1st June 2020
Musings.......
Left wing Fascism -2
My last article on Left Wing Fascism was the first time I went into a discussion on the Left Wing. If the last time I went into how left wing fascism is equally terrifying as the right wing, this time I choose to go into the Indian aspect of the left wing.
Like I already mentioned, being a staunch anti right wing, I had often neglected the left wing. However, the more I read about them, the more I realise that both the right and the left are two sides of the same coin.
As any curious person would do I went into the origin of the Communist party in India and I was not surprised to find out that even they are not sure of it !
The CPI officially states that it was formed on 26th December 1925 at the first Party Conference in Kanpur.
As per the CPIM, the Communist party was founded in Tashkent on 17th October 1920 soon after then second congress of the Communist International.
We know from history that the communist during the Independence movement were banned by the British. Between 1921 and 1924 they were involved in three conspiracy trials- the Peshawar Conspiracy Case, Meerut Conspiracy Case and the Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Cases.
When left wing elements formed the Congress Socialist party in 1934, the CPI branded it as Social Fascists !!
The CPI which was working underground in 1934, started the “League Against Gandhism” in Bengal.
The change of policy of the Comintern in 1935 meant the Indian Communist Parties entered active electoral politics. Basically decisions were taken from Soviet Union.
In 1942, the CPI was legalised, as a result of Britain and the Soviet Union becoming allies against Germany. In return the Communist opposed the Quit India Movement and sided with the British, which will be remembered as one of the biggest blunders of Communism in India.
BT Ranadive is a name most Communist would not forget. Popularly know as BTR, he was elected as General Secretary of CPI in 1948 in the Second Party Congress in Calcutta.
Here the CPI declared that the “free” India was only a “semi colony of British Imperialism” ! Basically it just meant that, years of struggle and the National Independence Movement did not lead to real Independence.
According to the Communists, there was only transfer of power from one Bourgeois state ( read British) to another ( Read Congress) !!
A new revolutionary upsurge named - the People’s Democratic Revolution - was launched in the resolution which is now popularly known as the Ranadive Thesis/Calcutta Thesis.
The call was for Armed Resistance against Indian Government under Nehru and all Provincial Congress Governments. The Communist dreamt of a Stalin like take over of the country, and establish probably a one party rule, like the Soviet Union !!
Ramachandra Guha in his article “Extremism then and Now” in The Hindu has written - “ the line of armed struggle was inspired by a peasant movement in Telengana, where hundreds of villages had passed out of the hands of the Nizami administration and were now controlled by the Communists. But the Nizam of Hyderabad was not Jawaharlal Nehru. He ran a notoriously authoritarian administration, which enjoyed little support or legitimacy. On the other hand, the Indian PM Nehru was a genuinely popular leader. And the Indian Government as a whole had behind it the halo of a countrywide freedom struggle.”
“The communist had greviously underestimated the strength and legitimacy of the Indian State. In three years of armed struggle they made little progress. In 1951 the Ranadive line was officially disavowed, and the Communists reentered democratic process”.
“This mistake had been a costly one - for the Communists who lost many of their cadres, and the Government which had to divert its energies from the task of nation building”.
Jawaharlal Nehru in letters to State Governments in 1948 and 1949 wrote - “ the communist in India even from the communist point of view have taken a very wrong course. They have gone for terrorist activities and sabotage and raised a volume of feeling against them.”
Nehru found parallels between extremists of Right and Left - “ Communalism and the RSS movement exhibit an amazing narrowness in outlook, even from an opportunist point of view. Communism certainly attracts idealists as well as opportunists. But the way it functions is devoid completely of any moral standard or even any thought for India’s good”
These words from someone who was considered the left wing within the congress party not so long ago !!
Ramachandra Guha, the well known historian wrote this article in 2008, in the backdrop of the emergence of Naxalite movement. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has just said that Left wing extremism was the biggest threat to the country !
There is another movement called Maoism that began in 2004. They like the Naxalites are armed rebels and seems to be like old wine in a new bottle. Both Naxalism and Maoism can be addressed in a single cannotation- Left Wing Extremism.
Things get better and more interesting from here !!
In 1964 the Communist Party split into the present form CPIM and the CPI. Sino-Soviet tensions, anti- Congressism and communist doctrinal differences led to the split in 1964.
- [ ] The falling out of the Soviet Union and China - the two largest communist nations of the time - after the death of Stalin was one of the reason.
The Soviets had accepted “peaceful coexistence” with the west as a diplomatic aim and advocated the use of democratic means to spread communism in other countries.
The Chinese under Mao Zedong denounced the soviets as “revisionists”, spoke of promoting “class war” and fighting the west militarily.
Traditionally the CPI was pro- soviet, though many in the party had started taking a pro-China stance (read CPIM).
- [ ] Anti- Congressism - The CPI after it discarded the Ranadive Thesis in 1951 settled comfortably into electoral politics. Prodded by the warm Indo- Soviet relations under Nehru, the CPI got more closer, even embarrassingly so to the Congress. During the emergency, CPI was one of the few parties that supported PM Indira Gandhi.
The more radical section of the united CPI, which followed the Chinese model ( read CPIM) wanted to stress on peasant mass movement.
- [ ] 1962 Indo- China War
This created a flashpoint for the communists. The conservative section of CPI gave support to Nehru.
The radical wing of the party opposed the support to Nehru Government.
All these three issues led to the vertical split in the Communist movement and in 1964, the CPIM was officially formed in a meeting in Calcutta.
As a keen student of history, I am surprised that the CPIM was formed originally at the behest of opposing the Indo-China war of 1962, and for taking a pro-Chinese ideological stance in place of a Pro- Soviet one !!
The relavence of Communism in a post- USSR world is often dismissed. However, they have been able to make government in few states in India and perform well electorally. Their best electoral performance in Lok Sabha elections came 15 years after the Berlin Wall fell.
However, things have turned different and bleak for Communists in recent times. To be exact since they withdrew support to the UPA government after it signed a Civil Nuclear Agreement with the USA.
West Bengal and Tripura one by one voted out communist governments and rightly so. The condition of both Bengal and Tripura is testimony to the fact that when it comes to practical politics and democracy, the communists are found lacking.
There is no initiative for development. There is only calls for revolution and obstruction, which in these modern times - where the people expect development with a humane face - are obsolete.
The 2019 Lok Sabha election tally for the Left front (CPIM+CPI) was a combined 5 seats.
As I already mentioned in my previous Musing on left wing fascism, for all practical purposes the Indian National Congress represents the interest of the left wing too. Be it MGNREGA, Right to Education, Right to Food, Right to Information - the Congress has always upheld socialism in its practical sense.
India cannot go back to the times of “class war “ and revolutions and remain poor too at the same time.
Is this not the best opportunity to bid goodbye to Communism and left wing fascism once and for all and show them their right place - in the annals of history.
Food for Thought.......
RC
rohitchennithala.blogspot.com
rohitchennithala.home.blog
Left wing Fascism -2
My last article on Left Wing Fascism was the first time I went into a discussion on the Left Wing. If the last time I went into how left wing fascism is equally terrifying as the right wing, this time I choose to go into the Indian aspect of the left wing.
Like I already mentioned, being a staunch anti right wing, I had often neglected the left wing. However, the more I read about them, the more I realise that both the right and the left are two sides of the same coin.
As any curious person would do I went into the origin of the Communist party in India and I was not surprised to find out that even they are not sure of it !
The CPI officially states that it was formed on 26th December 1925 at the first Party Conference in Kanpur.
As per the CPIM, the Communist party was founded in Tashkent on 17th October 1920 soon after then second congress of the Communist International.
We know from history that the communist during the Independence movement were banned by the British. Between 1921 and 1924 they were involved in three conspiracy trials- the Peshawar Conspiracy Case, Meerut Conspiracy Case and the Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Cases.
When left wing elements formed the Congress Socialist party in 1934, the CPI branded it as Social Fascists !!
The CPI which was working underground in 1934, started the “League Against Gandhism” in Bengal.
The change of policy of the Comintern in 1935 meant the Indian Communist Parties entered active electoral politics. Basically decisions were taken from Soviet Union.
In 1942, the CPI was legalised, as a result of Britain and the Soviet Union becoming allies against Germany. In return the Communist opposed the Quit India Movement and sided with the British, which will be remembered as one of the biggest blunders of Communism in India.
BT Ranadive is a name most Communist would not forget. Popularly know as BTR, he was elected as General Secretary of CPI in 1948 in the Second Party Congress in Calcutta.
Here the CPI declared that the “free” India was only a “semi colony of British Imperialism” ! Basically it just meant that, years of struggle and the National Independence Movement did not lead to real Independence.
According to the Communists, there was only transfer of power from one Bourgeois state ( read British) to another ( Read Congress) !!
A new revolutionary upsurge named - the People’s Democratic Revolution - was launched in the resolution which is now popularly known as the Ranadive Thesis/Calcutta Thesis.
The call was for Armed Resistance against Indian Government under Nehru and all Provincial Congress Governments. The Communist dreamt of a Stalin like take over of the country, and establish probably a one party rule, like the Soviet Union !!
Ramachandra Guha in his article “Extremism then and Now” in The Hindu has written - “ the line of armed struggle was inspired by a peasant movement in Telengana, where hundreds of villages had passed out of the hands of the Nizami administration and were now controlled by the Communists. But the Nizam of Hyderabad was not Jawaharlal Nehru. He ran a notoriously authoritarian administration, which enjoyed little support or legitimacy. On the other hand, the Indian PM Nehru was a genuinely popular leader. And the Indian Government as a whole had behind it the halo of a countrywide freedom struggle.”
“The communist had greviously underestimated the strength and legitimacy of the Indian State. In three years of armed struggle they made little progress. In 1951 the Ranadive line was officially disavowed, and the Communists reentered democratic process”.
“This mistake had been a costly one - for the Communists who lost many of their cadres, and the Government which had to divert its energies from the task of nation building”.
Jawaharlal Nehru in letters to State Governments in 1948 and 1949 wrote - “ the communist in India even from the communist point of view have taken a very wrong course. They have gone for terrorist activities and sabotage and raised a volume of feeling against them.”
Nehru found parallels between extremists of Right and Left - “ Communalism and the RSS movement exhibit an amazing narrowness in outlook, even from an opportunist point of view. Communism certainly attracts idealists as well as opportunists. But the way it functions is devoid completely of any moral standard or even any thought for India’s good”
These words from someone who was considered the left wing within the congress party not so long ago !!
Ramachandra Guha, the well known historian wrote this article in 2008, in the backdrop of the emergence of Naxalite movement. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has just said that Left wing extremism was the biggest threat to the country !
There is another movement called Maoism that began in 2004. They like the Naxalites are armed rebels and seems to be like old wine in a new bottle. Both Naxalism and Maoism can be addressed in a single cannotation- Left Wing Extremism.
Things get better and more interesting from here !!
In 1964 the Communist Party split into the present form CPIM and the CPI. Sino-Soviet tensions, anti- Congressism and communist doctrinal differences led to the split in 1964.
- [ ] The falling out of the Soviet Union and China - the two largest communist nations of the time - after the death of Stalin was one of the reason.
The Soviets had accepted “peaceful coexistence” with the west as a diplomatic aim and advocated the use of democratic means to spread communism in other countries.
The Chinese under Mao Zedong denounced the soviets as “revisionists”, spoke of promoting “class war” and fighting the west militarily.
Traditionally the CPI was pro- soviet, though many in the party had started taking a pro-China stance (read CPIM).
- [ ] Anti- Congressism - The CPI after it discarded the Ranadive Thesis in 1951 settled comfortably into electoral politics. Prodded by the warm Indo- Soviet relations under Nehru, the CPI got more closer, even embarrassingly so to the Congress. During the emergency, CPI was one of the few parties that supported PM Indira Gandhi.
The more radical section of the united CPI, which followed the Chinese model ( read CPIM) wanted to stress on peasant mass movement.
- [ ] 1962 Indo- China War
This created a flashpoint for the communists. The conservative section of CPI gave support to Nehru.
The radical wing of the party opposed the support to Nehru Government.
All these three issues led to the vertical split in the Communist movement and in 1964, the CPIM was officially formed in a meeting in Calcutta.
As a keen student of history, I am surprised that the CPIM was formed originally at the behest of opposing the Indo-China war of 1962, and for taking a pro-Chinese ideological stance in place of a Pro- Soviet one !!
The relavence of Communism in a post- USSR world is often dismissed. However, they have been able to make government in few states in India and perform well electorally. Their best electoral performance in Lok Sabha elections came 15 years after the Berlin Wall fell.
However, things have turned different and bleak for Communists in recent times. To be exact since they withdrew support to the UPA government after it signed a Civil Nuclear Agreement with the USA.
West Bengal and Tripura one by one voted out communist governments and rightly so. The condition of both Bengal and Tripura is testimony to the fact that when it comes to practical politics and democracy, the communists are found lacking.
There is no initiative for development. There is only calls for revolution and obstruction, which in these modern times - where the people expect development with a humane face - are obsolete.
The 2019 Lok Sabha election tally for the Left front (CPIM+CPI) was a combined 5 seats.
As I already mentioned in my previous Musing on left wing fascism, for all practical purposes the Indian National Congress represents the interest of the left wing too. Be it MGNREGA, Right to Education, Right to Food, Right to Information - the Congress has always upheld socialism in its practical sense.
India cannot go back to the times of “class war “ and revolutions and remain poor too at the same time.
Is this not the best opportunity to bid goodbye to Communism and left wing fascism once and for all and show them their right place - in the annals of history.
Food for Thought.......
RC
rohitchennithala.blogspot.com
rohitchennithala.home.blog
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