Editorial: 'Left-Wing' Communism: An Infantile Disorder

While we wholly disagree with the declaration of the Prime Minister that the CPI (Maoist) is the gravest threat to the security of the country, it is equally difficult for us to agree with the violent activities of the Maoist in the name of “revolution”. The call to boycott the recent assembly elections in areas of Maharashtra and other by-elections and trying to disrupt the same by violent means indicate a large degree of infantile disorder. Perhaps the party cadre should be referred to the classical work of Lenin himself on this issue. Lenin's last major work, addressed to the supporters of the Russian Revolution in the West, was entitled “Left-Wing” Communism: An Infantile Disorder - a critique of the “left-ism” of those who wanted to imitate the Russian Revolution, without paying attention to the specific conditions of their own country. Maoists are doing the same by aping the Chinese revolution.

Marxists seek to foster and educate the left-wing to develop a more sober and scientific view of the political terrain, to learn to understand the motivation of other social layers and how to win battles, rather than just fighting valiantly. A Marxist leadership does not look for the most left-wing position on any given problem, but rather tries to find the policy which strengthens and builds the self-confidence, unity and self-consciousness of the working class as a whole. The Maoist seems to have forgotten this basic lesson of Marx and Lenin after they dropped the suffix (ML)!