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The Marxist Literary Movement in India and Pakistan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Hafeez Malik
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Extract

The conflict between the theory of art for art's sake and the theory of purposive art is not of recent origin. In modern times however the Soviet Union has made a comprehensive experiment with the theory of purposive art, subordinating all artistic endeavors to socialist realism and partiinost—the party spirit. This experiment began when the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party passed a resolution on April 23, 1932 creating a single Union of Soviet Writers (actually organized in 1934) and inviting the authors to join this Union while adhering to the doctrine of socialist realism in literature. Western literary critics have maintained that while the appreciable part of literature produced during the last thirty-five years “possesses artistic qualities of high worth” in its postwar development Soviet literature in general has simply become a “perfect propaganda instrument.”

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Articles
Information
The Journal of Asian Studies , Volume 26 , Issue 4 , August 1967 , pp. 649 - 664
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1967

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References

1 For a stimulating discussion of this theory see, Guerard, Albert L., Art for Art's Sake (New York: Schocken Books, 1963)Google Scholar. A persuasive case for the theory of purposive art is made by Fischer, Ernst, The Necessity of Art, trans. Bostock, Anna (Baltimore, 1963), pp. 7–15Google Scholar.

2 For the theory of socialist realism see, Alexandrova, Vera, A History of Soviet Literature, trans. Ginsberg, Mirra (New York: Doubleday & Company, 1963), pp. 6, 28Google Scholar; Slonim, Marc, Soviet Russian Literature (Oxford: University Press, 1964), pp. 151–164Google Scholar.

3 Simmons, Ernest J., “Introduction: Soviet Literature & Controls,” Through the Glass of Soviet Literature (New York: Columbia University Press, 1961), pp. 20, 26Google Scholar.

4 Zaheer, Sajjad, Roshnai' (Lahore: Maktaba-i Urdu, 1956), p. 97Google Scholar.

5 Prem Chand is the first artist who adopted the peasant folk as the chief actors in human drama, who express their problems in their own unrefined speech. This realistic portrayal of Indian village life makes Prem Chand's Gosha-i' Afiyyat, Maidan-i 'Amal, and Gōdān very highly accomplished Urdu novels.

6 Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Mīzān (Lahore: Nashrin, n.d.), PP. 244–45; for a general critical appreciation of Prem Chand see also, Husain, Mumtaz, Adab Awr Sha'ūr (Karachi: Urdu Academy Sindh, 1961), chapt. on “Novel Nigār Munshi Prem Chand,” pp. 253–84Google Scholar.

7 See especially Shikari Rajhumār, Mer'ham and Andher in Chand's, PremPrem Pachisi (Lahore: Dar al-Asha'at, 1937)Google Scholar.

8 Gupta, P. C., A Handful of Wheat & Other Stories of Prem Chand (New Delhi: Peoples Publishing House, 1962), pp. VI–VIIGoogle Scholar.

9 Sadiq, Mohammad, Twentieth-Century Urdu Literature (Baroda: Padmaja Publications, 1947), p. 61Google Scholar.

10 Zaheer, op. cit., p. 103.

11 A very slight amendment in the wording of the Manifesto was adopted on the suggestion of the Maharashtra delegation. Cf. Zaheer, op. cit., pp. 114–15; Sadiq, op. cit., p. 62; see also a highly critical study by Mital, Gopal, Adab Mein Traqqi Pasandi (Delhi: National Academy, 1958), p. 20Google Scholar.

12 Zaheer, op. cit., p. 115.

13 Zaheer, op. cit., p. 149.

14 For the life of Jafri, and Majaz, see Wahid, Abdul (ed.) Jadid Shuriā-i Urdu (Lahore: Ferozsons, n.d.), pp. 841, 871Google Scholar; Mater, Majaz's Alma, Aligarh Muslim University published a “Majaz Number” of the Aligarh Magazine, ed., Siddiqi, Abdul Hafiz (Aligarh: 1955–56)Google Scholar, which contains excellent articles on Majaz's tragic life of alcoholism and his romantic poetry by Professor Aal Ahmad Sarur of Aligarh Muslim University and Dr. Ibadat Brailvi of the Punjab University, Lahore.

15 For an excellent biographical essay on Sajjad Zaheer see Sankrityayana, Rahul, “Sajjad Zaheer: Nai Nayta,” Nayā Daur (Karachi: August, 1948), pp. 8–16Google Scholar.

16 Rai-puri, Akhtar Husain, Adab Awr Inqgalāb (Bombay: National Information & Publications, n.d.), pp. 83–84Google Scholar.

17 Faiz, op. cit., pp. 23–24.

18 Faiz, Faiz Ahmad, Naqsh-i Faryādī (Lahore: Maktaba-i Karwan, n.d.), pp. 95–96Google Scholar.

19 Kiernan, V. G., Poems by Faiz Ahmad Faiz (New Delhi: Peoples Publishing House, 1958), p. 28Google Scholar.

20 Rai-puri, op. cit., pp. 88–89.

21 Faridabadi, Sayyid Mutlabi, Hayyā Hayya Aur Dousri Nazmein (Lahore: Sangham Publishers, n.d.), p. 6Google Scholar. All the quotations of poetry in this article are translated by the present author, unless otherwise indicated.

22 Ludhianvi, Sahir, “Jang Awr Nazm,” Nayā Adah (Bombay: Qomi Dar al-Asha' at, No. VI, 1946), p. 26Google Scholar.

23 Faiz, Faiz Ahmad, Dast-i Sabū (Lahore: Qomi Dar al-Asha' at, 1952), p. 18Google Scholar.

24 Kiernan, op. cit., p. 32.

25 Ludhianvi, op. cit., p. 35.

26 Zaheer, Sajjad, A Case for Congress League Unity (Bombay: Peoples' Publishing House, 1944), pp. i, 20, 36Google Scholar; Krishnan, N. K. (ed.), National Unity for the Defense of the Motherland (Bombay: Peoples' Publishing House, n.d.), pp. 24–25Google Scholar.

27 Lucknavi, Sahba (ed.), Majaz Ayk Ahang (Karachi: 1956), p. 684Google Scholar.

28 Ibid., pp. 37–38.

29 After his migration to Pakistan, Jalis repented and in a familiar technique of self-criticism, wrote his confessions; see Jalis, Ibrahim, Dow Mulk. Ayk Kahani (Lahore: Nayā Idarah, n.d.), pp. 32–33 ffGoogle Scholar.

30 Ibid., pp. 159–160.

31 Cf. also, Abbas, Khawaja Ahmad, “Notes on Urdu Literature,” Journal of the Indo-Soviet Cultural Society (Bombay: January 1954), Vol. I, No. 1, 91.Google Scholar

32 Since 1937, when he first made his debut in the literary circles of Lahore, Krishan Chandar has written about eight novels, and approximately two hundred and fifty short stories, all of them in Urdu. A sizable number of them have been translated into Sindhi, Gujrati, Marathi, Polish, Chinese, Czech, and Russian.

33 Among the most outstanding of Krishan Chandar's works are: Kālū Bhangi (Kālū, The Sweeper); Mahā Lakshmi Kā Put (Mahā Lakshmi's Bridge); Peshawar Express; But jāgte Hal (Idols Awake); Kahānī Ki Kahānī (Story of Story); and Brahmā Putrā. Jafri, Ali Sardar, Taraqi Pasand Adab (Aligarh: Anjuman Taraqi-i Urdu, 1957), p. 251Google Scholar.

34 Anis, Ghafur, “Mandubīn Kay Tarikhi Faysalay,” Khyāl (Nagpur: June-July, 1960), p. 28Google Scholar.

35 From the Urdu-speaking areas the following writers were nominated to the All-India Urdu Writers' Advisory Committee: from Warabha—Hamid Sadiq, Abdul Sattar Faruqi; Berar—Hadi Naqshbandi, Hafeez Ullah Khan; Bombay—Krishan Chandar, Khawja Ahmad Abbas and Kayfi Azami; Aligarh—Dr. Abdul Alim, Dr. Muhammad Hasan; Calcutta—Salik Lucknavi, Ibrahim Hosh; Patna—Akhtar Orainavi, Kalam Haydri; Delhi—Sajjad Zaheer, Hyderabad—Makhdum Muhy-ud-Din, Sulaiman Areeb; Bangalore—Mahmud Ayyaz; Lucknow—Professor Ahtasham Husain; Kashmir—Ali Jawad Zaidi, Ibid., p. 27.

36 Ibid., p. 26.

37 Krishan Chandar to Hafeez Malik, February 5, 1965.

38 Zaheer, op. cit., see Harf-i Akhar.

39 Sardar Shaukat Hayat Khan was the son of Sir Sikander Hayat Khan (d. 1942), who headed the Punjab landlords' organization and the National Unionist Party, and became the first Prime Minister of the Punjab as the result of elections held in January-February 1937 under the Government of India Act, 1935.

40 The scion of a pir family himself, Qasmi, suffered early the loss of his father, forcing him to live with his uncle, who was an extra Assistant Commissioner in the Punjab. “After spending ten months in every year in comfort,” stated Qasmi, “I would go home for two months, and life would change to degradation. At the end of the summer vacations mother never could afford to pay my train fare and I had to beg my affluent relatives for it.” Young Qasmi also observed his relatives, who claimed to be the spiritual mentors of the peasants, but in reality exploited diem. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1935 and then “I worked for awhile as a telephone operator in Montgomery and then in 1939 became an inspector in the excise Department of the Punjab Government. In 1946 I became the editor of Tahdhib-i Niswāñ and Phūl. Finally in 1943 I became the editor of the well-known progressive magazine, Adab-i Latif; the following year I was arrested by the Punjab Government under the Defense of India Act Rules, and was tried for a year.” Qasmi has provided the most revealing self-analysis of his ideas and his transformation from a devout Muslim to a devout Marxist. See Qasmi, Ahmad Nadim, “Tamhīd,” Jalāl-o-jamāl (Lahore: Nayã Adarah, 1946), pp. 1–40Google Scholar.

41 Ahmad, Aziz, “Literary and Intellectual Trends in Pakistan” (unpublished paper for The Conference on Pakistan since 1958,held at the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University,Montreal,June 17–19, 1964). P. 4Google Scholar.

42 The Soviet delegation consisted of Anatoly Sofronov (b. 1911), Nikolay Takhonov (b. 1896), Mirza Tarsūn Zadeh (b. 1911 in Bukhara), and Musa Aybek (b. 1905 in Tashkent). All four had won the Stalin Prize for literary excellence. Mr. Tikhonov was the leader of the delegation, Malik, Abdullah, Mustaqbil Hamarā Hei (Lahore: Al-Jadīd, 1950), pp. 98–105Google Scholar ff; for a brief account of Tikhonov and Sofronov see also, Alexandrova, Vera, A History of Soviet Literature (New York: Doubleday & Co., 1963) pp. 21Google Scholar, 26, 245 ff.

43 Malik, op. cit., p. 76.

44 An accomplished novelist and a historian, Aziz Ahmad is currently Associate Professor at Toronto University's Department of. Near East and Islamic Studies. For his generally sympathetic treatment of the progressive writers movement see Ahmad, Aziz, Taraqi Pasand Adab (Delhi: 1945)Google Scholar.

45 Malik, op. cit., p. 60.

46 Ahmad, op. cit., p. 5.

47 Malik, op. cit., pp. 89–90.

48 For example Faiz Ahmad Faiz was appointed Secretary of the Alhamra Art Gallery in Lahore “by the Government of West Pakistan on the recommendation of the Ministry of Education, Government of Pakistan.” M. Sarfraz (Press Counsellor to Pakistan Mission to the United Nations), to Hafeez Malik, April 13, 1964. Currently Faiz is the President of Haji Abdullah Haroon College, Karachi.