Media and Nation Building in Twentieth-Century India by Kalyan Chatterjee

Author:Kalyan Chatterjee [Chatterjee, Kalyan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Media Studies, Literary Criticism, Subjects & Themes, Politics, Political Science, General, History, Asia, India & South Asia, Social History, Modern, 20th Century
ISBN: 9781000699883
Google: VVauDwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Published: 2019-09-09T03:49:08+00:00

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Ramananda and the Left

The first part of the twentieth century following the First World War saw the rise of the left and labour movements around the world. This was prompted by the successful 1917 Russian Revolution, led by communists who inaugurated a new phase in world history. It was also the time when fascism surfaced in many parts of the world, principally Germany and Italy. Communism and people’s radicalism received a boost not only with the Russian Revolution of 1917 but also with the staying power that it showed defying all attempts by capitalist powers to overthrow the new regime led by Lenin. Labour classes all over the world, including in large parts of Asia, were inspired and became hopeful of overthrowing capitalism and imperialism. Communist parties were founded in India and China in the 1920s, emulating the Russians – one was a British colony, and the other was dominated by the Great Powers. In India, during the 1930s, the Congress itself became a divided house, with conservatives gathering around Gandhi, while the leftists found their hero in Subhas Chandra Bose. As the Communist Party was banned, many of its members found a place in the Congress, whose platform they used to remain active. At the same time arch-conservatives in the Congress broke away completely and formed the Congress Nationalist Party under Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya. Just as in China, there was in India considerable tension between those who wanted to follow the gradual-ist policy of Mahatma Gandhi and those who were attracted to the radical methods of Bhagat Singh. The question arose as to whether the conservatives and liberals in the Congress should open fronts against the leftists and the British at the same time or form a united front to fight imperialism – British in the case of India and Japan in that of China. Thus, the international situation had a great impact on the course of the movement in India just as it had in China.

The Modern Review not only exhibited balance but also put Indians in touch with fraternal anti-imperialist movements in other parts of the world. One was in the Soviet Union and the other was in China. At that time China was in the throes of a civil war and at the same time facing invasion from Japan. But by the time the dust settled down on Russia and the Soviet Union, Stalin had taken control with his draconian ways, not hesitating to banish or execute his opponents. Doubts had begun to creep into the minds of many who had been impressed at first by the Russian experiment but questioned the violent methods through which Stalin consolidated his power. But the world, particularly people in its poorer parts, was particularly impressed by the tremendous economic and social improvements effected by the new regime in the Soviet Union in a very short time. It also provides insights into why at that time Indians preferred the left to fascism.

The Review published stories by a number of

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