MADURAI: Being highly self-critical of its lost mass base and its failure to enforce decisions made at previous conferences, the CPM review report, which is set to be presented at the party Congress, has outlined a detailed plan to reclaim its past glory.
In a significant departure from the past, the report proposes to evaluate the functioning of the Politburo members on an annual basis.
The party review further calls for a rectification campaign against the growing parliamentarianism within the party. A planned drive to increase youth membership and attract the urban population is deemed necessary. Political organizational steps should be taken in this regard.
“Party committees, from the Central Committee to lower levels, should coordinate, guide, and monitor all the forums and forces to undertake sustained struggles against the Hindutva communal ideology,” the report states.
At a time when ASHA workers are on an indefinite agitation raising a slew of demands before the CPM government in Kerala, the party's organizational report takes credit for making significant gains for ASHA workers.
"Sustained struggles by scheme workers led by us—particularly Anganwadi employees, ASHAs, and mid-day meal workers—have led to significant gains. The favorable atmosphere created by these struggles has resulted in some legal victories," says the report. However, it pointed out that despite these successes, the party's influence among scheme workers remains limited. Many workers continue to align with the same political forces they oppose in union struggles led by the CPM. Conscious efforts to integrate them into the party have been made in some states.
The report further pointed out that "even in the party's strong states, recruitment efforts among militant workers are inadequate. Paying proper attention to building the party in these unions by politicizing the activists within them will enormously help the party spread across the country into rural areas," the report said.
Realizing that the party has failed to penetrate urban regions, the report emphasizes that sufficient attention should be given to expanding the party machinery in urban residential areas through decentralized activities. Similarly, it also calls for steps to organize rural manual workers.
The organizational review highlighted that the Central Committee had established organizational tasks as decided by the last party Congress. These tasks include improving the quality of party membership, strictly implementing a five-point membership criteria, activating party branches, launching a planned drive to increase youth and women membership in the party, setting up a rectification campaign with a timeframe, integrating social media with the party organization, reviewing work by mass fronts year-round, setting up children's organizations, and planning work in urban areas. The party Congress will review the progress of these tasks and assess the results achieved since the last Congress, according to the report.
The report underscores the need to strengthen party education among cadres.
