Marxism in India

Kiran Maitra

• Publisher: Roli Books
• Year: 2012
• Print ISBN: 9788174369512
• eBook ISBN: 9788174369512
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: Communism, Post-Communism & Socialism
• Index: Politics & International Relations

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.

1

India and the Socialist Revolution

The 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 foothold to marxism in India.

The situation abroad was a little different. Indians who were working in Europe to end the British rule in India came in contact with French socialists, long before the socialist revolution in Russia. Madam Cama and S.R. Rana attended the International Socialist Conference held in Stuttgart in 1909 as self-appointed representatives of India and spoke for India’s independence. And Lala Hardyal, one of the founders of the Ghadar Party in America, penned down a short biographical sketch of Marx as far back as 1912. Hardyal found in Marx a great lover of humanity and a friend of the downtrodden,though he never subscribed to his views.⁵

However, with the success of the socialist revolution in Russia, quite a few Indians working abroad for India’s independence made friends with Russian socialists. The most notable among them were V.N. Chattopadhyaya, V.V.S. Ayer, Tirimul Acharya, Abdur Rab Nister and Mohammad Safiq. They met Lenin and made all kinds of efforts to urge him to help India in its struggle for independence, but achieved little. Lenin expressed his sympathy, while asking them to learn more about socialism. Their knowledge of socialism was naïve as it was submerged in nationalism.

The most dynamic and fascinating among the Indians who took to marxism was Narendranath Bhattacharjee alias Naren. Naren was a revolutionary before he became a marxist. He came under the spell of the revolutionaries at a very early age and acquired a lopsided view of revolution. He firmly believed that the basic requirements for a revolution were arms and money. If these two things were available, revolution would be child’s play. The prospect of getting arms brightened with the outbreak of the First World War, when Germany promised arms to Indian revolutionaries. These arms never reached India. Disillusioned and disheartened, Naren disguised himself as C.A. Martin and left India in search of arms. After dashing through Batavia, Shanghai and Tokyo, he landed in San Francisco and from there left for a nearby town, Palo Alto, hoping to reach Berlin to contact the German Foreign Office for arms and money. At Palo Alto, he became a guest of Dhanagopal Mukherjee, the younger brother of his comrade in India, Jadugopal Mukherjee. Mukherjee knew Naren, but did not expect to see him at Palo Alto. After the initial shock was over, Mukherjee advised Naren to wipe off his past and start a new life. Naren liked the idea. The same evening, M.N. Roy was born in the campus of Stanford University.⁶ Soon thereafter, Roy left for New York to fulfil his mission.

In the campus of Stanford University, Roy met Evelyn, with whom he fell in love and eventually married. Roy’s marriage with Evelyn supplied fodder to scandalmongers. It became the hottest gossip among Indian revolutionaries in New York. Lala Lajpat Rai took pity on the young couple and offered them shelter, along with some money to pull on with.⁷

Lajpat Rai’s company was conducive to Roy in more ways than one. Through Rai, Roy came in contact with American socialists. Both Rai and Roy were nationalists and had no belief in the doctrine of social revolution. They were opposed to marxian materialism. Yet, both became friendly towards socialists because of their sympathy towards the cause of India’s independence. However, to refute the arguments of socialists, Roy took to the study of socalist classics.

While Roy was busy with the study of socialism, a momentous event took place that revolutionized his entire thinking. Lajpat Rai was invited to speak at a meeting of socialists. His vivid description of the poverty of the Indian masses under British rule moved the audience. All those present were avowed enemies of all forms of exploitation of man by man, and thus appreciated Lajpat Rai. However, one person from the audience got up and posed an embarrassing question, ‘How did the nationalists propose to end the poverty of the Indian masses?’ Lajpat Rai’s evasive reply failed to satisfy the interrogator. There followed a heated exchange of words. The interrogator proved his point further by asking provocatively, ‘What difference would it make to the Indian masses if they were exploited by native capitalists instead of foreign capitalists?’ Lajpat Rai flew into a terrible rage and retorted, ‘It does make a great difference whether one is kicked by his brother or a foreign robber.’⁸ Initially, Roy shared Lajpat Rai’s indignation, but soon he realized that something was lacking in his argument. Roy left the hall alone, quite confused and vaguely visualizing a different picture of freedom. Keeping away from friends, he delved deep into the study of Karl Marx’s works for an answer.

His immediate concern, however, was to go to Berlin for arms to bring about a revolution. While Roy was waiting in futility for this trip, America declared war on Germany in support of the allied powers and put under arrest Indian revolutionaries in America on the charge of violating the neutrality of America through a worldwide conspiracy to embarrass its ally, Great Britain. Roy and Evelyn were taken into custody, but were let off after interrogation. Roy was put under arrest again for violating immigration laws and sent to the lock-up for one night, after which he was released on bail. Shrewdly enough, Roy jumped the bail and fled to Mexico in the company of Evelyn, with a letter of introduction to General Alvarado, the Governor of the State of Yucatan, from David Starr Jordon, the President of Stanford University.⁹

Roy landed in Mexico as a stranger and put up at Hotel de Geneva. He did not know a single person there, nor had he established any contacts before. His only hope was the letter of introduction addressed to General Alvarado.

On enquiry, Roy came to know that the State of Yucatan was far away from the city of Mexico. To reach the state, one had to travel on land a distance of about a thousand miles through the wilderness of the states of Tabasco and Chiapas. There was no railway connection between the city of Mexico and the State of Yucatan. The usual route was across the Gulf of Mexico. But the ships were all American, and as a rule, after leaving the Mexican port of Veracruz, they called at some American po...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Book
• Authorlist
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Dedicate
• 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