The Communist Party of India (Marxist) plans to work on a twin-pronged political strategy to take on the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party at the national level. The accent would be on carving out an independent role to strengthen the party and pursue a Left and democratic alternative.
Noting the big change that has occurred since the 19 congress after the CPI(M) and the Left suffered electoral reverses, the (draft political) resolution (for the April 4-9, 20 party congress in Kozhikode, Kerala) makes the independent role and strengthening of the party at the national level the central focus.
Releasing the draft resolution here, general secretary Prakash Karat emphasised that if the task before the last general elections was to have a third alternative to fight the Congress and the BJP-led alliances, the stress now would be on a Left and democratic alternative.
“Only a Left and democratic platform can be the alternative to the bourgeois-landlord rule. This alternative needs to be built up through a process of movements and struggles and the emergence of a political alliance of the Left and democratic forces. In the course of these efforts, it may be necessary to rally those non-Congress, non-BJP forces which can play a role in defence of democracy, national sovereignty, secularism, federalism and defence of the people's livelihood and rights. The emergence of such joint platforms should help the process of building the alliance of the Left and democratic forces,” the draft resolution said.
The need to expand its influence and base through an independent role and for projecting the Left and democratic alternative is in line with the resolution adopted by the Extended Central Committee Meeting at Vijayawada during August 2010.
However, on Left unity, the resolution goes on to elaborate from the Vijayawada position on working to reforge links with ‘Left-minded sections which have moved away from us' to bring together on a platform a number of Left-minded groups and individuals outside the Left parties on issues which the Left advocates, and suggesting that the CPI(M) take the initiative in this regard.
The subtle expansion is based on the realisation that while a number of people and intellectuals moved away from the CPI(M) and the Left ahead of the West Bengal elections, the party now seeks to cast the net wider and bring together a number of them, outside an organised platform, onto it. This does not have a bearing on the oft-repeated talk ahead of the party Congress of unification or merge of the CPI and the CPI(M).
