Red Books Day and the Battle of Ideas
Dr. Nitheesh Narayanan
February 21 is International Mother Language Day. That day echoes the history of the people’s struggle against oppression. Mother Language Day was started to celebrate the memory of the courageous struggle of the Bangla speaking people for their mother language. That same day is also celebrated as Red Books Day all over the world. The Communist Manifesto was published on February 21, 1848. It was a task undertaken by Marx and Engels, assigned by the Communist League in Britain. That little book became the most widely read, circulated and translated political text in world history. No other book has had such an impact on the human race since then. On the same day, therefore, we have mother language day and the day of the publication of the Communist Manifesto.
Red Books Day is the anniversary of the publication of the Communist Manifesto. The mother tongue of workers around the world is the language of class struggle. Red Books Day should be associated with Mother Language Day in the sense of a day celebrating the class politics of writing and reading. Both are reminders and emphasis on the struggle against power, both are rooted in the history of popular resistance, both carry a message of hope, collective life and solidarity, both are international.
It is surprising why February 21 was not celebrated as the anniversary of the Communist Manifesto till recently, even though the book was first published in German in 1848 and later translated into countless languages. It is not known whether there was an attempt to celebrate that day on a large scale anywhere in the world. But it was only in 2020 that February 21st began to be celebrated as Red Books Day as an international campaign. The idea was first put forward by a group of left-wing publishers in India. In that sense, Red Books Day can be said to be something that was born in India and spread all over the world. The Communist Manifesto has been published in more than ten languages in India. India is also the country where the Communist Manifesto has been translated into the largest number of languages in a single country.
The first Red Books Day was celebrated on a limited scale. Yet, programs were organized in all continents of the world. Students and book lovers gathered at the May Day Bookstore in Delhi and read the Communist Manifesto in many languages. In Madras, where May Day was first celebrated in India, young people gathered around the May Day monument to read the Communist Manifesto. Thousands of people, including farm workers in Nepal, activists of the landless peasant movement in Brazil, and progressives in South Korea and the US, enthusiastically participated in the first Red Books Day.
While May Day upholds the rights of workers, Red Books Day upholds the battle of ideas in the workers’ struggles
May Day is a day of workers’ struggle for a dignified life. Today, capitalism often talks about the greatness of labour to create an atmosphere of social consciousness that will rob workers of their rights and further exploit them. Working people have to be reminded repeatedly that the greatness of labour is not separate from the dignity of the worker. One of the main parts of the workers’ struggle is to break the public consensus that capitalism has built to exploit them. Therefore, the workers’ struggle is also one of ideological struggles. Red books are the workers’ weapons in this battle of ideas. While May Day upholds the rights of workers, Red Books Day upholds the battle of ideas in the workers’ struggles. That is how February 21 becomes one of the most active dates in the international calendar of progressives and socialists.
Red Books Day celebrates not only the Communist Manifesto, but all the red books that contribute to the struggle for human liberation. The day is not only for those who read such books, but also for the importance of the publishing houses that publish red books. It is not about those who print books as commodities. It is about left-wing, independent publishers who approach book publishing to build a collective life. Their books are not necessarily found in the advertising market and in airport bookstores. That is not their goal. But their books are fuelling the protests in the streets. Such publishers deserve the support and attention of society.
The latest dossier from the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research was published last week under the title ‘The Joy of Reading’. The dossier explains the importance that the revolutions in Mexico, China and Russia gave to reading in their plans to democratize culture. It also explains the library movement in Kerala. Reading should not remain isolated or a sign of elite status, it has a social function to perform. Red Books Day celebrates the joy of reading.
Although it started only in 2020, Red Books Day has been adopted all over the world in the space of half a decade. Growing from books, it has evolved into a day of music, paintings, dance, street theatre and films. More than half a million people joined Red Books Day last year.
Capitalism is trying to bring all parts of human life under its control. It keeps devising strategies to turn anything valuable into a commodity. Yet, there is one thing it cannot conquer. The will of humans to build a new world. Red Books Day is also a global proclamation of that willpower.
Nitheesh Narayanan is Vice-President of SFI. Nitheesh is also a researcher at the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research.