BOOK REVIEW 77 or other of the big powers in the world.8 Internally new manoeuvres are adopted by the ruling party to perpetuate itself in power. Instead of resolving" the crisis in favour of the toiling millions,the rulers have unleashed a reign of terror. It is evident in the assault on the organized working class, the rigging up of elections in West Bengal, attacks on the GPI(M) and its allies as well as on the trade union and other mass organizations. Warning against such trends, Namboodiri-pad says: ...Every party and mass organization which is not prepared to toe the line of the ruling party will be forcibly prevented from exercising its legitimate rights. This realization is gradually coming to all these left and democratic parties as well as to mass organiz-Wons which are trying to overcom e their mutual suspicions and prejudices and come together in joined struggles. The most conscious elements among them are also realizing the need to create an effective political force, which in course of time will provide a viable alternative to the Congress regime. That the Congress ranks too will have, sooner or later, to join this section is clear from the fact that despite the bans and attacks on such organizations of radical Congressmen as the Congress Forum for Socialist Action, Gangressmen are also coming out in protest against backsliding on policies such as land reforms and the takeover of the wholesale trade in foodgrains.9 At the end of the Jubilee Year, Congress leaders were trying to change the "leftist" postures and make a turn to the right. What is the way out for ihe people? The policies pursued by the Government of India have led to increasing misery for the common people and also to the current crisis of the whole economy. A way out of this impasse cannot be found within the framework to which the Garibi Hatao regime sticks as doggedly as the pre-split Congress rulers did. Namboodiripad wants a total reversal of policies in an anti-foreign, anti-capitalist^ anti-landlord and anti-monopoly direction. K R S NAIR 1 Conflicts and Crisis, p 9. 2 Ibid., p 27. 3 Ibid., p 39. 4 Ibid., p 42. 5 Ibid., p 116. 6 Ibid.,?? 116-117. 7 Ibid., p 125. 8 Ibid.,? 131. 9 Ibid.,p\3S.