Over the last four decades — beginning with the fall of the Soviet Union — the obituary of the Indian left has been written many times. 3 min read May 6, 2026 06:15 AM IST First published on: May 6, 2026 at 06:15 AM IST In 2015, the late Sitaram Yechury wrote in The Marxist: “We [communists] have, for many decades, been repeating the Leninist dictum that the ‘concrete analysis of concrete conditions is the living essence of dialectics’… An incorrect estimation of the concrete conditions, naturally, will lead to an erroneous political line and consequent tactical line.” The CPI(M)’s current political nadir — in fact, the seemingly interminable decline of all of India’s communist parties — is evidence, among other things, of a prolonged “incorrect estimation”. With the defeat of the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF in Kerala, the communist parties are not part of a single government in the country for the first time in nearly 50 years. This decline was not one foretold by “historical forces”.…