Sunday, February 19, 2012

PEOPLE'S LITERATURE.


PEOPLE’S LITERARY AND CULTURAL MOVEMENT.  {DOCUMENT}

Any culture is expressed in human relations, thoughts, actions, life styles and social activity. In one word, culture is nothing but an expression of economic, political and social life of a given society. Since the emergence of class society, literature, art and culture had seen representing the interests of a definite class or classes. So, every class society has two kinds of literature, art and culture. One is the literature, art and culture of the exploiting ruling classes and another is the literature, art and culture of the exploited and oppressed classes struggling to free themselves from the old society and herald a new society. The contradictions-struggle-unity that manifest in the sphere of literature, art and culture, therefore, are only a reflection of struggle between the old and new social system and class forces. The exploiting ruling classes always try to negate, undermine and suppress the literature, art and culture representing the interests of the exploited and oppressed classes and promote and protect the literature, art and culture that represent their own interests. They project their own literature, art and culture as that of entire society. They indulge in all rubbish talk like’ art for art’s sake’, ‘non-class art’ or ‘art for common good’ only with an aim to smoothen the way to market the literature, art and culture that serve their own interests. The struggle between the old and new literature art and culture together with the struggle for or against the social change is continuing in India too ever since India was divided into a class society. The people’s literature, art and culture in our country have a long and tortuous course of development and glorious history.

India is faced with an all-round cultural crisis today. Everywhere we find poisonous and degraded values polluting the minds and social atmosphere. Retrogressive culture and values in the name of past heritage and decadent culture and values in the name of modern culture are reining the scene. This is very disturbing situation for everyone who is concerned about the future of India.

Feudalism of Middle age is historically out dated in India too as was the case with many countries in the world. But the colonialists first, then the imperialists and the exploiting ruling classes in collusion with them had neither allowed feudalism to meet its natural and inevitable death not tolerated the struggle of new social forces to drive it into the grave with all its traces. They retained it with certain modifications together with the culture and values associated with feudalism to use the same to prevent the onward march of the social forces.

The feudal culture is playing a key role in sustaining the backward, retrogressive and antidemocratic ideas and forces in the society. It is preventing the growth of people’s consciousness from questioning the exploitation and oppression of the feudal and other exploiting classes and their authority, egos and hypocrisy. The cast system and caste chauvinism which are eating away the vitals of Indian Society are continued fundamentally by the feudal productive relations. For generations, the women are looked down as second-rate citizens. They are weighed down heavily by the customs, traditions and patriarchal system. The theory of fate or destiny in the name of god and religion, the concepts of previous birth or rebirth that are being injected into the brains of the people are playing like opium to keep the people buried under the influence of many superstitions, myths and illusions. The mindset of the people is being diverted to seek spiritual solutions for the real problems faced by them in their lives. In the midst of phenomenal advance in the sphere of science and technology, various blind beliefs, vaastu and astrology etc., continue to guide or dictate the lives of our people. Bhakti, devotion to god and blind beliefs, superstition are being promoted as a big industry. The religious superstitions and fanaticism would not allow the rational thinking, creativity and scientific genius of the human beings. All these are an integral part of feudal culture. In the attempt to impose and legitimize the monopoly of a ’gifted’ few over the mental and material resources of people, the feudal culture preaches that the social qualities take a shape and flourish out of one’s birth, caste, religion and position but not in accordance with the economic, political and cultural conditions. Thus the feudal culture represents a historically obsolete social system and is playing the role of holding back and arresting the onward march of Indian society. The progressive, democratic writers and artists are therefore; faced with the challenge of breaking the shackles of feudal culture and adding strength and impetus to the people who are struggling to put an end to feudalism and win a New Democratic Society.

The British colonial rule ended in 1947 but their plunder continued in India. The Indian rulers had opened doors of the Indian economy wide for the imperialist loot and plunder and consequently several imperialist powers, especially the US, came to dominate every aspect of life in India. It got further intensified many times with the policy of globalization adopted by the Indian ruling classes.

The imperialist penetration and control are not limited to economic and political spheres. The education, research, media, literature, art and culture, for that matter every branch of intellectual and cultural activity suffers from the pernicious influence and domination of imperialism. A Culture of slavishly eulogizing and imitating the western culture, infatuation for the English language, addiction to consumerism and denigration of one’s own mother tongue, fancy for US are systematically injected into the brains of our people. Many deceptive and sophisticated methods are being employed for this purpose. The unquenchable thirst for profit and share in the loot-a basic nature of capitalist’s selfishness, taking an indifferent, casual and non-concern attitudes towards events, trends and forces that are seriously affecting the larger sections of people and society, social neglect, disrespect to human values, drug addiction, anarchism, criminality, pub-culture, treating women as commodities, hedonism, spreading hate towards Muslims in the name of war between religions or civilizations – all a part of the imperialist culture are being spread in the Indian society. The agencies and forces funded and guided by the imperialists are working overtime to pollute and poison the mind of our people. They are doing everything to disarm the people and social forces as well as people’s movements by open and hidden attacks and unrelenting attempts to confuse, shatter confidence, fragment and dismantle progressive ideas, scientific ideologies and leaderships.

The imperialist globalization had further intensified and speeded up this course of decadence. It is bent on trampling under the foot the principles of democracy and independence and the struggle of our people for highest forms of democracy, independence and progress. It is bent on distorting, vulgarizing and ultimately wiping out the natural, diverse and live forms of national and ethnic cultures and replacing them with perverted and decadent imperialist culture. The MNCs and Indian corporate houses and other countless agencies, various forms of media, TV channels, cinema and advertising agencies are working overtime to spread the cultural pollution, set the mindset, habits, mannerisms, life styles, food habits, attitudes towards beauty, glamour and social stature to boost up profits for the imperialist companies. The so called IT sector has become a big Centre not only for the ruthless loot of our country’s mental wealth but also a Centre to mould a section of our intellectual cream into tools of a neo colonial form of plunder and domination. All this is making the anti-imperialist and anti-feudal literature, art and cultural movement more difficult and at the same time, all important.

The bourgeois ideas and culture had flown into India from the world. They had also sprouted on the Indian soil along with the emerging capitalist forces. Yet they could not grow in a healthy manner. They lacked a sound and independent basis of capitalism as the main cream of capitalists in India allowed themselves shamelessly to be tied by thousand and one strings of dependence and compradorism to the imperialists. Thus they had reduced themselves into vehicles to spread the imperialist culture in India. With this, we came to have a peculiar situation where the identification of bourgeois culture presents itself as uphill task without subjecting it to the acid test whether it demarcates itself from the retrogressive feudal culture and decadent imperialist culture. So, the progressive and democratic writers and artists are faced with the challenge of liberating our people and society from the shackles of imperialist culture and paving the way for a democratic, independent and prosperous India.

We stand for people’s literature, art and culture. By this we clearly mean that the literature, art and culture which represent the aspirations, urges and struggles of exploited and oppressed people for a social system sans exploitation and oppression. In the present situation of our country, it is anti-feudal and anti-imperialist in its nature and represents the aspirations, urges and struggles of the exploited and oppressed people forces for a New Democratic Society.

The struggle of the democratic and revolutionary classes and forces to end the present semi-colonial and semi-feudal economic and political system clears the ground and lays the basis necessary for the scientific, democratic and national culture to take root and develop. Similarly, the cultural movement by the developing the scientific, democratic and national culture will create the favorable cultural atmosphere and add strength and impetus to the struggle of the democratic and revolutionary classes and forces to end the present social system and build a new democratic society. So, the writers and artists must take inspiration from it and represent the aspirations and struggle of the oppressed classes for social change as it is the basis of the ideological revolution they are committed to achieve.

As writers and artists committed to the social objective of ending the feudal and imperialist exploitation and oppression in our country and advancing towards the ultimate goal of a society and a world free from inequality, exploitation, oppression and war we naturally own and identify with the struggles in the world with similar causes. We own and inherit every achievement in the realm of literature, art culture and human thought by our people in the past as well as in the world. Also the achievements won in the course and as a result of their struggle against the forces to hold back the onward march of human society. We declare ourselves as the inheritors of all humanists, progressive and cultural ideology achieved by the different oppressed people as a result of their cultural struggles. We own the patriotic and democratic values that are reflected and depicted in the Indian literature in the past. We take inspiration from the First War of Independence in 1857 and various freedom struggles, Telangana, Naxalbari uprisings, the struggles of peasants, workers, adivasis, women, students, youth, dalits, minorities and middle classes.

India is a country of various nationalities in different stages of development. Every nationality has its own distinct features, language and culture. While the Indian ruling classes representing the interests of feudalism and imperialism are doing everything to scuttle the rights of these nationalities and entangle them in fratricidal and diversionist quarrels, we are committed to own their contributions to the wealth of progressive and democratic literature and art, respect their distinct features and forms and enrich the anti-feudal and anti-imperialist content of the people’s literary and cultural movement in India.

The Indian ruling classes are utilizing the ideological fields to intensify contradictions, divisions and conflicts among the people well that the united people would eventually grow in strength capable of overthrowing the present system. They are using religious fanaticism and fundamentalism as important tools not only in the gamble for power and vote banks but also keep the people divided, diverted and submerged in the dark world of retrogressive ideas. 1984 massacre against the Sikhs; 1993 Babri Masjid demolition by the Hindu fundamentalists led by the Sang Parivar; 2002 Gujarat genocide and the tensions and clashes that are occasionally bursting out in one place or the other in India in the last six decades are only a part of this game of the ruling classes. While the Muslim communal and fundamentalist forces are striving to hold back the masses of Muslim people from coming into the progressive and democratic stream of struggles by offering the spiritual and communal solutions, the Hindu communal and fundamentalists are resorting to aggressive methods to impose the hegemony of Hindu religion over Muslims by projecting Hindu religion as synonym to nationalism, the feudal culture based on Hindu religion as Indian culture. We the writers and artists oppose religious fanaticism, fundamentalism, inequality and discrimination. We stand for democratic, secular and scientific culture and use the literary and art forms to strengthen the unity of the oppressed classes of all faiths.

India is the country of the different languages. Each language is rich in it and has contributed a lot to the cultural and intellectual development of the respective nationality. Respecting each language (Mother tongue), treating al languages as equal and as a valuable wealth of our country and people must be our policy. However, the British colonialists had pursued a policy of neglect and undermining towards the Indian languages and impose English as the ruling language. The Indian ruling classes too are continuing this policy. They are encouraging linguistic fanaticism, a policy of imperialism giving royal treatment to certain languages. The imperialist globalization is engaged in renewed attempts to make English to dominate all other Indian languages. In the last six decades, the writers, artists, educationist and the lovers of mother tongue in different states carried on and are still carrying on a movement for equality of languages, use of mother tongue in educational and administrative fields and better conditions for its development. We are a part of this movement. When we declare our respect to mother tongue and equality of all languages we also mean that we are belittling other languages and  we recognize one’s right to learn the languages of her/his choice, including English.

The real inexhaustible source of people’s literature and art lies in the life and struggles of the oppressed people. The writers and artists must, therefore, avail themselves of every opportunity to link themselves, closely study, feel and analyze the sufferings, aspirations and struggles of the masses of oppressed people against the feudal and imperialist exploitation and oppression and use the same as the content of their literary and art forms.  The masses of oppressed people are not only the real source of content for the literary and art forms but also are the real arena where the literary, art forms are put to use in the interests of oppressed people, hence, the need to go to the people.

On the whole, the people’s literary, art and cultural movement in our country had developed unevenly and with ups and downs. It had gone through the periods of infancy, adolescence, full blossoming, stagnation, disintegration and again the period of revival. Its development is closely linked with the strongly influenced by the developments and trends in the ideological and political sphere as well as ebbs and flows in the people’s movement for social change. The spread of scientific and progressive ideas brought a sea change in the orientation of writers and artists regarding the very purpose of literature and art. It gave a big boost to the production and spread of peoples literature and art. It has moved several dozens of intellectuals, writers and artists to undertake studies and researches into the origin and development of scientific, materialist and progressive ideas in India in various branches. They had dug out the contributions by the toiling and oppressed people to the cultural and intellectual progress of our country. These contributions have blasted several myths, irrational and superficial ideas such as ‘unquestionable beliefs, eternal and sacred truths’ or knowledge said to have emanated from the Almighty to sanctify and perpetuate the exploiting system. These contributions had not only connected us with our own past but also provided a dependable basis and weapon to fight against the retrogressive and reactionary ideas and forces and take the ideological revolution to new heights.

The formation of All India Progressive Writers Association (AIPWA) and Indian Peoples Theatre Association (IPTA) in 1936 marked a big leap forward in the literary, art and cultural movement. These moves gave a concrete and organized shape and thrust to an all India movement. This movement had blossomed and added the strength and momentum to the people’s movement for social change. The period of Telangana peasant struggle (1946-51) provides a shining example for how beautifully the literature, art and cultural movement and the movement for social change can march hand in hand, gain strength and momentum from one another and unite in a common cause. Same was the case with the literary, art and cultural movement in Bengal, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Orissa, UP, Punjab, Assam, Maharashtra and other states. The people’s literature, art and cultural movement made its own impact and contributed to the advance of struggles for social change wherever and to whatever extent the writers, artists and creative workers with scientific, progressive and people orientations made conscious and organized work. Kazi Nazrul Islam, Rahul San krutyan, Kishan Chander, Sri Sri, Koku, Anna Bhaau Sadhe, Makdum Mohiyuddin, Sunkara, Sukanta Bhattacharya, Faiz Ahmed, Sadat Hasan Manto, Tarashankar bandopadhaya and many others had contributed a lot to the people’s literature and art. The literature and art produced by them had played a significant role in taking the socialist, materialist, democratic and patriotic ideas among the widest masses of oppressed people. These literary and art forms, rich in content and form, could influence the intellectual sections in good number and bring them into the stream of progressive and democratic movements. Some of the progressive writers and artists integrated themselves closely and had become virtually an inseparable part of the then ongoing anti-feudal and anti-imperialist peoples’ movements and contributed to their advance. The progressive writers and artists had done a great service in bringing valuable literature from other languages within the reach of Indian People.

The State of stagnation and disintegration experienced by the people’s literary, art and cultural movement in its life was a direct consequence of serious setbacks suffered by the revolutions in the world as well as India owing to revisionist ideas gaining dominance in the ideological, political and practical spheres. This situation made the task to uphold, restore and assert the correct orientations in the ideological and political spheres as well as in the sphere of class struggle and social revolution more difficult, tortuous and complex. More so was in the sphere of literature, art and culture. The all India structures such as PWA and IPTA had virtually collapsed under the onslaught of reformism. The reactionary ideas, trends and forces had intensified their attempts to gain from it and occupy the space and become more aggressive in their attack against the scientific and progressive ideas and forces.

However, the writers, artists and creative workers who remained unshaken in their commitment to the cause of social revolution sought to swim against the adverse conditions and continued the creative work. They tried to keep them in touch with the developments in the country, masses of toiling and oppressed people and their struggles. They sought to depict the lives, feelings, aspirations and struggles of the toiling people. In their writings, various art forms and through available means of mass communication they sought to keep alive the finer aspects of culture, democratic values, uphold the rights of people, expose the rot in the present system and raise the consciousness of the people. They responded to all positive turns and advances in the ideological and political struggle, upswings, militant or revolutionary turns in the struggles and movements of toiling and oppressed people. They extended solidarity and support whenever the people came under the brutal attack of the retrograde, reactionary and dark forces or communal holocausts or natural calamities. They worked through the writers groups, cultural troupes or organizations, at local or state level or as individuals. Thus they sought to the best of their ability to keep alive and spread the values and traditions, represented by the people’s literary and cultural movement.

The revolutionary situation in the country as reflected in the Naxalbari peasant uprising in 1967 and other peasant revolutionary movements had infused new life into the progressive literary and cultural activity. Revolutionary literary and cultural organizations came into existence in different states. However, extremism which came to dominate the scene including the sphere of literature and art had negatively affected the efforts to unite the writers and artists, to fully use their talents in the interests of developing a progressive literary and cultural movement and people’s revolutionary movement. At the same time, there are certain sections which continued efforts with the orientation of people’s literary and cultural movement taking the experiences of all these revolutionary and progressive literary and cultural groups. Now it is time to make the efforts with renewed vigor to build an all India people’s literary and cultural movement.

We, welcome all efforts and struggles in the world directed against the imperialist globalization. We extend our solidarity to the struggles of working class and oppressed people for a world free from inequality, exploitation, oppression and war.

It will be our constant and unrelenting endeavor to further deepen our understanding and orientation by studying the masters in the world literature and literacy criticism. It will be our goal to add strength and momentum to the struggle of our people to end the present system and for New Democracy. It is our task to rally all writers and artists with this social objective into an organized all India people’s literary and cultural movement.

IN conclusion, we reiterate:  1. since the masses of toiling and oppressed people are the real source of literature and art as well as the field of activity for the writers, artists and other creative workers it is natural we go to the people and integrate ourselves with them fully and whole-heartedly. We study and analyses every aspect of their life and struggle so that we can produce the literature and art better in quality and effective in serving the cause of people. 2. The social cause is the guiding star for all forms of creative work. We believe that the scientific, democratic and national literature, art and culture cannot develop fully and in an unhindered and all round manners without sweeping away the feudal and imperialist plunder and oppression which are dominating our society fully and completely from the face of our society and building a new democratic society. So we strive to rally and unite all the writers, artists and every one interested in using their creative energies and talents towards in the end. 3. The people’s literary, art and cultural movement, we wish to develop is all India in its character. We respect the culture of working class and other classes taking part in the New Democratic Revolution. We also take note of diverse and distinct forms of culture, literature and art that the nationalities and ethnic groups came to have in the course of their development. While forging unity among the writers, artists and other creative workers on the basis of common cause of fighting for a New Democratic India, we own, protect and help the development of diverse and distinct forms of culture, literature and art of different nationalities and ethnic groups. We encourage them to learn from one another with the aim of achieving higher level of cultural development and raise the unity and struggle of toiling and oppressed masses of Indian people for the common cause to a higher level.


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K.Ravibabu 
on behalf of:                                                                                        K. Ravi Babu                                                                             
All India People’s Literary Forum.                                                      30-7-6 
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