Is the Left Right?

The inter-relationships within the left-socialist, communist, extremist, activist, people's movements - have inevitably been complex, tenuous, uneasy and recriminatory. Frequent interaction - ideological, strategic, people, funding -takes place between the various strands. In the broad spectrum of action perspectives, all strands are playing a mutually complementary role, feeding into and off each other.

Tension at the meeting points is tremendous: territoriality,  resources, ideology, etc. In 1984, Prakash Karat of the Communist Party (Marxist) took the line that NGOs were agents of imperialist designs that softened up poor peasants and workers and dimmed their revolutionary fervour, causing them to fall prey to capitalist designs and unknowingly participate in their own exploitation!

After fifteen years, the stance seems quite prophetic. Foreign donor agencies find that funding from people at large is drying up, and that they are becoming increasingly dependent on their National Governments.  The Governments in turn are increasingly putting conditions on grants that seem to promote the agenda of the Northern Rich, the major donors.

Left Political Parties and NGOs: Ideologically, there is a natural affinity between the various strands of dissenting ideological positions and action groups and left parties. But in the field, when they operate in close proximity, and seem to encroach upon each other's territory or sphere of influence, antipathy may not know bounds. NGOs that develop a strong community or mass base are perceived as encroaching upon the domain of the left political party.

In Maharashtra, the Kashtakari Sanghatana, with a strong rural base among the tribals of Dahanu, north of Bombay, was targeted by the local CPM cadre that felt threatened by the inroads the Sanghatana was perceived to have made into their constituency. Besides recrimination, physical violence was also used.

In the tribal areas of North Andhra Pradesh, another organisation, Samatha, was targeted by the PWG, and the organisers of the NGO had to stop their work, first in East Godavari District, and then in Visakhapatnam District. The latter happened just after the organisation had won a resounding victory for the local tribal communities in their struggle against the collusion of the government with industry to set up a mining complex against the wishes of the local community, flouting existing laws.

While at one level, these can be perceived as inter-personal conflicts, at another level, it is at the meeting points that differences in perspective and ideology grow out of proportion, and physical conflict erupts. The relationships at the larger level also sometimes get affected. Away from falshpoint situations natural affinities prevail, but these take time to percolate to the ground level.
Trends in Relations with Political Parties

First, political parties based on clearly articulated ideology and having a cadre base tend to limit more sharply the political space for voluntary organisations.

The second trend that has emerged from this experience is that the ruling party (or parties in power) at state or national level finds itself in a situation of discomfort when certain roles and functions are played by certain voluntary organisations.

The third trend that has been visible is that local political leadership is most affected by the actions of voluntary organisations and, therefore, reacts more directly and visibly, while the state or national level leadership appears to be more accommodative to the positions of voluntary organisations.

Kashtkari Sanghatana Case
Kashtkari Sanghatana emerged in the mid-seventies as a movement of tribals in Thane District of Maharashtra. It began to take up issues of the rights of the tribals, wages to the tribals, access to land and forest to the tribals.  And over a period of time it evolved into a significant movement in that region.  By early eighties the Sanghatana began to experience major conflicts with the Communist Party (Marxists) and itsCadre.  The Cadre of the Sanghatana began to assert 
their autonomous movement and pursuit of the rights of the  
 
 

tribals.  This lead to conflicts around the issues of political space and power in that area which had long-standing communist movement.  In the first half  of  eighties, major conflicts, tensions, fights and struggles between the cadres
of the Sanghatana and those of the CPM broke out.

On one hand, this highlighted the question of the relations 
of such voluntary organisations with political parties, and, on the other, diverted the attention of the Sanghatana to struggles with cadres of CPM, instead of pursuing the issues and rights of the tribals.

Society for Participatory Research in Asia, Voluntary Development Organisations in India: A Study of History, Roles and Future Challenges. PRIA, New Delhi. November, 1991. [R.Q04.18].

See also Kashtakari Sanghatana. A mimeograph. [R.L15.601]. A historical and analytical report of all aspects of Kashtakari Sangathana's work.
 
 
 
 

Opposition from the Marxists

...(A) major section  opposing the mediation of the voluntary organisations are the Marxists of various varieties. It is not that all Marxists take the same view; but by and large, they consider voluntary organisations a part of imperialistic strategy. One of the C.P.I.(M) intellectuals has summed up  the Marxist critique in the following words.

1.  "The glorification of `micro level' grassroots is to 
       counterpoise thme to the `macro level; communist
        party."

2.   "A counter-ideology has to be decentralised, so that
        there is no threat to the centralised ruling classes."

3.    "Their writings are permeated with distrust of the
         organised working class movement and seeks to

  
         substitute classes and class struggle, with people's
         participation and people's movement."

4.     "Most harmful of all is the argument put forward
         that the people's organisations and consciousness
         must  be developed, delinked from the left parties. 
         The  dependent groups must be taught to think
         independently, i.e. even independment of the left 
         parties. Revoluntary movements of the dependent 
         groups can no longer be advanced through 
         mobilisation work and left parties only, for both 
         these have their limitations. If the foundation of their 
         revoluntionary movement is to be established, the 
         consciousness of the dependent groups must be 
         developed through determined educational efforts."

JD Sethi, A General Theory of Voluntary Action. p12.[R.Q40.607].
 

For the Marxist perspective on NGOs see:
PJ James, Non-Governmental Voluntary Organisations: The True Mission. Mass Line Publicatios, Kerala. 1995.[B.Q40.J60].

Some interesting parts

Prakash Karat, Action Groups/Voluntary Organisations: A Factor in Imperialist Strategy. The Marxist. Vol.2 April-June, 1984.

For a response to Prakash Karat, see Papers on Development and Rural Poverty, Young India Project.[B.K02.Y60].

Joan Roelofs, The Third Sector as a Protective Layer of Capitalism. Monthly Review Foundation Kharagpur. Vol.47 September, 1995. [J.Q13.0995MR4].