The Red Pantheon

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were the co-authors of the Communist Manifesto which goes back to 1847. It defined the principles of the new political party-the Communist party.  Both were Germans, political theorists, philosphers and revolutionaries in the guise of social scientists. But it was not until the Russian Revolution of 1917 led by Lenin did this dogma shake up the world, dominate the 20^th century geopolitics and culminate in the prolonged and bitter cold war hostilities.

A communist state became a State that was administered by a single party- guided by the Marxist/Leninist/Maoist philosophy.

The doctrine quickly took over Eastern Europe, conquered China and parts of Asia, spread to Africa and Latin America with Cuba becoming a flag-bearer and a flash-point. Think Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, North Korea, Congo, Angola, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Chile. The footprint grew rapidly.

The charm of this philosophy lay in its egalitarian, utopian, humane, and idealistic welfare promise. A better socio-economic order. Remember the oft quoted definition of communism- “a theory or system of social organisation in which all property is owned by the community or state where each person contributes according to their ability and gets according to their needs”.

Even the academia and activists in Europe were swept away by the fervour. There were secret societies at Oxford and Cambridge affiliated to the Communist ideology in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Remember Kim Philby, the spy who went into the cold in the 60’s.  Also the romantic idolisation of Che Guevera, the bearded guerrilla whose face continues to adorn T shirts around the world.

Independent India was not immune to the charms of this ideology. Nehru was a huge admirer of the Stalinist 5 year plan and the heavy industries model. Many politicos, bureaucrats, professors, economists, authors, social activists fell into line. West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura had communist govts. The southern state remains a bastion. We became an ally of the Soviet bloc despite our non-aligned pretensions. Remember Tashkent Files.

Despite the collapse of communism in the early 1990’s, the rosy narrative continues to hold its grip. People who continue this storyline remain comrades dedicated to the movement.

Let’s look beyond the spin.

Hitler continues to be the poster-boy of genocide. But what about the millions and millions brutally killed by Stalin, Mao, the Dear Leaders in North Korea? The horrific stories about the Gulag prisons in Siberia surfaced in the early ‘70s.  Why do these guys not talk about the vicious Khmer Rouge regime of Pol Pot in Cambodia? Millions died and disappeared. Remember Chairman Mao’s famous words- “Power grows out of the barrel of a gun”, put into practice during the infamous ‘Great Leap Forward’ and the ‘Cultural Revolution’. His portrait continues to adorn some of our universities and political offices. Lenin, Stalin, Mao and later Castro and Chavez are the pantheon of great leaders. All cruel dictators and proponents of an authoritarian, violent ideology. They continue to be deified. Their present-day followers continue to hold forth in a patronising way- as intellectuals, human rights activists and social reformers.

The Naxalbari movement took root in a village near Siliguri in 1967. Led by Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal it heralded a peasant revolution. It did lead to substantial land reforms- equitable distribution of land to the landless and enumeration of farmers. The loyalty dividends were such that the Left Government in West Bengal lasted from 1977 to 2011. But then the Naxal movement degenerated from its noble high to a violent, underground movement which holds sway in parts of Chhatisgarh, Orissa and Maharashtra. The AK series rifles and IED’s are provided by China and Pakistan. An interesting review conducted a few years back revealed that young tribal recruits were enamoured by the uniforms and the guns. Then they lord over their communities and detonate the mines which kill thousands of our security forces. Another interesting dimension is that they have metamorphed into a mafia-like business syndicate. After all, power grows from the barrel of a gun.

What then about these state-contolled economies? How do they fare now?

Deng Xiao Ping who followed Mao jettisoned the Great Leader’s ideology. His mantra was-  “What does it matter if a cat is black or white so long as it catches mice”. Sacrilege! But 40 years later China is the world’s second largest economy. The factory to the world. The capital of off-shoring. Leveraging its cheap labour to power the world’s biggest brands and plants. Benefiting from and eating into the tech-transfer. Transforming this huge country into one of the world’s biggest markets. It continues to be governed with an iron fist by a single party and a strongman at the head. This is State Capitalism- a la Chinese.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia has struggled with its economy which is heavily dependent on oil, natural gas and minerals. It has been hurt by economic sanctions. An embarrassing downslide for a country which once was the other superpower. A big climb-down from the rapid industrialisation which took place in the ‘30s and the ‘50s- heavy industries such as steel, minerals, power, infrastructure, aviation, automobile……. Interestingly at the outset many of these factories were dismantled ones from the US and Europe and many technicians from these countries were lured with higher salaries. Meanwhile, the collectivisation experiment in agriculture was a disaster.

The melt-down of oil-rich Venezuela is another example of the collapse of the command economy model. Many Eastern Europe countries are struggling to play catch-up with their Western counterparts.

The contrast between the erstwhile West and East Germanys is glaring. Even four decades after reunification and the pumping in of $2 trillion in aid, wages in the East are 25-40% behind the West and unemployment is almost double.

Cuba has achieved success in providing healthcare and was once rated as high as 25^th on the world healthcare index.

In a similar vein the Indian state of Kerala can boast of some of the best medicare and wellness in the country. The literacy rate is also in the mid-ninetees. Yet most of its young population looks to go to the Gulf and South East Asia to secure a better future. The State economy does not provide enough employment opportunities.

The ideal of Marx and Engels did not factor in power-grab, hierarchy or the ills of corruption. The oligarchs who surround and support Putin are virtually the Mafia. In China, corruption is endemic. When big brother is watching and has the power to summarily put one behind bars, the business world cooperates. Russian and Chinese names figure prominently as money launderers in the Panama Papers along with their capitalist brethren from the US, Europe and Asia. Money truly does unite.

What about India? The cut-money scandal in West Bengal to facilitate government scheme benefits has come as a huge embarrassment for the Mamata Banerjee government. But what the media is keeping quiet about is that this was a common practice with the CPI (M) cadres also for many decades. Also that the goon squad of the communist party crossed over en-masse to Didi’s side when the power equation changed.

Moving on from the material to the spiritual, we remember Karl Marx famously proclaiming, “Religion is the opium of the masses”. The communist states officially practised atheism and there were many stories of persecutions. But how the times have changed. Even China has 5 registered religions in Buddhism, Chrisitianity, Protestanism, Islam and Taoism, although the incarceration of a million Muslims in Xinjiang province of China is a major human-rights talking point today. Thirty years after the fall of the Iron Curtain Conservative Christianity has regained its popular hold in East Europe and Buddhism is making inroads in Vietnam and Cambodia.

So am I batting for capitalism? No way!

Let’s travel to the heart of capitalism-the US of A. Dial back to Gordon Gekko and the movie ‘Wall Street’- “Greed is good”, summarizing the complete deregulation of the Reagan years to the recession of 2008 where the US Govt bailed out too big to fail banks and companies. The top-honchos walked away with fat bonuses and salaries. The middle-class and working class people lost their pensions and their employment. Real incomes after the recession were lower than in the mid 1980’s. The lobbying, the quid pro quo and the nexus between Wall Street, the White House, Capitol Hill and even the Ivy League Colleges is stark and there for all to see.

Just 2 other indicators to show the hollowness of this capitalist model. After the undermining of Obamacare, the US has the worst health-care system for its people amongst all developed nations. It should look to neighbouring Canada for inspiration. As for student loans it stands at a whopping $1.5 trillion. A huge burden even for the young college grads getting into the work force. Forcing them to not buy houses or get married. At times, a huge cross to bear for their parents also.

The bitter fight of the capitalists against communism has not earned them a higher moral ground. The McCarthy witch hunt against many innocent US citizens started it all. The Cold-War rhetoric was inflamed to support the US military-industrial complex. More bombs were dropped on Vietnam than in the entire 2^nd World War. Scorching the earth through napalm and poisoning rivers are the dark truths that the country will always seek to suppress. I stumbled on the irrationality of it all whilst  watching a  documentary ‘Hunting Klaus Barbie’ about the Nazi Butcher of Lyon. The US Intelligence nabbed this known killer after the war and instead of bringing him to justice used him to dig up Commie secrets for many years. He remained a free man till the mid ‘80s.

Another example is how capitalism has evolved in South Korea. A developed economy with some of the biggest brands to resonate across the world. These few family run conglomerates like Samsung not only drive the economy but call the shots in the highest government quarters. The Chaebol, in a way, runs the country.

And so we wait for the next grand experiment. A happy mix of a welfare state and a free market. Where basics like food, shelter, health, education, public utilities, law, and order are guaranteed, coexisting with entrepreneurship and innovation,  aspirations and wealth-creation.

Let the final word rest with George Orwells’s classic ‘Animal Farm’- the best unravelling of the communist culture and state of mind. What starts of as the Utopian ideal of creating a paradise of progress, justice, and equality where all are happy and free but fatally ignores the universal human weakness for power, control, and greed. Alas, the revolution against tyranny leads to totalitarianism, just as terrible.