KOLKATA: Lack of democracy ails communist parties across the world and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is no exception. Delegates from the CPM’s two major contingents, West Bengal and Kerala, raised the cry for inner party democracy once again at the Kolkata plenum on Monday, a day after former general secretary Prakash Karat spoke on the need for building a “revolutionary” party based on democratic centralism.Former CPM MP from West Bengal Shamik Lahiri said not a single complaint had gone to the party’s central control commission during the last one year. (The control commission is an arbitration panel that considers complaints, disciplinary actions, or cases of appeal from party members against them.)Elaborating further, Lahiri said the reason is members fear to speak up against the party leadership. He warned the party structure will crumble if the leadership doesn’t heed feedback from the grassroots.In the last two years, CPM central leadership has been getting complaints from party cadre, especially from West Bengal, that the top leadership has been ignoring grassroots workers under attack from Trinamool cadre.“For almost three years after the Left lost in Bengal, top leaders hardly went into the interiors. The cadre was left to fend for itself. Many felt safer by joining Trinamool. Only in the last few months senior members have begun venturing outside Kolkata,” said one CPM official.Following anecdote is instructive. When erstwhile Soviet leader Krushchev was denouncing Stalin after his death in 1956 at a closed session, a delegate shouted, “Why didn’t you speak out while all this was going on?” Krushchev said, “Who said that?” There was silence. “Now,” said Khrushchev, “You know why not.”The difference with CPM is that general secretary Sitaram Yechury and his predecessor Prakash Karat at least admit to the problem of over-centralization in the party structure. Karat, however, pointed out that the party couldn’t have combated attacks on party activists in West Bengal and Kerala had it not followed the principles of democratic centralism.The failure to strike a blend between democracy and centralization is perhaps the reason why the CPM is faced with its aging problem.Karat, while laying the organizational report for nearly three hours on Sunday, spoke on the need to bring down the average age of members in party committee from an average of 65 years to 55. Delegates from Kerala argued for a concerted effort from the existing leadership to bring in fresh blood, citing instances of Karat and Yechury, who were inducted into leadership roles by then politburo.The situation is similarly grim on the induction of women and Dalits. Karat admitted that representation from these sections have improved marginally: from 5% to 15% in the last 20 years.CPM leadership is now exploring use of social media to engage with the youth and middle class. But the biggest challenge seems to be establishing contact with the expanding unorganized sector. Karat referred to several social welfare programmes conducted by the Kerala unit apart from the livelihood struggles.While speaking on student-youth front, Karat mentioned advancements in Himachal Pradesh where SFI played a pivotal role. In West Bengal, however, the CPM’s student wing is unable to even enter campuses. In those cases, and also in private institutions where students’ unions are banned, Left activists may have to reach out to students outside campus.