Earlier this week I was fortunate attend a lecture by Praful Bidwai, Indian activist, social researcher, political analyst and noted journalist (and unexpectedly, University drop-out) on the current state of the left movement in India.
During my University days I, like many of my contemporaries, disillusioned with the 'system' considered myself left-wing. My ambiguous political inclinations were pseudo-Marxist at best, subtley influenced perhaps by my Grandfather's days as a Trade Union Official, my general distaste with class inequality and my working-class roots. Unfortunately, my brief flirtation with University politics began and ended with the Socialist Students' Alliance, a group of lazy (mostly male) politics students who spent a considerable amount of time getting stoned and complaining about, well, everything and not actually doing anything. Maybe their wasted collectivity was a demonstration against their much despised bourgeois enemies? Who knows. I didn't stick around long enough to find out.
My interest in the left-movement grew during my first visit to Nepal during 2005 which was a period of severe unrest with the Maoist movement gaining ground for the first time in the Kathmandu Valley. However, it was only after beginning my postgraduate study and being introduced to the ideas of inequality and neo-liberal policy, which actually coincided with the recession hitting the UK like an economic tsunami, that I really began to aquire a political perspective (which, if you're interested, can best be conceputalized as 'Feminist-Socialist'). Unfortunately, other than holding quite firm beliefs, discussing them and continuing to learn about the central tenents of Marxism from friends, I haven't really done anything with them nor, it appears, really understood exactly what I was mentally committing to.
Bidawi's lecture was big news here in communist-Kerala. Waiting for the lecture to start I realised I should probably have researched Kerala's political situation before arriving here (speaking of my psuedo-Marxist interest, my younger brother is planning a trip around South America on a motorbike reminiscent of a certain communist hero. Maybe it runs in the family?). Amidst the flashing cameras, the throng of tv cameras and journalists Praful and the leading members of the Kerala Secular Collective (a movement of Left-orientated secularists in Kozhikode) took to the stage.
The thrust of Bidwai's argument concerned his belief in the paradox of globalization and the fact that global principles and frameworks are believed to be universally applicable. Whatever one's political leanings, it's foolish to ignore the impacts of neo-liberal the world over; economic increase does not exist independent from other variables. Nor too, does technological and scienfic progress take place in a vacuum. How do the politically Left relate to such matters that are, in a lot of cases, fundamentally opposed to their central mandate (particularly in the case of economic liberalization)?
The conceputal grounding for India's Left Front is predominantly Marxist-Leninist, today reduced to the Communist Party India (Marxist), All India Forward Bloc and the Revolutionary Party of India. The alliance of Leftist parties that make up the Left Front currently govern both West Bengal and Tripuria, with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) forming the majority in both states. In Kerala, the State Assembly consists jointly of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the Left Democratic Front.
According to Bidwai, the Left Front model heavily relies upon the former Soviet Union model with influences from the Socialist movement (particularly in the 1950s and 1960s) who today are (like in the UK) completely scattered but continue to grapple with issues of caste, similarly to the Communists. He's calling for a completely new paradigm - but will the political parties take note?
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