Progressive Writers' Movement: Difference between revisions

The '''''Akhil Bhartiya Pragatishil Lekhak Sangh''''' or '''''Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind''''' or '''Progressive Writers' Movement of India''' or '''Progressive Writers' Association''' ({{lang-ur|{{Nastaliq| انجمن ترقی پسند مصنفینِ ہند}}}}, [[Hindi]]: अखिल भारतीय प्रगतिशील लेखक संघ) was a [[progressivism|progressive]] literary movement in pre-partition [[British India]]. Some branches of this writers' group existed around the world besides in [[India]] and [[Pakistan]].<ref name=OpenU>[http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/progressive-writers-association Historical facts about the Progressive Writers Association listed on The Open University (UK) website] Retrieved 9 May 2018</ref>

* The ''All India Writers' Association'' was set up in [[Lucknow]] on 9 April 1936 under the leadership of [[Syed Sajjad Zahir]] and [[Ahmed Ali (writer)|Ahmed Ali]] at the [[Rifa-e-Aam Club]] in [[Lucknow]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lucknowobserver.com/rifa-e-aam/ |title= Progressive Writing, Regressive Caretaking |work= Lucknow Observer |date=5 August 2015 |access-date=9 May 2018}}</ref> Both of them invited Syed Fakhruddin Balley (known as Balley Alig)to join. Syed Fakhruddin Balley then initiated work to promote the Association. Many writers and poets like [[Hameed Akhtar]], [[Faiz Ahmad Faiz]], [[Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi]], [[Saadat Hasan Manto]] and [[Ismat Chughtai]] joined the Association.<ref name=IndianExpress/>   

* The ''All Pakistan Progressive Writers' Association'' was set up in Pakistan in December 1947 after the [[Independence of Pakistan]] in 1947.

==History==

The origin of the Progressive Writers' Movement can be traced to the publication of ''[[Angarey]]'' (Embers or Burning Coals),{{refn|Also transliterated as ''Angaaray'', ''Angarey'', ''Angaarey'', or ''Anghare''. See {{cite web|url=http://www.sangatreview.org/angaarey/ |title=Angaarey |website=Sangat Review of South Asian Literature |date=25 November 2014 |access-date=9 May 2018}} and {{cite web|url=http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/progressive-writers-association |title=Progressive Writers' Association |website=Making Britain |access-date=9 May 2018}}}} a collection of nine short stories and a one-act play by Ahmed Ali, Sajjad Zaheer, [[Rashid Jahan]] and Mahmud-uz-Zafar in 1932. The publication was met with outrage from civil and religious authorities and was banned by the government of United Provinces.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Ravi|first=S.|date=2014-05-09|title=Still simmering|language=en-IN|work=The Hindu|url=https://www.thehindu.com/features/metroplus/still-simmering/article5993670.ece|access-date=2021-01-05|issn=0971-751X}}</ref> On 5 April 1933, Mahmud-uz-Zafar published a statement titled ''In Defence of Angare: Shall We Submit to Gagging?'' in ''[[The Leader (Allahabad newspaper)|The Leader]]'':

The idea of forming a ''League of Progressive Authors'' was presented for the first time in this statement which later expanded itself and became 'Indian Progressive Writers' Association'.<ref name=britannica>[https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ahmed-Ali#ref845471 Writer 'Ahmed Ali' on Encyclopædia Britannica] Retrieved 9 May 2018</ref><ref name=IndianExpress/>

It could be said that the Urdu writers were in the forefront of 'Anjuman Taraqqi Pasand Musannifin', but later on almost all the writers of Indian languages had their own organisations with the same aims and objectives: struggle against British imperialism for the liberation of India from the foreign yoke; struggle against the henchmen of imperialism, land for the tillers of the soil. The organisation regarded socialism as the proper economic system, which could end exploitation.<ref name=IndianExpress/> Rabindranath Tagore, Maulvi [[Abdul Haq]], [[Chiragh Hasan Hasrat]], Abdul Majeed Salik, Maulana [[Hasrat Mohani]], [[Josh Malihabadi]], Professor [[Ahmed Ali (politician)|Ahmed Ali]], Dr [[Akhtar Hussain Raipuri]], [[Faiz Ahmed Faiz]], Professor [[Majnun Gorakhpuri]], Rashid Jahan, Sahibzada Mahmood uz Zafar, Professor [[Manzoor Hussain Atif|Manzoor Hussain]]  and Abdul Aleem were some of the stalwarts whose active or lukewarm support was with the '''Anjuman Taraqqi Pasand Musannifin'''.

===Post-independence period===

====India====

====Pakistan====

The partition of the sub-continent also portioned the movement and with the sway of the [[McCarthyism]] in the USA, the movement was declared illegal in 1954 in Pakistan. Then the martial law of 1958 saw its rank and file working under different banners. 'Awam Adbi Anjuman' was revived during the PPP Government in 1971. Rafiq Chaudhry, [[Shaukat Siddiqui]], [[Hasan Abidi]], Ateeq Ahmad, and [[Hamidi Kashmiri]] had supported it. However, in 2007, it was organised on a countrywide basis under an interim constitution. During this period [[Hameed Akhtar]]  and Rahat Saeed worked very hard, and organised a general body meeting in [[Lahore]] in 2012 to elect another team of office-bearers with a mandate to get its new constitution passed by March 4, 2012. Dr [[Mohammad Ali Siddiqui]]  was elected as its new President unopposed, Salim Raz  was elected its Secretary General, Rasheed Misbah, its Deputy Secretary General, Dr [[Qazi Abid]]  its joint secretary and Maqsood Khaliq,  its deputy secretary co-ordinator. Soon after the election, South African Free Media Association (SAFMA) invited the new office-bearers at a dinner presided over by [[Munnu Bhai]], Dr [[Muhammad Ali Siddiqui]], newly elected president of PWA, and Rahat Saeed, the outgoing Acting Secretary General were the guests of honour. Replying to a question by the journalist Imtiaz Alam  as to what challenges the PWA of today, considered relevant, as the previous contention of the PWA, 'the battle of ideas', had become irrelevant, the newly elected president PWA contended that the battle of ideas is still going on. And how could it be considered a closed chapter, when a few hundred multinationals in the world had in their coffers 50 percent of the world's GDP. He thought that, in Pakistan, the rate of poverty was rising alarmingly and even if the rate of illiteracy as a yardstick of poverty is taken into account, more than 50 percent of the people were not literate.

* [[Khilafat Movement]]

* [[Liberalism and progressivism within Islam]]

==Further reading==

*  Ali, Ahmed, ''The Prison House: Collection of Short Stories'', Akrash Publishing, Karachi, 1985, see [[Afterword]]  

* ''[http://www.urdupoetry.com/articles/art9.html Progressive Movement and Urdu Poetry]'', by [[Ali Sardar Jafri]]

* ''[http://www.dawn.com/2006/10/01/fea.htm Sajjad Zaheer and Progressive Writers’ Movement]''

* {{cite journal

   | last = Zeno

   | journal = Annual of Urdu Studies

   | volume = 9

   | publisher = University of Wisconsin—Madison

   | url = http://www.urdustudies.com/pdf/09/10ZenoProfessor.pdf

   | issn = 0734-5348}}

* Zeno (Safdar Mir), Cultural Notes: A Writer Committed to Progressivism (Ahmed Ali), Dawn, Karachi, 13 June 1986, p.iv.

* {{Cite book

* '''ahsaas 1,2,3''' a journal of progressive literary writings June 2013 peshawar.kpk province,Pakistan

* Alvi, Dr. Khalid. ''Angare Ka Tarikhi Pusmanzar aur Tarraqi Pasand Tahrik'', (Historical Perspective of Angare and The Progressive Writers' Movement), Educational Publishing House, Kucha Pandit, Delhi 1995.

==External links==

{{DEFAULTSORT:Progressive Writers' Movement}}

[[Category:Indian literature]]

[[Category:Pakistani literature]]

[[Category:Organizations established in 1936]]

[[Category:Urdu-language literary movements]]