. ,:.:.-:.\ _.delivered ..,.,supportofallcolonial10'
tmovementsagainstImperialil'im ' '.In' the
-followingchapter,on"The' Road theDictatorshipoftheProletariat,
"wegetatpage35areferencetothe
needforutilisinganywarcrisisandfor"discrediting,exposinganddestroy-ingthepoliticalinfluenceofthesO,cial-democracyandoftheyellowTrade
Union bureaucrats.".15 o. P. 93.We comenow to the period
from,1924to1928,and it is the prosecution case from 'he Fifththat
during thisperiod there wasamarkedefforton the part oftheCommunist
CongressOnward. Party of Great Britain(to which Ihavesofar made
little allusion)to carry out the policy of th(lCommunist
International in India, prescribed for it as mentioned earlier.20
ThefirstdocumentonwhichtheProsecutionhas'baseditscasehereis P.
2582,"Bolshevising theCommunist International ", which purports to
be the
reportoftheEnlargedExecutiveoftheCommunistInternational,March21st
.toApril14th,1925.ThisbookwastenderedbytheProsecutionattheendof the
evidenceasabookofreference.Oneof theaccusedobjectedthat it should25
have beentenderedbefore .and that there wasacopy in oneof
thesearches, and furthersearchshowsthatthisbookwasfoundin
thesearchofoneBegarhotta,
formerlyamemberandJointSecretaryoftheCommunistParty ofIndiaand
appearsasitem141intherelevantsearch-list,P.779.It wasnothowever
noticedat thetimewhenevidencewasbeinggivenastothatsearch,or indeed'
30 untilmuchlater.Itappearstobeabookproperlyadmissibleasabookof
}'eferenceillconnectionwiththehistoryoftheCommunistInternational(ct.
Section 57,Indian Evidence Act).Secondly it appears to methat the
presump-tion whicharisesunderSection87oftheEvidence
Actmayalsoreasonablybe drawn.Thebook purports tobepublished
fortheCommunist International by35 theCommunistParty of Great
Britain, 16,King Street,CoventGarden,W.C. 2 and
thecontentsaresuchaswewouldexpectsuchareporttocontain.Ipro-pose
therefore to accept it as atrue account of the proceedings of this
Conference. (It willberememberedthat Ihavealreadyreferredtoit
inconnectioriwith
.ComradeGallacher'sremarksaboutnothavinganysentimentalbeliefinthe40
freedomofpeoples).Thefollowingitemsofinterest,whichappearfromthis
report,havebeenreferredtobytheProsecution
:--,-First,onpage5,thereis O.P.
H.alistofmemberselectedtothePresidium;oneoftheseisRoyfor" The
Orient"..A.gainon page 15, we findalist of the members elected to
the Colonial Commissionand
undertheheadofIndiathenameofRoy.Royisalsonoted45 as the Secretary
of this Commission.. On page 125 at the end of the' report of the
EveningSessionon April4th,wefindashortspeechbyComradeRoy(India)
reported.Idonotthinkit isworthquotingatlengthandit willbesufficient
to notethat heexpressesaconfident hope that I' therevolutionary
forces of the colonial
andsemi-colonialcountrieswillbebroughtwithintheactiveranksof50
revolutionaryforcesbeingorganisedunder the banner of
theCommunistInter-national".Atpage136wefindthattheColonialCommissionsubmittedfour
resolutionswhichwereunanimouslyadopted andoneof
whichrelatedtoIndia. At the topof thesamepage is set out the policy
proposed by tlieColonialCom-missionforIndia.It
isasfollows:--,-"TheCommissionisoftheopinion that55 it.is now
necessary for the Communists to continue work in the National
Congress and in theI.jeft. wing of theSwaraj
Party.Allnationalistorganisationsshould
beformedintoamassrevolutionaryParty,anall-Indiananti-imperialist
.bloc. Theslogan of the People's Party, having forthe main points
in its programme:
separationfromtheEmpire,ademocraticrepublic,universalsuffrageandthe60
abolitionoffeudalism-slogansputforwardandpopularisedbytheIndian
Communists-iscorrect."Thisisanimportantstatementwhichshouldbe
borneillmindinconsideringthedevelopmentofCommunistpolicyinIndia
duringtheperiodfrom1925-1929asitappearsfromthecorrespondencewhich
passedbetweenEuropeandIndia.Theresolutionitself(theReport'states)65
O.P.IN5. O.P.96. O.P.M. containsimltructionsfrom. theColonial'
CommissiontotheIndianCommunists ,ito
direottheireffortstowardssecuring leadershipov.ertheJIlRsses' ofthe
peasantry, and to facilitateand encourage the organisation and
amalgamation of trade unions,and take over the leadership of all
thejr struggles' '. .. 'The next'historical event is the lecture
given by Stalin(Lenin was now dead)6 to the students of the
University of the Peoples oHhe East on'18th May 1925 and
referredtoearlier.It isapartof"Leninism"byStalin(P.8)andatyped copy
was found in the" Kranti" Office, P.1203., In thesame month weget
thePolitical Report oftheCentralCommitteeof
theFourteenthCongressoftheCommunistPartyoftheSoviet Union,which10
appearsin"Leninism"atpages351--457.Thefirstchapterpages351--381 is
beaded" International Situation"and was the portion of the book
which was studied first by Hutchinson's Circle of Progressive
Youth.The prosecution has referred to this document in connection
with the question of individual terrorism
aboutwhichthereisaveryfirmdeclarationonpage378whereStalinsays:16
ULet meexplain that communists never havehad and never will
haveanything todo'wi.ththetheoryandthepractice
ofindividualoutrages; that communists never have' and never will
haveanything todowith the theoryand the practice
ofconspiraciesagainstindividualpersons.Thetheoryandthepracticeof
'the Comintern isbased upon the idea of organising arevolutionary
mass movement2.0 against c.apitalism.That is the true ,task of the
communists.Only ignoramuses
andidiotscanconfoundconspiraciesandindividualactsofterrorisation'
with the policy of theComintern, which is based upon thepromotion
of amass move-ment."In tbisconnectionthere isaremark by Lenin
himself in P. 975,"Left
WingCommunism,AnInfantileDisorder"(recoveredfromthepossessionof26
Dangeaccused)whichcastssomelightontheproperinterpretationofthis
declarationofStalin.Atpage19hesays.:"Secondly,initsindividual
terrorismandattemptsatassassination,thisparty(theSocialistRevolution-ilries)sawitspeculiarclaimto"revolutionism
"and"leftness "-a thing whichweMarxiansrejected.It
is,ofcourse,self-evidentthatwerejected30
iridividualterroronlyfromconsiderationsofexpediency ;
'forthosewhowould "onprinciple "condemnterror
'generallyonthepartofavictoriousrevolu-tionary party, beseiged by
thebourgeoisieof the wholeworld,had beenscorned
andridiculedbyPlekhanov in
1900-1903,whenhewasaMarxistandrevolu-tionary;"This suggests, what
one might be inclined in any case to suspect, that36
therejectionofindividualterrorismispurely' onthegroundofexpediency
becauseindividualterrorismisasoftenasnotuseless,andthatviewisfully
supported l)y Trotsky in P.1236, "The Defence of
Terrorism"(Terrorism and Communism)publishedin 1921andfromthe
possessionofMirajkar accused.Atpage55ofthisbookTrotskysays:l' But
therevolutiondoes40
requireoftherevolutionaryclassthatitshouldattainitsendbyallmethods
at its disposal-if necessary,by an armed rising: if required
by..... Thequestionoftheformofrepression,or
ofitsdegree,ofcourse,isnotone of"principle".It
isaquestionofexpediency .... ,...Terrorcanbevery
efficientagainstareactionaryclass ,whichdoesnot
wanttoleavethesceneof40
operations........Avictoriouswar;generallyspeaking,destroysonlyan
insignificantpalt of the conqueredarmy, intimidating
theremainderand break-ing their will.Therevolutionworksin
thesameway:it killsindividuals,and intimidates thousands."All
thisarises from the fact that,as stated on page 51,
"theproblemofrevolution,asof war,consistsin breakingthewillofthe
foe,50 forcing him.to capitulate and toacceptthe con,ditionsof the
conqueror It is interesting to observe that these views are fully
accepted by the accused inthiscase.Forexample,Hutchinl;lonviolence
'merelyon thegroundthatthelivesof
theworkersareveryprecious.Atthesametime he feels that the terrorist
movement is as Lenin puts it "An Infantile Disorder "55 and an
fmpedimentto thegrowthand developmentof theCommunist Movement
inIndia.Individualterrorism.infactretardsamasSmovement which,when
the time comes,will use terrorism just in sofar as it'is felt to be
'neCessary.We shall frnd the same idea put forward in one of the
speeches of Dange and a number of the statements made by other
accused tothis Court..60 The next landmark to which wecome is the"
Resolution on theSituation in GreatBritain ",withasub-heading"
TheAchievementsoftheCommunist Party andtheir
LessonsfortheSectionsoftheCo:inmunistInternational
"re-portedin"Inprecorr ",SpecialNumber,VolumeVI,No.40;dated13thMay
192_6,part of P.2491;at' page 643.In thisthereappearsat
page644asection65 "'La IJMCC"" headed'"'The -::
TasksoftheCommunistParty"andsUb-section4ofthisis important.ltruns:"
TheBritishmust up t:t. .struggle of the oppressedpeoplesof,
thecolomesand mobllisetheBntlshin supportofevery
whichd.evelopsagainstistosay,theCommun,lstInternatlOllalcallsuponItsSectIOn,theC.'P.G.B.,
directly toshow activity regard tothe moveme,ntin',the colonies. 5
10 15 Before Igoontothenextin hl:stoficalsequence,namelyP. 2365;
"TheCommunist International' I, which is a report of the' position
in all sections oftheWorldOommunist, Party between theFifth
andSixth WorldCongresses, that.isbetween1924.and1928,it is
necessarytogivesomeaccountofthe orgrtnisationstowhichweshall
havefrequentreferencesin thisperiod,namely the Hed International of
Labour Unions, its British sectionthe National Minority
Movement,andtheCommunistParty ofGreatBritain.Themembersofthe
N.1\1.1\1.area11naturally membersoftheC.P.G.B.sothat thismayappear'
:fatherliketakingthepartbeforethewhole,butthereissomeconveniencein
dealingwiththemin ,thisorder,becausetheR.I.L.U.andNrM.M.canbe
O.P.98.moreor lesseompletelydisposedof whereasthesubject of theC.P.
G.B.leads
straight011tothegeneralhistoryoftheconspiracyandtheevidenceinregard
to it.
TheRedInter.,P.511(recoveredinthesearchoftheofficeoftheBengalWorkers'and20
natlonalofLabourpeasants' Party at 2/1European Asylum
Lane,Calcutta), is asmall book issued
Unions.bytheLabourResearchDepartment in 1920entitled" TradeUnionsin
Soviet Russia", and contains areport of the Third General
Congressof Russian Trade Unions,heldin :March1920.Just preceding
that report, in the thesisonTrade
UnionsinSovietRussiabyLozovsky,whichtakesupthefirst47pagesofthe
book,wefindachapter onInternational policyandon page44asection
headed "Unity with theThird International".In this there isapassage
whichshows
thepositionoftheRussianTradeUnionsrelativetotheCommunistInter-25
O.P.99. national.It isas follows:- "TheThirdInternational
isafightingrevolutionaryclasscentre,whichis30 accessible to all
proletarian, political, trade union and co-operative organisations,
which,not in words,but in deeds, fightfor socialism.It would
beagreat crime on our part if weattempted to create aspecial trade
union international. ...... .
thel'evolutionaryclasstradeunionsmustentertheThirdInternationalin
whichthey mustorganise trade unionsectionsor secretariats.For that
reason35 theThird Congress decidedtojoin theThird International and
tocall upon the revolutionaryclassunionsof
allothercountriestofollowitsexample."Very
muchaboutthesamedateintheThesesandStatutesadoptedbytheSecond
Congressof theCommunistInternationalandreproducedin P. 2395wefindon
page 41apassage: "The Communist International intends to organise
an inter,40 national section composed of the red labour unions,
which recognise the principles of Communism. nSo here weseethe
approaching birth of the Red International of
LabourUnionsfromtwosides.This is in 1920,and in apamphlet,P. 1230,
"LeninandtheTradeU l;lionMovement ", f writtenbyLozovskyafter
Lenin's death(recovered fromthe search of theroomof S. S. Mirajkar
accusedon20th45 March 1929), thewriter mentionsthat it felltohim
with certain .otherstobegin layingthefoundationof theR.I.L.U.in
Moscowin1920.In thesameyear-P. 1135, an I. L.P. pamphlet entitled"
The Communist International"(recover.
edf:romthepossessionofJoglekaraccused)waspublished.It containstwo
things,one,theconditionsprescribed by theSecondCongressof
theCommunist50 International for the admissioJlof parties to it
and, two,the text of the constitu-tionofa"
RedHTradeUnionInternationalbytheCommunists.Underthe firS,thead in
para. 10 on page 6 wefindthe following:-(( "It
isthedutyofeverypartybelongingtotheCOImnllniStInte-rnational to
fightvigOl"ously and stubbornly the yellowTrade Union International
founded at Amsterdam.It should,ontheother hand,contribute to its
utmostabilityto
theinternationalunionoftheRedTradeUnionsadheringtotheCommunist
International. "Underthesecondheadonpage9thereappearsacircular
issuedtoTrade Unionsby Zinoviev,President of theE.C.C.I.,with aview
to thetheRedTradeUnionInternational.In thecourseof thiswe
findwllattheCommunistInternational's ideasareastothedutiesof
thisRed Traqe Mqvementstated.in the following terms55'- .' ,"It
mustl'enounceaUsurvivals ofcorporatenarrowness.Itmustplace on the
order of the day-in agreement with the Communist Party;-the.
immediate 60 o;p.ioo. O,P.IOI. O.P.102.
sirnggleforthe'dictatOrshipofthi proletariatandJol' :Sov:iet;rule
... It.refusetoup the old garments of capitalism in thereformist
fashion.The newtrade m;nonmovementmustplacethegenera:1strikein
theforegroundana prepare 11combination of general strike and' armed
insu.rractioll/'.. Going on t()the footof pagel3we
findthefollowing6:.. .Communist considers tlieliourlvtscomewhen
trade UnIons,freedfrombourgeoisand.'influence,should,
delay,fortl).their
internati&nal.byindustriesaDdonaWorld-WIdescale.:
WemustsetUpinoppositiontotheYellowTradeUnionTnternationa4 whichthe
ngentsof the bourgeoisieare endeavouringtore-establishat Amster-
Waspington,andParis, theRed,really proletarian,Trade Union Interna.
tlOnal,whIChwHlwork in agreement
withtheThirdCommunistInternational." Then on page 15there is
another passage:H The E;C.C.Lconsidersthat
notonlythepoliticalCommunistpartiesshould takepart in
theOongresses. Qf
theC.I.,butalsothosetradeunionswhichadopttherevolutionaryplatform.
The RedTrade UJ;lionsshould unite internationally and becomean
integral part (section)of the Communist International. ., .. . . ..
.. . . . . . ..Long live theRed TradeUnionInternational I"
Theseextractsmakeit quiteclearwhattheintentionsin regard totheRed
Trade Unionswere,namelythattheir aim likethat of
theCommunistInterna. tional should be armed insurrection. P.
48,"l'he Labour International Handbook" for 1921,edited by R.Pahne
Dutt,of whommoreanon,givessomeaccounton page201of theformationof
thisInternational,whichshows. thatitwasestablishedunderthenameofthe
International()ouncilofTradeandIndustrialUnionsonJuly 15,1920,toaet
as "amilitant international committee for the re-organisation of
the trade union movement"workinginconjunction
withtheE.C.oftheThirdInternational. In the Provisional Rules on the
same page we find section II' Aims and Objects " andllos.1and
2amongtheseare as follows:-(1)"Tocarry on an insistent and
continuouspropaganda forthe ideasof therevolutionary
classstruggle,socialrevolution,dictatorshipof the proletariat
andmassrevolutionaryactionwiththeobjectofdestroyingthecapitalists
system andthebourge?isState." (2)"To fightagainst the diseaseof
classco-operation whichisweakening
thelabourmovement,andagainstthehopethatapeacefultransition from
capitalism ispossible.". 10 20 25 35 Section III deals with the
composition of the organisation and mentions that the International
Council'also includes arepresentative of the E.
C.C.I.Final-lythebookstates:"TheInauguralCongressoftheneworganisationWas40
summoned :I'or uly 1st, 1921." IntheThirdCongressof the'
Co:rnmunistInternational,heldat Moscowin July 1921,wefind that the
Trade Union question was exhaustively surveyed,the relations of the
R.I. L. U. and I. F. T. U.(the Yellow Trade U,l.uon International)
andaprogI'aD)meofactiononthebasisoffactorycommitteesagreedupon.45
(See P. 2366,"Communist Party T'raining", at page 76,and alsoP.
2396,"The Report of the Decisions of the Thlrd Congress of the
Communist International ", mentionedalready.at
pages69following,thesectionheaded"TheProgramme of Action ")..
P.1136,"The'Reds' inCongress ",recoveredfromthepossessionof J
oglekaraccused,isareportoftheFirstInternational CongressoftheRed
TradeUn,ionInternationalbyJ. T.Murphy,awell-knowilBritishCommunist.
Atpage16ofthiswefindcertainspeakersexplainingthatthe .intention was
toestablish 'areal working practical arrangement betweenthe tw&
'organisa-tions,thatistheOommunistInternationalandthenew,TradeUnionInterna-tional,anditappearsthattheresolutioninfavollrofaharmonioul;!working
arrangement between the twoInternationals being est!lblished was
carried by an QVoliticalBureauofthe O.P.130. C.P.
G.B.,however,feltittoreleaseArnot in viewoftheimport-anceof the
positionoccupiedby him at theL.R.D.(Labour ResearchDepart- 40
ment).TheyaccordinglydecidedtoapproachRathboneinthematterand
wrotetoR.P.Dutton22ndFebruary 1925,asking him todoso.Onthe16th
ofMarchDuttrepliesinP.(2)sayingthattheParty'slettertohimonthe
subjecthad beendelayed,butthatheha,dgiventhemessagetoRathbone.
HehadalsoreceivedaletterfromComradePepper,apparentlyanAmerican45
ComradeatMoscow,onthesamesubject.InP.(3),dated19-3-25
RathbonewritestoInkpinsayingthathehasreceivedP.(1)throughR.P.
Duttandgivingreasonswhyhecannotdoanythinginthematte,ratpresent.
FinallyinP.(4)Inkpin(whoselettersarenotsignedpresumablybecause
P.(1)andP.(4)areofficecopies)acknowledgesDutt'sletterP:(2),andex-.50
plainsthedelay.HisexplanationContainsapointofinterestin
hisstatement
that:"Thenatureoftheletter(P.(1wasonewhichitwasshouldbasentthroughtheordinarychannel.Sotherewasafurtherdelay
beore 'I couldarrangeforittobesentthroughyou."Soit isclearthatthE)'
C.P.G.B.doesnot likeseRdingthrough thepost lettersin
regardtoarrange- 55 mentsforsendingmembersofthePartytoMoscow.
Before Igofurther therearesomepoints.. boutRathbonetobe deaitwith.
First, wemay notethat in P.(3)Rathbonesays: "When coming
here(I'note that thereis noaddressonthe
letter)Igavemygroupleadermyaddress 'and also the L. R. D.'s where
of course Ihad been working until Icameaway."The' secondpoint i,sas
tothe authenticity of Rathbone'sletter andsomefaotswhich
appearfromtheproofinthatconnection.In thecaseofRathboneagainthe
standardsignaturesarehissignaturesonapassportapplication,P.2438,and
on the passport'photograph, P. 2450.Theseare to becompared withthe
signa-, tura on the telegraphic Money-order P; 1505, and the
photograph of the S1iguature 60 65 Qlt on thisP.
'2394P.(3).Thecomparisonleaves'noroomfordoubtthat all
th('Ingnatures ure hy the same person"and that isthe
opinionbyStott,fW.277.Rathbone'spassport,P.2450,doesnotgiveusany
exactmformahon asto ,,:"asin March 1925.It sh,owsthat in ber, 1924,
he landed at Dleppe andOctober,1924,andSeptember,1925,IS
apla.ceGettesburg.Thenm1927the'passportshowsthathevisited
RussIa.as,hlswasrenewedthere on 1-6-27.His passport further bear(\
aEXItVISa,Moscow29-9-27andaFrontier stamp He agam re-entered
RUSSIaon 22-10-27and left it 0112l-12-27.', Anotherletter in
whichtheComintern issuesdirectionstotheC.P.G.B.10 is
P.2372(1),(F.C.25),dated25-4-25recoveredinthesElarch'of'the
O.P.G.B.office(ct.thestatementofP.W.4,DetectiveSergeantRenShaw),
fromE.H.Brown(towhosedeputation toMoscowIhaverE1ferredu\ dealing
with P. to Comrade w40se name has also appeared
andappearsagalllmP.2364,theoffiCIalreportoftheNinthCongressofthe,.lIS
C.P. G.B.held in October 1927at page65,whereasaParty's
delegatetothe B.P.III;E. C.C.I. he makes areport to the Party on
the deliberationsof that bodv.In
thililletterBrownwritingfortheEditorialBoardoftheCo;uununisttionalaskstheC.P.G.B.toarrange
forthepreparation ofarticles,on.certain
subjects,I;l.,ndsuggeststhattheymaybepreparedbyMurphyhimself,Dutf;20
Bennett or others;He goes on:"In the ca,se of the Minority Movement
pEn'haps ComradePollittdothetrick."Thenlateronhe,says:"In additiona
special articleon the Minority Movementisrequired. "Brown
goesontoStly: o. P, 132. "It
isessentialthatthesearticlesshouldbepreparedanddespatchedatthe
earliestmoment", and in it.P.S,headds:.,
Iamwritingthislettertotht\25 dictationofanimportantmemherofthe
'EditorialBoard."It mayperhaplil
benotedthatoneofthesubjectsonwhichanarticlewasrequiredwas"The
Colonialdevelopmentsandtheirrelationsto theEmpire
;theforcesoperating :\n.tliecolo:qies". Thereisanother letter
fromBrowntoMurphy,[Po2732(2)],(F.Co' 44)30 dated June 12.The only
pointtowhichIneeddraw attentiQn isthe mention