Previous Year Question
With reference to Congress Socialist Party, consider the following statements :
It advocated the boycott of British goods and evasion of taxes.
It wanted to establish the dictatorship of proletariat.
It advocated separate electorate for minorities and oppressed classes.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
Correct Answer: D
Detailed Solution
The Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was formed in 1934 as a socialist group within the Indian National Congress. Its first All India Conference was held at Patna on 17 May 1934 under the presidentship of Acharya Narendra Deva. Jayaprakash Narayan was among its principal founders and organisers.
Statement 1 is incorrect. Boycott of British goods and non-payment of taxes were methods associated with the wider national movement and the Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience programmes of the Congress. They were not adopted as the distinctive ideological programme of the Congress Socialist Party. The CSP primarily stressed socialist reconstruction, organisation of peasants and workers, and opposition to imperialism.
Statement 2 is incorrect. The CSP supported socialism, but its declared objective was not the establishment of a communist-style “dictatorship of the proletariat.” It sought to establish a socialist order by working through the national movement and within the Congress.
Statement 3 is incorrect. The CSP did not advocate separate electorates for minorities and oppressed classes. Separate electorates divided society and the national movement on communal lines, whereas socialist leaders emphasised the joint political mobilisation of peasants, workers and oppressed classes.