India, Dec. 25 -- The Communist Party of India (CPI), the oldest Communist party in the country, was born exactly 100 years ago on December 26 in Kanpur. Today, CPI - and, in fact, the entire family of communist parties - is facing an existential crisis, electorally and ideologically. The CPI, and its more influential offspring, the CPM, together had a total of 53 MPs in the Lok Sabha and 8% vote share in 2004; in 2024, both the parties and the CPI(ML) have just eight seats and a 3% vote share.

This decline is not wholly surprising, for it mirrors the trajectory of communism world over, where it has been in retreat since the end of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s. Communist parties do hold office in China and Vietnam, and have elector...