Q186
Indian National MovementPress, Literature & Cultural Institutions
Who wrote the book 'Gandhi versus Lenin'?
- a.S.A. Dange
- b.R.B. Lotwala
- c.R.S. Nimbarkar
- d.R.V. Nadkarni
Answer: (A) S.A. Dange
Shripad Amrit Dange wrote the pamphlet 'Gandhi vs. Lenin' in 1921, comparing the two leaders' ideas and methods and arguing the case for socialism; it marks the beginning of Marxist writing in India. Helped by the Bombay businessman R.B. Lotvala (option B), he started 'The Socialist' (1922), the first Marxist journal in India. Dange was convicted in the Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case (1924) along with Muzaffar Ahmad, Shaukat Usmani and Nalini Gupta, and again in the Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929), in which R.S. Nimbkar (option C) was also an accused. Related: M.N. Roy wrote 'India in Transition', and Muzaffar Ahmad pioneered the communist movement in Bengal with the paper 'Langal'.