EMS Smrithy 2015 National Seminar, the 17th in the series was held at Thrissur, the cultural capital of Kerala on June 13-14. Even though the birth place of Comrade EMS Namboodiripad is in the present Malappuram district, early part of his life which included his participation in the freedom movement was spent at Thrissur. The Centre for Science & Technology for Development (COSTFORD), an NGO committed to progressive, secular values has been organising the EMS Smrithy every year, since his demise. The first one was inaugurated by Comrade Harkishan Singh Surjeet in 1999 commemorating the birth anniversary of Comrade EMS.

This year the seminar was organised on the theme ‘Political Alternative Based on Class Struggle – Newer Streams’. Under this, ten different aspects of political, economic and social importance were taken up. The inaugural session was held on June 13, that was presided over by A C Moideen, CPI(M) district secretary. Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, Polit Bureau member and state secretary of the CPI(M) addressing the seminar recollected the valuable contributions made by Comrade EMS for social change and on the ideological front. The struggles against the landlord-bourgeoisie combine, against untouchability, denial of education opportunities, against entry into temples etc, were led initially by noted social reformers. Later all these were carried forward by the Communist Party in Kerala. With the formation of a Communist government in 1957 led by Comrade EMS, a situation was created for the advancement of the struggle. It introduced land reforms, opened up education for all and widened opportunities for social change. This government was dismissed by Congress at the centre. But the support of the people rose. The vote share of the Left increased from 35.28 percent to 39.14 percent. The LDF governments that came to power in the later days tried to take up the mantle. Land reforms, universal literacy, peoples planning, increased political participation of women etc came to the forefront of the agenda.

Balakrishnan noted that those who allege that CPI(M) is anti-development, have not been able to point out even a single instance. The UDF organised a Global Development Meet. We extended our support to it, but the result was zero. On the contrary, all the major projects like Kannur Airport, Kochi Metro, Smart City etc were the initiatives of the Left government.

Underlining that vast changes have taken place in the social structure of the state, Balakrishnan said that the problem of educated unemployed is grave.  The UDF government is implementing the economic policies of the Modi government. In order to save the UDF government, attempts are being made to arouse communal, caste divisions. This government has transformed itself into a communal, casteist force, he said.

The CPI(M) has decided in the recent Party Congress at Visakhapatnom to rally all the Left forces onto a wider platform. Those who left the CPI(M) for various reasons can also come back if they are ready to go by the  programme and policies of the Party. To strengthen the Left, the CPI(M) has to strengthen itself, he said.

The inaugural session was followed by the main presentation by Prakash Karat, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M). He said that the rightwing offensive has got intensified with the Narendra Modi government in the saddle. The two and a half decade of neo-liberalism has a profound impact on the society. As a corollary, new challenges have come. The subjective as well as the objective aspects of the challenges are to be analysed to concretise slogans and tactics for movement of mass actions. Till now we have been conducting defensive struggles. Why could not we go beyond that? We have not comprehensively analysed it. We have often resorted to old tactics, which are not relevant in the present circumstances. There is a major change in the composition of the working class. 50 percent of the workforce in the public sector is on contract, whereas in the organised private sector it is 70 percent. The working class is segmented, fragmented and atomised through outsourcing and changing over to home based work, where there is no direct employer-employee relationship. We have to find ways to organise them. The experience and success of organising informal workers in the third world countries is before us, especially from Venezuela. They built up community based organisations and they were later constitutionally legalised. All major issues like housing, sanitation food etc that the marginalised needed – not the proletariat, but the precariat, as they were called – were taken up.

In the overall advance of the class struggle in India, we have put up a consistent fight. 15 national united strikes were held by the trade unions and a larger one is to take place on September 2, 2015 in which even reformist unions would participate. But we are not able to take up struggles on the various social, cultural and ideological issues where we need to take a leading role. Along with that, we have to fight the Hindutva forces. If we fail, the communal forces will fragment the trade unions. Agrarian issues, issues of adivasis, women, minorities, dalits, issues of middle class etc, have to be taken up, without which we cannot advance the class struggle, said Prakash Karat.

The next presentation was by Elamaram Kareem, CITU state secretary and Central Committee member of the CPI(M). He spoke on ‘Changes in the Labour Front - Challenges and Possibilities’. Reminding the recent slogan of the ILO of decent jobs and decent wages, he said both the concepts have disappeared post neo-liberalism. He said whatever concessions capitalism granted by way of social security etc to the working class, were to arrest the advancement of socialism. With the fall of the Soviet Union, capitalism got strengthened. Finance capital led regimes resort to newer practices to increase exploitation and to disintegrate the working class. In the changed scenario, even the states are compelled to bow and lean before the finance capital and act according to its beck and call. With the fragmentation and disintegration of large industrial units, the working class is also getting fragmented. Work is outsourced through contracts, apprenticeships, outsourcing, home based work etc. Organising such employees in such places of work is a challenge the trade unions face. Due to the crisis in the agricultural sector, lakhs and lakhs of jobless are compelled to migrate to cities and towns.  Kareem emphasised that there is a marked change in the structure of the working class. He also put forward certain proposals to organise the workers, which he said, has to be discussed by all the concerned.

The next subject was on the challenges in the agricultural front. Venkatesh Athreya was the main speaker. At the outset, he said that he is only presenting the report of the committee the Party has constituted to go into the issue. Both the small farmers and agricultural workers are ousted from the land. The growth in the agricultural sector has declined. Loan facilities are curtailed. In the rural areas, the landlord-rich farmer combine dominate. Big chunk of the land is being controlled by them. In addition to ownership of fertile land, they engage in trade, banking, real estate etc. Because of their influence over the government, rules are made to suit their needs. With the BJP in power, the challenges are getting bigger. The immediate task is to build up a broad based resistance with the involvement of all the affected sections, he said.

Vijayaraghavan, general secretary of AIAWU, and Central Committee member of CPI(M) spoke next on the subject.

The next subject was on ‘The Praxis of Left Alternative’. Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the CPI(M) initiated the presentation. He underscored the importance of a Left alternative and said where the Left is strong, a Left alternative is possible as we see in Latin America.

He debunked the economic development based on the Gujrat model. Under the BJP government, all the welfare measures are getting curtailed. 3000 farmers have committed suicide. 194 million people are starving in India, which is the highest in the world as per FAO figures. On the other hand, we see that the number of billionaires has increased.

Talking about the growing resistance, Yechury said that both in the agricultural front and in the trade union front, wider unity and struggles are emerging. Widest possible unity of Left and democratic forces has to be built. We have before us the Latin American experience. We have discussed about the revolutionary practice in the EMS Smrithy last year. The present task is to formalise it, he said.

Kanam Rajendran, state secretary of the CPI said that the mainstream Left parties are moving forward with clarity in the right direction. We have to bring around all likeminded sections irrespective of the fact whether they are small or big. Theory and practice shall have to go hand-in-hand. The recent Congress of the CPI also has taken a decision towards this end, he said.

On the second day, a paper was presented by M A Baby, Polit Bureau member of CPI(M) on ‘Urbanisation and middle class: issues in organising’. Another presentation on ‘Land utilisation, environment, waste disposal, and global warming was made by K N Harilal and Ajay Kumar Varma , experts in the area concerned. A paper on experiences of Kerala Model Development and present challenges was presented by Thomas Isaac, Central Committee member of the CPI(M), and this was supplemented by C Ravindranath, MLA.

Another subject ‘Caste, class fusion and social oppression’ was introduced by Dr K N Ganesh. The last presentation was by Subhashini Ali on ‘Gender justice: different perspectives.’

The two-day deliberations proved to be an intellectual exercise lighting hopeful rays in the minds of all longing for real good days for the suffering masses under the guidance of the Left.