Comrade Kanak Mukherjee Remembered

B Prasant

A PACKED gathering at the Promode Dasgupta Bhavan in Kolkata on the evening of March 15 listened to fulsome tributes paid to the departed leader of the communist movement, and one of the pioneers of the women’s movement, Kanak Mukherjee by the leaders of the CPI(M).  Comrade Kanakdi had died on March 9. The condolence meeting drew such a large gathering that a large number of people had to remain outside of the hall, in the corridors, the terraces, and even in the broad courtyard of the Bhavan.

Following the garlanding of the portrait of the departed communist stalwart and an all-India leader of the AIDWA, Polit Bureau member of the CPI(M), Biman Basu who presided over the meeting, raised the condolence resolution. 

Addressing the gathering, veteran communist leader, Jyoti Basu recalled his association with Comrade Kanak Mukherjee from 1940 and he remembered how Kanak Mukherjee would fluently address meetings in Hindi, English, and in Bengali. Basu said that the contributions of Comrade Kanak Mukherjee in leading the students’ movement, the women’s movement, and above all, the Communist Party would remain important and unforgettable.

Jyoti Basu said that despite physical unfitness during the last years of her life, Comrade Kanak Mukherjee would regularly attend and address the state and central committee meetings of the CPI(M).  ‘Comrade Kanak Mukherjee,’ said Basu, ‘would always remind me of a saying of Comrade Joseph Stalin and that is: Communists are made of a different métier.’ 

Jyoti Basu called upon the gathering to carry on the ideological struggle rigorously as a way of paying tribute to the memory of Comrade Kanak Mukherjee.  Basu also called upon the Left to be especially cautious and to ensure that the UPA government did not move away from the CMP.

Jyoti Basu said that the AIDWA, in the setting up of which Comrade Kanak Mukherjee had an important role to play, must be broadened across the country, and more women brought inside the fold of the CPI(M). Basu pointed out that while there were no lack of organisations for women of well-off families, there were few organisations for the working women. Throughout her life, Comrade Kanak Mukherjee had devoted herself to the task of organising the working women, concluded Jyoti Basu.

State secretary of the Bengal CPI(M), Anil Biswas dwelt on the role emoted by Comrade Kanakdi in building up the communist movement in Bengal. Over half-a-century, communist leaders like Comrade Kanakdi spent their lives in spreading Marxism-Leninism, and devoting themselves to the building up of the Communist Party and the communist movement.

They had started their drive especially from the 1940’s and 1950’s, inspired, no doubt, by the strides that the ideology made under the inspiring leadership of Comrade Joseph Stalin. Organisation of the women’s movement certainly formed part of the primary duties of the communist leadership, and Comrade Kanakdi was not an exception in this regard.

Anil Biswas said that at a time when the communist movement and the democratic movement was under constant assault in various ways, the women’s movement must be conducted, organised, and led as a part of the class movement. The ideological struggle must be carried out rigorously.

Anil Biswas placed before the meeting the outlook of Comrade Kanakdi vis-à-vis the assault on women’s movement by the forces of globalisation and liberalisation.  Comrade Kanakdi would always maintain that in the attack, the women were exploited twice, once as victims of class exploitation, and again as women, having to face gender discrimination.

Pointing to the emphasis placed by Comrade Kanakdi on the induction of more women into the Communist Party, Anil Biswas said that in Bengal, stress was being given to the task of including at least one woman Party member in each Party branch.  Biswas called for the strengthening of the communist ideal, of the communist values, and stressed upon the need for further development of the communist movement by associating women’s movement with the democratic movement.

CPI(M) Polit Bureau member, Biman Basu, who had been in the Andaman Islands when Comrade Kanakdi passed away, said that Comrade Kanakdi would perform all her tasks from an outlook of politics, and from a class point of view. Biman Basu said that women represented half of the society and that without their becoming conscious politically, the struggle to change, and the struggle for emancipation could never succeed.

Central committee member of the CPI(M) and AIDWA leader, Shyamali Gupta said that amidst the great diversity of the women’s movement, Comrade Kanakdi had stood resolute in support of a Marxist-Leninist point of view. She had constantly striven to give the women’s movement a class outlook and a class direction.  

Shyamali Gupta recalled how Comrade Kanakdi had played a crucial role in ensuring that ‘Democracy,’ ‘Equal rights,’ and ‘Women’s emancipation’ were emblazoned in the banner of the AIDWA. Shyamali Gupta also recalled how Kanakdi had been active in imparting the tenets of Marxist education to all organisers of the women’s movement.  Shyamali Gupta said that it would be very difficult to forget the sacrifices that Comrade Kanakdi made in order to ensure that the democratic women’s movement flourished and developed.