CCP is on its way to irrelevance; so are political parties the world over

Karl Marx had famously declared that States would wither away. But it’s the Communist parties that vanished, or are in the process, without realising the utopia of World Commune or International Comintern, whose objective it was to promote global Communist revolution and establish a world Communist regime. All that is fiction today. After the last global convention in 1935, the next biggest Communist party gathering was held in Beijing on July 1, 2021, and there was nothing global about it. It was the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which cares two hoots for Marxism and practises capitalism more ruthlessly than the capitalist world. Incidentally, very few world leaders publicly congratulated the CCP on its centenary. Even Russian President Vladimir Putin is reported to have declined to attend the event and congratulated the CCP only in his ‘personal capacity’, and not on behalf of the Russian State or people.

It is clear that the centenary bash was not a showstopper in most Western capitals or even in countries in the region where the Chinese footprint is overwhelming. The CCP probably knew this, and hence embarked on buying media space and influence by paying huge amounts to American media outfits, as papers filed with the US Justice Department showed.

The highlight of the bash was the belligerent speech of Xi Jinping, who had dressed himself like Mao. “We must uphold the core position of the Secretary General of the party…” demanded Xi Jinping, the Secretary General of the party. Next, President Xi Jinping assured Secretary General Xi Jinping and the party that those “who would dare to bully, oppress, or subjugate China will have their heads bashed bloody against the ‘Great Wall of Steel’ forged by 1.4 billion Chinese people.” Then, Xi Jinping, the supreme head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), assured Secretary General Xi Jinping that the PLA is first and foremost the party’s army and secondarily the nation’s army. So, what is the rest of the world to make of the speech?

The ill-tempered speech of Xi Jinping, wagging his finger at the West, is a clear sign that he who controls all three power centres in China is yet unsure of his power, position and tenure. The tone was a definite admission of the fear of losing control over the apparatus, apprehensions of being overthrown, or a slowing economy threatening the CCP’s, and therefore his, grip on power.

In addition, like every other Chinese strongman, Xi, too, must have uncomfortable nightmares about a possible revolt in Xinjiang, Taiwan or Tibet, not to mention an internal coup. The millions of birthday wishes to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, including one from Prime Minister Modi, will have added to the discomfiture.

The centenary celebration might have been an occasion to sing paeans to the party, but what is clear is that the CCP as an institution and the core ideology with which it was launched a hundred years ago are approaching irrelevance. The aura of Communist parties and of the universal Communist utopia started to dim as far back as the 1960s, with disagreements over the dogma, the Chinese rejection of peaceful coexistence with the West and what it saw as the Soviet Union’s capitulation to America (during the 1962 Cuban missile crisis), leading to the Sino-Soviet split in 1963, and splits in Communist parties worldwide, including in India. But then, the CCP, under wiser leadership than Mao’s, shape-shifted, embraced the West and capitalism, and outlived the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Post-Cold War, the CCP put “prosperity first, not party.” And it has done very well since.

But the party is over, or will be in the coming years, not because of the CCP’s shortcomings alone, but because political parties the world over are losing their relevance. Parties and ideologies are being fast replaced by issues and individuals.

Political parties are in a state of flux. Irrespective of the type of dispensation, parties are losing their relevance or shrinking in influence. Dictators and despots have always nurtured contempt for political parties. Wherever possible, they have either dismantled parties or wrested control over them. Even in democratic set-ups, the nature of parties has changed. They are no longer the torchbearers of ideologies, they are increasingly the anti-thesis of ideals and ideologies, even their own, let alone of noble constitutions.

European countries seem to be both more aware of the trend and furthest along on the path to a new politics. Several of them are devising alternatives to party-oriented democracy. Since 2019, France has held a Citizens’ Convention on Climate, asking some 150 randomly chosen citizens to help devise sustainable and socio-economically fair solutions to reducing greenhouse gases. In 2016, the Irish Parliament called a citizens’ meeting to deliberate on contentious issues, including a constitutional ban on abortion. The majority opinion was to strike down the ban, which was endorsed by a national referendum, resulting in the law being changed. Everything done within democratic parameters, but without involving political parties.

In America, in 2019, 38 per cent of people refused to identify with either of the major parties, Democratic and Republican. Both parties were seen as unrepresentative, hopelessly corrupt, and hijacked by elites, confirming George Washington’s criticism of political parties in 1796 for allowing “cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men” to “subvert the power of the people.”

Political parties in India, too, are sailing in the same boat. From the ideology-oriented and cadre-based BJP to the dynasty-centred Congress, or the family concerns that are the regional parties, all have, in keeping with the global trend, replaced ideology with agenda, philosophy with programmes, and institutional frameworks with personalities to varying degrees. The Left parties haven’t been affected, but then they have already attained irrelevance.

(Seshadri Chari reads between the lines on big national and international developments from his vantage point in the BJP National Executive and the RSS @seshadrichari)