EDIT: 1942-2007 - The Left Years

A look at the history of Left assertions

Beyond the sound bites of the immediate political crisis which the Left parties have worked up over the nuclear deal, lies a larger predicament. This is not the first time that the Indian Left has taken a stand that is eye-catchingly at odds with the national mainstream. This is not the first time it has invited accusations that its tactical — or ideological — postures are inspired or dictated by national interests of other countries.

This will not be the first time that Left parties will be paying a price for completely misreading the national moment. The only difference is that unlike in the past, Left wrong-footedness will take a higher political toll on it. The Left has more at stake this time, and therefore it has more to lose.A line appears to run through the stances taken by India’s Left in 1942, 1962 and 2007. In 1942, the Communist Party of India officially refused to endorse the impassioned call to ‘Quit India’.

The reason was not far to seek, or only as far as Moscow. In 1941, Hitler had attacked the Soviet Union; for Indian communists, the fight against Nazism had become a people’s war, and Britain an ally. In 1962, a section of Indian communists chose to support China. It was a position that led to an implosion in the Party; it split into two. But there was no resolution, really. The consequences of both those choices — in 1942 as well as in 1962 — have continued to chase the communist movement in India.

They have lingered in the public consciousness as a reminder of the Indian Left’s lack of ease with its own place in the nation-state, defined not merely as a geographical entity but as a bounded way of political and cultural being. Now the Left’s knee-jerk opposition to the Indo-US nuclear deal again suggests a lack of empathy for the national consensus, and a sympathy for China’s position on the issue.But in another sense, the Left parties of 2007 have come a long way. In 1942 they were still swaggering towards a World Revolution that was never to be.

By 1962 the first communist government had already been formed — and dismissed — but they were still not real stakeholders in the system. In 2007, however, after the remarkable parliamentary success notched in 2004, and with the UPA critically dependent on Left support, Left parties are very much in the system. So this time, the price of irresponsibility is much higher.