Party and Mass Organisations

RANABIR SAMADDAR in his 'Letter to Editor' (June 18) while focusing on the question of the need of new types of mass organisation in place of old ones, provides important insights. Yet he seems to restrict himself to outlining the manifestations only, barely touching the core of the problem. The argument seems to be that objective conditions have changed and are demanding a new response both at the level of movement and organisation. But what really has changed objectively? And is the new response also demanding a new conceptual framework in place of old or only ad hoc concessions like freeing mass organisations from the party's rigid control and creating a 'popular' instead of a political identity for them? And isn't it a simplification to regard only an 'old outlook' as being responsible for the maladies afflicting mass organisations and mass movements of the left? The problem lies much deeper