Sounds of Socialism: The Ideological Reorientation of Indian National Congress in Malabar from 1930 to 1937.

Abstract

This paper examines the activities of the Congress in Malabar from 1930 to 1937, focusing on three distinct phases of the Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM) in the region and the subsequent emergence of the Congress Socialist Party (CSP). The study highlights the disillusionment of CSP members with Gandhian strategies of mobilization and their efforts to broaden the class base of the Congress party by trying to integrate peasants, smallholders, and workers into the organization and the anti-colonial struggle during the post CDM years. A key focus of this paper is the role of sonic productions—songs, slogans, and speeches—employed by Congress leaders and supporters during this period. By juxtaposing these sonic forms of expression (that was transmitted as oral messages and received as aural messages) with the written/textual and visual outputs of Congress leaders and activists in the pre and post CDM years, the paper will argue that the Malabar Congress underwent a leftward ideological reorientation between 1933 and 1937. This shift was driven by the younger generation of CSP activists who were introduced to socialism via their prison stays during the CDM and later through soviet propaganda and publications. They challenged the dominance of Gandhian leadership and sought to redefine the Congress party’s priorities by trying to move towards a confrontational stand towards traditional rural landed elites in the post CDM years.