Chapter 24 The Rise of the Left-wing.docx

Chapt er24  TheRi seoft heLef t wi ng Introduction

A powerful left-wing group developed in India in the late 1920s and 1930s contributing to the radicalization of the national movement. he goal of political independence ac!uired a clearer and sharper social and economic content. he stream of  national struggle for independence and the stream of the struggle for social and economic emancipation of the suppressed and the e"ploited began to come together. #ocialist ideas ac!uired roots in the Indian soil$ and socialism became the accepted creed of Indian %outh whose urges came to be s%mbolized b% &awaharlal 'ehru and #ubhas (handra )ose. *raduall% there emerged two powerful parties of the +eft, the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the Congress Socialist Party (CSP). Impact of Russian Revolution

If the common people  the worers and peasants and the intelligentsia  could unite and overthrow the might% (zarist empire arid establish a social order where there was no e"ploitation of one human being b% another, then the Indian people battling against )ritish imperialism could also do so. #ocialist doctrines, especiall% /ar"ism, the guiding theor% of the )olshevi art%, ac!uired a sudden attraction, especiall% for the people of Asia. #ocialist ideas now began to spread rapidl% especiall% because man% %oung persons who had participated activel% in the 'on(ooperation /ovement were unhapp% with its outcome and were dissatised with *andhian policies and ideas as well as the alternative #waraist programme. #everal socialist and communist groups came into e"istence all over the countr%.

#tudent and %outh associations were organized all over the countr% from 192 onwards. 4undreds of %outh conferences were organized all over the countr% during 1925 and 1929 with speaers advocating radical solutions for the political, economic and social ills from which the countr% was su6ering.  &awaharlal 'ehru and #ubhas )ose toured the countr% attacing imperialism, capitalism, and landlordism and preaching the ideolog% of socialism.  he 7evolutionar% errorists led b% (handrasehar Azad and )hagat #ingh also turned to socialism.  rade union and peasant movements grew rapidl% throughout the 1920s. #ocialist ideas became even more popular during the 1930s as the world was engulfed b% the great economic depression. 8nemplo%ment soared all over the capitalist world. he world depression brought the capitalist s%stem into disrepute and drew attention towards /ar"ism and socialism. ithin the (ongress the left-wing tendenc% found re:ection in formation of the (ongress #ocialist art%.  Jawaharlal Nehru and Socialism

It was above all &awaharlal 'ehru who imparted a socialist vision to the national movement and who became the s%mbol of socialism and socialist ideas in India after 1929. he notion that freedom could not be dened onl% in political terms but must have a socioeconomic content began increasingl% to be associated with his name. 'ehru became the president of the historic +ahore (ongress of 1929 at a %outhful fort%. 4e was elected to the post again in 193; and 193. As president of the (ongress and as the most popular leader of the national movement after *andhii, 'ehru repeatedl% toured the countr%, travelling thousands of miles and addressing millions of people.

In his boos ne was the ideological sense. (ongressmen were to be graduall% persuaded to adopt a socialist vision of independent India and a more radical pro-labour and pro-peasant stand on current economic issues. his ideological and programmatic transformation was, however, to be seen not as an event but as a process. he transformation of the (ongress was also seen in an organizational sense, that is, in terms of changes in its leadership at the top.he (# was to develop as the nucleus of the alternative socialist leadership of the (ongress.  his perspective was, however, soon found to be unrealistic and was abandoned in favour of a ?composite@ leadership in which socialists would be taen into the leadership at all levels. he notion of alternate +eft leadership of the (ongress and the national movement came up for realization twice at ripuri in 1939 and at 7amgarh in 19F0. )ut when it came to splitting the (ongress on a +eft-7ight basis and giving the (ongress an e"ecutive left-wing leadership, the (#