You have done me a very great honour by inviting me to preside over the deliberations of the All-India Anti-Compromise Conference at Ramgarh today. At the same time, the responsibility you have thrown on my shoulders is onerous to a degree. This Conference is intended to focus all the anti-imperialist forces in the country that are now determined to resist a compromise with Imperialism. To preside over such a Conference is by no means an easy task. This task becomes all the more serious and arduous when the Chairman of the Reception Committee is no less a person than Swami Sahajanand Saraswati. It is in response to Swamiji’s clarion call that we have assembled here today.
I shall fail in my duty if before proceeding to discuss the problem of the day I do not pay a tribute to those who are responsible for organising this Conference. I happen to know something of the obstacles and the difficulties that had to be overcome before this Conference could meet and I can therefore speak with a certain amount of authority. These obstacles and difficulties were of a two-fold character. In the first place, there were physical and material obstacles and difficulties to be overcome at Ramgarh before adequate arrangements for the Conference could be made. In the second place, persistent hostile propaganda all over the country had to be faced of the Conference. The most surprising and painful part of this propaganda was the determined endeavour of a section of Leftists (or shall I say pseudo-Leftists?) to make this Conference impossible by openly condemning it and also by trying sabotage it. As a matter of fact, during the last few months it has become more and more evident that a number of Leftists have begun to play the role of apologists of the Rightists but such a phenomenon is not new in history. Man lives to learn and the longer he lives, the more does he realise the aptness of the oft-repeated truism that history repeats itself.
Reply to Defenders of Congress
It has been argued by the apologists of the Congress Working Committee that the Congress is itself the biggest Anti-Compromise Conference and that such a Conference is therefore unnecessary. The resolution of the last meeting of the Congress Working Committee which met at Patna is held up before our eyes in order to demonstrate that the Congress has adopted an uncompromising policy. One cannot but admire the naiveté of such an argument, but is it meet and proper for politicians and political workers to be so very naïve?
One has only to go through the whole of the Patna resolution and particularly through the latter portion of it in order to realise that there are loopholes which detract from the intrinsic value of that resolution. No sooner was this resolution passed than Mahatma Gandhi came forward with the statement that the door had not been banged on future negotiations for a settlement. Mahatmaji’s subsequent lengthy remarks on Civil Disobedience do not assure us by any means that the period of struggle has commenced. In fact, what has distressed and bewildered us during the last year and a half is the fact that while on the one hand red-hot resolutions are passed and statements issued by members of the Congress Working Committee, simultaneously other remarks are made and statements issued either by Mahatma Gandhi or by other Rightist leaders which create a totally different impression on the average mind. Then there is the moot question as to whether the Patna resolution would have been passed at all, but for the pressure exerted by the Left during the last six months.
When will it come
The country eagerly awaits a clear and unequivocal declaration from the Congress Working Committee that the door has finally been banged on all talks of a compromise with Imperialism. But will this declaration be forthcoming? If so, when?
Those who aver that the Congress is the biggest Anti-Compromise Conference perhaps suffer from shortness of memory and their brains consequently need refreshing. Have they forgotten that as soon as the war began Mahatma Gandhi proceeded to Simla without caring to consult the Congress Working Committee and informed His Excellency the Viceroy that he was in favour of rendering unconditional help to Great Britain in the prosecution of the War? Do they not realise that Mahatma Gandhi being the sole dictator of the Congress, his personal views necessarily have a far-reaching implication? Have they forgotten that since the outbreak of war the Congress Working Committee has side-tracked the main issue — namely, our demand for Purna Swaraj — by putting forward a demand for a fake Constituent Assembly? Have they forgotten that some prominent Rightist leaders, including members of the Congress Working Committee, have been continuously whittling down the implication of a Constituent Assembly and that they have gone so far as to accept separate electorate and the existing franchise for the Legislative Assembly as the basis for electing the Constituent Assembly of their dreams? Have they forgotten that after the resignation of Congress Ministries, several Congress Ministers have been showing an inordinate desire to get back to office? Have they forgotten the consistent attitude which Mahatma Gandhi has adopted during the last six months in the matter of a compromise with the British Government? And do they not know that behind the smoke-screen of hot phrases, negotiations for a compromise have been going on apace?
British Attitude
Unfortunately for us, the British Government have ceased to take the Congress seriously and have formed the impression that however much Congressmen may talk, they will not ultimately show fight. Since September 1939, there has not been any dearth of resolutions or statements. Some members of the Congress Working Committee opine that these resolutions have impressed the world. But whether they have impressed the world or not, they have certainly not impressed the British, who are essentially a realistic race. During the last six months we have offered them only words and we have received the time-worn reply that so long as the Hindu-Muslim problem remains unsolved, Purna Swaraj is unthinkable.
Since September last, India has been passing through a rare crisis when men’s minds have fallen a prey to doubt and vacillation. The first to fall were the leaders themselves and the demoralisation that seized them has been spreading as a contagion throughout the land. A determined and wide-spread effort is needed if we are to stem the rot. To make this effort really effective our activities should be focussed at an All-India Conference of all those who are determined to have no truck with Imperialism.
The crisis that has overtaken us may be rare in Indian history, but it is nothing new in the history of the world. Such crisis generally appears in periods of transition. In India, we are now ringing down the curtain on an age that is passing away, while we are at the same time ushering in the dawn of a new era. The age of imperialism is drawing to a close and the era of freedom, democracy and Socialism looms ahead of us. India, therefore, stands today at one of the cross-roads of history. It is for us to share, if we so will, the heritage that awaits the world.
Supreme test
It is not to be wondered at that men’s minds should be bewildered when the old structure is crushing under its own weight and the new has yet to rise out of the ashes of the old. But let us not lose faith in ourselves, or in our countrymen or in humanity in this hour of uncertainty. To lose faith would be a calamity of the first magnitude. Such crises constitute the supreme test of a nation’s leadership. The present crisis has put our own leadership to the test and the latter has been unfortunately found wanting. It is only by analysing and exposing the causes of its failure that we can learn the lesson of history and lay the foundation of our future effort and achievement. But such analysis and exposure will necessarily be painful to all concerned, though there is means of avoiding it.
I may digress at this stage and draw an analogy with similar crises in other climes and ages. When the October Revolution broke out in Russia in 1917, nobody had a clear conception as to how the revolution should be directed. Most of the Bolsheviks were then thinking in terms of a coalition with other parties. It was left to Lenin to denounce all coalitions and give out the slogan — ‘All Power to the Soviet.’ Who knows what turn Russian history who have taken, but for this timely lead of Lenin’s, during a period of doubt and vacillation? Lenin’s unerring instinct (or intuition) which ultimately proved to be prophetic, saved Russia from disaster and from a tragedy similar to that which overtook Spain the other day.
What Mussolini did
Let us now take a contrary case. Italy in 1922 was to all intents and purposes, ripe for Socialism. All that she needed was an Italian Lenin. But the man of the hour did not arrive and the opportunity slipped out of socialist hands. It was immediately seized by the Fascist leader, Benito Mussolini.
By his march to Rome and his seizure of power Italian history took an altogether different turn and Italy ultimately went Fascist instead of going socialist. Doubt and vacillation had seized the Italian leaders and so they failed, Mussolini had one supreme virtue which not only saved him but brought him the laurels of victory. He knew his mind and he was not afraid to act. That constituted the essence of leadership.
Today our leaders are wobbling and vacillation has demoralised a section of leftists as well. “Unity,” “National Front,” “Discipline†— these have become cheap slogans which have no relation to reality. Befogged by such attractive slogans, they seem to have forgotten that the supreme need of the hour is a bold, uncompromising policy leading us on to a national struggle. Whatever strengthens us for this purpose is to be welcomed. Whatever weakens us is to be eschewed. Unity which ties us to the apron-strings of rightist politicians is by no means a blessing. We might as well induce the Congress to effect unity with the Liberal Federation — if unity is to be desired under all conditions and circumstances.
In the present crisis, the most distressing phenomenon is the disruption within the ranks of those who were hitherto regarded as leftists. The immediate future will prove to be the acid test of leftism in India. Those who will be found wanting will be soon exposed as pseudo-leftists. The members of the ‘Forward Bloc’, too, will have to demonstrate by their work and conduct that they are really forward and dynamic. It may be that in the ordeal that is ahead of us, some of those who are branded as rightists today, will prove to be genuine leftists — in action, I mean.
What is Leftism
A word is necessary here in order to explain what we mean by leftism. The present age is the anti-imperialist phase of our movement. Our main task in this age is to end imperialism and win national independence for the Indian people. When freedom comes, the age of national reconstruction will commence and that will be the socialist phase of our movement. In the present phase of our movement, leftists will be those who will wage an uncompromising fight with imperialism. Those who waver and vacillate in their struggle against imperialism — those who tend towards a compromise with it — cannot by any means be leftists. In the next phase of our movement, leftism will be synonymous with Socialism — but in the present phase the words “Leftist” and “Anti-Imperialist†should be interchangeable.
The problem of the hour is — “Will India still remain under the thumb of the Rightists or will she swing to the left, once for all?” The answer to this can be furnished only by the leftists themselves. If they adopt a bold uncompromising policy in their struggle with imperialism regardless of all danger, difficulties and obstacles then the leftists will make history and India will go left.
To those who may still be thinking of a compromise, the recent history of Ireland and the sequel to the Anglo-Irish Treaty should prove highly instructive and edifying. A compromise with imperialism will mean that an anti-imperialist national struggle will soon be converted into a civil war among the people themselves. Should that be desirable from any point of view?
Danger of Civil War
In the event of a compromise being effected with imperialism in this country, Indian leftists will in future have to fight not only imperialism, but its new-fangled Indian allies as well. This will necessarily mean that the national struggle against imperialism will be converted into a civil war among the Indians themselves,
Let us take time by the forelock and let us act while it is not too late. Swami Sahajanand Saraswati has sounded the clarion call. Let us respond to it with all the strength and courage that we possess. From this Conference let us send out a warning to both imperialism and its Indian allies. The success of this Conference should mean the death-knell of compromise with imperialism.
Before we part, let us also set up a permanent machinery for implementing the resolutions of this Conference and for waging an uncompromising war with imperialism. Everybody now realises that if the Working Committee of the Congress does not give the call for launching a national struggle — others will have to do so. It would therefore be in the fitness of things for this Conference to set up a permanent machinery for undertaking this responsibility — should the Working Committee fail us in this crisis. I hope and trust that the deliberations of this Conference will be a prelude to work and struggle on a nation-wide scale and on an All-India front.