Indian Scene

On W. Bengal Municipality Election Results
Observer

On 2nd and 3rd June the Corporate media celebrated the fall of ‘Reds’, ‘Left’, ‘Communists’ etc  in W. Bengal in a grand manner.  In their enthusiasm to attack and destroy the communist movement utilizing any tool or any incident or any election result available, they have forgotten that the left whose fall in municipal elections in W. Bengal they are celebrating so boisterously is no more left even according to their own ‘communists’ numerous times already.  Many times they have written its post mortem reports also.  Still, if any organization which calls itself Marxist or communist like the CPI(M)  led Left Front face any set back, even while knowing that except in  name and the red flag it is waving, very little left is left in it, they once again start burying communism all over.  So consistent they are in their counter-revolutionary neo-liberal mission.
regimes fell in East Europe, and Soviet Union disintegrated, the imperialists and Corporate media had done this celebration of burying of communism in a much more grand manner.  While the imperialist think-tanks declared ‘Socialism is dead’ and ‘capitalist imperialist system is the end of history’, the media continued to celebrate the so called demise of international communist movement with vulgar interpretations by a horde of novices and half-wits.  Whatever may be their draw backs these fourth estate wallas were united in concealing the fact that these countries had  left socialist path much before and what fell were the bureaucratic states of the capitalist roaders in power under socialist garb.
Similarly, are there any media man or woman in India who does not know that the performance of the CPI(M) led LF rule in W. Bengal for last 33 years is in no way different from that of other state governments led by the Congress, BJP and regional parties, except for its left rhetoric’s?  Similar is the case of the CPI(M) governments in Kerala and Tripura also.  They are also faithfully implementing the neo-liberal policies like other state governments.  Instead of utilizing parliamentary struggles for developing the struggles for revolutionary seizure of political power, these state governments had degenerated to ruling class positions long back.  Singur, Nandigram and Lalgarh have exposed how neo-liberal are the policies of the CPI(M) led LF government.  Instead of utilizing the power obtained within the ruling system as a means to intensify people’s struggles, CPI(M) has found it as an end in itself or it is pursuing parliamentary cretinist path with neo-liberal content.  From a proletarian party devoted to lead the working class and oppressed peoples towards people’s democracy, it has degenerated to an arrogant and corrupt bureaucratic party. It is the people’s strong reaction against this which has led to repeated defeats of the LF in the different elections during last three years.  As it is not prepared to or incapable of any serious corrections in its policies and approaches soon, these election results indicate the almost sure defeat of the LF in next year’s assembly elections also. 
Though, on 2nd June as Kolkata Municipal corporation election results showed a sweeping defeat for the LF and the CPI (M) leader  Nirupam Sen admitted that a section of the people voted for it in earlier elections have shifted to oppositions side, on 3rd June official spokespersons came out with statistical interpretations to show that, it is not defeated vote-wise! During 2009 Lok Sabha elections also , even when the LF’s share of seats were reduced to one third, CPI(M) leaders had tried to explain it away through a jugglery of figures.  Now, when the number of municipal bodies they were controlling is reduced to just one-third, again they have come forward with the same exercise.  It shows that they are not ready to take any lessons from their isolation in spite  of Singur, Nandigram and Lalgarh and in spite of their consecutive election reverses.  It shows the extent of their degeneration from Marxist positions tany lessons and change as their class basis itself has changed.
These setbacks to the social democrats throw up a serious challenge before the communist revolutionary forces.  The space lost by these social democratic forces who were so far hoodwinking the masses utilizing their pseudo-left façade is going to be taken over by arch reactionary forces like TMC-Congress combine in W .Bengal and Congress led UDF in Kerala.  The plight of the people shall be like falling from frying pan to fire. The practice of the CR forces who are utilizing the parliamentary forms of struggle along with other forms of struggle so far is that they could not emerge as an effective revolutionary alternative, capable of winning over the confidence of the masses.  That is the reason why even their own vote share in seats and areas where they have same mass influence is considerably less.  Or, they have not succeeded so far to project themselves as a revolutionary alternative against the CPI(M) led LF or ‘third front’, or against the ruling class altrenatives.  It is the challenge to be taken up by the CR forces without any delay as part of their efforts to utilize all forms of struggle to capture political power.  This challenge becomes all the more critical as the comprador ruling system is intensifying the neo-liberal policies and the fascicisation of the state at  a frenzied pace while utilizing the anti-communist propaganda to confuse and disarm the people.