George,
He died in 1974 after sixty years at the heart of the
British communist movement. In fact the 20th December marked the 25th
anniversary of his death (and as he must have been born at the turn
of the century it must be close to the 100th anniversary of his birth
- perhaps a better thing to celebrate than Christmas!)
His political career goes back to 1916 when he was imprisoned as a
'conscientious objector' (though he was a socialist objector not a
pacifist). On his release after a year he was active in the anti-war
movement and in October 1917 denounced the war on Marxist
grounds and spoke out in support of the Bolsheviks in the final stage
of their stuggle against the Kerensky government. At this point he
was a memeber of the ILP but in 1920 became a foundation member of
the Communist Party on which, from 1923, he was the youngest member
of its Executive Committee (standing down in 1965 to make way for
younger comrades).
He is probably best known for his founding and editorship of Labour
Monthly (often refered to a LM !) from 1921 until his death. Through
out that period his 'Notes of the Month' were famous within the
labour and trade union movement (his last one written 4 days before
his death and published postumously). So well known was his column
that he became effectionately known just by the initials which signed
off his report, RPD. This and his books, 'IndiaToday', 'Fascism &
Social Revolution' and 'The Crisis of Britain & the British Empire'
were read all over the world. He was a unswirving defender of the
Soviet Union and the the Victory of 1917.
He was born to a Indian father and Swedish mother (Palme was his
mother's family name), his father went to Cambridge to study medicine
and became a poor man's doctor there. As a child Raji would have
listened to the great political disputes between the moderate and
extremist wings of the Indian Nationalist leaders who would visit his
home. He was later to stay for a while with Nehru in 1935 (the year
before he bacame president of the National Congress) and helped to
direct him in a more progressive and socialist direction.
His works include:
'The Two Internationals' (1920) from the attitudes to the war within
the 2nd International to the emergence of the Communist
International.
'Socialism & the Living Wage' (1927) just after the 1926
General Strike.
'Fascism & Social Revolution' (1934) at the time of Mosley's
blackshirts.
'Modern British Reformism'
'India Today' (1940) which was banned in India
'Britain's Crisis of Empire' (1949)
'Problems of Contemporary History' (1963)
'The International' (1964)
plus his contribution to the 'Outline History of the Communist
International' (1971)
I hope that is all helpful. I'm sure there is far more to say about
him but that's the basic detain I know.
John.
> Is Palme Dutt still alive.Who was he? I remember reading a book of his
> called From Yalta to Vietnam. Have not seen it about since
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