NEWDELHI: The sales figures of Left Word, the official publishing house of CPI(M), indicate that there is a renewed interest in Marxism.
The book - ‘On the National and Colonial Questions: Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels’ is doing well in India.
According to Sudhanva Deshpande, Editor of Left Word, the demand for books on Marxism has been witnessing an increased demand ever since the 2008 economic turmoil. “There has been a renewed interest in Marx and his theories worldwide ever since the global economic recession in 2008. Anyone who brought out anything on Marxism or Capital has had a good run. It is simply because people wanted to know what is going wrong with the system,’’ he said.
This is despite the fact that Das Capital or any other book by Marx did not cover the economic crisis per se, but offered only methods to deal with it, he said.
According to him, the clientele of Left Word books are not just Lefties. “Our average buyer is the intelligent reader who wants to know what Marx has to say on various issues. They include students, activists, and intellectuals,” said Deshpande.
Left Word, a brain child of CPI(M) General secretary Prakash Karat was launched in 1999. Now the publishing house has an office of its own along with a cafeteria and theatre.
“The success of Left Word amidst the publishing sharks has been quite remarkable. Wish Communist parties too can share the same success story,” quipped a Left intellectual, who is a regular face in the Left circuit.