Words ‘secular, socialist’ inscribed in constitution

India: another Step toward socialism

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The following is abridged from
New Age, central organ of the
Communist Party of India.

NEW DELHI — By proposing
to inscribe into the preamble of
the Indian Constitution the words
“secular, socialist’? to charac-
terize the republic, the All India
Congress Committee has taken a
big step to respond to the hopes
and aspirations of the Indian
people. It puts the Delhi AICC
(May 29 and 30) with many other
landmarks in the history of the
Indian National Congress — 1929
Lahore (complete indepen-
dence), 1936 Faizpur (land re-
forms), 1938 Haripura (commit-
ment to planning).

It is the continuation of a pro-
cess of evolution. At Avadi in
1956 the Congress had declared
itself for a ‘‘socialistic pattern of
society’’. In 1964 at Bhubaneswar
it undertook to bring about a
“socialist state based on par-
liamentary democracy’’. And
now it has found the time oppor-
tune to give the ideal constitu-
tional sanctity.

It is a big victory for the forces
of socialism who have been
through the decades preaching it,
fighting for it, rallying the working
people to its call, that now it
would be made into a national
commitment enshrined in the
Constitution.

The slow-motion. change is
perhaps dictated by the pre-
dilections of congressmen.
Jawaharlal Nehru who had more
than once declared the absolute
necessity of socialism for liberat-

Prime Minister Indira Ghandi: ‘‘not a quick or easy battle.”

ing India from its age-old back-
wardness and poverty, himself
had to say: ‘‘Much as I insist for
the achievement of socialism in
this country, I have no desire to
force the issue in the Congress

and thereby create difficulties in

the way of our struggle for
independence.”

Now, having officially adopted
socialism as the goal, Congress
president D. K. Boorooah hap-
pily declared: ‘‘We have fulfilled
the dream of Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru who had described himself
a socialist and a republican’’.

However, just as on any

socio-economic issues, that does
not settle the matter for the Con-

Jawaharlal Nehru saw no way of ending the poverty, unemployment
and degradation of Indian people except through socialism.

U.S. radio stations -
have CIA connections

MOSCOW — Radio Liberty
and Radio Free Europe have
come under attack in the Soviet
press for their CIA connections.
According to Pravda. current ef-
forts to “‘prove’’ that these sta-
tions have changed their aims are
not true.

Collection of political, military
and other intelligence for the CIA
and other secret agencies account
for 75% of the activities of these
stations. says Pravda.

The paper says efforts being
made by Radio Free Europe and
Radio Liberty to use the U.S.
Olympic Committee as a front for
their work during the Montreal
Olympics as the most -recent
example of such activities. It sup-
ports the view of Canada Gazette
which has expressed the hope

that the IOC will not permit this to
take place.

Pravda on Jan. 13 had named-a
number of persons in key staff
positions at the stations as CIA
Operatives and to date no refuta-
tion has been made. It says that
last spring the U.S. Congress al-
located $58,385,000 for the main-
tainance of RFE and RL in the
1977 fiscal year basing their deci-
sion on the conclusion that these
stations’ activities were fully in
line with U.S. foreign policy
objectives.

The newspaper recalls that the
objectives of these radio stations,
as formulated in the General Reg-
ulation for Broadcasting of Radio
Free Europe and Radio Liberty,
is to work for changing the exist-
ing system in the USSR and the
other socialist countries.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE—AUGUST 27, 1976—Page 6

gress. The immediate question
arises, what is socialism?
Scientific Sense of the Term
Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
said she did not believe in any
“‘isms’’ as understood in some
other countries. ““We have used
the world ‘socialism’ because it
came closer to expressing what
we wanted to do than any other
word and also because any other
word may cause confusion’’. Ac-

cording to her, socialism meant —

“*measures to better the life of the
people.”’

But you come out of the Mav-
lankar hall and there in the Youth
Congress stall is displayed a post-
er, a quotation from Nehru:

“YT am convinced that the only
key to the solution of the world’s
problems and of India’s problems
lies in socialism, and when I use
the word I do not in a vague
humanitarian way but in the
scientific, economic sense.
Socialism is, however, something
more than economic doctrine; it is
a philosophy of life and as such
also it appeals to me.”’

Reading it, you cannot but re-
call another famous passage in
one of his memorable letters to his
daughter, the present Prime
Minister, Indira Gandhi:

What Kind of Socialism?
“Socialism, I have told you, is
of many kinds. There is general
agreement, however, that it aims
at the control by the state of the

-means of production — that is,

land, mines and factories and the
like — and the means of distribu-

tion, like railways, etc., and also»

banks and similar institutions.
The idea is that individuals should
not be allowed to exploit any of
these methods or institutions, or
the labor of others, to their own
personal advantage.”’ :
These details of how to build
socialism the AICC delegates did
not devote much attention to. Not

that seriousness was lacking.

when they unanimously declared
support to socialism.

Priya Ranjan Das Munshi said
it was heartwarming to find the
slogan of socialism made into a

“commitment of the entire na-
tion’’. But he added that “‘build-
ing of socialism cannot coexist
with the growth of capitalism.”’

Rajendra Kumari Bajpai was
happy that ‘‘socialism has been
elevated from a party slogan into
a national value’. But, again, she
felt that it cannot be given content
unless the public sector went on

constantly expanding. She
wanted the entire distribution of
essential articles to be
nationalized.

Manubhai Shah found it rather
incongruous that the -right to
property was not deleted‘from the
fundamental rights chapter even
when the republic is sought to be
declared “‘socialist’’. He pleaded,
at least please ‘“‘take steps to
check the perpetuation of wealth
with a few.”? _

The dialogue on what exactly is
socialism and how to build

‘socialism in our country will cer-

tainly be conducted with vigour in
the coming days now that the de-
cision to inscribe it in the Con-
stitution has been taken by. the
ruling party. Possibly, Nehru’s
dream will again be in focus:

“T see no way of ending the
poverty, the vast unemployment,
the degradation and the subjec-
tion of the Indian people except
through socialism. That involves
vast and revolutionary changes in
our political and social structure,
the ending of vested interests in
the land and industry, as well as
the feudal and autocratic Indian
states system. That means the
ending of private property, except
in a restricted sense, and the re-
placement of the present profit
system by a higher ideal of co-
operative service. It means ulti-
mately a change in our instincts
and habits and desires. In short, it
means a. new civilization, radi-
cally different from the present
capitalist order.’’ (Presidential
address to the Lucknow Congress
session, 1936)

The failure so far to change the

‘Maoists distort |
Cyprus situation |

The Maoist leadership of China
s “‘deliberately simplifying the
complex political situation on
Cyprus and presenting it as a
problem of relationships between
the two national communities,”
says a recent article by Novosti
Press Agency commentator,
Anatoli Sidorov.

‘‘Mao_ Tse-tung and _ his
group,’ says Sidorov, “‘push to
the background the fact that
foreign troops are still stationed
on the island, and that it is due to
the continuous interference by
the North Atlantic Treaty Or-
ganization quarters that normalcy
has been upset there and an exp-
losive situation persists.

“Left alone, the: Turkish and
the Greek Cypriots could have

settled long ago their differences

with due account of the interests
of both sides and would have
found a formula of settlement on
the basis of the independence and
territorial integrity of Cyprus,”’
the article states. But, it con-
tinues, ‘‘the imperialist powers
are persistently trying to impose
their diktat on the Cypriots.”’
‘*Therefore, Hsinhua’s
(Chinese new agency) lopsided
interpretation of the Cyprus issue
as a ‘nationalities question’ is a
serious breach of truth and an at-

tempt at whitewashing the

culprits.”’
The article points out that the
Soviet Union has long advocated

have overcome many small

structure, the continuing
against the profit system,
striving to bring about a 1
civilization different from the P™
sent capitalist order, found &
pression in the Prime Ministet’
speeches at the AICC too.
On the first day she declatt
that India’s main fight was agaill’
the ‘‘entrenched privileges °
few’’, both at home and in ™
international arena. Next day
added that the fight was ‘‘agail)
the system which generated ¥
ted interests and encouraged cor
centration of economic power
few hands. We have not been @
to change this structure.”’
That this battle will not be®
easy one, or a quick one, Ind!
Gandhi emphasized in her
tribution to the debate on the!
plementation of the 20-point Pl
gram — the speech some cif)
have described as ‘‘tough 1@
because of her declaration ™
the government was determil?
to go ahead with the family pl#
ning and town planning prog!
despite opposition from cel#)
quarters, come what may.
The Worst is Yet to Come
Referring to the observation"
Chandrajeet Vadav, who had
itiated the discussion on the ”
point program implementati) ;
that ‘‘the worst is over’’, she
she differed from him: D
“The worst is still to come. 7)

ocks. We have still to scale i

mountains. As we go forward!
this journey, with every step thet
are going to be greater difficultié ;
and greater obstructions from! Ts
side and outside the country-

the need for ‘‘ensuring "|
sovereign rights of the Cypt ;
people.” It quotes arecent T?”|_
statement: ‘‘Since the CyPMl
crisis broke out and throughoul®
its stages the Soviet Union ©
insisted that a settlement be ba
on the principles of the indeP*|
dence, sovereignty and terri!)
integrity of the Cypriot State, ©]
foreign interference be exclu 3
and that Cyprus’ internal
be decided by the Cypriots th®, f
selves with due consideration *)
the interests of the island’s Gt]
and Turkish population.” nM
The Soviet Union urges “|
convening of an international ©
ference on Cyprus under the ®
spices of the United Nati?
Sidorov reiterates.
Such a step would prevent
terference and the imposition | i
alien solutions on Cyprus,
help ensure genuine indepen@*)
political development, he po"
out:
Accusing the Peking leadef
showing ‘‘utter disregard fot ©
destiny of the Cypriot peopl
Sidorov condemns their eff
‘to use the Cypmus crisis in 0",
to spur the NATO circles in
military preparations in %
Mediterranean. This a
fully in line with the overall ds)
of Mao Tse-tung’s grouping
whipping up international tens!
and i impairing universal peace ,
security.”’ :