Does the Communist Movement Still Remain Relevant ?

by N.S.Venkataraman

( November 30, 2015, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) At one time, Russia, China and Cuba were considered as the torch bearers of world communist movement. Several parties and groups in other countries received their inspiration from the leadership of the communist parties of these countries.

Caught in the wilderness:

Now, the world communist movement appears to have lost it’s sense of direction and looks like being caught in the wilderness, as the one-time leader of communist movement namely Russia gave up the communist philosophy in toto and reversed its approach to the methodology of governance. Though China continues to claim that it is a communist country, everyone knows that it is no more so for all practical purposes. Many were believe that at present, China’s approach to governance is more capitalist-oriented than a few of the capitalist countries themselves.

Neither communism nor democracy in China

Of course, China does not have the credible democratic form of governance and it is ruled by the so-called communist party, which does not anymore follow the philosophy of communism as was originally conceived and evolved. In China, the so-called ruling communist party is really an organised group, which does not permit any other political party to evolve and exist and is virtually a dictatorship by the group of people. As dissent is often suppressed with great force, there is now neither democracy nor communism in China.

No more conflict of interest between Cuba and the USA

The governance in Cuba, once a highly focussed communist country, has also undergone a sea change now, with the relationship between USA and Cuba becoming more friendly and perhaps with Cuba not anymore seeing a conflict of interest or focus with regard to the type of governance with that of USA. Instead of the state ownership of all production machinery and systems, Cuba is also now inviting private investments, which is the negation of communist philosophy.

Directionless communism in other regions:

In a few countries like India, communist parties do exist but look to be directionless, as they do not have role model governance depicting communism in true sense anywhere in the world.

Why communist movement collapsed? :

Obviously, the world communist movement virtually collapsed because the once communist countries like Russia, China and Cuba virtually functioned like the dictatorship of a group and thrived on denying freedom to the people and ruthless suppression of independent thinking and contrary ideas of common man. Certainly, this sort of governance is bound to collapse sooner or later, as they are against the basic and fundamental aspirations of any individual with regard to freedom in thoughts and actions.

The failure of the communist movement happened, as the communist leadership in different countries, went into the hands of a group of dictators who mistakenly thought that freedom of individuals cannot co-exist in a communist country. The tight-fisted control by self-centred dictatorship like governance effectively prevented the evolution and fine tuning of the communist philosophy in tune with the aspirations of the people for political and social liberty as much as economic comfort.

. Unfortunately, the practice of communist philosophy did not go into the hands of enlightened leadership, with the capability to align communist philosophy with the people’s aspiration for freedom.

Basic philosophy remains relevant:

While the visible battle between the communist and non-communist form of governance is no more there, this scenario cannot make anyone conclude that communist philosophy as such has lost its sense of relevance.

The basic philosophy of communism, which pledges on uplifting the poor and downtrodden and preventing the exploitation of the poor and deprived persons by the rich people, continue to remain relevant. This is particularly so in the present world context, where several countries, particularly in Africa, remain impoverished and millions of people around the world do not know as to where their next meal would come from.

What has failed is not communist philosophy as such reflected by it’s objectives. The objective of the communist philosophy of standing by the cause of poor and downtrodden cannot become obsolete and irrelevant when millions of people live below poverty line.