Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Call for critical review of Marxism

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Communist Party of India (CPI) State secretary Veliyam Bhargavan has called for critical examination of Marxism and the reasons why it suffered setbacks in the Soviet Union and the East European nations.

Releasing ‘Marxism Varthamana Prasaktham,’ a book authored by RSP State secretary T.J. Chandrachoodan here on Thursday, Mr. Bhargavan said it was necessary to examine how dictatorship of the proletariat became dictatorship of the Communist Party in the Soviet Union and other East European countries. The two reasons that might have contributed to this process were the historical context of these countries and the prevailing global situation where the imperialist forces were out to finish off Communism, he pointed out.

The CPI leader said though U.S. imperialism was still around, it was not as menacing as it used to be in the past. By 2025, the U.S. would have strong contenders in China and India. This implied that accelerated growth of the Indian economy should be a concern of the Left in the country as well. Tomorrow’s world would be one dominated by countries such as China, India, Brazil and Indonesia, he said.

Speaking on the occasion, writer P. Govinda Pillai pointed out that Marxism-Leninism had time and again proved its obituary writers wrong. Coming down heavily on functionaries of the Catholic Church, who had come out strongly against the Left in recent months, he said those who believed that they had seen the last of Marxism would be proved wrong again and again. He hoped that critics of the Left in Kerala such as Archbishop Joseph Powathil would at least read the documents of the Second Vatican Council to see how the Church had recanted several of its earlier positions and come to terms with contemporary reality.

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