Introduction: Bangladesh’s Bourgeois Political Terrain

Since its birth in 1971, Bangladesh’s political landscape has been dominated by bourgeois political parties, chiefly the Awami League (AL) and the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP). Though both claim to represent the interests of the people and national sovereignty, in reality, their politics are deeply embedded in the preservation of bourgeois class rule, serving the capitalist elites and international imperialist interests. This dual-party dominance has produced a political system riddled with corruption, opportunism, factionalism, and repression, perpetuating structural inequality and preventing genuine proletarian emancipation.

From a Marxist-Leninist perspective, the bourgeoisie’s monopoly over politics is a fundamental contradiction in a formally democratic state that masks the underlying class dictatorship. Meanwhile, Trotsky’s theory of permanent revolution and Gramsci’s concept of cultural hegemony provide essential tools to understand the failures of the bourgeois democratic facade in Bangladesh and chart the course for revolutionary transformation through a conscious proletarian vanguard and a counter-hegemonic war of position.

 Bourgeois Parties as Class Instruments of the Capitalist State

The Awami League and BNP: Two Faces of the Same Coin

The Awami League, born out of the language movement and the independence struggle, historically positioned as a nationalist force, gradually transformed into a vehicle for bourgeois capitalist interests, tied to domestic industrialists and international imperialism. Its promise of “progressive nationalism” has been hollow, evidenced by persistent poverty, inequality, and authoritarianism under its rule.

The BNP, founded by military dictator Ziaur Rahman, represents the reactionary wing of the bourgeoisie, relying heavily on religious nationalism and feudal landlord interests. Despite ideological differences, the AL and BNP have functioned as rival factions within the same capitalist order, alternating in power while maintaining the status quo.

Their politics are characterized by:

• Corruption and Clientelism: Both parties have institutionalized nepotism, patronage networks, and outright corruption to consolidate bourgeois dominance.

• Repression of Dissent: Left-wing movements, trade unions, indigenous struggles, and peasant uprisings have been met with brutal state repression, revealing the fundamentally repressive nature of the bourgeois state.

• Divide and Rule: Ethnic, religious, and regional divisions have been manipulated to fracture working-class unity.

• Economic Dependency: The AL and BNP governments have allowed increasing dependence on foreign capital, including imperialist multinational corporations, IMF conditionalities, and World Bank neoliberal policies, deepening Bangladesh’s semi-colonial status.

Thus, the bourgeois political parties serve not the people but the interests of a comprador-bureaucratic capitalist class, maintaining the ideological hegemony necessary to sustain their rule.

 Marxist-Leninist Critique: The Bourgeois Democratic State as Class Rule

Marx and Lenin have emphasized that bourgeois democracy is a form of class dictatorship. While it appears to provide universal suffrage and political rights, in reality, it safeguards capitalist property relations and suppresses the proletariat’s revolutionary potential.

In Bangladesh, the façade of multi-party democracy conceals a state apparatus that is an instrument of repression and bourgeois class interests. The so-called democratic freedoms are circumscribed by the limits set by capital. Elections are often rigged or manipulated, dissent is criminalized, and genuine proletarian political organization is marginalized.

Lenin’s analysis of imperialism applies to Bangladesh’s position as a neo-colony, where the bourgeois state serves both domestic capitalists and foreign imperialist powers. This dual dependency ensures that the ruling parties cannot act independently in the interest of the working class or national liberation.

 Trotsky’s Theory of Permanent Revolution: Beyond Bourgeois Democracy

Leon Trotsky’s theory of permanent revolution is highly relevant for Bangladesh’s semi-feudal(feudal remnants), semi-colonial(new colonial) context. Unlike classical stages theory, which posits a sequential progression from bourgeois democratic revolution to socialism, Trotsky argued that in countries like Bangladesh, the working class must lead the revolution and push beyond bourgeois limits directly toward socialist transformation.

The bourgeoisie in Bangladesh is too weak and compromised to carry out genuine democratic reforms or land redistribution. The landlords and comprador capitalists have no interest in breaking feudal or colonial chains. Therefore, the proletariat cannot wait for a “democratic” stage but must seize power and implement socialist measures simultaneously with democratic rights.

This explains the repeated failure of bourgeois political parties to deliver land reform, labor rights, and economic justice. The task falls to a revolutionary left communist movement to build an independent proletarian party that can lead a permanent revolution, linking democratic demands with socialist objectives.

 Gramsci and Cultural Hegemony: The Struggle for Ideological Leadership

Antonio Gramsci’s insights on cultural hegemony reveal why bourgeois parties maintain dominance despite widespread discontent. The ruling class does not rely solely on force but cultivates ideological and cultural leadership through civil society institutions, education, religion, and media.

In Bangladesh, the AL and BNP exert control over mainstream media, religious institutions, NGOs, and educational curricula, shaping consciousness to accept capitalist rule as natural and inevitable. This ideological domination inhibits the working class from recognizing its revolutionary potential and prevents the emergence of counter-hegemonic alternatives.

Gramsci’s war of position calls for the revolutionary left to build its own institutions, cultural spaces, and intellectual frameworks to challenge bourgeois ideology and cultivate proletarian consciousness. Only by winning the battle of ideas can the proletariat create conditions for a successful socialist revolution.

 The Left Communist Revolutionary Stance: Beyond Reformism and National Bourgeoisie

Left communist parties in Bangladesh reject the illusions propagated by bourgeois democracy and nationalist rhetoric. They emphasize the following revolutionary principles:

• Class Independence: Rejecting alliance with bourgeois parties or comprador elites, the proletariat must organize autonomously.

• Internationalism: Recognizing Bangladesh’s place in global imperialist capitalism, the revolution must be linked with the international proletariat.

• Proletarian Democracy: Advocating workers’ councils, soviets, or similar organs of direct proletarian power to replace the bourgeois state.

• Land and Economic Revolution: Immediate expropriation of landlords and capitalists, redistribution of land, nationalization of key industries under workers’ control.

• Combating Religious and Ethnic Division: Building proletarian unity beyond sectarian and communal lines.

• Counter-Hegemonic Cultural Work: Creating a new revolutionary culture rooted in working-class values, education, and organization.

Only such a revolutionary program can break the cycle of bourgeois domination and repression in Bangladesh.

 Conclusion: Towards Revolutionary Transformation

The political landscape of Bangladesh remains trapped within the vicious cycle of bourgeois party rivalry, corruption, and capitalist exploitation. The Awami League and BNP represent different fractions of the capitalist class that suppress the working class’s interests and uphold the neo-colonial order.

A genuine path forward requires breaking from these illusions through a proletarian-led permanent revolution. Drawing on Marx, Lenin, Trotsky, and Gramsci, revolutionary left communists must build independent political organizations, wage ideological battles to dismantle bourgeois hegemony, and forge united workers’ struggles.

Only by overthrowing the bourgeois state and replacing it with proletarian democratic power can Bangladesh achieve true national liberation and socialist emancipation. The revolutionary left must sharpen its analysis, deepen its organization, and inspire the working class to fulfill its historic mission in the struggle against capitalism and imperialism.

Badrul Alam

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