Part 011 - PAMPHLET 001 011

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"White Christmas." Here it is 85 degrees in the shade, and the sun is pouring down from a cloudless blue sky. We go to visit some interesting old buildings and then off to Hyderabad airport. We left for Madras at 2.30 p.m. and arrived at the airport in that city at 4.30 p.m. What a welcome I received once again! What I liked was the number of children who handed me a single flower, or an orange, or a lime. You know how at weddings confetti is showered on the Happy Couple: well, here I was showered with rose petals until it looked as though it was raining them from the sky. Roses, roses all the way, kind of thing. I leave Madras at 8.20 p.m. for Madura, and thus spend Christmas Eve in a train. What a way to spend what is usually for me one of the happiest nights of the year in the bosom of my family! However, here it is, and we will try to get some sleep, with thoughts of Peace on Earth in our mind. Certainly that has been the main theme of all my speeches. I have now been in Bombay, Delhi, Amritsar, Jullandar, Agra, Cal- cutta, Hyderabad and Madras. A glance at the map seems to show that I've got around a little bit in my old age. So the first phase of my visit to India comes to an end, and from tomorrow I expect to be fully occupied at the Third National Congress of the Communist Party of India, which closes on January 3. I had a feeling after I had just written about getting some sleep that I may get other surprises. I did, but they will form the basis for tomorrow's epistle. Christmas Day. THEN I got to the station at Madras last night I found it a seeth- W ing mass of humanity. Flags, flowers and banners everywhere. The working people of Madras had turned out in force to give a send-off to the delegates going to the Party Congress at Madura. The leaders of the Com- munist Party of India had been meeting in Madras, and I found myself travelling with them. The train moved off amid scenes of tremendous excitement. A comrade suggested, "Comrade Pollitt, I suggest you lie down and get some sleep. You may need it before the night is over." I didn't know what he meant then, but I do now. I noticed the Red Flag was firmly secured to our carriage window and only thought then some enthusiast had forgotten to take it away at Madras. It turned out to be the signal for where we were travelling on the train. After an hour, the train stopped at a station and there were hundreds of people waiting to welcome and garland the principal Party leaders. All in all it stopped at about 12 stations, and I had to be garlanded, 20 make a short speech, and sign autographs. It was about four o'clock this morning when we stopped at Golden Rock Station. There were thousands of workers here who had been up all night waiting to ex- press their greetings. They were all squatting on the platform, and it was a truly amazing sight. At 7.20 a.m. dead on time, we reached Madura, and what happened here is no- body's business. The station was jammed; the great Square outside the station and all the surrounding streets were jammed. There must have been at least 20,000 people here. Comrade Ajoy Ghosh, the general secretary of the Communist Party of India, and myself then had to in- spect a very smart guard of honour drawn up outside the station. Christmas Day Elephant This done, we all advanced to a platform and, bless my soul. I looked round and there was a great elephant covered with the Red Flag, and a Sabu-type of boy sitting cross-legged on the elephant's head with his Red Flag emblazoned with the Sickle and Hammer. After this I was ready for anything, and I'm bound to say I got it. Well, all in all, it was some Christmas Day, and once in a lifetime will be enough. It was raining in Madura, quite unexpectedly for the time of the year, and the Indian comrades who know England are explaining that I have brought the rain from Manchester. By the state of my feet, every mosquito in India must also have greeted me, and I must confess I got a bit of a shock this morning when in the lavatory, going about my lawful occasions, a lizard ran across my feet. Madura is a fairly large city, famous for its many sacred temples, some of which I am informed go back a thousand years and more. It is a textile centre, and an important railway depot. One reason for the demonstrations all the way from Madras last night was because the railwaymen are very militant and well organised. This whole area is exceptionally strong in its support for the policy of the Communist Party of India. 21