Communist Party Pakistan- Short History of CPP aftermath of 1947

Book Review

Kamran Asdar Ali, SURKH SALAM: Communist Politics and Class Activism in Pakistan 1947-1972

Publisher: Oxford University Press Pakistan

City: Karachi

Price: 350

Pages: 456

Reviewed by: - Aslam Pervez

Kamran Asdar Ali's book "Surkh Salam: Communist Politics and Class Activism in Pakistan 1947-1972" traces the early history of left politics in Pakistan with a focus on the Communist Party of Pakistan. The author examines the evolution of the party and its challenges, including the role of progressive writers, literature, and the radical politics of the CPP. He also works to rewrite the fragments of the unremembered past and portrays the genuine struggles of progressives. The book is divided into two parts, with the first focusing on the evolution of the Communist Party of Pakistan and its challenges, while the second part discusses the political life and struggle of labor in Karachi during the 1960s, including the mysterious death of Hasan Nasir.

The history of left politics in post-partition Pakistan has been largely neglected and is unable to properly narrate the narrative of early communists and progressives. Dominant narratives have shaped the current understanding of Pakistan's history. Ali counters this dominant narrative, which is based on ideological approaches, by offering an alternative historical narrative. He reframes Pakistan's social, cultural, and intellectual history by presenting other possible imaginations for Pakistan's future.

This book begins by critically engaging with the history of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and its factions post-partition, which shaped Indian politics. In chapter one, the CPI started the united front politics in which they accepted the creation of Pakistan but were suspicious of the politics of the Muslim League. The CPI ideologues changed their stance and created contradictory directions with leaders such as G.M. Adhkari and Dutt, and B.T. Ranadive. By 1940, the CPI reconsidered the issue of Muslim separatism and deemed it non-progressive and therefore reactionary. In Punjab, the CPI allied with the Muslim League and mobilized peasants and workers, producing a radical manifesto for the 1945-46 elections. In late 1946, the CPI changed its position to support the Muslim League. The Calcutta Congress held in 1948 accepted the division and formed the Communist Party of Pakistan. Syed Sajjad Zaheer was appointed the first General Secretary and inherited the press and book business in Karachi and Lahore. He introduced working-class politics in the country. From the beginning, the CPP positioned itself against the nationalist politics of the Muslim League

In chapter two, the author introduces the real-life characters and their role in shaping the CPP. Syed Sajjad Zaheer (1905-1973) was the first General Secretary of the CPP and was also among the founders of the Progressive Writer Association. He belonged to the Ashrafi (Noble) class of North Indian Muslims. He was sent to Pakistan in 1948 to rebuild the Communist Party of Pakistan because the CPI believed that both states were dominated by reactionary capitalists and landlords who collaborated with the imperialists. The author traces the day-to-day work of Zaheer and his colleagues to set up the CPP. Zaheer mostly remained underground in Pakistan to avoid arrest. His commitment to his work was outstanding, but he was not familiar with the diverse social landscape of the country. He was influenced by the famous firebrand B.T. Ranadive and propagated the politics of constant agitation. As a result, they faced confrontations and repression from the government. Zaheer praised the Muslim League factions led by G.M. Syed for their progressive views. In the end, they were imprisoned by the military on charges of conspiracy against the state.

Zaheer had a great strength in his literary skills rather than his political maneuvers. In the 1930s, he formed the Marxist Progressive Writers Association of India and, post-partition, the All Pakistan Progressive Writers Association (APPWA). He was a short story writer and novelist. One of his contemporaries, Sibte Hasan, argued that he was completely inexperienced to run political work, his personality geared towards arts and literature

In chapter three, Ali examines the cultural and intellectual creativity of the progressive writers, which shaped the cultural politics of early Pakistani history. The All Pakistan Progressive Writers Association (APPWA) positioned itself against liberal, nationalist intellectuals and writers. Zaheer criticized those who refused to follow the CPP's radical critique of capitalism and invited them to join the struggle against class exploitation under the banner of CPP. The chapter also explores the intellectual interventions, debates, and discussions to rethink Pakistan's early history. He explains the competing debates between progressive writers on the question of morality and interpretations of what would constitute a national culture. Sadat Hassan Manto, an iconic Urdu short story writer, was criticized by the progressive writers. In doing so, they came dangerously close to the Pakistani state and Islamists. They sought to create a Universalist politics of social identity and homogeneity and a rational society. However, Manto's skeptical view of the partition related to the traumatic context of post-partition. The communists and intellectuals pushed these ideologies to mobilize the labor, peasants, and traders. Perhaps, the unwavering differences between progressive writers unable to formulate a clear vision for the nation's morality.

Chapter four is the story of famous Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case 9^th March 1951, Sajjad Zaheer, Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Muhammad Ata and Muhammad Afzal were arrested on the charges of a plaining military coup. Major General Akbar Khan and few other army officers were arrested as well. Ali traces the early developments to plot the conspiracy on the basis of personal letters and interviews. Faiz played a bridge between the military officers and the CPP and also influence the views of Sajjad Zaheer. On the other hand, Zaheer also consulted CPP colleagues and got support from them. But later, this does not formulate sustainability solution for CPP future. They get tremendous but unpopular support from the nationalist group in officialdom and ensuring the safety. Later, the nationalist group failed to retain the promises while believing in propaganda. Ali modelled the political periphery as a degree of opinion in the mainstream. As they were famous and recognized voices during imperialist rule. After the release in 1956, he left for India permanently and later Communist Party was banned in the same year.  

The fifth chapter starts with the verse in a sense bring hope to show courageous to face the ruthless rule in the early days of Pakistan. The key figure, Hasan Nasir who started to write a letter from prison to his mother. Post-partition set his political fate to join CPP though he belonged to the noble class. He started his political career in Karachi, learned socialism from the labourers. During the same decade, Karachi was transforming with rapid industrialization which ultimately repression of progressives, workers and in aggression the unrest and strikes emerged. Nasir’s political home ground was Karachi and he has actively participated in the left-leaning, regional, labour and ethnic formations. He remained underground, but later, he was arrested in 1960 and he was then taken away. He was brutally tortured during interrogation to death and still his death is a mystery in the national history of Pakistan. His mother claimed his body but refused to hand over his empty remains.

In the last chapter, Ali suggests that the Pakistan People’s Party had great relations earlier with leftist to come in power. He focuses on the labour politics of 1970s Karachi to gain an understanding of the social and historical processes that have led to the substantive decline of labour and class-based politics. He found the concurrent emergence of political disparities and uneven events shaped by issues of ethnic, religious and sectarian differences in contemporary Pakistan. He further mentioned that there was plenty of factions and they were influenced by the radical response. Karachi was the centre to organize and activate the working class in 1960. The Industrial Relation Ordinance brought more industries under the essential service's banner prohibiting the formation of unions there. Strikes and formation of unions were illegal. 

During Gen Ayub Khan’s rule (1958-1969) bureaucrats and ex-army officers began directly running major industrial units. In 1972 when the Bhutto came in power they initiated to periodic lockouts and encirclements of factories and shaped two major industrial areas. The workers started to demand the reinstatement of expelled workers during military rule and redefine the bonuses and set the rules for industrialist too. The long skirmishes between labour and industrialist finally frenzied on June 7^th 1972. When workers directly clashed with police and died, ten workers. PPP government wanted to crush the radicalized movement and need to reconfigure the working class according to its own vision of clientelist politics. Such confrontations further intensify and shaped the dominant notion of history.

Ali makes valuable contributions to mend selective amnesia in Pakistan history. He reconstructed the fragments and forgotten the history of progressives, workers, and intellectuals. He eloquently explains the reason behind the deliberate tussle between communists and government, workers and industrialists, radicals and liberals. He brings the common history which was much needed to redefine the historical importance of progressives and working class. It really helps students and researchers to trace the forgotten memories of the 1960s and 1970s. It is a very difficult and frustrating task to consult oral and written archives of fragmented memories. His research further increases the scope of left political life in contemporary times.

However, he neglected the global factors as well as internal disparities to shape the political structure in Pakistan after 1960. He fanaticized the leftist movement in Pakistan in the early days of Sajjad Zaheer and his fellow comrades. On the other hand, the communists and progressives were completely failed to mainstream their ideology in public policy. They were unable to understand the political upheavals in the early days of Pakistan. They pushed for their teleological understanding of historic progression, and the urgency of the issues, notwithstanding, the current historical moment may call for some introspection and rethinking rather than invoking grand narratives of resistance and working-class solidarities.

He tried to provoke the sentimental memories of leftist and progressives. As the left political parties unable to understand the actual reasons to put their ideology and political motivation in the right path. He started from the CPI political and cultural history and how the post-partition affected the grand narrative. Overall, he mentioned many historical facts and events which shaped the current outlook of left political groups. But he is unable to build a narrative to minimize the brutal relation between left and right. He recalls Michel-Rolph argument about how certain histories are silenced and others highlighted in the narration of national histories in various geographical contexts.