IN DEFENCE OF A CAUSE

Select Writings on Political Philosophy, Indian Politics, and Marxism 1970-2025

Contents

Acknowledgements xi

Introduction xvii

PART 1

Section 1: Political Philosophy

1. Philosophy and Politics in Hegel 3

2. Functionalism in Contemporary Political Science: Its Ideological Essence 11

3. A Critique of Behaviouralism in Contemporary Political Science 20

4. The Issue of Democracy and the “Clash of Civilizations” Thesis Today: Some Reflections 37

5. The Debate on Humanism and its Consequences for Culture, Philosophy and Politics in the 20th Century 44

6. Political Science in India: Some Reflections on the state of the Discipline 52

7. Understanding the Idea of Justice: Contending Frames of Inquiry 58

8. The Problem of Identity in the context of Postmodernism: Some Critical Reflections 66

9. The West contra East or the West and the East?Reengaging a contentious Issue 77

10. Democracy, Difference, and the Politics of Reason 92

11. Rabindranath Tagore’s Understanding of the West and its Contemporary Relevance 108

12. Terrorism and the Modernity-Identity Debate: Some Critical Reflections 120

13. Political Theory in India: Some Reflections on the Current Scenario 134

14. Against Eurocentrism, contra Nativism: In Defence of a New Perspective for the Indian Academics 154

15. From Ideological Contest to Civilizational Clash? Reexamining the World Today 177

16. The Postcolonial Challenge: Some Critical Notes 187

17. Indigenous Knowledge and the Challenge of Modernity: Conflict or Conflation? 200

Section 2: Indian Politics

18. Dialectics and Indian Constitution 209

19. Rajni Kothari and the “Centre-Periphery” Model: A Critique 221

20. US Neocolonialism and Its Policy of Destabilization of India in Recent Times: An Appraisal 241

21. Democracy, Revolution and The Question of State Power in Developing Countries 264

22. Marxism, Ideology and State Power in India 277

23. The Left in India and The Question of Political Power: Some Unresolved theoretical Questions 289

24. The Left in India and the Relevance of Gramsci 298

25. Indian People’s Struggle against Exploitation: The Emerging Perspectives in the New Century 308

26. India: The Growing Crisis 320

27. The Ideological Challenge of Globalization before the Indian Left and its Relevance for the Third World 327

28. The Crisis of Stability and Political Vision in West Bengal: Notes in Troubled Times 342

29. The Left’s Exit: Notes for Consideration of All Concerned 348

30. Reading Lenin in Candlelight: The West Bengal Assembly Polls, 2011 and the Retreat of the Left 355

31. Organization sans Ideology? Some Thoughts for the Left 370

32. CPI and the Pakistan Question: Reviewing a Contested Issue 382

33. India’s Democracy: Towards an Unknown Future? 396

34. Ajit Roy’s Gramscian Vision of Politics and its Relevance in Today’s India 407

35. How the Communist Party of India emerged as the Largest Opposition to Congress in 1951-52 414

36. Diagnosing Indian Marxism: A Mistaken Understanding of History 421

37. P.C. Joshi and the History of Indian Communism 435

38. The Present Political Scenario: Emerging Economic and Cultural Challenges 443

PART 2

Section 3: Marxism

39. From Ideology to the Science of Politics: An Inquiry into the Marxist Foundation of Politics 455

40. Marxism and the Idea of Intellectual Commitment 477

41. Stalin, India and Some Problems of NationalLiberation Movement 495 4

2. Marxism, Epistemology and Political Analysis: Some Notes towards an Inquiry 530

43. Soviet Socialism and the Question of Democracy in Recent Times 539

44. Perestroika and Destalinization: Its Implications for Revolutionary Strategy 557

45. Socialism and the Issue of Multi-Party Democracy 566

46. The Possibilities of Marxism Reconsidered 577

47. The Crisis of Socialism: Some Notes towards a Philosophical Inquiry 588

48. M. N. Roy’s Critique of the Comintern: An Exercise in Bukharinism? 595

49. The Third International and Anti-Imperialist Struggle in India: A View from the Comintern Archives 630

50. Rosa Luxemburg on the Revolution of 1917 and the Russian Marxists’ Assessment of the Destiny of October Revolution: Towards a Convergence? 682

51. The Nemesis of Socialism? Some Reflections on the Collapse of the Soviet Union 697

52. Some Notes on Rethinking Marxism for the future of Socialism in India 709

53. Marx’s Critique of Hegel in the Paris Manuscripts and its Philosophical Significance 716

54. M.N. Roy’s Critique of Comintern and its Significance Today 731

55. Evolution of Rosa Luxemburg’s concept of Revolutionary Democracy in the light of her Gesammelte Briefe 750

56. Foreword to the Telugu edition of Moshe Lewin, Lenin’s Last Struggle 763

57. Marx, Democracy and the Legacy of Nontraditional Marxism: from Rosa Luxemburg to Louis Althusser 767

58. The Relevance of Rosa Luxemburg for Building an Alternative Revolutionary Left Party in Today’s World 794

59. Lenin’s understanding of the November Revolution: Exploring New Perspectives 811

60. The Russian Revolution, The Third International and the Colonial Question 835

61. Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg and the November Revolution: The Fear they Shared 860

62. Evaluation of Rosa Luxemburg: An Examination of the Changing Perspectives of International Scholarship 872

63. Lenin 150: Revisiting Lenin’s Understanding of Democracy in Post-revolutionary Russia 889

64. In Remembrance: Ajit Roy — A Forgotten Communist Activist and Intellectual (A Birth Centenary Tribute) 905

65. Foreword to the Telugu edition of Roger Garaudy, Karl Marx: The Evolution of His Thought 912

66. Western Marxism and Soviet Marxism: Conflict or Cooperation? 920