Southern States - Kerala

CPI plans campaign to reactivate party

By Our Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM MARCH 29. Faced with severe erosion in its mass base and cadre quality, the 18th Congress of the CPI has begun discussing ways to reactivate the party and to rectify the shortcomings evident now.

The draft `Report on Organisation', taken up for discussion by the Party Congress today, says that the party suffers seriously from the disease of `non-implementation of decisions taken' and that in general there is a `low level of political party'. This, the report says, has resulted in the quality and capacity of the party suffering a major setback. With the effective cadres drifting away, there has been a loosening of contact with the party's rural bases and there is failure to extend work among new unorganised sections.

The report notes that `there is a feeling among sections of the party that prolonged association with bourgeois, petty bourgeois and regional parties has proved harmful for the Party. This is especially so in the context of elections. Party activists are also dragged into adopting means -- fair and foul -- of such parties. Such means are considered to be normal and necessary for contesting elections in the present set-up. Eventually we lose our character as simple, honest and pro-poor party activists. Sections of our bases move away from us. Of course, one cannot defend one's virginity by keeping aloof, but ethical standards as Communists have to be maintained,'' the report says.

Briefing reporters about the deliberations of the Party Congress, the CPI national council secretary, Shameem Faizee, said the party national council has suggested launch of a `Campaign for Reactivisation and Rectification of the Party'. He said only the membership of cadres who take part in an active role in mass and class actions decided by the party would be renewed from now on. The delegates pointed out that the effectiveness of the party depends not only on numbers, but also on quality of the membership. As part of the rectification campaign, a six-month long education programme would be organised all over the country. The delegates, he said, also emphasised on the need to seriously take up the slogan of `turn towards the villages' and pay special attention on building rural mass organisations, particularly of farmers and farm workers.

The delegates who took part in the deliberations today were Kamal Deo (Jammu), Samar Bhandari (Uttaranchal), Manohar Deshkar (Maharashtra), Munier Mahant (Assam), Christopher Fonseca (Goa), Patil (Karnataka), Khagundra Thakur (Jharkhand), Bhupendra Sambal (Punjab), Pandey (Madhya Pradesh), Sita Ram Sharma (AIYF), Nagendra Nath Ojha (BKMU), Amarjeet Kaur (NFIW), M. N. V. G. Adiyodi (Kerala) and Vijendra Kesari (AISF).

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