Analysis | All power and no struggle makes Comrades drop out of CPM in Kerala?

As the CPM gears up to sustain power for an unheard of third consecutive time in Kerala, a disturbing fact stares the party in the face. Its dropout rate, the number of members deserting the party, is on the rise.

There was a surge in CPM's Kerala membership after the second Pinarayi Ministry took over. From 5,27,174 members in 2021, its membership swelled to 5,74,261 in 2022, an increase of nearly 9 per cent.

And then it began to fall. In 2023 it was 5,67,123 and dropped further to 5,64,895 in 2024, a 1.63 per cent drop from 2022. Though the membership is still higher than the 2021 figure, the Kerala unit still considers the fall disconcerting as it coincided with the historic second term of the CPM-led LDF government. 

The CPM’s 'Report on Organisation', which was adopted at the 24th Congress at Madurai, Tamil Nadu, has taken this seriously. "Currently, a considerable number of members become inactive after joining the party and leave the party or have to be dropped. Droppage rates are high in many states (including Kerala)," the report states.

For instance, the number of candidate members dropped during renewals in 2024 is 22.8 per cent in Kerala. 'Candidate membership' is a one-year period in CPM when fresh recruits are trained politically, ideologically and organisationally to become whole-timers.

The party attributes the high "droppage" rate to the poor quality of the new recruits. "They are not fired by Left ideals but by the chance to attach themselves to power," a senior CPM leader said.

The party's official inference is a paraphrase of the senior CPM leader's observation. It feels that the new members are not blooded in mass struggles and, therefore, lack revolutionary zeal. The CPM considers whole-timers as "professional revolutionaries".

"Experience has shown that improving the quality of party members cannot be achieved through political education alone. Keeping members active requires their continuous involvement in activities relevant to people's daily lives. Sustained mass movements and struggles are essential for recruiting high-quality members and keeping existing members engaged and effective," says the CPM 'Report on Organisation'.

Here, power can be a disadvantage. A veteran party leader told Onmanorama that members had zero motivation for mass struggles when the party was in power. "In Kerala's case, the CPM has been in power for a decade. New members have experienced only a powerful party, not the one that struggled for the rights of workers and peasants," the veteran CPM leader, who called himself a "retired whole-timer", said.

In a seemingly lighter vein, he added: "Inside the party, where we are accused of using obscure pompous sounding terminology to explain political developments, we call it the inertia of parliamentarism."

Parliamentarism is no joke for the party, it is a sin. The CPM report describes how 'parliamentarism' manifests itself. "In some instances, cadres have even defied party decisions, particularly in local body elections. Furthermore, there are cases of candidates resorting to financial expenditures and methods similar to bourgeois parties. Some have engaged in groupism/factionalism, prioritising electoral ambitions over organisational unity," says the report.

Though not specifically stated, these are observations that can find ready examples in Kerala CPM.

Nonetheless, even if in power, the party can still mobilise masses for various political campaigns. The resistance against the onslaught of Hindutva is of paramount importance. Then, there is the need to oppose the BJP's New Labour Codes. 

The restructuring of the MGNREGA Act into Viksit Bharat–Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) – VB-G Ram G - Bill should also have galvanised the grassroots. "These are struggles that the party should have organised at the ward-level. But now the party seems satisfied with mere tokenism. We either conduct a seminar in the capital or organise a march to Central government offices. But this is not enough to awaken the masses," the leader said.

This local disconnect, according to the party, is the result of complacent branch committees. In the report, Kerala is not among the states that have taken steps to improve branch functioning. Among the 81,513 party branches in the country, 38,426 or 47 per cent belong to Kerala.

"Many states have acknowledged their weakness in improving branch functioning, but made little efforts to implement the Central Committee decision," the report states, without naming Kerala. The Central Committee decision, taken at the 2021 CPM Party Congress, was that every state committee has to identify certain branches and prioritise their functioning. Only the Tamil Nadu CPM State Committee has identified and prioritised 50 per cent branches and worked for improving their functioning. 

To resist Hindutva, these branch committees have to take up supplementary tasks. An important one is attracting the middle class.

"The party has been emphasising the importance of our work among growing sections of the middle-class as Hindutva communal forces are increasingly able to draw them under their influence," says the CPM report.

It admits that its traditional trade union work would not suffice. Instead, it emphasises the need for ideological messaging to the middle class "through citizens, cultural forums and apartment/residential welfare associations."

But for this to happen, the branch committees have to shed their smugness. The results of the local body polls, CPM leaders hope, would terrify them into action.