Strength of streets: Relive the era of communist politics in Pakistan with Kamran Asdar Ali’s book

‘Surkh Salam- Communist politics and activism in Pakistan from 1947-1972’ was launched on Friday at T2F

KARACHI: Pakistan stands at a critical juncture of its existence nowadays. While the history of the country has been extensively covered, little is known about post-Partition left-wing politics that has played an integral role in shaping its politics.

Kamran Asdar Ali's book, titled 'Surkh Salam-Communist politics and activism in Pakistan from 1947-1972', presents a detailed account of the left-wing politics and progressive movement in the country.

The author pays special attention to the rise and fall of the Communist Party of Pakistan, from Partition in 1947 to the aftermath of the independence of Bangladesh in 1971.



Ali's research is an endeavour of more than 30 years. "I started drafting and researching in the 1990s but was observing the labour movement and progressive movement since my school and college age in the 1970s and 1980s," the author told The Express Tribune. The book was launched on Friday at The Second Floor cafe.

In the last one decade, Ali interviewed various people who helped him connect the dots and understand the history.

The author also shared how he had visited International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, and international archives in United States, Holland and London to get the official documents.

This is not a text book but an academic book for the faculty and students of history and labour movement, said Ali. "It is the South Asian version of the labour and progressive movement."

The book was launched after a panel discussion on the topic of labour and progressive movement. Starting the discussion, journalist Imran Aslam said that the author has staged a play in the form of book enabling the readers to visualise the history. "Some of the points were stressed in the book and some were left incomplete," he said, adding that may be the author will cover those points in his next book.

Even though, so many books have already been written on the history of the country yet we need more books, said Pakistan Study Centre director Dr Jafar Ahmed. "But, good books."

Speaking about the book, Ahmed said that it covers the era between 1948 and 1954 very well. Admiring Ali's work, Ahmed praised how beautifully the author has used literature to provide the background of the labour movement. "The major failure of the communist movement in Pakistan was that Marxism was taken as an engineering manual by the communist parties," he claimed.

There is a dire need to inform the students what communism is and who are communists, said Pakistan Institute of Labour, Education and Research executive director Karamat Ali. "These two topics of labour and progressive movement are not interrelated but the author has beautifully merged them both," he said.

The session was moderated by writer and literary critic Asif Farrukhi. Hoori Noorani also spoke at the event.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 3^rd, 2016.