131-574: Post-independence and Cold War Contemporary history The Left Democratic Front ( LDF ) is an alliance of left-wing political parties led by Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the Indian state of Kerala . It is the current ruling political alliance of Kerala, since 2016. It is one of the two major political alliances in Kerala, the other being Indian National Congress -led United Democratic Front , each of which has been in power alternately for
262-451: A mixed economy with an empowered public sector and a thriving private sector . Centre-left policies tend to favour limited state intervention in matters pertaining to the public interest . In several countries, the terms far-left and radical left have been associated with many varieties of anarchism , autonomism and communism . They have been used to describe groups that advocate anti-capitalism and eco-terrorism . In France,
393-639: A capitalist bourgeois ideology. Marxists were responsible for organizing the first International Working Women's Day events. The women's liberation movement is closely connected to the New Left and other new social movements which openly challenged the orthodoxies of the Old Left. Socialist feminism as exemplified by the Freedom Socialist Party and Radical Women and Marxist feminism , spearheaded by Selma James , saw themselves as
524-606: A central feature of political debates on the Left. During the French Revolution, nationalism was a key policy of the Republican Left. The Republican Left advocated for civic nationalism and argued that the nation is a "daily plebiscite" formed by the subjective "will to live together". Related to revanchism , the belligerent will to take revenge against Germany and retake control of Alsace-Lorraine , nationalism
655-574: A desire for greater economic equality and workers rights with demands for environmental protection. Democratic socialist Bolivian president Evo Morales has traced environmental degradation to capitalist consumerism , stating that "[t]he Earth does not have enough for the North to live better and better, but it does have enough for all of us to live well". James Hansen , Noam Chomsky , Raj Patel , Naomi Klein , The Yes Men and Dennis Kucinich hold similar views. In climate change mitigation ,
786-737: A distinction is made between the centre-left and the left represented by the Socialist Party and the French Communist Party and the far-left as represented by anarcho-communists , Maoists and Trotskyists . The United States Department of Homeland Security defines "left-wing extremism" as groups that "seek to bring about change through violent revolution, rather than through established political processes". Similar to far-right politics , extremist far-left politics have motivated political violence , radicalization , genocide , terrorism , sabotage and damage to property,
917-535: A firing squad, and children were deprived of any religious education outside of the home. Today in the Western world , those on the Left generally support secularization and the separation of church and state. However, religious beliefs have also been associated with many left-wing movements such as the progressive movement , the Social Gospel movement, the civil rights movement , the anti-war movement ,
1048-423: A force within left-wing politics. The influential Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels , published amidst the wave of revolutions of 1848 across Europe, asserted that all of human history is defined by class struggle . They predicted that a proletarian revolution would eventually overthrow bourgeois capitalism and create a stateless , moneyless and classless communist society . It
1179-549: A left-wing response to The Limits to Growth model that predicted catastrophic resource depletion and spurred environmentalism, postulating that capitalist technologies were the key cause responsible for environmental degradation, as opposed to human population pressures. Environmental degradation can be seen as a class or equity issue, as environmental destruction disproportionately affects poorer communities and countries. Several left-wing or socialist groupings have an overt environmental concern and several green parties contain
1310-721: A part of the Left by their contemporaries. Feminist pioneer Mary Wollstonecraft was influenced by Thomas Paine . Many notable leftists have been strong supporters of gender equality such as Marxist philosophers and activists Rosa Luxemburg , Clara Zetkin and Alexandra Kollontai , anarchist philosophers and activists such as Virginia Bolten , Emma Goldman and Lucía Sánchez Saornil and democratic socialist philosophers and activists such as Helen Keller and Annie Besant . However, Marxists such as Rosa Luxemburg, Clara Zetkin, and Alexandra Kollontai, who are supporters of radical social equality for women and have rejected and opposed liberal feminism because they considered it to be
1441-482: A part of the Left that challenges male-dominated and sexist structures within the Left. The connection between left-wing ideologies and the struggle for LGBTQ rights also has an important history. Prominent socialists who were involved in early struggles for LGBTQ rights include Edward Carpenter , Oscar Wilde , Harry Hay , Bayard Rustin and Daniel Guérin , among others. The New Left is also strongly supportive of LGBTQ rights and liberation, having been instrumental in
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#17327726017491572-563: A position within the political mainstream that accepts capitalism and a market economy. The terms far-left and ultra-left are used for positions that are more radical , more strongly rejecting capitalism and mainstream representative democracy , instead advocating for a socialist society based on economic democracy and direct democracy , representing economic, political and social democracy. The centre-left includes social democrats , social liberals , progressives and greens . Centre-left supporters accept market allocation of resources in
1703-461: A ruling elite of individuals) while it prepares a population for capitalist exploitation. Within anarchism, this subject has been extensively discussed by Rudolf Rocker in his book titled Nationalism and Culture and by the works of Fredy Perlman such as Against His-Story, Against Leviathan and The Continuing Appeal of Nationalism . The failure of revolutions in Germany and Hungary in
1834-684: A strong socialist presence. The Green Party of England and Wales features an eco-socialist group, the Green Left , which was founded in June 2005. Its members held several influential positions within the party, including both the former Principal Speakers Siân Berry and Derek Wall , himself an eco-socialist and Marxist academic. In Europe, several green left political parties such as the European United Left–Nordic Green Left combine traditional social-democratic values such as
1965-404: A temporary state between the capitalist state of affairs and a communist society . Marx defined the proletariat as salaried workers, in contrast to the lumpenproletariat , who he defined as the outcasts of society such as beggars, tricksters, entertainers, buskers, criminals and prostitutes. The political relevance of farmers has divided the left. In Das Kapital , Marx scarcely mentioned
2096-472: A total income of ₹1,620,000,000 in fiscal year 2021–22. The party reported zero funding from Electoral Bonds . CPI(M) is officially known as भारत की कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी (मार्क्सवादी) [ Bhārat kī Kamyunisṭ Pārṭī (Mārksvādī) ] in Hindi, but it is often known as मार्क्सवादी कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी ( Mārksvādī Kamyunisṭ Pārṭī , abbreviated MaKaPa ) in press and media circles. During its initial years after
2227-614: Is bourgeois nationalism . Some Marxists, together with others on the left, view nationalism , racism (including antisemitism) and religion as divide and conquer tactics used by the ruling classes to prevent the working class from uniting against them in solidarity with one another. Left-wing movements have often taken up anti-imperialist positions. Anarchism has developed a critique of nationalism that focuses on nationalism's role in justifying and consolidating state power and domination. Through its unifying goal, nationalism strives for centralisation (both in specific territories and in
2358-679: Is a communist political party in India . It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electoral seats, and one of the national parties of India. The party was founded through a splitting from the Communist Party of India in 1964 and it quickly became the dominant faction. The 34 years of CPI(M) led Left Front rule in West Bengal was the longest-serving democratically elected communist-led government in
2489-421: Is sometimes used to justify hostility towards supranational organizations. Left-wing nationalism can also refer to any form of nationalism which emphasizes a leftist working-class populist agenda that seeks to overcome exploitation or oppression by other nations. Many Third World anti-colonialist movements have adopted leftist and socialist ideas. Third-Worldism is a tendency within leftist thought that regards
2620-656: Is used for social and cultural politics. In the United Kingdom during the 1980s, the term hard left was applied to supporters of Tony Benn such as the Campaign Group and those involved in the London Labour Briefing newspaper as well as Trotskyist groups such as Militant and the Alliance for Workers' Liberty . In the same period, the term soft left was applied to supporters of
2751-403: The 2016 election led by Pinarayi Vijayan and had a historic re-election in 2021 election where an incumbent government was re-elected for first time in 40 years. Pinarayi Vijayan is the first Chief minister of Kerala to be re-elected after completing a full term (five years) in office. Non Member Supporters The LDF is the ruling alliance in Kerala which has 99 seats out of the 140 in
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#17327726017492882-418: The 2021 Assembly Election . Pinarayi Vijayan became the first Chief minister of Kerala to be re-elected after completing a full term (five years) in office after a historic election in 2021 where an incumbent government was re-elected for the first time in 40 years. The political scenario in Kerala (1957–1980) was characterized by continually shifting alliances, party mergers and splits, factionalism within
3013-589: The Bible . In the late 19th century, the Protestant Social Gospel movement arose in the United States which integrated progressive and socialist thought with Christianity through faith-based social activism. Other left-wing religious movements include Buddhist socialism, Jewish socialism and Islamic socialism. There have been alliances between the left and anti-war Muslims , such as
3144-998: The Democratic and Republican parties, or as synonyms for liberalism and conservatism , respectively. Since the Right was populist, both in the Western and the Eastern Bloc , anything viewed as avant-garde art was called leftist across Europe, thus the identification of Picasso's Guernica as "leftist" in Europe and the condemnation of the Russian composer Shostakovich 's opera ( The Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk District ) in Pravda as follows: "Here we have 'leftist' confusion instead of natural, human music". The spectrum of left-wing politics ranges from centre-left to far-left or ultra-left . The term centre-left describes
3275-677: The Election Commission of India . The Communist Party of India (Marxist) emerged from a division within the Communist Party of India , which was formed on 26 December 1925. The CPI had experienced an upsurge in support during the years following the World War II , and had led armed rebellions in Telangana , Tripura , and Kerala. However, it soon abandoned the strategy of armed revolution in favor of working within
3406-720: The French Revolution , referring to the seating arrangement in the French National Assembly . Those who sat on the left generally opposed the ancien régime and the Bourbon monarchy and supported the Revolution, the creation of a democratic republic and the secularisation of society while those on the right were supportive of the traditional institutions of the Ancien Régime. Usage of
3537-720: The Indian state of Tripura besides a good presence in West Bengal , Kerala and Kanpur . They have an average presence in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh . According to the provisional statistics from the Ministry of Labour , CITU had a membership of approximately 6,040,000 in 2015. Tapan Kumar Sen is the General Secretary and K. Hemalata is the president of CITU. K. Hemalata was the first woman President in CITU who
3668-737: The Kerala Niyamasabha . The following list shows the MLAs belonging to LDF in the Niyamasabha. Key CPI(M) CPI KC(M) JD(S) LJD NCP INL KC(B) Cong(S) RSP(L) NSC Independent Keys: CPI(M) (3) CPI (2) KC(M) (1) CPI(M) (1) The Left Democratic Front (LDF), who also forms
3799-669: The Parliament framework. In 1950, B. T. Ranadive , the CPI general secretary and a prominent representative of the radical sector inside the party, was demoted on grounds of left-adventurism. Under the government of the Indian National Congress party of Jawaharlal Nehru , independent India developed close relations and a strategic partnership with the Soviet Union . The Soviet government consequently wished that
3930-599: The Republicans and Eugène Etienne , the president of the Parliamentary Colonial Group. After the antisemitic Dreyfus Affair in which officer Alfred Dreyfus was falsely convicted of sedition and exiled to a penal colony in 1894 before being exonerated in 1906, nationalism in the form of Boulangism increasingly became associated with the far-right. The Marxist social class theory of proletarian internationalism asserts that members of
4061-674: The Respect Party and the Stop the War Coalition in Britain. In France, the left has been divided over moves to ban the hijab from schools, with some leftists supporting a ban based on the separation of church and state in accordance with the principle of laïcité and other leftists opposing the prohibition based on personal and religious freedom. Social progressivism is another common feature of modern leftism, particularly in
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4192-762: The Roman Catholic Church and supporting atheism and the separation of church and state , ushering in a policy known as laïcité . Karl Marx asserted that "religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people ". In Soviet Russia, the Bolsheviks under Vladimir Lenin originally embraced an ideological principle which professed that all religion would eventually atrophy and resolved to eradicate organized Christianity and other religious institutions. In 1918, 10 Russian Orthodox hierarchs were summarily executed by
4323-563: The Saint-Imier International and later the International Workers' Association (IWA–AIT) . The Second International (1888–1916) became divided over the issue of World War I . Those who opposed the war, among them Vladimir Lenin and Rosa Luxemburg , saw themselves as further to the left. In the United States, leftists such as social liberals , progressives and trade unionists were influenced by
4454-638: The Second Republic was an attempt by the Left to re-assert itself after the 1848 Revolution , but only a small portion of the population supported this. In the mid-19th century, nationalism , socialism , democracy and anti-clericalism became key features of the French Left. After Napoleon III 's 1851 coup and the subsequent establishment of the Second Empire , Marxism began to rival radical republicanism and utopian socialism as
4585-587: The State Legislature of Kerala under E. K. Nayanar (1980–1981, 1987–1991, 1996–2001), V. S. Achuthanandan (2006–2011), Pinarayi Vijayan (2016–current). E. K. Nayanar served as the Chief Minister of Kerala for 11 years and later became the longest serving Chief Minister of Kerala . The alliance led by Pinarayi Vijayan returned to power in 2016 Assembly Election winning 91 out of 140 seats and further increasing its tally to 99 seats in
4716-530: The Third Estate ) generally sat to the left of the presiding member's chair in parliament while the ones in favour of the royal veto privilege sat on its right. That habit began in the original French National Assembly . Throughout the 19th century, the main line dividing Left and Right was between supporters of the French republic and those of the monarchy 's privileges. The June Days uprising during
4847-490: The Western world include strong opposition to the death penalty , torture , mass surveillance , and the war on drugs , and support for abortion rights, cognitive liberty , LGBTQ rights including legal recognition of same-sex marriage , same-sex adoption of children, the right to change one's legal gender , distribution of contraceptives , and public funding of embryonic stem-cell research . The desire for an expansion of social and civil liberties often overlaps that of
4978-526: The centre-left , especially social democrats who adopted the Third Way . Left-wing politics are typically associated with popular or state control of major political and economic institutions. Other leftists believe in Marxian economics , named after the economic theories of Karl Marx . Some distinguish Marx's economic theories from his political philosophy, arguing that Marx's approach to understanding
5109-639: The displacement of Keynesianism and post-war social democracy . One of the first actions of Ed Miliband , the Labour Party leader who succeeded Blair and Brown, was the rejection of the New Labour label and a promise to abandon the Third Way and turn back to the left. However, Labour's voting record in the House of Commons from 2010 to 2015 indicated that the Labour Party under Miliband had maintained
5240-413: The libertarian movement. Public education was a subject of great interest to groundbreaking social progressives such as Lester Frank Ward and John Dewey , who believed that a democratic society and system of government was practically impossible without a universal and comprehensive nationwide system of education. Various counterculture and anti-war movements in the 1960s and 1970s were associated with
5371-621: The state government , won in more than half of all gram panchayats and block panchayats , two-thirds of district panchayats and in five out of six municipal corporations . On 7 December 2011, the LDF organized a 208 km human wall demanding the construction of a new dam in place of the present 115-year leaky dam at Mullapperiyar. The human wall was the second-longest of the kind in Kerala which stretched across two districts. LDF launched its website ahead of 2011 Kerala Assembly Election. Left-wing politics Left-wing politics describes
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5502-475: The welfare state through industrial democracy and the social market to the nationalization of the economy and central planning , to the anarcho-syndicalist advocacy of a council-based and self-managed anarchist communism . During the Industrial Revolution , leftists supported trade unions . At the beginning of the 20th century, many leftists advocated strong government intervention in
5633-476: The working class should act in solidarity with working people in other countries in pursuit of a common class interest , rather than only focusing on their own countries. Proletarian internationalism is summed up in the slogan: " Workers of the world, unite! ", the last line of The Communist Manifesto . Union members had learned that more members meant more bargaining power. Taken to an international level, leftists argued that workers should act in solidarity with
5764-701: The " proletariat can and must build the socialist society in one country". In April 1925, Nikolai Bukharin elaborated on the issue in his brochure titled Can We Build Socialism in One Country in the Absence of the Victory of the West-European Proletariat? , whose position was adopted as state policy after Stalin's January 1926 article titled On the Issues of Leninism (К вопросам ленинизма)
5895-399: The 1918–1920 years ended Bolshevik hopes for an imminent world revolution and led to the promotion of the doctrine of socialism in one country by Joseph Stalin . In the first edition of his book titled Osnovy Leninizma ( Foundations of Leninism , 1924), Stalin argued that revolution in one country is insufficient. By the end of that year in the second edition of the book, he argued that
6026-537: The 1970s onwards, environmentalism became an increasing concern of the left, with social movements and several unions campaigning on environmental issues and causes. In Australia, the left-wing Builders Labourers Federation , led by the communist Jack Mundy, united with environmentalists to place green bans on environmentally destructive development projects. Several segments of the socialist and Marxist left consciously merged environmentalism and anti-capitalism into an eco-socialist ideology. Barry Commoner articulated
6157-526: The 19th and 20th centuries. In addition, the term left-wing has also been applied to a broad range of culturally liberal social movements, including the civil rights movement , feminist movement , LGBT rights movement , abortion-rights movements , multiculturalism , anti-war movement and environmental movement as well as a wide range of political parties . The following positions are typically associated with left-wing politics. Left-leaning economic beliefs range from Keynesian economics and
6288-617: The AICCCR separated itself from CPI(M). This split divided the party throughout the country. But notably in West Bengal, which was the center of the violent radicalized stream, no prominent leading figure left the party. The party and the Naxalites (as the rebels were called) were soon to get into a bloody feud. In Andhra Pradesh, another revolt was taking place. There the pro-Naxalbari dissidents had not established any presence. But in
6419-478: The British Labour Party who were perceived to be more moderate and closer to the centre, accepting Keynesianism . Under the leadership of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown , the Labour Party adopted the Third Way and rebranded itself as New Labour in order to promote the notion that it was less left-wing than it had been in the past to accommodate the neoliberal trend arising since the 1970s with
6550-499: The CPI died. After his death, Shripad Amrit Dange was installed as the party chairman (a new position) and E.M.S. Namboodiripad as general secretary. This was an attempt to achieve a compromise. At a CPI National Council meeting held on 11 April 1964, 32 Council members walked out. The leftist section, to which the 32 National Council members belonged, organized a convention in Tenali , Andhra Pradesh 7 to 11 July. In this convention,
6681-606: The CPI-M were also influenced by JP with Jyoti Basu noted to be one of his prominent admirers having worked under him in the All India Railwaymen's Federation during the 1940s. The involvement of the Hindutva movement however complicated matters, according to JP the formal inclusion of the marxists who had undergone a splintering and whose organisation was localised in particular region would have been detrimental to
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#17327726017496812-537: The CPI-M's labour union became the first subject to political repression and mass arrests while the rest of the members of the CPI-M went underground. With the initiation of the Jayaprakash Narayan (JP)'s movement, the CPI-M began providing support to it and went on to participate in discussions for the creation of a united front under the umbrella of the Janata Party . Several of the leaders of
6943-527: The CPI. The CPI(M) also adopted its own political program. Puchalapalli Sundarayya was elected general secretary of the party. In total, 422 delegates took part in the Calcutta Congress. CPI(M) claimed that they represented 104,421 CPI members, 60% of the total party membership. At the Calcutta conference, the party adopted a class analysis of the character of the Indian state, that claimed
7074-509: The CPSU. The Central Committee of CPI(M) held its first meeting on 12–19 June 1966. The reason for delaying the holding of a regular CC meeting was that several of the persons elected as CC members at the Calcutta Congress were jailed at the time. A CC meeting had been scheduled to have been held in Thrissur during the last days of 1964, but had been canceled due to the wave of arrests against
7205-431: The Communist Party in India would toe the lines of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) or follow an independent path based on the concrete analysis of the Indian situation. The alleged 'right-wing' inside the party followed the Soviet path whereas the 'left-wing' wanted to follow the mass party with a class line with national characteristics, based on the 'independent' development of socialism in accordance to
7336-434: The Earth. This principle is reflected in much of the historical left-wing thought and literature that came afterwards, although there were disagreements about what this entailed. Both Karl Marx and the early socialist philosopher and scholar William Morris arguably had a concern for environmental matters. According to Marx, "[e]ven an entire society, a nation, or all simultaneously existing societies taken together, are not
7467-407: The India situation. Moreover, the faction of CPI which later became CPI(M) referred to the "right" strategy as a national approach of class collaboration, a damning charge within the communist movement, in which the prioritization of working-class interests and independence is considered paramount. Ideological difference also grew on the analysis of the role and character of the Indian bourgeoisie and
7598-400: The Indian bourgeoisie was increasingly collaborating with imperialism . Parimal Das Gupta's alternative draft program was not circulated at the Calcutta conference. However, Souren Bose , a delegate from the far-left stronghold Darjeeling , spoke at the conference asking why no portrait had been raised of Mao Tse-Tung along with the portraits of other communist stalwarts. His intervention
7729-470: The Indian communists moderate their criticism towards the Indian state and assume a supportive role towards the Congress governments. However, large sections of the CPI claimed that India remained a semi- feudal country and that Class conflict could not be put on the back-burner for the sake of guarding the interests of Soviet trade and foreign policy. Moreover, the Indian National Congress appeared to be generally hostile towards political competition. In 1959
7860-454: The Janata Alliance. CPI(M) West Bengal under the leadership of Jyoti Basu fought the 1977 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election . Initially the election was planned to fight in alliance with the Janata Party but the negotiations between the parties broke down. This led to a three sided contested between the Indian National Congress , the Janata Party and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) led Left Front coalition . The results of
7991-448: The Left is also divided over how to effectively and equitably reduce carbon emissions as the center-left often advocates a reliance on market measures such as emissions trading and a carbon tax while those further to the left support direct government regulation and intervention in the form of a Green New Deal , either alongside or instead of market mechanisms. The question of nationality , imperialism and nationalism has been
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#17327726017498122-485: The New Left. Unlike the earlier leftist focus on labour union activism and a proletarian revolution, the New Left instead adopted a broader definition of political activism commonly called social activism . The New Left in the United States is associated with the hippie movement , mass protest movements on school campuses and a broadening of focus from protesting class -based oppression to include issues such as gender , race and sexual orientation . The British New Left
8253-412: The Tenali convention, a Bengal-based pro-Chinese group, representing one of the most radical streams of the CPI left-wing, presented a draft program proposal of their own. These radicals criticized the draft program proposal prepared by Makineni Basavapunnaiah for undermining Class conflict and failing to take a clear pro-Chinese position in the ideological conflict between the CPSU and the CPC. After
8384-437: The Tenali convention, the CPI left-wing organized party district and state conferences. In West Bengal , a few of these meetings became battlegrounds between the most radical elements and the more moderate leadership. At the Calcutta Party District Conference, an alternative draft program was presented to the leadership by Parimal Das Gupta (a leading figure amongst far-left intellectuals in the party). Another alternative proposal
8515-474: The United States, where social progressives played an important role in the abolition of slavery , the enshrinement of women's suffrage in the United States Constitution , and the protection of civil rights , LGBTQ rights , women's rights and multiculturalism . Progressives have both advocated for alcohol prohibition legislation and worked towards its repeal in the mid to late 1920s and early 1930s. Current positions associated with social progressivism in
8646-406: The anti- capital punishment movement and Liberation Theology . Early utopian socialist thinkers such as Robert Owen , Charles Fourier and the Comte de Saint-Simon based their theories of socialism upon Christian principles. Other common leftist concerns such as pacifism , social justice , racial equality , human rights and the rejection of capitalism and excessive wealth can be found in
8777-410: The central government intervened to impose President's rule in Kerala, toppling the E. M. S. Namboodiripad cabinet (the sole non-Congress state government in the country). The basis of difference in opinion between the two factions in CPI was ideological – about the assessment of the Indian scenario and the development of a party programme. This difference in opinion was also a reflection of whether
8908-410: The central government. Initially, the Indian National Congress formed a minority government led by Prafulla Chandra Ghosh , but that cabinet did not last long. Following the proclamation that the United Front government had been dislodged, a 48-hour hartal was effective throughout the state. After the fall of the Ghosh cabinet, the state was put under President's Rule. CPI(M) launched agitations against
9039-608: The character of the Indian revolution. While the 'right wing' in the Party sought the Indian bourgeoisie to have a 'progressive' character and called for a national democratic revolution, the 'left wing' sought the character of the Indian bourgeoisie to be essentially reactionary and called for a peoples' democratic revolution. However as the 'left wing' grew, the Congress and the Party's 'right wing' dubbed them as pro-Chinese and essentially made extensive efforts to incriminate them of committing 'anti-national' activities. This ideological difference later intensified, and ultimately gave rise to
9170-430: The coalitions and within political parties, and the formation of a numerous splinter groups. 1957 Kerala Legislative Assembly election was the first assembly election in the Indian state of Kerala. The Communist Party of India won the election with 60 seats. The election led to the formation of first democratically elected communist government in India. A Communist -led government under E. M. S. Namboodiripad resulted from
9301-403: The critique of the development of CPI(M). It was signed by T. Nagi Reddy, D.V. Rao, Kolla Venkaiah, and Chandra Pulla Reddy . In total, around 50% of the party cadres in Andhra Pradesh left the party to form the Andhra Pradesh Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries , under the leadership of T. Nagi Reddy. In November 1967, the West Bengal United Front government was dismissed by
9432-425: The declaration of the emergency and the formal draft of the ordinance were both notably corroborated to have been forwarded by Siddhartha Shankar Ray . The Communist Party of India (Marxist) emerged as one of the primary opposition to The Emergency (India) . The following period witnessed a succession of authoritarian measures and political repression, which was particularly severe in West Bengal. The members of
9563-820: The developing world such as the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Mexico, the Abahlali baseMjondolo in South Africa and the Naxalites in India have argued that the First World and the Second World Left takes a racist and paternalistic attitude towards liberation movements in the Third World. The original French Left was firmly anti-clerical , strongly opposing the influence of
9694-489: The division between First World and Second World developed countries and Third World developing countries as being of high political importance. This tendency supports decolonization and national liberation movements against imperialism by capitalists. Third-Worldism is closely connected with African socialism , Latin American socialism , Maoism , pan-Africanism and pan-Arabism . Several left-wing groups in
9825-422: The economy is independent of his advocacy of revolutionary socialism or his belief in the inevitability of a proletarian revolution . Marxian economics do not exclusively rely on Marx and draw from a range of Marxist and non-Marxist sources. The dictatorship of the proletariat and workers' state are terms used by some Marxists, particularly Leninists and Marxist–Leninists , to describe what they see as
9956-554: The economy, preferring social ownership and local control in which a nation of decentralized regions is united in a confederation . The global justice movement , also known as the anti-globalisation movement and the alter-globalisation movement, protests against corporate economic globalisation due to its negative consequences for the poor, workers, the environment, and small businesses. Leftists generally believe in innovation in various technological and philosophical fields and disciplines to help causes they support. One of
10087-404: The economy. Leftists continue to criticize the perceived exploitative nature of globalization , the " race to the bottom " and unjust lay-offs and exploitation of workers. In the last quarter of the 20th century, the belief that the government (ruling in accordance with the interests of the people) ought to be directly involved in the day-to-day workings of an economy declined in popularity amongst
10218-743: The efforts to create a new political organization. In the fall of 1971 three small groups, which were all hosted by the CPI(M), came together to form the Bangladesh Communist Party (Leninist) . The new party became the sister party of CPI(M) in Bangladesh. In 1975, the Prime Minister of India , Indira Gandhi imposed a State of emergency on the premise of internal disturbances suspending elections, legitimising rule by decree and curbing civil liberties . The proposition for
10349-584: The election was a surprising sweep for the Left Front winning 230 seats out of 290 with the CPI-M winning an absolute majority on its own, Basu became the Chief Minister of West Bengal . From the 1977 election the CPI(M) led Left Front won 7 continuous elections till 2011. Under Jyoti Basu's leadership the Left Front won, 1977 , 1982 , 1987 , 1991 , 1996 elections. For the next 23 years he
10480-410: The establishment of CPI(M). Hundreds of CPI leaders, accused of being pro-Chinese, were imprisoned. Thousands of Communists were detained without trial. The Communist Party CPI(M) has a strong history of championing labor rights and it supports the rights of industrial laborers, demanding fair wages, safe working conditions, and the right to unionize. In 1962, Ajoy Ghosh , the General Secretary of
10611-503: The far-left North Bengal cadre Charu Majumdar . However, Hare Krishna Konar (representing the leadership of the CPI left-wing) forbade the raising of the slogan Mao Tse-Tung Zindabad (Long live Mao Tse-Tung) at the conference. Parimal Das Gupta's document was also presented to the leadership at the West Bengal State Conference of the CPI leftwing. Das Gupta and a few others spoke at the conference, demanding
10742-409: The first decade of Soviet rule, before Joseph Stalin attacked ecologists and the science of ecology, purged environmentalists and promoted the pseudoscience of Trofim Lysenko during his rule up until his death in 1953. Similarly, Mao Zedong rejected environmentalism and believed that based on the laws of historical materialism, all of nature must be put into the service of revolution. From
10873-461: The first elections for the new Kerala Legislative Assembly in 1957, making him the first communist leader in India to head a popularly elected government. It was the second ever Communist government to be democratically elected, after Communist success in the 1945 elections in the Republic of San Marino , a microstate in Europe . The coalition politics of Kerala began with second election held to
11004-493: The foremost left-wing advocates was Thomas Paine, one of the first individuals since left and right became political terms to describe the collective human ownership of the world which he speaks of in Agrarian Justice. As such, most of left-wing thought and literature regarding environmentalism stems from this duty of ownership and the aforementioned form of cooperative ownership means that humanity must take care of
11135-408: The formation of militant organizations, political repression , conspiracism , xenophobia , and nationalism . In China, the term Chinese New Left denotes those who oppose the economic reforms enacted by Deng Xiaoping in the 1980s and 1990s, favour instead the restoration of Maoist policies and the immediate transition to a socialist economy. In the Western world , the term New Left
11266-553: The founding of the LGBTQ rights movement in the aftermath of the Stonewall Riots of 1969. Contemporary leftist activists and socialist countries such as Cuba are actively supportive of LGBTQ+ people and are involved in the struggle for LGBTQ+ rights and equality. In politics, the term Left derives from the French Revolution as the political groups opposed to the royal veto privilege ( Montagnard and Jacobin deputies from
11397-422: The international proletariat in order to further increase the power of the working class. Proletarian internationalism saw itself as a deterrent against war and international conflicts, because people with a common interest are less likely to take up arms against one another, instead focusing on fighting the bourgeoisie as the ruling class . According to Marxist theory, the antonym of proletarian internationalism
11528-499: The interventions of the central government in West Bengal. The 8th Party Congress of CPI(M) was held in Kochi , Kerala, on 23–29 December 1968. On 25 December 1968, whilst the congress was held, 42 Dalits were burned alive in the Tamil Nadu village of Kizhavenmani . The massacre was a retaliation from landlords after Dalit labourers had taken part in a CPI(M)-led agitation for higher wages. The United Front government in Kerala
11659-593: The issues of the internal disputes in the party were discussed. 146 delegates, claiming to represent 100,000 CPI members, took part in the proceedings. The convention decided to convene the 7th Party Congress of CPI in Kolkata later the same year. Marking a difference from the official sector of CPI, the Tenali convention was marked by the display of a large portrait of the Communist leader of China, Mao Zedong . At
11790-589: The largest in the West Bengal legislative. But with the active support of CPI and the Bangla Congress , Ajoy Mukherjee was returned as Chief Minister of the state. Mukherjee resigned on 16 March 1970, after a pact had been reached between CPI, Bangla Congress, and the Indian National Congress against CPI(M). CPI(M) strove to form a new government, instead but the central government put the state under President's Rule. Though land reform
11921-427: The last four decades. LDF has won the elections to the State Legislature of Kerala in the years 1980 , 1987 , 1996 , 2006 , 2016 and had a historic re-election in 2021 where an incumbent government was re-elected for first time in 40 years. LDF has won 6 out of 10 elections since the formation of the alliance in 1980. The alliance consists of CPI(M) , CPI and various smaller parties. LDF has been in power in
12052-590: The late 1970s and early 1980s, two main pre-poll political alliances were formed: the Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India and the United Democratic Front (UDF), led by the Indian National Congress . These pre-poll political alliances of Kerala have stabilized strongly in such a manner that, with rare exceptions, most of the coalition partners stick their loyalty to
12183-553: The movement as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh members would switch sides if they joined. JP and Basu eventually came to an agreement that the CPI-M would not formally join the Janata Party as it would weaken the movement. After the revocation of the emergency, the CPI-M joined an electoral alliance with the Janata Party in the 1977 Indian general election which resulted in an overwhelming victory for
12314-434: The nature of the society they are implemented in. According to emeritus professor of economics Barry Clark, supporters of left-wing politics "claim that human development flourishes when individuals engage in cooperative, mutually respectful relations that can thrive only when excessive differences in status, power, and wealth are eliminated." Within the left–right political spectrum , Left and Right were coined during
12445-566: The official for Barga Operation. They suggested to start it organising people in the field instead of sitting in the houses of rural rich people or the places dominated by them. Centre of Indian Trade Unions , CITU is a National level Trade Union in India and its trade union wing is a spearhead of the Indian Trade Union Movement. The Centre of Indian Trade Unions is today one of biggest assembly of workers and classes of India. It has strong unchallengeable presence in
12576-533: The owners of the earth. They are simply its possessors, its beneficiaries, and have to bequeath it in an improved state to succeeding generations". Following the Russian Revolution, environmental scientists such as revolutionary Alexander Bogdanov and the Proletkult organisation made efforts to incorporate environmentalism into Bolshevism and "integrate production with natural laws and limits" in
12707-616: The party called for a Bandh (general strike) in Patna on 9 August 1965 in protest against the Congress state government. During the strike, police resorted to violent actions against the organizers of the strike. The strike was followed by agitations in other parts of the state. P. Sundaraiah, after being released from jail, spent the period of September 1965 – February 1966 in Moscow for medical treatment. In Moscow, he also held talks with
12838-512: The party launched agitations against the rise in fares in the Calcutta Tramways Company and against the then-prevailing food crisis. Statewide general strikes and hartals were observed on 5 August 1965, 10–11 March 1966, and 6 April 1966. The March 1966 general strike resulted in several deaths during confrontations with police forces. Also in Kerala, mass arrests of CPI(M) cadres were carried out during 1965. In Bihar ,
12969-477: The party organization, there were many veterans from the Telangana armed struggle, who rallied against the central party leadership. In Andhra Pradesh, the radicals had a strong base even amongst the state-level leadership. The main leader of the radical tendency was T. Nagi Reddy , a member of the state legislative assembly. On 15 June 1968, the leaders of the radical tendency published a press statement outlining
13100-493: The party ought to adopt the class analysis of the Indian state of the 1951 CPI conference. His proposal was, however, voted down. The Calcutta Congress was held between 31 October and 7 November, at Tyagraja Hall in southern Kolkata . Simultaneously, the CPI convened a Party Congress in Mumbai . The group which assembled in Calcutta would later adopt the name 'Communist Party of India (Marxist)', to differentiate themselves from
13231-540: The party. The meeting discussed tactics for electoral alliances and concluded that the party should seek to form a broad electoral alliance with all non-reactionary opposition parties in West Bengal (i.e. all parties except Bharatiya Jana Sangh and Swatantra Party ). This decision was strongly criticized by the Communist Party of China (CPC), the Party of Labour of Albania , the Communist Party of New Zealand , and
13362-480: The placement along the political spectrum in a given time and place. At the end of the 18th century, upon the founding of the first liberal democracies , the term Left was used to describe liberalism in the United States and republicanism in France, supporting a lesser degree of hierarchical decision-making than the right-wing politics of the traditional conservatives and monarchists . In modern politics,
13493-434: The power has been clearly alternating between the two alliances till the 2016 . LDF has won 6 out of 10 elections since the formation of the alliance in 1980. Since 1980, none of alliances in Kerala has been re-elected till the 2016 . The 1987 , 1996 elections led E. K. Nayanar , and the 2006 elections led by V. S. Achuthanandan formed governments and completed their full terms but were not re-elected. In 2016, LDF won
13624-643: The radicals within the party itself. The line was changed at a National Council meeting in Jalandhar in October 1966, where it was decided that the party should only form alliances with select left parties. At this point, the party stood at crossroads. There were radical sections of the party who were wary of the increasing parliamentary focus of the party leadership, especially after the electoral victories in West Bengal and Kerala. Developments in China also affected
13755-461: The range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism , often in opposition to social hierarchy as a whole or certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in society whom its adherents perceive as disadvantaged relative to others as well as a belief that there are unjustified inequalities that need to be reduced or abolished through radical means that change
13886-467: The respective alliances (Left Democratic Front or United Democratic Front). LDF first came into power in 1980 election under the leadership of E. K. Nayanar sworn in as the Chief Minister of Kerala on 26 March 1980 for the first time in 1980. He formed government with the support of Congress (A) under A. K. Antony and Kerala Congress under K. M. Mani , Nayanar later became the longest serving Chief Minister of Kerala , ever since 1980 election ,
14017-604: The same distance from the left as it did under Blair. In contrast, the election of Jeremy Corbyn as the Labour Party leader was viewed by scholars and political commentators as Labour turning back toward its more classical socialist roots, rejecting neoliberalism and the Third Way whilst supporting a democratic socialist society and an end to austerity measures. Communist Party of India (Marxist) Former parties Former parties Former parties Post-independence and Cold War Contemporary history The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M) )
14148-572: The situation inside the party. In West Bengal, two separate internal dissident tendencies emerged, which both could be identified as supporting the Chinese line. In 1967, a peasant uprising broke out in Naxalbari , in northern West Bengal. The insurgency was led by hardline district-level CPI(M) leaders Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal . The hardliners within CPI(M) saw the Naxalbari uprising as
14279-431: The source for a better kind of social revolution . This view has been criticized by several Marxists , especially Trotskyists , who characterized this approach as "substitutionism" which they described as a misguided and non-Marxist belief that other groups in society could "substitute" for and "replace" the revolutionary agency of the working class. Many early feminists and advocates of women's rights were considered
14410-506: The spark that would ignite the Indian revolution. The CPC hailed the Naxalbari movement, causing an abrupt break in CPI(M)-CPC relations. The Naxalbari movement was violently repressed by the West Bengal government, of which CPI(M) was a major partner. Within the party, the hardliners rallied around an All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries . Following the 1968 Burdwan plenum of CPI(M) (held on 5–12 April 1968),
14541-579: The split, the party was often referred to by different names such as 'Left Communist Party' or 'Communist Party of India (Left)'. The party has used the name 'Left' because CPI people were dubbed 'rightist' in nature for their support of the Congress-Nehru regime. During the Kerala Legislative Assembly elections of 1965, the party adopted the name 'Communist Party of India (Marxist)' and applied to obtain its election symbol from
14672-422: The state legislative assembly in 1960. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) first came into power in Kerala in 1967, under Seven party front , which was an alliance of CPI(M), CPI , IUML , and four other parties. In 1970's, the major political parties in the state were unified under two major coalitions, one of them led by Indian National Congress and Communist Party of India and the other by CPI(M) . In
14803-443: The state. The quantum of land thus vested was around one million acres (4,000 km2) of good agricultural land. Subsequently, under the leadership of Hare Krishna Konar and Benoy Choudhury land was distributed amongst 2.4 million landless and poor farmers. Later after 1970 the united front government of west Bengal fail and the land reform was also stopped for seven years and after left front came in West Bengal in 1977 this land reform
14934-462: The subject. Mikhail Bakunin thought the lumpenproletariat was a revolutionary class, while Mao Zedong believed that it would be rural peasants, not urban workers, who would bring about the proletarian revolution . Left-libertarians , anarchists and libertarian socialists believe in a decentralized economy run by trade unions , workers' councils , cooperatives , municipalities and communes, opposing both state and private control of
15065-471: The term Left became more prominent after the restoration of the French monarchy in 1815, when it was applied to the Independents . The word wing was first appended to Left and Right in the late 19th century, usually with disparaging intent, and left-wing was applied to those who were unorthodox in their religious or political views. Ideologies considered to be left-wing vary greatly depending on
15196-489: The term Left typically applies to ideologies and movements to the left of classical liberalism , supporting some degree of democracy in the economic sphere . Today, ideologies such as social liberalism and social democracy are considered to be centre-left , while the Left is typically reserved for movements more critical of capitalism , including the labour movement , socialism , anarchism , communism , Marxism and syndicalism , each of which rose to prominence in
15327-503: The theory of socialism in one country. European social democrats strongly support Europeanism and supranational integration within the European Union , although there is a minority of nationalists and Eurosceptics on the left. Several scholars have linked this form of left-wing nationalism to the pressure generated by economic integration with other countries, often encouraged by neoliberal free trade agreements. This view
15458-492: The time between two party congresses, the Central Committee is the highest decision-making body. The Central Committee shall elect from among its members a Polit Bureau including the General Secretary. The Polit Bureau carries on the work of the Central Committee between its two sessions and has the right to take political and organisational decisions in between two meetings of the Central Committee. CPI(M) had
15589-465: The time, the radical sections of the Bangladeshi communist movement were divided into many factions . Whilst the pro-Soviet Communist Party of Bangladesh actively participated in the rebellion, the pro-China communist tendency found itself in a peculiar situation as China had sided with Pakistan in the war. In Calcutta, where many Bangladeshi leftists had sought refuge, CPI(M) worked to co-ordinate
15720-597: The works of Thomas Paine , who introduced the concept of asset-based egalitarianism which theorises that social equality is possible by a redistribution of resources. After the Reconstruction era in the aftermath of the American Civil War , the phrase "the Left" was used to describe those who supported trade unions, the civil rights movement and the anti-war movement . More recently, left-wing and right-wing have often been used as synonyms for
15851-555: The world. It has been also the third largest party of parliament several times. Presently, CPI(M) is a part of ruling alliances in two states - the LDF in Kerala , which it leads, and the SPA in Tamil Nadu . It also has representation in the legislative assemblies of seven states. The All-India Party Congress is the supreme authority of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). However, during
15982-485: Was an intellectually driven movement which attempted to correct the perceived errors of the Old Left . The New Left opposed prevailing authoritarian structures in society which it designated as " The Establishment " and became known as the "Anti-Establishment". The New Left did not seek to recruit industrial workers en masse, but instead concentrated on a social activist approach to organization, convinced that they could be
16113-604: Was brought forward to the Calcutta Party District Conference by Aziz ul Haq , but Haq was initially banned from presenting it by the conference organizers. At the Calcutta Party District Conference, 42 delegates opposed M. Basavapunniah's official draft program proposal. At the Siliguri Party District Conference, the main draft proposal for a party program was accepted, but with some additional points suggested by
16244-595: Was elected after A. K. Padmanabhan . It runs a monthly organ named WORKING CLASS . CITU is affiliated to the World Federation of Trade Unions . In 1971, Bangladesh (formerly East Pakistan ) declared its independence from Pakistan . The Pakistani military tried to quell the uprising. India intervened militarily and gave active backing to the Bangladeshi rebels . Millions of Bangladeshi refugees sought shelter in India, especially in West Bengal. At
16375-404: Was forced out of office in October 1969, as the CPI, RSP, KTP, and Muslim League ministers resigned. E.M.S. Namboodiripad handed in his resignation on 24 October. A coalition government led by CPI leader C. Achutha Menon was formed, with the outside support of the Indian National Congress . Fresh elections were held in West Bengal in 1969. CPI(M) contested 97 seats and won 80. The party was now
16506-474: Was in this period that the word wing was appended to both Left and Right. The International Workingmen's Association (1864–1876), sometimes called the First International, brought together delegates from many different countries, with many different views about how to reach a classless and stateless society. Following a split between supporters of Marx and Mikhail Bakunin , anarchists formed
16637-426: Was met with huge applause from conference delegates. The CPI (M) was born into a hostile political climate. At the time of the holding of its Calcutta Congress, large sections of its leaders and cadres were jailed without trial. Again on 29–30 December, over a thousand CPI (M) cadres were arrested and detained and held in jail without trial. In 1965 new waves of arrests of CPI(M) cadres took place in West Bengal , as
16768-410: Was published. This idea was opposed by Leon Trotsky and his supporters, who declared the need for an international " permanent revolution " and condemned Stalin for betraying the goals and ideals of the socialist revolution. Various Fourth Internationalist groups around the world who describe themselves as Trotskyist see themselves as standing in this tradition while Maoist China formally supported
16899-602: Was renamed to Operation Barga and this barga was the notable contribution to the people from Left Front Government of West Bengal. To begin with, group meetings between Officials and Bargadars were organized during "settlement camps" (also called "Reorientation camps"), where the bargadars could discuss their grievances. The first such camp was held at Halusai in Polba taluk in Hooghly district from 18 to 20 May 1978. In noted camp, two Adibashi Borgaders objected procedure adopted by
17030-700: Was sometimes opposed to imperialism . In the 1880s, there was a debate between leftists such as the Radical Georges Clemenceau , the Socialist Jean Jaurès and the nationalist Maurice Barrès , who argued that colonialism diverted France from liberating the "blue line of the Vosges ", in reference to Alsace-Lorraine; and the " colonial lobby " such as Jules Ferry of the Moderate Republicans , Léon Gambetta of
17161-421: Was successfully done in three Indian states ( West Bengal , Kerala , and Tamil Nadu ), India's first land reform was done in West Bengal in 1967, under the leadership of two Communist leaders: Hare Krishna Konar and Benoy Choudhury , in which Hare Krishna Konar played a leading role in getting surplus land held by big land owners in excess of land ceiling laws and kept ‘benami' (or false names) vested with
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