INSIGHTS IAS

MODERN INDIAN HISTORY

CLASS QUESTION DISCUSSION

Socialism In India
INTRODUCTION:

Socialism is a range of economic and social systems characterised by social ownership and
democratic control of the means of production as well as the political theories and movements
associated with them.

BODY:

BACKGROUND: Emergence of Socialism in India:

The socialist movement began to develop in India with the Russian Revolution in 1917.
However, in 1871 a group in Calcutta had contacted Karl Marx with the purpose of organizing
an Indian section of the First International.

Marxism made a major impact in Indian media at the time of the Russian Revolution.
Of particular interest to many Indian papers and magazines was the Bolshevik policy of right to
self-determination of all nations.

Bipin Chandra Pal and Bal Gangadhar Tilak were amongst the prominent Indians who
expressed their admiration of Lenin and the new rulers in Russia. The Russian Revolution also
affected émigré Indian revolutionaries, such as the Ghadar Party in North America.

The Khilafat movement contributed to the emergence of early Indian communism. Many Indian
Muslims left India to join the defence of the Caliphate. Several of them became communists
whilst visiting Soviet territory. Some Hindus also joined the Muslim muhajirs in the travels to the
Soviet areas

The First World War was accompanied with a rapid increase of industries in India, resulting in a
growth of an industrial proletariat. At the same time prices of essential commodities increased.
These were factors that contributed to the buildup of the Indian trade union movement. Unions
were formed in the urban centres across India, and strikes were organised.

In 1920, the All India Trade Union Congress was founded.

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The Communist Party of India was founded in Tashkent on 17 October 1920, soon after the
Second Congress of the Communist International by M.N.Roy, Abani Mukherji and others.
Economic condition during 1920s- 1930s:

The decade of 1930s witnessed the rapid growth of socialist ideas within and outside the
Congress. In 1929, there was a great economic slump or depression in the United States, which
gradually spread to the rest of the world resulting in economic distress and unemployment on a
large scale (across the world). But the economic situation in the Soviet Union was just the
opposite.

There was not only no slump, but the years between 1929 and 1936 witnessed the successful
completion of the first two Five Year Plans, which increased the Soviet industrial production by
more than four times.

The world depression, thus, brought the capitalist system into disrepute and drew attention
towards Marxism, socialism, and economic planning.
Consequently, socialist ideas began to attract more and more people, especially the young, the
workers, and the peasants.

Impact of Socialist Ideas on national movement:

Within Congress:
Congress Socialist party
It was a socialist group within the INC founded in 1934 by JP Narayan and Acharya Narendra
Dev.
They believed in Marxist Ideas, Gandhian ideals, Liberal and Social democracy of the west.
Nationalism and Independence was their goal.

1936 Faizpur session of INC:

The objectives of the session included reducing land revenue, abolition of feudal levies and
dues, cooperative farming, creation of peasant unions etc.

Civic rights:
The National Congress supported the states’ people’s struggle and urged the princes to
introduce democratic representative government and to grant fundamental civil rights.
In 1938, when the Congress defined its goal of independence it included the independence of
the princely states.
In 1939, Jawaharlal Nehru became the President of the All India States’ People’s Conference.
The States’ people’s movement awakened the national consciousness among the people of the
states. It also spread a new consciousness of unity all over India.

Safeguarding of interests of workers:

In 1936, INC asked the Congress ministries in provinces to work for safeguarding and
promoting the interests of workers.

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Outside Congress:

Peasants and Workers Unions:

The economic depression also worsened the conditions of the peasants and workers in India.
The prices of agricultural products dropped by over 50 per cent by the end of 1932.
The employers tried to reduce wages. The peasants all over the country began to demand land
reforms, reduction of land revenue and rent, and relief from indebtedness.
Workers in the factories and plantations increasingly demanded better conditions of work and
recognition of their trade union rights. Consequently, there was rapid growth of trade unions in
the cities and the Kisan Sabhas (peasants’ unions) in many areas, particularly in Uttar Pradesh,
Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, and Punjab.

The first all-India peasant organization, the All-India Kisan Sabha was formed in 1936. The
peasants also began to take a more active part in the national movement.
In his presidential address to the Lucknow Congress in 1936, Nehru urged the Congress to
accept socialism as its goal and to bring itself closer to the peasantry and the working class.
Global affairs:

During the period of 1935-1939, Congress actively participated for the development of world
affairs. It had gradually developed a foreign policy based on opposition to the spread of
imperialism.

In February 1927, Jawaharlal Nehru on behalf of the National Congress attended the Congress
of oppressed nationalities at Brussels organized by political exiles and revolutionaries from the
countries of Asia, Africa, and Latin America, suffering from economic or political imperialism.

In 1927, the Madras session of the National Congress warned the Government that the people
of India would not support Britain in any war undertaken with its imperialist aims

CONCLUSION:
After India’s independence in 1947, the Indian government under prime ministers Nehru and
Indira Gandhi oversaw land reform and the nationalisation of major industries and the banking
sector. However, when a global recession began in the late 1970s, economic stagnation,
chronic shortages and state inefficiency left many disillusioned with state socialism. In the late
1980s and 1990s, India’s government began to systematically liberalise the Indian economy by
pursuing privatisation, aiming to attract foreign investment. Nevertheless, the Congress party
continues to espouse some socialist causes

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