Freedom First

Summary

This is Issue No. 64 of Freedom First (September 1957), the monthly journal of the Democratic Research Service published in Bombay and edited by V. B. Karnik. The issue opens with Adam Adil’s stock-taking essay “Ten Years Of Freedom,” marking a decade of Indian independence with a critical survey of the country’s political, economic, social, and cultural record, warning against the personality cult around Nehru and the drift toward “statism.” An unsigned Notes section comments on a averted post-and-telegraph employees’ strike, government labour policy, K. M. Munshi’s warning against creeping totalitarianism via administrative tribunals, and rising prices. A substantial excerpted feature reproduces passages from Milovan Djilas’s smuggled manuscript “The New Class,” covering Trotsky, Stalin, Tito, unemployment under communism, waste and theft in the Soviet system, and national communism. V. N. Rudin’s “The Split In The Kremlin?” analyses the 1957 purge of the Molotov-Malenkov-Kaganovich faction by Khrushchev. R. S. Panday contributes a survey of Malaya on the eve of its independence (31 August 1957). The issue also reports a Democratic Research Service discussion on the Kerala Education Bill, ICCF (Indian Committee for Cultural Freedom) news items, a review by V. B. Karnik of three books on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, and a report on an ICCF seminar in Poona on Indian cultural renaissance and Marathi letters.

Essays

Ten Years Of Freedom

By Adam Adil

Adam Adil’s lead essay takes stock of India’s first ten years of independence across political, economic, social, and cultural dimensions. Politically, he credits India with sustaining the largest democracy in Asia but laments that a healthy two-party system has failed to crystallise, that political life is vitiated by opportunism and corruption, and that the Congress leadership discourages independent-minded critics. He specifically criticises the Films Division’s documentary idolising Nehru as fostering a dangerous personality cult, and endorses Jayaprakash Narayan’s suggestion that Congress leaders should have deliberately created space for a democratic opposition to emerge. Economically, he assesses the First and Second Five Year Plans, warning that overambitious targets, deficit financing, and neglect of agriculture and consumer goods have produced inflation and lop-sided development, and criticises cooperative farming proposals as disguised collectivisation. Socially, he notes persistent caste and communal divisions, linguistic conflict following state reorganisation, and rising corruption and crime. Culturally, he finds little advance, criticising the unresolved status of English versus Hindi and the lack of literary exchange across Indian language communities. He closes by warning that the cumulative effect of these trends is growing “statism” — an expanding state role that, if unchecked, threatens democracy itself.

• Argues India’s political life remains marked by opportunism, corruption, favouritism, and intrigue despite a decade of democratic elections.
• Criticises the Films Division’s biographical documentary on Nehru as fostering an unhealthy personality cult, noting Nehru himself has discouraged such adoration.
• Endorses Jayaprakash Narayan’s view that Congress leaders should have helped create space for a genuine democratic opposition.
• Warns that the Second Five Year Plan’s emphasis on heavy industry over agriculture and consumer goods has caused inflation and unbalanced development.
• Criticises fashionable talk of cooperative farming as concealing totalitarian, Soviet-style collective farming.
• Notes persistent caste, communal, and linguistic divisions, including violent disputes following linguistic reorganisation of states.
• Concludes that dependence on government for development is fostering dangerous “statism” that could erode democracy if unchecked.

Notes (A Sigh Of Relief; Need For Re-thinking; A Counsel Of Despair; With Padded Feet; Rise In Prices)

The unsigned Notes section, likely written by editor V. B. Karnik, comprises several short items. “A Sigh Of Relief” welcomes the eleventh-hour cancellation of a threatened strike by the Federation of Post and Telegraph Employees, crediting the government’s agreement to appoint a Pay Commission, but criticises the government for hastily pushing through the Essential Services Maintenance Bill and an accompanying ordinance outlawing strikes in essential services without independent tribunal review. “Need For Re-thinking” argues that as the public sector grows under the “socialist pattern of society,” the government must treat its employees at least as well as enlightened private employers, and criticises restrictions barring government industrial workers from political activity. “A Counsel Of Despair” rebuts Bombay Pradesh Congress Committee president K. K. Shah’s call to ban trade unions for government servants, framing this as a violation of the fundamental right of association. “With Padded Feet” praises K. M. Munshi’s warning against a Finance Ministry proposal to set up French-style administrative tribunals for tax disputes, which Munshi called a “step away from Democracy” that would let totalitarianism enter with “padded feet.” “Rise In Prices” laments that dearness allowances for government employees have not kept pace with the cost of living and urges either price control or compensation.

• Welcomes the averted postal and telegraph workers’ strike but criticises the government’s slow handling of employee grievances and its resort to an Essential Services Maintenance Bill.
• Argues government, as an employer under the growing public sector, must model good labour practice rather than lag behind private industry.
• Rejects Congress leader K. K. Shah’s proposal to ban trade unions for government servants as an infringement on freedom of association.
• Endorses K. M. Munshi’s public warning that proposed tax administrative tribunals modelled on the French system represent a dangerous step away from the rule of law and democracy.
• Criticises the government’s failure to adjust dearness allowances to match rising prices, hurting fixed-income earners.

The Meaning Of Communism (excerpts from “The New Class” by Milovan Djilas)

This feature reprints excerpted passages from Milovan Djilas’s book “The New Class,” whose typescript was smuggled out of Yugoslavia before Djilas’s second arrest in November 1956 and who was, at time of publication, serving a three-year prison sentence. The excerpts cover several themes: the contrast between earlier (bourgeois) revolutions, which secured civil rights and independent justice, and Communist revolutions, whose gains accrue only to the ruling bureaucracy — the “new class”; character sketches of Trotsky (a brilliant but unrealistic revolutionary superseded by Stalin’s new class) and of Lenin, Stalin, and Tito as successive phases of communism unified in Tito’s own personality; an analysis of why organised resistance to communism failed, given its totalitarian penetration into every sphere of life; a critique of the claim of full employment under communism, which Djilas says merely conceals unemployment through inefficient centralised planning; an account of pervasive theft and waste of state property, including 20,000 cases of theft of “socialist property” recorded in Yugoslavia in 1954; a reflection on how communism can survive moral “downgrading” in the world’s eyes while remaining strong in its own class’s estimation; and a closing note on “national communism” as itself a symptom of communism’s decline.

• Contrasts earlier revolutions, which yielded independent justice and greater civil rights, with Communist revolutions, whose fruits are harvested by the bureaucracy alone.
• Portrays Trotsky as a brilliant but unrealistic revolutionary who never grasped the nature of the ‘new class’ he was inadvertently attacking.
• Frames Lenin, Stalin, and Tito as embodying three successive phases of communism — revolutionary, dogmatic, and non-dogmatic/oligarchic — unified in Tito’s own career.
• Argues organised resistance to communism failed because Communist totalitarianism penetrated every sphere of society and personal life.
• Contends that claimed full employment under communism is illusory, concealing structural unemployment created by centralized planning.
• Documents pervasive theft and waste of state property, citing 20,000 cases of ‘socialist property’ theft in Yugoslavia in 1954.
• Describes ‘national communism’ as communism seeking to detach itself nationally while remaining structurally identical to Soviet communism — in Djilas’s view, “communism in decline.”

The Split In The Kremlin?

By V. N. Rudin

V. N. Rudin’s “The Split In The Kremlin?” analyses the July 1957 purge by Khrushchev of the Molotov-Malenkov-Kaganovich faction within the Soviet Communist Party leadership. Rudin traces the internal power struggle back to Stalin’s death, arguing the Soviet system, built for a single dictator, could not survive his loss without disintegrating into factional conflict. He recounts the sequential fall of Beria, Malenkov, and Molotov, and analyses the ideological dispute between Khrushchev’s more flexible, concession-granting tactics (formalised at the 20th CP Congress) and Molotov’s insistence on stricter, Stalinist methods, a position hardened by the Polish and Hungarian uprisings. Rudin details the roles of Shepilov (who sided with Molotov out of conviction), Kaganovich, Malenkov, Mikoyan, Suslov, and Marshal Zhukov (rewarded with Presidium membership for loyalty to Khrushchev) in the realignment, and notes Mao Zedong’s supportive February 1957 speech backing Khrushchev’s more flexible line. He concludes that although Khrushchev’s faction won, power has shifted from the shrinking Presidium to the much larger 318-member Central Committee, diluting central authority and setting up continued disintegration within the CPSU, evidenced by a concession abolishing compulsory state delivery quotas on peasants’ small private plots.

• Argues the Soviet system, designed around a single dictator, was structurally destined to fracture after Stalin’s death into competing factions.
• Traces the sequence of purges from Beria (1953) through Malenkov and Molotov to the climactic July 1957 removal of the Molotov-Malenkov-Kaganovich group.
• Frames the core dispute as tactical: Khrushchev’s faction favoured limited concessions to popular demands to prevent revolution, while Molotov’s faction feared any relaxation would trigger uprisings like Hungary’s.
• Notes Mao Zedong’s February 1957 speech lending ideological support to Khrushchev’s ‘many roads to socialism’ line, and the close coordination this implied.
• Concludes that the purge was formally carried out by the 318-member Central Committee rather than the Presidium, permanently diluting central power and portending continued disintegration of Soviet Communist Party authority.
• Cites the abolition of compulsory delivery quotas on peasants’ private plots as a significant concession wrung from the regime by popular pressure.

Malaya: On the Eve Of Independence

By R. S. Panday

R. S. Panday’s short piece marks Malaya’s independence on 31 August 1957. He surveys roughly a century of British rule, crediting the British with bringing political stability, infrastructure (roads, railways, ports, telecommunications), irrigation, and public utilities, while acknowledging Malaya was a lucrative resource base for British commerce. He details the economy’s dependence on rubber and tin (85% of export earnings in 1955), covers education and social welfare developments including the 1949-founded University of Malaya and the Employees Provident Fund, and gives population figures (6,252,000, split among Malayans, Chinese, Indians/Pakistanis, and others). He notes that Malaya’s independence movement was less politically developed than India’s because the Sultans had generally accepted British sovereignty, but political consciousness grew after World War II amid the wave of Asian decolonisation, culminating in the 1956 London conference that set independence for the end of August 1957. The piece closes with a welcome to Malayan independence on behalf of Indians.

• Credits British rule with bringing political stability, infrastructure, and modern public services to Malaya over roughly a century.
• Notes rubber and tin together accounted for 85% of Malaya’s export earnings and nearly 29% of federal revenue in 1955.
• Cites the 1949 founding of the University of Malaya and growth of trade unions (228 registered by 1955) and cooperative societies as markers of social development.
• Gives population figures: 6,252,000 total, comprising 2,967,223 Malayans, 2,286,883 Chinese, 713,810 Indians and Pakistanis, and 90,391 others.
• Explains that Malaya’s independence movement was comparatively muted because the Sultans had accepted British sovereignty, unlike India’s more confrontational nationalist struggle.
• Notes the 1956 London conference fixed Malayan independence for end of August 1957, and closes with an Indian welcome to the new nation.

Kerala Education Bill — A Discussion

An unsigned report covers an informal discussion on the Kerala Education Bill organised by the Democratic Research Service on 21 August, chaired by V. B. Karnik, with participants including Prof. P. T. Joseph, S. Abraham, Monsignor Henry Remedious, Adam Adil, and Dr. A. J. Shellat. Speakers criticised the Bill for reducing school managers to mere business agents, giving government a monopoly that could enable nationalisation of education “from the back-door” and communist indoctrination, and for proposing to make the Education Minister Pro-Chancellor of the university, which critics feared would politicise higher education. Prof. Joseph noted a similar bill had once been attempted by Sir C. P. Ramaswami Iyer. Karnik, summing up, warned the Bill’s wide government powers would reduce all schools to government institutions and could be used for indoctrination. A short adjoining item, “I.C.C.F. News,” reports receptions held by the Indian Committee for Cultural Freedom for artists participating in a Young Asian Painters’ Exhibition in Tokyo, including for Japanese art critic Takachiyo Uemura, and notes ICCF sent 56 paintings by 40 artists to the Tokyo exhibition.

• Speakers at the Democratic Research Service discussion argued the Kerala Education Bill reduces school managers to mere business agents and centralises control in government hands.
• Critics warned the Bill’s monopoly powers could enable ‘nationalisation of education from the back-door’ leading to communist indoctrination.
• Objection was raised to making the Education Minister Pro-Chancellor of the university, seen as a device for political interference in academic affairs.
• V. B. Karnik’s closing remarks warned the Bill would ultimately reduce all Kerala schools to government institutions usable for indoctrination.
• The adjoining I.C.C.F. News item reports Bombay receptions for Young Asian Painters’ Exhibition participants and Japanese critic Takachiyo Uemura, and that ICCF sent 56 paintings by 40 artists to the Tokyo exhibition.

I. C. C. F. News

This unsigned review (signed “V.B.K.,” i.e. editor V. B. Karnik) covers three books on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution: James A. Michener’s “The Bridge At Andau,” George Mikes’s “The Hungarian Revolution,” and Noel Barber’s “A Handful Of Ashes.” The review praises all three for conveying the same story — the spontaneous popular uprising against communist rule and its brutal Soviet suppression — through different methods: Michener’s composite characters drawn from refugee interviews, Mikes’s eyewitness correspondent account (including material on AVO secret police brutality and interwar Hungarian history), and Barber’s deeply personal account as a wounded Daily Mail correspondent who was shot covering the events. The review quotes at length a passage in which Barber’s friend Denes criticises Nehru’s silence during the crisis as moral cowardice, arguing Nehru could have altered the Soviet satellite empire’s course by condemning the invasion. Karnik agrees the harsh language is understandable given the scale of the suppression, and closes by invoking Louis Kossuth’s words on the 1848 Hungarian revolution to argue the 1956 revolution likewise saw Hungary fight “by themselves, cut off from the world.”

• Reviews three 1956 Hungarian Revolution books: Michener’s ‘The Bridge At Andau,’ Mikes’s ‘The Hungarian Revolution,’ and Barber’s ‘A Handful Of Ashes.’
• Notes Michener’s book uses composite figures built from refugee interviews collected at the border crossing at Andau.
• Notes Mikes, Hungarian-born and a BBC correspondent present during the revolution, also covers interwar Hungarian dictatorship history.
• Notes Barber, Daily Mail correspondent, was personally shot and wounded while covering the uprising and had to leave the country before the Russians’ return.
• Quotes a passage in which Barber’s friend Denes accuses Nehru of moral cowardice for staying silent during the Hungarian crisis.
• Closes by comparing the 1956 revolution to the 1848 Hungarian uprising via a quotation from Louis Kossuth about Hungary fighting ‘cut off from the world.‘

Review (The Bridge At Andau / The Hungarian Revolution / A Handful Of Ashes)

By V.B.K.

A short report describes an ICCF (Indian Committee for Cultural Freedom) seminar held by its Poona Branch on 27-28 July at Patwardhan Hall, on the theme “Indian Cultural Renaissance and Marathi Belles Letters.” Attendees included V. D. Ghate, V. S. Khandekar, Y. D. Pendharkar, K. Narayan Kale, D. V. Gokhale, Arvind Gokhale, Nissim Ezekiel, Vyankatesh Madgulkar, and professors G. B. Sardar, D. K. Bedekar, S. P. Bhagwat, A. K. Bhagwat, Achyut Barve, P. G. Sahastrabuddhe, S. K. Ksheersagar, and G. P. Pradhan, with Tarkateerth Laxmanshastri Joshi presiding on the first day and Prabhakar Padhye on the second. Discussion covered the social, political, and cultural currents in Maharashtra since 1874 (the founding year of Vishnushastri Chiplunkar’s magazine Nibandhamala), including the freedom struggle, social reform movements, the effect of Marxism, and the influence of modern English and post-independence Marathi literature on aesthetics. Padhye’s closing speech warned against the harmful effects of growing state patronage of literature and proposed it as the topic for the next seminar.

• Reports an ICCF Poona Branch seminar (27-28 July) on ‘Indian Cultural Renaissance and Marathi Belles Letters,’ presided by Tarkateerth Laxmanshastri Joshi and Prabhakar Padhye.
• Names a substantial list of Marathi literary and academic figures in attendance, including Nissim Ezekiel and Vyankatesh Madgulkar.
• Frames the discussion around currents since 1874, the founding year of Vishnushastri Chiplunkar’s Nibandhamala magazine.
• Covers topics including the freedom struggle’s reflection in Marathi literature, social reform movements in Maharashtra, and the effect of Marxism on Marathi psychology and letters.
• Notes Prabhakar Padhye’s closing warning about the harmful effects of growing state patronage on literary freedom, proposed as the next seminar’s topic.

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