Dissent within the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in Tamil Nadu has spilled out in the open with one of the Left party’s ideologues parting ways and floating a new outfit named ‘Marxist Party.’
Last week, the dissenting members from 28 of the 32 districts in Tamil Nadu met under the leadership of G Gangadaran, former president of the Left-leaning Tamil Nadu Government Employees Association, in the western district of Salem and unanimously resolved to end their association with the CPI(M). The members resolved to float the Marxist Party so that the voice of the working class could be heard.
“Our immediate goal is not election. So we are not thinking as yet on political alliance in the next election. The Marxist Party will first set its sight on party building, and filling the leadership vacuum for the working class and the deprived people. However when the time comes for election politics Marxist Party will identify parties whose policies and programmes are not antagonistic to its own. We will not become a minor partner in any alliance, we will wait till we gain sufficient strength, we are in no hurry”, Gangadaran told The Sunday Standard.
Senior CPI(M) leaders, however, appeared unperturbed. “You cannot describe this as a split by any stretch of imagination. It is just a case of a disgruntled comrade walking out and floating a forum. Our disciplined cadre will not ditch us or get hoodwinked by the claims of a ‘class revolution.’ After all, the CPI(M) still stands by its founding principles and we have been waging the war on behalf of the working class,” a senior leader said.
Gangadaran’s stance is that the CPI(M) is no different from the CPI. Outlining the reasons for the breaking away from CPM Gangadharan said many staunch communists who toiled for the party many years have been sidelined, expelled or ignored by clever manipulations. The contradiction he said was rooted in the party’s ideological confusion and jettisoning of its core programmes like abandoning People’s Democratic Revolution, takeover of lands from land lords and distributing it to the poor (this has been replaced with a policy of land acquisition with compensation), class compromise and its political manifestations of supporting UPAs corrupt regime , winking at crass neo liberalization policies like FDI and blind support to Pranab Mukerjee’s Presidentship.
- Sunday Standard