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Marxism alive, flourishing, says Surjeet
ISLAMABAD, March 05 : Marxism is fully alive and flourishing with more vigour in Latin America, India and some parts of Europe, said visiting General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) Harkishan Singh Surjeet.
He rejected the notion that Marxism collapsed with the fall of Soviet Union in 1991.
Communist leaders-General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (M), Harkishan Singh Surjeet and General Secretary of the Communist Party of India, AB Bardhan — are visiting Pakistan on the invitation of the Communist Party of Pakistan and had also called on President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
"It was an illusion created by the international bourgeoisie that Marxism is dead after the collapse of Soviet Union and it (bourgeoisie) also insisted on the notion ‘end of history’ to sell their point," Surjeet said speaking at a ceremony here.
He explained that in Latin America, Marxism is flourishing in a number of countries, as is the case in Europe where places, like the Czech part of Czechoslovakia, communists have 23 percent votes.
The visiting Communist leader also stated that the CPI and CPI (M) have not been affected because "they have understood the mistakes committed in the Soviet Union".
"Today, in India, the left plays a vital role in formulation of policies by the government. In fact, the left ensures stability to the Indian government," he remarked.
Responding to a question, he said terrorism has to be fought across the world but what the United States was doing under the garb of the "war on terror" was in fact a "war of aggression". He said the United States had already occupied Iraq and was poised to attack Iran and other oil-rich Muslim countries under one pretext or the other. "So it’s not a ‘war on terror’. Their objectives are quite different. The US aggression is creating more grounds for terrorism to grow," he said.
To another question, he said it was true that fundamentalism was flourishing in India, where the BJP represented its political wing, it was more aggressive. "Our experience is that ‘majority fundamentalism’ gives support to ‘minority fundamentalism,’" he said, adding: "If Hindu fundamentalism flourishes, Muslim fundamentalism will also gain strength. Fundamentalism in fact is an outcome of capitalism.
It’s a by-product of the frustrations of dying capitalism. Capitalism generates fundamentalism. People who are frustrated seeks refuge in fundamentalism."