Periscope
A Babe in the Woods
Since the country's independence in 1971 through a bloody and ruthless war, Bangladesh's Communist movement's major stream has been synonymous with bankruptcy. Be it becoming a lapdog of the Awami League government during its 1972-1975 term or giving legitimacy to Gen Zia's military rule by participating in his Canal Digging Project, the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB) made numerous reactionary decisions only to call it a mistake/part of tactics later on. History now sheds an unpleasant yet necessary light on this forgotten chapter. The CPB merged with the much controversial Bakshal during Bangabandhu's rule only because it was in tune with the Soviet foreign policy for Southasia. So was its support to Gen Zia's irrigation project, which was allegedly done to pave the way for Soviet arms sale to Bangladesh.
During the tempestuous days following Bangladesh's birth, some ultra-left parties were pursuing policies that can hardly be called pro-people. Of their leaders, Abdul Haq of Communist Party of East Bengal (As the name suggests, it took them a couple of years to realise that Bangladesh had actually become independent) went a little too far. He actually wrote a letter to Zulfikar Ali Bhutto beseeching him to provide with cash and kind so that Bangabandhu's nascent regime can be toppled. While the CPB robbed the country of an effective opposition, Haq and gang remained lost in their infantile pipedream. Many now recall the lawlessness during the AL's first term in office and the comrades of different hues and colours have their fair share of blame in this sordid saga.
The CPB could have shown some backbone. With hundreds and thousands of supporters under its wings, the party had the ability to launch a popular movement and become the main opposition during 1972-1975. It didn't do so when the police fired and killed one of its student activists in Dhaka, it defended some of the regime's unpopular and suicidal economic policies. Too make matters even more grievous, the Communists later became the brain behind the blanket nationalisation of local industries that was unnecessary even by any Marxist standard.
The CPB's Maoists counterparts, on the other hand, were literarily in the woods. Ignoring the ground reality (the country's terrain is different from China and the 'subjective conditions' weren't favourable), the 'Chinese Communists' were bent on seizing the cities through villages, 'blocking the artery' as they famously declared. Many Bangladeshi Maoists died of heart attack-- besides this little fact, the strategy had never had any metaphoric value.
Not that the then CPB or Maoist leaders were not patriots, both the strands of Communist movement have gifted the country with many honest and brave political leaders, but like everything in life, this too, has a catch. Among such leaders that you would like to recall (Mujahidul Islam Selim, Matia Chowdhury, Nurul Islam Nahid, Tariqul Islam, and Abdullah Al Noman), except for Selim, all of them are now either in the AL or in the Bangladesh Nationalist Party.
In fact, it is Selim, who steadfastly stood by Marxism and kept the red flag flying in the early nineties when almost all the members of the CPB central committee favoured dissolving the party into the AL and Dr Kamal Hossain's Gono Forum. Since then, Selim has been trying to rebuild the CPB following an independent party line. He was attacked in Sylhet last week by goons belonging to Chhatra League. Like it or not, the CPB is not a member in the AL-led Mohajote. Unlike fellow Communists, the CPB has steadfastly upheld its line of keeping a distance from both the bourgeoisie parties. Yet, the party's reaction after the attack has been surprisingly mellow. That makes the party look weak and servile. The left, especially the CPB, has to prove to the nation that they are not a mere talking shop. It's true that when it comes to popular votes, the left stands in the backwater. Having said that, it is important for the left movement in Bangladesh to grow a backbone or anything that in the least resembles one.
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