BY SRIMATI KAMALADEVI CHATTOPADHYAY

Karl Marx told us half a century back that the phase of Capitalism on the offensive, with all the restraints removed, was the phase through which we would have to pass before we reached the promised land of Socialism. The old order of Capitalism fights today with its back to the wall; and, like every system and every vested interest whose day is done and which therefore fights for its very existence, it is "red in tooth and claw." This is the phase that we know as Fascism. The present is therefore not only an era of darkness and danger; it is also the period of a great opportunity. The chronic crisis of Capitalism, the constant threat and reality of war, the taking up of arms by the capitalist class–all indicate the increasing decay of the capitalist system. Capitalism has failed to survive the test of being a workable social institution. It was never before so bankrupt. If it is not yet collapsing, it is certainly cracking in places. Before dying, It threatens also the death of millions. These failures and the protracted crises afford to Socialists the supreme opportunity of overthrowing it. From Karl Marx onwards, our leaders have prophesied that it is precisely in such a manner that the old order will change yielding place to new. Today we have reached that stage. One good push, and that a push by the workers of the world all together: that is what is required to bring down the tottering edifice. The tragedy is that such a challenge is not today forthcoming. Socialists and Communists in the West have in a state of panic refused to take the offensive, and are seeking to defend the status quo of capitalist ‘democracy’ against the Fascist menace. The situation calls for a revolutionary Socialist movement, which, instead of defending this so-called democracy, will go forward to make that Social Revolution without which true democracy is impossible. The objective conditions are ripe. What is needed is leadership. We are at the end of one era and at the beginning of another, provided we have the courage and the vitality to bring the new era to birth.

We Socialists do stand for peace and for democracy, but neither peace nor democracy, as every Marxist knows, is possible so long as Capitalism exists. This has been the teaching of Marx and Lenin.

"Under Capitalism, particularly in its imperialist stage, wars are inevitable," wrote Lenin. "The idea that a so-called democratic peace is possible without a series of revolutions is profoundly mistaken."

There is, indeed, in a world dominated by Imperialist Powers and their rivalries, one little ray of hope. That is the existence of the solitary Workers’ State, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It is a Socialist oasis in a Capitalist desert; and we, who labour under imperialist conditions, cast our eyes thither and draw inspiration from that example. When Lenin and his comrades made the October Revolution, not only the workers of the West, who recognised therein the victory of their class, but also the subject peoples of the East looked upon the Revolution as an event which heralded their own liberation. They realised that at last a Power was coming into the world, whose policies would be based, not on considerations of national aggrandisement or balance of power, but on the right of nations to self-determination and on the solidarity of human beings irrespective of nationality, race or colour. The very advanced and friendly policy pursued by the Soviet Government towards the subject peoples of the Czarist Empire, the abolition of the extra-territorial concessions in China and Persia, all helped to create this confidence in the minds of the peoples of the East.

While the world as a whole is in the throes of a struggle between Capitalism (increasingly taking on the shape of Fascism) and Socialism, what is the part which we Socialists in India have to play? Where do we come into the picture? India, before she can determine the social and economic system to which she shall adhere, has first to gain the pre-requisite of political power. India today is a country not only still subject to economic exploitation at the hands of the British capitalist class but also directly ruled by the British Government. It is this that makes Indian Socialists also ardent nationalists.

"I am both an anti-Imperialist and a Socialist," wrote Comrade Ram Manohar Lohia recently. "It is necessary for me to proclaim my two faiths separately, for nowadays there are Socialists who are suppressing the struggle against Imperialism."

At the same time, there is great need for a Socialist approach, and for the application of Socialist technique.

"Socialism comes in here and now," said Jawaharlal Nehru at Faizpur, "to help us to understand our problems and point out the path to the solution, and to tell us the real content of the Swaraj to come."

The Congress Socialist Party’s fight has from the start been on two fronts, calling for a new orientation both in the national and labour movements. It was only natural that the initiative in this task fell to those who were convinced Socialists and who at the same time had taken part in the national struggle. It is this close relationship with the national movement that is represented by the name which the Congress Socialist Party bears.

A Socialist Party in India today has two fundamental tasks: firstly, to help in the building up of a powerful national front against British Imperialism; and secondly, to spread the ideas of Socialism in India and prepare the ground for its introduction when political power has been secured.

An important change has come over the political scene with the formation of Congress Cabinets in seven (or now eight) out of the eleven Indian Provinces. This was a development which the Congress resolved upon in spite of the opposition of Socialists. It has created for the Congress Socialists a most difficult situation. On the one hand, there has been a strong desire on their part to make this experiment a success, now that it has been launched upon. On the other hand, there has been an equally strong urge to criticise Ministerial acts and utterances at variance with the Congress policy. This is a situation which calls for the greatest discipline and control on the side of the Congress Socialists.

Some recent self-criticism on the part of the Congress Socialists has been misunderstood and misconstrued by certain sections of the Press as repentance and recanting. But it is clear that the policy of the Congress Socialists in this as in other respects has been sound, and there is nothing for repentance or recanting.

The Congress Socialists have always acted in the best interests of the Congress as they saw these interests. The Congress Socialists had their birth in the Congress, and were baptised in its struggles. At Haripura they demonstrated their loyalty to the Congress, and also their keen realisation of the fact that the nation should speak with one voice in a moment of crisis.

The Congress Socialist Party has ever exercised a unifying influence. It has not only contributed to bringing about unity in the Trade Union movement, but it has also in a bigger way brought about greater harmony between that movement and the larger national movement. The weight of the Congress Socialists in the peasant unions has always been cast in the direction of maintaining harmonious relations in working between them and the Indian National Congress. Even in the direction of Socialist unity the Congress Socialists have been pioneers.

When the Congress Socialist Party was formed, there were one or two other groups of Socialists or Communists in the country, which had been in the field for some years already. One would have thought that the rapid success which met the policy and efforts of the Congress Socialist Party would have led to the dissolution of these other groups and their fusion in this Party. Unfortunately, this has not been the case. From these groups the Congress Socialists have had to face much suspicion, opposition and calumny; but the Congress Socialists have refused to respond in like manner. They have held out their hands for a comradely grasp out of a desire for solidarity and for joint work wherever possible, and they have met with partial success. Complete Socialist unity is a dream which many of us share. Many things, however, have to happen before it can come true. Meanwhile what is of vital importance is that the influence of the Congress Socialist Party must be brought constantly to bear on the situation, and must act as a potent instrument to bring together in action Socialists of different groups and shades of opinion. So long as different tendencies remain, it is but inevitable and proper that different organisations should also remain to act as their vehicles.

The Congress Socialist Party is a revolutionary Socialist Party. As such, it is a Party which must act as a homogeneous team, its members thinking the same way, speaking with one voice. Such a party must develop its discipline to the highest level. In a revolutionary party there is no room for internal conflicts that inevitably lead to paralysis and stagnation. The Congress Socialist Party is not a platform for a United Front. The Anti-Imperialist United Front is the Congress. The Congress Socialist Party is not a mass Party. The mass organisation is the Indian National Congress. The Congress Socialist Party is, and must remain, a determined group of conscious Socialists who will act as a compact Party and guide the bigger movement and the mass organisations. It must have its face turned to the masses in the Congress, to the Kisan Sabhas, to the Trade Unions. It cannot do so, if it spends most of its time looking within, trying to resolve its internal conflicts and contradictions. That way lie the dismemberment and the disruption of the Party. The Congress Socialist Party has supplied an independent initiative in Indian politics. Among other things, it has acted as a corrective to mistaken policies and tendencies. If unfortunately that initiative were to disappear, the old disastrous drift and sectarianism would again become manifest.

In the times that lie before us we shall probably have to face one or other of the two major perils of War and Federation. The Indian National Congress has taken a militant stand against both. There can be no question but that they must be met with nation-wide mass action. The War, and also the Federation as it is sought to be imposed, are a menace to our entire people, and those who suffer in common will fight in common.

In this fight, Truth is a weapon we cannot spare. Gandhian friends in the Congress sometimes claim to monopolise Non-violence and Truth. But the Congress Socialists can claim that, inasmuch as a Socialist or classless society is the only form of communal existence which is not based on violence exerted by one class over others and which ensures international peace, the Socialists too stand for the elimination of violence in human relations. They may also claim that since their ideals and struggles are based on a set of political, social and economic truths, truth is dear to them too. But they may make that claim only, however, if they do not allow themselves the privilege of being silent or shutting their eyes. For, as Charles Peguy eloquently says: "He who does not cry out the truth when he knows the truth becomes the accomplice of the liars and the falsifiers."

The world’s dawn has still not burst. "History has plenty of time." But if the Socialists do their duty they may yet help India to destroy the biggest single obstacle to the dawn of a new era–the British Empire.

"Life teaches. Life is marching," declared Lenin. Let us learn the lessons it has taught us. Let us quicken its march and usher in Tomorrow.

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