Sharma : You have talked of your reading in jail and last book you mentioned was Russell's what I believe.
Chavan : I just remember some of the books. I may have a list of those books which I read at that time. I had taken copious notes from some of the books. I read some Hindi and Marathi books, and lots of books on Gandhiji also. But I tried more to understand the general outline of socialism and basic ideas for which marx stood. I can't claim that I know even Marxism fully. I found that there was immense literature and it was very difficult to understand in two months time. One has to read it. Continuously, which I discontinued.
But I did read different subjects. I read poetry and literature. Like Acharya Bhagwat. Mahajani, who was also a Sanskrjt scholar, read to us Kalidas's dramas. So it was opening of a new visita of knowledge, how wide and how broadened one would (be). This was the urge in those days, in an impressionable age which laid the foundation of what I could do, what I could think later on.
Sharma : What were the books on socialism which you read?
Chavan : I remember one book on Socialism by G.D.H. Cole – I forget the name. It was related to scientific socialism. Then we read books on Marxism explaining Marx in details.
Sharma : How did you interest in Socialism start?
Chavan : All these books, which I read, were against repression, against social and economic inequality. It responded to my urges. The class to which I belonged was a class of poor peasants. And I thought, struggle for liberation, if it was to succeed, must mean something positive for the exploited classes. Merely change of government was not enough. That was not my Swaraj. Swaraj must have some positive social and economic content. That's what socialism had in it.
