Communism in Pakistan: Politics and Class Activism 1947-1972

314 Pages·2015·2.93 MB·English

by  Kamran Asdar Ali

Communism
in Pakistan
Politics and
Class activism
1947–1972
kamran asdar ali
Kamran Asdar Ali is Associate Professor of Anthropology and the
director of the South Asia Institute at the University of Texas, Austin.
‘Awork of exceptional importance. The author has combined archival unearthing
with fieldwork that includes interviews with both elite actors and non-elite
participants in organized leftist movements. Pakistan today is usually understood
throughthelensofterrorism,Islamismandthejockeyingforpowerbygroupsthat
areseentobeeitherreligious,orbaseduponethnicaffiliations.Thisbookpowerfully
demonstratesthatanorganizedandintellectualleftwasformativeofintellectuallife
inPakistan,andprovidedadefiningaffiliationforimportantthinkersandactivistsof
diversebackgrounds.’
IftikharDadi,DepartmentofHistoryofArt,CornellUniversity
‘Thisabsorbinghistoryoftheforgottenhopesandstrugglesoftheshortlivedleftin
thenewcountryofPakistanisparticularlypoignant.Itwillbewelcomednotonlyby
scholarsinterestedinleftistandworking-classhistory,butalsobythoseseekingto
understandColdWarpoliticsastheyplayedoutworldwide.AsdarAlithrowsawide
net,includingarchives,memoirs,interviewsandliteraryartifacts.Morepowertohis
hopethatrecoveringafullerunderstandingofPakistan’spastmightreignitealost
visionofdemocracyandsocialjusticetoday.’
BarbaraMetcalf,ProfessorEmeritaofHistory,
UniversityofCaliforniaDavis
‘Meticulouslydetailed and conceptually rigorous, beautifullywritten. Ahistorical
anthropologyofthepresent,CommunisminPakistanunpacksthestoriestuckedinto
politicaldetritusandremainderedmemories – amustread.’
GeetaPatel,AssociateProfessor,DepartmentofMiddleEasternand
SouthAsianLanguagesandCultures,UniversityofVirginia
‘AtthecentreofCommunisminPakistanisavaluableandimportantidea–areading
of Pakistan’s history that complicates the dominant narrative’s overwhelming
emphasis on religion, Islamic radicalism, insurgencies and military rulers. By
bringingintopicturethelittle-knownhistoryofPakistan’sfledglingcommunists,
the manuscript enriches our knowledge of the different layers of its political and
intellectualexistence…unusualandilluminating.’
GyanPrakash,Dayton-StocktonProfessorofHistory,
PrincetonUniversity
‘CommunisminPakistanisanaccountofthesubterraneanhistoryoftheLeftinthe
formativedecadesofthatcountry.Hisalternativehistoryoftheperiod – incisive,
subtle, and poignant – reclaims a largely forgotten past for the present and the
future.Thebook’sintrepidandimaginativelabourinpiecingtogetherthevibrant
politicalcultureofcommunismandworking-classpoliticsinPakistanmakesitboth
asubstantivecontributionandacriticalhistoriographicalintervention.’
MrinaliniSinha,AliceFreemanPalmerProfessorofHistory,
UniversityofMichigan
COMMUNISM
IN PAKISTAN
Politics and Class Activism 1947–1972
K A A
AMRAN SDAR LI
Publishedin2015by
I.B.Tauris&Co.Ltd
London•NewYork
www.ibtauris.com
Copyrightq2015KamranAsdarAli
TherightofKamranAsdarAlitobeidentifiedastheauthorofthisworkhasbeen
assertedbytheauthorinaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,oranypart
thereof,maynotbereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoaretrievalsystem,or
transmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,
recordingorotherwise,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher.
PartsofChapter3werepreviouslypublishedas‘Progressivesand“Perverts”:Partition
StoriesandPakistan’sFuture’,inSocialText,vol.29,issue.3,pp.1–29,2011.
Reprintedbypermissionofthepresentpublisher,DukeUniversityPress.
PartsofChapter6werepreviouslypublishedas‘StrengthoftheStatemeetstheStrength
oftheStreet:The1972laborstruggleinKarachi’,InternationalJournalofMiddleEast
Studies,no.37,83–107,2005.Reprintedbypermissionofthepresentpublisher,
CambridgeUniversityPress.
Referencestowebsiteswerecorrectatthetimeofwriting.
TheLibraryofSouthAsianHistoryandCulture10
ISBN:9781784532000
eISBN:9780857739957
ePDF:9780857726759
AfullCIPrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary
AfullCIPrecordisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress
LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:available
TypesetinGaramondThreebyOKSPrepressServices,Chennai,India
PrintedandboundbyCPIGroup(UK)Ltd,Croydon,CR04YY
to abba and ammi jan
and to
Munoo chacha

CONTENTS
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction 1
Part I 21
1. Dividing British India 23
2. Communists in a Muslim Land 49
3. Not So Quiet on the Literary Front 86
4. The State Strikes Back 114
Part II 145
5. A Chronicle of a ‘Martyr’ 147
6. The Strength of the State Meets the Strength
of the Street 166
Concluding Thoughts 195
Epilogue 200
Notes 206
Bibliography 280
Index 291
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thebookhastakentime,butitsgenesisisevenlonger.Itmayhavebeen
inthelate1970swhenIwasstillinhighschoolwhenAhmadKamran
visited me at our home in Karachi. I had become politicized during
this period due to the events in the country (the elections in 1977,
the military takeover, the crushing of early dissent and the hanging of
theelectedprimeminister),andAhmadwasaseniorcolleaguefromthe
progressivestudentgroupIwascloseto.Thatdayoverteawediscusseda
range of things, but what remains etched in my mind was Ahmad’s
suggestion that the history of the Pakistani Left needs to be written.
Hewasayoungactivist,Iwasstillyoungerandourliveswereaheadof
us. We were both eager to learn and had read what we could lay our
handson,butdidnothavethetrainingorresourcestopursuethetaskof
writingthehistory.Theidealingeredwithmethroughcollegeyearsin
Pakistan,thetimespentingraduateschoolintheUS,thethesisandits
completion, the pursuit of an academic career. Ahmad deserves my
sincere thanks as a friend and mentor for being an inspiration for this
project. In recent months, he has sent me chapters of another book
project that is tracing the history of communism in South Asia. After
spendingalifetimeworkingforvariousorganizationsandbringingupa
familyheisfinallyfindingtimeinAustralia,wherehemovedafewyears
ago from Pakistan, to pursue his passion.
The work on this book seriously started in the late 1990s when I
received a fellowship at the International Institute for Asian Studies
(IIAS) in Holland at their Amsterdam office. I am indebted to Willem
vanSchendelforencouragingmetoapplyandguidingmetowardsusing
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ix
the archives at the International Institute of Social History (IISH) in
Amsterdam. At the IISH I met Marcel van der Linden, who mentored
meduringthestay.WhileinHolland,MarioRuttenandhisIIASstaff
were exemplary hosts. I also had the good fortune of meeting Ratna
Saptari and Peter van der Veer during that period and both made extra
effortsto make ourstay a meaningfulone. I thankallof them for their
continuedfriendshipandforsupportingmeinwayslargeandsmallasI
conducted research and wrote portions of this text in subsequent years.
The book started taking shape during an 11-month stay in 2005 at
the International Institute of the Study of Islam (ISIM) at Leiden, the
Netherlands, on an ISIM fellowship and a Fulbright grant. I thank the
thenISIMdirectorAsefBayatandhiscolleaguesformakingitpossible
for me to spend another year researching material from the newly
constituted Progressive Movements in Pakistan Collection at IISH, for
providingtheopportunitytotraveltotheNationalArchivesinBritain
andtousethevariouslibraryfacilitiesoftheUniversitiesofAmsterdam
andLeiden.ISIMalsomeantagainbeingclosetoAsefBayatandLinda
Herrera (and their two girls, Shiva and Tara), my friends from Cairo
days,Icontinuetocherishtheirfriendshipandsupportofmyworksince
Iwasagraduatestudent.AtLeiden,ourdearfriendsJeroenVervlietand
Madeline Heshusius (and their boys) as always opened their home and
heartsformyfamilyandme.Wecannotthankthemenoughforallthat
they did and continue to do for us.
The final stretch of writing was done at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu
Berlin(WIKO)duringtheacademicyear2010–2011.Itwasthebestof
times, the leadership, the staff and the fellows made it one of the most
exciting spaces to have intellectual exchanges in an atmosphere of
prevailingsenseofhumouranddevelopingfriendships.Iwanttothank
LucaGiuiliani,therector,andhisentireteamformakingBerlinsucha
special year. Among the people at WIKO, my special thanks to Uta
Benner, Andrea Bergmann, Katharina Biegger, Francisco Martinez
Casas,SonjaGrund(andtheentirelibrarystaff),WiebkeGuse(andthe
IT staff), Corina Pertschi, Vera Schulze-Seeger and Katarzyna Maria
Speder (along with everyone in the kitchen) for making our stay so
comfortable and productive. My cohort was a group of the most
accomplished scholars and writers that one can imagine. We lived our
lives together for a year, sharing meals, ideas and much laughter.
WebecameanextendedfamilyandIwanttothanktheentirecohortof