Rajani Palme Dutt was kind enough to visit Swatantra office
on the day of his arrival in Madras. We talked p;olitics, journalism; discussed
the Cabinet Mission a little; and compared notes on the systems of paper
control here and in London. He spoke of his experiences with the Labour Monthly
of which he is the editor, and of the devices they had to resort to for coping
with a five-fold increase in circulation during the war with a static allowance
of printing paper measured in weight. It appears they solved the problem by
going in for paper of very light weight, and changing over from white to
light-blue in colour, as paper of the required lightness could be had only in
light blue.
* * *
Here, unlike in England, we have
no varied assortments of colour or weight of paper to choose from. You cannot
get round weight. Government favour and not public demand determines the
circulation of journals. Often there is an unseen conflict between the two,
what with officials in key positions endowed with mighty powers of paper
control determining success and failure and virtually deciding the fate of the
Press. For example, in the period of the Adviser regime, a painter from Bombay
walked away with a permit to start a newspaper in Madras while the applications
of others with closer and lifelong affiliations with the profession of
journalism were turned down. The painter concerned has had the permit (backed
by an ample paper quota) in his pocket for over a year. While the quota given
to him has been blocking the way to growth of established journals actually in
dire need of more paper for meeting the demands of would-be-subscribers, the
newspaper licensed to be started a year ago shows no signs of ever making its
appearance. The licensee however is reported to be making a flourishing
business of his permit. He was able to secure the powerful support of Dr.
Pattabhi. Dr. Pattabhi’s patronage has till recently been thought to be well
worth cultivating for many aspiring legislators as well as others who banked on
his becoming Premier. Hundreds of thousands were therefore easily collected.
Are licences to start newspapers to be valid for eternity, serviceable only for
chucking out unfavoured applicants? The Honourable M. Tirumal Rao is another
favourite of the bureaucracy who also has had a permit in his possession for
starting a daily newspaper, without being any nearer the fulfillment of the
project now, than a year ago when he secured the permit.
* * *
To return to Palme Dutt, he looks
better than his photographs do. Though not young as years go, youth clings to
him in manner, in the vigour of his speech and thought, and the unspoiled
freshness of his interest in things progressive. He is austere without being
pedantic; very clear and precise in his ideas and accurate and pointed in
phrasing them. His conversational tone is pleasant. But as I learned in the
evening when he addressed a great open air meeting on the sands of the Beach,
his platform voice is not quite so pleasant. It shows patent signs of the
prolonged influence of soap.-box oratory. The words fall rather gratingly on
the ear. They do not come lightly from the lips. They seem to come from the
very bowels of the man, tearing the heart-strings as they come. One effect of
it is that emphasis, overstepping orderliness, runs riot, sounds guttural and
gets distributed in wayward fashion, fastening itself erratically and all too
frequently on the conjunctions and the prepositions.
* * *
Palme Dutt began his speech in
the routine way with loud exhortations to the might of the freedom struggle,
that had a familiar ring and threatened to prove tiresome. The threat was not
fulfilled. Very soon the humdrum was left behind. Mannerisms like sawing the
air with both palms, and throwing out a crooked forefinger, more often the
left, to impart force to an argument, continued to the last, but these became
of less and less importance. They ceased to be obtrusive, thanks to the
gathering power of the logic that he presented, that was without frills and was
therefore the more compelling inits persuasiveness. It was a masterpiece of
closely reasoned thought. When he finished, everybody felt that an intellectual
treat had come to an end. His closing peroration was a veritable tornado of
passion striking at the prejudiced hearts of the capitalist-nurtured crowd with
lightning strokes of faith conveying the dazzling glories of Communism. He
proclaimed Communism as the one creed dependable for humanity’s salvation, as
any apostle of Christ might have preached Christianity to the pagan world.—(June
1, 1946) S A K A.
No comments:
Post a Comment