Who are the Friends of Communists

 Who are the Friends of Communists

        The Communist parties of India, celebrating their centenary, are now confronted with the question: Can they once again stir enthusiasm and excitement among the people? 

        In our country, the Communist Party may have split into a hundred factions, yet their victories are even greater. The influence of the Communists is evident in the very drafting of the Indian Constitution. During the period of its formulation, the Communist Party was leading armed struggles of the peasantry in two regions of the country. In China, the armed struggle had just triumphed, leading to the establishment of the People's Republic. With the defeat of Nazi Hitler in the Second World War, the name of Russia shone brightly across the globe. In this context, the drafting of the Constitution also took shape—not merely as a framework of governance but as a defensive mechanism to contain and neutralize such armed uprisings.

After the Constitution came into effect, several welfare laws benefiting ordinary people were passed under the influence of the Communists. Laws such as the abolition of the Zamindari system, land ceiling laws, industrial dispute acts, minimum wage laws, the eradication of bonded labor, and the recognition of tribal rights over forest land were all products of the Communist and Naxalite movements. Welfare schemes like Indira Gandhi’s "Garibi Hatao" (Remove Poverty), N.T. Rama Rao's Kg Rice 2-rupees scheme, subsidy clothing, and free housing for the poor were also designed to attract Communist supporters.

        The Communist Party and the Sangh Parivar emerged around the same time. Despite having numerous resources and hundreds of affiliated organizations, it took the Sangh Parivar almost 90 years to gain complete control. This delay can be attributed to the Communist parties’ commitment to religious harmony. 

        However, even the leaders of the Communist parties had limitations based on time and place. The first-generation Communist leaders came from land-related social classes in rural areas, with a deep understanding of agriculture and irrigation. They had sympathy for agricultural laborers and strongly believed that the liberation of agricultural workers would lead to the liberation of the nation. It was this worldview that gave rise to movements like "Andhra Thesis" and "Agrarian Revolution." At that time, agriculture was the backbone of the national economy, and thus the Communist parties flourished. They did not foresee a massive industrial revolution or the fundamental changes in production relations that followed. That was their time limitation.

        In the 1990s, Communism worldwide entered a crisis phase. The once-luminous Soviet Union collapsed, and China’s commitment to socialism began to be questioned. The World Bank was ready for the ultimate battle against Communism, and the World Trade Organization emerged. Liberal  economic policies began to spread, and information technology boomed. The share of agriculture in national GDP dropped to 15%, and industrial production also shrank to similar levels, while the service sector unexpectedly surged to nearly 70%. Class consciousness became less relevant, and identity-based movements gained prominence.

        In February 1951, a group of four Communist leaders went to Stalin for advice on what revolutionary program India should follow. Stalin’s response was, "First, thoroughly study your country and society, and then design a revolutionary program suited to it." The Communist leaders failed to understand that the social struggles in India were deeply rooted in caste, religion, tribes and ethnic identity. As a result, Dalits, tribals, Muslims, women and other marginalized groups distanced themselves from the Communist parties. One may wonder to know that The  New Democratic Revolution (NDR) proposed by Mao in China during 1940s, is still the programme of many communist parties in India even today. The China's revolutions has a strong  anti-imperialist policy. Which is glaringly absent in our country. 

        As Communist parties weakened in the 1990s, the Sangh Parivar forces, who were waiting for the right moment, took advantage of the void in political space. They expanded both geographically and psychologically. 

        In the 2004 elections, the people expressed their trust in the Communists again, defeating the NDA (National Democratic Alliance) government led by the Sangh Parivar. The left-wing parties secured 60 seats, a remarkable achievement after the fall of the Soviet Union. The Congress and Communists came together to form a government known as the UPA-1, opposing the right-wing forces, with Manmohan Singh as the Prime Minister. Despite the fact that the Manmohan Singh himself is the architect of the Neo Economic Policies,  the UPA-1 government, shaped by leftist influence, introduced several welfare schemes, including the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

    However, the left-wing parties forget their historical duty bestowed by the people,   left the UPA-1 government in July 2008, opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal. This was seen as a significant political misstep, and after the Communists exited, the Congress had to ally with various other parties, even indulging in corruption, to retain power. This shift in alliances helped the Sangh Parivar in its march towards complete dominance. The people became disillusioned with the Communists' actions, and in the 2014 elections, they suffered a severe setback.

        Since the inception of the Indian Communist movement, there has been a debate between two approaches: one advocating for armed struggle to seize power, and the other pushing for participation in parliamentary democracy. Even today, some two Communist parties follow the first approach, while the others continue with the second. However, both approaches now seem to be on the brink of extinction.

        Union Home Minister Amit Shah has vowed to build a "Naxal-free" India by 2026. On the other hand, in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the Communist parties barely received 3% of the vote, with just 6 seats out of 543. Both approaches are in crisis.

        The crucial question now is: Who are the friends who will support the Communists? 

        Many social groups in the country are currently facing oppression, with tribals and Muslims being particularly marginalized. M.S. Golwalkar, a key ideologue of the RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh), declared in his 1968 book 'Bunch of Thoughts' that Muslims, Communists, and Christians were internal threats to a Hindu state. In 2014, the World Hindu Congress in Delhi labeled Marxism, McCauleyism, missionaries, materialism, and Muslim extremism as the "malicious five."  National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, in a speech in February 2014, proposed the concept of "four battlefields": "Not only must we fight against enemy nations at the borders and against terrorism and extremism within the country, but we also must fight against the forces of civil society for the nation’s well-being."

        There is a visible rift among the groups that were once aligned with the Phule-Ambedkarist movements, who are now divided. Some are allying with the BJP, while others, who are opposed to the BJP, view the Communists as their better allies. All these developments indicate that, if organized, there is a sea of opportunity for Communists to forge alliances. If they take the right steps, they could create a new history, even in the current challenging times.

Danny, Social Analyst

[Source: Andhra Jyothy Editorial, March 4, 2025]