Abhinandan Granth (English Article)

However one may look with great misgivings at the Communists, they are bound to remain a force in this country, influencing the course of the Left with all the prestige and power of the socialist world at their back. If it were to take to democratic and parliamentary method as they have formally accepted at Amritsar in all sincerity, it would be able to rally round more people. Frustrated middle-class, expanding industrial labour and the vast army of landless in the country are the sections where the Left is bound to get more support. But, un­fortunately, no Left Party, not even the Communists, has got a sound peasant base. They are struggling to enlist the support more from the industrial labour and the frustrated middle class.

With the exception of the Congress, there is no other party which could claim organisational net­work covering the entire country. Next to the Congress, the Communist Party had the largest organisational centres in the different parts of the country. Praja Socialist Party would perhaps stand third in the list on the Left side. This is the position of the Left on the national level. Social democratic parties all over the world are in decline. Some of the intellectuals among them have reached a conclusion that an alternative Govern­ment in Parliamentary democracy is more a myth than a reality. Neither the Communists nor the Praja Socialists, left to themselves or in combina­tion with other groups or parties, are in a position to mobilise sufficient strength to undertake the responsibility of the Government and to run it. Except for emphasis on certain aspect of the pro­gramme, there is no radical difference in the pro­grammes of the Congress and the Left. In the broad historic context, it is apparent that the Left in India will have to struggle in wilderness for some years to come.

Though Congress adopted socialism as its objec­tive, it has not so far given enough thought to the development of organisational pattern that would serve as an instrument to bring about socio­economic transformation. It had not given suffi­cient thought nor directed its efforts to train ideological cadres wedded to the creed, so that they could mobilise the masses to support and under­write the implementation of the Plans of develop­ment.
Pandit Nehru's approach, as he himself admits, has always been the mass approach or the public meeting approach. It has no doubt been instru­mental to a large extent in advancing social con­sciousness among the people and creating a broad mass sanction to the policies advanced by the Congress. Socio-economic basis of the Indian revo­lution is still weak and incomplete. With all its inherent weaknesses, Congress alone is destined to fulfil the historic mission.