, non ideological factionalism and power struggles are all symptoms or outcome of stages theory. The mainstream communist parties in India, the CPI and CPI (M) are all based on the frame work of the stages theory advocating the necessity of a bourgeois (capitalist) democracy before moving to socialism somewhere in the distant future. Consequently their programs and understanding of class struggle and their collaboration with bourgeois parties like Indian National Congress and other regional parties in India are all based around this eternal search for a progressive Indian bourgeoisie.

Thus, both the CPI & CPI(M), have not only failed to provide a genuine socialist alternative but they have completely succumbed to the pitfalls of bourgeoisie democracy, which is all about influential posts, seat sharing and gradually integration with the ruling class, and alienation from the ordinary working people. Stalinist legacy have also had its toll on independent trade unionism and student activism in India as most of them today are merely fronts of the CPI(M) and CPI.

Therefore to adopt bourgeoisie democracy and the consequent emphasis on parliamentary mudslinging politics have only put the real issues on the ground, such as organising workers, agricultural labourers, peasants and fighting for a Socialist Alternative, completely off their agenda. The mainstream media and the other political parties often portray CPI(M) cadres as being involved by the leadership in ‘organised crime’ (to safeguard its power relations and electoral influence), and even worse this sort of dirty politics is often labelled as ‘Marxist’! Events like the ruthless killing of former CPI(M) party member and Revolutionary Marxist Party (RMP) leader T.P. Chandrasekharan continue to malign the party and in turn demoralize the workers’ movement in India.

On April 11, 1964, 32 Council members at a CPI National Council meeting, walked out in protest, accusing the then CPI Chairman Shripad Amrit Dange (a Stalinist hard-liner) and his supporters of “anti-unity and anti-Communist policies”. V S Achuthanandan, one of those 32 council members recently said Pinarayi Vijayan will meet Dange’s fate’. What V.S. failed to mention was why these Danges’ keep cropping up often and how these Stalinist parties like the CPI and CPI(M) are increasingly becoming irrelevant in the lives of ordinary working people, peasants and youth; which is a consequence of the party’s wrong policies linked to Stalinism.

A Mass Party of the Working People is Needed!

While we remain critical of the policies of the left parties particularly the CPI(M), we recognize the fact that in the milieu of Indian political scenario, these parties stand apart in the fact that they represent a section of the working class of this country. In Kerala, the party that stood ground soon after independence, the first elected communist government in 1957 was removed by the mechanisation of the Indian ruling class under the leadership of Nehru.

The mass support base enjoyed by the CPI(M) and earlier the CPI in Kerala is a product of radical struggles and enormous sacrifice of its members in building one of the largest communist parties in the world. But because of the bankrupt policies of the leadership of these parties, they have not been able to break the jinx of confining themselves within the parliamentary arena in its search for the elusive progressive Indian bourgeoisie, these parties have become increasingly disconnected with the struggles of the working people and peasantry. Even the land reforms have become stagnant, failing to reach the most disadvantaged and the mass organization of the party have in turn become bullying bodies in that state. One of the biggest failures of the CPI(M) in Kerala is to remain a party of the upper middle class without encompassing the oppressed sections of the society as a whole.

The New Socialist Alternative (CWI-India) believes that the call for a Mass Party of the Working People, will in the coming period find an echo among the advanced sections of the rank and file of the CPI(M) and CPI, particularly among its Trade Union and student/ youth bodies, who are genuinely concerned in the active degeneration within the party.

We would like to appeal to the rank and file of the communist parties, particularly its trade union and student bodies, to re-look at the fundamental flaws in the party policy such as the opportunistic bourgeois parliamentarian politics, the eternal search for progressive wings within the rotten bourgeois political parties, and the utterly flawed concept of people’s democratic revolution, which is nothing but a fig leaf to cover up the apathy of the leadership of its contempt towards the revolutionary potential of the working people and the poor peasantry. Above all clinging on to the discredited Socialism in one Country concept is the fundamental abandonment of the idea of Internationalism which is the bedrock of Marxism. Further, as long as the differences within the party are of subjective nature and not linked to the fundamental policies of the party, these skirmishes and infighting will remain personality driven clashes at best.

Sajith Attepuram

London

[[1]] A scam related to the contracting of the government and the Canadian firm SNC Lavalin for the renovation of hydro electric power stations of Kerala, in Pallivasal (37.5 mw), Sengulam (48 mw) and Panniar (30 mw).The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India reported that Kerala state had lost Rs 374.5 crore in the deal with Lavalin.[[1]]