Parte 002 - PAMPHLET 001 002

1 digital image

It will be a long time before I forget what I saw in the working- class district of Bombay. Only once before had I seen such poverty and dreadful housing conditions and that was in the West Indies in 1938, but Bombay was worse. What a commentary on the greed and rapacity of British imperial- ism that after all the millions they have robbed from the workers of the West and East Indies, such conditions as these should exist! Had dinner and a long talk with Comrade Ghosh. Went to bed, dead-beat, but could not sleep because of thinking about what I had seen all day. December 13. THIS morning, under a grilling sun, I made another tour round Bombay, and to the seaside place called Juhu. I was literally fascinated by the multitude of sights that I saw. Performing monkeys, mongooses and snakes. I had seen pictures of snake-charmers at work, but I have never seen so many in real life before. I watched one girl dance on the hard sands who would make many Ajoy Ghosh and Harry Pollitt 4 of our English dancers green with envy, so beautiful were her hands, movements, postures and muscle control. What a small place the world is. While walking along the sands, looking at the people and trying to take everything in, I noticed a group of 25 young Bombay workers sunbathing and singing. One of them broke away and came running toward me. He stopped: "Comrade Pollitt, I recognised you. I was at the docks yesterday. Please come and speak to my comrades of the Young Workers' League." This evening I was on my way to the working-class district of Bombay to speak at my first demonstration in India. What a huge variety of colour was to be seen in the streets! The beautiful saris of the women, the white clothes of the men, and a variety of costumes and styles of dresses and headgear that certainly made it a memorable sight. But always you were brought up with a jerk, when some appalling aspect of human wretchedness and misery inevitably forced itself before your eyes. Arriving at an open space I found a vast crowd squatting on the green and thousands more standing as far as the eye could see. I was introduced by Comrade Ajoy Ghosh, and then the old Indian custom of placing garlands of flowers around the necks of those you love and respect was shown to me. I must have had over 50 such garlands placed around my neck by comrades representing every section of the working-class move- ment in Bombay. They had to be taken from me in relays. I was literally being smothered in beautiful flowers and bouquets. To me it was deeply touching, and I know that tears were stream- ing down my cheeks. December 14. FOR many more years than I care to remember, I used to address all letters to my Indian comrades to Raj Bhuvan, Sandhurst Road, Bombay. Now the Central Party Offices are in Delhi, but Raj Bhuvan, which means People's House, is still used by the Party as the headquarters of its publishing activities. Our full-time comrades in leading positions lead a very austere and frugal life. They not only work in Raj Bhuvan, but live there with their families. It really means they are on the job all the time. We went over the printing house, which prints all the publications of the Party, and with the limited facilities they have at their dis- posal they work wonders. For example, they have no linotype machines or modern flatbed machine or other equipment, but their work reaches a very high standard indeed. They have printed a very fine edition of Comrade R. Palme Dutt's book, The Crisis of Britain and the British Empire, which sells 5