being an integral part of the Congress , it did not assert separate existence . Consequently , radical and revolutionary forces , that constituted the majority in all the congresses and conferences ( except the All-parties Convention ) were without a unified political leadership . The Congress , and incidentally its clearly revolutionary subsidiary organisations , were dominated by the bourgeoisie standing outside it . The following quotations from the speeches made and resolutions passed in the subsidiary conferences show that the outcome of the Congress does not represent the realities of the situation , which is decidedly revolutionary .
In a statement made in the All- Parties Convention in opposition to the dominion constitution the spokesman of the Swadhin Bharat Sangha said :
“ Dominion status means that the entire politics of India will in the last resort be controlled by Britain in the interest of British imperialism ... We are also of the opinion that the salvation of India and her masses lies in the establishment of socialist regime . We are afraid that the constitution sketched in the Nehru report is based on capitalist construction of society . We are not prepared to accept this constitution .”
In contrast to the compromise in the National Congress on the controversy over independence versus dominion status , the Youths ’ conference resolved that .
“ Complete independence and not dominion status should be the immediate objective of India .”
The conference called upon the youths to attain this goal by “ all possible means ”. This is an improvement upon the independence resolution passed by the Congress in 1927 , in which such restrictions were placed upon the means for the attainment of independence as reduced the whole resolution to empty verbiage .
By the second resolution the conference enjoined the youths to “ combat capitalism by all available means ”. Capitalism was condemned
October - 2021 as “ detrimental to the best interest of the nation ”.
A third resolution indicated revolt against the cult of reactionary pacifism . This meant repudiation of Gandhi — the idol of petty bourgeois nationalism . This resolution calls upon :
“ Young India to take up the new challenge of imperialism and to create in the country an atmo-sphere in which responsive violence should not be deprecated .”
This resolution has direct bearing on the situation . A few days before the meeting of the National Congress a British police officer was killed at Lahore . The assassination was generally interpreted as an act of the nationalists avenging the death of Lajpat Rai of injuries inflicted by the police during a demonstration . All the nationalist leaders , including those of the Congress , rushed to denounce vehemently the perpetrators of the deed , as they had done on previous occasion . This treacherous and cowardly behavior of the bourgeois leaders was always resented by the rank and file . Now it is openly condemned . The nationalist rank and file declare their determination to answer imperialist violence by revolutionary violence .
The Socialist Youths ’ conference met with the slogan , “ We want Revolution , and not Reformation ”. We find the following statements in the speech opening the conference :
“ Nationalism is the slogan of the middle class , while socialism is the cry of the toiling masses . The present social evils can be cured not by reform , but by revolution .
“ Dominion status was the cry of vested interest , and it remains to be seen how far the extremist section of the capitalist class will become revolutionary in politics .”
Thousands of young men went about in military uniform as nationalist volunteers , signifying what such demonstration can only signify , that is , an enthusiastic will on their part for a real fight for freedom . When this is compared with the previous uniform of loin-cloth and Gandhi-cap of homespun stuff , the implication of the development of the movement becomes evident .
The climax of the situation was a huge mass demonstration in which over twenty-thousand workers participated . Previously thousands of workers , particularly peasants , used to be herded into the meetings of the Congress to be lectured by the bourgeois leaders . They had nothing to say or do ; but only to provide an imposing background for the reformist policy of bourgeois nationalism . They are no longer satisfied with the passive role . This year the demonstration was a part of the general revolt against bourgeois leadership , and it was the most important — the dominating factor in the revolt . The demonstration indicates the readiness of the proletariat to appear on the political scene as an independent force , which is the essential condition for its ability to be the new leader in the new stage of the revolution .
Meeting in this atmosphere of revolutionary development from all sides , the Workers and Peasants Party , whose driving force are the communists , was objectively the most important event of the moment . The Workers and Peasants Party is not the Communist Party , although the communists play in it the leading and dominating role . Several years ago it appeared on the scene as the first sign of radicalisation of the nationalist masses . As such the communists supported it , and aided its growth . Practically all the great strikes of the last two years were led under the banner of the Workers and Peasants Party . The object of the communists was to make this new Party the rallying ground for all the nationalist revolutionary elements , to develop it into a revolutionary nationalist mass party which is a crying need of the moment .
The quickening of the process of radicalisation inside the nationalist rank during the last year placed the Workers and Peasants Party in a very contd . in page 17 19