Meeting at Lumumbanagar:

...The present group has been in existence since the Communists were expelled from the National Congress party in 1942...

...They are strongly supported by the Communist party of Maharastra, which has condemned Chinese policy in the Himalayas, as well as by 50 per cent of the Communist party of Kerala state and by parties in the states of Gujarat, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra...

...The revisionists, led by Bombay trade-union leader S. A. Dange and P. C. Joshi, the leading Communist in northern Uttar Pradesh state, are calling for the build-up of "a national democratic front" through the continued wooing of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, the isolation of "reactionary" right-wing elements within the ruling National Congress party and the continued support of the Government on the India-China dispute...

...The revisionist leader cannot understand the "antiquated" thinking of old-guard Communists like Ranadive, who, as far as the country is concerned, would appear to be less dangerous because they are more honest than Dange about their aims and principles...

...The Communist party in this country, said to be the largest in Asia outside of China, is split down the middle on whether or not to support the Indian Government's position on Chinese aggression in the Himalayas...

...Sitting uncomfortably on the fence are the former Communist Chief Minister of Kerala state, E. M. S. Xambooiripad, and party General Secretary Ajoy Ghosh, who led a delegation to the December meeting's of the 81 Communist parties in Moscow and returned to tell comrades back home, in private, that Moscow and Peking do not see eye to eye on many issues...

...Meanwhile, the country is watching the party antics at Lumumbanagar with rather cynical amusement...

...The results of recent municipal elections in Bombay and Calcutta have improved the party's representation and made fresh inroads into the hard core of Congress strength in these two key centers...

...We relish the picture: the President running Upstairs, in the pink of condition, Behind him, her stethoscope crazily dangling And bag full of pills, his physician...

...If Dange gets the upper hand at the congress, it may lead to a split in the party and the ultimate formation of a new national Communist party...

...The average man-in-thestreet does not understand the essential difference between the two positions: Nehru, according to his own arguments, is only giving the Chinese time to be impressed by the weight and documentation of Indian arguments...

...In Calcutta and Assam the Communists recently won important by-elections to the state legislatures...

...Interestingly, there appear to be no representatives from China at Lumumbanagar...

...While the Communists are struggling among themselves, their position in the country does not appear to have been severely affected by the India-China conflict...

...but the Indian Communists are hoping to give the Chinese enough time to dig themselves into their newly-won territories...

...Lumumbanagar (nagar means town) is divided into two distinct camps, with party "revisionists" living in one and oldtime "revolutionists" in the other...

...The revolutionists do not believe that the Congress party can be sufficiently infiltrated, as Dange seems to think, or that "reactionaries" within it like Finance Minister Morarji Desai can be isolated...

...If, on the other hand, Dange is forced to water down his present stand, particularly as regards condemning China, he may not only lose the leadership of his home state, but the whole Maharastra wing of the party may quit...

...Ranadive's backing comes mainly from party stalwarts in the states of Madras, the Punjab and West Bengal, all of whom feel that trying to prop up the Nehru regime would "ruin the Communist party altogether...

...Maharastra, with its huge contingent of industrial labor in Bombay city, its capital, constitutes the party's strongest redoubt in India after the state of Kerala...

...Even so, the rank-and-file at Lumumbanagar are openly stating that because of serious internal dissensions, the party "no longer can function properly...

...In Kerala, despite last year's debacle, the party was able to hold a parliamentary seat in a by-election, although by a reduced majority, and is now biding time until internal dissension topples the present anti-Communist coalition...

...At least in local elections, the Indian voter is not yet ready to judge the local Communists by the record of their comrades in China...

...According to Ranadive, Nehru is the leader of a reactionary national bourgeoisie which is merely paying lip-service to the ideals of socialism...

...Dange believes he already has powerful potential allies for a popular front inside the Congress party, and hopes that in the first phase he can rally all "progressive" elements in the country around Nehru —with Dange, of course, as a loyalseeming lieutenant...

...EXECUTIVE ACTION President Kennedy runs up the stairs in the White House, according to his physicianNews item...

...By the time the general elections come around next year, the voter may be more sophisticated...

...Aware of this danger, the Communists are doing what they can to close their ranks and present not only a united party, but also a platform which appears to be strictly in the national interest...

...The congress, which is due to end this week, is meeting in "Lumumbanagar," an improvised village on the banks of the Krishna river named after the Congo's late Premier Patrice Lumumba...

...No important Communist is allowed to move about alone, lest details of discussions be leaked out...

...We also can picture the President coming, Propelled like a fully charged canister, With—yes—his physician alertly behind him, Hell-bent (and no hands) down the banister...

...The leader of the revolutionist faction is the old-guard Stalinist, ?. ?. Ranadive, who denies Chinese aggression against India and asserts that India's northern' borders, demarcated by the British, must be realigned...

...The presence at the congress of Mikhail A. Suslov, a secretary of the Soviet party's Central Committee, may indicate that the Russians are trying to influence the Indians in their favor...

...Meeting at Lumumbanagar By Sharokh Sabavala Bombay The SIXTH CONGRESS of the Indian Communist party, which began stormily 10 days ago in the Southeast Indian town of Vijayavada, may also turn out to be the last...

...Richard Armour...

...So fearful is the Indian party of the consequences of the current congress that it has imposed more than ordinary restrictions on the attending leaders...

...Many Indians feel that if Nehru continues to display a sweet reasonableness vis-à-vis a country which has usurped 12,000 square miles of Indian territory, then they certainly cannot pass judgment on the Communists, whose stand on Chinese aggression appears, on the surface, to be no more equivocal than that of the Indian Prime Minister...

...Bridging the physical and ideological gap are the moderates—assisted by 400 redcapped volunteers—who are trying to avert complete disintegration of the party...