CC Call and Pledge on the 26th Death Anniversary of Comrade Vinod Mishra
In Lieu of an Editorial
Important questions of history are always resolved on the streets, Comrade Vinod Mishra had reminded us in his last note to the Party Central Committee in December 1998. He had appealed to young communists to go for all-round initiatives and intensify the battle against the fascist threat which had already begun to raise its ugly head. A strong communist party firmly upholding the red banner of revolutionary Marxism, a powerful movement of the rural poor and all-round initiative against the saffron conspiracy - Comrade VM highlighted these three key challenges in his last note. Today as we observe the 26th death anniversary of Comrade VM, his words ring ever more true.
The Modi government has now been in power for more than a decade. The fascist agenda of the government has been considerably exposed and there is also a good degree of resistance building up on various fronts. Occasionally, the resistance has been successful in inflicting electoral setbacks to the fascist expedition, but as recent elections to Haryana and Maharashtra Assemblies showed, the fascists are desperate to hold on to power.
Clearly we will need more sustained and powerful people's upheavals to stop the fascist onslaught. The fascists draw their strength from communal hate and polarisation, caste and gender oppression and the fullest backing of corporate power. Our resistance to fascism will therefore have to acquire a sharper anti-communal, anti-caste, anti-patriarchal and anti-corporate edge.
Under Comrade VM's guidance the party had begun to build an extensive network of mass organisations and develop a range of united fronts in various arenas of struggle. Today in the context of the fascist threat, we are pursuing these policies much more widely than any other period in the past. Apart from mass organisations and campaign platforms for various classes, communities and occupational categories, we are now part of the all-India opposition coalition and effective electoral blocs in Bihar and Jharkhand. There are also some early signs of a broader Left unity taking shape in West Bengal.
This 26 December we are entering the centenary year of the Communist Party of India. Ironically, 2025 is also the centenary of the RSS. Hence we will be commemorating the CPI centenary as much to salute the glorious history and heritage of the communist movement as to focus on the contemporary challenges of defeating fascism and defending and extending the Constitutional commitment to a socialist, secular, sovereign democratic Indian republic to achieve genuine social transformation and human emancipation.
On the 26th death anniversary of Comrade VM, let us take the pledge to strengthen his beloved party in every way to meet today's challenges. Only a few months ago, the party got a big boost in Jharkhand with the merger of the Marxist Coordination Committee founded by Comrade AK Roy. The merger has given us much needed strength to defeat the BJP in Jharkhand and win two seats in the Jharkhand Assembly from the important Dhanbad-Bokaro working class belt. The CPI(ML) Central Committee extends warm revolutionary greetings to all comrades joining the movement and the party organisation at this historic juncture of the Indian republic. Let us work hard to take the CPI(ML) deep among the people across the length and breadth of our beloved country and make it more robust, vibrant and dynamic to carry forward the revolutionary march of modern India. That will be the best tribute we can pay to Comrade VM and all other departed leaders and martyrs of the CPI(ML) and the Indian communist movement.
- Central Committee, CPI(ML) (Liberation)
