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ShareNew Delhi: For this week in November, Comrade Prakash Karat seems to have become Prof Karat, as the CPI(M) is holding a series of lectures for its cadre, a re-education of sorts on what it means to be a Marxist in India today.
Karat and other senior leaders like politburo members Sitaram Yechury, SR Pillai, Brinda Karat and MK Pandhe will be lecturing nearly 130 students for over five days.
The topics range from globalisation and identity politics (lecture delivered by Karat), to trade unionism in the world of BPOs (MK Pandhe) to organisational matters and how to handle them. Although lectures have been arranged in the past, this year they are linked to the rectification campaign finalised by the party earlier.
"This is the first in the series of such lectures and these will be repeated in the states," a senior CPI(M) leader said. After posting its worst ever electoral performance in 32 years, the CPI(M) decided that its cadre required to relearn Marxism, especially in the Indian context.
"Indian communism is unique as it thrives in the midst of a democracy, in a multi-identity society. And while Marxism gains from an internationalism, globalisation and post modernism have thrown up newer challenges," said a participant from Kerala. A special lecture on the Indo-US nuclear deal and the CPI(M)'s role in the UPA is also scheduled.
