CIA Report-A Saga of Communist Treachery

HK Surjeet influenced by Russia to setup an underground organization

CPI did proceed to recruit a secret organization within the Indian Army

China Russia insisted that the CPI must develop a standby apparatus capable of armed resistance, while intensifying penetration of Indian Military forces.

With the PLA now present along the Indian Border the Indian Party had a channel of support for Armed Operations and a potential liberator in the event of mass uprisings – 13 Sept 1959

4 powerful radio sets had been installed in the office of the China Review in Calcutta to listen to broadcasts from Peking

Chinese Financial Subsidies to sections of the CPI particularly the left faction strongholds in West Bengal

a foreign supply base was now available for the underground organizations with Chinese occupation of Tibet and other frontier areas

letter asking for collaboration in Indian underground organization work aimed at an eventual revolution, because China has a border with India and can provide arms and supplies

Also Jaipal Singh, head of the illegal organization within the Indian Army decided to reactivate his organization in May 1961 following the hard left faction gaining control of the party

The  released  collection of declassified analytic monographs and reference aids, designated within the  Directorate of Intelligence (DI) as the CAESAR, ESAU, and POLO series, highlights the  efforts from the 1950s through the mid-1970s to pursue in-depth research on Soviet and Chinese internal politics and Sino-Soviet relations. Of particular interest to India is a 3 part series on the border dispute with China but more juicy document is 12 MB dossier on the Indian Communist Party, this should stir up politics in India at a time when the Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi lead Congress has accorded unprecedented leverage to the Communists who are celebrating 30 years of rule in Bengal.

Offstumped has reviewed the documents and was amazed to learn the extent to which the Communists looked for direction from Russia and China, sought support and approval and pretty much sub-ordinated national interest at the altar of a dubious ideology and subservience to the Chinese.

Below are a few highlights:

First we turn our focus to the border dispute with China to get a sense of Nehru’s naivety in his approach to dealing with the Chinese.

Nehru believed China’s Communist Leaders were amenable to Gentlemanly persuasion

Nehru’s strategy was defensive and he believed strengthening Indian Economy to resist a Chinese Military Attack was adequate

China’s short term policy was not to alert Nehru on the wide gap between Chinese and Indian claims on border and hence they lied about Chinese maps

Chinese leaders recognized that India neither by temperament nor by capability was a Military threat

China’s strategy was to use diplomatic channels to cut out Indian press, public and parliament. It was a 5 year masterpiece in guile. It played on Nehru’s Asian anti-imperialist mental attitude his proclivity to temporize and his sincerity for peace with China.

What China conceded with the Left Hand it retrieved with the Right Hand

Had it not been Nehru but a more military minded man who was Prime Minister in Oct 1959, a priority program to prepare India to eventually fight would have been started.

The 3 part series goes into excruciating detail on the series of events on this dispute. Expect more from Offstumped on this in later posts.

Now we turn attention to the dossier on the Indian Communist Parties.

The dossier runs into all of 185 pages. Its focus was on the split within the Indian Communist Parties into Pro-Soviet and Pro-Chinese factions. While recounting the sequence of events drawing from many sources including a book by Minoo Masani. A good portion of the dossier is dedicated to the CPI post Independence under Ranadive with his Pro-Soviet approach and his differences with the Telangana section of the party which was toeing the Maoist line. The dossier notes the April 1957 election win of the CPI in Kerala as the first such development in history were a Communist Party attained power through an election. It then notes that

in July 1957 through a reliable source that EMS Namboodaripad was asked by the Soviets to forward a full report to Moscow on the methods used to attain power via elections

Another juicy detail implicates Harikishen Singh Surjit and others on working with the Soviet Communists to setup an underground party.

In Feb 1958 an official of the Soviet Embassy contacted CPI Leaders to renew the request to setup an underground organization. While AjoY Ghosh refused, HK Surjeet and others privately decided that Ghosh was taking a complacent line and decided to reach out to the CPSU outside of party channels.

Here is where things get murky

the CPI did proceed to recruit a secret organization within the Indian Army

Subsequent events saw the beginning of the tilt of the hard left faction of the CPI towards China. The dossier quotes Basavapunniah a CPI leader

the real source of inspiration for the CPI should be Communist China, and he planned to talk to Chinese Leaders as a Disciple talks to his teachers

Some more murky details of how China and Russia influenced the CPI to setup a parallel state apparatus.

In February 1959, Ajoy Ghosh in his report to the Central Executive Committee that China Russia insisted that the CPI must develop a standby apparatus capable of armed resistance, while intensifying penetration of Indian Military forces.

After the Nehru Government dismissed the Kerala Communist Government on July 31 1959 there was further movement within the Party to revive its illegal activities.

From 6 to 8 August 1959 hard leftists urged a revival of CPI illegal apparatus to be run from the party secretariat

More Murky Details of CPI supporting China during the Tibetan invasion

In April 1959 Ranadive met with the Chinese Ambassador during which he

Offered CPI’s support to China on Tibet, and advised China to concentrate its attacks on rightist Anti-Chinese Indian leaders

Further in August in a letter to the Chinese Communist Party drafted by Ajay Ghosh and Ranadive the CPI urged the Chinese to

single out particularly the Praja Socialist Party and the Jan Sangh for attack as suggested in the April meeting with the Ambassador

More evidence of the sedition and treasonous role played by the hard left of the CPI

In the September Central Executive Committee meeting Ajoy Ghosh argued against the tendency to welcome chinese military presence on Indian borders to justify a new militant line for the CPI. This was rejected by the hard left who argued that

with the PLA now present along the Indian Border the Indian Party had a channel of support for Armed Operations and a potential liberator in the event of mass uprisings.

It was first reported on 13 Sept 1959 by Basavapunniah, Ranadive, Jaipal Singh head of secret illegal apparatus.

However the dossier gets interesting as it moves to the 1960s closer to the formal split in the party. An interesting aspect of the split:

In 1960 the West Bengal faction of the Communist Party passed a resolution criticizing the conduct of the Soviet Communist Party and Khrushchev by name while supporting the Chinese Communist Party

The CIA calls definitely the only such resolution to have ever been passed by any Communist Party in the whole world.

The year 1960 ended with this faction of the CPI continuing to report to the Chinese Party and to receive guidance from it

Ajoy Ghosh also reported to the Central Executive that during his Peking visit Mao had revealed that China wished to exercise more control on Communist Parties in Asia.

The most concentrated of these Communist Activities were to be in West Bengal

Evidence of Chinese Influence in the growth of Communist Party in West Bengal

A new Chinese Party consul in Calcutta in Sept of 1960 held several meetings with members of the West Bengal party.

4 powerful radio sets had been installed in the office of the China Review in Calcutta to listen to broadcasts from Peking

handouts were given based on these broadcasts for propaganda work

Chinese Financial Subsidies to sections of the CPI particularly the left faction strongholds in West Bengal

Basavapunniah also reports to two CPI Leaders later on that

a foreign supply base was now available for the underground organizations with Chinese occupation of Tibet and other frontier areas

In Sept 1960 the first evidence of a vertical split in the CPI became evident with the hard left faction comprising Jyoti Basu, Harikishen Singh Surjit, Basavapunniah, Sundarayya and Ranadive supporting the Chinese position on the Indo-Sino border dispute.

Earlier in August further murky evidence of the hard left seeking chinese support in a written letter.

asking for collaboration in Indian underground organization work aimed at an eventual revolution, because China has a border with India and can provide arms and supplies

Finally more evidence of anti-national stance of the Jyoti Basu lead West Bengal faction

When Z.A. Ahmed indicated that the Party should take a nationalist stand on Chinese incursions to India, he was severely berated by the West Bengal faction

Offstumped Bottomline: The Communists Party of the present day must come clean on their murky past. Especially on the anti-national positions taken by the West Bengal faction while bowing to diktats from China. The Manmohan Singh Government must probe past acts of treason and prosecute those amongst the present party who participated in these acts of treason.

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