BOOK REVIEW 59 understood by readers who do not attempt to acquaint themselves with the authoritative documents of the two major parties which are known to have popularized Marxism in India and built movements on the basis of its principles? Biased and Negative Approach The further one goes through the list of books and articles, suggcs-ed for "further reading", the more is one struck by a particular bias which has guided those who have produced this number of the Seminar. For, nearly a dozen anti-C P I (M) articles appearing in such journals as the Right Communist New Age, Link, Mainstream and so on have been suggested for "further reading", while not a single article that appeared in People's Democracy, the organ of the G P I (M), is in the list. If one were to be guided by the editor of the Seminar, one would have thought that no such journal as People's Democracy or a monthly like the Social Scientist has been regularly coming out. Among the books too, a pamphlet by Bhupesh Gupta and others on C P M Terror in West Bengal has been recommended for "further reading". Neither Jyoti Basu's pamphlet on The Congress and the Right Communist Role in West Bengal, nor other pamphlets (including some by the present reviewer) on the GPI's betrayal in Kerala and other states however find a place in the list. G Adhikari, S A Dange and P G Joshi of the Right C P I have been cited as authors whose works are a must for those who want to familiarize themselves with the problem of "Marxism and India" but none from the CP I (M). Leaving this aspect of the partisan character of the publication, that is, its being basically hostile to the C P I (M),]it is remarkable that every one of the five contributors makes a negative assessment of the role played by Marxism in India. According to K Damodaran, for instance, Marxism "could not succeed because those who called themselves Marxists failed to understand Marxism in its real meaning and implications and to use its methodology to analyse and change Indian reality."4 Bipan Ghandra says that "their record of failure is rather long, for at no stage during the last fifty years have the Indian Marxists succeeded in achieving more than a small part ofwhai was historically possible."5 Ashok Mitra calls Indians communist movement a 'middle-class movement3,a while PC Joshi makes fun of Indian Marxists as those who indulge themselves in 'pamphlet Marxism.97 In other words, Indian Marxists are, according to Mitra, far removed from the Indian working class on whom they should be basing themselves if they were real Marxists while, according to Joshi, they are remarkable for their failure in the theoretical study of Indian problems from positions of Marxism-Leninism.