KOLKATA, Oct 5 (IANS): The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Wednesday admitted it had failed to read the mood of the people, who voted it out to end its 34-year rule in West Bengal.
In a frank assessment of what had gone wrong with the country's biggest Communist party, CPI-M leader Biman Bose confessed the Marxists had failed to produce ideal Communists.
"We could not groom ideal Communist leaders and workers," the state secretary said after an in-depth analysis of the Left Front's electoral defeat in May.
Writing in the special issue of the party's publication 'Desh Hitaishi', the 71-year-old identified several shortcomings in the party's programmes, organisation and in implementing decisions.
He also spoke of attitudinal deficiencies, at various levels, and called upon party workers to strengthen the organisation.
The point by Bose is significant as he is considered the topmost leader in the CPI-M in West Bengal.
He wields enormous influence in the party because of his acceptability to the lowest ranking party cadres.
"We failed to work from the state level to the lowermost branch tier with the attitude required and in the way we should have rallied the people around," the politburo member said.
He said the party failed to consolidate unity among the rural poor, making it a victim of a misinformation campaign conducted by the Trinamool and its allies.
He said the CPI-M failed to learn from the setbacks of the 2008 Panchayat polls and did not lay emphasis on the need to cater to the rural poor.
In urban areas, the party did not organise movements in the interest of marginalized sections.
"The sum total of all these mistakes was that a section of the poor people got confused and veered away from us."
Despite its rout, the Left Front led by the CPI-M is the main opposition in the state. The CPI-M has 3.20 lakh members in the state.
Speaking of lack of communication from the top to the bottom, Bose said: "We have to do lot of soul-searching to launch a continuous struggle for increasing the acceptability of our party to the masses."
He said while the party organisation betrayed slackness, the reluctance and inactivity among some party members on particular issues weakened its strength.
"After the defeat in the assembly polls, leaders, members and close associates of the party are somewhat disappointed," he said.
"We have to stress activating the committees at all levels and sensitising the members to raise its capacity to launch struggles."
Calling for collective functioning at all levels, Bose regretted the drawbacks at district secretariat level and below.
He said he was confident the Trinamool regime would fall one day. However, "we cannot foretell like astrologers how long this situation will continue".
"The most important work now is to strengthen the party organisation and raise the consciousness of party leaders and workers."
