BY V. M. KAUL

Seen

HUNDREDS of progressives—
_ Communists, left-wing Social-
ists, peasant leaders, trade union-
‘tsls—were in jail. Even during
the election campaign police cor-
tinued to make arrests. Thousands
“of names were omitted from the
voters’ list. Military camps estab-
lished throughout the region creat-
- ed. the atmosphére of an occupied
territory. .Yet, when the votes
Were counted in the Indian nation-

~ al and state elections last Janu-

ary, the People’s Democratic Front
had won 37 of the 90 seats for
Telengana in the Hyderabad state
assembly, And two leaders of
- the People’s Demacratic Front,
Yella Reddy and Narayan Reds
dy, had been elected to the Indien
central parliament with huge
Mjorities over their National
Ongress opponenis.

f

,The story of this sweeping
Victory, won “under the very
Shadow of Congress bayonets,”
Was told to me by Yella Reddy
and Narayan Reddy when I in-
_ terviewed them shortly after
the election results were an-
 hounced. : )

A few weeks ago these two
leaders of the Telegu-speaking
Tegion of Hyderabad state, with

its population ‘of 10 million, had

been political prisoners. (Hunt-
€d ‘by the police since 1946, Yel-
la Reddy was arrested in 1948,
‘Narayan Reddy in 1951.) They
Were released from jail only
two weeks ‘before polling day.
Now they are members of In-
dia’s central parliament. |
What has happened in Telen-
Sana represents a new experi-
€nce for India. The world has
_ S€en given one story—the story
_ Sf “Communist terrorists’” loot-
ing and murdering. That is
the story put out by propagan-
da agencies of Prime Minister
Jawa arlal Nehru’s ‘Congress
8overnment and spread by
Press services throughout the
Western world. And it is a
false story. —
- The true story
‘People’s ‘heroism, their strug-
3 Ble against savage feudal op-
Pression. Against the terror
_ Unleashed by the Nehru gov-
_€rnment to reinstate the Jand-
lords and maintain the reac-
tionaries in power, the Com-
Munists have worked with self-
Sacrificing devotion to organ-

is one of a

and lead ‘the peasants in a_

Struggle for land and other re-
forms,

The elections were conducted

in an atmosphere of terror.
_ The Communist party and the
Andhra Mahasabha, mass org-
‘Aanization of Telegu-speaking
People, were ‘banned. Hundreds
Of the people’s leaders were in
Jail. All civil liberties were

Telengana :

- A crippled woman is carried to
the polls to vote in India’s first
general election.

suppressed. There were some
35,000 military and armed pol-
jce in camps throughout the
region. Obviously, under such
conditions, the elections could
not be free.

Unable to contest the elec-
tions under the banner of their
own ‘party, Communists stood
as candidates of the People’s
Democratic Front, which includ-
ed some Left Socialist groups, ’
a Left Congress group which
had seceded. from the National
Congress and others.

The

People’s Democratic

’ Front contested only 45 of Tel-

engana’s 90 seats in Hyderabad
state assembly. It won 37.

“We could not contest more
seats because of the condi-
tions,” Yella Reddy explained.
“Tf we had ‘been released even
a month earlier, if there had
been more civil liberties and

' the military and police.had been

withdrawn so that ‘the elections
could ‘be held in a free atmos-
phere, then I’m confident we
could have won at least $0 of
the 90 seats. These, with the
seats won in other parts of the
state, would have ‘given us an
absolute majority and we could
have formed a _ progressive
ministry in Hyderabad.”

I asked how the election cam-
paign had been fought.

“Ten of our election workers
arrested during the campaign
were shot dead by the police
after they had been arrested,”
Narayan Reddy said. . “Our
meetings were attacked. Voters
were told that their rations
would be stopped if they voted
for ‘Communists and the Peo-
ple’s Democratic Front. Every
kind of vicious propaganda was
used to divide our ranks and
intimidate the voters.”

The people responded by ac-
complishing marvels, of initi-
ative and organization. Within
two. weeks hundreds of thous-
ands of voters knew the names
of tthe People’s Democratic
Front candidates and the pro-
gram they stood for. ~

“Ours is a people's victory in
every sense of the world,” Yel-
la Reddy declared.

e

Behind. the People’s Demo-
cratic Front victory is also the
story of the long struggle con-
ducted by the people of Telen-
gana against a feudal oppres-
sion which is among the worst
in India.

Big landlords, some of them

owning 100,000 acres, exploited -

the peasants, exacting all kinds
of taxes from them. Under
the leadership of the Commun-
ists, a strong peasant movement
was organized and the Andhra
Mahasabha founded.

From 1945 onwards the And-
lhra Mahasabha conducted a bit-
ter struggle against the land-
lords and the Nizam who stood
behind them. Within a year or
two, the peasants had ousted
some of the biggest landlords
and occupied more than one
million acres of their lands.

Feudal imposts were abolished. :

Village committees were set up
and village courts established.
The beginnings of a people's
health service came into being.

Literacy campaigns were con-
ducted. For the people of 3,000
villages in Telengana it was
their first taste of people de-
mocracy—the first in India.

The Nizam and the landlords
attacked the new free areas,
seeking to restore their power,
to- return ‘to their old cruel
way. of life, and the peasants
formed volunteer bands to de-
fend their newly-won freedom.

Then, in 1948, the Indian gov-
ernment sent its troops into
Hyderabad. The troops came
ostensibly to bring the state
into India. Actually they were
sent ‘to suppress the peasant
movement in Telengana. The
Nehru .government feared that
what was happening in Telen-
gana might become the pattern
for alll India.

For three years, Congress
troops have been waging war
against the people of Telen-
‘gana, and the Western world
has been told falsely that they
are combatting “terrorists and
bandits.” In those three years
hundreds of peasants have been
killed or executed, thousands of
progressives have been jailed.
Protected by bayonets, the
landlords have been restored
to power.

The Communists have been
trying to bring about a peace-
ful settlement, even to the ex-
tent of withdrawing armed par-
tisan resistance last year. But
the Nehru government has not
withdrawn its troops. It has
not restored civil liberties. ‘It
has not released the hundreds
of political prisoners in its jails.
And it has not done anything
to solve the problem of land
and food which is the heart of
the struggle.

“Telengana is not crushed,”
Yella Reddy and Narayan Red-
dy said to me. “The election
results have shown that. Its
‘struggle remains as an inspira-
tion to the whole of India.”

‘Nothing too good for Hungary's children

By BETTY ARYA
: BUDAPEST.
‘AT impresses me most

about the Hungaria people
is the security they ‘have, and
nowhere is this security greater
than that which surrounds the
children. ee

You take it as a matter of

course in Hungary that every ©

factory and enterprise will have
its own kindergarten. But to
me, as a New Zealander, the
main ‘thing was the spirit of co-
Operation between teachers,
parents, and children—to make
kindergartens far more than
just another institution.

We went to the kindergarten
attached ‘to Budapest radio. The
children stay all day. Lunch and
dinner are supplied under ex-
pert supervision. A doctor and

' dentist call regularly. But here,
‘as everywhere élse in Hungary,

{the people are not satisfied with
“sood enough,” they want the
best.

Some of the parents said that
as they were working they
found it hard to keep the chil-
dren’s clothes well, so now the
children were overalls at. kin-

dergarten, supplied and cared

for by the staff. During the
day, while the children are in
overalls, their other clothes are
washed and repaired. There

“was a complaint that the chil-

dren should not travel by the
crowded trams; now there is a
bus being built for the children.

We attended a discussion of
the parents and the teachers.
The parents included. ‘the top
section leaders and political
commentary writers, the an-
nouncers, cleaners, typists and
canteen people. The principal
opened the discussion, urging
the parents to give their opin-
ions and especially their criti-
cisms of the kindergarten.

The teachers gave an outline
of their plans and aims for the
period. There was a discussion
on the diet. Then one woman

complained that some of the .

children were neglected if ‘their
parents worked Saturday after-
noon, so there and then a roster
system was organized to care
for such children. Everything
seemed so simple and straight
—here’s a problem, let’s find a
way out. The parents pay 3
percent of their salary for one
child and 5 per cent for two
children. ,This includes all the
food, laundry, soaip, everything,
and now tthe overalls and ‘bus.

a

The toys and equipment for
the children are excellent. All
sorts of mechanical toys, build-
ing blocks, kitchens and
sewing machines, easels, pastels
and canvases are provided to
teach skill as well as for amuse-
ment. Dolls of a great variety
of shapes and sizes, with large

- wardrobes, were popular and a

tiny orchestra made a_ large
noise for such small hands.

As one woman said on our
way out. “When my children

are here I can work in peace
for I know they are well cared
for.” Many women in the west-
ern countries would like to be
able to say the same.

School books are all supplied
free. The decision has been
made that school books and
reading books for country chil-
dren should be different from
those used in the cities: they
point out that country children
and city children see different
things every day, and that early
reading lessons should be based
on things with which the chil-
dren are very familiar.

e ~
Children’s cultural needs are
also placed very high in plan-
ning in Hungary. -There is a
great study of the differerice be-
tween the cultural needs of

adults and of children.

There is a special theatre for
children, where a full-time pro-
fessional company acts plays
suitable for children. The plays
are selected by a panel of edu-
cationalists and parents. They
select the play, and then per-
haps 500 children are invited to
see the play and comment on it.
Any ‘general comment is used to
guide the director and actors.
The play is put on for the chil-
dren at 4 p.m., so that they go
straight after school.

The actors and directors go
to the schools and discuss the

play with the children, get their
comments and explain any prob-
lems. So this is not only for
the children, it belongs to the
children.

e

The children accept privileges
with ‘great responsibility, for
they are often given serious
duties which it is an honor to
‘fulfil.

For example, traffic was a
real problem in Budapest. The
population of Budapest increas- _
ed very rapidly and so did the
number of cars. Peasant women
would disregard the screams of
the trafific police and cross heed-
lessly against the red light.
Many accidents occurred, but
the people were unused to obey-
ing traffic rules and lights, so
when the policemen told them
to watch the lights, the com-
mon answer was “I'll cross
when I like.” An answer had |
to be found, and it was.

The children’s organization —
was given the task of directing
people to the pedestrian cross-
ing and making them obey the —
lights.. Of course, this was a

great honor and only, the best —

children got this job. Within —
12 days the population of Buda-
pest was obeying the traffic
laws. 4

a

If a government can be judg-
ed by its care of the young,
there is no doubt about Hun-
gary’s achievement. :

- PACIFIC TRIBUNE — MARCH 14, 1952 — PAGE 9