West Bengal: Bengali Periodical ‘Marxbadi Path’ to Go Online From Monday

Kolkata: The Marxist theoretical periodical in Bengali,  Marxbadi Path, which was first published on August 5, 1981, will be digitised  and its internet version will be available from October 17.

The journal, which is quite popular in West Bengal, where Left politics plays a significant role, will now be able to reach a wider audience via the internet, and the move is being widely welcomed in the social media.

The digitised version will be inaugurated by Sitaram Yechury, general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and editor of the periodical’s English version.

The digitised Marxbadi  Path  will be available in the website www.marxbadipath.org.

The periodical’s first editor was CPI(M) leader Promode Dasgupta, who was considered  a part of ‘Navaratnas’ of the party since its inception. It has been an important guide for Marxist scholars and ground-level workers for its deeply analytical articles.

Urba  Choudhuri, a social science researcher, who said she was an avid follower of Marxism, said she had been reading the periodical since her college  days, and was enthused that will now be available online.

Speaking with NewsClick, she said: “Marxism is not a dogma, as through it the happenings that surround one can be dialectically analysed through the class angle”, adding that “analysing history through a class angle can only be done through Marxism.” 

Choudhuri was happy that Marxbadi Path would now cross the periphery of the country and expected that it would be widely read in neighbouring Bangladesh.

The periodical carries a wide spectrum of articles, including critiques of issues – economics, social and philosophical -- from a Marxist perspective and is a must read for researchers, she pointed out.

Speaking with NewsClick , editor of Marxbadi Path and CPI(M) West Bengal state secretary Mohd Salim said the journal will remain steadfast in its commitment to its readers.

“Marxist theories and their application are a day-to-day exercise….As Marxism is a science, it is continuously developing….  We are now being exposed to newer knowledge and ideas and should make efforts to interpret these in our struggle to try and change the world.  Marxbadi Path will remain committed to build  a better country and a better world “ he told NewsClick.

Salim said that 19th century Marxism cannot be ditto replicated in the 20th or 21st century, as this itself was against the basic tenets of Marxism. 

“Now internationalism  is more important than at the time the Communist Manifesto was first written ,” he added.

On the digitized daily version of Marxbadi Path, the CPIM) leader said: “We should draw lessons from the success and failures of communist parties facing the danger of neo- fascism. The contemporary situation is changing fast, hence faster intervention is necessary.  The Leftist ideology should be widely read and debated across the spectrum.”

He said while the tri-monthly print edition of Marxbadi Path will continue, the catchword of the website will be ‘Concrete Analysis of Concrete Situations’, on issues concerning  society,  economics,  philosophy, gender equality, art and culture and even soccer matches in Bengal and Brazil .