The Progressive Writers' Association or the Progressive Writers' Movement of India or ''Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind'' () or ''Akhil Bhartiya Pragatishil Lekhak Sangh'' (

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

: अखिल भारतीय प्रगतिशील लेखक संघ) was a progressive literary movement in pre-partition

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. Some branches of this writers' group existed around the world besides in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

and

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

Historical facts about the Progressive Writers Association listed on The Open University (UK) website
Retrieved 9 May 2018 These groups were

anti-imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is opposition to imperialism or neocolonialism. Anti-imperialist sentiment typically manifests as a political principle in independence struggles against intervention or influenc ...

ic and left-oriented, and sought to inspire people through their writings advocating equality among all humans and attacking social injustice and backwardness in the society.History of Progressive Writers' Movement on The Indian Express newspaper
Published 26 April 2014, Retrieved 9 May 2018 According to the ''

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the diffuse sky radiation, appearance of indirect sunlight being Rayleigh scattering, scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc ha ...

'' newspaper, the "Progressive Writers Movement in

Urdu literature Urdu literature (, ) comprises the literary works, written in the Urdu language. While it tends to be dominated by poetry, especially the verse forms of the ''ghazal'' () and '' nazm'' (), it has expanded into other styles of writing, includin ...

was the strongest movement after Sir Syed's education movement. The progressives contributed to Urdu literature some of the finest pieces of fiction and poetry. Undoubtedly, they were the trend-setters for the coming generation of writers."The last of the Mohicans (Progressive writers)

newspaper, Published 1 October 2004, Retrieved 9 May 2018

Organizations

* The Indian Progressive Writers' Association was set up in London in 1935. * The Progressive Writers' Association was set up in

Kolkata Kolkata, also known as Calcutta ( its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary ...

in July 1936. * The ''All India Writers' Association'' was set up in

Lucknow Lucknow () is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the largest city of the List of state and union territory capitals in India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is the administrative headquarters of the epon ...

on 9 April 1936 under the leadership of Syed Sajjad Zahir and Ahmed Ali at the Rifa-e-Aam Club in

. 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 Chaudhry Faiz Ahmad Faiz (13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984) was a Pakistani poet and author of Punjabi language, Punjabi and Urdu literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated, popular, and influential Urdu writers of his time, and his ...

Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi () born Ahmad Shah Awan () (20 November 1916 – 10 July 2006) was an Urdu language Pakistani poet, journalist, literary critic, dramatist and short story author. He wrote 50 books on poetry, fiction, criticism, journal ...

Saadat Hasan Manto Saadat Hasan Manto (; Punjabi, , , ; 11 May 1912 – 18 January 1955) was a Pakistani writer, playwright and author who was active in British India and later, after the 1947 partition of India, in Pakistan. Writing mainly in Urdu, he produc ...

and

Ismat Chughtai Ismat Chughtai (21 August 1911 – 24 October 1991) was an Indian Urdu novelist, short story writer, liberal humanist and filmmaker. Beginning in the 1930s, she wrote extensively on themes including female sexuality and femininity, middle-cla ...

joined the Association. * The ''All Pakistan Progressive Writers' Association'' was set up in Pakistan in December 1947 after the

Independence of Pakistan The Pakistan Movement was a religiopolitical and social movement that emerged in the early 20th century as part of a campaign that advocated the creation of an Islamic state in parts of what was then British Raj. It was rooted in the two-nation th ...

in 1947.

History

Origin

The origin of the Progressive Writers' Movement can be traced to the publication of '' Angarey'' (Embers or Burning Coals), 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. On 5 April 1933, Mahmud-uz-Zafar published a statement titled ''In Defence of Angare: Shall We Submit to Gagging?'' in '' The Leader'':

The authors of this book do not wish to make any apology for it. They leave it to float or sink of itself. They are not afraid of the consequences of having launched it. They only wish to defend 'the right of launching it and all other vessels like it' ... they stand for the right of free criticism and free expression in all matters of the highest importance to the human race in general and the Indian people in particular... Whatever happen to the book or to the authors, we hope that others will not be discouraged. Our practical proposal is the formation immediately of a League of Progressive Authors, which should bring forth similar collections from time to time both in English and the various vernaculars of our country. We appeal to all those who are interested in this idea to get in touch with us.

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'.Writer 'Ahmed Ali' on Encyclopædia Britannica
Retrieved 9 May 2018

Indian Progressive Writers' Association, London

After the publication of ''Angarey'' and the furor that followed, Zaheer was sent to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

by his father in March 1933 to study law. In London he came in contact with the members of the Indian student community including Muhammad Din Taseer,

Mulk Raj Anand Mulk Raj Anand (12 December 1905 – 28 September 2004) was an Indian writer in the English language, recognised for his depiction of the lives of the poorer class in the traditional Indian society. One of the pioneers of Indo-Anglian fiction, ...

, Jyotirmoy Ghosh, Pramod Ranjan Sengupta and formed a literary circle of friends. The group also included progressive women like Hajra Begum. He also came into the contact of Communist revolutionary Ralph Winston Fox who encouraged him and Anand to form the Indian Progressive Writers’ Association in London. The association, composed mostly of Indian university students from Oxford, Cambridge and London, met for the first time on 24 November 1934 in a back room at the Nanking Restaurant, a Chinese restaurant in

Denmark Street Denmark Street is a street on the edge of London's West End running from Charing Cross Road to St Giles High Street. It is near St Giles in the Fields Church and Tottenham Court Road station. The street was developed in the late 17th centu ...

. Anand was elected as the president while Sengupta acted as the secretary of the association. In 1935, he and Mulk Raj Anand went to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to attend the International Congress for Defense of Culture organised by

André Gide André Paul Guillaume Gide (; 22 November 1869 – 19 February 1951) was a French writer and author whose writings spanned a wide variety of styles and topics. He was awarded the 1947 Nobel Prize in Literature. Gide's career ranged from his begi ...

Henri Barbusse Henri Barbusse (; 17 May 1873 – 30 August 1935) was a French novelist, short story writer, journalist, poet and political activist. He began his literary career in the 1890s as a Symbolist poet and continued as a neo-Naturalist novelist; i ...

and

André Malraux Georges André Malraux ( ; ; 3 November 1901 – 23 November 1976) was a French novelist, art theorist, and minister of cultural affairs. Malraux's novel ''La Condition Humaine'' (''Man's Fate'') (1933) won the Prix Goncourt. He was appointed ...

. Influenced by the conference the group decided to solidify the association and draft a manifesto to formulate the aims and objectives of the association. The ''Manifesto'' of the Progressive Writers’ Association was finally drafted in 1935 in London by Zaheer, Taseer, Anand, Sengupta, and Jyoti Ghosh. Zaheer sent the approved version of the manifesto to writers and friends in India, including K.M. Ashraf, Abdul Alim, Mahmud-uz-Zafar, Rashid Jahan, Hiren Mukherjee and

Premchand Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known as Munshi Premchand based on his pen name Premchand (), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani language, Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer ...

. Premchand translated the manifesto into Hindi and published it in the October edition of '' Hans'' in 1934 while the English version of the manifesto was published in the February 1936 issue of the ''

Left Review ''Left Review'' was a journal set up by the British section of the Comintern-sponsored International Union of Revolutionary Writers (previously known as the International Bureau for Revolutionary Literature; also known as the Writers' Internationa ...

''. The manifesto was widely circulated among Indian students with literary interests and the group began to meet once or twice a month to read and critique each other’s works.

First all-India Progressive Writers' Conference

In the summer of 1935 Zaheer returned to India and started working on setting up the All India Progressive Writers’ Associated in India. In order to garner support for the association he along with Ahmed Ali travelled to various cities in India and met with several writers including

Firaq Gorakhpuri Raghupati Sahay (28 August 1896 – 3 March 1982), also known by his pen name Firaq Gorakhpuri, was an Indian writer, critic, and, according to one commentator, one of the most noted contemporary Urdu poets from India. He established himself ...

, Ehtesham Husain, Shivdan Singh Chauhan, Narendra Sharma,

Amarnath Jha Amaranath Jha (25 February 1897 – 2 September 1955) was the Vice Chancellor (VC) of the University of Allahabad and the Banaras Hindu University. He was the son of Mahamahopadhyay Dr. Sir Ganganath Jha, a great scholar of Sanskrit Amaranat ...

, and Tara Chand. They also attended the conference of Hindi and Urdu writers in

Allahabad Prayagraj (, ; ISO 15919, ISO: ), formerly and colloquially known as Allahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi, Varanasi (Benar ...

in December 1935, organized by Tara Chand under the aegis of the Hindustani Academy and met Premchand,

Maulvi Abdul Haq Maulvi Abdul Haq () (20 April 1870 – 16 August 1961) was a scholar and a linguist of the Urdu language, who some call ''Baba-e-Urdu'' (, ''Father of Urdu''). The main credit for the development and promotion of Urdu language in 20th centu ...

Josh Malihabadi Josh Malihabadi (born Shabbir Hasan Khan; 5 December 1898 – 22 February 1982) popularly known as Shayar-e-Inqalab (poet of revolution) was Indian born Pakistani Urdu poet. Known for his liberal values and challenging the established o ...

, Munshi Daya Narayan Nigam. In January 1936, Zaheer travelled to

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

to meet Rashid Jahan and Mahmuduzzafar where he also met Faiz Ahmed Faiz for the first time. The four of them travelled to

Lahore Lahore ( ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, Pakistani province of Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, second-largest city in Pakistan, after Karachi, and ...

to stay with Mian Iftikharuddin where they met various writers from Lahore including Sufi Ghulam Mustafa Tabassum, Akhtar Sheerani, Abdul Majeed Salik, Chiragh Hasan Hasrat, Mian Bashir, and Firoz Din Mansoor, garnering support for setting up a branch in Lahore. Sufi Tabassum was appointed its secretary. After the establishment of branches in various cities, it was decided to hold an All-India conference on the sidelines of the annual session of the

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

which was to meet in

. The first All-India Progressive Writers' Conference was held in Lucknow on 10 April 1936 under the leadership of Sajjad Zaheer. Premchand was requested to preside over the conference. The conference was held at the Rifah-e-Aam Hall, with Ale Ahmad Suroor as the convenor and Chaudhry Mohammed Ali Rudaulvi as chairman of the Reception Committee. While Premchand delivered his presidential address titled ''Sahitya ka Udeshya'' (The Aim of Literature), papers were presented by Firaq Gorakhpuri, Mahmudazzafar, Ahmed Ali, and Surendra Nath Goswami. Other writers present were Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Mian Iftikharuddin, Yusuf Meherally, Indulal Yagnik, Jainendra Kumar, and Saghar Nizami. The conference was also attended by leftist leaders including Jai Prakash Narayan,

Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay (3 April 1903 – 29 October 1988) was an Indian social reformer. She has worked for the promotion of Indian handicrafts, handlooms, and theatre in independent India to uplift the socio-economic standard of Indian women ...

, and was supported by Congress leaders like

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

and

Sarojini Naidu Sarojini Naidu (Birth name, née Chattopadhyay) (; 13 February 1879 – 2 March 1949) was an Indian political activist and poet who served as the first Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Governor of United Provinces, after Independence Day (India), Indi ...

. The first conference laid down the basic organisational structure of the movement. A national body under the name All-India Progressive Writers' Association (''Anjuman Taraqqi Pasand Musannifin-e-Hind'') was established. An All-India Committee consisting of representatives of the various regional branches, a Publication Committee and an Executive Committee was also adopted. The Constitution of the Association, which was drafted by Mahmud-uz-Zafar, Sajjad Zaheer, and Abdul Aleem was adopted by the conference. Zaheer was elected as the Secretary General of the All-India Progressive Writers Association (AIPWA). Important resolutions passed in the conference included a demand to the government for freedom of speech. Zaheer had traced the account of its formation in his book ''Roshnai''. In 1936, Sohail Azimabadi set up a branch of the PWA in

Patna Patna (; , ISO 15919, ISO: ''Paṭanā''), historically known as Pataliputra, Pāṭaliputra, is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India. According to the United Nations, ...

while

Hasrat Mohani Syed Fazl-ul-Hasan (1 January 1875 – 13 May 1951), known by his Takhallus, pen-name Hasrat Mohani, was an List of Indian independence activists, Indian independence activist and a poet in Urdu. .Together with Swami Kumaranand, he is regarded ...

set up a similar branch in

Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...

. Shyam Kumari Nehru organised a major conference of the Hindi and Urdu writers in 1937 in Allahabad which was attended by writers such as Maulvi Abdul Haq, Acharya Narendra Dev, Pandit Ram Naresh Tripathi, Shivdan Singh Chauhan, Narendra Sharma, Ramesh Chandra Sinha and Om Prakash Singhal among others.

Bishambhar Nath Pande Bishambhar Nath Pande (23 December 1906 – 1 June 1998) was a freedom fighter, social worker, and parliamentarian in India. Pande devoted his life to the cause of national integration, and to the spread of the Gandhian way of life. Life ...

the then secretary of the Allahabad branch of the PWA organised another similar conference in 1938 in Allahabad. By the summer of 1938, when Anand returned to India after attending the international writers’ conference held in Madrid and Barcelona, the association had already become an influential organisation with various regional and linguistic branches.

Second all-India Progressive Writers' Conference

The second conference of the association was held in

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

in 1938. The inaugural address of the conference was sent by

Rabindranath Tagore Rabindranath Thakur (; anglicised as Rabindranath Tagore ; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengalis, Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer, and painter of the Bengal Renai ...

who could not attend it due to ill health. Abdul Aleem was elected as the new General Secretary succeeding Zaheer and a newly amended constitution was adopted in the conference. The PWA also launched a monthly bulletin and a quarterly English journal called ''New Indian Writing''.

Third all-India Progressive Writers' Conference

The third conference was organised at the Hardinge Library in

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

in 1942.

Krishan Chander Krishan Chander (23 November 1914 – 8 March 1977) was an Indian Urdu and Hindi writer of short stories and novels. Some of his works have also been translated into English. He was a prolific writer, penning over 20 novels, 30 collections ...

, who was then working for the Delhi Radio Station, was the convener of the conference.

Fourth all-India Progressive Writers' Conference

The fourth all-India conference was held in

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

from 22 May to 25 May 1943 at the Marwari Vidyalaya Hall. A revised version of the Manifesto was adopted at this conference. Zaheer was elected as the General Secretary of the association with

Bishnu Dey Bishnu Dey (July 18, 1909 – December 3, 1982) was a leading Bengali poet, writer, essayist, academician, art appreciator, and connoisseur in the era of modernism and post-modernism. Modern Bengali poetry originated between the two World W ...

and K. A. Abbas as joint secretaries and Mama Varerkar as the treasurer. The central office of the association was also moved from Lucknow to Bombay. 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. Rabindranath Tagore, Maulvi

Abdul Haq ʻAbd al-Ḥaqq (ALA-LC romanization of ) is an Arabic male given name, and in modern usage, surname. It is built from the Arabic words ''Abd (Arabic), ʻabd'' and ''al-Ḥaqq'', one of the names of God in the Qur'an, which give rise to the List of ...

, Chiragh Hasan Hasrat, Abdul Majeed Salik, Maulana

, Professor Ahmed Ali, Dr Akhtar Hussain Raipuri,

Faiz Ahmed Faiz Chaudhry Faiz Ahmad Faiz (13 February 1911 – 20 November 1984) was a Pakistani poet and author of Punjabi and Urdu literature. Faiz was one of the most celebrated, popular, and influential Urdu writers of his time, and his works and ideas r ...

, Professor

Majnun Gorakhpuri Ahmad Siddiq, better known by his pen name Majnun Gorakhpuri (Urdu:احمد صدیق مجنوں گورکھپوری), (10 May 1904 – 4 June 1988) was an Urdu short story ( Afsana) writer, poet and literary critic. Life Ahmad Siddiq, kn ...

, Rashid Jahan, Sahibzada Mahmood uz Zafar, Professor Manzoor Hussain and Abdul Aleem were some of the stalwarts whose active or lukewarm support was with the Anjuman Taraqqi Pasand Musannifin. The words "progress and progressive" have a history of their own. In 19th century England, the word "progressive" was the battle cry of all those who wanted a better deal for the underprivileged and wanted science and technology to spearhead the movement for social development. The 'movement for progress' touched all spheres of human development. It stood for liberation and democracy. It was a movement for the freedom-loving writers who were opposed to the status quo in the feudal-dominated Indian society. They thought that unless the Indian society was transformed and the common masses were in the driving seat, nothing could change. Writers like

Ismat Chugtai Ismat Chughtai (21 August 1911 – 24 October 1991) was an Indian Urdu novelist, short story writer, liberal humanist and filmmaker. Beginning in the 1930s, she wrote extensively on themes including female sexuality and femininity, middle-clas ...

Ali Sardar Jafri Ali Sardar Jafri (29 November 1913 – 1 August 2000) was an Indian writer of Urdu language. He was also a poet, critic and film lyricist. Biography Early life and education Ali Sardar Jafri was born in Balrampur (in present-day Uttar Prad ...

, Sibte Hassan, Ehtesham Hussain, Mumtaz Hussain,

Sahir Ludhianvi Abdul Hayee (8 March 1921 – 25 October 1980), popularly known by his pen name (takhallus) Sahir Ludhianvi, was an Indian poet who wrote primarily in Urdu in addition to Hindi. He is regarded as one of the greatest film lyricists and poet ...

Kaifi Azmi Kaifi Azmi (born Athar Husain Rizvi; 14 January 1919 – 10 May 2002) was an Indian Urdu poet. He is remembered as the one who brought Urdu literature to Indian motion pictures. Together with Pirzada Qasim, Jaun Elia and others he participa ...

, Ali Abbas Hussaini, Makhdoom Mohiuddin, Farigh Bukhari, Khatir Ghaznavi, Raza Hamdani, M. Ibrahim Joyo, Sobho Gianchandani, Shaikh Ayaz,

Rajinder Singh Bedi Rajinder Singh Bedi (1 September 1915 – 11 November 1984) was an Indian Urdu writer of the progressive writers' movement and a playwright, who later worked in Hindi cinema as a film director, screenwriter and dialogue writer and he is grandfa ...

Amrita Pritam Amrita Pritam (; 31 August 1919 – 31 October 2005) was an Indian novelist, essayist and poet, who wrote in Punjabi and Hindi. A prominent figure in Punjabi literature, she is the recipient of the 1956 Sahitya Akademi Award. Her body o ...

, Ali Sikandar, Zoe Ansari, Majaz Lucknawi made it the strongest literary movement.

Pre-independence period

Leading Progressive Writers of Urdu such as Majaz, Kaifi Azmi, Josh Malihabadi, Makhdoom and others strongly campaigned for Pakistan through their works viz. poem by Majaz, ''Pakistan ka Trana''; poem by Kaifi titled ''Ab Agli Id Ek Azad Pakistan Main Hogi'' and Josh Malihabadi’s epic poem projecting Mother India addressing Congress, League and the Communist Party.

Post-independence period

India

After the independence of India in 1947, the movement lost its momentum in India. It further declined in growth after the split of the Communist Party in 1964. In 1975, the Association was renamed as the ''National Federation of Progressive Writers''. Since then, the Federation has had four Conferences, at Gaya (1975), Jabalpur (1980), Jaipur (1982) and the Golden Jubilee Conference in Lucknow (1986). The Golden Jubilee Conference was inaugurated by Mulk Raj Anand. Sibte Hasan also attended the conference. Despite the absence of an institutional movement, the progressive movement remained vibrant in India, especially in Urdu poetry. Poets like Jan Nisar Akhtar, Ali Sardar Jafri, Kaifi Azmi, Sahir Ludhianvi and Makhdoom Mohiuddin wrote stirring poems celebrating the working class, condemning religious sectarianism and celebrating international figures such as Martin Luther King Jr., Patrice Lumumba, Jawaharlal Nehru (in the context of his international efforts) and Mao Zedong.

Pakistan

The ''All Pakistan Progressive Writers' Association'' was set up formally in December 1949 although several branches of the Progressive Writers Movement already existed in cities like Lahore and Karachi. The ''Progressive Papers Limited'', a company established by Mian Iftikharuddin served as the institutional platform of the association. The company published journals and newspapers like ''

Pakistan Times ''The Pakistan Times'' (1947–1996) was a Pakistani newspaper, established by Mian Itikharuddin and Faiz Ahmed Faiz through the leftist Progressive Papers Limited. Its headquarters was in Lahore, Pakistan. Later, it started another edition fr ...

'', '' Daily Imroze'' and ''Lail-o-Nihar'' which were edited by Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi and Sibte Hasan respectively. The partition of the sub-continent also portioned the movement and with the sway of the

McCarthyism McCarthyism is a political practice defined by the political repression and persecution of left-wing individuals and a Fear mongering, campaign spreading fear of communist and Soviet influence on American institutions and of Soviet espionage i ...

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

in 2012 to elect another team of office-bearers with a mandate to get its new constitution passed by 4 March 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. In their

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

meeting in 2007, some of Pakistan's progressive writers planned to reactivate the Progressive Writers Association as a body again after a lapse of 53 years, and elected the veteran Hameed Akhtar as the secretary-general of the association.Progressive Writers Association meeting in 2007 plans to reactivate body
Pakistan Press Foundation website, Published 3 May 2007, Retrieved 9 May 2018

Writers

Prominent members of the movement have included: *

Mirza Adeeb Mirza Adeeb:مرزا ادیب, (—; 4 April 1914 – 31 July 1999), also known as Meerza Adeeb, (—), was a Pakistani dramatist, playwright and short story writer who wrote in Urdu and Punjabi languages. His plays and short stories won him ...

* Hameed Akhtar *

Jan Nisar Akhtar Jan Nisar Akhtar (18 February 1914 – 19 August 1976) was an Indian poet of Urdu ghazals and nazms, and a part of the Progressive Writers' Movement, who was also a lyricist for Bollywood. He was the son of Muztar Khairabadi and great gr ...

* Ahmed Ali * Sulaiman Areeb * Idris Azad *

* Farigh Bukhari *

* Vijaydan Detha *

* Ahmed Faraz * Himayat Ali Shair * Khatir Ghaznavi *

* Sibt-e-Hassan *

Habib Jalib Habib Jalib (; 24 March 1928 – 13 March 1993) was a Pakistani revolutionary poet and left-wing political activist who opposed martial law, authoritarianism, military dictatorship and state oppression. He wrote several poems in Punjabi and ...

* Rashid Jahan * Majaz Lucknawi *

Zafar Mairaj Zafar Mairaj (Urdu, Balochi language, Balochi, Brahui language, Brahui: ; born 11 October 1968) is a Pakistani drama writer, lyricist and short story writer. He primarily writes in Urdu but has also written in Brahui language, Brahui and Baloch ...

* Sadat Hassan Manto * Makhdoom Mohiuddin * Gul Khan Nasir *

Somen Chanda Somen Chanda (; 24 May 1920 – 8 March 1942) was a Marxist activist, writer and trade union leader of Bengal. Early life Somen Chanda was born in Narsingdi District, British India in 1920. In 1936 he passed Entrance examination from Pogose Sc ...

Prem Nath Premnath Malhotra, better known as Prem Nath (21 November 1926 – 3 November 1992) was an Indian actor and director, who was best known for his works in Hindi films. Nath made his debut with the film ''Ajit'' (1948), and went on to appear in ...

Munshi Premchand Dhanpat Rai Srivastava (31 July 1880 – 8 October 1936), better known as Munshi Premchand based on his pen name Premchand (), was an Indian writer famous for his modern Hindustani literature. Premchand was a pioneer of Hindi and Urdu s ...

Ahmed Nadeem Qasmi Ahmad Nadeem Qasmi () born Ahmad Shah Awan () (20 November 1916 – 10 July 2006) was an Urdu language Pakistani poet, journalist, literary critic, dramatist and short story author. He wrote 50 books on poetry, fiction, criticism, journal ...

Saadat Saeed Saadat Saeed is a professor of Urdu language and literature at Government College University, Lahore and contemporary critic and poet of Urdu language. Early life Saadat Saeed was born at Lahore on 15 March 1949 as Saadat Hassan. His father A. ...

Bhisham Sahni Bhisham Sahni (8 August 1915 – 11 July 2003) was an Indian writer, playwright in Hindi and an actor, most famous for his novel ''Tamas'' ("Darkness"/'Ignorance") and the television screenplay adaptation of the same name, a powerful and passio ...

* Muhammad Ali Siddiqui * Salma Siddiqui *

Majrooh Sultanpuri Asrar ul Hassan Khan (1 October 1919 − 24 May 2000), better known as Majrooh Sultanpuri, was an Indian Urdu poet and lyricist in the Hindi language film industry. He wrote lyrics for numerous Hindi film soundtracks. He was one of the dom ...

* Gulam Rabbani Taban * Habib Tanvir * M. D. Taseer * Khagendra Thakur *

Sajjad Zaheer Syed Sajjad Zaheer () (5 November 1905 – 13 September 1973) was a Pakistani-Indian Urdu political writer. He was a Marxist ideologue and a radical revolutionary who worked in both India and Pakistan. In the pre-independence era, he was a me ...

Ali Jawad Zaidi Syed Ali Jawad Zaidi (10 March 1916 – 6 December 2004) was an Indian Urdu poet, scholar, and author of over 80 books in several languages. He was also an Indian independence activist, lawyer and later a civil servant, but is best known for ...

References

Cited sources

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External links

Progressive Writers Association Pakistan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Progressive Writers' Movement Indian independence movement Indian literature Pakistani literature Progressivism Progressivism in Pakistan Communism in India Literary movements Urdu-language literature Communism in Pakistan Social movements in Pakistan Social movements in India 20th-century Indian literature Indian literary movements Organizations established in 1936 Urdu-language literary movements Communist Party of India mass organisations