The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-01-06
The Indian Conference

: the Indian Round Table Conference is pro-
ceeding, its objects become clearer than ever.
lie Indian delegates at first put up a show
unanimity on the question of Dominion Status
: India. They we're even credited with the in
ntion of demanding from the British Govern
ent at the very start of the conference prom
of Dominion Status. Later on. however, they
llingly allowed themselves to be drawn into
labyrinth of notwithstanding without
en- getting as much as a promise, except for
acDonalds solemn declaration that status
S already emerged" according to the New
0rk Times correspondent, the Indians at the
difference were wondering just what kind of a
tatus" it is.
AS a matter of fact the Dominion Status is
ready safely buried in that it is substituted by
tie question of 'the extent of responsibility OF
e central government" This means that in
cad of a more OF less familiar issue. having
J storical presidents in Canada, Australia, etc,
le development is in the direction Of bargain
lg over the amount of control the Indian ex-
loting classes will be allowed to exercise in one
{ the other departments of the All-Indian adj
Illustration. Whether these partial concessions
i'll be labeled modified Dominion Status or
nv other name will not in the least affect the
NctuaI status ci India, a subject colonial
country.
No sooner did the delegates sit down to the
arduous task of framing a Constitution than the
ivalres between the Hindu and the Mosem
dictionaries. between both OF them and the
eudal Princes Immediately cropped up After
having appointed the most hard-boed reac-
ionaries as representatives of the Indian peo-
DIE after having had them come to grips over
he bones which they supposed to get from
heir masters, these very British imperialists can
now comfortably play the arbters And SO the
H., aIaI,o- oTlayA
ialist' minister, Macdonald, in the garb of
oeacemaser trying hard" to arrange terms be-
tw- IN the Moslem Pope aga Khan, they call
hirn) and the Hindu feudal barons,
Indian Delegates Quarrel Over Ghosts.
While the Indian delegates are quarreling over
gfos.s for nothing humanity tangible has yet
been ccrceGcd to them) as far as British i'm
peril Ism is concerned, it can already register
two pCsiti results: % The idea OF an Indian
Federation uIdcr British domination is accepted,
winch means that the vicious plan of the Simon
Commission TO split India into warning factions
is approaching reality. % Burma, against the
wish Of the Ellman nationaliSts, is separated
from I d,a (another recommendation Of the
Simon bunch) which aims at (a) the isolation
of the Euruaan people from the main current
of the Indian revolutionary movement, (b) the
colonial Status of Burma will not be affected by
revolutionary developments in India; (c) the In
dian bourgeoiSie is precluded from influencing
Burman policy; (dl British commercial interests
in Burma get rid of a most undesirable and
fairy strong rival-the Indian merchant; (e)
the exclusion CT Burma correSpondingly in
creases the relative Importance of the backward
native states and their counter-revolutionary
rulers in a Federated India.
One should not forget that the supreme and
very serious object of this farce, in which the
role of the chief clown rightly belongs to the
old labor faker, is to gain time,
The Indian representatives assembled in
London represent only the numerically weak
reactionary classes Qndian bureaucracy, priests,
feudal Princes and landowners, rich usurers,. big
mill owners, which have neither marked in
fluence nor large following among the popu-
lation The object of the Conference, while
organizing and strengthening this counter
revolutionary camp, is to influence the national
bourgeosie and intelligentsia, who are still the
major factor in the leadership OF the mass
movement.
The British imperiasts know only too well
that while the bourgeois soul is dreaming of
ju, ., r NAL equality and such other nicetes,
the bourgeois pocket is loudly clamoring for
profits. The Indian bourgeoisie, lured by the
negotiations in London. tired of hartals (national
stoppage of work. and unsettled conditions
scared by government terror. is already wavering
in its half -hearted opposition. One Chamber
of Commerce after another declares that it is
time to call stop and to take stock of the
situation"
National Congress Does Nothing.
The Indian National Congress continues to
mark time and to remain on the defensive This
gives British imperialism breathing space, and
a breathing space is what it now needs above
everything else. in order to marshall its forces
drown the revolutionary movement in blood
(Which it is now actively engaged in) and then
force the Indian bourgeoisie into submission on
its own terms. Such is the tentative plan Of
the British mperialists. Whether it succeeds or
not depends not on the results of the fake ne
gotiations in London but upon the developments
in India. And there are indications that with
sporadic outbursts in the cities, with fires of
peasant revolts continuing slowly to spread from
one part Of the country to the other, the labor
movement v again coming TO the forefront Of