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Communism in India: Unpublished Documents, 1935-1945 PDF

430 Pages·1976·43.088 MB·English
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communism in | india — Unpublished Documents 1935 — 1945 EDITED BY SUBODH ROY COMMUNISM IN INDIA 7 Unpublished Documents 1935—1945 EDITED BY SUBCDH ROY Selling Agents NATIONAL BOOK AGENCY PRIVATE LTD. CALCUTTA 700 012 ~ © Subodh Roy April, 1976 Publisher : S. Roy 33 Alimuddin Street Calcutta 700 016 Printer : Samir Dasgupta Ganashakti Printers Private Ltd. 33 Alimuddin Street Calcutta 700 016 Selling Agents : Nationa! Book Agency Private Ltd. 12 Bankim Chatterjee Street Calcutta 700 012 Price : Paper Back—Rs. 20/-; £ 150; $ 3°50 Hard Cover— Rs. 30/- ; £ 2°00 ; $ 4°50 PREFACE The documents included in this volume cover the period from 1935 to 1945. The readers will find in these documents the gradual growth and development of the Communist Party of India, inspite of its being declared illegal by the British rulers, emerging as a political force to be reckoned with not only amongst the workers and peasants but also a section of intellectuals. Anda centralised all-Indiao leadership came into being to guide and co-ordinate the activities of the Party. It is only an humble attempt of mine to place before the people the available documents to help them analyse and come to an objective conclusion regarding the events and their impact on the Indian political scene, and the role of different political parties and classes (though only in a nascent stage) that played an active role in changing the political situation in India in alliance with the progressive peoples of the world. In this volume the readers will find the impact of Second World War on the life of the people and the different political parties, specially the Communist Party of India before and after Soviet Union actively participated in the war against fascism. The documents will explain the gradual transformation of communist policy towards war and the communist support to war against fascism was not against the Congress policy but only a carry forward of the ideals of anti-imperialist and anti-fascist role of Congress when Jawharlal Nehru actively championed the cause of Republican Spain after Mussolini and Hitler started their interventionsist war against the lawful government. The gradual transformation of CPI policy has been elaborately enunciated in ‘Jail Document" and ‘Policy Statement of the Party”. In this volume the readers will find Congress sending a Medical Mission to China to help in the fight against the Japanese invaders of that country, which evoked warm greetings from Mao Tse-Tung and Chu Teh in their letters sent to Indian National Congress and Communist Party of India. It will be a day of real happiness for me if the documents can be of some use to students of history and future historians to whom all my labour is dedicated. In these few lines | want to express my thanks to National Archives of India for allowing and helping me to go through the documents. 1 will be failing in my duty if f do not acknowledge my gratitude to Sunil Basu, whe has very kindly and carefully gone through the manuscript and but for whose help | could not bear the burden. Others | should have named are many but they want to be anonymous. ‘ , Lastly, | leave it to the readers of this volume to judge if the labour | have undertaken has been worthwhile. Calcutta, 14.4.1976 SUBODH ROY CONTENTS Year Pages 1935 1— 55 55— 76 1936 1937 76— 87 1939 87— 159 159—231 1940 231—249 1941 250—382 1942 383—410 1943 1944 wee All—412 we 412—419 1945 ABBREVIATIONS A.LK.S. All-India Kisan Sabha A.LS.F. All-India Students Federation A.1.T.U.C. All-India Trade Union Congress GI. Communist International C.P.I. Communist Party of India C.P.G.B. Communist Party of Great Britain C.S.P. Congress Socialist Party LNG. Indian National Congress H.D. Home Department HM. Home Member M.L. Muslim League Home/Poll/1935 eceee memDemSES F. 7/6 VERY SECRET Serial No. 103 Brief Note dated 8th May 1935 on the present position of the Communist Movement in India. The present phase of the Communist movement in India may be said to date from the release some eighteen months ago of the majority of the prisoners in the Meerut Conspiracy case. It will be remembered that this case was launched in March 1929 in consequence of the very grave situation which had been brought about by the Communists in India, particularly in the industrial centres in Bombay and Bengal. The institution of the case, which removed from the scene all the capable and experienced leaders, caused a serious setback to the communist movement. In the years that followed continuous efforts were made by the Commu- nist International to rebuild the system which had received so shattering a blow, but these were frustrated as much by the incapacity of those on whom the mantle of leadership had fallen and the constant bickering between the various communist groups as by the preventive measures of the authorities. Indeed, during this period the stage may be said to have been occupied less by the “official communist parties than by a powerful opposition group led by the ex-Comintern leader, M. N. Roy. . 2. While they were still in jail, the opportunity was taken by a number of the Meerut prisoners to draw up a comprehensive report recommending an intensification of communist work in India, and foreshadowing importatnt changes in Indian communist tactics. The report was duly forwarded to Moscow for the appro- val of the Communist International. Since the release of the prisoners, many many of whom succeeded in re-establishing their 2 : COMMUNISM IN INDIA position as leaders in different provinces, effect has been given to a number of recommendations made in this report. Attempts have been made to overcome factional jealousies existing between the various communist groups and to build up a central body (known as the Communist Party of India) with a subordinate branch in each province. A certain measure of success has already been achieved ‘in this direction, and, although in some provinces the differences between rival groups persist, a Provisional Committee of the Communist Party of India is actively functioning as a branch of the Communist International in Moscow. Communist literature is now being published in several provinces; this in the main consists of reprodyction of articles from ‘International Press Correspondence” and other Communist organs received from abroad. Phillips Spratt, the British Communist, who was released last October, promptly commenced an extensive tour of provincial centres in an endeavour to establish the local branches ona satisfactory basis: his activities has since been curbed by his arrest and internment. The most recent development in the movement has been an atiempt by the Bombay Communists to form a “United Front’ with Roy group and the Congress Socialist Party. , 3. In March 1934 a comprehensive Communist thesis prepared by Dr. -Adhikari, one of the ablest of Meerut convicts was accepted by the provisional Central Committee of the Communist Party of India. This thesis, which outlined the course which the Communist revolution in India should take, was based on the ‘Draft Platform of the Communist Party of India‘’, a notorious document which was originally drawn up in Moscow, and continually quoted in the Communist Press. It laid down that the first step was to be the transformation of individual strike intoa general strike; this was to be accompanied by a, peasant campaign against the payment of rents, by a _ nationwide agitation in favour of complete independence, and by the spread of revolutionary propaganda amongst the police and the army; the second stage was to be the overthrow of British imperialism, the princes and landlerds by means of an armed insurrection. !n accordance with the first of these aims strenuous efforts have been made during the first year by the communists to foment industrial disputes. A general strike of textile workers was started in UNPUBLISHED DOCUMENTS 1935-45 3 Bombay in April 1934. The situation rapidly deteriorated and murderous attacks were made on the police and the loyal workers, which were only repulsed by resort to firing ; fourteen communist ring-leaders were arrested and from then onwards the strike lost its political significance. An attempt to follow up this strike with a more or less general strike throughout India largely miscarried. There is little doubt that the Communist strategy in Bombay and elsewhere during these months was founded on the instructions contained in a Communist booklet imported from Europe. A Calcutta Dock workers’ strike which lasted three weeks took place in November ; and preparations have since been under way for a tailway strike throughout India which was to have taken place in May, but owing to lack of support now seems likely to be post- poned. 4. The situation brought about by these and other activities of the Communists has had to be met by a series of prosecutions under the ordinary law in many cases by resort to special Emer- gency powers. Last July the Government of India issued a notification declaring the Communist Party of India to be an unlawful association and similar action has since been taken againsta number of local communist organisations. The effect of these measures has been to cause a considerable disorganisa- tion in the Communist movement and to drive it underground. 5. It will be recalled that Meerut Conspiracy case established to the satisfaction of Indian courts the close connection which existed between the Communist International and Indian Commu- nists prior to March 1929. There is ample evidence that this felationship still continues and that the present Communist Party of {ndia is working under the instructions of Communist International.° Through the agency of the Communist Party of Great Britain, whose increased participation in Indian Communist activity was one of the recommendations made to Moscow by the Meerut prisoners (c.f. paragraph 2 above), there has been in recent months set up a network of machinery by which couriers of British nationality are secretly sent at frequent intervals to India carrying both instructions and funds from the Communist International in Moscow. B. F. Bradley, the most practical of the Meerut prisoners, who returned to this country just a year ago, and thereafter spent some months in Moscow, is handling most of the secret Indian

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