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| Saumyendranath Tagore 08.10.1901 – 22.09.1974 |
This day marks the death anniversary of Comrade Saumyendranath Tagore, the founder of the Communist League, which was later rechristened as the “Revolutionary Communist Party of India.” He was one of the few revolutionaries who had the courage to point out the crimes of the Soviet bureaucracy headed by Stalin. While many workers’ parties from different parts of the world were highly influenced by Stalinism, mistaking it for Leninism, Tagore highlighted the flawed policies carried out by the Soviet Union under the banner of “Marxism-Leninism.” From confining socialism to a single country to crushing revolutionary upheavals of the working class in various parts of the world by aligning with the bourgeoisie, Stalinism made several blunders that were strictly against the teachings of Lenin and the idea of class struggle. Saumyendranath Tagore was one of the first-generation revolutionaries in India who stood up against these policies and offered the Indian masses an alternative, demonstrating that Marxism was not what was practised under Stalin’s leadership.
Criticising the post-Leninist Third International and Soviet foreign policy, Tagore pointed out the ideological deviations of the Soviet Union. He observed that while Lenin always emphasised the idea of “World Socialism,” under Stalin, the revolution was confined to a single country. He also highlighted Stalin’s hypocrisy by quoting him from his interview with Roy Howard. When asked about the plans and intentions of world revolution, Stalin had replied, “We never had such plans and intentions… This is the product of a misunderstanding… The export of revolution is nonsense.”
As an opponent of class collaborationism, Tagore opposed any platform shared by the bourgeoisie and the proletariat, whether in France, Spain, or India, either against fascism or imperialism. He opposed calling World War II a “people’s war” and instead labelled it an “imperialist war.” This understanding of class relations led him to adopt a pro-working class stance on the question of fascism as well. He was one of the few revolutionaries worldwide who understood the class dynamics of fascism. Echoing the teachings of Lenin, Zetkin, Trotsky, and Gramsci, Tagore repeatedly asserted that fascism must be overthrown only through socialist revolution. Unlike the liberal (and Stalinist left) notion that “(bourgeois) democracy is under attack by fascism,” Saumyendranath Tagore understood that “it is bourgeois democracy which has helped fascism come to power.” Emphasising the idea that bourgeois democracy is a myth, and restoring the so-called “democratic bourgeoisie” to power is futile, he said, “The bourgeoisie can no longer be democratic, and democracy can no longer be bourgeois. Democracy can exist and blossom only in its proletarian form.” This led him to adopt the United Front tactic proposed by the third and fourth congresses of the Communist International and reject the People’s Front policy of Stalin-Dimitrov.
Tagore also castigated the Soviet government for its aggression against Finland. Defending Finland’s right to self-determination, he said, “The Soviet Union cannot attract other peoples and nations to the creation of a common state unless they consciously solidarise with and lend support to the needs and activities of the state system, which offers them a concrete realisation of their social and political aspirations.”
The time has come for us to reread Tagore. He was one of the few revolutionaries in India who stood up against class collaboration and fought for a socialist revolution in India. His ideas on the struggle against fascism, imperialism, and the nature of revolution in India—which differed from those of the Communist Party of India (CPI)—made him a unique revolutionary in the Indian subcontinent. His teachings and leadership gave the Revolutionary Communist Party of India (RCPI) a glorious past, particularly in its struggle against British colonialism in India.
Recommended Readings: Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and India, Political Fatalism, Permanent Revolution, United Front or Betrayal?, The People’s Front or the Front Against the People?, Soviet Foreign Policy and the Third International, Communism and Fetishism, Imperialist War or People’s War?
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