Communism in Kerala

The modernization of Kerala society is marked by the role the Political Left in Kerala has played in making the old order crumble down and equipping the people in making use of the emancipatory potential of modernity. The intervention of the Left in this modernization process was simultaneously material and non-material. On the one side, there were struggles to push for material redistribution in favor of the downtrodden, and on the other a relentless struggle to gain recognition as modern individuals by shaking the foundations of an old social order in which ritual ranking determined one’s position in the society. The culmination of the modernizing process in Kerala can be seen in the actualization of a 'Kerala Model of Development' in which a pro-welfare policy regime successfully entrenched by the Left, considerably raised the standard of living without facilitating an unhindered expansion of the profit-driven market. Parallel to this, a push for freeing people of their primordial loyalties and inculcate a spirit of egalitarianism and universal fraternity could also be seen- thus advancing the legacy of Kerala Renaissance notwithstanding the stiff resistance from the part of conservative forces. But over time, this once-celebrated Kerala Model- both of instituting a pro-welfare policy regime and of entrenching progressive cultural values- has been subjected to critiques from different angles, highlighting different limitations of the model. The Political Left in Kerala, I would argue, has taken these criticisms seriously, and rather than building up a blind defense of the model, has attempted to keep re-building the model according to the changing times. This is visible from a range of milestone decisions and formulations, starting from EMS's stress on the need to concentrate more on material production to the recent attempts to vigorously take up the unfinished tasks of the Kerala Renaissance. In all these attempts, on the one side, there is a conscious attempt to adhere to the tenets of Marxism-Leninism and on the other, a creative approach towards new demands arising, which results in an ongoing attempt to blend the two. This paper thus considers how the adherence to the principles of Marxism-Leninism has provided the Political Left in Kerala a vision of transforming the society before them, forging an alternative model of development that marked itself distinct both from Nehruvian developmentalism and the neo-liberal model and in dealing with the new assertions aspiring a greater level of egalitarianism with a non-dogmatic approach. These continuing experiments, the paper tries to show, will feed into developing a renewed theoretical bedrock for the Nava Keralam, that the Left aspires to build up. The paper also tries to problematize the claims of a ‘deviation’, that is common in anti-Left rhetoric in Kerala, and which points to a ‘break’ in the egalitarian praxis of the Left and a ‘compromise’ with the status-quoist forces. In the course of problematizing it, an attempt is made to show a continuity in the basic vision of Marxist praxis right from the 1930s to contemporary times, but which gets widened in nature and scope with changing times.