By Krishna Jha
Communist Party of India was formed on December 26, 1925. It has been a day that makes us remember how the suffering Indian masses were united against the forces of British imperialism. The commitment to fight to end the class divided society, to end exploitation, and to create a society for people has been kept alive through all these decades. We pay homage to all those who lived and died for the cause.
In the years gone, through theory and practice, with the changes and shifts, the stages of the struggle have been concretised. In every congress since then the imperative need for unity as well as struggle was underlined.
As for the stages, Lenin had defined the national movement, including ours, as a broad front of anti-imperialist forces. It was when he was speaking in the second congress of the Comintern articulating the tasks of the communists in the colonial countries. CPI assimilated the significance of united front that was the need of the time and was coming to terms with the decision that was truly Leninist. Facing colonial onslaught, Indian masses were in the midst of struggle for freedom, that promised parliamentary and constitutional system as against colonial rule.
Georgi Dimitrov said while speaking to the seventh World Congress about the tasks of communists in Indian situation, “…While maintaining their political and organisational independence, they must carry on to work actively inside {the trends within} the Indian National Congress, facilitating the process of crystallisation of a national revolutionary wing among them’’… for the purpose of developing the national revolutionary movement of the entire people against British imperialism.
In the run up to Second World War, in 1935, general secretary of the Communist International Georgi Dimitrov came with his famous thesis on United Front, in the context of the new turn imperialism was taking as an objective force, and that was fascism itself. Anti fascist front was emerging as the answer to the primary need to rein in the rising fascist forces that was posing challenge to every democratic system in the world. Soon only after three years in 1939, second world war started.
It also goes to the credit of CPI that the first anti- fascist march in the world was organised on the streets of Mumbai in 1939 by the seventy thousand workers of Girni Kamgar Union along with the citizens of the city.
It was clear that under the leadership of CPI, guided by what Dimitrov had spoken from the rostrum of the Comintern, the concept of National Front emerged along with the progressive forces uniting in the national scene. The writers and students were organised along with the cultural workers. CPI had moved into a phase of cultural Renaissance when during the first congress of the Communist Party of India in 1943, Indian People’s Theatre Association was born. It was an act of invincible optimism and did not stop there. All India Kisan Sabha launched peasant agitation in West Bengal in 1946-47. There was also the continued historic land struggle in Telangana (1946-51) led by the CPI.
It was the national stream for freedom that kept up its united struggle in the face of horrors of famine in Bengal, war and rising atrocities of colonialism against the rebelling masses. They had known that it was the moment to realise their dream for complete freedom, and had started closing in.
The country got national independence on August 15, 1947. There had been the first election in 1952. CPI had emerged as the main opposition force in the Parliament. There were significant changes in the national context. Class relations had changed to new levels. There was the need to prepare the blue print for analysis and action. The economy had gone sluggish, almost at the lowest levels, and dependent on agriculture which itself made the contribution in country’s economy of only 48.1 per cent. Factory production was only three percent. It was the national bourgeoisie as a whole that was in power at the centre. Big bourgeoisie had strong feudal connections and had a share in governance.
The search for a new path was initiated hurriedly. The capitalist path was failing to bring fast economic recovery, slipping into a phase of stagnation. Right reaction had started attacking everything that was progressive. But it was also true that there were many patriotic elements among the national bourgeoisie that were part of the power sharing and were moving in support of the progressive goals. They had antagonistic relations with the imperialist forces, the Indian monopolies and the landlords and thus creating a possibility to forge unity among anti monopoly, anti feudal and anti imperialist forces against the right. The journey of the Indian masses moving towards democratic revolution had begun.
There were gains also. Democratic institutions were built. Research organisations contributed to the traditions of scientific knowledge. The state sector moved ahead with production of steel, fertilizer, medicines, textiles, cement etc to meet the basic needs, and the factories producing them were addressed by then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as the Modern Temples of India. He never knew that the same temples would be put in the market for sale. For last several years, our country has been facing the ruling forces compromising with imperialism.
The 24th congress of our party held in Vijayawada from October 14 to 18, 2022 has dealt with these questions in detail and concluded that our struggles for democratic rights are not separate from democratic revolution, instead it is part and parcel of the broad democratic revolution which will create conditions for strengthening democratic institutions. In the deliberations of the congress, Imperialism and its ominous role has been properly highlighted. Communal fascism and its right wing regime also have been spelt out clearly. In these difficult days, broadest possible united front has to be formed and in all this the CPI will have an independent role on principled basis. (IPA Service)
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