JP, Lohia & Benipuri at Kisan Sabha CSP Patna Rally, August 1936
The Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was a socialist caucus within the Indian National Congress. It was founded in 1934 by Congress members who rejected what they saw as the anti-rational mysticism of Gandhi as well as the sectarian attitude of the Communist Party of India towards the Congress. Influenced by Fabianism as well as Marxism-Leninism, the CSP included advocates of armed struggle or sabotage (such as Yusuf Meherally, Jayaprakash Narayan, and Basawon Singh (Sinha) as well as those who insisted upon Ahimsa or Nonviolent resistance (such as Acharya Narendra Deva). The CSP advocated decentralized socialism in which co-operatives, trade unions, independent farmers, and local authorities would hold a substantial share of the economic power.
Jayaprakash Narayan and Minoo Masani were released from jail in 1934. Narayan convened a meeting in Patna on 17 May 1934, which founded the Bihar Congress Socialist Party. He was a Gandhian Socialist. Narayan became general secretary of the party and Acharya Narendra Deva became president. The Patna meeting gave a call for a socialist conference which would be held in connection to the Congress Annual Conference. At this conference, held in Bombay October 22–23 October 1934, they formed a new All India party, the Congress Socialist Party. Narayan became general secretary of the party, and Masani joint secretary. The conference venue was decorated by Congress flags and a portrait of Karl Marx.
In the new party the greeting 'comrade' was used as it was CSP. Masani mobilized the party in Bombay, whereas Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya and Puroshottam Trikamdas organized the party in other parts of Maharashtra. Ganga Sharan Singh (Sinha) was among the prominent leaders of the Indian National Congress Party as among the founders of the Congress Socialist Party.[2] The constitution of the CSP defined that the members of CSP were the members of the Provisional Congress Socialist Parties and that they were all required to be members of the Indian National Congress.
Members of communal organizations or political organizations whose goals were incompatible with the ones of CSP, were barred from CSP membership.[3] The Bombay conference raised the slogan of mobilising the masses for a Constituent Assembly.[4]
In 1936 the Communists joined CSP, as part of the Popular Front strategy of the ComIntern.[4] In some states, like Kerala and Orissa, communists came to dominate CSP. In fact communists dominated the entire Congress in Kerala through its hold of CSP at one point.
Congress Socialist Party possessed countrymade pipe bomb that recovered in 1943.
In 1936, the CSP began fraternal relations with the Lanka Sama Samaja Party of Ceylon. In 1937 the CSP sent Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya on a speaking tour of the island.[5]
The CSP had adopted Marxism in 1936 and their third conference in Faizpur they had formulated a thesis that directed the party to work to transform the Indian National Congress into an anti-imperialist front.[6]
During the summer of 1938 a meeting took place between the Marxist sector of the Anushilan movement and the CSP. Present in the meeting were Jayaprakash Narayan (leader of CSP), Jogesh Chandra Chatterji, Tridib Kumar Chaudhuri and Keshav Prasad Sharma. The Anushilan marxists then held talks with Acharya Narendra Deva, a former Anushilan militant. The Anushilan marxists decided to join CSP, but keeping a separate identity within the party.[6] With them came the Anushilan Samiti, not only the Marxist sector. The non-Marxists (who constituted about a half of the membership of the Samiti), although not ideologically attracted to the CSP, felt loyalty towards the Marxist sector. Moreover, around 25% of the membership of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association joined the CSP. This group was led by Jogesh Chandra Chatterji. The Anushilan marxists were however soon to be disappointed by developments inside the CSP. The party, at that the time Anushilan marxists had joined it, was not a homogeneous entity. There was the Marxist trend led by Narayan and Deva, the Fabian socialist trend led by Minoo Masani and Asoka Mehta and a Gandhian socialist trend led by Ram Manohar Lohia, and Achyut Patwardan. To the Anushilan marxists differences emerged between the ideological stands of the party and its politics in practice. These differences surfaced at the 1939 annual session of the Indian National Congress at Tripuri. At Tripuri, in the eyes of the Anushlian marxists, the CSP had failed to consistently defend Subhas Chandra Bose.[7] Jogesh Chandra Chatterji renounced his CSP membership in protest against the action by the party leadership.
Soon after the Tripuri session, Bose resigned as Congress president and formed the Forward Bloc. The Forward Bloc was intended to function as a unifying force for all leftwing elements. The Forward Bloc held its first conference on 22–23 June 1939, and at the same time a Left Consolidation Committee consisting of the Forward Bloc, CPI, CSP, the Kisan Sabha, League of Radical Congressmen, Labour Party and the Anushilan marxists.[8] At this moment, in October 1939, J.P. Narayan tried to stretch out an olive branch to the Anushilan marxists. He proposed the formation of a 'War Council' consisting of himself, Pratul Ganguly, Jogesh Chandra Chatterjee and Acharya Narendra Deva. But few days later, at a session of the All India Congress Committee, J.P. Narayan and the other CSP leaders pledged not to start any other movements parallel to those initiated by Gandhi.[9] The Left Consolidation Committee soon fell into pieces, as the CPI, the CSP and the Royists deserted it. The Anushlian marxists left the CSP soon thereafter, forming the Revolutionary Socialist Party.[10]
Narayan organized the CSP relief work in Kutch in 1939.[11]
On the occasion of the 1940 Ramgarh Congress Conference CPI released a declaration called Proletarian Path, which sought to utilize the weakened state of the British Empire in the time of war and gave a call for general strike, no-tax, no-rent policies and mobilising for an armed revolution uprising. The National Executive of the CSP assembled at Ramgarh took a decision that all communists were expelled from CSP.[12]
Members of the CSP were particularly active in the Quit India movement of August 1942. Although a socialist, Jawaharlal Nehru did not join the CSP, which created some rancor among CSP members who saw Nehru as unwilling to put his socialist slogans into action. After independence, the CSP broke away from Congress, under the influence of JP, and Lohia to form the Socialist Party of India.
Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava, also known as JP and Lok Nayak, was an Indian politician, theorist and independence activist. He is mainly remembered for leading the mid-1970s opposition against Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and calling for her overthrow in a "total revolution". In 1999, Narayan was posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, in recognition of his social service. His other awards include the Magsaysay award for public service in 1965.
The Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest communist party in India. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur on 26 December 1925.
The Janata Party is an unrecognised political party in India. It was founded as an amalgam of Indian political parties opposed to the Emergency that was imposed between 1975 and 1977 by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian National Congress. In the 1977 general election, the party defeated the Congress and Janata leader Morarji Desai became the first non-Congress prime minister in independent modern India's history.
The Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) is a communist party in India. The party was founded on 19 March 1940 by Tridib Chaudhuri and has its roots in the Bengali liberation movement Anushilan Samiti and the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army.
Acharya Narendra Deva was one of the leading theorists of the Congress Socialist Party in India. His democratic socialism renounced violent means as a matter of principle and embraced the satyagraha as a revolutionary tactic.
The Praja Socialist Party, abbreviated as PSP, was an Indian political party. It was founded in 1952 when the Socialist Party, led by Jayaprakash Narayan, Rambriksh Benipuri, Acharya Narendra Deva and Basawon Singh (Sinha), merged with the Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party led by J. B. Kripalani.
All India Kisan Sabha, is the peasant or farmers' wing of the Communist Party of India, an important peasant movement formed by Sahajanand Saraswati in 1936.
Anushilan Samiti was an Indian fitness club, which was actually used as an underground society for anti-British revolutionaries. In the first quarter of the 20th century it supported revolutionary violence as the means for ending British rule in India. The organisation arose from a conglomeration of local youth groups and gyms (akhara) in Bengal in 1902. It had two prominent, somewhat independent, arms in East and West Bengal, Dhaka Anushilan Samiti, and the Jugantar group.
Basawon Singh or Basawan Singh also known as Basawon Sinha, was an Indian independence activist and a campaigner for the rights of the underprivileged, and industrial and agricultural workers.
The Bihar movement, also known as the JP movement, was a political movement initiated by students in the Indian state of Bihar against misrule and corruption in the state government. in 1974. It was led by the veteran Gandhian socialist Jayaprakash Narayan, popularly known as JP. The movement later turned against Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's government in the central government. It was also referred to as Sampoorna Kranti.
Yogendra Shukla was an Indian nationalist and freedom fighter, notable for his contributions in the state of Bihar. He was incarcerated in the Cellular Jail, also known as Kala Pani, and was a founding member of the Hindustan Socialist Republican Association (HSRA). Shukla, in collaboration with Basawon Singh (Sinha), was also instrumental in establishing the Congress Socialist Party in Bihar.
Ramavriksha Benipuri was an independence activist, socialist leader, editor and Hindi writer. He was born in a small village named Benipur in Muzaffarpur district in a Bhumihar Brahmin family in the Indian state of Bihar. He had spent nine years in prison for fighting for India's independence. He was the founder of Bihar Socialist Party in 1931 and Congress Socialist Party in 1934. He served as the president of Patna District Congress Committee of Indian National Congress from 1935 to 1937 during the 1937 Indian provincial elections. He was elected as the Member of the Legislative Assembly (India) from Katra North in 1957. In 1958, he was elected as the Syndicate Member of Bihar University, Muzaffarpur.
Mazdoor Kisan Sangram Samiti was a mass organisation in Bihar, India. MKSS was founded in 1981 by Dr. Vinayan, Arvind Ji and other mass leaders. The following of MKSS was largely made up of Dalits.
Elections were held in March 1952 for the Bihar Legislative Assembly. There were 276 constituencies with 50 of them being two-member constituencies. The Indian National Congress (INC) stormed into power. Shri Krishna Singh became the first elected Chief Minister of Bihar and Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha became the first Deputy Chief Minister cum Finance Minister of the state.
Vijoy 15 million people voted in the state of Bihar in the 1971 Indian general election, a turnout of 49%. The Indian National Congress won 39 seats from a total of 53.
Abbas Ali was an Indian freedom fighter and politician who was a captain in the Indian National Army led by Subhas Chandra Bose. Later he joined the Socialist movement and was a close associate of Ram Manohar Lohia.
The history of the Anushilan Samiti stretches from its beginning in 1902 to 1930. The Samiti began in the first decade of the 20th century in Calcutta as conglomeration of local youth groups and gyms(Akhra). However, its focus was both physical education and proposed moral development of its members. From its inception it sought to promote what it perceived as Indian values and to focus on Indian sports e.g. Lathi and Sword play. It also encouraged its members to study Indian history as well as those of European liberalism including the French Revolution, Russian Nihilism and Italian unification. Soon after its inception it became a radical organisation that sought to end British Raj in India through revolutionary violence. After World War I, it declined steadily as its members identified closely with leftist ideologies and with the Indian National Congress. It briefly rose to prominence in the late second and third decade, being involved in some notable incidents in Calcutta, Chittagong and in the United Provinces. The samiti dissolved into the Revolutionary Socialist Party in 1930.
Communists were actively involved in Indian independence movement through multiple series of protests, strikes and other activities. It was a part of revolutionary movement for Indian independence. Their main thrust was on organising peasants and working classes across India against the British and Indian capitalists and landlords.
References
Chaudhuri, Asim Kumar, 1980. Socialist Movement in India: The Congress Socialist Party, 1934-1947. Calcutta: Progressive Publishers.
Chowdhuri, Satyabrata Rai, 2008. Leftism in India: 1917-1947. London and New Delhi: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gupta, Asha, 1987. Socialism in Theory and Practice: Narendra Deva’s Contribution. New Delhi: Gitanjali Publishing House.
Mahendru, K C, 1986. Gandhi and the Congress Socialist Party, 1934-48: An Analysis of their Interaction. Jalandhar, Punjab: Asian Book Services.
Srivastava, N.M.P. Anguish, Protest and Surcharged Nationalism: A Study of the Proscribed Literature in Colonial Bihar (1912–47) (2015 ed.). Directorate of Bihar State Archives, Government of Bihar, Patna. p.768 (at pages 378–79) (In Yuvak Sedition Case 1930–31). ISBN978-93-81456-36-1.
Socialist movement in India, by Krushna Singh Padhy, P. K. Panigrahy. 1992-260 pages.
Meanwhile, the Bihar Socialist Party had been set up by Ganga Sharan Sinha, Rambriksh Benipuri and Jayaprakash. They did not use the word 'Congress' with the name of the party.
Agrarian movements in India: studies on 20th century Bihar, by Arvind N. Das.1982-152
pages. Intellectuals' like Rahul Sankrityayana and Nagarjuna on the one side and Congress Socialist leaders like Jaya Prakash Narayan, Rambriksh Benipuri, Ganga Saran Sinha, Awadheshwar Prasad Singh and Ramnandan Mishra, joined them.
History of the Indian National Congress in Bihar, 1885-1985.P. N. Ojha, Kashi Prasad Jayaswal
Research Institute.1985-934 pages. Jaya Prakash Narayan, Rambriksh Benipuri, Phulan Prasad Verma, Ram Nandan Mishra, Ganga Sharan Singh, Basawan Singh, Yogendra Shukla, Kishori Prasanna Sinha, Rahul Sankrityayana and others tried to form independent workers'
The Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha, 1929-1942: a study of an Indian, by Walter Hauser.1961-
428 pages. The case of Congressmen, Socialists, Communists, and Kisan Sabhites alike. In the Kisan Sabha this leadership resided in the hands of men like Rambriksh Benipuri, Jadunandan Sharma, Ram Chandra Sharma, Ramnandan Misra.
↑ Ralhan, O.P. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Political Parties - India - Pakistan - Bangladesh - National -Regional - Local. Vol. 24. Socialist Movement in India. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1997. p. 58-60, 91
1 2 Roy, Samaren. M.N. Roy: A Political Biography. Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 1998. p. 113, 115
1 2 Saha, Murari Mohan (ed.), Documents of the Revolutionary Socialist Party: Volume One 1938-1947. Agartala: Lokayata Chetana Bikash Society, 2001. p. 35-37
↑ Saha, Murari Mohan (ed.), Documents of the Revolutionary Socialist Party: Volume One 1938-1947. Agartala: Lokayata Chetana Bikash Society, 2001. p. 38-42
↑ Saha, Murari Mohan (ed.), Documents of the Revolutionary Socialist Party: Volume One 1938-1947. Agartala: Lokayata Chetana Bikash Society, 2001. p. 43-45
↑ Saha, Murari Mohan (ed.), Documents of the Revolutionary Socialist Party: Volume One 1938-1947. Agartala: Lokayata Chetana Bikash Society, 2001. p. 44-46
↑ Saha, Murari Mohan (ed.), Documents of the Revolutionary Socialist Party: Volume One 1938-1947. Agartala: Lokayata Chetana Bikash Society, 2001. p. 46-47
↑ Ralhan, O.P. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Political Parties - India - Pakistan - Bangladesh - National -Regional - Local. Vol. 24. Socialist Movement in India. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1997. p. 61
↑ Ralhan, O.P. (ed.). Encyclopedia of Political Parties - India - Pakistan - Bangladesh - National -Regional - Local. Vol. 24. Socialist Movement in India. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1997. p. 82
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