Living in Marxist Dream: A Disillusioned Long MarchUttara Chakraborty By Anuradha Roy Primus Books, New Delhi, 2014, Rs. 1595.00 VOLUME XL NUMBER 2 February 2016 This book as the author claims ‘draws
upon her PhD dissertation written
more than a quarter of a century ago’.
She fears that the definition of ‘cultural history
at that time was rather narrow and the
broad spectrum that is attached today to this
branch of historical study was unknown those
days’. She apologizes for the narrative style of
her compendium which she admits is ‘overburdened
with data’ and is apprehensive about
the ‘readability of the book’ because she admits
that her ‘youthful enthusiasm as a researcher’
led to a kind of ‘data fetishism’.
Anuradha Roy need not be anxious
about this; the book with its overwhelming
information and exhaustive narrative reaches
the status of a primary source. After all, the
historian is essentially a story-teller narrating
the tales of a past time.
One may however mildly wonder at the
title of the book. Should the title Cultural
Movement of the Communists be more appropriate?
Communism is the application of the
theory of Marxism. The Marxists who believed
in implementing the theory into a
movement, whether political or cultural,
should necessarily be Communists. Anuradha
narrates the story of the activists who at a
significant time in Bengal’s / India’s history
began a movement with the aim to radicalize
society. This radicalization should of course
be according to their belief through a Communist
revolution. The aspiration to change
the society was to be accompanied by a change
in cultural sensitivity. The activists therefore
were to be vanguards not only of a political
movement, but of a new cultural movement
as well. So writers, artists, singers composers
and of course the actors and dramatists
having the same earnest belief in Marxism
were all involved in creating, presaging phenomenal
changes in their respective fields.
As Raphael Samuel observed in his History
Workshop Journal the activist is also the historian
for they craft history for the future.
Anuradha is bringing into light these activist-historians
and trying to situate them in
the narrative of Communism in Bengal.
The book is divided into four long chapters
including a longish introduction and a
conclusion. The first chapter begins with a
comprehensive discussion of the background against which the Communist movement
was broadening out towards an extensive
political vista with a cultural agenda. The
period 1936–1952 were critical years which
experienced a fascination with the Soviet
Union, the rise of Fascism/Nazism and the
Second World War. However ... Table of Contents >> |