277
Views
3
CrossRef citations to date
0
Altmetric
Original Articles

Communists and democracy: Two Indian cases and one debate

Pages 63-76 | Published online: 05 Jul 2019

References

  • Therborn, Göran , 1977. "The Rule of Capital and the Rise of Democracy". In: New Left Review . 1977, no. 103.
  • Törnquist, Olle , 1989. What's Wrong with Marxism? On Capitalists and State in India and Indonesia . New Delhi: Manohar Publications; 1989, chaps. 5 and 6.
  • Törnquist, Olle , 1991. What's Wrong with Marxism? Vol. 2: On Peasants and Workers in India and Indonesia . New Delhi: Manohar Publications, forthcoming; 1991.
  • Frankel, Francine , 1971. India's Green Revolution: Economic Gains and Political Costs . Princeton University Press; 1971, In this section I draw on results from an evaluation of the political struggles for land reforms in Kerala, West Bengal, and on Java. All sources are found in Törnquist, What's Wrong? Vol. 2. In the following text I give priority to references with special emphasis on local democracy, while sources relating to the more general struggle for land reforms are excluded because of lack of space and time. This means that there are comparatively few references in support of the first analysis of Kerala. The best studies, which I frequently draw on, include; K.N. Raj and M. Tharakan, “Agrarian Reform in Kerala and Its Impact on the Rural Economy—A Preliminary Assessment,” in Agrarian Reform in Contemporary Developing Countries, ed. A.K. Ghose (New Delhi: Selectbook Service Syndicate, 1984); TJ. Nossiter, Communism in Kerala: A Study in Political Adaptation (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1982); the writings of Ronald Herring, particularly Land to the Tiller: The Political Economy of Agrarian Reform in South Asia (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1983); and “Managing the ‘Great Transformation’: The Truly Awkward Class in Rural Development,” Paper delivered at the International Workshop on Rural Transformation in Asia (New Delhi, 2–4 Oct. 1986).
  • Mitter, Swasi , 1977. Peasant Movements in West Bengal . Cambridge University; 1977. pp. 48–48, Dept. of Land Economy, Occasional Paper no. 8; See also the revealing statement by the late main CPI-M peasant leader Konar in Bhabani Sen Gupta, CPI-M: Promises, Prospects, Problems (New Delhi: Young Asia Publications, 1979), pp. 74f.
  • Mukhopadhyay, A.K. , 1980. The Panchayat Administration in West Bengal . Calcutta: The World Press; 1980. pp. vi–vi.
  • Gupta, Sen , 1982. Documents of the Eleventh Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) . New Delhi: Desraj Chadha and the CPI-M; 1982. pp. 168–168, CPI-M, p. 125. The CPI-M says that it contested 47,000 seats. See.
  • Gupta, Sen , CPI-M . pp. 118–134.
  • 1985. Reports of the CPI-M and Its Various Frontal Activities (1982–1985) . Calcutta: Sushil Chowdhury and West Bengal CPI-M State Committee; 1985. pp. 68–68, part 1; and part 2, p. 145. Cf. Amit Roy, “Panchayat Polls Reviewed,” in Frontier (Calcutta), 25 June 1983.
  • Chaudhuri, Kalyan , 1988. "Testing Time for Left Front in West Bengal". In: Economic and Political Weekly (EPW) . 1988, and “CPI(M) Rides Left Front Squabbles,” in EPW, 19 Mar. 1988.
  • Mukhopadhyay, , The Panchayat Administration . pp. vii–xvii, chap. 12; S. Dasgupta and L.S.N. Murty, Panchayati Raj Institutions in West Bengal: A Study in Communist Participation (New Delhi: National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, 1983), pp. 9-14; and Sen Gupta, CPI-M, pp. 134-39. Cf. also Significant Six Years of the Left Front Government of West Bengal (Sushil Chowdhury and West Bengal CPI-M State Committee, 1983), pp. 50ff.
  • Dasgupta, Biplab , 1987. Monitoring and Evaluation of the Agrarian Reform Programme of West Bengal . Calcutta: Mimeographed manuscript; 1987. pp. 39–39, part 1; part 2, pp. 46-52; and part 3, pp. 9f. I also draw on discussions in New Delhi with the author (who is also a CPI-M agrarian reform organizer, peasant leader, and member of the union parliament), 16 and 17 Nov. 1988. Cf. the CPI-M leader and ex-leading member of the West Bengal state planning board Satyabrata Sen's way of putting it: “The panchayats undermine the power of the landlords. Now people come instead to the panchayats to get advice, etc.” Interview by author, Calcutta, 20 Feb. 1985.
  • Herring, , Great Transformation . pp. 32–32, Managing the.
  • Westergaard, Kirsten , 1986. People's Participation, Local Government and Rural Development: The Case of West Bengal, India . Copenhagen: Centre for Development Research Report no. 8; 1986, Cf. also Boudhayan Chattopadhyay et al., Agrarian Structure, Tensions, Movements, and Peasant Organisations in West Bengal 1936–1976: Vol. 1, Part 3: Field Reports, (Calcutta: Manuscript, 1983), on the predominance of parties as compared to mass organizations.
  • 1968. Asian Drama: An Inquiry into the Poverty of Nation . New York: {cxNew York}; 1968. pp. 1063f–1063f.
  • Dasgupta, Biplab , 1986. "Comprehensive Rural Development: The CADC Experience". In: Dantwala, M.L. , , eds. Asian Seminar on Rural Development: The Indian Experience . New Delhi: Oxford and IBH Publishing Co.; 1986. pp. 356–356.
  • Dasgupta, , Monitoring and Evaluation . pp. 31–31, part 2; part 3.
  • Westergaard, , People's Participation . pp. 90–90, and Ashok Rudra, “Panchayati Raj,” in Frontier, 9 Jan. 1982. I also draw on my interview with the then finance minister Ashok Mitra, Calcutta, 5 Mar. 1985.
  • Mukhopadhyay, , The Panchayat Administration . pp. xviii–xviii, chap. 12.
  • Documents of the Eleventh Congress . pp. 173–173.
  • Roy, Amit , 1983. "Panchayat Polls Reviewed". In: Frontier . 1983.
  • Westergaard, , People's Participation . pp. 79–79, Profulla Roy Choudhury, Left Experiment in West Bengal (New Delhi: Patriot Publishers, 1984), p. 161 (referring to a West Bengal government workshop); and T.K. Ghosh, Operation Barga and Land Reforms (Delhi: B.R. Publishing Corporation, 1986), pp. 83f.
  • Bose, Pardip Kumar , 1984. Classes in Rural Society . Delhi: Ajanta Publications; 1984. pp. 213–213, for examples from the early seventies.
  • Sethi, Harsh , 1984. "Groups in a New Politics of Transformation". In: Ofstad, Arve , , ed. Policy Issues for Indo-Norwegian Development Cooperation . Oslo: NORAD; 1984, in EPW.
  • Kothari, Rajni , 1983. "The Non-Party Political Process". In: The Non-Party Political Process: Uncertain Alternatives . Delhi: UNRISD/Lokayan; 1983. pp. 28–30, (Also in EPW, 4 Feb. 1984.) Cf. Sudipta Kaviraj, “On the Crisis of Political Institutions in India,” in Contributions to Indian Sociology, New Series, vol. 18, no. 2 (1984).
  • Frank, A.G. , and Fuentes, M. , 1987. "Nine theses on social movements". In: EPW . 1987. pp. 1503–1503.
  • EPW . pp. 1505–1505.
  • EPW . pp. 1509–1509.
  • Patankar, Bharat , 1985. Transcendence of the Traditional Communist Movement: The Case of India . Kasegaon, Maharashtra: manuscript; 1985.
  • Karat, Parkash , 1984. "Action Groups/Voluntary Organisations: A Factor in Imperialist Strategy". In: The Marxist . 1984, and Foreign Funding and The Philosophy of Voluntary Organisations: A Factor in Imperialist Strategy (New Delhi: Rajendra Prasad and National Book Centre, 1988).
  • Karat, , Foreign Funding . pp. 57–57.
  • Foreign Funding . pp. 14–14, for example.
  • Foreign Funding . pp. 16–16, for example.
  • Foreign Funding . pp. 10–10.
  • Foreign Funding . pp. 30–30.
  • Foreign Funding . pp. 13–13.
  • Karat, , Foreign Funding . pp. 45–45.
  • Foreign Funding . pp. 65–65.
  • Petras, James , 1989. "Metamorphosis of Latin America's intellectuals". In: EPW . 1989.
  • Dhanagare, D. , and John, J. , 1988. "Cyclical Movement Toward the ‘Eternal’". In: EPW . 1988.
  • Parra, Bosco , 1991. "Labour and democracy in Chile". In: Brandell, Inga , , ed. Strategies and Practices: Workers in Third World Industrialisation . London: Macmillan, forthcoming; 1991.
  • 1983. Beyond the State? Dominant Theories and Socialist Strategies . London: Macmillan; 1983.
  • Törnquist, , What's Wrong? . Vol. 1.
  • 1988. Frontline . 1988, and particularly the computer analysis in Frontline, 18 Apr.-l May.
  • Frontline .
  • Törnquist, Olle , 1987. "Krav på fördjupad demokrati i Kerala ledde till valseger". In: Socialistisk Debatt . 1987, Demands for democratisation in Kerala led to electoral victory; no. 5; I am particularly thankful for valuable discussions with senior researchers with the Centre for Development Studies in Trivandrum-Michael Tharakan, Trivandrum, 20 July 1987; John Kurien, Trivandrum, 20 July 1987; and Thomas Issac, Trivandrum, 21 July 1987-as well as with Nalini Nayak, 21 July 1987; and leading intellectual and journalist within the CPI-M in Kerala, Govinda Pillai, Trivandrum, 20 and 23 July 1987; plus with senior anthropologist Richard Franke, Kovalam, 22 July 1987, with experience from Java and recently during the 1987 elections in Kerala.
  • 1988. Frontline . 1988.
  • 1988. Peoples' Democracy . 1988.

Reprints and Corporate Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

To request a reprint or corporate permissions for this article, please click on the relevant link below:

Academic Permissions

Please note: Selecting permissions does not provide access to the full text of the article, please see our help page How do I view content?

Obtain permissions instantly via Rightslink by clicking on the button below:

If you are unable to obtain permissions via Rightslink, please complete and submit this Permissions form. For more information, please visit our Permissions help page.