"A Mad Race"

Calcutta lies beneath its flies, swollen and unhealthy. The great city now crowds between 3,000,000 and 5,000,000 souls into its dank tenements, often six to ten to a room, scores to a back-well privy. One man in three is a D.P. from Pakistan or the poor uplands, with no money and no place to go. And although the sacred cows roam free down Chowringhee, the native Bengali feels no more free than the refugee: the Marwaris and the British have the best businesses; the quick Madrasis get the best jobs; the workers for the jute mills come mostly from Bihar. Moreover, there is seldom enough money for the dowry, and the daughters stay long at home. All this discontent spreads like a heat rash and inflames at the slightest provocation.

Acid Bulbs. Last month the British-owned tramways provided just such a provocation. To give its workers a bonus and cost-of-living allowance, the company increased the fare by one pice (one-third of a cent). Bengalis objected, and the Communists made haste to exploit the issue.

First they organized a Tram Fare Enhancement Resistance Committee, told passengers not to pay their fares, and beat up those who did. Next they swarmed into the trams, burned the seat cushions of the first-class section, and hurled second-class passengers into the streets. But the drivers kept on going. So the Communists pelted them and their passengers with bricks, bottles and Indian Communism's favorite weapon--bulbs filled with nitric acid.

Fighting spread. The mobs rampaged through the bazaars, stopped trains in the outskirts, cut signal wires and threw acid at firemen who tried to stop the fires. Their tactics showed how long the Communists had prepared. When police jeeps came after them at night, someone would blow a whistle and the street lights would go out. Then, at the moment of blindness, they would rush from the alleys, sear the cops with acid and drive them from the street.

Forces of Chaos. By last week four people had been killed, 200 seriously injured, a thousand hurt. The city was paralyzed, and a general strike was spreading across Bengal. Mobs surged unchecked through the streets. From Lucknow, Jawaharlal Nehru commented despairingly: "Looking at happenings in Calcutta," he said, "it seems as if Indians are a mad race. We achieved freedom by peaceful means ... It will be a bad day for India if leadership passes into the hands of such forces of chaos." At week's end the government surrendered to the rioters, called off the fare increase.

The Communists were not ready to stop: they said the rioting would go on until all agitators are released from jail, until "police atrocities" are investigated, until food prices come down to a "reasonable" level, until there is work for all men--in other words, indefinitely.

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