The Left; The Left within the Congress: Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, the Congress Socialist Party; the Communist Party of India, other left parties: Part I

Leftism in India grew out of the special politico-economic circumstances prevailing in India towards the end of the first world war. The emergence of left can be seen in three streams:

• Stream I:
  • Rise of left within Indian National Congress.
    • For e.g. formation of Congress Socialist Party in 1934
• Stream II:
  • Rise of communist on the platform of Communist Party of India formed in 1925.
  • functioned as a branch of the International Communist Movement and was by and large controlled by the Comintern
• Stream III:
  • Other party organisations (like HSRA, Royists influenced by M.N. Roy, Forward Bloc) and individuals (like Indulal Yagnik, Sahjanand Sarswati, Ranga etc.).

Factors responsible for the rise of left

• British rule and its colonial character.
  • British colonial rule and exploitation of Indian economy and various sections of socio-economic structure made some patriotic intellectuals drift towards Leftist ideologies (particularly those who lived in west had links with it). selfstudyhistory.com
• Land based exploitative system and exploitation of agricultural labours.
• Emergence of Kisan Sabha movement.
• Rise of modern industries based on capitalistic system and exploitation of factory workers.
  • As a result of the development of modern industries-large and concentrated working population came into existence and growth of trade unionism prepared the ground for the formation of the leftist movement.
• Financial burden brought by the first world war:
  • Rising prices of necessities of life, famine conditions, manipulative profiteering by the business class.
  • All exposed the evils of imperialist- capitalist domination.
• The romantic appeal of the revolutionary ideas of Marx.
• Formation of the new regime in the USSR was the success of Marxist ideas for the first time which fired the imagination of Indian intellectuals.
  • The Russian revolution stood for the triumph the power and struggle of the people and it set an example far the anti imperialist struggle in India.
• Early leaders of the congress had socilaistic links to some degree, they were not quite unaware of socialism, many of them were favourably disposed towards socialism.
• The aftermath of the Non-cooperation movement was one of disillusionment. Those who did not appreciate the Gandhian Constructive Programme as well as the Parliamentarian politics of the Swarajists, sought for an alternative ideology as guiding spirit. Leftist ideologies was born out of this quest.
• Gandhiji’s slogan of Swaraj gave a new orientation to the political movement even the workers and peasants were drawn into the mainstream of national life.
• A volatile section of the new generation of the educated middle class with the spectre of unemployment had lost faith in the 19th-century liberal economic ideology.
• A section of the radicals felt unhappy with exclusive emphasis on Swaraj without a socio-economic dimension and saw cult of non-violence as an obstructive element in the development of real revolutionary mass struggle against British imperialism.
• Rise of leaders who developed leftist visions like M.N. Roy, S.C. Bose, J.L. Nehru etc.
  • Efforts of the leaders like Nehru, Subhash, Dange etc. also became instrumental in giving rise to Leftist ideologies.
  • These leaders emerged as great populariser and publicist of the Socialist idea.
  • They became exponents of radical solutions of socio-economic, political ills on socialist lines.
  • Their efforts made vigorous appeal to the masses, the youth and the student. Socialist ideas began to gather momentum through their efforts.
• Rise of leftist organisations, newspapers, journals etc.
• Disillusionment after the suspension of Non Cooperative Movement.
• Disillusionment after the end of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
• Great depression of 1929.
  • The great depression of 1929 exposed the weakenesses of the capitalist economy. It brought the capitalist system into disrepute.
  • It worsened the plight of the peasants and the workers, production declined sharply.
  • On the other hand the slump had no adverse effect on Russia. It had witnessed the successful completion of two five-year plans. The event drew the attention towards Leftist ideologies.”
• Role of foreigners (like role of H.L. Hutchinson, B.F. Bradley, P Spratt in Meerut Conspiracy Case).
• Suspension of the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1934 generated a sense of despair. Expectations and aspirations of the people remained unfulfilled. The simmering discontent of the people and leaders took them to the path of Leftist ideologies.
• Certain important world events also drew the attention of the people towards Leftist ideologies. The capitalistic system stood affected by the crisis of overproduction. It bred ideology like Nazism which was antagonistic to the principles of democratic ideals and human rights and antagonistic to socialist ideas.

Rise and growth of Communist Movement:

• Indian Communism sprang, from roots within the National Movement itself as disillusioned revolutionaries, Non-cooperators, Khilafatists and labour-peasant activists sought new roads to political and social emancipation.
• Its founder was the famous Yugantar revolutionary Naren Bhattcherji (alias Manabendra Nath Roy), who came into contact with the Bolshevik Mikhail Borodin in Mexico in 1919.
• In October 1920 M.N. Roy, Abani Mukherjee and some Khilafatists like Mohammad Ali and Mohammad Shafiq founded a Communist Party of India in Tashkent, together with a political-cum-military school when hopes of penetrating India through Afghanistan faded away.
• In early 1921 some of the new Indian recruits joined the Communist University of the Toilers of East of Moscow.
• M.N. Roy himself shifted his headquarters to Berlin (Germany), starting from there the fortnightly Vanguard of Indian Independence and publishing (in collaboration with Abani Mukherjee) India in Transition, a pioneering attempt at a Marxist analysis of Indian economy and society.
  • A large number of copies of Vanguard of Indian Independence were sent to individual nationalists, trade unionist and intellectuals in India.
• In 1923 S.A. Dange started the publication of an English Weekly entitled Socialist from Bombay. At about the same time, Janavani, a Bengali Weekly was started from Calcutta.
• Other Indian revolutionary groups were meanwhile turning towards Marxism most notably the old Berlin group headed by Virerdranath Challopadhyay, Bhupendranath Dutt and Barkatulkah, whose efforts in 1921 to win Soviet backing were blocked by Roy out of essentially factional motives, but who started an Indian Independence Party in Berlin in the following year.
• By the mid 1920s an important section of the Ghadar Movement in exile had also turned Communist under Rattan Singh, Santokh Singh and Teja Singh Swatantra.
• By the end of 1922 A.D. through emissaries like Nalini Gupta and Shoukat Usmani, Roy had been able to establish some tenous and often intercepted secret links with embryonic Communist groups which had emerged from out of the Non-cooperation and Khilafat experience in Bombay (S.A. Dange) Calcutta (Muzaffar Ahmed), Madras (Singaravelu) and Lahore (Ghulam Hussain).
  • In a letter to S.A. Dange on 2 November 1922, Roy outlined a plan for a dual organisation, one legal and another illegal – secret communist nucleus working within a broad front workers and peasants party.
• However, most of the Indian historians accept that the organised Communism came to India when the followers of M.N. Roy came to this country.
  • Nalini Gupta returned to India in 1921 A.D. on behalf of M.N Roy,
  • Abani Mukherji came to India in 1923 A.D. on behalf of Virendranath Chaltopadhayaya,
  • Both of them had been members of the terrorist organisations in Bengal before they went outside India.
• The Communist international Muhajirs (the Khlafats) trying to re-enter India were tried by the Government in a series of five Peshawar Conspiracy cases between 1922 and 1927, and in May 1924 Muzaffar Ahmed, S.A. Dange, Shaukat Usmani and Nalini Gupta were jailed in the Kanpur Bolshavik Conspiracy Case.
• The Set-back caused by such repressive measure, however, proved only temporary. An open Indian communist Conference was held in Kanpur in December 1925, organised by Satyabhakta – who proved very much of a bird of passage and with Hasrat Mohani as chairman of the Reception Committee and Singaravelu as president.
  • Though floated by rather diverse groups, which emphasized their independence from the commitment in order to preserve legality, the skeleton organisation set up by this Conference was soon taken over by more determined Communists like S.V. Ghate of Bombay.

The history of the Communist movement can be divided into five distinct phases:

• First phase: the Period of “Three Conspiracy Trials’.
  • After receiving thorough training at Moscow at the Communist University and assured of adequate financial support from Moscow, the first band of Communist revolutionaries crossed into India only to find themselves accused of organising a conspiracy against the King Emperor.
    • The movement picked up somewhat only after the Communist Party of Great Britain took upon itself to supervise and energies the movement in India.
    • R. Palme Dutt became an important figure in this connection. He was throughout in closer touch with Moscow than most of his colleagues in the Communist Party of Great Britain.
  • One of its emissaries, Philip Spratt arrived in India in December 1926 and organised a number of unions, edited newspapers and launched some youth and front organisations.
  • A new initial form of political working-class and socialist organisation began to appear in the Workers and peasants parties which sprang up and united militant elements in the trade union movement.
    • The first workers and Peasants Party were formed in Bengal in February, 1926 others followed in Bombay, the United Provinces and the Punjab.
  • These were united in 1927 A.D. in the All India Workers and Peasants Party which held its first Congress in December 1927.
  • During 1928–29 the Communist Party organised a series of industrial strikes at Bombay.
  • Perhaps the greatest success of the Communists during this period was the influence they managed to acquire in trade unions in India. From 1920 to 1928 the influence of the Communists increased immensely.
  • The Government lost no time to strike the Leftist Movement in India, But repression of the Government could not chock the advance of awakening of working class of India. By 1926-27 AD socialist ideas were spreading widely.
  • The Communist movement during this period attracted notice by its being involved in conspiracy trials thrice, viz.
    • Peshawar Conspiracy Trial (1922-23),
    • Kanpur Conspiracy Trial (1924) and
    • Meerut Conspiracy Trial (1929-33).
  • The Meerut Trial which continued for over three and a half years and ended with the conviction of 27 persons (half of them being nationalists or trade unionists) made martyrs of the Communists.
  • The anti-British stance of the Communists gained for them sympathy of the nationalists.
  • The Congress Working Committee set up a Central Defence Committee, sanctioned a sum of Rs. 1,500 and the defence case was pleaded by eminent nationalists like J.L. Nehru, K.N. Katju and F.H. Ansari.
  • Gandhiji visited the prisoners in the jail in 1929 and expressed sympathy for the Communist leaders.
  • In that atmosphere of unreserved sympathy for the Communists, the Congress members of the Central Legislative Assembly successfully opposed the enactment of the Public Safety Bill (1928) a bill directed against the Communists in India.
  • The long drawn out trial also provided a handy opportunity to the Communist leaders to make politically- loaded propaganda speeches that received wide coverage in the nationalist press.
  • From 1925 to 1929 the CPI cooperated with the Congress and tried to influence its programme.
• Second Phase : The Period of Political Wilderness.
  • At a time when the nationalist movement under Gandhiji’s leadership made giant strides forward in arousing the masses against imperialist stranglehold, the CPI suffered from both organisational and ideological articulation.
  • Under the direction of 6th Congress of Communist International, CPI broke with the Congress. Worker’s and Peasant Party too was dissolved in 1929 considering it irrational to develop a two class party.
  • Receiving its cue from the decisions of the Communist International of 1928, the CPI attacked both the right wing and the left wing in the Indian National Congress.
  • It were the times when the Congress had boycotted the Simon Commission (1928), adopted the resolution on Puma Swaraj (Dec. 1929), and launched the Civil Disobedience Movement (1930-31, 32–34).
  • The CPI sought to steal the thunder from the Congress popularity by attempting to project the triangular character of the contest (the people’s struggle not only against foreign imperialism but also against Indian exploiters).
  • It attacked the petty-bourgeois-nationalist leadership of Gandhiji and charged him with acting as the tool of imperialism and thereby betraying the revolutionary struggle of the masses.
  • It even denounced the Congress Left wing as a counter-revolutionary force and ‘a dangerous obstacle to the victory of Indian nation themselves thrown adrift from the political mainstream.
  • This tactical approach proved to totally unrealistic.
  • In July 1934 the CPI was declared an illegal organisation and communists split into several groups.
• Third Phase : Communists and the Anti-Imperialist United Front Plan.
  • CPI was reorganised in 1935 under the leadership of P.C. Joshi. Under the direction of 7th Congress of Communist International in 1935, which suggested formation of united front because of the threat of Fascism, CPI again cooperated with the congress.
  • Taking policy of directions from the deliberations of the Seventh Congress of the Communist Intemational (Moscow, 1935) R.P. Dutt and Ben Bradley published their thesis entitled The Anti-Imperialist People’s Front in India in March 1936.
  • Dutt-Bradley labelled the Indian National Congress as merely united front of the Indian people in the nationalist struggle.
    • They advised the Communists to join the Indian National Congress, utilise its solid party organisation, strengthen the left-wing within the Congress (Congress Socialist Party) and oust the reactionary right-wing elements.
  • The Communists, the CSP and the Trade Unionists planned to organise a Front Populaire on the basis of a common minimum programme.
  • The Communist leadership failed to take advantage of the favourable circumstances or broaden the social base of their movement and the popular front never came into existence.
  • All the same, profiting from the tide of rising mass upsurge and quickening all round political activity in the latter half of the 1930’s, the Communists emerged from their political quarantine and found again a place among the radical elements in Indian politics.
• Fourth Phase : The Second World War and the Communist Somersault.
  • When the Second World War broke out the Indian Communists, under advice from the Comintern leaders, continued their United Front Policy against all types of Imperialism (including Fascism and Nazism).
    • Rather, the Communists scored a point over the Indian National congress with the latter’s initial vacillation and pro-British attitude of leaders like Gandhiji. By September 15, 1939 the Congress too described the war as an imperialist war.
  • The Indian Comnunists, however, found themselves in a very false position when in June 1941, Hitler attacked the Soviet Union, the Fatherland of Socialism.
    • The Communists in India staged a right-about turn and relabelled the war as a ‘people’s war’ and announced full support for the Allied-Russian war effort.
  • The Government of India rewarded the CPI by declaring it a legal organisation in 1942.
  • The Communists extended all possible support and even acted as British spies in suppressing the Quit India Movement in 1942.
    • They did not appreciate attainment of Freedom and called it “Farce“.
  • This sudden shift in the Communist policy evoked strong condemnation in nationalist circles and clearly demonstrated that the CPI’s policy decisions were dictated by outside and international wire-pullers.
• Fifth phase : The Transfer of Power Negotiations and Communists’ Multi-National Plan.
  • During the period the CPI’s posture was pro-Muslim; it sought to further widen Congress-League alienation and encourage all separatist elements and work for the division of India into a number of sovereign states.
  • Its strategy was to tighten control over at least one such state and to make it as a base for the liberation of the rest of India.
  • However, the Muslim League spurned the idea of an alliance with the Communists. The CPI, therefore, stood as a discredited organisation.
  • In 1942 the CPI adopted a resolution declaring India to be a multi-national state and identifying as many as 16 Indian “nations”.
    • In 1946 they put forward before the Cabinet Mission a plan for division of Indian into 17 separate sovereign states on the model of the Balkans or the U.S.S.R.
  • By 1947 the Communist movement in India had lost whatever place it had in Indian politics and the CPI was in complete disarray.
  • When national emancipation from British imperialism was the dominant instinct of the people, the CPI’s extra-national loyalties and exclusive dependence on European models made it a suspect organisation.
    • In fact the Communists’ concept of Proletarian Internationalism could not be reconciled with India’s national aspirations.
    • Further, Marxism’s basic articles of faith in ‘class antagonism’ and ‘violence’ are alien to Indian tradition.
  • However, Marxist-Leninist philosophy, sworn of its extra- national loyalties, has some relevance to independent India. The yawning gap between the rich and the poor and the under-developed condition of Indian economy are favourable climatic conditions in which Marxist Socialism can take root in India and serve as the beacon-light for the down-trodden masses.

Q. “The communist had a love-hate relationship with the congress. Hence their role in nationalist movement from 1925-1947 depended upon their attitude towards congress and their theorization and re-theorization of Indian situation.” Critically examine the role played by the communists in India’s struggle against the colonial rule.

Ans:

• The Communist Party of India was inspired by Marxism and nationalism at the same time.
  • They wanted to free India from the imperial yoke but at the same time they believed in the Marxist principles i.e. struggle between working class and the capitalist (and feudal elements).
  • Added to this internal dilemma was the dictate of the Communist International advocating change in strategy from time to time.
  • As compare to this Indian National Congress was a conglomeration of people of India founded with the objective to undertake struggle against the colonial rule.
  • In fact, the communist had a love-hate relationship with the congress which is evident from their approach and attitude during the nationalist movement from 1925-1947.
• Initially due to the suspicion of the British government, the communists were not able to work openly.
  • Hence they worked through The Workers and Peasants Party (WPP).
  • The communists working through the WPP were able to create a strong momentum within and outside the congress party in favour of communist ideas.
  • However, since the communists of India thought themselves as a part of the international communist movement, so they were guided by the strategic decisions of the Comintern.
• In the Sixth Party Congress in 1929, the Comintern revised its policy towards the national movement run by non-communist in colonial countries.
  • They said that these national movements are bourgeois led national movement. And actually they are not against imperialism.
  • As a consequence, the Communist Party of India decided that the Congress party is a bourgeois party and therefore there should not be any connection with the Congress party.
  • The communist party under the direction of the Comintern decided to become more militant against the imperialism of the British government.
• The CPI declared that its goal was to establish socialism in India through revolution. In 1934 the party was accepted as the Indian section of the Communist International.
  • The party moved toward more radicalism.
  • The CPI, with its new policy orientation had rejected non-violent forms of political struggle and committed itself to the policy of armed struggle against British imperialism.
  • The Communist Party put forward a number of demands including abolition of zamindari, nationalization of banks, tea gardens and shipping industries and a host of other radical programs.
  • In keeping with the new policy line, it not only dissociated itself from the Civil Disobedience Movement but also denounced the Gandhi-Irwin Pact as an act of the betrayal of the Indian people.
• The Seventh Party Congress in Moscow, 1935, revised its policy in light of the threats of fascism.
  • The Comintern went in favor of a united front with the bourgeois national movement against imperialism.
  • The Indian Communists were to once again participate in the activities of the mainstream of the national movement led by the National Congress.
  • The theoretical and political basis for the change in communist politics in India was laid in early 1936 by a document popularly known as the Dun-Bradley Thesis.
    • According to this thesis, the National Congress could play a great part and a foremost part in the work of realizing the anti-imperialist people’s front.
    • The communist party accepted the central role of the Congress in the struggle against imperialism in India and they gave national movement ultimate importance.
  • The united front with congress had brought the communists in to the mainstream.
  • However, the declaration of the Second World War (WW II) in September 1939 by the British Indian government had suddenly changed the course of the Indian national movement.
    • The war presented a dilemma to the Congress party, whether to support or not, the war efforts of the government?
• The congress said that if the government sets a definite road map for India’s independence, the Congress will support the war efforts.
  • The communists took a totally different stand.
  • Their stand was derived from the Russian interaction with Germany. Russian leader Stalin had signed a pact of mutual interest with Germany in 1939.
  • Therefore, for communists, Germany was in their side. So they declared that the British war efforts are imperialist war.
  • The communists planned, wide scale anti-British activities in India, so that they can disrupt the British war efforts.
  • The CPI formulated a new policy statement known as ‘Proletariat Path’ through which it committed itself to open rebellion against the British rule in India by organizing a ‘general strike’ in the major industries along with ‘a no rent, no tax campaign’.
  • Not only that, it also wanted to make an open attack on all symbols of the British authority including police and army structure.
  • In pursuance of this new policy, they organized a major strike in the textile mills of Bombay in March 1941.
• But within two years everything was about to change fully.
  • In June 1941, Hitler attacked Russia. And on 12 July 1941 the Soviet Union and the Great Britain concluded an agreement on joint operation in the war against Hitler.
  • This also brought a change in the CPI’s thinking and the CPI decided to support the British war efforts against the Fascists.
  • In order to stick to their latest stand, the communists directed its cadres to stay away from the Quit India Movement.
  • Even the communists played as collaborators of British to quell the movement.
  • They helped the police and Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in arresting the congress leaders and workers.
  • After independence of India in 1947, the CPI declared that this freedom was fake (yeh azadi jhooti hai).
• It is evident from above that the communists were guided by various extraneous variable and looked outside India for political guidance and this contributed in development of love-hate relationship with the congress.