Organisation report is bad news for Left

The CPI(M) leadership has begun grappling with the political organization report and more than the status of the party in Kerala and West Be...

The CPI(M) leadership has begun grappling with the political organization report and more than the status of the party in Kerala and West Bengal, what is most disconcerting for the party are the portions on its trade union, the Centre of Indian Trade Union (CITU).

It says that the CITU membership has been falling and in an indictment of the party’s top hierarchy insists that not much is being done to increase the number.

The report on the Kerala unit is along expected lines. It complains of factionalism. However, senior Politburo members like V.S. Achuthanandan or E. Balanandan are disciplined members and would not quit the party even if their line has been defeated. But the report does underline fears of factionalism with the polls due next year.

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At the Mallapuram conference earlier this year where the Achuthanandan panel was defeated by that of state secretary, Pinarayi Vijayan, the party said that some leaders behaved like bourgeois politicians. In Kerala, NGO-isation is another key issue. MLA Thomas Isaac and the former party man M.P. Parameshwaran are accused of propogating Fourth Worldism.

In Bengal questions have been raised on the quality of the cadre joining the party. Questions have been raised wondering if the party has let in people with no ideological moorings.

A resolution on the ‘‘agrarian crisis’’ and peasant struggles was adopted. The discussions on the draft political resolution concluded that the party should continue its two pronged struggle — the war against communalism and the fight against ‘‘wrong’’ economic policies.