The importance and method of functioning of party whole-timers

(Excerpts from the resolution adopted by the CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee on March 3-5, 2012, in the light of the discussion on the Draft Resolution placed before the first state-level workshop of Party whole-timers held in Mumbai on November 3-4, 2011.) 

1.                   Party whole-timers have an extraordinary importance in the history of the Communist movement. The teaching of Lenin that a whole-timer is the backbone of the Party is well-known.

WHOLE-TIMERS: THE BACKBONE OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY

2.                  “As to the structure and composition of the Party itself, Lenin considered that it should consist of two parts: a) a close circle of regular cadres of leading Party workers, chiefly professional revolutionaries, that is, Party workers free from all occupation except Party work and possessing the necessary minimum of theoretical knowledge, political experience, organizational practice and the art of combating the tsarist police and of eluding them; and b) a broad network of local Party organizations and a large number of Party members enjoying the sympathy and support of hundreds of thousands of working people.” (History of the CPSU(B), p 33).

3.                  A militant fighter against German fascism and General Secretary of the Communist International, Georgi Dimitrov, wrote, “Our best resolutions will remain scraps of paper if we lack the people who can put them into effect…In their practical work our Parties are still far from realizing that people, cadres, decide everything…Only a correct policy in regard to cadres will enable our Parties to develop and utilize all available forces to the utmost, and obtain from the enormous reservoir of the mass movement ever fresh reinforcements of new and better active workers.”

4.                  Further, while asking the question, “What should be our main criteria in selecting cadres?”, Dimitrov replied:

·                     First, absolute devotion to the cause of the working class, loyalty to the Party, tested in the face of the enemy – in battle, in prison, in court.

·                     Second, the closest possible contact with the masses. The comrades concerned must be wholly absorbed in the interests of the masses, feel the life pulse of the masses, know their sentiments and requirements.

·                     Third, ability independently to find one’s bearings and not to be afraid of assuming responsibility in making decisions. He who fears to take responsibility is not a leader. He who is unable to display initiative, who says, ‘I will do only what I am told’, is not a Bolshevik.

·                     Fourth, discipline and Bolshevik hardening in the struggle...Our leading cadres should combine the knowledge of what they must do – with Bolshevik stamina, revolutionary strength of character and the will power to carry it through.

5.                  After the formation of the CPI(M), the fundamental Central Committee document ‘Tasks on Party Organization’ adopted in 1967 had said, “We must consider the selection, training, development of our whole-timers as the main task and all other Party tasks as secondary to it. If this is not done, a big weakness will remain in the entire work of the Party and the whole progress of the movement will be affected. The state and district committees must first prepare a list of whole-timers, they must then evaluate the work of the whole-timers by checking their record, and they must then handle all other questions according to the cadre policy decided.”   

6.                  All subsequent Political-Organizational Reports of every Party Congress have underlined the importance of Party whole-timers, and several other points about their selection, training, development, nurturing and evaluation. The Central Committee meeting held from December 14-16, 2005 laid down the following guiding principles as regards Party whole-timers:

·      The selection of a Party whole-timer at any level must be done by the Party committees; even if the selection is made by a local committee, it must have the approval of the district committee. The district committee must inform the state committee about such decisions. A whole-timer must actually work for the Party the whole time. Special attention should be paid to recruiting whole-timers from the basic classes and from women, Dalits, Adivasis and minorities.

·      The whole-timer selected must be given responsibility as per the organizational plan made by the concerned Party committee.

·      The state committee must prepare guiding principles about adequate wages for whole-timers and must make the necessary arrangements to see that this wage is paid regularly.

·      The concerned Party committees must help the whole-timers in their work and must encourage them to take the initiative to implement the political-organizational policy of the Party.

·      The district and state committees must organize political study camps to increase the political-ideological level of whole-timers.

·      Party committees must make the proper arrangements to keep a check-up on the work of whole-timers, to help them to integrate their experiences, to take forward their achievements and to correct their mistakes.

·      The concerned Party committees must help whole-timers during illness and in their domestic and other difficulties.

CHARACTERISTICS OF WHOLE-TIMERS

7.                  It is certainly a matter of pride to become and remain a whole-timer of the CPI(M). In his speech paying homage to Lenin, Stalin had said these celebrated words, “There is no greater honour in the world than to be a member of the Party that was founded by Comrade Lenin.” If this is applicable to Party members, it is still more applicable to Party whole-timers.

8.                 In today’s era of globalization, consumerism and identity politics in different forms, it is even more difficult and appreciable to become and remain a Party whole-timer.

9.                  Today, thousands of dedicated Party whole-timers in the country and over two hundred in our state are leading the struggles of the working people with determination, overcoming the adverse situation in the world and in our country. This adverse situation is seen in the fall of socialism in the Soviet Union and in Eastern Europe two decades ago from 1989 to 1991, the resultant increase of aggressiveness and pressure of world imperialism, the pro-rich neo-liberal policies being vigorously pursued by our ruling classes, the increased influence of various communal and terrorist forces and the temporary setbacks suffered by the Left forces in our country from 2009.

10.              In such a situation, the characteristics of whole-timers should be as follows:

·   For those whose profession it is to make the revolution, such activists must have unshakable faith in Marxism-Leninism and complete confidence in our Party that is committed to take forward this ideology in India. They must be ready to devote their entire lives to the Party and the mass movement. It is only if this is the case, will they remain constantly active and will develop the capacity to surmount any adverse circumstances in their personal or political life.

·   A whole-timer must have complete faith in class and mass struggles. It is the experience of the whole world that a Communist Party grows only through struggles. Only if we have live and regular contact with the people can we understand the issues that are to be taken up through struggle. For this, it is a very important duty of a whole-timer to be regularly active and to take the initiative in some mass organization. He must be in the forefront of the struggles led by the Party or mass organization, and must strive to mobilize the maximum number of people in these struggles.

·   While leading the struggles of the people, whole-timers must inculcate in themselves the ability to effectively impart political-ideological education to them. It is only through such constant education that the political consciousness of people can rise and a strong mass base of the Party can be formed. Although struggles on economic issues are extremely necessary, it is our old experience in elections that a mass base of the Party is not formed merely through economic struggles. That is why the regular reading of, and reflection on, the Party weeklies, Party literature and Marxist literature is a must for Party whole-timers.

·   A very important task for a whole-timer is to develop within himself/herself the science and the art of building the organization. We must always remember Lenin’s dictum that “In its struggle for power, the proletariat has no other weapon except organization.” Whether it is the Party or a mass front, its political influence cannot increase without a strong organization. It is extremely necessary to understand and skilfully implement the valuable guidance given in the Party Constitution and in the book published by the state committee “Fundamental Guidance about the Party Organization” (incorporating the 1967 CC Resolution ‘Tasks on Party Organization’ and the Salkia Plenum Report and Resolution on Organization).   

·   A spotless character, transparent dealings, clean behaviour, capacity for initiative, work efficiency, readiness to sacrifice and simple living – these must be the other characteristics of whole-timers of the CPI(M). If we see the lives of the ‘Navaratnas’, that is the first Polit Bureau of the CPI(M), or other old Communist leaders, we will see these characteristics in them in ample measure. Every whole-timer of the Party must keep these leaders as his ideal and must try his/her best to give such a direction to his/her own life. It is also through such individual qualities that people initially get attracted to the Party and it is these activists that gain a place of love and respect in society. 

SELECTION, FUNCTIONING AND EVALUATION OF WHOLE-TIMERS

11.               When selecting whole-timers, Party committees must keep the above criteria in mind. Our stress should be on recruiting whole-timers from the basic classes, i.e. the working class, peasantry and agricultural workers and from the socially backward sections, i. e. Adivasis, Dalits, minorities and women. Topmost priority must be given to recruiting young, educated and dedicated whole-timers from the student and youth fronts, because it is the experience all over the country and in our state as well that such comrades make a long and valuable contribution to Party advance. That is why the Party at all levels must pay the maximum attention to the healthy and rapid growth of the student and youth fronts.

12.              In Andhra Pradesh and some other states, the Party has decided upon a policy to appoint new whole-timers initially for one year on a trial or probation basis. The comrade in question is given a clear idea in advance to that effect. During that year, the Party committee concerned keeps a close watch on the work of that comrade. If he/she is found fit, then his appointment as whole-timer is confirmed. If not found fit, he/she is discontinued and is advised to take up a job elsewhere. Since he/she has been given a clear idea in advance, it does not create any problems. While appointing Party whole-timers in future in Maharashtra, we must follow this policy.

13.              As regards the method of functioning of whole-timers, it is necessary to lay down certain guiding principles. The first point relates to the very definition of whole-timers. Obviously, a whole-timer is one who devotes his whole time to the Party. Someone who is in service or who is running a profession or a business does not fit in the definition of a whole-timer. It is, of course, true that there are certain exceptional comrades who, although they are not whole-timers in this sense, nevertheless do considerable work of the Party or mass organizations.

14.              Whole-timers can be of two types – those who take wages from the Party and those who do not. Among those who do not take wages from the Party are MLAs and ex-MLAs. Actually, these comrades give a large part of what they receive as allowances and pension from the government to the Party as levy. According to the Party Constitution, the remaining part which they keep with themselves is to be considered as the wage that they get from the Party. The financial position of some comrades is good, and hence they work as whole-timers but do not take any wage from the Party by choice. There is an old tradition of such comrades in the country and also in our state. Henceforth, the concerned district committees must take a formal decision to accord such comrades the status of a whole-timer.

15.               Since a whole-timer devotes his entire time to the work of the Party and his/her mass front, it is clear that his must be a major share in the development of the Party and the mass front. It is right that the Party has such an expectation from him. In some districts, we can see that such is indeed the case. But it is a fact that in some other districts, this is not the picture. Some comrades are whole-timers for a number of years, but there is stagnation or even decline in the Party and the mass fronts in that district. Every whole-timer of the Party in Maharashtra must seriously introspect upon the results of his/her work, self-critically draw concrete conclusions and must take necessary steps for improvement. He/she must accordingly make suggestions to the concerned Party committee. The Party district leadership must also discuss with him/her and must render collective help and assistance to him/her.

16.              Why is it that in some places the work of whole-timers does not lead to the expected results? One important reason for this is related to the method of functioning of whole-timers. For example, some whole-timers have no short-term or long-term planning or direction to their work. Their work lacks consistency. They are not ready to take the initiative. The mentality of some of them is to just somehow finish the work that they have been given. Some whole-timers do not keep a diary of the daily work that they do. That is why they can never place what exactly they did last week or last month. Due to this manner of functioning, the question of review of their past work and planning of their future work just does not arise. This casual manner of functioning must be changed forthwith.

17.               The second important reason for this stagnation is the lack of attention to consciously build up class or mass struggles. As mentioned above, a Communist Party has never grown anywhere in the world without intense struggles. But in some districts where there are whole-timers, not many such struggles have taken place. On the burning issues of the people, we have not mobilised hundreds and thousands of people in struggles against the government, police or our class enemies. We have not tried to search out imaginative forms of struggle. We have not fought a struggle on local issues consistently until it has achieved victory. At the state level also, there have been such weaknesses in our work. Big improvements in this are necessary.

18.              Whole-timers must constantly pay attention to increasing their political-ideological level, and they must persuade other Party activists also to do the same. Reading, writing and speaking are the three effective ways not only to increase one’s political-ideological level, but also to reach out to and strike a dialogue with the people. Whole-timers must make a conscious effort to develop themselves in all these three ways. Some whole-timers certainly make efforts towards this end, and the results of this are also seen. But there are some other whole-timers who do not even read the state Party weekly ‘Jeevanmarg’ regularly, so any deeper reading than that is out of the question. That is why we find staleness and the same old points in the speeches and writing of some of them.

19.              Whole-timers must consciously make efforts to place new and creative ideas for the advance of the movement, attract the people by their own political-ideological sharpness, concretely analyse a concrete local situation and thus give a boost to the movement on that issue, write an effective leaflet or article and address a public meeting or a study-class in line with the policy of the Party.

20.             The importance of the Party organization has been underlined earlier in this resolution. This is an extremely important responsibility of a whole-timer. We are well aware of our weaknesses in even such a primary task such as completing Party renewal in time; in ensuring that every Party member is regularly active in some mass organization; in seeing that Party levy is collected as per the Central Committee rates; and in increasing the circulation of the Party weeklies in several districts. We also know the mad rush to somehow complete the membership of the mass fronts at the end of the year. We are also well aware of the unforgivable lack of attention to functioning Party branches regularly and keeping the mass front units active. It is an important duty of every whole-timer to take the initiative and pay proper attention to the above key organizational aspects. This organizational work must be carried out by developing collective functioning and eschewing individualism.

21.              In all the stronger states of our Party, one key principle which is rightly stressed is that from the movements and the work built by a whole-timer, Party funds must also be generated in one way or another. This fund may be in the form of Party fund, or Party levy, or subscriptions to Party weeklies, or mass front membership fees. This principle must be strictly laid down in every district of the Party in Maharashtra. In some districts, the Party state committee or the district committee gives wages to some whole-timers for years, but there are never much financial returns to the Party or the mass front. All whole-timers must pay conscious attention to this aspect also.

22.             Our aim is to develop a whole-timer into an effective political leader. Hence he/she should give such a direction and turn to his/her entire method of functioning. While doing so, whole-timers must stringently follow Party discipline, put an end to ‘loose talking’, be completely clear and transparent in all their financial dealings, maintain clear and regular accounts of the funds of the Party and mass front that are in their charge, stay clear of bureaucratic practices and arrogant and egoistic behaviour and generally behave with humility and in a way that will bring people closer in unity. Just as a whole-timer should not behave in a bureaucratic manner, so also the Party leadership should not treat whole-timers in a bureaucratic manner.

23.             The last point in this section is related to the evaluation of whole-timers. Since they are Party whole-timers, their responsibility must be to the Party. So far as Maharashtra is concerned, in earlier times, with the exception of Thane district led by Comrade Godavari Parulekar, there was no method of evaluation of whole-timers either at the state or district level. Last year, the Party state committee decided for the first time that all whole-timers must submit their self-evaluation reports to their respective district committees, the district committees should make their own evaluation on the basis of these reports and send their consolidated evaluation report to the state committee. The reports of whole-timers whose wages are given by the state committee reached the state committee, although some reached late. But so far as reports of the whole-timers paid by the district committees and the trade union centres were concerned, very few districts sent their evaluation reports to the state committee despite constant reminders. This must be corrected.

24.             In order that the work of whole-timers becomes more substantial and fruitful, they get regular assistance and guidance from the Party committees and their mistakes are corrected, we must take the following concrete decisions as regards evaluation:

·   Every whole-timer must compulsorily keep a daily diary of his work.

·   District committees (tehsil committees if the districts are large) must organize a separate meeting of their whole-timers every three months. In this meeting, their past work must be reviewed and their future work must be planned.

·   Every whole-timer must submit a self-critical report evaluating his own work every year by the end of December to his/her district committee without fail. The district secretariat and the district committee must discuss these reports and must send a consolidated evaluation report to the state committee every year by the end of March. On the basis of these reports, the district committee must give concrete guidance and suggestions to whole-timers for improvement in work.

CONCLUSION

25.              Let us conclude this Resolution on Whole-timers with the last inspiring passage from the last testament of our immortal martyr Shaheed Bhagat Singh. It is a call that is sure to touch the heart of every whole-timer of our Party. Bhagat Singh writes:

26.             “If you start the work on these lines, you shall have to be very sober...It requires neither the emotion nor the death, but the life of constant struggle, suffering and sacrifice. Crush your individuality first. Shake off the dreams of personal comfort. Then start to work. Inch by inch you shall have to proceed. It needs courage, perseverance and very strong determination. No difficulties and no hardships shall discourage you. No failure and betrayals shall dishearten you. No travails imposed upon you shall snuff out the revolutionary will in you. Through the ordeal of sufferings and sacrifice you shall come out victorious. And these individual victories shall be the valuable assets of the revolution. Long Live Revolution!”

Rejoinder to the utterly false Vichar Manch statement

Statement released by the CPI (M) Maharashtra State Committee

It has come to our notice that the so-called Godavari S. Parulekar Marxwadi Vichar Manch, based in Thane, has issued a statement responding to the charges levelled against it by the Student’s Federation of India (SFI) unit of the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), dated 15th January 2013. The State Committee is forced to respond to this statement, which – like the Manch itself – reeks of utter, stark and downright falsehoods. Each of these falsehoods must be nailed down, so that the truth is known to the students of JNU.

At the outset, it was appalling that a corrupt and morally degenerate person like Parshuram Chavan was invited for a public meeting in JNU on the topic ‘Towards a People’s Democratic Alternative’. It is a sad irony that this comes at a time when we need to build real progressive, democratic alternatives to neo-liberalism and communalism, as well as fight against rampant corruption and shocking violence against women.

The response of the Manch starts with the falsehood that the “Vichar Manch was formed in the Thane District of Maharashtra on 7th June 2008 by 23 out of the 33 Thane District Committee members of the CPI (M).” The fact is that there were no more than a dozen District Committee members out of 33 who joined the Manch. Against most of them, the CPI (M) Maharashtra State Committee had already taken disciplinary action on grave charges (see details below).

More important, however, is the fact that of the then total Party membership in Thane district of 3000-odd, less than 10 per cent, i.e., less than 300, had joined the Manch. Over 90 per cent, i.e., more than 2700 Party members, firmly remained with, and continue to remain with, the CPI (M). Further, many among the 300, who were initially misled into going with the Manch, soon got disillusioned with the political opportunism and rank corruption that was indulged in by the Manch leadership comprising the ‘Gang of Four’ of Messrs Parshuram Chavan, Suhas Samant, Ramji Vartha and Rajendra Paranjape. The misled comrades soon came back to the CPI (M).

The Manch has said that “the bulk of our membership base comprises of tribal people.” The plain truth is that there is just no bulk with the Manch whatsoever, and there never was. In the state-wide Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections of March 2012, the Manch could not even save its security deposit in a single seat in Thane district. 

The biggest lie in the Manch’s statement, in classic Goebbelsian style, is the following: “The Manch formation was the culmination of a bitter inner-party struggle following the land movement of 1991 when thousands of tribals occupied forest and ceiling surplus land of landlords in the leadership of the Party. However, sections of the Party leadership started engaging in nefarious negotiations with the landlords for personal benefits. This became a cause of continuous acrimony and discontent within our district. Fed up with this approach of shielding dubious state leaders, in February 2006, the Thane District Committee of the CPI (M) passed a unanimous resolution recommending action against Com. L. B. Dhangar (CPI (M) State Committee and District Committee Member) for misappropriation of funds in a trust. This recommendation was not endorsed by the State Committee. However, after this resolution, a 5-member state level enquiry committee was finally set up by the reluctant Party leadership...”

This entire paragraph is nothing but a shameless travesty of the truth. But this is not at all surprising. In the history of the Communist movement, renegades like Parshuram Chavan, Rajendra Paranjape and Ramji Vartha have always been most notorious for making shameful travesties of the truth. The truth of the matter is as follows:

Land has been a major issue of struggle in Thane district since the time of Comrades Godavari and Shamrao Parulekar. As a result of massive and sustained struggles by the CPI (M) and the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS), lakhs of acres of land in Thane district was vested in the names of the Adivasis who cultivated it. This struggle for land continued in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s under the leadership of Comrade Godavari Parulekar and Comrade L. B. Dhangar. Comrade Dhangar is one of the senior-most and widely respected leaders of the Party and was its Thane district secretary for a long period till 1988. His contribution to the growth of the Left movement in the Adivasi regions of Maharashtra is remarkable. He is today over 85 years old and, in recognition of his six decade-old service to the Party, is the Chairman of the CPI (M) State Control Commission.

However, by the mid-1990s, the new Thane district Party leadership led by the above ‘Gang of Four’ consolidated its hold over the Party in Thane. It is this leadership that, in its own words, “started engaging in nefarious negotiations with the landlords for personal benefits”, which became “a cause of continuous acrimony and discontent.” As a result, very serious written complaints against them came to the Party state committee from Adivasi comrades. A five-member enquiry committee was appointed by the state committee.

Concrete proof came to the enquiry committee in the form of a letter written on the letterhead of the Party’s Thane district committee, signed by the then district secretary Suhas Samant (later expelled and now a Manch leader), to the local Dahanu police station in favour of a rich landlord and against a poor Adivasi Party member who rightly owned his land. After this letter was written to the police station, the landlord forcibly uprooted the standing crop in the Adivasi peasant’s field and tried to capture his land. However, local comrades under the leadership of Comrade Dhangar resisted and foiled this attempt. As a result, the land is still in the occupation of the Adivasi peasant. During the enquiry, further proof came of the involvement of this ‘Gang of Four’ in shady land deals with landlords. None of them could give any credible explanation regarding their connivance with the landlord class against the poor Adivasi peasants.

Similarly, more complaints began to come in about the ‘Gang of Four’ striking corrupt deals with factory-owners against the interests of the working class in Thane district. The enquiry committee came to the conclusion that these complaints were also true. Needless to say, the deals struck by these leaders with landlords and factory-owners were not without their ‘price’!

It was precisely because Comrade Dhangar consistently opposed these class collaborationist acts of the ‘Gang of Four’ that they tried to implicate him on false charges. However, the enquiry held by the Party state committee on the Trust issue completely absolved Comrade Dhangar of all the charges.

One of the major reasons why Ramji Vartha, ex-MLA, was expelled from the CPI (M) was because it was proved that he was hand-in-glove with the local ration food grains black-marketeer and had siphoned off thousands of quintals of grains meant for the Adivasi labourers working under the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS). After an intense struggle by the CPI (M) and AIDWA, which Ramji Vartha opposed in his capacity as an MLA, the Tehsildar of Talasari was suspended and thousands of quintals of grains were distributed to poor Adivasis.

The Manch goes further in its string of lies when it says, “Meanwhile, instead of correcting their wrong practices, 4 members of the Maharashtra State Secretariat became part of a foreign funded trust for a ‘1 V 1 C’ (one village, one computer) scheme. As per the CPI (M) party’s guidelines, members of the CPI (M) cannot become part of the activities of foreign funded NGOs and can become part of other NGOs only after taking consent of their respective committees and approval of the higher committee. A complaint was sent to the same effect to the Party General Secretary against top state leaders, including the Maharashtra State Secretary.” 

The facts of the matter are as follows: One Village One Computer (1V1C) was a programme organized to take computer training to remote villages in Maharashtra.  This programme was funded by the ‘Maharashtra Foundation’, which consists of Maharashtrian people settled in the USA. The Maharashtra Foundation helps many such social causes in Maharashtra, and the annual awards that it gives in the fields of Marathi literature and culture have acquired a great deal of prestige in the State.

All the information pertaining to the 1V1C trust, its funding and its programmes were clearly placed before and were approved by the CPI (M) state secretariat. But when the above complaints came, the CPI (M) state committee itself took the decision that they should be thoroughly enquired into by the Party’s Polit Bureau (PB). This was done in 2006 and the PB gave its opinion in writing. The PB held that since the Maharashtra Foundation was an organization of Maharashtrian Indians settled in the USA, the funds that it gave the 1V1C could not be termed as foreign funding. The PB also asked the CPI (M) state committee to set up a monitoring committee to go into the 1V1C.

This was done and the monitoring committee, comprising three CPI (M) state secretariat members who had no connection whatsoever with the 1V1C project, after thoroughly going through all the accounts and other documents of the 1V1C, gave a clean chit to the project. The PB opinion and the monitoring committee report came before the CPI (M) state committee in 2006 and 2010 respectively and the state committee gave its approval.

But in spite of the PB opinion on the matter, which was clearly conveyed in writing and placed in the state committee in 2006, the handful that later formed the Manch ran a nasty campaign to malign the Party leadership – a campaign that they still continue today as seen in their statement! They stooped to such levels of factionalism that they began organising an unprecedented signature campaign against the CPI (M) state committee decisions. No Communist Party worth its name could have tolerated this deliberate violation of discipline and therefore, the handful that was indulging in it was expelled from the Party in 2007.

The Manch has categorically denied the charge of misconduct against women that has been made against Parshuram Chavan. The CPI (M) state committee has in its possession several letters and documents, as well as the proceedings of the enquiry committee, which would go to prove without any doubt whatsoever the charges against Parshuram Chavan of misbehavior with women. One of the women Party members with whom Parshuram Chavan had misbehaved got married and did not want to pursue her complaint as she was worried that it would create problems in her marital life. It was to respect her wishes that the Party did not pursue the matter to its logical conclusion. But the CPI (M) stands firm as a rock on this charge against Parshuram Chavan.

The Manch says, “It was propagated that we will join hands with the BJP, Shiv Sena, NCP and so on. But after 5 years we have continued to defend our movement in our district...We are not willing to join hands with any communal or bourgeois Party. We will continue in this path.”

To paraphrase Shakespeare, the Manch spokesmen protest too much! It is known to the whole world, and has been published in black and white in the newspapers of the day, that in the 2009 Lok Sabha election in the Palghar (ST) constituency of Thane district, when Comrade Lahanu Kom was the candidate of the CPI (M), the Manch openly supported Baliram Jadhav, the candidate of Hitendra Thakur’s ‘Bahujan Vikas Aghadi’. This Party is notorious as the Party of the land mafia, which has gone to the extent of murdering Adivasis simply because they refused to part with their land! And it is with such a Party that the Manch openly allied with! Needless to say, the leaders extracted their ‘price’!

In the 2009 Vidhan Sabha elections held six months later, in the Dahanu (ST) seat where sitting MLA of the CPI (M) Comrade Rajaram Ozare was the candidate, Ramji Vartha of the Manch filed his nomination papers and then suddenly withdrew after a secret ‘understanding’ with the NCP candidate. In the election, the Manch openly supported the NCP against the CPI (M). But the CPI (M) won this seat for the eighth consecutive time since the 1978 assembly polls by scoring over 62,000 votes against all odds, by a winning margin of over 16,000 votes!

In the Vikramgad (ST) seat, the Manch put up a candidate against the CPI (M). However, its candidate lost his security deposit, while the CPI (M) got over 15,000 votes! So far as the 2012 Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections are concerned, the less said the better!  

Finally, the Manch says, “On 23rd May 2009, a young tribal comrade of our Manch, Anil Shingade, was brutally murdered by CPI (M) goons. 6 CPI (M) activists were arrested for the murder and 3 have been convicted.” For the death of a poor Adivasi named Anil Shingade, some CPI (M) comrades were falsely implicated in this case by Ramji Vartha by bribing the police and conspiring with the Party’s political opponents. They were implicated because they were active in the CPI (M) and refused to join the anti-Party Manch. They are now released on bail and the CPI (M) will fight this case till the end and prove the utter falseness of the charges.

To sum up, the students of JNU need to know that the leaders of the so-called Manch were expelled from the CPI (M) for amassing enormous wealth at the expense of the poor Adivasis, usurping lakhs of rupees from Party and trade union funds and indulging in immoral, corrupt and anti-Party activities. All proper Party procedures were followed in these expulsions. The CPI (M) State Control Commission unanimously rejected their appeals. The CPI (M) PB and the Central Committee unanimously ratified these disciplinary actions.

All honest and militant comrades in Thane district are united as one behind the CPI (M) state committee and the Thane district committee to foil the disruptive activities of the Manch and consign these renegades to the dustbin of history. The CPI (M) is committed to uphold the glorious legacy of Comrades Shamrao and Godavari Parulekar in Thane district.

The Manch’s pathetic statement is a vain attempt to mislead the students of JNU with utter falsehoods. We are sure that just as the Adivasis of Thane district rejected this corrupt and degenerate outfit, the students of JNU will also reject them lock, stock and barrel - along with their equally opportunistic sponsors!

CPI (M) State Study Camp: Strong Boost to Party

Ashok Dhawale

It was truly a study camp to remember and cherish. That was the overwhelming reaction of the delegates at the conclusion of the CPI(M) state study camp in Maharashtra that was held in Mumbai from January 12 to 14, 2013, in the Comrade P Sundarayya Birth Centenary Year. This full-fledged state camp was being held after a long time. 413 delegates from 28 districts who attended comprised Party state committee members, district committee members and whole-timers.

The venue of the camp – the Adarsh Vidyalaya in Chembur that is being run well for over five decades by the Kerala People’s Education Society (KPES) - was named after Captain Laxmi Sehgal. The hall was named after Comrade Ramji Dhule, a veteran Adivasi comrade who was among the founders of the Party in the Surgana tehsil of Nashik district. And the dais was named after Comrade Ramsagar Pandey, a multi-faceted, talented leader of the Party in Mumbai district.

The study camp began on January 12 with the flag-hoisting at the hands of veteran leader and Chairman of the State Control Commission, L B Dhangar, and floral tributes to martyrs. CPI(M) state secretariat member and Mumbai district secretary Mahendra Singh welcomed the delegates. In the condolence resolution moved by state secretariat member Vijay Gabhane, homage was paid to Party leaders and activists, as well as prominent progressive personalities.

SUBJECTS AND TEACHERS

The programme, subjects and teachers at this state camp were as follows: January 12 – ‘What is Marxism?’ and ‘Imperialism in Our Time’ – CPI(M) Polit Bureau member Sitaram Yechury; January 13 – ‘Building the Communist Party’ – CPI(M) Central Secretariat member Nilotpal Basu; ‘Current Situation in Maharashtra and the Tasks before the Party’ – CPI(M) state secretary and Central Committee member Dr Ashok Dhawale; January 14 – ‘The Challenge of Identity Politics’ and ‘History of the Communist Movement in India’ – CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat.

All the topics were well taken and were followed by lively and interesting question-answer sessions. The various sessions in this state camp were presided over by state secretariat members K L Bajaj, J P Gavit, Dr D L Karad, Nathu Salve, Ajit Abhyankar, Udayan Sharma and Narsayya Adam respectively.

ENTHUSIASTIC WORKSHOP

An enthusiastic workshop was held along with the state camp, in two sessions. On the evening of the first day, all the delegates grouped themselves according to their mass fronts and decided upon their tasks for the ensuing few months. On the evening of the second day, all the delegates grouped themselves according to their districts. They were to discuss and decide their district planning on the following nine points: 1. Signature campaign on the issue of food security, 2. Total mobilisation on the roads by the CPI(M) and all the mass fronts led by it, on the two days of the All India strike on February 20-21, 3. Participation in the Party jathas, culminating in the All India Delhi Rally on March 19. 4. Implementation of the state call for a Rs 50 lakh Party whole-timers fund, 5. Increase in subscription of all Party papers, 6. Stringent Party renewal for 2013, 7. Mass front membership for the coming year, 8. Dates of the district Party study camps, and 9. Clearance of Party literature dues.

After an hour-long discussion in each district delegation, one comrade from each district and each state level mass front had to briefly report to all the delegates on what had been decided. This session was one of the most inspiring in the state camp. For instance, taking the total of all the districts: 1. Over 10 lakh signatures will be collected in Maharashtra on the issue of food security; 2. Over 2,80,000 people owing allegiance to the CPI(M) and the mass fronts will actually come out on the roads during the All India strike on February 20-21; 3. Apart from the two main Western and Southern jathas that will cross Maharashtra, four more sub-jathas will traverse Vidarbha, Marathwada and Western Maharashtra and will merge in the two main jathas; 4. The mobilisation from Maharashtra for the Delhi Rally on March 19 will exceed 10,000; 5. Over Rs 60 lakhs will be collected for the Party whole-timers fund in the state; 6. There will be a substantial increase in the circulation of all the Party papers in the next three months; 7. The Party renewal campaign for 2013 will be taken up with all seriousness this year; 8. There will be a substantial increase in mass front membership in the coming year, and 9. District study camps will be organised everywhere by June.

PARTY EDUCATION SERIES

One of the highlights of this camp was the publication by Sitaram Yechury of the pamphlets in the Party Education Series brought out by the CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee in Marathi. A series of 12 pamphlets on various topics has been decided by the Party Education and Publications Sub-Committee to serve as the syllabus for Party education in Maharashtra. The first four of these pamphlets were published and sold in this camp.

They were as follows: 1. ‘The Challenge of Identity Politics’, by Prakash Karat; 2. ‘Imperialism in Our Time’, by Sitaram Yechury, 3. ‘Marxist Political Economy’, by Dr Kishore Theckedath; 4. ‘Our Concept of the Indian Revolution’ (CPI-M Party Programme), by Dr Ashok Dhawale. Another note was translated and given to all, and this was ‘On Building the Party’ by Nilotpal Basu. The translations were done fast and well by two members of the ‘Jeevanmarg’ editorial board, Dr Uday Narkar and Shobha Theckedath. The remaining titles in the Party Education Series will also be published soon.

Another small pamphlet on ‘The Importance and Functioning of Party Whole-Timers’ which is a resolution of the State Committee that was finalised after a State Whole-Timers Workshop held last year, was also published and sold during this state camp.

PARTY WHOLE-TIMERS FUND

The last state committee meeting at Talasari in Thane district in October 2012 had given a call for the collection of a Rs 50 lakh Party Whole-Timers State Fund by means of cash collections from the people, and by advertisements for the 2013 special issue of the Party journal ‘Jeevanmarg’. Five years ago, in response to a similar call by the state committee, Rs 40 lakhs had been raised.

The state committee has decided that every Party member in the state will contribute at least one day’s wage to this fund. So a call was given to comrades in the study camp to make their maximum contributions, and a strong beginning was made by members of the Central Committee and State Committee, whose total contribution exceeded Rs 50,000. Over Rs 7,00,000 was collected as part of this fund both by way of cash and advertisements, and this enthused the delegates.

Another Rs 50,000-odd was collected by way of over 200 subscriptions to the various Party weeklies. The progressive literature sold from the Party book stall was worth over Rs 17,000, apart from the amount of Rs 20,000-odd paid by the delegates for the Party Education Series pamphlets.

OTHER SALIENT FEATURES

In a hectic programme, some other brief and businesslike meetings were also held during this state camp. Apart from meetings of the Party state secretariat and the state committee, a separate meeting of all Party whole-timers and another one of writers for the state Party weekly ‘Jeevanmarg’, were held. To help the four weaker mass fronts in the state, two separate meetings of the state and district Party leadership with the state leadership of the student and youth fronts, and with the state leadership of the agricultural workers and women’s fronts, were held. All these meetings concluded only after taking certain concrete decisions for improvement.

Anand Wingkar, a progressive Dalit poet and novelist, who has for long been a member of the CPI(M), recently won a number of literary awards for his Marathi novel set against the background of peasant suicides. The novel is called A Story in the Time of Unseasonal Rains. Anand Wingkar was warmly felicitated by Prakash Karat amidst cheers. Anand donated Rs 10,000 to the Party fund.

At the request of the state committee, the CPI(M) West Bengal state committee had sent 300 new Ganashakti diaries. These were distributed to the delegates and were greatly appreciated by all.

CREDENTIALS REPORT

The credentials report was painstakingly prepared by students of the Party’s Research unit. Its main features were as follows: Of the 413 delegates, 44 were female and 369 were male. Age: Below 30 years – 23, 31-40 – 104, 41-50 – 122, 51-60 – 100, 61-70 – 55, Above 71 years – 9. Education: Upto 5th standard – 50, 5th to 10th – 134, 10th to 12th – 68, 12th to graduate – 87, Post-graduate and above – 74. Class background: Working class – 104, Agricultural labour – 74, Poor peasant – 121, Middle peasant – 63, Rich peasant – 1, Middle class – 50. Social Background: Adivasis – 85, Dalits – 62, Minorities – 34, Nomadic Tribes – 28, OBC – 74. Year of Joining Party: Before 1964 – 5, 1965-77 – 36, 1978-90 – 156, 1991-2000 – 109, 2001-10 – 94, After 2010 – 13. Present Mass Front: Trade Union – 161, Kisan – 145, Agricultural Worker – 34, Youth – 32, Women – 21, Student – 10, Others – 10. Subscribers to Party papers: Jeevanmarg – 313, Loklahar – 85, People’s Democracy – 51, Marxist – 32, Other – 17. Police cases in agitations: 86 comrades had 1 to 3 police cases against them, 25 had 4 to 5 cases and 19 had more than 5 cases. Jail Life: 124 comrades had been in jail for varying periods. Elected Representatives: 55 comrades were elected representatives at various levels.

The chairman of the last session of the study camp, Narsayya Adam, delivered an inspiring concluding address. He congratulated all the delegates for making this a truly memorable camp and expressed confidence that it will go a long way in giving a strong boost to the Party in Maharashtra.

CPI(M) state secretariat member Mariam Dhawale and Mumbai district secretariat member Dr S K Rege proposed the vote of thanks. The CPI(M) Mumbai committee, the KPES and the volunteers had made excellent arrangements for the success of this state camp. The camp concluded with a spirited rendering of the Internationale, amidst resounding cheers and slogans.

A short report on communal riots in Dhule

On 11th January 2013, a delegation of Left Parties and MSMRA, consisting of L. R. Rao, Rajesh Kulkarni, Hemant Malpure, Mukhtar Ahamad Ansari, Rahul Shelke, Shravan Shinde, Ramesh Parolekar, Irfan Maniyar and Kumar Shiralkar visited the riot affected areas and families in Dhule during the relaxation of curfew between 12 pm and 3 pm. The delegation could visit 11 families and collect the information about the damages and losses suffered by them. After directly talking with the affected persons, the following things were noted down:

1. Mohammad Salim Mohmmad Hasan: His ‘New Femous Motton Shop” was totally looted and gutted using kerosene and cooking gas cylinder. His total loss (cash, goods and property) is to the tune of Rs 12 lakhs.

2. Ayub Haji Subhan Kazi, Hanif Haji Subhan Khatik, Mohammad Haji Subhan Khatik: Their fish-chicken-bombil shop and residence was looted and burnt using kerosene and gas. The loss which includes cash and jewelry  is Rs 8 lakhs.

3. Haji Suleman Khatik: Shop and house robbed and burnt. Rs 4 lakh cash and Rs 5 lakh worth of goods destroyed.

4. Asif Shekh Khatik Raiz: His “Asif Testy Chicken Centre” robbed and gutted using cylinder. Losses to the tune of Rs 6 lakh.

5. Jamil Bhai: His “New famous Chicken Centre” shop was looted and burnt. Loss  Rs 6 lakh.

6. Jalil Al Mohammad Hasan: His ground and first floor house gutted using kerosene and gas. Rs 4 lakh of cash, 10 tolas of gold, 40 tolas of silver and property worth of Rs 25 lakh  was looted including vessels.

7. Akeela Ikbal Shah, Iqlak Gulam Hussen: His ground and first floor small house was robbed and burnt  along with the soap shop. Rs 60000 cash and gold 25 grams and silver 31 tolas looted.

8. Hari Nathu Patil: His house was burnt. Rs 15000 cash, One and half tola of gold and Rs 4000 worth silver robbed.

9. Rajkumari Kailaschand Agrawal: Her house burnt. Rs 40000 cash, 5 tolas of gold and 3 tolas of silver looted.

10. Dinesh Ratilal Sonar: His house was destroyed. Cash of Rs 5000 was looted.

All the above mentioned, are in and around Machhibazar and Madhavpura and less than half a furlong from Machhibazar Police Chouki and about 2 km from the DSP office. As every body knows, the Machhibazar area is communally sensitive since 1989.

How the event unfolded

It is reported that on 6th January 2013 at about 1.30 pm, a group of youth belonging to the minority community refused to pay the bill of Rs 20 to the owner of a small hotel owned by Mr Wagh, whose wife is NCP's elected corporator of Dhule Mahanagar Palika. Mr Wagh is a kerosene dealer. The workers in the hotel at the instruction of the owner beat up the youth. Then the youth went to Machhibazar Police Chouki, which is just opposite. But the police did not take cognizance of the complaint and hence there was altercation between the youth and the police. Then the youth left. In the meanwhile, more police came to the spot but they were not well equipped to tackle the situation. The youth came back with a big mob, which forced into the police chouki, threw the furniture and destroyed some papers and registers. When the police tried to pacify them they did not heed, became restless and started throwing stones, bottles, bricks at the police.

The mob from majority community gathered and started burning and looting some of the minority houses. The minority mob from other side burnt and robbed few houses of the majority community. It was reported that when police came fully equipped with force, though late, they could not first make any announcement on loud speaker to get the crowd dispersed. It is not clear whether the Sub Divisional Level officer in charge of the area was present there and from where the orders to fire and shoot came from. But it is reported in the press that acid and chemicals were used by the mob and many police personnel was injured. It was also reported that the orders to shoot were also received from higher authorities if the mob goes out of control. Instead of using other means like tear gas, water cannons etc, the police first started firing rubber bullets and then the lethal ones. Total number injured are more than 200 out of which 7 have succumbed to bullet injuries. Those who died belong to the minority community. When our delegation visited the affected area, we were told by the minority victims that the police only targeted the minority and in some cases helped the rioters to loot and destroy their establishments.

What conclusions can be drawn?

1. Dhule town is prone to the communal riots.
2. Burning and looting of property is becoming the norm of the day.
3. Leaders of bourgeois political parties are eager to get electoral benefits from riots.
4. The Sangh Parivar and Islamic fundamentalists are very much active in Dhule of late.
5. Arms, chemicals, lethal weapons are compiled by communalist leaders of both sides.
6. The religion-based communal hatred is continuously propagated among the youth.
7. A section of unemployed youth is addicted to drinking, smoking and drugs.
8. The real problems of day to day livelihood, employment and income have taken a grotesque form.

Some immediate and long term solutions:

1. Relief to those victims who are very poor and lost everything.
2. The through enquiry of the incidence, action against the police excesses if any, arrest of the culprits and stringent punishment.
3. The formation of ‘Mohalla’ or ‘Basti” committees on the lines of Bhivandi pattern. Common cultural programmes to create social harmony.
4. Implementation of Sachar Committee recommendations.

L. R. Rao,
Branch Secretary, CPI (M),
Dhule City.

Left Convention against FDI in retail in Nagpur

Arun Latkar

Although the Congress-led UPA-2 regime, by its usual underhand dealings, managed to push through both houses of Parliament its decision of allowing FDI in the retail trade sector, the Left parties have decided to keep up the campaign through conventions and meetings in major cities.

Accordingly, on December 22, 2012, an impressive convention was organised by four Left parties – CPI(M), CPI, Forward Bloc and Indian Bolshevik Party at Nagpur, the second capital of Maharashtra. The convention was inaugurated by CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat and the chief guest was former CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan. It was attended by people from all walks of life, including representatives of small traders’ and shopkeepers’ organisations.

Inaugurating the convention, Prakash Karat launched a scathing attack on the UPA-2 regime for its decision of allowing FDI in retail and rubbished all its false claims with facts and figures. He said that the reaction given by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton to this decision taken by the UPA regime, itself showed that the decision was taken under the pressure of American imperialism.

In spite of its dubious manipulative prowess, the UPA regime could succeed in mobilising only 252 votes in the Lok Sabha in favour of FDI in retail, which were still 20 short of a majority. Hence it is clear that the government does not enjoy the confidence of Parliament on this issue. Most of the political parties have clearly expressed their opposition to this disastrous move.

Karat referred to the serious financial irregularities that have recently come to light about WalMart’s shady dealings in India, even before the government’s decision to allow FDI in retail. In Mexico, it has been exposed that WalMart bribed top officials to the tune of millions of dollars to get what it wanted. We are opening our doors wide to such corrupt and unscrupulous companies in India.

He demolished the false claims made by the government that allowing FDI in retail would lead to increase in jobs, that it would help farmers, that it would reduce prices for consumers and so on. He called for a nationwide stir against FDI in retail and also FDI in insurance and pension funds.

A B Bardhan said that it is the experience of the whole world that FDI in retail has benefited no section in any country, except the multinational corporations themselves.  And in spite of knowing this only too well, the Prime Minister and the UPA regime are going ahead with this disastrous measure. He called for a concerted battle against the anti-people policies of the UPA government.

CPI(M) state secretary Dr Ashok Dhawale was present for this convention. An office bearer of the small traders’ organisation, Dnyaneshwar Rakshak supported the Left in its battle against FDI in retail. The presidium of the convention comprised Manohar Muley (CPI-M), Jammu Anand (CPI), Arun Bankar (FB) and Vaidya (Bolshevik Party). Arun Latkar of the CPI(M) conducted the proceedings.

An attractive pamphlet against FDI in retail, published by the CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee, is being sold well all over the state. Conventions and meetings have been held in other centres also.

COMRADE P. B. RANGNEKAR: A CENTENARY TRIBUTE

Ashok Dhawale 

Comrade Pandurang Bhaskar Rangnekar – known to all as PBR - was born exactly 100 years ago on December 18, 1912. His birth centenary falls on December 18, 2012. He passed away in Mumbai nearly five years ago on February 8, 2008, at the ripe old age of 95. He joined the Communist Party at the age of 20, way back in 1932. He thus served the Communist movement with unwavering dedication for over 75 years, which is probably a record in our state. Like many other leaders of the Communist old guard in India, the Party was his life. 

PBR

There are some outstanding leaders of the revolutionary movement who shun the limelight all their lives, but whose contribution to the movement is greater and more lasting than that of many who are in the limelight. Comrade P B Rangnekar was an excellent example of such leaders.

PBR spent over 10 years of his life in both British and Congress jails. He was among the veteran Communist freedom fighters from all over the country who were felicitated at the 16^th Party Congress at Kolkata in 1998 and at the 17^th Party Congress at Hyderabad in 2002.

He was a member of the CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee for 44 years – right from the inception of the Party in 1964 until his demise. He was a member of the Party’s state secretariat for 33 years, from 1972 to 2005, when he gracefully stepped down for reasons of age and health.

With Comrade Ahilya Rangnekar

The CPI(M) Polit Bureau sent one of its members, K Varadha Rajan, to attend the funeral of PBR, who was also one of the senior most leaders of the Party in the country. CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat and Polit Bureau members M K Pandhe, Sitaram Yechury, Biman Bose and V S Achuthanandan sent heartfelt condolence messages paying tributes to the departed leader. 

Prakash Karat wrote, “Comrade Rangnekar was a Marxist-Leninist to the core. All of us who knew him will remember his affectionate behaviour and life of simplicity.” Sitaram Yechury wrote, “I had the opportunity of working with Comrade Rangnekar for nearly two decades. He was a living testimony to the fact that to be a good Communist, one has to be a good human being.”

Within a year and a quarter of PBR’s demise, on April 19, 2009, Ahilya Rangnekar - his wife and comrade, former member of the CPI(M) central committee, one of the founders of the AIDWA and an ex-MP, also passed away. A couple that had dedicated their entire lives to the Party, was no more. There were two other such couples in Maharashtra in senior Party leadership positions. One was B T Ranadive and Vimal Ranadive. The other was Shamrao Parulekar and Godavari Parulekar. 

Sunil Janah, Margaret Bourke White and PBR at Dahanu Railway Station, 1946

The Rangnekars’ sons Ajit and Abhay, daughters-in-law Alaka and Suniti and all other family members supported PBR and Ahilya to the hilt in their long and difficult revolutionary journey. Outside the family and the Party, a close sympathiser Mukesh Chheda also took great care of them.

A MARXIST FREEDOM FIGHTER 

After joining the Party in 1932, PBR plunged into the freedom struggle against British imperialism and became one of the leaders of the student movement. After the formation of the AISF in 1936, he was elected the secretary of its Mumbai unit and was later elected its All India Joint Secretary. He was also elected the editor of the AISF journal ‘Student Call’ that used to be published from Mumbai. Among PBR’s good comrades in those days was Kitty Menon, who used to fondly call him Papa.

While taking part in the student movement, he completed his MA in Economics from the Bombay University. He then made a thorough study of Marxism-Leninism under the guidance of B T Ranadive, for whom he always had the highest regard. PBR had a prodigious grasp of the Marxist classics and he had the rare ability to aptly quote from them so as to relate to the present situation.

PBR and Ahilya at the AIKS State Conference in Nashik, 2006

He often told us about the huge anti-imperialist student demonstrations in Mumbai and in the rest of the country, which were an integral part of the freedom struggle, and of the British repression against them. He, along with other Communist student leaders, was jailed by the British for a number of years. All these experiences made him an anti-imperialist to the core.

With the revolt of the naval ratings in Mumbai in February 1946, and the full and active support extended to it by the Communist Party, the anti-imperialist struggle in Mumbai reached its zenith. The working class of Mumbai came out on the streets in thousands in support of the naval revolt. In the inhuman British repression that followed, more than 400 workers were gunned down.

Ahilya Rangnekar, her sister Kusum Ranadive and Kamal Donde were part of a women’s demonstration in support of the naval revolt when a British armoured van recklessly fired on it. Kamal Donde was killed on the spot, Kusum Ranadive got a bullet in her leg but survived, and Ahilya Rangnekar was saved only because she ducked just in time to escape another bullet. Those were the life and times of comrades like PBR and Ahilya, who were in the thick of the freedom struggle.

A PILLAR OF THE PARTY 

After independence, PBR participated in the huge textile workers’ struggles in Mumbai that were then led by the Girni Kamgar Union. He also took part in the Samyukta Maharashtra movement in the late 1950s, which was part of the democratic movement for linguistic states. He was a participant in the Goa freedom movement. The famous Matunga Labour Camp was close to his house. Thus PBR established close political relations with Communist stalwart R B More who was one of the closest associates of Dr B R Ambedkar, and with the members of the legendary cultural troupe Lal Bavta Kala Pathak - Anna Bhau Sathe, Amar Shaikh and D N Gavhankar.

PBR being felicitated at the 17th CPI (M) Congress in Hyderabad, 2002

PBR made an important contribution in the struggle against right revisionism and then against left sectarianism in the Communist movement in the 1950s and 1960s. The struggle against revisionism in Maharashtra was particularly bitter, due to the disruptive role of S A Dange and the repression of the Congress regime. PBR was among the many Party leaders in Maharashtra who were detained for three and a half years under the Defence of India Rules, from November 7, 1962 to April 30, 1966.

After the formation of the CPI(M) in 1964, and especially after he was elected to the state secretariat in 1972, PBR became a pillar of the Party in Maharashtra. He took over as office secretary of the state Party from another selfless Communist stalwart, D S Vaidya. In this capacity, it was he who was in charge of the state centre at the Party state headquarters Janashakti at Worli in Mumbai. It was a task that he fulfilled with the greatest sense of responsibility for over 30 years.

Keeping regular contact with the All India Party Centre on the one hand and with the Party district centres on the other, maintaining constant touch with the political-organisational developments in the Party throughout the state, preparing the agenda for state secretariat and state committee meetings, sending out circulars of Party decisions and keeping a check on their implementation, managing the entire state committee correspondence, meeting and helping comrades coming from the districts, visiting a number of districts for Party work, handling the actual production of the state Party weekly Jeevanmarg, and most important, contributing the lion’s share to building up a large team of young cadres in the state on the student and youth fronts – these were the tasks that PBR discharged quietly but efficiently for over three decades. I am myself witness to the fact that it was this multifaceted work put in with his tremendous authority by PBR, that made the task of our first three Party state secretaries – S Y Kolhatkar, Ahilya Rangnekar and Prabhakar Sanzgiri – much easier.

As a member of the editorial board of the Party state weekly Jeevanmarg for over three decades, he was the one who handled all the nitty-gritties of its actual production. It was he who single-handedly translated all the important articles from People’s Democracy into Marathi, who edited the news of struggles that came from the districts and who also carefully checked the proof-reading of the paper.

A BUILDER OF YOUNG CADRES

PBR’s biggest and most lasting contribution was in his capacity as the Party state secretariat member in charge of the student and youth fronts for a period of 20 years from 1975 to 1995. He helped to build up and ably guided the SFI and DYFI in Maharashtra ever since their inception. And he did so with complete devotion and commitment, personally visiting several districts many times for this purpose. He combined political depth with organisational skill. His assessment of activists proved to be uncannily accurate, partly because he always steered clear of personal likes and dislikes.

Looking back, one can now say that it was in the years of his guidance that both these organisations thrived. In the struggles of those years, several thousand students and youth were mobilised in statewide mass actions. There were many police lathi-charges and several police cases. With enthusiastic help and participation from all over Maharashtra, the All India conferences of the SFI and DYFI were successfully held in Mumbai in 1981 and 1991. Kerala chief minister E K Nayanar and West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu addressed the SFI and DYFI conference rallies respectively.

Hundreds of activists of both these fronts received their political, ideological and organisational education through regular state and district study camps in that period. While training cadres, PBR combined strictness with a great sense of humour, and this endeared him to the young activists. Today, most of those whom he trained are in the state and district leadership of the Party and of the class and mass organisations in Maharashtra. It gives me pride to state that I am also one of them.

While guiding us, PBR used to be sharp in his criticism, not mincing his words if serious mistakes were made; but he also used to be equally sincere in his appreciation. He never tolerated indiscipline of any kind within the Party or mass organisation. He had a prodigious memory, especially for old events in the revolutionary movement of which he had been a part. And it was a veritable treat when he used to go down memory lane with us. He also had a tremendous sense of humour and, when in the mood, used to regale us with jokes that made tears of laughter run down our cheeks.

It was during this period that PBR interacted with the then All India leadership of both these fronts, that used to regularly visit Maharashtra for SFI/DYFI conferences, rallies and meetings – Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, M A Baby, Hannan Mollah, Nilotpal Basu, Mohd Salim and A Vijayaraghavan. All of them have fond memories of this grand old man.

A PERSONAL TOUCH 

Among the then Party leaders in Maharashtra, it was PBR whom I first met before joining the Party 35 years ago in 1978. I still remember the apprehension with which I climbed the two tall staircases of his house to meet him and tell him that I wanted to join the CPI(M)! He put me at ease, asked me about myself and why I wanted to join the Party, and then gave me the relevant information about the Party while replying to my queries. I had then completed my MBBS and was in medical practice, but was also doing my MA (Political Science) in Bombay University. That is why the Party asked me to work on the student front. For the next 17 years, I was one of the activists working first in the SFI and then in the DYFI. PBR was in charge of both these fronts and thus was my in-charge also.

We came closer when I gave up my medical practice and became a Party whole timer in 1983. From 1989 onwards, we worked together on the Jeevanmarg editorial board. In 1991, when I was elected to the Party state secretariat, I was directed by the Party to help PBR in the state centre. When I was elected Party state secretary in 2005, it was to PBR that I would turn for objective and dispassionate advice in difficult matters. During this entire period of three decades from 1978 to his demise in 2008, it was PBR who was my guide, philosopher, friend and mentor. It was he, more than anyone else, who taught me the ABC of Party and mass front functioning. It has stood me in good stead.

There is one piece of advice that he gave me, which I have never forgotten and have tried to follow. When I was elected to the state secretariat of the Party, there naturally used to be some occasions of differences of opinion among leading comrades on various political and organisational issues. Being a new member, in the beginning I used to keep quiet and avoid taking a stand one way or the other. PBR noticed this and told me one day, “What you are doing is wrong. You must speak and give your opinion freely and frankly, but in a balanced and controlled manner. Don’t base your stand on subjective considerations. Don’t be unduly influenced by individuals. Weigh the issue before you carefully and objectively, be it political or organisational. And always stand up for what you think is right, without fear or favour. That is the way of the Communist Party.”  That was sage advice indeed!   

Many are the fond memories that I will always cherish of my long and close association with PBR over 30 years. For lack of space, I shall relate only one, which is indelibly etched in my mind and which speaks volumes about his extraordinary determination and deep sense of responsibility.

In 2000-01, we were preparing for the All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) state conference at Parali Vaijnath in Beed district. PBR was then nearly 90 years old, but still used to come to the Party office fairly regularly. However, due to his declining health, Krishna Khopkar and I used to share his responsibilities at the Party state centre and for the bringing out of the state Party weekly Jeevanmarg. But both Khopkar and I would have to be out for nearly two months for the AIKS district conferences and for other preparations of the state conference. It so happened that Prabhakar Sanzgiri and Suman Sanzgiri were also abroad visiting their children during that time. So we told PBR that one of us would stay to help him and the other would go out for AIKS conference work.

PBR angrily retorted, “Nothing doing! Both of you must go! I am still alive and well! I will manage everything for two months! You don’t worry!” With the assistance of K L Bajaj and Mahendra Singh, PBR ran the state centre during that time. But he single-handedly brought out the 16-page issue of Jeevanmarg every week without fail during those two months! He used to stay in the Party office every day till late night to complete this work. It was by no means an easy task at his age.

After Khopkar and I came back from the AIKS state conference, PBR proudly showed us all the eight issues of the Party weekly and said, “See! I did what I promised! I held the fort alone for two months!” He was ill and nearing 90! Tears of love and admiration came to my eyes. And then came the thought – when almost all of us are much, much younger than 90 years of age, how many of us really work for the Party with the same kind of devotion, determination and sense of responsibility that PBR showed? This truly calls for an honest self-introspection.

The 18^th state conference of the Party held at Solapur in March 2005 was the last one that was attended by PBR. It was also the last state conference for three more of our senior and respected stalwarts – Prabhakar Sanzgiri, Ahilya Rangnekar and Gangadhar Appa Burande. For Krishna Khopkar, the 19^th Party state conference at Nandurbar in January 2008 was his last.

In their twilight years, we made special arrangements to bring PBR and Ahilyatai from Mumbai to the inaugural session and mass rally of the 31^st national conference of the AIKS at Nashik in January 2006. They were overwhelmed after seeing the one lakh strong peasant rally there and profusely congratulated all the AIKS activists from Maharashtra whom they met.

On the occasion of the birth centenary of Comrade P B Rangnekar, on behalf of the CPI(M) Maharashtra state committee and all our Party comrades in Maharashtra, and on behalf of the editorial board of Jeevanmarg, I pay heartfelt homage to his revolutionary memory.

Truly, when comes such another?