CPI-M will brood over setbacks at 20th congress

Kozhikode (Kerala) -  The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) will hold its 20th party congress here starting Wednesday to discuss its recent electoral setbacks and the way ahead in an  era of coalition politics.

The six-day meeting will also see brainstorming on a variety of national and international issues, ranging from economic crisis in the West to the Arab Spring to climate change.

But topping the agenda will be an intense debate on ideology for the country's largest Communist party and also among the few Communist parties in the world that still worship Stalin.

According to organisers, there will be 734 delegates, 70 observers and 11 veteran leaders. No foreign delegate will attend the congress this time -- by itself a rarity.

The congress will conclude April 9 with a "Red Volunteer" march comprising 25,000 activists of the Communist Party of India-Marxist.

According to Kerala secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, this would be a historic session as it was in 1968 that ideological resolutions were last taken up for discussion.

The major issues listed in the draft ideological resolution include the working of imperialism in the era of globalisation, the capitalist crisis, world capitalism today, developments in socialist

countries, socialism in Indian conditions, and challenges to Marxism.

Other subject that will be debated are the debt crisis in Europe, Afghanistan and Pakistan, North Africa and West Asia, popular uprisings in Arab countries and climate change.

Last year's electoral rout in West Bengal, which marked the end of 34 years of Left Front rule, and the Left defeat in Kerala will also come up for discussion.

Inner party tussles, especially in Kerala, will also be discussed.

The organisers want to ensure that the media is kept at bay so that there are no embarrassing leaks.

The CPI-M, founded in 1964, now rules only Tripura, and it has now become an opposition party in West Bengal.

The Left Front led by the CPI-M has ruled West Bengal from 1977 to 2011 -- a record that many came to envy.