Posted on 09/13/2003 2:02:31 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
As the chief minister of one of the world's last communist governments, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee is determined not to give in to loneliness.
Instead he points to a resurgent China and what he sees as the inherent contradictions of a world dominated by the United States as evidence that socialism will rise again.
"We are fighting an opposite current. The opposite current is very powerful. But this cannot be the last word," he told Reuters. "Contradictions are bound to start."
Bhattacharjee heads the world's longest-serving democratically elected communist government, which has run the Indian state of West Bengal for the last 26 years.
It has survived the collapse of the Soviet Union, and has been forced into a back seat as India's central government loosened traditional ties with Moscow, ushered in a decade of free market reforms and moved closer to Washington.
"We are now following the dictates of the American government, trying to become a client state of America," complains Bhattacharjee's predecessor, 89-year-old Jyoti Basu, who stepped down in 2000 after 23 years as chief minister.
But both men see hope in China, which has emerged as the world's fastest-growing economy by drawing in foreign investment while keeping political and economic control firmly in the hands of the Communist Party.
"Look at China, what they are doing," says Bhattacharjee. "China is facing the situation from a position of strength."
He also points to opposition to the U.S. war in Iraq as evidence of the contradictions even in the developed world.
"Something will emerge because this American domination cannot continue," he says.
PEPSI WELCOME
West Bengal has made its own accommodation with the changing times. After focusing initially on land reforms and, critics say, scaring away industry by promoting workers' rights, it is now actively courting investment.
Bhattacharjee's Left Front government is even talking to PepsiCo Inc about setting up a rice and potato processing plant in West Bengal.
And he is ready to overlook a communist distaste for capitalist profit if it creates jobs for the people.
"They will not come here for a religious mission. They will earn profit, good. But we will also be able to create job opportunities," he says.
It was not always so. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) was once a powerful force, and as recently as 1996 Basu came near to being named prime minister.
India as a whole turned its back on capitalism at independence from Britain in 1947, as its first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, a socialist idealist, carved out a program of economic self-sufficiency and political neutrality.
By contrast, the current government, led by the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, espouses economic liberalization and has built close ties to Washington.
When the communists first came to power in West Bengal, they took on the state's powerful landowners, dividing up the land and earning enduring popularity with the rural poor.
Their land reforms, combined with a highly disciplined party organization, have helped them win election after election and created a thriving rural economy, dominated by rice and jute.
Even today, West Bengal's per capita output ranks not far below that of Karnataka state -- home to India's high-tech capital Bangalore -- thanks to its healthy farm sector.
But the communists' encouragement of strong trade unions gave the state the reputation of having among the worst labor relations in the country, driving out industry.
West Bengal was once one of India's most industrialized states, a legacy of British colonial rulers who made Calcutta their capital until 1911.
But poor labor relations and the strains of absorbing an influx of refugees from neighboring Bangladesh in the years following independence in 1947 drove companies away and earned Calcutta a reputation as one of the world's poorest cities.
"The urban economy and the industrial economy of West Bengal has virtually collapsed," says Barun Sengupta, editor of the Bengali-language daily Bartaman.
So taking its cue from China, the state government is putting traditional communism on the back burner in the interest of bringing in private capital, focusing on cutting red tape for new business and offering land at concessionary rates.
"As a Marxist our basic motto is that we have to develop our productive forces. How? Backwardness and poverty is not communism," says Bhattacharjee.
Loser indeed. These Bengali commies are total, complete, worthless losers. They have turned their favorite city Calcutta (now Kolkata) into a putrid, stinking, slum-infested, leper-filled hell-hole, and still wonder what is wrong with communism.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.