The
Marxist
Volume: 13, No. 01
Jan-March 1996
In Memory of Shapurji Saklatwala
Harkishan
Singh
Surjeet
June
16,
1996
marks
the
60th
death
anniversary
of
Shapurji
Saklatwala.
Coming
from
the
pioneering
capitalist
family
in
India,
going
to
England
for
his
family's
business
interests,
Saklatwala
played
an
important
role
in
the
working
class
and
the
communist
movement
in
Great
Britain.
He
was
among
the
only
four
communists
ever
to
be
elected
to
the
British
Parliament,
till
date.
The
old
generation
of
the
Communists
know
his
immense
contribution
to
the
cause
of
working
class
movement
in
Great
Britain,
his
uncompromising
struggle
against
British
imperialism
with
firm
support
to
the
national
liberation
movement,
his
undaunted
fight
against
racism,
his
strenuous
efforts
to
build
the
unity
of
British
working
class
and
Indian
freedom
movement,
his
admiration
for
Great
October
Revolution
and
his
contribution
in
developing
the
Indian
communist
movement.
Many
efforts
were
made
to
direct
him
from
the
revolutionary
path.
He
was
offered
important
posts
by
the
British
government
which
he
flatly
refused
and
chose
to
face
all
types
of
repressive
measures
in
order
to
serve
the
cause
of
struggle
for
Indian
independence
and
social
revolution
in
Great
Britain.
We
are
publishing
here
extracts
from
an
article
on
Saklatvala
written
decades
ago
by
one
of
his
biographers,
Mike
Squires.
The
article
throws
some
light
on
the
contribution
made
by
Saklatwala
to
the
cause
of
the
working
class
in
various
spheres.
We
are
also
publishing
extracts
from
a
reference
to
the
activities
of
Saklatvala
by
Rou
Rarudu
in
his
book
"The
Making
of
the
Black
Working
Class
In
Britain".
Communists
of
my
generation
who
joined
the
movement
in
the
early
thirties
knew
him
as
a
communist,
as
a
staunch
anti-imperialist
and
admirer
of
October
Revolution.
But
little
was
known
about
his
class
origin,
that
he
comes
form
a
rich
Bombay
Parsee
family,
known
as
the
Tatas.
Jamshedji
Tata,
his
maternal
uncle,
founder
of
the
Tata
house,
deputed
Saklatwala
to
lead
a
prospective
expedition
for
iron
and
coal
deposits
in
central
India
in
1902.
After
having
failed
his
team
moved
to
the
Loharu
region
of
Northern
India
where
they
succeeded
and
he
was
amongst
those
responsible
for
the
setting
up
of
the
TISCO.
While
in
search
of
iron
and
coal
Saklatvala
came
to
know
the
plight
of
tribal
people
in
those
areas
who
were
living
a
miserable
life.
This
deeply
moved
him
--
the
vast
gap
between
rich
and
poor
--
the
poor
living
even
without
drinking
water
and
other
minimum
human
necessities.
Among
the
experts
who
accompanied
him
was
a
Russian
Social
Democrat.
A
biography
written
by
his
daughter,
Sahri
Saklatvala,
exhaustively
describes
as
to
how
his
views
were
being
moulded
during
this
period.
In
1905
Saklatvala
was
sent
to
England
to
manage
the
Tatas
office
at
Manchester.
After
a
short
stay
he
moved
to
London
where
he
came
in
touch
with
liberals
like
Lord
Morley,
secretary
of
state
for
India.
The
experience
in
London
became
a
turning
point
in
his
life
and
he
rejected
liberalism
and
decided
to
enter
working
class
politics.
In
1906
when
he
was
staying
in
Malock,
a
suburb
of
Derbyshire,
he
met
a
working
class
girl,
Sarah
Marsh
from
the
village
of
Tausley
who
he
married
in
August
1907.
After
they
moved
to
London
by
the
end
of
the
same
year,
Saklatvala
joined
the
Social
Democratic
Federation,
a
Marxist
group,
founded
in
1884.
Later
this
was
renamed
as
British
Socialist
Party.
He
also
became
a
member
of
Independent
Labour
Party
(ILP)
in
1909
and
automatically
became
a
member
of
the
Labour
Party.
During
the
first
world
war,
he
came
out
against
the
war
taking
firm
anti-imperialist
positions
alongwith
a
section
of
the
I.L.P.
He
carried
a
big
campaign
against
the
war
and
this
activity
brought
him
to
national
prominence.
The
Russian
revolution
inspired
him
tremendously
and
he
fought
the
wrong
attitude
of
the
I.L.P
against
the
Communist
International
alongwith
Rajni
Palme
Dutt
who
was
also
a
member
of
the
I.L.P.
When
he
failed
in
rallying
the
majority,
he
alongwith
Rajni
Palme
Dutt
and
some
others
joined
the
Communist
Party
of
Great
Britain
and
devoted
his
life
to
the
cause
of
the
working
class,
national
independence,
and
for
socialism
till
he
breathed
his
last
in
June
16,
1936.
Between
1905
and
1936,
till
his
death,
he
was
able
to
visit
India
thrice
--
in
1912,
1913
and
in
1927.
Ironically
his
entry
to
India
was
banned
even
when
he
was
a
member
of
parliament
and
the
Labour
Party
was
ruling.
In
May
1912,
he
alongwith
his
wife
and
children
had
come
to
India
to
permanently
stay
here
but
he
had
to
leave
as
the
British
considered
him
a
danger
to
British
empire.
He
left
for
England
in
1913
to
permanently
stay
there.
Later
he
visited
India
in
1927
after
getting
elected
as
a
Communist
MP.
When
the
League
Against
Imperialism
was
formed
in
1927
in
Brussels,
he
was
elected
to
its
executive
committee
alongwith
Jawaharlal
Nehru.
In
understanding
the
importance
of
united
front
against
imperialism
his
understanding
arose
out
of
concrete
experience
of
development
of
freedom
struggle
in
colonies
particularly
in
India.
When
the
sixth
Congress
of
Communist
International
wanted
to
dissolve
the
League
against
imperialism,
he
firmly
opposed
it
and
emphasised
the
need
of
broad
front
in
the
struggle
against
imperialism.
He
also
made
an
immense
contribution
on
the
colonial
question
when
he
fought
against
the
erroneous
views
of
M.N.
Roy
that
Gandhi
and
bourgeois
leadership
has
no
potential
in
this
struggle.
The
purpose
of
this
introduction
is
not
to
write
in
detail
the
contribution
Saklatvala
made
in
developing
the
Communist
movement
in
India
and
Great
Britain,
while
this
is
also
necessary,
here
the
intention
is
to
highlight
the
fact
that
though
Marxism
is
the
ideology
of
the
working
class
and
it
is
class
struggle
which
is
the
motive
force
of
history,
but
once
these
ideas
grip
the
mind
even
a
person
coming
from
the
Tata
family
becomes
a
staunch
revolutionary
and
dedicates
his
whole
life
to
the
cause
of
putting
an
end
to
exploitation
of
man
by
man
and
nation
by
nation.
It
is
the
scientific
outlook
which
determines
the
course
of
action
of
a
man
not
merely
his
class
origin.
In
the
struggle
for
social
liberation
many
intellectuals
from
well
to
do
sections
have
joined
the
communist
movement,
some
vacillated
at
crucial
stages
of
class
struggle,
but
those
who
have
fully
grasped
the
ideology
of
Marxism-Leninism
and
integrated
it
with
practice
have
upheld
the
revolutionary
banner.
The
example
of
Shapurji
Saklatvala
stands
out
sharply
as
a
he
comes
from
the
biggest
industrial
house
of
India,
marries
a
working
class
girl
coming
from
a
very
poor
family
and
involves
himself
in
the
working
class
movement,
in
the
struggle
against
capitalism
and
lives
a
life
of
staunch
revolutionary
till
the
end
of
his
life.