Price %5 Naye Paise l':L ,• ..· Incorporating. the· 'Free Economic Review' aud 'The Indian Rationalist'

EPENDEN'l' JOURNAL OF ECONOl\llC AND PtJBLIC AFFAIRS

WE ST~"'D FOR FREE ECONO:'\IY AND LmERTARL>\N DEl\IOCRACY

MAKE ENGLISH THE LINGUA FRANCA OF L"'1DU

Voi.. VII No. 21 IN THIS ISSUE December 1, 19! .: -.· . PAGE PAGE.

EDITORIAL 1 Russia Scales the Himalaya by A. R. Field 12 A Party of Freedom by .. Democrat" 4 THE WORLD OF BOOKS by Daniel Bell IS Nehru Must Go by M. N. Tbolal 7 NEWS DIGEST 17 Can India be DefUzed? by Reginald Hargreaves 10 GLEANINGS FROM THE PRESS 19 RATIONALIST SUPPLEMENT I-IV LEITERS TO THE EDITOR 19

EDITORIAL

PANDIT NEHRU IS SEVENTY meed of appreciation and gratitude for all that .: . Pandit Nehru has meant fr- .. he nation in so many andit Nehru reached his seventieth year on spheres, we have in defe-cnce to truth and the Pthe 14th of November. Even in the midst of future of the nation, to keep in mind also the the deepest misgivings about the destiny of the negative side of the balance sheet. country under his guidance, intensified by the Today the shadow of Chinese aggression covers Chinese Aggression on our northern borders, our every phase of national life and is causing a deep people in all their ranks have renewed their emo­ heart-searching in thinking people, while the masses tional attachment to him. Newspapers, publicists are vaguely stirred and uneasy. It will be a failure and others have vied with each other in offering on the part of publicists if they do not rise above him their tribute of affectionate admiratio·n and idol 'Worship and point out clearly the shortcomings have refreshed their memories with the greatness of the supreme leader. It may be that we love not of his career and his manysided contribution to wisely but too well. the growth of national life under freedom. They have praised the dynamism of his socialist enthu­ Both the internal and external policies initiated siasm for ensuring the welfare of the common man and carried on· by Pandit Nehru as Prime Minister and a st~iking rise in his standard of living through and External Affairs Minister have now begun to gigantic Five Year Plans. They recognise the reveal their far-reaching sinister consequences for ~tream of purposeful effort that he has caused to the welfare of the nation. The Five Year Plans invigorate every sphere of administration. They with their faulty pattern devoid of economic wis­ have paid unstinted praise to his steadfast patrio­ dom and the external policy of non-involvement tism and the grandeur of his aims for the future of and panchsbeel have both proved grave and catas­ the country. They have recognised that he has trophic failures. fecured the greatest cooperation from all ranks through his secularism which has been a sheet-anchor The Swatantra Party founded by such a to Lhe minorities in particular. He has kept Gandhian veteran as Sri C. Rajagopalachari is re,·ived nationalism after the ;leE'p of a thousand Feized primarily with a vision and realisation of the years free from the murky waters of fanatical chau­ stifling nature of socialism for the free, democratic vinism and obscurantism. He has recognised and life of the people. The twenty-one points of their used talent from all parts of the country without manifesto spell out the ways in which the present provincial bias on a common national basis. policies of socialism in economic and other aspects of life are cribbing. cabinning and confining the After association ourselves with this universal spontaneous activities and aspirations of the people .• -~ •. .;. :-~-;;.t~:~.- and are making towa1'ds a totalitarian state of affairs discover such strategic situati-ons· in all places! He hy their natural Lendency. said tha·~ he did. ~ot trust the ~g~~~s on such mat­ The Chinese Aggression on the other hand has ters. But the Chmese shot ·do~n ·our police patrols made wide masses of the people realise that the in Ladakh even after this ex,hortation by Khrush- official policy of neutralism as between the two chev!· · ·. · . rival blocs, putting both on the same moral level with _ India has now to scrap her . old defence ideas­ even a shade of preference towards the communist and embar~ on large· scale expansion and modern­ bloc as being morally on the side of the masses, has isation of her milit~ry. establishments on' land, sea after all landed the country in a friendless quan­ and air. . . dary in the face of aggression by China-a vastly Thoughtful correspondents are asking (like Mr. more powerful military power than ourselves. The Verghese of the Times of India) whether the coun­ Himalayas which were India's shield and protect­ try is not paying too high a price for the leadership· ing wall for thousands of years have now lost that of Pandit Nehru! . function. The Chinese have descended . towards our side of the slope and are claiming thousands of THE PRIME MINISTER'S REFERENCE TO - miles of territory as theirs. by way of inheritance RETIREMENT AGAIN from their Tibetan region I The Prime Minister is notoriously sensitive to· The entire army deployed on the Himalayan public feeling, though he does not modify his­ slopes would be all too _insufficienL The scale of policieS! in its light! He wishes to have public feel­ our military establishment in men and materials is ing behind his aims and activities, even while he is. Lilliputian when contrasted with that of the invad­ trying to channel it into courses against its own ing enemy! interest, as in the matter of cooperative joint farm-· ing and heavy industries. The oppressing question weighing on the minds of the people is whether the Chinese will follow up In a television programme broadcast in the their advantage and proceed to actual annexation United States in connection with his birthday, of wide chunks of territory in the coming months Pandit Nehru is reported to have actually said that and years} They have shown scant regard to the he had a feeling these days that it would be a good foreign policy of their Russian colleagues led by thing' both for himself and for the country if he now­ Khrushchev who wants a relaxation of tension at relinquished the office of Prime Mimster! present. Khrushchev expressed a hope to an Indian The country knows how on a former occasion pressman in Moscow recently that India and China his announcement to a similar effect dissolved in would settle their border differences through friend­ an overwhelming flood of pleadings from his loyal ly negotiations. To the suggestion tha.t the Chinese followers I Pandit Nehru gave then the impression mignt be considering strategic advantages in their that his threat was meant only .. to test the aggression, he scoffed and said that generals will strength of adherence of his followers! We should not be blamed if we feel that on this occasion too· he has no serious intentions of handing his mission Tl1e ·lntlian Libertarian and power over to others. Indeed he himself is. reported to have added that he had no intentions Independent Journal of Free Economy of resigning his office I Why then should be trifle and Public Affairs · with the feelings of the people excpt for the sordid. Edited by Miss Ku'suM LoTWALA purpose of eliciting expressions of loyalty and rene­ Published on the 1st and 15th of Each Month wed solicitation to him to continue in office by Single Copy 25 Naye Paise · <;ongress and -people in all th~ir ranks. This pro-­ Subscription Rates : cedure does not add to the stature of the Prime Minister. . Annual Rs. 6; Half Yearly Rs. 3 ADVERTISEMENTS RATES It is remarkable that a number of publicists have Full Page Rs. 100; Half Page Rs. 50; Quarter Page begun to demand in public that Nehru should retire Rs. 25. and yield place to others. Mr. M. R Masani in. One-eighth Page Rs. 15 One full column of a Page a public meeting in Bombay is reported t.o have Rs. 50. BACK COVER ...... Rs. 150 suggested that the President should caiJ upon some· SECOND COVER ...... Rs. 125 other member of the Congress party leadership to TIURD COVER ...... Rs; 125 take over the burdens of the.Prime Minister's office­ • Articles from readers and contributors are accepted. on condition o_f a-radicaf" change of policy, parti-­ Articles meant for publicataion should be type­ cularly in foreign affairs. writtt>n and on one side of the paper only. • Publications of articles does not mean editorial en· It is reported from Bangalore that Mr; M. A dorst>ment since the Jou:-nal is also a Free Forum. Venkata Rao, President, Bharatiya Jana Sangh of • Rejected articles will be returned to the writers if accompanied with· stamped: addressed envelope. Mysore State, called for such retirement by Pandit Write to the M

THE INDIAN LIBERTARIA!"'- 2 THE COMMUNIST PARTY OF INDIA that the moral foundations of their rule and influence AT MEERUT with the people have vanished and cannot save them from popular displeasure. At Meerut where the Communist ·party of India held their National Council meeting in November, The public too should find other leaders who will there occurred a unique phenomenon which is a set a better example of moral feeling and conducl. •ign of the times. Pandit Nehru criticised all political parties for The Communist party gathering wanted to pro­ not havinJ condemned the mob and said that it Wlls ceed to the national memorial spire erected in 1 9 57 a lapse in leadership. He is right but the provo­ in memory of the 1&57 martyrs in the war of in­ cation lies with the corruption of his own admims­ dependence waged by the Sepoys of the East India tration and the inadequacy of his bold on his own ·Company's armies. This was a psychological tactic followers. to display their national sentiment at a time when INDO.CHII\'ESE BORDER STRUGGLE their siding with the Chinese aggressors in detriment to Indian security has called their patrioti~m in The Chinese have replied to India's latest letter question. This was but an exploitation of national with a proposal for the withdrawal of both sides on sentiment. the border from their present lines to the extent The PSP and jana Sangh and other groups saw of 12! miles thus leaving a neutral Noman'a Land the insincerity and tactical nature of the commun­ of 25 miles to prevent clashes like those in Ladakh ist move and stirred up the people of the city. in which we lost -9 policemen killed. . Whereupon huge crowds assembled at the Memo­ The letter is couched in a conciliatory tone. But riai to prevent the communist processionists from as Nehru's reply puts it. the proposals are imprac­ placing their wreaths of flowers and honouring (in ticable as it ieaves the Chinese still inside our bor­ outward appearance) the national heroes and ders in Ladakh, for they have penetrated some 50 martyrs of the 185 7 struggle fos independence. miles into our territory. Other crowds went to the town hall where the CPl We should insist that there can be no negotia­ leaders had gathered and demonstrated against tion until the Chinese soldiers are withdrawn be­ their anti-national attitude to the Chinese aggression. yond our 1954 border. Luckily the police seemed to have handled the Mr. Chou En-lai has suggested a meeting between explosive situation with unusual tact. The com­ himself and Nehru. This is also not advisable until munists cancelled their public meetings and pro­ the border line is restored to the status quo ante cessions and the .crowds melted away without any bellwn. mishap! Parliament has met and a second White Paper This incident is a remarkable revelation of public has been issued in which much historical evidence feeling and shows that when a clear and tangible has been adduced for the Indian case. iuue such as aggression and national danger con­ Meanwhile Nehru has assured the country that fronts the general pubiic, they are capable of see­ the Army has been finally entrusted with the entire ing the communist Front tactics through, and ex­ border defence. He should follow this up with press themselves unambiguously against the traitors. financial backing in generous measure. There can however respectable they might seem, on a par with be no priority higher than defence. other national political parties. Nehru has still the old feeling that nothing should This public awareness of the wicked nature of diminish the investment on the Third Five Year communist moves and aims showed itself in a solid Plan. He harps on steel as essential for industrial manner in the struggle of the Kerala people under power and tor military power as well. the lead of Mr. Mannath Padmanathan recently that ended in success and the overthrow of com­ Public opinion should continue pressure on the munist rule by presidential proclamation. Government to ensure full support to the Army. Even the Sarvodaya' sentimentalist Mr. Jayaprakar.h MOB EXPLOSION AT KANPUR Narayan has asked for the throwing out of the ag­ Our remarks on the Meerut crowds should not gressors. Meanwhile the utter silence of Vinoba be taken as an endorsement of mob action. In the Shave with his Sbanti Sena is significant. It be­ case of the communists. mob action was justified tokens the bankruptcy of Gandhism I as it remained nonviolent till the end and as it was USA SECRETARY OF STATE'S necessitated by lack of official castigation of the .NEUlRAUST TALK -communist party manoeuvres. The Government have conferred respectability on it and it became Mr. Charles Herter the American Secretary of neceESary for the people to act.. But in Kanpur, State startled the free world by his remark~ at his mobs ran amuck against the police on rwnows of press conference at Washington that America had a constable's misbehaviour with a woman in the no opinion about the legal aspects of the Indo­ lock-up. The knowledge that no punishment had Chinese border dispute I He said that no Ame­ been meted out to the offenders on similar cases in rican had studied this border region and that the the past served to make the mobs uncontrollable. It is a lesson to the Government and Congressmen (Continu~d on page 4)

3 ~cember 1. 1959 A Party of Freedom

(THE SWATANTRA PARTY)

By uoemocrat"

-:o:--.

HE newly started Swatantra Party of Shri C. A PARTY OF FREEDOM . TRajagopalachari, Prof. Ranga, and Mr. M. R. The central principle held forth as the basis of. Masani is having widespread response throughout nE7w policies to be followed by the new party the country on a scale exceeding the expectations ~he 10 the event of success at the polis is announced to and I1opes of the sponsors. The response is clear be "the freedom of the Individual." It is claimed evidence that it fulfils a universal need for rethink­ boldly that the needed dynamics of progress in the ing and reversal of the major lines of policy pursued economic and other spheres will be furnished more by Nehru's Congress. Particularly after the pass­ · by individual freedom than by socialist control. ing of the Land Reforms Resolution at the Nagpur Congress, a keen sense of urgency developed It is reaiised quite clearly that the present domi­ among leaders of agriculture with the result that nance of socialist philosophy and the reign of the All-India Agricultural Federation (started two Marxist ideas of liquidation of individual property years before) invited leaders of all provinces to in production will lead ultimately to totalitarianism meet at Madras on june 4 under the aegis of Sri C. and the extinction of the free way of life. Rajagopalachari, who had been persuaded mean­ Expansion of production and the emergence of while to lead the party as its "friend, philosopher plenty under socialism are moreover, seen to be and guide." dubious and whatever success it has attained in The members of the Bombay Forum of Free communist countries is at the expense of freedom Enterpri.ce have also been realising the utter need and to the accompaniment of harsh control and for a new political party to uphold the values of repression. democratic freedom in the economic sphere and to . The Swatantra Party therefore offers a straight­ tesist the headlong career into communist socialism forward challenge to the official philosophy and that the Five Year Plans were plunging the country policies of the Nehru Government. . It has called into and to slow down the pace of centralisation the bluff of the "illusion of the epoch" namely. of economic power that was engulfing vocation socialism of the Marxist variety.. after vocation. The times are propitious for a thorough audit of The Party is developing an All-India organisa­ the overall effects of the present socialist policies tion in State after State. The Prime Minister and of the Nehru Government. \Ve are already mid­ the Congress Party leaders are becoming increas­ way in a controlled economy with the public sec­ ingly aware of the genuine threat that the new tor growing at a phenomenal pace through the party is developing to their hold on the country. Five Year Plans. The State Trading Corporation The Swatantra Party has issued a 21 point plat­ · has annexed over 50 items ~or its monopolistic form of principles articulting the field of freedom sway. in all spheres of life, while acknowledging the need The Life Insurance business in the whole country for control of anti-social activities of individuals has been swept into the State orbit. Leftist ad­ and groups and institutions. visers are urging that banking should next be taken ever. The economists who have the ear of the Prime Minister have got their way in the matter of (Colltinued from page 3) State Trading in Food Grains. It is to be taken over by Government eliminating the entire class USA could not take any definite stand on the rights of private wholesale merchants dealing with grains. and wrongs of the dispute! But he threw out a Professor Mahalanobis seems to have 'estimated crumb of comfort with the remark that China was that a profit of Rs. 850 crores could be won for certainly wrong in having used force! the State in the next five year plan period through · State trading in food grains. Even American officials together with pressmen The targets of the Third- Five Year Plan are set were surprised and pained that the Secrertary should in the neighbourhood of Rs. 10,000 croTes! The have made such a cold neutralist statement on the country has be~n unable to fulfil the Se.:ond Plan eve of President Eisenhower's visit to India. target of Hs. 4b00 crores inspite of the ~pecial aid Anyway, it is a warning to India that she cannot given by !ll.3.nV ~reditor countries and msp~te of the take American help for granted when she should huae amount oi C:etir:t finann~·: that may reach need it. R!'~ I 3 00 crores by the en...l of the plan period!

THE INDIAN UBERTARIAN No wonder prices are soaring and the middle workers drawing wages and deprives them of the classes are being forced into lower levels unable to magic of ownership, the opportunity to operate live in the way they were accustomed to with on their own farms in their own way at their own -education for their children and some amenities. risk and responsibility. In fact it is the aim of the In order to raise funds on this scale. the eco­ communist ideology to reduce independent peasant nomic advisers of the Government, official and un- proprietors to the level of the proletariat who have • official, have suggested that the State should give nothing but their hands to earn their living. Com­ up its ailergy or profits as a capitali~t feature and plete dependence on the government for livelihood to engage in industries and trades and add to prices and improvement in all directions will be the net over and above normal levels (calculated in the result of these measures, tantmount to a totalitarian basis of markets and absorbability by the people) society with no value set on individual freedom for creating a Plan Fund. Essential commodities and self-directed activity. may also he taxed higher so as to make all classes Another consequence of this line of develop· pay for the Plan. Since the limits of direct taxa­ ment is the proliferation and increasing dominance tion are already reached, Property tax, expenditure of the bureaucracy in every sector of life. Red tax and super-tax may also be raised by several tape will develop into impossible lengths and will counts gradually. Already, many commodities- of stifle individual initiative and efficiency. esrentiai use including food articles like sugar and The citizen will become incapable of orderin"" oils bear forty to sixty per cent of their prices by his own life in his own way in accordance with hi~ way of taxes. Commodity taxes will intensify in· own judgement. The sense of dignity of the flation still further increasing the hardship by seve­ citizen will suffer grievous outrage at the hands of ral degrees. It remains to be seen if these Draco­ every petty jack-in-office. The grand idea of nian measures will be tolerated by the people Rousseau that every citizen of a true democrati.:­ patiently. The bases of democratic government State is a sovereign by himself, a sharer in the are likely to be loosened if these extreme measures e--overeignty of the State in an equal measure will are actually introduced in the next Plan period. Euffer attrition and lose its meaning in a system The whole design of the Planning adopted is where economic power, through centralisation of all modelled on the Soviet pattern-heavy industries, economic agencies and processes-production, dis­ taking the lion's share, consumer industries starved, tribution, exchange, curr~ncy banking, transport and private enterprise cribbed, cabinned and confined communications. within the limits of the Plan, agriculture neglected The twenty-one principles of the Swatantra Party and targets in all lines set high above the utmost articulate these dire consequences of the growin" mobilisable resources from all avenues, domestic despotism of the State and call a halt to the heal and foreign; loan, aid ana grant. This pattern long rush in this direction. creates an abnormal imbalance in the economy and sacrifices the present generation to the future and Hence from every point of view-economic, poli­ can be put through successfully only by the Govern­ tical wcial and cultural, the emergence of tfie Swa­ ment assuming more and more of the powers of a tantra Party is timely and opportune. dictatorship. The special fault of the present policy-making leaders (In effect Pandit Nehru alone-others only The way in which the Nagpur Congress resolu­ catering to his whims) is their refusal to take evi­ tion on land reforms with its two features of land dence to the century into consideration. They re­ ceilings and cooperatives joint farming was hustled fuse to consider the evil effect of jettysonning the through as by a steam-roller (bringing to heel even free system by way of increasing prices and senior Ministers who were antagonistic to the idea) ~arket reducmg output in quality and quantity. They is a clear first instalment of the camouflaged dicta­ torship of Pandit Nehru. This tactic will no doubt turn a deaf ear to the evil effects of .excessive bureaucratifiltion both on the administration and be applied to further stages for the sake of the on the public, criplling rpontaneity and swelling the Third Five Year Plan of th~ize en vi£ aged already cost of service to abnormal levels. with an. investment of Rs. 10,000. Further, land ceilings are an important depar­ Th_ey refme to see the psychological effects of ture from democratic notions of private property. exess1ve dependence of the citizen on the govern­ It is in fact a large capital levy on the unfortunate ment. Eapping his republican self-reliance and capa­ landowners. This generates a demand for similar city to look after himself. levies on other forms of property-housing fac­ • Th~y refuse to see that in the end the only steady tory. transport etc. The anglers for votes will cer­ mcen~ve. for e~hancement of production and pro­ tainly play up to the hungry claimants for other gress m mvent10n and manufacture is individual people's property and create a "democratic" profit, the confidence that each man can reap the popular demand for new measures of confiscation. benefits of his own contribution to society. And it is well-known to all students of the The way in which the British public considered ~ubject that cooperative joint farming is only the the actual affects of the rule of the Labour Party first stage of collective farming. And such collec· in the past two sessions and voted for the Con5er­ tive farmin~ reduce!: its members to the level of \'atives for the third time running is clear evidence

s December J, /959 that a mature public is disillusioned with the pro­ portunity for all. The most important thing is to mises of socialism, the doctrine that promises some­ cry a halt to the present plunge into communism thing for nothing for everybody! in official policies. There will be time enough to Ob~ervers from the scenes of the British elections evolve positive substitutes after achieving power. have returned with the conviction that there is now This seems to be the stand of the new Party a steady trend away from the extremes of dass leaders. war and nationalisation of industries all over The Party if successful iq capturing power at the Europe. . next elections two years from now will give a new THE SWING TO FREEDOM HAS and healthier direction to the nation's affairs. There is no doubt about this healthy eventuality. But it DEFINITELY BEGUN would perform an essential service even if it wins a This journal and the Libertarian Social Institute large minority of seats in the legislatures, becoming of which it is the spokesman together with its pre­ the largest oppo~tion group, running close to the decessors like The Free Economic Review have official majority. been working for decades now to spread the ideas Pandit Nehru is right in his feeling that the Swa­ of free economy and free society. Knowmg full tantra Party is his most formidable opponent. It well that the dominant trends in the two last de­ is to be hoped that he will retain his democratic cades were all set in the direction of socialism and conscience even while losing to the opposition and 1"ontrolled economy, it persisted in its faith that in prevent the police from harassing the new leaders.. the end man wants to be free and will nt>t tolerate The ranks of the Ministers too should refrain from a dictatorial regime in tpe economy indefinitely. the temptation to intimidate the merchant class, The group was sure . that some day the tide would who are notoriously timid. turn when ideas of libertarian economics and poli­ The PSP, the Lohia Socialists and the Commun­ tics would be appreciated and used to build a ists are all Leftifts and stand for State domin8irlce ·saner and happier social order. -over the individual. It is only the ]ana Sangh and That day is dawning ~ven in India as· evidenced the Swatantra Party that stand fm: a· different cli­ by the emergence of the Swatantra Party. A new mate of individualism and freedom. But the Jana social order can take root and establish itself only Sangh is growing too &lowly for various reasons if the intelligentsia are convinced of its values and and is too much handicapped by the false propa­ -cooperate with conviction in administration and ganda of its opponents a,s well as by its affiliation private spheres or vocations, law, education art, to cultural moorings of the past. It is on the cards science, industry, trade and so on. The Libertarian that the Swatantra Party will spread rapidly and .Social Institute and journal under the le·ad of Mr. will develop into a real threat to the ruling Party R. B. Latvala have been silently and steadfastly at the next elec~ions. working to create such an intelllgent.sia through en­ The. ]ana Sangh executive has resolved sensibly -couragement to writers, students, journalists and to cooperate with the new Party on common eco­ others. nomic grounds. The leaders of the Swatantra Party are aware that they have to go farther and evolve a set of second principles applying the principles of free­ DIALECTICAL THINKING dom to every current problem so as to -formulate policies.. Today the new members joining the "Unity passing into its opposites" Party contain too many frustrated members of the Mr. Khrushchev in 1937, about the first Moscow "ld Congress Party. They have come for improv­ trials: "These miserable nonentities wanted ·to ing their political fortunes l destroy the unity of the party and the Soviet Also, there is no homogeniety among the dif­ State. They raised their trecherous hands against ferent groups hailing from different vocation2-big Comrade Stalin ...... Stalin ...... our hope, business, big agriculture, big bureaucracy (retired), Stalin ...... our desire, Stalin ...... the light of hi<>' politicians (retired) etc. There is no accord advanced and progressive humanity, Stalin ...•.. on° foreign a'ffairs between the C. R. and Mr. Masani. our will, Stalin ...... our victory". There is no accord between the peasant leader Prof. Mr. Khrushchev on July 16, 1956, to the 20th Ranga and the others on the land question except in Congress of the Communist Party of Soviet Union: the objection to cooperative farming. Prof. Ranga "Stalin us:ed extreme methods and mass repres­ still harps on Gandhian socialism! C. R. still harps sioris at a time when the Revolution was already on Gandhian unilateral non-violence and surrender victorious, when the. Soviet state was strenghtened and special comideration to minorities. Mr. Masani .... Stalin acted not through persuation, explana­ too would perhaps grant special regional States to tion but by i'mpodng hib concepr. Whoever opposed the . tribal&--JhaTkhand and Naga States. his concept, or tried to prove the correctness of his They differ on the role of English and Hindi and position was doomed to removal from the lead_ing on prohibition and eo many other vital questions. collective and to subsequent moral and phys1cal But they are agreed on democratic individualism anr..i.hilation". ~empered by social regulation consistent with op-

'TllE INDIAN LIBERTARIAN 6 Nehru Must Go

By M. N. Tholal

NY one who knows Mr. Nehru and knows how hark back to the skeleton in our cupboard and A sensitive he is to criticism-this sensitiveness to acknowledge the fact, at least in our heart of hearts. criticism is only the obverse of the craving for that the USA and the UK were not altogether in flattery-could not have failed to assess the tre­ the wrong and that any unbiassed indi,·idual could mendous effect on his mind of the memorable 10-0 have acted likewise. vote against India in the Security Council on the The point I wish to make here is that the can­ Kashmir issue. What a world-wide censure on a tankerousness with which we have since then peru­ man trying to be the head of a peace bloc o~, to sed the USA and the UK in particular has no basis put it in Mr. Nehru's own words, of being the in morality or in the desire for preservation of bridge between the East and the West. Those peace, about which our Prime Minister talks so who remember that, to begin with, free India was much. For this cantankerousness there is a special with the western powers and against the Ccmmunist reason. Mr. Nehru is a Kasllmiri Pandit and, though bloc, and had gone to the extent of supporting the it is decades tince he gave up writing the prefix former in their war on China in Korea, have to Fandit before hi" name and even ·forbade others find reasons for the gradual shift in India's foreign doing so, he is, like most of us, extremely com­ policy until we see her Prime Minister-that same munal at heart. This is nothing to be wondered Prime Minister who was with the western powers in at. Communalism has its roots in emotion and Korea-following in the footsteps of Khrushchev Mr. Nehru, as every one knows, is highly emotional. and condemning NATO and the BAGDAD PACT Like every Kashmiri Pandit he wants his homeland and SEATO as well as the cold war which fol:owed to be in India. The very mention of some of our their formation, which itself followed the subjuga­ sacred places there-the writer too is a Kashmiri tion of Poland, Czechoslovakia, Rumania, Bulgaria Pandit and like Nehru an atheist-stirs the deepest and East Germany by Soviet Russia. A sense of emotions in us, overriding, as it were, even our "'ratitude to Soviet Russia, which voted the pro­ atheism and agnosticism. That the heart should ~osal to send a UN force to Kashmir and thus want something can be sympathised with, even if Eaved Kashmir for India-for in a plebiscite in that something cannot be quite equitably claimed, Kashmir, Pakistan would win hands down any day but that references to that inequity should arouse -cannot be said to be altogether unwarranted, but our ire to such an extent as to make us for(7et it is something more than gratitude which has been all canons of justice and fairplay and rush into ~he responsible for the complete metamorphosis of arms of the enemy who makes no l!ecret of his India's foreign policy under the saine Prime Minis­ preparations to swallow us, is, to say the least, like ter, leader of the self-same majority party and cutting our nt:-~f! to spite our face. Mr. Nehru under the same democratic constitution. teerr.s to think that it is t:,e pr imari dut •· not of CANTANKEROUSNESS l~dia but of the western powers to save" us from cc:mmunirm. Jf that is !!o. his atlJtt.o'- h berefr Many of us took it for granted that the ten c. f all patriotisr 1 :mJ he IS pi<>ying no~ 01.ly with members of the Security Council who practically the fortunes of ~i.; country b,:• witn hr.•. declared Inaia the aggressor under the leader•hip of the USA and Britain were being unjust to us. LAUGHING IN HIS SU:EVE The truth of the matter is-and the time has come On the dismal pages of India's history of a thou­ for the sake of the safety of the country to be out­ s~n~ years of slavery is writ large the story of !'poken on the issue-that our police action in Hy­ Vamty-wounded vanity-and of huw lor("igner" derabad, in which tanks rolled into the £tate, viti:'lt­ have ~!ways b~cn e:~ploiting it. That i!' r>xactly ed the accession of Kashmir by the former's ruler what IS happenmg today. Sov1et i{us<~ ha5 b~en after it was juridically complete-although the ruler fishin~ in troubled waters and exploiting Mr. himself was forced to abdicate. That was perfect­ Nehru s vanity. Rus::ia is able to cio so, becau!l~ ly all right morally and juridically when it took no one else counts in India. Disaster'~ ar.. ••ften plar.e but with the forced occupation of Hydera­ preceded by dictatorships..- \Ve saw the outcome had our position became very much like that of the of the dictatorrhip of Gandhi in the di,·blon of the man who snys: Heads 1 win, tails you lose. That - country and the blood baths prec;:edincr 311U f.tlend­ is the crux of the matter. That is where non-align­ ing it. We are now witnessin~ the o~tcorne -,f the ment and refusal of military aid started. And ~e dictaton:hip of Mr. Nehru. lhere is the oft-rc>peat­ Indians shall make no headway towards a revision ed desire of Mr. Khrushchev to see Mr. Nehru on d our present suicidal stand on foreign policy, and the Summit. Mr. Khrushchev went ao far at townrds survh·al as an independent nation, until we the Party Congress in the Kremlin on February 14.

7 Decet?:br>r I, 195? 19 56, as to say that Soviet-American relations if this is not an invitation to the Chinese to stay should be based on _the Five Principles of Co-exis­ whert' they are -and feel quite at home or make tence-as if these five principles dictated the Russian farthe1 ineursions, I do not know what it is. On orders to the Communist Party chiefs in India. top of that he publicy declares we shall not seek \Vhat a wonderful way to observe non-interference military aid from any power. What greater en­ in others' affairs I But that is not what matters to couraglement can the Chinese havle from Pandit Mr. Nehru-it does to a patriot like Nasser. \Vhat Nehru? Is this acquiescence or complicity? It is matters to Mr. Nehru is that he has been indirectly for the reader to judge. fingled out for mediation between the two powerful Despite what has happened, non-alignment holds nations and that Russia by implication regards Mr. the field. We Hindus prefer shibboleths to reali­ Nehru as the soui of justice while the western powers ties. Nehru has himself been hugging all kinds of regard him as an aggressor. lsn"t that enough to fill illusions and delusions all his life-as did his guru, the heart of any Indian with joy-any Indian who Gandhi, before him-for the selfsame object of does not realise that the high priest of international world leadership. Khrushchev has not condemned communism who doe·s not himself observe the high the Chinese aggression and yet the Russian desire principles of Panch Sheel is only laughing in hi:; for an amicable settlement-because any other deeve. coune lands India in the arms of the USA-is laud­ So in the end it comes to inis that :\ir. Nehru is ed here as something most extraordinary in a dis­ deceiving himself as well as his countrymen, who pute between a Communist a11d non-Colt\munist refuse to think for themselves and find refuge in a country. We are verily catching at straws like magician who, they feel convinced, will work won· the proverbial drowing man. ders for them. This age of magicians started in What fate can possibly be in store for a nation 1920 with "'Mahatma Gandhi"' arid it continues des­ whicfi regards its enemies as its friends and its pite the disasters the country suffered t·nder his friends as its enemies? That is exactly whiit we leadership. It is not only the faith of the people have been doing since the advent of Gandhi in that is tragic. What is even more tragic is the infi­ India politics. That is exactly what we have been nite capacity of our leaders to' exploit the faith and doing under the leadership of Mr. Nehru, because devotion of their ignorant countrymen. All that is our friends are frank and forthright and our ene· needed is brass on one side and credulity on the mies full of guile and duplicity. Non-alignment be­ other. Those who condemn the exploitation by ing a policy of friendlessness, what is Nehru to do the capitalist, who creates unemployment at consi· now? He knows that China is a much powerful derable risk to his money, have nothing to say to nation than India, and that for India to take to <:ondemn the exploitation of the people for their military measures without support from the we3tern own selfish ends without running any risk and for bloc, whom he has been abusing, would be to in· purposes which run counter to the interests of the vite a disaster of the first magnitude: And to seek country. support of the western bloc would be the end of ACQUIESCENCE OF COMPLICITY? non-alignment and .of Nehru the architect of non· alignment and the leader of non-aligners in Asia It is a most extraordinary situation, a most fan· and elsewhere. Never did failure stare a nation's tastic situation-to use Mr. Nehru's own favourite policies so squarely in the face as it is staring non· words--which has been developing between India alignment today. W_hy should the Chinese nego­ and China for the las-t five years since that panacea tiate when, on Mr. Nehru's own showing, they can of Panch Sheel was signed between the two coun­ have what they have forcibly annexed for keeps? tries in 1954. The Chinese build a road hundreds With Mr. Nehru it is not only a question of hid­ of miles long in our territory in Ladakh and the ing the fact of aggression covering thousands of Parliament-the sovereign body in the country­ fquare miles from his countrymen. He has been is told nothing about it. Years pass and when the denying aggression knowing that it has been taking newspapers of the land, taking their cue from for· place. Addressing a public meeting in 1956-two eigh papers, begin raising a hue and cry, and the years after the Chinese incursions began-Nehru Chinefe themselves threaten the passes on our Nor· · told his audience that he had not a shadow of doubt thern border, Prime Minister Nehru comes out with that there was not the slightest danger to the coun­ the story in driblets to the amazement of his docile try from any external source but the danger came countrymen, each time hoping that there will be from internal weaknesses, such as linguism and pro­ no more incursions. And what does he and his vincialism and casteism.- Defence Minister say about the nature of the terri· tory-thoufands of square miles--occupied by the MOST AMAZING CONDUCT Chinese) Only this that not a blade of grass grows there. What does that, what can it mean in the To say the least, this is most amazing conduct context of the occupation of the territory by the on the part of a leader of a country, unparralelled Chinese) Only this that that territory is not worth perhaps in the annals of the world. . fighting for. Mr. Nehru goes farther and asks, And now Mr. Nehru has declared we shall fight who is going to fight up there in that bitter cold with lathis, if need be, but not seek the latest arms tens of thousands of feet above sea level';) \Veil, from elsewhere. This enemy of. the bullock-cart

THE INDIAN· LIBERTARIAN 8 ;;-e has turned out to be a protagonist of that age, are driven out. Did Gandhi retir, when he saw his. after all. (Gandhi! Thou shouldst be living at this failu.re cr()wned with the ~ivis~on of the country~ hour to see the ·triumph of thy prophecy. Didst · He made Jawaharlal Nehru- I know he is loyal thou not say that Jawaharlal would speak thy lan­ to me"-Prime Minister and to make assurance guage when thou art gone} ) And so we are going doubly sure gave a majority to Sardar Patel in to defend with lathis Sikkim and Bhutan which we Nehru's Cabinet. (He called it "purity of the have taken under our protection, following the Ame­ means.") The whole world may try to rush to rican and British example} We follow the exam­ help us but we are in vanity bound to refuse all ple of those we condemn outright, but make sure offers. One reason, it is being said, why Messrs. that we do not do so effectively! Incidentally this Nehru and Menon are not anxious to defend the quest for modern arms was one of the reasons for country-at least the barren, mountainous part the rift between the defence forces and the Defence of it, may he that they fear they will be obliging Minister, the latter turning down the Defence forces' the USA and UK by doing so, and perhaps even request. Perhaps Mr. Menon knew Mr. Nehru's fall into the laps of those untouchables. · mind about fighting with lathis. What on earth do There is no generosity in politics and despite we need modern arms for} In the first place we threats of retirement which Mr. Nehru has been. have no enemies--we who are surrounded by ene­ holding' out since 1954-it is not a mere coinci­ mies are told that that we have no external enemies. dence that the year marked the beginning of Chinese In the second place, if any should dare to raise incursions-he is going to do nothing of the kind. their heads we shall smash them with lathis. That Is it for sudden retirement that he has packed the can only be after the Chinese enter the plains of Parliament, the Cabinet, the Ministry with those India, for who is going to fight them in the bitte1· loyal to Mr. Nehru) The threats are aimed at the· cold of mountain tops? If after that we do not Chinese, as if to tell them: ·'I am the peerless and shout "Jawaharlal Nehru Zindabad," well, we de­ you would not find any of my successors half as serve utter damnation. good as I am and you should in your own interest Egoism has been running amok in India since keep me in power and not force me to quit."' And 1920, egoism of the most ridiculous kind, and we they are aimed at those among his Congress folio·· have been applauding it. Despite the historic tra­ wers who are beginning to think that the best thing· gedy and holocaust of 194 7, which was the direct he can do is to retire. His threats, by invoking· result of Gandhi's egoism, we continued to applaud their emotion of love and pity, can arrest the pro­ the egoism of his successor. Gandhi had India only cesses of thought starting in their brains. But for where he could preach and to some extent prac­ how long? By hiding the fact of Chinese aagres­0 tice his silly doctrines. Since then we became free sion for five years, Nehru has prolonged the )ease and his successor has been strutting on the interna­ of life of his prime ministership by five years. A tional stage with the same ego-centric megalomania. man who can go to. that length to keep him~elf "To arms, to arms," cried Jinnah, when he heard firm on the saddle is not the man to retire of his the Cabinet Mission say they were determined to own accord. He can only thank Cod that his. quit, and laid Gandhi's nonviolence low in a jiffy. countrymen are too dense to realise the implic;~.tions His advice to his followers was beg, borrow or steal of his threats and acts, and hold on to office for arms. They did and we realised the situation and all he is worth. capitualated. But the whirligig of time brings its own revenges We doubtless realise the hopeless situation in and the process has at last begun of dissolution of which Mr. Nehru has landed us. At least Mr. Nehru the Congress for which Nehru like Gandhi has does and that is why there is no action to halt the shown nothing but contempt. If its magic name Chinese advance into Ladakh or force back the does not bring success to its candidates-as wae. Chinese from their positions of vantage on the nor­ partially ehown in the civic elections in U.P.­ thern border, and still being occupied them in La­ there would be a stampede out of it which wiil dakh. We know nothing of the latest incursions. leave Mr. Nehru aghast to slew in the juice of his own making. How can we? \Ve realise the situation only when it becomes too desperate for words. when it stuns us into silence. And then it is too late to do any• ATTENTION thing to prevent our worst fears coming true. Scholarships granted to Post-graduate students in THREATS OF RETIREMENT Ecopomics, who are able to undertake research Anc! now for every one to see emerges the pom­ in Free Economy from Libertarian point or VJeW. pous, ridiculous figure of Mr. Nehru and some of Send full particulars of age, qualifications and us want him to . confess his sins of omission and occupation etc. to: commission-his Himalayan blunders-and mak:e himself the laughing stock of the world. And that The Secretary, too. for the sake of the country which ha& never R. I- F oundatioo, figured in his calculations, even as it never figured Arya Bhuvao, in the' calculations of his master, Candhi. We want Sandburst Road, West, him to retire because he has been wrong from A Bombay 4. to Z. Power-mad politicians do not retire. They

9 DecemLer I. /959 .Can -India Be ·Defended ?

U lDdia can be won by conquest or subversion, REGINALD HARGREAYES neatrall.ot Asia will fall into the Communist camp. There's ·a way, if Nehru has the will

HERE is a saying in India that '"Conquerors sible to the mountain barrier, all the rich cities of T always come over the mountains. •• \Vith the the Gangetic Plain-Allahabad, Delhi, Luck.now, brutal conquest of Tibet. Communist imperialism Benares and Cawnpore--lie within range of Com­ .is poised and ready to exploit the softening up to munist bombers. which it has subjected India almost from the day INVASION ROUTES it achieved its independence in 194 7. Given Russian cooperation--covert or overt­ Ahmed Din. one of the country's leading Social­ the classic invasion route by way of the Khyber ists. long since warned: '"Tibet is being prepared Pass would be open to any force based on Kras­ as a military base for a military-political offensive novodsk. on the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. against India. Roads are being built linking Tibet There is also a difficult but not impossible route with OUna as well as the Soviet Union. thus mak­ across the massif and passes of the J amirs and ing army movements easier, Aerodromes are being Karakorams. \Vere Russian collaboration to go to built hastily· so close to India that Delhi is within the lengths of contributing a "volunteer" force of easy bombing distance. Hindi is being taught to her own Mongolian auxiliaries. under nominal Chinese soldiers in Tibet; Communist agents are Chinese leadership, it would be possible to launch working in our midst in the guise of Buddhist another invasion force--Korea fashionl-wbose monks." t-Ie might well have adcfed that organiza­ objective would be the Bolan Pass, below Quetta. tions long established on the Tibetan-Indian fron­ The line of advance would be along the border tier, such as the Commercial Academy and the separating Iran and Afghanistan. The latter is Border Affairs Office. have been -utilized ~s train­ already riddled with Red agents. while Iran alone ing schools for ~o-ents and infiltrators. who have could oppose no serious opposition to a force ad­ penetrated not only India but the neighbouring vancing from Astara, on the southwestern corner .States of Nepal. Sikkim and Bhutan. of the Caspian. ·~'lith Tibet ovcnun if not yet pac..Jied, Pendit AU the approach routes cited pose movement 1\f"hru mu::t make uo H:s mind wi-.etner he prefers and supply problems that the typical overburdened to support Chou En-lai·s "five Principles of \Vestern field force might well find insuperable. Panch Sblla" (peaceful coexistence) by accepting The Chinese soldier, like his Russian counterpart, the role of an Asian Grotewobl-and thereafter can as Otto Skorzeny pointed out, "sleep without enjoy the sort of neighborly comradeship that Jonah. hurt in wrin.:,oing wet clothes. and live on roots from experienced in the belly of the whale-or aband~n the field, • • • as he can drink from marshes and his present state of degrading neutralism. shell holes. and subsist virtually without supply The defense of India does. of course. present columns.•• His meager personal supplies and the many difficult probiems. The country is enclosed ammunition be requires can he humped fori.vard by north. east and west by a formidable barricade of a human chain of apendable peasants. .This en­ . mountains; but they are not impenetrable. In the dows the Communist armies with a mobility it east. Mao T se-tung has constructed a highway to would be highly dangerous to underestimate. link up with the old Burmab Road. leading to the Should Red China utilize Tibet as a stepping Brahmaputra Valley, through- East Pakistan to stone toward the attempted subjugation of India, Dinajpur and thence to Calcutta. The route out even Nehru may be brought to realize that the of Tibet by way of T ezpur is anything but easy power politics he affects to despise are nothing more going, as was painfully demonstrated by the time nor less than the politics of not being overpowered. it took for the fugitive Dalai Lama to reach sanc­ If that psychological volte face were followed to its tuary; .But this line of ad1.·ance has the advantage logical conclusion, the world would be regaled with of leading to Misamari "'-itb its invaluable railway the unlooked-for spectacle of India's Prime Minis­ and airstrip. Further west. in the northern marches ter standing forth as the champion of armed resis­ of the Garwal District of Uttar Pradesh. Chinese tance to Communi~t "a.,agi"ession. troops have already penetrated the mountain barrier _To render such a stand even partially effective, to occupy the valley outpost once manned by the however, Nehru would first have to reconcile the Indian Army. There they are within less than 250 grave differences which have embittered relations miles of Delhi. although difficult country separates beh1reen India and Pakistan ever since "the Sepa­ them from the capital. Further. w~t again. the ration.:· For without the cooperation and support Umassi Pass slices through the Himalayas less than of her neighbour, India could not hope to defend .200 miles north of Lahore. herself. Yet burying the hatchet would be any• Since the Chinese have been at pains to construct thing but easy. Memory of the million slain and airfields .on the Tibetan flat!ands. as .close as pos- fourteen million uprooted_ and rendered homeless

TilE 1,\'DIAN liBERTARIAN,. 10 The Indian D.iLerlafia11

The lnt:ernal:ional Co~gr~ss_ of Freethinkers

(CO~"DENSED FR<»I ARna.F.S BY COLIN McCALL AND OfA.RI.£S BRADLA.UCH· BONlt'ER IN 1HE FR.EE'Ilm\"KERS)

~ ~ '\ . ' HE 33rd Coogre;;s of the U"orld t.:uioa "of F.:ee:: N~ F~ .md. allied bumen.. and the-·· T thiUers took. place ia tbe Free t.:DiftnitJ' of . Spaoasla Rq,ablicaa 8a&. wae · coospicuoas as i~ Bruteels from ~ 4th to 8th. moved off lrom the Place du CJaDd Sabloa (tradi- . tioaal gathering point) aDd. alta pa)'ing Lomsg~ CO~~ION IDEAL . witb d:pped bannen and a wreath to the outs!a.Dd- The lntematiooal Congress is an assembly of iog Bdgiaa Minister of State and Freethinker Paul maa and women with a c:ommoo. ideal; an ideal Jamoa (~ died ia 1913). pa..ed throu~h the that they think is the most important in the world; Craad Piace (the beautiful market 8quare of Bnu­ tbe liberatioa of the humaa mind: "!he CoDgTeSS sds) dippiug Bags apia at the plaque to the 16th. is a proclamatioa of the d~C'I"'DDDDlboD • to ~ cenhuy maJI]'n to Philip 0 of SpaiD: thea OD tO. superstition and supernaturalism. to eraWcate reli- the Ferrer memorial ibelf.. · • gion from the minds of men: to destroy the power . · · . . · · . of the Uu:rcbes and the priesthood and to aseert · H~ wreaths were~ by the W~ld Uaio~a of the power of human reasoa to determine humaa Freethinken. tbe &pan Federatioa. . Cermaa destiny. . , . Fed~n. Gennaa F.reethou£;ht Youth aocl by the Anarchisu. l"Len the ~ wae delivered.-The ORATORY Rector, Dr. Heuri · Jaone. pbiloeopber aocl .acio­ Andre Lo..ulot. epea1.ing ia front of the Feuer logist. welcomed the Congress u;ring that the memorial; his worcls uplifting as the symbo~ statue L'pivenity of Free. EDquiry ...... happy to rece!Te itself. with its human ~OUJ'e_ as it seems.. thrutting in its halls a Con.gras devoted to· the quett of the torch ever bi.gher. · Londot. best loved of &n:heotic tn:th~ .Oeotilicall7 ver~ahle. MoCiern. Freoch FKethinken; edf-ducated. and DOW a J:-sychoJo:;y. he Weal 011. warD US IO clistin..~ great educator; loved as ~man Cohea was iD betweea reasoning and raticna'isatioo; people com­ ~Ja.nd; moving his audieuce-. vast aowci­ acmly act accordin: to tber jud~aat as if theM: Loruiot was at his Dlaoeui!iccnt best: the supab bu& jud,.~ts were re.asoned condusiooa. whereas the,­ sincere orator. •-ho brought lumpe into the throats are DO more than · belief• . with. little investigated of ~ audieace but inspired them with the ~.t of fOUDdatioa.. ~everthe!e!So such judgments serTe ferrer and freethought. Thea Ma ..ame Sol F~ t~ .mite groups._ Unless the jud6JDeDb are to..,... {daughter of the Spanish cwtyr). bene:l a:oond .Jegree sound the ~ •i!l disappear. The duty almost to ~ reading a greetiDgs telegram from of F~ is to esJract the· yerifiahJe t:rutk the ~Dish Republican Minister of Justice in Esile from the UD!Ouod trappin.,"W in .•itich they may be iD Domin...oo: speaking of the deep impreasioll that wrapped. lDe Social Contract. as the 80Ciologist the demonstratioa had made oa hex. · &eeS it. is that he wbq denies an:r factor of the be­ lief• 1IDitiag a group b,.- thi. quir. the group. · It is nn: Pl{cx::£S.SION .. important that such di.ent eboald be free.. Heace TLe great processioa was headed b,.- Presidalt Or. Jamae repudiated arrr cJaim to impoee oa tLe Cl.ark. Bradlaa&h Bonner. flanked L:r ~lme. mdmdaal any ·form of be!iel. ..digioa.. . political Ferrer and her daughter. Dr. Olga Ferrer of BuEa1o or sociaL 1'be Free Uaiveni.ty of. B~la.· ata­ Univenity. and followed by the Cenenl Com­ biisbed ia I 83-4 baa long maintained a .mzn1e witJa ~ee of ,the . World Uaioa of Freethinkas. the Romaa Catholic Cw:rch. ia the ccmw oE wbicJa I it has at times developed a fierce anti-clericalism. that he was of the same school as Proudhon, God­ The aim of the Congress, said the Pre£ident, was win, Bakunin, Kropotkin and Reclus, with a belief threefold: to commemorate the birth and assassina­ that schools were a better mode of transforming tion of Francisco Ferrer, martyred for his efforts to _society than were barricades and bombs. emancipate the children of Spain; to study the situation in the schools today as making for free Vice-President Lorulot, the third speaker, was ·and independent thinking; and lastly to learn from one of the few-perhaps the only one-present the lips of distinguished scientists to what ex­ who had known Ferrer personally; he recalled with tent humanity had been emancipated by scientific emotion the day of I 909 when it was learned that Ferrer had been arrested and the shock of his progress. death. · The first speaker was the granddaughter of Ferrer, - The nrst main. study of the Congress, in line with Dr. Olga Ferrer, teacher of Spanish at the Univer­ sity of Buffalo, U.S.A, who analysed Ferrer's guid- · th~ commemoration of Ferrer, who sought to esta.. bhsh- schools without religious instruction and with ing principles. In the first decade of this century, an on :scien_ce and scientific thinking, was scientific -developments were still relatively slow, em~hasis to consider the situation of such independent think­ the penetration of ideas equally so, and the soli­ ing in schools the world over. Reports were read ·darity of the whole human race did not yet seem by Belgian, Dutch, French, Luxemburg and British -of importance; the political outlook was stilr domi-. experts with further information given in the na­ nated by that of a: Liberal State based on the prin­ tional reports from New Zealand, Uruguay and ciples of the French Revolution and not over­ Sweden. Where there is compulsory education shadowed by systems of an all-powerful State. th-: ~chooJ curric~dum may be secular, i.e., withou~ Ferrer had some presentiment of these problems rehgious mstrucbon or a religious assembly. The .and met them in his own way in the peculiar cir­ aim is then to form ··free" men and women who cumstances then reigning . in Spain. It must be can reach conviction by independent thinking•. borne in mind that the Escuela Modern·a of Bar­ celona was closed in 1906 and Ferrer, after a The State schools may be secular; but subsidies :simulacrum of justice, was murdered in 1909, since may be given to sectarian schools. The State when, in all Spanish educational centres, free en~ sch_ools may offer n~:n~-sectarian religious teaching, -quiry has been extinguished. Ferrer's ideals were as m England, or rehgiC>us teaching of the dogmatic grounded on those of the philosophers of the 18th • kind common in the country, as in Belgium; parents -century and of the French Revolution of 1789; may withdraw their children from such religious absorbed in his youth and crystallised during his i?struction. This right of withdrawal is relatively 1 S years in Paris. He held that to live a full life httle used today by Freethinkers, though taken one should not be forgetful of the past, but should advantage of by Jews, Roman Catholics, etc. State work for th'e future. Attracted by. tne philosophy schools, nominally neutral in religious outlook but of anarchism, he worked for a i:eductiori of state dominated by a single sect, cease to he se~ular. interference and an increase in individual autonomy. Where there exist great educational institutions The first and most important need was to raise the free of religious dogma, such as the Free University Spanish people from its profound ignorance; to of Brussels, the whole outlook of the State schools teach the young to appreciate the beautiful, to love tends to become emancipated. justice and to seek the verifiable truth. Among the unpublished works of Ferrer found recently by In all countries, the religious institutions, the his daughter, Mme. Sol Ferrer, in the family home Churches, realising that with the spread of scienti­ in Catalonia, is an outline of Principles of Rational­ fic knowledge and the increasingly swift application ist Ethics which he composed while in prison in of science to everyday life, religious dogmas are 1906-7. In this he Eoresees the destruction of the becoming more and more out of touch with life. -contemporaneous social state through the rapid and are revealed in their true aspect of out-of-date development of scientific knowledge, bringing superstitious speculation, are making tremendous about a largely materialist outlook which would efforts to obtain ever greater subsidies for sectarian govern throughout the world all human relations. , _schools and educational institutions, which are Rationalist Ethics must be based on a belief in the · often combined with social activities, e.g., youth unity of the human race and must be opposed to clubs, holiday camps, libraries, marriage advic~ all religious and political dogma which may pro­ bureaux. etc. For all these the Churches demand duce schism; such a moral aystem must purge the public money. -By such ·means they hope to human mind of all the poisons it has inherited from· tighten their loosening grip on the minas of men. the past. In this alone lies the hope of a united Where there are more sects than one, as in Great ·world. Britain and in Holland, a tug-of-war develops. In any case there is a social pressure in favour of The second speaker ··HemDay.. warned his some kind of religious conformism. As this may hearers against a too facile belief that today there be largely sham, it may have a thoroughly bad n1ay be greater liberty than when Ferrer was im­ influence on the children. Dominance of non-secta­ prisoned and murdered; he then analysed Ferrer's rian religious teaching leads mostly to disinterest thinking from an anarchist point of view, claiming in religion, if not to disgust. conscious or uncons- n ·cious. Dominance of sectarian teaching blocks coming vaster and vaster. Attempts at populari­ -critical thinking. sation of this knowledge were leading people to fancy they knew and understood things of which In most countries the Left-wing governments they had no proper knowledge or understanding. tend to adopt policies of appeasement towards the Once -4t had been possible for an encyclopaedic Church; they may have for many long years made knowledge of facts and of methods to develop in .repeated declarations in favour of secular schools, the mind of a man; now this was becoming less and but in power, fearful of losing votes, apprehensive less possible. It was thenefore necessary in the of the weight of religious political bodies these schools and universities to concentrate on the me­ politicians rationalise, and cease to be rationalist. thods employed to arrive at a limited and circums­ The struggle' to maintain the secular spirit of the cribed domain of facts. By encouraging indepen· dent thinking in such a small area the student should State schools, and to oppose the demands of the learn to apply his mind to other problems in a free Roman Church, is fiercest in France and Belgium. and independent manner. .In New Zealand and Uruguay, the Catholic attack is least successful. Few of the reports really assess­ Professor George Homes, emphasised the need ed the degree to which children are enc9uraged to of the research worker in science for liberty; he think for themselves; it was taken for granted, that, must be freed from military, political and religious in a school without religious teaching, the children interference. Today he could obtain large sums of would have a maximum opportunity for indepen­ money for any scheme which was thought to have dent thinking, which is not necessarily the case. military value or to produce results redounding to Where the progressive forces are rallied in defence the credit of the government in competition with of the State schools as opposed· to Catholic ones, some other country; but if he tried to obtain fin­ the project of a rationalist school is looked on with ance for any other sort of research, he could fritter disfavour. Where the State undertakes responsi­ away hours filling up forms and not get a five pound .hility, in whole or in part, for schools with religious note unless he was a member of the right Chu1ch instruction either non-sectarian or sectarian, the pro­ in the right sort of institution. ject would gain State support automatically, if there were sufficient rationalisf demand. Sunday morning the Ferrer Commemoration Cortege provided a contrast which was as successful Generally in Western Europe, there would seem and impressive as anything -we have had in recent ·to be a markea retreat from the democratic and congres!es. It was preceded by a vanguard hold­ secularist principles of a century ago, to the great ing aloft a "calico" bearing in huge letters '"Congrcs advantage financially, politically and socially, of International de Ia Libre Pense e. 1 9 59"; then came the Churches. On the other hand, tfae spread of the silken banner of the Belgian Federation flanked scientific knowledge and metho.d has 'done much to by stalwarts carrying sheaves of flowers to be undermine the authority of religious doctrine, so placed, one on the monument to Paul Janson, the that the clerical gains are often more apparent than other on Ferrer's monument. Looking back I real. could see the procession, band and banners, wind· ing its way out of the streets of central Brussels, some On Saturday afternoon, the first public meeting 600 yards in length, sometimes more and sometimes ·was lield inJ the Great Hall o( the University. The compressed to less by the helpful police. The sl•n first !peaker was Mdme. Jeanne Vandervelde, shone brilliantly; all Brussels was be flagged. As 'vidow of the well-known Socialist leader in Bel- · we came into the great square and halted at the gium, Emile Vandervelde. There were not enough plaque to Egmont and Hoorn, the tourist multitude militant Freethinkers. she declared, far too many left their aperitifs and grabbed their cameras. Two allowed themselves to be lulled into inertia or even 'coachloads of German Freethinkers were waiting conformity, The first duty of a good citizen was for us by Ferrer's monument. At appropriate to cultivate impertinence; not to allow any rever­ moments the trumpeters sounded their calls. After ·ence or veneration for the traditional or for com­ the speeches, the band played the Marseillaise most mon custom to silence his questioning nor his deter- effectively and affectingly. / rnination to obtain answer. Science was making Prof. de Brouckere, salcl that the miracles of the world ever more magnificent, but with the science throw those of the Bible into the shade; splendour there were terrible possibilities, to avoid and men must free their minds of out-of-date rub­ which will require the best minds and clear know­ bish and face up to the terrifying problems of today ledge of facts. with unprejudiced minds if they wish to discover Professor Henri Laugier of the So.rbonne. former valid solutions. Assistant General Secretary of UNO, called on Prof. J. M. Romein, History professor of Ams­ Freethinkers of all lands to rally together, for never terdam University and UNESCO expert, followed, had the liberty of the mind been so threatened as speaking in Engli!h. The human mind, he pointed it was today. He warned his audience that this out. has been dominated by three sets of influences, came in part from a false assurance of knowledge. religious, political and social. The students of Scientific advance was spreading ever faster and Natural Science began the emancipation of their faster; the accumulation of factual knowledge be- ~tudies from religious- influence in the 16th and III 17th centuries. Thanks to the freedom they gained, . FOR A NEW HUMANIST MANIFESTO Natural Science was able' to make irr..me~se p!Ozress in the following centuries. Nineteenth century The International Humanist and Ethical Union liberalism allowed a relaxation of political influences; had asked member organizations to prepare drafts. but political and social factors still hamper the for a new Humanist Manifesto, to be submitted to progress of knowledge and thought. It is then the the next International Congress. The following is. duty of the Freethinker to make men of science part of the text submitted by the BEU, and is here ckarly aware of the influences under which they quoted ·from News and Notes, published by the work, and hence to emancipate themselves so that International Humanist and Ethical Union. Churches cannot fetter them, nor state dictate to them, nor social divisions hamper them. "Humanists d-erive all their ideas of nature and of man ultimately from sense experience, that is to The psychological equilibrium of the men today say, from the empirical science~xclusively. The was Professor Ernest Kahane's subject; and he distinctiveness of their position here is in the ex­ mac\e of it a most moving plea for the freedom of clusiveness of their reiiance on the sciences for the mind, a remarkable feat of oratory. "Confron­ public knowledge. This exclusiveness has mainly ted by the unknown, to which I deny the title of two meanings: ( 1) rejection of sacred scriptures, unknowable. I shall keep my mind free·; between immemorial traditions, special revelations, and the known and the unknown there is continuity, personal intuitions as an independent source of as between the past, the present and the future. public knowledge; (2) rejection of the idea of an The future is soon the present and awaits its turn to ultimate reality behind nature (God, Brahma, become the past. What I do not know today is Absolute Being), not because such a belief can be­ not of any other quality than what I know; it is disproved, but because it is a kind of treason to potential knowledge. Serene in this certainty, in humanity to abandon allegiance to reason and court \lntroubled peace of heart and mind, I maintain the ideas that are not required by reason and them­ free working of thought which accepts no hindrance selves create embarrassing difficulties for reason.". from any man. The resolutions submitted by the Resolutions Committee were passed unanimously and were as follows:-· A SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDE OF MIND That the educational principles of Ferrer are In a' recently published high school text book, more vital than ever and should inspire an active Dr. A. D. Graves, Professor of Education at the· demand in all countries to further them, emancipat­ Humbolt state College, Arcata, Calif; lists the· ing and reviving education. characteristics of one who possesses a truly scienti· fic attitude. · The Congress expressed its sympathy with the Spanish people still under the heel of a clerico-fasc­ 1. He has an inquirng turn of mind; he wants to ist tyranny; know the what, who, why, and the how of things. That the Congress considers sectarian schools produce a spirit of division and opposition among 2. He holds his conclusions subjects to revision men from their early youth and that completely in the light of new: evidence. secular schools are alone capable of uniting men in 3. His ·judgment are unprejudiced and · imper- a spirit of liberty, tolerance and brotherhood. The sonal. · rights of children, still rarely observed, must be 4. ·He is careful and accurate in what he does. recognised and fought for. 5. He is fre~ from dogma and superstition. That the Congress congratulates it~elf on having 6. He is tolerant towards new ideas. heard the addresses of such eminent scientists of several countries and disciplines, and declares its 7. He plans before he executes. opinion that science and the scientific method have 8. He distinguishes between fact and opm10n. ever been, throughout the ages, the essential element 9. He respects the judgment of experts. in the progressive evolution of man-kind, _and remain the chief weapon in the struggle with 1 0. He appreciates the value of science in living .. obscurantism in all its forms: In view of the 11. He grows in the ability to do critical thinking. prodigious developments in recent years. of technical 12. He developes ~hol~;;~e intellectual interests science; the Congress expressed the hope that these which lead to desirable use of leisure time. would !rive rise in the near· future to a world in which ~ankind. living in peace, freedom and justice might. make parallel progress towards its full evolution. My atheism, like that of Spinoza, is true piety towards tlie universe and denies only gods fashioned by men in their own image. to be servants of their human int~r-ests.-George Santayana . ;IV at the time of "the Separation" dies· remarkably ercion and all force. It objected not only to .hard. Furthermore,_ Nehru's intransigence over ..the foreign entanglements imposed bY. the British, but plebiscite ordered. by the UN to determine Kash­ to all foreign entanglements. In effeet, its attitude mir's future makes reasonable agreement on the was based upon the extraordinary belief that, once problem of accessibility to the waters of the Indus the British had departed, India could opt out of difficult in the extreme. this sordid, contaminating world altogether. The Should Red China decide to invade India, its endeavor to live up to this bubble-borne belief .armies would have to move through a few rela­ created a political vacuum of which Communist im.. tively narrow mountain passes.. These offer in­ perialism was swift to take advantage•. numerable vantage points to defence forces based The Communist grip on rural co-operatives and on Peshawar, Lahore and Rawalpindi, and there­ village councils has grown steadily. Despite heavy fore enjoying far greater axial lines of communica­ U.S. subsidies to help expand its industrial poten­ tion than those to which the would-be invader would tial, India remains a land of small village com• be committed. Laterally, however, the defensive munities. The ryots, the impoverished peasant­ communications system leaves a great deal to be cultivators. make UP. 80 per cent of the population. ·desired. Were Indian troops drawn off to a secon­ The average ryot, of a political naivete bordering dary front by a successful feint, it would be ex­ on th.e infantile, is a positive gift to the Red propa­ tremely difficult to switch them to the crucial thea­ gandist. A similar susceptibility characterizes Jer in time for them usefully to intervene. This India's sixty Million "untouchables," whose miser­ would also apply to a central reserve, always pro­ able lot has, if possible, deteriorated under the viding it · were possible to build one up with the Congress Pa~:.ty' s regime of inflexible caste privilege. troops available and still allocate sufficient forces The new chauvinism's shrill, intoxicating slogans to ensure internal security-particularly in Com­ were consistently employed as camouflage to dis· munist Kerala and deeply su,!!pect Calcutta. For guise the Reds' real intentions, until even Nehru the material resources available to maintain their was forced to concede that "Communism invariably forces are extremely limited, both in India and succeeds in India when it' is allied to nationalism." Pakistan. It was not until 19 57, however, that the politically With "the Separation," the Indian Army was myopic Prime Minister lugubriously revealed that -divided, with fifteen infantry regiments. of two a whole decade earlier, at a secret conclave of the battalions, gojng to fndia and eight to Pakistan; Calcutta Communist Conference, it had been deter• with artillery and other ancillary arms in propor­ mined t~ bend every effort to impose Communism, tion. In addition, lndia took over six of the ten tricked out as nationalism, t>n India, Burma, Malaya -double-battalion Gurkha regiments. The Indian and Indonesia. By 19 5 7 the steady progress of Army Command could mobilize up to half a mil­ the Reds' campaign was self-evident. A series of lion men and several air squadrons. · Pakistan could Communist risings, tasting from 1947 to 1950, had add 150,000 partially mechanized ground troops. culminated in the open dedication of the state of ,and an Air 'Force flying a certain number of Kerala to the doctrines of Marx and Lenin. This Sabrejets. territory, with its population of 13,600,000 cons­ No one who fought with or alongside the old titutes a subversive corner -on India's western sea­ Indian Army can harbor any doubt as to the fine board; it would form an important link in any Sino­ ·fighting quality of the rank and file, but the High Russian arive first to isolate and then to conquer Command, both in India and Pakistan, is without India. experience in war organization and direction. · India is the linchpin which holds together the Moreover, in a land so stratified by caste and taint­ whole precarious spilikin structure of the "neutral­ ·ed by Communist penetration, the lack of a sense ist" or "uncommitted" East. There are 4 SO mil­ of national unity would enormously handicap an lion non-Sino Asiatics dwelling in the lands :alliance in which the partners already eyed each ·contiguous to India. Since their political destiny oother warily. cannot be separated from that of their bigger neigh· In any case such limited forces, with monetary bor, the fate achieved by, or inflicted upon, the 'and industrial resources entirely inadequate even to pea<;etime needs, could not hope by themselves to sub-continent's 400 million inhabitants will inevit· hold off a prolonged, all-out Communist offensive. ably be theirs also. And Red China stands massed Ultimate salvation would have to come from out­ on India's frontiers. ·side. Nehru, of course, has always scorned to as­ Although Nehru would hesitate to call on repre­ ·sociate himself with such defence structures as the sentatives of the race that jailed him for a total of Baghdad Pact· and SEATO. Pakistan, on the thirteen years. still India could not be left to defeat other hand, as a member of the Northern Tier al­ before t~e trampling legions of Communist im­ liance of Britain, Turkey and Iran, might be the perialism. For the weakness at the root of one medium through which vital aid in men and sup­ ~tate, once it spreads, can involve the whole world plies could be funnelled. in tribulation. Neither would Eubjugation of the Southea!t Asia COMMUNIST SUBVERSION . massif put a period to Communism's triumph. India's vociferous Congress Party repudiated not Mao's China has no navy; but ''volunteer'' subma· ·only British coercion and use of force, but all co- (Co11tinued OIJ page 12)

Vecem':-er I, /959 Russia Scales the Himalayas Soviet policy is ~eel at Mducing Indian Influence in Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan By A. R. Field

NEW POUTICAL factor has been introduced si~ days in Khatmandu. On February 12, J959t a. A into the sub-Himalayan region which can have team of t_ 2 Soviet technicians arrived iq l

THE INDIAN liBERTARIAN 12 Emperor was forced to organize an army and sc:nd been the growing fear of Communist China. Nehru it over the Himalayas to check Gurkha expanston has frequently stated that any attack on Nepal, Sik­ in 1792. Then the British met the Nepalese head kim or Bhutan would be conridered an attack on in a southern war which lasted from 181 .4 to against India. Any large-scale operations that the I 8 I 6. It took the best the British had to prevent Indian Army might· in the future have to undertake the Nepalese from taking the whole of the T erai. in the hill country, without the aid of these hill peo­ British respect for the fighting qualities of the Nepa­ ples, would be difficult indeed. lese dates from this period. To this day, elite How might Soviet policy unfold? \Vill it be battalions of Gurkha Rifles are maintained by both necessary initially to stimulate the growth of the the British and Indian armies. very small, and to date ineffective, Nepalese Com• It is possible that the Soviet Union plans to ex­ munist party? The Soviet Union actually does ploit these people, who are already south of the not need subversion. All the Russians have to do main Himalayan snowcrests and far beyond the is to stimulate and support Nepalese nationalism, borders of Nepal. The British stimulated the raise the slogan of ''The Greater Nepal Movement" migration of Nepalese eastward, and have on seve­ and return the irrendentist lands to Nepal which tal past occasions used them for Imperial Hima- the British took away in 1816. layan activities. . An exploding Nepalese population has been Adequate population Etatistics are not available locked in the mostly mountainous region of Nepal for the whoie of India's strategic northeast, outside for over 140 years. Nepalese farmers have had of perhaps Nepal, and to a lesser degree Sikkim. to relocate as far east as Burma rather than south­ The Nepalese are the predominant population in ward into the adjoining plains of India, sections Sikkim and very likely in Western Bhutan. They of which in the past were cultivated by Nepalese are the tea plantation workers in Ass:am, and com­ peasantry. lhe scarcity of agrarian lands and an pose the great maj ::mty of troops which the Indian outmoded system of land tenure have forced many Government is u£ing to hold the McMahon Line hiilmen. to enter foreign service as mercenaries. A acroe:s Upper Assam. Colonies of Neprllese are Greater Ne:pal Movement is perhaps the one factor fol•nd as far east as the Northwestern sect()r of the that could unite every Nepalese-Hindu and Bud­ Kachin State of Burma. dhist, Communist and non-Communist alike, whe­ The first modern all-Nepal cenms report com­ ther he be Limhu, Magar, Gurung, Newar or pleted and released in I 9 55 places the populatio::t T amang-behind King Mahendra, the direct lineal at roughly 8.4 3 million. The estimated annual rate descendant of Prithvi Narayan Shah. No doubt of increase is 2.5 per cent. Sikkim's population is Soviet planners are aware of this fact. around 175,000-137,700 immigrant Nepalese, Sino-Soviet foreign policy appears to be synchro­ 9,000 members of the Tibetan ruling class and nized in the general Himalaya region toward de­ 30,000 Lepchas who extend over into adjoining taching or wooing this area away from India, and areas. Bhutan's population is placed at about f;econdarily, from contact with the West. During 600,000. The majority of the population occupies the Soviet Ambassador's visit to Nepal in 1958, the the valleys of Ha, Pharo and Punakha, which con­ Chinese sent a note to New Delhi suggesting the stitute Western Bhutan.• Lay education is carried on "redrawing of the two countries' boundaries after in the Nepali language in Bhutan. In fact, Nepali rurveys and talks with neighbouring countries." ie: the lingua franca of a goodly part of the Hima­ India's reaction was given publicly on December 2, layan region. There are at least 10,000 Nepalese 19 58: India's international border is well known; in Tibet, inciuding the offspring of mixed Tibeto­ ."it will not be subject to negotiations... Nepale~e marriages. Since the Tibetan uprising in March 1959, the Unfortunately, and perhaps unavoidably, the Chinese Communists have increased their pressure Indian Government, in its search for security, has along India's northern frontiers. The first border on many occasions run roughshot over the growing attack by the Chinese was not against Nepal, Sik­ nationalist feelings of the Nepalese and other Hima­ kim or Bhuta~. It was directed against Indian-held layan peoples. The Indians have faced violent out­ territory. bur!ts of antagonism from the Nepalese. Even in The meaning of this maneouver cannot have been the mountainous country of the North East Frontier overlooked by any of the political leaders of the Agency of Upper Assam, traditional ill-will is still associated Himalayan states. India was pledged manifested by tribes for past exploitation by the to go to war if any of their territories were attack­ Indian traders of the Brahmaputra valley. This is ed, but India was not going to war when its own one of the reasons why Indian citizens are not per­ territory was captured. Nehru informed the lndi3n mitted to travel beyond the Inner Line of Assam Parliament on August 31st that "we hope this wi:J without a special permit. . he settled by discussions and conferences, and we When Nehru returned from his September 1958 do not propose to go to war." visit to Bhutan, he admitted that the Bhutanese But it is not just to the Chinese Communists, with were not too happy about receiving Indian aid. their Tibetan slaughter and demands for boundary Sikkimese ~emi-independence was all but blotted out adjustments, that India must be alerted. It would when India placed a protectorate over that country appear that the Soviet Union has developed a gene­ in 1950. The one thing that has held anti-Indian ral Himalayan policy which could conceivably turn feelings in check in the general Himalayan arn has Nepalese nationalism totally :~gainst India.

13 Decem/>er I. 1959 On December 11, 195 8, Donald \Vise, a repor­ India's advantage. Traditional Himalayan politics, ter for the London Daily uprESl, filed a dis;oatch which the British interdicted by maintaining Sik­ from the Tibetan border stating that ··a qua:ter of kim as a buffer between Nepal and Bhutan, would a m!llion Chinese, wc.>r~ing under the direction of be revived. An Indian policy of this kind could R ..n.t:an rocket ('Xyerts, are t.arpetin; tL'! roof oi very well be made contingent upon the withdrawal the world in Tibet with the deadliest pattern of of the Chinese Communists from Tibet. missile launching pai:Is facing 1h~ free world." The The .stag:e would then· be set for the establish­ recent uprising in Tibet might not be wholly un­ ment of a Himalayan Confederacy (as suggested related to this "rumor." by China) composed of Greater Nepal, Bhutan and In terms of missile geopolitics, \Vest Berlin is Tibet. In the jargon of the Sino-Soviet world, closer to Lhasa than many people realize. Because "an area for peace" would thus be created. A of gravitational anomalies and poor flying ~ondi­ treaty guaranteeing the absolute neutrality of ·such tions over the Himalayas, established missi!e-laun­ a Himalayan Confederacy might well be negotiat­ ching sites would be a very difficult target to obli­ ed between all interested parties, Chinese f:ailure terate. The eastward rotation of the earth on i~s to accept such a plan would turn the rising tide axis wouid have the effect of shortening the trajec­ of nationalism in this area totally against her. tory of any Soviet missiles that might be launched On the other hand, China's acceptance of such westward, thus, bringing potential European targets an Indian proposal would leave India free to devote within clo~er range. Sino-Soviet cooperation on her efforts to the economic betterment of her peo­ ICBM launching pads in Tibet could in time domi­ ple, · The Chinese Communists would be freed of nate aH of \Vestern Europe; North Africa, Western any EUspicion of "Western imperialist" counterac­ Asia, the \Vestern Pacific area and most of China. -tion in Tibet. Such an arrangement would even This is an eventuality that \Vestern miiitary planners contain an e!ement of security for the Soviet Union, cannot afford to overlook. for a large neutral buffer would be created l)etween · On August 13, 1959, members of the Indian the southern marches of the Soviet Union and the · Parliament queried Prime Minister Nehru regarding Chinese People's Republic. a secret plan of China "to constitute a federation -The New Leader of the Himalyan l>order states of Sikkim, Bhuian and Ladakh.·' The .Dalai Lama issued a statement from his refuge in India to' the effect that there are STATE OWNERSHIP IS A F AlLURE now "more Chinese in Tibet" than there are Tibe­ Mr. Shroff's View tans. Mr. A. D. Shroff urged the need 'for free enter· The extermination of the Tibetan people and the prise to function within socially desirable State attachment of the whole· of the Himalayas to China regulations for eliminating poverty from the country would secure missile sites from sabotage by an un­ and bringing about prosperity for all within a demo~ friendly civil population and would control all sou­ cratic framework. thern -approaches to such sites. This could not b~ Mr. Shroff, who was presiding ever a general accomplished without the active assistance of the body meeting of the Forum of Free Enterprise, said Soviet Union. China does not have enough trucks that experience in European countries had shown to maintain and supply an ever-increasing army in that State own~rship as advocated by Socialists and Tibet, and so must depend, at le~st in part, upon Communists was a failure. He stated that Socialism the a;:sistance of Soviet transport. and Communism led ··to economic feudalism and, therefore, in the cause of democracy, "the people Prime Minister Nehru is trapped in a dilemma­ should give a decent burial to Socialistic, communism how to secure India's frontiers without giving up and other collectivist manifestations of a bygone 'his policy of "neutrality" and actively entering into era." a defemive alliance with the· West. There is a STATE TRADING partial answer to this dilemma, by which the Indian He said that the State Trading Corporation had Government could blunt Sino-Soviet moves in the harmed the national economy "by its bureaucratic Himalayas. By a high act of state~raft, India could interference in established channels of trade." He return all irredentist territory, including Sikkim, to warned against State trading -in food grains and Nepalese jurisdiction. said, "It will mean State controls right from the There is both British and Indian precedent for farm to t'he retail shop in the remotest village." such action. In 1860, the British Iridian Govern­ \Varnin"' aa-ainst further expansion of the State ment returned to Nepal the lowland between the Trading Corp~ration. he-~ aid that "its presence in Kali and the Rapti rivers, plus the land between the national economy. cannot be dismissed l!ghtly the Rapti and the district of Corakhpur. lndi'l as that ·of one more bureaucratic corporation in Jetu:-ned Dewangiri to Bhutan in 1949. India also which Chota Hitlers thrive on the tax-payers' returned a small parcel of land to \Vest Tibetan money." jurisdiction in 1950. Mr. Shroff warned the country against joint co­ Such a move by India would place a stronger, operative farming which, he said, would be nothiag Yial)le s!ate between India and China. A -strong but Soviet model collectives introduced by i.he all.)-·. rather than a resentful satellite, would be to backdoor.

THE INDIAN LIBERTARIAN 14 THE WORLD OF BOOKS The Meaning of Alienation--11

By Daniel BeD

(Besing some Notes along the Quest for the historical Marx. The first essay in the series appeared in the previous issue.)

HE goal of man for Hegel, as for Marx, was gious SUP.ers~1t10n and fetishism. 1\lan tc,ok !he T freedom-a state where man would be self­ best of himself, his sensibility. and projected it on willed, 1 in which his essence would become to some external object or spirit which he called his own possession. In the ''kingdom of free­ divine. l he solution for alienation was to bring dom'", man would overcome necessity and aliena­ the divine back into man. and so reintegrate him:::eU tion. Man would no longer be bound by through a religion of hwnanity, not of Cod, and the Promethean ihongs of necessity, (i.e., the through a religion of self-lo\·e. dependence on nature and its limitations), or be cloven by the Orphic separateness of alienation (the BREAK IN HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY radical dissociation of the self into a subj~ct that Feuerbach. the most radical of all the left-He­ strives to control his own fate, and an object who gelians, called himself Luther ll. 1\lan would be is manipulated by others). Science might ~how free, he said. if we could demythologize religion. us how to master nature, but how was one to over­ The history of all thought was a history of progres­ come the radical separateness of subject and object? £ive disenchantment, and if, finallr. in Christianity, Cod had been transformed from a local river deity . Bruno Bauer, one of the first teachers and friends to a universal abstraction. the function of criticism of Marx. felt that the answer lay in developing a "critical'" philosophy which exposed the ''mystery" -u...<>ing the radical tool of alienation, or self-estran­ gement-was to replace theology by anthropology,: of human relationships-the real motives behind the social acts-in order to create self-conscioLis­ to dethrone Cod and enthrone Man. Philosophy was to be directed to' life, man was to be liberated n~ss. Most human beings born into the wor!d, £aid from the "spectre of abstractions" and extricated Bauer, simply accept it and are oblivious to the sources of their morals and beliefs., or of their ra­ from the thongs of the supernatural. Religion was tionality. By subjecting all beliefs to criticifm, only capable of creating "false consciousness". Philosophy would reveal .. true conscioU!;neu·• and making men self-conscious, reason would be restored to them, and therewith their self-posses::ion. And by placing Man, rather than God. at the c~ntre of consciousness, he would bring the "infinite F euerbach, to whom Marx at first gave credit into the finite". for making the real breach in Hegefian abstractions., This uncompromising attack on religion was a sought to locate the sources of alienation in reli- sharp attack on established institutions. But be­ 1. The most recent interesting discussion of the thought .yond that. the use of the concept of alienation it~elf d young Marx can be four.d in the study by Hannah had more radical consequences for it initiated a Arende, Tl!e Human Condition, (University of Chicago direct break in the history of philosophy, ushering Press, 19 58). There is also a comprehensive exposition in, as it did. the period of modernity, In classical d the early view of Marx in the unpublished Ph.D. dis­ philotophy, the ideal man was the contemplative sertation (Harvard 1957) by Robert \V. Tucker entitled one. Neither the middle ages nor the tramitional The Self and Rel>olution: A Moral Critique of Menc. period to contemporary times (the 17th to 19th and I am indebted to Mr. Tucker for many insights. A century) was ever wholly able to detach itself from mor~ orthodox discussion of the early m<:.nuscripts can be the ideal of the Stoa. Even Goethe. wh~ srives us found in Herbert 1\tarcuse's Reason and Revolution, (Ox­ the first modern man in Faust, the m~n o-f ambi­ ford University Press, 1941 ) . A useful, if overly ~imple tion unchained. in his et..'-tical image of the human ~xposition of Marx's WTitings before The Communist Mani­ festo can be found in H. P. Adam's, Karl Marx in His 2. In an important sense. Feuerbach's vie~ was the Early Writings, (Allen and L'nv.;n, London. 1940). The same as of the founder of anthropology, the 1tudy of man. most ambitious attempt in recent years to reconstruct the Nine~eenth century Science. v.;th its e\·olutionary bia!, felt works ot the early Marx from a Communist point of view that by studying the past or the primiti\·e, who ,,·as feen is made by August Cornu, Karl Marx et Friedrich Engels. as a relic of the past, one could uncover in the '1impler I Les Annees d'enfan::e et de Jeunesse. II La ~auche societies' the real nature of man. Hence the turn to p;imi­ l1egclienne (Presses Universitaire de France Paris, 1955). tive society by anthropology as the study d man. Feuer­ There is also, from a Catholic point of view, the work bach, who saw human relations in "1-Thou" terms. was a by Pere Jean-Yves Cah-ez. La Pensee de Karl .\!arx key source for Martin Buber; and his idea of ~If-love ~edition du Sueil, Paris, 1956). anticipates the psychoanalytic humanism of Erich Frcmm.

15 Decemb" i. 1959 ideal reverted to the Greek. In discussing freedom. abolished, man would irnmediately be free.4 Vn­ h~we_ver, Heg-:,1 introduced a new principle, the fortunate)y, both risks proved hazardous and i '-•e pnnc1ple of action, for man, in order to realize his ''vulgar" implications were drawn by 1\iarx' s r:.,. self, had to actively overcome the subject-object lowers. dualism. In action a man finds himself; by his The. question why men were propertyless turned choices he defines his character. For Hegel, how­ l\1arx to economics. For a man whose name is ever, the principle of action remains abstract. In so linked with the "dismal science," Marx was never F euerbach, alienation was a principle of generic really interested in economics. His correspondence Man. II'\ Marx, action is given specificity in a radi­ with Engels, in later years, is studded with contem­ cal new emphasis on work. Man becomes man ptuous references to the subject (at one time he through work: through work man loses his isolation referred to the "economic filth"), and he resented Rnd learns to become a social or cooperative beina· the fact that his detailed explorations into the eco­ through work he is able to transform nature. o' nomic mechanisms of society prevented him from In locating man's alienation in work, Marx had carrying on other studies. But he continued be­ taken the revolutionary step of grounding philoso­ ca~e for hi~ economics was the practical ~ide of phy in concrete human activity. The steps by which philosophy-It would unveil the mystery of aliena­ he '"freed himself'' from the tyranny of abstrac· tion-and for him the categories of political eco­ tion was a long and difficult one. As an Hegelian, nomy, principally the concept of exploitation be­ Marx first thought of the alienation of work came the material expression of that alienation. in terms of the idealistic dualities. Man, in This is seen most clearly in the studies written working, reifies himself in objective things. This in 1844, when Marx was twenty-six, ·called the is labour (Arbeit) and is part of "an alien Economic-Philoeophical Manuscripts. The Manus­ and hostile world standing over against him." La­ cripts was an "anthropology," a discussion of the bour is driven, (nicht freiwillig). In labour, man nature of man. But it is, in the history of Marxist is ''under the domination, compulsion. and yoke of thought, a key document for it represents the bridge another man.'' In a state of freedom, however, from left-Hegelians to the M:uxism we liave come man would transform nature himself, by free, con· to know. In it one finds the first conception of cious, spontaneous, creative work. But what stood alienation as the nature of reality-an obsession in the way of achieving this freedom) The fact that Jed him to incorporate, in the very tissue and that in the alienation of work man lost control of marrow of his plays, a great deal of specifi-. the process of work and of the product of his la­ cally theoretical speculation about the nature of bour. For Marx, the source of alienation lay in human personality, the elusiveness of all objective the property system whereby man sold his labour truth, the war to the death between the maddening power and someone else appropriated it. In the organization of work-in labour becoming a com· modity-man became an object used by others, and 4. The abolition of private· property, however, as unable, therefore, to obtain satisfaction in his own Robert Tucker points out, does not, for the early Marx. activity; and by becoming a commodity, he lost u~her in the state of human freedom. The abolition of his sense of identity; he lost the sense of himself. private property produces only "unthinking" or "raw" Communism. AUENATION AND PROPERTY SYSTEl\'1 Marx clearly drew much of his notions about Com­ The extraordinary thing was Marx had taken a munism from Proudhon's ·great study, What is ProperlJJ. concept which German philosophy had seen as an In his sketcn of history, Proudhon drew a three stage ontological fact3 and given it a social content. A-s picture of evolution: in the first, man lived in primitive ontology, as an ultimate, man could only accept Communism sharing equally all women and all means of alienation. As a social fact, rooted in a specific production, in the second, the stage of private property, system of historical relation~. alienation could be powerful individuals were able, by theft, to appropriate overcome by changing the social system. But in communal property for private use; in the third, higher narrowing the concept, however, Marx ran two risks: slage, there would be individual o·wnership but cooperatiYe of falsely identifying the wurce of alienation only work. in the property system; and of introducing a note In discussing F euerbach, Marx points out that the nega­ of utopianism in the idea that once the system was tion of a negation is not, per se, an affirmation. Similarly, he said (in the Manuscripts), the abolition of pri\·ate pro­ 3. And, at the other extreme Kierkegaard had taken perty, the negation of negatiQn, would not pr:x)uce human the concept and given it a religious content. Thus alie­ freedom-but "raw Communism". n,;, type of Com­ nation became universalized as a perYasive condi~ion of munism, he said "completely negate5 the personality of man which, it understood, showed the world as completely man". It expresses "envy and a desire tu reduce 111l to absurd, since man. by rational act, could never overcome a common level". It is "universal" envy constituted as the subject-object dualism. Thus Kierkegaard introdu::ed power. Raw Communism, however, i~ to give wa.y to a thread of pessimism in the idea which held man to be true Communi~m as a "positive transcendence of private ccmple•ely bound. It is through Kiezkegaard that the property" and t.> a positive humanis.r. in which "man r~­ idea of alienation found its way into contemporary exis­ cognizes himself in a world he ha·; himself made". He re:urns, therefore, to his "specie.; character". He is no tentiali!m and literary discussion. •. TilE INDIAN UBERTARIAN 16 inconstancy of life and the equally maddening im-. perty at home, he '\\-as able to mo,-e beyond \'erga· s mutability of the forms imposed on life. verismo, later, into the urban modem ltaly of Rome If this were a:I, one could call unique in his work, 'YI;th which 1\fora,;a. has been so ex.clusi,·ely con­ however, the plays would never have been per­ cerned. formed-except, perhaps, in the more solemn litt~e \Vith a few e~ceptions, like the soap-operatic outposts off Broadway-and would be remember­ "The Umbrella," these stories are brilliantly free ed, if a~ all, only as inert clumps of pompous clo:et from the least blurring lapse into sentimentality. drama. But the greatest of his plays are, in point The life Piranmunity as hnal. It sees the future of fact, among the most dazzlingly eloquent, living, as constantly open, and man as constantly potential. actable dramatic masterpieces of the 20th century. • (Concluded) And this new volume of stories demostrates beyond all argument that he was an equally ,;gorous and original writer ot narrative prose. In the main, the stories which translator Lily DIGEST Duplaix chose for this book were written before Pirandello turned his daring and inventive hand U.K. WILL ADVANCE INDIA 19~!. POUNDS to the theatre. Yet they are such fine examples PACT TO BE SIGNED SOON of the short-story form-satiric, compassionate, New Delhi Nov. 21: A new agreement under shocking, at times even wildly slapstick-that it which the British Government will advance about seems incredible so few of them have been allow­ £19,000,000 credit to India under the Export Credit ed out before now, in any English version, from Guarantee Act is likely to be signed next week under the rock of unfashionable oblivion. in London. · ~-· Pirandello was able to bring alive, with an un­ Details of this second British loan to India are failingly bold, sure hand, every corner of the ga!­ understood to have been recently completed in lery of Sicilian and Italian life '\\;e find in these London by officials of the lnd1an High Commission storie9--not "slices of life," .in the naturalist-cu.-n­ there with representatives of the British Treasury. realism sense, but· complex images of men and It is expected that Smt. Pandit, the lndian High women caught in their separate traps of cowardice, CommisSioner in London, will sign the agreement self-delusion, corrosive pomposity and deceit, of on behalf of India. mistakes made in youth that become the strangle­ This second British loan is most likely to follow hold realities of a human being's middle years and the pattern set by the first line of credit given to drain old age of all dignity and the slightest hope. the Government of India by the Export Credit Gua­ Though Pirandello began as a kind of Verga-esque rantee Department in the U.K. But an outstanding Sicililin regionalist, making his own powerful use future of the new agreement is that eteps will be of the world of the peasants and the men of pro- taken by officials in London to quicken the pace of loan withdrawals by !;implifying the process of handling. longer partial man, bound by class behaviour, but once ASSURANCE TO DEUII again generic Man, transcending human self-alienation and It appears that an assurance has been given to ''returning to himself". New Delhi that. if necessar}-. the Export Twenty-five year~ later, when Marx was again forced Credit Guarantee Act may be amended to enable to confront the question of the nature of the future s.:ciety. speedy withdrawals from the British loan. At pre• in the Critique of tlte Gotha Programme, the image of fent the process of reimbursement, generally fol­ two-stages of the future rociety again was involved. It lowed in the utilisation of British credit, is fairly is clear, in this context, that when he spoke of the "dic­ compiicated in the ca~e of private sector firms who tatorship of the proletariat" as the "immediate transitional have to furnish a number of documents to prove stage", is was for him "raw Communism" that would be that the amounts in question were paid to British superseded by the idyllic world of true Communism where Frms. ~ach man would live "from each according to his means, In fact, the process has been so slow that it took and fo 'each according to his needs''. And it seems equally almo~t a }·ear for the first British loan of dear that Lenin, in his distinction of two phases of society. £20.500.000 to be utilised by the Government of in State· and Revolution, was aware of Marx's meanings. India. Last withdrawals are reported to have been The transitional stage was, for Lenin. too, a distateful completed only in October this year. phase Chiding Edward Bernstein, who had called the ac­ The second loan too is expected to be divided tion of the Paris Commqne in reducing all wage.; to a into two parts, one for which repayment will be common level as "naive, primitive. democracy". Lenin said due after I 0 years. and the other portion after a "Bernstein, fails completely to understand that, first of period of 20 years. It is expected that the first all, the transition from capitalism to socialism is impossible portion of the loan will carry an interest of 4- I '! ,\ithout 'return', in a measure, to 'primitive democracy". per cent. The 20-year portion of the loan will From the criteria established by both Marx and Lenin, carry a slightly higher rate of interest. one would have to say that present day Chinese society Meanwhile, London reports say that an examina­ is one of the most mis-shapen products ever seen of "un­ t;on of India's credit n~ds in the Third Five-Year thinking" or "raw communism". Plan is being carried out at the British Treasury

17 l>t>um~r I. /95') .though a firm picture will emerge only after the DR. PRASAD'S MESSAGE Third Plan is formulated here in April or May next year. New Delhi. The President, Dr. .Rajendra Prasad. INDIA SIGNS NEW DEAL FOR in a message to the U.S. President, has welcomed the visit of Mr. Ei~enhower to the country. U.S. FARM PRODUCE The following is the text of the message: "It Washington: A ne"V agreement between india has given-me much pleasure to learn that you have .and U.S. for the purchase of American surplus been able to accept our invitation to visit India. agricultural commodilies was signed here. My Government and the people of India have long The amount involved is nearly 239 million dol­ been hoping for such a visit and are happy that lars, including the cost of ocean transport ~;:stimat­ they will have the opportunity of welcoming you ~d at 37.6 million dollars. and sbowing you their affection and regard."' The U.S. Assistant Secretary of State, Mr. Thomas C. Mann, who signed for the U.S., said JUSTICE 'PARTYMEN :ALLOWED TO JOIN the American people had "a deep and abiding SWATANTRA PARTY interest in the territorial integrity of India and in Sivaganga: P. T. Rajan, MLC, leader of the the welfare and prosperity of its people." justice Party, and a former Minister of Madras, This agreement has brought to 915,500,000 directed his partymen "to join the Swatantra Party, .dollars the total value of U.S. surplus farm pro­ if they wanted to." ducts sold to India since 1956 under the multi­ billion-dollar surplus disposal programme. The .Rajan addressing the students of the R. D. _products haa cost the U.S. Government an estimat· Memorial College here, said, "Loyal Justice Party­ ed 1,325 IT'illion dollars. Most of the products had men want my guidance regarding their joining the been acquired by the Government under price Swatantra Party. The Swatantra Party is an All­ supports which were above Jllarket-values. India party. Small and parochial parties will not Eightly per cent of the funds generated in India have any place hereafter, unless they attach them­ from the sale of the surplus commodities will be selves to an All-India party. retained in that country to help it speed its eco­ PROFIT MOTIVE IN RED CHINA nomic development. Half of the retained funds will be in the form Red China is re-exporting on a large scale the .of long-term loans to India and the other half in coconut oil she has been buying from Ceylon. She the form of grants. has been making very heavy purchases of coconut ~ACCORD' AMOUNTS TO NO-WAR PACT oil in Colombo recently for the obvious· purpose of trans-shipping it across European and West Asian A YUB ON INDO-PAK. RELATIONS ports to Communist countries at a );ligher p~ice. It Karachi: President Field Marshal Ayuh Khan just shows that the "profit motive" is not a mono· o<-xpreS£ed here his 'firm' opinion that it should not poly ot Capitalism. take much time for India and Pakistan to settle all their differences. NEHRU SHOULD RESIGN The President said there was no need for any "no H. V. KAMATH'S CALL -war declaration" because once the two countries Jabalpur: H. V. Kamath, PSP leader, suggested $ettled their disputes it could in "substance mean at a press conference here that Prime Minister Nehru .no war declaration". should at least tender a token resignation of his CROWING CONCERN rN S.E. ASIA OVER cabinet on the issue of Sino-Indian Border dispute 'CHINESE EXPANSIONISM' and call on the Congress Party to elect a fresh leader. Colombo: Samar Guha, Secretary of the All­ lndia Tibet Convention, told a press conference He also suggested that the nations who consti­ here today that countries of South-East Asia, es­ tuted Bandung conference in 1955 should be in· pecially those bordering China, felt growingly con· vited to meet under an extra ordinary situation to cerned over "Chinese expansionism". . , discuss China's aggression. Guha arrived here after a tour of Burma, Thai­ NATIONAUSA TION OF BANKS NOT land, South Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, Hong· ADVISABLE kong, Phillipines, Indonesia, Malaya and Singapore as personal representative of the Indian Sarvodaya A. K. SUBRAMANIAM AT ITWARI ROTARY lea-der, Jaya Prakash Narayan. Nagpur: A: K. Subramaniam, Branch Manager Guha said that in all the countries he visited ex­ of Canara Bank Ltd.; expressed his opinion here cept Cambodia, he had received "overwhelming that the country did not need nationalisation of support" for the proposed Afro-Asian Conference banks as they were already well controlled by the on Tibet. Reserve Bank· of India and the funds required by In Burma especially he was promised the fullest the Government for planning and projects were co-operation, and elder statesmen, irrespective of adequately made available by them. party affiliations, would be attending the forth­ coming conference.

THE INDIAN LIBERTARIAN 18 by force, and now when the Prime Minister speaklJ Gleanings from the Press of non-alignment it is a dead body from which the life has gone that he hugs to his bosom. Or does COMING ECONOMIC COLLAPSE? he still want to continue to be non-aligned against China, in fantastic fanaticism for an outmoded nos­ Week in week out in India the index of wholesale trum, whatever fate the country may be driven to prices, though highly imperfect, has been going u;.:>. thereby} The Governor of the Reserve Bank, Mr. H. V. }{. A Government which has failed to resist aggres­ lengar has 'given a warning that the value of the sion so far cannot be relied on to fulfil its promise Indian rupee had declined by 30%. And yet no to do so hereafter. Other reinforcements have to appreciable attempt is being made to arrest the be sought. It is now military strength that counts rising tide of cost of living. The Plan has become and not spirited heroics or quantum of hortative more important than human beings and money has wordage. The present defence anchorage of the to be created to finance the Plan, other means hav­ country is far from promising as Mr. Nehru has till ing dried up. Crea!ed mon_e~ means ~nflation. now put 6n superior airs against nations joining Inflation means hardship to m1lhons. Th1s aspect together in mutual self-defence, and even if now of the problem does not worry either the Go-yern­ approached by him, the Western powers in their ment or the Congress. new anxiety for peace with the Soviet Union may The attitude of apresnous deluge is very not be over-anxious to embark on fresh commit­ clearly evident in the rulers of the country. With ments of a military nature for the good of India, their head in the skies they are debating whether forgetting past rebuffs. the next five year plan ~hould cost only a miserly -S\VARAJYA.. Rs. I 0,000 crores or the more generous Rs. 40,000 crores, while the poor subjects are getting poorer everday with the purchasing power of the rupee dwindling fast. The much vaunted river valley projects have cost three times their original esti­ Letters to the Editor mates but have not given even a third of the cal­ culated return. Instead of flood protection, the Damodar Valley project has itself caused devastat­ Madam, ing floods. The Bhakra Dam is seriously imperilled. It is re;iably understood here that Pakistan had The Community Development Project has signally recently sent a note to China demanding whether failed of its objective. To hide these glaring China dares to claim some part of territories in the failures, three new devices have been set up before Gilgit area, as allegedly shown in the· Chinese map. the people as the cure all for all our economic mal­ Pat came the reply from the Red Dragon: "We adies--co-operative farming, ceiling on land and don't", followed by a humble apology. This is in State trading in food grains. (The third one is direct contrast to the humiliating way that Chin:\ practically still-born). Mr. Nehru is the Indian has been treating Indian protest notes even after version of Sir Robert Walpole who brooked no commiting aggre~sion on the Indian frontiers. The rivals and preferred as his colleagues yesmen of reason is not far to seek. While Pak is in the good small ability, to able men who might differ from books of the Western bloc, especially the Ameri­ him. -'Behar Herald' cans who have equipped them with up-to-date arms consequent upon the honest foreign policy of the Pak government, India has completely isolated her­ NEHRU'S , FANATICISM self by persuing a psudo-neutral morally arrogant and pro-Communist foreign policy thanks to our No country strong enough to defend itself will blind obsession with such abstractions like non- allow such a large scale aggression within its bor- . violence and non-alignment. One needs a high . ders as the Nehru Government have permitted the degree of philosophical imagination to think that Chinese to accomplish. The Chinese them~elves any country in the modern world where Luniks and will attribute the easy walk-over they have so far had to Indian weakness, and so will the rest of the Vanguard have conquered the space that the iso­ world. The credit belongs to the Prime Minister lated country can escape consequences of war in the neighbouring country. \Vhile Nehru has his of having exposed his country to this humiliating plight. head high-up in the air lost in what is euphimi~tically called "plan consciousness" our Himalayas are melt­ His heroic talk of non-alignment ill befits one ing and our borders disappear. In short history within whose administrative jurisdiction foreign is repeating itself. Therefore the only honest and troops have already stationed themselves. Non­ practical course left to us is to aiign ourself with alignment means that we will not take sides for or the free democratic \Vest particularly America against this or that power bloc, the Eastern or the . which has both the goodwill and resources to offer \\'estern, or any member of either. Non-alignment to India. For, it is poor statesman~hip indeed became dead the moment China encroached on India which refuses to engage m ''cold war" when the

19 December /, /959 - December lp 1959 Regd. No. B 6520

""hot war'' itself is at our doorsteps. Will the lea""" should not' be given p~ecede~ce over ~racticai U:ea~ den of our country wakeup in time) sures to 'defend the country. . NEW DEUU -R. L. Kapoor. AjMER -M. C. Gandhi. MR. NEHRU'S DESIRE TO RETIRE . Madam. (The Prime Minister occasionally raises hope in . Prime Minister Nehru has again reiterated his the minds of the Indian public at the prospects of faith in- non-alignment_ in face of Chinese aggres­ his resignation, but never makes up his mind to sion, and his pronounciamentos on the virtue of retire, leaving the people more disillusioned. We non-alignment have been promptly hailed by his take the liberty of reproducing below a letter to henchmen. One is amazed at the Prime Minister's the T"IIDes of India, written by Mr. Raja Huthee-" obstinacy to review his foreign policy, especially singh, which is a fervent appeal to the Prime Minis.; after thet bubble of bhai-bhaism has burst. All the ter to resign. We fully endorse Mr. Hutheesiiigh's political parties, perhaps with the solitary exception appeal, which demand, we hope will be shared by of the C.P.I., are united in their determination to the readers of ..The Indian Libertarian.'") · · throw out the aggressors. But it is wishful thinking . . Sir,-Once again the Prime Minister has ·casually to hope that we will be able to do so without tak­ expressed his desire to retire frol\1 office. Eighteen ing military aid from the West in the shape of arms, months ago a similar expression ended with the ammunition, planes, tanks, military stores etc.; for, decision to continue. I had then pointed out re­ China is a formidable enemy and is armed to the gretfully that Mr. Nehru had ill served himself and teeth by the Russians. the country by doing so. It is naive to think that our sovereignty will be The country today is facing both external and lost merely because we take arms aid from our internal crises. · Are the place and the timing of Western friends who are willing to help us. Dur­ Mr. Nehru's desire chosen with a view to meeting ing the American War of Independence the Ame­ public criticism against his policy, so that the people ricans received military aid from F ranc;e, which in their distress and bewilderment may cry ..please materially helped them to fight their British mas­ stay on)·: It would indeed be a clever mo\Te if it ters. During World War II Russia did not hesitate were so. Mr. Verghese at least lias fallen for it to receive military aid from the Allies (capitalists) when he urges the Prime Minist~r in his colum~ to resist German aggression. (November 18) not to retire, at least for the pre­ Those who pretend that India's "moral prestige.. sent. is high in the world because we do not seek foreign Externally, the Prime Minister has led the coun­ military help have no sense of shame when our try where it is unable to defeni:l its integrity. India Finance Minister tours the foreign countries with is today fri~ndless and helpless. Of what avail is a begging bowl for economic aid. Besides. if we it to stand on a moral pedestal) · - For heaven's take economic aid from the Americans in terms of sake, get off it. dollars and spend them on military purposes, it Internally, the country is on the brink of bank­ would amount exactly to the same thing-taking ruptcy. · The five-year plans have not added an military aid from America: So why should we not iota to the common man's daily bread or given him be a bit more honest with ourselves and ask Ame­ ·a sense of economic security. The· fantastic land rica to give us military aid, when the security of our legislation, pushed through in the name of the Nag­ -country is threatened} Ideological ehibboleths pur resolution, -now seeks to make the poor peasant poorer. Can Mr. Nehru by continuing to he the Prime THE DUNCAN ROAD FLOUR MILLS Minister help the country to get out of the deep Have you tried the Cow Brand Aour manu­ morass in which it finds itself today, His public factured by the Duncan Road Flour Mills? speeches, the correspondence with China, the in­ Price!! are economical and only the best grains comprehensible hold of Mr. Krishna Menon on him are ground. The whole production process and the illogical pursuit of policies which. have , is automatic, untouched . by hand and lienee ·failed, give no such assurance. ~ our produce· is the cleanest and the most Mr. Verghese has ably catalogued the t of sanitazy. !\ir. Nehru's Government. \VLy then aoes he be­ lieve that Mr. Nehru can lead us out of.the present crisis) A smaller man with no commitments to Mr. Nehru's wrong poliCies. guid~d by the wide vision and right instincts of an unburdened Mr. Nehru, can help the country better. Mr. Nehru, Write to: outside office can reflect public opinion, as only he can. more truly. I repeat this with all my regard The Manager and affection for him. Maybe, it is now too late; DUNCAN ROAD FLOOR MILLS the opportunity was lost not eighteen months ago, BOMBAY 4. but much before that. Telephone: 80205 Telegram: LOTEWALLA BOMBAY -Raja Hutheesingh.

Edited by Miss K. R Lotwala for the Libertarian Publishers Piiv~te Ltd., Printed by C. N. Lawande, at C. N. Printers. (Motee .;>rinting Works), LaJ Ollmaey. Lamington Road. Bombay 11. and published by him at the ollice of the Libertarian Publishers (Priva~) Ltd~ 26. Durgadevi Road. Bombay 4.