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Theory and Praxis

The Manifesto of New Path

Fri, 2013-05-10 18:46 — Maidul

For some time now, some activists in a small collective, mostly from backgrounds in social movements and mass organisations, have been discussing how the work of people's struggle and revolutionary transformation can be taken forward in the Indian context. Out of those they have reached the decision to found a new organisation, tentatively called "New Path", whose goal is to further the revolutionary process in India at its current stage. Below is the draft manifesto, which is being circulated for comments, criticism, suggestions and observations from comrades and friends.

People’s Ambedkar

Mon, 2013-04-15 00:49 — Dhananjay Rai
B.R. Ambedkar

B.R. Ambedkar carries multiple meanings for multiple constituencies. In this context, Ambedkar’s contribution becomes immensely significant. Numerous forces have attempted to claim Ambedkar due to variety of reasons. In this context, claim over Ambedkar by centrists and rightists (CRs) have to be rejected to accentuate the claim of the people over him.   There could be two types of claims in the context of Ambedkar: negative and positive.

Sunil Gangopadhyay (1934-2012)

Fri, 2012-10-26 23:02 — Dhananjay Rai
The Fakir

A renaissance poet/ writer in the post-Tagorean era who broke the ‘stability’ factor in literature

Image Courtesy: HarperCollins India

21st century socialism and issues - a debate

Fri, 2012-09-28 08:45 | Srinivasan Ramani, Rohit, and Arjun Sengupta

A debate on 21st century socialism hosted on Pragoti featuring articles by Rohit & Srinivasan Ramani, a riposte by Arjun Sengupta and a response by Rohit & Srinivasan Ramani again. 

The Indian radical grapples with globalisation

Thu, 2012-09-06 03:55 | Aniket Alam

There has been a major transformation in India over the last two decades – economic, political, social and cultural. Some of this has been a result of the liberalisation of the economy, a significant part of which has been the opening up to global capital. The Left in India, across organisations and ideologies, has viewed globalisation as a disaster for India. However, even a cursory glance at the actual history of globalisation in India will show that it has been as much about India reaching out to the world as the world coming to India.

On the Left-led Governments and Revolution

Fri, 2011-12-30 14:09 — subhanil

This is an attempt to reiterate the relationship between the formation of Left-led state governments and revolution as envisaged by the CPI(M).

What went wrong in West Bengal: Ashok Mitra

Sat, 2011-05-21 16:38 — deepak
mitra.jpg

"Comrades, we call this self-criticism." Ashok Mitra, former finance minister of West Bengal and a noted Left intellectual, sets the record straight for critics who may be inclined to dismiss his analysis of issues that plague the CPI(M) in West Bengal, and the factors that led to its rout in the 2011 Legislative Assembly elections, in the last line of his article published in The Telegraph.

On Democratic Centralism

Sat, 2010-07-31 10:11 | Prakash Karat

 In the recent period, alongwith a number of critical discussions on the electoral set-back suffered by the CPI (M) and the Left in last Lok Sabha elections, there have been some questions raised about the practice of democratic centralism as the organizational principle of the Communist Party. Such critiques have come from persons who are intellectuals associated with the Left or the CPI (M). 

Since such views are being voiced by comrades and persons who are not hostile to the Party, or, consider themselves as belonging to the Left, we should address the issues raised by them and respond. This is all the more necessary since the CPI (M) considers the issue of democratic centralism to be a basic and vital one for a party of the working class.
 
Instead of dealing with each of the critiques separately, we are categorising below the various objections and criticisms made.Though, it must be stated that it is not necessary that each of them hold all the views expressed by the others. But the common refrain is that democratic centralism should not serve as the organizational principle of the Communist Party or that it should be modified.
 
Read More in The Marxist. The article is also attached as PDF.

The 2009 Elections and Challenges before the Left

Sat, 2010-07-31 10:07 | Prabir Purkayastha

 Prabir Purkayastha's article on the Left, 2009 Elections and beyond. Originally published in the Centre for Policy Analysis' journal.  

Re-envisioning Socialism

Sat, 2010-07-31 10:02 | Prabhat Patnaik

The quest for human freedom requires a transcendence of capitalism. What is important, however, is the overall vision that we have of the socialism that will emerge, one which accords centrality to human freedom, which remains continuously “open” and untainted by ossification in any form, and which constitutes an unleashing of democracy and a perennial engagement of the people with politics.

The article, originally published in the Economic and Political Weekly is attached along with this post.