Lena Zovic

In January 2024, the Communist Party of India (Maoist) repeated their call for people to boycott the upcoming elections in India and instead join the new democratic and socialist revolutionary movement.

The Party has promoted boycott campaigns since at least 2008, and in this latest document reminds us that “it is not possible to seize power without winning people’s opinion for revolution.” Rather than relying on ill-defined slogans, the document shows a way to win people’s hearts and minds through a clear and thorough logic.

Their call for a boycott does not revolve around commandist directives from the Party’s Central Committee, rather it supports the call for a boycott with a series of exposures of the neocolonial, semi-feudal ruling system in India. The document details how the daily struggles of the people—from overall pauperization of the masses, national oppression, caste oppression, and more—stem from the ruling system and fascist State, which facilitate the imperialist domination of India.

The Party also underscores the importance of finding creative ways to communicate this analysis to the masses, mentioning the need for propaganda teams to go beyond traditional booklets and brochures and prepare songs, street plays, and explore other mediums.

In light of the genocide of Palestinians being committed via US imperialism, many are beginning to see the sham that is American bourgeois democracy. While approximately one third of people already do not vote in US elections, many die-hard Democrat voters have taken part in a protest vote against Biden, voting “uncommitted” in the primaries. Unfortunately, due to the lack of a revolutionary movement in the US, this has been co-opted by NGOs who are using said vote to pressure Biden and as a way to “save the Democratic party,” which is a far-cry away from the revolutionary boycott organized in India.

Nevertheless, the protest vote campaign and the sustained mass movement in support of Palestine all show that the masses of people are hungry for an alternative way forward. It is the responsibility of revolutionaries in the US to clarify the forces leading the movement down the dead end of electoral politics and instead show the need for socialist revolution. In doing so, we look to learn from and support CPI Maoist’s own struggle for revolution, which includes but does not stop at boycotts.