198 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
“I can understand the need for a united political organisation of all classes, of people of this country in their endeavour to fight their common opponent foreign Imperialism. I shall support the tempo rary liquidation of all political organisations in the event of a fight against the common foe. I shall be glad to wind up the Independent Labour Party and place my forces at the disposal of the Indian National Congress if it were to launch such a struggle.
Said Dr. Ambedkar in reply : “but what is the position to-day? The Congress is not engaged in an anti-Imperialist struggle. It is using the consitutional machinery to advance the interests of capitalists and other vested interests; it is engaged in bolstering them up by sacrific ing the interests of workers and peasants.
“Its administrative activities have evoked encomiums not from the masses, but from Imperialism itself which the Congress is supposed to be fighting.
“When the Congress is thus busy exploiting even the fragmentary powers that it has secured in advancing its class interests it becomes our obvious duty to set up our own class organisation to protect our interests and to resist encroachments on our rights and liberties by Congress or any other ministries. It would be suicidal for us to join the Congress at such a stage.”
Swami Sahajanand’s main contention seemed to be that it was wrong leadership that was resposible for the present policy of the Congress, that the policy could be changed by overthrowing the present leadership and by installing the leadership of the masses, and that it had not been overthrown so far because the masses were not class-conscious.
Our main task to-day is to create class-consciousness among masses and then the present leadership would collapse automatically.