Socialism or Capitalism?
A very dear journalist friend based in London wrote the following to me: "But, comrade, there are few questions in my mind about your politics. I disagree with you over your promotion of Dalit Capitalism."
"A nationally known political scientist told me the other day. "Generally, I don't go to parties. I would have certainly come to your party, but couldn't because of the highly ideological nature of the party. There is no way I can support Capitalism."
There are a few senior Dalits in Delhi, apparently disturbed over the very idea of Dalit Capitalism, and Capitalism as a form of society.
By no stretch of imagination, my above friends can be described as anti-Dalits, they would in fact, stand with Dalits should a critical point arrive. Still at the level of an idea, the spectre of Dalit Capitalism has come to haunt many a minds.
What however, discernable in their critique of the idea of Dalit Capitalism is a question of choice between Socialism and Capitalism. Why should an oppressed community like Dalits prefer Capitalism over Socialism! What if one cited Dr Ambedkar for his thesis of State Socialism he outlined in his "States and Minorities?"
"Was Baba Saheb a Communist, or was he a Socialist", parried my scholar colleague D Shyam Babu when I spoke to him seeking guidance on the issue.
First consider the age Baba Saheb lived in. October revolution had occurred in 1917, by WW-II; nearly half of the Europe had turned 'red'. The Chinese revolution had occurred in 1949. Back home, the Communist movement was gaining in strength, and a "Communist Uprising" (1946-1951) was making waves in Telagana while Dr Ambedkar was writing the Constitution of India.
Needless to add, by mid-twentieth centaury, Marxism was the sexiest philosophy of emancipation. Terms such as Communism, and Socialism were in great fashion. Even Pt Jawaharlal Nehru, darling of the Indian bourgeoisie, was mesmerised by Marxism.
"A study of Marx and Lenin produced a powerful effect on my mind and helped me to see history and current affairs in a new light", he wrote in his Discovery of India.
"I had no doubt that the Soviet Revolution had advanced human society by a great leap and had lit a bright flame which could not be smothered, and that it had laid the foundations for that new civilisation towards which the world would advance", Pt Nehru added.
Dr Ambedkar thus, was living in an era defined by the triumphant ideology of Marxism where the term "Socialism" was in fashion, a la "Democracy" after the Great French Revolution.
Himself philosopher of India's social revolution, Dr Ambedkar was neither overwhelmed by Marxism or Russian or Chinese revolutions. His doctrine of State Socialism therefore, was not the Socialism as we understand in the Marxian sense.
We must now ponder over the big question of the modern times. Had Dr Ambedkar foreseen limitations of Socialism? In other words, had Ambedkar foreseen collapse of the Russian revolution, or Chinese socialism ultimately graduating into a Capitalism?
Well, all philosophers are thinkers, but not all thinkers become philosophers. Dr Ambedkar falls in the first category. Here are some clues.
In 1951, Dr. Ambedkar drafted Election Manifesto for the Scheduled Caste Federation, a political party founded by himself, where the problem of poverty occupies a very special place. The Manifesto argues, apart from many other things, the following:
* Rapid Industrialisation of India.
* Large Farms replacing small holdings.
* Mechanised Agriculture.
* High breed seeds, and
* Birth Control.
Is the above model a 'Socialist', or the one based on the Western Capitalism?
Further, the manifesto argues: "For the purpose of increasing production, the Scheduled Caste Federation will not be bound by any dogma or any pattern. The pattern of industrial enterprise will be a matter regulated by the needs of the time, and circumstances. Where national undertaking of an industry is possible and essential, the Scheduled Caste Federation will support national undertaking. Where private enterprise is possible and national undertaking not essential, private enterprise will be allowed."
That was Dr Ambedkar in 1951. Today,it is 2006. What if the private sector of Baba Saheb's time were to believe in a shared Capitalism, and a shared industrialised-urbanised, India?
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