Party conventions and assemblies are rarely characterised by excitement. Rather, they are more like yearly rituals where members vote on agendas and nothing out of the ordinary is expected to happen.
This also seems to be the general impression when the Communist Party of India (Marxist) arranges its assemblies. The year 2015, however, ended in a most unusual manner: The party held its first national “plenum” since 1978. Here, the road ahead for a party with difficulties was discussed.
In CPI(M)’s distinct terminology, “plenum” -- or a plenary assembly -- refers to a specific party assembly form triggered by what is considered to be dramatic changes in socio-political circumstances.
A plenum is an arena where the core questions that concern the party and its future are discussed. It has been 37 years since CPI(M) last went to such lengths, even though the party has discussed the importance of introspection on other occasions in the last few years.
Last year’s plenary assembly was held in Kolkata and lasted from December 27-31. The event was a serious conclusion of the year, and the atmosphere differed from the plenum of 37 years ago. In 1978, CPI(M) was enjoying unprecedented success after the landmark electoral victory in West Bengal in 1977.
In 2015, the remarks on recession, stagnation, and party crisis were many. CPI(M) has often been described as being unable to regenerate, and prone to lose popular support in its remaining areas of strength in the country -- particularly West Bengal, Kerala, and Tripura. While the party had 43 members in Lok Sabha (the Indian parliament) in 2004, last year only 10 remained.
Even though difficulties in support and an atmosphere of losing relevance was an important motivation for the plenary assembly, the fall of 2015 also carried with it a breeze of hope for CPI(M).
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling BJP met with unexpected adversity and falling support in several state elections, including Modi’s own state of Gujarat.
In a situation where the main contender, the Congress Party, also struggles with support, there is an opportunity for CPI(M) to make a comeback and strengthen its position.
Undoubtedly a challenge, but maybe not impossible if the party unifies behind a renewal? At least new political commentators seem to think so. “The concrete conditions for the CPI(M) to move back from the fringes,” a Kolkata-based journalist writes, “have never been better.”
Here, it must be taken into account that CPI(M) is both a regional as well as a national party, and the possibilities for a comeback will primarily be driven by political dynamics in the states where the party has some influence.
The theme of the plenary assembly was “organisation” -- the renewal thus lies in reorganising the party. This is not wholly unexpected in that CPI(M) is often criticised for being hierarchical, slow, and inflexible with its remaining “democratic centralism.”
The party is also criticised for its brahminical profile, where hierarchies of caste and politics coincide to a large degree. And it is exactly “flexibility” that has now become the focus of the party leadership.
At the end of the plenary assembly, the party publicised an extract from a resolution. Here it was revealed that “flexible tactics” are going to push the party ahead. What this actually means and what connection it will have with the organisation is unclear. In the Indian press, it was expressed that “flexibility” could be interpreted as a new openness to join in an alliance with the Congress Party, at least in West Bengal.
The “flexibility” was short-lived, however, as CPI(M) representatives from Kerala immediately proclaimed their opposition to politics of alliance with the Congress. Again, regional considerations can make the attempt for a new national line difficult.
The resolution also deals with other, more explicit organisational questions. Again, in line with CPI(M)’s characteristic Marxist terminology, it has written about the necessity of strengthening the party’s “mass line” and maintaining co-operation with social movements within the country.
This will enable the party, the resolution proceeds, “to approach sections of the exploited classes who currently are under the influence of the bourgeois parties.”
How this will manifest itself remains to be seen.
The fact that the party is resolved to be united with “the exploited classes” is nothing new. It is also worth noticing that the word “caste” does not figure in the weighting of social movements.
How much renewal that has surfaced from the plenary assembly is thusly not easy to interpret from the well-known and well-worn Marxist jargon.
The next opportunity the party has of showing concrete changes is during the upcoming state elections in West Bengal and Kerala, both to be held in the first half of 2016.
How CPI(M) chooses to proceed in these two states with the party’s core areas of support will reveal more about a possible change in course.
Until then, a lot suggests that new organisational turns in reality are less flexible than rhetorical.
