A new socialism for the 21st century

The CPM is reinterpreting Marx to emphasise 'socially-owned' rather than 'state-owned' means of production

CPM General Secretary Prakash Karat made a significant public statement at the end of his party congress held recently. He suggested that some of the key assumptions of 20th century socialism were perhaps not valid in the political economy of 21st century India. In what seemed like a reinterpretation of some practised Marxist tenets, Karat said the means of production must be "socially-owned" but not necessarily "state-owned". In this context, the CPM also distanced itself from the Chinese model, in which the means of production are substantially owned and driven by the state.

It was also interesting that the CPM leadership spoke of the need for a more decentralised mode of production in the economy rather than a centrally planned, state-led system. It was a clear admission that a Soviet Union-type command economy was a thing of the past. Needless to say, in any decentralised system of production, the market must have some role to play. After all, socialisation of capital has occurred in the West through pension funds-owning big companies. This seemed to be the unstated part of the new thinking in the CPM. Indeed, this is a significant departure in the thought process of the leading communist party in India. This process may have been accelerated after the Left parties were defeated in West Bengal and Kerala.

It appears that Karat partly got his new inspiration from the renowned Marxist, economic historian Eric Hobsbawm, who, in one of his recent works, has given a view of Marx in today's world. We are told that the CPM leader has been in close touch with Hobsbawm in recent times, perhaps to get greater clarity on what is going on in the new world of evolving capitalism and socialism, especially post the 2008 global economic crisis and the continuing uncertainties that surround the western economies.

... contd.

ALSO READ

The responsibility to protect

Ego trips

A police force of his own

A suitable CAG