Hyderabad:On the third day of the Arvind Memorial Seminar, organised by the Arvind Institute of Marxist Studies, intellectuals, activists, students and scholars resumed their discussions. The first hour resumed with a continuation of Anand Singh's paper, The Rise of Fascism in India, which had been presented the previous day.
The conversation focused on the rise of communalism in pre-independence India and the importance of correctly identifying and analysing the production relations and mode of production as capitalist.
Singh emphasised that this is important to formulate the correct proletarian strategy against fascism. He also underscored the need for a fierce struggle against economism, trade unionism, reformism and anarcho-syndicalism, which he said could hinder the revolutionary movement.
Then, Shivani Kaul, a political activist and president of the Delhi State Anganwadi Workers and Helpers Union, presented her paper ‘Marxist Historiography of Fascism: A Critical Reassessment’. She highlighted the necessity of theoretically grasping the phenomenon of fascism to objectively understand its connections with existing politico-economic conditions.
Kaul’s paper examined the fundamental issues in fascism's historiography, the evolution of the Comintern's understanding of fascism, and analysed the contributions of key Marxist thinkers, including Antonio Gramsci, Palmiro Togliatti, Clara Zetkin, Amadeo Bordiga, Leon Trotsky and Nicos Poulantzas.
The second half of the seminar featured researcher and German social activist Nicolai Messerschmidt’s presentation on ‘Postcolonial Fascism: An Analysis of Hindu Nationalism through Critical and Postcolonial Theory’.
Messerschmidt critically analyzed Horkheimer's and the Frankfurt School's understanding of fascism, raising important questions about the rise of fascism in India. In the coming days, around half a dozen additional papers on various aspects of fascism will be presented. Activist Sunny Singh, prominent poet and activist Katyayani and Jiselle Hannah from Australia Asia Worker Links (AAWL) are scheduled to present their work.
