The Narrative World
“Religion is like opium” ; “Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains” The two revolutionary slogans written in German , in the context of Germany and for Germans —Propels Indian communists to term themselves ‘Marxists’, ‘Leninists’ , ‘Maoisits’ and ‘Stalinists’. The two revolutionary slogans which can also take hold of rioting slogans were given by German philosopher Karl Marx the father of communism. A theory of social organization in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to their ability and needs. In a communist system, individual people do not own land, factories or machinery — but this theory itself can be found contradicting with modern day communist leaders from Xi Jinping to Kim Jong-un accompanying dictatorship in their say-so(s).
The above mentioned slogans advertising an idea or a product of communism, speaks a lot about the culture and social structure of the European Society where the religion followed (Christianity) is considered opium ; Maybe like opium it hallucinates the consumer or follower. And the latter slogan which indicates that workers or the poorer sections in Europe were massively oppressed by the ruling class as Marx ask them to ‘be united’ for the change – for revolution – for coup. And in such circumstances leading to the deprivation of life , the revolutionary -communist slogans appear to be obvious and demonstrable.
But when we perceive these, problems of 19th century’s Europe with the Indian lenses, we may find it very unfamiliar and beyond someone’s ken. As when we understand the class structure, economical society, cultural apparatus, sociopolitical system then we can conclude that Marxism cannot be initiated in the root – driven society of India.
In the context of India, either it’s M.N Roy’s (who introduced communism in India) communism of 20th century or the communism navigated by today’s communist youth, sounds irrelevant in both the centuries as the time when Marx expressed his ideas the century was 19th century which has its significance as the period of industrial revolution when capitalism was on the rise in monarchial Britain , there was concentration of power. And in contrast to it , there was a very large section of Britain which was dealing with unemployment, starving for eatables.
There was an atmosphere of struggle among the citizens in the midst of it , the factors of such terrific condition, gave an land of opportunity to Marx’s Marxism where his ideology can unite all the workers and knit their aspects towards Marxism to bring a revolution. And in this way, for the first time influenced by Marx’s ideas , a thing like socialism was born , which provided the basis for Marxism — But this was the case of Britain where there was monarchy and the nation also witnessed the parliamentary form of government , was dealing with the dismissive impacts of Industrial Revolution.
But when we talk in the reference of India, the communism appears to be irrelevant and unresponsive because the rural nature and society of India was ‘Aatm-Nirbhar’ (self-dependent) Where the center of their economy were the castes only, the castes which are mentioned and described in the Varna- Tantra. For example , if we associate with rudimentary structure of India then people involved in different sectors of economy are all living together. A brick maker is living in the village, a peasant is living in the village, a money lender is living in the village, a Vaidya is living in the village, a Pundit is living in the village. And in reference to this social structure Sir Charles Metcalfe, the then Acting Governor-General of India, wrote in 1830 , praising the Indian Society that –“The village communities are republican and have everything they need and these villages are free from any foreign connection.
“Many kings and emperors came Revolutions kept happening, but the rural community remained untouched by all this. Such were the powers of the rural communities, as if all of them were a separate state in themselves, in my opinion the main reason for the survival of the Indian people even in the midst of all the invasions. The reason remained the same. The main contribution in the kind of freedom and independence that the people here are living happily is due to this arrangement.” Now from this we can summarize that different sections of the society can we found doing different works for the society. Indian society was so intertwined within itself that it’s any quintessential section cannot be separated from the society.”
The sections of the society what dependent on each other. And this is the reason why the economic system of the village remained self-sufficient in its self. We were not dependent on any outer source ; mechanization and industrialization was also not much fluent in India. That’s why Marx’s Marxism cannot flourish initially in a country like India. These are imported ideas that seem to be attacking the rudiments of Indian society. Marxism was not meant for Indian society. Or else, communism would have emerged in India much before and thinkers like Marx would have already been born in India.
The second thing that the left has created a new trend of attacking the Sanatan culture and the supporters of communism call themselves intellectual while committing such sort of heinous acts. Without having an appropriate knowledge about the sanatani ancient texts they make fun of the faith of believers, and by this they prove their proclaimed intellectuality as stupidity and this veil of injudiciousness leads to the creation of fake narratives and aspects of religion in the society. However Marxism, which is based on the rudiments of bringing equality in the society has nothing to do with this but still Indian communists cannot be seen, doing or bringing any reform in the economy or making society elegant.
When Marxism failed to penetrate this tangled structure of Indian society, it started ridiculing various aspects of our eternal tradition, religious beliefs, faith and culture. They act as the divisive force , invading the roots of our glorious past. And they are still trying to do the same, but our traditions and beliefs are not so weak that they can be rendered lifeless by these venomous attacks of the Left. We should not forget that Kaliya Naag was suppressed by ‘our’ Krishna Kanhaiya only.
**Kewali Kabir**
a sophomore and a social environmental prospector, contemplating society and politics through culture