HE cerisis in India is ris- The Cabinet Mission negotiations and the constitutional plan have solved the Indian problem. The terrible communal con- icts and bloodshed—on aé scale exceeding anything yet known, even in the eontinueusly ascend- ing scale of such conflicts un- der British rule — are only a ing. new not symptom of this general crisis, ef widespread frustration and desperation. Tt is significant that they have developed most horribly in unhappy Bengal, where the fam- ine ikilled 3,000,000 and left a trail of ruin and disease. Se MN mass unrest is rising, reaction has always known how to play on divisions and seek to direct the mass struggle into channels of mutual destruc- tion. We have -seen it in Ive- land of old. We can see it in Palestine today, where Arabs and Jews lived peacefully to- gether until British rule came. The solution is not foreign rule but freedom. : Remember that only a few months ago all India was united behind the universal demand “Quit India’ to end foreign rule. Hindus and Moslems demon- Strated together. The men of the Royal Indian Navy ran up joint Congress and Moslem League flags on the warships. of Bombay and in a uni- The masses Calcutta demonstrated versal strike and hartal under | banners inscribed “Hindus and “Moslems, unite!” “Down with British imperialism!’ They were ‘met with bullets which slaugh- tered hundreds. Then came the Cabinet -Mis- sion. Se WHE Cabinet Mission pursued the well-tried tactics of “di- vide and rule.” It played off Gongress against League and League against Congress. It prepared a complicated eonstitutional plan, which refus-— EC @ Feature Section MT : PAA TT | Way ed universal suffrage, and, on a restricted upper-class electorate, laid down beforehand fixed num- bers of Hindus and Moslems to be returned in separate. com- partments with a right of mu- tual veto, and with a quarter of the seats for the autocratic princes, and called this a ‘“Con- stiftuent Assembly.” Its plan partitioned India into Hindu and Moslem zones. it arranged for a sham “Interim government” (really Viceroys Council), in which Congress and League would bal- anee one another and cancel each other out under the con- trol of the Viceroy. As the bargainins dragged on,_ with the rival leaders maneuver-— ing for position, communal feel- ing was exacerbated. AS I cabled from India to the Tribune at the end of June, the outcome of the ‘Commission to India’; “imdependence’. they sold a bit of tory shoddy labelled Left to right: Sir Stafford Cripps, A. V. Alex- ander and F. W. Pethwick-Lawrence. tory is taking place. Britain, which today wields power over 400,000,000 souls, is transferring control voluntarily and peace- fully to an Indian democracy? How far do the facts bear this picture? out Wehru is now vice-president of the Viceroy’s Council. Con- gress and League have nomin- ated their representatives on the Council, Does this mean tkat India is now governed by an Indian government? Har from it. Democratic opinion will fol- low with. sympathetic attention and support every effort that Wehru and his colleagues may _make in the interests of India. We welcome the moves to establish diplomatic relations with the new democracies in Hurope and with the Soviet Union. We welcome the elo- quent progressive aspirations in still rules in India NAT any date of departure. Supreme Military power rests in the hands of the Commander-in- Chief, who is directly respons- ible to Lendon, not to any In- dian government. i Practice proves the real posi- tion. s Nehru proclaimed that Indian foreign policy must not be tied to British imperialism. But the Indian “representative” in Paris -continueg to vote as the docile steoge of the Anglo-American bloc—so much so as to arouse the Caustic comments of Molv- tov on India’s dependent posi- tion. Wehru, in his broadcast, pro- tested against Indian troops be- ing used to occupy neighboring Asiatic countries for imperialist ends. But he was powerless to order their withdrawal. -Indian troops continue in Basra, in Ma- laya, in Burma, in Indonesia, in NT It is time to awake from illusions about the ‘gift of freedom to India’ writes R. PALME DUTT ST Cabinet Mission’s maneuvers could only be terrible communal eonflicts in India. That prediction is receiving: grim confirmation today. @ jT is time that public opinion | should awaken from the il- lusions spread about the “gift of freedom to India” and recog- nize the real, grave situation developing in India. A recent Daily Herald editor- jal declared: “Jn India today one of the greatest advances in human his- NA SEE. : - BOSSY RUNS DRY Wehru’s broadcast on foreign policy—even though little has yet been carried out. But there is no room for il- lusions as to the real position. Power has not been trans- ferred. The Congress and League lead- ers have only been accepted on the Viceroy’s Council after pledging acceptance of the Brit- ish plan in its entirety—a plan which denies every elementary principle of democracy and is guaranteed to tie India to Brit- ish imperialism. There is no Congress-League agreement; the rival leaders con- tinue their conflict within the Gouncil, and the Viceroy holds the balancing position. There are no independent min- isters. Constitutionally, the Vice- roy holds supreme power. In the event of any difference, he can dismiss this Council in five minutes. The Viceroy alone controls the political department governing the princes. British military occupation continues and is being streng- thened, with no suggestion oft Hong Kong. Sheikh Abdullah, one of the principal leaders of the States Peoples’ Conference, the associ- ate of the Congress in the In- dian States, has just been sen- tenced to three years for the erime of demanding democracy in Kashmir. This Indian “goy- ernment” is powerless to inter- vene. @ ECENTLY at Amainer, in Bombay, 4,000 textile work- ers on strike, after vainly ask- ing for three weeks for arbitra- tion, marched in procession, in defiance of Section 144 prohibit- ing meetings of more than five persons. The police shot ten of their leaders dead in cold blood, including the textile workers’ leader who had been Communist candidate to the Assembly. (It was admitted there was no dis- turbance of any kind.) When the Indian trade union leader, Dange, member of the Executive of the World HWedera- tion of Trade Unions, moved the adjournnment of the Bombay Legislative Assembly to protest against this outrage, the Con- ‘the air ministry _ against JAWAHARAL NEHRU Vice-president without power. gress premier, Kher, defended the action of the police. : Military preparations go for- ward to prepare Imdia as an anti-Soviet base. The princes’ armies are being Strengthened, and air forces of the States are being built up. A recent communication from in London to the air command in India gave instructions to prepare for the reception in India of a strategic air reserve, to number 18 squadrons by 1950; including six long-range bomber Squadrons. Anti-Soviet propaganda in In- dia is intensified. e HE Indian struggle for free- dom, has still to be fought and won. The Indian movement. masses are in They are struggling intolerable conditions.. The strike movement has reach- ed an extent never before equalled. In a number of distriets the peasants have seized the land. The States’. peoples are in re- volt against princely rule. The Communist Party of In- dia, the unquestioned leader of the Indian working class, is in the forefront of this fight. The Communist Party of In- dia raises the banner of the united national front, for Hindu- Moslem unity, for Congress- League-GCommunist unity, to end fractricidal strife and win full independence. Let us do our part here to help the struggle of the Indian people for freedom. The British tabor is pledged to Indian ence. It is the the people of see that that good, to bring movement independ- vital interest of this country te pledge is made the British soal- diers home, to end the domin- ation of India, and te let the Indian people freely determine their own future by a democra- tic and sovereign Constituent Assembly based on universal suffrage. Qn that basis the friendship of the common people of Bri- tain and India will bring new strength to all the fre peoples of the world. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27_ 1946