| Bose refined his concept
of socialism further in his address to the Mathura session
of the United Provinces Branch of the Naojawan Bharat
Sabha, (May 1931): "…The basis of our collective
social life will be justice, equality, freedom, discipline
and love…. These five principles constitute the essence
of socialism, which I wish to see established in India.
(Marxist) socialism, when applied in India, will give
birth to a new kind of socialism, which is to be christened
as 'Indian socialism'. It is not possible to ignore national
environment and character, socio-economic conditions...We
must assimilate the knowledge and experience of others
by assessing them in the light of our needs and national
character."
In his presidential address to the All-India
Trade Union Congress in Calcutta, (July 1931), Bose
said: "…I have no doubt in my mind that the
salvation of India, as of the world, depends on socialism.
India should learn from and profit by the experience
of other nations - but India should be able to evolve
her own methods in keeping with her own needs and her
own environment. …India should evolve her own form
of socialism. It may be that the form of socialism which
India will evolve will have something new and original
about it, which benefit the whole world".
In his speech at the Third Indian Political
Conference held in London in June 1933, Bose said: "…Free
India shall not be a country of capitalists, hoarders
and of any particular community. Free India shall be
a socially and politically democratic country."
Hailing the birth of the Congress Socialist
Party (CSP) in 1934, Bose said that socialism was not
an "immediate problem" for the Indian people.
Nevertheless "socialist propaganda could be conducted
only by a party like the Congress Socialist Party",
which stands for and believes in socialism. Though Bose
was not a member of the CSP, he had openly said that
he had been "in agreement with its general principles
and policy from the very beginning".
It is to be noted that the CSP
had made it clear that its programme was based on Marxian
socialism and the word 'Congress' was prefixed to 'Socialist'
to signify the organic ties of that organisation with
the national movement.
|
