ABSTRACT
The Indian National Congress emerged as the dominant political strand within the freedom struggle during the inter-war years. It developed into a political party representing all Indians irrespective of class, caste, religion, region or linguistic differences as it projected the ideology of a nationalism that pitted all Indians against the foreign power of the British. The abandonment of the Civil Disobedience Movement created an impasse in the mainstream nationalist movement. There had been the revival of communal bodies and widespread Hindu-Muslim riots since the collapse of the Congress-Khilafat alliance and the Muslim League had started meeting separately from the Congress. The more conservative elements of Congress Socialists, such as Masani, did not embrace the ethos of united front work with Communists. His suspicions were based on the belief that the Communists would adhere to Soviet interests as opposed to Indian ones. The greatest test of a progressive alliance in the nationalist movement came with the Second World War.
