Far Left leader Kavita Krishnan announces decision to quit responsibilites in CPIML over the cult of Stalin and authoritarian regimes of Russia & China

via Facebook

An announcement

I requested to be relieved of my posts and responsibilities in CPIML since I needed to pursue certain troubling political questions: questions it was not possible to explore and express in my responsibilities as a CPIML leader. The party Central Committee has agreed to my request.

These questions include:

1. The need to recognise the importance of defending liberal democracies with all their flaws against rising forms of authoritarian and majoritarian populisms not just in India but around the world

2. The need to recognise that it is not enough to discuss the Stalin regime, USSR, or China as failed socialisms but as some of the world’s worst authoritarianisms that serve as a model for authoritarian regimes everywhere.

3. The conviction that for our fight for democracy against fascism and growing totalitarianism in India to be consistent, we must acknowledge the entitlement to the same democratic rights and civil liberties for all people across the world, including subjects of socialist totalitarian regimes past and present.

I am deeply thankful for my political journey of nearly three decades with CPIML, AISA, and AIPWA and these movements will continue to be a part of my life.

I will be writing on the substantive issues mentioned above, soon, to share my thinking as it evolves. But I do not wish to address media further (beyond this statement) on the question of my being relieved from CPIML leadership.

Kavita Krishnan

Marxist feminist and civil liberties activist

September 1, 2022