Web Site of Samuhik Khoj group

Tenth Samuhik Khoj meeting - 1 to 3 April 2011, Sewagram, Wardha

Unlike the pre-revolutionary situation in countries like Russia, China, Cuba or Vietnam, in India we have a 60 year old tradition of parliamentary democracy. Hence we need to discuss the nature of the present Indian state, in all its complexity, especially the prospects and need for significantly expanding, using democratic spaces while moving towards revolutionary change. We need to discuss the inherent contradictions of capitalist democracy (including its definite limitations and current attempts by the dominant forces to restrict democratic rights), the concrete forms of struggles which could utilize as well as transcend capitalist democracy in India, to promote a form of socialist revolutionary change appropriate to the conditions of the 21st century. Here we may draw some lessons from recent experiences of certain Latin American countries, and the emerging approach of ‘protagonist democracy’ where working people exercise decision making in various spheres and develop ‘people’s power’ through new forms of expanded democracy. This relates with developing our understanding of ‘socialist democracy’.

In addition, it has been suggested that we also discuss what new forms of political organisation do we require in India today? Such new forms must avoid the constriction of democracy, substitution of working people by Party bureaucratic functioning, blocking of healthy dissent and debate, which we have already witnessed in many of the earlier Left political formations, and should definitely not be repeated.

Secondly, in recent years, resource politics has become very important. Widespread ‘land grab’ to capture mineral wealth and forests as well as agricultural land, combined with the privatization of other natural resources such as water in different parts of India by corporate interests with active help from the State is a huge challenge facing the Indian people and the Left forces. Can we analyse at a deeper level this phenomenon with help of the concept of ‘accumulation by dispossession’? Is it necessary to build upon current forms of resistance, which defend existing small property relations and traditional rights of people, and also move towards more transformative resistance which would initiate more collective relations of production, moving in a new, socialist direction?

It was felt that we need to discuss such issues in depth.
Hence the suggested agenda for the forthcoming Tenth Samuhik Khoj meeting during 1 to 3 April, 2011 at Sewagram, Wardha is as follows -

Aspects of 21st century Socialism in the Indian context

A. Understanding and dealing with the State in context of revolutionary strategy
- Clarifying broad theoretical understanding about ‘the State’ from the perspective of revolutionary change; emerging experiences of ‘protagonistic democracy’ and democratic people’s power
- Challenges and prospects of bourgeois democracy in India
- (suggested addition if it can be accommodated): Features of new type of revolutionary political organisation relevant to the present Indian context

B. Natural Resource politics in India: Understanding accumulation by dispossession, current struggles, socialism oriented alternatives and future directions



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Dear friends,

Today there is growing interest in understanding how we can renew our vision and develop new initiatives towards socialism, which would transcend the serious structural limitations of various ‘actually existing socialist regimes’ experienced in the 20th century. There is a need to develop earlier critiques of ‘State socialism’ and to qualitatively strengthen new types of socio-political movements and organizational forms. Movements in Latin America and elsewhere have rekindled efforts to envisage a profoundly democratic, non-statist, ecological, nevertheless thoroughly practical vision of socialism. In the Indian context, such efforts may help us to collectively strengthen an action oriented socio-political discourse, to help develop a renewed understanding of socialism which departs from the statist experiences of the 20th century. While the term ‘socialism in the 21st century’ is more descriptive than analytical, it captures such an emerging alternative arena of theory and practice.

Keeping this situation in mind, we propose to have a broad based, non-hierarchical discussion on theory and practice of movements towards socialism in the 21st century. In this context, the signatories below, which include participants in Samuhik Khoj (a broad based Left discussion platform) as well as activists from a variety of other organisations and backgrounds, invite you to participate in and contribute to a broad based session on ‘discussing socialism in the 21st century in the Indian context’ during 23-25 July 2010 at Nagpur.
Experience shows that for such brainstorming discussions it is better to keep this as a theoretical-political discussion involving various individuals, and this is not conceived as an organizational process. Some key points that are proposed to be discussed in this meeting would include:

1. Critically analysing ‘Statist’ or ‘Actually existing socialist regimes’ in the 20th century, and understanding how and why these did not actually achieve the transition to socialism. How do we define socialism / communism, what are the basic parameters of socialist transformation, what is the general road map of socialist revolution? How far were those parameters achieved or not achieved in the 20th century revolutionary and post-revolutionary societies? What were the achievements, distortions and deviations of the so-called socialist revolutions in the 20th century? What are the lessons to be taken from these revolutions?
2. Understanding in some depth recent radical developments in Latin America – various radical movements in Latin American countries have arisen in form of challenges to neo-liberal policies. Although all these countries today remain in the ambit of capitalism, some initiatives seek to transcend capitalism and move towards socialism. These include forms of protagonistic democracy (which envisages socialism as a tremendous expansion of real democracy centred on proactive initiative of working people), attempts towards increased producers control over production and new kinds of social movements over resources. Linked with some of these movements are new forms of political organisation which seek to overcome the limitations of traditional communist parties, with more democratic and participatory organizational processes. We need to critically analyse, to what extent are such attempts in the countries of Latin America paving the way for socialist revolution? Which basic characteristics should we look for, as we try to assess whether the transformations are in socialist direction?
3. Engaging with the emerging theoretical discourse on ‘socialism in the 21st century’- Earlier Marxist analysts have analysed and critiqued the allegedly ‘socialist’ nature of the Soviet Union and other post-revolutionary statist societies. Current contributors have continued these efforts and have put forth ideas which include re-conceptualising socialism as ‘control by associated producers’ instead of ‘state control’; eliminating the separation between producers and organisation of production; envisaging concrete processes for ‘withering away of the state’ and its replacement by bodies of organised working people. There has been exploration of the key ecological dimensions of a sustainable socialist society; positing ‘substantive equality’ as a key requirement of socialism, linked with radical elimination of the hierarchies perpetuated by patriarchy, race, caste etc. Various such propositions and analyses need to be noted and critically engaged with.
4. Exploring the implications of developing a ‘socialism in the 21st century’ framework in the Indian context - Linked with the above, we can identify political and strategic implications of such an emerging framework in the Indian context. This would of course not be a ‘de novo’ process but would be directly linked with existing analyses of the Indian socio-economic formation, learning from various movements and initiatives which present positive and forward-looking elements and features. Along with class analysis we would need to address the issues of ‘great divides’ in Indian society including divisions across gender, castes, between unorganised and organized sector apart from urban-rural divide.
5. Planning further processes for developing such a discourse – Since one meeting may not be enough to discuss the full range of issues, taking the July meeting as a starting point, based on interest of various participants we may think about further regional discussions and perhaps a well-prepared, broader national seminar on ‘socialism in the 21st century in Indian context’. Based on the way in which the discussions shape up, we could decide how to take forward the insights and questions that may emerge, and plan further study and discussions as may be relevant.

Participants are encouraged to circulate background notes in advance, based on which they might make some short, initiating presentations for the above sessions 1 to 4. However most of the time would be reserved for open discussions in each of the sessions. It is tentatively proposed that the first day would be focused on analysis of 20th century post-revolutionary statist regimes, and the remaining topics would be discussed on second and third days. While participants are encouraged to attend the discussion for all three days, in case some have constraints of time they are urged to attend for at least two days.

The modestexpenses that would be needed for the logistics of this meeting would have to be shared by all the participants, which would come to about Rs. 200 per participant per day. All participants would of course need to bear their own travel expenses.

Looking forward to your participation and inputs for this process,
With regards,

Amarantha (Chennai), Arvind (Mohali), CR Bijoy (Coimbatore), Pratyush Chandra (Delhi), Arvind Ghosh (Nagpur), Shankar Gopalakrishnan (Delhi), Dhanaji Gurav (Kolhapur), Avinash Kadam (Mumbai), Muktibodh (Nagpur), Vijay Pandya (M.P.), Anant Phadke (Pune), Shiraz Prabhu (Dahanu), Sebastian (Goa), Satya Sivaraman (Delhi), Sukla Sen (Mumbai), Abhay Shukla (Pune), Ravi Sinha (Lucknow)
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Programme of Ninth Samuhik Khoj Meeting on
'Discussing Socialism in the 21st century in the Indian context'
23rd to 25th July 2010, Nagpur

23rd July 2010, Friday

9am to 10am	Breakfast
10 am to 10.30am	Introduction of participants
10.30am to 11am	A brief introduction about the Samuhik Khoj process and the mode of discussion to be followed during the 3 days, review of schedule
11 am to 11.45 am	Presentations on: 1. Critically analysing ‘Statist’ or ‘Actually existing socialist regimes’ in the 20th century: Case of the USSR – how to characterise this society at different stages in its history
11.45 am to 1.15 pm	Open discussion on the presentations
1.15 pm to 2.15 pm	Lunch Break
2.15 pm to 3 pm	Presentations on: 2. Critically analysing ‘Statist’ or ‘Actually existing socialist regimes’ in the 20th century: Other regimes such as China, Cuba
3 to 4.30 pm	Open discussion on the presentations
4.30 to 5.15 pm	Presentations on 3. Critically analysing various other Socialist movements and initiatives in the 20th century
5.15 to 6.30 pm	Open discussion on the presentations
6.30 to 8 pm	Suggested film show: Beyond elections – Redefining democracy
8.30 pm	Dinner

Presentations, discussions on the history of Socialism in the 20th century to be aimed at what are the lessons to be learned by us today, rather than focusing too much on what happened / did not happen

24th July 2010, Saturday

9am to 10am	Breakfast
10 to 11.30 am	4. Summarising various positions and definitions about what is precisely meant by ‘transitional society, ‘socialist society’ and ‘communist society’? (Short presentations followed by discussion)
11.30 am to 12.30 pm	Presentations on 5. Engaging with the emerging theoretical discourse on ‘socialism in the 21st century’
12.30 to 1.30 pm	Open discussion on the presentations
1.30 pm to 2.30 pm	Lunch break
2.30 – 3.30 pm	Open discussion (contd.)
3.30 pm to 4.30 pm	Presentations on 6. Understanding in some depth recent radical developments in Latin America
4.30 to 6.30 pm	Open discussion on the presentations
8.30 pm	Dinner

25th July 2010, Sunday

8 am to 9 am	Breakfast
9 – 10 am	Presentations on 7. Exploring the implications of developing a ‘socialism in the 21st century’ framework in the Indian context
10-12.30 am	Open discussion on the presentations
12.30 – 1.30 pm	8. Planning further processes, discussion for developing a discourse on ‘socialism in 21st century’ in Indian context
1.30 - 2.30 pm	Lunch
2.30 - 4 pm	Planning further processes (discussion contd.)

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