True Marxists adapt to changing conditions: Yechury

CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury has said Marxism is based on a "concrete analysis of concrete conditions" and a true believer of the philosophy analyses the situations and adapts to changing conditions.

Yechury, who was severely criticised by sections of the CPI(M) for advocating an understanding with the Congress to take on the ruling BJP, pointed to the success of the Communist China, which has "adapted to the changing conditions".

"Marxism is based on a concrete analysis of concrete conditions. As conditions change, if your analysis does not change then in my opinion you are not a Marxist," he said.

Yechury, who was re-elected to the highest position in his party for the second time in April, said the "assaults on reason and rationality, which rupture the social order", can only be fought by Marxism.

He likened the "emergence of private armies" which attack Dalits and minorities in India to Italian fascists, the Blackshirts, and stressed that such assaults on the existing social order should be countered ideologically.

He referred to the rape and killing of an eight-year-old girl in Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir in January, which had provoked outrage across the country after members of the state's ruling party initially appeared to defend the accused.

"Dalit atrocities are growing in the country and the emergence of private armies attacking Dalits and minorities are no different than the Blackshirts and Brownshirts of Hitler and Mussolini," Yechury said.

The Dalits and the Left are uniting to fight them, he said at a discussion in Delhi on the relevance of Marxism in India and Asia.

Yechury said the essence of German philosopher and economist Karl Marx's theory is not dogmatic and not a formula that can be mechanically implied, but a creative science.

"Relevance of Marxism is not lost but has become even more relevant... That is why on the 200th birth anniversary of Karl Marx, The New York Times had come out with a headline saying 'Happy Birthday Karl Marx. You were right!'," he said.

On Marx's relevance in India, Yechury said the challenges of economic exploitation, the rise of fundamentalism and the continuous attacks on constitutional institutions can be only combated by Marxism.

Quoting Hungarian Marxist philosopher Georg Lukacs, he said fascists succeeded all over the world, especially in Italy and Germany, in "destruction of reason" and that is what is being witnessed in India.

"The only way to face such irrationality is through battle of ideas and that is where the relevance of Marxism comes. It is to reestablish the supremacy of rationality and reason," he said.