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Book Review
MALAYALAM
Anthology of essays
B.R.P BHASKAR
MATHAVUM VARGEEYATHAYUM AGOLAVALKKARANA KALATH: Sitaram Yechury, Translated in Malayalam by C. P. Abubaker, Chintha Publishers, P.B. No 172, Deshabhimani Road, Thiruvananthapuram-695001.
Rs. 165.
THIS BOOK is a collection of 20 articles by Sitaram Yechury, a member of the CPI (M) Polit Bureau and Editor of People’s Democracy, written since 1991. They articulate the party’s position on several topical issues. The title comes from the last of the four sections, which deals with caste, religion and communalism. The opening section features articles on developments in the communist world. Yechury attributes the collapse of the Soviet Union to the party leadership’s failure to make timely changes in economic management when signs of decline appeared in the 1970s.
He avers the party had erred in ideologically determining that economic stagnation was the result of past mistakes. Perestroika was working well but anti-socialist ideas that grew under glasnost brought down the system. While viewing with sympathy China’s attempt to develop a market economy within the socialist framework, he also takes note of its adverse consequences like growing inequality and unemployment. As he sees it, imperialism and socialism are clashing on the Chinese battlefield and it is the duty of communists everywhere to stand by China, which is endeavouring to strengthen socialism.
Discussing the rise of Hindu communalism in the context of the BJP’s rise to power at the Centre, Yechury says it does not amount to fascist takeover but is a step towards it. The volume also contains a few articles on ideological issues and a brief history of the students’ movement. Yechury displays commendable analytical skill and expounds complex issues in a direct and simple manner.
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