India and Communism
2017
First Published
4.13
Average Rating
122
Number of Pages
Those who think that Babasaheb Ambedkar was against Communism or Marxism are grossly prejudiced. Ambedkar's relationship with Marxism was enigmatic. He defined himself as a socialist, not a Marxist. But he was impressed by the élan of the Marxist tradition. However, it is also true that he had serious reservations about accepting certain theoretical postulations of Marxism. Vested interests amongst the Dalits, however, pitch Ambedkar firmly as the enemy of Marxism. The fundamental category of class, through which Ambedkar viewed human society, has therefore been a complete taboo. Communists, on their part, have responded in kind, attacking him and his ideas. In the early 1950s, Ambedkar started work on a book he wanted to call India and Communism. The book was never finished. The present volume assembles what survives of this book, along with a section of another unfinished book, Can I be a Hindu? Anand Teltumbde, in his hard-hitting Introduction, charts the course of Ambedkar's thinking on communism and Marxism, the historical reasons for the rift between him and the communists, and the basis on which a larger unity of Ambedkarites and communists can be forged. This unity, he argues, is an essential prerequisite for the emancipation of India's poor and oppressed.
Avg Rating
4.13
Number of Ratings
77
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3 STARS
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2 STARS
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Author
B.R. Ambedkar
Author · 24 books
Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was born in 1891 into an “Untouchable” family of modest means. One of India’s most radical thinkers, he transformed the social and political landscape in the struggle against British colonialism. He was a prolific writer who oversaw the drafting of the Indian Constitution and served as India’s first Law Minister. In 1935, he publicly declared that though he was born a Hindu, he would not die as one. Ambedkar eventually embraced Buddhism, a few months before his death in 1956.
