Communist Movement :
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Meerut Conspiracy Case ( 1929-1933 ) Excerpts from the Joint General Statement of Communists Accused
Besides giving individual statements in their defence , a General Statement by Communists accused in Meerut Conspiracy Case was given during the magistrate and sessions court trails . Through their statement the Communists sought to establish Marxism ideologically and politically . This statement 90 years ago is an evidence of ideology . Below are some excerpts from the statement .
As British imperialism is exploiting and stifling the economic and general progress of the country the situation in India is objectively revolutionary . The great majority of the population is compelled necessarily to struggle for freedom from Imperialist domination . It is obvious that the Workers and Peasants must inevitably tend to be revolutionary . There is no doubt about this . At the same time even the bourgeoisie class also has the soundest reasons for desiring freedom . The reactionary policy of Imperialism in relation to industry , its control of the currency of the country in its own interest ( the latest pegging of the rupee to a falling pound is a glaring example ), its taking for itself the cream of the profits to be obtained from the exploitation of the people , and many other major and minor consequences of imperialist control , all go to determine that the policy of the bourgeoisie class must be one of hostility to Imperialism . And the intermediate section of the population , the petty bourgeoisie , the lower ranks of the bourgeois class , the artisans , the poorer professional and intellectual strata etc ., have as a whole even more to gain than the bourgeoisie from Independence . Only those sections of the population , chiefly the princes and the landlord class , and those upper sections of the bourgeois and professional classes whose interests are closely bound up with the Imperialist machine , which profit from the Imperialist connection , must support Imperialism and can be considered definitely counter-revolutionary .
The revolution in India will prosper either soon or less soon but inevitably at some time . That revolution must compre -hend the following principal elements :
1 . The overthrow of British rule and establishment of a completely independent national state and economic independence .
2 . All the Feudal and semi feudal institutions in the land system ( landlordism ) and in the State ( the Indian States ) will be abolished .
3 . Achieving popular democratic rule . In short , the revolution in India will be of the nature of the bourgeois democratic revolution . The Indian Bourgeoisie in Relation to the Revolution What social forces will carry through this revolution ? Although the revolution is bourgeois democratic type , it does not necessarily follow that it will be carried through or led by the bourgeois class itself . In India the bourgeoisie will not lead the national revolution .
The Indian bourgeoisie is not objectively capable of pursuing a revolutionary policy . The main reasons for this are :
1 . The close association of British and Indian capital in Indian industry . The British policy is to increase the association of the British and Indian capital , under the domination of the former , so that conflict will become increasingly difficult ;
2 . The dependence of Indian merchant capital on export and import , which is largely concerned with British goods or is controlled by British interests . This section , the so called “ comprador ” bourgeoisie is as in China normally very “ loyal ” to the foreign interests .
3 . The close connection between the Indian bourgeoisie and the indisputably loyalist landowning interests . The source of the “ primitive accumulation ” of a good deal of Indian industrial capital is land . A number of leading princes are partaking in industrial activity both in British India and in their States . The lower ranks of Indian bourgeoisie ( landlords ) also are connected with agrarian exploiting interests , as a great deal of capital is applied to money lending , the acquisition of land , and retail trade . Such interests are necessarily politically reactionary .
4 . The general weakness and backwardness and the deeply divided character of Indian capitalism . It has not a single united political party . Its forces are divided among the Congress , the Liberation Federation and various communal and other organizations .
In view of this weakness which is realized by the bourgeoisie , and the growing and already very sharp clash of class interests in both industry and agriculture it is clear that a revolutionary policy and movements , which would necessarily have to involve the masses , could not be kept under control by the bourgeoisie . The bourgeois class in short is too weak , and its interests are bound up too closely with both British Imperialism and Indian feudalism , while the contradiction between its interests and those of the masses , it ’ s only possible revolutionary allies , and is too direct to enable it to embark upon a policy of revolutionary overthrow of British rule . The Bourgeois National Movement
The Indian National Bourgeoisie ( Congress ) have been driven to organise open mass movements on two occasions against British imperialism . ( The Non-Cooperation Movement of 1919-22 and the Civil
Class Struggle