Remembering the veteran communist leader Tarimala Nagi Reddy on his death anniversary!

T nagir reddy

July 28 is the death anniversary of the of veteran communist leader Tarimala Nagi Reddy, known and called by comrades as com. TN. He was a lifelong fighter for the revolutionary program he has committed and dreamed of. In the state of Andhra Pradesh, he attracted hundreds of cadres towards the Communist movement in the process of carrying out his parliamentary and non-parliamentary struggles.

At the beginning of the Naxalbary revolutionary movement in 1967, he along with D V Rao and Chandra Pulla reddy disagreed with the Peoples’ democratic (revolutionary) parliamentary political program of the CPI (M), considering it as an opportunistic parliamentary path . They agreed the path of armed struggle based on the same programme of Peoples’ Democratic Revolution. Then hundreds of members and supporters came out of CPM and joined with them agreeing with the armed path of Peoples’ Democratic Revolution. He led the work of building an alternative revolutionary party. From the beginning he disagreed with Charumajumdar’s extremist line. At the same time, he worked tirelessly to have unity with the Naxalbary, Srikakulam movements based on the peoples’ path.

He served as the convener of the “Andhra Pradesh Coordination Committee of the Communist Revolutionaries” and subsequently as a member of the Central Committee of the Unity Center of the Communist Revolutionaries of India (Marxist-Leninist) based on the programme of Peoples’ Democratic Revolutionaries opposing the adventurist tactical line. He was arrested and faced ‘Hyderabad Conspiracy Case’, which had 42 accused including veteran communist leader DV Rao on charges of Sedition and Conspiracy. His Defence Statement is later published in book form as “India Mortgaged”. He died on July 28, 1976 at Osmania General Hospital, Hyderabad in the period of Indira’s Emergency rule. He remained as a symbol of the Andhra Pradesh revolutionary movement and moreover of the struggle against exploitation and oppression throughout the country. His spirit of self-sacrifice, his rigour and his intellectual honesty are a source of inspiration to us all.

The program he framed and followed is Peoples’ democratic revolutionary programme. According to him, India is a semi-colonial – semi-feudal country. He believed that after transfer of power in 1947, the big (Comprador) bourgeoisie and feudal lords who are puppets in the hands of the foreign imperialists came in to state power. He stated that after coming to power, those Comprador bourgeoisie and feudal landlord classes are maintaining the same old status of colonial India and protecting the colonial interests of the British imperialists – compradors and feudal classes. He felt that there is no radical change in India after independence from British. He stated that colonial India transformed in to a semi colonial – semi-feudal country after independence. He thought that Indian capitalism and national bourgeoisie are under the subjugation of foreign imperialism and native feudalism. He embraced the people’s democratic revolution, which combines the agrarian revolution against feudalism and the national liberation struggle to eliminate foreign imperialist capital and power.

The aim of this revolution is to overthrow and abolish the rule of foreign imperialism and feudalism, but not to abolish capitalism; The enemy of this revolution is not capitalism, but foreign imperialism and feudalism. Moreover, in this revolution, the national capitalist class is an ally of the working class. It is in fact a bourgeois democratic revolution not under the leadership of Bourgeoisie, but by the working class leadership under the united front of the working class – Peasantry, national capitalist class and middle class. Its aim is to overthrow the comprador bourgeois, feudal and imperialist classes from power and establish a people’s democratic state. Its objective is to eliminate the domination of the foreign capital, its grip over economy and feudal relations, which impeded the development of capitalism; this is what Peoples’ democratic revolutionary program mean. It’s not an anti-capitalist (socialist) revolution.

Com. Tn failed to see the capitalist nature of the Indian state and its policies e.g Unification of princely states, abolition of intermediaries, tenancy reforms, ceiling on land holdings, major Irrigation projects, self reliance and five year plans, role of Banking finance to rural and industrial sectors, growth of large scale industrial- monopoly houses, price movement since independence, rise of unemployment – its nature, commercialization of entire rural economy, domination of capitalist relations (wage labor)in the production system etc.

All these policies prove the capitalist nature of the Indian state. So, ours is a capitalist country and the capitalist class is in power; all the basic problems of life are emanating from capitalism and the primary contradiction in our society is between Capitalism and working people. The main enemy of our revolution is Capitalism and Capitalist class. So, we need an anti-capitalist Socialist revolution against the ruling capitalist class.

According to Com.TN’s analysis” the main task of the anti-imperialist revolution still continues in India, since imperialist exploitation is no whit less than it was under direct colonial rule and hence national liberation is yet to be achieved along with anti-feudal democratic tasks. Thus the Peoples democratic revolution is an anti-Imperialist and anti-feudal revolution..( India mortgaged –p 382)”. According to him, big(Comprado) bourgeois, imperialist and feudal classes are in power. We have to carry on the revolution to over throw them from power not against the capitalist class. Rather,according to him, the Indian national capitalist (Uncompromising section) class is an ally of peoples’ democratic revolution as because it is a suppressed class under the rule of big (comprador) bourgeois, imperialist and feudal classes

The reason why this program is being wrongly adopted is because of the strong impact of the Chinese revolution and its path on the then revolutionary movement of our country is the reason for wrong adoption of this program. That’s why, under the influence of Mao’s theories which guided the Chinese revolution to victory in 1949, Com. TN also incorporated its military strategy. He stated it in ‘ India mortgaged, that “ the vital aspect of this program is to liberate the villages, encircle the towns and gradually liberate the urban areas”. This is in toto the military strategy of the Chinese revolution. Com.Tn’s analysis on the specific conditions of our country during his desperate efforts to frame up an alternative programme while fighting right and left deviations in the movement led him to ignore some of the vital aspects of his own observations about Indian reality.

As a result, Com. TN failed to recognize the Capitalist nature of the Indian state and society, consequently failed to recognize the fact that India is in the stage of anti-capitalist socialist revolution. This is the devastating failure of the official communist movement of India in which com.Tn is also a part and is paid for it’s mistakes with thousands of lives.

It must be said with all sincerity that a real revolutionary movement need genuine criticism and self-criticism of its past and present to step in to future. It is impossible to think of its success lacking this quality.In these circumstances of severe crisis, we must have an unflinching commitment towards truth in order to avoid dogmatic extremes, cold scholasticism, or isolation from the masses. We must strive and involve every day into actual deeds, into acts that serve as examples, as a moving force towards our goal.

This is the only way to pay real homage to Com.TN.

Battini Rao, Convenor, PADS


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