A new chapter begins in CPI(M)-CITU relations

By C. Gouridasan Nair

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, DEC. 2. With the CPI(M) wresting total control of the State CITU, a new chapter has begun in the relations between the two bodies. The last four years had seen the CITU State leadership trying to assert its identity, but that may now be a thing of the past. From now on, the CITU would not be a disturbing presence, but a trustworthy member of the extended CPI(M) family.

Neither those who are at loggerheads with the State CPI(M) leadership or those who are willing to carry out all its bidding would admit it, but the fact of the matter is that the CITU has never been an independent organisation with a mind of its own. It could not but be so when the two shared the same ideology and a vast majority of the CITU members are CPI(M) members or sympathisers. It is very much like the INTUC(I) claiming to be independent of the Congress(I) or the BMS not being a member of the Sangh Parivar.

One could thus see the change of guard in the CITU in Alappuzha on Friday as the sign of a malady spreading from one part of the body to another. If one can forget the individuals and look at the whole affair with a little bit of detachment, one can see that things happened the way they did in Alappuzha owing to the CPI(M) leadership's deft handling of the anti-establishment sentiment among a large section of the delegates. That it used every trick in the book to achieve its end is what has made the development so sensational.

It was no different in Palakkad at the beginning of the summer of 1998 when, in one stroke, a whole power edifice was brought down by a dominantly young bunch of delegates who found in the CPI(M) politburo member, Mr. V.S. Achuthanandan, a rallying point. At that time, the so-called CITU loyalists in the party were hauled over coals for their having tried to enlist the support of the Indian National League (INL) in violation of the party resolve not to have any truck with communal outfits.

That the power elite who assumed charge in Palakkad later had no qualms in wooing the Muslim League and even strike local-level tie-up with the party should show why the change of guard was no change of guard at all. All that one can say charitably about those who voted to humble the then establishment is that they may have been inspired by dreams of a new dawn in CPI(M) politics.

The fact of the matter is that there are many within and outside the CPI(M) who feel sad about the developments of the last several years. On every side of the three-way divide in the party there are many who are capable of taking the CPI(M) and the class and mass organisations linked to it out of the trodden path, but they are caught in a power struggle gone out of control. And the problem with factionalism anywhere is that time servers go on ascent.

The question that is of immediate relevance in the context of the developments in Alappuzha is how these would affect the fortunes of the CITU. One can safely assume that the organisation would remain largely untouched by it all. The attempts of sections in the CITU to assert trade union democracy and the right of individual unions to decide who should lead them and how they should organise their trade union activities may well become few and far between. The less said the better about the possibility of non-CPI(M) sections joining unions affiliated to the CITU.

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Section  : Southern States
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