The All India Left Coordination, launched at New Delhi in August this year, held a Convention at Kolkata on 5 October at the Moulali Yuba Kendra on the theme “Decline of the opportunist Left – Rise of the fighting Left”. Among those who attended the Convention were renowned poet and litterateur Nabarun Bhattacharya, Samir Putatunda of PDS and Aloke Nandy of Democratic Communist Party (Marxist). Comrade Dipankar Bhattacharya, General Secretary of CPI(ML), Comrade Kumaran Kutty of Left Coordination Committee (LCC), Kerala, Comrade Bhimrao Bansod, Secretary of Lal Nishan Party (Leninist), Maharastra were the main speakers at the Convention. Comrade Mangat Ram Pasla, General Secretary of CPM (Punjab) could not reach the convention due to a delayed train, but addressed a press conference along with Comrade Dipankar and other leaders on the following day. The convention was presided over by Comrade Abhijit Majumder, Central Committee Member of CPI(ML), Liberation.

In his address Com. Dipankar explained the background of the formation of the All India Left Coordination and the purpose of holding the convention at Kolkata in the backdrop of decline of the ruling Left in West Bengal. Comrade Kumaran Kutty spoke of the situation in Kerala, where extreme reactionary forces were on the rise to fill in the vacuum created by the decline of the opportunist ruling left. However, as a positive trend, he indicated that some disaffected left forces were leaving the CPIM with a commitment to uphold the genuine, fighting character of the Left rather than join right-wing forces. Comrade Bhimrao Bansod of LNPL emphasized the need to wage unrelenting struggle against the opportunist Left to develop an effective and struggling Left movement.

Samir Putatunda of PDS started with the question of democracy in socialism and urged the constituents of the coordination to be flexible in order to make the unity as broad based as possible and to embrace as much genuine left forces as possible. Poet Nabarun Bhattacharya acknowledged the high importance of this convention and termed the ruling left parties as corporate parties. Pointing to the intellectuals who have aligned themselves with the right reaction today, he called them purchasable commodities. He asserted his unflinching commitment to the left movement at any cost and underlined the need for the All India Left Coordination. Aloke Nandy of DCPM, which is operative in Danton of West Midnapore, expressed his full support to the initiatives and joint declaration finalized by the coordination. He narrated how they with their small organization have been fighting against the tyrannies of the CPM. He stated that they lost at least 3 of their comrades in CPM sponsored terror attack and hundreds have been arrested. Defying CPM terror, the DCPM’s strength has been growing.

Summing up the discussions, Dipankar said that a wave of change is coming in West Bengal, but that change is being perceived by many in a distorted manner. He said, the real vehicle of this change is the peasants and the rural poor. That was amply demonstrated in Singur, Nandigram and Jangalmahal. The fall of CPIM from power in West Bengal is now a foregone conclusion and no effort will be needed to remove it. Contradicting those who say that that attempts at Left revival must wait for the CPIM’s exit from power, he asserted that the task of reviving and rejuvenating the fighting Left has to be started now itself, so that its fruit can be reaped in future. He said that the unity and coordination of the fighting Left should be oriented to hasten the decline of the opportunist Left and work for the rise of the fighting Left.

The next convention was held at Ranchi on the theme “Liberate Jharkhand from Starvation, Loot and Injustice” at the Gosner Theological Hall in Ranchi. The well-attended Convention was addressed by comrades Mangat Ram Pasla, General Secretary of CPM(Punjab), Bhim Rao Bhonsle, Secretary, LNP(L), Kumaran Kutty from LCC Kerala and CPI(ML) General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya. Comrade Dipankar called upon the people of Jharkhand for uniting to thwart BJP’s intentions of converting the State in yet another laboratory of communal fascism and launching a robust fight against displacement, eviction, to build the Jharkhand anew as per the dreams of its martyrs. He further said that the ruling parties have subverted the State into ‘Lootkhand’ (plunder land) by numerous MoU, lease and illegal mining. Panchayat elections under PESA have been on hold just to ensure that these MoUs are not annulled by elected gram sabhas (village committees) and it is the duty of the true inheritors of the revolutionary legacy of Birsa Munda and Mahendra Singh to transform the panchayats into a platform of struggles for democracy.

Comrades Mangat Ram Pasla, BR Bhonsale and Kumaran Kutty, speaking of the loot and plunder of resources and state repression that marked not only states like Jharkhand, but other states like Punjab, Maharashtra, Kerala and the whole country, said that only a revolutionary Left movement can liberate the people from this situation. The Convention was also addressed by CPI(ML) leader and its representative in the State Assembly Com. Vinod Singh, renowned intellectual Shri VP Keshri and senior journalist Shri Faisal Anurag among others. The initiative and formation of AILC was warmly welcomed by the speakers who said that true Left has a serious responsibility of mobilizing and consolidating all the forces of struggle for a revolutionary alternative.

The Convention was presided over by Comrade Bahadur Oraon, Central Committee member of CPI(ML). Comrade JP Minz proposed the resolutions on behalf of the Convention which was unanimously passed. Prerna, a part of Jharkhand Jan Sanskriti Manch presented cultural performances.