CPSU
(b)
This
Soviet document on the activities of the CPI comes from the Suslov
holding in the RGANI, Moscow. It does not carry the author s name
nor indeed the day or month it was prepared
in 1947. In the post-independence period such analyses were prepared by
V. Grigorian on behalf of the Foreign Policy Commission of the
CC of the CPSU (b) and presented to the Politburo of the party. A
number of
these presentations have already been published in this journal. They
are
important as they successively evaluate the situation of the Indian
communist
party. In terms of dating this document the Suslov
file begins from 18th August 1946 and ends on 28th
February 1948. The documents after the one below are followed by the invitation
dated 27 December 1947 by P.C. Joshi, General Secretary of the CPI, to
the CPSU (b) to the Second Congress of the party to be held in Calcutta in
February 1948 and then the draft greetings prepared by Suslov
on behalf of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b). This presentation is of
interest in general terms as it analyses the situation in India and the role of
the CPI just after the transfer of power. Particularly it evaluates the
politics of the P.C. Joshi leadership pointing to its illusions about the
British Labour Party in the transfer of power. On the question of Pakistan it
is suggested that the CPI dropped its support for the reactionary slogan of
Pakistan in 1945 under the impact of the CPGB rather than in early 1946 when
R.P. Dutt visited India. The CPI it is said here
correctly pointed out the role of imperialism in dividing India but did not
understand that the Muslim masses supported the Pakistan slogan as consequence
of the chauvinism of the reactionary sections of the Hindu bourgeoisie.
The Communist Party of India was founded in 1933.
Until 1942, it was working underground. In September 1942, the first legal,
extended Plenum of the Central Committee was convened in Bombay. By this time,
the party had 9 thousand members, more than 4 thousand candidates and about 9
thousand people sympathizing and helping the party, but not having formalized
their membership. In May 1943, the first Congress of the party was held in Bombay,
which approved the Charter of the party and elected the Central Committee,
which included: Pooran Chand Joshi, Balchand Tribak Ranadive, Gangadhar Adhikari, P. Sundaraiyya, E.M.S. Namboodripad,
N.K. Krishnan, D.S. Wadia, Bhowani
Sen, Ronen Sen, D.S. Sardesai, Iqbal Singh, Mohan
Kumara Mangalam, Mohammed Ashraf, Zaheer
Sajjad, Somnath Lahiri and Dange, Shripat Amrit. The first three
were selected into the Politbureau, P. Chand Joshi was elected as Secretary General.
By the time of the first Congress of the party its ranks grew up to 16 thousand members, it currently
has 70 thousand members. The Communist Party is preparing to convene the Second
Congress of the party in October this year, which will discuss the most
important issues of policy and tactics of the party in connection with the
division of India into two dominions and the creation of Indian governments in
Hindustan and Pakistan. Despite the fact that the Communist Party of India was
in an illegal situation and worked in difficult conditions, it achieved
significant success in the first years of its work. Communist groups and cells
were established in all the major provinces and gradually gained influence
among workers and peasants.
Party members participated in the work of trade
unions, exposed the reformist tendencies of trade union leaders. The Communist
Party fought for the unification of workers’ organizations, created circles of
political education, published newspapers and magazines, led many strikes, took an active part in the Indian national liberation
movement, expanding its influence among the workers and peasants of India. The
first major success in the work of the Communist Party should be considered the
organization and holding of a General Strike of textile workers in 1934. More
than 120,000 workers participated in this strike. It played a significant role
in the growth of the organization of the working masses, in their awareness of
their class interests. The Communist Party also had a great influence on the
growth of the strike and national liberation movement of the working class on
the eve of the Second World War. In 1939 in India there were 406 strikes, which
covered more than 410 thousand people. A large strike broke out among the
workers of the oil fields of a large British company. The strike lasted about 8 months. Large
strikes also took place among tea plantation workers. Mass rallies and
demonstrations demanding India’s national independence were held everywhere in
towns and villages, and the Communist Party was in the forefront everywhere. In
1939, the movement for the legalization of the Communist Party became
widespread. In some of the largest industrial cities of India, in Bombay,
Calcutta, Madras, Cawnpore etc. there were numerous meetings of workers, which
adopted resolutions on the lifting of the ban on the Communist Party,
Similar demands were also made at peasant meetings in
the villages.
In September 1939, when India was declared a
belligerent, the Communist Party of India, as well as the National Congress,
supported the universal demand for India’s independence. Believing that war
between Germany and England was imperialist, it refused to lend support to
either side. This position it held prior to the German attack on the Soviet
Union. The treacherous attack of Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union in June 1941
caused a huge wave of indignation in India. Rallies were held throughout the
country, expressing sympathy for the Soviet Union and solidarity in the fight
against fascism. Progressive Indian organizations realized that it was no
longer a struggle between imperialist States – Germany and England – but that a
decisive battle had begun between fascism on the one hand and the forces of
democracy on the other, and that in this struggle it was no longer possible to
remain neutral. The Communist Party called on the Indian people to give full
support to the Soviet Union. It launched a wide campaign to raise funds for the
USSR aid Fund and organized lectures and reports on the life of the Soviet
people.
In early 1942, the Communist Party of India appealed
to the British government with a proposal: to release the arrested Communists,
to remove the ban from the Communist Party, to allow it to work legally, and
then all party members, the whole party as a whole will direct all their
efforts and energy to the defence of the country. The British government
accepted the proposal, and in mid-July 1942 the Communist Party of India was
legalized. The threat of Japanese invasion by that time hung directly over
India.
The Communist Party believed that if the Indian people
were directly opposed to defensive measures, they could get Japanese fascism
instead of British imperialism. Member of the Central Committee of the CPI S.
S. Zaheer in mid-July 1942, placed in the newspaper
“Bombay Chronicle” the following statement: “The Communists believe that our
homeland is in serious danger. We are facing the threat of a Japanese invasion.
Communists exert all their energy and all means to awaken the people and
realize their Patriotic duty – to defend their Homeland. This is our country,
and we have a duty to protect it. We must take the initiative to defend the
Motherland into our own hands. We are fighting for national unity, for national
government and national resistance to fascist invaders. Of course, we do not
accept any assistance from the government if we consider it to be directed
indirectly or directly against our policies and principles. Our line now is
strong resistance to the Japanese, no matter what the government does. For
example, if it decides to leave this country, just as it did with Burma, we
will continue to fight the fascist aggressors. This is briefly our policy,
which we are going to explain in our newspapers.”
On September 19, 1942 in the city of Bombay for the
first time in legal conditions an extended Plenum of the Central Committee of
the Communist party of India has gathered. Years underground have not broken
the Communist party. Despite the most severe persecution and repression, which
had to move the Communist Party into the underground, it managed to keep and
strengthen its fighting core. The party regularly published its printed organ,
the weekly “People’s War”, published in 4 languages, English, Urdu, Hindi and
Marathi, with a total circulation of 15 thousand copies.
The first issue of the weekly “People’s War” was
released on July 5, 1942, that is, in fact, before the lifting of the ban from
the Communist Party. The main political report at the plenary session was made
by a member of the CC CPI comrade Adhikari and
supplementary report – by the General Secretary P. C. Joshi. Based on the
statements of these leaders, the plenary assessed the situation in India and
outlined the prospects for its work. According to the Plenum, the
responsibility for the situation in the country lay with the English
government, which by the arrests of members of the National Congress has
provoked riots. The plenary confirmed that the Congress’s demands for
recognition of India’s independence and the establishment of an interim
national government capable of mobilizing the Indian people to protect India in
Alliance with the United Nations were national demands. The Plenum condemned
the British policy of repression against the National Congress and the Indian
people and called for a broad political awareness-raising campaign to distract
Indian patriots from the suicidal tactics of sabotage and undermining the
country’s military efforts. The Plenum called for the mobilization of the
country’s forces to fight against the fascist aggressors. The resolution
emphasized the need for unity between the National Congress and the Muslim
League.
The Punjabi Provincial Committee of the Indian CP, led
by Sohan Singh Josh, demanded recognition of India’s
rights to establish a national government, to self-determination of all
nationalities and to form an equal Alliance with the United Nations fighting
against fascist aggressors.
The campaign for the unity of democratic forces
launched throughout the country by the Communist Party, and the struggle
against repression carried out by order of the government, were hostile to the
British authorities in India. When the Communist Party, both in the press and
at rallies, openly accused the government of carrying out cruel repressions
against the Indian people and called on the people for unity of action, the
government began to pursue an increasingly hostile policy against it.
Arrests of Communists under all sorts of pretexts were
frequent. The extreme imperialist elements began to demand that the party be
outlawed again. However, despite the repression, the Communist party continued
to work among the masses and its selfless work has achieved great success.
From May 23 to June 1 1943, the first Congress of the
Communist Party of India was held in Bombay. The Congress was attended by 139
delegates representing 16,000 party members. Speaking at the Congress,
Secretary General of the CP of India Joshi stressed the imperative need to
create unity of all Indian people. The Congress adopted a new Charter of the
party, developed taking into account the legal conditions of the party. After
the Congress, during 1943-1944, and later the Communist Party, with it all
other progressive forces of the country, tirelessly demanded from the
government the release of the leaders of the National Congress, the agreement
of the Congress with the Muslim League and the creation on this basis, of a
national government with the participation of representatives of other
political parties and organizations. The Indian Communist Party stressed that
the establishment of an Indian national government could not be carried out
without an agreement between the two largest organizations, the National
Congress and the Muslim League.
In connection with the Communist Party’s line of
support for England in its military efforts to protect India from German
fascism and Japanese imperialism, the leaders of the National Congress, who
were released in mid-1945 from prison, took a hostile position against the
Communist Party, accusing it of “treason” and choosing to be on the side of
the British. They removed Communist Party members from leadership positions in
the National Congress. The London “Weekly World News and Views” on November 17,
1945 published an article in which it said “On release from prison in June
1945, the leader of the Congress Nehru addressed the press with a statement in which
he accused the Communist Party of India in the transition to the side of
British imperialism. Nehru accused it of not leading and launching the
“struggle” that began in August 1942 in protest against the arrest of
congressional leaders. But Nehru forgets that this “struggle” led to a very
wide spread of acts of sabotage and unrest at a time when the Japanese army was
on the border of India. In the critical years (1942-1944), the Communist Party
of India adhered to the line that India, although in shackles, should
participate in the fight against fascism and unite its fight with the
struggle of the United Nations. But at the same time, the Indian Communists
strongly demanded the release of Congress leaders, exposed corruption and
mediocrity of the bureaucracy and demanded the formation of an interim national
government, which alone would be able to mobilize India for the successful
conduct of the war.”
Leaders of Congress now accuse the Communist Party
that it allegedly betrayed the “movement”. The main argument of the
anti-Communist campaign of the right-wing congressmen is the accusation of the
Communists that during the Second World War they called to fight against the
axis powers together with England, which, according to the Congress members,
was a betrayal of the national cause of India. The signal for the elimination
of the Communists from the ranks of the Congress was picked up by Pro-Congress
newspapers and led to the fact that on September 6, 1945, 20 members of the Communist party,
including several women, were beaten in different parts of the city of
Bombay, simply because they sold the annex to the newspaper “Peoples' War”. On September 7, 1945, the Bombay Committee of
Congress expelled four Communists. Explaining the reasons for the expelling, the
Secretary of the Committee said: “The Communists constantly resisted almost
every official measure of the Congress. They don’t believe in non-violence.
They encourage a sense of distrust among workers towards the Indian National
Congress. We must purge our great organization of all undesirable elements that
obstruct it. “
The campaign against the Communists and the creation
of unbearable conditions for them led to the fact that the Communists
themselves began to withdraw from the ranks of Congress. In early
October 1945,
Indian newspapers published a statement by P. C. Joshi. “We, the Indian
Communists,” the statement said, “had high hopes that the leadership
of the
Congress – our most advanced organization – would take the initiative
to think
about uniting the entire country to maintain a democratic plan for the
immediate liberation of India in alliance with the victorious
progressive
forces of the world. But the leadership of the Congress after their
release did
not undertake any serious steps, but only shows their group arrogance.
Instead of presenting a concrete plan to achieve freedom for India,
they proposed to the congressional organization such a course of action
(the
exclusion of Communists – Ed.), which will further divide the forces of
liberation." Recalling his work in support of Congress, Joshi said,
“The
Leadership is raising its hand against our young party, which for the
past 3
years has consistently defended it against imperialist opponents, both
domestically and abroad. The leaders of the Congress put forward
against
us the arguments of the world’s worst reactionaries that our
anti-fascism and
our opposition against sabotage in the defence of our country was an
effort to
help Britain”.
At a meeting of the Congress Working Committee in early
December 1945, it was decided to exclude Communists from both the Executive
Committee of the National Congress and the provincial committees. But even after that, the Communist Party of India confirmed
that it will continue to fight for the unification of all the Indian people and
primarily for the agreement between the Congress with the Muslim League.
Palme Dutt in the journal Labour
Monthly for March 1946
reveals the true cause of the persecution by the
leadership of Congress against the Communist Party of India. He writes,
“The
added difficulty (of solving the problem) arises from the growing
discord
between the National Congress and the Communist Party, which is a
reflection of
the escalating class contradictions at this stage of India’s
development. The
Communist Party is the undisputed leader of the working class and
organized
peasant movement in India. It now has 30,000 members, being the third
political
party in India and the only party effectively uniting Hindus and
Muslims On the
other hand, the major Indian capitalists have strengthened their
position and
amassed large profits from the war. With the weakening of British
imperialism,
the Indian major capitalists see the post-war phase as an excellent
opportunity
to break free from the noose of British monopoly, to gain the main
positions
and to embark on the path of broad profitable industrial development of
the
country under the control of the national government. These new
developments
have further strengthened the influence of the largest and most firmly
seated
Indian capitalists on the leadership of the Congress, which has become
the
organ of the rising capitalist class of India, although in the modern
period it
still has a broad support of the masses. This growing influence of the
large
Indian capitalists in the leadership of the Congress is reflected in an
increasing conquest of the dominance of right-wing leadership (Patel,
Prasad, Kripalani etc.) and this right-wing offensive against the
Communists. Previously, these elements tolerated the presence of
Communists in
the national movement, using them as a weapon of pressure on the
government.
Now that the possibility of gaining government power is approaching,
these
elements are watching with hostility the growth of the Communist party,
its development
into a mass party, and the expansion of the number of workers‘ and
peasants’
organizations under its influence.”
As a result of anti-Communist activities and
propaganda of the right elements of the leadership of the Congress, the
influence of the Communist Party on the urban strata of the petty bourgeoisie
and the peasantry was weakened. However, Congress failed to weaken the
influence of the Communist Party on the working class of India. The
indefatigable work of the Indian Communists to unite all national forces in the
struggle for the independence of the country, the leadership of the
unprecedented rise of the strike movement, which covered not only the workers
but also other labouring strata, the skilful combination of national demands with
the daily demands of the masses – all this contributed to the growth of the
party’s authority and the strengthening of its influence among the workers.
The influence of the Communist Party of India in the
trade unions was especially increased. Most Indian trade unions are adjacent to
the trade union centre, which is under the ideological and organizational
influence of the Indian Communist Party. India’s largest and most advanced
trade union organization is the All India Trade Union Congress. This trade
union center, founded in 1920, currently has 730 thousand members, being the most reputable workers'
organization in the country.
It
unites the Union of Bengal sailors with 34,823 members, the Bombay Union of
textile workers “Girni Kamgar”
– 20,000 people, the Union of Miners in Bihar – 5 thousand, the All-India
Association of railway workers, numbering 80 thousand members of trade union
and a number of others. The all-India Congress of Trade Unions consists of
about 600 unions, more than half of which joined between 1943 and 1947. Under
its influence there are up to 4 million workers. The General Council – the body
that directs the work between sessions and consists of 104 people – includes 55
Communists. Dange, a Communist and a member of the
Central Committee of the Indian Communist party, was elected Chairman of the
Congress. The programme of the All India Congress of Trade Unions includes the
following items:
1. Improving the economic and political situation of
the Indian working class, 8-hour working day, equal pay for equal work,
unemployment benefit, sickness, injury benefits, abolition of fines, prohibition of work of children under 15 years.
2. Freedom of speech, press, association and assembly,
the right to work and rest.
3. The abolition of economic and political privileges
based on the principle of castes, political beliefs and religious world views.
4. Coordination of the activities of the workers ‘
unions of the All-India Congress of Trade Unions, the elimination of the
system of recruitment of workers and the establishment of a single system of
recruitment, only through trade unions.
One of the main points of the programme states that
the ultimate goal of the All-India Congress of Trade Unions is the
establishment of a socialist state in India and the nationalization of the
means of production. In February 1947, a session of the All India Trade Union
Congress was held in Calcutta. This session was the most numerously attended in
the history of the Congress. It was attended by 1,100
delegates from various provinces of British India and Indian principalities.
There were many delegates who secretly came from the Indian principalities and
provinces, where they were wanted by the police to be arrested for leading
strikes.
At the session, the Congress of trade unions
reaffirmed its commitment to socialism and declared that the main goal of the
working class movement of India is the formation of a socialist state in which
all power will belong to the workers and industry will be fully nationalized.
The rise of the labour movement in India in the post-war years
reached unprecedented proportions. In 1945, there were 848 strikes
with the participation of 782 thousand workers. F or the 9 months of
1946 there
were 1466 strikes, in which participated 1737 thousands of workers.
During the
strikes, 8962 thousand working days were lost. There is no industry in
which
there were no strikes. Government employees, communications workers,
workers of the Indian principalities, agricultural workers were on
strike. A
characteristic feature of the strike movement of these years – mass
strikes,
staunch resistance and class solidarity of workers. At the same time,
the
strike movement was usually organized and directed by the Trade Union
Congress,
led by the Indian Communist party, what caused even greater hatred of
both the
Communist Party and the Trade Union Congress by the British
imperialists and
Indian capitalists.
Powerless to defeat the Trade Union Congress, they
used the tactics of splitting its ranks, trying to create parallel unions and
unions built on religious grounds. Such organizations include the All-India
Labour Federation, which has about 300,000 members. It was formed in November
1941 by an agent of British imperialism, the Trotskyist Roy, who is at the same
time the leader of the “Radical Democratic Party”. Another parallel trade union
centre is the Workers‘ Union of India (Hindustan Mazdur Sevak Sangh),
created by the right wing of the Indian National Congress. The leaders of this
organization openly declare that their goal is to “protect” the working masses
from the Communists, who allegedly “filled” the Trade Union Congress. This
organization has about 200 thousand members. However, this professional centre
is not popular with workers. Right-wing Congress members understand that with
the help of this union they will not be able to break off any significant
masses of workers from the All- India Trade Union Congress. Currently,
the Hindustan Mazdur Sevak Sangh and the right wing of the National Congress led by Patel
have taken the initiative to create a new trade union centre, which should
become an all-India organization under the ideological and organizational
influence of the All-India National Congress.
The Hindustan Mazdur Sevak Sangh session, chaired by
the leader of the right wing of the National Congress, Patel, decided to call
the new union “Indian National Trade Union Congress". The resolution states
that the new organization should “pull workers out of the influence of various
parties that use trade unions for their political purposes”. At the official
opening of the new trade union centre on May 4, 1947, Patel quite openly
admitted that this organization aims primarily to combat Communist influence
among the workers of India. He stated that the All-India Trade Union Congress
was in the hands of Communists organizing strikes for political purposes.
The creation of the Indian National Trade Unions
Congress threatens to split the Indian labour movement, as it seems that all
the forces of the Indian National Congress will be thrown into the fight
against the All-India Trade Union Congress.
Organizing and leading the peasant movement in the
post-war years, the party was able to strengthen and expand its base in the
villages. Currently, in many provinces in the governing bodies of peasant
organizations are the Communists. The Communist Party sent a number of
specially trained workers to work in the peasant unions. The Communist Party is
also deploying work among the peoples of the principalities. In 1936, with the
direct participation of the Communist Party of India, the all- Indian peasant
Union “Kisan Sabha” was created. It originated in the
growth process, the spontaneous peasant uprisings against the British and Indian
landlords. At the Third Congress of the Union, in May 1938, the programme of
the organization was adopted, which included the struggle against the
domination of English imperialism in India and Indian landlords, against the
high rent, forced labour for the benefit of landowners, illegal levies and
taxes, etc. The number of members of the “Kisan
Sabha” by that time reached 550 thousand people.
The Fourth Congress of Kisan
Sabha, held in April 1939, adopted a resolution stating that the logical end of
the daily peasant struggle should be the eradication of English imperialism and
the agrarian revolution, because only in this way the peasants will be able to
obtain land, to eliminate all the exploiters standing between the peasants and
the state and thus free the peasants from the burden of taxes and debts and ensure
their full use of the fruits of their labour. The resolution ends with the
words:
“The peasant organization believes that now is the
time to achieve full national independence of the country and the creation of a
democratic state of the Indian people with the ultimate goal of implementing
the idea of “Kisan Mazdur
Raj” (the state of peasants and workers – Ed.)". Kisan
Sabha led to its ranks a large number of members of the National Congress and
active Muslim leaders. It is considered a mass non-party organization. The
Committee of the Kisan Sabha, which met after the
Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India, held in
September 1942, on the basis of its decisions adopted the following resolution
on the political situation in the country:
"1. To demand the release of Congress leaders and to
counter the government’s attempts to create an anti-Communist or anti-national
bloc.
2. In every village and locality, to lead a broad
campaign of unity between Hindus and Muslims, between different castes and
strata of the people, in order to achieve unification between the Congress and
the Muslim League and on its basis to create unity of all the Indian people.
3. To restore peace and order in the villages, to
isolate saboteurs and provocateurs, to fight for the restoration of civil
liberties and the abolition of collective fines.
4. To demand resolution of the
problem of peasant debt and rent."
Currently, the number of members of Kisan Sabha is about one million people. The Chairman of
the General Council of the All-India Peasant Union is a prominent figure of the
Communist Party, B. Mukherjee; at the head of the Bengal provincial peasant union is also a Communist, Muzaffar Ahmed. In
connection with the new manoeuvres of British imperialism in India, which
ultimately led to the division of India into two States – India and Pakistan,
the Communist party not only exposed to the masses the true intentions of the
imperialists and the compromising tendencies of the reactionary wing of the
Indian bourgeoisie from the leadership of the National Congress and the Muslim
League, but also put forward its own programme of struggle for genuine national
independence.
The Communist Party explained to the masses of India
that behind the dismemberment of India lies the desire of the British
imperialists to maintain their dominance over the weak divided States by
economic assistance to them, assistance in the organization of government. The
Communist Party pointed out that under the guise of protecting these weak
states from external danger, the British imperialists are hatching plans for a
military alliance with the Indian States and their inclusion in the projected
Anglo- American bloc of the Union of States of the Middle East, directed
against the USSR.
Opposing the creation of new states on religious
grounds, the Communist Party demanded that all national groups in India should
be recognized in their rights to national self-determination and that a single,
free, democratic state should be created on a Federal basis, in which the
rights of each national group would be protected by the Constitution.
Warning about the possibility of collusion of the
British imperialists with reactionary circles of the Indian bourgeoisie against
the people and the use by the British of their social supportive forces within
India – feudal lords, landlords and moneylenders – the Communist Party shows
the people the way to undermine the economic basis of British rule. The
Communist Party put forward three basic requirements: the withdrawal of all
British troops, the nationalization of all British enterprises in India, the
elimination of landowner ownership.
Given that in connection with the formal transfer of
power to the Indian bourgeoisie, the latter removes the slogan of the struggle
for national independence and prepares for the defeat of the liberation forces
in the country, the Communist party directs the masses to continue the struggle
for genuine independence. To this end, the Communist party has developed a
programme of democratic and economic transformation. This programme was
introduced on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of India
in the Constituent Assembly at the first session by the Communist member of the
Constituent Assembly, S. Lahiri.
Further development of the proposals of the Communist
Party on issues related to the “transfer” of power by the British to the
governments of the Indian States, the definition of the form of new States,
their foreign and domestic policy, are in the documents prepared in May 1947 by
the Secretary General of the Central Committee of the Indian Communist Party –
P. C. Joshi in the form of an “Appeal to the People of India” and a member of
the Politburo B. T. Ranadive entitled “Draft Memorandum to the Provisional
Government on Communist and working policy”. Both these documents were
prepared for the Plenum of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, held
in May 1947 (documents are attached).
During the Second World War
and in the post war years, the Indian Communist Party has grown significantly in quantitative terms, has
strengthened its influence on the masses, especially on the working class, but
has not yet taken its place as the leader of the national liberation struggle
of the Indian people.
The Communist Party has gained considerable experience
in organizing and leading the movement of the masses, in general, correctly
defined the tactical tasks of the party in accordance with the changed
situation in the country. However, on some issues the Communist Party admitted
its uncertainty and mistakes. At the beginning the Communist party voiced their
support for the demands of the Muslim League about Pakistan, and in 1945, under
the influence of the attitudes of the British Communist Party, the Central
Committee of the Communist Party of India changed its point of view. Announcing
the idea of creating Pakistan to be reactionary, the Central Committee of the
Communist Party of India did not understand the true reasons for the support of
this idea by the Muslim masses who sought to get rid of the great chauvinist
attitude towards them from the reactionary elements of the Hindu bourgeoisie.
Having correctly opposed the Communist Party of
Pakistan, organized by Teja Singh Swatantra,
previously expelled from the Communist Party of India for divisive activities,
the Central Committee makes the mistake of insisting on the preservation now,
when the division of India into two dominions has become a fact, of a single
organization of the Communist Party, trade unions and peasant unions for both
dominions – Hindustan and Pakistan. Such a decision of the Communist Party of
India could lead to the self-isolation of the Communist Party, especially in
the dominion of Pakistan.
Criticizing from the right positions and exposing the
manoeuvres of British imperialism in India, the leadership of the
Communist
Party falls into error, separating the policy of the British Labour
government
from the general political line of the British imperialists on the
colonial
question. The draft proclamation of the Communist Party to the peoples
of India states: “the British labour movement, to which the Labour
government was
responsible, no longer intends to return to the old conservative policy
against
India, and honestly advocated India’s cooperation on the basis of
Indian
independence.”
The re-evaluation of Labour gives rise to illusions
among the leadership of the Communist Party regarding the genuine transfer of
power to India and the possibility of establishing cooperation between India
and England to the equal benefit of both parties. In the same document, the
Communist Party of India proposes: “close and growing economic cooperation
between India and England, established between our national government and the
British Labour government, is in the common interest... The struggle against
Indian poverty and for English socialism must be united on the basis of the
economic treaty signed in June 1948.”
The leaders of the Indian Communist party misjudge the
forces of British imperialism, exaggerating its weakness and underestimating
its ability to manoeuvre. The draft proclamation to the people says: "History
began to squeeze the throat of the British Empire with its bony hand from all
sides. First, the British economy is in danger of collapse. With an economic
Dunkirk at home, it was impossible to cope with the Indian revolt. Secondly,
there were not enough soldiers in England who would agree to strangle the
determined struggle of the Indian people and to remain as sentries in India...
Third, the whole mechanism of imperialist domination created to govern India
was in a state of collapse.”
Declaring the possibility of collusion of the British
imperialists with the Indian reaction, the presence of reactionary elements in
the leadership of the National Congress, the leaders of the Indian Communist
Party still often stray to the path of unconditional support for the National
Congress, without exposing on specific examples to the people the fact that the
reactionary wing of the Indian bourgeoisie and its representatives in the
leadership of the National Congress conducts an
anti-national policy in their narrow class interests.
The leadership of the Indian Communist party
continuously maintains contact with the Communist Party of England and receives
support from it. The English Communist party responds to all major political
events in India, reveals the manoeuvres of the British imperialists, aimed at
preserving the colonial situation in India. However, in practice, the
leadership of the English Communist party does not always correctly orient the
Indian Communists. This was the case with regard to the establishment of
Pakistan, as well as the prospects for the development of the national
liberation movement in colonial countries in the post-war period.
The leading comrades of the British Communist party,
on the basis of the incorrect assumption that the coalition of great democratic
powers, united during the war, guarantees a democratic resolution of the
colonial question in the post-war period, did not advise the Indian Communists
to orient the Indian masses to the expansion of the national liberation
struggle in India.
The Communist Party of India is aware of its weakness
and understands the difficulties it faces in the new environment in India. In
this regard, it insists on regular communication with the AUCP (b) in order to
use the advice of the fraternal party on the most complex political issues. The
political line and practical activities of the Communist Party of India during
the underground, war and post-war period, its close relationship with the
masses and, above all, with the working class, is evidence that, despite some
weaknesses and mistakes, it is the combat vanguard of the Indian proletariat,
able to rally around it the broad masses of the city and village and lead the
national liberation struggle of the Indian people for the conquest of genuine
national independence.
RGANI
Fond 8. Opis 1. D. 294. P. 283. LL. 62-79.
Translated
from the Russian by Irina Malenko.