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CHAPTER - 1

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas (b.in1914), a journalist, film-maker,

playwright, story-writer and novelist, has published an impressive series

of novels in English, which deserve immense attention for scrutiny and

assessment as works of literary art. In this chapter I propose to trace his

career, briefly outline the history of modern India which provides

material basis for his works, depict the history of “Indo-Anglian”

writing out of which he emerges, examine critical opinions about him as

a writer and, finally, define the problem to be delineated and the

methodological procedure to be adopted in this study.

In the foregoing study, an humble attempt is being made to

assimilate abbas’s works comprehensively & trace out how profound

were the concerns of K.A. Abbas keeping in view for the social and

political issues of his times. Not with standing the fact that postmodern

discourse discourages such studies, it may be contended that

Postcolonial era encourages the study of the narratives concerned with

national and political issues. For example, K.A. Abbas’s Inquilab sets

Indian Nation fighting for freedom against the British empire. Similarly,

Naxalite shows how the postcolonial nation state turns oppressive

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eliminating the ultra revolutionary forces. It is believed that the present

study will explore the social and political issues associated thence forth.

Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, a journalist, film - maker, novelist,

playwright, and short story writer has contributed a great deal to the

world of prose fiction. Abbas was a versatile prolific writer who had

written nine novels, six collections of short stories and numerous

articles.

The scenario of political exploitation is seen at various levels in

the fiction of Abbas. His early works represent the exploitation of the

colonies by the imperialist powers; or democrats by the fascist powers

and of the secular and progressive by the rigid fanatical powers. In the

novels and stories depicting pre independence India, the brutal force the

imperialist power is shown in the form of the Jallianwallah Bagh

Massacre, Police atrocities on the revolutionary freedom fighters in

Bihar and maltreatment of the political prisoners in various jails of the

country. Racial discrimination and the murder of black revolutionaries

by the imperialists is also depicted in several of the stories. Inquilab

(1955) and The World is My Village (1983) the two most important

novels of the author are political novels based on the background of the

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freedom struggle of India and hence represent various exploitative forces

at work of state terror.

Abbas transforms his socialistic thought and ideology into art by

transforming his concepts and impressions into images, situations,

actions characters and scenes. Artistic creativity involves the techniques

of dramatization, and objectification. Abbas’s works mirror his social

vision and his ideology without marring the beauty of the literary art. He

arranges his notions, beautifully and neatly, into plots with themes and

characters of universal nature. Thus his works retain their artistic nature

and effect. Abbas very much qualifies to the claim as an artist working

in the mode of the novel, who advances the socialist thought and

philosophy.

Socialism strives for social justice and equality. It prescribes that

the country’s wealth should belong to the people as a whole, not to

private owners, a system in which the state runs the country’s wealth.

Socialism is keenly debated, discussed and aspired after. It is an ideal

that keeps eluding. All humanity craves to achieve it in ideal form. It has

assumed a great significance in the modern day world. Socialism is

difficult to define. Collins dictionary explains it in the following words

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“Socialism is a set of political beliefs and principles whose

general aim is to create a system in which everyone has an equal

opportunity to benefit from the country’s wealth, usually by having the

country’s main industries owned by the state. There are many kinds of

socialism’s”.1

The exploitation of the masses by a few is an old phenomenon.

Man in his greed, evolved strange ways to enrich himself by exploiting

his fellow - beings. His zeal to possess, and his material pursuits led him

to shun away all human values. This bent of mind, naturally, led to

serious consequences. Oppression and exploitation prevailed. This

unhappy state led a few conscious and value-based people to think in

term of socialism to give relief and respite to the down-trodden and to

the cruelly-exploited masses. The socialist movement started as the

natural outcome of the industrial revolution, to erase the social evils that

crept in, side by side, with the factory system and the power-driven

machines. There is no particular definition of the word social, though it

has taken the world by a storm. Socialism is a way of life, a class

struggle, to wipe-out of class hatreds and class distinctions, an attitude

towards life, a form of society, a science, and the antithesis to

capitalism.

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Socialism is an outgrowth of mercantilism. Certain things are

common to most of the socialists, basically concerned with the

production and distribution of wealth. Every form of socialism is, in

fact, a protest against or a condemnation of the capitalism which has

failed, miserably to realise the just distribution of wealth. This

capitalistic form of economic system has created a conflict of interests

between the owners and the workers. All modern socialists advocate the

replacement of capitalism by a new economic order, the transformation

of private land-holdings and industrial capital into social or collective

property. Collective ownership and administration of land and industrial

capital form the core of socialism.

Under capitalistic system, the means of production, such as

factories and the things produced by the factories, were owned and

controlled by a few people-the capitalists. The Vast majority of the

people working in the factories was denied all rights. Their conditions of

work and living were miserable. They were exploited enormously. The

rise of the factory system resulted in the shifting of population from

small agricultural villages to cities. Thousands of landless labourers,

illiterate and without any property as they were, ran to the factories to

work, and to be helplessly exploited. They lived in slums, completely

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blind to comfort or sanitation, amidst misery and squalor. The capitalists

paid small wages for long hours of work in unhealthy working

conditions. Children of pauper parents were herded out to the factories,

to work very hard, till they fell down fatigued due to severe muscular

strain. As they were too young to handle machinery, many of them died

or got maimed while operating the machines. Most of the factories were

not ventilated. The workers, consequently, fell prey to certain inevitable

diseases connected with the nature of their work. Insecurity and mass

underemployment sprang up, as the gravest social problems on account

of the industrial revolution. The great supply of labour was considered as

an economic commodity.

The industrialists had no sympathy for the workers. They merely

reaped sudden and enormous profits. To rationalise themselves, they had

a philosophy of their own-“laissez faire”. These ghastly conditions were

gradually bettered through the agitation of reformers and the quickening

of public conscience.

The workers began to organize themselves into trade unions, to

protect and fight for, their rights. The governments of the various nations

were compelled to promulgate laws restricting the exploitative

tendencies of the capitalists. The working hours were regulated, laws to

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protect workers from unsafe working conditions were passed. In

England, the charist movement aimed at securing political rights for the

workers. Many acts prohibiting the exploitation of the workers and

children were enacted in the Victorian age.

The basis of capitalism was the private ownership of the means of

production. The mass exploitation, ugly conditions of slums and their

dwellers led to anticapitalist feelings. The idea grew that capitalism

itself is evil and that it needs to be replaced by a different kind of social

and economic system in which the means of production would be owned

by the society as a whole and not by a few individuals.

Many thinkers and reformers in the past had expressed their

revulsion against inequalities in society and favoured a system in which

everyone would be equal.

Francois-Noel Babeuf, a French revolutionary, had voiced that

nature gave everyone an equal right to the enjoyment of all good. In a

true society, there is no room for either rich or poor.’ He said that it was

necessary to create another revolution which would do away with the

terrible contrasts between the rich and the poor, masters and servants,

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and the time has come to set up the republic of equals, whose welcoming

door will be open to all mankind.

The French revolution had not met the needs of the poor sections

of the French society and there was a serious discontent among the

people. An uprising was planned to overthrow the existing government

with a view to build a society based on socialist ideas. The government

learnt about the plan and arrested the leaders. Babeuf being one of them

was executed in 1797. Though Babeuf’s attempt at overthrowing the

French government had failed, his ideas exercised an important

influence on the growth of socialist movement.

Saint-Simon (1760-1825) was the founder of socialism in France.

He belonged to a well-known family and spent his life writing on

scientific, political and social subjects. He had a zeal for social reform

and influenced young intellectuals, who admired the generous aspects of

his teachings. He felt that the world should be recognized on the basis of

established scientific and historical facts. He advocated an industrial

state directed by technical experts and not managed by the hereditary

aristocrats on a military party. Saint-Simonism grew up as a school, but

was soon torn up by internal differences and disappeared.

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Robert Owen (1771-1858) was an acute observer,, who detected

the flaws of the factory system, though he had himself profited by this

system. At New Hanark, Scotland, he got increasingly absorbed in the

poverty and misery of the factory-workers. Owen believed that men were

what their environment made them, he revolted against the pathetic state

of affairs of the working-class, their long hours of labour, their lack of

education, their unhealthy habitations, many families lived in a single

room, the horror of child labour, their low wages etc. With his

motivation, enthusiasm and goodness Owen transformed New Hanark

into a model factory town with school education, fair wages, proper

housing, and co-operative Stores. New Hanark before a centre of

pilgrimage for industrialists with an urge to reform. The goal of all the

manufacturers with very few exceptions, is to make ruthless profits,

ignoring the welfare of the labourers to the fullest extent. Owen

encouraged the labourers to fight for their rights. As the chances of

social reorganization in England were bleak, Owen worked f or a Utopia

in New Harmony, Indiana in 1825. He returned to England in a bankrupt

state after his experimentation in America failed. Robert Owen took to

writing and lecturing on socialistic theories. He was the founder of

infant schools in England. Owen introduced short hours into factory

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labour, and actively promoted factory legislation, one of the most needed

and most beneficial reforms of the century. He founded the co-operative

movement and encouraged general education, sanitary reform and

humanism.

Saint-Simon and Robert Owen are known as the Utopian

socialists. They visualized a society free from the exploitation of any

kind and one in which all would contribute their best and would share

the fruits of their labour. However the methods they advocated for the

establishment of such a society were impracticable and ineffective.

Hence, they gained the nomenclature “Utopian Socialists”.

Charles Fourier (1772-1837) was a Frenchmen, who designed a

plan to better the living conditions of the factory-workers. He advocated

the establishment based upon small self-supporting units of socialistic

communities of some eighteen hundred persons living together. Fourier

thought that most of human misery arose from the unnatural limitations

imposed by the existing economic and social system. The individual

should be allowed to work on a job which he enjoys, he should have the

liberty to quit that work and switch over to another profession or task

whenever he desires, only then he can be happy. A man should be doing

a work suitable to his inclinations and aptitudes. Fourier felt that a

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person should indulge in work which would be congenial and

harmonious.

Lavis Blanc (1811-1882) in his writings tried to convince the

labourers of France of the social evils of the prevalent economic system.

Blanc denounced the government of the bourgeoisie as the government

of the rich, by the rich and for the rich. He wanted the state to be

organized on a democratic pattern. Then alone could the labouring

classes work out their own salvation. National and social workshops set

up by the state would be controlled by the workers, who would share the

profits. The individual ownership would disappear. A socialist party was

created in France, which threatened the survival of the monarchy and the

continuity of the existing industrial and commercial system.

Many groups and organizations were also formed to spread

socialist ideas and to organise workers. One of these was the League of

the Just, which had members in many countries of Europe. Its slogan

was ‘All men are brothers’. Thus was one of its features. In 1847, its

name was changed to the communist League and it declared as its aims,

the down-fall of the bourgeoisie, the rule of the proletariat, the over

throw of the old society of middle class based on class distinctions and

the establishment of a new society without classes and without private

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property. It’s journal carried the slogan “Proletarians of all lands Unite”.

Karl Marx and Fred Engels drafted a manifesto for the League.

The communist manifesto first appeared in German in February

1848. The influence of this document in, the history of the socialists is

immense. It was the work of Karl Marx (1818-83) and his life long

associate Engels (1820-95).

Through their work in the socialist movement and though their

writings, Marx and Engels gave a new direction to socialist ideology and

movement. Their philosophy is known as Marxism and it influenced

almost every field of knowledge. Their view of socialism is called

scientific socialism dialectically.

Marx was born in an influential bourgeois family of Treves. He

was educated in the universities of Bonn and Berlin. He was more

interested in philosophy and history than in law. He was greatly

influenced by Hegel (1770-1831), the leading philosopher of Germany.

Marx, after the completion of his doctors degree in philosophy became a

journalist, and worked for the freedom of the press in Germany. He

failed in his mission of seeking the emancipation of the press and moved

to Paris, where he came in contact with the factory worker, for the first

13

time. Marx made friends with Blanc, Proudhon, Bakunin, Heine, and

Engels. Unlike Marx, Engels possessed a realistic knowledge of the

working conditions of the labourers, as he was associated with a cotton

mill in Manchester. Engels was a Jew and a student of Economics, so he

collaborated with Marx in research and agitation for about forty years. In

1845, Marx had to leave Paris because of articles of the radicals in the

Vorwarts which was edited by him. He lived in Brussels for three years,

was a man without a country as he relinquished Pursian citizenship and

did not seek naturalization anywhere else. In 1845 Engels published his

‘The condition of the working class in England.’ Two years later

Marx brought out a scathing criticism of the theories of Proudhon which

were summed up in the epigram, “la propriete C’est le Vol” (Property is

theft).

The communist Manifesto (1848) a document written by Marx in

collaboration with Engels became the basis of the new socialism. The

Manifesto attempted to explain, historically, the ascendancy of the

middle class, and presented socialism as a platform for the workers to

agitate for their rights The Manifesto delineated the total doctrine and

strategy of social revolution.

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Mark took a leading part in the revolt in Germany, he got

disillusioned and was finally expelled by the government of Purssia. He

lived in London from 1849 till his death in 1893, where the government

of capitalists never hounded him. Though he s failing in health and

finances, he worked energetically on his world-famous works, Criticism

of Political Economy (1859) and Das Kapital (1867). Like the Bible, Das

Kapital has had a multitude of commentators and interpreters. It is

considered the Bible of Socialists all over the world and has very

successfully functioned as a work of popular propaganda. Marx believed

that economic conditions determine the way history proceeds, and

history is the record of economic conditions, the institutions and ideas

that have resulted on account of the economic state of affairs. The

methods of production and distribution constitute the economic life, as

well as play a decisive role in every aspect of life.

The class struggle is an important principle of Marxian Socialism.

The history of the existing society according to Marx is the history of

class struggles, ending in a revolutionary reconstruction of the society or

in the ruination of the contesting classes. History is a progressive record

of desperate and destructive struggle of classes. All history was a

struggle of classes for the material goods of life. Class hatred and class

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war, were prime factors in the law of change. Marx opined that the

dictatorship of the capitalists would be followed by the dictatorship of

the proletariat and this in turn by a classless society, which would be the

end of the long and savage scramble for material things. Capitalism,

according to Marx, carried in itself the seeds of its doom. As time passes

business grows, capitalists become fewer and the mass of poverty and

oppression, degeneration and exploitation become greater. At last the

capitalistic system perishes of its excesses. Capitalism is finally blown

up by its own weapons, and caught in its own death trap.

Marxian socialism enunciates that the time value of a commodity

is measured by the amount and nature of the labour expended on it, and

the amount of labour over and above what was actually paid for in the

form of wages is the surplus value, which is annexed by the capitalist as

profit. The rich becomes richer and the poor become poorer because of

capitalistic exploitation. This is known as the Doctrine of Surplus Value.

Marx ardently believed that economic crises were inherent in the

existing economic system. This is known as the Theory of Recurring

Economic Crises. Marxism holds that socialism is an international

movement and not a national movement. The workers of a particular

country have much more in common with the labourers of other

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countries, than they have with the capitalists of their own nation. Class

interests have precedence over national interests. A proletarian has no

country, only a birth place and the proletarians of all the countries

should unite. In the Union, the workers could work together and find the

necessary strength.

To sum up it can be said that the Communist Manifesto stated that

the aim of workers all over the world was the overthrow of capitalism,

and the establishment of socialism. Marx analysed the working of

capitalism in his famous work Das Kapital and pointed out the

characteristics that would lead to its destruction, Marx believed that the

workers produce more “Value” than they get in the form of wages, the

difference being appropriated by the capitalist in the form of profits.

Marx and Engels advocated that the emancipation of the working class

would emancipate the hole human race from all traces of social injustice.

Around the time the communist Manifesto was published,

revolutions broke out in almost every country of Europe. These 1848

revolutions aimed at the over-throw of autocratic governments,

establishment of socialistic democracy for the workers and national

unification in countries like Germany and Italy. The communist League

participated in these revolutions in many countries but all these

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revolutions were suppressed. With the outbreak of the first world war,

the socialist movement in most of the countries suffered a serious set-

back.

Abbas was greatly impressed by Nehru’s presidential address at

the Lucknow session of the Congress. Nehru’s ideas on fascism,

imperialism and socialism, held a great appeal to Abbas. He felt that

Nehru was one of the earliest world states men to realise that:

“Capitalism, in its difficulties, took to fascism with all its brutal

suppression of what civilisation had apparently stood for; it became,

even in some of its homelands, what its imperialist counterpart in the

subject colonial countries. Fascism and imperialism thus stood out as

two stages of the now decaying capitalism, and, though, they varied in

different countries according to the national characteristics and

economic and political conditions, they represented the same forces of

reaction and supported each other, and at the same time came into

conflict with each other, for such conflict was inherent in their very

nature. Socialism in the West, and the rising nationalism in the Eastern

and other dependent countries, opposed this combination of fascism and

imperialism.”2

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Abbas agreed with Nehru’s views on socialism and has included

the following lines spoken by Nehru in his autobiography:

“I am convinced that the only key to the solution of the world’s

problems and of India’s problems lies in socialism, and I use this word

in its scientific, economic sense socialism is thus for me not merely an

economic doctrine which I favour; it is a vital creed which I hold with

all my head and heart.”3

In 1917 the Russian Revolution came about which affected the

course of the world history. The Bolshevik revolution put an end to

czarist regime and paved the way for the propagation of world-wide

socialism.

The Russians were full of contempt for the Czar and the famous

poet Mayakovsky wrote on the fall of the Czar thus:

“Like the chewed stump of a fag we spat their dynasty out”.4

The consequences of the Russian revolution had a great deal of

national significance. Socialistic ideals were followed to rebuild the

ruined economy and reconstruct the shattered Russian society:

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“Private property for production was abolished and the motive of

private profit s eliminated from the system of production. The first task

that the new government faced was the building up of a technologically

advanced economy. To do this, a new procedure was adopted for

economic planning.’’5

In U.S.S.R. industrialization was undertaken by the state through

the Five Year Plans. The Revolution resulted in the development of a

new type of social and economic system in the USSR. Heavy

inequalities in the society disappeared:

“Work became an essential requirement for every man there no

unearned income to live on. It became the duty of society and the state to

provide work for every individual, and the right to work became a

constitutional right.”6

The Russian Revolution had a great impact on the world scene.

Russia became a super power and a model of socialism for the other

nations:

“The Russian Revolution served to hasten the end of imperialism.

According to Marx, a nation which enslaves another nation can never be

free. Political movements based on socialism in countries with colonies

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have helped the peoples of the colonies in their independence movements

as a part of their struggle of socialism. Socialists all over the world

organized campaigns for putting an end to imperialism.”7

After the Revolution, Russia the first country to openly support the

cause of independence of all nations from foreign rule. It’s influence on

Nehru is evident from his Auto-biography when he states:

“It made me think of politics much more in terms of social

change”.8

K.A. Abbas agreed with the axiom of the wise Locke that:

“There can be no injury, where there is no property.”9

Abbas conveys the message of socialism through his fascinating

novels and short stories. In his works there are frequent poignant

references to poverty, hunger, labour unrest, exploitation by the

capitalist class, decadent ostentation of the aristocratic class and other

social problems which can find solution only in the imposition of

socialism as a political system and a social creed. Abbas, very

meaningfully, observes:

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“Socialism can not thrive in a society based on acquisitiveness. It

becomes necessary to change the basis of the acquisitive society and

remove the profit motive.”10

In all his writings, K.A. Abbas, very painstakingly, tries to educate

his readers about the economic and social problems that can be just

wiped away by adopting socialistic code. He encourages the idea of

“Inquilab” or revolution.

He always talks of the downtrodden, the tillers and the workers in

a sentimental tone, full of love and reverence. He is very sarcastic about

the idle rich capitalist class and the feudalistic land lords. He is full of

appreciation towards Nehru’s socialistic sentiments. Like Nehru, Abbas

too disliked profoundly the phenomena of imperialism, capitalism and

absentee land lordism, as Abbas has recorded in his Auto-biography an

excerpt from Nehru’s presidential address, at the Lahore Congress

Session:

“We have to decide for whose benefit industry must be run and the

land produce food. Today the abundance that the land produces is not

for the peasant or the labourer who work on it, and industry’s chief

function is to produce millionaires the mid huts and hovels and the

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nakedness of our people testify to the glory of the British Empire and our

present social system.”11

Abbas voices the socio economic discontent brewing in the hearts

of the poor people and their keen desire to struggle for their freedom and

rights against the Indian capitalists or their “Maliks”. K.A. Abbas is, of

course, bothered with the contemporary political events of the pre-

independence and the post-independence India but he is constantly

troubled by the problems of hunger and disease that ail the rural and the

urban poor of India. K.A. Abbas does convince the reader that the only

remedy for all the socio-economic ills of the Indian society is socialism-

which aims at equality amongst all the human beings, be they Hindus,

Muslims, Sikhs, Christians or Parsees, as they are all essentially

“Brothers and Sisters”. All his literary works and cinematic experiments

are full of socialistic thought.

K.A. Abbas a journalist, film-Maker, play writer, story-writer and

novelist, has earned a great deal of fame by publishing his major novels

in English. He holds a significant place among the Indian English

writers. His contribution to the world of Indian Films-as script-writer,

director and producer-has been tremendous.

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Born in a Muslim family of Panipat, K.A. Abbas was given

lessons in Arabic and was exposed to the Arabic text of the Quran in his

childhood. The knowledge of the Arabic characters helped him in his

scholastic advancement:

“----but before I was four years of age I had learnt to read the

Arabic text of the Quran, without any understanding of that it

meant except a vague idea that all the verses proclaimed the

greatness of God and His Prophet.

“Since the Arabic alphabet was substantially the same as

the Urdu alphabet, when I went to the primary school, I was given

admission straightaway in the second grade. That is how I could

matriculate at the age of fifteen, graduate with a B.A. degree at

the age of nineteen, and pass out of the Aligarh Muslim University

with a LL.B. degree (at the compulsive behest of my father) the

age of twenty-one”.12

Abbas’s awareness of the unhappy socio-economic conditions of

the masses, prevalence of cruel exploitation of the poor by the rich and

the unwarranted men-made distinction between men and man led him to

portray the unhappy situation and to advocate the cause of socialism to

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nuke this world a better and a happier place. His personal experiences,

along with his observations and conclusions about life form the material

of his fictional works.

Abbas developed his socio-political ideology during his active

involvement, as a journalist, while he is a student of Aligarh Muslim

University, in functioning as a correspondent of The Hindustan Times

and the Bombay Chronicle:

“Two diversions kept me busy during the freshmen year of

university. One was pen friendship with boys and girls in foreign

countries, some of whom I as to meet in the course of my world tour in

1938. The others the correspondent ship of the daily newspapers. I

became correspondent of newly started Hindustan Times (edited by

Pothan Joseph) and the Bombay Chronicle (edited by Syed Abdullah

Brelvi)”.13

Abbas had the opportunity to act as an apprentice in the office of

the National Call in Delhi for a period of three months immediately after

his B.A. examination. He wrote in his autobiography:

“Let me record that three months period in the National Call

really made me into a journalist.”14

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Abbas during his study of law started the publication of the

Aligarh Opinion, which became an instrument of expression for patriotic

and individualistic ideology. Abbas was threatened to be rusticated from

Aligarh Muslim University by the Pro Vice-Chancellor Mr.

Ramsbottom, yet he printed a write-up about Satyagraha in his weekly.

He indulged in writing for the press and journalism right from his

university phase of life. Journalism coloured his novels in two vital

directions. Abbas’s novels are imbued with the social realism found in

the socio-economic set-up of the Indian society. His novels are true to

life portrayals and his style is very simple and expressive, minus

unnecessary ornamentation.

Abbas proceeded towards film criticism, as he already engaged in

writing for the press. Film criticism naturally led him on to creating his

own films. As a film critic Abbas was very outspoken, he brushed aside

the cautionary warnings of his editor. The producers flew into a rage and

declared that they would not offer their advertisements to the Chronicle

in case Abbas functioned as a film critic. However, Abbas was admired

widely for his skill as a film critic:

“Much before he started writing film scripts and making films,

Abbas was a film critic. He caught the imagination of Bombay’s Students

26

and intelligentsia by his unorthodox and outspoken film reviews in the

Bombay Chronicle.”15

Abbas condemned the senselessness in the film scripts in his

criticism. A film-producer defied him to write a film story as the job of

criticising was light and writing was a strenuous task. Youthful Abbas

picked up the challenge and became a film-maker. Obviously the film

critic was spurred to turn into a fi1m-maker. The spirit of Abbas’s

development clearly marks the undaunted spirit of Abbas. He wrote a

script founded on an episode in the Bombay Chronicle named Naya

Sansar. He drew the material for his stories and films from journals. His

first script won the Bengal Film Journalists Award for the Best Story and

Screenplay, and celebrated several silver jubilees. Very soon the great

journalist wrote, produced and directed his first film Dharti Ke Lal:

“That was another challenge, and I was ‘foolish’ enough to

accept it. That was the time of the Great Bengal Famine, when the

Indian People’s Theatre Association (popularly known by its

initials. IPTA), of which I was one of the founders, had used two

plays-one in Hindi and the other in Bengali-to move the

conscience of our people. It was the social theme of those days.

27

So in 1945-46 I directed and produced “Dharti Ke Lal”

(Children of the Earth) keeping it’ strictly realistic in setting,

characterization and the social passion of the original plays on

which its screen-play was based.”16

Journalism and film-making involve the similar technical factors

of operation. Both evolve a critique on the existing socio-economic

atmosphere surrounding the journalist and the film maker. A moralistic

lesson or a message is to be conveyed to the reader of the journal or the

viewer of a film. For Abbas there is no distinction between serious

journalism and literature or between journalistic cinema and artistic

cinema. He is of the opinion that utilitarian literature and journalism are

inter-related. Steinbeck and Hemingway developed into writers of novels

and Marx wrote the philosophy of Socialism, basing themselves on a

background of journalism. Abbas emphasised the relationship among

journalism, literature and cinema and stated:

“Personally, I have never much cared for the subtle distinction

between journalism and literature, or between journalistic cinema and

artistic cinema. Realism in painting was once ridiculed as “Colour

photography” and realism in literature (and even in films) was

dismissed as “journalism”. But good, imaginative inspired journalism

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has always been indistinguishable from realistic, purposeful,

contemporary literature. There was a special correspondent called Karl

Marx whose dispatches to the New York Herald Tribune are now a part

of the scriptures of communism. Hemingway and Steinbeck created their

master-pieces of fiction out of their journalistic assignments and

missions-Steinbeck wrote his Grapes of wrath as he scoured the United

States to investigate the causes of the great depression, Hemingway

wrote For Whom The Bell Tolls as he covered (and fought in) the

Spanish civil war.”17

The films of K.A. Abbas are framed on scripts with a clear-cut

social purpose, the urgency required to enlighten and awaken the

slumbering masses and stand against the socio-economic exploitation in

the society. His work offers practical solutions to the problems arising

due to the fascist and the conservative methods of social administration

and economic management aimed at filling the coffers of the privileged

classes and at breaking the backs of the labour-force. Abbas employs

cinema as a tool to rouse the social conscience of the audience. V.P.

Sathe, meaningfully and effectively comments on Abbas as a film-

maker:

29

“-------prejudiced in favour of films and film-makers who trade

purposeful and progressive films, exposing social evils and making a

fervent plea for humanism and justice.”18

Understandably, Abbas’s were commercial failures as he could not

cater to the popular taste because of his social preoccupations. His films

Dharti Ke Lal, Jagte Raho and Mera Naam Joker are great financial

flop. Happily, Awara and Shree 420 recorded box-office success. The

disappointingly financially unsuccessful films of Abbas are enriched

with socialistic thoughts. Yet, their glaring “Flop Show” performance

highlights the indifference and compete apathy of the masses to the age-

long exploitation of the unprivileged by the privileged ones. Obviously,

the experience is painful to the writer. His notion that the masses would

appreciate the dramatization of the ghastly reality of life s grievously

shattered. In these films he elaborates a lot on the socio-economic point

of view and neglects the demands of the audience and the critics. In fact,

he uses films as a means to rectify the social ills in this sadly imbalanced

society.

Abbas was an ardent socialist with a great amount of faith in

science and technology. He is immensely impressed by the new

technology. He is to nude use of montage as a cinematic technique, to

30

agglomerate dissimilar factors to astound an audience to think and

analyse. His montage methodology was based on the experiences of his

life in he fields he had intensively explored:

“Watching a film, moving in a city crowd, working machines, are

all “shock” experiences which strip objects and experience of their

“aura”, and the artistic equivalent of this is the technique of “montage”.

Montage-the connecting of dissimilar to shock an audience into insight-

becomes a major principle of artistic production in a technological

age.”19

Abbas’s films and novels are recognised and appreciated for their

social realism. They are treated as works, with a moral value, embedded

in socialism. He chooses homelessness, destitution, exploitation and

alienation of the weaker sections as the burden of his creative art. He

talks of pavement dwellers and stark poverty as he saw them, with the

clear intentions to awaken the social consciousness. He zealously aspired

after the goal to ensure that justice is done unto the poverty ridden

masses, constantly exploited by the privileged classes.

Abbas’s youth and maturity coincided with the 1920’s and the

1930’s, when there was a ferment of ideas and movements destined to

31

mould the destiny of the nation. It was a difficult period. It was the time

when England was facing an unprecedented economic crisis following

the First World I problems, the disillusionment brought about by the

ravages of war and the growing consciousness of ‘nothingness’, the great

depression of 1930, the Second World war and India’s struggle for

freedom from colonial and imperialistic bondage, attempts at

establishing to recognise the social and economic order-------all these

things greatly influenced K.A. Abbas.

Abbas developed into a socialist thinker as his psyche was

stimulated by the prevailing conditions of socio-economic exploitation

of the poor Indian masses. Lamentably, it was done by the imperialistic

English, the Portuguese, the French, and the privileged Indians.

The Montagu-Chelmsford Report on the Reforms of the Indian

constitution was brought forth, on the onset of the First World War to

win the Indian support and Co-operation for the war. The Moderates

were pleased with this tactful gesture of the British Government but the

extremists convened a special session of the Congress at Bombay, in

August 1918, and adopted a resolution criticizing and condemning the

proposal as unsatisfactory and disappointing. Rowlett Bill, which

allowed dealing with seditious acts and trial of political defaulters

32

without the assistance of the jury, was formulated by a committee, with

an English judge, Sydney Rowlett as its chairperson. A strong wave of

protest was provoked by these two blasphemous acts. The Indian masses

under the guidance of the Congress were greatly annoyed. To quell the

opposition of the Indians and to put a halt to this mass upsurge, General

Dyer ordered his soldiers to fire on the people at Jallianwala Bagh in

Amritsar. The assault was organized to condole the bereaved families

and denounce the police atrocities, on 13 April 1919. The most shocking

aspect of the Jallianwala tragedy s that the Indian soldiers were shooting

down the Indian masses, creating immense blood shed in the most

ruthless manner under the command of Dyer. Indian soldiers were

killing their own brethren to appease the ego of a foreigner. The sad

state of the Indian socio-economic affairs during the pre-independence

era was that a certain section of the Indian population had converted

itself into British lackeys for its own advantage, for social and economic

aggrandisement. Abbas abhorred this particular section of Indians who

were betraying their motherland by perpetuating Colonial rule by acting

as the agents of the imperialistic rulers. These disturbing tendencies

coupled with the inhuman atrocities perpetuated by the British exercised

an immense influence on K.A. Abbas. The revolutionary and patriot in

33

him forced him to cry for Inquilab and rise against imperialism. The

socialist in him saw the poor and miserable condition of the exploited

masses and prompted him to launch a crusade against feudalism

patronised by the foreign rule. Obviously, this predicament of the man

caught in the tumult of the freedom struggle finds excellent expression

in the novels of K.A. Abbas.

Abbas is a strong and fervent advocate of secularism. He detests

communalism and observes keenly and correctly that communalism is a

monster created by the British colonialists to divide Indians-----

specially the Hindus and the Muslims. The Muslims were infuriated by

the British policy towards the Sultan of Turkey who was highly

respected as the regent of God on earth.

“……the Sultan was going to be deprived of all his territories in

Europe and Asia, and that the Holy places of Islam were going to pass

into non-Muslim hands.”20

The Indian Muslims joined the Muslims all over the world to

support an opposition movement termed the Khilafat Movement. The

Congress in its resolution under the leadership of Gandhi actively

supported the Khilafat Movement. The move baffled the rulers and

34

frustrated their design to keep the two main communities at war with

each other. This bridged the gap created by the British between the

Hindus and the Muslims. The Congress under Gandhiji’s leadership

began a non-cooperation movement. The moderates formed a party

known as the Swaraj Party and decided to rupture the constitution of

1919, from within the councils. The Swarajists were considered a hostile

force by the government.

“The Swarajist block resorted to frequent walk-outs to register

their protest against government high-handedness. They boycotted all

receptions, parties and functions organised by the Viceroy. In Provincial

Legislatures also the Swarajists created great obstacles and made the job

of the government very difficult.”21

The Swarajists gave up the policy of obstruction, in due course of

time and began to co-operate with the government. They felt that

reconciliation and construction would allow them a bit of power and

status. The party was full of dissensions. It soon showed sign of

disintegration. Difference of opinion, between the Congress and the

Muslim League cropped up over the issue of the protection of the

minority. Dr. Mohammed Iqbal had been monitoring the Muslim

political thought since the end of the Khilafat Movement and had

35

become famous as a poet and a writer. Dr. Mohammad Iqbal demanded a

separate Muslim state to solve the Hindu-Muslim dissensions. He

planted the separatist tendencies and Chaudhary Rehmat Ali christened

the separate state for Muslims as Pakistan.

Indian leaders declared India to be free on January 26, 1930. The

Indians appeared very enthusiastic. The Round Table Conference

involved discussions between the British officials and the Indian leaders

over the issue of granting a national government responsible to the

people. On March, 1931 an agreement was struck between Gandhiji and

the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, known as the Gandhi-Irwin pact. This was done

to gain the support and goodwill of the Congress. Khan Abdul Ghaffar

Khan, popularly known as the Frontier Gandhi, trained a group of his

followers called Khudai Khidmatgars i.e. servants of God for the non-

cooperation movement of Gandhi.

The British capitalised on the internal tensions of India by

instituting the communal award, through which the British could exploit

the communal differences to their advantage. The communal award

prescribed communal representation of electorates in the provincial and

central legislatures on the basis of religion and caste. The Indian states

felt themselves to be insecure, as the Princes felt that their estates would

36

be confiscated and their titles would be abolished if India grew

independent. The British tackled the situation diplomatically and enacted

the Government of India Act, 1935 in connection with the constitutional

Reforms or the country. The provincial govern obstructed the

constructive programme of the Congress ministries that aimed at

enforcing tenancy reforms, land reforms, debt relief, labour legislation.

Jail reforms, housing and medical facilities ‘for workers, lesser working

hours, reforms of police administration, trade union regulations etc.

The Congress ministries resigned on February 15, 1938 in UP and

Bihar in protest against the attitude of the governors to interfere in all

aspects of administration.

“The Congress Ministries in UP and Bihar resumed office as the

Viceroy gave reassurance of non-interference. Subhash Chandra Bose

formed the Forward Bloc and began ----to prepare the Indian masses for

a national struggle which should synchronise with coming war.”22

The Hindu Mahasabha’s goal was to protect and promote

Hinduism. The Congress and the Muslim League failed to reconcile their

differences. Communal riots and caste conflicts were encouraged by the

British with a separatist motive. Communalism had a disastrous effect on

37

the socio-economic functioning of India and a beastly political climate

pervaded all over the country. The Mussulmans asked for a separate

state under the guidance of the Muslim League. The British Raj threw

down a curtain of restrictions on public gatherings, personal freedom,

assemblies and demonstrations. Indians had fought in favour of Britain

and its allies during the Second World War in the hope of freedom.

Neither independence nor dominion status was granted to India, and this

prompted the Congress ministries in UP, Bihar, CP, Orissa, Madras and

NIFP to resign.

The Viceroy turned down the demand of the Congress for a

provisional National Government responsible to the Central Assembly.

Cripps Mission failed as it postponed the changes in the government for

the future. Nehru reacted strongly against the recommendations of Sir

Stafford Cripps, which aimed at winning the Indian support in British

endeavour to fight the Axis powers, in 1942, to support Quit India

Movement as mobilised by the Congress. The internal dissensions

among Indian leaders obstructed the independence struggle. Ambedkar

led the depressed classes, Jinnah controlled the Muslims and Savarkar

was the Central pivot of the Hindu Mahasabha. On the whole there s a

great deal of chaos in the Indian politics, with communal animosities

38

soaring to the skies. Colonel Shah Nawaz, Captain Sehgal, Lieutent

Dhillon and some others of the Indian National Army were tried for

rebelling against the British Raj. The whole nation flew into rage over

this issue, consequently the British Raj was badly shaken to its very

foundations. The Labour Party, which had always sympathised with the

Indian freedom fighters, came to power in Britain. England entered into

a twenty years agreement with Russia for mutual protection against

German attack. The Russians took to world wide anti- West propaganda,

defaming imperialism as the worst robbery and a blood- sucking

business:

“By condemning imperialism, capitalism and colonialism of the

western powers and by openly supporting the freedom struggles of the

Afro - Asian peoples, Stalin was making more friends and influencing

larger number of men and women.”23

India managed to win freedom on account of the benevolent policy

of the Labour Premier Attlee and the economic crisis in Britain. The

Indian Navy rebelled, a passion of patriotism sprang up in the Indian

armed forces. Britain was sick of post-war problems and was involved in

the cold war. These differences helped India to gain independence.

39

The social evils of independent India are casteism, communalism,

regionalism, separatism, corruption, nepotism dowry system, etc. These

internal handicaps have not allowed the country to prosper and progress.

The Invasion by China in 1962, two wars with Pakistan in 1965 and

1971, refugees walking in from Bangla Desh and Tibet, have shattered

the ailing Indian economy.

The freedom struggle and the aftermath of the partition greatly

captured the attention of the writers. No writer can escape the dominant

tendencies of the times. The leading Indian writers’ writings in English

showed their prepared to the tempestuous times. Raja Rao’s

Kanthapura, Mulk Raj Anand’s The Sword and The Sickle. a, R .K.

Narayan’s it Waiting for the Mahatma, and later Chamen Nahal’s

Azadi end Khushnt Singh’s Train To Pakistan dramatise the history of

those days of turbulence and violence. Abbas has ever been aware of the

events happening around him. He could not escape their effect. His two

novels, ‘Inquilab’ and ‘Maria’ highlight the popular sentiments of the

days of struggle for freedom.

Abbas’s social vision and thought was greatly influenced by two

events of international and national importance. One was the Soviet

40

constitution of 1936, which ushered in the economic, political culture,

and social progress. Abbas himself remarked:

“This was, indeed, the flood tide of socialist thought and

communist ideology of the world. The doubts, the deviations, the

distortions, the abrogation of “Socialist legality,” the cult of

personality, were all to come much later. At that time it seemed God (or

Stalin) was in his heaven, and all was well with the future of the

world.”24

Abbas was tremendously influenced by reading accounts of the

Stalin constitution. He was stunned by the voluntary abdication of the

British King Edward VIII for the love of a divorcee and out of heartfelt

sympathy for the working class:

“Another event took place at that time that not only monopolised

the front pages of the world press but fired the imagination of the

progressives and youth. For the first time in history, a King - The King

of Britain, Edward VIII voluntarily gave up his throne for the sake of his

love for a divorced lady, the lovely Wally Simpson. This was a story

which was enough to set the mind of any hot - blooded youth on fire.

Added to the romantic angle were the rumours that King Edward, as

41

Prince of Wales, had displayed unusual traits, that he had leanings

towards socialism and hated the iron- clad conventions of royalty and

society. He was known to have taken a real interest in the lot of the

miners in Wales - the most miserable have-nots in Britain. We liked to

believe that it was not merely for Wally Simpson that Edward had to lose

his throne, but for his sympathy for the working class.”25

Abbas’s sympathy for the poor and the working classes, made him

an enthusiastic advocate of socialism as cause for freedom and peace. He

writes of his relationship with communism thus:

“One of the persistent legends Indian politics is that I am a

communist, or at least a hidden - communist, a fellow traveller or a

stooge of the communists. All kinds of people seem to believe it - except

the communists who think I am an unregenerate “petite bourgeoisie!”26

Abbas was a socialist, he was not a communist. He advocates in

his writings, a gradual change of public opinion via media socialist

propaganda, and mass - education through constitutional means.

The ultimate goal according to Abbas is the establishment of a

socialist state. Abbas does not believe in discarding the constitutional

apparatus, or rejecting the democratic machinery, to bring about

42

revolution, I or the Socio - economic upliftment of the proletariat.

Communists resort to violence to attain their socialistic aims. Abbas

does not favour this kind of revolution. He does not like his intelligence

and individuality to be thwarted. He believes that certain communist

leaders have harmed the communist cause beyond repair:

“But then why do I not join the Communist Party? Because I am

not prepared to sell my intelligence and my conscience to be so - called

collective wisdom of the Party (which might be the individual

idiosyncrasy or cruel whims of a Stalin or a B.T. Ranadive, both of

whom have done more harm than good to the communists cause), or take

dictates from a “cell” or a group of opinionated or fanatical upstarts, as

happened during my Aur Insaan Mar Gaya preface inquisition.”27

Abbas was a socialistic Marxist as he dreamt of an ideal social

order but he disapproved of the communistic methods of violence and

bloodshed:

“Communists have never hesitated to emphasise the severity and

bitterness of the struggle which will accompany the over - throw of the

capitalist class. Armed violence will be necessary on the part of the

43

workers, not only to dispossess the capitalists, but to resist counter -

revolutions designed to restore them.”28

Abbas wrote with a vision of flawless socio – economic system, in

which essential goodness of mankind would be preserved in an

environment of peace and justice. This is what Karl Marx desired - a

classless society, without the rich - poor distinctions.

Abbas was greatly influenced by the philosophy of Karl Marx and

by his Das Kapital.

Every writer “is the son of his age.”29

Abbas adopted Marxism, as the underlying philosophy of his

novels and writings. Abbas’s ardently sincere in his feelings, towards the

sufferings of the masses;

“Human destiny in its social setting has been my special pre-

occupation’ some may call it my obsession. Whether doing my weekly

column, writing short stories and novels, scripting screen plays for other

producers, or writing, directing or producing my own films, I have been

involved with the themes of social transformation and social justice.”30

44

Themes of social transformation and social justice can encourage a

novelist to indulge in propaganda and pamphleteering but a good novel

is supposed to reveal some kind of pattern in life. According to Arnold

Kettle’s, An Introduction to the English Novel a good novel brings

significance.

Abbas has often made it clear that he seeks social justification

through his novels. He draws the attention of the reader to the misery of

the needy humanity. Novelists have forwarded various reasons for

writing novels:

“Richardson believed he did so to inculcate right conduct,

Fielding to reform the manners of the age, Dickens to expose social

evils, Trollope to make money by providing acceptable entertainment.”31

The Communist intellectuals rationalise the requirement of a

literature with committed ideals. Terry Eagleton illustrates the case of

Lenin and puts forth his view that neutrality is not at all possible in

writing. A novelist my have his own philosophy or may take over the

ideological content of some other person and transform it into art.

Socialistic thought found in the novels of Abbas is inspired by his appeal

45

and admiration for Marxism. Abbas was aware of the problems of art

and social commitment:

“Critics and connoisseurs may sneer at me as a propagandist and

pamphleteer, but the tradition of social comment and “commitment” in

literature (or the arts) is at least as old as Cervantes, Tolstoy, Emile

Zola, Hemingway, Steinbeck, R. N. Tagore, Sarat Chandra Chatterjee,

Subramaniam Bharati and Prem Chand, and in the field of films it goes

back to Griffith and Einstein, Capra, John Ford and Satyajit Ray. If I am

guilty, I have the consolation of being in a distinguished company.”32

Abbas was basically a journalist and a film - maker, he wrote

novels and short - stories.

All his writings including the plays written by him, for example

Barrister - at - Law (1977) are stimulated by the same yearning for

socio - economic equality and justice Abbas novels, according to P.P.

Mehta, are filled with propaganda of socialistic nature:

“It is true that many novels and short - stories like those of Mulk

Raj Anand, Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, Humayun Kabir and others are

loaded with same propaganda motives.”33

46

Abbas as greatly influenced by English language as a sensitive and

flexible medium for depicting the social reality. Raja Rao, R.K.

Narayan, Mulk Raj Anand, Bhabani Bhattacharya, Kamala Markandaya,

Ahmed Ali have also written in English. Abbas was highly influenced by

certain events of his life, that built up his strong inclinations towards the

philosophy of socialism. A man can most effectively express only what

is in his consciousness. In this chapter attempts have been made to

survey the socio - political arena, to comprehend the contemporary

events which channelised Abbas’s genius towards socialism, Lenin.

Gandhiji, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose and Maulana

Abdul Kalam Azad affected Abbas strongly and he held them in very

high esteem.

Abbas’s awareness of the unhappy socio - economic conditions of

the masses, prevalence of cruel exploitation of the poor by the rich and

the unwarranted man - made distinctions between man and man led him

to expose the unhappy situation and advocate the cause of socialism to

make this world a better and a happier place.

K.A. Abbas is one of the best known Indo-Anglian writers. He is

extremely imposing as a progressive socialist. He has distinguished

himself as a short - story writer, journalist and biographer. His

47

contribution to the world of Indian Films-as script - writer, director and

producer- has been very significant and permanent in va1ue.

Clearly, every writer is the product of his age. Born in a middle

class family, Abbas felt the misery and suffering of the have-nots. His

association with strong socialists like Raj Kapoor, his keen observation

of the struggles, movements, his study of Marx, the feudal ruthlessness

against the poor-all these things shaped. K.A. Abbas into a great

socialist thinker and writer.

48

WORK CITED

1. Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary, (London and

Glasgow: Collins Publishers Co; 1990) P. 1383.

2. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas: “The Birth of an Anti-Fascist” I am not

an Island (New Delhi : Vikas Publishing House Pvt Ltd. 1997).

P. 127. This source will henceforth be abbreviated to Ini.

3. Ibid

4. Arjun Dev: “The Russian Revolution”, The Story of Civilization

volume Two NCERT, P. 298.

5. Ibid. P. 301.

6. Ibid P. 301-302.

7. Ibid P. 305.

8. Ibid.

9. Edited by Saxe Commins and Robert N. Linscott, The World’s

Great Thinkers, Man and the State: The Political Philosophers

(New York: Modern Pocket Library, 1953) P-272.

10. Abbas Khwaja Ahmad : “My Long Love Affair – 1”, INI. P. 87

11. Ibid.

12. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas : “Three Graves in Panipat”, INI-P. 30.

13. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas: “Liberty and Love” INI, P. 64.

49

14. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas: “First Lessons in Journalism”, INI, P.72.

15. V.P. Sathe : “Critic Turned Creater”. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas as a

Film-Maker (Privately published by K. Sarkar, B.D. Gard and

V.P. Sathe, n.d.) P.3. This source will henceforth be abbreviated

to KAFM.

16. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, in “Mujhe Kuch Kehna Hai”, KAFM. P.

29.

17. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas : “Testament of Man without a Birth

Certificate”, INI. P.9

18. V.P. Sathe : “Critic Turned Creator”, KAFM. P. 3.

19. Terry Eagleton, “Marxism and Literary Criticism” (London;

Methuen and Co Ltd, 1976) P. 63.

20. D.C. Gupta : Indian National Movement (Delhi: Vikas

Publications, 1970), P. 95.

21. Ibid. P. 112.

22. D.C. Gupta : Indian National Movement (Delhi : Vikas

Publications, 1970), P. 180.

23. D.C. Gupta : Indian National Movement (Delhi: Vikas

Publications, 1970), P. 276.

50

24. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas : “The Birth of an Anti – Facist”, INI. P.

132.

25. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas : “The Birth of an Anti – Facist”, INI. P.

132.

26. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas : “Communism and I”, INI. P. 329.

27. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas : “Communism and I”, INI. P. 336

28. C.E.M. Joad : Modern Political Theory (London Oxford

University Press. 1924), P.92.

29. George Lukacs : The Historical Novel (London : Merlin Press,

1965), P. 254.

30. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas, “Mujhe Kuchh Kehna Hai”, KAFM,

P.29.

31. Walter Allen : The English Novel, (London Phoenix House Ltd,

1954), P. 13.

32. Khwaja Ahmad Abbas: “Mujhe Kuchh Kehna Hai”, KAFM, P.

29.

33. P.P. Mehta: Indo-Anglian Fiction : An Assessment (Bareilly :

Prakash Book Depot, 1968), P. 58.