KOCHI: There is an overt disconnect between the Marxist followers in Kerala, one of the last surviving pockets of Communist influence, and ardent supporters of Karl Marx elsewhere as the world celebrated the 200th birth anniversary of the legendary socialist. The world over, political workers and socialist acolytes, are celebrating the Marxist praxis purged of Stalinism, while in Kerala the dyed-in-the wool cadre gloat over the Stalinist legacy of elimination of political rivals. This perhaps partly explains the observance of Marx’s 200 years here without the usual fanfare that attends commemorations for the likes of revolutionaries such as Che Guevara.
The ambience at Fine Arts Hall in Ernakulam was certainly not filled with revolutionary fervour. The mood was rather grim on Saturday as Mr Prakash Karat, former CPM general secretary, and a slew of other CPM leaders deliberated on the “contemporary relevance of Marx”. Although Prof Prabhat Patnaik, politburo member MA Baby, Finance Minister T M Thomas Isaac and many others spoke with the usual panache, the widening disconnect between the new generation and the mainstream Left was evident as the majority of the listeners belonged to the 40-plus generation.
The many empty seats in the hall conveyed a more realistic image of the reality of Marxism in Kerala than the familiar rhetoric by Mr Karat and others. The seminar was organized by EMS Study and Research Centre in Kochi. In Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city, the event was limited to a book festival by Chintha Publishers inaugurated by CPM State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan. The lacklustre celebration in the State, when CPM is in power, is in contrast to a series of free-wheeling discourses on Marx and his ideas in other parts of the world.
Apart from known clichés about the infallibility of Marxism, speakers in Kochi failed to galvanise listeners with fresh insights into issues facing the people at large. An alliance of working class and peasants against the ruling class and the inherent nature of capitalist crisis are themes debated for more than 100 years. Maybe Marx deserved something better, in Malayalam, one of the first Indian languages to have a biography of the German more than 100 years ago.
