The Socialist Stream of Indian Political Thought – O.P. Gauba

Idea of Socialism

• The socialist stream of modern Indian political thought is inspired by the idea of socialism.

• Socialism refers both to a principle of politics and a form of economic organization.

• As a political principle, socialism supports social ownership and control of the means of social production.

• The objective is to ensure that:

  • all able-bodied persons are employed in productive work

  • all means of production are used to fulfil social needs.

• As a form of economic organization, socialism represents an economic system of the modern industrial age.

• In this system, the means of social production—such as land, buildings, mines, forests, machinery and capital—are placed under social ownership and control.

• It also includes social control over distribution and exchange of goods.

• Economic activity under socialism is primarily directed toward the fulfilment of social needs rather than private profit.

• Social needs are determined by the organized power of the community, usually represented by the government.

• The government makes coordinated efforts to fulfil these needs by utilizing natural and human resources efficiently.

• This process is organized over a definite time period to achieve planned results.

• This systematic approach of organizing economic activity is known as Planning.

• Planning aims to:

  • secure maximum and efficient utilization of resources

  • ensure full employment of available resources

  • eliminate wastage caused by production for artificial or profit-driven demands.

• The concept of socialism is also closely connected with the philosophy of Marxism.

• In Marxist terminology, socialism refers to the economic system that emerges immediately after the overthrow of capitalism.

• Under capitalism:

  • means of production, distribution and exchange are owned by private entrepreneurs

  • workers are employed on wages determined by market forces

  • economic activity is mainly aimed at private profit.

• After the overthrow of capitalism, the socialist system introduces several changes:

  • means of production are placed under state ownership

  • labour becomes compulsory for all able-bodied persons

  • emphasis is placed on development of science and technology to improve productive capacity.

• These changes aim to strengthen the forces of production and create conditions for fulfilling social needs.

• In the socialist stage, rights and rewards are determined according to the principle:

  • “From each according to his ability, to each according to his work.”

• This stage is considered a transitional phase before the establishment of communism.

• In the stage of communism, distribution follows a higher principle:

  • “From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.”

• Among the important socialist thinkers of modern India are:

  • Narendra Dev

  • Jayaprakash Narayan

  • Ram Manohar Lohia.

Marxism

Marxism refers to a set of political and economic principles enunciated by Karl Marx (1818-83) and Friedrich Engels (1820-95) in order to lay scientific foundations of socialism. It seeks to understand the problems of human society through historical analysis, and treats history as a process of conflict between antagonistic forces and classes. This confilct arises from the faults in the mode of production in which one class comes to gain ownership and control of the means of social production and compels the other class to work on terms and conditions dictated by the former. This conflict reaches its peak in the age of capitalism when it can be resovled by a revolutionary overthrow of capitalism by an organized working class, placing all means of social production (land, buildings, mines, forests, machinery and capital, etc.) under social ownership and control, enforcing universal labour and ensuring full development of the forces production.

Acharya Narendra Dev

Introduction

• Acharya Narendra Dev (1889–1956), originally named Avinashi Lal, is regarded as the pioneer of modern Indian socialist thought.

• Like Western socialists, Indian socialists believed in establishing social ownership of the major means of production to enable socio-economic reconstruction of society.

• The Indian socialist tradition differs from the Western socialist tradition in its broader philosophical orientation.

• Western socialist thought mainly focuses on materialistic amelioration of the working class, emphasizing economic welfare and improvement in living conditions.

• In contrast, Indian socialist thought attempts to combine material welfare with spiritual emancipation.

• The Indian approach aims at the upliftment not only of the working class but also of the peasantry and other poor and deprived sections of society.

• Despite the spiritual dimension, Indian socialists still give priority to material welfare of the deprived sections of society.

• The socialist ideas of Acharya Narendra Dev represent a typical model of Indian socialist thought, integrating

  • economic justice and social ownership, and

  • spiritual and moral upliftment of society.

Moral Foundations of Socialism

• Acharya Narendra Dev attempted to develop his socialist ideas by synthesizing different ideological traditions.

• His thought combined

  • the Marxian doctrine of materialism, class conflict, and scientific socialism,

  • the Gandhian ideals of non-violence and moral regeneration, and

  • the anti-imperialist struggle associated with India’s independence movement.

• In his important work Socialism and the National Revolution (1936), he attempted to reinterpret the Marxian concept of materialism.

• He argued that Karl Marx did not clearly analyze the relative importance of matter and mind (i.e., ideas or consciousness).

• Narendra Dev maintained that in human life both material conditions and consciousness are equally important.

• According to him, both the material world and the spiritual world must receive balanced importance.

• Human beings cannot achieve true emancipation by focusing exclusively on either material or spiritual aspects alone.

• Classical Marxism holds that

  • the material world forms the base, and

  • consciousness forms the superstructure, whose nature is determined by the economic base.

• On the other hand, Mahatma Gandhi believed that human beings could achieve emancipation primarily through the pursuit of spiritual goals.

• Narendra Dev rejected both views in their extreme form, seeking a balanced synthesis between them.

• He argued that although a person may elevate his consciousness to a high level, his life still remains dependent on material conditions.

• If material conditions are unfavorable, genuine freedom or emancipation cannot be realized.

• The material conditions of life are closely connected with the economic structure of society.

• While human consciousness can influence the economy, the economy also significantly shapes human consciousness.

• Under oppressive material conditions, even a deeply ascetic or spiritually advanced person may fail to practice self-restraint.

• Narendra Dev viewed human freedom as essentially a moral concept.

• He maintained that true freedom can exist only in an atmosphere of economic equality.

• Thus, economic equality becomes a necessary condition for establishing a moral order in society.

• According to him, both imperialism and capitalism threaten human freedom.

• Imperialism destroys freedom by establishing the domination of one country over another.

• Capitalism destroys freedom by allowing the domination of one class over another within a country.

• However, capitalism is historically preferable to feudalism because it creates certain formal freedoms.

• True and substantive freedom for the masses can be achieved only under socialism.

• Therefore, for Narendra Dev, socialism represents the foundation of a true moral order in society.

Materialism

Materialism refers to a philosophical doctrine which regards matter as the essence of the universe, and treats ‘consciousness’ as the mere reflection of the prevailing condition of the matter. According to this view, social institutions are shaped by the material conditions of society. In this sense, it is opposite of ‘idealism’ or ‘spiritualism’.

Class Conflict

In Marxist theory, class conflict refers to the constant conflict or stuggle between the dominant and dependent classes which began with the emergence of private property. The dominant class is comprised of the owners of means of social production. The dependent class which thrives on labour, is oppress and exploited by the dominant class. The antagonistic interests of these clas cannot be reconciled. The class conflict will continue until the abolition of priva property and the consequent emergence of a classless society.

Scientific Socialism

Scientific socialism refers to an interpretation of socialism based on the scientific laws derived from historical analysis. Marx (1818-83) and Engels (1820-95) are the chief exponents of this theory. They held that various stages of historical development are the manifestations of contradictions in material conditions which necessarily lead human society to the goal of socialism. Whereas utopian socialism regards socialism as a moral choice, scientific socialism considers it a historical necessity.

Imperialism

Imperialism refers to the policy, practice or process through which a strong nation uses its military, political and economic power to expand its rule and extend its control over other distant political communities for the purpose of economic advantage, military security, international prestige and establishing its cultural domination,

Capitalism

Capitalism refers to an economic system of the modern age, largely based on industrial production, where means of social production (land, buildings, mines, forests, machinery and capital), distribution and exchange are owned by private entrepreneurs; a large number of workers are employed on wages at the market rate; and economic activity is primarily devoted to private profit. Here workers are free to work anywhere according to their skills and capacities as well as market demand; life-prospects of ordinary people are largely dependent on cruel market forces, and the production policies determined by the owners of means of social production.

Feudalism

Feudalism refers to the system of economic, political and social organization which flourished in the medieval Europe. Economically it was based on agriculture where social status of different sections of society was determined by land tenure. Land was held by various levels of landlords in return for homage and military service to be rendered to the king. It was tilled by serfs who were obliged to render labour services and dues to the landlords. All sections of society including clerics, soldiers, administrators and toilers were tied to each other by mutual obligations. With the advent of Industrial Revolution in the mid of the eighteenth century, it became necessary to break this system in order to secure freedom of the new entrepreneurial class as well as the new working class.

Class Conflict and New Life Movement

• Acharya Narendra Dev rejected the Gandhian principle of class cooperation and instead supported the Marxian principle of class conflict, though he adapted it to the Indian context.

• Like Karl Marx, he believed that the history of human society is essentially the history of continuous conflict between antagonistic classes.

• According to him, the class that seeks to transform the existing social order must win the class conflict and gain control over material conditions of society.

• For this transformation to succeed, the revolutionary class must be stronger than its antagonistic class.

• A new social order emerging from such transformation reflects the moral sense of the masses, thereby setting the standards of social morality.

• Thus, Narendra Dev emphasized the mass basis of morality, arguing that morality derives its legitimacy from the collective will of the masses.

• He observed that contemporary society largely consists of the working class, along with its associates such as the peasantry and the intelligentsia.

• Therefore, the moral consciousness of these groups represents the true standards of social morality.

• In the Indian context, the masses are not confined only to industrial workers, as assumed in classical Marxism.

• Broadly, the Indian masses include

  • industrial workers,

  • plantation workers,

  • peasants,

  • agricultural labourers, and

  • intellectuals.

• If these groups form separate organizations and pursue only their individual interests, their strength would become fragmented and their struggle would be ineffective.

• All these sections suffer under the oppression of imperialism and capitalism, which necessitates unity among them.

• Therefore, Narendra Dev stressed the need to unify all deprived sections to strengthen the socialist movement.

• This unified movement would not have a single class character, but it would pursue the common objective of

  • overthrowing imperialism and capitalism, and

  • establishing social ownership of the major means of production.

• Narendra Dev termed this united struggle of the oppressed sections as the “New Life Movement.”

• Under the New Life Movement, workers, peasants, and intellectuals would cooperate and collaborate to challenge the forces of imperialism and capitalism.

• The industrial and semi-industrial workers would carry forward their struggle through the method of General Strike, an idea associated with Georges Sorel.

• The peasants would organize themselves into Kissan Sabhas (Peasants’ Councils) to press for agricultural reforms and defend their interests.

• However, Narendra Dev strongly opposed “Peasantism”, which implied

  • a division between workers and peasants, and

  • a conflict between village and town interests.

• Such division, according to him, would weaken the united struggle of oppressed classes.

• He therefore emphasized cooperation and unity among all deprived groups rather than sectional conflict.

• Narendra Dev also recognized the importance of democracy as a mechanism to reconcile the interests of different deprived sections and maintain unity within the socialist movement.

Conclusion

• Acharya Narendra Dev argued that the idea of socialism was not alien to Indian culture, but rather consistent with its moral and philosophical traditions.

• According to him, Indian culture emphasizes the spiritual equality of all human beings.

• However, spiritual equality alone is insufficient to ensure real equality in society.

• To achieve true or substantive equality, spiritual equality must be supplemented by material equality.

• Scientific Socialism provides the most effective means for achieving material equality among human beings.

• Narendra Dev compared Scientific Socialism with natural science to explain its functioning.

• Just as the laws of natural science help in developing appropriate technologies suited to different situations, the laws of Scientific Socialism help societies formulate appropriate strategies for their socialist movements.

• These strategies may differ according to the specific social, cultural, and economic conditions of each country.

• In Marxism, the idea of a stateless society represents the logical culmination of its fundamental assumptions.

• The concept of a stateless society should therefore serve as a theoretical model or ideal for socialist movements.

• However, Narendra Dev emphasized that each country must determine the goals and methods of its socialist movement according to

  • its own cultural traditions, and

  • its specific historical and social needs.