Shaken by the near-decimation the Indian left suffered in the 16th lok Sabha election, Malayalam daily Janayugam, official organ of the Kerala CPI, on Tuesday called for a reunification of the CPI and CPI(M) which had parted ways back in 1964 at the height of the confusion over international affairs and Indian political situation.
This is not the first time the call for Communist unity has come from the side of the CPI but the Marxists have steadfastly rejected the suggestion each time it has been made. The CPI(M) has adopted the same approach towards the new call given by the CPI paper through its editorial titled ‘Communists should unite’.
Starting with the statement that it would be a “historical error if the left, especially the communist movement, does not take the initiative” for countering the challenges being faced by the left in India, the editorial says that most of the differences (between the CPI(M) and the CPI) that led to the split of 1964 were not relevant in the present context.
“Most of the disputes that existed between the two sides 50 years ago in the context of the division in the world Communist movement and the differences in the approach towards the national bourgeoisie are irrelevant today. It is not correct for the Communists to continue their existence in isolation over those old differences,” the paper says.
In an indirect advice to the State’s CPI(M) leaders who are often accused of being reluctant to give up their arrogant stand even in the face of huge electoral defeats, the paper says defeats should make Commun-ists humble though “everything does not end with an electoral defeat”, adding that defeats should be seen as occasions for open-minded introspection.
According to the paper, Communist unity is of paramount importance at this juncture when the readiness and capability of the Indian communist movement for practising the Marxian global perspective in the changed political context of the country. “Those who love the movement expect the Communists to show the required ideological consistency in this situation,” it says.
The paper’s call for communist unity has come at a time when both the CPI and CPI(M) have suffered unexpected and unacceptable losses in the 16th lok Sabha election in Kerala despite the strong anti-incumbency sentiment prevalent nation-wide against the Congress. Of the 20 seats in the State, the left could win only eight seats while the Congress-led UDF bagged 12 seats.
The call by the CPI paper came a day after the leaderships of the two parties in Kollam district locked horns over the defeat of CPI(M) legislator MA Baby, the only Politburo member to contest in the lok Sabha election, in Kollam seat, where NK Premachandran of the RSP, an lDF partner till March but presently a constituent of the UDF, won.
However, even senior CPI leaders in Kerala did not seem to have clarity on the editorial of the party organ, which stated at the very start that the subject was chosen not after the usual discussions among the editorial board members but out of the wish for such a unity seen in the letters written to the paper by fellow-travelers.
Senior CPI leader Benoy Viswam, former Minister, said, “You should be day-dreaming if you expect the two communist parties to become one entity tomorrow,” adding that the situation called for increased cooperation between the CPI and the CPI(M).
CPI(M) leader Baby responded to the Janayugam editorial saying, “A merger of the two communist parties is not something that could happen in haste. The two parties are at different poles as far as poll strategies are concerned.” The two parties had been working together on many fronts and possibilities of increasing this cooperation could be examined, he added.