INDIAN CP MOVES TOWARD POLYCENTRISM
By Kailas Chandra
Bombay
The seven-day session of the 10l-member National Council of the pro=Moscow Communist party of India [opr], which ended in New Delhi April 15, made a “comprehensive review" of the entire political.line of the party since its Bombay congress held only four months ago. [See World Outlook January 15.]
The discussions were reportedly “long and often heated." According to Link, a left Congress weekly printed in Delhi, at least three fairly clear trends emerged, including a vocal left-wing tendency. Although each trend affirmed its loyalty to the programme favoring a National Democratic Front adopted at the Bombay congress, no unified understanding was reached on the basic policy issues confronting the party.
The authority of the Dangeite leadership as represented by the Central Secretariat was clearly at a discount. Almost all the important drafts prepared by the Secretariat and presented to the National Council were sunmarily rejected. Though at the end, a consensus was achieved and the Council was able to adopt certain resolutions, there was an unmistakable impression that the Dangeite leadership does not command the respect of the majority of the members in the Council.
The main issue under discussion was the situation created in the country after the dissolution of the elected legislature in Kerala in which the pro-Peking Communists emerged as the largest single party. The imposition of presidential rule in the state was a grave development since it is a clear indication that the bour~geois rulers of India are moving toward winding up the country's parliamentary institutions.
The resolution prepared by the Secretariat on the Kerala elections and their aftermath upheld the party's tactical line of "simultaneously fighting" against the Congress party and the com= munal and reactionary parties (Muslim League, Swatantra party, etc.) and approved the position taken by the leadership against any elec-— toral alliance with the Muslim League which led to the break-up of the Left United Front in Kerala,
The stand taken by the Secretariat was supported by a majority in the Council but it was challenged on two levels. One tendency held the view that the Left United Front in Kerala should not have been allowed to be broken on the grounds that one of its con-= stituents (left CPI) was attempting to enter into electoral adjustment with the Muslim League.
Another tendency thought there were certain positive qualities in the Kerala Muslim League as a party representing the minority religious community. This tendency favoured an electoral understanding with the Muslim League in order to give an "absolute priority" to the fight against the Congress party.
There was yet another tendency in the National Council which favoured treating the "communal and rightist parties" as the main enemy in Kerala, especially after the more reactionary wing had _ split away from the Congress party to form the > “Rebel Kerala Congress party."
“The Secretariat resolution on Kerala: was passed after a division and by a narrow majority.
The rightist leaders realised that the rank and file - were. swinging to a "more leftist and anti-Congress position," particularly after the Kerala elections. Apparently to mollify this sentiment, the Secretariat put forward a draft resolution on the political situation which took a sharply critical attitude towards the Congress government.
The resolution said that "the influence of reactionary forces both Indian and foreign" on the Congress party's policies had greatly increased, The conclusion drawn by the Secretariat was that “although the basic positive policies have not been abandoned or reversed (by the bourgeois Congress leadership) certain serious shifts have, however, taken place within the framework of these policies and that the danger of a shift to the right has greatly increased,"
The Secretariat's draft was réjected and a fresh one prepared in the light of the discussion which emphasised the further swing of the Congress leadership to the right and the necessity to organise mass movements to combat the reactionary forces,
The Council decided to launch a mass campaign on solidarity with Vietnam and defense of civil liberties and parliamentary democracy in India,
Parliamentary illusions persist among the leaders of the right-wing Communist party, but they now recognise the danger to "yarliamentary democracy" at the hands of " reactionary forces both within the Congress and outside. ,
The campaign is expected to begin on May Day. It will be specially directed against the imposition of president's rule in Kerala and the use of emergency powers against the Communists. The co-operation of "all left parties, democratic mass organisations and. progressive individuals" is to be sought in the movement.
The resolution was approved with only about two members dissenting.
=“20-
The resolution on the Moscow "preparatory" meeting adopted | by the National Council was significant inasmuch as it indicated _ the swing of the Communist party of India toward polycentrism and... its intention to establish closer relations with the Communist par-. ties of neighbouring countries.
This was taken as recognition of the fact that the possibility of a world conference of Communist parties was. slight and that there is strong opposition.among them to any "single world centre of. the -Gommunist movement" being created.
To vindicate its own position:in relation to the Chinese — leadership and the left CPI, the rightist CPI had at first supported the Soviet proposal to hold a world conference; but it now feels that the preparations for such a.conference might be more effective if a beginning is made at the regional level.
Consultations are already said to be under way between the right-wing CPI and the Australian and Ceylonese parties to hold a meeting in support of Vietnam and against the Anglo-American inter-~ vention in Southeast ‘Asia.
The CPI has also made a proposal to “invite the North Vietnamese Communist party to attend such a regional Communist conference as an observer.