The Communist Party in India

Abstract

E VER since the time of the October Revolution in Russia, India has occupied an important position in the consideration of the leaders of the international Communist movement. Today, when the power of that movement has considerably expanded, when Communist troops are at last on the borders of India and a nostalgic recapitulation of statements of Lenin and Stalin on India's destiny is becoming noticeable in the Communist press, an examination of the history, policies and present position of the Communist Party in India and of its part in the overall strategy of world Communism may be of interest. There was little organised communist activity in India in the i920s. Indian National Congress, led by Mahatma Gandhi, completely dominated the Indian political scene throughout that decade. In the field of labour, a nascent trade-union movement was undoubtedly taking shape, but this was a result of the impact of the first world war and of ideas of working-class organisation that emanated from Great Britain. It was not until I927 that those who looked to the Bolshevik revolution and to the Soviet system for inspiration came together in various Indian provinces in organisations named workers' and peasants' parties. These were almost entirely members of the middle-class intelligentsia, a few of whom had been trained and indoctrinated in the Soviet Union. There was no sign of men or women of working-class or peasant origin being drawn towards the movement-a characteristic that has persisted in the history of the Party to the present day insofar as the bulk of its active members and functionaries is concerned. first relevant directive known to have been issued in Moscow came in September I928 in the form of a resolution, adopted by the Sixth World Congress of the Communist International, which laid down the strategy and tactics to be followed in India and certain other areas. Entitled The Revolutionary Movement for the Colonies and Semicolonies, the resolution stated: