THE CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee organised a three-day state-level Party class for its leading activists working on the student front from November 7-9, 2015 at the Comrade B T Ranadive Memorial Bhavan in New Mumbai. The class began, significantly, on the 98th anniversary of the Great October Socialist Revolution led by the Bolsheviks under Lenin. 105 selected student activists from 13 districts attended the class. A state Party class for the women’s front was held last month in October and a similar state Party class for the youth front will be held in February next year. 

The topics and teachers in the class were: 1. Party Programme – CPI(M) state secretariat member Ajit Abhyankar; 2. The danger of communalism and casteism – state committee member Dr Uday Narkar; 3. Party Organisation and Party and Mass Organisations – state secretariat member Mariam Dhawale; 4. How to be a Good Communist – central secretariat member Dr Ashok Dhawale; 5. What is Marxism? – Dr Ashok Dhawale; 6. Building the student front – student front state secretary Datta Chavan; 7. Future Tasks before the student front – student front state president Mohan Jadhav.

Each session of the class was followed by a lively question-answer session and sometimes by a group discussion that clarified many issues. Party literature worth over Rs 5,000 was enthusiastically sold in this class. The class was enlivened by cultural programmes at night.

One of the sessions was devoted to a special workshop on strengthening both the mass organisation and the Party on the student front. There was a district-wise group discussion and one activist from each district placed their district planning before the class. Each district group also filled in two questionnaires related to the above two aspects.

Earlier in the year the student front in Maharashtra has led good struggles on issues of student scholarships, commercialisation of education and on problems of ITI students. The student and youth fronts held a joint state convention in Pune in support of the struggle of the FTII students. In this class it was decided to concentrate on local student issues, step up the membership drive and hold a state convention at Jalna on December 30 - the foundation day of the student front - in preparation for their All India conference at Sikar in Rajasthan in January 2016.

Some of the highlights of the credentials report were: 27 were in junior college, 52 in senior college, 13 were in post-graduation, 8 were in professional courses and 5 were engaged in research. 53 were below 20 years of age, 48 were between 21 and 30 years and only 4 were above 30 years. 13 were from the working class, 26 from agricultural workers, 55 from poor peasants, 5 from middle peasants and 7 from the middle class. 56 were adivasis, 35 were dalits and 2 were from the minorities. Only two had joined the Party before 2000, 19 had joined between 2001 and 2010 and 84 had joined after 2010. 19 had been arrested in student struggles and 8 had police cases on them in connection with struggles. There were seven whole-timers and the heartening feature was that 39 more expressed the desire to become whole-timers!