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Communism and Religion in North India, 1920–47

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Communism and Religion in North India, 1920–47 "To the Masses." Communism and Religion in North India, 1920–47 Dissertation zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades doctor philosophiae (Dr. phil.) eingereicht an der Kultur-, Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin von Patrick Hesse Präsident der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Prof. Dr. Jan-Hendrik Olbertz Dekanin der Kultur-, Sozial- und Bildungswissenschaftlichen Fakultät Prof. Dr. Julia von Blumenthal Gutachter: 1. Michael Mann 2. Dietrich Reetz Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: 20. Juli 2015 Abstract Among the eldest of its kind in Asia, the Communist Party of India (CPI) pioneered the spread of Marxist politics beyond the European arena. Influenced by both Soviet revolutionary practice and radical nationalism in British India, it operated under conditions not provided for in Marxist theory—foremost the prominence of religion and community in social and political life. The thesis analyzes, first, the theoretical and organizational ‘overhead’ of the CPI in terms of the position of religion in a party communist hierarchy of emancipation. It will therefore question the works of Marx, Engels, and Lenin on the one hand, and Comintern doctrines on the other. Secondly, it scrutinizes the approaches and strategies of the CPI and individual members, often biographically biased, to come to grips with the subcontinental environment under the primacy of mass politics. Thirdly, I discuss communist vistas on revolution on concrete instances including (but not limited to) the Gandhian non-cooperation movement, the Moplah rebellion, the subcontinental proletariat, the problem of communalism, and assertion of minority identities. I argue that the CPI established a pattern of vacillation between qualified rejection and conditional appropriation of religion that loosely constituted two diverging revolutionary paradigms characterizing communist practice from the Soviet outset: Western and Eastern. The specific tradition condensed in the latter eventually would render it plausible to the party to support the Muslim League’s Pakistan demand in the 1940s. Keywords: Communism, South Asia, Communist Party, Marxism, Religion, British India Zusammenfassung Als eine der ersten ihrer Art außerhalb Europas war die Kommunistische Partei Indiens (CPI) bei der Ausbreitung des Marxismus jenseits des europäischen Rahmens vorne mit dabei. Zu ihren prägenden Einflüssen zählten die sowjetische Praxis der Revolutionsjahre und zeitgenössische radikale Spielarten des Nationalismus in Britisch-Indien. Von Beginn an musste sie sich unter Bedingungen behaupten, denen in der Theorie wenig Beachtung zugekommen war – zuvorderst der ungebrochenen Bedeutung von Religion und Gemeinschaft für das politische und soziale Leben des Subkontinents. Die Arbeit untersucht zunächst anhand der Werke von Marx, Engels und Lenin sowie der Komintern den theoretischen und organisatorischen ‚Überbau‘ der CPI auf den Stellenwert von Religion in einem parteikommunistischen Emanzipationsgefüge. In der Folge widmet sie sich den oft biografisch eingefärbten Ansätzen und Strategien der Partei und ihrer Mitglieder, unter dem Primat der ‚Politik für die Masse‘ mit den Verhältnissen auf dem Subkontinent umzugehen. Sie beleuchtet kommunistische Perspektiven auf Revolution anhand konkreter Fälle wie dem passiven Widerstand Gandhis, dem Moplah-Aufstand, der Arbeiterschaft, religiösem Kommunalismus und dem erstarkenden Gemeinschaftsgefühl religiöser Gruppen. Es zeigt sich, dass die Partei beständig zwischen qualifizierter Ablehnung und bedingter Unterstützung religiöser Kultur schwankte, die schematisch zwei divergierende und seit der russischen Revolution erkennbare revolutionäre Paradigmen bilden: ein westliches und ein östliches. Der in Letzterem kondensierte Strang politischer Tradition ermöglichte es schließlich, dass der Partei die Unterstützung für die Pakistanforderung der Muslim League in den 1940er Jahren plausibel erschien. Schlagworte: Kommunismus, Südasien, Kommunistische Partei, Marxismus, Religion, Britisch-Indien 2 Contents Abbreviations ........................................................................................................................... 5 Preface ...................................................................................................................................... 6 Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 8 I Delimiting Progress ............................................................................................................. 23 I.1 Epistemology, Consciousness, and Revolution ............................................................ 23 I.1.1 The Essence as Science ......................................................................................... 23 I.1.2 The Physics of Metaphysics .................................................................................. 25 I.1.3 “Proletarian Consciousness” .................................................................................. 28 I.2 From Philosophy to Function. The Bolshevization of Marxism .................................. 31 I.2.1 “Third-Rate Opinions”: Bolshevik Atheism .......................................................... 31 I.2.2 Exit Workers, Enter the ‘Masses’ .......................................................................... 34 I.2.3 The National Extension ......................................................................................... 35 I.3 Progress Applied: The Eastern Face of the Soviet Janus ............................................. 38 I.3.1 The Cultural Divide of Revolution ........................................................................ 39 I.3.2 “Muslim National Communism” ........................................................................... 43 I.3.3 On the Ground in Turkestan .................................................................................. 45 Synopsis of Chapter I ........................................................................................................ 49 II Communist Roots: Spiritual Politics and the ‘Masses’ ...................................................... 50 II.1 Tapping Religious Resistance ..................................................................................... 50 II.1.1 Swadeshi and Hindu Revivalism .......................................................................... 50 II.1.2 Minority Responses: Ghadrites and the Muhajirin .............................................. 54 II.1.3 “Closest Contact with the Broadest Sections”: The Comintern ........................... 59 II.1.4 The Tashkent Party Forge .................................................................................... 63 II.1.5 Imparting Revolution ........................................................................................... 67 II. 2 Indigenous Communism? ........................................................................................... 70 II.2.1 Subcontinental Socialisms .................................................................................... 70 II.2.2 The Quest for the ‘Masses’ .................................................................................. 74 II.2.3 Transmission Belts ............................................................................................... 77 II.2.4 The Kanpur Communion ...................................................................................... 86 Synopsis of Chapter II ....................................................................................................... 92 III Revolutionary Subjectivity ............................................................................................... 94 III.1 From Religiousness to Resistancy ............................................................................. 94 III.1.1 The Moplah Rebellion ........................................................................................ 94 III.1.2 The Akali Movement ........................................................................................ 105 III.2 Whose Communalism? Antinomies of Consciousness ............................................ 115 3 III.2.1 Theoretic Conundrums, or That which Must not Be Cannot ............................ 117 III.2.2 The Domestic Response: Calcutta 1926 ........................................................... 123 III.3 From “Mass” to “Working Class” Complex ............................................................ 130 III.3.1 Towards a Proletariat ........................................................................................ 130 III.3.2 The Reds’ Care ................................................................................................. 135 III.3.3 Proletarian Communalism: Bombay 1929 ........................................................ 139 Synopsis of Chapter III ................................................................................................... 143 IV Towards Acculturation ................................................................................................... 145 IV.1 Sea Changes ............................................................................................................. 145 IV.1.1 A Lowering Tide............................................................................................... 145 IV.1.2 The Meerut Class .............................................................................................. 148 IV.1.3 A United Front
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