Jawaharlal Nehru on fascism, cyclones and poverty in a speech in 1936

Jawaharlal Nehru became President of the Indian National Congress for the third time at its session held in Faizpur, a rural location in Maharashtra, in December 1936. His Presidential Address, with its focus on the dangers posed by changes in the interna- tional arena such the growth of fascist forces, the impact of natural calamities such as cyclones on people already burdened by destitution, the need to tackle the real problems of poverty and unemployment, as an uncanny contemporary ring. Dated 21 June, 1954

Men and women, who have to carry the burden of responsible positions in the world today, have a heavy and unenviable task and many are unable to cope with it. In India that task is as heavy as anywhere else....

The elements have been unusually cruel to us during these past few months and famine and floods and droughts have afflicted many provinces and brought great suffering to millions of our people. Recently a great cyclone descended on Guntur district in the south causing great damage and rendering large numbers homeless, with all their belongings destroyed.

We may not complain of this because the elements are still largely beyond human control. But the wit of man finds a remedy for recurring floods due to known causes, and makes provision for the consequences of droughts and the like, and orgnises adequate relief for the victims of natural catastrophes. But that wit is lacking among those who control our destinies, and our people, always living on the verge of utter destitution, can face no additional shock without going under.... I would ask you...to take heed of the terrible and fascinating drama of the world.

Our destinies are linked up with it... our problem of national freedom as well as social freedom is but a part of this great world problem...

Even during these last eight months, vast changes have come over the international situation, the crisis deepens, the rival forces of prog- ress and reaction come to closer grips with each other, and we go at a terrific pace towards the abyss of war. In Europe fascism has been pursuing its triumphant course...based as it is on hatred and violence and dreams of war, it leads inevitably, unless it is checked in time, to world war...

So in the world today these two great forces strive for mastery—those who labour for democratic and social freedom and those who wish to crush this freedom under imperialism and fascism....Democracy and fascism, nationalism and imperialism, socialism and a decaying capitalism, combat each other in the world of ideas, and this conflict develops on the material plane and bayonets and bombs take the place of votes in the struggle for power.... It is this disaster that faces us in the world today and war on a terrible scale is an ever-present possibility. Except for the fascist pow- ers every country and people dread this war and yet they all prepare for it feverishly, and in doing so line up on this side or that...

What are these new desires? The wish to put an end to this mad world system which breeds war and conflict and which crushes millions; to abolish poverty and unemployment and release the energies of vast numbers

of people and utilise them for the progress and betterment of humanity; to build where today we destroy.

During the last eight months I have wandered a great deal in this vast land of ours and I have seen again the throbbing agony of India’s masses, the call of their eyes for relief from the terrible burdens they carry. That is our problem; all others are secondary and merely lead up to it.

To solve that problem, we shall have to end the imperialist control and exploitation of India. But what is this Imperialism of today? It is not merely the physical possession of one country by another; its roots lie deep- er. Modern imperialism is an out- growth of capitalism and cannot be separated from it.

(The excerpts presented above are from Nehru’s Presidential Address, 27 December 1936, cited in Selected Works of Jawaharlal Nehru, Volume 7, pp 598-614.) Selected and edited by Mridula Mukherjee, former Professor of History at JNU and former Director of Nehru Memorial Museum and Library