The left opposition: Socialists and Communists

Detail

1. The Congress Socialist Party (CSP), 1934–1948

• Congress Socialist Party (CSP): a left-wing group formed inside the Indian National Congress in 1934. Its members stayed Congress members but pushed the party towards socialism, meaning the state controls the economy so that wealth is shared more equally.
• It was formed by young Congress leaders who wanted a more radical Congress that worked for equality.

• Its stated aim was a classless society, a society with no division into rich owners and poor workers [3][8].

• Leaders:

• Acharya Narendra Dev was its founding president.
• Jayaprakash Narayan (JP) was a leading member.
• Other leaders were Achyut Patwardhan, Asoka Mehta, Rammanohar Lohia and S.M. Joshi.

• Lohia sat on the CSP executive committee from 1934 and edited its weekly journal [2].

• Exit from the Congress:

• 1947: the group dropped "Congress" from its name and called itself the Socialist Party [8].
• 1948: the Congress ruled that its members could not also belong to another party that had its own constitution. This was a ban on dual membership (belonging to two parties at once).
• So JP, Lohia and the other Socialists left the Congress [8][2]. Later in 1948 Lohia helped set up the new Socialist Party, became its chairman and edited its journal Mankind [2].

2. The Socialist Party: ideology and record

• Democratic socialism: the belief that equality should be reached through elections, Parliament and peaceful reform, not through violent revolution.
• This set the Socialists apart from the Congress, which they saw as too close to the rich.

• It also set them apart from the Communists, who at first supported armed revolution.

• Main charge against the Congress: it favoured capitalists and landlords and ignored workers and peasants.

• Electoral record:
• The party had a presence in almost every state.
• Its results were poor, and it won seats only in a few areas.

• It did very badly in the 1951–52 general election [8].

• The 1955 dilemma:

• At its Avadi session in 1955, the Congress adopted the goal of a 'socialist pattern of society'. The Congress now claimed the Socialists' own agenda.
• The Socialists split over how to respond:

Leader	Line towards the Congress
Rammanohar Lohia	Moved further away. He opposed the Congress more strongly.
Asoka Mehta	Wanted limited cooperation with the Congress.

3. Splits and mergers

Party	Year	Key facts
Kisan Mazdoor Praja Party (KMPP)	1951	Formed by J.B. Kripalani after he resigned from the Congress in 1951 [7].
Praja Socialist Party (PSP)	1952	The Socialist Party and the KMPP merged after the poor 1951–52 results to build a stronger opposition to the Congress [8][7]. The KMPP was the core of the PSP [7]. It later followed Asoka Mehta's line.
Samyukta Socialist Party (SSP)	1964	Lohia's party. It was strongly anti-Congress and supported reservation (reserved seats and posts) for backward castes.

• Lohia and the PSP:
• Lohia joined the PSP when it was formed in 1952 and was its general secretary for a short time.

• He resigned in 1955 because of fights inside the party [2].

• JP leaves party politics: in 1954 JP said he would give his life only to Vinoba Bhave's Bhoodan movement, which asked landowners to gift land to the landless [8].

• Lohia (1910–1967): born in Akbarpur, he died on 12 October 1967 in New Delhi [2]. He worked to build a distinctly Indian version of socialism [2].
• Non-Congressism: this was Lohia's idea that all opposition parties should unite to defeat the Congress.

• In 1967 the SSP was part of the Samyukta Vidhayak Dal (SVD) governments. These were coalitions of non-Congress parties, including the Jana Sangh, formed in several states [2]. (See congress-system-challenges.)

• Today's descendants: the Samajwadi Party [9], the RJD, the JD(U) and the JD(S).

4. The Communist Party of India (CPI): origins

• Origins: communist groups appeared in India in the early 1920s. They were inspired by the Bolshevik revolution in Russia (1917).
• 1920, Tashkent: M.N. Roy, Abani Mukherji and Evelyn Roy issued a manifesto (public statement) calling for a communist party in India [4].

• Late 1925, Kanpur: the CPI was founded in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh. The CPI itself takes 1925 as its founding date [4].

• Relationship with the Congress:

• From 1935, the Communists worked mainly from inside the Congress.

• In December 1941 they broke away. They chose to support Britain's war against Nazi Germany.

• Strength at independence: the CPI had a well-organised party machine and dedicated cadre. Cadre means full-time, disciplined party workers.

5. CPI after 1947: from revolt to elections

• "Is freedom real?" After 1947 the CPI doubted that the transfer of power gave India true freedom.
• It encouraged the violent Telangana uprising, an armed peasant revolt in the old Hyderabad state.

• The revolt had little popular support, and the armed forces crushed it. (See nation-building.)

• 1951: the CPI gave up violent revolution and decided to fight elections.

• 1952 general election:
• It won 16 seats and became the largest opposition party in the first Lok Sabha.

• Its support was concentrated in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and Kerala.

• Kerala, 1957:

• The CPI defeated the Congress in the 1957 Kerala assembly election.

• Under E.M.S. Namboodiripad, it formed the first non-Congress state government in independent India. It brought in reforms in land distribution and education [6][4].

• Kerala, 1959:

• Violent protests broke out against these reforms [6].
• The Centre feared communism would spread beyond Kerala [6].
• The Centre therefore dismissed the government and imposed President's rule [6]. President's rule is direct rule by the Union government under Article 356, used when a state government "cannot be carried on" according to the Constitution.

6. CPI leaders

• A.K. Gopalan: a Member of Parliament from 1952 onwards. He later joined the CPI(M).
• S.A. Dange, E.M.S. Namboodiripad (Kerala Chief Minister, 1957–59 [6]), P.C. Joshi, Ajay Ghosh and P. Sundarayya.

7. The 1964 split

• Causes:
• The Sino-Soviet rift, a quarrel between the communist parties of the USSR and China that grew through the 1950s [4][5].

• Disagreement over how to respond to the 1962 India–China border war [4][5].

• Result:

• A large group broke away and formed the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M), in 1964 [4][5].
• The pro-Soviet group stayed as the CPI and moved closer to the Congress.
• The CPI(M) opposed any ties with the Congress. Many of its leaders were arrested as pro-China.

Prelims Hooks

• CSP, 1934: formed inside the Congress. Its founding president was Acharya Narendra Dev, not JP.
• 1948: the Congress banned dual membership, so the Socialists left. Lohia became chairman of the new Socialist Party, whose journal was Mankind [2].
• KMPP (1951, J.B. Kripalani) + Socialist Party = Praja Socialist Party (1952) [7][8].
• SSP (1964) was Lohia's party. Trap: the PSP was not Lohia's party. He left the PSP in 1955 [2].
• Congress at Avadi, 1955: adopted the 'socialist pattern of society'. Lohia moved away from the Congress, while Asoka Mehta wanted limited cooperation.
• CPI: the Tashkent manifesto came in 1920, and the party was founded at Kanpur in 1925 [4].
• 1952 Lok Sabha: the CPI won 16 seats and was the largest opposition party. Trap: not the Socialist Party.
• Kerala 1957: the first elected non-Congress state government (EMS). It was dismissed under Article 356 in 1959 [6].
• 1964 split: the CPI was pro-Soviet and the CPI(M) was the breakaway group. The split followed the Sino-Soviet rift and the 1962 war [4][5].
• JP left party politics for the Bhoodan movement in 1954 [8].

Mains Points

• Why the left could not replace the Congress (GS-I):
• The Congress was an umbrella party that took over the left's agenda, for example the 'socialist pattern' of 1955.
• The left kept splitting: CSP → Socialist Party → PSP and SSP, and CPI → CPI and CPI(M).

• Its support was limited to a few regions.

• The left as a healthy opposition:

• The Socialists and Communists kept the Congress under pressure on land reform, workers and peasants.

• The Congress's own left wing often shared their views. This shows how the Congress system let opposition ideas work through the ruling party.

• The Communists' move from revolution to elections:

• They went from Telangana (1948–51) to elections (1951–52) to forming the Kerala government (1957).

• This shows Indian democracy taking radical groups into the system. The 1959 dismissal under Article 356 also began a long debate about the Centre misusing President's rule.

• Lohia's non-Congressism:

• It produced the 1967 SVD coalitions and reservation politics for backward castes.
• It prepared the ground for later coalition and OBC-based parties: the SP, RJD, JD(U) and JD(S).