[Reader-list] On Delhi
Rana Dasgupta
rana at ranadasgupta.com
Sat Aug 1 15:40:45 IST 2009
You are right: my use of "Socialist" in the essay was essentially the
same as that in mainstream contemporary parlance - in newspapers, for
instance - where the word is used to characterise a period of
centralised planning (and to make the contrast with the "liberalised"
India of post-1993).
Nevertheless there was indeed sharp irony - as you suggest, Shuddha
("The only way, to my mind, to echo these pretences today, is by way of
some sharp irony") - about the way the word was used in this piece. For
those attuned to irony, phrases such as "the Socialist elite" or "the
Socialist ruling class" must surely seem a trifle wry.
But my essay is not the issue here. The question you are raising is
larger: do we accept the meanings of mainstream speech, and use them to
our own purposes, or do we reject mainstream speech as a deception, a
lapsed form ("ill-educated and foolish"), and insist on purer meanings
of our own?
In the particular case at hand, do we ignore the immense degradations
that the word "Socialism" has gone through in the last century, say that
none of these things was in fact "Socialism" - and claim that
"Socialism" continues to refer to something else? Or do we accept the
weight of those degradations, allow that the word can never be restored
to its pristine origins, and reconcile ourselves to new usages - and
perhaps the necessity of coinage?
There is no single answer to this question. Sometimes it is useful to
accept the shorthands of mainstream speech. Sometimes it is important
to use a word strategically in a restored context.
Though you say "even if we were to consider the 'nationalization' of
industries and enterprises, and the adoption of centralized planning as
'Socialist' measures (which I certainly do not)" there are many who
would see this as the defining feature of Socialism - including, since
you bring it up, the British Labour Party, which was said to have left
behind its Socialist origins when it deleted Clause 4 - the commitment
to nationalisation of industries - from its constitution. As far as the
list of would-be "Socialist" leaders that you give is concerned, it is
pretty clear that state control of a capitalist economy was what was in
the minds of many of them when they espoused the word. Personally I
think this meaning is too well-entrenched for us to claim it is only
"fools" who would use it.
Even if you were to agree with that, it would by no means be the end of
all the questions, however. The real question is the future of all the
ideas that have historically operated under the word "Socialism" - which
do not require this word in order to retain their force. As you say,
eloquently: a state is not a social formation.
R
Shuddhabrata Sengupta wrote:
> Dear Rana, (and Naga)
>
> Thanks for the discussion.
>
> Just a note of caution, in which I would agree with Naga's comments on
> your usage of the term 'Socialist' which I think mars an otherwise
> very well argued and etched out piece.
>
> Various political figures, ranging from Mussolini, to Hitler, to Nye
> Bevan, to Stalin, to Pilsudski, to Indira Gandhi, to Atal Behari
> Vajpayee, to Chiang Kai Shek and Idi Amin described (at some time or
> the other, or throughout their political careers) their politics as
> 'socialist' and their parties/movements as 'Socialist'. Others, such
> as The only way, to my mind, to echo these pretences today, is by way
> of some sharp irony.
>
> It is true, that Nehru (and some of his other colleagues) did propose
> the goal of moving 'towards Socialism' to the Congress Party. And the
> word 'Socialist' was inserted into the Indian constitution during the
> darkest days of the Emergency as a fig leaf to cover the reality of
> repression.
>
> But the policies adopted by Nehru's government, and his immediate
> successors, (right up to Indira Gandhi) even if we were to consider
> the 'nationalization' of industries and enterprises, and the adoption
> of centralized planning as 'Socialist' measures (which I certainly do
> not), were arguably less far-reaching than even the policies followed
> by the post war Labour government in the UK.
>
> No one, as far as I know, describes the United Kingdom under Clement
> Atlee as a 'Socialist' society. It would be difficult to reconcile the
> depth of the British class system's bite in the 1950s with any thing
> even remotely approximating 'Socialism'. One of the founding documents
> of the British Labour Party - the resolution adopted by the Labour
> Representation Committee of 1905 (moved by W. Atkinson of the
> Paperstainers Union, and seconded by Will Thorne, of the Gasworkers
> Union, which stayed on the Labour Party's books until its quiet, and
> embarrassed removal, in the 80s) commits the emergent Labour Party to
> the goal of
>
> 'This annual conference of the LRC hereby declares that its ultimate
> object shall be the obtaining for the workers of the full results of
> their labour by the overthrow of the present competitive system of
> capitalism and the institution of a system of public ownership of all
> the means of production, distribution and exchange.'
>
> Despite this, it would be hard to call the Liberal-Labour Governments
> of Ramsay Macdonald, or of Bevan and Atlee, right on to the 'New
> Labour' of Tony Blair or Gordon Brown - as anything even remotely
> resembling Socialism. And yet, Post War Britain, had more extensive
> measures taken for state control of key industries than India ever had.
>
> If that be the case, how could we (by the same yardstick) describe
> India as 'Socialist'. Is it just that we are (or have become) more
> accustomed to identify Capitalism with affluence, and hence, the
> seemingly 'affluent' reality of the UK seems more persuasively
> 'Capitalist' than other realities, elsewhere, such as in India. Hence,
> newspaper editors in the Indian English Press routinely call the
> state-capitalist measures taken by Nehru and Indira Gandhi,
> 'Socialist'. I can forgive Indian English Newspaper editors, because
> they (by and large) tend to be ill-educated and foolish, but I expect
> better from you.
>
> Finally, is it at all necessary to ascribe to nation states,
> qualifiers that are more appropriate when speaking of social
> formations? A nation state is not a social formation. Those who
> thought so, and tried to carry their thought into practice, ended up
> leaving us with two of the twentieth century's greatest tragedies -
> 'Socialism in One Country' (Stalinism) and 'National Socialism' (Nazism).
>
> I think that the current loose way in which the term 'socialist' is
> bandied about in the media, and in fulsome political rhetoric, both
> here, as well as elsewhere, might have, unconcsiously seeped into your
> writing in this article. I think that for a person of your acuity, it
> would be best to be on guard, in the future.
>
> an eager reader of your writing,
>
> Shuddha
>
>
> On 30-Jul-09, at 5:40 PM, Rana Dasgupta wrote:
>
>> Thank you for good thoughts, Naga: all the things you list are, of
>> course, deeply relevant - and many more. In retrospect the "land"
>> section could probably have had more bite. I did hope the Nanda
>> incident, as well as the Ethiopian land acquisition, would give a sense
>> of the impact - literal and figurative - between this emerging class of
>> global capitalists and farmers and workers.
>>
>> On socialism: though I agree that such shorthands are never satisfying
>> to categorise a whole era and system - who has a monopoly on the meaning
>> of the word? Nehru called the society he built a "socialist" society,
>> and the India of that era had in place many of the features - eg
>> centralised production - that characterise other nations that call
>> themselves "socialist". The meaning that the word thus acquires is
>> surely real...?
>>
>> Thanks again
>>
>> R
>>
>>
>>
>> Nagraj Adve wrote:
>>> Very nice piece Rana, thanks. I sometimes have this unspoken and
>>> somewhat sinking feeling when I think of this segment of the
>>> capitalist class your piece discusses. Fear may seem a strong word but
>>> I can't think of any other to describe the emotion. As activists in
>>> this city for some years now, I don't think we even grapple with the
>>> realities of this class; perhaps those who are trade unionists do.
>>>
>>> Just some specific reactions to parts of the piece, reactions that are
>>> disjointed. I liked the bits with the therapist Anurag Mishra, an
>>> interesting angle. And also MC at the end of the piece. And Tarun
>>> Tejpal's comments sadly are not too bleak, though there's also a
>>> growing resistance to the intensifying rape of resources.
>>>
>>> Couple of observations: The absence of any line or comment on the
>>> working poor of this city - women working as domestic help and
>>> increasingly as construction labour who build the stuff that DLF makes
>>> its money from; factory workers; adivasi migrants who leave their own
>>> homes and communities to work in the homes of the rich here - was
>>> striking. I do realize that the piece was about the very rich, but as
>>> EP Thompson said in his famous intro to 'The Making ...", you can't
>>> have the one without the other. Also, a mention of the destruction of
>>> jhuggis in 1996 and 2001 (30,000 homes along the Yamuna Pushta) would
>>> have been relevant. And also the closure of industries that happened
>>> at the time. Or the decline in real wages.
>>>
>>> Finally, in passing: you refer about half a dozen times to India as
>>> being 'socialist' in earlier decades. It has never been even remotely
>>> so, not for a single day. Gunnar Mrydal had some blunt stuff to say
>>> about that during a visit to Delhi in 1958.
>>>
>>> Thanks for the piece.
>>> warmly,
>>> Naga
>>>
>>>
>>> On 29/07/2009, *Sudeshna Chatterjee* <sudeshna.kca at gmail.com
>>> <mailto:sudeshna.kca at gmail.com>
>>> <mailto:sudeshna.kca at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Its a really good read! Highly recommended.
>>>
>>> Sudeshna
>>>
>>> On Wed, Jul 29, 2009 at 1:10 PM, Rana Dasgupta
>>> <rana at ranadasgupta.com <mailto:rana at ranadasgupta.com>>wrote:
>>>
>>>> My recent essay about Delhi, and the culture of its new rich,
>>> from the
>>>> current edition of Granta magazine.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.ranadasgupta.com/texts.asp?text_id=47
>>>>
>>>> Enjoy!
>>>>
>>>> R
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Sudeshna Chatterjee, PhD
>>> New Delhi, India
>>> _________________________________________
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>>
>> --
>> "I'm an ex-citizen of nowhere. And sometimes I get mighty homesick."
>>
>> Rana Dasgupta
>> www.ranadasgupta.com
>>
>>
>> _________________________________________
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>> Critiques & Collaborations
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>
> Shuddhabrata Sengupta
> The Sarai Programme at CSDS
> Raqs Media Collective
> shuddha at sarai.net <mailto:shuddha at sarai.net>
> www.sarai.net
> www.raqsmediacollective.net
>
>
--
"I'm an ex-citizen of nowhere. And sometimes I get mighty homesick."
Rana Dasgupta
www.ranadasgupta.com
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