This funny story with illustrations was sent by Den from India, it turns out that there are communists there too, with all the accompanying attributes - red flags, portraits of Great Leaders, party meetings and demonstrations. To be honest, it somehow doesn’t fit in my head – communism and India...

Six years ago, when I first came to India and my travel route took me to the southwestern state of Kerala, I was quite surprised by the abundance of symbols of the communist era of my homeland, which, in Russia, can only be found in a museum, yes, perhaps in some remote outback. Here, in the most conceivable and inconceivable places, red flags fluttered, there were pedestals with a hammer and sickle, and portraits of the leaders of local communist organizations hung. The picture I saw aroused in me, in addition to surprise, also a little nostalgia for my childhood. From my friend and guide to India Igor, I learned that Kerala is a state where the Communist Party is in power, that this state has one hundred percent secondary education, free medicine and good social protection for all segments of society.

It so happened that after living for two months in Rishikesh, in northern India, with a short stop at the popular Indian resort of Goa, I once again came to Kerala. My Indian friend, whom I met back in the Emirates, offered me a job in a company that he is opening soon. The offer was tempting, the position was too, and I decided to conduct reconnaissance, so to speak, in force and came to the city of Trivandrum (the Grebenshchikovs’ favorite Tiravananthapuram). This time, what I saw really shocked me. This is truly Incredible India. In addition to red flags, hammers and sickles, portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao hang everywhere. As a kind of tribute to modern fashion, portraits of Che Guevara hang. My friend’s colleague named Manesh and I went for a walk along the streets of the evening city.

The central office of the Communist Party is located here. They love Russians. Shall we go in?

I'm not very interested in politics, especially in Lately, and I wasn’t particularly eager to go there, but Manesh’s persuasion, plus a little of my own curiosity, and now we were already in the said office. The interior of this establishment is made in exclusively red colors, just like May Day! I was introduced to the most important communist, a peasant of about 45, short, with a fiery proletarian look.

I honestly don’t know how to answer such questions. It just so happens that I'm from where I'm at this moment I am. But, in order not to break one of the social patterns of the party boss, I told him that I was from St. Petersburg.

Ahhh, Leningrad, very good. A good city.

Yes, I say, the city is the best.

Here, here is a poster of our Communist Party as a souvenir for you.

Thanks, but I won't take it.

Stalin is there, why do I need him? On the poster, on a red background, next to the symbols of the local Communist Party, Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin were displayed in a row. - In general, I say, I’m not an ardent opponent of communism, I see good ideas in it, but you shouldn’t have hung this guy here (pointing to Stalin). You generally have little idea who he is, and if you knew, you would never draw him on your posters.

To give weight to my words, I even said that someone in my family suffered from Stalinism, although, to be honest, I was lying. We talked with this boss for quite a long time, there were other people around. I told them that they should be proud that the history of Indian statehood knows such a great spirit as Mahatma Gandhi, and that they should follow his example. If Stalin had ruled in India, these people would certainly have lost the childlike spontaneity that the Indian people possess. Blood did not flow like a river here, at least not in new history, and the principle of ahimsa, or non-violence, is at the forefront of Indian philosophy. When the name Gandhi was mentioned, they nodded their heads slightly uncertainly, but it was obvious that the figure of Stalin inspired them more. I didn’t argue with them or somehow convince them; in this situation it would have been just a waste of time and effort. And anyway, why?

With this, I said goodbye to this boss and his associates, wishing them a peaceful sky above their heads.

As a supplement to the story of the history of the communists in the first decades of Indian independence, I include excerpts from a long article by the famous Indian historian Ramachanda Guha “After the Fall” with reflections on the results of the activities and the current situation in the leading leftist organization of India - the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Communist leaders and activists are probably more intelligent than other party leaders, and certainly much more honest. (Of course we were in last years cases of corruption of a number of CPI(M) leaders in Kerala, but the amounts involved are simply ridiculous compared to the fraudulent exploits of politicians from other parties).
Of all the leading political parties in India, only the CPI(M) leaders do not have Swiss bank accounts (some do not have Indian bank accounts either). Their views may be old-fashioned, and even strange, but their behavior makes you remember one outdated word - gentleman. As one “bourgeois” friend told me, they are the kind of people at whose home he can allow his teenage daughter to spend the night.
Communist leaders are less greedy and corrupt than others and do not tend to live luxurious lifestyles - and this is one of the most important reasons why they, despite their irrational and often antediluvian beliefs, retained power for so long in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. In these three states their strength came from working with the poorest and most downtrodden. They organized farm laborers, poor peasants, slum dwellers, workers and Partition refugees to fight for Better conditions labor and wages, land, better living conditions, etc.

Decades of patient and often selfless work with the poor ended in success at the polls. In Kerala and Tripura, the Communists alternated in power with the Congress. In West Bengal, they were in power continuously from 1977 to 2011.
(In terms of size and influence, Tripura is no match for West Bengal and Kerala. Hence, I will exclude it from further consideration, noting only that the chief ministers of the CPI(M) are Nripen Chakraborty, Dasarath Deb and the current Mannik Sarkar - in terms of his modest lifestyle and personal integrity, they are among the best representatives of Indian communists).

During its 34 years in power in West Bengal, the Left Front had 2 chief ministers - Jyota Basu and Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. I will not repeat that there was no corruption. Both of them were typical representatives of the bhadralok, that is, the middle class [ very simplified explanation, literal translation “well-mannered person”, this was the name of the elite of local society created during the colonial era in Bengal, educated according to Western standards - doctors, lawyers, professors, officials, entrepreneurs].

But the results of their activities are not impressive. Under their rule, West Bengal looked weak in all social indicators. economic development. The quality of teaching in West Bengal schools is worse than in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. In terms of per capita income, West Bengal fell from 6th place among the states of the Union in 1981 to 11th in 2008. Economists agree to classify this state as a backward state. Which contradicts the image of Bengali bhadralok-Marxists, the former of whom are proud of themselves as pioneers of the modernization of India, and the latter generally call themselves the vanguard of all humanity.
The vanity and conceit of the bhadralok has, or had, a real reason. Bengal has always been ahead of the rest of India. The first modern social reformers of India, the first modern entrepreneurs, the first world-class scientists, the first famous writers and film directors, all of them were from Bengal.
On the other hand, Marxism's claims to similar vanity and conceit are laughable. And this is not about the Berlin Wall or the barbarity of communist regimes in other countries; our skepticism is based on internal reasons. If, with all the best starting conditions, West Bengal is falling further behind the leading states of India, there is no doubt that much of the blame lies with the party that has ruled the state for the last three decades.

The Left Front, dominated by the CPI(M), came to power in West Bengal in 1977. In the first decade of his reign, he carried out Operation Barga, a program to protect the rights of sharecroppers and tenants. It was largely successful and received widespread support. But it was not accompanied by reforms in other areas. No efforts were made to improve school education; Moreover, by fighting the teaching of English in schools, the communists deprived the children of the state of a serious competitive advantage (and the consequences of this have not yet been overcome). Health care remained in the same disarray. Building rural roads and bridges was not a priority.
While Operation Barga had improved the countryside in some way, cities and industry were completely neglected. Frightened by the militancy of the proletariat, capital moved to other states of India. Anti-Western rhetoric, an integral part of communist protests, scared off foreign investors. When the middle class in the cities reacted to this by voting against the Left Front, the latter simply stupidly took revenge, pushing the improvement of urban infrastructure to the very bottom of its priorities.

One of the most unpleasant things about communists is their desire to seize and control public institutions. And the Bengali communists showed this very clearly, both in cities and in rural areas. The police came under the complete control of party-loyal cadres, and local elections were taken over by loyal panchayats (councils). The appointment of officials was completely controlled by the party.
The desire to control everything knew no bounds. History department Calcutta University, which was the best in India, has become a marginal preserve of the CPI(M). Only proven party members or sympathizers were appointed to teaching positions. Eminent scholars such as Gautam Bhadra, Lakshmi Subrahmanyam, Sudhar Bandupadhyay and Rudrangshu Mukherjee lost their chairs and were forced to move to other states. Ironically, they were all left-wing historians, but still primarily historians who valued science above blind party loyalty. And this situation was completely typical. The same thing happened in other faculties, other universities, offices and corporations all over West Bengal.

In 2006, after decades of demonizing capitalism and capitalists, the Left Front in West Bengal decided to seek the help of demons to develop its state, which was becoming dangerously lagging behind. The Indonesian Salim group was allocated 40 thousand acres to create a “special economic zone”. The main Indian industrial group, Tata, was invited to build an automobile plant. These projects in Nandigram and Singur quickly became controversial because the state took the land for them from local farmers without any negotiations, without providing adequate compensation. When peasants protested, the communist-led police cracked down on them, often brutally.
Forced acquisition of land for industrial projects is typical in other states. The Left Front government could set an example for a new model of industrialization by paying a fair market price for land, or renting it from peasants, or even providing them with vocational training so they could get jobs in new factories. Instead, both projects were carried out using exclusively authoritarian methods.

One of the remarkable successes of the CPI(M) in West Bengal is the absence of communal violence. In 1984, while Sikhs were being killed throughout northern India, Sikhs in Kolkata, where they predominate among taxi drivers, continued to live and work quietly. The shock of the Ayodhya events never crossed the state's borders. Unlike Orissa and Gujarat, missionaries worked quietly in the most remote places of the state. Sikhs, Muslims and Christians felt safe in communist-ruled West Bengal.

What about Kerala? Unlike West Bengal, this state is one of the leaders in social development. Literacy and health levels are comparable to developed countries. What is the merit of the communists in this? The short answer: it exists, but it is not as great as party propagandists and visiting travelers like to say. The famous researcher Robert Jeffrey, speaking about the “Kerala miracle,” shows that impressive progress in education, health care, caste and gender emancipation is the result of a complex interaction of several reasons, the main of which are:
1) matrimoniality of one of the two largest castes in the state, the Nairs;
2) from another of the largest castes in the state, the Ezavas, came Sri Narayana Guru (1856-1928), a great social reformer who fought against Brahmanical orthodoxy and for the comprehensive development of education. Moreover, Narayan’s activities were not limited to his caste; they played a big role for both the upper castes and Muslims.
3) the reign of the Maharaja of Travancore and his divan C.P.Iyer [ about it], who actively developed education in their principality, which formed the basis of Kerala, and sent capable people (of both sexes) to study abroad.
4) Christian organizations are very active in the state and pay a lot of attention to education, including women.

So, we can say that the success in social development of Malayalam [ titular nation of Kerala] only 20% owe to the communists. In the absence of caste reformers, missionaries, maharajas and their diwans, the social development of Kerala would most likely be at the same level as in West Bengal. At the same time, the Congress in Kerala is much more progressive and less corrupt than the national average, so active development education and health care continued under congress governments.

Where the communists' merit in Kerala is undoubted (as well as in West Bengal) is in the energetic implementation of agrarian reform. On the other hand, also like their Bengali comrades, they have filled universities and other government institutions with loyal party members, and have instilled a culture of mindless militancy in the trade unions, which discourages investors and entrepreneurs...

India needs a left - and so do most Indians. Romantics can pin their hopes on the Naxalites, who are trying to overthrow the bourgeois order with weapons in their hands. Realists understand that this is a dream. Soaked in blood. What kind of left, then, does Indian democracy need? Soon after his victory in 2006, Nepalese Maoist leader Prachanda said that in the 21st century there is only room for multi-party democracy. We have not heard anything like this not only from the Indian Maoists, but even from the CPI(M), which seems to have chosen the parliamentary method of struggle, but recognizes only one-party rule...

The modern left must finally stop playing the Cold War. Let's take the USA. The CPI(M) (in the pages of its magazine "New Democracy" and its editorial column in "The Hindu") always suspects the Americans, but for some reason enthusiastically greets any actions of the Chinese. Complete lack of logic. India has both identity of interests and conflict of interests with both China and the United States. What we will do and which side we will support depends on the issue, the place, the politics and must be decided during the discussion.
Indian Marxists are inveterate technophobes. Their hostility to private enterprise is combined with a manic suspicion of any technical innovation. In the 1980s and 1990s they actively resisted the computerization of banks and railways. While defending the interests of a relatively small clientele, the organized working class, they ignored the tens of millions of ordinary consumers who benefited from computerization.

The modern left must also reach out to the middle class. It will grow rapidly in numbers and influence in the coming decades. Its representatives are unhappy with the leaders of the main parties and their close ties with oligarchs and bankers. Many are irritated by the servile tendencies in the Congress, many hate the bigotry of the BJP. But they have no alternative. Those who are disgusted with Dynasty vote for the BJP by default; those who do not accept Hindutva are forced to give votes to the Congress. If the left can change, present itself as a party that cares about social welfare, but not at the expense of economic development, it will gain a powerful social base, incomparable to the current one represented by the organized working class.

Finally, the CPI(M) must abandon the Leninist dogma that they alone represent the interests of the poor and downtrodden. In the 1980s, the CPI(M) made the foolish (and perhaps tragic) mistake of falling out with Indian environmentalists, branding them reactionaries and opponents of progress. I remember the words of my friend from the CPI(M), who called the Chipko movement [ protection movement that emerged in 1974 in Uttarakhand environment, inspired by Gandhian philosophy] opponents of the party because it is against the working class. The cutting down of the Himalayan forests, from his point of view, objectively contributed to the growth of the industrial proletariat, which would organize a revolution. The fact that deforestation was destroying the lives of highlanders and causing floods to sweep away villages on the plains, killing tens of thousands of people, did not bother him at all.

Chipko and Narmado Bachao Andolan movements[ A movement against the construction of a dam on the Narmada River that emerged in Gujarat in 1985] addressed to the poor. They protect the rights and environment of existence of peasants, artisans, and various tribes. The CPI(M) opposed them, just as it opposed the Women's Self-Employment Association, which has done much to promote the dignity and economic security of women employed in the informal sector.
In 1985, the current general secretary of the CPI(M) published an extraordinary attack on human rights groups, declaring them the vanguard of American imperialism. Such attacks were based on the paranoid ideology that only the Party knows the Truth, and everything outside (and without the consent of) the Party is a Lie. It looks funny in any situation, especially in India, a land so diverse that no single doctrine can explain everything in this country...

These dogmas cost the party dearly and significantly hampered its expansion in India and among social groups, whose problems cannot be explained by an ideology created in another century on another continent. And they scared off young idealists who wanted to work with and for the poor, only to discover that there was much more opportunity to realize this hope in the company of Ela Bhatt [ founder of the Women's Self-Employment Association] and Medhi Patkar [ one of the leaders of the Narmado Bachao Andolan] than under the leadership of Karat Prakash [ current general secretary of the CPI(M)] and Budhadeb Bhattacharya...

Will the CPI(M) be able to draw conclusions from the defeat? Will communists be able to become more modern and democratic? Will India's Deng Xiaoping appear?
The key word for the answer is a critical approach. Piety and worship of the Book are more suitable religious organization, not a modern political party.
If anyone is interested, in the next issue of the Caravan, CPI(M) Secretary General Karat Prakash answered Guha. Brief retelling– no, we won’t change.

Marking the 30th anniversary of communist rule in West Bengal

S.Z.Gafurov, D.A.Mitina

The tireless repetition of the slogan about the death of Marxism or its degeneration by people calling themselves Marxists is not only annoying, but also leads to doubts about the intellectual abilities or scientific integrity of the authors of these maxims. Marxist parties rule over a third of humanity, and their regimes have sustained economic growth, be it China, West Bengal (with a population of over 80 million), Vietnam or Kerala. Marxist parties demonstrate the ability to act both in the absence of democracy and in the most democratic regions (West Bengal, Kerala).

Of course, no one can be forbidden to say that theoretical Marxism is in crisis, but people who dare to say this must either be rabid racists who believe that nowhere but Western Europe and North America there is no scientific thought, or these people must base their evidence on literature in Chinese, Bengali, Vietnamese, Malayalam, Spanish and other languages ​​of countries where classical Marxism is developing. Otherwise, these people have reason to say only that only in a negligible part of the world (less than a quarter of the world's population) is Marxism experiencing a crisis.

The American “leftist” Professor Boggs is not ashamed of his illiteracy: “Following the Soviet model, Leninist regimes in Asia, Africa and Latin America managed to achieve some degree of national independence and economic development along with extensive reforms here and there, but in no country did these regimes acquire significant momentum for equality or democracy.” He doesn't know what's in West Bengal communists (in alliance with Trotskyists and left socialists) have ruled for more than a quarter of a century, and in Kerala have come to power intermittently since 1957, remaining faithful to democracy. The most surprising thing is that Indian Marxists, for example, translate most of their works into English (and write a significant part in English), but these works are for our critics of classical Marxism and supporters neo-Marxism, eurocommunism and other perversions of this powerful worldview are unknown.

Much the situation is more complicated with literature in Chinese or Vietnamese, which is inaccessible not only due to the fact that a small part of Russian Marxists can read these languages, but also due to the fact that most official documents in China and Vietnam remain closed. However, access to open documents of the Communist Party congresses is available, official international economic and social statistics are published, and a comparison of the practices of political and economic activity in these countries with published documents may become an important field of study.

The authors of various “concepts of post-industrial society” do not notice not only that the industrial proletariat in the world is growing in numbers not only absolutely, but also relative to other groups of society. They also do not want to notice that classical Marxism is developing precisely in those countries where the industrial proletariat is dynamically developing, primarily China and India. In other countries like Indonesia or Pakistan, Marxism is the main enemy of the ruling regimes and is suppressed by the physical elimination of communists

Communist movement in India

There are different views on when the communist movement began in India. Thus, the Communist Party of India considers its founding day to be December 25, 1925, while the Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI (M), which separated from it, believes that the party was born back in 1920. Having certain differences, these parties take common positions on most important domestic political issues. Communist parties enter into pre-election alliances with other left-wing political forces.

In 1957, the CPI came to power in Kerala. Its programmatic goal of a coalition with the INC met resistance from more radical elements, who accused the leadership of the CPI of revisionism, and in 1964, shortly after the Indian-Chinese military conflict of 1962. left the CPI and created the Communist Party of India (Marxist), independent in its actions from the USSR, and after 1968 from China. The CPI (M) views itself as a political organization of workers and peasants as opposed to the INC, a spokesman for the interests of entrepreneurs and landowners. In the mid-70s, during the introduction of Emergency in India by the Government of Indira Gandhi, the CPI supported the Government of India, and the CPI (M) began to fight against the regime. Relations between the two Communist parties improved in the late 1970s, leading to the creation of the Left Front.

In 1996, the winning coalition of centrist and socialist parties invited the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu, to lead India. However, the Politburo of the CPI (M) decided that the party could not be part of a bourgeois government without a majority in it, and offered parliamentary support from outside, banning Basu from serving as prime minister. As a result, at the suggestion of Jyoti Basu, India was headed for a short period by the right-wing socialist Dev Gowda, and the CPI became the first communist party represented in the Indian government (veteran of the communist movement Indrajit Gupta, who spent many years in prison, headed the Indian Ministry of Internal Affairs).

Jyoti Basu still calls the decision to refuse to participate in the Government a “gross historical mistake,” given that the Government’s unconstructive position towards the INC led to a government crisis, the reliance of the Indian bourgeoisie and feudal lords on openly pro-fascist elements in the BJP and, as a consequence, formation of the Government of the BJP and its allies. Interestingly, the main supporters of the ban on participation in the national Government were the current leaders of the CPI (M) - general secretary Prakesh Karat and the most prominent ideologue Sitaram Yechury.

The Indian Left Front at the national level includes the Communist Party of India (Marxist) CPI(M), the Communist Party of India (CPI), the All India Forward Bloc ( All - India Forward Block ) and the Revolutionary Socialist Party. The LF is a powerful force in Indian politics. While Tripura, Kerala and West Bengal are their key strongholds, Left parties have a presence in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Punjab and other states.

The CPI (M) currently has over 800 thousand members. Secretary General - Prakash Karat (since April 2005). Despite being a national party, the CPI(M) has a strong presence only in West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura. Currently, the governments of these states are formed by the CPI(M) (in coalition with other Left parties). The CPI(M) inherited intact most of the primary cells of the CPI in West Bengal and Kerala. The CPI(M)'s gains have been less significant in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. The KPI is represented more evenly across the country.

Currently, the CPI(M) is, with 42 seats, the third largest party in the Lok Sabha after the INC and the BJP; the left parties have a total of 63 seats and provide external support to the United Progressive Alliance government (support for the communists plays a decisive role in the stability of the Indian government). The post of Speaker of the Lok Sabha is held by CPI(M) member Somnath Chatterjee.

Considering that the Indian revolution is still at the stage of national liberation, a bloc of Indian communists with nationalist parties representing the interests of various peoples and tribes became possible. This is clearly expressed primarily in the south of the country in states with a predominantly Dravidian population.

However, the main goal and task of both the KPI and the KPI (m) at the beginning of the twentieth I century became the organization of a single union designed to prevent - unite all anti-fascist forces, including the Congress. This task was successfully completed in 2004.

Taking advantage of the fact that the CPI and CPI(M) have a mass base among workers in India, they organized a massive nationwide strike against the BJP Government. 50 million people took part in it. They demanded the lifting of the Supreme Court's ban on strikes and changes economic policy Governments.

West Bengal, Kerala and Maharashtra

Classical Marxism teaches that the proletariat needs to create its own class fighting forces in order to ensure the defense of the democratic gains of the working class in peacetime and a decisive blow to fascism in the event of a crisis of power. If a crisis of power is accompanied by a revolutionary situation, these fighting units become the base of the revolutionary army, which will have to ensure the dictatorship of the proletariat.

The Indian communists drew their strength from the ranks of the industrial proletariat. The basis of their electoral successes was initially the militant trade unions. Naturally India's two main industrial regions, Calcutta and Bombay, became centers of the communist movement in the country. However, the fate of these areas developed differently.

The reorganization of states, carried out in 1956 along linguistic lines, gave impetus to the aggravation of national feelings in the regions. Those who speak the local language were considered “our own” or “sons of the soil”, the rest were considered strangers. This kind of sentiment first surfaced in Bombay in the 1960s, when Marathi-speaking residents found themselves gradually being squeezed out of administration and trade by "outsiders" from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. The communists lost sight of this problem, and the Shiv Sena began to speculate on national contradictions, which managed to capture the Bombay City Corporation (City Government), gain seats in the national parliament and expand its activities outside the state.

Direct parallels can be drawn with fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in Bombay, where the Shiv Sena, having created storm troops, destroyed communist trade unions and Communist Party cells with the help of direct physical violence, accompanied by pogroms and murders of communist leaders. At present, in Maharashtra, the communists are not a serious political force, although even there the left bloc (under different names and with different composition, but with the leading role of the CPI and CPI-M) collects up to 5% of the votes, which means under the Indian electoral system that Communists are supported by at least 7-8% of the state's population.

On the contrary, in West Bengal the communists managed to create militant units of the working class and, importantly, lead the peasantry. Attempts by the fascists to organize their own militant grassroots organizations (Trinamool Congress, VHP, BJP) were neutralized by the militant organizations of the communists. As a result, in West Bengal, the Left bloc has ruled the state for a quarter of a century, which is unique among Indian states.

States with a predominant influence of communist parties are characterized by one circumstance: West Bengal and Kerala are territories with a maximum population density of more than 750 people per 1 sq. km. km, with an average density in India of 354 people per 1 sq. km.

By the late 1940s and early 1950s, virtually the entire Bengali population was involved in the communist movement. These successes can be explained by the fact that the capital of the state, Calcutta, is the economic center of the entire country, and the processes of capitalist development took place most actively in the state. However, the Calcutta capitalists were, as a rule, non-Bengali, and therefore the Bengali intelligentsia, pushed out of power by the Hindustani-speaking and Muslim bourgeoisie, easily accepted the ideas of Marxism. The phenomenon of so-called bhadarlok communism arose (“ bhadarlok" means "respected person" in Bengali). D. Kostenko quotes one Indian author: “ Calcutta in the forties resembled one big secret society: all the intellectuals were in a hurry to some secret meetings, appearances were arranged everywhere, in every decent family it was considered good manners to invite some revolutionary guru to the evening, at every step on the street one could encounter a young idealistic woman, judging by the fiery gaze carrying a secret message for the party leadership».

Left parties have ruled the state since 1977; in the elections in April-May 2006. The CPI(M)-led Left Front won another landslide victory, winning 233 of the 294 seats in the state assembly, and current Prime Minister Battacharjee is a member of the CPI(M) politburo.

West Bengal is characterized by a high level of development of various branches of light, food and heavy industries; electrical engineering, automotive and other industries are developing. The Raniganj basin provides significant levels of coal production. West Bengal also accounts for about 20% of all-India electricity generation. The main branch of agriculture is rice cultivation, the main source of income for the agro-industrial complex is the sale of jute and tea. The state actively attracts foreign investment. The state's gross domestic product was about $57 billion in 2004. The state of West Bengal has received approval from Delhi to build a four-unit nuclear power plant with 500 MW reactors in the state. As a basic condition, the central government required the connection of the new nuclear power plant to the national power grid, although Bengal retained priority for the generated energy.

Kerala- a state in southern India with a population of almost 40 million people. The majority of the population speaks the language Malayalam. In 1957 The Communist Party of India (CPI) won the state assembly elections for the first time in the country's history. Since then, the state has been governed alternately by the Indian National Congress and Left parties. In the elections in April-May 2006. The CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front won, receiving 97 of the 140 seats in the assembly, the rest went to the INC-led United Democratic Front.

The state of Kerala ranks first in India in terms of population literacy (over 90%). It is also the only state in India where women outnumber men. The above facts are mainly due to the policies implemented by the communist governments in the state, as well as the high proportion of Christians and Muslims. However, Kerala is not a leading state economically. Despite the land reforms carried out by the communists in the 60s and very low (compared to the rest of India) population growth rates, the problem of agricultural overpopulation in the state is very acute.

Industry is relatively weak, especially compared to neighboring Tamil Nadu. A significant portion of state income comes from Money transfers from abroad (Kerala residents, thanks to comparatively high level education constitute a very large proportion of Indian workers in Arab countries). Tourism is also a critical component of the state's economy.

A small state in eastern India Tripura with a population of 4 million people is another where leftist forces are traditionally strong. Currently, the Left Front, a coalition of the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and a number of smaller parties, is in power in the state.

Communists and issues of agrarian transformation

It is generally accepted among serious economists that the main reason for the crisis of civilization, which led first to the First World War, and then to the Great Depression, the victory of fascism, the need for collectivization in the USSR, and the collapse of the colonial system, was "agrarian revolution", which became the main event of the twentieth century. If at the beginning of the century in agriculture I was busy half all Germans, then at the end of the century - only 5% .

The position of the skilled urban working class, who has a sure piece of bread, in India is immeasurably better than the position of the poor, starving peasant. The labor aristocracy of Calcutta, a kind of cream of the working class, is proud of its relatively stable social position and its jobs.

Agrarian revolution is on the agenda in India.A huge part of India is a semi-feudal, semi-colonial region at the stage of a bourgeois-democratic revolution, the key point of which is the agrarian revolution. Indeed, bourgeois agrarian reforms in most states of India did not solve the problems of rural workers, and, in fact, were not aimed at this. As R. Hering, a prominent expert on agrarian reform in South Asian countries, notes, the main task of the state in carrying out these reforms was to weaken the economic and political positions social groups closely associated with colonialism, as well as in the acquisition of powerful political symbolism that the ruling elite could use to prove to the masses the “socialist” nature of their regime and devotion to the little man.

If we also take into account that India is included in the world capitalist economy, that capitalism is quite firmly entrenched in the country’s economy, including in its agriculture, although it often operates through pre-capitalist forms of social organization of production and traditional relations, then it becomes clear that any radical redistribution of land will strike not only traditional relations (“remnants of feudalism”), but also the capitalist structures into which they have grown.

Only a revolutionary, consistently anti-capitalist regime can take such measures. The current Indian government will not take such measures, since it cannot begin to destroy its own class base, therefore the agrarian revolution is the primary task facing the communist revolutionary forces."

The main goal of communist agrarian policy is the abolition of the system of semi-feudal "landlordism" and the distribution of land among those who do not have it. Part of this struggle is the struggle against the caste system, religious intolerance, and for the emancipation of the most humiliated and oppressed sections of Indian society. Communists see agricultural workers as the bridge between the industrial proletariat and the laboring peasantry of India, necessary to bring about a democratic revolution, the fight against the WTO and new attacks of imperialist globalization.

The Indian communist movement acquired a truly revolutionary character when it connected with the struggle of peasants for land, as happened in the late forties during the Telangana uprising in a semi-independent princely state Hyderabad. The struggle launched under the leadership of the communists against forced labor for landowners, illegal extortions and oppression by Patels(village chiefs) turned into a large-scale guerrilla war against large landowners. The communists controlled an area with a population of more than three million people in the districts of Nalgonda, Warranhal and Hamman. In the liberated territory, village councils - garm rajas - were created, landowners were expelled, their lands were confiscated, and more than a million acres of agricultural land were distributed among the peasants. The revolutionary hearth was defended by a five-thousand-strong partisan army, and internal order was maintained by ten thousand fighters of irregular rural militia.

The Nizam of Hyderabad could no longer resist the revolutionary movement, and in 1948 the princely state became a state of independent India, the army of the central government entered Telingana and in 1951, after some half-hearted measures taken by the INC government in the agricultural sector, the CPI called on its supporters to lay down their arms . But even after the cessation of the armed struggle, until 1953, the Communist Party retained power in the areas of the uprising. Later, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, which arose from the princely state, the communists entered into a bloc with the left-nationalist parties of the Telugu people ( Telugu Desam Party ) and helped them shape leftist policies that led to an economic miracle (the city of Hyderabad is one of electronics industry centers in India).

However, the nationalists, needing support from the center, where the BJP ruled, for opportunistic reasons, chose to break with the communist allies and negotiate support with the fascists in exchange for parliamentary support for their faction of the Government in Delhi. This caused another round of class struggle in the form of strikes, expansion of the struggle Naxalites(including attempts on the life of the Chief Minister of the state Chandrababu Naidu). Since 1997, according to official data, almost 3000 debt-ridden peasants committed suicide. At the same time, this led to the creation of an informal tactical alliance between the communists and the INC and the Telangana nationalists. The new alliance completely crushed the government parties in the 2004 elections. Because of the drought, which could have been alleviated by investing in irrigation (which it did not), the government Chandrababu Naidu was defeated, not least as a result of the mass vote of the peasants.

The movement for the agrarian revolution faces armed attacks from feudal forces, government agencies and security forces. In the state of Bihar, feudal-criminal gangs have organized themselves into private armies to attack and beat poor peasants and farm workers to suppress the revolutionary forces. The revolutionary forces are resisting these attacks by organizing struggle in all forms, including open democratic movements, vigilante groups and paramilitary groups.

With its victory in the West Bengal elections in 1977, the CPI(M) expanded its electorate, previously concentrated in cities, to include rural areas. The main reason for the success of the LF in West Bengal and Kerala was the redistribution of land among the poor peasants. As a result, the party managed to remain in power in this state until the present day.

In 1967, in the parliamentary elections in the state of West Bengal, the communists came to power, leading a coalition “ United Front"from 14 games. They also formed the state government. The “United Front” was the result of a compromise between the “People’s United Left Front” bloc of seven left parties led by the CPI and the “United Left Front” bloc of seven parties led by the CPI (M). Prominent CPI(M) leader Harekrishna Kunar was appointed Minister of Agriculture in the new government. Thousands of peasants waited with hope for the start of land reform, but the United Front government, which came to power under the slogan “ The land - to those who cultivate it", was in no hurry to fulfill his promises.

Plantation owners (jotedars), frightened by the prospect of land reform promised by the new authorities, began to round up the sharecroppers of the lands they cultivated, fearing that they would lay claim to their lands. Those who disagreed were simply killed. And this despite the fact that the previous year was a bad harvest and many peasant families were dying of hunger. Social tensions have reached boiling point. In each village of the district, peasant committees were created - in fact, self-defense forces. In the name of peasant committees, the seizure of land began, land registries were destroyed, debt to moneylenders was canceled, bodies of revolutionary power were created, and death sentences were imposed on the most heartless jotedars and representatives of the rural bourgeoisie.

The CPI and CPI(M) began to encourage peasants to seize land. The communists organized marches of the poor” to land plots exceeding the norm established in the state, and then distributed these lands among the landless in an exemplary manner. Home Minister of the second United Front government Jyoti Basu, also a member of the CPI(M) Politburo, gave strict orders to the police not to interfere in labor disputes and land grabs organized at the initiative of the ruling coalition parties. Everywhere in the villages, landowners' property and crops began to be confiscated, and " people's tribunals“To deal with class enemies, partisan detachments were created.

download

Abstract on the topic:

Communist Party of India

Communist Party of India (CPI)(Hindi भारतीय कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी listen)) is an Indian political party. Founded in 1925 (according to another version, in 1920). Currently, the CPI is part of the Left Front ruling in the states of West Bengal and Tripura, as well as the Left Democratic Front ruling in the state of Kerala. At the federal level, the CPI is represented by 4 MPs in the Lok Sabha and supports the Indian National Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government from outside.

Story

In the 20s - early 30s, the party's actions were poorly coordinated at the national level, and it, in fact, represented several disparate regional groups. This was largely a consequence of the fact that under the British colonialists the party was forced to work underground. Only in 1935 did the CPI become a member of the Comintern. In accordance with the general line of the Comintern, the CPI moved closer to the left wing of the INC. During World War II, the activities of the CPI were allowed. The CPI took control of the All India Trade Union Congress. After India gained independence in 1947, the CPI led armed uprisings against the heads of the former semi-independent princely states who refused to hand over power to the federal government; the largest of these uprisings took place in Telangana (a historical region in the modern state of Andhra Pradesh). There, the communists managed to create a people's militia and control an area with a population of 3 million people. As a result, the uprising was suppressed by the federal authorities, and the CPI abandoned the tactics of armed struggle. Subsequently, the CPI operated within the framework of parliamentary democracy.

Election poster of the CPI. 2004

The CPI performed successfully in the federal elections of 1957, taking second place after the INC. That same year, the party won the Kerala Assembly elections and formed the state government. This was the first time in the history of India that the government of any state was not formed by the INC. In 1962, there was a split in the CPI over the attitude towards the Indo-Chinese armed conflict. The pro-Soviet faction took the side of the Indian government, while the pro-Chinese faction supported the PRC as a socialist state that came into conflict with a capitalist one (India). Leaders of the pro-China faction were persecuted. As a result, the CPI split in 1964 - the breakaway faction was called the Communist Party of India (Marxist). In 1970-1977 The CPI became closer to the INC, in particular, these two parties formed a coalition government in Kerala. The CPI (as opposed to the “pro-Chinese” CPI(M)) actively supported the national liberation movement in East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh) and the war with Pakistan in 1971. The CPI was the only party (other than the INC) that supported Indira Gandhi’s declaration of a state of emergency in 1975-1977

The lifting of the state of emergency in 1977 and the subsequent defeat of the INC in the parliamentary elections marked the beginning of a new period in the history of the CPI - since then the party has reoriented itself to cooperation with the CPI (M). At the same time, she had to come to terms with the role of the “junior partner” that she plays in the CPI(M)-led alliances.

General Secretaries

Emblem of the CPI during elections

• S.V. Ghate (1925-?)
• P.Ch. Joshi (1935-March 1948)
• B.T. Ranadivé (March 1948-1950)
• C.R. Rao (1950-1951)
• A.K. Ghosh (1951-1962)
• E.M.Sh. Namboodiripad (April 1962-January 1963)
• C.R. Rao (December 1964-April 1990)
• Indrajit Gupta (April 1990-1996)
• A.B. Bardhan (since 1996)

download
This abstract is based on an article from Russian Wikipedia. Synchronization completed 07/12/11 01:18:41
Related abstracts: Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party USA, Communist Party of South Africa, Communist Party,

KPI(ml) "Red Flag" was created in 1988 as a continuation of the activities of the Central Reorganization Committee of the KPI(ml), which originated from the former KPI(ml). The CRK was formed in the late 1970s by a number of comrades from Kerala aligned with the line of Charu Mazumdar. From the official document of the CPI (ml) “Red Flag”:

“In 1979, after many party activists were released from prison, they took the initiative to reorganize the party based on the basic positions of the CPI (ML) and not accepting the three worlds theory and the new Chinese leadership that was promoting this theory. Comrades from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh created the Reorganization Committee of the CPI(ML), in 1982 it became the Central Committee of the CPI(ML). After 1982, the struggle for political reorganization met with serious obstacles from the petty-bourgeois anarchist tendencies that then dominated the party: denial of mass class organizations, legal, open and parliamentary activities, united fronts with other political organizations, etc. Over the years In history, the party faced two splits. The first - in 1987 and the second - in 2003. In 1987, the then General Secretary K. Venu began to regard neo-colonialism as an era separate from imperialism, stated that national struggle is class struggle period of neo-colonialism and began to befriend separatist movements such as the Khalistan movement. This caused serious divisions in the party. Venu was not ready to resolve the problem democratically within the party, he broke away from it during the national party conference. Later, Mr. Venu dissolved his own separate party, which retained the name CRK CPI (ML), and joined the bourgeois right. Our party was reorganized, and the CPI(ML) “Red Flag” was born.”

In 2003, a section of the party led by party secretary K. N. Ramachandran during the 6th party conference proposed to merge with the CPI (ML) under the leadership of Kanu Sanyal, but the majority of the party considered this proposal “adventuristic”, excluding those who disagreed.

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) - Provisional Central Committee

CPI(ML) - The provisional central committee arose from a group in the old CPI(ML) that shared the views of Sayanarayan Singh. In 1971, Singh opposed party leader Charu Mazumdar, causing a split. Later, its current general secretary Santosh Rana, who also broke with Mazumdar in 1971, joined Singh's party. In April 1973, Singh's party was reorganized. During the 1975-1980s, on the basis of the group of Chandrapulla Reddy (in 1971, he left the Andhra Pradesh Communist Revolutionary Committee), a section of the CPI (ML) Singh arose in the state of Andhra Pradesh. It was the CPI (ML) under the leadership of Singh that was the first of the Marxist-Leninist parties in India to begin participating in elections. The party even to some extent supported the Janata Party movement to overthrow the regime of Indira Gandhi, which the more orthodox factions of the Marxist-Leninist movement regarded as a betrayal. In 1977, Santosh Rana was elected as a member of the West Bengal state legislature from the Gopiballavpur constituency (this is one of the regions where the CPI (ML) began an armed struggle on the model of the Naxalbari uprising). Rana received 25.67% of the votes, which was enough to defeat candidates from the CPI (Marxist), Indian National Congress and Janata Party. The CPI (ML) led by Singh was even able to register with the Indian election commission, but the registration was later cancelled.

Around 1980, Singh's party was considered the strongest Naxalite party, but after the exit of Chandrapulla Reddy and other breakaways, the party was greatly reduced. In 1984, there was a serious split between Singh's supporters and the group of Santosh Rana and Vaskar Nandy. Singh and his supporters accused opponents that Nandi and his friends “established relationships with foreign and Indian non-governmental organizations financed by Western monopoly capital from Europe and the United States, as well as with the Lutheran Church. Moreover, they kept it a secret from the party leadership and its general secretary Singh. When everything became known to members of the party leadership, a strong ideological struggle began in the party.” The opposing faction alleged that hundreds of thousands of rupees were spent "on building tanks and schools in Bihar and West Bengal". After much discussion, the Rana faction found itself in the majority among the members of the governing party body, and Singh's supporters created a new Central Committee - and, in fact, a new party. Soon Singh, unable to bear the experience, died.

The party led by Rana differentiates itself from other Marxist-Leninist parties by emphasizing anti-fascism. She views the Hindu nationalists of the Bharatiya Janata Party as a fascist threat to India. CPI(ML) - The Provisional Central Committee recommends its supporters to vote for the CPI (Marxist) or even the Indian National Congress if there are no revolutionary communist candidates in their constituency.

On the eve of the 2004 elections to the Lok Sabha (lower house of the Indian Parliament), the party participated in the united front of revolutionary communists initiated by the Red Flag CPI(ML) and the new CPI(ML).

In the Bodo-inhabited areas of Assam, the party works through the mass organization “United Reservation Movement of Assam Councils”. The party and this organization are opponents of the Bodo nationalist movements. In the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, the Movement candidate got 205,491 votes (21.25%) in Kokrajhar. In the 1999 elections in the same constituency, the Movement candidate received 246,942 votes (27.75%).

CPI(ML) - The Provisional Central Committee publishes the central body “For a New Democracy”. Her Chief Editor- Vaskar Nandi.

Communist Revolutionary League of India

The Communist Revolutionary League of India (CRLI) is a Naxalite party in the Indian state of West Bengal. Its leader is former student leader Ashim Chatterjee. He was a former member of the Central Committee of the erstwhile Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), but broke with Charu Mazumdar in 1971 because he believed that he misunderstood the liberation struggle in East Pakistan. In the late 1970s, Chatterjee created KRLI.

During 1995-2000 KRLI was part of the Left Front. After breaking with the CPI (Marxist), the CRLI allied itself with the Party of Democratic Socialism led by Saifuddin Chaudhuri. Participates in elections to the legislative assembly of West Bengal.

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)

(it is usually called “New KPI(ml)”)

This new party, using the old name CPI(ML), was formed in January 2005 through the merger of the CPI(ML) led by Sanyal and the Red Flag section of the CPI(ML) led by Ramchandran.

Shortly before, in June 2003, the Sanyal CPI(ML) was formed through the merger of the CPI(ML) Unity Initiative and the Communist Organization of India (Marxist-Leninist) led by Sanyal.

The general secretary of the party is Kanu Sanyal. This new party is very critical of the original CPI(ML), formed in 1969, in which, incidentally, Sanyal himself was one of the key leaders. Although Sanyal and his comrades accepted the Naxalbari experience, they were in opposition to the line of Charu Mazumdar. Party forces are mainly concentrated in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra.

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) "New Democracy"

CPI(ML) New Democracy arose in 1988 from an earlier breakaway faction of the CPI(ML) - the Provisional Central Committee headed by Chandrapulla Reddy. The general secretary of the party is Yatendra Kumar.

The party is primarily based in Andhra Pradesh but has its branches in Delhi, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Orissa, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. The party has one MP in the Andhra Pradesh assembly (Narsaiah Gummadi from Yellandu constituency) and one in the Bihar assembly (Umadhar Prasad Singh). CPI(ML) People's Democracy uses both legal and illegal methods of work. The party participates in elections and organizes mass organizations (emphasizing the creation of grassroots organizations of the All India Federation of Trade Unions and the Kishan Mazdoor Sabha peasant movement), but also creates small guerrilla units, "dalams". Currently, the CPI(ML) New Democracy has distanced itself from the moderate factions of the Marxist-Leninist movement.

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) "Central Command"

The CPI(ML) "Central Command" was founded in December 1977 by a breakaway faction from the CPI(ML) - the Provisional Central Committee. The Central Team is active in Punjab and has branches in West Bengal and Maharashtra.

In Punjab they published a very influential revolutionary publication, Surkh Rekha ( Surkh Rekha). During the "Khalistani period" (1980s), the Punjab section of this party collaborated with the Center of Communist Revolutionaries of India in building an influential front against repression and communalism. This experience led the Punjab section to the strategy of a "mass revolutionary line". In August 1994, the Punjab section of the "Central Command" merged with the Center of Communist Revolutionaries and two other organizations to form the CPI(ML) Reorganization Center. Surkh Rekha became the organ of the new Center.

However, the West Bengal and Maharashtra sections of the Central Command refused to join this initiative and accused the Punjab section of betraying the old Marxist-Leninist movement. They continue to function as the KPI(ML) “Central Team”.

In West Bengal, this party publishes a Marxist publication called Andolaner Sathi ( Andolaner Sathi), and was previously called "Andolaner disha" ( Andolaner Disha).

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) "Liberation"

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation is a party that positions itself as supporters of Charu Mazumdar, but opponents of Lin Biao. The Liberation faction emerged from the erstwhile CPI(ML) under the leadership of Comrade Jauhar (Subrat Dutta), who died in Bhoipur in November 1974.

In 1975, Vinod Mishra was elected general secretary, and from 1977, internal reforms began in the CPI (ML) under the leadership of Mishra. The party conference in 1979 proclaimed the need for the widespread creation of mass organizations (this line was condemned by the original CPI (ML) as “economism”). The CPI(ML) under the leadership of Mishra also retained a good relationship with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), while most other Indian Marxist-Leninist organizations condemned Dengxiaoping's changes in CCP policy.

In 1982, the Indian People's Front (IPF) was formed and the party began participating in elections under the umbrella of the FPI. In 1998, the FPI was able to win a parliamentary mandate in the Lok Sabha from Ara, Bihar. The party lost this mandate in 1991, but it won a new mandate in Assam by running on the grassroots Independent State Demand Committee movement. In 1994, the FPI was dissolved and the party began contesting elections under its own name, but in Assam it contested elections under the banner of the said committee until 1999.

Mishra died in 1998. The current general secretary is Dipankar Bhattacharya, from West Bengal. In the 1999 Lok Sabha elections, the party polled 0.3% of the votes and won one seat (the same one it previously had from Assam). In 2004, the party lost this mandate, mainly due to a split in the ranks of the Independent State Demands Committee.

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) "Shantipal"

CPI(ML) Shantipal is an underground Naxalite party that positions itself as a supporter of armed guerrilla warfare, Lin Biao and the line of Charu Mazumdar. According to some sources, it arose in the northern part of the state of West Bengal in 1972, according to others - in 1974. The party is active in Bihar, especially in Godda, Purnia, Saharsa and Sahibganj. Their organization is also active in Burdwan district of West Bengal.

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) - Second Central Committee

CPI(ML) - Second Central Committee is an underground Naxalite party founded in the late 1970s by Azizul Haq and Nishith Bhattacharya, two prominent communist leaders and intellectuals, after they, along with other comrades, broke away from the CPI(ML) under the leadership of Mahadeva Mukherjee. CPI(ML) - The Second Central Committee positions itself as a supporter of Lin Biao's line.

In the 1980s, the CPI(ML)-Second Central Committee formed a revolutionary government in large rural areas of Bengal and Bihar. The party is active in states like Assam, Bihar, West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. On May 19, 2003, a splinter group from the party merged with the Maoist Communist Center of India. In 2006, another group broke away from the party (“Coordination Committee of the CPI (ML) - Second Central Committee”) and joined the CPI (Maoist).

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) under the leadership of Mahadev Mukherjee

The CPI(ML) under the leadership of Mahadev Mukherjee is a small, almost inactive Naxalite party. After the death of Charu Mazumdar, Sharma and Mahadev Mukherjee reorganized a new Central Committee of the CPI (ML) on December 5-6, 1972, which considered Charu Mazumdar the Indian revolutionary authority. After the 20th CPC Congress, the party split into Linbiaoist and anti-Linbiaoist factions. The Central Committee of the party, headed by Mahadev Mukherjee, took a Lin Biaoist position and convened the second congress of the CPI(ML), which supported the authority of Charu Mazumdar's line and the position of Lin Biao. The congress was held in Kamalpur, which became the center of armed confrontation between the people and the military. Soon, disagreements that arose in the Central Committee of the CPI(ML) led to the majority not supporting Mahadev rejecting Lin Biao's line of support and removing Mukherjee from the post of party leader. Mahadev was later arrested in Shillong and thrown behind bars. After he came out of prison in the late 1970s, Mahadev, with the help of Azizul Haque and Nishitha Bhattacharya, reorganized the Central Committee. But later, accusing Mahadev of defeatism and sectarianism, Haque and Bhattacharya expelled him from the party and founded the CPI(ML) - Second Central Committee. Most of the party left with them.

The CPI(ML) under the leadership of Mahadev Mukherjee still positions itself as a supporter of Lin Biao. Its local organizations are in Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal and New Delhi, they are underground and do not carry out legal work. In 2004, the party boycotted parliamentary elections and called for armed struggle. At the same time, in the Siliguri region of West Bengal, its members organize demonstrations and rallies. Thus, on May 25, 2006, the party organized a mass demonstration in Naxalbari.

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Naxalbari

CPI (ML) Naxalbari is an underground Maoist party, its origins are connected with both the CPI (ML) - Maoist Unity Center and with Comrade Rauf's group in Andhra Pradesh.

CPI(ML) - Maoist Unity Center came into being as a result of the 1997 merger of the Communist Party of Kerala and the Communist Party of Maharashtra. These two parties were state organizations of the CPI(ML) - "Central Reorganization Committee" (CRK, dissolved in 1991). In turn, the Central Revolutionary Committee is the party from which in 1987-1988. The Red Flag party of the CPI(ML) broke away, and there was little left of the Central Revolutionary Committee itself.

Comrade Rauf was the leader of the small Red Flag unit of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) in Andhra Pradesh. Most of the leadership of Rauf's organization died in shootouts with police in the 1980s. In 2000, Rauf's organization broke away from Red Flag and merged with the CPI(ML)-Maoist Unity Center into the CPI(ML) Naxalbari. Rauf became the general secretary of the united party. The current party secretary is Comrade Ajith.

Communist Party of the United States of India

The Communist Party of the United States of India is an underground party operating in the state of Andhra Pradesh. It arose on May 17, 1997 as a result of factional struggle in the CPI(ML) Janashakti. The founder of the party was M. Veeranna, who was later killed by the police. The present secretary of the Andhra Pradesh state organization is Comrade Sadhu Malyadri Jambhav. The party is waging an armed struggle, creating "dalam" units and believes that the emphasis of the party's work in the current situation in India should be shifted from class issues to caste issues.

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Janashakti (People Power)

"People's Power" is an underground party that was created in 1992 by uniting seven revolutionary communist organizations: CPI (ML) "Resistance", United Center of Communist Revolutionaries of India (Marxist-Leninist) - Muktigami faction, CPI (ML) " Agami South", CPI(ML) under the leadership of Paila Vasudev Rao (split from the CPI(ML) New Democracy), CPI(ML) under the leadership of Khokan Mazumdar, Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries under the leadership of Parimal Dasgupta, Communist Revolutionary Group for Unity .

CPI (ml) “People's Power” focused on a combination of legal and illegal methods of struggle. At first, the party did well: in 1994, it won a deputy mandate in the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly, created trade unions and peasant movements. However, internal friction soon began within the party. In 1996, a group broke away from the “People's Power”, which later created the CPI (ML) - “Unification Initiative” (now part of the so-called new CPI (ML) under the leadership of Kanu Sanyal). After this a series of more splits followed. At the end of the 1990s, the party completely reoriented itself to the underground struggle and stopped legal work among the masses.

Most of the party's membership is in Andhra Pradesh, and the party is now fragmented into several factions that function with little or no mutual coordination. The head of the largest faction is the official secretary of the party organization of this state, K. Rajanna. The party secretary is Comrade Amar.

Communist Party of India (Maoist)

The CPI(Maoist) was founded on September 21, 2004 through the merger of the CPI(ML) People's War and the Maoist Communist Center of India. A temporary central committee was created, the general secretary of which was the leader of the People's War, Ganapathi. Other Naxalite parties often refer to the CPI (Maoist) as "anarchists".