(Document adopted at the Second National Consultative Conference of the Communist Ghadar Party of India, held on December 29-30, 1993.)
Preface
We are standing at a very particular time in history, a time when the world bourgeoisie and reaction are launching their greatest offensive against the livelihood of the people and against the progress of society. There is a great offensive against Communism and many parties have turned their backs on the ideology and vision crucial for the working class to emancipate itself. This is a period of the retreat of revolution, the ebb of revolution, a period when the forces of counter-revolution are on the offensive.
The Second National Consultative Conference was organised by the Communist Ghadar Party of India (CGPI) as part of the struggle to preserve the progressive forces and expand their ranks, to extend the space where the doctrine of communism can flourish and to prepare for the time when the working class and people will launch their own offensive against the world bourgeoisie.
The bourgeoisie in India has launched an unprecedented attack on the livelihood and rights of the people. It is blocking the path for the progress of society. At the same time it is caught up in a profound crisis, especially in the political sphere. To say that this crisis is because of the refusal of the working class and people to go along with the political system as it exists in the country today will be to state the obvious. It cannot be denied that the present economic and political system just does not work. It does not provide for the people. The system cannot benefit society and is only exacerbating the contradictions inherent to it. It is also doing the same internationally.
It will be another truism to say that the reason why the people of India suffer such problems as poverty, communal and other forms of violence, state terrorism, national strife and every kind of diversion, is because they do not have power. Hence the most important question which presents itself is how to provide the people with power. This is the key question of modern democracy and it is a challenge to the communists, to the working class and all those who are genuinely concerned about the plight of the people in India to provide a solution to this problem. Such a question cannot be answered without the clearest possible enunciation of the theme, What Kind of Party?
Addressing the problem of how people can come to power poses a number of burning questions. There is the question of dealing with the existing parliamentary system, especially the role of the political parties; there is the question of the political process and the question of empowerment of the people. In reality, these problems are organically linked with one another and its is within this context that the questionwhat kind of party is needed to ensure the empowerment of the peoplehas emerged as the most important problem requiring immediate theoretical and practical answers.
The CGPI has organised itself as a political party of the working class. However, the reality is that the vanguard of the Indian working class is split into many parties and groups. This is the single most important subjective factor holding back the revolution. To build the unity of the working class, and to restore the unity of its vanguard communist party, is the need of the hour. The discussion on unity can no longer be delayed because, even in such critical times, various factions of the fractured communist movement are sending entirely different and contradictory messages to the class. The time has come to elaborate these matters in full view of the class and answer the question, What Kind of Party? Once such a question is elaborated, all those in whose interest it is to build such a party will join together while those who persist on the path of disunity will part company.
It is for this reason that for Party estimates that the work initiated by this conference is one of the most important tasks of the present period. No party can carry on the basis of an outmoded programme or obsolete tactics. The communists of today must have the resilience to deal with the present problems of the movement and of society, as was done by the communists before within their own conditions.
In the course of elaborating the question What Kind of Party? the CGPI will work for the restoration of communist unity as the main means of strengthening the working class movement, while at the same time uniting with all the political forces for the empowerment of the people.
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What Kind of Party?
http://www.cgpi.org/pages/documents/wkp.aspx
