> I could be wrong, but I thought the Kerala Communist Party was still
> strongly ideologically motivated, while the Bengal CP was much more a
> patronage operation?
>
> Dedicated cadres will get you very far at avoiding various kinds of
> patronage and rent-seeking -based government failure for a generation
> or so...
I don't think there is such a difference the Kerala and Bengal units of CPM. (The Left in India, as you probably know, consists of various parties in coalition, of which CPM is the largest.) Both are ideologically motivated.
Ulhas