tactics , stage of revolution , allies , etc . the working people ’ s movement under the leadership of CPI advanced in different parts in the sub-continent ; and a number of those including the struggles in Telengana , Solapur , Bombay ( now , Mumbai ), vast parts of Bengal were promising and significant . “ The communists ”, said a Home Department Political Report of 1940 , “ have the whip in hand in Bengal , Andhra , Kerala and the Punjab where the Kisan movement is comparatively more developed .”
But , the party ultimately failed to formulate an appropriate line that could lead it to take initiative and leadership in people ’ s political struggle against imperialism and feudalism , mobilize the vast masses of people for seizure of political power . It failed to formulate any appropriate program for democracy . It was opposite to the approach of the CPC , which was marching for New Democracy . The same is found on the form of struggle . In this context , Naxalbari came as a strategic breakthrough – “ exploded ”, to quote Samar Sen , “ many a myth and restored faith in the courage and character of the revolutionary Left in India . It seemed that the ever-yawning gap between the precept and practice since Telengana would be bridged . […] The upheaval was such that nothing remained the same after Naxalbari . People had to read just their position vis-à-vis every aspect of the system : political , administration , military , cultural .” Naxalbari emerged as a pathfinder to the strategic questions the sub-continent has to resolve for a radical change .
One of the most significant positions the CPI took was its stand against the tact imperialism was persistently following and imperialism ’ s allies were bolstering : Sectarianism / communalism – disuniting the people . But , ultimately , within a quarter of a century , the party failed to foil the tact – a historic failure with a far-reaching implication on the entire people ’ s struggle for emancipation in this subcontinent as the land was bifurcated that cemented communalism , and CPI and the toiling masses paid with streams
22 blood and disjoined struggles for the exploiters ’ tact .
There were moments the CPI with a huge mass following and with areas of strong position having possibilities of building up strongholds / areas of influence / base veered from left to right to left to right – a constant pattern that made it appear , at times , a vessel losing destination , and , at times , a camp follower of the political forces representing the dominating capitals – a tragic character in the modern-day history of the land . The masses of the working people were having massive mobilizations for political struggle , waging heroic struggles and making immense sacrifices , which no other class in this land has ever made ; but these mobilizations , struggles and sacrifices were building stepping stone and a wide , smooth staircase to the enthronement of the exploiting classes – assumption of political power . In fact , the exploiting classes carried on conspiracies to secure their interests and to keep people chained , and waged all their political struggles by mobilizing the people of this land , and the exploited , toiling masses were the biggest part of this people that played the most forceful role in these struggles , that provided the steam in this political locomotive driven by the exploiting classes . A seriocomedy it was !
There ’ s every reason to cite Mao to ascertain the reason behind this precarious position of the CPI : The forces of reactionary ruling classes were many times stronger than the subjective forces of revolution . Deviations , immaturity , appeasements , betrayals , all having class basis , which have already been discussed by many scholars and politicians , had respective roles in this pathetic journey .
The entire scene changed in mid-1947 , the moment the subcontinent was bifurcated . With this bifurcation , the CPI was divided into two parts , which within a short time , practically took shape of three parts ; all of which having distinctive characters . The dominating class forces the three parts of the CPI , three communist parties with three names ( CPI , Communist Party of Pakistan and East Pakistan
Communist Party ), had to encounter , the political struggles these parties had to wage , the programs these parties had to formulate were different . Since March 1971 , the communist movement in East Pakistan had to face a situation completely different from the rest two . Split in the international communist movement with the rise of the Khrushchevites in the Communist Party of Soviet Union ( CPSU ), the CPSU-usurpers ’ politics in the name of de-Stalinization , and the Great Debate split the three Communist Parties ( CP ) in the subcontinent , which was followed by further splits in the camp of the CPs upholding the ideological position of the CPC / Mao leading these into factions while the followers of the Khrushchevite-line could hold on their unity to many extent till the emergence of Gorbachevites in Moscow .
While there ’ re glorious sparks and thunders in class struggles in different parts of the sub-continent , in which a number of the CPs / factions took lead , and at moments , a number of the CPs resorted to armed struggles and successfully challenged states , the CPs are yet to formulate line , as one part / faction accuses others , appropriate for uniting and mobilizing the masses of people for the revolution they strive to organize and lead . A few of the struggles a number of the CPs / factions waged over the decades are exemplary and indicative for paving the path of revolution while failures in ideological struggle find witness in the rise / spread of the right / extreme right . No significant peasant and labor movement could be organized in a number of parts in the land while significant peasant and labor movements rose with force in others . A few years after the CPI was organized , the party told the workers : “ Yet still today bourgeois ‘ leaders ’ are controlling the movement . […] They are still burning foreign clothes – as if that will get independence ! They are still giving imperialism ‘ another chance ’ as if they are not certain that imperialism is their enemy ! The bourgeois labour leaders are still trying to enter into
contd . in page 19
Class Struggle