Role and influence of socialism in Pakistan
 
The influences of socialism and socialist movements in Pakistan have taken many different forms as a counterpart to political conservatism, from the groups like The Struggle, Lal Salam which is the Pakistani section of the International Marxist Tendency, to the Stalinist group like Communist Party through to the reformist electoral project enshrined in the birth of the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).
While capitalism has always held its sway, the prevalence of the socialist ideology has nevertheless continued to be found in a number of instances in Pakistan's political past and prominent personalities. Much of the remaining socialism in Pakistan today accedes to the idea of Islamic left (socialism and communism), where the state would be run in a socialist set-up consistent with Islamic political principles, while other proponents demand pure socialism.
History.
Political background.
The socialist movements in British Indian Empire began with the Russian Revolution, and the subsequent Soviet people's immigration to North-Western areas into territory (now Pakistan) held by British Empire, in 1922-27. The British authorities were terrified after revealing the attempted series of revolts against the British Empire, known as Peshawar Conspiracy Cases.
1947–50s: early Marxism.
Independence and class struggle.
Immediately after the establishment of Pakistan on 14 August 1947 which was achieved by a political party, Muslim League led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the struggle for left-wing orientation began as a failure of the military campaign with the Republic of India. After Jinnah's death in 1948, the clash ideologies and political disagreements began when Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan consolidated his position more densely. The Pakistan Socialist Party (PSP) was the only socialist party of its time, and was active in both East Pakistan and West Pakistan. The Socialist Party was generally a secular party which had first opposed the idea of the partition of India. The Socialist Party found it difficult to compete with the conservatives and other right-wing groups. The PML was led by Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, who wanted to adopt what was called Islamic socialism. Another leftist group was the Socialist Party. The Pakistan Socialist Party was politically isolated with little mass. This was despite its strong appeal in rural areas. It had around 1200 members and was a member of the Asian Socialist Conference. The Socialist Party's liberal programs were met with harsh opposition which the conservatives labeled as "Kafirs". Dismayed with the results of the war, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan survived a coup conspiracy hatched by the left-wing personalitie, including the armed forces personnel. In response to the activist left-wing sphere, Prime Minister Ali Khan succeeded in authoring and drafting the Objectives Resolution, in 1950. The house passed it on 12 March 1949, but met with harsh critic even from his Law Minister Jogendra Nath Mandal who argued against it.
In contrast, the Communist Party was more active, populist, and had support from the rural class due to its tough position taken on economic and social issues. The Communist Party quickly grasped its popularity as it espoused the causes of Pakistan's farmers and labourers against the nexus of "zamindars", princely class, and landed gentry. During the 1954 general elections, the Communist Party swiftly gained the exclusive mandate in East Pakistan and representation in West Pakistan; earlier in 1950, the Communist Party played a major role in labour strikes for the support of the language movement. The Communist Party, with support from the Awami League, formed a democratic government in East Pakistan. The class struggle reached its limit when members of PML and the Communist Party scuffled violently with East-Pakistani police in 1958. The government responded by dismissing the government of the Communist Party in East Pakistan and arresting ~1,000 members of the Communist Party in West Pakistan, eventually banning the Communist Party there as well.
Uncomfortable with the workings of the democratic system, unruliness in the East Pakistan parliamentary elections, and the threat of Baloch separatism in West-Pakistan, Bengali President Iskandar Ali Mirza issued a proclamation that abolished all political parties in both West and East Pakistan, abrogated the two-year-old constitution, and imposed the first martial law in the country on 7 October 1958. The Communist leader, Hassan Nasir, was repeatedly arrested by the police; he died in prison in November 1960.
1960s–70s: nation building.
Power struggle and corporate industrialization.
After martial law in 1958, President Ayub Khan abandoned the parliamentary form in favour of presidential system– a system called "Basic Democracy." The presidential regime of Ayub Khan is regarded as "Great Decade", in which his presidential programs moved the country from an agrarian economy towards rapid industrialization in the 1960s. The left in Pakistan faced further complications after the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s, and the Communist Party had its own factions; one being Pro-Beijing and other being Pro-Moscow.
Despite the positive impact of industrialization, the trade unions, working class, peasants, and farmers were socially and economically subdued by the powerful industrial oligarch society who had strong ties with President Ayub Khan. In fact, industrial groups completely neglected the work conditions and failed to provide a healthy environment to the workers in the industries. According to the Chief Economist of the Planning Commission, Dr. Mahbub-ul-Haq, by 1968 "22 industrial family groups had come to dominate the economic and financial life-cycle of Pakistan and that they controlled about two-thirds of industrial assets, 80% of banking and 79% of insurance assets in the industrial domain." Further, President Khan's peaceful compromise with India in 1965 to end the Indo-Pakistani War created large scale disapproval from civil society. The treaty also sparked the resignation of Foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a staunch socialist and nationalist. In early months of 1968, Ayub Khan celebrated what he called a 'Decade of Development', sparking further agitations. That same November, a group of Rawalpindi students were heading back from Landi Kotal, when they were stopped at a Customs checkpoints near Attock, and badly roughed up by the police guards of the Customs officials. On returning to Rawalpindi, they staged a protest against the mishandling of police, which police attempted to quell through firing into the crowds, and killing a student. The resultant furore, which began as a student movement, was joined by working-class support, and transformed into the 1968 movement in Pakistan which brought socialism on agenda. 
After a successful socialist conference in Lahore, Punjab, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) was founded by the attending socialists, communists, and left-wing philosophers of the country. The PPP's manifesto called, titled "Islam is our Religion; Democracy is our Politics; Socialism is our Economy; Power Lies with the People", was written by Bengali communist J. A. Rahim, and first issued on 9 December 1967. The manifesto identified the party's ultimate goal, main objective and "raison d'etre" as being the achievement of an egalitarian and "classless society", which was believed to be attainable only through socialism. It called for "true equality of citizen's fraternity under the rule of democracy", within "an order of social and economic justice. Unlike the Socialist Party, the Peoples Party quickly gained popularity all over the country with its slogan, "Land to the Landless", as the party promised not only to abolish the foundational feudalism that had plagued the country, but also to redistribute lands amongst the landless and the peasants. The working class and labour movement quickly flocked to the party, believing it to be a party dedicated to the destruction of capitalism in the country.
Eventually, the socialist-oriented catchphrase "Roti, Kapra aur Makan" (lit. "bread, clothes, and housing"), inspired by Communist leader, V.I Lenin's popular slogan ‘Peace, Land and Bread’ became a nationwide rallying-call for the party. By the 1970s, the Pakistan Peoples Party had become the largest and most influential leading socialist and democratic entity in the country. The party published its ideas in its newspapers, such as ""Nusrat", "Fatah", and "Mussawat"".
1970s–80s: reconstruction and restoration.
Ethical and left nationalism.
The 1968 Movement led to the end of Ayub Khan's term, but the suspension of democracy and military control continued under the new President Yahya Khan. However, General Khan allowed for the 1970 general elections to take place, which brought the Pakistan People's Party and the Awami League, in direct competition with each other. The election gave the Awami League an absolute majority entirely based in East Pakistan, while the PPP, led by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, won largely in Punjab and Sindh. However, General Yahya Khan, along with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the leader of the PPP, were against a party from East Pakistan leading the federal government. Thus, General Khan did not seat the Parliament, leading to widespread unrest in East Pakistan, and subsequent military action in East Pakistan led to a bitter war with India, concluding in the separation of East Pakistan in 1971, and the creation of Bangladesh.
After the war, General Yahya Khan was forced to resign, and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto became President in 1972. The PPP in power espoused a politics of left-wing nationalism, calling for national unity and economic prosperity as a means of recovering from the socially and economically catastrophic losses of the 1971 war. Immediately, a nationalization process was initiated by the Peoples Party following a 1972 labour unrest. The PPP's left-wing policies attacked the feudal system; massive land reforms took place, limiting the amount of land that could be owned, with remaining land divisions being allotted to a large number of poor peasants, farmers, and landless tenants. Labour rights were upgraded more than ever before; poverty experienced a sharp reduction.
Fundamental rights of the citizen, such as access to adequate health and free education, were brought under a renewed focus. Schools, colleges, and universities were nationalized. A large segment of the banking sector, industrial sector (including iron and steel mills), engineering firms, vehicle, food and chemical production industries were also nationalized. The number and strength of trade unions experienced a rise. Rural residents, urban wage earners and landless peasants were to be given ‘material support’ as people of the state. In responding to strong defence program, the PPP launched the clandestine atomic bomb project, promoting literary activism, industrial developments and scientific awareness in all over the country.
Left-wings split off and decline.
Despite PPP's populism and support, internal strife in the party would cause a schism and split the left-wing sphere. Though, the PPP had won the support from people on the issues of social justice, its economic policies, particularly that of its ad hoc attempts at nationalization, stagflated the country's economy. A number of critics, notably the conservatives and hard-line religious leaders, have however blamed Bhutto's socialist policies for slowing down Pakistan's economic progress, owing to poor productivity and high costs.
The left-wing party, ANP, was in a direct competition with the PPP despite similar ideologies. The debate over aligning with Afghanistan's communist party caused a major rift and problems with Afghanistan escalated over the Durand line. The Communist Party was also opposing the PPP over its economic programs and its influence limited to Karachi. This eventually led to left-wing parties joining the PNA alliance led by the country's right-wing conservative parties and competing against PPP in general elections in 1977.
The 1977 general elections resulted in first parliamentary victory of Peoples Party. Opposition parties claimed that the election was heavily rigged by the PPP. Tensions mounted and despite an agreement reached between the opposition and PPP, martial law was imposed in the country by Chief of Army Staff General Zia-ul-Haq in 1977. In April 1979, Bhutto was hanged in 1977 after a controversial trial, in which he was found guilty of murdering a political opponent. In 1982, his daughter Benazir Bhutto was elected as Peoples Party's chairwomanship. The Peoples Party struggled hard against General Zia-ul-Haq, who was supported by the United States.
The left-wing parties and socialism in the country met with harsh political opposition from the conservative Pakistan Muslim League and the hard-line religious bloc Clergy Coalition. The Soviet Union's intervention in Afghanistan led to a decline in the popular support of socialism in the country. The ultra-conservative President Zia-ul-Haq dealt with socialists and communists mass with harsh political oppression.
1980s–present: re-emergence from outside Pakistan.
The Struggle.
The seeds of a renewed Marxist politics was planted in 1980 in Netherlands, when a number of leftist Pakistani activists who had fled Pakistan to escape Zia's repression found themselves in Amsterdam in the cold November 1980. The country was ruled by General Zia. These leftist Pakistani activists were Farooq Tariq, Tanvir Gondal