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Subho Basu. Intimation of Revolution: Global Sixties and the Making of Bangladesh

Arild Engelsen Ruud
Bibliographical reference

Subho Basu. 2023. Intimation of Revolution: Global Sixties and the Making of Bangladesh. New Delhi: Cambridge University Press. 412 pages.

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1Outside of Bangladesh and of the circles of South Asian studies, the details of the struggle leading up to the war of independence in 1971 are known only in broad outlines, if that. The academic scholarship on this period is also limited to brief outlines or individual biographies. Historian Subho Basu’s study is a welcome contribution to a more in-depth understanding of this history. His Intimation of Revolution is a very thorough and detailed study of the events as they unfolded, how they were interpreted, the many individuals involved, and how the mood slowly changed and independence from Pakistan became a demand. Above all, it is a study not only of the political events but of the cultural changes that enabled the massive mobilization in the late 1960s. The main part of the study spans the period from the partition of the subcontinent in 1947 up until the liberation war itself in 1971. It seeks to understand the cultural and political fermentation over the course of two decades that led to this outcome. The starting point is not surprisingly the 1952 incident in which students protested against the proposed imposition of Urdu as the national language, protests which have long been celebrated as “Language Martyrs Day.” But where official historiography tends to see a uniform development of Bengali nationalist sentiment under the leadership of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman from that time onwards up until the declaration of independence and the war, Basu tells a somewhat different, more complex story. What he portrays with conviction is a long and meandering public debate in East Pakistan about its relationship with West Pakistan, the nationality question and the nature and place of Bangla in the state. The enthusiasm with which many East Bengal Muslim intellectuals and leaders celebrated decolonization and Partition in 1947, soon gave way to unhappiness with the awkward state-formation that was Pakistan (bifurcated into two culturally different entities, and increasingly authoritarian at that). It was this unhappiness that started the long and winding formation of a national political consciousness that eventually caused them to reject the idea of Pakistan.

2In this portrait of a time and a broad intellectual and political debate spanning close to two decades, Basu has done an admirable job in highlighting the large number of personalities and contributors, some in favor, some against, some struggling to find their bearings, and many earnestly seeking solid ground regarding the question of national identity for this eastern and dominated “wing”—half of the state of Pakistan, but in many ways exploited by the western “wing.”

3And yet the real novelty of this study and its central thesis is the author’s assertion that this slow transformation in thinking about questions of national identity and the revolutionary effect this debate would have on attitudes of the intellectuals and the middle classes to the Pakistani state, were not merely the result of stress internal to the Pakistani state. It was due also to the inspiration provided to the aspiring and educated middle classes and students in particular by witnessing events elsewhere. The East Pakistan cultural and national awakening was part of “the long sixties,” globally a transformative period in both cultural and political terms. The independence of former colonies in Asia and Africa, the Cuban revolution with heroes such as Che Guevara and Fidel Castro, events in Congo, the Algerian war of independence, the Vietnam war and many other conflicts were all hotly debated—all while American imperialism was denounced and anti-imperialist solidarity celebrated.

4It is this contextualization that is Basu’s real intellectual contribution. Through this lens, he seeks “to provide a radical reading” of the sixties in East Pakistan and to situate the developments in East Pakistan “as an integral component of the global sixties” (p. 2). He credibly asserts that there was much “romance” in the idea of a Bengali nation-state that would herald an exploitation-free society, but it is the earnestness of the intellectual debate over close to two decades that is the most convincing message in his study.

5His second theme of the study is less novel, although important and investigated in great detail: how the internal colonization of East Pakistan by the West Pakistani praetorian state worked as a driving force in the development of Bengali national liberation. These two themes are then investigated in chapters that cover the years from the immediate postcolonial period through to the eve of the war of independence, when Sheikh Mujibur delivered his famous speech and raised the flag of independent Bangladesh on the roof of his house.

6The first full chapter is on the question of nationality, and Basu draws up a canvas stretching back to the early 20th century. The territory of undivided Bengal was closely integrated, and Partition in 1947 in a Hindu-majority West Bengal and a Muslim-majority East Bengal caused a slow but painful process through which borders were established and closed, businesses were disrupted, refugees moved in both directions, and sectarian conflicts made the search for “an organic nation” difficult and full of tension. Political parties in East Bengal and the leftists in particular faced problems as the leadership had often been predominantly Hindu while the notion of a religion-based nation state was ideologically problematic. Mainstream leaders sought compromises while holding on to the idea of a united Pakistan, but the colonial era morphed into an authoritarian-bureaucratic state that did not engage in democratic dialogue. By the mid-fifties, the postcolonial Pakistani state was increasingly characterized by intrigues and factional squabbles, and doubt and disappointment set in as hopes of a constitutional transformation slowly dimmed.

7Chapter 2 analyses “the patterns of formation of post-coloniality in Pakistan” during the fifties (p. 76). The democratic vs. non-democratic struggle continues to mar the state as it slowly descends into authoritarianism and full-fledged military rule. The rulers’ close association with the United States of America draws increasing criticism and is read in the context of cold war imagery, including the Suez crisis, Sino-Soviet rivalry and anti-colonial movements in Africa and Asia. A special leader in this context is Maulana Bhashani, the madrassa-educated religious leader who represents an Islam-inspired socialism and anti-imperialism. Basu discusses his unique political leadership and contribution to the anti-authoritarian sentiment among both educated middle classes and peasantry.

8The study’s main contribution lies in chapter 3, on language and culture, where the author outlines the sensitive debates among the Bengali literati about the nature of their identity. He employs the term “culturalism” from Andrew Sartori, the development of which he dates back to the Bengali renaissance in the 19th century. The capitalist development of society pushed the Bengalis out of the imperial world economy, and they retreated into an alternative ideological paradigm centered on the idea of culture (p. 124). Through various stages and using Franz Fanon and Antonio Gramsci as guiding lights, the author argues that by the mid-20th century, the cultural classes of East Bengal were confident enough to carry the mantle of national identity. This theoretical framing is unconvincing, but the author has done a commendable job in detailing the debates among the East Bengal literati about language (should for instance Sanskrit derived words be replaced? what does it mean that the eastern wing of the Muslim state of Pakistan has Hindus as cultural icons?), and their active cultural life—the plays, organizations, literary conventions, writings and poetry, popular art and film making. The new “imagined community of a linguistic nation” was crafted using alternative intellectual resources, despite the efforts of the state machinery’s cultural policies (p. 152). Translated pieces of poems and songs help the reader get a flavor of the sentiments expressed.

9Chapter 4 outlines the more familiar history of cold war, the mighty role of the military in the Pakistani state, the skewed distribution of state resources between the two wings, and the often haughty attitude Urdu-speaking Punjabis took on when talking about Bengalis. The latter is strikingly exemplified by President Ayub Khan’s autobiography, in which he wrote that the Bengalis “have all the inhibitions of the down-trodden races” (quoted on page 194). He attributed this to “Their popular complexes, exclusiveness, suspicion, and a sort of defensive aggressiveness…” The autobiography was written while he was still president of the country, and if this statement is representative of the attitude among leading Pakistani officers, one cannot be surprised by how impossible it was to keep the Pakistani state together. The chapter further discusses the economic disparity, conceding that there was much economic investment and development in East Pakistan as well, although it was skewed in a particular manner that benefitted larger, mostly West Pakistan-owned companies, and did not meet the needs of East Pakistan.

10The last two of the main chapters, chapters 5 and 6, are narrations of the political contestations and negotiations that caused the final break-down of discussions between leaders of the western wing, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and General Yahya Khan, and the undisputed leader of the eastern wing, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. Substantial pages are devoted to the mobilization efforts by leftist parties, their internal splits, repression and resistance, labor militancy, student and workers’ protests, including the uprising of 1969 in which the “red maulana,” Bhashani, again played a crucial role. On top of the military defeat in the 1965 war against India, the military regime finally caved in and organized free elections. In East Pakistan, the party behind the demand for greater autonomy, Awami League, overwhelmingly won.

11Here again the author brings in some of the intellectual debates and the engagement with “the global sixties.” The author points out that some of the actors were abroad (and thus exposed to the cultural waves of the global sixties), while even those at home had Che Guevara, Regis Debray and Mao Zedong on their reading lists (p. 234). However, just how these were discussed and how they informed thinking and action is not investigated and the whole point about international exposure is almost missed amidst the many pages of details of the political struggle within Pakistan.

12The reader might have wanted more engagement with the ideas of the sixties and how this informed the Bengali struggle. Many participants and first-hand witnesses are still alive, and while the study does refer to a few autobiographies, these are not elaborated upon. How did they engage with the writings of Che Guevara, Regis Debray and Mao Zedong and what did they take away from these as relevant for their own situation? Most of the text is constituted by a minute blow-by-blow detailing of events and individuals’ histories, more an event-driven history than an investigation into the cultural perceptions that drove their political engagement. As a reader, I am for instance still curious about the outsized leadership role Sheikh Mujibur Rahman attained during the years at the end of the decade. In the final chapter, the author asserts that by the end of the sixties, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman had become an “icon,” a politician whose sacrifices had transformed him into a larger-than-life person. It was his “long imprisonment, booming voice, soaring rhetoric and earthy sense of humour [that had] endeared him to the population” (p. 329); but the nature of this popularity remains asserted rather than investigated.

13One might also have wanted a more critical reflection on the political decisions and compromises reached. The analytical lens towards the end of the study is on the transformation of what for many had been about radical reform of society to the less radical notion of a sovereign nation state. This less radical notion still harbored within it a core sentiment of an exploitation-free society. Or so the author asserts and so the current regime in Bangladesh, self-designated heirs of that whole legacy, sees the period. Under Sheikh Mujib, nationalism and the socialist-inspired “dream” of an exploitation-free society seemingly blended perfectly and fortuitously. This storyline could have done with a more critical lens. The many alternative visions may have drowned in the frantic mobilization against the Pakistanis but came quickly to reassert themselves once independence had been secured. Radical leftists, conservatives and authoritarian forces bided their time but were clearly part of the political unrest that overtook the country from 1972 onwards and battled for power after rogue elements had assassinated Sheikh Mujib in 1975

14Basu’s study is not a history of East Pakistan/Bangladesh as such. The focus is strictly on the development of an idea and the creation of a movement to carry forward this idea. People who did not agree with this do not play any role in the book, and so the many who continued for long to support the idea of Pakistan and their cultural lives are ignored—the Islamists, the apolitical middle classes, the non-mobilized peasantry (except when mobilized by Bhashani). This does not detract from the value of the study but points to the fact that more studies on this crucial period are required.

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References

Electronic reference

Arild Engelsen Ruud, Subho Basu. Intimation of Revolution: Global Sixties and the Making of BangladeshSouth Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal [Online], 31 | 2023, Online since 27 March 2024, connection on 06 February 2025. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/samaj/9123; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/w5i7

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About the author

Arild Engelsen Ruud

Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo

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Copyright

CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0

The text only may be used under licence CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.

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