[lbo-talk] Poll rout leaves India's communists a spent force

[ravi]

On May 20, 2009, at 10:14 PM, Bhaskar Sunkara wrote:
> And capital will lead to development and
> modernity, I don't see any of the far left parties--- the CPI-ML,  
> Naxalites,
> etc, as being anything other than a reactionary force responding to  
> the
> historically progressive role of the bourgeois in India and no  
> amount of
> dependency theory or Leninist dicta can persuade me otherwise.
>
>>
> From this standpoint I welcomed the election results on a level due  
> to the
> defeat of the Indian far right and its communalist policies, but I  
> do regret
> the fact that left-forces will not be able to pressure Congress like  
> they
> did with their minimal programme last election cycle.

And the reason why the loss of the Left (to me that includes the end  
of the revival represented in the Janata Party, in response to Indira  
Gandhi) -- the ideology, not the parties -- is of particular concern  
is because I think the historically progressive role of the bourgeois  
is at an end as they turn more libertarian in their outlook, rid of  
both political and religious education or indoctrination.

Michael McIntyre writes:
> Not only do we impute a single intention to an electorate of over  
> 400 million,
> but that intention just happens to reflect the preoccupations of the
> chattering classes.  Causal inference as a party game.

Michael, I don't think it’s a case of single intention, nor is it a  
party game (the political goings on in India matter to me, including  
at a very personal level, a lot more than to those who may borrow  
events for pushing some favoured [Western] political philosophy).  
Rather, the legitimate question is: what are the factors and reasons  
behind the significant victory for the Congress Party?

	--ravi