A supporter of Chinese path, this Communist didn't pay much attention to caste question

By Harsh Thakor* 

On July 12th a section of the Indian Left commemorated the 40th death anniversary of Devulapalli Venkatestwara Rao or DV, who expired from heart attack in 1984. He was one of those who sought to integrate the Mao Tse Tung thought with the peculiarities of the Indian conditions with the aim of enriching the theory of the massline and agrarian revolution in order to offer a new dimension to the Indian Communist movement. 

However, there is a strong view that, in the modern digital age, the path prescribed by DV may have to be improvised, in view of the dramatic transformation in urban areas and the corporatisation of agriculture. 

DV held post of secretary of the Nalgonda district Communist committee to start with and continued in this capacity even later in the united CPI. He was admitted into the secretariat of the State committee in March 1948. 

Later he continued  as a member of the National Council or the Central Committee till he dissociated himself from CPI-M in June 1968. He served as Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) representing the Nalgonda double-member constituency winning by a massive majority. In the 1969 convention of the Andhra Communist revolutionaries he was elected as the secretary of Andhra Pradesh Revolutionary Communist Committee. 

He continued in this responsibility till April 1975 when he, along with T Nagi Reddy, formed the Unity Centre of Communist Revolutionaries of India (Marxist-Leninist) [UCCRI (ML)]. He was elected as general secretary of of the UCCRI (ML) at the Unity Conference held for this purpose. He retained that post till he breathed his last.

DV’s work as a Communist revolutionary encovered nearly five decades. 

A considerable part of his revolutionary work was occupied by underground activities against various autocratic governments. During the Telangana armed struggle he led nearly 7 years of underground life (1946-1952). After 1968 he led nearly 10 years of underground life (1969, 1975-1984). 

He was arrested under the Defence of India Rules in 1962 (November 1962 to July 1963) for opposing the war with China, and in 1965 (December 1964 to May 1966) during the war with Pakistan. In 1969 he was arrested along with late T Nagi Reddy or TN and others and kept in detention from December 1969 to May 1972. A conspiracy case was foisted against them. This is known as the Hyderabad Conspiracy Case. 

The conspiracy case was based on the Immediate Programme drafted by  DV. He was released in May 1972 along with TN and others on conditional bail which they jumped in June 1975 to resume underground activities when Emergency was proclaimed in the country by Indira Gandhi. DV along with TN and some others were sentenced to 4 years' rigorous imprisonment in the Hyderabad Conspiracy Case.

Contribution 

DV was a pioneer of the programme of land distribution and of volunteer squads. In 1944 he pioneered the programme for land distribution during the 1946 struggles in Nalgonda district. He raised the first volunteer squad from the peasantry of Devaruppala village of Nalgonda district which soon turned a spark into a prairie fire. 

It was DV more than any other comrade who prevented the Telengana agrarian armed struggle from derailing. He displayed mastery at heights unscaled  in linking the mass movement with armed struggle and linking economic to political struggle, as crystallised in regions like Nalgonda.

He also laid down guidelines for mass organisations, and analyzed the nature of fascism in India. His noteworthy achievement was setting up of the Organization for Protection of Democratic Rights in the 1970s, which till this day is cited as an example of democratic rights movement. 

Under his guidance the Peoples Literary and Cultural Federation  and the Democratic Students Organization were formed. He challenged the imposition of the Marxism-Leninism-Mao Thought tag on  mass organizations and their being converted into fronts of revolutionary groups. 

DV binded scattered elements into a cohesive force to form UCCRI (ML) in 1975, integrating  the party with the mass movements or mass organisations. He displayed mastery in never allowing economic struggles to counterpose political movements, illustrating that  political struggle was  inseperable from agrarian revolution.

Although very supportive of casteism to be eradicated at the very base, DV thought that the political line of the Dalit Panther movement lacked a Marxist orientation or class angle. However, he failed to pay sufficient respect to caste question.

DV strongly believed that a revolutionary party should have not only its legal  open organ like ‘Pravda’, running in the name of 'Spark', but also a secret organ. Despite his organisational capabilities, DV failed to stop major splits of UCCRI(ML) in 1979 and 1981. The organizational splits led to splintering in the mass organisations in all spheres. 

DV upheld the revised line of Deng Xiao Ping in 1978, backing three worlds theory,  rejecting the path of Cultural Revolution of Mao, which he expressed in new organ ‘Proletarian Line’.

Important writings 

In ‘On Internal Emergency’ DV narrates how India‘s character was pseudo democratic and how fascism had escalated to an advanced stage with the proclamation of Emergency. He describes how fascism was germinating in India, contrasting it with the classical fascism in Europe earlier. DV described the Emergency as naked dictatorship of the Congress headed by Indira Gandhi and backed by the Soviet Union. 

In ‘Martyrdom of Komarayya' DV recounts how pave the path for a radical programme a mass democratic front was imperative, when no radical agenda was allowed by the authorities like abolition of jagirdari systems, tenancy, forced labour etc. 

In ‘Left Deviation within the Party’ DV criticises left adventurism, addressing issues like reasons for the failure of mass movements to reach stage of armed struggle. 

In  ‘On Unity' he formulated  the methodology towards re-estabilising a Unified Leninist party. In ‘Comrade Mao Tse Tung’ he appraised the contribution of the Chinese leader. In ‘Left Trend Among Revolutionaries’ he investigates what he said thought were that the deviationist trends.

DV Rao wrote a detailed review of CPI-M leader P Sundarayya’s book, 'Telangana People’s Struggle and its Lessons’, even as formulating an agrarian revolutionary path for India and mass line. In 'Refutation of Wrong Trends Advocating Withdrawal of the Telangana Armed Struggle', he explored  the Russian path and the Chinese path in order to formulate an Indian path for revolution. 

It narrates how in Telangana armed struggle escalated a new path with the class struggle, climbing a higher level in the countryside even before the working class was prepared for insurrection, and how by building a people's army and overthrowing Nizam's power through armed struggle on the basis of the slogans of land to the tiller and Gram Rajyas so that revolution could advance. 

It advocates overthrow of the bourgeois- zamindari rule in the countryside by developing guerrilla struggles basing on land question. He stated, the Telangana armed struggle was not confined to overthrowing Nizam's rule; instead it continued to work for the overthrow the Indian bourgeoisie from power.

In ‘Basic Documents’ (1972) DV charters the programme of the Indian revolution, illustrating how the character  Indian path had striking similarities with the Chinese path  and summed up how the path of agrarian revolution and protracted people's war would crystallise with the formation of base areas. He also projects the link of the working class movement in urban areas with the peasantry, summarising how Indian conditions were at variance in important respects, illustrating the advantages and disadvantages in the Indian terrain in applying the Chinese path.

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*Freelance journalist