“Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people”
Karl Marx in “A Contribution to the Critique of Hegels Philosophy of Right”
Ever since Marx and Engels published ‘Das Kapital’ in 1867, Communist Marxist ideologies became one of the strong entities controlling world politics. Many political thinkers and politicians, in their quest to redirect the political systems from an already established way, tried to espouse the essence of the way of thought put forward by Marx and Engels, but whether they could achieve positive results in their quest in terms of national and people’s interest is always a matter for debate. As a matter of fact, Communist Marxist ideologies have been a core component that contributed to dramatic changes in the world political system in the 19th and 20 centuries but the ideology itself proved to be outdated and outwitted by the continuous success of liberal democracies around the world. It is true that no political systems are apt, feasible, and absolutely satisfiable in the people-centric viewpoint and what we expect is the least bad among the list of worst systems.
Throughout Indian history, the leftists in India have always been flawed in understanding and maintaining their own identity. Communist and Marxist ideologies were never meant to create an identifiable change in a vivid and vibrant society like India which was (and is) purely based on the religious, lingual, cultural, and caste-based divisions and interactions in the society. The self-styled Communist leaders in India were always balancing their identity in the ideological battles waged around the world, trying to satisfy themselves with their own interpretation of these unrealistic ideologies, deliberately and wittingly undermining the needs and wishes of the lower poor sections of the society whom they ought to have taken to the mainstream. The leaders confidently believed in the shibboleth of their ideology, the Godly intent that it wished to achieve by creating a non-oppressive, equalistic, satisfiable, and powerful society (not a leader) and thereby wilfully refused to see, understand and realize the ultimate weakness of the same ideology which created the world’s infamous, inhuman and bloodthirsty dictators. There are arguments that the ideology is sacred and the way and means with which it was implemented in the political systems created the megalomaniacs who ruthlessly ruled in the name of the ideology. On the contrary, it can be seen that the ideology itself was flawed and it paved a way for these megalomaniacs to reach the top of the political systems and use their unquestionable power politically, socially, culturally, and economically to destroy the society itself.
Ideology and Politics
Most of the time, politics is deeply rooted in ideologies. It is a fact that the proponents of major social and political thoughts could never establish their own power or rule in nation-states and try to implement their ideology as it is. History has exceptions like Mussolini or Hitler (though Nazism as an ideology developed by Anton Drexler) who tried to implement their own ideology in a society and we could learn from their experiments. The ideology groomed and developed by Marx and Engels was aimed at the development of the sidelined sections of the society but what is presented to the world was wars, destitution, genocide, political and moral corruption. The ideology itself was imperfect and the inherent impractical base of the ideology backfired, destroying the political, social, and economic structure of many societies and its repercussions are still going on around the world. No ideology can deny that humans have their own identities, characteristics, and emotions and these powerful mediums ultimately lead individuals in a society who collectively constitute a nation-state.
Communism, Marxism and Power Politics
The most underestimated inherent weakness of Communism and Marxism was its utter inability to prevent the concentration of power in certain individuals. History is the absolute truth and shows us so many examples where the socialist ideologies have pitifully failed to realize the aspirations of the society and the individual citizens who constitute the society, in the long term. The short-lived shining star, Soviet Union, nations in Eastern Europe and Africa, the monstrous regimes in South Asia, the leftists of South America, and numerous small nations have failed to act as equal and powerful opponents of nations driven by the capitalist ideology and this itself proves the inherent and consistent flows of the ideology itself, rather than the flaws in the ways and means it was implemented. Communism and Marxism were never a threat to the capitalists but it was a stepping stone for them to prove the worthiness and brilliance of the liberal capitalist ideologies.
The Curious Case of China
China identifies itself as a Socialist state with Chinese Characteristics. It is needless to say that China relies on the words “Communism” or “Socialism” to legitimize the authority of its autocratic leaders over the people. It is true that a non-democratic, one-party, autarchic dictatorship can effortlessly bring rapid economic growth to the country, and with sufficient propaganda, the regime can create a social stigma that the society needs the rule of the strong leadership to keep the jealous jackals like the United States and the west from destroying the nation. Under Hitler, Germany could revive the German economy in a matter of a few years and became one of the fastest developing nations in the world. The leadership in China is trying to follow the same path and do the same successfully. The institution of the Chinese Communist Party itself is the biggest bourgeoisie corporate in the world, oppressing and exploiting an entire society in the name of socialistic ideologies. The wooden-headed leadership of the self-styled Indian communists wholeheartedly idolized the Communist Party of China, appreciating the uncompromising tyrannical tendencies and decisions taken by the regime, nationally and internationally. These parties and their leaders have always been the infamous hypocrites the Indian political system has ever groomed in the last 100 years.
Indian Perspective – Conclusion
India has never been a fertile ground for the political experiments for Communists and Indian political, social, and economic conditions could have never been utilized by these self-styled socialist groups or parties to their benefit. It is quite difficult to groom a constructive concentrated viewpoint in a multilingual, multiethnic, multi-religious, and traditional society like India, and the war that Communists waged for India ultimately resulted in defeat except for a few victories in some small battles. But ultimately, there is no doubt that socialist ideologies will be buried in the political soil of India, and liberal democrats, centrist democrats, and right-wing democrats will prevail in this nation. The people who still believe in the waning socialist ideology are living in a fetish world and they are the ones who take this country back to the dark ages. Human beings cannot be controlled in their quest to ultimate freedom and the failure of Marxian Socialism is that it viewed human beings as just manageable objects in the revolutions for the success of the ideology. Marxian Socialists failed to understand that when a man is dead, his ideology is dead too.
