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HVK Archives: Communists in 1942

Communists in 1942 - The Hindustan Times (New Delhi)

Chaman Nahal & Anita Nahal ()
6 August 1997

Title: Communists in 1942
Author: Chaman Nahal & Anita Nahal
Publication: The Hindustan Times (New Delhi)
Date: August 6, 1997

To the eternal embarrassment of the Communist Party of India, it not only
boycotted the Quit India movement in 1942 - some other parties such as the
Muslim League and the Hindu Mahasabha did that as well - it eagerly sided
with the British and aided them in their war effort. Since that effort
included repression of local dissidents and political activists, the CPI
had a large hand in subduing their own countrymen. From the Indian
standpoint, this amounted to treason.

These comments are partly prompted by a highly lopsided article by Tanika
Sarkar, "RSS and Independence'(The Hindustan Times, July 18), and partly by
our desire to understand why we didn't win freedom in 1942 when the country
was fully ripe for it. It seems to us the CPI double-crossed the nation
then and drove a hole in its otherwise consented effort to fight the British.

Such an attitude could be understood had the CPI arrived at this line of
action through its own deliberations. But like all the CPI thinking of that
time, the decision was imposed upon it by the Soviet Russia. The moment the
Soviet Union and Britain joined hands in World War II, it changed the
scenario for our Communists. They had no choice but to betray the rest of
the country for the sake of their Russian masters.

Let's look at the benefits the Indian Communists immediately gained from
this unholy alliance with the British: (a) The ban on the CPI was removed
by the Government; (b) The ban on the CPI's organs, the National Front and
the New Age was likewise removed; (c) Thousands of Communists were released
from jail; (d) lie Communist leaders acquired an acceptability with the
Government, and the Viceroy, tried to make use of noted Communists like
Gangadhar Adhikari and P. C. Joshi for anti-Congress propaganda.

The CPI was so determined to undermine the position of the Congress that
Adhikari is alleged to have helped Jinnah in the drafting of the manifesto
for Pakistan. By 1944, most Communists in India were openly advocating the
multi-nation theory and a separate state for the Muslims. Detailed reports
to this effect appeared in the Civil & Military Gazette of Lahore - reports
which were never controverted or denied by the CPI.

In addition, while Gandhi and the Congress leaders were languishing in
prison, the CPI used the occasion to gain a rigid control over the All
India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), brainwashing countless workers against
the interests of the country. Their hold on the AITUC was so invidious
that the Congress, to counter that one-sided drift, was obliged in 1947 to
form its own Indian National Trade Union Congress INTUC).

In her article, Tanika Sarkar offers a typical illustration of what might
be called the Red Theorem. The theorem states: "The three sides of a
triangle are deemed to be equal or unequal depending upon your need,
regardless of actual facts." ]be theorem has been widely practised by many
Communist thinkers, so that history is rewritten whenever one particular
leader fails from grace.

Tanika Sarkar conveniently follows the same logic. She begins with the
BJP, switches to the RSS and the Hindu Mahasabha, and devotes the rest of
her article to the RSS alone, as though the three bodies were synonymous
with each other in every respect. First of all, unlike the other two, the
RSS has never been a political party. Secondly, apart from vague
ideological affinities, it has no formal link with either of them. The RSS
was started by Hedgewar in 1925 as a purely social organisation, which till
this day it has remained. When pressure was brought upon Hedgewar by B. S.
Moonje and V. D. Savarkar to announce a common platform for the RSS and the
Hindu Mahasabha, Hedgewar flatly declined and severed all connections with
the Mahasabha in 1933. By the time Hedgewar died in 1940, the RSS had
separate branches of its own in most provinces of the country.

During the Quit India movement, many RSS workers defiantly worked to
jeopardise the British cause. By comparison, the CPI in 1942 offered the
British to bear arms for them and form a guerilla army for their help.
These units were trained by British and American officers in the hills near
Poona. One such trainee writes exultantly in People's War: "We can handle
our bayonets as vigorously as any soldiers, we've learnt how to ambush and
snipe, how to read maps, to use the ground in operation, how to blow up
bridges and buildings," etc. Over 300 such Communist guerillas were trained
and equipped by the British before they shelved the scheme for some reason.
Why such an army was at all formed and what use the guerillas were put to,
apart from sabotaging the Indians, the CPI alone can answer.

Churchill records somewhat facetiously in his war memoirs: "During the
whole of this direct trial of strength with the Congress leaders many
thousands of fresh volunteers came forward to join the Indian Army."
Undoubtedly, the CPI, in conformity with its overall pro-British stand,
must have helped in this anti-patriotic activity of procuring recruits for
them.

It is thus the track record of the Communists of the period and not of the
RSS that is suspect. If L. K. Advani goes on A rath yatra, this is no
gimmick but a genuine need of the moment to highlight oneness of India. It
is blatantly false to imagine that through such efforts the BJP is trying
to strengthen the Hindu vote bank and promote anti-Muslim feelings.

So far as one understands, the main object of the BJP is to inculcate a
sense of nationalism amongst all ethnic communities. It is only against
those Muslims who chant Pan-Islamic slogans of allegiances beyond the
borders of India that the BJP raises its voice. But so it would against
Hindus, Christians or Sikhs who talk of pan-ethnic identities - or
Communists for that matter. True, secularism implies equal rights for all
- including the majority community. Destruction of mosques in Ayodhya,
Mathura or elsewhere in India is absolutely despicable. But so should be
the destruction of temples, churches and gurdwaras.

In a free India, the CPI and its various wings should learn to grow native
roots. They can do a useful job in educating the masses and protecting
their rights. Their "track" record of carrying these masses to
egalitarianism in West Bengal and Kerala, the States where the Communists
have ruled, is so far abysmally poor. But they can make up for the lost
time by being more imaginative. No one here is any longer going to fall
for "dialectical materialism," "petty bourgeoisie...... agrarian uprising,"
"proletariat path...... monopolistic economy," or other similar Communist
cliches. They will have to devise an indigenous vocabulary and terminology
to reach out to the people. "Dalit" is as good word as "proletariat" - much
better, actually. They should search for more.

It is certain, though that had the CPI not colluded with the British in
1942, we would have this year been celebrating not the 50th but the 55th
year of our independence.


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