The new left party

Two cheers for it. The third will have to wait, for now

Many in this country would welcome the emergence of the Awami Workers Party (AWP) on the political stage. The party has vowed to do away with the remnants of the feudal and tribal system and replace it with a modern, pluralist, pro-people, and genuinely democratic system. The party stands for the rights of the working class and all sections of society suffering from different forms of oppression under the unjust system. It will work for a genuinely federal Pakistan where federating units will have full control over their resources. The party also opposes imperialism in all forms and manifestations. In an era where market fundamentalism is the new religion, the emergence of a leftist party raising voice for the neglected masses comes as a breath of fresh air. While it has eschewed the term secularism, for all intents and purposes the party stands for a pluralistic and inclusive polity.

As things stand none of the mainstream parties is concentrated on issues like poverty, the rights of the minorities and women, and imperialist policies. Similarly, there is little difference in the economic agendas of these parties. The PPP and the PML-N have been in power several times. Their tenures were marked by total insensitivity to the issues faced by the common man. The governments led by both were altogether unresponsive. The PTI which had attracted the youth as a third choice is losing steam after it accommodated truckloads of turncoats from former ruling parties which had betrayed the confidence of their voters and turned the assembles into expensive clubs where only the privileged can hope to enter.

Under the circumstances, the new party can create a niche for itself in national politics provided it can cope with the challenges it faces.

It remains to be seen if the new party is able to overcome some of the traditional flaws of the left. These include factionalism, addiction to terminology of a particular type, and failure to address the masses in a simple, everyday language they can best understand. Will the components of the new party which had so far worked separately and were at times involved in mutual skirmishes forget old rivalries and work as one party?

Again, will the party be able to absorb in its ranks other left groups that still maintain a separate existence, particularly those in Sindh and Balochistan? As things stand the party does not even have a symbolic representation from the Baloch. All will depend on how well the party is able to accommodate the concerns of the left parties still outside it.

Will the new party be able to develop the minimum resources needed to contest the elections which have been made very costly?

Will it be able to attract the burgeoning middle class and the civil society in general which happen to be politically the most active while maintaining its roots in its traditional constituencies of the working class and peasantry?

In fact, the new party has opportunities that the left has never had in the past. To begin with, thanks whatever democracy we have, there is freedom to express one’s views.

Throughout the Cold War era, the left was the principle target of the US-led imperialist blocs and successive governments in Pakistan.

Leftist literature was not allowed to be circulated. Books with views challenging the status quo were proscribed. The newspapers and journals with left leanings were banned or taken over by the government. Trade unions under the influence of left were targeted by state agencies. Trade union activities were severely restricted.

The successive military regimes that took over during the period persecuted organisations with progressive agendas. Communist Party of Pakistan was banned in 1954. Under Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the leadership of NAP, a broad coalition of left and nationalist parties, was arrested in a fake conspiracy case and the party banned. Hassan Nasir, a young communist leader, was tortured to death during the Ayub era. Nazir Abbasi met a similar fate when Zia-ul-Haq was in power. Hundreds of progressive workers underwent jail terms from the early days of the country to the end of the Zia period.

The left never came to power. A fairly significant part of its agenda was, however, subsequently accepted even by those who had initially opposed it tooth and nail. This included the demand of autonomy for the provinces, opposition to strong centre and army rule, and demand for land reforms. It was no easy matter to agitate on these issues for decades after the creation of Pakistan. It was common among the rulers as well as the right wing newspapers to term these demands as being violative of the teachings of Islam and harmful for Pakistan. Thos holding the ideas were dubbed secessionists and foreign agents.

The left in the past stuck to its programme with an unusual tenacity. Like a pine tree, it struck roots in whatever little soil was available and broke the rock that hampered its growth to try to grow up. The handful of left workers, shadowed most of the time by secret police faced one dictator after another through sheer courage of conviction. Some of them are in the new party.

Tenacity, however, is not enough. Equally important is innovation. The AWP will now be required to compete with other parties in the political arena. While its political activists will be an asset to it, it cannot afford to remain a cadre party. During the transition period it will have to act as an effective pressure group, particularly in Punjab. The outcome of the contest will, however, depend upon how it manages to metamorphose into a mass party. It will be only then that the party would deserve three cheers.

The writer is a former academic and a political analyst.