Letter to Comrades

Summary

This untitled 20-page English pamphlet is a continuous political address from within the Congress Socialist Party. It opens by situating the party in a period marked by Congress ministries in the provinces, the Spanish and Chinese wars, fascism, Nazi expansion, political repression in India, and the imprisonment of socialist workers. Against this background, it calls for a re-examination of socialist fundamentals rather than an immediate discussion of policy solutions. Socialism is defined through the abolition of private ownership of the means of production, the creation of a classless society, and the inseparable values of equality and liberty. The address distinguishes this position from Nazi “National Socialism” and other authoritarian or dogmatic forms of socialism.

Key points

• The address presents socialism as a project grounded in equality, liberty, abolition of private ownership of the instruments of production, and a classless society.
• It describes the contemporary international situation as a counter-revolutionary period dominated by fascism, war, capitalist crisis, and the isolation and internal conflicts of the Soviet Union.
• The speaker rejects treating socialism as a dogma or organised religion and argues for both the study of Marx and Lenin and independent judgment about present circumstances.
• The pamphlet treats the Soviet Union as an important socialist stronghold while insisting that socialists may criticise Soviet policies and actions.
• It connects Indian socialism to the struggle against British imperialism, arguing that national independence and the establishment of a democratic Indian state are prerequisites for building socialism in India.
• The Congress Socialist Party is described as operating on two fronts: radicalising the national movement and organising workers, peasants, and other mass constituencies.
• The address defends the party’s continued work inside the Indian National Congress while urging discipline, unity, mass action, and resistance to both war and federation.