HC Deb 29 April 1929 vol 227 cc1277-8
7. Mr. THURTLE

asked the Undersecretary of State for India, in view of the fact that membership of the Communist party or the Workers' and Peasants' Society is now sufficient to render a resident in India liable to criminal proceedings, whether there are any other organisations in India membership of which constitutes an illegal act; and, if so, the names of these organisations?

Earl WINTERTON

As I am not quite sure that the information in possession of my Noble Friend is completely up to date, I have asked the Government of India to furnish a list of any organisations which have been declared to be unlawful in India.

Mr. THURTLE

Would the Noble Lord give me the names of those organisations which the India Office know at the present time to be regarded as illegal?

Earl WINTERTON

I could not, with out refreshing my memory, mention all the organisations in the indictment at the conspiracy trial, but one of them is the League against Imperialism.

Colonel WEDGWOOD

Is the question correct in saying that membership of the Communist party or the Workers' and Peasants' Society is now illegal?

Earl WINTERTON

I have already said that I have not full information on this point, or rather, my Noble Friend has not, and, therefore, with my Noble Friend's sanction, the Government of India have been asked to furnish a list of the organisations in question.

Mr. SAKLATVALA

As the Noble Lord mentioned in his answer that these organisations are proclaimed to be illegal, will he say if they are pronounced illegal by any Act of Parliament of the Legislative Assembly in Delhi, or by an official?

Earl WINTERTON

I did not say they were proclaimed to be illegal. I said that one of the organisations mentioned in the indictment in the conspiracy trial was the League against Imperialism.

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