NEHRU ON COMMUNISM: AN AWAKENING

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP78-02771R000400010002-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 15
• Document Creation Date: November 11, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 31, 1998
• Sequence Number: 2
• Content Type: REPORT

L
Appro ei for Relea a 1999/08/24 UIARDP78Q71 R00040 000002-2
Li U (i V J
NEHRU ON COMMUNISM: AN AWAKENING
In July 1058 Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of India set
down for confidential circulation to a number of friends his
views on the international situation and on certain problems
facing India and the world. Some of those receiving his let-
ter, feeling that Nehru's observations on many of the import-
ant problems of the day deserved a wider circulation than they
were receiving, prevailed on Nehru to agree to its publication.
Subsequently the letter was published under the title "The
Basic Approach" in the 15 August issue of the A.I.C.C. Economic
Rem, an official organ of India's a ruling CongressFar Party.
leader of the worldl.s second'most populous country
(one-seventh of the world's population) and of the neutralist,
uncommitted states, Nehru is a man whose words always command
attention. In the present instance, his remarks are of espe-
cial interest and significance, for they reveal that his think-
ing on Communism has undergone a basic change, that at last he
sees Communism as it really is. In this article he publicly
condemns Communism for the first time, citing specifically its
addiction to violence, its corruption of ends, its suppression
of human freedoms, and its contempt for all spiritual and moral
values.
Nehru has long been the world's most vigorous exponent
of neutralism and its most prominentopponent of blocs and
alliances. To much of the West, however, this neutralist
stand has appeared more often than not as an apology for the
Communist world. In the past he has censored the actions of
the West and questioned its sincerity while excusing or justi-
fying measures taken by the Soviet Bloc countries.
In late 1956, especially, the Free World was profoundly
shocked, and even his warmest supporters in India were per-
turbed, by the attitude which India adopted in the Hungarian
affair. Frank flora's, well-known Indian journalist and Nehru's
biographer and long-time friend, was later moved to write that
"I must confess to a sense of acute embarrassment when India
abstained in the General Assembly in November on the vote con-
demning Russia's action in Hungary, and to discomfiture and
dismay when we actually opposed the proposal that the Soviet
troops should be asked to withdraw from Hungary."
Approved For Release 1999/08/24: CIA-RDP78-02771 R000400010002-2
 App owed For ReI a$e 1999/08/ 4 CIA-RDP72771 80004010002-2
This dismay was considerably deepened when Nehru, speak-
ing to the Indian Parliament on 19 November 1956, suggested
that the Hungarian situation had been grossly exaggerated by
the West to divert attention from its own acts in Egypt, and
said that in any case the Soviet troop intervention in Hun-
gary was justified under the terms of the Warsaw Pact. Al-
though Soviet deportation of young men from Hungary to the
USSR had been authenticated, he indicated he accepted com-
pletely Soviet and Hungarian denials, remarking that young
men or workers were probably simply being sent on an inspec-
tion tour. The West understandably found such naivete--one
might say gullibility--difficult to 'fathom.
1
Nehru also has disturbed Western sensibilities--and de-
lighted the hearts of the Communists--by his unceasing at-
tacks on the West for its "colonialism" and "imperialism."
Ignoring the fact that Western democracies have since the
end of the war granted independence to his own country as
well as to a host of others (Pakistan, Burma, Ceylon, Laos,
Cambodia, Vietnam, the Sudan, Libya, Morocco, Tunisia, Ghana,
etc.), he continues to refuse to believe that the West can
act toward Asia without ulterior designs. At the same time
he rejects any contention that Soviet domination of Eastern
Europe can be classified as an act of imperialism or that
Soviet control of vast non-Russian areas of Central Asia in
any way resembles colonialism. A particularly striking state-
ment of this warped view of Soviet actions and policies was
contained in the ac7ress which Nehru made to the West German
Foreign Policy Association in Bonn on 15 July 1956.
In fact, in every field, Nehru has amassed a record of
partiality towards the Soviet Bloc that belies his expressed
policy of neutralism--a record which has led Moraes to write
that `The one criticism which can be made against our policy
of non-alignment is not that it is unsuited to the needs of
our country or unrealistic, but that in implementing it we
have often laid ourselves open to the charge that we are in-
clined more in favor of the totalitarian countries such as
Russia and China than of the democracies. The complaint is
often heard--and I personally feel it is legitimate--that in
cases where we might have given the benefit of the doubt to
the democracies, we have chosen to give it to the totali-
tarian countries."
Approved For Release 1999/08/24: CIA-RDP78-02771 R000400010002-2
 Approved For Release 1999/08/24: CIA-RDP78-02771 R000400010002-2
With respect to Communist ideology, Nehru has been des-
cribed as a "Marxist by intellectual conviction," and has not
infrequently voiced his admiration for Communist doctrine and
alleged objectives. Speaking at Muzzafarpur on 3 April 1949
and at Bilaspur on 18 December 1951, for example, he asserted
that he had "no quarrel with the fundamental principles of
Communism." In his autobiography Nehru wrote that "Soviet
Russiats success or failure ...did not affect the soundness
of the theory of Communism. The Bolsheviks may blunder or
even fail because of national or international reasons, and
yet the Communist theory may be correct."
This expressed admiration for Communist theory and ob-
jectives might, at first glance, appear to be at variance
with the harsh treatment which Nehru has habitually directed
towards the Communist Party of India (CPI). However, closer
investigation reveals that in criticizing the CPI, Nehru has,
without exception, been careful to disassociate the Party from
international Communism, implying that the CPI would be wel-
comed if only it would conform to true Communism. A few
quotes from various Nehru speeches will suffice to illustrate
this point: "The Communism of the Indian variety is completely
at variance with the fundamental principles of Communism."
"The policy of the CPI is not in accord with the principles of
Communism.' "I have no hesitation in declaring that the great-
est enemy of Communism is the CPI." "Indian Communists are re-
actionaries whose only revolution consists of copying other
countries, regardless of local conditions."
It is in the light of this past record that Nehru?s recent
article gains significance, for it is the first time that he
has unequivocally attacked the validity of Communism or directed
criticism at the Soviet Union. The fact that the article also
has unkind words for Western capitalism is not particularly
noteworthy since this represents no change in Nehruis thinking.
His statements on Communism, however, definitely reflect a
radical reappraisal.
Nehru, the one-time "Marxist by intellectual conviction,"
has apparently awakened to the fact that Marxism-Communism is
not the inevitable culmination of manes hope for a better
world, conceived in terms of economics. "Marxist economics,"
he writes, "...are in many ways out of date." He also ob-
serves that "Communism comes in the wake of...disillusionment
and offers some kind of faith and some kind of discipline.
Approved Wr Release l w9/08/24: CI - DP78-0277 000400010
 Approved For Release 1999/08/24: CIA-RDP78-02771 R000400010002-2
To some extent it fills a vacuum. It succeeds in some measure
by giving a content to man's life. But in spite of its appar-
ent success, it fails, partly because of its rigidity, but,
even more so, because it ignores certain essential needs o
human nature /italics added/.7
Above all, as a disciple of Gandhi, and thus committed
to the peaceful approach to problems, and as a democrat, and
thus opposed to the stifling of all political freedom--an
inevitable concommitant of Communism--Nehru appears to have
awakened at last to the basic evils of Communism. Where once
he was willing to justify or overlook Communist methods, he
is now repelled by those methods. "Communism," he writes,
`has definitely allied itself to the approach of violence.
Even if it does not indulge normally in physical violence,
its language is of violence, its thought is violent, and it
does not seek change by persuasion or peaceful democratic
pressures, but by coercion and indeed by destruction and ex-
termination," In his autobiography Nehru had linked fascism
and imperialism as "the two faces of...now decaying capital-
ism," but now he proceeds from his condemnation of Communist
violence to say that "fascism has all these evil aspects of
violence and extermination." It should be gratifying to all
democrats, whatever their nationality, to learn that Nehru
has at last realized the truth of their assertions that there
is little difference between fascism and Communism except a
name.
Nehru returns several times to this identification of
Communism with violence. Speaking of the Communist sup-
pression of political freedoms, Nehru comments that "Its
suppression of individual freedom brings about powerful
reactions. Its contempt for what might be called the moral
and spiritual side of life not only ignores something that
is basic in man, but also deprives human behavior of standards
and values. Its unfortl?nate association with violence en-
courages a certain evil tendency in human beings."
This is remarkably like the observations expressed by
Milovan Djilas in The New Class. These sentiments suggest
that Nehru has been profoundly shocked by the most recent
Soviet suppression of individual freedom in forcing Boris
Pasternak, the world renowned author of Dr. Zhivago, to re-
ject the Nobel Prize for Literature because that work, in-
stead of praising the Soviet system in the slavish manner
required by the Soviet regime of its writers, undertakes to
expose some of the same defects of Communism that Nehru him-
self touches on in his article.
-4-
U U
Approve
d For Release I 999/08/24 :CIA-RDP78- 771 R000400 0002-2
 Approved For Release 1999/08/24: CIA-RDP78-02771 R000400010002-2
L l: U U U
It is also noteworthy that Nehru no longer justifies
the Soviet repression in Hungary or accepts the Kremlin
explanation that the revolt was the work of "fascists" in
the pay of "Western imperialists." "What happened in Hun-
gary," Nehru now says, "demonstrated that the desire for
national freedom is stronger than any ideology and cannot
ultimately be suppressed. What happened in Hungary was not
essentially a conflict between Communism and anti-Communism.
It represented nationalism striving for freedom from foreign
control."
Communist theory holds that the contradictions in capi-
talist society will inevitably lead' to class conflict which
will result in the triumph of the best of all possible sys-
tems, i.e., Communism. Nehru now decisively rejects this
view with the remark that "it is absurd to imagine that out
of conflict the social progressive forces Zt_his is what the
Communists allege themselves to b7 are bound to win." He
further observes that "We see the growing contradictions
within the'rigid framework of Communism...." In expressing
continued admiration for some of the material achievements
of the Soviet Union, especially its system of education and
health, which he describes as "probably the best in the
world" (in this age of sputniks even the most confirmed anti-
Communist will admit the excellence of Soviet education),
Nehru nevertheless observes: "But it is said, and rightly,
that there is suppression of individual freedom there. And
yet the spread of education in all its forms is itself a tre-
mendous liberating force which ultimately will not tolerate
that suppression. This again is another contradiction."
In a passage, again strongly reminiscent of Djilas,
Nehru writes that "Communism became too closely associated
with the necessity for violence and thus the idea which it
placed before the world became a tainted one. Means dis-
torted ends. We see here the powerful influence of wrong
means and ends." Returning again to the role of the indi-
vidual in society, Nehru observes that "Democracy and social-
ism are means to an end, not the end itself. We talk of the
good of society. Is this something apart from and transcend-
ing the good of the individuals composing it? If the indivi-
dual is ignored and sacrificed for what is considered the good
of society, is that the right objective to have?"
The Communists would of course answer these questions in
the affirmative, but it is clear that Nehru feels that the ans-
wer to both questions is an unqualified "No;" As he puts it,
".,.we should not forget the basic human element and the fact
-5-
Approved For Release 1999/08/24: CIA-RDP78-02771 R000400010002-2
 Appr
For Rele 1999/08/24 :IA-RDP78- 2 71 R00040Q00002-2
V t W 1i
that our objective is individual improvement and the lessening
of inequalities; and we must not forget the ethical and spiri-
tual aspects of life which are ultimately the basis of culture
and civilization and which have given some meaning to life."
Inasmuch as Communism and the Soviet system recognize neither
ethical nor' spiritual values and, in fact, emphatically reject
them; inasmuch as the Soviet system rejects the value of the
individual and recognizes the importance and rights only of
the Communist Party, these observations appear to leave no
doubt that Nehru, after long years of evincing a partiality
towards the Soviet system, has now unequivocally ranged him-
self on the side of the Free World in the East-West ideologi-
cal struggle even though he still refrains from aligning his
country with it politically.
These statements from Nehru=s article constitute in their
entirety a strong indictment of Communism and the Soviet sys-
tem. Such a significant departure by Nehru from his past
statements raises the question, what led Nehru to revise his
views? Aside from the fact that Nehru is an intelligent man
whom the Soviets could not possibly mislead forever, the most
logical answer seems to lie in the political situation in the
south Indian state of Kerala, where the Communists have been
in power for the past 20 months. Previously, Nehru had known
Communism only theoretically or on the international plane
where other factors intervened which tended to arouse in him
sympathy for the Soviet experiment and to make him close his
eyes to its evil manifestations. The terrorism, subversion
and other illegal activities carried out by the CPI he could,
and did, excuse as the misapplication of Communist principles
by a small unimportant party overly eager to gain power, which
that party would not necessarily follow if and when it should
ever gain power. The actions of the present regime in Kerala,
however, have been such that Nehru can no longer deceive him-
self.
Kerala, the smallest state in the Indian Union, is a
backward, predominantly agricultural area on India?s south-
western coast, with an area of 15,035 square miles and a
population of 13.6 million. Created on 1 November 1956, in
the reorganization of Indian states along linguistic lines,
it combines the former princely states of Travancore and
Cochin except for the latter's Tamil-speaking southern tip,
which was ceded to Madras) and the Malabar, a coastal area
of Madras where Malayalam is spoken.
Aside from small groups of Brahmins, Jews and Parsees,
comprising together only four percent of the population,
-6-
02-2
J
L Approv or Releas99/08/24 : Vil -RDP78-02I L R0004000'
U
 Appro ad For Relea 1999/08/24 UIARDP7871 R000400 1 002-2
U, U . " .1
Kera,la's population falls into five distinct communal groups.
The Ezhavas, who are economically and educationally backward
Hindus, form the largest group, with 3.6 million. Christians--
about 50 percent Roman Catholics and the rest communicants of
various Protestant and Orthodox denominations--are second with
3.3 million. Muslims, who live chiefly in the northern part
of the state, number 2.8 million. Next, with 2.3 million, are
the Nairs, who are influential middle-class Hindus. The fifth
and smallest community--about one million in numbers--is com-
posed of another Hindu class, whose members were formerly un-
touchables and are proverbially poor.
In the March 1957 elections, the Communists, to the sur-
prise and consternation of the ruling Congress Party as'well
as of democrats everywhere, emerged as the strongest party
in the state winning 60 of the 126 seats in the state legis-
lature and 32-.68 percent of the total votes cast. The support
of five of the six independents elected gave them a slight
but working majority and permitted them to form, on 5 April
1957, the first Communist state government in the history
of India. Consigned to the opposition were the Congress
Party (42 seats, 37.45 percent of the votes , the Muslim
League (8 seats, 13.32 percent of the votes , and the Praja
Socialist Party (9 seats, 11.3 percent of the votes.) The
Revolutionary Socialists, who were in close association with
the GPI, polled 3.22 percent of the votes but failed to win
any seats.
The Communist victory resulted from a variety of causes.
The CPI in Kerala is led by Nairs and therefore had the sup-
port of that community. The Ezhavas, too, are notorious as a
community for their Communist leanings, ,and the depressed
classes follow suit, both believing they have everything to
gain and nothing to lose from Communism. Equally important
was the role of the Congress Party itself. Confident that
Nehru?s popularity would ensure it victory, the Congress Party
made few campaign efforts, while the CPI, in contrast, conduct-
ed a vigorous drive, promising solutions to many problems which
the incumbent Congress administration had failed to solve. Add-
ing to the Congress Partyts disadvantage was its reputation for
corruption, which led many businessmen and Catholics, normally
Congress supporters, to abstain from voting as a sign of disap-
proval of Congress policies. The highly literate Kerala popu-
lation (53 percent literate as compared to a national average
of 18 percent), avid for books but too poor to buy them, eagerly
accepted the mass of books and magazines printed in local lan-
guages which the Communists distributed, all of them depicting
in glowing terms the advantages accruing to the populace in all
countries under Communist rule.
-7-
Approvedor Release99/08/24 : -RDP78-021 R0004000'02-2
U V V
 Appr vgd For Rele s 1999/08/2 : IA-RDP78 0 771 80004010002-2
Nehru, who is popular with all Indians whether Congress
Party members or not, must personally share in the responsi-
bility for the Communist victory. His failure in the past to
condemn Communism and to link Indian Communists with such evils
as Russian and Chinese slave labor camps and purges, his frequently
stated belief that the Soviet Union was not so much responsible for
world tensions as the US and its allies and their policies, the
warm welcomes extended to Khrushchev, Bulganin and other Soviet
and satellite leaders--all these factors helped to give the Com-
munists a respectability in the eyes of the people that they
would otherwise have lacked.
The Communist campaign was based on promises to solve the
food and unemployment problems, give shelter to the homeless,
start new industries, and nationalize the British-owned rubber,
tea, coffee and spice plantations lining Keralats mountain slopes.
These were all attractive to the voters of Kerala, for the exist-
ing low standards of living and economic hardships are as serious
as anywhere in India. The new Communist regime under Chief Minis-
ter E. M. S. Namboodiripad, however, found that it was easier to
make promises than to fulfill them. Recognizing that they were
not going to be able to solve Keralats problems, the Communists
decided on a simple rule: they would do what they could inside
the state but when they were faced with major problems, they would
say, That is for the Central Government. Until we have a Commu-
nist Central Government you cannot expect to get a solution."
This, for example, is what happened in the case of national-
ization of the plantations. As the Communists well knew, national-
ization is, under the Indian constitution, a matter for the Central
Government to decide. The Constitution, moreover, requires imme-
diate and proper compensation, which the Kerala treasury was of
course unable to provide. Consequently, immediately upon assuming
office, Namboodiripad dropped the idea with the explanation that
his regime was being prevented by Delhi from taking action in the
matter.
Similarly, the Red regime in Kerala charges that the staters
continuing food problem is the result of discriminatory treat-
ment by the Central Government. This charge was categorically
denied by Union Food Minister A. P. Jain on 27 October 1958, who
asserted that the responsibility lay entirely in the actions of
the state government. The truth is that the Communists, indif-
ferent to the suffering of the people, have been playing politics
in the matter of food. It was recently revealed that in making
-8-
Approve
r Release 19"19/08/24 : CRDP78-02700040001(2-
 Approved For Rele s 1999/08/2 :.CIA-RDP78 0 771R0004.10002-2
U U V W V U
rice purchases in the neighboring state of Madras, the Kerala
government not only used its own hand-picked men instead of
established dealers and commission agents but also paid higher
than current market prices, which has led Indian observers to
conclude that the transactions were used as a means of replen-
ishing Party coffers from the state treasury.
The Red regime, in fact, has seemed to be primarily inter-
ested in intrenching itself permanently in power. To gain sup-
port of labor, Namboodiripad announced with much fanfare thatrr
henceforth the police would not be used in an anti-people war
in labor-management disputes, while simultaneously the regime
has strengthened its hold on labor unions. Landless agricul-
tural laborers and plantation workers, disappointed in their
hopes of taking over nationalized plantations, have been wooed
by vigorous enforcement of anti-eviction laws coupled with
orders to the police not to interfere with illegal seizures of
property. The result has been a wave of violence and lawless-
ness and a breakdown of law and order. Communist-led union
activity has degenerated into mutilation of management property
and skull cracking between rival union gangs. Other lawless
mobs have been set free to pillage landowners and to usurp lands
and dwellings in the certainty that they have nothing to fear
from the law.
Another aspect of the breakdown of law and order has been
the establishment of local CPI committees in villages, which are
usurping the duties of local law courts. Persons refusing to
deal with these committees are soon brought into line by arbi-
trary arrest, discriminatory taxation, and the threat of violence.
In an unknown number of cases, the threat of violence has be-
come a reality as gangs of Communist-led thugs beat, knife and
murder outspoken opponents of the regime.
The lawlessness unleashed by the Red regime has had the
inevitable result of scaring off any possible new industries;
and since the state itself possesses few natural resources to
support local industries, unemployment remains as high as ever.
The unemployment problem is particularly critical in Kerala
because each year the network of schools which account for the
staters high literacy rate turn out thousands of educated
youths for whom jobs are lacking. Adding to the difficulty is
the fact that agriculture has reached the point of saturation.
Statistically, there are about 1,000 people to the square mile;
but when forest land, arid land and water area are deducted it
comes to about three times that figure, making the pressure on
-9-
Approve or Release 99/08/24 : cI -RDP78-02U R00040001 02-2
 L Approved br Release 9 9/08/24: CI DP78-0271 0004000100(12-2
J
land in Kerala tighter than anywhere else in India. The popu-
lation continues to grow but the land does not. Of the 1.9
million landowners in Travancore-Cochin, for example, 94.1 per-
cent possess holdings of less than three acres, and 38.1 percent
have less than one acre. The regimets land reform measures have
resulted in the distribution of some land. While some types of
landlordism are being ended, the very low ceiling put on the
acreage a family may possess only tends to reduce the food pro-
duction of the state, which already suffers from a heavy food
deficit.
The rising opposition generated by all these Communist
actions led the Kerala Communist Party recently to issue a call
to all those interested in the progress of Kerala" to organize
"local citizens' committees" to prevent the opposition from
launching unnecessary agitations with the object of pulling
down the Communist regime in the state." As Sadiq All, General
Secretary of the Congress Party, pointed out in August 1958,
"Communists outside the government have taken upon themselves
the task of quelling the agitation," and the state government
"has been withdrawing prosecution cases, mostly against members
of the ruling party." According to Ali, this could only be
interpreted to mean that the Kerala regime was "averse to the
normal functioning of opposition parties and indeed of the
democratic system." All charged that the Red regime had can-
celled prosecution or commuted the sentences of 500 Party mem-
bers and had transferred or suspended various police officers
for arresting Communist law-breakers.
This Communist perversion of law and order was further high-
lighted by Praja Socialist leader Jai Prakash Narayan who, in an
address in Madras on 22 October 1958, charged that Namboodiripad
and his associates were trying to get state civil servants into
their political machine and that even police officers were being
persuaded secretly to join the CPI. Apparently aware of the
pattern of events which reduced Eastern Europe to Communist servi-
tude, Narayan warned his audience that it was easy to imagine
what would happen to democracy in India if police officers,
judges and magistrates were to become members of the GPI.
The intentions of the Communist regime have also been
strikingly revealed by its attempts to bend the education sys-
tem completely to its will. On 25 July 1957, only three months
after taking office, Joseph Mundassery, Education, submitted to the le the state Minister of
the state complete control oveg1anature a bill designed to give
any private school receiving
Appr ed For Rele a I 999/08/2 CIA-RDP74 771 R0004 0 10002-2
 Appr d For Rel 1999/08/214 :.CIA-RDP7 0 771 R0004d0('10002-2
U U Q
state funds--which includes virtually every private school in
the state. Although the threat posed by the bill had the imme-
diate effect of uniting the usually warring Christian sects
and the Muslims in opposition to the bill, they were unable to
prevent the regime from pushing the bill through the legislature
with typical rough-shod Communist tactics. Despite the impor-
tance of the matter, the Communists allowed only 13 hours of
debate in all stages; and of 1,400 persons who asked to testify,
only 38 were heard.
While the legislature made some slight changes in the text,
the bill as passed on 2 September 1957 was unchanged in its
major provisions. These provide (1) that all teachers must be
selected from Government-prepared lists, and (2) that the state
is empowered to nationalize any government-aided private school
on proof of "mismanagement." These provisions do not seem too
objectionable until it is remembered that the government, mean-
ing the CPI, will control the preparation of the lists of eligible
teachers and that, according to the bill, the government is to
be the sole judge of alleged "mismanagement," with no appeal to
the courts permitted. It is not difficult to discern that the
Communistst objective is to convert the entire school system
into a Communist propaganda outlet and training center.
Fortunately for the billts opponents, the bill had to be
signed by Indian President Rajendra Prasad before becoming law,
and he, upon receiving it, referred it to the Supreme Court to
ascertain its constitutionality. The Court decided on 22 May
1958 that certain clauses did indeed violate minority rights
guaranteed by the Constitution. The Union Government is now
studying the verdict preparatory to advising the President on
what course to take.
The tensions aroused by the school bill and the other re-
gime actions, and the general lawlessness resulting from the
stifling of police activity resulted in early August 1958 in
state-wide disturbances. Trouble began in the coastal district
of Alleppey when students protested cancellation of a student
discount on ferryboat fares. In succeeding days hundreds of
students, who were also protesting higher tuition rates and
Communist textbooks in school, were jailed and some beaten
senseless. Political demonstrators clashed in a melee of fists,
stones, spears and daggers that left five dead and seven injured.
The climax came outside the town of Quinlon, when police, act-
ing on direct orders of Communist officials, fired into a
crowd of strikers.
Approver 9or ReleaseLl 199/08/24: cI -RDP78-02
 Appr vied For Rel se 1999/08/2 CIA-RDP7 -0' 771 R00041j10002-2
The firing on workers, whom they claimed to represent, was
distinctly embarrassing to the Communists. The explanation that
Namboodiripad gave was similar to the Khrushchev refrain on
Hungary, namely, a charge that the strikers and students had
been misled by agents provocateurs. The Central Secretariat of
the CPI issued a 1,200-word resolution on the affair, which did
little but offer the lame conclusion that the shooting had been
`ran unfortunate incident." Unhappily for the Communists, these
explanations did not end the matter. The Kerala Congress Party
and its Socialist allies called for a general strike as a sign
of protest. Students stayed away from the schools, 10,000 dock
workers left their jobs in the port of Cochin, bazars and fac-
tories throughout the state closed for a day, and strikes, demon-
strations and picketing occurred everywhere. The regimets only
answer to the situation was to reply with the repression and
violence which Nehru has now realized is an integral part of
Communism. On orders, the police charged demonstrators with
steel-tipped lathis, injuring an unknown number. The Revolu-
tionary Socialist Party, which had supported the Namboodirip ad
regime until that point, switched to the opposition and denounced
the Communists for "organized totalitarianism."
It is this example of Communist administration which, more
than any other factor, would appear to explain Nehruts change
of attitude towards Communism. Several months after the Commu-
nists first took over in Kerala, Nehru spoke of the "extreme
propriety" with which the regime was conducting itself. In
August 1957, on the eve of the tenth anniversary of Indiats
independence, President Prasad told a Kerala audience that
"I am happy that this great experiment which is being made in
your state is going to serve as a great lesson not only to
other states, but to the country as a whole, as an example of
co-existence, of living and working together, in spite of all
differences, for the good of all."
Subsequent developments in Kerala, however, have shown the
Indian leaders how mistaken their original opinions were. By
June 1958 Nehru was expressing displeasure over the acts of
political terrorism taking place there. At a news conference
on 7 September 1958 he again voiced concern about the "political
insecurity" in Kerala, and said his worries were being confirmed
by reports reaching him. Rejecting the Communist charge of
agents provocateurs, he asserted that the Communists themselves
bore the main responsibility for the prevailing "psychology of
insecurity" in the state.
Approved For Releas11;99/08/24: cI,-RDP78-02E3 R0004000'02-2
 Approved For Release 1999/08/24: CIA-RDP78-02771 R000400010002-2
L U, U
U
That the Indian national leadership has lost the last
traces of any illusions it might have had is indicated by the
resolution adopted by the All India Congress Committee, the
governing body of the Congress Party, on 27 October 1958 at
the conclusion of a three-day meeting in Hyderabad. The resolu-
tion expressed concern at the continuing insecurity in Kerala,
the prevalence of attacks and murderous assaults, and the
policy of the state government, which was "of ten discriminatory
and not in accordance with the law." Since the Committee is
usually responsive to Nehru's views, it can be assumed that he
fully agreed with the resolution.
It is probable that the situation in Kerala is going to
get worse before it improves, for Namboodiripad has already
threatened his opponents with more of the violence to which
"Communism has definitely allied itself." In June 1958 he
appealed to the opposition parties to cultivate "an attitude
of mutual criticism and mutual struggle with a view to mutual
correction in the interests of the nation as a whole." In
the same breath, however, he warned that if the opposition
parties persisted in their anti-Communism there would inevi-
tably arise a situation in which the two contending groups
would be forced to embark on a policy of mutual annihilation
leading to a national tragedy like the protracted civil war in
China. If Namboodiripad and the CPI should attempt to carry
out this threat, Nehru, despite his reluctance to interfere
with any state's sovereign rights, may feel compelled to suspend
the state's constitution and impose President`s rule, which
the Union constitution permits in emergency situations. The
possible necessity of such action has clearly occurred to
Nehru, for at his 7 September press conference he admitted
that in the long run peaceful coexistence between the Central
Government and the Communist administration in Kerala may not
be possible. Friends of Indian democracy, both at home and
abroad, can only hope that Nehru will not wait too long before
acting. His new realization of the true nature of Communism
and its inherent evils gives grounds for hope.
-13-
Approve or Release U99/O8/24 : CW-RDP78-02 1W R00040001 U2-2
 Appr vd For Rele s 1999/08/2 UCIA-RDP78 '0 771 R00041 0002-2
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
Berkes, Ross N. and Bedi, Mohinder S., The Diplomacy of India.
Stanford, 1958.
Moraes, Frank. Jawaharlal Nehru. New York, 1956.
utobiography of Jaw-
aharlal Jawaharlal. Toward Freedom. The A
a.ha rlal Nehru. New York, 9
Vinek (pseud.). India Without Illusions. Bombay, 1953.
Articles
Bhargava, G. S. "Nehru Faces a Trojan Horse," New Leader,
Feb 56, pp. 5
Bonner, Arthur. '"Communist by Choice," --___urday Eves g Post
CCXXX (31 May 58), p. 36*.
Bozeman, Adda B. "India'a Foreign Policy Today. Reflec-
tions Upon Its Sources, World Politics X (Jan 58), pp.
256-73.
Brown, Seyom. "Kerala--An Indian Bear Walks the Tightrope,"
30-33.
8)
, pp.
Reper XIXC (7 Aug 5
Clark, W. D. "The Asia Revolution," International Affairs
(London) XXXIV (Jul 58), pp. 273-79.
5l }~ Coommmu273t5State, " Contem-
El Hashimi, Sayed. CXCII "India , s Only
ora Review
(Nov "Kerala Experiment," New Statesman LV (8 Mar 58), p. 58.
Lecomte du Nouy, Mary. "Struggle Over Ideas in the Orient,
America XCVIII (25 Jan 58), pp. 478-80.
"Mr. Nehru on Communism, it Commonweal LXIII (13 Jan 56), p. 369.
c
Nehru, Jawaharlal. "The Basic Approach," A.I.C.C. Economic
Review X, No. 8-9 (15 Aug 58), Pp. 3-s.
-14-
Approved oRelease 1 /08/24: CI P78-0277'004000100 s
2
 Approxfincl For Relea 999/08/24 : C A-RDP78-0 1 R000400 1 002-2
L U tj Q
'Speech to Indian Parliament, 19 November," Vital
Speeches XXXIII (15 Dec 56 ), pp. 139-4421.
"Nehru on Communism," Commonweal LVIII (5 Sep 58), PP. 557-58.
Partridge, Elizabeth. "Mr. Nehru's New Thinking," New Common-
wealth XXXII (26 Nov 56), pp. 525-26.
"The Pink Reds of Kerala," The Economist, 12 Jul 58, pp. 137-38.
Rosenthal, A.M. "Communism Tries a New Line in India," New
York Times Magazine, 30 Mar 58, p. 7+.
"Nehru Asks for Only One Flower," New York Times
Magazine, 18 May 58, p. 13+.
Sen, Sushil. "Communist Strides in India," America XCVII
(4 May 57), p. 157.
Shepherd, Gordon. "Where India Meets Red China High in the
Himalayas.," Reporter XIX (4 Sep 58). pp. 29-31.
Vadassery, Thomas. "Red Regime in Kerala," America XCIX (27
Sep 58), pp. 666-68.
Windmiller, Marshall. "Constitutional Communism in India,"
Pacific Affairs XXXI (Mar 58), pp. 22-29.
Zinkin, Taya. "Kerala--India's Communist State,`t New Common-
wealth XXXV (6 Jan 58 ), pp. 34-35.
-15-
Approved For Release 1999/08/24: CIA-RDP78-02771 R000400010002-2