Humane World Order
Dismemberment of the erstwhile Soviet Union and fall of the socialist regimes in Eastern Europe came as a great shock to all progressive and left-leaning people all over the world. This phenomenon has been described by many as triumph of capitalism over socialism despite the deepening crises repeatedly visiting the system of hegemonic exploitation of the masses. As we all know history is an ongoing process, knowing no end till humanity is wiped off the planet. History has only to be written afresh.
At the outset, it may be stated that what failed was not socialism as such but its distorted or ‘deformed’ version. From 1991 to 2005 if we inquire about who is behind ‘Street Democracy’ in CIS countries, which till 1991 constituted the erstwhile Soviet Union, Non-governmental organisations, funded from the West in general and the USA in particular, are playing a major role in influencing the course of political developments in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
Great political thinker & an eminent writer William Ebenstein, Professor Emeritus, Princeton University, made a prophetic statement as early as 1969 :
The ideology of communism will remain a potent factor in the world politics even if the Soviet Union disappears, for internal or external reasons, as a major world power. Just as revolutionary communism was born long before the Soviet Union came into existance, it may easily outlive her eclipse or demise.
We may also recall what the great British writer, H. G. Wells, said.
…..Socialism was no mere ‘old little jobbing, about municipal gas and water’, but meant revolution, ‘a change in the everyday texture of life’. It may be very gradual change, but it will be a very complete one.
Bertrand Russel wrote long ago that the bad old world will :
burn itself in its own hot passions and out of its ashes will rise a new world, full of fresh hope, with the light of the morning in its eyes.
Interestingly, a new left-wing alliance has appeared in the run-up to the premature parliamentary elections in Germany. The formation of the alliance has already sparked leftist hopes and roused conservative fears. Analysts see it as a historic chance for the German left. By its very existance, the left party has been bringing about changes in the political landscape of Germany. The established parties are hastily giving themselves a social image and pasting populist promises to their election manifesto.
Be that as it may, the prophets of doom were proved wrong by events and developments that took place after the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Not much after the collapse of soviet regimes Moldovia & Hungary re-elected former left alliances to the parliaments. This happened after Poland, Serbia and Rumania returned former communists, reborn and revamped as Socialist, to office. Curiously, Lithuania, the first of ex-Soviet Republics to reject the Communists was also the first to recall the Reds. In Russia itself the Communist Party, has emerged as the largest political party. Elsewhere in Europe, a left-wing coalition, at the heart of which was the old Italian communist party (The PCI), took office in Italy in the April 1996 election. In the recent presidential election in Mongolia, the People Revolutionary Party has won 53 per cent votes, while Democratic party obtained 20 percent, signifying another example of Leftist revival.
The ferment in Latin America during the last decade assumes special significance in the change world scenario. The foremost event is the Chavez phenomenon. A staunch anti-imperialist and a leftist leader, Hugo Chavez comprehensively defeated the Recall, (referendum funded by the US congress) getting 60 percent votes. Chavez diverted substantial funds from Venezaela’s oil revenues to promote programmes of education, health care and housing. Ecuador is another Latin American country, which has lately registered a leftist revival.
The people of India have voted decisively in the Fourteenth Lok Sabha elections for secular, progressive and left parties in 2004. The Left parties welcomed the Common Minimun Programme prepared by the United Progressive Alliance for the UPA government. The left parties were consulted in the preparation of the document. In Bangladesh a progressive Democratic left alliances taking shape. It will be no wonder if these alliances go to announce its common minimum programme in near future.
The ongoing predatory march of capitalistic globalisation is bound to generate space for popular peoples movement for social change across the world. The emergence of centre-left govt. and left democratic alliances around the globe is a clear testimony of the revival of the left Democratic forces. Truth and reality are invincible. The great truth is the ideals of democracy, social justice and equality, which are winning the minds and hearts of people in the world. Mankind has discerned the real image of Imperialism & Capitalism and does not want and will not tolerate its preponderance further existence. Present world order will be replaced by a new & just world order-more democratic-more left and more humane. Such is the objective law of social development, and such is the objective dialectics of history. Looking at the manifest, and form character of the parties and left democratic coalition in power around the globe clearly manifest the inevitability of left democratic humane world order in not too distant future.

18 August, 2008