China adapted, CPM didn’t: India’s only communist minister decodes Left’s decline

India's only communist minister said the Left's decline stemmed from weak internal democracy, failure to adapt after 1991 and changing youth expectations. He also set out Kerala's transport and logistics agenda, stressing cooperation with the Centre, safer roads and stronger connectivity.

Keralam minister CP John attributed the Left's decline in India and globally to its failure to adapt to changing democratic aspirations and post-1991 economic realities, including private participation and new development models.

India's Left parties have suffered a dramatic decline in political influence because they failed to adapt to changing ideas of democracy, development and the aspirations of a younger generation, Keralam minister CP John said at the India Today Roundtable Keralam.

John, the general secretary of the Communist Marxist Party (CMP) and a cabinet member in the VD Satheesan-led Keralam government, is currently the only communist minister in India. He said his position was not something to celebrate, but rather a reflection of the decline of the communist movement across the country.

"You're right in the sense that I'm the only communist minister in India now. But it's not a credit to me because there were dozens of ministers in our country from Tripura, West Bengal and Keralam right from 1967 onwards," he said.

"There was no break. Unfortunately, other communist parties, mainly the mainstream so-called mainstream communist parties, have declined in their political positions. And in that sense, I'm a precipitate. So I'm not boasting about my position. It's a sad position because there is only one communist minister in the country," he added.

The minister pointed out that the Left once had a much wider political presence, extending beyond Keralam, West Bengal and Tripura to several other states.

"The Left was one of the biggest contingents in politics, even in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Maharashtra, even in UP. In 1967, there was a CPM MP from Varanasi. So the Left had a big presence in our country. But unfortunately, it declined," he said.

‘LEFT'S DECLINE IS UNIVERSAL’

According to John, the decline of communist parties is not limited to India. He cited the experience of communist parties in Europe, including Italy, Britain, France and Spain.

"This decline is universal in the sense that across the world, for example, Italian Communist Party declined. It was one of the biggest Communist parties in democracies. And the Communist Party of Great Britain. The French Communist Party, in which Picasso was a member, and the Spanish Communist Party," he said.

Looking at the experience of communist movements globally, John attributed part of the decline to what he described as a lack of democracy within communist parties themselves.

"Maybe, according to our understanding, my party's understanding, it may be due to the dearth of democracy inside the Communist parties, and as well as in the societies where Communist Party waned," he said.

He argued that this became particularly significant as younger generations increasingly came to value democratic participation in all spheres of life.

"The young generation who are very much interested in democratic dealings, right from the classroom, right from the home, right from the parents, they have to have democracy everywhere, every point where they live," John said.

"Communist parties unfortunately forgot to say that we are really democratic, and they themselves declared that when we come to power, we will declare the dictatorship of the proletariat," he added.

John also linked the decline of the Left to its response to the economic changes that followed the 1991 reforms. He argued that communist parties failed to understand the changes taking place in the economy and did not adapt their approach to private participation and new development models.

"They were not interested in the infrastructure in the PPP mode. They were against the so-called colleges, unaided colleges. They were fighting against it," he said.

"Their ideological bankruptcy was very clear right from 1991. They could not cope up with the new economic policies after 1991, which China did, which CPM didn't do," he added.

Drawing a comparison with China, John said the country's development model showed how capital and labour could be combined, while acknowledging differences in its political system.

"Everybody's talking about China, but what China is doing, of course, there is a dearth of democracy, but it's a surge of development because they are combining capital as well as labour in their country in the cleverest manner," he said.

He argued that Indian Left parties failed to understand this aspect of China's economic transformation.

"But in the Indian Left as well as other Left parties, they did not understand the Chinese method of governance," John said.

He claimed his own party had recognised the need for change much earlier.

"As far as my party is concerned, my friends are concerned, we are well aware right from 1991 that we have to have new methods of democracy as well as new methods of development," he said.

John also pointed to the Left's changing position on public-private partnerships as an example of how, according to him, mainstream communist parties were slow to adapt.

"Now Pinarayi Vijayan's party is talking about PPPs. Very important. Now means five years ago or 10 years ago... they are saying that, yes, yes, it is good, but they lagged behind," he said.

The comments, made at the India Today Roundtable Keralam, came against the backdrop of a wider discussion on Keralam's plans to expand infrastructure, connectivity and private participation.