The Parliamentary Election And The Proletarian Camp
The arrival of the parliamentary election time has already been trumpeted. The bourgeois parties like BJP, Congress, etc. and petty-bourgeois parties like CPI (M), CPI, etc. have already completed their preparatory work of finalising their election tactics, forming electoral alliances, etc. and have launched their election campaign in full swing. The electoral scenario of the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois camp is quite clear now. But unfortunately this cannot be said of the Indian proletarian camp. On the eve of the election the electoral scenario of this camp is quite hazy and confusing, as has been the case in all the previous elections since the decades of eighty of the last century. Like all those previous elections the majority of the communist revolutionary groups are going to participate in the coming parliamentary election and still have failed to form a united election platform. The general picture is that all the participating groups are participating separately in the election with separate election programme. In this condition neither any of these groups is in an objective position to ask the fighting section of the Indian working class and the peasantry to vote for the communist revolutionary groups against the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties, nor such a call will find acceptance from this section of the Indian working class and the peasantry. Further more, since each of these participating groups is participating in this election with a separate electoral tactic and programme, so it cannot be true that each of these electoral tactic and programme is correct from the point of view of the working class. Over and above, in all the bourgeois elections a very strong influence of the bourgeois outlook dominates over the electoral process and atmosphere. Even in a condition of the existence of a correct and organised party of the proletariat and of a practical stream of the revolutionary class struggle of the proletariat in the real political arena it is quite a hard task to combat this powerful bourgeois influence dominating over the electoral process and keep the election tactic and activities of the working class free from this influence. And in the present Indian condition where a correct, organised party of the working class and a practical stream of the revolutionary class struggle of the proletariat— both these factors are non-existent in the real political arena the task has become harder manifold times. This is a fact, which needs to be seriously counted.
On the other hand, similar to all the previous elections mentioned above, the boycottists also have failed to forge a united platform. More important than this is the fact that the programme of boycott being followed by the boycottists in the name of implementing the tactic of boycott and the correctness of applying the tactic of election boycott in the present Indian condition have, all along, been open to serious questions and criticisms and still are.
All these facts show that the fighting section of the Indian working class and the peasantry is facing a situation where a number of election-stands and programmes are placed before it, all claiming to be the stand and programme of the Indian proletariat. Such a situation is undoubtedly quite confusing which, at the same time, reflects the present general condition of the camp of the Indian revolutionary communists. Hence it is apparent that the question of deciding the appropriate election tactic of the Indian working class in coming parliamentary election needs to be discussed and investigated.
While discussing about the point of view and aim of the working class in the occasion of its participation in a bourgeois election Lenin had said, "From the working class point of view, elections and the election campaign must serve the aim of political enlightment, of bringing out the true nature of the various political parties." 1 [Emphasis is in the original] In another context he said, "The first and foremost tasks of those who desires to represent the interests of the wider section of the masses in the elections should be to politically enlighten the masses." 2 It goes without question that this Leninist viewpoint should guide those who aspire and demand to be the political representatives of the working class. Following this basis the main point of consideration should be the content of the political education needed to develop and deepen the revolutionary consciousness of the masses.
Present Situation— Fundamental Point
The two main contending forces in the ensuing general election are the BJP-led alliance and the Congress-led alliance. The anti-BJP parliamentary parties participating in the election are depicting the election struggle as the struggle between "communal politics and secular politics". Although this depiction is an integral part of the political manoeuvre of these parties to sail through the election battle, at the same time it is undoubtedly true that in the present specific Indian condition of the aggressive fascist offensive of Sangha Parivar, of which BJP is a part, the task of resisting this fascist offensive has become the immediate main task of the Indian working class, peasantry and the vast majority of the common mass. The crying need for giving this task the topmost priority has forcefully asserted itself more particularly after the Gujarat genocide. But when in the campaign of BJP in the state elections of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Delhi, held a few months back, the question of the progress and development of the country was given the main focus instead of Hinduvta, a humming was heard in the bourgeois press throwing a hint that BJP was shifting from the plank of Hinduvta. The topmost leadership of BJP also started to throw this hint in a subtle way. When BJP won startling victories in the Assembly elections of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the analysts of the bourgeois press were almost certain that the shifting of the commitment of BJP from Hinduvta to the progress and development of the country brought these startling victories. The way BJP started its election propaganda immediately after the announcement of the election schedule with the campaign of "Shinning India" at the expense of the coffer of the central government further increased and deepened the humming. But all along the period of the campaign of the Assembly election of Madhya Pradesh and after the formation of a BJP- government in the state Uma Bharati, the present Chief Minister of this state was continually asserting that BJP had not shifted an inch from its commitment to Hinduvta. Immediately after assuming power Uma Bharati has conferred the status of 'Holy City' to four cities of Madhya Pradesh and banned non-vegetarian foods in these cities, constructed a temple within the compound of the official residence of the Chief Minister, announced a special governmental policy for the maintenance and protection of the 'cow-mother' and has continued to navigate her government in this direction. This fact glaringly confirms that Uma Bharati has been asserting a truth and that BJP has not moved an inch from its commitment to Hinduvta and has no desire to do so. The same old 'Rath Yatra' of Advani is another clear example of this. The election manifesto of BJP-led NDA for the coming parliamentary election not only proves this point, but also throws light on a more alarming fact. The election manifesto of NDA for the coming general election has included a number of issues of the Hinduvta agenda like the construction of the Ram Mandir, cow-slaughter ban and few similar others. Previously the non-BJP partners of NDA had been obstructing the inclusion of these agendas in the NDA programme. Now it seems that the "secular" partners of BJP in NDA, from Chadrababu Naidu to Mamata Banerjee, have suddenly discovered that there is nothing Hinduvta in these agendas. It is quite apparent that now BJP has established its undisputed authority over NDA and that all other partners of BJP in NDA have become completely dependent on BJP for their survival. There is no other path left open to these parties for sailing through the election battle without climbing on the shoulders of BJP. So BJP has been able to completely do away with such constraints that have been preventing it from conducting its unbridled fascist offensive with the complete backing of the central governmental power. Now Vajpayee will face no compulsion to repeatedly declare that NDA has an agenda that is different from that of BJP and as a partner of the NDA government BJP is committed to follow the NDA agenda. Since the governmental machine in a country like India is basically undemocratic, so it can easily be converted into an instrument of fascist offensive if a fascist party like BJP gets the opportunity to wield it. The Gujarat carnage has amply demonstrated this when the Sangha Parivar has nakedly used the government administrative machinery in the carnage. If BJP wins power at the centre with NDA completely in its grip (there is a strong possibility of this to happen) then it can be well imagined that how much more ruthlessly BJP can conduct its fascist offensive. So when the difference between a central governmental power solely in the hands of BJP and that in the hands of BJP-led NDA is being carefully wiped out, then the murderous plan of BJP and Sangha Parivar can well be understood. Hence it is absolutely not true that BJP is shifting from its plank of Hinduvta and is trying to base its stand on the issue of the progress and development of the country. Rather BJP's objective is to fully harness the central governmental power to its fascist drive and it has almost achieved that objective. That the hinted propaganda about BJP's shift from its base of Hinduvta has been floated before the elections clearly proves that it is intended to hide BJP and Sangha Parivar's real objective. It is essential that this conspiracy is exposed before the masses and BJP's real objective is brought in light.
All the anti-BJP parliamentary parties — right from bourgeois Congress to petty- bourgeois CPI (M)—have joined the election battle with the slogan of "secularism' against BJP's communalism. This is nothing new. We have been witnessing this fight in all the elections that has taken place since the time of the spectacular rise of BJP. And in the centre of their election campaign and activities is the call to dislodge the BJP-led NDA from the seat of central government and put their alliance in that place which according to them, will signal the victory of secularism over communalism. In other words, these anti-BJP bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties are propagating that the fascist onslaught of BJP can be resisted and the dominance of 'secular' politics can be established, if only BJP is defeated in the election.
But the actual political experience of the previous two decades teaches the exact opposite lesson and brings out the exact opposite truth. The spectacular rise of BJP took place during the Congress regime. Babri Masjid was demolished at a time when Narashima Rao's Congress government was at the centre. And when the fire of communal frenzy enveloped the country just after the demolition of Babri Masjid even the Left Front ruled West Bengal could not escape it. The so-called 'anti-communal secular' political activities of all the anti-BJP parliamentary parties— right from Congress to CPI(M)— could not prevent in any way the frenzied dance of barbarism in Gujarat, could not prevent the genocide of the Muslim population of the state with the open connivance of the government machinery. Congress was organisationally present in Gujarat at that time. And as per their assertion still is. Why can't it do anything to prevent or resist such inhuman atrocities? Leave aside Congress and look at CPI (M). Have they been able to resist an inch the fascist onslaught of BJP and Sangha Parivar? Absolutely not. They could not prevent the demolition of Babri Masjid, could not prevent the Gujarat carnage— even could not keep West Bengal, their 'red fort', free from the flames of communal frenzy just after the demolition of Babri Masjid Why this total failure of these parties?
Actually if we look at the reality with a little bit of attention then we will find these parties including CPI (M) have never launched any real struggle against the fascist offensive of the Sangha Parivar. Very few of the fighting section of the Indian masses will expect Congress or other bourgeois parties to develop any real struggle against the fascist offensive of Hinduvta. But what about CPI (M)? Have they shown any semblance of desire to organise and develop real struggle of the masses against the offensive of BJP and Sangha Parivar? Of course not. In the name of organizing struggle what CPI (M) does is to organise usually one, on rare occasions two, 'mammoth precessions or demonstrations against communalism' and these are organised after the fascist forces have accomplished their objectives and that too not in Gujarat or Ayodhya, but in Kolkata or Delhi . And the struggle of CPI (M) against fascist offensive begins and ends with these processions or demonstrations. Nothing is done before and after this. After the demolition of Babri Masjid or after the Gujarat carnage, CPI (M) had done nothing more than this. These anti-BJP bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties have no programme of struggle to resist the attack of Sangha Parivar on the Indian masses— the only programme they have in their bag is the election programme. After making no attempt to organise and develop the resistance struggle of the Indian working class and the peasantry against BJP's fascist attack in between two elections they jump on the practical political field and appear before the masses as soon an election is announced. They only know the parliamentary path and for resisting BJP and Sangha Parivar they can see and show to the Indian working class, peasantry and the broad masses nothing beyond elections. And this is the cause of their miserable failure in resisting the militant offensive of BJP.
The valuation of these parties in the minds of the section of the masses who have faced and are still facing the brunt of attack of the offensive of Hinduvta can be gauged from the recent uttering of a section of the Muslim population of Gujarat . According to a news paper report a section of the Muslims of Gujarat is asking themselves, "Whom we shall vote— the attacker or the silent spectators"? Faced with this extremely despairing question they have now reached the conclusion that as the silent spectators can not do anything, the only way left open to them is to make peace with the attackers, otherwise they will not be able to survive.. A growing trend of acceptance of the fascist attacks of BJP as a cruel destiny can be detected among the minority Muslim population of India . "BJP can not be supported, neither can not be confronted"— this is what a section of the Muslims of Gujarat is openly expressing now. Not only in Gujarat, this hopeless realisation is now spreading more and more among the Indian Muslim community as a whole. And not only among Muslims, this has grown as a silent feeling among a considerable section of the Indian working class and peasantry who are now desperately searching for ways to resist the unbridled attacks of imperialism, Indian big capital and feudalism carried through BJP, their political agent.. The sense of despondency is finding deeper and deeper roots among the fighting section of the toiling masses. The absolute falsehood repeatedly spread by the parliamentary cretinists has produced this result.
The principle activities of fascism are conducted in the extra-parliamentary arena and do not look for sanction of a bourgeois constitution. It is essentially an extra-parliamentary, extra-constitutional phenomenon and its path of development is mainly extra-parliamentary, extra-constitutional. That is why fascism is fascism— not just a bourgeois rule. The Nazi Fascism established its dominance in Germany in this way. And BJP and Sangha Parivar's fascism is also moving along this path. The frenzied armed squads of RSS, VHP and Bajrang Dal etc intoxicated with the ideology of militant Hinduism and taught to kill are formed and being developed in ways that can never be sanctioned by the present Indian or for that matter any bourgeois constitution. Babri Masjid was not demolished in a constitutional way. RSS, Bajrang Dal etc. and Narendra Modi never cared for any constitutional or legal sanction while carrying out genocide in Gujarat . The burning of Reichstag in Germany in the 30s of the last century was a conspiratorial, non-constitutional act which was used as a pretext by Hitler for letting loose his Nazi army on a mission of murder of German communists, workers, progressives and Jews. So was the burning of Sabarmati Express in Godhra that was used as a pretext by the Sangha Parivar to conduct genocide in Gujarat . And Pravin Togadia-s continue to openly threaten that they will convert whole of India into Gujarat . While the constituents of Sangha Parivar are openly carrying on their principle activities in the extra-parliamentary arena and showing scant respect towards constitutional legality, the revisionist parties like CPI (M), etc. are embracing the parliamentary path, the constitutional path and spreading the falsehood and illusion that the fascist offensive can be resisted solely through the constitutional path, through the election defeat of BJP. That is why there are finding nothing wrong in projecting Congress as the torchbearer of secularism and grouping behind it in order to defeat BJP in the election. In this condition it is absolutely essential for the political representatives of the working class to project the truth, to carry this lesson to the fighting section of the working class and the toiling masses that the principal weapon of resisting the fascist offensive of Sangha Parivar is the extra-parliamentary path of class struggle and not the parliamentary path, the constitutional path and the working class and the broad section of the toiling masses must concentrate to develop this extra-parliamentary struggle. This condition provides an opportunity for enlightening the masses with the general Leninist teaching, "To us the extra-parliamentary struggle of the proletariat is the sole determinant." 3 The communist revolutionaries are committed to utilize this opportunity to their utmost.
Moreover, in order to expose the real character of the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties from the election platform it is essential to clearly tell the masses the truth that in the questions of fundamental policies like those of dependence on imperialism, keeping India chained to backwardness, allowing the presence of a vast amount of feudal remnants, continuation of the national and caste oppressions, etc. these anti-BJP parliamentary parties do not essentially differ from BJP. It has been reported in the bourgeois press that both BJP and Congress have announced almost the same economic policy in their respective election manifesto. This is an opportunity to remind the masse that the economic policy of imperialist globalisation was introduced in India by Narashima Rao's Congress government. BJP is continuing with the policy, of course in a sterner way. In the agrarian field BJP-led NDA government has continued with the same policy initiated by Congress and zealously followed by successive Congress governments. The NDA-government has continued with the same policy of brutal state terrorism on Kashmiris and on minor nationalities of northeast that was initiated and followed by previous Congress governments and supported by all other parliamentary parties including CPI (M). And as usual the caste equation is playing a dominant part in the formulation of the election strategy, selection of candidates, etc. of all the bourgeois parties.
It is no secret now that the CPI (M)-led Left Front Government of West Bengal is following the same economic policy of the governments ruled by the ruling class parties—both at the centre and in other states and is practically implementing the policy of globalisation. The huge uproar about Left Front Government's tremendous achievement in the agrarian field of West Bengal that has been raised from the middle of the eighties of the last century and continued throughout the nineties of that century has almost died now. A close will reveal that the so-called tremendous achievement in the rural West Bengal is nothing but steps towards implementing the agrarian policy of stimulating a very slow capitalist development through reforms from above which the Indian big bourgeois and big landlord ruling classes have been following all along. And as with all the governments of the parties of the ruling classes the Left Front Government has now almost reached a dead end with this policy and is more and more opening the West Bengal agrarian field for imperialist infiltration. Even the assertion of CPI (M) that they have been successful in completely thwarting the advance of BJP and Sangha Parivar in West Bengal does not stand to test. The primary basis of CPI (M)'s assertion is the results of elections. This is the outlook of parliamentary cretinists who propagate that that the results of the bourgeois elections express the totality of the social reality. The results of bourgeois elections never reveal the total truth about the social reality, even in the best of times. More so in the present condition when the domination of bourgeois mentality and consciousness is almost total over the social classes including the working class and rigging etc. are influencing the election results in various ways. The open parade of RSS volunteers right at the heart of Kolkata, the proliferation of units of RSS in the different districts of West Bengal, particularly in the districts bordering Bangladesh, the spread of the flames of communal riots in West Bengal just after the demolition of Babri Masjid reveal some alarming features of the present reality which CPI (M) is trying to hide behind election results.
The election times are different from the ordinary times in this respect that in order to secure votes from the masses all the parties are forced to promise to the masses solutions to their burning problems and consequently they are forced to reveal before the masses a structure of their total policy, which in the ordinary times they are not. Hence the electoral process presents before the party of the proletariat a special opportunity to unmask before the masses the true class character of these parties and to openly come forward with its total politics in opposition to those of other classes. According to Lenin, "Each and every political party is forced to promise to the masses, for mobilization of their support, immediate solutions to the burning problems of the working class and the masses. But the "actual solution " [Emphasis is in the original] to these problems is not provided by voting, but by the class struggle in all its forms, including civil war "[Emphasis is ours] 4 As we have already seen that election process of the coming parliamentary election has provided an additional opportunity to the communist revolutionaries for unmasking the true class character of the different bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties to a great extent and for asserting before the working class and the masses the means of achieving the actual solutions to the burning problems of their lives. The communist revolutionaries must utilize this opportunity to assert the absolute necessity of accomplishing the Peoples' Democratic Revolution and unfurl the flag of revolution in front of the full-view of the working class and the masses.
Election And Advertisement
The advertisement campaign of "Shinning India" at a huge expense of the government exchequer has raised a considerable amount of dust and storm. The anti-BJP parties lost no time to point out the impropriety and immorality of the election campaign at the cost of government fund and the falsehood of the propaganda about the 'achievements' of the NDA- government
There be no question about the impropriety and immorality behind the election campaign at the cost of government exchequer, nor there can be any question about the lies advertised as achievements of the NDA-government. Privatisation, retrenchment, wider infiltration of imperialism in the agrarian arena, etc. are now causing havoc in the lives of the working class, peasantry and other toiling people of India . In the context of the lives of the vast majority of the Indian population the advertisement of "Shinning India" is an intensely cruel joke. The communist revolutionaries will, of course, expose this. But the exposition of "Shinning India" cannot be kept confined within this limit. Because there is more important issue connected with this exposition—the issue of class. There is no doubt that a minority section of the Indian population is really "shinning" now, who, as a matter of fact, has always shinned under all the governments. At the same time, it is true that this section is shinning more brightly and passing through happier times than ever before—because the policy of globalisation is specially intended to fatten these 'holy cows'. This section is composed of big capitalists, the upper strata of the urban petty bourgeois and the rural rich and the vested interests. The record rise of Sensex and Foreign Exchange Reserve, the construction of highways, etc. granting cheap government loans to the peasants, exemption of the acquisition of agricultural land from capital gains tax, etc. can not but only this section and have actually done so. These 'achievements' cannot and has not touched the lives of the working class, vast majority of the peasantry and of other sections of the mass. This advertisement has opened an opportunity for enlightening the masses about the class character of BJP and other partners of NDA, which the communist revolutionaries must utilize fully.
While replying to the criticism against using governmental funds for election campaign of BJP Vajpayee said among other things "Everybody does it". Of course this is a bad logic. An improper act is an improper act and such an act does not become proper even if "everybody does it'. But there is truth in Vajpayee's statement. All the governments of the other political parties, whether at the centre or at the states, have followed and are still following this course. Leave aside Congress; even CPI (M) is doing this in the states where they are in the power. And if we take the liberty of extending Vajpayee's comment to cover a wider perspective then we shall find that in all bourgeois elections are marked by torrents of lies, false promises and phrase mongering. All bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties take this course to mobilize votes in their favour, since the sole aim and purpose of these parties in an election is to win seats. So the election programmes and activities of these parties are geared to winning seats by hook or by crook. And usually high-sounding words like ideals, the welfare of the people, etc. etc. are used by these parties to hide their real motive.
But it seems that in thus election these parties are not feeling too much the necessity of this concealment. This was revealed in the way the leaders of BJP including the Prime Minister felt no hesitation or qualms in declaring that their government had advanced the parliamentary elections by eight months from the scheduled time so that BJP could utilize the 'wind their favour' as reflected by the startling victories of BJP in the assembly elections of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. This was also revealed in the way both BJP and Congress rushed madly to grab allies as soon as the decision of holding of the election was announced. The unashamed rope tricks played by Mulayam and Mayabati to keep their options open, the decision of CPI (M) to extend its support to Congress in all the states except West Bengal and Tripura and a host of similar other incidents also add up to show that the parliamentary parties participating in the election— from BJP, Congress, etc. to CPI (M)— showed very little endeavour to hide their frenzied drive to win seats at any cost. The behaviour of these parties have created greater opportunity before the political representatives of the working class to the real character and role of the bourgeois election and of the parties like BJP, Congress, CPI (M), etc. which has got to be utilized by the existing communist revolutionaries intending to take part in the election. The election activities of the communist revolutionaries must clearly establish that while to the bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties the election struggle is a struggle for winning seats only, to the organisation of the working class the election struggle is primarily and mainly a struggle of principles, struggle of fundamental outlooks, struggle of political convictions
Participation and Boycott
Since the eighties of the last century majority of the existing communist revolutionary groups have been participating in the different elections. In the present concrete situation of India it is obligatory for the political representatives of the revolutionary proletariat to participate in the elections so in the coming parliamentary election also participation will be the correct tactic for them.
According to Leninist formulation, the revolutionary proletariat participates in the bourgeois elections " specifically for the purpose of educating the backward section of its own class , and for the purpose of awakening and enlightening the underdeveloped, downtrodden and ignorant rural workers" 5 [Emphasis is in the original], since "unconscious and semi-conscious workers and peasants vigorously participate in the election" and "are strongly influenced and remain fettered to the tenets of bourgeois-democratic ideology." 6 A real communist party is formed of the class conscious advanced section of the working class and it is obvious that the members of the class conscious advanced section of the working class are those workers who are free from the illusions about bourgeois parliament and election, conscious about the true class character of the different bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties and are committed to revolution. Moreover, a real communist party is constantly livingly connected with this section of the working class. So such a party does not require any special opportunity like election to reach them to enlighten them about the true character of the parliamentary system and of the different bourgeois and petty-bourgeois parties.
On the other hand, in ordinary times a communist party finds it very difficult to touch the vast majority of the backward section of the working class and the mass because of the domination of illusion about bourgeois parliament and election on them for which they are backward. But all the Marxist-Leninist know that revolution is impossible without the active participation of the 90% of the population So a revolutionary communist party always seeks for opportunities and ways to touch more and more of this backward section and draw them into the camp of revolution. An election provides such an opportunity due to its inner dialectics, which compels all the parties to come out before the whole of the mass and draw them into the practical political arena. This situation provides an opportunity before a communist party to take the proletarian politics to this backward section of the working class and the mass with a shape that this section can comprehend and touch with their experiences of life. And a communist party participates in an election just to utilize this opportunity to carry the struggle against illusions about the bourgeois parliamentary system and elections and the call of revolution within this backward section.
As an integral part of the international proletarian movement the Indian proletarian movement is also passing through a period of defeat. A comparatively long period of ebb tide is continuing in the Indian working class movement. A real communist party, a real party of the proletariat does not exist and instead of it a number of communist revolutionary groups now exist in India all of whom, in the perspective of the whole country, are extremely small and have negligible influence over and roots among the Indian working class. Naturally the existence of a stream of the political struggle of the working class in opposition to the political struggles of the bourgeoisie and the petty- bourgeoisie in the arena of the practical political struggle is out of question in these circumstances. A section of the class-conscious advance workers, in the real sense of the term, is practically absent in the Indian scene. Rather to develop such a section among the Indian working class confronts the communist revolutionaries as the main task of the present situation.
The communists do not invent any special tasks for the election. On the other hand, they extend to the election platform the general tasks of the situation on which a particular election is taking place. Hence the Indian communist revolutionaries are committed to use the election platform to carry on the task of develop class-conscious advanced workers among the Indian working class. This is an unprecedented election task, which the Indian communist revolutionaries are facing in an unprecedented situation. Instead of participating in the election specifically for the purpose of educating and enlightening the backward section of the working class and the mass, which the communists are supposed to do, the Indian communist revolutionaries are in an unprecedented situation where they have to follow an election programme aimed at developing class-conscious advanced workers among the working class. This has never been the aim of the communists while participating in an election.
In the real sense of the term 'participation' in an election means putting up a candidate of the communist party and conducting a struggle to mobilize support of the masses in favour of the candidate which means to mobilize support in favour of revolutionary politics, in support of revolution. In this connection it must be borne in mind that since the election propaganda and activities of a real communist party are always integrated with the revolutionary proletarian politics and never dilute this politics to gain votes, so the support in the form of votes gained in favour of the candidate of the communist party reflects, in a way, the magnitude of support of the masses in support of the revolutionary politics. How does the support from the backward section of the working class and the masses, at whom the election participation of a real communist party is specifically aimed, can reflect the amount of support for the revolutionary politics? The answer to the question is rather simple. A real communist party with its revolutionary politics makes itself somewhat familiar to a section of the backward section of the working class and mass through its continuous revolutionary propaganda and practical political activities and through drawing different parts of this section in practical battles in different times. In this way, the total activities of such a party coupled with the real experiences of life starts a process of transformation in the consciousness of this backward section and a trend of inclination towards revolutionary politics among this section. So the amount of support mobilized in favour of the candidate of a real communist party does reflect, in a way, the degree of advancement of this process and of the increase of this inclination.
But in the present concrete situation of India where there is no real communist party, a stream of proletarian politics is non-existent in the field of real political struggle and an army of class conscious advanced workers is yet to be developed, any endeavour of the communist revolutionaries to participate in the election in the real sense of the term by putting up candidates and directing their election programme towards drawing the support of the backward section of the working class and the mass, will inevitably force them to compromise with the backwardness of the vast majority of the working class, peasantry and other sections of the mass. And that is what is actually happening. So although it is obligatory for the communist revolutionaries of India to participate in the elections it is to be accepted that they are in a position to actually participate. Hence they have to free themselves from the self-deception that they are in a position of actively intervene in the real political struggle of the working class and the masses and concentrate on the task of using the election for developing a section of class conscious advance workers and preparing the ground so that they can really participate in then future.
A considerable amount of pen and paper has already been used up to prove the inapplicability of the tactic of boycott in the present concrete class struggle of the working class. So it will be useless to spend further more. But some fundamentals may be touched once again. Firstly, the inactive non-participation of a section of the mass in the voting process and the boycott movement do not mean the same thing. The justification of calling for a vote boycott can never be established by the statistics of the percentage of the population who do not vote. We must remember that the vote boycott movement is a revolutionary movement of the working class and the masses of a considerable higher stage. It is not a movement of a party or an organisation—it is a movement of the working class and the mass where the broadest section of the working class and the mass spontaneously participates and develops and which the party leads. The applicability of the call of boycott in certain specific condition is proved by the spontaneous participation of the vast majority of the working class and the mass in this call. The boycott movement is the product of the political activity of the masses and their reaching at a stage of higher political consciousness. The inactive non-participation of a section of the masses in the voting process, on the other hand, is a reflection of the political indifference, lack of political consciousness and a sense of political inactivity of this section This phenomenon does never reflect the disillusionment of this section of this section of the masses about the existing parliamentary system. Because such an disillusionment is always reflected through the spread of intense political activities, through the smashing by the masses, of the existing legal structure and the spread of mass revolutionary upsurge and never through political indifference, political inaction. Secondly, the non-participation in the voting process by a population of certain areas to press their demands of construction or repair of a bridge or a road or some such issues does not, in any way, mean vote boycott movement. These movements are mere reformist movements and must not be confused with revolutionary movement. It is really a misfortune for the working class of India that such ranked reformist movements are now being labelled as revolutionary movements.
References: -
(1) Lenin- Collected Works, Vol--17, Page-294
(2) Lenin- Collected Works, Vol-- 17, Page-62
(3) Lenin- Collected Works, Vol--13, Page-483
(4) Lenin- Collected Works, Vol--30, Page-271
(5) Lenin- Collected Works, Vol--31, Page-58-59
(6) Lenin- Collected Works, Vol--31, Page167
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