NEW DELHI: With new leadership in place, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has outlined a comprehensive programme to maintain its influence and expand its support base across various states, while also organising struggles rooted in local issues.
Within a month, the party aims to engage all 10 lakh members through a series of meetings at both the state and district levels, and to implement key decisions taken at its recent Party Congress. Additionally, the CPM plans to actively highlight and remind the public of the reforms it introduced in the states where it governed for years.
Meetings have already taken place in two states—Punjab and Kerala.
“We will have our task identified soon. We have prepared the note, which has been sent to the states, outlining how the key decisions of the Party Congress are to be communicated within the party. The message will reach the entire organisation by mid-June,” said newly-elected CPM general secretary MA Baby.
“To expand, we have to work with the poorest of the poor. They should feel that this red-flag party is theirs—and that through no other party can they hope to make progress in life.”
As part of broader efforts to sustain political momentum, Baby stressed the need to consolidate the party's existing base. “We should ensure that whatever local influence we have, there should not be any further erosion.”
In the coming days, the CPM is expected to undertake campaigns to reconnect with people by showcasing its governance achievements—particularly its historic land reforms, such as the Kerala Agrarian Relations Bill and the Tripura Land Revenue and Land Reforms Act, implemented during the 1950s and 1960s.
“Certain things, people have forgotten—or rather, we allowed them to forget,” said Baby. “Because we were not actively talking about what we had achieved, people tend to forget it. During the Left Front government, we passed legislation that ensured two-thirds of Tripura's land remained with its one-third tribal population. In Kerala, an ordinance passed in 1957 protected tenants from eviction on large landlord estates. Around 33 lakh people benefited from that measure.”
He emphasised that the party now intends to reassert its historical role. “We need to let people know that it was the CPM that stood with them.”
“There is no magic wand for expanding our influence,” he added. “We have to live with the people. They should be able to realise that the CPM has always stood by them—and that we are the real fighting force that will champion their demands.”