India and Communism

Those who think that Babasaheb Ambedkar was against Communism or Marxism are grossly prejudiced. Ambedkars relationship with Marxism was enigmatic. He defined himself as a socialist not a Marxist. But he was impressed by the élan of the Marxist tradition. However it is also true that he had serious reservations about accepting certain theoretical postulations of Marxism. Vested interests amongst the Dalits however pitch Ambedkar firmly as the enemy of Marxism. The fundamental category of class through which Ambedkar viewed human society has therefore been a complete taboo. Communists on their part have responded in kind attacking him and his ideas. In the early 1950s Ambedkar started work on a book he wanted to call India and Communism. The book was never finished. The present volume assembles what survives of this book along with a section of another unfinished book Can I be a Hindu? Anand Teltumbde in his hard-hitting Introduction charts the course of Ambedkars thinking on communism and Marxism the historical reasons for the rift between him and the communists and the basis on which a larger unity of Ambedkarites and communists can be forged. This unity he argues is an essential prerequisite for the emancipation of Indias poor and oppressed.