I was just listening to the news about India's governmental shifts, and was somewhat surprised to hear that the communists are still alive and kicking. So anyway, I started wondering, what would have happened it the Indian Communists had carried out a coup in 1948 or so and taken control of India? Could they survive? Would this make the Cold War even nastier?
Communist India
- Thread starter Adam Parsons
- Start date
Flocculencio
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The South Indian state of Kerala has elected the Communist party into power on and off. IIRC it was the earliest instance of a Communist Party being elected by the democratic process.
All you need is for them to gain nationwide support but I don't know how that would happen. The ruling Congress party in the 50's up to the 90's was already quite socialist.
I'd like to think that with the example of the Keralan model a Communist regime in India would have been a real attempt to make Communism work. It couldn't have been much worse than Congress mismanagement anyway.
All you need is for them to gain nationwide support but I don't know how that would happen. The ruling Congress party in the 50's up to the 90's was already quite socialist.
I'd like to think that with the example of the Keralan model a Communist regime in India would have been a real attempt to make Communism work. It couldn't have been much worse than Congress mismanagement anyway.
First off, I am a bit biased as I've got family there and
have been there several times. The communists only became a force in the later days. In 1948, they had little chance of taking over India or launching a revolution. The COngress party was the most powerful and had no serious rivals except for the Muslim League, which campaigned for and won a separate Muslim state which today is Pakistan.
Even today, they are only powerful at the state level. They aren't a national level political party like the Congress or BJP and are merely useful as a coalition partner. Also, socialist policies in general have cost India dearly these past 50 so years. Driving out foreign investment that could have created jobs, driving out foreign investment that could have spread technology, destroying any chance of useful relations with the US as a buffer against China, trying to be buddies with China and first losing Tibet as a buffer zone and then some of its own territory in a short war, and keeping the country mired in poverty when it could have become so much more. The only positive has been a large, english-speaking, and well educated pool of professionals. The communists at the local level have fostered good education and very good agricultural policies when they did land reform versus wholesale collectivization. However, I think their best example was in WEst Bengal (this state includes Calcutta) where after initially being very against foreign investment, they saw how Banglore and Hyderabad in the south were taking off and started trying to attract IT companies in a manner similar to that done in China. Hopefully, it will turn out for the better. I hope that the Communists turn out to be more like those in CHina as opposed to Stalinists but right now, some of their horribly inept politicians such as the infamous Laloo Prasad Yadav make a mockery of government to say the least. Like anythign in India, they are rather full of contrasts.
have been there several times. The communists only became a force in the later days. In 1948, they had little chance of taking over India or launching a revolution. The COngress party was the most powerful and had no serious rivals except for the Muslim League, which campaigned for and won a separate Muslim state which today is Pakistan.
Even today, they are only powerful at the state level. They aren't a national level political party like the Congress or BJP and are merely useful as a coalition partner. Also, socialist policies in general have cost India dearly these past 50 so years. Driving out foreign investment that could have created jobs, driving out foreign investment that could have spread technology, destroying any chance of useful relations with the US as a buffer against China, trying to be buddies with China and first losing Tibet as a buffer zone and then some of its own territory in a short war, and keeping the country mired in poverty when it could have become so much more. The only positive has been a large, english-speaking, and well educated pool of professionals. The communists at the local level have fostered good education and very good agricultural policies when they did land reform versus wholesale collectivization. However, I think their best example was in WEst Bengal (this state includes Calcutta) where after initially being very against foreign investment, they saw how Banglore and Hyderabad in the south were taking off and started trying to attract IT companies in a manner similar to that done in China. Hopefully, it will turn out for the better. I hope that the Communists turn out to be more like those in CHina as opposed to Stalinists but right now, some of their horribly inept politicians such as the infamous Laloo Prasad Yadav make a mockery of government to say the least. Like anythign in India, they are rather full of contrasts.
If the Communists act like in Russia, they make ahard purge against all religious symbols like happened in Russia and China, with loss of much valuable art and architecture. No thankyou.
