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A Left Approach to Development

Tue, 2010-08-03 11:29 | Prabhat Patnaik

Against the “means-based approach” to development that the bourgeoisie projects, the left must project a “rights-based approach”. Since “rights” are guarantors of welfare gains, every winning of rights likewise strengthens them. The acquisition of rights on the part of the people, including rights to minimum bundles of goods, services and security, amounts therefore to winning crucial battles in the class war for the transcendence of capitalism. If the left were to put on its agenda a struggle for people’s rights and adopt a rights-based approach to development as opposed to the means-based approach of the bourgeois formations, it would not constitute a retreat into abstract humanism but would be an integral part of the dialectics of subversion of the logic of capital. Prabhat Patnaik writes in the Economic and Political Weekly

Source: 
http://beta.epw.in/newsItem/comment/188540/

The 2009 Elections and Challenges before the Left

Sat, 2010-07-31 10:07 | Prabir Purkayastha

 Prabir Purkayastha's article on the Left, 2009 Elections and beyond. Originally published in the Centre for Policy Analysis' journal.  

Experiences of Struggles Against untouchability in Tamilnadu

Sat, 2010-05-15 18:25 | P.Sampath
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P.Sampath, convenor of the Tamil Nadu Untouchability Eradication Front relates the experiences of the movement as it launches struggle after struggle to eradicate untouchability, casteist prejudice and caste bias against Dalits in Tamil Nadu. The article originally appeared in The Marxist magazine.

The Politics of GM and the Left in India

Mon, 2010-05-10 18:35 | Awanish Kumar
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An article towards understanding the political-ideological roots of the GM controversy in Indian agriculture with special reference to Marxist theory and practice, is attached with this post (in PDF format). The essay begins with setting the context of the currently raging debate on BT-Brinjal and reviewing a select set of empirical assessments of BT-Cotton in India on relevant parameters. It then moves to critically examine the role of ideology in how competing political forces comprehend the food and nutrition crisis in India.

Roll back of Fuel Prices - An Imperative, to arrest galloping Price Rise

Thu, 2010-03-04 10:20 | Pragoti

That food prices have broken the ceiling and have gone beyond control, is a tragedy that is affecting many sections of the Indian population today. Yet the government has only compounded the misery by increasing fuel prices as well. It is imperative that the government must roll back the hiked fuel prices and must work on a war-footing to arrest galloping inflation. A post on the issue.

THE WORKING CLASS MOVEMENT IN INDIA: PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

Tue, 2009-09-29 22:52 | Professor Venkatesh Athreya

Economist Venkatesh Athreya delivered an inaugural lecture during the national seminar "The Working Class Movement in India- Past,Present,Future" on September 24-25, 2009 at at the University of Mumbai. Pragoti carries the text of the lecture as a story. 

The Need for a New Socialist Vision

Mon, 2009-08-10 12:34 | Prabir Purkayastha

Prabir Purkayastha argues that the Left needs to recreate a new vision of socialism by moving away from the 20th century Fordian paradigm to a new way of looking at future production systems.

On the Lok Sabha Election Results: Reviewing the Party’s Performance

Sat, 2009-07-18 12:10 | Prakash Karat
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''A Communist Party must face many ups and downs in the course of developing the Party and movement. An election reverse should not demoralise us. We should go to the people with the confidence that we can rally them around the Left platform. The people of the country expect the CPI(M), as the biggest contingent of the Left, to steer a course that will provide an alternative to the current ruling order. In order to so, the Party has to strengthen Left unity and gather other secular and democratic forces by drawing them into joint action.A common platform must emerge from which to defend national sovereignty, secularism and fight for alternative economic policies''-writes CPI(M) General Secretary Prakash Karat in The Marxist.

CPI(M)'s Review of Election 2009

Sun, 2009-06-28 09:58 | CPI(M)

The Central Committee of the CPI(M) in its meeting held on June 20 and 21 has adopted a review of the 15th Lok Sabha elections.

 

We present the full text of the review here.