The more their myths collapse, the more desperately communists try to clutch at them. The overriding importance of ideology is one such myth. The bitter feuds in communist parties, in India and elsewhere, would suggest that their leaders can be as driven by personal ambition as those of any other party. The rivalry between V.S. Achuthanandan, Kerala’s chief minister, and P. Vijayan, the secretary of the state unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), has little to do with the Marxist or any other ideology. The former’s pretence of “hardline” politics and the latter’s reformist postures are only covers for their personal agenda. The unending tussle between the two also blows the lid off the myth of the CPI(M)’s organizational unity. In a Stalinist party, factionalism is the worst sin that a comrade can commit. It is supposed to be the gravest offence against the hallowed principle of “democratic centralism”. But the history of communist parties is nothing if not a sordid saga of factional struggles. And both Josef Stalin and Mao Zedong showed how ruthless communist leaders could be even to their comrades in order to win factional battles within the parties. In India too, purges within communist parties have had more to do with factions trying to capture the organization than with ideological questions.

However, the CPI(M) politburo has its own reasons for finally taking action against the errant comrades from Kerala. For all its newfound importance in national politics, the party’s two real areas of strength remain Kerala and Bengal. It is not so much their violation of party discipline as their open challenge to the Central leadership that must have prompted their suspension from the politburo. The CPI(M) general secretary, Prakash Karat, must be worried over the growing tendency among the state units to ignore the Central leadership. Even this is no new phenomenon in communist parties. The CPI(M) has had to grapple with over-ambitious leaders not only in Kerala but also in Punjab, Rajasthan, Orissa and Bihar. After all, leaders everywhere seek to create their little fiefdoms. Even in Bengal, personal rivalries have masqueraded as factional fights. When they became unmanageable, as in the case of the Naxalite rebellion, the parties split. For Mr Karat, though, Kerala has a lesson — he should stop preaching political morality to other parties.