Tajuddin’s unfinished revolution

As a person, Tajuddin Ahmad was an idealist. In his personal life and professional conduct, he was disciplined and guided by a deep sense of restraint and propriety. These qualities are evident in his diaries, as well as in his speeches and statements. He was a man of ideals, but he had to work during a time when idealism itself was disappearing from the world.

As Prime Minister first, and later as Finance Minister, he declared that he did not want to build the country with loans from imperialist powers, nor did he believe that socialism could be established with the help of capitalist money or assistance. When he spoke of establishing socialism in the country, he did so from deep conviction. Unlike many of his colleagues, for him, socialism was not just a political slogan. He spoke sincerely about establishing true socialism—genuine and unadulterated. He did not believe in attaching additional terms or qualifiers to it. He even stated this explicitly on a few occasions.

These positions increasingly isolated him within both the party and the government. Even while holding ministerial office, he openly expressed his dissatisfaction with the prevailing conditions in the country and criticised certain actions of party members. Needless to say, neither the party nor its leadership appreciated such views and attitudes.

The conflict or tension had existed since the Liberation War. At that time, due to Indian support, it was difficult to act against him. But after independence, his rivals became actively determined to use their resentment against him. Taking advantage of the doubts or mistrust the top leader (Sheikh Mujib) had towards Tajuddin, they continuously poisoned his ears.

In fact, in the conventional sense of what we understand by the term "leader," Tajuddin Ahmad perhaps never possessed those typical leadership traits. He could not deliver rousing or crowd-stirring speeches. Outside of organisational necessities, he didn't seem to maintain much personal contact with party activists across the country beyond his own constituency. Rather, as General Secretary, he diligently carried out his secretarial responsibilities under the shadow of party chief Sheikh Mujib's leadership. His deep sense of duty and administrative efficiency was most evident during the non-cooperation movement of 1971.

He never desired to become a leader himself; he always accepted 'Mujib Bhai' as the leader and worked under his leadership for the liberation of the country and its people. His assuming the role of Prime Minister during the Liberation War was more a matter of circumstantial compulsion than personal ambition. One could say he took on that responsibility in response to the call of the time.

Even after independence, despite disagreements on various issues, he never displayed any lack of loyalty—at least publicly—towards the supreme leader. Not even after being removed from the cabinet or excluded from the newly formed BAKSAL.

As Finance Minister, he sought to restructure the country's economy along socialist lines—and there is no doubt about his sincerity in that regard. However, in the beginning, he was driven purely by ideological conviction, without adequately considering the state of the country, the party, or the broader international context. It was only through his work that he began to grasp the harsh realities on the ground. At that point, changes could be observed in both the content and tone of his statements. But by then, he had become completely isolated—both within the government and the party.

Tajuddin had said that socialism could not be established with aid or support from American imperialism or the capitalist world. Perhaps he was speaking the absolute truth. But socialism aside, it became evident that even the necessary financial assistance for rebuilding a war-ravaged nation could not be provided by the Soviet Union or the socialist bloc. To meet even the basic food requirements of the people, we were forced to extend our hands to America.

Even within the country, political parties that claimed to believe in socialism and oppose imperialism did not stand firmly by Tajuddin at this juncture. None of them expressed open support for him. Among the leftists, those identified as pro-Chinese had understandable reasons for not supporting Tajuddin. He had led the Liberation War from the shelter of India, with their support and assistance. Moreover, while in India, he had signed a so-called "secret 25-year treaty" with the Indian government—which, according to them, was essentially a treaty of subordination or servitude.

However, the pro-Chinese leader Mohammad Toaha claimed in his memoirs and elsewhere (as far as I recall, in an interview with Dhaka Digest in the 1980s) that Tajuddin had always been a member of the Communist Party, and that he worked within the Awami League as a Communist Party member. What Toaha did not clarify, though, was to which faction Tajuddin remained loyal after the Communist Party in this country split into Soviet-leaning and China-leaning factions in the mid-1960s, following rifts in the international communist movement. When Toaha says "our party," did he mean the pro-Chinese Communist Party?

On the other hand, among the Moscow- or Soviet-aligned leftists—especially shaped by their experiences during the Liberation War—there emerged a certain reliance on and admiration for Tajuddin. After independence, his public commitment to establishing socialism—more precisely, genuine socialism—further deepened this admiration. (It is worth recalling that on one or two occasions, he even mentioned in his speeches the goal of establishing Marxist socialism.) There was also an effort from the leadership to convince party workers that Tajuddin represented the "progressive wing" within the Awami League—that he was "one of us." However, this lasted only as long as Mujib's displeasure with Tajuddin had not come to the fore. After Tajuddin's removal from the cabinet, they adopted a more cautious stance.

Let me conclude this article with a small personal anecdote.

The day Tajuddin Ahmad resigned—or rather, was removed—from the cabinet is still vivid in my memory. I was a student at the University of Dhaka at the time. During a university holiday, or perhaps some other occasion, I had travelled to Chattogram. I heard the news in the evening while standing at a second-hand bookstall on the sidewalk of Reazuddin Bazar, listening to the radio. Naturally, I was deeply unsettled. Although I had somewhat distanced myself from active politics by then, and had my own share of dissatisfaction and disagreements, I still aligned ideologically with the pro-Moscow political stream. During holidays in Chattogram, I would often drop by the offices of the Student Union, NAP, or Udichi to catch up with old comrades. The NAP and Student Union offices were located side by side in Darul Fazal Market. That evening, upon hearing the news, I immediately rushed to the Student Union–NAP office. When I entered the NAP office, I saw Chowdhury Harunur Rashid there. Before independence, he had been involved in underground politics, so I had never had the chance to meet or speak with him before.

I first saw him during the Liberation War at the Craft Hostel in Agartala. After independence, he began his political career in Dhaka. He held a top position in the TUC on behalf of the Communist Party and was a central leader of NAP (Mozaffar faction). So, when I went to the NAP office and shared the news of Tajuddin Ahmad's removal, I noticed a palpable sensation among those present (though I don't know if they had already heard the news). At that moment, Chowdhury Harunur Rashid calmly said a few words, which I still remember—his reaction to Tajuddin's departure from the cabinet seemed largely positive. Though I cannot recall his exact words after all these years, the gist of what he said was something like: "It's for the best. The government is now out of danger. With all his ultra-revolutionary talk, he was actually harming the progressive path. He was essentially a man of JASAD…"

Thirty-five years ago, I dedicated my book Pakistanbader Biruddhe (1990) to him, writing: "To Tajuddin Ahmad, in gratitude on behalf of an ungrateful nation."

Dr Morshed Shafiul Hasan is a writer, researcher, and academic.