Communist Movement :
Indian Communist Revolutionary Movement - Some Lessons
Marxism spread into many countries with the impact of October Revolution . It also has its impact on India . The Indian communist movement has faced many political , ideological , organizational and practical issues and faced many ups and downs , victories and defeats and betrayals . It is now 90 years old .
The communist party worked with the aim of putting an end to colonial rule and achieving national independence and socialism . The British rulers wanted to contain the spread of Marxism in India and unleashed severe repression . It foisted Peshawar , Lahore , Meerut and Kanpur conspiracy cases and arrested the founders of communist party . There were country-wide strikes by the proletariat in Bombay , Kanpur and Calcutta and so on .
During the 1935-45 period , there was an upsurge of peasant struggles in Bihar , Bengal , UP , Telangana , Gujarat , Punjab , Kerala and Madras . There were adivasi struggle in Worli of Maharashtra , peasant struggles in Punnapra-Vayalar of Kerala ( 1943 ), Tebhaga in Bengal ( 1946 ), Mymensingh ( now in Bangladesh ) and Ahmedhnagar in Maharashtra . The armed resistance of peasants of Telangana led by the communist party against Nizam and feudal lords has reached the stage of guerrilla struggle . The feudal lords fled from the area .
Telangana Peasant Armed Struggle
In April , 1948 , the leadership of party prepared a thesis and kept before the Central Committee . This is called the Andhra Thesis .
“ It defined our system as comprador bourgeoisie and feudal system . It defined the strategy of the revolution as establishing unity among workers and peasants under the leadership of the proletariat and 14 taking along the national bourgeoisie on its side ; establishing a front with labor , poor peasants , middle class and rich peasants at the village level ; building an agrarian revolutionary movement along a revolutionary mass line and the revolution will advance while liberating the villages and building liberated areas ”.
Telangana peasant armed struggle was the struggle for independence , for abolishing the rule of Nizam and for liberation from the oppression of feudal lords . Communist party led this struggle . The peasants occupied 10 lakh acres of land in three thousand villages . Nearly 4000 people laid their lives in this struggle .
The Indian ruling classes were and are still in favour of protecting the feudal lords . Hence they did not join hands with the movement led by the communists . Because of the bourgeois and feudal politics and right opportunist and reformist trends the Telangana peasants could not be liberated from the bourgeois and imperialist exploitation . There is no review based on clear Marxist-Leninist orientation in the communist party . Due to this lacuna , the anti-people bourgeois and feudal ruling classes are claiming the Telangana peasant armed struggle as theirs . The correct lessons from the struggle are not available to the communist party .
Comrade D . V . Rao ’ s Analysis of the Struggle
“ It is clear that the Telangana peasant armed struggle has brought a revolutionary change in the rural life . A new life was formed ; that was people ’ s democratic life . The change was possible only through this revolution . Even after 36 years and even after spending billions of rupees , the governments headed by the Congress and other parties are unable
Viswam
to distribute land of feudal lords and eradicate poverty in rural areas . These changes were achieved by the revolutionary movement in a short span of one year . A new economic system was formed . A new political system was formed by establishing village governance committees . A new military system was formed to fight back the attacks by the land lords with guerrilla squads that were filled with people in contrast to mercenaries of Nizam and Indian governments . The local squads have taken care of their local affairs and law and order . A new cultural life emerged along with new political life . Absence of thefts , prostitution , right to divorce for women , their participation in all activities , every one learning to read and write , their sincere toil and showing a different attitude towards those in the enemy ’ s armed forces , those who were disarmed - that was a stage in which highest culture and morality were formed . New democratic culture took shape in the practice along with learning from books during the September 1947 to September 1948 .
This political , economic and cultural system took a definite shape during the last 3 to 4 months of this period . Before , it was in a formative phase . The areas of struggle were at the level of guerrilla struggle and no liberated area was formed . So , there was no scope to develop this into a comprehensive system . Yet it is significant that such a system was formed .
We have to understand the weaknesses of the movement . There were two different approaches about these weaknesses from the beginning . There were those who argued to withdraw the struggle after the police action
Class Struggle