AT one time, we had plenty of Stalinists and Maoists among us. But the variety known as Trotskyites was almost non-existent. It is now that this species has cropped up. And I found to my surprise two Trotskyites among friends near and dear to me. They are Munnoo Bhai and Javaid Shaheen.
Of course, Munnoo Bhai is an old progressive. His progressivism can be traced back to the time when every progressive writer was inevitably a Stalinist. It was during the mid-60s that the variety known as Maoists cropped up. They were a rising force, powerful enough to push back the old progressives who, in the good old days, were known for their Stalinism.
However, all kinds of progressives, who at one time were very vocal, seem to have receded into oblivion. Now, the Trotskyites have made their appearance out of the blue. And Javaid Shaheen has, at a stroke, occupied a place at the centre of the stage. He has earned this place because of his one important contribution to the movement. He has translated in Urdu Trotsky’s autobiography which has now been published under the title Meri Zindagi by Struggle Publications, Lahore, a publishing house solely devoted to publishing Trotskyite literature.
In fact, it was the inaugural ceremony of this translated work which provided me with an opportunity to have a glimpse of Pakistani Trotskyites. They have now chosen to come out asserting their ideological stand. They held their conference, which was followed by a book-launching ceremony. What an impressive show! We saw Javaid Shaheen sitting on the stage next to Trotsky’s maternal grandson, Stephen Walcott. He had come from Mexico to participate in this ceremony. How happy he should feel to find his grandfather’s autobiography translated for the first time in any Asian language. Javaid Shaheen can take credit for this historic job.
The hall was full of Trotskyites who appeared as enthusiastic about their martyred leader as were the old progressives demonstrating their enthusiasm for Stalin, later to be followed by the Maoists’ enthusiasm. All those who spoke on this occasion, including Stephen Walcott, were in a mood to castigate Stalin for his foul play against Trotsky, without any danger of being challenged by any quarter. The old guard who had celebrated Stalin as a great defender of the Marxist faith have passed away one by one. Who now cares to defend him for his actions? The Trotskyites are now free to give vent to their belated anger against the man.
Inspiration for this belated anger has perhaps partly come from the newly-published Urdu translation of Trotsky’s autobiography. Here, we have Trotsky’s version of Stalin as he found him. He has been portrayed as an expert in hatching conspiracies. What irked him most was Lenin’s faith in Trotsky’s ability to understand and find solutions to problems and his integrity. The power-hungry man sees in him a rival and begins conspiring against him. As for Lenin, he is seen counteracting his conspiracies. But to the ill-luck of Trotsky, he, after coming into power, soon begins losing his health and consequently his capability to counter Stalin. Here is a moving portrayal of Lenin in his last days: He is growing weak day by day until he loses his power to speak. He so much wanted to checkmate the evil moves of Stalin, but he could not. He was now a disabled man nearing his end.
Trotsky talks about Lenin’s last will where he, according to him, had mentioned Stalin as an unreliable man addicted to misusing power. But Stalin, according to him, managed to steal it from the record room, and so the party could not know what Lenin had willed. Stalin was now all-powerful. Trotsky was in trouble. Soon, he was exiled never to return home.
Such is the story of Trotsky vis-a-vis Stalin, as told by Trotsky. In fact, Meri Zindagi is not merely the life story of an individual. More than that, it is an authentic account of the Russian Revolution as narrated by a revolutionary who was second only to Lenin. Javaid Shaheen can well take credit for being the first to translate this valuable document into any Asian language.
Javaid Shaheen is originally known to us as a poet. His collected poetic works have been published under the title Ishaq Tamam. But he has also some significant prose writings to his credit. Among them is his autobiography, Mairey Mah-o-Saal. He has also written fiction and brought out a collection of his short stories under the title, Khushi ki tin Tarfain. It is under the pressure of some painful personal experiences that he has written these stories. These personal experiences, so disturbing for him, asked for an expression. However, they, as he says, refused to be expressed in verse. So he felt compelled to record them in prose.
Javaid Shaheen knows the art of storytelling. Or we may say that his personal experiences carry with them strong story elements. So, in each short story, he has an absorbing tale to tell us. He does not bother for modern techniques so as to appear a modern fiction writer. He just tells a story which captivates his readers.
AT one time, we had plenty of Stalinists and Maoists among us. But the variety known as Trotskyites was almost non-existent. It is now that this species has cropped up. And I found to my surprise two Trotskyites among friends near and dear to me. They are Munnoo Bhai and Javaid Shaheen.
