The Menace Of Communism

By Phiroze J Shroff

The greatest danger which faces the country today is communism. Rajaji was amongst the first of our countrymen to warn the people against the insidious spread of this evil cult. He openly declared himself as enemy number one of communism. The warnings which Rajaji gave against communism were born of his deep study and observation of the contemporary world as also his penetrating intuition. Unfortunately some top-ranking leaders with their double-talk and double-think gave strength and respectability to communism, and Rajaji’s warnings went unheeded.

Communism knows no law. It has no use for humanism. It pooh-poohs the ideas of the dignity of man and fundamental rights. The supreme aim of the communists is to make all men automatons and unquestioning slaves of the soulless State. The communists pretend to equate the State with the people, but in fact the State as envisaged by the communists is nothing but a small coterie of people who constitute the party and man the top ranks of the hierarchy in every branch of administration. The communists profess to bring about a classless society, but in fact they constitute themselves into a new class, which imposes its will on the people by terror and enjoys all the plums of power and patronage.

The communists do not want goodwill and understanding between man and man. Their main weapon is hatred and class-war. They make war on God and the rules of right conduct like truth, justice, compassion and generosity. They even frown upon joy and laughter in the minds and hearts of the people. They try to make even the physical sciences conform to the communist theory.

Instead of spending their resources to improve the miserable lot of the people in their own countries, the communist powers spend enormous sums for false propaganda and subversion in other countries. They talk peace and make war.  

If communism gets a grip on our country, the people will be subjected to a soulless tyranny such as they have never known before. To ward off the communist danger, which is becoming greater every day, people must unite to save democracy and a free way of life for all. If people do not work unitedly, they will all be swept into the communist cauldron.

This is not the time to wrangle about boundary disputes. All linguistic controversies should be silenced. Communal and caste confrontations and riots must be given short shrift. If the tensions and clashes on these and such other scores continue, the whole country including the shortsighted disputants will be steamrolled into a communist graveyard.

The politicians who are playing the game of power-politics in order to consolidate their own position will pave the way for a communist takeover. What is worse is that it will not be our own communist countrymen, however misguided, who will rule the country. It will be foreign communist powers, who specialize in fishing in troubled waters, who will dominate the country with the help of the local fifth-columnists. These foreign powers will reduce the people to thraldom and drain the country of its resources. Let us learn in time the lesson of what has happened to the countries in eastern Europe and in other parts of the world.

Labour leaders who are misguiding labour and inciting it to bring about industrial chaos are playing a very dangerous game. They are jeopardising the integrity and independence of the country for their own paltry gains. Some labour leaders profess to fight communism, but communism cannot be fought by adopting communist programmes and methods.

Some misguided students who make war on their teachers and educational institutions and also on their fellow-citizens are being used as pawns by the communists in anti-national activities. They must realize that they will have to live in India for the rest of their lives and they must do nothing which would bring into the country foreign domination. Most, if not all, people have some grievance or other, but that is no reason for adopting a course of action which might threaten the independence of our country.

The grievances of landless labour have to be blind to the fact that there is not enough land to parcel out amongst the 400 million people who live in rural areas. Fragmentation of land means more disputes and less output. People must realize the danger of becoming land-serfs on State lands under communism. They should also remain on guard against being driven into so-called agricultural cooperatives” for exploitation by the State leviathan.

Many industrialists while carrying on their activities are prone to see which side their bread is buttered. They adjust themselves to Government’s economic policies in order to make sure of their own profits and perquisites. They do not realize that they are sitting on a power-keg, which is likely to be blown up by the tinder-box of shortages of the bare necessaries of life and the continuous rise in prices. These people must put a restraint on their conspicuously vulgar consumption and join the people in making the country safe for democracy.

The leftist parties must remember the fate which overtook Kerensky just over half a century ago. They should not forget the tragic plight of the people of Czechoslovakia at the present time. All people of all shades of political opinion must sink their differences and unite to defeat the machinations of the communists of all hues and their fellow-travellers. The sands of time are fast running out.