Document of the All-India Plenum held in November 2024
(Gist Version of the Document)
1. The Plenum of CPI (ML) Red Star during the 4th week of November 2024 was convened with a view to make a comprehensive evaluation of the implementation of Party Line and the lessons therefrom spanning the period from the 9th Congress (2011) to the 12th Congress (2022) of the Party. At the time of the 12th Congress, taking into account the intensifying imperialist crisis and surging global neofascism including RSS fascism in India, when the Party resolved to update its basic documents, viz., Party Program and Constitution, Path of Revolution and Political Resolution, that deal with the strategic and tactical line of the Party, a section who later went out of the Party strongly opposed the accepted ideological-political positions of the Party. Though the Congress adopted the documents according to the accepted Party Line, an objective evaluation of the circumstances that led to the emergence of an anti-party section within Party could not be carried out immediately after the Congress, since the whole Party was fully engaged in the country-wide anti-fascist struggle and campaigns till June 2024. As such, the Central Committee that met in June 2024 immediately after the 18th Indian General Election resolved to convene a Plenum to take up this task.
2. The 9th Congress of CPI (ML) Red Star that held in 2011 had altered the positions of the 1970 Congress of CPI (ML) that characterised India as a semi-colonial, semi-feudal country and the path of revolution as protracted people’s war. Instead, based on concrete analysis of the international and Indian situation, it made a qualitative leap by characterising India as a neocolonial country and the postwar world situation as that of imperialism’s neocolonial phase. Based on a concrete understanding of the inseparability of caste from class in caste-ridden Indian society, the Party Program adopted at the 9th Congress, for the first time, put forward caste-annihilation as a strategic task of the People’s Democratic Revolution. Further, the contradiction between capital and nature was incorporated into the Program as the 5th major contradiction. At a time when many organisations within the broad CPI (ML) spectrum were clinging to the semi-feudal, semi-colonial line of 1970 in a dogmatic way, it was CPI (ML) Red Star that took a path-breaking step based on a concrete analysis of the Indian and international situation.
3. Linked with this, and based on the understanding that postwar world situation is the neocolonial phase of imperialism, the Party had also taken initiative to develop its international tasks and became a founding member of ICOR. By taking responsibility as Deputy Main Coordinator of ICOR, and sticking to the Comintern perspective on World Revolution – comprising two streams, People’s Democratic Revolution in oppressed neocolonial Afro-Asian-Latin American countries and Socialist Revolution in imperialist countries – within ICOR, CPI (ML) Red Star has been in constant ideological struggle with MLPD which, as the Main Coordinator, was always trying to superimpose its Eurocentric approach on ICOR from its very inception. As its manifestation, though MLPD insisted on the slogan “Workers of the World Unite”, since CPI (ML) Red Star and Parties from neocolonial countries insisted on the Leninist position, such that “Workers and Oppressed Peoples of the World Unite” became the clarion call of ICOR at its founding Conference.
4. However, these ideological-political advancements as reflected in the Basic Documents adopted at the 9th Congress and the tasks taken up thereafter confronted many hurdles in course of time. This was primarily connected with the differences on the interpretation and implementation of Party’s strategic and tactical line by those sections/groups who merged with the Party at different times and at various levels. The walk-out of a minority comprising 52 out of 260 registered delegates from the 12th Party Congress was the logical culmination of these inner-party differences that seriously affected Party’s ideological-political-organisational centralisation over a period of time. In this context, the following is only a brief note on the differences with respect to Party’s international and Indian tasks that emerged within since the 9th Congress held in 2011.
5. For instance, regarding the international line of the Party, basic differences began to emerge since the 10th Congress of CPI (ML) Red Star held in 2010 itself. In continuation of MLPD’s Eurocentric approach as already mentioned, in a Seminar Paper presented at the time of the Congress, one MLPD representative repeated the same in another form. In that Paper MLPD argued that 14 countries including Russia, China (MLPD clearly moved away from the accepted Marxist-Leninist position that Russia and China which had already become imperialist), India, Brazil, Argentina, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Indonesia, and so on have become “new imperialist countries”. Of course, this being consistent with MLPD’s Eurocentric positions and in conformity with its international slogan “Workers of the World Unite”, as already noted, CPI (ML) Red Star resolutely opposed this erroneous hypothesis. This is contrary to the accepted position of CPI (ML) Red Star that while Russia and China had already become imperialist, India and others mentioned by MLPD are still neocolonial and hence dependent on imperialism at varying levels.
6. However, two PB members, Sanjay and Pradip Singh, the latter merging with the Party with his group in 2015, took an anti-Party position in this regard. While the former in his capacity as Dy Main Coordinator of ICOR, wrote article in Red Star, Organ of CPI (ML) Red Star in support of MLPD and remained silent when MLPD tried to superimpose its erroneous position as that of ICOR, the latter was opposed to Party’s approach to neocolonialism itself. Based on Party Program adopted at the 9th Congress that evaluated India as a neocolonial country, the independence was formal since instead of British colonial power, from 1947 onward, i.e., in the postwar neocolonial period, India began to depend on the US-led world imperialist system as a whole. For instance, the accepted position of the 9th Congress regarding the “Character of Indian State” was thus: “The transfer of power in 1947 to comprador bureaucratic-bourgeois-big landlord classes bestowed formal independence. India became an open field for exploitation of all imperialist powers.” And this position was consistent with the understanding that the Indian big bourgeoisie’s unilateral dependence on ritain had given way to its multilateral dependence on US-led world imperialist system as a whole. However, Pradip not only rejected this understanding and under his pressure, Party had to amend its Program in the 10th Congress by replacing ‘formal independence’ with ‘political independence.’
7. However, the irony was that in spite of fundamental differences with Party line, both Sanjay and Pradip continued in the Party as its Polit Bureau members till the 11th Party Congress in 2018. And in that Congress, due to basic differences on Party’s strategic and tactical positions, both of them relinquished their position as PB members. While continuing as Central Committee members, both had been in-charge of important organisational responsibilities with differing ideological-political orientation. Along with his position as Party representative in ICOR, Sanjay was Party-in-charge of TUCI, the trade union wing of CPI (ML) Red Star, and even keeping the building in his name which was the Party’s central office. In the same vein, Pradip was in-charge of AIKKS, the peasant organisation of the Party. In essence, Party’s two crucial class organisations were continued to be led by these two persons who altogether abandoned the Party Line.
8. Alik, another Polit Bureau member of the Party who, with his group from Bengal, had merged with the Party in 2011, also took on an anti-Party line opposing Party’s approach to caste as inseparable from class in the Indian context. Revealingly, including Alik, those who went out of the Party in 2022, started questioning Party’s approach to Caste in the specific context when CPI (ML) Red Star began an all-out ideological-political offensive against RSS fascism specifically targeting its ideological basis, i.e., Manuvadi caste system. Like Sanjay, using his position as Party’s PB member, Alik could also use Marxist-Leninist, Party’s Theoretical Journal for publishing his paper on Caste that totally rejected Party’s adopted programmatic understanding on caste and annihilation of caste as strategic task. When the 12th Congress of the Party resolved to rectify this grave error, Alik along with a tiny minority having mechanical approach to Indian caste question also left the Party.
9. With the ascendance of RSS fascism with its ideological basis in Manuvadi Hindutva, CPI (ML) Red Star has put forward its consistent position that it is not a mere text-copy of classical fascism. When the Party took up the anti-fascist task rejecting both revisionist and adventurist approaches to Indian fascism, and appropriately taking into account the strategic or long-term and tactical or short-term dimensions of the anti-fascist struggle in the concrete Indian situation, the aforementioned sections who challenged the Party Line, also started opposing it from varying positions. For instance, Alik was reluctant to identify Modi regime as fascist and, for Pradip, TMC in Bengal was a fascist party, and together with Sanjay, he stood for defeating BJP by entering into political alliance with CPI (M) like parties. In this regard, Party’s position was that while going for the broadest possible anti-fascist front, political alliance with neoliberal and pro-corporate parties ranging from Congress to CPI (M) surrendering our ideological-political independence or strategic interests of the working and oppressed people would be harmful. As an instance, we pointed out the 1943 Dissolution of Comintern, a decision taken to appease the US-UK imperialists for facilitating the Anti-Fascist United Front, thereby the class interests of world working class and oppressed peoples.
10. Of course, these inner-party ideological-political differences on the part of a minority, as is evident, had their organisational repercussions in accomplishing Party tasks, both international and Indian. To a great extent, this organisational failure was connected with the manner in which different groups/sections merged with the Party during the period since the 9th Congress in 2011, though a few individuals like Sanjay who joined the Party by the turn of the 21st century also opportunistically allied with them in course of time. In fact, based on the experience of 2005 Vijayawada Unity Conference, on the eve of 9th Congress, the Party had taken a firm position that merger with other parties and groups should always be only with those having ideological unity. However, since the 9th Congress, this decision was safely ignored from a pragmatic and ad-hoc perspective of building up a ‘big Party’. Its outcome being dilution in adopted positions of the Party, lack of ideological-political centralisation and consequent organisational inability to appropriately carry out Party’s international and domestic tasks.
11. Based on an objective and self-critical evaluation of all these issues, the Plenum resolved the following decisions which are binding to the Central Committee: –
a. Merger/unity with other parties and organisations should be carried out only on the basis of ideological-political unity and the entire Party should be taken into confidence before taking such a decision. t. All pragmatic and ad-hoc approaches and political expediency in this regard in the guise of building up a ‘big party’ surrendering Party’s ideological-political line should be avoided, and every initiative in this regard should be pursued on a case-by-case approach. Where irresolvable ideological differences exist, appropriate united front or forum based on a common program or issue-based activities may be constituted with provisions for ideological debate within that forum.
b. Continue our ideological struggle within ICOR, resolutely exposing the erroneous “new imperialist” hypothesis of MLPD and organisationally resisting latter’s move to superimpose its Eurocentric positions including that on Palestine and other important issues on ICOR. Take all efforts to develop bilateral relations with like-minded parties for building up an alternative international forum based on concrete Marxist-Leninist perspective.
c. While reporting to State Committees and lower committees on any issue, the procedure that followed till now was to report only the decision of the Party, i.e., the majority decision of the Central Committee. Henceforth, along with the Party decisions (majority decision), serious ideological-political-organisational differences/deviations in Central Committee shall also be reported to State Committees and lower committees. This is based on the lessons from past one decade of functioning of the Central Committee. In the absence of such a procedure, vast majority of the rank- and-file cadres the Party were kept in the dark regarding the serious ideological-political deviations of a minority within the higher committee.
d. From Central Committee level to Lower committees, utmost care should be taken for party-functioning based on the principle of ‘democratic centralism’. Safeguarding against bureaucratic and individualistic style of work, collective committee functioning at all levels from CC to lower committees should be ensured. Party-charges in all fields including international tasks, class/mass organisations, etc., should only be entrusted with those upholding Party’s ideological-political-organisational line at all levels – from Central committee to the lowest committees.
e. When the Central Committee decides to publish differing viewpoints or varying interpretations of party members on accepted/adopted Party line, such papers and articles should only be published with a clear editorial note unambiguously explaining Party’s accepted/adopted position on the subject.
f. Transparency and accountability on Party’s movable and immovable assets should be appropriately maintained such that those who question Party Line should in no way be given their charge. Accounting and auditing of Party’s assets and liabilities should be mandatory and accurate information regarding them should be available to concerned committees.
Central Committee
CPI (ML) Red Star
New Delhi
22.01.2025
