Marxism Research Network
Unofficial English Translation

Zhang Shulan: An Analysis of the Trends of the Socialist Movement in South Asia since the 21st Century

Marxism Abroad

Entering the 21st century, South Asia, South America, and South Africa have come to constitute the famous "Three Souths" of the world socialist and communist movement. The South Asian region includes eight countries: India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan. Regarding the socialist movement in South Asia, Chinese academia has already produced some research results: between 2015 and 2016, there were seven papers concerning the South Asian Maoist movement, and between 2016 and 2017, there were two papers concerning the South Asian socialist movement. These research outputs have all revolved around the history and current situation of the socialist and communist movements in South Asia, the concepts and practices of their major schools of thought, and their development prospects, effectively proving the importance of South Asia within the global socialist and communist movement. However, these papers did not focus on or deeply analyze development trends since the beginning of the 21st century, nor did their research scope cover all eight South Asian countries, being limited instead to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. Among the three authors of the first seven papers, only two briefly mentioned Bangladesh and Bhutan, and one believed that Pakistan and the Maldives have no Maoists; of the latter two documents, one briefly mentioned Bangladesh. In view of this, the author proceeds from a complete regional perspective to explore the development trends of the socialist movement in South Asia since the 21st century across three analytical levels: the national, the regional, and the global system.

I. Trends in the Typological Development of the South Asian Socialist Movement

According to the general classification standards for South Asian left-wing parties, the South Asian socialist movement consists of three types: the first is the socialist movement led by moderate left-wing parties, which adhere to the path of parliamentary struggle; the second is the socialist movement led by radical left-wing parties within the established system, which prioritize parliamentary struggle supplemented by mass struggle; the third is the socialist-communist movement led by extreme left-wing parties outside the system, which advocate for the overthrow of the existing regime through armed struggle to establish a new system.

1. The moderate left-wing movement has been in continuous decline overall since the end of the Cold War and is currently in a trough.

Among the eight South Asian nations, the moderate left-wing parties in six countries are primarily old parties established in the 20th century; only in the Maldives and Bhutan did moderate left-wing parties emerge in the 21st century. In India, the moderate left is primarily represented by the Congress Socialist Party, established in 1934, and factions like the Janata Dal (Secular), which split away after independence. Pakistan's moderate left is represented by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), founded in 1967, and the Awami National Party (ANP), founded in 1986. Bangladesh’s moderate left-wing parties are mainly the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD), founded in 1972, and the National Awami Party (NAP). Sri Lanka's moderate left includes the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), founded in 1935, and the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), founded in 1959. Moderate left-wing forces in Nepal include the Nepali Congress, founded in 1947, the Nepal Sadbhawana Party, founded in 1985, and the Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum, founded in 1997. Afghanistan is relatively unique: several moderate left-wing parties existed before the 21st century, but after the promulgation of the "Law on Political Parties" in 2003, those remaining active are primarily the Social Democratic Party and the Watan Party (registered with the Ministry of Justice as the National Watan Party), in addition to moderate left-wing parties derived from the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) founded in 1965, such as the National Progressive Party and the People's Welfare Party. The situations in Bhutan and the Maldives are quite distinct, as moderate left-wing parties only appeared after entering the 21st century. In Bhutan, these include the People's Democratic Party (PDP), founded in 2007, and the Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) and Kuen-Nyam Party (KNP), both founded in 2013. In the Maldives, moderate left-wing parties mainly include the Social Liberal Party and the Labour Party, both founded in 2008, and the Maldives Labour and Social Democratic Party (MLSDP, or Labour Party), registered in 2019; however, after the new "Political Parties Act" was promulgated in 2013, the first two parties were dissolved, leaving only the MLSDP active.

The decline of traditional old parties in South Asia is a matter of consensus. Specifically, the moderate left-wing movements in peninsular and island nations have steadily declined since the turn of the 21st century and are currently in a trough. Since Indian independence, the Congress Socialist Party has undergone several splits and reorganizations; while it formed a Left Front in the 1996 general election, creating a tripartite balance of power with the Indian National Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), it subsequently fell into fragmentation, leading to a continuous decline in strength. In 2002, the Samajwadi Party was reorganized, but it operates mainly in Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh; it won 40 and 23 seats in the Lok Sabha elections of 2004 and 2009 respectively, but only 7 and 5 seats in 2014 and 2019. The Pakistan Peoples Party held a dominant position in national political life since its founding, but since the 21st century—aside from being in power between 2008 and 2013—it has remained an opposition party at the national level. Following the 2018 general election, although its chairman remains a member of the National Assembly, the party has been reduced to a regional party in Sindh Province. The ANP held governing power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from 2008 to 2013 but subsequently lost this position. In Bangladesh, the JSD won eight seats in the 1979 parliamentary elections; later, due to splits, it won only one seat in 1996 and failed to win any in 2001. It won 3, 5, and 3 seats respectively in 2008, 2014, and 2018, but following the 2018 election, there were no JSD members in the cabinet; in October 2020, the JSD fractured once again. Due to multiple splits, the LSSP in Sri Lanka has not contested parliamentary elections independently since 1994. In the 21st century, Sri Lankan moderate left-wing parties have participated in elections as members of increasingly large coalitions led by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), and their political influence has weakened; in the 2019 parliamentary elections, the LSSP failed to win a single seat. The moderate left-wing parties in the Maldives dropped from two to one, and this sole Labour Party failed to win a seat in the 2019 parliamentary elections.

The moderate left-wing movements in South Asian mountain nations experienced a period of decline but have shown signs of revitalization in recent years. In Nepal, the Nepali Congress underwent splits and mergers after the Cold War, and its strength was bolstered in 2012 after absorbing the Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum (Democratic). In 2015, a trend of large-scale mergers emerged among Nepal's moderate left-wing parties: three parties merged to form the Federal Socialist Forum, Nepal; in 2017, three other parties merged to form the Rastriya Janata Party Nepal; in 2019, the Federal Socialist Forum merged with the Naya Shakti Party to form the Samajbadi Party, and in 2020, this party merged with the Rastriya Janata Party to form the People's Socialist Party, Nepal (PSPN), which holds 34 seats in the House of Representatives, jumping to become the third largest party in parliament. In Bhutan, the PDP became the governing party in 2013, and the DNT became the governing party in 2018. In Afghanistan, the National United Party was established in the 21st century; its chairman, Nur ul-Haq Ulumi, was elected as a member of the Kandahar provincial council in 2005 and appointed Minister of the Interior in 2015. The Solidarity Party, founded in 2004, has been active in the last two years and currently has approximately 30,000 members; it holds at least two large-scale rallies annually aimed at defending peace and progress in Afghanistan and expressing solidarity with the movements of oppressed people in the United States.

Overall, compared to the second half of the 20th century, the moderate left-wing movements in the eight South Asian countries have shown a general trend of decline and have fallen into a trough since the 21st century. Among them, the strength is weakest in the island nations and strongest in the mountain nations, while peninsular nations fall in between.

2. The main bodies of the radical left-wing movements survived the first two decades following the end of the Cold War, but have seen national differentiation over the last decade.

Similar to the situation of moderate left-wing parties, the radical left-wing parties in six of the eight South Asian countries are primarily traditional old parties established in the 20th century, with the Maldives and Bhutan being exceptional. India's radical left-wing parties mainly include the Communist Party of India (CPI) founded in 1920, the CPI (Marxist) founded in 1964, the All India Forward Bloc founded in 1939, and the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) founded in 1940. Bangladesh’s radical left-wing parties are mainly the Communist Party of Bangladesh (CPB), founded in 1971, and the Workers Party of Bangladesh, founded in 1980. Radical left-wing parties in Pakistan mainly include the Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP), founded in 1948; "The Struggle," founded in 1980; the Labour Party, officially established in 1997; and the Awami Workers Party, formed in 2012 by the merger of three radical left-wing parties. Sri Lanka's radical left forces include the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL), founded in 1943, and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) [1], founded in 1970. Nepal’s radical left forces are primarily the Communist Party of Nepal (CPN [2]), founded in 1949, and the Nepal Workers' and Peasants' Party, officially established in 1981. In Afghanistan, the PDPA, established in 1965 with direct assistance from the Soviet Union, was highly influential, serving as the governing party of the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan from 1978 to 1990 before renaming itself the "Watan Party" in 1990 and being dissolved in 1992; other radical left parties, such as the Workers' Organization of Afghanistan and the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, as well as radical left organizations established in the 21st century, have almost no influence. The Maldives has only one small active group, "99," which appeared in 2017; it is dedicated to establishing a socialist society in the Maldives that transcends class and caste, but its actions are limited to influencing politics by fielding independent candidates, holding peaceful protests, and consulting with the government. Bhutan has never had a radical left-wing party. Consequently, in terms of radical left strength, Afghanistan, the Maldives, and Bhutan are the three weakest countries in South Asia.

The radical left-wing movements in three South Asian countries clearly survived the first twenty years after the Cold War but have continuously declined over the last decade. These three countries are India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. In the Indian Lok Sabha elections of 1996, 1998, 1999, and 2004, the CPI won 12, 9, 5, and 11 seats respectively, while the CPI(M) won 32, 32, 35, and 44 seats; its member Somnath Chatterjee became the Speaker of the 14th Lok Sabha in 2004. However, starting in 2009, the CPI(M) and CPI suffered successive defeats in national and state elections. In the national elections of 2009, 2014, and 2019, the CPI won 4, 1, and 2 seats, while the CPI(M) won 15, 9, and 3 seats. At the local level, the Left Front led by the CPI(M) and CPI lost its 34-year hold on power in West Bengal in 2011 and its hold on Tripura in 2017, currently maintaining power only in Kerala. However, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, left-wing local politics—previously in a trough—saw a slight recovery. As of June 2021, although left-wing parties won no seats in West Bengal, they won legislative assembly elections in Kerala and Tamil Nadu and made significant progress in the Bihar elections. The JVP in Sri Lanka announced in 2002 that it was renouncing violent struggle in favor of the parliamentary path, and it fractured in 2011; the CPSL has participated in parliamentary politics from the start and began holding government positions after 1964, but in the 21st century, it became a member of increasingly large election coalitions, winning only one seat in the 2015 parliamentary elections and no seats in 2019. Although the CPB in Bangladesh also suffered splits, it remained the fifth largest party in the country during the 1992 elections; in 2007, it began working to build a Left Front, and in 2010 it merged with the Workers Party of Bangladesh to form a new CPB, but it withdrew from the Left Front in 2011. In the 2019 elections, it formed the Left Democratic Alliance with other left-wing parties, but this too ended in failure.

The radical left movements in three other South Asian countries have shown signs of resurgence in recent years after a period of continuous decline. These three countries are the Maldives, Pakistan, and Nepal. Radical left groups in the Maldives achieved a breakthrough from zero—though there is only one group, the "99" movement. The Communist Party of Pakistan was declared illegal in 1954; currently, there are three forces claiming the title of Communist Party: the first is the traditional Communist Party led by Imdad Qazi, which can only operate openly in Sindh province; the second is led by Khadim Thaheem, which split from the former in 2002; the third is led by Jamil Ahmad Malik, which successfully registered with the Election Commission of Pakistan in 2012. The latter claims to be the officially recognized Communist Party of Pakistan and, though it won no seats in the 2013 general election, it hosted a meeting of the Pakistani Left Alliance in January 2021. Additionally, The Struggle [3] organization in Pakistan won one seat in the 2018 general election, marking the first time Pakistani radical left forces held a seat in the National Assembly. The Communist Party of Nepal has undergone several splits; the CPN (Unified Marxist–Leninist) won and formed a cabinet in the 1994–1995 elections, and formed a coalition government with moderate left-wing parties in 1997–1998. The Nepal Workers and Peasants Party formed a Left Front to participate in elections and has held seats for a long time. Entering the 21st century, various Communist parties in Nepal began to move toward unity: in 2017, the CPN (Maoist Centre) and the CPN (UML) formed a left-wing alliance, winning 174 seats in the lower house and 42 seats in the upper house, and taking power in six of the country’s seven provinces. In 2018, the CPN (UML) and the CPN (Maoist Centre) merged into the new Nepal Communist Party and, with support from other radical left parties, formed a coalition government. This was the first time in the history of the Nepalese communist movement that three-quarters of the left-wing parties held joint power at the central level.

In summary, the current situation of radical left movements in South Asia is quite complex. Their decline has neared the bottom in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan; their strength is extremely weak in the Maldives and completely non-existent in Bhutan; however, they show signs of resurgence in Pakistan and are flourishing in Nepal.

3. The main body of extra-institutional extreme left movements began to revive in the late 1990s, with their strength significantly increasing since the 21st century; however, the situation of their armed struggles has trended toward severity in recent years.

The main body of South Asian extreme left movements is flourishing. This is demonstrated, first, by the fact that among the eight South Asian countries, only the island nation of the Maldives lacks an extreme left organization, while the other seven countries all possess them. Second, in these seven countries—except for Sri Lanka, which only has the Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist) established in 1991—the other six nations all have extreme left party organizations and factions newly established and developed in the 21st century, and they frequently take joint action. For example, the CPI (Maoist) was established in 2004, merging and reorganizing Maoist forces in eastern, central, and southern India. It manages a "Red Corridor" [4] spanning these three regions, pushing the previously geographically separated Maoist movements toward a national scale. In 2017, the CPI (Maoist) opened a "new Red Corridor." Maoist organizations in Bangladesh have also increased their activity in the 21st century. In 2011, thirteen extreme left organizations were relatively active, including the Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party [5] (established 1968), the East Bengal Communist Party, the Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party (Maoist Unity Group) (formed 2004), and the Communist Party of Marxist-Leninist-Maoists of Bangladesh (formed 2012). Furthermore, several Maoist organizations have taken joint action. For instance, in 2005, the East Bengal Communist Party (ML) and the East Bengal Communist Party (ML-People's War) jointly carried out armed mass struggles. Finally, extreme left forces—which were historically quite weak in Bhutan and Afghanistan—have now seen significant development. Since the 21st century, extreme left forces in Bhutan have increased, including the clandestine Communist Party of Bhutan (Maoist), the Communist Party of Bhutan (MLM) founded in 2001, and the United Revolutionary Front of Bhutan founded in 2007. In Afghanistan, active extreme left organizations include the Afghanistan Liberation Organization (established 1973) and the Nucleus of the Communist Revolutionaries of Afghanistan (established in the late 1980s and renamed the Communist Party of Afghanistan in 1991). In 2004, the Communist Party of Afghanistan merged with four other ML-Maoist parties to form the Communist Party of Afghanistan (Maoist). In November 2020, it held a party reconstruction meeting to strengthen internal building, and in 2021, it issued the "Statement of the Communist Party of Afghanistan (Maoist) on the Withdrawal of US Occupying Forces from Afghanistan." Additionally, Afghanistan has a clandestine Marxist-Leninist organization that has published the periodical The Eagle since August 2011 to propagate its political ideas. This group has been relatively active internationally in recent years, issuing various joint statements or resolutions with Communist organizations from other countries and regions in 2020 and 2021.

However, the armed struggle situation for the South Asian extreme left has trended toward severity. On the one hand, this is due to strong suppression by right-wing governments. For example, the CPI (Maoist) began efforts to open new revolutionary base areas in 2019, but has seen little success so far. On the other hand, it is primarily because the contemporary South Asian socialist movement exhibits a clear common characteristic: the widespread phenomenon of extra-institutional extreme left movements transforming into intra-institutional radical left movements. That is, those extreme or radical left parties that initially focused on armed struggle have gradually laid down their arms to participate in national and local elections, influencing central and local government policies through parliament. Since the 21st century, represented by Nepal and Pakistan, more and more extreme left parties in South Asia have announced the abandonment of armed struggle in favor of the parliamentary road [6], and the extreme left forces still adhering to armed struggle are becoming fewer. For instance, the representative of the extreme left in Nepal is the Communist Party of Nepal (Revolutionary Maoist) founded in 2015, but its influence is weak; so far, it has only engaged in propaganda through its organ Revolutionary Maoist Views. In the first fifteen years of the 21st century, Pakistan had three main extreme left forces: two Communist Parties not registered with the Election Commission, and the Communist Mazdoor Kissan Party (CMKP) founded in 1995. However, in February 2015, the CMKP merged with the People’s Assembly to form the People’s Mazdoor Kissan Party (PMKP), and the CMKP ceased to exist. In December of the same year, the PMKP merged with the mainstream old Mazdoor Kissan Party to establish the new Mazdoor Kissan Party (MKP), while simultaneously announcing it would abandon armed struggle in favor of the parliamentary struggle; in September 2020, the party published its "Views of the MKP on the All Parties Conference," arguing that the conference was unlikely to form a revolutionary movement. In Bangladesh, in April 2019, approximately 700 members of extremist organizations surrendered to the police, coming from the Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party, the East Bengal Communist Party, and the New Revolutionary Communist Party. Under these circumstances, those extreme left organizations that persist in extra-institutional armed struggle face increasingly difficult conditions.

II. Trends in Domestic Unity and Alliances

Since the 21st century, although the socialist movements of the eight South Asian countries exhibit differences in their typological development at the national level, a common new trend is clearly visible in their domestic networks: various types of left-wing political parties and organizations are launching joint struggles and even undergoing continuous mergers of varying degrees and scopes. This trend of merger or alliance is particularly evident before national or local elections, often involving up to a dozen left-wing parties jointly forming left alliances under various names, and the stability of these alliances has also increased.

First is the unity and unification of Maoist parties. In India, the CPI (ML-People's War Group) and the Maoist Communist Centre of India merged in 2004 to form the CPI (Maoist); in 2014, the CPI (Maoist) further merged with the CPI (ML-Naxalbari), linking the previously separated northern and southern Maoist movements. In Nepal, major Maoist parties "allied" for the first time in 2014, where the CPN (Maoist), the UCPN (Maoist), the CPN (Maoist) [factions], CPN (Unified), and the Revolutionary Communist Center formed the Working Alliance of Maoist Parties to jointly participate in the constitution-making process. In 2017, the CPN (Maoist Centre) and the CPN (UML) formed a left alliance to participate in elections, and in 2018, the two parties merged to form a coalition government. In Afghanistan, the Communist Party of Afghanistan (Maoist) was established in May 2004; in the same year, the Afghanistan People's Liberation Struggle Organization, the Revolutionary Workers' Union of Afghanistan, and the Communist Party of Afghanistan merged into the Communist Party of Afghanistan (Maoist), collectively known by that name. The situation in Bhutan is somewhat special, as it is heavily influenced by Indian and Nepalese Maoist organizations; in 2020, the CPI (Maoist) planned to establish a revolutionary zone on the Bihar-Nepal border to facilitate contact with the Communist Party of Nepal and the Bhutanese Maoist Communists.

Second is the unity and unification of intra-institutional moderate left and radical left forces, and even alliances with center-left parties. In India, prior to the 2014 general election, radical left parties such as the CPI and CPI (M) cooperated with the Socialist Party and regional parties to form a Left Front; in 2017, the Indian Red Flag Party merged into the CPI. In the 2020 Bihar Legislative Assembly election, the CPI, CPI (M), and CPI (ML-Liberation) formed a "Grand Alliance" (Mahagathbandhan) with the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD); their vote share was only 0.03% lower than that of the National Democratic Alliance led by the BJP. In Pakistan, a consensus was reached among left-wing radicals: "We must unite to improve past socialist experiments under the conditions of the great changes of the 21st century." By late 2017, over a dozen left-wing forces, including the Mazdoor Kissan Party, the Awami Workers Party, and the Communist Party, formed the "Lahore Left Front," which grew to 17 left-wing parties by the 2018 elections. In early 2020, the Pakistani radical left successfully published the magazine Pakistan Left Review. In Bangladesh, eleven left-wing parties, including the Communist Party, Workers Party, and Socialist Party, formed left alliances in 2001 and 2007; in 2018, eight left parties formed an alliance, and for the 2019 elections, eight parties formed the Left Democratic Alliance, jointly participating in the election and together calling on the government to aid the working class in April 2021. In Sri Lanka, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) and the Communist Party have cooperated with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) since 1994; in 2006, the LSSP, the Communist Party, the Democratic Left Front, and the Desha Vimukthi Janatha Party formed the "Socialist Alliance" and joined the SLFP-led "United People's Freedom Alliance." In the 2019 elections, seventeen parties formed the "People's Freedom Alliance" to participate. In Nepal, in 2005, the Nepali Congress, the CPN (UML), the Workers and Peasants Party, the People's Front, and the United Left Front jointly established the Seven Party Alliance; in April 2020, the Socialist Party and the People’s Party merged into the People's Socialist Party and conducted political consultations with Prime Minister Oli in March 2021. In Bhutan, the Druk National Congress, the Democratic Party, and the National Democratic Party jointly formed the United Democratic Front in 2010; the cooperation between the National Democratic Party and the Druk National Congress continues to this day.

Finally, compared with the second half of the 20th century, the unity and cooperation among the left-wing forces in South Asian countries in the 21st century have been maintained for a longer period, with most continuing to this day, and the stability of united fronts has increased. This is the case, first, because the rightward shift of the political ecosystem in various countries has forced the Left to make ideological and tactical changes; coalition politics and coalition governments have become a universal phenomenon in the South Asian region. Second, it is driven by the continuous deterioration of the objective global situation: the 2008 global financial crisis has not yet fully concluded, and the global COVID-19 pandemic occurred in 2020. These events have promoted the sustained unity and cooperation of the left-wing socialist movement. Third, left-wing parties in South Asian countries have increasingly gained extensive support from the cultural, artistic, and news media sectors in the 21st century. In India, in 2017, the Marxist scholar Professor Murzban Jal compiled 37 articles by 21 left-wing intellectuals and social activists reflecting on the decline of radical left-wing factions such as the CPI and the CPI(M), offering strategic advice for them. In Pakistan, although the strength of left-wing parties in the political arena is small, their influence in the news media is relatively strong. In Sri Lanka, left-wing parties also have significant influence in the media and academia; for instance, the anti-corruption campaign launched by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) gained substantial support among academics, literary circles, and professionals.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, although the socialist movements of the eight South Asian countries have achieved long-term unity and cooperation, the trend of fragmentation remains. Among the eight South Asian nations, with the exception of the Maldives, each country still contains three types of socialist movements: moderate left, radical left, and extreme left, and each type has more than one leadership organization—sometimes as many as a dozen. Although the South Asian extreme left often transitions into the parliamentary left, the relationship between India’s radical left parties and social movements fully demonstrates that new, more radical left-wing organizations will always be conceived from old ones and grow rapidly. Furthermore, many factions remain within those parties and alliances that have united or merged, and splits can occur at any time. Taking Nepal as an example, the reversal of the CPN (UML) in 2012 forced the UCPN (Maoist) out of power after only nine months of governance. The Communist Party of Nepal, formed through a merger in 2018, effectively split in December 2020, eventually leading to the dissolution of Parliament. On May 10, 2021, the Nepalese House of Representatives held a vote of confidence for Prime Minister Oli; the CPN (Maoist Centre) and the Congress Party both voted against him, and Oli failed the confidence vote. On May 24, the CPN (UML) split again, expelling 11 members of parliament from the party. In Bangladesh, observers believe that left-wing parties have not integrated into a single whole but remain fragmented, each going its own way, and lack a broad mass base, thus failing to cause concern for the ruling party.

The reasons for the fragmentation of socialist movements in South Asian countries are multifaceted. First, the history of division in the South Asian socialist movement exceeds half a century, while the new journey toward unity and unification has only spanned about ten stumbling years. South Asia is a "museum of human races" and a "museum of religions," possessing complex and diverse ideologies. Although the South Asian Left all wear the "socialist" hat, they are guided by different socialist ideological trends, ranging from classical Marxism to Neo-Marxism, from Leninism and Stalinism to Trotskyism, and from Maoism and Hoxhaism [7] to eco-socialism. This pluralism of socialist thought dictates that while the Left can sometimes unite and cooperate, they more often act independently or even attack and struggle against one another. Second, left-wing parties in South Asia, whether old or new, exhibit obvious cults of personality or familial characteristics. In Bhutan and the Maldives, which only began practicing party politics in the 21st century, this phenomenon is not yet particularly prominent. A typical representative of familialization is the Pakistan Peoples Party, which has always been held by the Bhutto family. Left-wing parties with personality cults are ubiquitous, such as Jayaprakash Narayan and Ram Manohar Lohia of the Indian Socialist Party; M.N. Roy and E.M.S. Namboodiripad of the CPI; Jyoti Basu of the CPI(M); Charu Majumdar of the CPI(ML); Subhas Chandra Bose of the All India Forward Bloc; Shibdas Ghosh of the Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist); Fatyab Ali Khan of the Pakistan Mazdoor Kisan Party; Lal Khan of The Struggle; A.S.M. Abdur Rob of the Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) in Bangladesh; Mohammad Toaha of the Communist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist–Leninist); Sher Bahadur Deuba of the Nepali Congress; Rajendra Mahato of the Nepal Sadbhawana Party; KP Sharma Oli of the CPN (UML); Prachanda of the CPN (Maoist); N.M. Perera of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party in Sri Lanka; Nur Muhammad Taraki of the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan; and so on. Following the death of a charismatic leader or the decline of a family, the party organization either sees its influence drop severely or falls into a state of fragmentation, or even ceases to exist. Finally, these left-wing parties still possess very obvious localized characteristics, with their scope of activity mostly limited to a few states or cities, or even a single city or region within a state. For example, in India, the Socialist Party was originally a national party but later declined into a regional party, primarily active in Uttar Pradesh in the 21st century. The All India Forward Bloc and the CPI are mainly active in states such as Kerala, West Bengal, and Tripura. The Pakistan Peoples Party is mainly active in the Sindh and Punjab regions. The JSD in Bangladesh is mainly active in the Kushtia District. The Madhesi Jana Adhikar Forum in Nepal is mainly active in Madhesi-populated areas. The activities of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party in Sri Lanka are mainly concentrated in Colombo. The extreme left-wing parties of the seven South Asian countries generally operate in jungle and mountainous areas. This phenomenon of localization is highly detrimental to the unification of the left-wing movement.

III. New Trends in the Expansion of Regional Spatial Patterns

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the geopolitical spatial pattern of South Asia has undergone major changes, and the regional spatial pattern of the socialist movement has also shifted significantly.

The concept of "South Asia" emerged in the context of the Cold War in the 1960s. Initially, six countries were categorized as South Asian, including India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives. In 1971, Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan, increasing the number of South Asian countries to seven. Entering the 21st century, Afghanistan joined the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in 2005 as a formal member state, bringing the number of South Asian countries to eight. The countries with both land and sea access remain India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh; these three countries were all areas controlled by the former British colonial empire before the Partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, located on the three sides of the South Asian subcontinent extending into the Indian Ocean. The island nations remain Sri Lanka and the Maldives. The mountainous nations have increased from two (Nepal and Bhutan) to three with the inclusion of Afghanistan, expanding the geographical space of South Asian mountainous countries. Afghanistan was traditionally a subject of Middle East regional studies, as a strategic hub spanning West, South, and Central Asia. Afghanistan’s joining of the South Asian region means that the ties between South Asia and Central and West Asia have become closer.

Since the 21st century, the legal space for socialist movements in South Asian countries has expanded significantly. First, socialist and communist movements once considered illegal have become legal. Afghanistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh allowed socialist/communist parties to operate openly in the early post-WWII period, but successively adopted policies prohibiting their legal activities during the Cold War. Since the end of the Cold War, and particularly in the 21st century, they have successively been granted legal status to operate openly. In Afghanistan, party activities basically ceased after the 1979 Soviet invasion; in 2003, the Law on Political Parties and the Measures for the Registration of Political Parties were promulgated, giving new life to party politics. The Nepalese royalty and the Bangladeshi military regime implemented party bans in 1959 and 1975, respectively, prohibiting party organizational activities. After the Cold War, the two countries restored parliamentary democratic systems in 1990 and 1991, allowing parties to operate openly. Second, political entities that did not exist before have become legally extant. After entering the 21st century, the Maldives and Bhutan began implementing party politics for the first time. Before the 21st century, Bhutan practiced a hereditary monarchy until the first Parliament passed constitutional regulations in 2008 to implement a modern parliamentary democracy. The Maldives practiced a Sultanate system at the start of its independence in 1965 and a presidential republic in 1968, but did not allow political parties to participate in presidential elections—competition could only occur through interest groups and individual alliances—until the new Constitution was passed in 2008, allowing parties to operate legally through registration and participate in elections. Therefore, it was only after entering the 21st century that all eight South Asian countries implemented modern party politics, allowing parties to operate openly through registration.

Since the 21st century, the geopolitical center of gravity of the South Asian socialist movement has expanded inland. This is manifested at both macro and micro levels.

From a macro level, the countries that explicitly take "socialism" as their direction of development have expanded from land-sea and island nations to mountainous nations. In the 20th century, India and Bangladesh (as land-sea nations) and Sri Lanka (as an island nation) constituted the key areas for the socialist movement in the South Asian region. The 1972 Constitution of Bangladesh stipulated that "nationalism, socialism, democracy, and secularism" were the four basic political principles for the founding of the state. India’s 42nd Constitutional Amendment in 1976 formally wrote "socialist" into the "nature of the state" defined by the Constitution. Sri Lanka’s 1978 Constitution stipulated that "Sri Lanka is a Free, Sovereign, Independent and Democratic Socialist Republic." Entering the 21st century, the 2015 Constitution of the mountainous nation of Nepal stipulated for the first time that "Nepal is a federal republic oriented toward socialism," which is a major development.

From a micro level, the center of gravity for all three categories of socialist movements shows a spatial expansion trend from the ocean to the interior. As described in the first part, among these three categories, the moderate left movement has generally declined since the end of the Cold War and fell to a low point in the 21st century, but in recent years, a momentum of revival has appeared in the three mountainous countries. The situation of the radical left movement within the system is more complex, lacks geopolitical consistency across countries, and shows differences between land-sea nations, between island nations, and between mountainous nations. Overall, the radical left movement within the system survived for about 20 years after the Cold War but has continued to slide since 2009 and is currently near its nadir. However, in recent years, radical left movements in the land-sea nations of Pakistan and Bangladesh, as well as the mountainous nation of Nepal, have begun to recover. The extra-systemic extreme left socialist and communist movements began to revive in the late 1990s and have significantly strengthened in the 21st century, covering seven countries in South Asia except for the island nation of the Maldives. Moreover, its geopolitical center of gravity is concentrated in the mountainous areas of Northeast India, spreading to Bangladesh and Pakistan, as well as the mountainous nations of Nepal, Bhutan, and Afghanistan. From this, it can be seen that since the 21st century, while the socialist movement in the island nations of South Asia has been in decline, the socialist and communist movements in the mountainous nations have flourished. Land-sea nations fall between the two, overall presenting a new geopolitical trend of rapid expansion from the ocean to the inland.

IV. The Trend of Internationalization in Contact Networks

Entering the 21st century, the international contact networks of the South Asian socialist movement have shown a trend of dense expansion, with two distinct characteristics.

  1. The international contact networks of moderate and radical left movements are still dominated by international organizations outside the region, but the number of international organization networks and the number of South Asian countries covered have increased significantly, and the international contacts of the two types of left-wing movements show an intertwined state.

First, the international networks and national coverage of the moderate left movement have increased significantly. In the 20th century, its international liaison organizations primarily consisted of the Fourth International (FI), founded in 1938; the Socialist International (SI), founded in 1951; the Asian Socialist Conference (ASC), which began in 1953; the Fourth International after its 1963 reorganization; and the Committee for a Workers’ International (CWI), founded in 1974. The 21st century saw the addition of the Progressive Alliance (PA), founded in 2013 in Leipzig, Germany. In terms of South Asian countries covered, the Fourth International’s formal South Asian member parties include the Communist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist–Leninist), the Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP) of Sri Lanka, and the Awami Workers Party (AWP) of Pakistan, while the Radical Socialist group in India serves as a permanent observer. Founding South Asian parties of the Asian Socialist Conference included the Praja Socialist Party of India and the Pakistan Socialist Party, with the Nepali Congress party as an observer; in 1956, the Nepali Congress and the Sri Lanka Freedom Party became full members simultaneously. After the Asian Socialist Conference ceased operations in 1961, Socialist International membership in South Asia began to grow. The Pakistan Peoples Party was admitted as a consultative party in 1989 and became a full member in 2003, serving as an important regional representative (with Party Chairman Zardari having served as Vice President of the Socialist International). The Nepali Congress also became a consultative member in 1989 and a full member in 1999. The Indian National Congress initially joined in 1993, later withdrew, but was readmitted as a full member in 2014. The CWI’s 20th-century South Asian representatives were The Struggle and the Labour Party Pakistan; however, by 2019, its South Asian members included only New Socialist Alternative (India) and the United Socialist Party (Sri Lanka). The Progressive Alliance's South Asian members include the Indian National Congress and the Samajwadi Party of India, the India Development Association (IAD), the Awami National Party of Pakistan, the Nepali Congress, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, and the Workers and Social Democratic Party of the Maldives, with the India Development Association being relatively active. It can thus be seen that in the 21st century, more moderate left-wing parties from more South Asian countries have joined more international organizations.

Second, the international liaison network of the radical left movement has consistently centered on the International Meeting of Communist and Workers' Parties (IMCWP), founded in 1998. The regional membership of this meeting from South Asia has gradually increased: the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) participated when it was founded in 1998; the Communist Party of Pakistan established contact in 2006; since 2007, communist parties from Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka have participated intermittently; and since 2010, the Communist Party and Workers Party of Bangladesh have taken part.

Finally, the international ties of the moderate and radical left have shown a trend of interleaving in the 21st century. This is primarily manifested in their common participation in the International Conference of Asian Political Parties (ICAPP) [8], a new regional international organization of political parties that began in 2000. The Pakistan Peoples Party participated in the inaugural conference. Since the fourth session in 2006, official statistics on participating parties have been maintained. At that time, only Afghanistan and Bhutan lacked participating parties; moderate and radical left-wing parties from the other six countries all sent representatives. In 2010, Hezb-e-Islami of Afghanistan participated for the first time, and in 2016, the People's Democratic Party and Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (Peace and Prosperity Party) of Bhutan participated for the first time.

  1. The international liaison network of the far-left movement is characterized primarily by significant expansion at the regional level, alongside an increase in extra-regional contacts.

First, the regional self-organization of the South Asian far-left achieved a "breakthrough from zero" in the 21st century. In July 2001, in the jungle regions of central India's mountainous areas, ten South Asian far-left party organizations established the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organizations of South Asia (CCOMPOSA). This included five far-left parties from India, three from Bangladesh, the Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist) of Sri Lanka, and the Revolutionary Communist Party of Nepal. In 2002, the Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party (Marxist-Leninist/Red Flag) joined as a formal member, and in 2004, the Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party (Maoist Bolshevik Reorganisation Movement) and the Communist Party of Bhutan (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist) joined as observers. Consequently, the organization's coverage expanded from island nations and mixed land-sea nations to include mountainous nations, leaving only the land-sea nation of Pakistan, the island nation of the Maldives, and the mountainous nation of Afghanistan. The Maldives itself has no far-left parties, while Afghanistan only became a member of South Asia in 2005 upon joining SAARC; its far-left parties have long been a leading force in the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM).

Second, global international organizations initiated and established by South Asian far-left parties have seen a resurgence. In 1984, the Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal), in conjunction with 18 Maoist parties including the Central Reorganisation Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) and the Ceylon Communist Party (Peking Wing) of Sri Lanka, established the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM). This was the international platform for contact between Maoist parties worldwide at the time. However, with the end of the Cold War, its activities dwindled, and it ceased operations in 2007. Nevertheless, in 2012, at the initiative of parties such as the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Naxalbari and the Communist Party of Afghanistan (Maoist), the organization was reconstructed. Its membership also includes the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre), the Purba Banglar Sarbahara Party, and the Communist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist–Leninist) (Dutta).

Finally, changes and enhancements have occurred in global international organizational contacts. "Change" is reflected in the relationship with the International Conference of Marxist–Leninist Parties and Organizations (ICMLPO), established during the Cold War. This organization comprises two independent entities of the same name: the Maoist-aligned "International Newsletter" and the Hoxhaist-aligned "Unity & Struggle." According to their official websites, as of July 2011, South Asian members of the 10th "International Newsletter" conference included the Communist Party of Bangladesh, the CPI (ML), the CPI (ML) Provisional Central Committee, and the Communist Party of Nepal (Masal). As of February 2021, South Asian members and organizations of the 26th plenary of the "Unity & Struggle" conference included the Communist Party of Bangladesh (Marxist–Leninist), the Revolutionary Democratic Organization of India, and the Workers' Front of Pakistan. "Enhancement" is reflected in ties with new organizations of the new century. In 2010, over 40 far-left party organizations initiated the International Coordination of Revolutionary Parties and Organizations (ICOR), which has now grown to over 60 members. According to its website, South Asian members include the Marxist-Leninist Organization of Afghanistan, the Communist and Socialist parties of Bangladesh, two factions of the CPI (ML), the Communist Party of Nepal (Masal) and the Patriotic People's Republican Front of Nepal (PPRF), the All Pakistan Trade Union Federation, and the New-Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party (NDMLP) of Sri Lanka.

In summary, since the 21st century, the socialist movements of the eight South Asian nations have inherited the fragmented development trend that emerged in the latter half of the 20th century. Beyond this, they have exhibited a common new developmental posture in terms of regional spatial patterns and domestic and international network connections. Simultaneously, there are differences in the typological development of South Asian socialist movements. Among them, the Maoist movement stands as a highlight of the world socialist and communist movement. However, because the traditional moderate and radical left are currently largely in a developmental trough, the overall socialist forces in South Asia remain insufficiently strong, and the hope for a revival in the near future is relatively small. Nevertheless, considering the continuous reflection, adjustment, and the strengthening trend toward "great unity" within the South Asian left since the 21st century—and given that its stability exceeds the various alliances of the late 20th century—the trajectory of the South Asian socialist movement since the 21st century is worthy of affirmation, and its future development remains something to look forward to.

(The author is the Vice Director of the Institute of Contemporary Socialism at Shandong University, Director of the South Asia Research Center at Shandong University, Professor, and Doctoral Supervisor.)

Web Editor: Tongxin Source: Marxist Studies (Mǎkèsīzhǔyì Yánjiū), Issue 7, 2021