How Left Are We Leftists? How Left Is The Left Front?

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I am a stupid person. I try to understand the complexities of reality by trying to break it down into simpler categories that I can understand. I get impatient with intellectuals who instead of simplifying the reality around us and making it understandable to intellectually challenged souls like us introduce even more complexities, more abstractions and more discussion of categories of the mind over and above the infinite categories of material reality. My stupid mind is quite incapable of grappling with too many complexities of mind and matter.

I try to see the world in terms of black and white, us and them, as far as possible despite knowing that reality is often grey, perhaps always grey, simply because my stupid mind can understand black and white but it cannot understand the different shades of grey and fine, subtle distinctions in all the grey around us. I can understand Left and Right in black and white terms but I find it impossible to understand when Left is Right and Right is Left and when the distinctions between Left and Right get blurred.

My happy world of black and white, Left and Right – happy because it was understandable – broke down down forever when the Berlin Wall came down, when the Soviet Union got dismantled, when China chose to privatize and become a free market economy, when Vietnam decided it needed investments by US multinationals to provide economic development to its people.

Till then my happy world of black and white could see that the only people Left in India were those who believed in armed revolution (the Maoists although they were then split into some 21 different groups) and all others were Right including the CPI(M) and the vaunted Left Front.

I had no illusions when the Left Front came to power in West Bengal in 1977 that a revolution had been completed because I knew on the basis of my stupid black and white categories that they were nothing but a party of the petty bourgeoisie, a party that had killed revolutionaries and by choosing to remain within parliamentary democracy had actually rejected the path of revolution and therefore, could in no way be termed communists. They were at best a reformist social democratic party.

Then after 1989 with my happy world of black and white turned into grey it seemed to me that to make any sense of the world, stupid me had to do what I most abhorred – some very hard thinking to try and make distinctions between the many subtle shades of grey all around me.

After much hard thinking I realized that my simple black and white formulation of armed revolution by the poor against the rich, by the communists against the anti-communists was far too simplistic – the communists come to power and then become a ruling class because the workers remained what they were – workers – they do not really come to own and control resources – the party bosses do – and the party after coming to power inevitably turns revisionists. It happened in Soviet Russia and then even in my revered Mao’s China so much so that Mao himself had to give the call to Bombard the Headquarters and launch the cultural revolution asking the people to revolt against the party bosses who ruled over them. I had managed to reduce the complexities again into simpler black and white terms: this was a perfect case of Left is Right and Right is Left.

It then seemed to me again in my simplistic black and white terms that what was needed was not just armed revolution, the communists also need an economic model that could ensure economic power in the hands of workers and not party bosses – an economic model that could solve the problem of distribution without the return of market forces and in its wake capitalism.

No such model existed but again in my stupid black and white terms I could see that the main problem of distribution was information. In fact, prices and market mechanism was a proxy for information – it told people what to produce and what to consume. The command economy failed because a few people, the party bosses in charge of socialist planning, could not decide what the people wanted because they could not know what the people wanted – a problem of inadequate information, something that prices and market forces could solve even if inadequately and partially.

So again in my simplistic way it seemed to me that in the information age and after information technology becomes a way of life, prices and market mechanism – which were nothing but a proxy for full information – could be replaced by a system which used information technology to provide full information to producers and consumers.

Consumers would only input their needs – the computers would process the information in real time and identify which producer was most suitable for producing those needs in terms of least cost in transportation, energy, material, environmental and non-renewable resource terms, not price terms, and lo and behold you do not need the market mechanism anymore. And producers can be associations of workers directly controlling and owning productive resources on their own instead of either private owners or the state. And, labor would become free although no human labor would be needed for tedious, low-skilled, menial jobs and those requiring physical labor because such jobs would be done by automatons and robots . Humans would at last be freed fro doing all these physical labor and they could then be all scientists, technologists, researchers and programmers.

In my simplistic world it seemed to me here was the solution to such a humungous problem but how to show that this is the solution, how to make most people realize this was the solution?

Even as I grappled with these questions in my stupid and simplistic way, the world was going on and one had to go on making choices – political choices. Yes, the Left Front was not communist by any means. The Maoists were to the extent that they at least believed in revolution – a new social order where workers could became owners – but being a petty bourgeoisie I did not have the courage to give up my cushy life, take up arms, become a revolutionary and face police bullets.

I had also found a theoretical justification for rejecting armed revolution and hide my cowardice – that such armed revolution did not in the end solve the basic problem unless the Maoists could also work out an alternative economic system because if they could not they too would go the same way that other great communist parties had gone in the past – in Soviet Russia, China, Vietnam – they too would become revisionists if and when they capture political power or a few days after coming to power.

Now what? Maoists cannot solve the problem I had convinced myself and in the process I had also found a good excuse for rejecting the path of armed revolution and join the ranks of the reactionary reformists. But I still wanted to feel comfortable that I was a Leftist because I abhorred the right – I still wanted to remain compassionate, I still wanted to remain on the side of humanity, I still wanted the poor to overcome their poverty as soon as they could, I still wanted a society where there was no country, no religion, no possessions, no need for greed or hunger, and instead there was a brotherhood of man
with all the people sharing all the world. But how?

And even as I imagined all this and dreamt about when we shall all call the tune so that the piper will lead us to reason and a new day will dawn, nights came and went, poverty continued to deprive people of even the most basic necessities, wars continued to kill millions, the world and humanity continued to inexorably head towards destruction of not only people but also all life around us and I continued to wonder what have they done to the earth? What have they done to our fair sister? Ravaged and plundered and ripped her and bit her, stuck her with knives in the side of the dawn, and tied her with fences and dragged her down…..

Given this scenario what were my political choices as a so-called Leftist? The Maoists I could not accept mainly because I was too selfish and a coward to accept the hardships of being an armed revolutionary although like a typical petty bourgeoisie reactionary I had in my stupid way found a “communist” or “Leftist” justification for my cowardice which gave me some cold comfort and helped me to make peace with myself, nor could I accept and support the Left Front and the CPI(M), the petty bourgeoisie reactionary parties that they were and accepting the right reactionary Congress despite its lip-service to “socialism” or the extreme right Hindu fundamentalist BJP or the fundamentally unsound TMC which did not seem to have any positive program of its own whether Right, Left or Center except the single-point negative program of opposing the CPI(M) and Left Front was anyway out of the question.

The only way out, it seemed to me, was to float my own single-member party and become its unquestioned leader. But given my previous “Leftist” background even this option seemed to me to be fundamentally unsound and smacked of extreme individualism which my conscience told me reeked too much of my petty bourgeoisie class consciousness – certainly not a very justifiable Leftist position, at least not a position that I could reconcile with my Leftist conscience.

It then seemed to me in my own stupid black and white terms that it was best to abandon all “isms” and instead seek to be Leftist in terms of simple black and white categories by way of supporting those political parties that seemed to be relatively more pro-people and opposing those who seemed to be relatively anti-people in terms of their practical politics and in terms of what they were actually doing on the ground in terms of actual governance.

Remember that by this time I had given up on all “isms” and, therefore, the cosy comfort of imagining that somehow the world’s problems could be solved only through “revolution” whatever it may mean and however it may actually be achieved in practice. However, I found I could not also accept that since revolution was a long way off and was not really happening anywhere around me let me simply forget all the bother about “revolution” and become a holier-than-thou intellectual commiserating with the poor in words and writing (but of course without any genuine content because then you have to bother about revolution and about being actually Left in both word and deed) and criticizing those who claim to be Left in practical politics as “fascist”, “inhuman”, “arrogant”, “butchers”, “rapists”, “genocidal”, etc. etc. because this was the easiest way to attain the moral high ground and show to the rest of the world how great a humanist and “Leftist”  I am.

Somehow, this bally thing called conscience still lived on inside me and caused me too much pain, disrupted my pursuit of happiness, dissuaded me from becoming “normal” to fall in line with what most sane and level-headed people do namely joining the rate race for career, money, fame and power, took away my sleep, increasingly turned me into a substance abuser, and robbed me of enjoying the simple pleasures of wholesome entertainment obtained through addiction to high quality bourgeoisie “culture” made readily and abundantly available through books, films, TV, the media, partying and disco dancing. I was already stupid and now this irksome conscience was making me go mad and insane as well.

So I had to make some political choices just to make peace with myself and to keep myself convinced that I was still a Leftist. The first choice I made was to decide that to hell with armed revolution, let the Maoists do it for me if they can, but let me support democracy since at least it allowed us some basic freedoms such as freedom of speech and thought besides all the other freedoms that one associates with democracy.

It was a conscious choice knowing fully well that from a Leftist point of view, mere political democracy hardly offered any real freedom because for the poor at least who did not have the fundamental economic freedom to exist, political freedom or the freedom to vote for any one party representing the bourgeoisie or any other party representing the same bourgeoisie hardly mattered.

To the poor, except for the Maoists who at least gave them some power – even if not economically at least politically through the barrel of the gun, all other parties were all the same – the Left Front and its constituents including the CPI(M), the Congress, the BJP, the TMC or for that matter anybody else.

They all basically spoke the same language, had basically the same anti-poor policy of “economic development” which is an euphemism for capitalist development or, to cut out the abstractions and intellectualisms and put it in human terms, development of the capitalist rich so that the rich could become richer and the poor poorer, were basically all fascist, had basically the same utter disdain for human life and dignity and all had nothing but a single point agenda of somehow fooling them, the poor, the majority of the electorate, to vote them, these bourgeoisie parties, to power so that the rich could go on fucking the poor undisturbed and most importantly with the poor’s own “democratic” sanction election after election.

But I had already made a major compromise with my Leftism by abandoning the path of revolution or even the need for it and this was a relatively easy one to make since with just a little bit of intellectual gymnastics and dishonesty, just a little bit mind you, not much, at least not as much as the bourgeoisie parties indulge in I told myself, it was easy to convince oneself that under conditions of capitalism (especially since this is a given and there was little that one could do about it) there was no fundamental contradiction with my Leftism if I demanded or supported political democracy.

The next choice was to identify who among all these bourgeoisie parties seeking our votes and forming governments was relatively the most pro-poor and the most pro-people. And if such a party also had a Left or Communist tag to it all my political problems with myself could be solved in my stupid black and white terms. Then I would be voting for and supporting, what in my humble opinion, is the most pro-poor and most pro-people bourgeoisie party in bourgeoisie democracy and I would still be free to claim that I am progressive, Leftist, communist. At last I had found a way to protect, uphold and practice all my cherished principles and ethics without being forced to either give up any of the comforts of my petty bourgeoisie existence, or my sleep, or my career.

Such a choice was again easy to make and entirely without the complexities that I so abhor – just vote Left Front, support the largest “communist” party in the country, the CPI(M) and still retain the freedom to rabidly criticize the Left Front government or the CPI(M) whenever they do something that is out and out anti-poor or anti-people even if that means in practice supporting sometimes wittingly and sometimes unwittingly an even more rabidly anti-poor and anti-people political group such as the TMC. I also retain the freedom to support the Maoists whenever the going gets tough and it becomes impossible to defend the “communists” of my choice, the CPI(M), though carefully making it clear that I do not support the very essence of their politics, namely armed revolution.

Now dear reader I leave it to you to decide how Left is my Leftism and how Left is the Left Front and the CPI(M) and how Left are the critiques of the Left Front and the CPI(M) who adopt what appear to be a Maoist position though not supporting the essence of their politics – armed revolution!

I thank the “Leftists” of Kolkata for making me realize how un-Left is my Leftism. They have opened my eyes

• by taking to the streets against the politics of violence and arrogance of the CPI(M) and in practice supporting the politics of violence and arrogance of the BUPC-TMC-Maoist combine on the Nandigram issue although being careful about making it very clear that they do not support the irrationality of armed revolution;
• by wearing their Leftism on their sleeves by declaring publicly (and given the slightest opportunity over the electronic media) and shouting from the rooftops how their hearts bleed for the poor of Nandigram, West Bengal and India,
• by disrupting the process of industrialization and effectively halting whatever little economic development and employment generation that could have trickled down to the poor as a result of such industrialization,
• by creating a situation of political chaos and instability and thereby helping to pave the way for an even more “Leftist” bourgeoisie party than the CPI(M) to come back to power in the state which will never go in for land acquisition for industry and even if it does it will do so by offering hefty compensations, and
• by refusing to cooperate with and give active support to the Left Front government ’s efforts at breaking the economic stagnation that Bengal is now wallowing in!

On the basis of my stupid black and white approach to understanding reality, I now know that I am an out and out Rightist!

A reactionary to the core!
Except for that one small and insignificant point of agreement with these “Leftists” about not supporting the politics of violence and arrogance of the CPI(M), on all other counts I violently disagree with these “Leftists” as

• I am opposed to the politics of violence and arrogance of the BUPC-TMC combine,
• I refuse to wear my Leftism on my sleeves by taking to the streets to declare publicly (including giving heavy sound bytes to the electronic media even if I am given an opportunity) and shouting from the rooftops about how my heart bleeds for the poor of Nandigram, West Bengal or India,
• I am all for industrialization so as to ensure that at least some people get employment and there is some economic development,
• I am totally opposed to creating political chaos and thereby paving the way for some more “Leftist” bourgeoisie party than the CPI(M) to come back to power in the state because then they will acquire land by paying almost no compensation to the land owners because being more “Leftist” than the CPI(M) they will make sure that the bourgeoisie get such land at the lowest cost possible to ensure speedy industrialization to make up for all the “lost time during all the stagnation under Left Front rule”,
• I am all for cooperating with the Left Front government and giving active support to it in their efforts to break the economic stagnation that Bengal is now wallowing in!

Dear reader, in all this you must have noted that although I have been able to work all this out despite all the complexities on the basis of my stupid black and white approach to understanding reality, there is one grey area that has me completely stumped: armed revolution itself! Where do I stand on that issue?

But then haven’t I told you that I am a petty bourgeoisie reactionary afraid of losing the comforts of my cushy life and facing the bullets of the state gendarmie? Well, when the Maoists and the poor of Nandigram and elsewhere manage to become strong enough to put a gun to my head will I then have any choice in the matter? I will then give up my Rightism and true to petty bourgeoisie political opportunism will declare myself even more loyal than the king – I will then obviously become more Leftist than the Maoists!

You see I am a stupid fellow who can understand reality only in black and white terms and I get thoroughly confused when the world turns grey and the Left is Right and the Right is Left. I then stop trying to make any sense of the world and merely say what those holding a gun to my head want me to say!! I would then become a radical hypocrite!!

Meanwhile readers, let me remind you that in all the hullabaloo over the Nandigram issue, the media has completely done away with stories about the murder, suicide or what have you of Rizwanur Rahman. Public memory is not short, in my opinion, it is only as long or as short as the media decides any event has news value. The public even if it has a very long memory has no voice and if the media clamps down on something, then that’s the end of the matter and the media passes it off as public amnesia.

Raise your voice once again asking for justice because now that the CPI(M) and the Left Front government cannot be flayed for the death of Rizwanur anymore and if anybody goes wrong it will be the CBI, the media will have no further interest in the story. Plus with Ashok Todi’s media managers apparently working overtime as evident from the publication of unquestioned versions of the Todi family view by both The Telegraph and the Times of India, plus perhaps a little threat about all the Lux cosy ads that will not be released anymore, plus some direct incentives to buy their silence, there is little space for Rizwanur anymore. Riz is simply not news anymore and we may see some renewed media activity only when they are ready with some nicely spun stories about how bad a guy Riz was with a long history of ditching girl friends and always hooking rich girls. A few have already started surfacing in blogosphere. I have no intention of giving those links and the interested reader can find out for himself/herself .

The CBI report when it does come out will also get a lot of media support and little criticism even if the CBI comes up with a cock and bull story because the media can ill afford to show the CBI in such a poor light. How will it then support asking for a CBI probe whenever it wants to turn the screws on the West Bengal government?

So all in all its time to bury Riz. Long live Rizwanur Rahman!

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Filed under Politics, communism, nandigram, rizwanur murder

Tags: communism, nandigram, Politics, rizwanur rahman