Revolution is never a negative politics. It is not the politics of the opposition, but the politics of the alternative. It is not the politics of merely a new party, it is the politics of a new class.
- Comrade A.K. Roy, in Birsa to Lenin: A New Dalit Revolution
The merger of the Marxist Coordination Committee (MCC) with CPI-ML (Liberation) is a good time to revisit the legacy of Comrade AK Roy – the founder and arguably the tallest leader of the MCC. Those of us involved in building a Left democratic politics, to fight both the Hindutva/corporate regime and to overturn the inadequacies of pre-Hindutva liberal democracy, have a lot to learn from the life and vision of Comrade Roy.
Much has been written about his commitment, simplicity, and dedication. But what political tendency did he represent? And what possibilities does his stream of the Left hold for building a new democratic India?
The influence of Marxism on Indian society and politics extends beyond the leading Communist parties. Throughout the twentieth century, activists, lawyers, judges, intellectuals, writers, artists, and even bureaucrats, have held strong Marxist leanings, although not all of them were officially affiliated to the Communist parties. Some of them have worked closely with fraternal democratic streams – Dalit Bahujan Adivasi movements, women’s movements, environmental movements, movements for self-determination, among others. In the process, the so-called “independent” Marxists, have enriched these streams, as well as widened the import of Marxism in the Indian context. Their work, in turn, have significantly influenced the work of Communist Parties.
AK Roy and Shankar Guha Niyogi are two of the tallest names in the list of “independent” Left political leaders. Both Roy and Niyogi peaked as leaders in the 1970s and 80s – a time of fresh churnings in the Left movement. Both dug deep in their chosen terrains – the former in the Chhota Nagpur region of the then Bihar and the later in the Chhattisgarh region of the then Madhya Pradesh. Both masterfully used their locations to experiment and throw up fresh possibilities for the Left and for Indian democracy.
Roy and Niyogi brought together class-based and identity-oriented politics and pioneered the movements for separate statehood for Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh respectively. Both challenged unequal development and internal colonialism, and established these as key elements of a Left-democratic transformative agenda. They gave a powerful social and political orientation to economic struggles, especially the trade-union movement, and set glorious examples of continuous grassroots work.
AK Roy also led the way in brining peoples’ voices into the Parliament through his stints in Bihar Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha. Notably, his three stints in the Lok Sabha, materialized without the electoral backing of any mainstream political party. It was largely a product of MCC’s organizational work in the complicated coal mafia-infested terrain of Dhanbad. In the Parliament, Roy voiced the needs of the Dalit, Adivasi and working people of Chhota Nagpur, who were victims of economic exploitation, social discrimination, unequal development and internal colonization.
Roy emphasized that casteism, inequality, the state’s centralizing tendencies, class inequality, are core questions in our national democratic project. At the same time, struggles against these are unlikely to succeed unless underpinned by a systemic challenge to feudalism, capitalism and imperialism. The current generation of CPI-ML leaders are not only trying to strengthen their own practice along these lines, but also trying to integrate these into the larger anti-fascist / democratic agenda. Coming in this context, the CPI-ML / MCC merger is a convergence from below of two democratic currents.
Each of Roy’s major interventions holds out valuable lessons for building a Left-democratic alternative in Indian politics. A co-founder of the Jharkhand movement, Roy strongly supported regional autonomy – not for the enrichment of the regional feudal and big business interests, but for the empowerment of the people. For Jharkhand, this of course means that fighting communal-corporate interests must be an integral part of the Jharkhand identity. Extended to the national plane, this implies that the demand for federalism must be underpinned by a vision of pro-people regional development.
Roy’s efforts towards class-based organizing involved a unique combination of economic struggles, social initiatives, and political awareness. MCC’s activities had a strong trade union base but it was not limited to union work. It extended to community organizing and a range of grassroots initiatives. Parallel to Shankar Guha Niyogi and the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha (CMM), Roy and MCC’s work presents a comprehensive approach to class-based organizing: much needed in times of increasing contractualization of work, and a migratory and precarious working class.
Organizing among Dalits and Adivasis, Roy realized the significance of a social revolution, parallel to attempts to capture political power, and wanted Marxists to spearhead it. His emphasis on social transformation alongside political transformation places Roy firmly in continuity with the Phule-Ambedkar tradition. Social initiatives are indeed of great importance at a time when Hindutva/corporate culture has infiltrated Indian society deeply enough to hold sway despite a few electoral defeats of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).
Never comfortable with the pigeonholing of Indian society into neat categories, Roy believed that feudalism, capitalism and colonialism all existed in Indian society in varying proportions. At a time when we are trying to understand the structure of the Hindutva/corporate state and its location as a sub-imperial power in the United States-Israel axis, Roy insights are well-taken.
Above all, it is Roy’s open-mindedness and ideological clarity that enabled him to build an “independent” organization that believed in and practiced Left-democratic solidarity right form the start. This approach has played a key role in enabling the merger. Roy is no longer around to teach us how it is done, but his legacy is a lesson in itself.
Independent Left initiatives have always had a depth of practice, but today they must join hands with Left parties to build a powerful Left democratic alternative. Left parties must also be willing to integrate a wide range of democratic tendencies in order to better consolidate the Left voice on the national and international planes. Perhaps the CPI-ML / MCC merger will pave the way for more of such convergences from below. That will be the best tribute to Comrade Roy’s life and work.
