द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

346 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
any cost. There is no middle road between Fascism and Com-
munism. One has to choose between the two and I choose the
Communist ideal. In regard to the methods and approach to
this ideal, I may not agree with everything that the orthodox
Communists have done. I think that these methods will
have to adapt themselves to changing conditions and may
vary in different countries. But I do think that the basic
ideology of Communism and its scientific interpretation of
history is sound.'
The view expressed here is, according to the writer,
fundamentally wrong. Unless we are at the end of the
process of evolution or unless we deny evolution altogether,
there is no reason to hold that our choice is restricted to two
alternatives. Whether one believes in the Hegelian or in the
Bergsonian or any other theory of evolution—in no case need
we think that creation is at an end. Considering everything,
one is inclined to hold that the next phase in world-history
will produce a synthesis between Communism and Fascism.
And will it be a surprise if that synthesis is produced in
India? The view has been expressed in the Introduction
that in spite of India's geographical isolation, the Indian
awakening is organically connected with the march of progress
in other parts of the world and facts and figures have been
mentioned to substantiate that view. Consequently, there
need be no surprise if an experiment, of importance to the
whole world, is made in India—especially when we have seen
with our own eyes that another experiment (that of Mahatma
Gandhi) made in India has roused profound interest all over
the world.
In spite of the antithesis between Communism and
Fascism, there are certain traits common to both. Both
Communism and Fascism believe in the supremacy of the
State over the individual. Both denounce parliamentarian
democracy. Both believe in party rule. Both believe in the
dictatorship of the party and in the ruthless suppression of all
dissenting minorities. Both believe in a planned industrial
reorganisation of the country. These common traits will form
the basis of the new synthesis. That synthesis is called by the
writer 'Samyavada'—an Indian word, which means literally

A GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE 347
'the doctrine of synthesis or equality.' It will be India's task
to work out this synthesis.
There are several reasons why Communism will not be
adopted in India. Firstly, Communism to-day has no
sympathy with Nationalism in any form and the Indian
movement is a Nationalist movement—a movement for the
national liberation of the Indian people. (Lenin's thesis on
the relation between Communism and Nationalism seems to
have been given the go-by since the failure of the last Chinese
Revolution.) Secondly, Russia is now on her defensive and
has little interest in provoking a world revolution, though the
Communist International may still endeavour to keep up
appearances. The recent pacts between Russia and other
capitalist countries and the written or unwritten conditions
inherent in such pacts, as also her membership of the League
of Nations, have seriously compromised the position of
Russia as a revolutionary power. Moreover, Russia is too
preoccupied in her internal industrial reorganisation and in
her preparations for meeting the Japanese menace on her
eastern flank and is too anxious to maintain friendly relations
with the Great Powers, to show any active interest in countries
like India. Thirdly, while many of the economic ideas of
Communism would make a strong appeal to Indians there are
other ideas which will have a contrary effect. Owing to the
close association between the Church and the State in Russian
history and to the existence of an organised Church, Com-
munism in Russia has grown to be anti-religious and atheistic.
In India, on the contrary, there being no organised Church
among the Indians and there being no association between the
Church and the State, there is no feeling against religion as
such.¹ Fourthly, the materialistic interpretation of history
which seems to be a cardinal point in Communist theory will
not find unqualified acceptance in India, even among those
who would be disposed to accept the economic contents of
Communism. Fifthly, while Communist theory has made
certain remarkable contributions in the domain of economics
(for instance the idea of state-planning), it is weak in other
¹ Further, in India a national awakening is in most cases heralded by a
religious reformation and a cultural renaissance.

348 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
aspects. For instance, so far as the monetary problem is
concerned, Communism has made no new contribution, but
has merely followed traditional economics. Recent ex-
periences, however, indicate that the monetary problem of
the world is still far from being satisfactorily solved.
While, therefore, it would be safe to predict that India will
not become a new edition of Soviet Russia, one may say with
equal strength that all the modern socio-political movements
and experiments in Europe and in America will have con-
siderable influence on India's development. Of late, India
has been taking and in future will continue to take, more and
more interest in what goes on in the outside world.
To come back to the Congress. The present controversy
between Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Madan Mohon Mala-
viya is of passing interest as the issue is a very minor one.
Neither the Congress Nationalist Party nor the official Con-
gress Parliamentary Party has a rôle to play in future, because
both of them are heterogeneous parties without any clear
ideology or programme. It only remains to consider the
future of Gandhiism in India. It has been urged sometimes
that Gandhiism is an alternative to Communism. This idea
is, in the opinion of the writer, erroneous. Mahatma Gandhi
has given the country—(and may be, the world) a new method
—the method of passive-resistance or Satygraha or non-violent
non-co-operation. He has not given his country or humanity
a new programme of social reconstruction as Communism has
—and the alternative to Communism can be only another
theory of social reconstruction. No doubt, the Mahatma has
condemned the ‘machine civilisation’ of the modern world
and has eulogised the good old days when men were content
with their cottage industries and their wants were few. But
that is a personal belief or idiosyncrasy. Whenever he has
expounded the contents of Swaraj, he has spoken in the
language of Mid-Victorian Parliamentarian Democracy and
of traditional capitalist economics. The ‘Eleven Points’
which he enunciated in 1930 as connoting his ‘substance of
independence,’ will be unreservedly accepted by any Indian
industrial magnate. One could therefore say that the Mahatma
does not intend pulling down the modern industrial structure

A GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE 349
if he were to get political mastery over his country, nor does
he desire to completely industrialise the country. His pro-
gramme is one of reform—he is fundamentally a reformist and
not a revolutionary. He would leave the existing social and
economic structure much as it is to-day (he would not even
abolish the army altogether) and would content himself with
removing the glaring injustices and inequalities against which
his moral sense revolts. There are millions of his countrymen
who accept his method owing to the pressure of circum-
stances, but not his programme of reconstruction, and who
would like to build up quite a different India if they had the
power. As has been already indicated, the future of India
ultimately lies with a party with a clear ideology, programme
and plan of action—a party that will not only fight for and win
freedom, but will put into effect the entire programme of
post-War reconstruction—a party that will break the isolation
that has been India's curse and bring her into the comity of
nations—firm in the belief that the fate of India is indis-
solubly linked up with the fate of humanity.

APPENDIX
Since the above was written, three events deserving of
notice have taken place. The plenary session of the Congress
met in Bombay on October 26th, 1934. The elections to the
Indian Legislative Assembly, in which the Congress Party has .
been participating, began in November. And the Report of
the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Indian Constitutional
Reforms was published on November 2nd, 1934.
The two important resolutions passed by the Bombay
Congress refer (1) to a change of the Congress Constitution
and (2) Constitution of an all-India Village Industries Asso-
ciation. The second resolution connotes an extension of the
existing Khadi (spinning and weaving) programme of the
Congress and indicates that the Congress desires to emphasise
non-political work. The first resolution has two principle
parts. (1) Reduction in the numerical strength of the Congress
delegates and of the all-India Congress Committee and (2)
provision of a rule that one must habitually wear Khadi for
six months in order to be elected a member of a Congress
Executive. Both the above resolutions may be regarded as
the Mahatma’s handiwork.
According to the Congress Constitution in vogue for
thirteen years, the number of delegates to be elected to a
Plenary Session of the Congress was 6000, while the strength
of the All-India Congress Committee was about 350. At the
Lahore Congress in December 1929, an attempt was made by
Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru and others to reduce the
stand of the former to 1000 and of the latter to 100. But the
attempt was defeated. The Bombay Congress has now
reduced the former to 2000 and the latter to 155. The signifi-
cance of this move in very great. When in 1920, the Mahatma
seized the Congress machinery and turned out the older
leaders, the forces of democracy were on his side and the
Nagpur Congress of 1920 was attended by no less than 14,000
delegates. To-day, the Mahatma is afraid of the forces of
democracy which he has helped to stir up, hence his attempt to
350

APPENDIX 351
reduce the stand not only of the Congress delegates, but also
of the All-India and Provincial Congress Committees.
Verily, the Mahatma has ceased to be a dynamic force. May
be, it is the effect of age.
But why did the Congress swallow the constitutional
amendment? The reason is not far to seek. In May 1933, the
Mahatma was able to suspend the civil-disobedience move-
ment under cover of his three weeks' fast. In November 1934,
he was able to alter the constitution under cover of his
retirement from the Congress. On both occasions, so great
was the sympathy roused for the Mahatma that emotional
and unthinking people accepted everything that the Mahatma
proposed, if only that would please him.
The question here arises—'has the Mahatma retired? If
so, why?' He has retired in the sense that his name does not
appear in the list of members of the Supreme Executive of
the Congress. But the executive—the Working Committee—
has been backed by his blind supporters. The present Work-
ing Committee is more submissive to the Mahatma than even
the Working Committee of last year, of which the Mahatma
was himself a member. Among the personnel of the present
Working Committee, the Swarajists or Parliamentarians are
conspicuous by their absence. Even, Mr. M. S. Anay who
dared to differ from the Mahatma on the question of the
Communal Award, is not there, despite his loyalty and sub-
missiveness in the past. And poor Mr. Nariman who ventured
to think independently, has been virtually kicked out of the
Committee. In 1924, the Mahatma had really retired from
Congress Politics together with his Party, as the Congress
machinery had been seized by his opponents, the Swarajists.
To-day, the person of the Mahatma may not be in the Com-
mittee—but his Party is there, stronger than ever. Moreover,
he has a direct control over the most important department of
future Congress activity—the Village Industries Association.
The so-called retirement of the Mahatma will not, accordingly,
diminish his hold over the Congress machinery in anyway—
but will enable him to disown all responsibility for the failures
of the official Congress Party during the next few years. His
retirement, therefore, is only one of his strategic retreats to

352 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
which he is in the habit of resorting, whenever there is a
political slump in the country.
With regard to the elections to the Indian Legislative
Assembly, the latest report (dated November 24th, 1934)
goes to show that the official Congress Party has captured 43
seats, the Congress Nationalist Party 8 seats and others ap-
proximately 46. Among the 46 non-descripts, at least 10 are
expected to be close upon sixty in a house of approximately
145 members.
The Report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on
Indian Constitutional Reforms contains no surprises for one
who is familiar with the contents of the White Paper. The
Report is approved by a large majority of 31 members of the
Committee. The Labour members of the Committee have
submitted an alternative scheme which is much more liberal
than the majority report. On the other hand, Lord Salisbury
and four other members have submitted, and the report
concedes only provincial autonomy and opposes responsible
Government at the centre. The majority report has whittled
down still further the already inadequate proposals of the
White Paper with a view to placating the Die-hard opposition
in Parliament. In view of the whittling down, it is widely
believed that when the Government of India Bill is introduced
on the basis of the report of the Joint Committee, it will have
the support of an overwhelming majority in the House of
Commons.
The following are some of the important points on which
the Joint Committee modify the White Paper proposals :-
I. Additional provisions are recommended in relation
to 'Law and Order' as follows :-
(i) The consent of the Governor, given in his dis-
cretion, should be required to any legislation
affecting Police Acts and to any rules made there-
under affecting the organisation or discipline of
the Police.
(ii) Records of the Intelligence Department relating
to terrorism should not be disclosed outside the
Police Force except to such public officers as the
Governor may direct.

APPENDIX 353
(iii) For the purpose of combating terrorism, the
Governor should have the power to take under
his own control any branch of Government which
it is necessary to use for that purpose.
2. Ministers and Secretaries to Government would be
required to bring to the notice of the Governor
anything that is likely to involve his 'special respon-
sibilities.'
3. Upper Chambers should be established in Madras
and Bombay as well as in Bengal, United Provinces
and Bihar.
4. Election to the Federal Lower House should be
indirect, by the members of the Provincial Lower
Houses, instead of direct by voters in territorial
constituencies.
5. If less than 90 per cent. of the State adhere to the
Federation, additional States representatives should
be appointed to the Federal Legislature to the extent
of half the difference between the seats to which the
Federating States would ordinarily be entitled and
the full State's representation if all the States acceded.
6. The High Courts should have control over the pro-
motions and postings of subordinate Judges, and the
Governor should have the final word in the appoint-
ment of District Judges.
7. The Governor-General should have a special responsi-
bility to prevent the imposition of penal tariffs on
goods imported from the United Kingdom.
8. The Legislatures in India, should after ten years,
have the constitutional right to present Addresses, for
the consideration of His Majesty's Government and
Parliament, recommending amendment of the Con-
stitution on certain specified matters such as compo-
sition of the Legislatures and franchise.
9. The separation of Burma from India should be accom-
panied by a Trade Agreement between the two
countries binding for a specified time.
As far as it can be ascertained, public opinion in India is
exceedingly hostile to the Joint Committee's Report. Never-
theless, the Bill, based on the Report, is expected to be put
through the British Parliament before the end of 1935.