THE Kanpur communist conference held from December 26 to 28, 1925, was the first meeting on Indian soil, where almost all the communist groups and elements had joined. The idea of holding a conference involving different groups at Kanpur during the Congress session was first announced by Satyabhakta, who was not a member of any communist group of that period, in a leaflet dated June 18, 1925. Maulana Hasrat Mohani was the chairman of the reception committee for the conference. Shapurji Saklatvala, a communist MP in British parliament was requested to preside, but as he could not attend, Singaravelu Chettiar presided over the session.

Leaders of the recognised communist groups did not want Satyabhakta capture such an all India platform and decided to attend this conference. Accordingly, R S Nimbkar, J P Bagerhatta, K N Joglekar, S V Ghate from Bombay, Ayodhya Prasad from Jhansi, Santok Singh from Punjab, S D Hassan, Ramchandra from Lahore, Kameshwar Rao, Krishnaswamy Ayyengrar and Singaravelu Chettiar from Madras attended the conference. Radhamohan Gokulji attended as delegate from Calcutta. Muzaffar Ahmed, who was released from the jail on health grounds, before the completion of his sentence in the Kanpur Conspiracy Case, also attended the conference, but he went directly from Almora (where he was recuperating) to Kanpur. Arjunlal Sethi from Ajmer also took part in the conference.

Many radical trade union leaders who were in Kanpur to attend the Congress session visited the conference venue. According to police intelligence estimates, about 500 people attended and most of them were workers and peasants.

In the first session, Saklatvala’s message was read out. This was followed by the speech of the chairman of the reception committee Hasrat Mohani and then by the presidential address of Singaravelu. The second session met in the evening of December 26th and was devoted to the adoption of resolutions, while the third session held on 27th was devoted to the adoption of the constitution and to the election of the central executive committee. On December 28, 1925, the central executive committee met and elected the office bearers, the president, vice-president, general secretaries and members of the CEC in charge of the various provinces.

In his welcome address, Mohani described the aims and objectives of the party to be the establishment of Swaraj or complete independence by all fair means and after that to ‘bring into force the form of the Soviet republic’.

Singaravelu Chettiar delivered a lengthy presidential address, where he had paid condolences to Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and most importantly to Lenin, apart from Tilak and Deshbandhu Das. Apart from the need for fighting for independence from the British rule, he had also talked about the economic deprivation of workers and peasants in our country and also the need for fighting for their betterment.

Interestingly, Singaravelu also referred to the problems of casteism and communalism, terming them as ‘dangers ahead’ that need to be confronted. “Religion and caste have been the demons which have been swallowing our political unity from historic times. The country today is again torn as under by these religious and communal differences. The leaders who flaunt these fripperies before us are traitors to our country and to our cause”.

On the question of untouchability and its prevalence, Singaravelu stated: “The problem of untouchability is essentially an agrarian problem, and unless this economic dependence is relieved, talk of removing untouchability is basely insincere. While the no-changer (a reference of Mahatma Gandhi’s programme of the eradication of untouchability) is talking big of injustice and inhumanity of treating our fellow-beings as untouchables, he carefully avoids any reference to their starving, famishing homes….To talk of removing untouchability by itself is obviously insincere and grotesque. We communists should therefore press the economic claims of the suppressed classes by advocating a living wage to be given to them by which they can make their life at least endurable”.

In spite of these progressive assertions, there were certain limitations too that could be found from the speeches of these leaders. Though, they are inspired by the ideas of socialism and Soviet Union, they were not well grounded in the theory of communism and could not recognise the centrality of class struggle in ushering in social change. Singaravelu, considered communism as a system to ‘correct’ extreme inequalities resulting from the ‘distribution of goods’ and ensure that everyone is benefited. For him, communism is only “a sure method of correcting the glaring abuses which reign supreme in the present social and political systems of the world”. These limitations got reflected in the discussions on the naming of the party, its aims and objectives, the means of struggle and also on the question of internationalism.

The conference adopted resolutions expressing solidarity with communists world over, and disapproving the imprisonment of the communist comrades in Britain; solidarity with the communist prisoners convicted in Peshawar and Kanpur conspiracy cases and for the dissolution of the Labour and Kisan Party of Hindustan started by Singaravelu. It was also resolved that the Labour and Kisan Gazette would be the organ of the newly founded CPI and that the central office of the Party would be in Bombay.

During the course of discussions, Satyabhakta’s suggestions on the name and functions of the Party were not accepted. Satyabhakta was for naming the party as Indian Communist Party and was not for affiliation with the Comintern. He was not for internationalism, which is the basis for any communist party. These proposals were rejected by a majority of the delegates.

The conference took the name of Communist Party of India and adopted a declaration form that was to be signed by all those who were wishing to join the party. This form states: “I, the undersigned, aged…., hereby accept and sign the creed of the Communist Party of India which stands for the establishment of a workers’ and peasants’ republic in India. I have carefully gone through the resolutions of the first communist conference….and fully agree with the immediate object of the party which is the securing of a living wage for the workers and peasants by means of nationalisation of public services, namely land, mines, factories, houses, telegraphs and telephones, railways and such other public utilities which require common ownership.”

The conference intended to elect a central executive committee consisting of 30 members, but only 16 were elected at the conference, with 14 to be coopted later from the provinces. The central executive committee met on December 28th and elected the office bearers and organisers. Singaravelu was elected president of the party, Azad Sobhani as the vice-president, SV Ghate and Janaki Prasad Bagerhatta as general secretaries. Comrades Krishnaswamy Iyyengar, Satyabhakta, SD Hassan and Muzaffar Ahmed were elected as secretaries for the four provinces, Madras, Kanpur, Lahore and Calcutta respectively.

Talking about the circumstances that led to the formation of the Party, the central executive committee elected at Kanpur conference wrote the following in its Annual Report which was adopted at its meeting in Bombay in May 1927: “Kanpur being the place where the communists were tried and sentenced, the zeal for a party with the programme that came in the court was comparatively more than in other places and Satyabhakta availed himself of this opportunity and started a party named and styled as the Indian Communist Party. This party attracted a number of people who got themselves enlisted as its members….But it was seen that in spite of all this, there was nothing Marxian underlying the work, and, on the contrary, a number of things, which it is unnecessary to refer here, were done that would, in a country like India where communism is not generally understood, bring into disrepute the philosophy of communism….Though we succeeded in capturing this organisation, the party was kept in a provisional form and neither a definite constitution nor a programme could be formulated”.

If Tashkent was the first step for formations of an Indian communist praty, Kanpur communist conference was first effort on indian soil in direction of formation of an all India party.