Marxism in India

Kiran Maitra

Description

Marxism in India deals with the evolution, growth, struggle for survival, and reasons for failure of this ideology in India. Kiran Maitra analyses the challenges that have beleaguered marxism in our country in the last eight decades - flawed advice from abroad, challenges from within the country, and the incapacity of the marxists themselves. Given the contemporary political scenario in the country it is struggling for mere survival through means and methods, often in total disregard of the tenets of marxism.

Sujets

• Political Ideologies
• Political Science
• Equity
• Socialism in India
• Indian Council of Historical Research
• Communism
• Communist Movement
• Marxism
• Equality
• Communist Party of India
• Poverty
• Aristocracy
• West Bengal
• Socialism
• Post-Communism
• Capitalism
• Bengale-Occidental
• Rich
• Parti communiste d'Inde
• CLASS
• Libéralisation économique
• Comrade
• Labour
• Karl Marx

Informations

• Publié par: Roli Books
• Date de parution: 08 novembre 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9788174369512
• Langue: English

Extrait

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KIRAN MAITRA
Lotus Collection 2012
© Kiran Maitra, 2012
All rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the publisher.
The Lotus Collection An imprint of Roli Books Pvt. Ltd. M-75, Greater Kailash II Market, New Delhi 110 048 Phone: ++91 (011) 4068 2000. Fax: ++91 (011) 2921 7185 E-mail: [e-mail]; Website: www.rolibooks.com Also at Bangalore, Chennai, & Mumbai
Cover Design: Devan Das Layout: Sanjeev Mathpal Production: Shaji Sahadevan
ISBN: 978-81-7436-847-8
Contents
Preface
1. India and the Socialist Revolution
2. Scramble for Comintern Support
3. Marxism Comes to India
4. India Accepts Marxism
5. War and the Indian Marxists
6. Indian Marxists on the Eve of Independence
7. Indian Marxists after Independence
8. Dilemma of the Indian Marxists
9. Indian Marxists at the Crossroads
A Note on Internationals
Index
To my granddaughter, Anushka
Preface
T he socialist revolution in Russia was a phenomenon of worldwide importance. It was hailed across the colonial world, much to the discomfort of the imperialists, as it promised to eradicate the poverty of the common masses, and held aloft the ideal of the equality of men, irrespective of nationality and religion.
India was fighting her own battle for freedom. The leaders of the Indian struggle for independence were, however, elated at the success of the socialist revolution, but did not take up socialism themselves. Only a few young men with little or no political experience took to the study of socialism and adopted the socialist mode of struggle to fight the colonial ruler. Since a significant part of the freedom movement in India had chosen to be non-violent, the prospect of armed revolution of the Soviet kind was reduced.
Further, when the Communist Party was formed in India, it found the Communist Party of Great Britain as its natural guardian for advice and support from the Comintern. The marxists did not, rather could not, grow their roots in India.
Marxism had begun as an intellectual movement. The common people who were drawn by its unduly emphasized populist image were soon disillusioned and sought an escape route. This was also the case in the Soviet Union and the East European countries. The people of China, Cuba, North Korea and Vietnam are also waiting to avail the first opportunity to throw off marxism.
In India, too, marxism has failed to make a dent in the political landscape. Marxist leaders have been clearly unequal to the task of guiding such a gigantic intellectual movement, in terms of their honesty, integrity and political vision. The party’s presence is now confined to a few pockets of the country.
Marxism in India , divided into nine chapters, traces the course of the communist movement in India, from its inception to proletarian revolution to the turn to constitutional benefaction .
I am grateful to my wife, Renuka, for having borne with the many inconveniences that I might have thrust upon her in the course of preparation of the manuscript. My daughters Manjari, Indrani and Pallavi have helped me by taking the responsibility of typing the manuscripts and checking the copies, as well as in numerous other ways.
I am grateful to my friend Shri A.K. Nanda who has been kind enough to go though the text with a toothcomb, making changes and suggesting improvements that I value most.
Kiran Maitra

1
India and the Socialist Revolution
T he socialist revolution in Russia came at a time when half the world was under imperialist occupation. India too was under the rule of Great Britain, the greatest imperial power of the day. People who were striving to end British rule in India were elated with the success of the socialist revolution, but were not prepared to accept socialism or the socialist mode of struggle themselves. Under the leadership of Gandhi, India accepted non-violence as the weapon to end British rule in India and was not prepared to change to any other form of struggle – although after the First World War, the emotional and intellectual climate of the country was receptive to the ideas of socialism. Its appeal was universal as it promised to eradicate poverty of the common masses and bring about equality of men, irrespective of religion or nationality. But no political leader worth the name came forward to make use of the situation. Only a few young men with no political patronage or financial assistance, inspired by a vague idea of socialism, stepped forward to end British rule in India, following the method adopted by socialists in Russia. The success of the socialist revolution had a tremendous impact on these youths. Disillusioned and disheartened by the mode of struggle adopted by Gandhi, these youths thought of treading a new path. In Bombay (now Mumbai), Sripad Amrit Dange; in Bengal, Muzaffar Ahmed; in Punjab, Ghulam Hasan; in Madras (now Chennai), Singaravelu Chettiar; and in the United Province (now Uttar Pradesh), Satya Bhakt and Shaukat Usmani formed small, insignificant groups to study marxism, and if possible, to build a communist party in India. These were individual efforts and not the outcome of any decision taken jointly. In fact, these men did not even know each other.
Dange, who was earlier a follower of Gandhi and took part in the non-cooperation movement, soon became disillusioned and took to the study of marxism. After gaining some rudimentary knowledge of marxism, he wrote a book, rather a booklet, Gandhi vs Lenin – an amateurish exposition of Gandhi by a young and enthusiastic marxist. The booklet attracted the notice of a disgruntled gandhiite, R.B. Lotvala, a small industrialist in Bombay. Lotvala liked not only the booklet, but also its author. He called Dange to his residence and advised him to read more of marxism before taking to writing. He also enquired about his means of livelihood, and after getting to know about his financial difficulties, he fixed a monthly allowance for his upkeep. 1 Thereafter, Dange became a regular visitor to Lotvala’s private library to enrich his knowledge of marxism.
After studying marxism for some time, Dange gained confidence and brought out a newspaper financed by Lotvala. In August 1922, The Socialist , an English weekly edited by Dange saw the light of day. The weekly made Dange known to people and helped him draw around him a number of young radicals, such as S.V. Ghate, R.S. Nimbkar, K.N. Joglekar, and a few others.
Like Dange in Bombay, Muzaffar Ahmed became the pivot of marxism in Bengal. But unlike Dange, Ahmed had no experience in politics before he became a marxist. Even in the hey-days of the khilafat non-cooperation movement, he kept himself aloof from politics, though he claims that he decided to make politics rather than literature the pursuit of his life, at the beginning of 1920. 2 In July 1920, along with Qazi Nazrul Islam, Quttbuddin Ahmed and a few others, Ahmed started an evening daily in Bengali, Navayug, financed by Fazlul Haq, leader of the Krishak Praja Party. 3
While editing Navayug , Ahmed became interested in the problems facing workers and purchased a few books of Marx and Lenin to gain some knowledge of the working class movement. It was his first exposure to marxist literature and Ahmed did not conceal his initial inability to understand Marx. With humility he confessed, ‘I did not know what I was going to do with them (books). I had not read any marxist literature previously’. 4 However, Ahmed soon acquired some knowledge of marxism and formed a marxist group around him.
The lead in Madras was taken by Singaravelu Chettiar, a lawyer by profession and, initially, a believer in the ideology of the Congress; in Punjab, Ghulam Hasan, a teacher of economics in the Islamia College, Peshawar; and in the United Province, Shaukat Usmani and Satya Bhakt.
These amorphous marxist groups were neither strong nor influential. They existed more on paper than in reality. Yet, there existence was no mean achievement: at least they provided a