GS Foundation 2024-25: Modern Indian History
Handout 44: The Rise of Left (Part 1)
Rise of Left
Often, as I wandered from meeting to meeting, I spoke to my audience of this India of ours,
of Bharata, the old Sanskrit name derived from the mythical founders of the race. . . . I spoke
of this great country for whose freedom we were struggling, of how each part differed from
the other and yet was India, of common problems of the peasants from north to south and
east to west, of the Swaraj that could only be for all and every part and not for some. I told
them of my journeying from the Khyber Pass in the far north-west to Kanya Kumari or Cape
Comorin in the distant south, and how everywhere the peasants put to me identical
questions, for their troubles were the same— poverty, debt, vested interests, landlords,
moneylenders, heavy rents and taxes, police harassment, and all these wrapped up in the
structure that the foreign government had imposed upon us—and relief must also come for
all. —Pandit Nehru, Discovery of India, 1946
“I am a socialist and a republican, and am no believer in kings and princes, or in the order
which produces the modem kings of industry, who have a greater power over the lives and
fortunes of men than even the kings of old, and whose methods are as predatory as those
of the old feudal aristocracy.” - Pandit Nehru
In the late 1920s, a Left-wing movement arose in India and socialist ideas started to take root
in Indian soil.
Causes for the rise of leftist ideas in National Movement:
The emergence of socialism was response and reaction to socio-economic and political
environment prevailing in India and the world.
• Emerging class and class consciousness
o There was gradual industrial development in certain places like Bombay, Calcutta and
Madras. Increasing industrialization, esp. during and after the First World War, led
to the emergence of the large and concentrated population of the working class.
▪ Gradually the workers started organizing themselves to demand better
working conditions and higher wages. This led to the emergence of trade
unions. The growth of Trade Unionism prepared the ground for the
formation of the Leftist parties.
o Growth of awakening among peasants was also responsible for emergence of
socialism. Thus, there was an emergence of Kisan Sabha movement against
exactions by Zamindars. (e.g. UP Kisan Sabha, Awadh Kisan Sabha).
o Successful Russian revolution of 1917 and formation of USSR popularized socialist
ideas of Marx.
• Economic dislocations
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o Post-WW 1 consequences: Price rise etc.
o Effect of the Great Depression of 1929-30 and unemployment. During this period,
while capitalist world was suffering immensely, the Russian socialist economy was
rather expanding.
• Political condition
o The beginning of the phase of mass politics brought ‘people’ in the national
movement.
o There was a section of youth dissatisfied with Gandhian
techniques. Sudden withdrawal of NCM/CDM convinced many
that Gandhian method of struggle was too weak to be
effective and they developed faith in socialism.
o Rise of new youth icons who developed leftist visions like S.C.
Bose, J.L. Nehru and Bhagat Singh. Other leaders were
Acharya Narendra Dev, J.P Narayan and Achyuta Patwardhan,
Indulal Yajnik etc.
o Rise of leftist newspapers, journals etc.
o There was emergence of three major streams of Left ideology in India:
▪ Communist Party of India (1925)
▪ Congress Socialist Party (1934)
▪ Other party organisations: HSRA, Royists, Forward Bloc etc.
• Role of foreigners
o The Commintern strategy to engineer revolution in India by sending MN Roy.
o H.L. Hutchinson, B.F. Bradley, P Spratt in Meerut Conspiracy Case.
Thus, there was a coming together of political and socio-economic stream.
Communist Party of India
After Gandhi withdrew from the Non-cooperation movement in 1922, many of them became
the founders of the early communist groups in different parts of the country.
• Anushilan and Jugantar groups in Bengal
• SV Ghate and SA Dange group in Bombay
• Singarvelu group in Madras
• Shaukat Usmani group in UP
• Muzaffar Ahmad in Calcutta
• Inquilab group in Lahore.
• Ghulam Hussain in Sindh and Muzaffar Ahmad in Bengal
Having seen the success of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, and the formation of the
Communist International, some Indian revolutionaries and intellectuals, working within and
outside India, contemplated the formation of a Communist Party in India. It was M.N. Roy
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(Manabendra Nath Roy) who first formed the Communist Party of India outside India in
Tashkent under the auspices of the Communist International in 1920.
Roy also founded military and political schools in Tashkent with the help of Lenin to prepare
revolutionaries. This Tashkent centre did a lot of ideological, and propaganda work as reflected
in their documents and published material. It helped the ideological transformation of many
radical nationalist groups to make them into truly communist groups.
However, the government had banned all communist activity, which made the task of building
a party in India very difficult. The government strongly put down all attempts to organise
political activities informed by Marxian schemes.
Peshawar Conspiracy Case 1922-23 Russian-trained muhajir communists tried.
Arrest of prominent communists to suppress
Kanpur Bolshevik
1924-25 revolutionary activity. Muzaffar Ahmed, Dange
Conspiracy Case
and Nalini Gupta were thrown into the prison.
After Kanpur, Britain had triumphantly declared that the case had "finished off the
communists".
Workers’ and Peasants’ Party:
Communists now formed the Workers’ and Peasants’ Party within Congress (1925-30) as a
front organization. It made alliances with other left elements inside the Congress, including
Jawaharlal Nehru. The WPP movement within the Congress was progressing very rapidly.
The WPPs at this time were performing a dual task: (a) By participating in the organisational
framework of the Congress they were radicalising Congress ideology and programme
orientating it towards the masses; (b) they were organising the workers into trade unions;
hence, influencing the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC).
CPI:
Meanwhile, the All-India conference of Communists took place at Kanpur. Its founders
included MN Roy, Evelyn Trent, Abani Mukherjee, and MPT Acharya. SV Ghate was the first
secretary, and the president was M. Singaravelu in 1925. This was the official beginning of the
communist movement in India. Therefore, technically, the Communist Party was formed in
1925 in Kanpur, but the actual work of organisation was continued through the WPPs.
Actually, the CPI began to be concretely formed only after 1928 when the WPPs were
disbanded. The WPP project was wound up by the communists 1929-30. This new political
line very soon isolated the communists from the national movement. The government was
waiting for this opportunity. The colonial authorities arrested all the leading communists and
trade union leaders which included Dange, Joshi, Muzaffar Ahmed and others. This is known
as the Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929).
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Meerut Conspiracy Case 1929-33 Arrested 31 WPP, CPI and other labour leaders.
The Meerut arrests were followed by a period of confusion and mutual quarrelling. During
this phase, all the strikes which were led by the communists failed completely because there
was no unity among the working-class leadership. Till 1934 the communists were completely
isolated both from the working-class movement and the national movement.
However, in retrospect, the Meerut trial appears to have worked to the long-term advantage
of the communist aims in India. It was precisely during this trial that their views became
known to the wider public through newspapers. Thereafter, some communist leaders started
working under the banner of Indian National Congress or the Congress Socialist Party.
Contribution:
• They tried to reconcile nationalism with internationalism. As nationalists, they pointed
out contradiction of Indian nationalism with British colonialism. As communists, they
subscribed to the theory of proletarian internationalism.
• They introduced class-war approach to politics in India, due to their firm belief in
historical materialism and theory of class struggle.
• They tried to make Indian nationalism more inclusive through organizing farmers and
workers.
• They worked as a pressure group under the Congress for some time.
• They were able to establish some mass support in Punjab, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
Limitations:
• The communist party couldn’t transform itself according to the Indian condition. Unlike
the communist party of China or Italy, it didn’t chalk-out its programs according to the
Indian condition.
o In India Marxism first spread as a political programme rather than as a new
worldview or cultural movement. Unlike the developed countries, Marxism did not
develop first as an intellectual force and then as a programme of action. For the
pioneers of Indian Marxism gave more attention to political activity than to
intellectual activity. It is a fact that the Indian Marxists did not try to integrate
Marxism with the Indian social reality. They could not creatively apply Marxism to
the Indian conditions.
• Factors like economic division, social division, gender division and caste exploitation
were clearly visible in India, but the communist party failed to take advantage of them.
• The model of the violent revolution was suitable for an autocratic government of Soviet
Russia but not for India. Here the model of democratic socialism could have proved more
suitable than the Communist model.
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Congress Socialist Party
The Communists carried on their activities more or less independent of the Indian National
Congress, but within the Congress a considerable section was drawn towards the Socialist
ideology and sought to work out a Socialist programme through the Congress.
When CDM was withdrawn, around 1934, there were serious dissensions within Congress
Party. Gandhi had withdrawn temporarily from active politics. A section of Congressmen
decided to enter into the legislatures to work for the Congress cause within the government.
At that time, some youth leaders in Nasik jail planned to form the Congress Socialist Party in
1933 (finally formed in 1934 in Bombay under leadership of Sampoornananda). JP Narayan
became its general secretary while Minoo Masani joint secretary. They criticized the new
Swarajists who wanted to enter the legislature and thus wanted to prevent the erosion of the
revolutionary character of the Congress.
They didn’t agree with Gandhian romanticism, which to them was looked like irrational. Many
of them were attracted by the ideas of Marxism, yet they were different from Communists in
two respects.
• Firstly, while the Congress Socialists were nationalists first, the Communists believed in
the goal of an international Communist society.
o For them, the most important struggle was the national struggle for freedom.
o They acknowledged that nationalism was a necessary stage on the way to
socialism.
• Secondly, while the Congress Socialist owed their allegiance to the Congress, the
Communists owed their allegiance to the Communist International.
o They wanted to work within the Congress to sharpen the cause of the freedom
struggle.
o With this, they wanted to give the Indian national movement a socialist direction.
Thus, Socialists represented Leftist within Congress. They wanted to transform Congress from
within. Prominent leaders were Acharya Narendra Dev, Jayaprakash Narayan, Ashok Mehta,
Sampurnanand Singh, Minoo Masani etc.
The Congress Socialists belonged to the westernized middle class. They were influenced by
the ideas of Marx, Gandhi and the Social Democracy of the West.
• Independence (freedom from British rule) and socialism were the twin objectives of the
Congress Socialist Party.
• For Independence: the Congress Socialists joined hands with anti-imperialist and non-
socialist forces within the Congress. They wanted to create a broad base for the Congress
organization by bringing into it the workers and the peasants.
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• For socialism: The Congress Socialists believed in class struggle and stood for abolition of
capitalism, zamindari system, and the princely states. They wanted to incorporate radical
socio-economic measures for the uplift of toiling masses into the Congress Party’s
programme. The CSP advocated decentralized socialism in which co-operatives, trade
unions, independent farmers, and local authorities would hold a substantial share of the
economic power. It rapidly gained in prominence in provinces like UP
Many communists were drawn into the fold of the CSP. Even some members of Anushilan
Samiti and HSRA joined the CSP. Although Nehru was not a member of this organisation, he
maintained a cordial relation with them. The right-wing Congressmen did not accept the
programme of this party.
Congress Reaction:
There was a mixed reaction among the Congressmen to the formation of the Congress
Socialist party.
• The conservative or Right-Wing Congressmen criticized the Congress Socialists “loose
talk” about the confiscation of property and class war.
• Mahatma Gandhi also rejected their idea of class war.
o Gandhi wanted to bring about a change of heart in the princes, zamindars and
capitalists so that instead of considering themselves the owners of the states,
zamindaries and factories, they should behave as the trustees for their subjects,
tenants and workers.
o Moreover, Socialists were in favour of sustained mass struggle till independence
instead of S-T-S’ of Gandhi. They included some advocates of armed struggle (such
as Yusuf Meherally, JP Narayan etc) as well as those who insisted upon Ahimsa
(such as Acharya Narendra Deva). Although most socialists were non-violent in
nature, their idea of non-violence was pragmatic. They believed that stray violent
acts should not punish the entire movement.
• However, the leftist Congressmen like Jawaharlal Nehru and Subhas Chandra Bose
welcomed the formation of the Congress Socialist Party, though neither Nehru nor Bose
joined the party.
o In the annual session of the Congress, held at Lucknow in April 1936, in his
presidential speech Nehru espoused the cause of socialism.
o In 1936 Nehru inducted three Congress Socialists – Narendra Dev, Jayprakash
Narayan and Achyut Patwardhan into the Congress Working Committee, besides
another leftist, Subhas Chandra Bose.
Contributions:
Thus, the emergence of socialism greatly radicalized anti-British struggle, as Congress adopted
new aims as well as new methods.
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• It radicalized the objective of national movement (from political freedom to economic
and social freedom).
o It was under the pressure of socialist leaders, Congress adopted Purna swaraj
resolution in 1929 at Lahore.
o The socialists were in favour of the extension of the freedom movement into native
states. They wanted national struggle would assume true pan India character.
o The Socialist idea of Purna swaraj was not just political but social and economic as
well, as defined in Karachi session (1931).
o In 1936 at its Faizpur session, Congress adopted an agrarian program which
emphasized:
▪ Land revenue should be reduced.
▪ Feudal privileges should be abolished.
▪ Tenant-cultivators should get guarantees of safety of their tenure.
▪ Forced labour should be abolished.
o In Haripura session (1938), Congress formed the National Planning Committee.
o In 1945, Congress adopted a resolution in which it demanded abolition of
zamindari system.
o The radical outlook of socialist leaders influenced Gandhiji as well. He also
became more and more radical with the passage of time.
▪ In the summer of 1942, Gandhiji was far more radical than the socialist
leaders including Pandit Nehru. It was Gandhian pressure that forced
Congress to start the movement.
▪ The emergence of socialism transformed anti-British struggle into all-out
struggle. The socialists played an important role in the 1942 Quit India
Movement. QIM was never suspended or called off.
• Social base
o The social base of the National movement was greatly widened by the emergence
of socialism and as the Congress linked itself to the programs of workers and
peasants.
o The Congress Socialists played an important role in the Kisan (peasant) movement.
o It helped to organize and arouse the political consciousness of the workers and
peasants in Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.
Limitations:
• Socialist and Communist parties failed to establish their hegemony in the Indian national
movement.
• The Congress Socialist Party remained vague in its objectives. Its primary goal was Indian
independence whereas a socialist transformation remained to be a secondary one.
• It couldn’t form a united front with CPI even during the time of crisis.
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Other Leftist Organizations
All-India Kisan Sabha (1936)
• Earlier state level Kisan Sabhas:
o Awadh Kisan Sabha (1920): Baba Ramchandra
o UP Kisan Sabha (1920s): Gauri Shankar Mishra and Indra Narayan Dwivedi and
was supported by Madan Mohan Malaviya.
o Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (1929): Sahajananda Saraswati
• The All-India Kisan Congress was founded in Lucknow in April 1936 which later became
the All-India Kisan Sabha.
• Personalities:
o Swami Sahajanand Saraswati was elected President (who had earlier found Bihar
Kisan Sabha in 1929), and N.G. Ranga was the General Secretary.
o Jawaharlal Nehru was associated with the foundation of this organisation.
o Ram Manohar Lohia, Sohan Singh Josh, Jayaprakash Narayan, Kamal Sarkar,
Sudhin Pramanik and others also participated in it.
• The demands of the party included reduction of land revenue, the peasants' right to
forest land, jhum cultivation etc.
• The activities of the party helped the process of politicization of the peasants. Later the
peasant stream merged into the nationalist movement and strengthened the struggle
for freedom.
• Initially it supported Congress during the 1937 elections but during 1942, the CPI took
over its leadership and thus, it stayed away from the Quit India Movement.
Revolutionary Socialist Party
• The ex-revolutionaries associated with Anushilan Samity and Hindustan Republican
Party founded the Revolutionary Socialist Party during the Congress session at Ramgarh
in 1940.
• The principal aim of the Party was to lead the country towards a socialist revolution.
The members of the Revolutionary Socialist Party played a leading role during the Quit
India Movement.
Radical Democratic Party
• In December 1940, M.N. Roy left the Congress and founded the Radical Democratic
Party. The political line adopted by this party was not in tune with that of the Congress
Socialist Party or the Communist Party of India.
• M.N. Roy was in favour of supporting England in the World War. To rally the workers in
support of England he founded an organisation called the Indian Federation of Labour.
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