LOKSABHASECRETAruAT

NEW DELHI
DECEMBER 2004
COMRADE SHRIPAD AMRIT DANGE

LOK SABRA SECRETARIAT

NEW DELHI
DECEMBER 2004
9(2)-LARRDIS(PARLY.)/2004

© 2004 LOK SABHA SECRETARIAT

Published under Rule 382 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct

of Business in Lok Sabha (Eleventh Edition) and printed by
Sunlight Printers, 2265, Dr. Sen Marg, Fountain, Delhi-110 006.
 PREFACE
Among the galaxy of leaders who played a pioneering role in
shaping and moulding the country's trade union movement and
the Communist movement, the name of Comrade Shripad Amrit
Dange shines like a pole star. A committed revolutionary, a great
patriot, a dedicated labour leader, a brilliant orator, a great
parliamentarian and above all an ardent scholar, Comrade Dange
was indeed a multi-faceted personality.
A grateful nation honours the memory of Comrade Dange on
10 December 2004 when the Hon'ble Prime Minister,
Dr. Manmohan Singh unveils his statue ir. Parliament House. We
are deeply beholden to the Hon'ble Speaker, Shri Somnath
Chatterjee for his inspiring guidance in organising this function.
The statue, sculpted by eminent sculptor, Shri Vithoba Panchal is
almost 9 feet high and is made of bronze. We are grateful tu the
Shramik Pratishthan, Mumbai, for donating the statue.
To mark the occasion, the Lok Sabha Secretariat is bringing
out this booklet containing the profile of Comrade Dange and
some select photographs. The profile is based on published sources
relating to the life and times of Comrade Dange. This publication
is a humble tribute to the memory of Comrade Dange, who
dominated the Indian political firmament for many decades. We
hope it will be found useful and informative by all.

NEW DELHI G.C. MALHOTRA,

December, 2004 Secretary-General
Lok Sabha

(i)
 CONTENTS

PAGE

PREFACE .............................................................................. (i)

COMRADE SHRIPAD AMRIT DANGE - A Profile

Early Life.... ... ..... ........ ........... .... ..... ...... ........................... 1

Rise of Socialism in India.............................................. 2

Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case........ ...................... 4

His Struggle for the Working Class ............................. 4

Pioneer of the Trade Union Movement ........................ 6

The Architect of Indian Communism ............ ............... 8

Dange, the Parliamentarian.... .............................. ........ 11

A Great Visionary ............................... ............................ 12

His Literary Pursuits........ ...... .................. ......... ..... ....... 12

The Last Journey ............................................................ 13

COMRADE SHRIPAD AMRIT DANGE-

A Pictorial Profile.................................................................. 15

(iii)
COMRADE SHRIPAD AMRIT DANGE
- A Profile -
Comrade Shripad Amrit Dange
 Comrade Shripad Amrit Dange, one of the founding fathers of
the Indian Communist Movement and the architect of the All
India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) dominated the Indian
political scene and the working class movement for more than six
decades. A legend in his own lifetime, Dange was more than an
ordinary politician; he was an outstanding trade unionist and a
great revolutionary patriot as well. He was equally an intellectual
giant and philosopher of high calibre, a great scholar of Sanskrit
and the Vedas and a champion of social justice. Throughout his
long innings in public life, he remained loyal and devoted to the
Communist ideology; he also showed great respect for Indian
traditions, values and culture.

Early Life

Comrade Shripad Amrit Dange was born on 10 October 1899

in Nasik. His father was a clerk in a solicitor's firm. He was
hardly one year old when his mother died. None to look after the
small child, his father then allowed a Marathi lady who belonged
to his uncle's family to adopt Dange who took the boy to her
village. The political atmosphere of Maharashtra and particularly
of Nasik in Dange's childhood was fully charged with the
revolutionary activities of young political leaders which
reverberated throughout the country. The echoes of boycott,
Swadeshi and Swaraj did not fail to reach the village where Dange
lived. All these developments contributed in moulding his mind at
an impressionable age. He studied in the Nasik High School till
the sixth standard. Thereafter, his family moved to Mumbai where
his father put him up in the Bharda High School.
After finishing school, Dange joined the Wilson College in
1917. One of his first activities in the College was to start a
monthly journal in English titled The Young Collegiate. He also
organised the students to revolt against the compulsory teaching
of Bible. He started a movement demanding that the College
authorities should permit the establishment of a Marathi Language
Literary Society and that Marathi should also be accepted for the

1
degree course on the same level as other languages like English,
French, etc. He organised the first students' strike on this and
other issues in Mumbai. The authorities finally conceded the
demand and the first Marathi Literary Society was formed in the
Wilson College. As Dange himself put it, "our conditioning in
boyhood itself was national".
On the political front, Lokmanya Tilak, one of the doyens of
the revolutionary stream within the freedom movement, greatly
inspired the young, dedicated Dange. For the young and old alike,
Tilak was the symbol of national aspiration because he lent his
support not only to the revolutionary struggle all over the country
but also worked untiringly for the organisation of the working
class, the peasantry and all other toiling sections of the people.
Also, Tilak's pioneering work Geeta Rahasya which extols the
philosophy of Karmayoga had deeply influenced Dange. Tilak gave
him the inspiration to undertake relief work in the mill areas of
Mumbai city wherein the influenza epidemic of 1918 had taken a
toll of lakhs of people. It was for the first time that Dange came
in direct contact with the working class. Little did he know at
that time that this was to be an association of his lifetime.
Dange's father died in 1920. Meanwhile, the Non-Cooperation
Movement launched by Gandhiji had just begun to gather
momentum. Responding to the clarion call of Gandhiji, he gave up
studies and plunged into the freedom movement. From this time
onward, he never ceased to take active interest in the struggle for
freedom. In 1928, Dange married Ushatai, a widow, who shared
and appreciated his political views. She used to carry forward
Dange's trade union activities whenever he underwent
imprisonment.

Rise of Socialism in India

Dange was hardly eighteen years old when the Bolshevik

Revolution in Russia shook the entire world and laid the foundation
of the socialist society. He was highly influenced by the socialist
thought that human society can be created and sustained on the
basis of equality and justice. And he was drawn to the career and
achievements of the great Soviet leader, V.l. Lenin. He was at the

2
same time inspired by the political philosophy of Karl Marx. Along
with nationalism, the philosophy of egalitarianism was
simultaneously influencing Dange, giving him a markedly
ideological and international orientation. He began to see, rather
before many others, that India's political freedom would have no
meaning if it were not to translate itself into economic freedom
for its masses. In search of a new ideology, Dange wrote his first
book Gandhi vs. Lenin in 1921. This book, for the first time,
articulated Dange's social leanings. Lenin is believed to have read
the book and saw in it "the sparks of the awakening Indian working
class". It proved to be the turning point in Dange's life; he came
to Communism via nationalism.
The book Gandhi vs. Lenin also attracted the attention of
Shri R.B. Lotwalla, a close colleague of Tilak, who offered Dange
his library of all the classics of Marxism-Leninism. He also
influenced Vit~albhai Patel to appoint Dange as his Secretary.
Although this gave Dange an opportunity to study this new
philosophy, he soon felt a strong desire to disseminate the new
ideas of socialism among the people. He joined Indu Prakash, a
well known Marathi daily of those days, and boldly advocated the
principles of socialism through its columns. However, working in
a Marathi daily did not satisfy Dange and soon he felt the need
for an English paper of his own to freely propagate his ideas and
programmes of socialism. In August 1922, he launched
The Socialist. It was the first Communist journal in the country
which Dange started by selling the household belongings which
his father had left. Through this journal, Dange mooted the idea
and the necessity of forming a mass political party of the working
class based on the philosophy of Marxism-Leninism. The journal
acquired an instant stature among radicals throughout the country.
Dange's reputation grew by leaps and bounds and very soon he
was known all over the country as an intrepid nationalist and an
equally intrepid socialist. Intellectuals such as M.N. Roy as well
as humble factory workers in Mumbai and Kanpur came to admire
and respect him equally.
In the 16 September 1922 issue of The Socialist, Dange
announced the formation of the Indian Socialist Party within the
Indian National Congress. Presumably, he wanted that Indian

3
Communists should work as a distinct group within the Congress.
The journal reached M.N. Roy who deputed Charles Ashleigh, a
British Communist, to meet Dange and take him to Soviet Russia
to attend the Fourth Congress of the Communist International.
Ashleigh managed to meet Dange but his mission proved abortive
because of the intervention of the Mumbai police.

Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case

The British authorities were closely following the activities of

revolutionaries all over the country. The open preaching of
socialism coupled with active interest in working class struggle
was alarming them. So, they tried to nip in the bud the rise of the
ideology of socialism in the national movement. A conspiracy case
was thus framed against Dange and he was arrested on
3 March 1924 along with Muzaffar Ahmed, Nalini Gupta and
Shaukat Usmani on the charge of trying to overthrow the British
Government and was sentenced to four years imprisonment. This
case, which later came to be known as the Kanpur Bolshevik
Conspiracy Case, was the first attack against the rights of the
Indian working class to co-operate with their brother workers in
other countries in the cause of national and social liberation. Dange
openly stood for such co-operation and was arraigned for it. This
trial was historic in the sense that it led to the formation of the
Communist Party of India on the Indian soil in December 1925 at
Kanpur.

His Struggle for the Working Class

Dange was released on 24 May 1927, 356 days earlier than

the full course of the term of four years because of his having
earned remission for the special work he did in the jail hospital.
By 1926-27, the working class movement initiated by the All India
Trade Union Congress (AITUC) was spreading widely in many
provinces. Dange had been closely associated with the AITUC as
a volunteer since its formation in 1920. As soon as he was released
from jail in 1927, he took up the trade union work in Mumbai, the
centre of India's cotton-textile industry. Moved by the pathetic
condition of the textile workers, who were exploited ruthlessly by

4
the textile magnates, Dange organised them and fought for their
rights. Simultaneously through the Marathi weekly Kranti, he
kindled awareness among the working class with unique success.
A new awakening was evident among the working class-an
awakening of a class ideology and international outlook consistently
spread by the Communists. Also, the national upsurge had touched
a new height. With Kranti as its base, Dange launched massive
political strikes and demonstrations of the working class which
climaxed in the historical general strike of 1928. Dange, along
with S.V. Ghate, S.S. Mirajkar, K.N. Joglekar and R.S. Nimbkar
led the six-month strike of the textile workers against
"rationalization" and 7 1/ 2 per cent cut in their wages. The strike
was perhaps the biggest and the longest in the history of the
labour movement in which as many as six lakh workers
participated. The Girni Kamgar Union, led by Dange, also took
part in the strike. It had a record membership of about 84,000
workers and was the biggest Union in Asia at that time. For six
months, the Union fed the striking workers with foodgrains
collected from national and international trade unions and the
public. The British Government finally had to retreat and Lhe
strike ended successfully. The Government restored the 7 1/ 2 per
cent wage cut and appointed a Commission to inquire into the
other demands of the workers.
The success of the strike dealt a blow to the influence of the
old moderate leadership which tied the working class to economism.
It marked a new turn in the trade union movement marking the
emergence of the working class as a political force and Dange as
their unchallenged leader. With this new political awakening, the
workers began to participate directly in anti-imperialist activities.
The emergence of this powerful organisation of the working class
created panic for the capitalists as well for the Government.
Infuriated, the Government tried to divide the class solidarity by
inciting Hindu-Muslim communal riots. But with tactical and
skilful efforts of Dange and his colleagues, the riots were
successfully suppressed.
On 20 March 1929, the Government arrested Dange along
with thirty other Communists in the Meerut conspiracy case,
charging them with efforts at over-throwing the British

5
Government. The trial proceeded for four years amidst storm and
tumult. The Communists used the court itself to broadcast the
message of revolution and national liberation and to expose British
imperialism. Dange admitted before the court that he was a
Communist and submitted a voluminous statement defending and
explaining Marxism-Leninism and the right of the Indian people
to work for liberation and socialism. He said: ''My aim as a
Communist is to replace world capitalist economy by a world
system of Communism." Dange was sentenced to twelve years
imprisonment. When the case went in appeal to the High Court,
the judge was constrained to remark that the whole fabrication
was a "fountain pen conspiracy" and there was no evidence of
arms in what had been played up as a conspiracy to undermine
the British Government. The judge declared: "Perhaps the deeper
gravity was the hold acquired over the Bombay workers illustrated
by the 1928 strike and the revolutionary policy of the Girni Kamgar
Union." The sentence was consequently reduced to three years.
Dange spent his time in jail reading Marxist literature. When he
came out of the jail in 1935, he had become a committed
Communist who worked ceaselessly for the cause of socialism.

Pioneer of the Trade Union Movement

Dange's role in building the trade union movement in India
was momentous and unmatched. Beginning his association with
the AITUC as a volunteer, he rose to become its General Secretary
and later the President for several decades. He was privileged to
preside over the AITUC sessions in pre-and post-Independence
days and played a crucial role in integrating the AITUC as a
major central trade union organisation and skilfully giving a new
orientation to the working class movement. Dange was also the
founder Vice-President of the World Federation of Trade Unions
(WFTU) which embraced the entire working class movement and
at one stage was the most powerful factor in the progressive
movements the world over. As its Vice-President consecutively for
nine terms, Dange's association with the WFTU was long and
eventful. He was the accredited spokesman of the Third World
countries at the WFTU Sessions.
Dange's entire life was a saga dedicated to the cause of the
working class. He was perhaps the first to realise the importance

6
and significance of the role of the working class in the struggle for
freedom and for social transformation. He envisaged the trade
union movement as the vehicle to achieve this goal. It was in fact
with this motive that he started the Girni Kamgar Union which
later became the pioneer of the trade union movement in the
country. To him, trade unionism was an article of faith, not an
intellectual exercise. He realised, as no one else, the value of
unity in the trade union movement. He knew that no action of the
working class would succeed if it lacked the sanction of its united
strength. He worked for unity in action where complete
organisational unity was not possible. In his inimitable style, he
would advise: "Let us march separately but let us strike together."
The trade union movement touched a new qualitative height
under Dange's able leadership and guidance. He ceaselessly tried
to ensure that trade union activities maintained an anti-imperial
character, not allowing it to be isolated from the national struggle
and at the same time protecting the immediate interests of the
workers. But he did not restrict the growth of the trade union
movement to economic demands and the living conditions of
workers. He linked it with the national movement for freedom.
Under his leadership, the working class participated in
innumerable strikes and demonstrations. He fought every strike
as a part of the political battle against the capitalist order. His
speech in every strike rally was in the nature of a political
education for the workers. To the British Government's charge
that he had been indulging in 'undesirable' educational activities
among the mill-hands during the period of the famous 1928 strike
in Mumbai, Dange said:
The strike period is the only period when the cultural level of
the workers can be raised on a mass scale. The very low
wages and long hours of work leave no margin of leisure to
the workers to pay attention to their cultural equipment...
During the strike period, a will to acquire some power, to win
the strike, agitate and awaken mental powers are elements
that urge the workers to acquire knowledge and rise superior
to their conditions, though the increased pressure of starvation
cripples much of this awakened activity ... Therefore, it is
during the strike period that mass education can be carried
on effectively and on a large scale.

7
 Nobody before Dange had quite looked upon a period of strike
as an opportunity for self-education. The teacher in him made see
this aspect of strike.
In the tripartite meetings with the Government, employers
and labour representatives, Dange used to dominate the
proceedings with his skilful arguments, eloquent presentations
and clever repartees and replies. His analysis, replete with facts
and figures, provided a rare insight into the living conditions and
thoughts of the working class. His expertise was unmasked before
the Fawcett Inquiry Commission set up after the general strike of
1928 to inquire into the various demands of the workers where
Dange successfully pleaded the workers' case. No one could
understand the pulse of the workers as remarkably as Dange. He
was their friend, philosopher and guide. The working class found
in him a stalwart champion of their cause.
The reverence that Dange commanded from the workers was
reflected in the moving words of Papa Miya, one of the leading
workers of the Girni Kamgar Union, when he received his execution
order after false implication in a murder case following the historic
strike of 1928: "Give our salute to the Union, continue the struggle,
we are deeply indebted to Dange Saheb." Even today, Dange's
name evokes strong feelings of reverence and pride amongst the
workers. Dange no doubt sacrificed a good deal of his time for
raising the living standards and working conditions of millions of
workers but this was the mission of his life.

The Architect of Indian Communism

Dange, the high priest of Indian Communism and the founder
of the Communist Party of India, lighted the torch of Communism
when uttering the word "Communism" was considered to be a
crime. From those days till his last breath, Dange lived under the
banner of Communism which was the foundation of his thinking
and his being. He was attracted towards Marxism in his quest for
seeking a correct path for Indian revolution, the corner-stone of
which was the unity of all progressive and patriotic forces in the
country. Strongly supporting his ideology, he said:
The fundamental proposition of Marxism applies to every social
group wherever it exists. Thus when I follow Marxism,

8
 Leninism or Communism, I am not following a method of this
country or that but the method of reconstruction of society
which is proved historically to be necessary and correct.
And though he was convinced of basic Marxian ideology, Dange
was temperamentally disinclined to obsessively follow any
orchestrated political line. His interpretation of Marxian thoughts
and policies were largely his own as he wanted to enrich it with
the historical and cultural tenors of the Indian realities. In
evaluating political events and trying to discover new vistas of
future political developments, he always preferred to exercise his
own option. This trend of free-willed thinking and actions, he
imbibed perhaps partly from his early nationalist Guru, Lokmanya
Balgangadhar Tilak and partly from his erudition in Sanskrit
classics and Indian philosophy.
A striking feature of Dange's perception of the Indian road to
Communism was that the working class unity could not be achieved
without Hindu-Muslim unity. In fact, his political baptism took
place in the struggle for Hindu-Muslim unity and the unity of the
working class. In a series of articles in The Socialist, he brought
into sharp focus the fact that Hindu-Muslim unity should be
regarded as the principal pillar on which the future Swaraj of
India was going to be built. Dange stood in the front rank in the
fight against communalism and this remained his supreme
conviction throughout his life and at every turning point in the
history of the national movement and that of Independent India.
In the post-Independence era, Dange got more deeply involved
with the Communist movement and the trade union movement.
On the one hand, he consistently endeavoured to strengthen the
Communist movement in the country and contributed decisively
in carving out a position for the Communist Party on India's
political landscape. On the other, as a strong votary of the working
class, he continued to represent their interests and welfare by
further consolidating the trade union movement. The AITUC under
Dange's stewardship no longer remained a gathering of trade union
leaders. It flowered into an organisation which took keen interest
in the development of the national economy. Dange was also closely
and actively associated with the Goa Liberation Movement, the

9
Samyukta Maharashtra Movement, the Adivasi Satyagraha in
Nasik District and the 'Land to the Tiller' Movement in Uttar
Pradesh.
In his long political career spread over six decades, Dange
was constantly aware of the fundamental changes needed in the
thinking and practice of the Communist movement in India. This
led him to constantly innovate and assess the movement critically
and reach for new political ways to overcome the movement's
weaknesses. He despised dogmatism and found it neither wrong
nor shameful to admit mistakes. At every major turn in national
life-1929-30, 1936-37, 1942 and 1946-47-he made an attempt to
come to terms with the political reality.
Dange found no contradiction in being a nationalist as well as
a Communist. His independent line of thought and forthright
expression of views often clashed with his own political fraternity.
But that did not deter him from promoting the idea that the
"progressives inside the Congress and leftists outside it" should
join hands for pro-people, liberal development of Indian politics
and its socio-economic system. This political line of Dange was
evident in his decision to remain with the CPI when it split in
1964. But, neither seventeen years of suffering in prisons nor the
heat and bitterness of political strife or age robbed Dange of his
zeal for socialist ideas. He continued his struggle for the causes
he held dear even against the wishes of his own party colleagues.
He never hesitated to look at issues and events with an open and
independent mind. The doyen of the Communist movement in the
country eventually formed a new Communist Party-the United
Community Party of India in 198B-when he was 89 years old.
Dange was steadfast and uncompromising in his loyalty to his
philosophy and principles of Communism all his life, a quality
which endeared him to all his admirers and even critics. His
special strength was that he was able to enjoy an equation with
the intelligentsia as well as the common people of the country.
Despite his open adherence to Marxism, he did not lose either the
confidence or the friendship of other political persons or groups.
Even those with whom he had parted ways politically continued
to respect his sincerity and devotion to the causes he held dear.

10
Dange, the Parliamentarian
Dange's legislative career started in 1946 when he was elected
as the first Communist member of the Mumbai Assembly. He
carried forward his fight for the cause of the workers' rights into
the Assembly. Participating in the discussion on the Anti-Strike
Bill, he said: "the right to strike is the most powerful, potent and
today the only weapon in the hands of the working class in order
to get concessions from the employer, as also to get legislation
enacted in his favour". In the Legislative Assembly, his talents as
a legislator were widely admired.
Dange's stint in the Parliament began in 1957 when he was
elected to the Second Lok Sabha from Mumbai. Despite being a
first-timer, he used to actively participate in the proceedings. His
initial speeches, true to his nature, were like those of a trade
union leader. But the style of speeches and manner of participation
in the parliamentary debates needed different skills and tactics.
Dange promptly adopted new parliamentary techniques in giving
voice to the aspirations of the working class and the peasantry on
the floor of the House. His speeches on the imposition of President's
rule in Kerala after dismissing the Communist Ministry, on Tibet
and on the India-China border situation reflected the revolt against
injustice with which he had started his career. His way of speaking
was very lucid and vibrantly persuasive.
Dange and the Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru were on the
opposite sides in the Lok Sabha with diametrically opposing views
on major issues. The Prime Minister believed in the concept of a
mixed economy, while Dange was a committed Marxist. He kept
challenging the Prime Minister to move more and more towards
the left and the Prime Minister kept advising Dange to be more
and more understanding of the middle path. And yet there was in
both, a mutual respect for each other's sincerity.
Dange returned to the Lok Sabha again in 1967. In his
speeches, Dange urged the ruling party to reckon with the new
political realities of the times and to work for strengthening the
democratic institutions in the country. He used the parliamentary
forum not only to raise the grievances of the toiling millions but
also to reflect the voice of the mass movement. While upholding
national unity and its cause, he laid stress O!l giving more

11
autonomy to the States, adequate protection and avenues for the
development of ethnic and religious cultures, arts, etc.

A Great Visionary
Dange had an amazing capacity to analyse every small and
big event in history and interpret it in its social, political or
economic perspective. His deep insight into characters, be they
from mythology, history, literature or his own contemporary world,
his study of the world religions and drawing from it bold and at
times unpalatable conclusions to substantiate his Marxist
viewpoint and stand by them courageously during his interaction
with his Party, individuals or groups of people in national or
international arena, was exemplary.

His Literary Pursuits

Dange won reputation in the party as a practical leader of the
working class rather than as a theorist; at the same time, he
diligently studied economics, politics and literature and published
several books and pamphlets in English and Marathi on political
and economic issues. A well-versed scholar in Sanskrit and the
Vedas, Dange had his own contribution in the realm of ideology.
He spoke with equal ease and authority on Kalidas, Tukaram,
Kabir and Shakespeare as he spoke of Faiz and Makhdoom.
As the pioneer of trade unionism in India, Dange became
conscious early in life of the value of journalism. So he mastered
the profession and edited a few weeklies to propagate his trade
union activities. As discussed earlier, he started the first socialist
weekly in India-The Socialist in 1922. He was also instrumental
in starting Kranti and published a number of pamphlets of his
speeches delivered at the AITUC and WFTU Sessions and in the
Mumbai Legislative Assembly.
As mentioned earlier, Dange was barely 22, when his first
book Gandhi vs. Lenin was published in 1921. The book served its
political purpose in introducing a new philosophy and ideology
into the mainstream of the Indian political struggle for freedom
and Independence. Ten years later, in 1931, Dange did not hesitate
to confess that "_ .. in the book, I have compared Gandhism and
Leninism and have shown preference in favour of the latter ... I
would not subscribe to that book today and it is of no use today

12
in the service of Communism, though, in those days I think, it
was the first of its kind to appear in India and break through the
web of lies that were being circulated about the Russian Revolution
and Lenin by the imperialist bourgeosis Press."

While undergoing imprisonment in the Kanpur Bolshevik

Conspiracy Case, Dange had the opportunity to closely study the
conditions of the prisoners in the British prison, which he vividly
described in his second book Hell Found. Pandit Govind Vallabh
Pant referred to the book on the floor of the Uttar Pradesh
Assembly as a vivid indictment of British rule. As a result, the
Government was forced to take measures to ameliorate the
conditions of the prisoners.

His major works India: From Primitive Communism to Slavery

and Literature and People reflect the many facets of his personality
as a writer, a poet, a historian, a humanist and above all
an ardent revolutionary in the cause of the liberation of the
oppressed humanity, all finely blending into his personality as an
outstanding leader and scholar of the Indian working class and
its philosophy.
Dange was honoured with several national and international
awards during his long years of public activity. A great admirer
of Tilak, Dange was conferred the Lokmanya Tilak Award in
August 1986 by the then Governor of Maharashtra, Dr. Shanker
Dayal Sharma. He was the recipient of the highest honour of the
Soviet Union "Order of Lenin" in 1974 for his active participation
in the struggle for peace, democracy and social progress and for
his great contributions to the development and strengthening of
friendship between the peoples of India and the Soviet Union.
Dange was also conferred the Dimitrov Laureate Prize by the
President of the State Council of the People's Republic of Bulgaria.

The Last Journey

Towards the later years of his life, Dange had withdrawn into
himself and led a secluded life. He was rarely seen in public. Once
he casually remarked that he would decide his hour of departure
from this world, "the choice would be mine. That's our tradition",
he had declared. Dange passed away on 22 May 1991 at the age
of 91 after a prolonged illness.

13
 Paying his rich tributes, the then President,
Shri R.Venkataraman said: "Dange was an intrepid freedom
fighter and a champion of social justice ... He will be remembered
in the annals of modern Indian history as one of the pioneers
of the trade union movement whose name became
synonymous with the aspirations of the working class and the
underprivileged."

The then Vice-President, Dr. S.D. Sharma, in his condolence

message, said that "the country had lost an invaluable link with
our glorious struggle for freedom. Dange's fearless commitment to
the cause of the working class, the toiling masses and for freedom
and justice would always be remembered." Paying glowing tributes
to Dange, the then Prime Minister, Shri Chandra Shekhar
described him as a man of vision, determination and enormous
courage who stood firm for the principles he cherished.

Recalling the services of Dange as a parliamentarian, the then

Lok Sabha Speaker, Shri Rabi Ray described him as one of the
leading lights of the Communist movement in India.

The death of Dange marked the end of a whole era of Indian

politics. As witness to and participant in six decades of political
life, Dange came to represent more than a mere ideology, creed or
school of thought. His life and work spanned developments of
epochal significance: from the stirrings of modern radicalism in
this country in the twenties, through the movement for
Independence, the split of the Communist movement in the sixties,
to the specific achievements and tribulations of the Left Front in
the seventies and eighties.

It would be worth recalling the words of the then President of

India, Shri R. Venkataraman at a public function to honour the
Bhishma Pitamaha of the Indian labour movement, which was
organised by the Government of Maharashtra to commemorate
Dange's 90th birthday celebrations. Shri Venkataraman noted:
"In honouring him, we are, in fact, honouring one of the most
important attributes of the Indian renaissance, namely the creative
mutuality between India's liberation movement and India's labour
movement. Shri Dange personifies that mutuality".

14
COMRADE SHRIPAD AMRIT DANGE
- A Pictorial Profile -
Comrade Shripad Amrit Dange
Dange with his wife Ushatai

Dange with family members

Dange at the time of his arrest in the Kanpur Bolshevik
Conspiracy Case, 1924
Dange with the prisoners of Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case

Dange with the founders of the Communist Party-

8.8. Mirajkar, 8.V. Ghate and K.N. Joglekar
 Dange with the prisoners of the Meerut Conspiracy Case

The Chawl in Mumbai where Dange lived and where he was arrested
from in the Meerut Conspiracy Case in 1929
Dange, the member of the Mumbai Vidhan Sabha
Dange leading the Goa Liberation Movement in 1955

Dange addressing the meeting of the

Samyukta Maharashtra Movement, 1956
Dange with Adivasi Satyagrahies in Dindoshi in Nashik District

Dange leading a march during the "Land to the Tiller" Movement

in Uttar Pradesh, 1970
Dange addressing the Mumbai Girni Kamgar Union in 1963

Dange addressing the First Congress of the

World Federation of Trade Unions, Paris, 1945
 •I

Dange in Kremlin in 1955

Dange at the World Federation of Trade Unions

Executive Committee Meeting, Beijing, 1956
 Dange at the Third World Communist and
Workers' Parties Conference, Moscow, 1969

Dange addressing Soviet Workers in Moscow in 1970

Dange speaking at the Lenin Centenary Meeting in U.S.S.R. in 1970

Dange with Bangladesh President, Mujibur Rehman

ORDER OF LENIN
for
Com.S.A. DANGE
on his 75th Birthday
THE CITATION SAYS THAT THE AWARD IS
BEING Com'ERRED ON S. A. DANGE.

"FOR IDS ACTIVE PARTICIPATION IN THE

STRUGGLE FOR PEACE DEMOCRACY AND
SOCIAL PROGRESS AND IDS GREAT CONTRIBU-
TION TO THE DEVELOPMENT AND STRENGTH-
ENING OF FRIENDSIDP BETWEEN THE PEOPLES
OF INDIA AND THE SOVIET UNION".

THE MESSAGE OF GREETINGS FROM CC CPSU

TO S. A. DANGE ON HIS 75TH BIRTHDAY SAYS :
THE CENTRAL COMMITI'EE OF THE CPSU
SENDS TO YOU, A PROMINENT LEADER OF THE
COMMUNIST, WORKING-CLASS AND NATIONAL-
LIBERATION MOVEMENTS, WARM FRATERNAL

U.S.S.R. President, Com. Podgorny Il''':lrding th~

Order of Lenin to Com. Dnn~.

GREETINGS AND CORDIAL FEiJClTATIONS ON

THE OCCASION OF YOUR 75TH BIRTHDAY.

"WE WISH YOU, DEAR COMRADE SHRIPAD

AMRIT DANGE GOOD HEALTH AND SUCC~

IN YOUR STRUGGLE FOR PEACE, DEMOCRACY

AND SOCIALISM".

PRESIDIUM
OF THE SUPREME SOVIET OF THE
U.S.S.R.

Dange being conferred th e "Order of Lenin" by the

U.S.S.R. President, Mr. Leonid Brezhnev on his 75th Birthday
Dange being presented the Lokmanya Tilak Award by the then
Governor of Maharashtra, Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma in 1986

Dange speaking after receiving the Lokmanya Tilak Award

Dange addressing the Convention "Defend the Country Develop the
Country" organised by the All India Communist Party in 1986

Dange with the President of India, 8hri V.V. Giri on his

75th Birthday Celebrations in Mumbai in 1974
 Dange with Smt. Indira Gandhi, Roza Deshpande
and Bani Deshpande

Dange being presented momento on the occasion of the

Golden Jubilee of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly
Dange with daughter Roza Deshpande
when she was elected to the Lok Sabha
Comrade S.A. Dange
Comrade S.A. Dange
Comrade S.A. Dange

Comrade S.A. Dange