Has Communism a Future? -- K.N. Raj

This discussion has been organized here in Thiruvananthapuram on the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Communist Manifesto. The Communist Manifesto was published in February 1848, and therefore—strictly speaking—the 150th anniversary should have been commemorated in February 1998. Ten months have slipped by since then and, if we allow another two months to slip by, the opportunity will be altogether lost. Of course, the subject chosen for discussion will continue to be relevant, and of wide interest, for many more years to come. Still it is appropriate that it takes place before the year 1998 is over. From the two persons who came and invited me to speak on this occasion, I gathered (what I had already suspected) that Mohit Sen was the moving spirit behind it. I was not surprised by this information, as Moht is now one of the very few Marxists who have had adequate training in the literature on the ideas and events associated with Marxist thought. The rest of the so-called “Communist (Marxists)” are, by large, familiar with only some slogans that have gained wide popularity among them as they march in numerous protest demonstrations. Mohit was not only trained in history in the University of Cambridge but, like the older generation of Communists in this country such as S.A. Dange and Mohan Kumaramangalam, is well-versed in traditional Marxist literature.

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