INDIA TODAY

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CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9
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November 1, 1951
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V~L, 1 U 7+1 ;~E1~ B 195! L i ~ `O M`Y PC , JOSH 25X'1 A Iector I Sits atiarf ire Est I en a E Genesis a f I than b~ ur edrsie When moth ers wise All revolt Approved='ForReleas i-` O To Soong Ching-ling* This medal that Ehrenburg hangs on your coat This golden ear of wheat, from the harvest of the great land of peace, the Soviet Union, Is well bestowed upon you, Soong Ching-ling. I knew you from the day China awoke. And also when China suffered, tortured and betray- ed by her ancient enemies. From the day of China's liberation, I saw you ... Like your people, who suffered and fought so long And are now victorious, smiling and greeting the people all over the world. We Latin Americans, we know your enemies. Our land has wealth in plenty, copper and iron and tin, sugar and nitrate But it belongs all to our enemies, those same enemies you have thrown out forever. Our country folk have neither shoes nor culture They plunder us to raise fifty storey skyscrapers in New York. By Pablo Neruda And with our wealth forge weapons to enslave other peoples So -the victory of the Chinese people is ours too. In San Francisco and Washington, a handful of diplomats Will not "recognise" the China of the people: These gentlemen do not know she exists. They could as well not "recognise" the earth, yet this earth moves, And moves forward not backward as willed. they have Let these gentlemen of San Francisco who not "recognise" New China Let them ask of miners, of peasants by the thou- sand, of professors and poets, of old and young, From Alaska to the Antarctic and they will have their answer: "We recognise, we love Mao Tse-tung. To us he is a brother," So it is, Soong Ching-ling, dear friend of peace, This golden ear of wheat from Stalin's generous land Comes to you, a great and simple woman, Not by chance or whim, but by the love the people Pablo Neruda at the Peking ceremony where Soong show you Ching-ling (Madam Sun Yat-sen) was presnted with the By the love of peace which you are defending so Stalin Peace Prize. The picture shows Kuo Mo-jo who that and all le presided at the ceremony and Madam Sun receiving the your people people precious gold medal from Ilya Ehrenburg. May recognise themselves and freely build their lives. Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 DIA TODAY Chief Editor: P. C. Joshi Editor: O. P. Sangal Contents Special article : The Glory of Tripura by P. C. joshi Special Feature : Into the Elections Electoral situation in the PEPSU by Tara Chand Gupta Electoral situation in the Uttar Pra- desh by A Correspondent Hindu Communalism : Parties of the Extreme Right by 0. P. Sangal Truman's Sangal Indian Agents by Economic Section : India and the World Economic ference Data on Wages and Strikes I War India by Kalpana Dutt Economic Notes by A. R. Reports from Provinces in Post- Spotlight on Subramanayam Committee Report on Agrarian Reforms by Asoka Private Colleges in Bengal and the Condition of teachers by S. N. Chakravarti INDIA FOREIGN Single copy : Rupee one of the Month, Short Story, Book-Reviews' etc. Subscription Rates 1 year 6 months 3 months Rs. 12/ Rs. 6/ Rs. 3/- Rs. 13/- Rs. 7/ Rs. 3/8 Advertisement Rates Full Half Quarter Page Page Page Ordinary Rs. 100/- 50/- 25/- Cover 3rd page Rs. 150/- 75/- 37/8 Back cover Rs. 200/- 100- 50/- For an India-China-Soviet Alliance by P. C. Joshi .. .. 1 Electoral Situation in Bengal by A Correspondent .. 10 Economic Notes by A. R. .. 14 Real Face of Panchayat Raj in Uttar Pradesh by Shanti Tyagi .. 17 Songs of the West Indians by Leon Fung .. .. .. 22 Indian Revolt of 1857 and the Early, British. Labour Movement by P. M. Kemp-Ashraf 25 Genesis of Indian Bourgeoisie by Sunil K. Sen .. .. 31 When mothers rise in revolt by Hajrah Begum .. .. 35 Krishan Chandar's Art by P.C. Gupta 37 Parties and Politics in PEPSU by. . Tara Chand Gupta .. .. 40 34th Anniversary of the Russian Revolution: Defender of Nations' Freedom .. 43 Soviet Tajikistan .. ... 46 Soviets remake Geography and Climate by V. Kovda .. .. 48 Allies or Satellites ? by Andrew Rothstein .. .. 53 Cover: First page: Mao Tse-tung greets Pt. Sunder Lal, leader of Indian Delegation to China Second page: Neruda Fourth page: To Soong Ching-ling by Pablo Leaders of Peoples' China Published and Edited by O. P. Sangal at 7 Albert Road, Allahabad. Printed by Sadan Lal at the Technical Press, Allahabad. Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R01.0200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 For an I ndia-China-Soviet Alliance P. C. On the 7th of this month falls the most significant date in world history when the working people of Russia, headed by the Communist Party and guided by their great leaders, Lenin and Stalin, carried through the victorious Socialist Revolution. For the first time in the history of humanity the ideas of genuine freedom triumphed and in a land backward and oppressed under the barbarous tyranny of Czardom power passed into the hands of the people- the majority of the people, those who work, the real people, i.e., into the hands of the workers and peasants. Thirty-four years are gone by and the results of the People's Revolution in Russia have surpassed the boldest dreams cherished by the daring champions of progress of all ages who ever protested against the social order based on exploitation and oppression of man by man. The emergence of the Soviet Republic split the world into two systems: thriving Socialism and moribund Capitalism; and it has been a factor of progressive debilitation and disintegration of imperialism, and a powerful inspiration for the peoples of the countries oppressed by imperialism in their struggle for independence. "For a new factor has risen", said J. V. Stalin, "such as the vast Soviet country, lying between West and East, between the centre of financial exploitation of the world and the arena of colonial oppression, a country which by its existence is revolutionising the whole world." The struggle between these two systems is the history of our day. Beacon of peace The imperialist rulers of the world have never accepted the right to peaceful existence of the first Socialist Republic of the world. Just when it was born Churchill organised the armed intervention of fourteen imperialist- Josh i capitalist nations, but the infant Red Army successfully smashed it. Today, once again, the same British Tory imperialist Churchill is. the arch war-monger and chief advocate of the "policy of strength" against the USSR, under the leadership of the dominant imperia- list power of the day, the USA. On the other hand it, was no accident that on the very morrow of the Revolution, after proclaiming transfer of power to the working people, the first job the newly established Soviet Government did was to pass the historic decree on peace and appeal to the govern- ments and peoples of all the belligerent coun- tries to start immediate negotiations for the conclusion of a just and democratic peace. The declaration of the Soviet Government stated among other things: ' "The government considers it the greatest of crimes against humanity to continue this war for the purpose of dividing up among the strong and rich nations the feeble nationalities they have conquered, and solemnly announces its determination immediately to sign terms of peace to stop this war on conditions indicated, which are equally just for all nationalities without exception." Might is now on the side of Right Strictly adhering to the principles proclaim- ed in October, 1917, the Soviet State has been consistently and energetically fighting for peace among all nations, for the security of the peoples against aggression on the part of world imperialism. During the inter-war years, while the imperialist powers helped to build up Hitler with a view to diverting Nazi armies to attack the USSR, the Soviet statesmen consistently fought to build up a system of collective security through the League of Nations. During the second world war, the peoples of the USSR not only suffered and sacrificed the most, but it was the valiant Red Armv Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 which made the major contribution and dealt those decisive blows which annihilated the vaunted military strength of the German and the Japanese armies. The outstanding role of the USSR in World War II demonstrated even to the politically backward that Soviet advocacy of peace was not the result of Soviet weakness as the imperialists had persistently preached, but an outcome of its own internal strength, its love for humanity and faith in its own destiny. The experience of the last war has proved beyond any doubt that the USSR possesses the, military strength to defeat the aggressive designs of imperialist powers. 1-?eace-loving peoples of the world can now feel confident that not only right is on their side but also the ne?ded might. After World War II, while the imperialist rulers of the USA have donned the Hitlerite mantle and aided by the rulers of Britain as junior partners are, once again busy plotting and planning for another world war, an im- perialist anti-Soviet war, the Soviet statesmen, inside and outside the UNO, are repeatedly making proposals for the conclusion of a pact of Peace among the great Five Powers to guaran- tee world peace, reduction in armaments, prohi- bition of the atomic weapon and the estab- lishment of international control over its imple mentation, and have initiated the cease-fire talks in Korea. In all this, in simple and noble words they confidently express the mighty will of the Soviet people and give rallying slogans to the peace-loving peoples of the world to defend the cause of world peace, defeat the criminal designs of would-be Hiders, and save humanity from an unprece- dented, holocaust. People's camp also possesses Atom The latest blow for peace from the Soviet Union is the timely statement of Stalin on the atom-bomb which has successfully disrup- ted the plan of the American imperialists who had hoped to panic the rest of the capital- ist world into submission by flaunting their monopoly of the terrible weapon. Now there is panic on the other side, in the camp of the enemies of the people, reactionary rulers of capitalist countries, allies of American imperialism, who are faced with the grim reality that their paymaster and leader no more enjoys the monopoly of the war- weapon which was supposed to be decisive against any army, including the Red Army. Now there is greater confidence in the multi- millioned peace partisans all over the world, NOVEMBER 1951 in their capacity to further isolate the im- perialist war-mongers and win over to the peace camp the hitherto vacillating and weak- minded. Another immediate gain from Stalin's intervention has been that Korea has been saved a second time from becoming the victim of atom-bomb, which the Pentagon Chiefs were plotting as the only way out of the indomitable resistance of the Korean People's Army and the Chinese Volunteers. Every time our philosopher-ambassador to the USSR, Dr. Radhakrishuan, has come back for discussions to New Delhi, he has reported that the dominant passion of the Soviet Govern- ment is to save world peace and has in sincere words publicly stated that Stalin wants peace. The Goodwill Mission of our writers and cultural workers that has lately returned from the USSR has come back overwhelmed with the universal desire of our Soviet neigh- bours for peace. For peaceful co-existence The guiding principle of the foreign policy of the USSR is peaceful co-existence of the two systems, Socialism and Capitalism. "The idea of cooperation between the two systems was first expressed by Lenin," said Stalin, "Lenin is our teacher, and we Soviet people are Lenin's pupils. We have never departed and never shall depart from Lenin's tea- chings." At the fourteenth Congress of the Commu- nist Party of Soviet Union (CPSU/Bl) in 1925 Stalin said: "Underlying the policy of our Government, the foreign policy, is the idea of peace. Struggle for peace, struggle against new wars,-exposing the steps that under the banner of pacifism screen actual pre- paration for war, that is our task." In 1939, on the eve of the second world war, the following emphatic pronouncement was made by Stalin from the platform of the 18th Congress of the CPSU(B) : "We stand for peace and the strengthening of business relations with all countries. That is our position and we shall adhere to this position as long as these countries maintain like relations with the Soviet Union and as long as they make no attempt to trespass on the interests of our county. In 1946, answering a question put to him by the Moscow Correspondent of the arch- conservative Sunday Times whether in view of the USSR's onward march to Communism, it Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 was possible for the Soviet Union to cooperate with the outside world, Stalin said: "I do not doubt the possibilities of peaceful co- operation; far from decreasing they may even grow." In May, 1948, in answer to Henry Wallace's open letter, Stalin wrote: "....the Government of the USSR believes that despite the differences in economic systems and ideolo- gies the co-existence of these systems and the peaceful settlement of differences between the USSR and the USA are not only possible but absolutely necessary in the interests of universal peace." No interference in others' internal affairs Marxism-Leninism teaches us that a revolutionary upheaval and the victory of Socialism in one or another country primarily results from the development of internal forces in that country. In 1936, in a conversation with Roy Howard, a representative of the American press, Stalin stated: "We Marxists believe that a revolution will also take place in other countries. But it will take place only when the revolutionaries in these countries think it possible or necessary. The ex- port of revolution is nonsense. Every country will make its own revolution if it wants to and if it does not want to there will be no revolution. "For example, our country wanted to make a revolution and made it, and now we are building classless society. But to assert that we want to make a revolution in other countries, to interfere in their lives, means saying what is untrue, and what we have never advocated". It is an essential postulate of Soviet policy that the internal regime of each country is primarily the concern of the people of that country and as long as the two systems- Socialism and Capitalism-co-exist, let them peacefully cooperate and that system will ultimately triumph which is sounder, stronger and more acceptable to the people. Ever since the birth of the USSR, the Soviet leadership has consistently advocated the policy of peaceful co-existence. This fact demonstrates the boundless self-confidence of the Soviet leaders. But ever since the victory of the Russian Revolution, the central guiding point of the foreign policy of imperial- ist powers has been to hammer together mili- tary and political alliances to isolate and en- circle the USSR, paving the way for a war of aggression against it, with the aim of liquida- ting Socialism and restoring Capitalism in Russia. This demonstrates the inherent weak- ness and wickedness of imperialist rulers. The crux of the world situation as it has faced our generation is that the leaders of world capitalism turn down Soviet challenge for peaceful competition on the basis of out- lawing war. Imperialist camp Immensely weakened It is primarily because of the existence and achievements of the USSR that the camp of World imperialism is immensely weaker despite all the efforts of the imperialist rulers. The valour and skill of the Red Army was the decisive factor in World War II that le;d to the annihilation of three imperialist pow4-rs- Germany, Italy and Japan. In the posh-war period, the very first major venture or the imperialist camp, headed by the US, has turnec'1 into a military debacle and a diplomatic fiasco. The imperialist armies have been fought to a stand-still in Korea without the intervention of the Red Army. Pressure of world opinion has forced America's war-mad statesmen to talk peace and enter into armistice negotiations. The American pretenders to world domina- tion are face to face with man-power crisis even during their Korean dress-rehearsal. Du- ring the year Chinese Volunteers have fought in Korea, 3,87,000 imperialist troops have been killed or wounded, including 1,76,000 Ameri- cans. And during the second week of Octo- ber, the rate of imperialist casualties has risen to the unprecedented figure of 5,600 men per day. America's puppets want all the dollars they can get from their Washington masters but they just cannot persuade their people to become the American canon-fodder in far off Korea. And more, American strategists are even faced with an air-force crisis, because a total of 2,310 planes have been shot down or damagaed in Korea. Soviet strength makes peace possible On the other hand, the camp of peace, democracy and Socialism is immensely stron- ger? The victorious Russian Revolution hoisted the Red flag over the Kremlin, thirty- four years ago. It is primarily because of what the Russian Revolution has meant to the world we live in, that today the Red flag flies over the vast region from Peking to Prague. The frontiers of the Socialist world have ex- panded and of the imperialist world have correspondingly shrunk. Emphasising the implication of this decisive shift in the balance of world forces, Prime Minister of People's China, Chou En-lai stated on November 2, INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 in his report to the National Committee of People's Political Consultative Council, that the Western imperialist powers will meet with "total defeat," if they started World War III. "The alliance between China and Russia which embraces one-third of world's population is an invincible force unprece- dented in history. An utterly corrupt and fundamentally shaky imperialism is struggling for existence." The international weight of the Soviet Union makes it a mighty bastion of peace. If the peace-loving peoples of the world link their efforts with the peace policy of the So- viet, the diabolical aggressive plans of Anglo- US imperialism can be successfully disrupt- ed and reduced into paper plans. The experience of the two world wars in one generation coupled with growing faith in the strength, sincerity and peaceful policy of the USSR, has already led to the birth of a unique, world-wide, multi-millioned, organised Peace Movement. In the first half of our century the imperialist rulers could befool the people and were in a position to start world wars. In the second half of our century, however, advanced elements in every country are out to impose world peace on the rulers of all coun- tries -and millions upon millions consider the preservation of peace a practical and realisa- ble aim and are seeking to achieve it. Such is the historic turn in the situation that has been made possible by the consistent advocacy of world peace by the Soviet Union for 34 long years. An emancipatory force The cause of peace against imperialist aggressors has been immensely strengthened by basing it upon support to the right of self- determination for every nation, its right to independent national existence. Stalin states: "The October Revolution is the first revolution in the world that has broken the sleep of centuries of the toiling masses of the oppressed peoples of the East and drawn them into the struggle against World Imperialism." Czarist Russia was a prison-house of peo- ples. The October Revolution boldly con- ceded and constitutionally guaranteed the right of self-determination, including secession, to every nationality and thus transformed the old decrepit Russian Empire into the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. The rise of the Soviet Republics in the East in place of the puppet Khanates of the past became a miracle for the rest of the colonial world. The unity of the Soviet family of nations was tested during World War II and it proved its worth by demonstrating its stability in a manner unknown to history so far. From the grand post-war plans and projects of construction of the Soviet Government it is the Soviet Re- publics of the East which will gain the most. Such is the fraternal aid, from the more ad- vanced to the more backward, inside the USSR, in striking contrast to the American infliction of the Marshall Plan on its allies. Simultaneously with declaring the right of self-determination for all the nations living inside the old Russian Empire, the newly established Soviet Government renounced all the concessions and privilleges Czarism had extorted from the neighbouring countries, e.g., 'Turkey, Persia and China, etc. Such unsel- fishness was unknown in earlier history. It was practised for the first time by the first So- cialist Republic of the world and Marx's memo- rable words that a nation that enslaves another can never itself be free were implemented in real life by the victorious Russian Bolsheviks. The Soviet Government not only liberated those whom the old ruling class had subjugated but also went to the fraternal aid of those of its struggling neighbours whom irnperialists sought to keep enslaved. To give only one example, emerging out of the ashes of the old Ottoman Empire, Kemalist Turkey would never have retained its independence except for the recognition and support given by the Soviet Government. Without the fraternal aid of the Red Army the nations of Eastern Europe were in no position to emancipate themselves from Hitler's clutches. It was Soviet neighbourhood and prompt alliance with the USSR which enabled the birth of People's Republics in these countries and prevented the restoration of old feudal-capitalist regimes as their own puppets by the Anglo-American armies. Similarly, the Mao leadership has repeated- ly and gratefully admitted that were it not for the new light and inspiration from the Russian Revolution and concrete moral and material aid from the Land of Soviets, the Chinese Revolution would not have been victorious so soon. Influence on Indian national movement The impact of the Russian Revolution on the Indian national movement was no less strong though not so decisive because the Indian bourgeois leadership was too closely linked with the British and its fear of a real NOVEMBER 1951 5 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 People's Revolution was greater than its hatred of the British rule. Lenin hailed the political initiative of the Indian working class when in Bombay it struck work, against the arrest of Lokmanya Tilak, early in the century. The day the Indian working class was born, the teacher and guide of the revolutionary working class of the world promptly noted its significance. After World War I, as the Indian freedom movement began acquiring a mass basis, Lenin and Stalin looked towards it with great hope and with prophetic vision pointed out that the path of our advance to victory lay along the lines of adopting an irreconcilable revolutionary line against the imperialist rulers, heightening the democratic content of our movement by going all out to liquidate feudal- ism in our land relations which grounded down the vast majority of our people, the peasantry, and served as the social base of the alien rulers, and finally, step by step, in dislodging the compromising bourgeois leader- ship from the position. of leadership. It is necessary to recall over and over again these historic formulations for they alone correctly and scientifically summate our na- tional experience and help to explain the ignominous debacle of August 15, 1947, symbolised in the slogans: Pandit Mountbatfm ki Jail Lord Nehru ki ,Jai! We start learning from Russia The failure of the first non-cooperation movement under the Gandhian leadership led to the birth of a Left Wing and all sections of the movement began to think afresh. After our own miserable failure, only the blind would not have looked towards Russia., the land of successful Revolution. Pandit Moti Lal and Jawaharlal Nehru went to Moscow to attend the tenth anniversary of the Novem- ber Revolution. After this visit Pandit Jawa- harlal Nehru widely popularised the ideas that the Soviet Union from its very nature had no aggressive designs against any other nation and that Lenin's heirs had all their sym- pathy for Indian national aims and that they were busy building up their country on new foundations. The interest in "the Russian experiment" grew in our country. It was carried a stage further when Tagore visited the Soviet Union in early thirties and his informative, human, and thrilling Letters from Russia were published. After the second major failure of the Gan. dhian leadership, during the struggle of the early thirties, the Indian Leftists' interest in the teachings of communism grew rapidly. The United Front line of the Seventh Cong- ress of the Communist International, of build- ing a world wide Peace Front against the rising menace of fascism (after Hiler's rise to power and Jap aggression in China) and a United National Front in every colonial coun- try for national liberation, received wide response. The influence of this tactical policy of international Communism on the Presiden- tial address of Nehru at the Lucknow session of the Congress and in the documents of the Faizpur session was noted by reactionaries and democrats alike. As a result our move- ment revived and acquired a broad-sweep and the interest in Socialism grew on a mass scale. The political deadlock during the war years revealed that the Indian bourgeois leadership had no real faith in the libera- tionist role of the USSR, but thought it more realistic to manouvre between the British rulers and their Jap rivals and the net result was that the cunning British imperialist crude- ly provokde and cleverly out-manoeuvred it and successfully imposed political deadlock throughout the war years. After the war, when the allied statesmen were discussing the foundation of the UNO and the British rulers had India represented by their stooges while they had kept the Indian na- tional leaders behind the bars, Molotov caused a world-wide sensation and thrilled every Indian patriot when he declared that the Soviet Government expected that represen- tatives of an independent India would soon be representing India in the UNO. After formation of Congress Government After the formation of the Congress Govern- ment, whenever Indian -representatives have taken a stand in defence of the democra- tic rights of our nationals abroad, or in the interests of colonial peoples or of world peace, Soviet representatives have heartily welcomed and warmly supported us. Stalin's prompt response to Nehru's peace initiative for ending the Korean War, and the Chinese gratitude for the Indian stand for China's rightful place in the UNO exposed the aggressive and lurid nature of the US aims and demonstrated to the peace-loving and freedom-loving world how fraternal cooperation between India, People's China and the USSR could become a firm guarantee of World Peace and Asian freedom. This, however, is only one part of the picture. INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Nehru's r lYcgQ 0Art Q 4QQ4M1c19 : CIA-F 1F1@P-9R4f 6W11 s0QQ4 fight hour sought to assuage American imperialist fears by showing how Indian representatives had only thrice voted with the USSR as against so many more times with the USA and quite often remained neutral. For opportunist rea- sons the Nehru Government plays between the two camps, the camp of war and imperia- lism and that of peace and anti-imperialism. The possibilities inherent in the present situation because of the liberationist role played by the USSR were vividly described by Mao Tse-tung : "Comrades, since the victory of the great October Soviet Socialist Revolution, a victorious situation has definitely been established for the people of the world .... If any other imperialist country tries to tread the old path taken by the three former aggre- ssors-Germany, Italy and Japan-cart we not fully predict the result ? In a word, the future world :MUST be a people's world. The countries of the world must be, governed by the people's of these countries themselves. The world certainly cannot any longer be tyrannised over by imperialism and its lackeys." Guarantee of prosperous and cultured life The October Revolution "brought the people not only freedom, but also material benefits and the possibility of a prosperous and cultured life." (Stalin) The nationalisation of land, large-scale industry, railways and banks and the institu- tion of foreign trade monopoly-all of it together laid the foundation for planned social- ist economy. The working peasantry received from the Soviet state gratis 150,000,000 hectares of land which before had belonged to landlords, bourgeoisie, the Czar's family and the Church. The new Socialist economy which is develop- ing according to plan, knows no crisis, unem- ployment, starvation and ruin. It is growing with a tempo unknown in any other country before. A steady rise in the living standards of the people has become a cardinal law of the economic development of the Soviet society. In the USSR, the entire national income is fully at the disposal of the working masses them- selves. The national income of the USSR in 1940 was six times above that of pre-revolutionary times, in 1950 it was 64% above 1940 level. The incomes of the working people are systematically growing in the USSR; wages of factory and office workers increased more than five times over from 1929 to 1940. The incomes of factory and office workers and . peasants in 1950 were 62% above 1940. working day in Soviet factories and offices and a seven to six hour day in a number of trades. A working day of four hours has been fixed for those engaged in injurious trades. An advanced State Social Insurance System prevails and in addition to money wages, the people of the USSR receive various benefits and privileges at the expense of the state (free medical aid, free education, free technical training, stipends to students, allowances to mothers of large families, etc.) The USSR has now become a country of universal literacy; while on the eve of the Revolution in Russia only 30% of the popu- lation were 'able to read and write. The number of pupils in general schools and special- ised secondary schools amounts to 37 millions, nearly five times as many as in Czarist Russia. Projects of Communism But all these grand achievements of Socialism triumphant will pale into insignificance when the new Stalin projects of building Communism are completed, when the Soviet Union success- fully makes the transition from the present stage of Socialism ("from each according to his capacity, to each according to his work") to the stage of Communism "from each according to his capacity to each according to his needs". Socialism has released new, unprecedented, creative energy of the million-fold masses, energy capable of changing the course of rivers, of bringing life to deserts, reviving land, and of realising the most daring dreams of mankind. The Soviet Union has begun work on the greatest construction of modern times, creating a power- ful production-technical base of Communism. The huge power installations on the Volga, Dneiper and Amu Darya will have a capa- city that will exceed by far the over-all capacity of 30 of the biggest power stations in the USA which took decades to build. Their capacity will be four times greater than that of all the hydro-electric stations in South America. The newly planned Turkmenian, South Ukrainian, North Crimean and Volga-Don canals will be the greatest in the world and link up for navigation purposes all the oceans and seas that girdle the USSR. In the next 5 to 7 years, over 28 million hectares of land in the USSR will be brought under irrigation, that is, an area seventeen times greater than the entire crop area of Denmark, 30 times that of the Netherlands, and 53 times that of Belgium. This area could accommodate five such countries as Great Britain, Belgium, Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 AUpproved For Release 2001/09/10 Holland, enmark and Switzerland taken to- gether. The new irrigated lands alone can pro- vide everything needed to ensure a life of well- being for a hundred million people. The grandeur of these projects is seen from the fact that the USA after hundreds of years' work has but eight million hectares of irrigated land. The words of the great Lenin that the economic policy of Sovietland exerts a powerful influence on the development of the, struggle of the working people against imperial- ist bondage sound with particular force today : "All look to the Soviet Russian Republic, all working people in all countries of the world, without exception and without any exaggeration." Economic co-operation as equals Socialism has meant not only prosperity for the people that achieved it, but also fraternal economic aid to the nations that break away from the imperialist orbit and seek its coopera- tion for upbuilding their national economies. Unlike the reactionary rulers of Western. .Europe, the leaders of Eastern European states refused to accept the enslaving terms of the Marshall Plan and sought Soviet aid to rehabilitate their economies devastated during the war under Nazi occupation and it was readily given. It is because of Soviet assistance that in bare six years they have passed from the stage of rehabilitation to that of building the foundations of a socialist future for their peoples. The leaders of New China gratefully admit that without the selfless assistance given in the form of technicians and machinary, the marvel of Chinese National Construction would not have been possible in that record quick time when compared with 1949? increa- sed 11.4 fold, steel 7.8 fold and output of diffe- rent kinds of machinery has more than. trebled. The Indian Government's efforts to seek help for the industrialisation of India are confined to knocking at the doors of White- hall and White House or their satellites in western Europe. The leading Indian industrial- ists too cannot think of others besides British and American monopolists for getting machine tools and technical assistance and are being called upon to agree to fantastic and ensla- ving terms. Session after session of UNE- CAFE has revealed that the aim of Anglo- American rulers is not to aid but to hinder the industrialisation of backward Asian nations and intensify their colonial exploitation. The Colombo Plan has put in black and white the economic counter-part of the Mount- batten Plan : The concentrations on the "development CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 of agriculture " without touching feudal land relations and without giving land to the tiller only means more intensive exploitation of our peasantry and retention of India prima- rily as the producer of raw materials and as an agrarian hinterland of the doininent economy of imperialist countries. The development of Indian transport only hnplies strengthening it for the strategic war purposes of the imperialists. Giving the last place and least attention to industries implies perpetuating the existing economic colonial backwardness of our economy. Soviet offer of aid In the latest session of the UNECAFE, at Colombo on October 12, the Soviet represen- tative not only exposed the imperialist policy of perpetuating the dependent, backward and colonial character of the economies of the Asian countries but made the declaration that the USSR was prepared to help the industria- lisation of Asian countries and the independent development of their national economies by supplying machinery in exchange of their raw material produce on mutually acceptable purely business basis. It is not only a general offer but is being rapidly and concretely implemented and fortu- nately the first country to which the Soviets have paid attention is our own. The press reports that a couple of Soviet ships are bringing machinery of all sorts as well as consumer goods to be publicly demonstrated in a Soviet pavillion at the International Industries Fair to be orga- nised towards the end of the next month in Bombay. Those of the national capitalists of India, genuinely interested in industrialising the country, who were so for being starved of machinery, the know-how and the technical personnel by the Anglo-American monopolists, have now the chance of their lives opened before them. The Indian people who were so far being fed on the myth that the USSR was either unwilling or in no position to help in the industrialisation of India will be able to see through the hoax with their own eyes and will be encouraged to demand the necessary changes in the Government policy. Progressive Indian opinion has noted the sharp difference in Soviet and American offers of wheat. The Soviet Government began dispatching ship-loads even before business terms had been settled, on the mere word of the Indian Ambassador that a great famine threatened our country and every day counted. American reactionary rulers sought to exploit INDIA TO-DAY. Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 our famine situation to blackmail us into changing our foreign policy. The contrast in their attitude towards aiding our industrial- isation is still more glaring, it is the difference between black and white. It is in this backgriound that the World Peace Council has convened a World Economic Conference at Moscow on the basis that economic co-operation between nations is one of the surest guarantees of preserving world peace.. It is reported that a fairly influential dele- gation of Indian industrialists and businessmen is becoming interested and will respond to the invitation. It is understood that the Soviet attitude to trade with India is : Tell us what you need and sell us in return what you don't need for yoursef No nation can desire a better offer. Make the choice Years back, in 1923, the prophetic vision of the great Lenin had foreseen that "in the last analysis the upshot of the struggle will be deter- mined by the fact that Russia, India and China, etc., account for the overwhelming majority of the population of the globe." By 1951 the imperialists have realised the danger to themselves in the three of us getting together much more clearly than the Indian people yet understand the grand prospect before them contained in the Leninist pers- pective above. The central point in the Anglo-American imperialist attitude towards India is to prevent at all costs such a perspective materialising. That is the condition on which they "transferred power" on August -15, 1947, and ensured India's remaining within the British Empire. That is why they talk of making Nehru their leader of Asia. That is why they alternate blackmail with cajolery and a tough Loy Hendereson is followed by a liberal Bowles. The coming general elections will be the first nation-wide political action of the Indian people. It will be the supreme task of progressive Indian parties to ask the Congress ruling class some leading questions and call upon the Indian people to judge aright. How is the foreign policy of the Indian Government a genuine peace policy when the Indian representatives at the UNO take pains to demarcate themselves from the Soviet peace policy and seek to water down or radically amend the clear-cut peace proposals of the USSR representatives. How is it not flirting between the camps of peace and war "? How is the Far Eastern and Middle Eastern policy of the Indian Government worthy of a freedom loving major Asian nation when it sends an ambulance to serve the American aggressors in Korea; when instead of recog- nising the Ho Chi Minh Government it lets the French imperialists use Indian air ports and their bases at Pondicherry, etc., to carry on their dirty war in Viet-Nam; when it permits Gurkhas to go and fight for the British enslavers in Malaya; when it supplies arms and ammuni- tions to Thakin Nu to prosecute Civil War in Burma; when it remains silent over the Anglo- American intrigues to grab Iran's oil; when the Egyptian leaders have to appeal for the moral support of India before Nehru would deign to express his sympathy with Egypt? How is the Indian Government pursuing an independent economic policy when it surren- ders to the American ban against entering into closer economic relations with the USSR and the People's Democracies? The only path before India Our people spontaneously realise that their destined place is with the USSR and China and against the imperialist camp. The tradi- tion of our national movement is also pro- Soviet and pro-China and anti-imperialist. Our people have to be roused against the pro-imperialist opportunist foreign policy of the Indian Government. Our people have to be won for the policy of India-China-Soviet friendship. Firm India-China-Soviet coope- ration for world peace will successfully disrupt the Anglo-American imperialist aim of dragging the world into World War III and every nation will get the best chance to earn its future according to its own genius and strength. Fraternal India-China-Soviet cooperation, when the whole of the colonial world from Korea to Cairo is passing th rough an unprece- dented popular upsurge, can compel the im- perialists to quit Asia. Mutually beneficial India-China-Soviet eco- nomic cooperation can help us solve our food crisis and get the means to industrialise our country. The path to Indian prosperity, Asian freedom and world peace lies through India-China-Soviet alliance. On this 34th anniversary of the Russian Revolution, a month after the second anniversary of Chinese liberation and after our own four year's experience of the Mountbatten Plan, this path stands out as the only alternative to acting the miserable fly in the traditional imperialist spider's web. Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Electoral Situation in Bengal From Our Correspondent The very mention of Bengal stirs senti- ments. It has faced calamity after cala- mity-famine, epidemics and then parti- tion. It is scarred with suffering and yet Bengal's is not a tale of tears. The Bengali has always fought back and in a manner as to command the respect of all. If the British rulers inflicted the horrible famine in 1943, the Bengali peasant had his revenge when 60 lakhs rose like an endless tide in the mighty Tebhaga movement of 1946. If the then Governor Casey through his long talks with Mahatma Gandhi in Calcutta laid the basis for Mountbatten-Nehru Settlement, the patriotic people of Bengal unleashed the INA upsurge which acclaimed as national heroes the very persons the British wanted to shoot as traitors. In vain endeavour to drown popular discontent, the Congress Ministry could shoot helpless Communist detenus inside the jails or inno- cent, unarmed citizens on the streets of Cal- cutta but the result has been that not one of Bengal's Ministers dare face a public meeting from 1949 upto date. Bengal has always been more Left than the. rest of India. Where does it exactly stand today on the eve of elections ? Calcutta and the industrial belt Bengal and its immediate neighbourhood is the most industrialised part of India but British capital dominates the main industries, e.g., jute, plantations, coal. The burra sahebs of British Managing Agencies are carrying on exactly as before, the only difference is that on ceremonial occasions the Tricolour flies in front of their offices instead of the Union Jack. They "trust" B. C. Roy more than they trust any other Bengali. B. C. Roy Ministry is a one-man show, other ministers are nowhere near being his equals. And everyone in Calcutta calls B. C. Roy Birla's man. The most popular description of the Ministry is a gang of thieves. There is a chronic food and cloth crisis and stories of all-round corruption are household gossip. Workers and employees have known no wage-increase after what they won through the first post-war strike-wave (1945-47) and subsequent Tribunal-Awards. Even after the steep rise in the cost of living after the Korean War, they have not received any increased dearness allowance. Retrenchment and rationalisation is taking place in every office and factory. Nobody feels secure in his job. Younger men out of' college are swelling the ranks of the unemplo- yed. Every housewife curses the Government in juicy terms when the women start com- paring notes on prices of daily necessities. Whenever a Communist cadre meets an old aunt or elderly friends of the family, the inevi- table question asked is: When will it end, son What are you doing about it ? Every clerk's family is in debt by the last week of the month. Thus radicalisation has spread on a mass scale among Calcutta's middle class. The common talk in local trains, trams and buses is that the Congress Ministry must go: The weakness of the situation is that here the unani- mity ends. Even the more enlightened city folks are not clear about the alternative. Some- times their attention gets diverted by what reaction does in Pakistan. But life brings them back face to face with real issues and their discontent against the Congress Government goes on mounting higher and higher. In Calcutta and district towns Communist Party and Left meetings are best attended. People sit for hours listening. They seek an alternative path and are trying to come to their own conclusions. In rural areas The British rulers imposed on Bengal the most reactionary feudal land tenure--the permanent settlement. Congress Ministries in other provinces have at least talked of agrarian reforms but the Congress Ministry of Bengal has just sat upon the agrarian problem. Government procurement policy is such that the peasant is denied a fair price and literally fleeced. He is paid Rs. 7/ 8/ - per maund for his paddy but the Government sells it at Rs. 13/6/- to Rs. 16/- per maund. And when the landless and poor peasants have to buy rice they have to pay Rs. 25/- to 30/- at least. In some areas the price goes up to 10 INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10: CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Rs. 40 f., to Rs. 60/- per maund! The picture of The Communist Party, after correcting its the prices of other necessities is as bad as in any Left mistakes, has * been actively rousing the other province. unity sentiment and explaining how unity The village folks easily concede that this of all democratic forces is the only way out Government has failed. In their homes the of Congress misrule and prevalent corruption. commonly heard phrase is: Swadhinata pelain The vast mass of people are going against ki holo? (We got freedom but what is the the Congress Government and if neverthe- result?) The more demoralised say that less the Congress wins, it will be solely due to the British rulers were better because things division among the popular and Left forces. have become worse tinder the Congress rule. All progressive elements clearly admit it and Bitter experience is leading them to demoralised acclaim the unity efforts of the Communist Party. apathy and not to a positive alternative. When But most of the mass organizations had been coming elections are discussed they ask: vote split through Congress disruption and weaken- diye ki hobe? (What is the use of voting). And ed through repression and instead of quick then they start reminiscing and recall how after recovery a phase of stagnation intervened. The getting elected all leaders look after their own Communist Party is not yet strong to be interests and nobody bothers about the poor able to build a broad-based and solid United villagers. Front of democratic forces. The corner has This is, of course, not the picture in the been turned, some significant successes scored, Red Flag areas who have known in the past but the anti-Congress popular unity movement Kisan Sabha activities. There anti-Congress is yet weak discontent is expressing itself in mass mobili- How does United Front stand ? sation in election rallies and the talk is when An electoral alliance has been almost establi- and how we shall succeed in achieving what shed between the Communist Party (CPI), the Chinese kisan has won-land and people's the Praja Party (KMPP) and the United rule. But these bases are like islands, both Socialist Organisation of India (USOI) started large and small, in the vast sea of rural Bengal. by Syt. Sarat Bose, and consisting of Forward Other Left parties are mostly urban. The Bloc (FB), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (KMPP) has wider links Republicans, Bolshevik Party, Socialist ks but it is also confined to politically advan- Unity Centre, etc. ced rural areas. In the vast majority of villages The story of building this United Front is the peasants know of no alternative to the give Congress and so feel demoralised and political very interesting. call for United Front for elections and apathy prevails. The Ministry knows it and its spokesmen say: "Calcutta is not Bengal." contacted the Left parties. Originally they They hope to win the majority by winning tended to take a high and mighty attitude the majotity of rural seats. The great danger and seriously believed that Government re- lies in a situation that the majority of Bengal's pression had almost smashed the CPI and peasants may not come to polls at all. A sought to strike the best electoral bargain by minority of voters may be dragged to booths keeping their noses stuck up. But the need by the hirelings of vested interests, through for Left Unity was keenly felt by the rank caste and local appeals and with the aid of and file and more serious-minded among the local official machinery, and thus lead to leaders of all Left Parties. Congress victory. The democratic parties of However, unity did not come by merely the opposition may not be able to branch out appealing for it. The practical experience and stir Bengal's countryside and get the mass of the bye-elections drove home its necessity of peasants actively express their discontent and possibilities. The first was Howrah muni- against Congress rule by voting against it. cipal election where the United Left success- It is noteworthy that even in the latest Cal- fully defeated the Congress and Socialist Party cutta by-election, not more than 20% came disruptors. The second was the Chanderriagore to vote. Assembly election where the broad-based unity of all progressive and democratic elements Unity sentiment popular led to a smashing defeat of the Congress candi- dates in all the 25 seats. Here was positive In Calcutta the Mara (Mohalla) youth inspiring experience. But there was also ne- say: We will work for that organisation where gative experience. In Malda bye-election for we see U ! (U for Unity or United Front). the Provincial Assembly seat, it was a trian- Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 gular conflict. The KMPP and CPI candidates between themselves polled' a total of about 11 thousand (5 thousand and odd each). The Congress candidate polled only 8 thousand and odd but won because of the split in the democratic opposition votes. Malda experience swung the KP/IPP to- wards unity with the Communists. The KMPP leader Dr. P. C. Ghosh, as Chief Minister had begun the Ordinance Raj and the lathi- charging and shooting of demonstrators which later Dr. B. C. Roy carried forward more cynically and brutally. Other top leaders of the KMPP like Dr. Suresh Bannerji, and Syt. Deben Sen had, as the top leaders of the INTUC, slandered Red Flag trade union leaders, helped the Government to break strikes, etc., etc. But as a realist bourgeois leaderhip they easily saw from the victories of Howrah and Chandernagore and the defeat of Malda that without unity with the Commu- nists, Congress could not be defeated, nor their plans of forming an alternative Ministry be rea- lised. After long and serious discussion among themselves, the KMPP leadership approached the Communists for electoral unity. The Communist leadership reminded them of their earlier policy statements where they had declared that their aim was to fight the Communists and Communalists alike. They promised to change it and on the 1st of Sep- tember they publicly rescinded their earlier stand and began advocating the need for unity with the Communists. Their argument is simple: If we two unite we can defeat the Congress in Bengal. As united front relations between the CPI and the KMPP developed, other Left parties also swung decisively for unity. Some of the RSP leaders had tried to forge an anti- Congress and anti-Communist bloc through the USOI but failed. The most eager for unity was the Marxist Forward Bloc. The USOI could not promptly and decisively take definite positions because of the predomi- nance of smaller parties within it. So there was talk for a while whether electoral united front should not be confined to KMPP, CPI, FB and RSP as the four major parties who really matter. This would have broken up the USOI and upset the smaller groups within it. The CPI leadership took the wise stand that the four bigger parties could be the basis of united front but smaller parties should be included in it. Discussions were compli- cated but they did lead in early October to a formal electoral alliance between the KMPP, CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 the CPI and the USOI. Anti-Communist front It is not that there are no "Left" disruptors in Bengal. The Socialist Party has linked up with the splinter Leela Roy Forward Biockists, the so-called Revolutionary Communist Party (RCPI-Tagore wing) and they call themselves the "Socialist Front" ! Their main slogan is "No truck with the Communists". The people of Bengal don't think much of these Ameri- can-brand anti-Communists for they know that an electoral United Front which instead of including the Communists is directed .against them is dirty business. This unholy 'Combination has not much influence either. Socialist Party leaders approached those of the KNIPP and tried to blackmail them with the threat: If you have united front with the Communists, we will expose you. They ere put in their place by the KMPP people. Recently when Ashok Metha came to Calcutta, he was upset by the sight of Marxist classics being sold at every street-corner stall in Calcutta. In his public speech he cursed the intellectual decadence of present da) Bengal and promised the Bengalis that his Party will produce real educattional material for them. One can imagine the devastating elect of such a statement on the sensitive Bengals intellegentia ! Later J. P. too came to Calcutta and held a Press Conference and when he came io his favourite theme of anti-Communism the press correspondents put their pencils down and looked either bored or amused. J. P. lost: his temper and the story made the round of Calcutta. Socialist leaders are at their wits' end discussing how to penetrate Bengali intelli- gentsia "corrupted by Communism". Their American literature is not proving very helpful Discussion over minimum programme The Communist leaders suggested to their electoral allies that minimum electoral pro- gramme be discussed. In informal discussions with the KMPP leaders following points emerged Unite to defeat the Congress. Tight corruption and black-marketeers. Fight For Civil Liberties. Repeal Public Security Act. Release all political prisoners. Abolition of landlordism with compensation. (KMPP leaders argue that the Constitution stands in. the way of confiscation and so a 12 INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 small sum will have to be given as compensa- tion but it can be given in 40 to 50 yearly instalments. Nationalisation of Jute industry, with guarantee to Indian share-holders that they will get their dividends as fixed by the State. The KMPP leaders claim to have no love for the British Commonwealth but hesitate to agree in writing to the demand of leaving the Commonwealth. They argue that it is an All-India affair, and cannot be decided by Bengal alone. They also ask whether it is not more advisable to stay inside the Common- wealth when we can pursue an independent foreign policy. They agree that they would not propagate for staying within the Common- wealth. 'T'hey are not for confiscating but control- ling British capital. They want to ensure that no part of British capital is able to leave India. The Communist leaders took the stand that there are several points of agreement to form the basis of an agreed minimum pro- gramme but more discussions would be needed. The USOI parties were not keen at first on any minimum programme but wanted the electoral alliance to only arrange a division of seats without any political commitments. When the discussions began, they pressed for "nationalisation of key and basic industries." The CPI programme stands only for the confiscation of British capital. In these dis- cussions the CPI spokesmen stated that the CPI also stood for this demand but not in the last stage of the Revolution and that the Party will be strictly guided by experience. Let this standpoint of CPI be noted in the document of the minimum programme. 'Thus this hurdle could be overcome. As regards foreign policy most of the Left parties want to pledge friendly alliance with the USSR and China, but the KMPP wants to stick to neutrality. All except some KSP leaders stand for strengthening the movement for World Peace. Solidarity with China is the most popular item. Division of seats There are 238 seats in all and all the demo- cratic parties are concentrating on about 150 seats which are in politically more advanced areas. The danger lies in the fact that in the rest of the seats, in the darker rural regions, Congress may have an easy walk over. The one aim of the electoral united front is to avoid triangular conflict and face the Congress with a united democratic opposi- Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 tion. This makes the division of seats among the opposition parties a very tough affair. Division of seats in Calcutta is the hardest. Leaders of all parties want safe seats in Cal- cutta. There are 26 seats in all and the Left influence dominates in 12-15 constituen- cies. In the countryside all the democratic parties are concentrated in politically advanced areas and do not want to go to open up new areas during the elections and this brings about conflict of interests. The Communists are keenest on unity and are acting as the bridge between the KMPP and the USOI parties and their leaders smilingly state: All we are getting for our unity efforts for the time being, is that the other parties want more seats at our cost. Narrow sectarianism is raising its head in two different forms when cadres of Left parties come face to face with the problem of division of seats. Communist cadres ask their leaders: Why should we give up our safe seats and why to KMPP leaders who did this and that to us in the past" Many of the KMPP candidates are not very desirable and Communist cadres ask: Is the united front to push up fellows like these? Sectarian- ism of other parties expresses itself in their hesitation to sacrifice seats but claim more than their real influence warrants. The negotiations are reaching the final stage and it is hoped that the KMPP and the USOI parties will not break away over differences over seats. The role of the Communist Party What is the attitude of the people and the progressive Left parties towards the CPI now? All those who are politically serious and have been following events are convinced that the CPI is making sincere efforts for unity and is prepared to make the necessary sacrifices. Not even those who had systematically propagandized for some time that the CP[ had been smashed up by repression or ren- dered ineffective through internal dissensions, now pretend to believe what they had prea- ched. The CPI is generally accepted as the Left Party. It is readily conceded that no real democratic opposition to the Congress regime can be organised by excluding the CPI. The mass of the common people respect the CPI as a real fighting Party and thinking Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 sections loo's up to the CPI as the coming Party in opposition to the Congress, but it is also their estimate that it is not yet strong enough to deliver the goods. The people are not yet . very clear about Communist policy. The confusion caused by sectarian mistakes of the recent past and slanderous propaganda by reactionary forces has not yet been totally removed. The Party is strong among the Bengali workers, but weaker among the Hindustani workers. In the last elections. anti-Commu- nist national demogogy by Nehru and others had misled the majority of Hindustani workers to voting for the Congress. The experience of Congress Government has taught them a lot. They attend Party rallies in growing numbers and are at present in a vacillating mood. Middle-class youth is rapidly going pro- Party or pro-Left. The impact of China has been decisive. There is a definite shift towards the CPI in the towns. In the countryside, wherever the Red Flag has been active the peasantry has swung against the Congress and accepts the Party as its Party, but vast areas, the majority of villages, yet remain untouched by the Red Flag. Among the Muslims, the general senti- ment is against the Congress and for the Party. But the pressure of the Congress is being intensified. Most of the ex-League leaders have become Congress leaders today. Their propaganda line is : Vote for the Congress or you will have to go to Pakistan! This is having some demoralising effect in the villages though it is opening the eyes , of the Muslims in the towns. The Communist Party has been tradi- tionally strong in Bengal. All experienced and farsighted Bengalis wish it to rapidly regain its old strength and go stronger and stronger. It is not very difficult to see that it is only a rejuvenated, strong and united Communist Party that can aid and guide Bengal to cope with the acute problems crea- ted by partition, British domination of key industries, Marwari speculation at the Stock Exchange, blackmarket of all essential com- modities, and chronic food deficit under a Ministry which disdains even to talk of agra- rian reforms. The efforts of the Communist Party are directed to forging such a united democratic coalition of popular forces that the Congress rulers are made to pay for their sins in the coming election battle. World Economic Conference at Moscow Under the auspices of the World Peace Council, an International Economic Conference is going to be held in Moscow in December next. The Conference will discuss (i) the effects of the two World Wars on the national economy of each country, and (ii) the possible improvement in the standard of living of the peoples of the world, if peace is preserved and mutually benificient trade relations are established on a non-discriminatory basis. The All India Preparatory Committee formed by the Indian Peace Council is making efforts to ensure adequate and effective parti- cipation by the Indian people in the coming International Conference. It is learnt that the Indian Preparatory Committee's work has roused a keen interest among not only the Peace Partisans, but also wide sections of businessmen and industrialists, including some of the topmost rank. It shows that the evil effect of the Anglo-Ameri- can imperialist policy, further intensified by the latest armament programme, i.e., the denial of capital goods and essential raw materials and export of inflation, is getting exposed to wider sections of the Indian people. In fact, a number of news-items of the last few weeks have clearly underlined this fact. Contrast between two policies For example: (i) "Mr. Mahtab (Indian Industry Minister) who led the Indian delegation to the recent Commonowealth Conference in London on raw materials ..told Mr. Jnani Ram that `It was made clear to the participating coun- tries that raw materials, especially non- ferrous Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : metals and certain chemicals, were in very short supply because of Western rearmament pro- gramme and that it would not be possible for India or any other country to obtain these goods in the same quantity to meet her restric- ted requirements..." (Tine Statesman, October 7; emphasis mine - A. R.) Mr. Mahtab had flown to London with the begging bowl, but had to return empty-handed. (ii) "Effective from October 1, the National Shipping Authority of the U. S. A. has announ- ced an increase varying from $ 3.50 to $ 4.50 per ton in the rates for American Government. owned vessels for the carriage of grain to India. The new freight rates are 25 per ton from U. S. Atlantic coast to the Indian West coast. and $ 27.75 per ton to the Indian East coast.." (Tfte Statesman, October 14) The facade of Wall Street's sympathy for the starving millions of India is crumbling clown and the real face of the profiteers is getting unmasked. The first instalment of American wheat resulted in an increase of Its. 2/- a maund in price; the latest increase in freight is likely to further push it up by Re. 1/- unless with an eye to the coming general election, the Government of India pays it out of the exchequer. That import of American produce means import of inflation should be clear from this. (iii) The contrast between the selfish im- perialist policies of the Anglo-American bloc and the genuinely cooperative hand offered by the Soviet Union is too glaring even for the kept press of the imperialists to suppress. "Both the British and American delega- tions gave sober and rather depressing forecasts of the amount of goods likely to be available for export.... "The Russians, on the other hand, have offered to barter capital goods and consu- mer's articles in exchange for raw materials. . " (Times' report of the recent UNECAFE session, quoted by The Statesman, October 15). The sharp contrast between the two poli- cies-that of denial of essential supplies and high profiteering by the Anglo-American War- Bloc and the offer of capital and consumers' goods on the basis of equality and with no strings attached by the Soviet Union, which stands at the of head the Democratic Peace Camp, is opening the eyes of wider sections of the Indian people. Let the work of the Indian Preparatory Committee for the coming Inter- national Economic conference reflect this de- velopment. CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 The American counter show As a counter to the International Economic Conference convened by the World Peace Council, the National Association of Manu- facturers (NAM), the organisation of the topmost Wall Street monopolists, is making hectic preparations for the "First Internation- al Conference of Manufacturers" which will meet in the United States at the same time as the Moscow Conference. The difference in the outlook and purpose of the two conferences is obvious from their respective agenda. The agenda of the NAM Conference consists of: "Discussion of ways to improve production will centre around new or improved machines and tools, new materials, new processes, im- proved plant layout and design, better material- handling methods, research and invention, capital investment necessary for operating and harmonious employer-employee relations." (American Reporter, October 17) While the Moscow Conference will study the recent economic developments in advanced Western countries as well as backward colonial areas, the American Conference will confine its studies only to the highly advanced industrial countries. While the main purpose of the Moscow conference is to study the standard q f living of the world people, that of the NAM. Conference is nationalisation; and finally, while in the Moscow Conference will assemble the representatives of not only the businessmen and industrialists but of workers, peasants and other toiling peoples too, the NAM conference will gather the manufacturers only. It is only natural that the peoples of the world would look up to the Moscow Conference with eager expectation and upon the NAM Conference with deep distrust. Significant figures The recently published annual report on Currency and Finance by the Reserve Bank of India says : Out of a total estimated expenditure of Rs. 735 crores of the Central and State Govern- ments (except Rajasthan) for the year 1951-52, the share of Security including Defence Services is Its. 310 crores while that of Social Services is Its. 150 crores only. The expenditure on civil administrati6on is not given here. Even then, the amount spent on Police and Military alone is more than Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 twice that on education and health. This is not only a continuation of the old imperialist-bureaucratic policy in the sphere of public finance but also conforms to the general line of the Anglo-American War bloc. The democratic and peace forces in India, if united in a mighty upsurge, can change this pattern of anti-social, anti-national waste and employ this huge wealth for the betterment of the people's conditions. Misdeeds of Managing Agents On the eve of the parliamentary debate on the Company Law Amendments, we had discussed the harmful role of the Managing Agency System in our economy. In course of the debate itself, more damning revelations have been made by the official sources. "Replying to the debate, Finance Minister Sir C. D. Deshnuikh said," reported The Stalcs- man, that "he had before him about 100 cases, representative samples of various acts of mismanagement by managing agents. "Reading out certain cases, he said that in one case, about Rs. 55 lakhs were lent to private parties without security, for purposes unconnected with the legitimate objects of the Company, which was a mill. There were also several cases of issue of debentures for inAvest- ment in other concerns, grant of non-trading advances to nominees of managing agents or unknown parties, grants of loans and advances to managing agents or directors of companies on current account, interlocking of shares, accumulation of unrealised book debts and the like. The amount involved ran into c.rores fo Rupees ......" (The Statesman, September. 8 It may sound strange, but it is nevertheless a fact that even on the basis of the above evidence collected by its own sources, the Government of India did not think it necessary to issue an ordinance to eliminate or control the malprac- tices of the managing agents.` On the contrary, all it did was to issue an ordinance, and later rush through the Parliament a bill to prevent the existing managing agents being dislodged by other upstarts. The thin end Simultaneously with the signing ol.' the `Peace' Treaty with America's Japanese pro- tectmate, the Government of India has granted it fishing concession to a Japaries firm, the Taiyo Fishinti Go,, Ltd., to carry on fishing opera- tions in Indian waters off the Bombay and Saurashtra coasts. Almost. at the same time American domina- ted Japanese cartel, International Silk Association, has initiated in India "a country-wide cam- paign to step up the consumption" of Japanese sill.. At the first instance they would spend 2,771 or Its. 13,500 in this campaign. These are pointers over which Indian industrialists would do well to ponder. A Note on Indian Shipping "Indian shipping", writes the editor of the Investor's (India) Tear-Book-1951, the wcll- known publication by the foremost brokers in the Calcutta Stock-Exchange, "made slow snit nevertheless steady progress ...... I'lie Government of India decided to reserve the coastal trade exclusively for Indian shipping and notice was given to terminate the licences of the British companies within twelve months from August 15, 1950. When Indian owned and chartered tonnage was found inadequate to deal with the coastal cargo, foreign companies were permitted to berth tonnage on the coast under special licences granted for specific periods. Analysis .... at the end of 1950 revealed that considerable headway had been made since the coastal trade was reserved for Indian shipping. The licenced tonnage of foreign shipping had been reduced to 48,000 tons compared to 1,78,000 tons two years ago. Coastal cargo carried by Indian shipping, which amounted to 53% of the total in 1948, rose to 62% in 1949, and in 1950, was slightly over 75%, against a pre-war figure of 33%,. Indian tonnage on coast, or based on it, owned or chartered, now stands at a little over 2,47,000 tons. There was a similar progres- sive increase in Indian shipping in the overseas trade. Xo Indian ships participated in this trade in 1946-47, but by the end of 1950, their number stood at 25..." Though it is not known what part of the fleet at the disposal of the Indian shipping companies is really owned by them and what part is chartered from foreign shipping mono- polists at exorbitant rates, the advance re- gistered by the Indian shipping is undeniable. From 33% of the total in the pre-war days, the share of the Indian companies in the coastal shipping rose to over 75% at the end of 1950; from nil in 1946-47, the number of Indian ships in the deep-sea trade rose to 25 at the end See on //age 21 ] INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Shanti Tyagi Real Lace of Panchayat in Uttar Pradesh Raj Over two years ago the establishment of Village Panchayats in the Uttar Pradesh was announced with great fanfare. Congress leaders and government ministers declared the formation of Panchayats to be the dawn of a new era for the tens of millions of pea- sants in the state. 'their radio and the kept press boasted that the setting up of Pancha- yats was the biggest experiment in rural de- mocracy ever witnessed in the world. What is the reality behind these loud phrases? Background to formation of Panchayats The post-war period was a period of great popular upsurge. In the wake of a memorable anti-imperialist general awaken- ing and alongside the mighty struggles of the Indian workers and students, soldiers and sailors and the state's peoples, the peasant masses of India too rose in mighty movements in several regions of the country. The peasant of the U. P. was also on his feet in Basti, Rae- barelli and other districts, militantly fighting back the ejectment offensive of the zamindars supported by police bayonets. And, though, for some time, the frenzy of communal blood-baths gave the Kisan movement here a big setback, it never died down. The economic crisis grew from bad to worse causing appalling distress to the rural population. Inflationary prices of industrial goods, scarcity of fodder and fuel, prohibitive prices of food and cloth, epidemics and floods, new taxes and ejectments and low wages made life impossible among the mass of peasantry. Discontent, disillusionment and unrest grew rapidly during the course of 1948. There was a spate of spontaneous struggles of the agricultural labourers and poor peasants. The peasant masses were beginning to realise the utter falsity of the promises and slogans of the Congress rulers. Real aims of the Panchayat scheme Congress bosses quickly saw the writing on the wall. They were fully aware of the NOVEMBER 1951 democratic orientation of this peasant upsurge. They were also aware of the deep-rooted tra- ditions of some kind of Panchayati set-up in the villages for hundreds of years and the growing aspirations of the peasant for some sort of direct and real participation in the administration of the land. The watchful rulers understood that guns alone won't do. Something more was needed to calm and cow down the agrarian unrest. So while unleashing police and goonda terror against the struggling peasantry, they simul- taneously resorted to the deceitful propaganda of the Zamindari abolition and the advent of peasant self-rule. A whole barrage of propa- ganda was let loose to strengthen existing illusions and to create new ones among the masses of peasants. They calculated that the Panchayats combined with and supported by Prantiya Rakshak Dal (the Government sponsored, police-administered semi-voluntary volunteer force) would act as brakes on the popular movement and that they would help in disrupting the fighting solidarity of the peasant masses and help Congress to maintain itself in power. This was the Central objective of the Panchayat scheme. The framers so designed the Panchayat apparatus as to provide jobs to a good number of dissatisfied Congress workers. We will presently see how these calculations were not wholly miscarried. Class composition of Panchayats Despite the provision of adult franchise, the elections to the Gram Panchayats and Panchayati Adalats were far from free and fair. Although the Congress party did not officially contest these elections, nevertheless, it used coercion, threats, official pressure, money and other unscruplous methods to back the candidates of her choice to win. Further, the candidates were required to deposit elec- tion fees which the poor sections found di- fficult to afford. Besides, in case of defeat, security was forfeited without any regard of Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 the number of votes polled. Thus the govern- ment pocketed tens of thousands of rupees. Moreover, educational qualifications were imposed in respect of the office of Gram Sabha Pradhan and the members of the Adalats which barred the door against many uneducated but honest and fighting elements. On top of it, the Communist and several other Left parties were not allowed to freely participate in the elections. Restrictions were imposed on their propaganda, meetings and demonstrations and a large number of Communist Party workers were either driven underground or detained. Muslim voters under fear voted for the Congress-favoured candidates. Congressmen and zamindars also did their worst to exploit the communal and caste instincts of the electorate. Thus were born the 35,000 Gram Pancha- yats and 8,000 Panchayti Adalats.* The government appointed 8 thousand secretaries and about 500 inspectors to run the whole machine. These Panchayats and Adalats are either landlord or landlord-cum-rich-peasant domi- nated. There are also cases where they are dominated by an alliance of rich and middle peasants. In some places, they are under the domination of rich peasants alone. Some of the Panchayats or Panchayati Adalats are also democratically led by the honest repre- sentatives of the toiling masses themselves. In majority of cases, however, we find the above class combinations controlling and directing the activities of the Panchayats. And though representatives of the agricultural labour, poor and small peasants and untouch- *The main provisions of the Panchayat Raj Act can be summarised as follows: I The Gram Sabha is supposed to be the self-govern- ing body of a village or a group of villages. Every adult resident of the area concerned is a life member of the Gram Sabha, except, of course those of unsound mind or in Government service, etc. The Gram Sabha is supposed to hold usually two meetings In the year - one soon after harvesting of the Kharif crop and the other after the Rabi. One-fifth of the members can requisition a meeting. Every Gram Sabha elects an Executive Committee which is called Gram Panchayat. It consists of 30 to 51 members, and is elected for a period of 3 years. The Gram Panchayat has been given wide powers. It can make provisions for construction and maintenance, etc., of public streets, wells, tanks, ponds, medical relief, sanitation; registering births, deaths and marriages; regula- tions of burial ghats and cemetries; regulation of melas; maintenance of primary schools, common grazing grounds, public properties; regulation of construction of new private buildings and alterations in the existing ones; administration of Civil and Criminal justice and able masses are also found on them, they have no decisive voice. In many instances even these representatives serve as the agents of one or the other section of the dominating classes, or play between them, or in case of a more or less harmonious combine ruling the Panchayats, play second fiddle to the ruling group. However, we should not forget one thing that these Panchayats, with the exception of big landlords, are manned by persons belonging to classes which are essentially democratic, anti- imperialist, and anti-feudal. Another thing to be noted is that these Panchayats, while co-operating with the Govern- ment on many issues, also resist its reactionary policies. In fact, the present unpopular policies followed by most of the Panchayati bodies, the weak representation or voice of the toiling peasantry in these bodies, and the opportunism of the elected representatives of the toiling stratas, is mainly due to a low stage of class consciousness, very weak organisation, and still weaker intervention of the down-trodden masses. Recently I made a study of the class composition of the Panchayat of village Kaith- wari in Meerut district and of the represen- tatives of this village on the Panchayati Adalat of that area. This examination revealed that out of a total of 38 Panchayat members, only 3 are rich peasants. The rest belong to the middle peasantry, rural artisan and agricultural labouring classes. There are 2 poor peasants. However, despite their very small number the rich peasant members rule the day in the Panchayat. the election of Panches on. the panel of the Panchayati Adalat, etc., etc. In addition to the above, there are numerous dis- cretionary functions of the Gram Panchayats, viz., planting and maintaining of trees; improved breeding and medical care of the cattle; organizing a village volunteer force for watch and ward development of co-operation; managing of seed and implement stores, taqavi loans, famine relief, libraries and akharas, etc., The Gram Panchayat can also enquire into the misconduct of amin, process server, vaccinator, constable, patwari, patrol, or peon of any government department. Every Gram Sabha elects five adults as Panches of the Panchayati Adalat. Panches from a group of villages form the panel of Panchayati Adalat for that circle of villages and they elect a Sarpanch. Offences under certain sections of the Indian Penal Code; the Cattle Trespass Act, the U. P. District Boards Primary Education Act 1926; the Public Gambling Act, etc. are cognizable by a Panchayati Adalat, which is empowered to demand the execution of a bond for an amount not exceeding Rs. 10J for keeping the peace for a period not exceeding 15 days. Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 And out of 5 representatives of this village on the Adalat, 2 are small landlords (also indulging in usury), 2 rich peasants (doing petty usury and black-marketting also) and one is a rural poor serving them. This Adalat also is controlled by two rich peasants, one of them being a Congressite. Tax, tax and tax You may go to any area in the Uttar Pradesh and you will find peasants and rural workers bitterly complaining against the imposition of newer and fresher taxes by the Panchayats. Where the Panchayats are either reluctant or slow in taxing, the inspectors pull them up and force them to do the un- pleasant. In fact, the majority of Panchayats have done nothing except inventing new taxes. There is no economic activity of the toiling population which goes untaxed. There are unheard of taxes! Ridiculous taxes! Just as in backward feudal states!! The following table will give an idea of the nature and extent of this taxation : Shopkeeper attending weekly village market Vendors Sale of cattle, etc. Sale and identification paper Bullock-carts( for hire) Petty wholesalers Agriculturists Village shopkeepers Weavers Weighman, etc. Khandsari Producers Summons of Pancha- yati Adalats Anna 1 to As. 2 per week As. 4 per visit. Anna 1 per rupee of the sale amount Re. I/- Rs. 3/- as yearly license fee Rs. 5/- yearly Anna 1 per rupee the total rent. Rs. 3/- yearly Rs. 3/- per loom Rs. 3/- yearly Rs. 8/- yearly As. 8 per summons. This is how even the poorest in the village are being burdened with taxes. Besides, heavy fines and penalties are imposed by the Panchayats and Panchayati Adalats in the cases decided by them. In addition to these taxes there are drives for "voluntary donations" launch- ed from time to time for different purposes. The heads and amount of taxes differs from area to area. But one thing is common to all villages. The panchayats fix them without any reference to the Gram Sabhas, (the general assembly of village population) knowing as they do that unpopular taxation would encounter fierce resistance of the pea- sants. That is also why Gram Sabha sessions are usually not held at all though consti- tutionally it must meet twice a year. The amount collected through such taxes and fines is deposited with the treasury, while village wells and school buildings lie in dila- pidated condition, village lanes remain in a most insanitary state, men and cattle die for lack of medical aid, food and fodder, but this money is not allowed to be touched in most cases. On. the other hand, the Panchayat Raj Department of the Government makes it im- perative for the Panchayats to subscribe for official papers such as PANCHATATI RAJTA and draws the money for the same from the treasury. Some time back, the Panchayats were compelled to "donate " for a newspaper which never saw the light of day. ! One may see villages where some sort of constructive work, which benefits the entire village population or part of it, was done under the old village or community panchayats and also under the Rural Development Scheme of the first Congress ministry in U. P. But the constructive performance of the present panchayats, with their increased resources, is almost negligible. In service of the police In other spheres Panchayats have served as the organs of the police. The Gram Sabha Pradhan is used by the police and other authori- ties to extort bribes in disputes and other cases. He is made to supply information to police officials regarding the work and acti- vities of political parties and mass organi- sations. Panchayats are also used by the police and landlords to sabotage rallies, etc., organised by the Communist and other Left parties by spreading slanders and panic in the villages. Pradhans often advise tax officers of the District Boards to levy income tax on the village poor and others on the basis of wrong information about their incomes. They defend, on the other hand, the black-marketeers and bullies. On top of it, they themselves extort illegal money and service for themselves in various ways. In most of the village disputes, which come under the jurisdiction of Panchayats and Adalats, justice is not done. Very recent- ly Panchayats have been empowered to bound Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 down persons in the name of peace and order and in event of refusal to furnish bonds they can be detained by the police. This is a measure clearly aimed against the peasant militants. Thus the Gram Panchayats have functioned, more often than not, as organs of intimida- tion, corruption, disruption and discrimina- tion. Institutions based on adult suffrage and directly associated with the masses and mostly controlled by persons belonging to anti-impe- rialist, anti-feudal class, thus pursuing generally anti-popular policies ! How shall we explain this phenomenon? This phenomenon is ex. plained by the fact that the ideological, organisational and united front level of the peasant movement in our province is still very low. Whom do Panchyats help ? The results of this so-called "colossal ex- periment in rural democracy" are the common talk of the villages today. Go to any village and you will find peasants bitterly complain- ing that since the inception of Panchayats rivalries, feuds, factionalism and tension have increased tenfold. In the absence of demo- cratic intervention, Panchayats have become liot-beds of faction-fights, thus considerably disrupting the unity and solidarity of the peasant masses. And obviously, so far as the basic prob- lems of the peasantry are concerned, the existing Panchayats have not solved and cannot solve a single one of them. To Our Overseas Aegnts We are glad to announce that from November, 1951, we have revised our terms for the supply of the journal INDIA TO-DAY to our overseas agents as follows: 1. Price of Single Copy Re. 1 /- only; 2. 33 1/3 X,, trade discount on an order of 200 copies or less; above 200, 400; 3. Postage extra 4. 20% on direct subscriptions 5. Subscription rates: Yearly Rs. 13/-; Half-yearly : Rs. 7/- ; Quarterly: Rs. 3/8. The Manager 7, Albert Road, Allahabad. CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 The agricultural labourers and rural artisans are wholly dissatisfied with them because they cannot ensure them land, a living wage, deliverance from indebtedness and social oppression. Moreoever, they are angry because they are being saddled with taxes and fines which they are unable to pay. The poor and small peasants know that the Panchayats can give them neither land and freedom from debts, nor seed, implements and cheap and adequate water supply for irrigation. They violently resent the Panchayat taxation and the discrimination against them. The middle peasantry is also conscious of the fact that the Panchayats cannot and will not save its collapsing economy from further ruination that awaits it. They too have gained nothing. They are vehemently opposed to panchayat taxes. The rich peasantry also finds the Pancha- yats to be absolutely impotent in so far as their demands against the big landowning class and against the government for just prices of industrial goods, etc., are concerned. To the rich peasants, so far, the Panchayats have given only the satisfaction of being called the officers of a Government body, however limited its powers, and of winning some petty concessions from Government officials by virtue of their new position. To the untouchable and depressed sections Panchayats gave a subjective self-satisfaction of sitting round the same table as their tradi- tional social superiors. That is all. ONLY the big landlords are jubilant on account of the domination they have been able to exercise and the disunity and disrup- tion which followed among the democratic masses. Weak popular resitance The people resent the pressure of the Government upon the Panchayats. The harm- ful policies of the latter have led to people losing interest in the Panchayats, not only displaying spontaneous carelessness towards their functioning and deliberations, but also putting up resistance which, however, is still very weak and disorganised. This resistance expresses itself in many forms, viz., non-payment of Panchayat taxes, refusal to take any notice of the summons of Panchayati Adalats; demand for the immediate use of funds at the disposal of the Panchayats; demand for the removal of corrupt Pradhans and secretaries and inspectors. Moreover, the Panchayats, themselves, are in some cases Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 offering partial opposition to the Panchayat Raj Act and the pressure of the Government exercised through the inspectors, secretaries and the district magistrates, is evidenced by the fact of certain Panch Conferences demanding the imposition of no taxes at all or only on the rich, demanding the funds to be left at the absolute disposal of the Panchayats themselves, demanding the salaries of the secretaries to be paid by the Government. These Conferences have also raised the demand of the Government to leave one-fourth of her total village revenue for the development of the village and have resented and opposed official interference in their work. The Pradhans have demanded freedom to join political parties and extention of Panchayat rights. As yet this resistance has been very mild and weak and based only on few sections of the entire Panchayat orgainsation; but once the democratic and united peasant movement takes up the issues in right earnest the scales will be tipped in favour of the people. Therefore, it will be a suicidal sectarian -;stake for the peasant movement to boycott ,se Panchayats. We have to be in them and ern to utilise them for people's interests. We would be poor revolutionaries, indeed, if we fail in this urgent task. Utilise Panchayats for people's benefit Obviously it will be a tough battle between the peasant movement and the Government. The ruling class will try more and more to utilise the Panchayats as its helping hands through village Congressmen, opportunist ele- ments, landlords and also the rich peasants. To counter this we must build up broadest united front inside the Panchayats and isolate the Governments, the big landlords and their reactionary henchmen. We should start on the basis of the follow- ing tasks : We must launch united front campaign from inside and outside the Panchayats for an extension of their democratic rights and powers. We must expose continually the aim of the ruling class behind the Panchayats and its reactionary efforts in converting them into police organs. We must work for the defeat of people's enemies inside the Panchayats. We must see that the panchayats pass resolutions and send memorandums against police zoolum and for common demands of their areas to begin with. CIA-RDP83-00415R01 0200020024-9 We must expose the anti-democratic policies of the Government from the Panchayat platform. We must fight against taxation inside them. We must draw them into the Peace movement. We must insist and campaign to hold Grain Sabha sessions regularly. We must activize and democratise the Panchayats led by us. We must build up fraternal relations between. the Panchayats and the Kisan Sabhas. We must back up the Panchayats on all demo- cratic issues by our independent actions. The successful fulfilment of these tasks depends, in the main, on two factors-firstly, the independent and united organisation of the peasantry, strong enough to intervene decisively; and secondly, on patient and deter- mined participation in the Panchayats, and our competence to win all our allies and to isolate the Government and the big landlords. Economic Notes From Page 16 ] of 1950. But this advance is national in form only, in content, it is Scindia's. This will be clear if we have a look at Scindia's empire today. The Scindia Steam Navigation company today maintains regular services between: (i) India, Burma and Ceylon ports; (ii) India, U. K., the Continent; and (iii) India, and America, (iv) Karachi and Calcutta (v) Chittagong, and Rangoon. Apart from its direct share, it has also a number of associated and subsidiary companies, such as: (i) Narottam, Ltd., (ii) The Eastern Bunkerers Ltd., (iii) Narottam and Pereira, (iv) Scindia Steamship (London) Ltd., (v) Scindia Steamship (Burma) Ltd., (vi) National Ship- ping Agency Ltd., (vii) Ratnagar Steam Navigation Ltd., (viii) Indian Co-operative Navigation and Trading Co. Ltd., (ix) Bombay Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., (x) Bengal-Burma Steam Navigation Co. Ltd., etc. Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Leon Fung Songs of the West Indians We West Indians can be proud of our peo- ple and of our past. I think of my country- men as some of the finest types, physically and otherwise, that can be found any- where, and although we are not taught much about the history of our own people in the schools, stories LEON FUNG is a, young singer and com- poser from Jamaica whose Chinese surname may remind us that the West Indies have old links with Asia. The delegations of West Indians and Africans to the Berlin Youth Festiaual made a special contribution to the musical and cultural side of this great demonstration of international friendship. Here Fung explains the national traditions of his art and shows the way in which music can serve the peoples' cause.-Editor and traditions get handed down from parents and older people, making us conscious of the sufferings of our people. Among the enslaved Africans brought by force from their native land to these Islands, were many people of noble birth and many others of high intellectual attainment. The names of Toussaint L'Ouverture, Henri Chris- tophe, Dessaline and many others will always be remembered. Music of victory and independence Among the Maroons in the mountains of Jamaica there was plenty of courage and intel- lect. Dessaline and his comrades by sheer brain power and organisational ability defeated the once invincible fleet and army of Napoleon in the West Indies and declared the indepen- dence of Haiti in 1804. They ripped the white stripe out of the French flag and joined the blue and red to form the flag which still to-day represents Haiti. After this extraordinary achievement of inexperienced men against well trained and organised troops, the new- born citizens of Haiti on the 2nd of January, 1804, settled upon to celebrate their victory and the newly won freedom with the music of drums and dancing. And what extraordinary rythm they can produce on their drums ! One can imagine the incomparable rythxns and ecstatic dancing inspired by victory, and. while they beat out their measures on Haiti, the slaves on the other islands were carrying out a similar struggle. Many of the slaves could not practice their art as openly as the free people of Haiti. They resorted to producing rythm by their voices. Hundreds of varieties of song sprung up and died away, but many survived and are well known to-day-the Buroo, the Mento, the Meringue, the Son, the Conga, the Rum- bah, the Pickon, the Calypso and many others. - _-------- The Calypso It is in the last named form that I have somewhat specialised myself. Calypsoes are sung in most of the islands, but the inhabitants of Trinidad have a special weakness for themx The Calypso generally had an erotic charactc but singers also use themes from individua life, events in national history and above all political subjects. Almost any incident can go into a Calypso, and a number of highly developed political Calypsoes have become popular. Some have been published in Ameri- can collections of songs. Some Calypso singers think that the tradi- tional four-verse form should not be altered, "but for my part I think that" it would be putting the Calypso in a strait jacket to stick rigidly to such rules. It should be a medium of free expression and I believe it is capable of great development in the service of the people. I want to use the Calypso to stir my people out of their lethargy, to inspire them and instil in them the revolu- tionary idea, the desire for freedom and independence. We must defend our national art It is my earnest desire to get as many people as possible to sing Calypsoes reasonably well. Everything else has been forcibly taken away from us, the coloured people, by our "protec- tors"-except our music. That has remained and we should be glad that we still possess something of which these gentlemen were unable to relieve us. This bit of Negro cul- ture, like the drumming in Haiti and Africa, has remained faithful to us. We should want to share it with our friends in all lands. In Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 some of the islands of the West Indies to-day there are snobs among us who go all out to please the Yanks and to imbibe their empty tin music. Such people decry true folk art, the art of their forefathers. While I do not believe that this decadent music can ever kill the virile folk-song and Calypso, we have to fight consciously for our national art and its development, just as we have to fight for other rights and needs. It is much more difficult to explain the musical character of the Calypso. Like the Sambah the rhythm is negroid. The only difference is that the Calypso rhythm cannot be written, it must be felt. Try to write it, and all you get is another stereotyped, lifeless corn- mercial hash. I am not saying that an approxi- mation of the notation could not or should not be attempted, but in order to sing it, the rhythm must first be felt. Perhaps this is the nature of all true folk-song. While it is correct to say for instance that the Sambah is on the beat, it is also true to say that the Calypso is generally off the beat, but I'm afraid that if I attempted to describe its musical character more closely in words, I should not be able to give my readers any clearer impression. And yet, although the Calypso is something so cha- racteristic of my own country and so typically part of our Negro culture, it seems to have an almost universal appeal to people everywhere once it can be heard, as my recent experiences at the Berlin Youth Festival demonstrated. Calypsoes at the Berlin Festival I was singing not only with the West Indians and West Africans who attended the Festival but also with the English cultural group, and I was kept busy from the time I arrived to the time I left. Although I had been singing much more than was good for my voice in France before coming to Germany and my voice was not in really good form, I was amazed to find that I was in great demand to sing on every occasion. My Calypso on Korea, which had made something of a hit at London, seemed to have an even greater effect in Berlin. Every time I stopped in the street, a crowd seemed to gather round to ask questions about my country and to get autographs. When I got through answering their questions and asking my own questions, I would ask the people to sing some of their German folk-songs. Then they would ask me to sing the songs of my native land. Sometimes I would start to show them our folk-dances and then they would show theirs,. And so it went on. Sometimes a loud- Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 speaker van came along and provided music for us to dance in the streets, and sometimes after the dancing they would again ask me to sing, and I would mount the top of the van and sing from there as a platform. There were always thousands of young people who would collect and listen. One evening it seemed to me that the crowd I had collected was blocking up the highway to the inconvenience of the traffic and I asked the people to move into a side street where we would cause less obstruction. This they accor- dingly did very readily. And this is how I come to have a very unusual souvenir from Berlin, because the German police apparently appreciated this consideration of their diffi- culties and showed it by sending me a present- a police badge attached to a handkerchief- with their thanks and good wishes. I was asked to sing in most of the big theatres and every day and every night I sang to large audiences either in some theatre, or in the Treptower Park or in the streets. I and a Trinidadian also taught some of the children the ring dance in the Young Pioneer Central House of Culture, near Stalin Alley, while the children in their turn taught us some of their folk dances. Folk dance versus neurotic jitterbug All this was a unique opportunity for ex- change of ideas and learning something of one another's art. I noticed for instance that when in the streets some rather decadent looking "spiv"-type youngsters started up American dances like the "Jitterbug", the majority of East Berliners did not regard this at all favourably. These incidents only em- phasised the contrast between the neurotic American dances and the healthy folk-dance. It is quite clear that even here all sorts of attempts are made to foist this decadent and spurious American "culture" onto the German people but it was also quite clear that the Germans' own folk-dances and art gave them far more real pleasure and the "Jitterbuggers" just seemed quite out of place in that atmosphere. There seems to be a real renaissance of true German culture with a new spirit. I came away impressed by the healthy signs that show that the German people have all the talents needed to win again a leading position in the world of true and progressive culture and that they need certainly never succumb to the cheap American variety of "civilisation". One of the songs which I was asked to sing again and again and which was always under- stood and applauded explains why. Here it is: Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 KOREA-A CALYPSO In these hilt t' h orz Trygve Lie was once considered a very good man But like all other opportunists we've just got another one. United Nations is the United States A factory where they engineer wars for their mates. We'll bring them to book as we did Streicher For their crimes in Korea. (Chorus) Women crying: "Murder, Murderl" Children crying: " Help me, Mama !" But there's no mother around Theyankees butcher them on the ground. Western "culture" travelled o'er six thousand miles away To bomb women and children in Korea every dey. They glorify war and then Their gangster films teach them how to murder, beat women. How they twist facts, now black is white. Their culture's murder, rape - the plaguing parasites. (Chorus) 6-6-0 1-8-() Some books on China Marx on China Stalin on China Mao Tse-tung: Three Important Writings ... Aspects of China's Anti Jap struggle , , , Strategic Problems of China's Revolutionary War The problems of Art and Literature... Lih Shao-Chi : On the Party ... Nationalism and International- ism Inner-Party struggle ... 0-8-0 1-0-0 ... 0-8-0 Unfinished Revolution in China ... 6-8-0 Robert Payne: Mao Tse-tung ... ... 13-8-0 ,Jack Belden: China Shakes the World ... 14-1-0 ADHUNIK PUSTAK BHANDAR, 7, Albert Road, Allahabad. 24 c ames we ave many things to do, The Tankee vermin are crawling out far and wide, its true. They make Korea a desert wher'er they go, They strike at children with the same old Tankee blow. The frozen bomb-twisted limbs of the young babies Is just one of the testimonies. (Chorus) The Yankee upstarts think they can dictate to New China Any war they start in the East will be their own cancer. They think they're dealing with ",Jim Crow Problem" When they're faced with a humanitarian system. We'll have to teach them honesty and decency That they might live with humani y. (Chorus) Wall Street will be crying "Murder" ! Eastern War is worse than Cancer. "We'll have to face the music The little Gooks have got us quite lick!" speech at T. U. Con ference of Asian and Australian coun- tries at Peking ... 0-2-0 Li Li-san: T. U. Movement in China Astafyev: 0-2-0 1-8-0 China's Economic Problems China from a Semi-Colony to 1-4-0 Peoples' Democracy 0-8-0 1. Epstein: INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 P. M. Kern p-Ashra f . Indian Revolt of 1857 and the Early British Labour Movement "When first the West its warrior march began The eyes of Earth were turned to Hindostan. Long time the clouds stood gathering, tier on tier, And thickening thunders muttering growled more near. Through plain and valley pressed uneasy heat That burnt volcanic under English feet. Fierce and more fierce from Himmalaya's height Fresh flash on flash keeps heralding the fight..... . Victorious deluge ! From a thousand heights Rolls the fierce torrent of a people's rights. And Sepoy soldiers, wakening band by band At last remember they've a fatherland ! Then flies the huxtering judge, the pandering peer, * In 1857 Ernest Jones could claim that his Revolt of Hindustani, written in prison between 1848 and 1850, had been prophetic. Were he alive to-day he might claim even greater insight for seeing where the betrayal of democracy in "Man's sanctuary, America" would lead. The introduction to the poem on India explains why mankind had to look elsewhere for the realisation of freedom as the Chartists understood it, and here addres- sing America he writes : "But not the black alone the wrong shall feel, The white man sinks the prey to blood and steel; ii For Victory carries Glory in her train Which dark behinds her drags a lengthening chain. The horde's ambition taught afar to roam Soon rivet links on misery's limbs at home; The taste for conquest brings the taste for more; * The Presidency Towns, t The complete text is reprinted for the first time in Indian Studies, Vol. I to be shortey published by Adhunik Prakashan, Allahabad. tt The organized struggles of American labour in the eighteen-forties had more sharply brought home the class character of the bourgeois republic and were associated in the Chartist press with the old "blot" of negro slavery. NOVEMBER 1951 The English pauper, grown a nabob here, Counting House tyrany and pedlar pride..... . Straight sink the three sea Sodoms in their pride; Starts each imperial thief from counter side, And leaves the untotalled ledger's long amount For Hindu hands to close the dark account.... See where in turn accused the Judge appears, While wrath from vengeance claims the dread arrears; Law's lying, forms no more his sway secure; No laws are valid that oppress the poor.... Now, treasure cumbered on his panting fight, The Bishop kneels before his proselyte ...." (Ernest Jones: Revolt of Hindostan, 1848-50) And death fraught navies leave the saddened shore.... But, when thy natural limits once possessed Thou too shalt seek to colonize a west, Round coral girt Japan thy ships shall fly And China's Mains behold thine armies die." And in those days, let it be remembered, the United States represented the young capitalists' ideal of peaceful enterprise, and the middle class idea of free democracies. First treatise on India However, that is not the reason for quoting the poem. It is in fact the first treatise on India written from the point of view of work- ing class revolutionary aims and giving a call for armed revolt in the colonies as part of the struggle for popular freedom. It is therefore, in spite of the verse form, an im- portant document for the history of the inter- A keen student of languages, history and anthropology, Mrs. P. M. KEMP-ASHRAF is deeply interested in India. She has spent a few years in India as a teacher and is at present working in England on some studies on Indian history which will soon be published.-Editor Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 :national movement and indicates the position of the English progressive movement at that time already forced to consider its stand in relation to wider issues, such as the practical effects of colonisation on the conditions of the masses, and what its vague and abstract internationalism might really mean on a world scale. Jones-and the Chartists in general-represented a transition from Uto- pianism to a more scientific approach. He shows mystical trends, errors of judgement, and idealism in the understanding of national questions. But those Utopians who in time and in direction were really forerunners of scientific socialism, should never be belittled. Jones' "prophesies" are striking because he viewed the future of India from the perspective of a distant future when a vast "federated Republic" would use all the means discover- able by science-including "the explosive mineral's propelling force"-to benefit man- kind, and then- Those Halcyon days shall witness discord cease And one great family abide in peace.... .Nb parchment deed shall qualify the soil God gave to man his title in his toil. No vile distinctions mar his great design And designate a theft as "mine and thine". No perjured code shall make his bounty vain And say: For thee the stubble-me the grain. But 'twixt this dust and heavens o'er arching span Man own no nobler name than that of MA,N.. Jones' forecast of India's future Nevertheless The Revolt of Hindostan belongs to the period of the "pre-history" of Com- munist theory. India's liberation from foreign domination did not, according to this story, result in a free republic, but produced a strong, centralised semi-feudal national state, introducing certain reforms that made it possible to develop a capitalism similar to that which already existed in Europe. In. this part of his poem, Jones described at length the stage of social development from feudalism to bourgeois capitalism, the birth of the middle and working classes, the ever increasing struggle of the people against a series of oppressors, very much as English history had been in- terpreted. He presented the matter as though each nation had to pass through almost an identical process, until, at the critical point when "monopoloy" became rotten ripe, some- where the vast mass of people. would revolt and break the vicious circle of the repeated rise and fall of nations. Hindostan, therefore, was fated to repeat the "mistakes" of Europe, but-for reasons that are not at all clear in the poem-she not only grew her own "Chartist" movement, but achieved real emancipation. Once that had happened in one country, all the peoples of the world, the most backward and the most highly civilised alike, would rise one after another and throw .ofl' their chains. Abstract internationalism Now in all this,-among other shortcomings of political philosophy-the possibility of any closer interaction of peoples, of any concretely interrelated world history, is scarcely hinted. Common cause against common oppressors is the underlying moral of the whole poem, of course, but there is no suggestion of any effective international co-operation of the oppressed before the world revolution of the future. This ommission alone would show us the difficulty of arriving at a world outlook in the eighteen-forties. An ultimate unity of aim; fellow-feeling for democratic move- ments abroad; declarations of moral support and fraternal greetings, were current among the Chartists, even on the "right wing", but this internationalism was generally somewhat abstract. By 1857 Jones' own ideas had broadened. In the interval he had reviewed at length the experience of the preceding period, seek- ing for the causes of the decline in the popular movement after 1848. He was largely res- ponsible for drafting the Chartist program of 1851, intended to turn the movement into a broader, more organised type of political party. One of his formulations precipitated a somewhat controversial discussion of the colonial issue as a whole, perhaps for the first time in the history of Chartist conventions, if we exclude the debates on Irish indepen- dence. It may be gathered from some of his writings that he saw colonial expansion as a strenghtening of the position of the bourgeoisie against the forces of progress and as a danger of the "English system" engulfing the whole world unless it were killed early in its career. He began to write articles in which he related the colonial question to home affairs and working class interests, and others in which he spread information as to the conditions in the Col' nies themselves. Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 Jones' articles on Indian Revolt of 1857 Most important of all, in these years he had come into direct personal contact with Karl Marx. We need not discuss the history of this connection, which is well known, but it seems likely that they must also have dis- cussed Indian affairs and perhaps collabora- ted. The articles written by Marx between May and July 1853, published in the New York Daily Tribune, cover much the same ground and use much the same material as a series of articles published by Jones, partly about the same time and partly earlier. The probable explanation is that Jones, who had obviously read a good deal of Indian history much earlier and had far better oppor- tunities of following the affairs of the East India Company, may have handed over notes or suggested sources to Marx. In any case it is extremely instructive to read the two sets of articles side by side. The data is all much the same; the presentation and conclusions characteristic of the writers' differences in theory, temperament and approach. In Jones' articles during the Indian war of 1857 and in some earlier ones, there is an attempt to relate the fate of India to the interests of the working class in Europe. Jones greeted the outbreak of the revolt in 1857 as a great event in international struggle against oppression-no less significant than that of the Polish people against Czarist reaction. He took this stand before the only news reports available spoke of anything more serious than local mutinies in the army. All too readily, perhaps, he read into Indian events the signs of a revolutionary upsurge in the world at large and he called on the English workers to seize this opportunity for a renewed attack on the privileges of their common enemy, the English capitalist class. New questions Jones attempted to answer new questions that now presented themselves. True, he often put them in an ethical rather than a political form and his answers were not always very adequate, but on the whole they were good questions. Some of them should still be thought about seriously. What should be the attitude of the British working class to the war in India? How would an Indian victory help the cause at home? Were the people better off for colonial possessions or would they benefit by their loss? Is not the Indian war CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 as "holy" and just as the national cause of the oppressed peoples of Europe? What is the class structure in India itself, can a peasant population achieve a democratic order? What about the feudal princes who in the main have betrayed their own people? Are they the only leaders? How is effective unity to be reached in India in order to carry out a successful campaign against foreign invaders? Was Hindu-Muslim unity rea- lisable ? Are the people of any class better off under British rule, as we have been told, or are they suffering from the ever increasing drive for profits ? What is the true position of peasant expropriation, what really under- lies the policy of government and traders? What is the truth of the atrocity stories ? Finally : how can the workers in England make common cause with the people of India and give aid ? It is noteworthy that any English newspaper put such questions at that date. It is not to be confused with the liberal or labour "sympathy" for the Indian nationalist movement in the Congress phase, but this forgotten page of history does reveal the historical reason that afterwards obliged any party that made pretensions to a progressive and popular platform to give at least lip-service to the principle of colonial independence. Search for a popular basis At the same time, Jones searched for every scrap of news that might reveal a popular basis of the movement in India, for signs that something different from the old order would have to emerge for the struggle to succeed. He attempted to judge the character of the rising and the chances of success by the extent to which it roused po- pular support and initiative and held pro- mise of a more just and democratic social order for the common man in the future. He tried to understand the forms in which this might be expressed in Indian conditions. He also gathered all the news items that illustrated international co-operation-indic- ations of unrest among British troops, individual cases of Englishmen going over to the mutineers, Irish revolutionary propa- ganda to stop recruitment, resolutions of democrats abroad and in the USA--a piti- fully small total in the end. He made a great many wild statements and predictions. In the last stages of the war he launched a red herring petition for the restoration of Oudh, around which he hoped to mobi- Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 lse whatever middle class radioal opinion could be moved to protest against the excess of blood vengeance, which he soon realised was a mistake. Week after week in his paper and often at public mettings he had driven home the main lessons, declaring that the cause of freedom was indivisible, exposing the policy of the government at home and abroad and its responsibility for the fictitious role of the East India Company and ended, as he had begun, by laying the burden square- ly on the shoulders of the capitalist class-free traders, pacifists, radicals and mercy-mongers included. Decline of Chartism Now in these years the organised Chartist movement was in decline and disrupted from within. Jones himself was in a state of anxiety and confusion, committed mistake after mistake and became temporarily involved with Bright and the radicals in opportunist negotiations for an alliance on the franchise question. At that time Marx wondered whether Jones was a renegade or only a big fool. Factions within the remaining Chartist leadership united to isolate him. There is no doubt now that some of the individuals concerned were encouraged from outside. It is possible that anxiety as to the effect of Jones' propa- ganda about India when the frenzy of chau- vinism fostered by atrocity stories subsided, may have hastened the final blow. Early in 1858 Jones faced political bankruptcy and financial ruin. When he was obliged to sell his newspaper, he was tricked into an agree- ment which he thought guaranteed him a partial control of its policy. No sooner was the contract signed than he discovered his mistake. The paper which he had built came out openly as his chief slanderer, and then ceased publication. In the last issue we may read, side by side Jone's exposure of this dirty treachery, his last article on India-a bitter exposure of the farce of the "mercy" policy designed for the Queens' pro- clamation. The Chartist party was formally dissolved. Beginning of "connivance" at colonial spoils It was no accident that the first serious colonial revolt went down to the swan-song of Chartism. The consolidation of British capitalism in its leading position in the world had to be secured by the repression of the first working class movement, which up to 1848 had really menaced its stability, and of the colonial revolt of 1851. During those ten years, on the basis of an expanding market, liberal- radical demagogy had also made some head- way among the masses. Although it was still possible to gather some very large meet- ings and demonstrations, and on economic issues there was some renewal of workers' activity from time to time, there was nothing of the nation-wide unrest and broad response that had, in spite of all its limitations, made Chartism a national movement. The atmos- phere was quite unlike that of the thirties and forties. There was no longer a coherent body of opinion to respond to any appeal and even the circulation of Jones' articles was limited to a small minority. In October 1858 Marx wrote that Jones' mistakes and failure were "bound up with the fact that the English proletariat is becoming more and more bourgeois, so that this most bour- geois of all nations is apparently aiming in the end at the possession of a bourgeois aris- tocracy and a bourgeois proletariat as well as a bourgeoisie." Up to that point Marx himself seems to have had some faith that the Chartist movement could rally, in spite of the changed conditions. In so far as Chartism, vague and fluid as its theroies might be, did lead and colour opinion in the working class and petit bour- geois masses for two decades (and even those historians who try most earnestly to ridicule the Chartist "episode" admit that its influ- ence penetrated deep into the remotest corners of England, Wales and Scotland), and in so far as it had, if not a precise program at any rate a defined attitude towards colonial prob- lems, whenever they came to the surface of consciousness, the lack of protest against the "reconquest of India" could almost date the beginning of "connivance" at the colonial spoils of the ruling class. Up to then there had been vocal disaproval of actions which the disenfranchised working class regarded as solely in the interest of the wealthy, in- cluding the Afghan and Sikh wars. Naturally, it serves no purpose to exaggerate the extent to which the views of advanced individuals or even of the Chartist convention were shared by the rank and file, nor may we speak of "connivance" in any but an abs- tract sense. India herself has borne part of the historical inheritance, for no colonial country perhaps gained less from the experience of the European proletariat and inter- national movement until comparatively recent times. INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 Colonial policy of labour movement There is a long history behind the ideas of the Revolt of Hindostan and the People's Paper. I think that there is sufficient evidence to show that the conception of colonial in- dependence which the Chartists associated with "social justice" and "democracy", with the interests of "producers of wealth" as opposed to the interests of the capitalists and aristocracy, was not simply handed on from the early middle class liberal reformers, republicans or radicals, who at one time condemned the "burden" of colonies or the monopoly of the East India Company, when a large section of them were cut oil' from the benefits of colonial profits. On the contrary, an internationalism and a colonial policy of a different order developed with and within the democratic and early working class move- ment and its development was linked with the sharpening of conf3cit between the class forces in England. I suggest that distinct phases of this development can be clearly traced in the radical press between 1793 and 1848, and that the right of colonial peoples to full self-determination became one of the points commonly shared by Chartists or "democrats", Owenites or "socialists", and most of those peculiar small groupings of semi-religious communists that sprang up in the thrities and forties in England. All these trends contributed to the ideas expressed in The Revolt of Hindostan and it is noteworthy that among the few supporters of Jones' 1858 Indian peitition are to be found the names of many of the middle class one time supporters of "moderate" Chartism and of the veteran Owen himself, who were amongst the greatest opponents of the Chartism of ,Jones' type. Colonial conquest was a sufficiently alive issue at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century. It brought wars; it had its obvious effects on the bread and butter problems of new industry; it was reinforced by the interested propaganda of the slave emancipationist and anti-mono- poly doctrines of middle class parliamentary reformers and then by the free traders and Leaguers. Even in the days of the London Correspon- ding Society there is a difference of opinion that corresponded not to the division of a Right and Left wing attitude to parliamentary re- form, but between the main body of leaders and the handful of' democrats who wanted more than parliamentary reform or who did NOVEMBER 1951 CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 not regard the corruption of the constitution as the real cause of social grievance. Spence, most gifted of all our Utopians, regarded the monarchy or even the organization of the State as secondary considerations. He summed up the difference between his views and those of the Painite republicans, by remarking that the latter could afford to be republicans because they did not hope ever to be kings, but that they opposed the common ownership of land rents and capital goods because they could hope to become landlords. Consequently his clearly put international- colonial policy was also different. The equali- ty of nations was a first principle. The right of' self-determination for colonies was based on the right of all to the fruits of the land on which they live, but could only be effective in those countries where Spensonian society had been established. Similarly William Thompson's important contribution to the colonial problem grows out of his analysis of the irreconcilable conflict between private property and the right of the producers. He takes India itself as the illustration for a long analysis of' the typical evils of "monopoly"-that is, the monopoly of wealth and power, not Lite monopoly of trade as opposed to free trade. The first important grouping to announce its class character and class aims as such, with the remaining anti-Reform Bill Radicals, included in their Manifesto a colonial clause based on the literal interpretation of the old Rights of Man, but in the context of a document that has the seeds of a class movement. From this followed. throughout the publication of' the Poor Man's Guardian, a clarification of the ideas of an international common cause of the oppressed classes in all countries, a consis- tent exposure of free trade doctrines and fairly frequent references to events and conditions in colonial countries by way of illustration and protest. In 1831 also we meet the first pro- gramatic demand for the right of self-deter- mination, as distinct from rights of represen- tation, self-government or participation in reforms, for Ireland and all colonies. We may also find that when these loose and vague statements were interpreted to apply to the protection of European colonists only, such interpretations were challenged. Throughout the Chartist conventions there were discus- sions and resolutions intended to clarify that particularly urgent problem of the relationship of the English and Irish peoples, and in this form some of the principles of colonial policy Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 . Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 are first made more concrete. But whereas the history of intermingling populations and closer economic and cultural ties made the discussion of some form of union more com- plex, and the solution was sought in the founda- tion of an independent Irish Chartist move- ment to act in concert with the English move- ment for mutual aid and emancipation, we have to conclude from all the evidence available that the main body of Chartists envisaged sim- ply the evacuation of the more remote colonies by British troops, leaving them to their own devices, and a vague idea that somehow they too would come "under the banner of Chartism". The controversy with O'Conne- lites is a most instructive source for differences between Chartist views and bourgeois na- tionalism. Hence in the forties, while we usually associate the Fraternal Democrats chiefly with the closer connections with conti- nental revolutionaries; support of democratic nationlist movements in Europe; new ideas of possible organisational unity and the agree- ment on common aims and principles, that body wished to extend its programme to colonial countries and made it clear that basic princi- ples should be applied universally. At one of the early meetings the discussion was devoted to Indian problems in particular. The fact that even the existence of any sort of Chartist colonial policy has scarcely been recognized by later historians, much less studied in greater detail, illustrates how completely this tradition was obliterated in the second half of the nineteenth century. Need to study works of British democrats During the conquest of India and the post-Reform period, a powerful democratic opinion existed in England which included a t,_rudimentary democratic colonial policy. But although the history of modern India came to be written so often as an appendage to English interests and institutions, the works of democrats were never consulted. Evidently they do not seem to contain new "facts", like the sacred scriptures of government records and the memoirs of Governor-Generals. Yet they do contain facts, of a different order, essential for evaluating the results of conquest for the peoples of both countries and for understanding the process of international developments. For the study of the back- ground of the Indian nationalist movement, too, they contain valuable background for the European contacts and allies of that move- ment and for evaluating the character of that movement itself, its place and role in the whole liberation struggle of colonial peoples, its standards in relation to what is progressive at a given period. The old recipe for concocting modern Indian history was to concentrate on the history of British policy and administra- tion in India, and as though this were not bad and narrow enough, British policy was treated more or less as the personal records of Vice-Roys and Generals (with clashes between them and the authorities that had appointed them, if you pleases). This is done without any reference to the first great clashes of labour and capital which shaped the course of Bri- tish history as a whole, or to how this problem was "solved" by the British bourgeoisie, which in turn determined the methods of co-ordina- ting colonial resources. If the British priod as a whole cannot be seriously studied without bearing in mind all the time that India was then drawn into the world market and into world politics, despite the artificial segre- gation, it is also impossible to understand the social internal changes that took place as a result of that process. I have felt for a long time that a better co-ordination of the English and Indian as- pects of the development towards imperialism should be illuminating, disconnected as the old writing of history has made them appear. The more convinced one may be that India has her own national history and destiny, the more important it is to examine and understand the facts of 200 years of foreign domination. It is even more urgent to study India from the standpoint not merely . of British but of world history and external relations, to know her international role, both passive and active, and to include in that world backgorund those progressive and de- mocratic forces developing within it as a whole. The differences in origin and course of development of the modern working class in Europe and Asia none the less left us with a closely related destiny and eventually a common struggle towards emanicpation, but from the historian's point of view we have not yet answered satisfactorily that question of interrelation posed one hundred years ago. INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Some notes on the Genesis of Indian bourgeoisie Suni! K. Sen The bourgeoisie has been inseparably linked up with the national movement from the very beginning. The democratic evolution of India began under British rule when she attained a measure of political unification which she never did before. The origin of the Indian bourgeoi- sie also starts from this period. The role of the Indian bourgeoisie can only be understood through a study of its economic development. It arose from the specific social and economic forces generated within Indian society under conditions which are peculiarly Indian. The evolution of this process of development should be studied historically. I, therefore, begin from the beginning. Where did Indian Capitalist spring from? When England was passing through the Industrial Revolution a reverse process of' "de-industrialisation " was going on in India. After 1757, the East India Company embarked upon a systematic policy of destroying India's trade and manufacture. The process was complete by 1800. India was transformed into an agrarian appendage to Britain, a source of raw materials and a market for her ma- nufactured goods. The Indian traders and manufacturers could not secure even the middlemen's profits, because the export trade was the monopoly of the East India Company and conducted in English ships. The ruined traders and manufacturers accepted the job of Gomashtas and agents of the British factories with which India was dotted. In 1874 we read of a memorial being sent by the Man- chestor Chamber of Commerce to the Secretary of State pointing to the growth of the Indian textile industry and pleading for the abolition of the import duties. From the growth of the textile industry dates the emergence of the Indian bourgeoisie. Where did the Indian bougeoisie spring from? In other words, what is the genesis of the Indian bourgeoisie? From the womb of merchant capital The Indian bourgeoisie was born, as in other countries, in the womb of merchant capital. The Indian bourgeoisie made the primary accumulation of capital through commerce. The Tarsi sections invested this capital in the building up of modern industry. The Banias, who belonged to the Marwari and Gujrati communities remained as mer- chants and developed as the commercial bour- geoisie. Marxist terms are not empty words. Each term bears a distinct historical connotation. The term industrial bougeoisie refers to those sections who are associated with modern factory industry and should be distinguished from the commercial bourgeoisie, whose operations remain principally confined to trade, commerce and money-lending. However, a section of the Banias, the Gujrati merchants and bankers, did invest money in the building up of cotton mills in Ahmedabad while simultaneously carry- ing on trade and banking operations. The Parsi merchants The Parsis migrated from Persia sometime in the eighth century and settled on the west coast of India above Bombay in Surat and Broach. They began to settle in Bombay when Surat and Broach decayed and Bombay took their place as the' commercial centre of western India. They did not come with money and many of them had humble begin- nings. We know of one Mr. Framjee Bottlewala who was dealing in 1798 with empty bottles which was " then a lucrative trade." Kamaji Kuver jee, founder of the famous Cama family, served as a clerk in the Government Treasury in Bombay and rose to a well paid position. Mr. Jamshedji Wadia was building in 1814? first class frigates for the Indian Marine. Mr. Nusserwanji Tata, father of Jamshedji Tata, began his carrer as a clerk in a country Before partition, SUNIL K. SBN was the leader of the strong kisan and democratic movement in Dinajpur district of Bengal. Now he is a refugee in Calcutta and is devoting his time to making a study o f the development of Indian Capitalism. This article is an introduc- tion to a bigger study on The Evolution of the Indian Bourgeoisie.-Editor Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 bank at Navsari. It was, however, through commerce that the Parsis accumulated the necessary capital for the building up of modern industry. "The East India Company's ships employed Parsi dubashis or agents to manage their investments." (Edwards: The Rise of Bombay). With the growth of the cotton trade, the Parsis came to act as brokers for the European importers. In 1812, "many of them were very opulent, and each of the European houses of agency has one of the principal Parsee merchants con- cerned with them in most of their foreign spe- culations." (Milburn: Oriental Commerce). Opium and cotton trade with China The removal of the monopoly privileges of the East India Company in 1813 gave a great impetus to the export trade in raw cotton which rose from 30 million lbs. in 1809 to 90 million lbs. in 1816. The Parsis began to participate in this expanding export trade. They built up a network of mercantile firms in Bombay such as Messrs. Hormashji Manchesji Cama's sons; Messrs. Dinshaw Rustamji & Co.; Nusserwanji & Kaliandas (the firm of J. N. Tata). 't'hey exported mainly cotton and opium and the principal customer was China. The importance of the China trade is evident from the fact that the Parsis had firms at Canton and Shanghai. Mr. Rustamji worked as a partner in Messrs. Rat- tanji Hormashji Cama & Co. at Canton. Mr. Jamshedji Tata opened a firm in China in 1859 under the name of Jamshetji and Arde- shir, and a branch office at Shanghai. They dealt mainly in cotton and opium. In return they sent to India consignments of tea, silk-goods, camphor, cinnamon, copper, brass and china-gold. (See Mr. Harris's Life of ,7..N. Tata) In 1855 Mr. Rustamji Cama founded the first Indian business house in London. The Parsi firms were doing very good business and competed with the principal Europeans firms of Bombay like Forbes & Co.; John Mitchel & Co. etc. In 1848, we read of a memo- randum being sent to the Bombay Government to inquire into the causes of the decline of the cotton trade on behalf of Messrs. Remington & Co F orbes & Co. and Jamshetji Jeejeebhoy, Sons & Co.-a fact which conclusively proves the great importance of the Parsi firm. By the way, Jamshtji Jeejeebhoy was the first Indian to be raised to Baronetcy in 1857. The godsent opportunities In the eighteenth century, the famous inven- 32 tions-Hargreave's spinning jenny, Crompton's mule, Kay's flying shuttle, Watt's steam engine came in a throng and effected a tech- nical revolution in England's textile industry. The mass production of goods began, and Manchester began to consume an unprece- dented quantity of raw cotton. The Napo- leonic Wars came in 1805. This was a god- sent opportunity for the Indian merchants who took advantage of the dislocation of the European supply and began to export cotton in huge quantities. The biographer of Jamshet- ji Jeejeebhoy, Mr. Kooverji Sorabjee, writes: "During the Napoleonic Wars he shipped thousands of bales of cotton. `Nothing venture, nothing win, hazard all, and gain all' was his watch-word." Between 1807 to 1822, Jeejeebhoy amassed two crores of rupees. Then came the American Civil War in 1861 which shut off Lancashire's supply of raw cotton. Prices of Indian cotton reached the skies. The export of raw cotton from Bombay rose from 180 million lbs. in 1850-55 to 424 million lbs. in 1863-68. The export brought in large amounts of fluid capital. The total value of export in one year, 1864-65 amounted to x;30,370,482 sterling. (Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol. III). The first cotton mills The Napoleonic War and the American Civil Wars were, therefore the periods of the accumulation of capital by the Indian bour- geoisie. The first cotton mill was started in Bom- bay in 1854 by Cowasji Nanabhoy Davor. By the end of 1861, there were nine mills in Bom- bay and in 1865, 13 mills in the Bombay Presi- dency. The boom ended in 1865 with the termination of the Civil War. The nineteenth century South Sea Buble burst and crash followed. The "mushroom" companies col- lapsed and then came a period of depression. After 1875, there was again a veritable boom, the number of mills increasing to 51 by 1877. If any date is to be emphasized, the year 1877 marks the turning point in the rise of the Indian bourgeoisie. Rapid construction of mills began in Nagpur, Ahmedabad and Sholapur. An array of factory chimneys sprang up in Bombay: its population increased. Bombay emerged as the capital of the Indian bourgeoisie. The history of the House of the Tatas whose name is associated with the founding of heavy industry in India tells the same tale. The Tatas also started as merchants and made money in the China trade. The Empress INDIA TQ-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Mills, opened in 1877 and named after Queen Victoria, who was formally proclaimed Empress of India in the same year, and the Swadeshi Mills of 1886-so called because of the Swadeshi movement, "India for the Indians," which was gaining ground since the foundation of the Congress, made unprecedented profits. Money came pouring in, and the Tatas accumulated the necessary capital for the building up of modern heavy industry like the Jamshedpur Iron Works. Banias started with hoarded wealth The Marwari and Gujrati Banias did not lag behind the Parsis in getting rich and accu- mulating capital. But they did it in a different way. While the Parsis became enterprising merchants, the Banias flourished as bankers. Unlike the Parsis the Banias started with hoard- ed wealth. When the glory of Rajputana vanished, the Rajputs migrated to western India and brought with them lumps of gold. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, a large proportion of the payment for exports was taken in gold and silver resulting in huge accumulation of bullion. Gold and silver thus accumulated went underground or were con- verted into ornaments. (Leading authorities are unanimous on this point. Even to-day the practice of hoarding is inherent among tribal races. There is an interesting chapter on Hoarding in Capital, Vol. III, Section : Money) That there were very rich men among Banias is evident from the Income-Tax returns of Ahmedabad, Surat, Broach, etc., in the period 1869-73 (and the Income-Tax returns cannot be regarded as exact because the Banias must have learnt to evade income-tax even in those early days of the British rule) which show that there were men even after the depression of 1865 who possessed 0100,000 to #-120,000. (Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. 4). The earliest indigenous bankers The Banias are the earliest indigenous bankers of India. During the reign of Aurang- zeb we hear of Manek Chand Seth, the most eminent banker of his time. Seth Manek Chanel had no issue. He adopted his nephew Fateli Chand, who was himself an influential banker in Murshidabad, Bengal. This Fateh Chand is no other than the famous (or notorious?) jagal Seth-a title which means " world banker". The Seths issued hundis or bills of exchange which were honoured throughout India. The Bania bankers built a network of banking houses in such commercial .centres as Surat, Cutch, Bombay, Calcutta, etc. The difference between these bankers and the money-lenders is too fine to recognise. The big shrofs lent money to the second class bankers from whom the village mahajan borrowed money and these "cannibalistic" creatures simply ate up the peas- ant once he was in their grip. The indigenous bankers held their ground when the Europ- ean banks were established. This was possible because the European banks financed the external trade while the indigenous bankers employed their capital in loans to the peasants and in financing the internal trade. (Jain: Indigenous Banking in India). Agents of the Bombay firms Unlike the Parsis , the Banias did not go in for commerce, but acted as agents in the pur- chase of cotton for the Bombay firms. During the cotton season they spread out in the cotton growing districts and carried on a brisk trade. In the early nineteenth century, they also ven- tured into opium investments , which speedily assumed huge dimensions because of the China market. In 1819-20, they netted one crore of rupees. In 1849, the trade employed fifty lakhs of rupees. (Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. 4). It is evident, therefore, that Bania capital was derived from money-lending, usury, and middle-men's profits in the cotton and opium trade and should be distinguished from Parsi capital which was essen- tially merchant capital. And it was with this capital that the Ahmedabad Banias built the four cotton mills during 1861 to 1878. It is impossible to compute any figures on the primitive accumulation of capital by the Indian bourgeoisie. But the capital invested in industry was ridiculously small. Probably only a small quantity of the hoarded wealth came in the market. The total capital of the three Ahmedabad mills amounted to merely about eighteen lakhs of rupees and the first class Empress and Swadeshi mills of the Tatas started with only 25 lakhs of rupees. Well, it is a drop in the ocean compared to the colossal capital accumulation in England derived from the loot and plunder of India. No wonder that England became "the workshop of the world" in the nineteenth century and India remained an agrarian appendage to that workshop. Army of cheap labour Capitalism invariably creates a home market and an army of free labour. In India the job was done by native capitalism. British manufactur- ed goods flooded the Indian market and destroyed the hand-loom industry which was a national industry in India and employed thou- Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 sands of men and women. The Bombay, Baroda and Central Indian Railway with 421 miles open and the G. I. P. Railways with 1,287 miles by 1880-81 not only dealt the final blow to the native handicrafts, but also vastly ex- panded the market. On the other hand, the string of unsuccessful land-experiments and land settlements resulted in the expropriation of the Indian people from their land and the creation of an army of landless labour. The rate for agricultural day-labour as quoted in the Magistrate's Returns in 1821 and again in 1849 was 2 annas per day. Rice was cut at Re 1-8 as. per acre. The monthly wages of male adult operatives in the Ahmedabad mills varied from Rs 6 to Rs 7. (Bomay Gazeteer, Vol. 4). In the Bombay mills "the average wages per month are for a girl 10 shillings; a woman 16 shilling; a man # 1 12 sh." This was in 1881. (Imperial Gazetteer of India, Vol.. III). Indian labour is not only cheap, it is the source of "super-profits. In 1881, the cotton mills were paying hundred per cent dividends to their share-holders ! Factory laws did not bother them and as yet there were no trade unions. Land relations remained feudal Capitalism developed simultaneously in agriculture and industry in England. In India, however, the cotton mills developed on capitalistic lines while feudal relations remained in land. Cotton cultivation will serve as an illustration. Cotton became a commercial crop. The area of cotton culti- vation extended from 59,487 acres to 78,079 acres in Surat and from 66,607 acres to 124,965 acres in Ahmedabad (Cassels : Cotton in Bombay). But cotton was grown not in consolida- ted farms, but in innumerable scattered small peasant holdings. There is an inherent tendency in capitalism to expand. But how is it that Indian capi- talism remained mostly confined in 'western India till the close of the nineteenth century and did not grow in Bengal? Why is it that the Bengali traders and manufacturers, with serveral centuries' experience of trade and commerce, could not develop as an industrial bourgeoisie like the Parsis or the Banias? Was it a national vice ? No; the reason for it should be sought in the imperialist stronghold in Bengal where the British assumed Dewani as early as 1765 and completed the land settle- ment in 1713. The peculiar development in Bengal Between 1850 and 1860, foreign imperial- ism had established its octopus-grip over coffee and tea plantations, on coal mining and on jute. And the ruined traders and manu- facturers of Bengal acted as agents and gomashtas in these foreign industrial undertakings. A good many invested money in land and formed the nucleus of the " class of gentlemen pro- prietors", a new class of sharks and rapacious businessmen who took over the estates of the old benevolent Zemindars. The example of Sir Dwarkanath Tagore, ancestor of I' abindranath, serves as a pointer to this process. Dwarkanath had a vision of industrial develop- nnent of Bengal. He was the owner of a col- liery and founder of many indigo-factories; he introduced sugar cultivation and founded a sugar mill; he promoted the cultivation of flax. By 1834, all his industrial undertakings had failed. With grim frustration he casti- gxated the British "for having taken away all that the natives possessed; their lives, liberty and property; and all were held at the mercy of the Government." Dwarkanath ended as a. landlord. In Bengal there emerged not a class of industrial bourgeoisie, but a class of petty-bourgeoisie, the sons and grandsons of Zemindars who acted as the representatives of the educated middle-class. This was the general pattern of Bengal's economic develop- ment. Sir R. N. Mukherjee was only an aberration. The rise of the bourgeoisie in Europe was a revolutionary process, the bourgeoisie rock- ing the Ancient Regime, sweeping away feudal relics and throwing "career open to talents." Blood flowed; Kings and Queens and nobles lost their heads. In India there was no such development. The Indian bourgeoisie arose not in opposition to feudalism. Men with money themselves became transformed into the new class of landlords (Dwarkanath Tagore, the Rays of Bhagyakul; the Chettys; the Sowcars, etc). Hence the unbroken fraternal relations between the two classes. First rumblings of discontent In the beginning of'its career, the Indian bourgeoisie presented a picture of entente cor- diale with foreign imperialism. They traded in British ships. Their mills were fitted with British machinery and the mill-managers and [See on Page 39 INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 When mothers. rise in revolt Hajrah Bedglum The silent town It was in Mau, Azamgarh District, that the unnatural quiet of the streets, struck me. A small town of some 30,000 inhabitants, mostly weavers, living in congested mohallas, Mau should have been ringing with the laughter and shouts of children. I asked my companion the reason for this hush over the city. "During the last month or so, about 4,000 children and older persons have died of small pox," was the reply, " `Hardly a house has escaped." Aghast I stared at him. More than a tenth of the population wiped out in a month? Could this not have been prevented? "We have no hospital for women and children." My companion quietly replied : "Last year nearly Rs 80,000 were willingly contributed by the weavers' families for a women's hospital, but no one knows what be- came of that money, we have not even seen the blue-print of a hospital yet!" 12 thousand women belonging to the fami- lies of the weavers work in Mau from morn to night, 12 thousand pairs of hands send the shuttle flying back and forth so that the people of this country may be clothed. The weavers are Muslims and the lives of the women are confined to the mud enclosures round the looms which are their homes. The houses are damp and dark, there is no sanitation, no drainage in the town. Can one then wonder at the high incidence of disease? Why is there no provision of a hospital, a lady doctor, a midwife in this place? What became of the 80,000 rupees collected? What happened to the lakhs collected in the name of Kasturba ? What became of the Congress pledges for building a happy and prosperous free India? Shyamratti, the mother of heroes In the gateway of the District Jail, Ballia, a little boy of six was playing with pebbles. "What is your name? "I asked him. "Shyam Narain". His smile was shy yet it had a gleam of impishness. "Where do you live?" "In the Jail" NOVEMBER 1951 "What do you get to eat in the jail? "Dal Bhat" "Don't they give you gur?" "Sometimes, when someone deposits it" His eyes were wistful. Later I met his mother, Shyamratti, who along with her two sons Phool Badan and Kapil Dev is amongst the accused in the Ballia cases. How did it come about that this elderly woman, mother of three sons, with an intelli- gence not above the average, with no educa- tion, came to be involved in political cases of this nature? Kapil Dev was interested in the Kisan Sabha. He had worked in Calcutta and came in touch with the Red Flag. The blind Kisan leader of Ballia, Baijnath Sharma used to visit him often and the Zamindars' goondas knew of this. One day they waylaid him and start- ed beating Sharmaji. Kapildev when he rushed to the rescue, was also subjected to lathi blows. The youngest brother Shyam Narain on hearing his brother's cries rushed out and caught hold of the Zamindar's legs. The Zamindar Saheb threw the boy on the ground and put his foot on the little chest. Shyamratti had seen all this. The iron had entered her soul. Never more would she submit to the tyranny of the Zemindars. Next time when the Zemindar's men, .thinking the property to be unprotected came to plough up Kapil 1)ev's fields, it was Shyam- ratti who rushed out at the Zemindar Saheb. Only by smashing her skull and rendering her unconscious could the zemindar's men get rid of this fury of outraged motherhood. A new faith springs up in women's hearts Shyamratti, Singhasini, Sukhvansa, Kusmi and several others, illiterate peasant women, harijans and khet mazdoors, founded their Jan- wadi Mahila Sangh and challenged the world. Numerous are the stories of how the jathas of women toured entire areas, rousing and mobilising men and women for the defence of the land, for a higher daily wage, for pro- tecting the honour of women. In Kasmabad, Ghazipur district, the peo- Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 ple still recall with a smile how the village women taught a lesson to the thanedar who dared enter a house and lay hands on the mother of the family. With their broom- sticks and rolling pins, the women drove out the thanedar while the children of the village made free with his horse. In Ballia it was the fisherwomen who had refused to accept the imposition of a fresh tax on the village pond by the zemindar. When the police arrived in the village at the urgent summons of the zemindar, they could see no sign of the zemindar who was locked up in his pukka house nor could they think of some cogent reason for arresting the un- armed women surrounding the house and demanding the withdrawl of the taxes. The militant participation of the women's jathas in the strike of the khet-mazdoors for higher wages, their rousing songs, their courage and daring in the face of police provocation are byewords in the Eastern Districts. A new courage, a new faith was inspired in the hearts of women. Sukhva nsa-the symbol of courage Swift was the action of the government. In village after village the armed police force swooped down. They rounded up, beat up, and arrested as many militant kisan and Khet- mazdoor workers as they could. They took as col- lective fines and bribes as much money as could be squeezed out of the impoverished villagers. They took away all they could and what they could not take away they wantonly destroyed. Kerosene oil was poured onto bags of grain and jars of ghee were smashed on the ground. In Jaunpur, Sultanpur, Ghazipur, Ballia, Azamgarh, Gorakhpur, and the rest of the Eastern Districts in the first half of 1950, a reign of terror prevailed. Hundereds were arrested, hundreds hid from the terror. The biggest manhunt in the history of the Eastern districts was on. Did a single woman betray ? Did any one break down ? Murli's mother nursed her son back to consciousness. Once the sturdiest peasant in the village, he was rendered a cripple now because of the repeated blows on his instep. "Where is Sarju Pandey ?" Was what the police wanted to know. One word from Murli's mother could have saved her son a lifetime's torture but the word was not uttered. From Pali's house they snatched up a three days old baby and dashed the soft body on the ground. The baby died within three days but neither then nor later did Pali utter a word of complaint or waver in her determination to fight for a happier future for all kisan child- ren. Kusmi's children were just rescued from the fire which razed her house to the ground. Again and again the zemindar and the autho- rities demanded :"Give up the fight for land and bread, denounce your comrades and you shall be rewarded." Kusmi withstood the beating and torture, and with greater vigour joined in the campaign against repression. Sukhvansa's name was a symbol of daring courage in Basti and the neighbouring areas. No zemindar's goonda dared lay hands upon her, no policeman relished facing this impetuous young Harijan girl. Lithe as a finely tempered steel blade Sukhvansa time and again faced the police and the zemindars' lathials. Bare- handed she would turn upon the armed men and dare them to shoot a woman, would shame them into lowering their loaded guns; would rally the wavering crowd of men behind her. Sukhvansa did not take into account the bravery of Lal Bahadur Shastri, his daring which could even sanction firing on unarmed women. With a bullet in her leg Sukhvansa was carried to the thana. For months she lay in hospital, her life hanging in the balance. Due to negligence gangerene had set in and her leg was amputated. They maimed the lioness but they could not break her spirit. Even when she was dangerously ill the rigorous restrictions placed on her were not relaxed. "Once a nurse whispered to me that a man from my village had come to the hospital to see me. She pointed to the window and I made an effort and raised myself. A friend from my village was truly outside, but the sentry saw my movement and blocked the view." Sukhvansa told me this when I met her in the Ballia court-room. "Sukhvansa," I said "Women from all over the province greet you and are proud of you." "Sukhvansa had tears in her eyes. "I did nothing which I would not gladly do again." She said, "But I have grown so weak. The loss of blood .... " I saw that she was trem- bling. Can repression stop revolt of the hungry? Four hundered men and women in Ballia, two hundred and fifty in Ghazipur, and several others in Sultanpur, Gorakhpur, Jaunpur, Azamgarh, Basti, are facing trials arising from 36 INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 skirmishes between the kisans and zemindars. Lal Bahadur Shastri and his minions had tried to quell the movement of the kisarrs of the Eastern Districts by posting armed police, imposing collective fines, and putting an iron curtain around the entire Eastern districts. But even the Congress government cannot hide facts. The food minister is forced to declare that the food situation in Eastern U. P. is critical, The newspapers publish figures of the cloth shortage which has made it impossible for women to stir out of their houses. The wage for a day's work is still two pice to three pice in Ballia, Ghazipur and Sultanpur. Small-pox together with the usual diseases-malaria, phila- ria and berry-berry has played havoc with the families of the kisans. No alternative occupa- tion in the shape of industrial labour is avail- able to the land hungry peasants. Can repression stave off the revolt of the hungry and the naked? Already the signs of a new movement for democratic liberties are visible. To demand the release of their beloved leaders the peasants of the Eastern Districts are collecting funds, putting up posters, chalking up slogans and holding conferences and rallies. Undaunted the women are in the forefront of this movement. Book-Review Krishan Chandar's Art Flame and the Flower : A Collection of Short Stories and Sketches by Krishan Chander. Publisher: Current Book House, Bombay. Pages 99 ; price Rs. 2/4 Krishan Chander today is one of the most notable progressive writers in India, and a translation of his representative work into English and other foreign languages was long overdue as a step towards his introduction to a wider international audience. His Letter lo a Dead Man coupled with his work for the Peace Movement had aroused much curiosity about his work among foreign democratic circles and a publication like Flame and the Flower had be- Manatora of Sultanpur To me the future of this movement is symbo- lised by Manatora of Sultanpur. This young peasant girl, a picture of strength and vibrating vitality had helped to organise a meeting of three thousand kisan men and women in Kadi- pur for demanding withdrawal of the Ballia cases and had gone from door to door to collect money for the Relief Fund. At night there was the women's meeting which finished by about midnight. Manatora's home was on the other bank of the Gomti. "How will you go back, Manatora ?" I asked her, "Is there some one to take you home at this time of the night ?" Manatora's white teeth flashed in a brilliant smile. "How will I go home ? I shall row myself across. Many's the time when I rowed across comrades from one bank of the river to the other at dead of the night. What have I to be afraid of ? Do I not know every twist and turn of the river and the banks here? Does not every man and woman know me?" Indeed our workers are known and are dear to the heart of every man and woman in their villages. When Manatora's brother-in-law protested at her activities saying that it was shameful for Manatora to go from door to door begging for funds, it was Manatora's mother who rebuked him. "It is not shame that Mantora brings to your household;" she said, " It is honour, my son." P. C. Gupta come very necessary. We, therefore, welcome this little book as the first of a series introdu- cing India's younger generation of outstanding writers to international circles. Early writings Krishan Chander has now been writing for well over fifteen years. He first made his mark as a writer of elegant, satirical sketches notable for their feline grace and beauty. There was in them an undertone of discontent with the existing state of thing, but a certain cynicism and ennui as well. There were in them dreams of love and beauty, but it appeared there was no hope of ever realising them in life. When Krishan Chander was Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 writing these early stories of his, he had already been drawn into the drogressive Writers' movement and was functioning as the Secre-, tary of its Lahore unit. This was in the Thirties, when the movement was still young. Since then Krishan Chander's art has moved forward with rapid strides towards greater freedom and power. He plunged himself increasingly into social and cultural movements, and his art has gained thereby immense range, variety and depth. Krishan Chander was one of the chief organizers and sponsors of the Indian Anti-Fascist Writers' Conference held at Delhi in May 1943. He was in that period showing some leaning to- wards Royism, but fortunately soon recovered himself. The example of Agyeya, the well- known Hindi writer who organized the noto- rious Freedom of Culture Conference recently shows where this inclined plane of R'oyism leads ultimately in art.as well as politics. From victory to victory Krishan's art after this phase moves for- ward from victory to victory. He wrote his long short-story Annadata during the days of the Bengal Famine, later translated into Eng- lish under the title I Cannot Die. During the great Indian naval uprising he wrote Three Goondas which movingly describes the stirring scenes in Bombay during that event. Peshawar Express included in this volume was written during the communal holocaust which followed the partition of India. He main- tained this tempo in his writing, pouring out one story after another as terror and repression gripped the land. The Progres- sive Writers' movement made serious mistakes in this period, from which it has been making earnest efforts to recover. Krishan Chander helped to rehabilitate the Peace Movement which had assumed a very narrow base in this country. He became the Secretary of the All India Preparatory Committee and has made remarkable contribution in widening the movement and giving to it a genuine national character. To this last phase of his work belong such stories as Queen of Hearts and Letter to a Dead Man. The other stories included in this volume belong to the years just proceeding the outbreak of war in Korea. This volume Flame and the Flower gives one a very good. idea of the kind of work Krishan Chandar is doing to-day. Included in this volume are stories on foreign themes-the Korean war and the Franco torror in Spain; sketches like The Flowers are Red and The Bridge of Mahalaxmi which are cross-sections from the life of the working class in a big industrial city like Bom- bay; there are wonderful pictures of the ro- mance and beauty of this world, also its sorrows and tears, such as The Night of the Full Moon and the The Poet, the Philosopher and the Clerk. Intense social awareness There is in these stories much native strength and power. They have in them an intense social awareness and an earnest desire to use the artist's gift for the service and betterment of the people. Krishan Chander speaks out boldly on behalf of oppressed humanity in this land. Examples of such writing are The Flo- wers are Red and The Bridge of Mahalaxmi. In the latter story he speaks of six saries, symbolical of the life of toil and drudgery of Indian wo- manhood from the lowest social sub-stratum. He speaks with similar passion about the suffer- ing of people in other lands. His passion is a blazing fire, a flaming sword, for his tears have all dried up in his hatred for oppression and cruelty. In his Letter to a Dead Man he says: "Only now I have no tears for you, I have shed my tears a long time ago, because I have seen a great deal of misery and social injustice in my own land. Let me assure you that I have nothing but a flaming anger and a pure hatred against the men who sent you to death in Korea. The words in which Krishan Chander des- cribes the song of the blind boy would also be very telling description of the passionate human- ism of his own work: "Then I took this thirsty and starved and naked song to my blind friend. And in this song of ours he put all the insight of his blind being, all the anguish of his suffering soul, all the light of his dark work. And then the song became a sword. And when he sang the song, it was like a thou- sand naked swords dancing before the mill." There is in the art of Krishan Chander great and overflowing love of the land, its rich brown and green earth, its golden corn, its great rivers, its songs of the loves of Heer Ranjha, Sohni and Mahinwal, its dark-eyed men and women with their dreams and sorrows. The course of his stories is like the course of a song which conjures up ancient memories, present woes and future hopes. These future hopes are uttered in the fol- lowing eloquent words: "This earth of ours, though peace lies thinly and precariously over it, is a vast big and a very beautiful place. We can all live happily here. It has vast fertile plains, rich in wheat, oats, maize and cotton, INDIA .TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 large undulating hills and mountainous regions abounding in wild life, mineral ore and timber, great rivers and lakes hiding hydroelectric energy in their bosom. We could all live here happily in evergrowing luxury and comfort." (Letter to a Dead Man.) Such art is a powerful weapon in the move- ment for Peace extending in ever-widening circles all over the world. Krishan Chander tears off the mask from the cruel, mean faces of the war-mongering Mac Arthrurs and creates in the hearts and minds of the readers a healthy contempt and hatred for them. Vivid historical imagination Among the most notable features of Krishan Chander's art are his vivid historical imagina- tion which enables him to recall without effort the ancient past of makind with its memories of struggle and victory, defeat and progress; his mastery of the lively detail which creates a picture with an utmost economy of strokes; his overflowing love of nature which bursts repeatedly through his narrative, painting lively scenes of this land and others - America with its "vast plains, and millions of clean hands working to its mighty rhythm in the great American hinterland". Africa "of dark forests and green prrots, blue lakes and colourful giraffes", and the beauty of Kashmir and the Panjab painted through many rich, memorable pasages. Above all there is the gift of his imagination which enables him to create vividly scenes and people never seen, but made to live in an unforget- table manner. This enables him to create Korea more richly and vivdly than anything done by people who have seen and experienced the living horror in their own person. This enables him to describe the barbaric descent of Punjab to the lowest depths of degradation and shame, and many other similar things burnt into the Indian memory through these last years. The secret of this success lies in his extreme sensitiveness and quick response to impressions. Great command over language Among the assets of Krishan Chander's art, mention should be made of his great com- mand over language. In the original Urdu his prose has a rare, superb quality. His vo- cabulary is rich in variety and range of in- flexion. It has a tender, lyric tone on occasion, as in his descriptions of love and the beauty of nature. Such is the quality of his prose in The Night of the Full Moon. It can be biting NOVEMBER, 1951 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 CIA-RDP83-00415R01 0200020024-9 and satirical and achieves great denunciatory power when occasion demands it. It is a most supple and nervous prose, sensitive and strong, and in his command over the magic of words, their beauty, music and power lies one of the main charms of Krishan Chander's writings. In the English translation the innate quality of his prose has been adequately preserved, though the full flavour and beauty of the original can never be completely realised. Some have complained at times that Krishan Chander builds too much on imagi- nation. Krishan Chander has now been writing for almost two decades. By all standards he is a modern Indian Classic. Through these years his art has continually gained in stature, till it has become reprsen- tative of all that is best and ablest in our coun- try. But we would like him to move still nearer to Mother Earth, so that we may have from his pen more and more living portraits of our peasant masses and proletarians as well as those of the oppressed, spiritually hungry intellgentsia. We also hope that he would now begin to build on the grand scale instead of working only in miniature. This we say with a full appreciation of his manifold achievements and with no small admiration for his work done so far. Genesis of Indian bourgeoisie From page 34] heads of departments were mostly British. The mercantile restrictions no longer operated and British free trade capitalism was in its heyday of prosperity. Britain was the most dominat- ing power in international trade, exporting 70 per cent of the cotton cloth entering the world market. In the closing years of the nineteenth century, the monopoly position of Britain was being seriously threatened by new rising nation-states like Germany and Japan. Free-trade capitalism gave place to finance-capitalism. In 1882, the import duties on cotton were abolished. The first rumblings of discontent of the Indian bourgeoisie begin to be heard. They had already established themselves in the Indian market and had at their command huge capital resources. And the number of cotton mills increased to 58 in 1880. In. 1885, the Indian National Congress was formed which was to be the platform of opposi- tion of the rising bourgeoisie in the subsequent period. In 1886, Tata christened his new co- tton mills as Swadeshi Mills. The basic econo mic conflict between imperialism and the colo- nial bourgeoisie had begun to unfold itself. ,. -39 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Tara Chand Gupta Parties and Politics The Patiala and East Punjab States' Union (PEPSU) comprises of. eight East Punjab states--Patiala, Nabha, Jind, Kapurthala, Faridkot, Malerkotla, Kalsia and Nalagarh. It is spread over an area of 10,119 sq. miles. The population, according to 1941 census, was 34.24 lacs. With the migration of Mus- lims to Pakistan, the population came; down to 2511 lacs. The total number of refugees settled in these states is in the neighbourhood of 61 lacs. The up-to-date population of the PEPSU, after exchange of refugees following partition of India, is, according to census figures of 1951, about 33 lacs. Annual treasury receipts in the PEPSU amount to about Rs. 5 crores. Nearly ten per cent of the budget receipts, Rs. 50 lacs, are paid in the form of pensions and privy purses to sustain eight princely families. Two major sources of state revenue in the PEPSU are land revenue and excise tax. Rs. 1 crores are realised from Excise alone! General Elections on basis of adult fran- chise will be a novelty in this small border union where democratic institutions are com- pletely unknown so far. It would be the first chance for the people here to go through the experience of exercising the right to vote to elect their representatives for running the parliamentary institutions. About 18 lacs of voters from 38 towns, big and small, and 6,166 villages would be electing 60 represent- atives for the State Legislature and five for the House of People. Out of sixty seats of the PEPSU State Assembly, 10 have been reserved for the scheduled castes. Post-war upsurge As elsewhere in princely India, mighty people's movements swept over East Punjab States in the post-war period. These :move- ments suffered serious set-back when following the partition, princes, jagirdars and their imperialist masters fomented, organised and conducted communal disturbances to divide, uproot and destroy the people's unity in their struggle for political and economic emanci- Tara Chand Gupta is the Convener of the People's Democratic Front of the PEPSU.-Editor in PEPSU Pation. By the beginning of the year 1948, the communal frenzy had died down and people were again settling down to their daily life of toil and labour. The snapp- ed thread of struggles was taken up and surprisingly enough even after the havoc wrought by post-partition riot-wave, people's movement again gathered momentum within the brief' span of a few months. The peasants marched on the capital -city of Faridkot and captured the Secretariat. Thousands of villagers surrounded the Dadri fort in Jind state and forced the military unit to uncondi- tionally surrender. Militant tenants of Patiala state mustered in their thousands. They held mass demonstrations in the streets of Patiala demanding liquidation of Maharaja's autocratic rule. Even the might of Patel was proving ineffectual in shielding the princes from the rising tide of mass anger of the states' people. So the eight princely states of East Punjab were lumped together and formed into a union with Maharaja of Patiala crowned as the Rajpramukh. In the initial stages when the Punjab Riyasati Prajamandal was christened into the PEPSU Provincial Congress Committee, there was an influential section of kisan workers in the organisation. After the formation of the PEPSU the right-wing Congress leaders tried their best to strike bargain with the Maharaja but the kisan leaders having links with peasant masses stood in their way, so much so that Patel set up a care-taker ministry with the Maharaja's own uncle as the Chief Minister. The Right-wing Congress leaders, however, continued playing at their favourite game of channelising the agrarian unrest and the general feeling of frustration into the narrow mould of constitutional agitation for their ministry formation. The Maharaja bought over a couple of extreme right-wing Congress leaders and Patel set up a new hybrid ministry. This ministry, with Maharaja's uncle still as the Chief Minister, ushered in a reign of terror. Half a dozen tenants were shot dead at Kishengarli. But the kisans refused to be terrorised. .They fought back.. Even the poor ,.-40 _INDIA- TO_DAy.. Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 town-dwellers were roused to militant action, so much so that a notorious Sub-Inspector of Police at Malerkotla who had criminally assaulted a minor virgin girl fell a victim to an angry crowd of citizens. Warrants of arrest were issued for left-wing Congress leaders. They were forced to go underground. Many were detained. Such was the universal hatred against this ministry that Patel had to wind up the show ten months after, in November, 1949. Another caretaker ministry on the basis of 50:50 re- presentation between the Maharaja and the States Ministry dragged on in isolated existence for over 15 months till in May this year, after the death of Sardar Patel, Nehru installed the three-group Congress ministry in power with the notorious imperialist agent Col. Raghbir Singh as the Chief Minister. The express purpose of this on-the-eve-of-elections ministerial set-up is to manoeuvre the elections for the Congress Party through the agency of official heirarchy. Misdeeds of Congress Congress rulers, through their patronage of Rajwara-shahi have helped in the conso- lidation of the extreme Right-wing communal- cum-fascist organisations. Akalis were the first to go into action aganist the foisting of the anti-people ministry of the PEPSU Congress leaders. Their action, of course, was frothy and their slogans hollow. But they took ad- vantage of the situation and organised huge anti-ministry demonstrations. Effigy of the ministry was taken out in procession, beaten with shoes and burnt at Patiala, Bhatinda and Sangrur. Black flag demonstrations were held against ministers wherever they went. Hot-headed, arrogant, but essentially weak and corrupt Brish Bhan, State Congress leader, fairly popular among the city middle class before he became the Deputy Chief to Col. Raghbir Singh, proved to be a source of weakness rather than strength to the new ministry. Tormented with internal con- flict, bossed over by the ICS Regional Commissioner, gripped by the mortal fear of dismissal at any moment and lacking support of any section of the population, the ministry lives on newsprint publicity in the isolated `grandeur' of their bungalows in Baradari gardens at Patiala. No wonder then that the police baton has been in frequent use to break up demonstrations. Men and women have been thrashed, arrested and locked up in prison. Civil liberties have been blotted out. In every part of the Union thousands of tenant families are being ejected from fields, they have been tilling fbr generations. Police and the goonda squads of landlords go about striking terror in the countryside. Three kisans were shot dead recently at village Bishenpura, allegedly by the Mukhtiar of Biswedar Jaswant Singh Jeji. Tenant Jai Singh's minor daughter Tej Kaur was reported to have been criminally assaulted by a police constable at village Narendrapura in Mansa Tahsil. 120 men, women and children were taken into police custody at village Bakhora. Bare- headed women with their hands tied behind their backs were marched through village streets. Eighteen-year-old Hamir Kaur was removed to Sangrur and thrown by the road- side to shift for herself along with her baby, hardly three weeks old. Biswedar Teja Singh was reported to have employed 40 goondas armed with guns to drive off several tenant families from village Chonegra in Patiala district. Labour in the factories at Hamira, Phag- wara, Rajpura, Surajpur, Nabha, Dadri, Bha- tinda, Malerkotla and Patiala is at the mercy of monoply-capitalists Dalmia, Birla, Karam. chand Thapar, Seth Gujarmal Modi of U. P. and others like them. Trade Union legislation remains only on paper. The proprietors are minting millions, but the workers are forced to work for long hours on starvation wages. Education accounts for 15 per cent of the budget, whereas the expenditure on police exceeds 19 per cent. Fees are high but teaching arrangements are altogether unsatisfactory. Bhatinda Intermediate results this year were 9%! Having lost face in municipal elections, the Congress Ministry has decided to have no more elections. It is busy smuggling undesir- able persons in town and city municipalities through nomination ! Alliance with feudal, communal forces The Congress in the PEPSU, therefore, is functioning through three different bodies to `capture' power in the coming elections. There is the official Congress, purged of all progressive elements and with opportunists in leadership, trying to establish perpetual control over the P. C. C. machine. Then, there are the landlords. Thirdly, the Akalis will contest seats only to join the Congress Assembly Party after elections are over. In spite of wordy swordrattling against communal- ism, Congress rulers are mighty glad that NOVEMBER 1951 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Akalis still have some sort of slippery hold on the middle class Sikh youth and a substantial section of rich peasants. Master Tara Singh has established his headquarters at Patiala. A few weeks back, he staged the big show of Mahasamagam when some 75 thousand Sikhs gathered at Patiala to revitalise `spiritualism'! Landlords and the Princes are in this way trying to impress upon the Congress .rulers their influence with the Sikh masses with a view to drive as hard a bargain with their erstwhile patrons as possible. Formation of People's Democratic Front It is a pity that it took full three months to work out the idea of People's Front into concrete reality in the PEPSU. Had the front been in existence at the time of the for- mation of Congress Ministry in May last, the Congress could have been smashed to pieces. There was a stage when 80 Congress leaders met in a convention at Patiala and decried the formation of the ministry in al- liance with Colonel Raghubir Singh. But they had no place to go to. There was no transitional organization which they could join in order to fight against the reactionary, corrupt Congress leaders. But in spite of it all, it is nothing short of a miracle that the People's Democratic Front has been brought into existence in the PEPSU. The two Communist Parties, Lal and the official, had bitter memories offratricidal quarrel. Such, however, is the demand of the hour that every section of radicals mustered promptly at the very first call of the Commu- nist Party to unite popular forces against Cong- ress misrule. On the 19th of August, about 150 prominent publicmen of the PEPSU came together at Sangrur and decided to lay the foundations of the People's Democratic Front. The front is a coalition of the Communist Party, Lal Communist Party, Forward Bloc, former Congressmen who had recently left Congress as a protest against the betrayal by the PEPSU Congress leaders, independent radicals and Left Socialists. The Programme of the Front It is an electoral coalition on the basis of a concrete programme. The programme includes: (1) Abolition of Biswedari without com- pensation. (2) Distribution of lands belonging to jagirdars and princes among poor peasants and Khet Mazdoors on the principle of `Land to the Tiller'. (3) Higher wages for factory and office workers and recognition of trade union rights. (4) Repeal of Sales Tax Act. (5) Free elementary education for all, reduc- tion in education fees and provision of stipends for needy students in institutions of higher education. (6) Ensuring supply of cheap raw mate- rials and otherwise protecting small factory- owners against the competition of monopoly capitalists. (7) Re-settlement of refugees on land, in. business and starting of new industries to absorb the unemployed. (8) Ensuring price stabilization and en- forcing price control and adoption of effective measures against corruption. (9) Abolition of Raja-shahi; pensions and privy purses of princes and their relatives to be stopped and their capital and lands to be confiscated. ' (10) Creation of provinces on the language principle. (11) Repeal of Safety Acts, release of political detenus and prisoners, and with- drawal of punitive police posts from tenancy villages. (12) (a) Withdrawal of India From the British Commonwealth of Nations and re- moval of all Britishers from the armed forces. (b) India to work for world peace in alliance with the peace-loving Governments and peoples of Russia, China and the coun- tries of Eastern Europe. Bringing together all the radical elements on one common platform on the basis of a concrete programme of action is a solid achieve- rrient. The response has been tremendous. It is for the first time that a planned campaign of mass political education has been launched in the PEPSU in a methodical way. Bright future ahead The task ahead, no doubt, is uphill. Big chunks of city youth are still under the spell of fascist ideologies of the R. S. S. and the Akali Dal. Nearly 30% of the arable land in the PEPSU belongs to a handful of jagirdars and the seven princely families. Maharajas of Patiala, Kapurthala and Faridkot, these three alone, own capital of about two crores in the form of extensive farms, tea and fruit gardens, palaces, and shares in industrial con- cerns and banks. Congress ministers are openly corrupting the public life by utilising the services of Government officials to collect funds for the Congress Party. [See on Page 52 42 INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Thirty-fourth anniversary of November Socialist Revolution Smiling wheat bags from USSR-prompt and disinterested Soviet aid to India Defender of Nations' Freedom Acardinal principle of the Soviet Union's foreign policy, a principle it has unalterably followed since the first day of its exis- tence, is to work for the independence and sovereignty of peoples and states and for non-interference in their internal affairs, to work against national oppression and colonial enthralment in any form. This principle was proclaimed by the Soviet Government on November 8, 1917, in its Decree on Peace. And in V. I. Lenin's and J. V. Stalin's Address of December 3, 1917, To All Toiling Moslems of Russia and the East, it was stated that the Soviet Republic was tearing up all unequal treaties concluded between the Tsarist government and the coun- tries of the East as well as the treaties with the imperialist powers providing for the parti- tioning of the countries of the Fast. NOVEMBER 1951 The proclamation by the Soviet State of the new principles for its relations with the countries of the East, principles founded on the recognition of their sovereignty and indepen- dence, strengthened the struggle for national liberation conducted by the peoples of China, India, Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan and other countries in Asia and made it difficult for the imperialist powers of the West to continue to pursue their old policy in the East. Protector of Afghanistan's independence In 1919, when Amanullah Khan, the new Emir of Afghanistan, proclaimed his country's complete independence, the Soviet Govern- ment unreservedly recognized the sovereign rights of independent Afghanistan and agreed at once to establish diplomatic relations with Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 that country. And in connection with the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the Soviet Government stated that `from the first days it had taken the power it had announced to the whole world its desire not only to recognize the self-determination of all peo- ples, great and small, but also to give its support to all peoples fighting for their independence and for the right to order their internal life as they deem best without interference from the big and mighty imperialist governments." In 1921, the Treaty of Moscow was con- cluded between Afghanistan and Soviet Russia ,,with the aim", as it was stated in the pream?- ble, "of ' consolidating the friendly relations between Russia and Afghanistan and protecting Afghanistan's real independence." The Treaty of Moscow was a. decisive factor in ensuring Afghanistan's independence. The hostile actions of Britain which stubbornly refused to reconcile itself to the existence of an independent Afghan State, were without avail. Loyal friend of China and Mongolia In the middle of 1919, the Soviet Govern- ment took steps to establish friendly relations between Soviet Russia and China. It add- ressed a statement to the Chinese people and the governments of North and South China in which it reaffirmed its renunciation of all conquests of the Tsarist government in China and Russia's share of the indemnity for the Boxer Rebellion of 1900. The Soviet Government also announced the abolition of. all special privileges enjoyed by Russian citizens in China, underscoring that any Russian subject meddling in China's internal affairs or committing a crime should be justly tried by a local court. "There should be no other power or court in China," it was said in the statement, " than the power and the court of the Chinese people." The Soviet Government informed the Chi- nese Government that it was ready to establish official relations between the two countries and to nullify once and for all acts of violence and injustice committed by the Tsarist government against China. At the very outset of their war of libe- ration, the Mongolian people found in the Soviet State a loyal and reliable friend. In its declaration to the Mongolian people made in 1919, the Soviet Government stated : "Mongolia is a free country. All power in the country should belong to the free people. No f oreigner has the right to interfere in Mongolia's internal affairs." Not only was the Soviet Land the first to recognize the independence of the Mongolian People's Republic, but it also helped the lat- ter successfully defend its freedom from en- croachment by the imperialists. Helped in preserving Iran's freedom The victory of the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia was of exceptionally great importance for the destiny of the Iranian people. As early as December 3, 1917, the Soviet Government announced that it was cancelling the treaty on the partition of Persia. that had been concluded by the Tsarist govern- ment with the imperialists of Britain and France and that it recognized the right of the Persians freely to determine their own fate. When, following the withdrawal of Russian troops from Iran, Britain occupied the country (" swallowed all of Persia," to use Lenin's expression) and forced on Iran the enthralling treaty of 1919, the Soviet Government stated in an announcement to the Iranian people that it did not recognize the oppressive Anglo- Iranian Treaty, considering it a scrap of paper without legal force. The declaration re-affirmed renunciation of all unequal treaties with Iran or those concerning Iran, of intervention in the internal affairs of Iran and the title to Russian property in that country. On February 26, 1921, a Soviet-Iranian Treaty was signed, in which the Soviet Govern- ment solemnly announced its abandonment of the policy that had been pursued in Iran by the Tsarist and Provisional govern- ments, and the treaty also annulled all agree- ments and conventions infringing on the interests of the Iranian people. The Soviet-Iranian Treaty of 1921 played an important part in preserving Iran's independence. The British imperialists were forced to withdraw their troops from Iran in the spring of 1921. Assisted Kemal Ataturk Soviet Russia played a major role in safeguarding Turkey's independence. The Treaty of Sevres, signed by Turkey at the dictation of the Entente imperialists, left the Turks the Central and Northern parts of Asia Minor only, which in fact, were turned into a colonial region. The policy pursued in Turkey by the imperialists of the United States, Britain, France and Italy brought about the growth of the Turkish peoples' national liberation movement, which was heartily supported by the Soviet people. 4' 1 INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Towards the end of April 1920, Kemal Selfless aid to People's Democracies Ataturk appealed to the Soviet Government for help to the Turkish national liberation movement. The Soviet Government expressed its readiness to establish normal diplomatic relations with Turkey and displayed the liveliest sympathy for the struggle waged by the Turkish people. On March 16, 1921, a Soviet-Turkish Treaty of Friendship and Fraternity was signed. The Soviet Government did not recognize the capitulation regime and renounced all privi- leges and all debts due from Turkey. The treaty with Soviet Russia was a major factor in Turkey's preserving her independence, in the Turkish victory over the Anglo-Greek inter- ventionists. Soviet foreign policy has always firmly opposed colonial regimes and upheld the right of the peoples of colonies and dependent countries to self-determination, and to inde- pendent statehood. On entering the League of Nations in 1934, the Soviet Government made the reservation that it did not recognize the so-called system of mandates, which was a screen for a regime of colonial exploitation. In the United Nations, the Soviet Govern- ment has vigorously insisted that the inter- national trusteeship system be so applied as to help the peoples of dependent countries gain self-government and independence. Stalin's programme for post-war world During the Great Patriotic War, J. V. Stalin, speaking of a democratic programme for the post-war organization of the world stressed that there should be ensured "abolition of racial exclusiveness; equality of nations and inviolability of their territories; liberation of the enslaved nations and the restoration of their sovereign rights; the right of every nation to manage its affairs in its own way; economic aid to nations that have. suffered and assistance in establishing their material welfare; restoration of democratic liberties; destruction of the Hitler regime." The world-historic victory of the Soviet Union over Hitler Germany and imperialist Japan was of decisive importance for the preservation of the peoples' independence. The defeat of Hitler Germany and the libera- tion of a whole number of countries in Central and South-Eastern Europe by Soviet troops has permitted the peoples of Poland, Rumania, Bul- garia, Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Albania, who previously had been under yoke of German fascists to take power into their own hands and for the first time in their history establish their real national independence. NOVEMBER 1951 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 The Soviet Union has concluded with all the Peoples's Democracies in Europe economic and political treaties founded on the principle of complete equality of both parties. The Soviet Union was the first to recognise the Chinese People's Republic and vigorously to defend her sovereign rights. Article 5 of the Soviet-Chinese Treaty of Friendship, Alliance and Mutual Assistance, signed in Moscow on February 14, 1950, reads as follows: "The two Contracting Parties undertake in a spirit of friendship and co-operation, and in accordance with the principles of equality, mutual interest and mutual integrity and respect for their state sovereignty and territorial non-interference in the internal affairs of the other Pary, to develop and strengthen economic and cultural lies between the Soviet Union and China, to render each other all possible economic assistance and to carry out necessary economic coopera- tion." The imperialists of the United States, Britain and other countries are trying by every means to rob the People's Democracies of the freedom and independence gained by them. To this end they make use of the reactionary forces inside those countries, to which they also send their spies and saboteurs. In contrast to the policy pursued by the imperialists, Soviet foreign policy respects national rights and the national aspirations of the peoples. When entering into relations with other countries and peoples the great Soviet Union invariably treats them as equals. Stalin on equality of nations A profound scientific substantiation of this principle adhered to by the Soviet Union was given by J. V. Stalin at the reception in honour of the Finnish Government dele- gation on April 7, 1948. Stalin said: ".Many people do not believe that the relations between a big and a small nation can be equal. But we, Soviet people, hold that such relations can and must exist. Soviet people hold that each nation whether big or small has its own distinguishing qualitative features, its own specific nature which it alone possesses and other nations lack. These distinguishing features constitute the contribution that each nation makes to the common treasury of world culture and that supplements and enriches it. In this sense, all nations-big and small-are in a similar position, and each nation is equivalent to every other nation." The Soviet Union came out against the Marshall Plan for the reason that the American imperialists have made its main objective the destruction of the national sovereignty of Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 the European peoples and their enslavement. Against the Marshall Plan the Soviet Union put forward a programme of economic co-operation based on equality of rights and respect for the national aspirations and in- dependence of the peoples. The whole world knows what a great fight the Soviet Union has been conducting in the United Nations in defence of the national rights of the peoples of Iran, Greece, Indonesia, Syria, Lebanon, China and Korea. The Soviet Union's fight in defence of representation in the United Nations of the China's People's Government and the expulsion of the Kuomin- India's Socialist neighbour tang remains of American imperialism is a fight in defence of the U.N. Charter, and in defence of peace and the national interests of the Chinese people. The Soviet Union has established diploma- tic relations with India, Pakistan, the People's Republic of Viet-Nam, Burma, and the Indonesian Republic, whose peoples for a long time were under the heel of foreign oppressors. The Soviet Union is developing its relations with these states on the principle of full equality, respect for their national sovereignty and non-interference in their internal affairs. Soviet Tajikistan (Progress in the The Supreme Soviet of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic in August 1946, dopted the republic's post-war Five-Year Plan for the rehabilitation and further development of its national economy. Under this plan Tajikistan was in the first five post-war years (1946-1950) not only to attain its pre-war economic level, but also to exceed it. With the aid of the peoples of the fraternal Republics of the Soviet Union, the working people of Soviet Tajikistan have successfully fulfilled their post-war Five-Year Plan. Industries Soviet Tajikistan has made great progress in its further industrialization. It has rapidly developed its numerous industries that came into being under the Soviet system: coal and ore-mining, cotton-ginning, the light and food industries, production of building materials. There have been erected and put into operation a foundry and engineering works, a fluorite mill, a number of ore mines and concentrate factories, cotton ginning mills, a silk weaving mill, a sewing and kni- tted goods factories, a woodworking plant, two oil mills, seven creameries and a number of other establishments. Construction of en- terprises has been launched to handle Tajik- istan's own jute crops, the cultivation of which began but recently. A number of existing industrial establish- ments have been reconstructed. The capacity of textile, cotton ginning and silk mills has five post-war years) been considerably increased. For example, at the Stalinabad Textile Mill 22,500 spindles 'were put into operation instead of the previous- fly planned 18,500. Coal output has more than doubled com- pared with pre-war. The output of the non- ferrous metals industry has gone up one and a half times, and of electric power 27. times. A considerable increase of output has been registered in the major lines of the food and the light industries. Compared with pre-war 1940, production of vegetable oil has increased 4 times; meat one and a half times; canned foods more than double; and so on all along the line; output of shoes nearly doubled, that of silk fabrics increased 38. times. Production of cotton textiles has increased five times during this five-year period. Mechanised, socialist agriculture The past five post-war years have been a period of new progress also for Tajikista.n's Socialist agriculture whose technical facilities have been growing year after year. The capa- city of just the tractor fleet of the machine- and-tractor stations which serve the republic's farms has in the course of the Five-Year Plan increased 38 per cent. Pre-sowing cultivation, sowing and tending of the cotton plants is almost fully mechanized. On the fields of the state farms and collective farms, cotton is harvested by machines. Particularly great progress has been regis- tered in the republics's major line of farming- INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 cotton-growing. The area under cotton has in the course of the post-war Five-Year Plan increased here by 31 per cent and far exceeded the pre-war figure. During this period, the gross cotton harvest has increased 3.3 times, including a fivefold increase in the production of fine-staple varieties. Now, high-yielding cotton varieties developed by Soviet breeders are widely used on the plantations of the Tajik collective farms and state farms. The area under other industrial crops (besides cotton) has increased by 46 per cent and that under fodder crops by 43 per cent. New fruit orchards and vine-yards have been planted over large areas. New crops: jute, citrus fruits, essential oil-bearing plants and other formerly unknown cultures in Tajikistan are now being successfully cultivated here. Compared with pre-war 1940, per hectare grain yields in 1950 went up 38 per cent and the gross harvest, 34 per cent. Thousands of hectares of formerly barren, waterless land in the Vakhsh and Gissar valleys and other districts of the Tajikistan have been brought under cultivation. New irrigation systems have been built and existing ones reconstructed. Work is nearing comple- tion on the construction of the Unjin pumping station to mechanize irrigation; the Yangi- Chairikaron Canal; the irrigation network in the Verkhni Koktash lands, etc. Compared with pre-war, the number of rural electric stations has more than doubled and their capacity increased more than threefold. Tajikistan has made notable progress also in animal husbandry. It has overfulfilled its Five-Year Plan for increasing the head of com- monly owned livestock. Compared with pre-war its number of cattle increased 2.7 times, sheep and goats 3.3 times, and poultry nearly 4 times. Education; culture; health Public education is successfully developing in Tajikistan. In 1950, its elementary, junior- secondary and complete secondary schools were attended by 309,000 children, or 69, 000 more than was envisaged by the post-war Five-Year Plan. Instruction in the schools is given in the native language of the population. Three times as many lads and girls attended rural evening schools as in 1945. 7,500 young peo- ple (or three times as many as in 1940) attend- ed colleges, and 10,800 attended secondary specialized schools. The republic's higher and secondary educational institutions gradua- ted more than 10,000 specialists : teachers, agronomists, doctors, etc. In the course of the post-war Five-year Plan 548 schools have been built and equipped here at state expense; the republic opened its own Slate University and eight new secondary specialized schools. The number of scientific research insti- tutions and their staffs of scientific workers has increased. Compared with pre-war, the number of clubs in towns and rural communities increased 4.5 times, the number of motion picture pro- jection installations 2.3 times, and the num- ber of public libraries 2.4 times. New medical service establishments have been opened in the towns, industrial settlements and rural communities. The republic now has twice as many doctors as it had before the war. Remarkable rise in living standards The standard of living of the Tajik popula- tion steadily advanced in the course of the postwar Five-Year Plan, real wages of factory and office workers continued to rise and so did the incomes of the collective farmers. In the course of 1947-1950, the Government of the Soviet Union three times in succession reduced prices of general consumer goods and prepared the conditions for the fourth price reduction effected on March 1, 1951. The price reductions have sharply increased real wages of workers, office employees and the intelligentsia and yielded a great saving to the peasants in purchasing cut-priced manufactured goods. The population of Tajikistan received at the expense of the state allowances from social insurance fund for factory and office workers ; pensions from the Social Mainte- nance Fund; accommodations in sanatoriums, rest homes and child institutions free of charge or at reduced rates; allowances and grants for mothers of large families and lone mothers; free medical aid; free education and professional and vocational instruction; students' stipends and a number of other payments and benefits. Trade has expanded at a rapid pace. The retail trade turnover in the state and co-opera- tive network has considerably surpassed the pre-war 1940 level. A considerable increase has been registered in the sale of food and manufactured consumer goods. Local Soviets, state enterprises and ins- titutions and also the population of towns and industrial settlements assisted by govern- ment loans on easy terms have built dwelling houses with a total living floor space of 504,000 square metres. In the rural communities 41,000 houses have been built. Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Soviets remake Geography and Climate V. Kovda In August last year the Soviet Government passed a decision providing for the cons- truction of gigantic hydro-technical works on the Volga. Russian science has always been distin- guished by its progressive outlook and optimis- tic faith in the ability of human reason, science and technology to master the elemental forces of nature. The discoveries and deductions of Mendeleyev, Dokuchayev, Timiryazev, Mi- churin and Voyeikov were a reply to those scientists who asserted that in his struggle against nature man is an impotent pigmy. From its very inception, the Soviet State addres- sed itself to the task of refashioning nature, of removing the causes giving rise to drought and crop failure, and thus making the earth yield its bounties to the full. Miracles of Socialist agriculture That vast social reform effected in the Soviet Union--the conversion of tens of millions of small peasant husbandries into large collective farms, amply supplied with first-class machinery, fertilizers and scientific guidance-has, coupled with a planned nation- al economy, created huge potentialities for increasing the productivity of labour in agri- culture. A constant and steady rise of fertility and increasing output of food and raw materials is an inherent feature of the Socialist agricul- ture of the Soviet Union. Russia in the Tsarist clays used to produce 64-80 million tons of cereals annually; the figure today in the Soviet Union is 112-128 million tons. In Soviet times the area of irrigated crop-land has increased by 50 per cent, the cotton crop five-fold, and the crop of oil-bearing plants three-fold. This unparalleled increase of soil fertility and of agricultural output disposes of the assertion of the neo-Malthusians that a process of gradual and universal exhaustion of the soil is inevitable, and that therefore measures must be taken to restrict the growth of the world's population. The trouble, quite obvious- ly, is not a general decline in the fertility of the soil, but the fact that it is being exploited waste- fully and improvidently. Contours of a great plan The Soviet people are now engaged on a grand programme of engineering measures, designed completely to eliminate the causes of the droughts that afflict the South-Eastern areas of the European part of the USSR and to irrigate vast expanses of desert and wasteland. In 1948, the Soviet people began work on a plan initiated by J. V. Stalin, providing for the planting of trans-continental shelter belts following the watersheds and the valleys of the bigger rivers, and also for the afforestation of the dunelands and black-earth steppelands in the South-Eastern part of the country. These forest belts will protect the fertile lands border- ing the Volga against the dry, destructive winds that blow from the deserts of Central Asia. A good fifth of the 15-year programme for the planting of forest belts has already been completed. In 1950, work was begun on the construction of five gigantic hydropower stations and new irrigation systems on the Volga, the Dnieper, the Don and the Amu-Darya. From five to seven years are planned for the completion of these works, which will increase the annual power output of the Soviet Union by approxi- mately 23,000 million kilowatt-hours and the area of irrigated arable land by 6,000,000 hectares. Simultaneously, sand-fixing operations will be carried out in the Kara Kum desert (Turk- menistan) and over a vast area of the Caspian lowland, and water will be brought to 22 This article is based on an article by Professor V. Kovda. Professor Victor Kovda is the Vice- Chairman of the Advisory Committee of Hydropower, Canal and Irrigation Development of the USSR Academy of Sciences. He is a geologist and mineralogist and the author of a number of works on soil science.-Editor 48 INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 million hectares of land in the cattle-breeding - regions. The completion of this grand pro- gramme will make it possible to increase the output of cereals, cotton, vegetable oil and animal products three or four times over. This gigantic plan for the remaking of geography and climate is called by the Soviet people after its author and initiator J. V. Stalin. The motive force of the Stalin Plan is the desire to harness the forces of nature and create an abundance of agricultural produce for the promotion of man's welfare. Scientists lend their aid The Stalin Plan is an embodiment of the finest progressive traditions of Soviet science. It is based on the accumulated experience and achievements of hydro-engineering in the Socialist State. A regular army of scientists, engineers, agronomists and researchers in the most diverse fields are co-operating with the Soviet people in these grand construction projects of Com- inunism. Hundreds of scientific expeditions have launched an assault on the Kara Kum and Caspian deserts and the barren steppe- lands of the Volga and South Ukraine. Much has already been accomplished. Charts of natural conditions have been drawn up and methods revised for bringing the land under ? cultivation. A pretty good idea has been obtained of its chemical composition and latent water resources, the behaviour of the ground waters and the atmospheric dynamics in the areas. New and powerful excavating machines have been designed, and extra-tough materials and new alloys invented for them. Super-powerful turbines and the most delicate automatic-control instruments are in the course of construction or designing. Soviet scientists consider it their prime duty to contribute to the work of remaking nature. Committees to advise and assist the Stalin projects have been set up by the Academy of Sciences, the Moscow University and other scientific and academic bodies. Their pur- pose is to make the latest discoveries and inventions available to the builders with the least possible delay. World's longest canal In June of last year I went to the Trans- caucasus to supervise the research work in con- nection with drainage and irrigation projects in the lowland areas of the Kura and Araxes rivers. On the Kura, near the village of Mingechaur, Azerbaijan, a big hydro-electric station is being built, which, with its dam, will make it possible to irrigate some 500,000 hectares in the Kura-Araxes basins. In August, after my return to Moscow, I was informed by telephone that a scientific committee had been set up to study projects for irrigating new areas in Turkmenistan. The committee included scientists and engi- neers. Two of my fellow-researchers in the Aca- demy of Sciences and I were requested to prepare data on natural conditions in the Turkmen Republic and to suggest suitable sites for the future irrigation systems. The Main Turkmen Canal is to be comp- leted by 1957. It will be the largest in the world, 1,100 kilometres long, and will be able to provide 600 cubic metres of water per second, enough to irrigate 1,300,000 hectares and to supply needed water for another 7,000,000 hectares. I recently spent two months as scientific chief of the Academy's big Aral-Caspian ex- pedition which is plotting the route of the Main Turkmen canal, and was able to observe how swiftly the work is proceeding. Hundreds of scientists, engineers and technicians atta- ched to twenty expeditions appointed by various ministries and scientific institutions are busily at work along the route of the future canal. The first results of our investigations show that, if necessary, the Main Turkmen Canal will be able to irrigate an area twice as large as was originally planned. At the village of Takhia-Tash, where the dam on the Amu Darya is to be built, housing settlements for the workers, as well as a temporary wharf, have already been built, the laying of the approach roads and spur lines is nearing comp- letion, and a wood-working and a concrete- making plant will soon be ready for operation. Work on the irrigation systems in the lower reaches of the Amu Darya will be started in 1952. World's biggest hydro-power project Work was also begun this year on the Volga hydro-technical projects, near the cities of Kuibyshev and Stalingrad. For its scale, excellence of engineering conception and rapid pace of construction, the Kuibyshev Hydro- Electric Station* will be the biggest hydro- * The description of the Kuibyshev Hydro-Electric Project is based on an article by Dr. G. Matveyev. -Editor Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 power plant. This project will at once solve a whole range of major national economic problems. With a capacity of close to 2,000,000 kilowatts, the hydro-electric station will have an annual output of approximately 10,000 million kilo- watt-hours in years of average waterflow. It will transform industry and agriculture over a vast area adjoining the Volga, and will for ever rid the Trans-Volga collective farm peasantry of the devastating droughts and and winds. The rise of the river's level due to the Kuibyshev and Stalingrad dams and also huge storage reservoirs and locks will radi- cally change shipping conditions on the Volga. Shallowing of the river will stop. The river will become full-flowing and on it big passen- ger boats and freighters will freely navigate with out fear of shoals and banks. The Kuibyshev Hydro-Electric Station will produce more than 5 times as much electricity as all the electric stations of Russia before the Revolution or half as much as is generated by all the electric stations of Italy. Its capacity will exceed several times that of Europe's hitherto biggest Lenin Hydro-Electric Station on the Dnieper. The Kuibyshev Hydro-Power Project in- cludes: the hydro-electric station, a con- crete overflow weir, an earth dam, and navi- gation locks. Their construction requires the removal and laying of 150,000,000 cubic metres ' of earth, pouring of 6,000,000 cubic metres of concrete, installation of 200,000 tons of metal structure, and a vast amount of building work. Each hour, more than a thousand cubic metres of reinforced concrete has to be laid on this project. Use of most modern technique This scale of building work requires the use of most modern technique. And Soviet industry is supplying the builders of the Kuibyshev project with the most varied and efficient high-capacity machines. There are at work here powerful suction dredges that shift thousand of cubic metres of earth an hour; powerful electric excavators with a cap- acity of 200 to 300 cubic metres an hour, and a vast array of other machines. The construction works will have its own huge concrete plants with a daily capacity of 4,000 cubic metres of concrete. In designing this mammoth project the engineers had to solve many difficult prob- lems. For example, in selecting the building site, our specialists succeeded in avoiding the possible flooding of fertile land of some districts. Notwithstanding established tradi- tions, our Soviet engineers have decided to reject rocky foundations. Relying on the rich experience of Soviet hydro-engineering, our specialists have found it possible to erect the dam on a soft foundation. This will save a lot of money and time. Saving of 20 million tons of fuel annually For fuel stations to produce the amount of electric power that will be generated by the Kuibyshev Hydro-Electric Station, it would require the annual transportation and con- sumption of no less than 10,000,000 tons of fuel. By the use of the electricity that will be generated by the Kuibyshev Hydro-Electric Station, industry, the transport services and agriculture will save approximately 10,000,000 tons of fuel. Thus, the total saving of fuel accruing from the Kuibyshev Hydro-Electric Station will run into a good 20,000, 000 tons a year. Of the 10,000 million kilowatt-hours which the Kuibyshev Hydro-Electric Station will generate, 1,500 million is intended f'or the irrigation of the Trans-Volga steppes, where an irrigation system is being built on an area of 1,000,000 hectares. Besides irrigation, it is planned extensively to electrify farm work in the Trans-Volga area. This will considerably increase pro- ductivity of labour, reduce consumption of liquid and solid fuel, and make easier the work of the collective farmers. Six thousand million kilowatt-hours annua- lly will be transmitted to Moscow. To send such huge quantities of electric power over a distance of more than 800 kilometres, powerful high voltage transmission lines will be erected over which 400,000 volt electric current will flow. The transmission of such high tension current over such long distances is being undertaken here for the first time in world history. The Moscow power system connected with the Volga systems will become the big- gest in the world. I should observe that the problem of irriga- ting the Volga region has interested many Soviet scientists. In the thirties, Academi- cians L. Prasolov, B. Polynov, B. Keller and myself, all novices at that time, made a study of the natural conditions in the mid- dle and lower Volga areas from the point of view of the possibility of large-scale irriga- tion work. Following this, a number of irri- 50 INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 gation systems were built on the smaller rivers in the region. The experience in irrigation farming gained since has been put to use in projecting much bigger irrigation develop- ments on the Volga. I summed up the results of these investigations in a recent book called The Soil of the Caspian Lowland, where the prospects of irrigating this area were dis- cussed. We, scientists, believed that this would be a matter of the distant future, but the construction of the Kuibyshev and Sta- lingrad power plants on the suggestion of J. V. Stalin, has placed the irrigation of the middle and lower Volga regions on the order of the day. Some 14 million hectares of arid land in this region will receive water within the next few years. Last year a group of engineers of the USSR Ministry of Agriculture, headed by hydro-technical engineer Lyuber, drew up a project for the irrigation of the vast dep- ression lying to the North of the Caspian Sea. This gignatic drought-ridden area is capable of producing enormous quantities of grain, fruits and vegetables, all that it needs being water. Now it will get the { water Sim It 1 h u aneous y, t e details were worked out of the Stalingrad hydro-power plant and the Stalingrad canal, which will cut through the Caspian lowlands from the Volga to the Ural river. Both projects were scrutinized very thoro- ughly by an expert committee composed of prominent scientists and engineers from the Academy of Sciences, the Moscow University, Higher Engineering School and Moscow Power Institute. The experts made some critcisms and suggestions, which were accepted by the authors, but in general the committee approved both projects, and the work will start in the very near future. The excavation of the cofferdam for foundations of the Stalin- grad Hydro-Electric Station is being started right away. However, the problem of irrigating the Caspian wastelands cannot be regarded as solved. The Academy of Sciences has there- fore appointed a large and all-round scientific expedition, headed by the well-known scientist Vladimir Sukachev, to render per- manent assistance to the planners and buil- ders. The detachments and provisional stations of this expedition are investigating the areas of the national shelter belts planted in 1949 and 1950, as well as the sites of the future irrigation systems in the Caspian area. Volga-Don Canal I write these lines with the impressions still fresh in my memory of a visit I paid to the site of another big construction pro- ject-the Volga- Don Canal. The canal, as well as the Tsimlyanskaya hydro-power plant connected with it will be in the main finished this year, and with.the disappearance of the ice next spring it will be opened for navigation. By next year, too, the first 100,000 hectares of desert land will be irrigat- ed, and the figure will increase in the corning four years to 750,000 hectares. When this canal is opened for navigation, five seas- the White, the Baltic, the Caspian, the Azov and the Black-will be connected with navi- gation water routes. The construction of these new irrigation systems in so short a period will naturally be no easy matter. The irrigation canals in the Don steppe are already in course of cons- truction; but, for the water to be able to flow to its destination, large areas will have to be levelled, hundreds of smaller canals and distributing installations built, and, in addition, the collective farmers will have to be taught the technique of irrigation. This task has been entrusted to the scientists of the Novocherkassk Land Reclamation Institute, a famous Soviet higher educational institution. They direct the agronomists and engineers who are supervising the building of the irrigation networks in the Don steppe, and train collective farmers to be professional irrigation supervisers. Large-scale construction work is also in progress in the South Ukraine and the Crimea. Here, too, large prospecting and research ex- peditions are at work, composed mainly of scientists from the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences and the Crimean branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Housing settlements are also express speed at Kakhovka, on the one of them is already completed first workers have moved in. built at Dnieper; and the Detailed plans have been worked out for the irrigation of the basin of the Verkhny Inguletz, a Western tributary of the Dnieper. The soil here is Ukrainian black earth and remarkably fertile, but the grain and cotton crops often suffer from the and climate. The irrigation plan was drawn up under the direction of Ukrainian hydro-technical engi- neers. It provides for the irrigation of 100,000 hectares and is at present being examined by a committee of experts. Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Dreams come true under Socialism In 1920, a committee of scientists and engineers working under the guidance of Lenin and Stalin, drew up the first state plan for the electrification of Russia. It envisaged increasing the country's power output from 2,000 million to 8,800 million kilowatt-hours in the next 15 years. When H. G. Wells was told of the project he referr- ed to Lenin as the "dreamer in the Kremlin", and predicted that nothing would come of the plan. He was mistaken. By 1940 the Soviet Union was producing at the rate of 40,000 million kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, more than any other European country.. Today, after the first post-war Five- Year Plan; the Soviet Union is generating at the annual rate of more than 80,000 million kilowatt-hours, and is the second largest power producer in the world. These figures should be sufficient answer to those who doubt the feasibility of the new plans, the plans for the remaking of geo- graphy and climate. They rest upon a granite foundation-Socialism. These great hydro-engineering works are being built by the free people of the Soviet Union, by the whole Soviet State, backed by the might of its heavy industry. The machine-building indus- try of the Soviet Union is capable of producing all the equipment necessary for the comp- lete mechanization of the labourious processes of excavation, concretelaying and construc- tion. I have seen at the construction sites powerful excavators, among them giants with shovels of 14-cubic metre capacity, 25-ton tip-trucks, huge scrapers and bull- dozers, first-class transporters and graders. The plants of the Urals, the Donbas, Moscow and Leningrad build-super powerful machi- nes of the most diverse type, each of which can do the work of thousands of labourers. The demand for crude manual labour in these great construction projects is relatively in- significant. If Goethe were alive to-day As I write this I cannot help recalling Goethe's wise old Faust, who, in his declin- ing years, after he has lost his son Euphorion, comes to the conviction that the human intellegence can have no loftier aim than to harness the forces of nature for the benefit of man. He conceives a plan for reclaiming the seashore and, already blind with age, proceeds to carry it out. But Mephistopheles -the symbol of stern reality-deceives him. The Lemurs dig not a drainage canal, but a grave for Faust, in which they bury his remains. The great poets's moral is that the world of his time was powerless to master the natural elements. I should have liked Goethe to have lived to our day; he might then have written a different Faust. The great construction projects of Com- munism will be completed by the Soviet State in the amazingly short period of five to seven years. They will work radical changes in the physical and economic geography of the Soviet Union. New " seas "and "rivers" and countless ponds and reservoirs will appear, and the soil will acquire a new vegetative surface. The climate at ground level will change. New cities, new railways and new ports will come into being. Half the generated power will be used for the broad electrification of agri- culture and of river and road transport. New and colossal wealth will be produced by the peaceful constructive labour of the Soviet people, enormous quantities of food- stuffs and industrial raw materials, plants and animals, will be made available for the country's food industry and light industries. Big new advances will be made in the gradual transition of Soviet society from Socialism to Communism. And all for the greater welfare of man ! Parties and Politics in PEPSU from page 42] the services of Government officials to collect funds for the Congress Party The broad masses of PEPSU, led by the militant Kisan movement, which in its turn is guided by votaries of Marx, Lenin and Stalin, are marching ahead with amazing self- c:onfidenec. The united might of the people did beat back the repression at Kishengarli and Bakhora. The same thing can and should happen in every corner of the PEPSU. We are fortunate in one respect. The Right-wing Socialist leaders count for next to nothing in the socio-political life of the PEPSU. Only a powerful democratic movement of all the exploited sections of society can provide sanctions for creating conditions in which the people will be able to return their genuine candidates in the coming elections. Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Andrew Rothstein Allies or Satellites? IN an editorial com- bining the minimum of logic with the maxi- mum of insinuation, The The distinguished authority on Soviet and European affairs--author of the recent Pelican "A History of the U. S. S. R."-analyses the economic relations between the People's Demo- Times wrote on June 13 cracies and the U. S. S. R. _ - " - - that the economic pro- of Hungary is "geared to the demands gramme of the Soviet Union" and that "heavy industry is being expanded with little regard to the needs of the mass of consumers and at the expense of labour standards." You would have searched the editorial columns of The Times in vain, before 1939, when Hungary was ruled by the terrorist dictatorship of the big landowners and finan- ciers, for any similar worries about "the needs of the mass of consumers"-the impoverished illiterate majority of Hungary's peasants-or about the "labour standards" (presumably this means the working and living conditions) of Hungary's factory workers. At that time British big business-so eminently represented on The Times' board of directors-was backing the Horthy dictatorship for all it was worth. The admitted past Yet at that time Hungarian economy was notoriously "geared to the demands"-of Hitler. Already in 1938 an important League of Nations Report on Exchange Control (C.232, M.131) was contrasting the "impoverished" agricultural countries of South-East and Eastern Europe with the industrial countries, "with their more varied economies and their more substantial resources" (p. 6), and showing how the first group inevitably fell into dependence on the second, particularly on Germany (pp. 38-9,53)-which tended "in the long run to obstruct their economic development" (p. 42). This picture was drawn in still greater detail in 1940, in the Royal Institute of Inter- national Affairs book South-Eastern Europe. It stated: "The cardinal facts about the countries under survey are... that they are agricultural, over-populated and poor" (p. 85), and that their industrial development "cannot be said to be great" (p. 100)-with the result that they were economically dependent on Western countries, particularly Germany (p. 103). If they remained peasant countries after the war, there would still be great "opportunities for exploiting them-" (p. 122): and indus- I trialisation was their "chief hope of better- ment" (p. 135). To pre- vent these "economical- ly weaker States of Europe" falling once again "into a state of economic servitude to Germany" -said the Royal Institute's Problem of Germany, in 1943--"their greater industrialisation " was essential (pp. 44-5). And in Occupied Europe-- a study published in 1944-the Royal Institute of International Affairs even suggested that Germany ought to be "called upon to provide at least some machinery," by way of repara- tions, for this purpose-since "even before the war it was generally recognised that in the less industrialised countries of even Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, owing to the excessive density of' agricultural population, there was an acute economic problem" (p. 70-1). Only way out: industrialisation If any lessons stand out from this testimony, it is that (i) "the needs of the mass of consumers" in such countries depend for their satisfaction in the long run upon industrialisation; (ii) so does their prospect of economic independence; (iii) no known way of industrialisation exists except through the expansion of heavy industry-since no other way can provide a country with the ability at any moment to manu- facture the industrial equipment it requires, without having to ask for help from outside, on terms which can be dictated by the supplier. The main question Leaving aside the question of "labour standards"-British trade unionists who have been to the People's Democracies have every opportunity of comparing those with what existed in pre-war days-The Times in its edi- torial therefore very skilfully evaded the main question : - Is the Soviet Union helping the People's Democra- cies towards the economic development so long recog- nised as desirable or is it obstructing them ? Does The Times' ambiguous phrase "geared to the demands of the Soviet Union" mean Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 tied once more as Malaya and the Gold Coast and Ireland are tied to industrial Britain--as dependent suppliers of raw materials and foodstuffs to a dominant industrial Power-or "geared" as independent, industrially develop- ed countries are linked with each other: for mutual benefit ? That is the issue-and that issue no propa- gandist of hatred and war on the People's Democracies has yet dared to face. What are the facts? For what are the facts ? So far as Hungary is concerned, Matyas Rakosi, General Secre- tary of the Working People's Party, gave them in the report* to his Party Congress on Feb- ruary 25, 1941: "The Soviet Union helps us in the build- ing of our most modern factories, gives us its best machines, most up-to-date manufacturing processes and, what is no less important, puts its best scientists and ace workers at our disposal. The best engineers and technicians of the Soviet Union, led by Academician Bardin, the world-famous foundry expert, have visited us, people whose advice and guidance means a service to us which cannot be over-estimated. "Comrade Bikov was here and passed on his experience in the field of fast cutting. Com- radeZuravlyov taught our foundrymen the method of quick smelting. Comrade Petrov, the chief foundryman of the Stalin Automobile Factory, passed on his experience in the fields of casting and foundry work. Comrade Dubyaga helped us to transfer to the multi- machine system in the textile industry. Com- rade Annanyeva taught our spinning workers how to decrease scrap to the minimum in the spinning mills. Comrade Shavlyugin taught our bricklayers the fast bricklaying method. Comrades Maximenko, Koba and Zuycv deve- loped a whole team of Stakhanovites among our building workers. Comrade Panin taught the Hungarian engine drivers to increase the average speed of our railways. Filirnonov, Padgarov and Logvinyenko gave help to our miners in acquiring methods of handling mining machinery, and so on...... "The transplantation of the highly deve- loped Soviet Socialist methods of production to Hungary is being speeded by visits of our engineers, workers and specialists to the Soviet Union, and by students studying at the univer- Published tion Service, 33 Pe bridge Square, London, and W.f2 4d. post free. sities of that country, through whom the know- ledge of the most recent achievements of socialist construction is coming in a continuous stream to our country. "There is no field of our economy and, I may add, of our entire socialist life, which has not yet received, and which is not con- tinually receiving, support from the Soviet Union which cannot be over-estimated. We are now gradually passing on to making that immeasurable treasure house of experience which is in Soviet technical literature, accessible and applicable to our socialist construction. During the last year, and especially in recent months, a real siege of Soviet technical litera- lture started. "Our engineers and technicians are only now beginning to realise those tremendous advantages which the knowledge of Soviet technical literature means to them, and an indication of their thirst for knowledge can be seen in the fact that there was a sudden huge shortage of suitable technical translators. It might be said that our technical intelli- gentsia, and beyond them the entire Hunga- rian intelligentsia, is only now beginning to discover the Soviet Union in this respect. They are only now beginning to grasp the true importance of the limitless scientific and experimental equipment of the Soviet Union, its leading position and its fruitful effect" This is what The Times editorial called. "the subservience of the Hungarian economy to the calls of the Soviet Union" ! Naturally, its readers are not called upon to remember the very, different language of days gone by, when Hungary's agrarian and backward econo- my was really subservient to a foreign Power- and when The Times wrote complacently (after Munich) of Germany's "peculiar interest as an industrial power in the agricultural and other markets of Central and Eastern Europe" (October 17, 1938). What Soviet aid means for Poland Or take another example of "gearing"-- the Six-Year Trade Agreement between Poland and the U.S.S.R., signed on June 29, 1950. Of this arrangement Deputy Prime Minister Mine said on July 2 the same year (Polish Facts and Figures*, July 8, 1950) : "What does it mean to Poland ? It is common knowledge that, according to the Six-Year Plan, the output of Polish industry * Published by the Press Office of the Polish Embassy in London. 54 INDIA TO-DAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 should increase by over 150 per cent. The increase in industrial output demands steadily increasing supplies of raw materials and industrial goods, which we lack in our country. The new Agreement will ensure deliveries of the raw materials and goods that we need in quantities which will take into account the great increase in output during the Six-Year Plan. At the same time these agreements regulate the export of our own goods to the U. S. S. R. In this way, a strong and solid basis is laid for our Six-Year Plan. "The agreements will increase our inde- pendence in relation to capitalist countries and will render ineffectual their attempts to discriminate against our foreign trade. They mean that the implementation of our Six- Year Plan will be based upon the granite-like foundations of planned economic relations between the Soviet Union and Poland. Capital equipment from U.S.S.R. "In addition to general trade agreements an agreement has been signed on the delivery of capital equipment from the U.S.S.R. to Poland in the years 1951-58. This equipment will be supplied to about thirty new and impor- tant industrial establishments in Poland. As is generally known, the Soviet Union is already supplying capital equipment to Poland under the 1948 agreement. Among other things, the leading project of the Six-Year Plan, a new big steel works near Cracow, is being built with Soviet equipment, with Soviet blueprints and with Soviet technical assistance. Now capital goods deliveries will be greatly expanded, and will constitute about 40 per cent. of all Soviet exports to Poland. "This means that, thanks to the brotherly help of the U.S.S.R., the speedy indus- trialisation of Poland is assured. It means that the Soviet State has grown into a power of such magnitude that it can put a most modern and complex technique at the ser- vice, not only of its own gigantic and steadily growing economy, but also at the service of the young, new and resilient countries of People's Democracy. It means that we are building our Six-Year Plan on unshakable foundations of Soviet technical and economic assistance. It means that the victory of socialist construc- tion in Poland is certain..." Why should The Times object to this mani- fest fulfilment of what Chatham House* was advising as recently as 1944 ? Can it be * The Royal Institute of International Affairs because, at that time, the hope was that "the British Commonwealth and the United States will probably have to play a major part by providing capital goods on a basis of long- term credits" (Occupied Europe, p 71) ? In other words, having supported for six years the vain efforts of the British and U.S. Govern- ments to bully, blackmail and blockade the People's Democracies into surrender to capitalism, can The Times be possibly calling "sour grapes"? The new pattern of foreign trade The new pattern of Czechoslovakia's foreign trade, again, was analysed in revealing fashion by Minister of Planning Dolansky at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Czecho- slovakia on February 22, 1951 (Information Bulletin, No. 6, March, 1951). Ile pointed out that Czechoslovakian lorries and machine tools were being exported to the Soviet Union, while the latter was sending caterpillar tractors and combine harvesters-the kind of relation- ship that exists between expanding industrial economies. And on the long-term trade and economic agreements which Czechoslovakia was concluding he had this to say (illustrating with many details) : "The significance of these agreements lies in the fact that in this way the mutual exchange of goods is increased and guarantees the growth of national economy and the speeding up of industrialisation; in that the socialist trans- formation of industry and agriculture in the People's Democracies is secure as well as the raising of the technical level of the whole economy; in that firm foundations for stable economic relations between our countries are thus created, protecting us from the effects of- fluctuation developments on capitalist markets and offsetting to a considerable degree the effects of the discriminatory policy carried on by the American imperialists and their satellites; it lies in the fact that our countries' economic independence of the capitalist states is strengthened and thus the countries in the camp of peace and socialism are better capable of self-defence. Finally the significance of these agreements lies in the fact that they represent a form of planned dovetailing of the national economies of the People's Democracies with that of the U. S. S. R. and of each other, in that they represent a form of co-ordination of long- term plans for the development of our national economy and thus strengthen the principle of planned national economy in the People's Democracies. Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415R010200020024-9 Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Czech-Soviet trade agreement. "A classical example of such an agree- rnent is the long-term Soviet-Czechoslovak trade agreement signed in November, 1950. According to this agreement, the Soviet Union will deliver such important raw materials for our basic industries as iron ore and non-ferrous ores, such textile raw materials as cotton, such foodstuffs as grain, meat and fat, important machinery such as mechanisation equipment for the mines, for the expansion of our foundries, and for heavy industry, and highly produc- tive machinery for the mechanisation of agriculture and the building industry. In addition, under this agreement, the Soviet Union will give us wide technical help in building a number of important factories which we could otherwise not build so rapidly, and apart from this the Soviet Union will help us to introduce the production of new goods and to improve our existing production. " According to this agreement, Czechoslo- vakia will deliver to the Soviet Union mainly machinery and equipment for the most part not produced here before, and made according to the most up-to-date Soviet designs. This means that the Soviet orders will ensure a long-term pro- duction programme for our heavy industry and especially our engineering industry, and will lead to the raising of the technical level of our industry; we shall learn to produce important new kinds of machinery and equip.. ment and in the case of certain products we shall go over from individual to semi-serial or serial production." So it turns out that the Soviet Union supplies raw materials and capital goods to its alleged "satellites"-and they do the same for their partner. Was there ever such "subservience" Testimony from Bulgaria No less striking is the evidence from Bulgaria, Rumania and Albania. Here is a Bulgarian testimony : "Were it not for the import of Soviet cotton, Bulgaria would have failed to revive its major industry-textiles-which was brought to a standstill during the period of fascism. "Without Soviet ferrous and non-ferrous metals and the import of building materials, machines and fittings, our country would have failed to develop its heavy industry and begin new construction. "Without petroleum derivatives, lubricating oils and transport facilities imported from the Soviet Union, our auto transport and railway traffic would have been impossible. "Without Soviet tractors, spare parts and other agricultural machines, tools and artificial fertilisers, Bulgaria would never have pro- ceeded to the establishment of co-operative farms on a mass scale, to the mechanisation and modernisation of our primitive agriculture. "Without the import of medicines, instru- ments and medical apparatus from the Soviet Union, no broad and extensive health plan for the people could have been adopted. "The rubber, paper, cellulose and chemi- cals which were imported from the Soviet Union contributed to the further development of printing and publication, to the revival of the Bulgarian rubber industry. "Without different kinds of iron, tin, non- ferrous metals, machines, installations and fit- tings sent from the U.S.S.R., the construction of factories, dams, power projects and that of municipal and other administrative buildings, combines, baths, bakeries and laundries would not have been possible. "Without the electric building materials and ready-made fittings imported from the Soviet Union, without the assistance of Soviet specialists in assembly and construction work, T.E.T.S. (the State Power Project) would not have been established, electrification and the electrical industry in Bulgaria would have been impossible." Recognise the facts These are new relationships in the world of international politics-relationships in which a Great Power and smaller countries stand upon a footing of equality. They were never intended to be exclusive : it was the sustained and vindictive hostilitiy of the British and United States Governments after the war that has nearly killed all trades. Even today peaceable relations could be established between East and West in Europe which would be beneficial to both sides. But they would have to accept as a fundamental that the socialist system in the People's Democracies has come to stay, and that they will never go back to being "agricul- tural, over-populated and poor." (Reprinted from Central European Observer, Vol. IV No. 13, June 23, 1951) 56 INDIA TO-DiAY Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 Regd. No. A 487 L EAPMReQF2001/09/10 : Cl PEOPLE'S CHINA Right : Chairman MAO TSE-TUNG Below: Left Vice-Chairman and Commendar-in-chief CHU TEH Below : Right Prime Minister and Foreign Minister CHOU EN-LAI India and China "We have seen how great is the construc- tive work of the great Chinese leader Chair- man Mao Tse-tung and we have followed with wonder and admiration the extraordinary strides China has taken under his leadership." (Pt. Sunder Lal: Article in "People's Daily", October 7, 1951.) "Both our peoples love peace and freedom." Mankind can become brothers - only when aggression is eliminated. The Chinese and the Indian people want freedom. We wish pros- perity not only for ourselves but for the whole world." (Pt. Sunderlal speaking at the farewell party in Peking) CIA RDA ~ ~ .,. Appr For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9 ADHUNIK PRAKASHAN 7, Albert Road, Allahabad, India. INDIAN STUDIES By M. Kemp (Mrs. P. M. Ashraf) VOLUME 1. INDIA IN RUSSIAN LITERATURE Present day Soviet interpretations of Indian social history challenge historians to explore new sources and methods, Knowledge of India in Russia had an old background of direct contacts and travel records from the early Middle Ages and international politics in the modern period produced records and literature about India little known abroad. VOLUME 2. INDIA AND THE ENGLISH DEMOCRATS A study of British policy and early labour problems in India from the point of view of the democratic movement and struggles within England. VOLUME 3. THE CHARTISTS AND INDIAN NATIONAL REVOLT This volume contains sixty-two articles on India by the English Chartist leader, Ernest Jones, written between 1852 and 1859, with an Introduction and notes. The Publishers believe that these three volumes will from a distinguished contribution, based on unknown on neglected sources, to the real history of India, to an understanding of the close relationship between the European working-class and the Indian liberation movement and to new perspectives on the role of India in the international sphere. Volumes 1 and 2 available shortly: Volume 3 in active preparation. A NEW SERIES BEING PUBLISHED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN ENGLISH 1. The Role and Significance of Stalin's "Dialectical and Historial Materialism" in the Development of Marxist-Leninist Philosophical Thought : by Academician M. Mitin. Price: Annas -/8/- only 2. Stalin on Dialectics as a Method of Revolu- tionary Practice: by M. Leonov (In the Press) 3. The Development of Historical Materialism by Lenin and Stalin: by F. V. Konstantinov (In the Press) MONOPOLY CAPITAL IN INDIA- BRITISH AND INDIAN A Study of BY AJIT Roy Concentration of labour and capital in Indian Industry; Concentration of Money-Capital in Indian Banks; Fusion of Industrial Monopolies with Monopolies of Money-Capital (Big Banks); Growth of Trusts, Cartels, and Syndicates; Distribution of and inter-relation between British and Indian Monopoly groups, AND A critique of Finance-Capital in India. About 64 pages Approved For Release 2001/09/10 : CIA-RDP83-00415RO10200020024-9