Traitors: JVP & The Non-JVP Left
By Lionel Bopage –January 12, 2016
Dr. Lionel Bopage
The political culture outlined in this series of articles is apparent in most of the Sri Lankan political entities, particularly, in the left. Internationally also, this political culture has prevailed, as has been epitomised by the political struggle between Stalinism and Trotskyism in the last century. As I am discussing left wing tendencies, I will digress by looking at the destructive political culture that had prevailed in the Soviet Union, which strongly influenced the political culture of the left elsewhere, in using falsification of history and personal slander as a weapon against political opponents.
The Bolshevik Party seized power grasping an unprecedented opportunity that the Russian history had provided, and the party slogan that was used at the time was All Power to the Soviets. Initially, these Soviets were councils represented by workers and peasants’ deputies. However, after the seizure of power, these Soviets became councils represented by workers, peasants and soldiers’ deputies. The Bolsheviks gradually dominated the Soviets by expelling all other groups and factions from the Soviets. Virtually the state power was concentrated only in the hands of the Bolshevik Party (later renamed the Communist Party of the Soviet Union).
It is evident from Lenin’s polemics with his opponents that he fundamentally opposed any deviation from Marxist philosophy[1]. He was totally committed to the paradigm of class struggle, and any deviation was taken as falling prey to bourgeois-reactionary falsehoods. He raised many allegations against his comrades in arms, warning them of the doubts that have been planted in their minds. For Lenin, the only satisfactory outcome of his polemics was the complete demolition of the political positions that were different to his. Yet, his polemics did not involve a distortion of history, or engaging in personal slander against his political opponents. It is important to note that he did not seek the physical annihilation of those who did not agree with his views, or who appeared to have deviated from the Leninist take on the objective truth of Marxism. However, the situation changed later with the ideological struggle becoming bloody, ending up with mass extermination of dissidents.
