FROM WEEK TO WEEK

Grey River Argus, 1 July 1944, Page 7

FROM WEEK TO WEEK

(By

H. Winston Rhodes)

At present India is not in the news, but India is too important, the problems of India are too serious for us to forget three hundred and fifty million people and their relations with the rest of the world. We must concern ourselves' with India’s internal problems, or, what is much the same thing, with Britain’s disputes with India, because, if words mean anything, we are concerned with the problems of the new social order, and, after this war, with the preservation of world peace.

Some how or other a method must be found, a plan must foe devised, which will at least open the door to a solution of India’s economic and political difficulties, and unfortunately some recent items of news coffiected with these difficulties haql not received the publicity they deserve. One or two of them merely emphaise their nature. One or two of them seem to offei- the hope of a solution, or at least a method of approach. The first comes from a speech delivered by Earl Browder to the American Communist Convention. In. it he said: “The main reason why the British cling so stubbornly to their obsolete colonial system is that they can see available no other instrument to avoid being overwhelmed by the gigantic forces of American capitalism.” He suggested that it was above all necessary that “Britain and America should agree upon an economic policy foi’ the development of world markets, and since this required free and independent people everywhere the colonial system must be dismantled as quickly as possible, Britain being compensated by being guaranteed a proportionate share of the market.”

This is one aspect of the situation. A new social order demands the cessation of trade rivalries which prevent the distribution of the world’s goods, and the Indian problem cannot be solved as long as such rivalries exist, as long as the colonial system is continued. The urgent need of reaching an .agreement, one which should by no means be exclusively an Anglo-American affair, is stressed by recent statements about the Bengal famine. A cable from Bombay suggests that ninety per cent, of the poor peasants and labourers are unable to buy clothing, because of high prices and hoarding. Relief work is now being carried out in an endeavour to prevent a second Bengal famine.

After this war the problems of feeding the world at large and including India and China will be immense. but it is certain that without international planning, and the cessation of the sort of trade conflicts which are due to the frenzied pursuit of profits and power, the problems will never be solved.

The third item of news is that the appeal made to Mr. Amery for the release of political leaders in India so that discussions could take place between Congress Party leaders and leaders of the smaller parties, between Hindus and Muslims, h.as been rejected. This was no ordinary appeal, but one which involved the churches, and the delegation was introduced by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Nevertheless Mr. Amery, surely one of the most unpopular colonial secretaries of modern times, maintains his stubborn conviction that England has done everything possible to end the Indian deadlock.

Both in India itself and among many outside India who have attempted to follow the course of Anglo-Indian negotiations, there are thousands who believe that no solution can be found until Indian leaders are able to thrash out many of their problems among themselves. It may be said that they have in the past had ample opportunity, but the door should never be closed to such an attempt.

Finally it is significant that in India the now legalised communist party has achieved at least some success in bringing about a measure of Hindu-Muslim unity. There is no doubt at all t'hat the Congress Party, although it has a very large number of Muslims among its members, has not done everything possible to bring about such unity. There are faults on both sides. Britain has tended to play off the Muslims against the Hindus, but also Congress has allowed itself to become primarily a Hindu party. What is interesting about communist attempts to bring about unity is the report that a resolution was moved “sending greetings to Muslim patriots, and accepting the Muslim demand for Pakistan (that is a separate Muslin state) as a legitimate demand for democracy whose acceptance will establish a firm unity of all patriots, ( based a on equality and democracy.” If this renorl. is true, it means that at least some sections of . Indian thought are revising their opinions about the declared policy of the Muslim League. It means that an attempt is being made to bring about a united front of Hindus and Muslims both for the prosecution of the war and for a settlement of internal conflict, but the refusal of Mr. Amery to allow discussions to take place between the leaders of India’s political parties will be interpreted by most Indians as an obstacle deliberately put in the way of- Indian efforts to end the deadlock.