Communism in India
In its early years, communist ideology was harshly suppressed through legal prohibitions and criminal prosecutions.
Following the October Revolution, Bipin Chandra Pal and Bal Gangadhar Tilak were amongst the prominent Indians who expressed their admiration of Lenin and the new rulers in Russia.
The Russian Revolution also affected émigré Indian revolutionaries, such as the Ghadar Party in North America.
[6] The 1924 second congress of the Communist International insisted that a united front should be formed between the proletariat, peasantry and national bourgeoisie in colonised countries.
Among the twenty-one conditions drafted by Lenin ahead of the congress was the 11th thesis, which stipulated that all communist parties must support the bourgeois-democratic liberation movements in the colonies.
Some of the delegates opposed the idea of alliance with the bourgeoisie, and preferred support to communist movements of these countries instead.
The British colonial authorities had banned all communist activity, which made the task of building a united party very difficult.
Roy, Muzaffar Ahmed, Nalini Gupta, Shaukat Usmani, Singaravelu Chettiar, Ghulam Hussain and R.C.
The CPI(M) was formed at the Seventh Congress of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) held in Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) from 31 October to 7 November 1964.
In the merger a provisional central committee was constituted, with the erstwhile People's War Group leader Muppala Lakshmana Rao, alias "Ganapathi", as general secretary.
[23]: 101–102 CPI (Maoist) is designated as a terrorist organisation in India under Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
[24][25][26] As of 2022[update] the Left Democratic Front led by CPI(M) heads the state government in Kerala.
The 34 years of Left Front rule in West Bengal is the longest-serving democratically elected communist-led government in the world.
The Left Front (composed of CPIM, CPI, RSP and AIFB) is the main opposition in Tripura Legislative Assembly.
[38] After 2018 Panchayat polls, BJP became the main opposition in the state, pushing the Left Front in the third position.
In 2021, the Left Front suffered a huge setback as the alliance drew blank seats for the first time in Legislative Assembly election.
[41] The communist parties in Bihar had historically held a large presence in the state that was reduced following the Mandal Commission in 1979.
In 2006 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election, CPI and CPIM fought in alliance with DMK and won 6 and 9 seats respectively.
[52] In 2008 Rajasthan Legislative Assembly election, CPIM secured 3 seats from Anupgarh, Dhod and Danta Ramgarh.
The presence of left parties in Himachal Pradesh is mainly based on the activities of their students wings.
In 2022 Munugode by-election, Left parties supported the candidate fielded by Bharat Rashtra Samithi.
Parties like CPIM, CPI, AIFB, RSP, BSP, AIADMK, MDMK, BJD, JD(S), HJC, TDP were the members of this front.
The Maoist parties has been designated as a terrorist organisation in India under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act since 2009.
The naxalites affected areas are called the Red corridor, which has been steadily declining in terms of geographical coverage and number of violent incidents, and in 2021 it was claimed to be confined to the 25 "most affected" locations (accounting for 85% of LWE violence) and 70 "total affected" districts (down from 180 in 2009)[79] across 10 states in two coal-rich, remote, forested hilly clusters in and around the Dandakaranya-Chhattisgarh-Odisha region and the tri-junction area of Jharkhand-Bihar and-West Bengal.
[77] However, some parts of the Red Corridor have also seen growth of Maoist insurgency in recent times, such as in the Kanha Tiger Reserve.
[80] The Naxalites have frequently targeted tribal, police and government workers in what they say is a fight for improved land rights and more jobs for neglected agricultural labourers and the poor.
It has been argued that the stunted growth of communism in India is caused by the inability of the Indian masses to relate with Communist jargons (derived from Western European society).
Indian communists have also been accused of indulging in Muslim appeasement by Hindu right-wing groups, due to their perceived soft corner for Muslims, stemming from the Soviet Union's pro-Palestinian stance on the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, despite the fact that majority of Indian communists come from a Hindu background.
[82] Similarly Communist historigraphy of India is accused of whitewashing persecution of Hindus by Islamic polities.
[83] The unbroken 24-year long reign of Jyoti Basu, the premier communist leader in India's electoral field, as the Chief Minister of West Bengal was characterised by massive deindustrialisation (caused by government support to militant activism of Communist labour unions) & creation of a party-society (by asserting dominance of party ideologues in appointing pro-Communist people in all spheres of public life, most notably in fields of bureaucracy & education over competent non-Communist people) in a manner similar to Communist states, which led to brain-drain.
