THE start of the Second World War in 1939 had a tremendous impact on the political developments in India. The British viceroy, without consulting any of the Indian representatives, declared India also a participant in the war. Following the declaration of war, prices of essential commodities shot up. People were discontented at the resulting rise in the cost of living. The Communist Party immediately came out with a declaration opposing the war. In a statement published in the official organ of the Party, The Communist, it appealed to the masses to ‘take the initiative and act’, at ‘this grave national crisis’.

At the initiative of the Communist Party, the working class of Bombay organised an anti-war strike, in which 90,000 workers participated. This was the first of its kind in the world during the Second World War. This was followed by the strike for dearness allowance of 175,000 textile workers of Bombay, which lasted for 40 days in spite of a severe repression and wholesale arrest of the leaders. In solidarity, workers representing all sections of work force went on one day solidarity strike. The Bombay strike was followed by a wave of strikes all over the country.

The Polit Bureau of the Party issued a statement, titled ‘On CPI Policy and Tasks in the Period of War’, detailing the tactics that the Party needed to adopt during this period. It explicitly mentioned that the duty of the Indian people is to “unconditionally resist war, to achieve her own freedom, weaken British imperialism, the bulwark of world reaction and thus strengthen the forces of revolution on a world scale”.

In many important cities and industrial centres, workers struck work and organised rallies, in which tens of thousands of workers and other poor and middle class people participated. The Communist Party and other Leftist organisations were in the forefront of giving these mass struggles an organised leadership and in organising anti-war propaganda. A section of the ordinary Congressmen and Congress committees also cooperated with them in these activities.

The powerful agitations and struggles conducted by the Communist Party brought pressure upon the right-wing Congressmen, who were expecting some concessions from the British imperialism during its period of crisis. The Congress governments were forced to resign due to the consistent pressure exerted by the communists. In an article published in The Communist (November 1939), the Party clearly stated that ‘imperialism is not prepared to make any concession’. Further, it correctly explained how the British would try to use the situation: “By frequent promulgation of prohibitory orders, by arresting most Congressmen, socialists, communists, kisan sabha and trade union workers, by suppressing radical papers, it would strive to destroy the revolutionary core of the national movement. By encouraging forces of communal disruption it would try to blackmail the Congress and spread demoralisation. By bits, the national forces would be broken up. Every attempt on the part of the national leadership to restrain and restrict the struggle, to confine it within the framework of law would inevitably sharpen the conflict within the national front and weaken the national forces”.

Apart from the mass anti-war strikes, rallies and other protests, the Party decided to carry an extensive agitation campaign among the people, through ‘street-corner meetings, handbills, study groups’, to expose the real character of the war and make the working class conscious of its role and tasks. The Party also decided that working class should not be confined to struggles on their economic demands like higher wages, rising prices alone, as that would mean “renouncing the task of making a bold bid for proletarian leadership of the political struggle ahead”. With this understanding, they had worked incessantly to organise workers, educate them on the imperialist character of the war and rouse their consciousness by linking their day-to-day demands with the anti-war campaign.

For instance, in the Communist Party Manifesto to the Workers of Jute Mills, Railways, Iron Factories, etc. (1940), they had linked up the government’s demand for war subscriptions, the rising prices and the meagre wages, to rouse the workers into struggles. The Home Department, in its secret report on communist activities acknowledged the efficacy of this strategy. “Communist plans for a common programme for communists, socialists, workers and peasants include the unsettling of labour by suggesting demands for 25 per cent wage increases and dear-food allowances, and of kisans with demand for remission of rent and a reduction of taxes. These proposals are accompanied by political instructions to the various centres explaining that ‘mixing anti-war propaganda with these demands will enable us to mobilise the workers and peasants en masse’. The instructions reveal a marked ability in planning”.

Along with the working class, communists also concentrated on mobilising peasants and students also in the anti-war demonstrations as a means to broaden the basis for a nation-wide anti-war movement. A major objective behind these efforts was to popularise militant forms of action and ensure that mass action ‘becomes a dominant feature of the national movement on as broad scale as possible’. As a result of these efforts, the All India Students Federation became the most powerful and leading student organisation, which united and supported all fighting and radical sections of anti-imperialist students.

Another major effort of the Communist Party during this period was fight against communalism. The Party had clearly warned at the start of the war itself that the British imperialism, “would encourage forces of communal disruption that would threaten to submerge the national movement in communal riots”. The Party, with a clear class perspective decided that “the masses must be made alert by carrying on a strong agitation against the efforts made by such communalist organisations as the Muslim League, Hindu Mahasabha, etc., enjoying patronage of British imperialism to divide the masses by spreading the poison of communalism among them. It is only revolutionary propaganda of class war among the masses that can eradicate the poisonous weeds of propagation of communal hatred.”

These attempts of the communists were met with brutal repression. The government came down with a heavy hand, enforced the Defence of India Act and rounded up communists. In addition to prohibiting public meetings and curtailing freedom of the press and other mass media, an emergency law banning volunteer organisations was enacted. In June 1941, the Party organ was banned. Out of 700 detained during this period, 480 were communists.
Communists carried out both underground and work in the open, striking a careful balance between members who ‘may and those who may not risk arrest’. Though the Party was under ban since 1934, they used the platforms of Congress Socialist Party and other mass organisations to carry out their work. United front tactics helped a lot to expand communist activities.

The Communist Party realised the importance of maintaining unity between all forces fighting against the British and considered that it was the Congress that was to play a decisive role in rallying the people against imperialism and war. But there was huge difference of opinions among the various parties – between the right-wing and the Left-wing Congressmen, CSP, Forward Bloc and the Communist Party – on the tactics to be pursued during the war time.

The Communist Party examined the character of the war and Britain's role in it by making an objective evaluation of the international background in which the war broke out, the resultant class forces and their interrelationship. On this basis, the Party examined critically the politics and approaches of the right-wing Congress leadership, the CSP and the Forward Bloc: the Congress leadership striving to bargain with Britain, while making anti-fascist declarations; the CSP leadership which, while pretending to oppose the Congress, was in effect approving its policies, the Communist Party, which was trying to expose the real character of the British rulers by tearing of its anti-fascist veil and the Forward Bloc, which was trying to organise a revolution in India with the assistance of the fascist powers.

Because of these differences, the Left unity which was built up with strenuous efforts reached a near collapse. In March 1940, the CSP announced the expulsion of communists from that party.

Two major publications of the Communist Party – the Proletarian Path, outlining the programme of militant mass struggles and a booklet, Parties and Politics, a sharp critique of the policies of the Congress, the CSP and the Forward Bloc, provided ideological material for communists throughout the country, training them in the spirit of militant nationalism and proletarian internationalism. These two documents were translated and widely circulated. Full use was made of the Party Letter that came out regularly every week to educate the Party comrades.

The Nazi military attack on the Soviet Union began on June 22, 1941 and fundamentally changed the basic character of the war and world politics. This brought about a change in the political stand of the Party too.