Ramaswami: STUDENTS’ FEDERATION: Literature on Russian revolution, the advances made by socialism, the activities of Indian revolutionaries like Bhagat Singh had tremendous influence among the youth. The influence of communists was a fact grudgingly accepted by the Congress and with a lot of anxiety by the British. The Navjavan Bharat Sabha founded by Bhagat Singh and his compatriots attracted large sections of youth and students in the Punjab region. The Bombay Pradesh Youth League and All Bengal Students’ Association (which later split to form the Bengal Pradesh Students’ Association) were some of the organisations that were formed during this period. The conferences of these organisations passed resolutions demanding complete independence and most importantly against communalism. The achievements and progress of Russian revolution, invariably found a mention in all these conferences. Meerut Conspiracy Case and Lahore Conspiracy Case (against Bhagat Singh and his comrades) had a tremendous influence among the students and youth. In many parts of the country, particularly in Meerut, Punjab and Bombay, students’ organisations passed resolutions condemning these trials and also formed defence committees. Students of Meerut College formed the Meerut Communists Seva Sangh for this purpose. During this period, leaders like Chandra Rajeswara Rao along with his comrades formed the Young Communist League in 1931, in the Benaras University. They used to organise regular study circles in that university and also conduct physical training. Many a times they were forced to confront the RSS and its communal politics. In the Madras Presidency, Radical Youth Conference was held in 1935 with the objective of attainment of complete independence. Committees were formed to organise regional leagues in Andhra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamilnadu and Madras city. Home Department reports note this phenomenon and had issued an alert to all its forces stating that ‘considerable quantity of Communist literature was seized from various students in Madras presidency. It is in this background that efforts were made to unite all these provincial student organisations and form an all India organisation. The effort fructified in 1936, when the students of United Provinces (Uttar Pradesh) took this responsibility and organised a conference in 1936. This conference was presided by MA Jinnah, while Jawaharlal Nehru delivered the opening address. Among the many resolutions on student issues that were adopted in this conference, the stand out resolution was the one against communalism. Students of all political affiliations were encouraged to join the AISF. As a result, Gandhian students, students professing ideas of the Muslim League were part of the AISF, along with the communist and socialist minded students, who played a leading role in its organisation. Issues like free education, hostels, schools, housing, cooperative credit societies were raised by the student movement because of the influence of communists. The student organisation particularly took up the issue of untouchability and efforts were made to organise dalits. Struggles were successfully launched against various discriminatory practices like separate dining halls for students of various castes. Similarly, they had also demanded steps to prevent eve-teasing, simultaneously forming teams to protect girl students from this menace. Another important step to organise the girl students was taken through the formation of a separate girl students’ convening committee in 1939. Kanak Mukherjee was the first convener of this committee. PROGRESSIVE WRITERS ASSOCIATION: The founding conference of the PWA too was in Lucknow, during the annual session of the Indian National Congress in 1936. The inspiration for the formation of the All India Progressive Writers Association came from the organisation of anti-fascist writers led by Maxim Gorky and other progressive writers in Europe. Formed on the initiative of the communists, it had the blessings of Rabindranath Tagore, Sarojini Naidu, Munshi Premchand, Mulk Raj Anand and other top ranking writers in the country. In fact, the Lucknow conference of the Indian writers was presided over by Premchand. In his presidential address, he stated that the purpose of language is “to mould our thoughts and emotions and to give them the right direction”. Further he exhorted writers to become standard bearers of humanity and take up the duty to “help all those who are downtrodden, oppressed and exploited individuals or groups and to advocate their cause”. Reflecting these concerns, the Manifesto adopted by the founding conference of the PWA states: “While claiming to be the inheritors of the best tradition of Indian civilisation, we shall criticise, in all its aspects the spirit of reaction in our country, and we shall foster through interpretative and creative work (with both Indian and foreign resources) everything that will lead our country to the new life for which it is striving. We believe that the new literature of India must deal with basic problems of our existence today – the problem of hunger and poverty, social backwardness and political subjection. All that drags us down to passivity, inaction and unreason, we reject as reactionary. All that arouses in us the critical spirit, which examines institutions and customs in the light of reason, which helps us to act, to organise ourselves, to transform, we accept as progressive”. The manifesto called the writers to “combat literary trends reflecting communalism, racial antagonism and exploitation of man by man”. The formation of this organisation is a clear indication of the impact of socialist, anti-imperialist, anti-fascist ideas on the intelligentsia. The emergence of the reorganised CPI and the united action with the Congress Socialist Party (CSP) had a tremendous influence on the socio-political life of the country. The ideas of the Left found an echo even in the presidential address and resolutions adopted in the annual Congress session. The new Left trend started asserting itself not only in the political and economic sphere, but also in the cultural movement also.