Communist success in Kerala and Bengal

[Chris Burford <cburford@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Success for the communists again in Kerala and Bengal, is to be
welcomed from outside India as a sign of the continued existence of
large, influential bodies of people committed to social production
controlled by social foresight, even though within India there is no
doubt much to be argued about. No doubt in some eyes the Communist
parties are heavily marked by reformist and revisionist tendencies but
that is part of the continuing internal argument.

Also to be welcomed, the low vote for the BJP in Gujerat, is a
rejection of communalism and a reversion to the idea of the unity of
working people.

Provided the capitalist forces in India remain strong enough to
continue the peace approaches to Pakistan in the interests of a common
market to fight for some economic future in a world dominated by
western imperialism, then an electoral vote rejecting divisions among
ordinary people and pressing for justice for workers, is very much to
be welcomed.

That is a different question hopefully from instilling illusions in
any one reformist party, or of just being engrossed in the tactics of
inter-party fighting, which reflect the balance of economic and social
forces as much as create them.

Justice for working people in India is inseparable from justice on a
world scale.

Chris Burford