India's Communist party

[bloody_capitalist_sham]

Hey there,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4761871.stm

On the BBC website there is news about large gains for the Indian Communist party.

As india is developing very quickly, and will soon have quite a powerful eceonomy, what do you think the Communist party of India will be able to offer to indian people?

Will they be able to form a government, and change india to socialism or is it still too backwards. For example, there are some parts of india which are developed to western standards while other places are still very backwards.

I really dont know much about politics in india.

What is likely to happen?

Good news overall though.

[Karl Marx's Camel]

This Buddhadeb Bhattacharya seem to be too libertarian, economically speaking. Attracting foreign investors is well and good, AND neccesary. Also pushing to make West Bengal a major IT hub is a great idea! But privatizing state industry? That frighens me.

[Janus]

There's already a thread about this

Communism in India (http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php?showtopic=49876)

Since most of the Indian Communist parties have engaged in parliamentary politics, they would be considered reformist by most here.

[Rakshas]

Indian Communist Parties viz, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) and other splinter leftist groups such as People's War Group (PWG) and Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) have been in national limelight for decades. Though, CPI(M), CPI and CPI(M-L) have taken the parliamentary route, Maoist groups like PWG and MCC have waged relentless war against the state for decades now. The Left front government in the Indian state of West Bengal has chosen its "new, dynamic" leader(Buddhadeb Bhattacharya), which according to the bourgeoisie press, should be given "free hand" in managing the state of affairs in WB state that is, to be more capital/investment friendly. The CPI front (combing both CPI(M) and CPI have been in power since 1977. The government of West bengal has been religiously and ritually discredited, scorned upon and criticised for years in the mainstream press (obviously controlled by the bourgeosie) for the lack of development in the state. According to bourgeosie press and economists, WB does not have "investor/industrialist friendly" environment due to the strong presence of left backed Trade Unions. They ask for reforms to be intorduced in WB, that means containing or abolishing trade unions, tax holidays, tax concessions, less labor laws and fewer liabilities in pocket.
According to data from the Central Statistical Office in the years since 1993-94, West Bengal has the highest growth rate of 8.55 per cent with second placed Karnataka's 7.29 per cent well behind it. It would also seem that the Marxist rate of growth has been better than the Hindu rate of growth since India only grew at 6.87 per cent during this period

(Emphasis added by the editor)
Source: West Bengal - Perception and Reality (http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2005/04/01/stories/2005040100090900.htm)

The incumbent Chief Minister of West Bengal, who has suddenly become a darling of the capitalist media and the economists have faced severe condemnation from party colleagues. Comrade D. Bandhyopadhyay has even wrote ana article in left-oriented periodical 'Mainstream' where he has criticised Buddhadeb for genflecting before the capitalists and still has the impudence to call himself a "staunch and a committed Communist". He derides Buddhadeb as 'Brahmin scion' and makes a scathing remark that he [Buddhadeb] did not need Czars, Czarinas, Pope, Cardinals, German Spy Police etc to counter communism, he did it himself. He has proved that classes and class struggle is there and has happily cosied up to the bourgeoisie. The reason that Buddhadeb has given for inviting to capitalists and investors in his state is that "You cannot have socialism in one state, when whole of India is undergoing to transformation into capitalist society." Though, for communists, it would look ok if Buddhadeb is seen in favorable light in the mainstream press, but how can they justify their rhetoric of class struggle and revolution and transofrmation of society? That is one aspect communists need to look into. They should not bargain their ideology for market reforms for short term gains but rather focus on the future.