Friday, November 11, 2011

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111111/jsp/frontpage/story_14735914.jsp

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111111/jsp/frontpage/story_14735914.jsp
…and Karat learns how to embrace

New Delhi, Nov. 10: Prakash Karat has opened the CPM headquarters to an exhibition celebrating the "revisionist" P.C. Joshi for the first time in a sign that the party boss may be prepared to embrace greater democracy.

Titled "Legacy and Relevance of the Progressive Cultural Movement in India", the exhibition, opening tomorrow at the A.K. Gopalan Bhawan here, showcases rare photographs of Joshi and his contribution to progressive culture through organisations like the Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA).

Joshi was expelled from the undivided Communist Party of India for his "revisionist" views but this may be the CPM's and Karat's way of honouring his contribution to the communist movement when the party is looking for ways to reconnect with the masses after a string of electoral defeats.

The exhibition coincides with the CPM's three-day central committee meeting, being held ostensibly to debate a draft ideological document to be placed before the party congress next year for approval. The CPM is revisiting its ideological position after 20 years.

The weeklong exhibition will showcase IPTA photos, journals, books and vintage works. Party leaders said the exhibition had been timed to enable central committee members to pay a visit.

The venue of the exhibition, however, is hidden in the AKG Bhawan basement, which houses the library, indicative perhaps of the bind the party finds itself in while opening up under Karat, known as a hardliner. It got reflected in Lenin's words framed and hung on the wall of the library: "Without a revolutionary theory, there can be no revolutionary movement."

The legacy of Joshi, the first general secretary of the Communist Party, clashes with Karat's line as the former advocated closer ties with the Congress. Karat played a key role in pushing the party to withdraw support to the Congress-led UPA I government and continues to pursue a strident anti-Congress line.

"Although the CPM was resolutely opposed to the line put forth by Joshi... it will be unhistorical and un-Marxist to deny his role and contribution to the building of the party," Karat had said at an event to mark the birth centenary of Joshi in 2007.

Apart from expanding the party's mass base, Joshi had attracted writers and artistes to the communist movement. Cultural activists like Kaifi Azmi, Balraj Sahni, Ali Sardar Jafri, Sajjad Zaheer, Bhishm Sahni, Chittoprosad and Sunil Janah were among those who had joined the party.

At present, the Left parties find themselves marginalised and need such activists' help to re-establish contact with the people. Hosting the exhibition, some party leaders said, was indicative of the leadership's intention to reach out to the liberal and progressive sections by embracing the traditions of the united party.

Sources said that, for the first time, the CPM had decided to go in for wider consultations with people outside the party in preparing the ideological document that will seek to increase the "democracy component" in the party's organisational principle of "democratic centralism".

"Democratic centralism", which perpetuates centralism more than democracy in practice, is believed to be the reason for the party's disconnect with the masses.

CPI leader A.B. Bardhan did not see anything very significant in the CPM hosting the exhibition. "We recognise Joshi's contribution and the CPI regularly organises programmes of IPTA. It is good the CPM is hosting such an exhibition."

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