Review by Bob Newland
Readers will be aware of many coups, provoked, organised and funded by the CIA. Most of these are widely known and are acknowledged or even crowed about by the CIA. The CIA financed coup that toppled the Communist government of the Indian State of Kerala in 1959 is little known and has never been openly admitted to by them.
This book brings this to light, introducing a wide range of material from Kerala, New Delhi and the U.S. Using the US Freedom of Information Act, they accessed widely redacted documents from the CIA archives to back up their allegations.
In what is a relatively small volume, the authors succeed in providing a background to events in Kerala examining CIA operations designed to overthrow elected governments in Iran, Brazil, Guatemala, the Congo, and Indonesia. They reference many other CIA operations and ask the question ‘Why has the CIA refused to claim credit for overthrowing the government in Kerala …?’ To help to understand events in Kerala, the book also looks in depth at the overthrow of the progressive regime in Guyana.
Although primarily concerned with the role of the CIA, Britain’s government does not escape unscathed. Cheddi Jagan’s People’s Progressive Party (PPP) holds the unfortunate record of being removed from elected office twice. In 1953, Winston Churchill, largely under U.S. pressure, removed the democratically elected PPP government. In 1961 the PPP was again elected but a massive campaign of violence and a general strike organised by the CIA, on largely racial grounds, forced them to agree to early elections in 1964. These were rigged by the CIA and CIA agent Forbes Burnham was elected. Following his death, in 1992, in the first democratic elections since 1961, Jagan was again elected.
The story of how the Communists came to power in the newly created state of Kerala explores the alliance of workers and peasants, socialists and nationalists which they came to lead. Following election success a widespread reform program was introduced. Although most of the policies were in line with those proposed nationally by the Congress Party few of them were being implemented by them.
The scene is set with the creation of the CIA after WWII. Although the U.S. officially supported decolonisation and forced it onto the statutes of the newly created United Nations (UN), in reality its purpose was to open up former colonies to U.S. trade establishing a global hegemony for their revitalised post-war economy. Many of the liberation movements were led by communists as a result of their key role in defeating the combined forces of European fascism and Japanese militarism. This was seen as a threat to U.S. plans and became central to the CIA’s mandate, prompting widespread covert operations against newly emerging post-colonial democracies.
The CIA’s brief ‘Performing actions directed by the National Security Council…’ rapidly expanded to ongoing, extensive covert operations directed by the President and by the CIA Director after his powers were extended. The authors call on exposures by Philip Agee, Noam Chomsky and Vijay Prashad, along with many new documents, to illustrate the scale and unaccountability of the development of a global CIA strategy of intervention through covert operations, assassinations and coups.
In the paranoid eyes of the CIA, Kerala became a key state in a domino effect whereby Communist control of Kerala would lead to a Communist takeover of India (with the loss of key mineral, agricultural, and natural resources), and ultimately the ‘loss’ of Southeast Asia. Several documents are reproduced or widely quoted from to illustrate this perception.
There is so much to study that no review can begin to do it justice. When looking at the Kerala experience in the light of recent attempts by former colonies in Africa and Latin America to chart a different course than their neo-colonial powers have imposed, this volume becomes all the more significant. Land reform and protection of tenants, education, health services, and challenges to the caste system would seem to be far from revolutionary but as with the Sahel States, Brazil and Venezuela today, such minor steps are unacceptable and demand regime change.
Anti-communism was at the centre of the campaign and the role of the Catholic Church and the Congress Party at a national level was a key part of the CIA plan. ‘Soviet plots’ appeared from nowhere. Seeing its removal as an opportunity to demonstrate her control of events. The campaign was supported by considerable funds from the U’S’ and active intervention from the Christian Anti-Communism Crusade (CACC) and Moral Re-Armament. The press and a range of printing houses run by them and others with CIA funding built a crescendo of anti-communist hysteria. Sadly, the election of Indira Gandhi as leader of the Congress Party in 1959 sealed the fate of the Communist government in Kerala.
After a series of provocations, funded by vast resources provided from the U.S., the Indian Central Intelligence Bureau (CIB), which worked closely with the CIA, proposed the removal of the Communist Government to prevent a ‘civil war’. The rest as they say is history.
This revealing tale of U.S. misdeeds exposes India’s Congress Party for its collaboration in the overthrow of a democratically elected and massively successful progressive regime. It also provides a powerful insight into post WWII power struggles in newly independent states globally during the cold war. An excellent and informative read brought to us from the U.S. by Central Books.
Toppling the First Ministry: Kerala, the CIA and the Struggle for Social Justice. T.M. Thomas Isaac and Richard W. Franke. Monthly Review Press £22.50.
The views expressed in the articles published on this website do not necessarily represent those of Liberation
Interested in a reviewing a book for us? Or a film, play or exhibition? Get in touch at info@liberationorg.co.uk
Support our work – donate, become a member, affiliate your local organisation’s branch or volunteer
