Combating Capitalism: A Case Study of Left Polity in Kerala

ABSTRACT This paper traces the trajectory of left governments in Kerala, as against that of the government of India, in the context of Indian federalism, and Kerala government’s more recent resistance to the political right-wing upsurge in the state, to draw out strategies and patterns through which left governments in Kerala have survived and persistently deployed socialist policies. In doing so, the paper tries to understand both twenty-first-century capitalism and modes of resistance, drawing from Kerala’s vision and model of socialism. This trajectory is charted by tracing the class–nation–state interactions at the level of both the state and the federation. In this context, the paper tries to understand the democratic processes the state government engaged in, which shaped the political life, public sphere and popular culture of Kerala as such. It does so by analysing the various social, economic, and political measures undertaken at both centre and state levels, and their outcomes, as a means to understand the functioning and survival of democratically elected left governments; and analyse whether through this experience can be derived a way forward for left politics, governance and development.