Understanding Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (Part 3)-SOCIALISM

His seven year stay in England helped him to develop a greater sense of international awareness as well- both the time spent at Harrow and Cambridge and the visits to other countries during the period. Probably the trip to Ireland in 1907 had more impact on his thinking than any of the pleasure trips to Germany, France and Norway.

He was impressed with the Sinn Fein movement and wrote the following note to his father: "It is a most interesting movement and resembles very closely the so called Extremist movement in India. Their policy is not to beg favours but to wrest them. They do not want to fight England by arms, but 'to ignore her, boycott her and quietly assume administration of Irish affairs'."

Although nationalism was the underlying ideological strand in Nehru's world view socialism was also deeply rooted in his thought. Nehru and many others belonging to the Indian intelligentsia were attracted to socialism because of its claim to create a modern egalitarian society. They were oppressed by the material poverty in their own country and its industrial backwardness. Socialism promised the liberation of colored men from the white men who were equated as capitalists and foreigners.

It permitted a denial of the West, in this case the British West, on behalf of an ideal which was at the same time Western in content and origin. Brahmin intellectuals were particularly attracted to it because it derogated the trading classes and fitted in their attitude to economic life.

Gandhi advocated nonviolent change and Nehru was strongly influenced by this philosophy especially in the twenties. He admired the morality and ethics of satyagraha- it was a worthy means to achieve a great goal. "A worthy end should have worthy means leading up to it. That seemed not only a good ethical doctrine but sound practical politics, for the means that are not good often defeat the end in view and raise new problems and difficulties. "Several years later his certainty had lessened somewhat. Nonviolence was no incontrovertible creed Nehru personally disliked violence and armed uprising but it probably could have been used to advantage in attaining independence. It is hard to say whether a guerilla Indian liberation army would have been successful if it had been organized in the twenties or early thirties. In the late thirties Nehru did admit that violence perhaps could be profitable but he dismissed it because of a lack of material and training.

Violence often brings reaction and demoralization in its train. ..it may be that we could profit by its use. But we do not have the material or training for organized violence and Individual or sporadic violence is a confession of despair. The great majority of us, I take it, judge the issue not on moral but on practical grounds and if we reject violence it is because it promises us no substantial results. Non-violence thus was not a creed for Nehru. He did however realize its value as a dynamic force able to lift the Indian people who had suffered degradation for centuries from their morass of demoralization and helplessness. The elite preferred it to violence because it was more in line with Western liberal ideals of change and reform. Nehru hoped that peaceful methods could effect change in the economic and social as well as the political sphere. The ultimate nationalist objective, which he hoped could be brought about by peaceful means was not merely Indian freedom, but human freedom- the emancipation of mankind.

He confided these hopes to Indira, his daughter, in 1933. Nehru first came into contact with socialism during his college days in England. He was particularly attracted to the Fabian ideas of George Bernard Shaw, Beatrice and Sidney Webb and H. G. Wells. They stressed that socialism was an inevitable stage in the evolution of democracy. Being cautious and democratic they insisted that change must be acceptable to the majority of the people, it must be gradual and it must be constitutional a necessity if a 'good society was to be brought about. which in turn resulted in uneconomic holdings a steady impoverishment of agriculturists and the deterioration of agriculture.

There was a steady decline in the income of the agricultural population. Agrarian crises, the vacillations of the world market To a large extent the capitalist economic forms, imposed on India by Britain, accounted for the poverty and misery of the peasants. The British conquest of India was the conquest of a feudal nation by a capitalist nation. "Britain could not use colonial India for her own capitalist requirements without uprooting the feudal base of Indian society and introducing capitalist economic forms. Thus India's economic structure based on self-sufficient village economies was transformed into a single economic unit subjected to the economic requirements of the British trading, banking and industrial interests. Indian industrialization was obstructed or restricted and agricultural production was distorted to meet the raw material needs of British industries. India was useful as an agrarian raw-material producing colony and as a market for British industries. Masses of Indian handicrafts men, as a result of the introduction of British machine-made goods, were ruined and took to agriculture for subsistence. Land became overcrowded in vast areas. Its overcrowding led to subdivision and fragmentation.

As long as Indian agriculture was geared to the economic necessities of British capitalism which required Indian raw materials for British industries, Indian agriculture remained distorted in its development. Only a politically independent India would be able to formulate new economic policies which would aid the free development of the Indian economy and mitigate the plight of the peasantry. Nehru realized this in 1920 and a transformation of conditions in the Indian country side became one of his nationalist goals.

His initial interest in the Soviet experiment can be traced to this period. In conversations with Tibor Mende he remarked that he sympathized with the Russian Revolution because "It was bringing up the underdog and it was equalizing people, removing vested interests and all that." In the early twenties"...after the Russian Revolution the thing that impressed us most was the idea of planning; and more especially the stories we heard of the tremendous changes in the Central Asian parts which were very backward. The idea of planning appealed to Nehru's rational mind although it was foreign to the traditional Hindu mind.

He accused British imperialism of fostering India's communal divisions, uprooting her educational system and destroying her traditional economy. In the Congress resolution on India, drafted and moved by Nehru, there was also evidence of a marked socialist outlook. It declared, "that this Congress... trusts that the Indian national movement will base its programme on the full emancipation of the peasants and workers of India, without which there can be no real freedom. In his Autobiography Nehru recalls his attraction to Marxism at the Congress.

As between the labour worlds of the Second International and Third International, my sympathies were with the latter. The whole record of the Second International from the war onward filled me with distaste, and we in India had had sufficient personal experience of the methods of one of its strong supports- the British Labour party. So I turned inevitably with good will towards communism, for, whatever its faults, it was at least not hypocritical and not imperialistic. .These attracted me, as also the tremendous changes taking place in Russia.

Even so Nehru had some serious reservations about the communists. "But the communists often irritated me by their dictatorial ways, their aggressive and rather vulgar methods, their habit of and leaders of the Communist party, particularly when contrasted with that of the British officials in Delhi. A brief tour of a prison increased his regard for communism. "If what we saw truly represents the state of prisons in the Russian Union, it can be said without a shadow of a doubt that to be in a Russian prison is far preferable than to be a worker in an Indian factory."

His impression of Soviet educational efforts was favorable too. "...Although they failed to liquidate illiteracy they have shown remarkable results within these ten years." Judging from official statistics made available to him he also found peasant conditions improved. "The progress is remarkable when the manifold difficulties and the lack of aid from the outside are considered."

Nehru, attracted emotionally to the Soviet experiment, was extremely conscious of its practical significance for India. Even our self interest compels us to understand the vast forces which have upset the old order of things. Russia thus interests us because it may help us to find some solution for the great problems which face the world today. It interests us specially because conditions there have not been, and are not even now, very dissimilar to conditions in India. Both are vast agricultural countries with only the beginnings of industrialization and both have to face poverty and illiteracy. If Russia finds a satisfactory solution for these, our work in India is made easier.

On his return to India Nehru made numerous speeches to life provided the leisure for reading and reflection. His thoughts on socialism, from this period, are found in "Whither India?", Glimpses of World History and other writings as well as in his Autobiography . Probably his presidential address at Lahore gives us some of his most candid statements on socialism.

In his enforced leisure he also turned to Marxist literature and theory. Russia apart, the theory and philosophy of Marxism lightened up many a dark corner of my mind. History came to have a new meaning for me. The Marxist interpretation threw a flood of light on it, and it became an unfolding drama with some order and purpose, however unconscious, behind it... It was the essential freedom from dogma and the scientific outlook of Marxism that appealed to me. He remarks that even Lenin "warned us not to consider Marxism as a dogma which cannot be varied. Convinced of the truth of its essence, he was not prepared to accept or apply its details everywhere unthinkingly.

Nehru felt It would be absurd to blindly copy the Russian experiment, for the application of Marxist principles there depended on particular conditions in Russia at a specific stage in its historical development.

Nehru's main socialist objectives were clear In the early thirties. In 1933 he wrote Indira: Socialism, I have told you is of many kinds. There is a general agreement however that it aims at the control by the state of the means of production, that is land and mines and factories and the like, and the means of distribution, like railways etc. and also banks and similar institutions. The idea is that individuals should not be allowed to exploit any of these methods or Institutions, must be eradicated.

In working out the details and methods of this socialistic restructuring of society which he envisioned for India, Nehru looked to the Russian model, realizing nevertheless that socialism in India would have to be adapted to Indian needs. Reflecting on social reconstruction he became convinced that not only India but that world forces were moving in the direction of socialism. In 1933 in "Whither India?" he wrote It is not a question of blaming capitalism or cursing capitalists and the like. service to the world and individual capitalists are but tiny wheels in the big machine. Capitalism has been of great The question now is whether the capitalist system has not outlived its day and now must give place to a better and saner ordering of human affairs which is more in keeping with the progress of science and human knowledge.

Capitalism had solved the problem of production but not of distribution. Nehru believed capitalism could not solve this problem; a new system would have to do this.

The capitalist system Nehru was turning against was laissez-faire capitalism which was in vogue in the 1920 's and 1930's.

During the 1930's when it began floundering Nehru was unable to envision a reformation of the system which would enable it to survive and become as acceptable an answer to the problems of production and distribution as socialism. Shortly after the end of World War II he began to modify his antagonism to capitalism when he saw how many capitalist states were beginning to adopt many of the goals and ideals of the socialists, to become welfare states. He came to conclude that the complete abolition of the capitalist system was not necessary; reform was necessary so that a new economy combining capitalism and socialism could emerge.

He feared that the privileged classes and groups would be reluctant to give up their privileges and interests, making coercion and pressure necessary. He was convinced, however, that the nonviolent movement could be a very effective pressure.

"It is perfectly true that this method of coercion is the most civilized and moral method and it avoids as far as possible the unpleasant reactions and consequences of violence. " Suffering and dislocation would still be inevitable, but "we cannot put up with a major evil for fear of a far lesser one which in any event is beyond our powers to remedy. "39 if individuals or institutions stand in the way of change Nehru argued that "the good of a nation or of mankind must not be held up because some people who profit by the existing order object to change...

Democracy indeed means the coercion of the minority by the majority Therefore, in his opinion, it was moral for a Therefore, in his opinion, it was moral for a state to pass coercive laws taking away rights and privileges from some groups. If a law affecting property rights or abolishing them to a large extent is passed by a majority is that to Nehru's socialism was academic and Intellectual before independence. He envisioned a socialist Utopia- a society in which there would be equality of opportunity regardless of class or caste and the possibility for everyone to lead a good life. Wealth would be equitably distributed so that everyone could live in comfort and peace; honor and merit would come as a result of ability and hard work and not because of caste or birth or riches. These were not traditional Indian ideals but Western ideals which Nehru had incorporated into his world view. He spoke of adapting them to Indian conditions and traditions but never made any specific attempts in this direction.

After 1947 he began to realize how difficult it was to put his socialistic ideals into practice in the Indian situation.

Nehru throughout his life recommended travel and interaction with people from other countries to fellow Indians. "If we do not personally know the people of a country we are apt to misjudge them even more than otherwise, and to consider them entirely alien and different. " Modern science, world trade and swift methods of transport were all based on internationalism.

People could no longer isolate themselves from the rest of the world. He wanted Indians to travel to meet others, learn from them and understand them. In the Discovery he wrote, "establishment of a classless society which would forever abolish the exploitation of man by man and would practice the chief article of his creed, "

From each according to his abilities to each according to his needs." Such a society was to be achieved by the overthrow of the capitalist system- a system based on the exploitation of the working classes by the capitalists. Marx saw the whole history of the human race in terms of class struggle- the struggle between the exploiters and the exploited. This struggle led to revolutions and Marx predicted that these revolutions would finally merge into a world revolution via socialism and the dictatorship of the proletariat j eventually this would result in a millennium. Lenin, a follower of Marx who proposed an alliance of the proletariat with the peasantry, foresaw a long struggle between the proletariat and the capitalist system. In this period of struggle there would be many national revolutions and uprisings; the final transformation of democratic revolutions and nationalist uprisings in the East into the great socialist world revolution would, he was convinced, be a slow and lengthy process.

In the twenties most socialists assumed that although a socialist revolution began on national soil it could not reach a successful conclusion within national frontiers. In their opinion all countries were politically and economically interdependent and the struggle of the proletariat was certainly concerned with the International scene and its implications for India's problems but this was not true of the majority of the members of the Indian National Congress; his statement was wishful thinking rather than fact.

At the plenary session of the Congress Nehru reiterated his stand: I would like you to understand that the Indian problem is not only a national problem, but it directly affects a great number of other countries, and... is of world-wide interest because it (is) directly (affected by) the greatest and... most influential imperialism of out time...

Because we believe this. .. International Congress affords a possibility of combined work, we welcome It and great it. Nehru was convinced the liberation of India would lead to the liberation of Asia and Africa. The Russian Revolution had indicated that the front of the Imperialists did not necessarily break in the most highly developed country as suggested by Marx and Engels, but where the proletariat had a powerful ally in other social groups, (i.e. the peasants in Russia) Possibly the next revolution could take place In a country like India where the proletariat had a potential ally in the nationalist movement.

From India the revolutionary spark could then be transmitted to the other Asian and African countries suffering from exploitation and colonial domination. World-wide emancipation from oppression and exploitation was the ultimate goal. 

Prof (Dr.) Kanayalal Raina specializes in spiritual teaching besides providing management consultancy services. His strategic plans are being used for obtaining funding to run various programs conducted by NFP nonprofit and business organizations. He strengthens NFP and business organizations through education, empowerment of leadership and mentoring, personal growth and strategic counselling. Areas of expertise are Govt. funding and preparation of Business Plans, Strategic Plans, Marketing plans, Sales and Pricing Plans, Balanced Scorecard, and Business Performance Management.