The Communist Parties in Power and Agrarian Reforms in India

The Communist Parties in Power and Agrarian Reforms in India is a sincere attempt to study the problems and prospects of communist parties in power in India at regional level (such as in the States of Kerala and West Bengal) and having considerable political and administrative autonomy. The study is authenticated by extensive field work, empirical data and close observation of the performance of the Communist Parties, particularly in the area of agrarian reforms. That Communist Parties can sustain in power, for more than fifteen years in the case of West Bengal, since 1977, is a clear cut vindication that people in general and concerned classes in particular, provide the social base. While in recent years the world has witnessed a colossal fall of communist regimes in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe the contrast in India indicates that communism has not lost theoretical and ideological relevance and the set-back to it the world over has only strategic relevance in terms of Unviability of particular regimes characterised as state socialisms. Based on the work done for a period of 5 years the study deals with ways and means which the communist parties adopt to overcome political, administrative and juridical problems in the process of implementation of agrarian reforms. The first few chapters carry a critical review of previous studies in terms of research methodology and epistemology followed by discussion on the general and programmatic aspect of the Communist Parties. The substantial part of the work thereafter is devoted to the examination of the political economy of the radical land reforms. Concluded with a note on what is communistic about agrarian reforms in the left-led/dominated states in India in terms of co-operativisation of agriculture towards building socialist social formations in embryonic form as centres of class struggle and socialist education and propaganda. The book will be of national and international importance for scholars, experts and political science but in other field as well.