All India Kisan Sabha (1936)

The All India Kisan Sabha (also known as the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha) is the peasant or farmers’ wing of the Communist Party of India, an important peasant movement founded in 1936 by Sahajanand Saraswati during the Indian National Congress Lucknow Session in 1936. 

Background

• The Kisan Sabha movement began in Bihar under the leadership of Sahajanand Saraswati, who founded the Bihar Provincial Kisan Sabha (BPKS) in 1929 to mobilize peasant grievances against zamindari attacks on their occupancy rights, igniting India’s farmers’ movements.
• The peasant movement gradually grew in strength and spread throughout the rest of India.
• All of these radical peasant developments culminated in the formation of the All India Kisan Sabha at the Indian National Congress’s Lucknow session in April 1936, with Swami Sahajanand Saraswati elected as its first president.
• Other prominent members of this Sabha included N.G. Ranga, E.M.S. Namboodiripad, Indulal Yagnik, Sohan Singh Bhakna, Z.A. Ahmed, Pandit Karyanand Sharma, Pandit Yamuna Karjee, Pandit Yadunandan (Jadunandan) Sharma, Rahul Sankrityayan, P. Sundarayya, Ram Manohar Lohia
• The Kisan Manifesto, issued in August 1936, demanded the abolition of the zamindari system and the cancellation of rural debts; in October 1937, it adopted the red flag as its banner.
• Soon after, its leaders grew increasingly estranged from Congress and clashed with Congress governments in Bihar and United Provinces.

Features

• The All India Kisan Sabha was founded in April 1936 in Lucknow by Swami Sahjanand Saraswati as president and N.G. Ranga as general secretary.
• A kisan manifesto was issued, and a periodical was launched under the direction of Indulal Yagnik.
• In 1936, both the AIKS and the Congress met in Faizpur.
• The All India Kisan Sabha agenda had a strong influence on the Congress manifesto (particularly the agrarian policy) for the 1937 provincial elections.

Objectives

• The Kisan Sabhas’ initial goal was to foster mutual understanding between peasants and landlords. However, due to the landlords’ obstinate and oppressive attitude, the Kisan Sabhas were forced to adopt a militant stance.
• They did, however, continue to spread nationalist ideology among the peasants in support of the Congress’ political programme.
• The goal of All India Kisan Sabha was to abolish landlordism and provide free land to agricultural and other rural laborers.
• To raise the rural masses’ standard of living while also developing agriculture and industry.
• It wanted to put an end to the exploitation of agricultural and other rural laborers.

Outcome

• The movement became more dominated by Socialists and Communists as it moved away from the Congress.
• Members of the Congress were prohibited from becoming members of Kisan Sabhas during the Haripura session of the Congress in February 1938.
• When peasant movements faced severe repression in Princely States, Congress leaders did not intervene.
• During the Congress’s Haripura session in 1938, the schism was obvious.
• By May 1942, the Communist Party of India (CPI) had taken control of the All India Kisan Sabha in all Indian states, including Bengal.
• It took the Communist Party’s People’s War stance and avoided the Quit India Movement, which began in August 1942, despite the fact that it would lose its popular base.
• Many of its members disobeyed party orders and participated in the revolution.
• It was more difficult for prominent members like N.G. Ranga, Indulal Yagnik, and Swami Sahajananda to address peasants without adopting a watered-down pro-British and pro-war stance. They quickly left the organization.

Congress Socialist Party

The Communists carried on their activities more or less independent of the Indian National Congress, but within the Congress a considerable section was drawn towards the Socialist or Communist ideology and sought to work out a Socialist programme through the Congress. Among this section there were leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Chandra Bose, Jayaprakash Narayan, Acharya Narendra Dev, Achyut Patwardhan, and Ram Manohar Lohia.

The Early Socialists

In 1934, after the suspension of the Civil Disobedience Movement, a section of Congressmen decided to enter into the legislatures to work for the Congress cause within the government. Mahatma Gandhi endorsed the line of action adopted by these Congressmen, who were known as the Constitutionalists.

At this stage, some Socialists wanted to form a Socialist Party within the Congress organisation so as to prevent the erosion of the revolutionary character of the Congress by entry into the legislatures. The Congress Socialists believed in Marxist ideas like the Communists. But there were two basic differences between the Congress Socialists and the Communists:

i) First, while the Congress Socialists owed their allegiance to the Indian National Congress, the Communists owed their allegiance to the Communist International.

ii) Secondly, the Congress Socialists were nationalists, whereas the Communists at the same time also believed in the goal of an international Communist society.

The Congress Socialists joined hands with the bourgeois democratic forces within the Congress for carrying on the struggle of national liberation with the help of workers, peasants and petty bourgeoisie.

The Congress Socialists wanted to create a broad base for the Congress organisation by bringing into it the workers and peasants. They held that the workers and peasants should take part in the struggle for national liberation. They believed in the efficacy of such techniques as workers’ strikes and peasants’ agitations for the attainment of freedom from foreign rule. The Congress Socialists believed in class struggle and stood for the abolition of capitalism, zamindari, and princely states. They wanted to incorporate radical socio-economic measures for the uplift of the toiling masses into the Congress Party’s programme.

In the early thirties, Socialist groups had been formed by the leftist Congressmen in provinces like Bihar, U.P., Bombay and Punjab. In 1933, in Nasik Jail, some young Socialists such as Jayaprakash Narayan, Achyut Patwardhan, M.R. Masani, N.G. Gore, Ashok Mehta, S.M. Joshi and M.L. Dantwala floated the idea of forming a Socialist Party within the Congress organisation.

In April 1934 at Banaras, Sampurnananda published a pamphlet in which he stressed the need for the formation of an All-India Socialist Party as a wing of the Congress. Such a wing, he held, would counteract the influence of capitalists and the upper bourgeoisie.

The Congress Socialists belonged to the westernised middle class. They were influenced by the ideas of Karl Marx, Mahatma Gandhi, and the Social Democracy of the West. They simultaneously practised Marxian Socialism, Congress nationalism, and liberal democracy of the West.

Brief Sketches of the Early Socialists

Jaya Prakash Narayan, the foremost leader of the Congress Socialists, was born in 1902 in Bihar. In 1921, he discontinued his studies in a Patna college to join the Non-Cooperation Movement. Thereafter, he went to the United States of America for receiving university education. There he earned his livelihood by doing manual work and continued his studies. In the U.S.A., he came in contact with Communists and became a Marxist. While returning from the U.S.A., he found that the Indian Communists were taking orders from the Communist International at Moscow. Though he appreciated the Bolshevik Revolution of Russia and the success of Communism in that country, he did not like the idea of Indian Communists acting under orders from Moscow. Returning to India, he joined the Congress Party in 1929. In 1930, he was made the President of the Labour Research Department of the Congress. His wife, Prabhavati, was a staunch follower of Gandhi. Jaya Prakash published a book entitled Why Socialism?, in which he stressed the relevance of socialism for India.

Yusuf Meherally was born in 1903 in a prosperous business family of Bombay. He was influenced by the writings of Mazzini and Garibaldi, and by the Sinn Fein Movement of Ireland and the Chinese and Russian Revolutions. In 1928, he organised the Bombay Provincial Youth League, which took an active part in organising demonstrations against the Simon Commission and in the Civil Disobedience Movement.

Achyut Patwardhan was born to a rich Theosophist father in 1905. He was educated at the Banaras Hindu University. After completing his education, he served for some time as a university lecturer and visited Europe. He joined the Civil Disobedience Movement and was sentenced to imprisonment in Nasik Jail. Patwardhan was profoundly influenced by Gandhian and Theosophical ideas.

Ashok Mehta was born in 1911 at Sholapur. His father was a prominent Gujarati litterateur. He was educated at the Bombay University. He joined the Civil Disobedience Movement and was sentenced to imprisonment in Nasik Jail. For a number of years, he edited the journal of the Congress Socialist Party, known as Congress Socialist.

M.R. Masani was born in a rich and learned family in Bombay. He studied at the London School of Economics. He was influenced by Fabian Socialism, the British Labour Movement, and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia.

Acharya Narendra Dev was born in 1889 in Uttar Pradesh. His father was a lawyer. In the early part of his life, he was influenced by extremist nationalists like Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Lala Har Dayal, and Aurobindo. After the Bolshevik Revolution, he turned to Marxism. He attached importance to the role of the peasantry in both the nationalist and socialist movements. Therefore, he devoted himself to the organisation of peasantry in Uttar Pradesh. He also valued the role of middle-class intellectuals in the socialist movement. He proved himself to be a great exponent of Marxism and at the same time supported Gandhi’s constructive activity.

Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia was born in a nationalist Marwari family of Uttar Pradesh in 1910. He was educated at Banaras Hindu University, Calcutta University, and Berlin University. He obtained his doctorate in Political Economy from Berlin University. After his return to India, Jawaharlal Nehru put him in charge of the Foreign Affairs Department of the All India Congress Committee. Lohia was influenced by the Social Democratic ideas of Europe and Gandhian ideas. He did not believe in Marxism or Communism. He founded a journal entitled Congress Socialist, which later became the official organ of the Congress Socialist Party.

Towards an All India Congress Socialist Party

The first All-India Congress Socialists’ Conference was convened at Patna by Jaya Prakash Narayan on behalf of the Bihar Socialist Party in May 1934. The Conference was presided over by Acharya Narendra Dev. In his presidential speech, Narendra Dev criticized the new Swarajist section of Congressmen who wanted to enter the legislatures and thereby run counter to the revolutionary character of the Congress. He asked the socialists to carry on their agitation for the adoption of their programme by the Congress. The Conference passed a resolution asking the Congress to adopt a programme that was socialist in action and objective.

After this Conference, the Congress Socialists worked hard to organise the All-India Congress Socialist Party. As the Organising Secretary, Jaya Prakash Narayan campaigned in different parts of the country to organise the provincial wings of the party.

The first annual session of the All-India Congress Socialist Party was held in Bombay in October 1934 under the presidentship of Sampurnananda. It was attended by delegates from thirteen provinces. In this meeting, the National Executive of the Congress Socialist Party was constituted with Jaya Prakash Narayan as the General Secretary.

The Programme of the Congress Socialist Party

The Congress Socialist Party adopted a constitution which outlined the following programme of action:

i) To work for the acceptance of the Congress Socialist Party programme by the Indian National Congress,

ii) To organise the workers and peasants for their own economic uplift as well as for carrying on the movement for the achievement of independence and socialism,

iii) To organise Youth Leagues, Women’s Organisations and Volunteer Organisations and secure their support for the Congress Socialist Party’s programme,

iv) To resist any attempt on the part of the British Government to involve India in imperialist wars, and to utilise such crises for the intensification of the freedom struggle,

v) To resist any negotiation with the British Government on constitutional issues.

The meeting at Bombay adopted a comprehensive programme as the blueprint of a Socialist society in India, containing the following items:

1. Transfer of all power to the masses,

2. Development of the economic life of the country to be planned and controlled by the State,

3. Socialisation of key industries (e.g. steel, cotton, jute, railways, shipping, plantations, mines), insurance and public utilities, with a view to the progressive socialisation of the instruments of production, distribution and exchange,

4. State monopoly of foreign trade,

5. Organisation of cooperative societies for production, distribution and credit in the unorganised sector of economic life,

6. Abolition with compensation of princes and landlords and all other classes of exploiters,

7. Redistribution of land among peasants,

8. The State was to encourage and control co-operative and collective farming,

9. Liquidation of debts owed by peasants and workers,

10. Recognition of the right to work or maintenance by the State,

11. “To every one according to his needs” was to be the basis ultimately of distribution of economic goods,

12. Adult franchise which shall be on a functional basis,

13. The State shall neither support nor discriminate between religions nor recognise any distinction based on caste or community,

14. The State shall not discriminate between the sexes, and

15. Repudiation of the so-called Public Debt of India.

The Bombay session adopted separate programmes for the uplift of workers and peasants. For workers, the demands were: freedom to form trade unions and the right to go on strikes, living wage, forty-hour week, and insurance against unemployment, sickness, accident and old age.

For the peasants, the demands were: abolition of landlordism, encouragement of cooperative farming, exemption from rents and taxes on uneconomic holdings, reduction of land revenue and abolition of feudal levies.

Independence (freedom from British rule) and socialism were the twin objectives of the Congress Socialist Party. For the purpose of attaining independence, the Congress Socialists joined hands with anti-imperialist and non-socialist forces within the Congress. Jaya Prakash Narayan said: “Our work within Congress is governed by the policy of developing it into a true anti-imperialist body.” He also warned his co-workers early in 1935: “Nothing should be done which may antagonise the genuinely nationalist elements and drive them to join hands with the compromise-seeking right wing.”

But as the ultimate objective of the Congress Socialists was to establish a Socialist society in India, they also worked to secure the acceptance of their programme by the Indian National Congress. Acharya Narendra Dev, in his presidential speech at the first All-India Congress Socialists Conference, said that Indian Socialists should carry on their “endeavour to influence the Nationalist Movement in the direction of socialism.”

The Congress Socialists followed three lines of activities for the attainment of the twin objectives of freedom and socialism:

1. Inside the Congress, they worked out anti-imperialist and nationalist programmes of the Congress as Congressmen,

2. Outside the Congress, they mobilised the workers, peasants, students, intelligentsia, youth and women for the cause of socialism,

3. They also sought to integrate the above two lines of activities.

The Congress Socialists sought to mobilise the workers and peasants for their economic amelioration as well as the country’s liberation from foreign rule.