Communist Party Of India
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest
Marxist–Leninist Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialect ...
communist party in
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as
Cawnpore Kanpur or Cawnpore (Help:IPA/English, /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (Wikipedia:Media help, help·:File:Kanpur.ogg, info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one ...
) on 26 December 1925.


History


Formation

The Communist Party of India was formed on 26 December 1925 at the first Party Conference in Kanpur, which was then known as ''Cawnpore''. Its founders included
M. N. Roy Manabendra Nath Roy (born Narendra Nath Bhattacharya, better known as M. N. Roy; 21 March 1887 – 25 January 1954) was an Indian revolutionary, radical activist and political theorist, as well as a noted philosopher in the 20th century. Roy ...
, his wife Evelyn Trent, Abani Mukherji, and
M. P. T. Acharya Mandayam Parthasarathi Tirumal Acharya (15 April 1887 – 20 March 1954) was an Indian nationalist, communist and anarchist who was among the founding members of the Communist Party of India (Tashkent group). In a long political and activist ...
. S.V. Ghate was the first General Secretary of CPI. There were many communist groups formed by Indians with the help of foreigners in different parts of the world, Tashkent group of Contacts were made with
Anushilan Anushilan Samiti ( bn, অনুশীলন সমিতি, , bodybuilding society) was an Indian fitness club, which was actually used as an underground society for anti-British revolutionaries. In the first quarter of the 20th century it su ...
and
Jugantar Jugantar or Yugantar ( bn, যুগান্তর ''Jugantor''; lit. ''New Era'' or ''Transition of an Epoch'') was one of the two main secret revolutionary trends operating in Bengal for Indian independence. This association, like Anushi ...
the groups in
Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
, and small communist groups were formed in
Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
(led by
S.A. Dange Shripad Amrut Dange (10 October 1899 – 22 May 1991) was an Indian Politician who was a founding member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and a stalwart of Indian trade union movement. During the 20th century, Dange was arrested by the ...
), Madras (led by Singaravelu Chettiar), United Provinces (led by
Shaukat Usmani Shaukat Usmani (Maulla Bux Usta) (1901–1978) was an early Indian communist, who was born to artistic USTA family of Bikaner and a member of the émigré Communist Party of India (Tashkent group), established in Tashkent in 1920, and a founding ...
),
Punjab Punjab (; Punjabi: پنجاب ; ਪੰਜਾਬ ; ; also romanised as ''Panjāb'' or ''Panj-Āb'') is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the northern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising a ...
, Sindh (led by Ghulam Hussain) and
Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...
(led by Muzaffar Ahmed).


Involvement in independence struggle

During the 1920s and the early 1930s the party was badly organised, and in practice there were several communist groups working with limited national co-ordination. The government had banned all communist activity, which made the task of building a united party very difficult. Between 1921 and 1924 there were three conspiracy trials against the communist movement; First
Peshawar Conspiracy Case The Peshawar Conspiracy Cases were a set of five legal cases which took place between 1922 and 1927 in British India. The mujahirs, a group of muslims, were inspired from communist revolution and went to USSR for training in 1920. Some of the ret ...
,
Meerut Conspiracy Case The Meerut Conspiracy Case was a controversial court case that was initiated in British Raj in March 1929 and decided in 1933. Several trade unionists, including three Englishmen, were arrested for organizing an Indian railway strike. The Bri ...
and the Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case. In the first three cases,
Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
-trained muhajir communists were put on trial. However, the Cawnpore trial had more political impact. On 17 March 1924,
Shripad Amrit Dange Shripad Amrut Dange (10 October 1899 – 22 May 1991) was an Indian Politician who was a founding member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and a stalwart of Indian trade union movement. During the 20th century, Dange was arrested by the a ...
, M.N. Roy, Muzaffar Ahmed, Nalini Gupta, Shaukat Usmani, Singaravelu Chettiar, Ghulam Hussain and R.C. Sharma were charged, in Cawnpore (now spelt Kanpur) Bolshevik Conspiracy case. The specific pip charge was that they as communists were seeking "to deprive the King Emperor of his sovereignty of British India, by complete separation of India from Britain by a violent revolution." Pages of newspapers daily splashed sensational communist plans and people for the first time learned, on such a large scale, about communism and its doctrines and the aims of the Communist International in India.Ralhan, O.P. (ed.) ''Encyclopedia of Political Parties'' New Delhi: Anmol Publications p. 336, Rao. p. 89-91. Singaravelu Chettiar was released on account of illness. M.N. Roy was in
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
and R.C. Sharma in French Pondichéry, and therefore could not be arrested. Ghulam Hussain confessed that he had received money from the Russians in
Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
and was pardoned. Muzaffar Ahmed, Nalini Gupta, Shaukat Usmani and Dange were sentenced for various terms of imprisonment. This case was responsible for actively introducing communism to a larger Indian audience. Dange was released from prison in 1927. Rahul Dev Pal was a prominent communist leader On 26 December 1925 a communist conference was organised in Kanpur. Government authorities estimated that 500 persons took part in the conference. The conference was convened by a man called Satya Bhakta. At the conference Satyabhakta argued for a '
National communism National communism represents various forms in which Marxism–Leninism and socialism has been adopted and/or implemented by leaders in different countries using aspects of nationalism or national identity to form a policy independent from commu ...
' and against subordination under Comintern. Being outvoted by the other delegates, Satyabhakta left the conference venue in protest. The conference adopted the name 'Communist Party of India'. Groups such as Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan (LKPH) dissolved into the CPI. The émigré CPI, which probably had little organic character anyway, was effectively substituted by the organisation now operating inside India. Soon after the 1926 conference of the Workers and Peasants Party of Bengal, the underground CPI directed its members to join the provincial Workers and Peasants Parties. All open communist activities were carried out through Workers and Peasants Parties. The sixth congress of the Communist International met in 1928. In 1927 the
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...
had turned on the Chinese communists, which led to a review of the policy on forming alliances with the national bourgeoisie in the colonial countries. The Colonial theses of the 6th Comintern congress called upon the Indian communists to combat the 'national-reformist leaders' and to 'unmask the national reformism of the
Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...
and oppose all phrases of the Swarajists, Gandhists, etc. about passive resistance'.Saha, Murari Mohan (ed.), ''Documents of the Revolutionary Socialist Party: Volume One 1938–1947''. Agartala: Lokayata Chetana Bikash Society, 2001. p. 21-25 The congress did however differentiate between the character of the Chinese Kuomintang and the Indian Swarajist Party, considering the latter as neither a reliable ally nor a direct enemy. The congress called on the Indian communists to utilise the contradictions between the national bourgeoisie and the British imperialists. The congress also denounced the WPP. The Tenth Plenum of the Executive Committee of the Communist International, 3 July 192919 July 1929, directed the Indian communists to break with WPP. When the communists deserted it, the WPP fell apart. On 20 March 1929, arrests against WPP, CPI and other labour leaders were made in several parts of India, in what became known as the Meerut Conspiracy Case. The communist leadership was now put behind bars. The trial proceedings were to last for four years. As of 1934, the main centres of activity of CPI were Bombay, Calcutta and Punjab. The party had also begun extending its activities to Madras. A group of Andhra and Tamil students, amongst them P. Sundarayya, were recruited to the CPI by Amir Hyder Khan. E.M.S. Namboodiripad. ''The Communist Party in Kerala – Six Decades of Struggle and Advance''. New Delhi: National Book Centre, 1994. p. 7 The party was reorganised in 1933, after the communist leaders from the Meerut trials were released. A central committee of the party was set up. In 1934 the party was accepted as the Indian section of the Communist International. When Indian left-wing elements formed the
Congress Socialist Party The Congress Socialist Party (CSP) was a socialist caucus within the Indian National Congress. It was founded in 1934 by Congress members who rejected what they saw as the anti-rational mysticism of Gandhi as well as the sectarian attitude of th ...
in 1934, the CPI branded it as Social Fascist. The
League Against Gandhism {{Use dmy dates, date=August 2020 The League Against Gandhism, initially known as the Gandhi Boycott Committee, was a political organisation in Calcutta, India, founded by the underground Communist Party of India and others to launch militant anti ...
, initially known as the Gandhi Boycott Committee, was a political organisation in
Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...
, founded by the underground Communist Party of India and others to launch militant
anti-Imperialist Anti-imperialism in political science and international relations is a term used in a variety of contexts, usually by nationalist movements who want to secede from a larger polity (usually in the form of an empire, but also in a multi-ethnic so ...
activities. The group took the name ‘League Against Gandhism’ in 1934. In connection with the change of policy of the Comintern toward
Popular Front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...
politics, the Indian communists changed their relation to the Indian National Congress. The communists joined the Congress Socialist Party, which worked as the left-wing of Congress. Through joining CSP, the CPI accepted the CSP demand for a Constituent Assembly, which it had denounced two years before. The CPI however analysed that the demand for a Constituent Assembly would not be a substitute for
soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in ...
.Roy, Samaren. ''M.N. Roy: A Political Biography''.
Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...
: Orient Longman, 1998. p. 113, 115
In July 1937, clandestine meeting held at
Calicut Kozhikode (), also known in English as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. It has a corporation limit population of 609,224 and a metropolitan population of more than 2 million, making it the second l ...
. Five persons were present at the meeting, P. Krishna Pillai,
K. Damodaran K. Damodaran ( February 25, 1912 – July 3, 1976) was an Indian Marxist theoretician and writer and one of the leader of the Communist Party of India in Kerala, India. Early life and education Damodaran was born in Ponnani in Malappur ...
, E.M.S. Namboodiripad,
N. C. Sekhar N. C. Sekhar alias Narayanan Pillai Sekhar Chandrasekharan Pillai (2 July 1904 - 3 December 1986) was a freedom fighter, political leader, Rajya Sabha member and writer. He was a member of the first Communist group in Kerala. Sekhar was one of the ...
and S.V. Ghate. The first four were members of the CSP in Kerala. The CPI in
Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
was formed on 31 December 1939 with the Pinarayi Conference. The latter, Ghate, was a CPI Central Committee member, who had arrived from Madras. Contacts between the CSP in Kerala and the CPI had begun in 1935, when P. Sundarayya (CC member of CPI, based in Madras at the time) met with EMS and Krishna Pillai. Sundarayya and Ghate visited Kerala at several times and met with the CSP leaders there. The contacts were facilitated through the national meetings of the Congress, CSP and
All India Kisan Sabha All India Kisan Sabha ( AIKS; lit. ''All India Farmers Union'', also known as the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha), is the peasant or farmers' wing of the Communist Party of India, an important peasant movement formed by Sahajanand Saraswati in 1 ...
. In 1936–1937, the co-operation between socialists and communists reached its peak. At the 2nd congress of the CSP, held in
Meerut Meerut (, IAST: ''Meraṭh'') is a city in Meerut district of the western part of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city lies northeast of the national capital New Delhi, within the National Capital Region and west of the state capital ...
in January 1936, a thesis was adopted which declared that there was a need to build 'a united Indian Socialist Party based on Marxism-Leninism'. At the 3rd CSP congress, held in
Faizpur Faizpur is town in Tahasil of Yawal in Jalgaon district of Maharashtra India. Geography Faizpur is located at . It has an average elevation of 226 metres (741 feet). Transport Road Faizpur is well connected by road network. Maharas ...
, several communists were included into the CSP National Executive Committee. In Kerala communists won control over CSP, and for a brief period controlled Congress there. Two communists, E.M.S. Namboodiripad and Z.A. Ahmed, became All India joint secretaries of CSP. The CPI also had two other members inside the CSP executive. On the occasion of the 1940 Ramgarh Congress Conference CPI released a declaration called ''Proletarian Path'', which sought to utilise the weakened state of the British Empire in the time of war and gave a call for general strike, no-tax, no-rent policies and mobilising for an armed revolutionary uprising. The National Executive of the CSP assembled at
Ramgarh Ramgarh may refer to: Bangladesh * Ramgarh Upazila, a sub-district of Khagrachari District India * Ramgarh, Bihar, a village near Munger, Bihar * Ramgarh, Kaimur, a town in Kaimur district, Bihar * Ramgarh, Uttarakhand, a hill station in Nainital ...
took a decision that all communists were expelled from CSP. In July 1942, the CPI was legalised, as a result of Britain and the Soviet Union becoming allies against Nazi Germany. Communists strengthened their control over the All India Trade Union Congress. At the same time, communists were politically cornered for their opposition to the Quit India Movement. CPI contested the Provincial Legislative Assembly elections of 1946 of its own. It had candidates in 108 out of 1585 seats, winning in eight seats. In total the CPI vote counted 666 723, which should be seen with the backdrop that 86% of the adult population of India lacked voting rights. The party had contested three seats in Bengal, and won all of them. One CPI candidate, Somnath Lahiri, was elected to the Constituent Assembly. The Communist Party of India opposed the partition of India and did not participate in the Independence Day celebrations of 15 August 1947 in protest of the division of the country.


After independence

During the period around and directly following Independence in 1947, the internal situation in the party was chaotic. The party shifted rapidly between left-wing and right-wing positions. In February 1948, at the 2nd Party Congress in Calcutta,
B. T. Ranadive Bhalchandra Trimbak Ranadive (; 19 December 1904 – 6 April 1990), popularly known as BTR, was an Indian communist politician and trade union leader. Personal life He was elder brother of Ahilya Rangnekar, a CPI-M leader and 6th Lok Sabh ...
(BTR) was elected General Secretary of the party. The conference adopted the 'Programme of Democratic Revolution'. This programme included the first mention of struggle against caste injustice in a CPI document. In several areas the party led armed struggles against a series of local monarchs that were reluctant to give up their power. Such insurgencies took place in
Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...
,
Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the eleventh-largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of and 3 ...
and
Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
. The most important rebellion took place in Telangana, against the
Nizam The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...
of
Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India ...
. The Communists built up a people's army and militia and controlled an area with a population of three million. The rebellion was brutally crushed and the party abandoned the policy of armed struggle. BTR was deposed and denounced as a 'left adventurist'. In
Manipur Manipur () ( mni, Kangleipak) is a state in Northeast India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. It is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west. It also borders two regions of ...
, the party became a force to reckon with through the agrarian struggles led by Jananeta Irawat Singh. Singh had joined CPI in 1946. At the 1951 congress of the party, 'People's Democracy' was substituted by 'National Democracy' as the main slogan of the party. Communist Party was founded in Bihar in 1939. Post independence, communist party achieved success in Bihar (Bihar and Jharkhand). Communist party conducted movements for land reform, trade union movement was at its peak in Bihar in the sixties, seventies and eighties. Achievement of communists in Bihar placed the communist party in the forefront of left movement in India. Bihar produced some of the legendary leaders like Kishan leaders
Sahajanand Saraswati Sahajanand Saraswati( real name Navrang Rai ) (22 February 1889 – 26 June 1950) was an ascetic, a nationalist and a peasant leader of India. Although born in United Province ( present-day Uttar Pradesh), his social and political activities ...
and
Karyanand Sharma Karyanand Sharma (1901–1965) was a nationalist and peasant leader who led movements against zamindars and the British. Biography Karyanand Sharma was born in a middle class Bhumihar Brahmin family of Sahoor village in Munger (British India) no ...
, intellectual giants like Jagannath Sarkar,
Yogendra Sharma Yogendra Sharma (20 August 1915 – 15 March 1990) was an Indian politician. He was a Member of Parliament, representing Bihar in the Rajya Sabha the upper house of India's Parliament. He also represented Begusarai Lok Sabha Constituency in ...
and
Indradeep Sinha Indradeep Sinha (July 1914 – 9 June 2003) was an Indian freedom fighter and veteran communist leader. Biography He was born in Shakara village in present-day Siwan District of Bihar, India, in July 1914. He had an academic career and sec ...
, mass leaders like
Chandrasekhar Singh Chandrasekhar Singh (26 December 1915 - 19 July 1976 in Patna) was a leader from the Communist Party of India who served as a minister in the government of Bihar state. Family Singh was born in Bihat (Masnadpur) village near Barauni in Begusarai ...
and
Sunil Mukherjee Sunil Mukherjee (November 16, 1914-March 30, 1992) was an Indian politician and leader of Communist Party of India. He was the founder secretary of Communist Party of India Bihar unit. Biography Early life He was born on November 16, 1914 in th ...
, Trade Union leaders like Kedar Das and others. In the Mithila region of Bihar Bhogendra Jha led the fight against the Mahants and Zamindars. He later went on the win Parliamentary elections and was MP for seven terms. In early 1950s young communist leadership was uniting textile workers, bank employees and unorganised sector workers to ensure mass support in north India. National leaders like S A Dange, Chandra Rajeswara Rao and P K Vasudevan Nair were encouraging them and supporting the idea despite their differences on the execution. Firebrand Communist leaders like Homi F. Daji, Guru Radha Kishan, H L Parwana, Sarjoo Pandey, Darshan Singh Canadian and Avtaar Singh Malhotra were emerging between the masses and the working class in particular. This was the first leadership of communists that was very close to the masses and people consider them champions of the cause of the workers and the poor. In 1952, CPI became the first leading opposition party in the Lok Sabha, while the Indian National Congress was in power. In the 1952 Travancore-Cochin Legislative Assembly election, Communist Party was banned, so it couldn't take part in the election process. In the general elections in 1957, the CPI emerged as the largest opposition party. In 1957, the CPI won the state elections in Kerala. This was the first time that an opposition party won control over an Indian state. E. M. S. Namboodiripad became Chief Minister. At the 1957 international meeting of Communist parties in Moscow, the
Chinese Communist Party The Chinese Communist Party (CCP), officially the Communist Party of China (CPC), is the founding and sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Under the leadership of Mao Zedong, the CCP emerged victorious in the Chinese Civil ...
directed criticism at the CPI for having formed a ministry in Kerala. '' Liberation of Dadra-Nagar Haveli'': The Communist Party of India, along with its units in Bombay, Maharashtra and Gujarat, decided to start armed operations in the area in the July 1954. Both the areas were liberated by the beginning of August. Communist leaders like Narayan Palekar, Parulekar, Vaz, Rodriguez, Cunha and others emerged as the famous Communist leaders of this movement. Thereafter, the struggle to liberate
Daman and Diu Daman and Diu (; ) was a former union territory in northwestern India. With an area of , it was the smallest administrative subdivision of India on the mainland. The territory comprised two districts, Damaon and Dio island, geographically s ...
was begun by the Communist Party in Gujarat and other forces. '' Goa Satyagraha'': The countrywide Goa satyagraha of 1955-56 is among the unforgettable pages in the history of freedom struggle, in which the Communists played a major and memorable role. The CPI decided to send batches of satyahrahis since the middle of 1955 to the borders of Goa and even inside. Many were killed, many more others arrested and sent to jails inside Goa and inhumanly treated. Many others were even sent to jails in Portugal and were brutally tortured. The satyagraha was led and conducted by a joint committee known as Goa Vimochan Sahayak Samiti. S.A. Dange, Senapati Bapat, S.G. Sardesai, Nana Patil and several others were among the prominent leaders of the Samiti. Satyagraha began on 10 May 1955, and soon became a countrywide movement. Ideological differences led to the split in the party in 1964 when two different party conferences were held, one of CPI and one of the
Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the na ...
. During the period 1970–77, CPI was allied with the Congress party. In Kerala, they formed a government together with Congress as part of a coalition known as the
United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts and/or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political ...
, with the CPI-leader
C. Achutha Menon Chelat Achutha Menon (13 January 1913 – 16 August 1991) was the Chief Minister of Kerala state for two terms. The first term was from 1 November 1969 to 1 August 1970 and the second 4 October 1970 to 25 March 1977. He was instrumental in ...
as Chief Minister. This government continued governing throughout the emergency period and was responsible for the many acts of repression throughout the period carried out against political opponents in the guise of fighting naxals, manifesting most infamously in the
Rajan Case ''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in South Asia and Southeast Asia, being attested fr ...
. The United Front government also used this opportunity to pursue class struggle by punishing those from the managerial classes, money lenders, bosses with anti-labour stances, ration shopkeepers and truckers engaged in black marketing, under stringent provisions of MISA and DIR. After the fall of the regime of Indira Gandhi, CPI reoriented itself towards co-operation with CPI(M). In the 1980s, CPI opposed the
Khalistan movement The Khalistan movement is a Sikh separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing a sovereign state, called Khālistān (' Land of the Khalsa'), in the Punjab region. The proposed state would consist of land that cu ...
at Punjab. In 1986, CPI's leader in Punjab and MLA in the Punjabi legislature
Darshan Singh Canadian Darshan Singh Canadian (born Darshan A. Sangha in 1917, in Langeri, Punjab, India – 25 September 1986) was a Sikh trade union activist and communist organizer in Canada and India. Canada Darshan Singh Canadian immigrated to Vancouver, Br ...
was assassinated by Sikh extremists. Altogether about 200 communist leaders out of which most were Sikhs were killed by Sikh extremists in Punjab.


Present situation

CPI was recognised by the Election Commission of India as a 'National Party'. To date, CPI happens to be the only national political party from India to have contested all the general elections using the same electoral symbol. Owing to a massive defeat in
2019 Indian general election General elections were held in India in seven phases from 11 April to 19 May 2019 to elect the members of the 17th Lok Sabha. Votes were counted and the result was declared on 23 May. Around 912 million people were eligible to vote, and voter ...
where the party saw its tally reduced to 2 MPs, the Election Commission of India has sent a letter to CPI asking for reasons why its national party status should not be revoked. If similar performance is repeated in the next election, the CPI will no longer be a national party. On the national level they supported the Indian National Congress-led
United Progressive Alliance United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party ...
government along with other parliamentary Left parties, but without taking part in it. Upon attaining power in May 2004, the United Progressive Alliance formulated a programme of action known as the
Common Minimum Programme The Common Minimum Programme is a document outlining the minimum objectives of a coalition government in India. The document has acquired prominence since coalition governments have become the norm in India. The common minimum programme of Congres ...
. The Left bases its support to the UPA on strict adherence to it. Provisions of the CMP mentioned to discontinue
disinvestment Disinvestment refers to the use of a concerted economic boycott to pressure a government, industry, or company towards a change in policy, or in the case of governments, even regime change. The term was first used in the 1980s, most commonly in ...
, massive social sector outlays and an independent foreign policy. On 8 July 2008, the General Secretary of CPI(M),
Prakash Karat Prakash Karat (born 7 February 1948) is an Indian Communist politician. He was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) from 2005 to 2015. Education and early career Prakash Karat was born in Letpadan, Burma on 7 Februar ...
, announced that the Left was withdrawing its support over the decision by the government to go ahead with the United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act. The Left parties combination had been a staunch advocate of not proceeding with this deal citing national interests. In
West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
it participates in the Left Front. It also participated in the state government in Manipur. In Kerala the party is part of
Left Democratic Front The Left Democratic Front (LDF) is an alliance of left-wing political parties in the state of Kerala, India. It is the current ruling political alliance of Kerala, since 2016. It is one of the two major political alliances in Kerala, the oth ...
. In
Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...
the party is a partner of the Left Front, which governed the state till 2018. In
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
it is part of the Secular Progressive Alliance and in Bihar it is the part of Mahagathbandhan. It is involved in the Left Democratic Front in Maharashtra. In 2022 February CPI and Congress formed an alliance in Manipur named
Manipur Progressive Secular Alliance The Manipur Progressive Secular Alliance (MPSA) (formarly known as Secular Progressive Front (SPF) or Secular Progressive Alliance (SPA)) is a political alliance in India. The alliance includes six parties on a basis of an 18-point Common Age ...
. The current general secretary of CPI is
D. Raja Doraisamy Raja (born 3 June 1949) is an Indian politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) since July 2019. He was former member of Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu. He was the national secretary of the Communist Part ...
.


Presence in states

As of 2020, the CPI is a part of the state government in
Kerala Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
.
Pinarayi Vijayan Pinarayi Vijayan (; born 24 May 1945) is an Indian Communist politician who is the current Chief Minister of Kerala, serving since 25 May 2016. A member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), he is the longest-serving sec ...
is Chief Minister of Kerala. CPI have 4 Cabinet Ministers in Kerala. In
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...
it is in power with
SPA A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (and sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa towns or spa resorts (including hot springs resorts) typically offer various health treatments, which are also known as balneoth ...
coalition led by
M. K. Stalin Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin ( , born 1 March 1953), often referred to by his initials MKS, is an Indian Tamil politician serving as the 8th and current Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. The son of the former Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, Stalin ...
. The Left Front governed
West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...
for 34 years (1977–2011) and
Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...
for 25 years (1993–2018)


State Governments


List of Members of Parliament


List of Rajya Sabha (Upper House) members


List of Lok Sabha (Lower House) members


Leadership

The following are the members of the Central Control Commission, National Council and Candidate Members to National Council, National Executive, National Secretariat and Party Programme Commission were elected at the 23rd Party Congress of Communist Party of India held from 25 to 29 April 2018 in Kollam, Kerala.


General Secretary

*
D. Raja Doraisamy Raja (born 3 June 1949) is an Indian politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) since July 2019. He was former member of Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu. He was the national secretary of the Communist Part ...


National Secretariat

# S. Sudhakar Reddy #
D. Raja Doraisamy Raja (born 3 June 1949) is an Indian politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) since July 2019. He was former member of Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu. He was the national secretary of the Communist Part ...
# Atul Kumar Anjaan # Amarjeet Kaur #
Ramendra Kumar Ramendra Kumar (Ramen) is an Indian author of children’s books with 35 books in English. They are also available in 15 Indian languages and 14 foreign languages. He has also written satire, poetry, travelogues, adult fiction, and non-ficti ...
#K. Narayana #
Kanam Rajendran Kanam Rajendran (born 10 November 1950) is an Indian politician and a member of the Communist Party of India."Kana ...
#
Binoy Viswam Binoy Viswam is a Rajya Sabha Member representing the Communist Party of India (CPI). He is the national secretary member of CPI. He was the Forest Minister in the Government of Kerala during 2006–2011. He was earlier elected to the Kerala L ...
#Bhalchandra Kango #Pallab Sen Gupta


National Executive

# S. Sudhakar Reddy #
D. Raja Doraisamy Raja (born 3 June 1949) is an Indian politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) since July 2019. He was former member of Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu. He was the national secretary of the Communist Part ...
# Atul Kumar Anjaan # Amarjeet Kaur #
Ramendra Kumar Ramendra Kumar (Ramen) is an Indian author of children’s books with 35 books in English. They are also available in 15 Indian languages and 14 foreign languages. He has also written satire, poetry, travelogues, adult fiction, and non-ficti ...
#K. Narayana #
Kanam Rajendran Kanam Rajendran (born 10 November 1950) is an Indian politician and a member of the Communist Party of India."Kana ...
#
Binoy Viswam Binoy Viswam is a Rajya Sabha Member representing the Communist Party of India (CPI). He is the national secretary member of CPI. He was the Forest Minister in the Government of Kerala during 2006–2011. He was earlier elected to the Kerala L ...
#Bhalchandra Kango #Pallab Sengupta #
Nagendra Nath Ojha Nagendra Nath Ojha is an Indian politician. He was a Member of Parliament, representing Bihar in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's Parliament as a member of the Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the ...
#Girish Sharma # Annie Raja # Azeez Pasha # K. Ramakrishna # Satya Narayan Singh #Janaki Paswan #
Ram Naresh Pandey Ram Naresh Pandey is an Indian politician and former member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. He was the representative from the Harlakhi constituency from 2005–2010 as a member of the Communist Party of India. He is the state secretary of ...
#
Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta (born 2 August 1940) is an Indian politician, affiliated to the Communist Party of India. He represented the Hazaribagh constituency of Jharkhand in the 14th Lok Sabha. Biography Mehta was born in August 2, 1940 in a p ...
# K.E. Ismail #
Moirangthem Nara Dr. Moirangthem Nara Singh (born Tentha, is an Indian politician from state Manipur. He was former Cabinet Minister for Arts and Culture and Sericulture in Manipur during 2002 to 2004. Early life Nara was born on 27 May 1949 in Tentha Villa ...
#Dibakar Naik # R. Mutharasan #C. Mahendran #
Chada Venkat Reddy Chada Venkat Reddy (born 30 June 1950) is an Indian politician and leader of Communist Party of India (CPI). He was elected as a member of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly or Andhra Pradesh Śās ...
#
K. Subbarayan K. Subbarayan (born 10 August 1947) is a member of the 17th Lok Sabha of India. He represents the Tiruppur Lok Sabha constituency of Tamil Nadu and is a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) political party. He represented the Coimbat ...
#Swapan Banerjee #Bant Singh Brar # Munin Mahanta #C.H. Venkatachalam Ex-Officio Members # Pannian Ravindran (Chairperson, Central Control Commission) Invitees #Rama Krushna Panda # Manish Kunjam


National Council Members

Members from Centre: * S. Sudhakar Reddy *
D. Raja Doraisamy Raja (born 3 June 1949) is an Indian politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) since July 2019. He was former member of Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu. He was the national secretary of the Communist Part ...
* Atul Kumar Anjaan *
Ramendra Kumar Ramendra Kumar (Ramen) is an Indian author of children’s books with 35 books in English. They are also available in 15 Indian languages and 14 foreign languages. He has also written satire, poetry, travelogues, adult fiction, and non-ficti ...
* Amarjeet Kaur *K. Narayana *
Nagendra Nath Ojha Nagendra Nath Ojha is an Indian politician. He was a Member of Parliament, representing Bihar in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of India's Parliament as a member of the Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the ...
*Bhalchandra Kango *
Binoy Viswam Binoy Viswam is a Rajya Sabha Member representing the Communist Party of India (CPI). He is the national secretary member of CPI. He was the Forest Minister in the Government of Kerala during 2006–2011. He was earlier elected to the Kerala L ...
*Pallab Sengutpa * Azeez Pasha * Annie Raja - Women Front *CH Venkatachalam - Bank Front *B.V. Vijaylakshmi - TU Front *S. V. Damle - TU Front *Vidyasagar Giri - TU Front *R.S. Yadav - Mukti Sangharsh *Manish Kunjam - Tribal Front *C. Srikumar - Defence *Gargi Chakravarthy - Women Front *Anil Rajimwale - Education Department *Viswajeet Kumar - Student Front *R. Thirumalai - Youth Front *A.A. Khan - Minority Front ''Andhra Pradesh'' *K. Ramakrishna *M.N. Rao *J.V.S.N. Murthy *Jalli Wilson *Akkineni Vanaja '' Assam'' * Munin Mahanta *Kanak Gogoi ''Bihar'' *
Ram Naresh Pandey Ram Naresh Pandey is an Indian politician and former member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. He was the representative from the Harlakhi constituency from 2005–2010 as a member of the Communist Party of India. He is the state secretary of ...
*Janki Paswan *Jabbar Alam *Rajendra Prasad Singh *Rageshri Kiran *Om Prakash Narayan *Pramod Prabhakar *Ram Chandra Singh *Nivedita ''Chhattisgarh'' *R.D.C.P. Rao *Rama Sori ''Delhi'' *Dhirendra K. Sharma *Prof. Dinesh Varshney ''Goa'' *Christopher Fonseca ''Gujarat'' *Raj Kumar Singh *Vijay Shenmare ''Haryana'' *Dariyao Singh Kashyap ''Himachal Pradesh'' *Shayam Singh Chauhan ''Jharkhand'' * Bhubaneshwar Prasad Mehta *K.D. Singh *Rajendra Prasad Yadav *Mahendra Pathak ''Jammu and Kashmir'' Vacant ''Karnataka'' *P.V. Lokesh *Saathi Sundaresh ''Kerala'' *
Kanam Rajendran Kanam Rajendran (born 10 November 1950) is an Indian politician and a member of the Communist Party of India."Kana ...
* K.E. Ismail * K. Prekash Babu *
E. Chandrasekharan Edayillam Chandrasekharan ( ml, ഇ. ചന്ദ്രശേഖരന്‍; born 26 December 1948) is an Indian politician from Kasaragod, and is the former Revenue Minister of Kerala in the Pinarayi Vijayan Ministry. He is the son of P. ...
*Adv. P. Vasantham *T.V. Balan *
C.N. Jayadevan C. N. Jayadevan is an Indian politician of the Communist Party of India (CPI) from Thrissur in Kerala. He is a former Member of parliament who represented Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency Thrissur is one of the 20 Lok Sabha (parliamentary) c ...
*
K.P. Rajendran K. P. Rajendran (born 3 November 1954) is an Indian politician, State Executive Member of Communist Party of India, and National Working Committee Member of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). He was the Minister for Revenue and Land Reform ...
*
J. Chinchu Rani J. Chinchu Rani is an Indian politician from Kollam district, Kollam, Kerala. She is currently serving as Minister for Animal Husbandry, Dairy Development, Milk Co-operatives, Zoos, Kerala Veterinary & Animal Sciences University, Government of ...
* N. Anirudhan *
N. Rajan N. Rajan (born 27 November 1956) is an Indian politician and a leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI). He was a member of the 8th KLA 10th KLA and 11th KLA representing the Kilimanoor Kilimanoor is a panchayat and a town in the Chiray ...
''Manipur'' *
Moirangthem Nara Dr. Moirangthem Nara Singh (born Tentha, is an Indian politician from state Manipur. He was former Cabinet Minister for Arts and Culture and Sericulture in Manipur during 2002 to 2004. Early life Nara was born on 27 May 1949 in Tentha Villa ...
*L. Sotin Kumar ''Meghalaya'' *Samudra Gupta ''Maharashtra'' *Tukaram Bhasme *Namdev Gavade *Ram Baheti *Prakash Reddy ''Madhya Pradesh'' *Arvind Shrivastava *Haridwar Singh ''Odisha'' *Dibakar Nayak *Ashish Kanungo *
Abhaya Sahu Abhaya may refer to: People with the name Historical * Abhaya of Upatissa Nuwara, king of Upathissa Nuwara from 474 to 454 BCE * Abhaya Malla (died 1255), Malla Dynasty king of Nepal * Abhaya Naga of Anuradhapura (reigned 237–245 CE) * Amand ...
*Ramakrushna Panda * Souribandhu Kar ''Puducherry'' *A. M. Saleem *A. Ramamoorthy ''Punjab'' *Bant Singh Brar *Jagrup Singh *Hardev Singh Arshi *Nirmal Singh Dhaliwal *Jagjit Singh Joga ''Rajasthan'' *Narendra Acharya *Tara Singh Sidhu ''Tamil Nadu'' * R. Nallakkannu * R. Mutharasan *C. Mahendran *
K. Subbarayan K. Subbarayan (born 10 August 1947) is a member of the 17th Lok Sabha of India. He represents the Tiruppur Lok Sabha constituency of Tamil Nadu and is a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) political party. He represented the Coimbat ...
*M. Veerapandian *T.M. Murthi *G. Palaniswamy *P. Padmavathi *P. Sethuraman ''Telangana'' *
Chada Venkat Reddy Chada Venkat Reddy (born 30 June 1950) is an Indian politician and leader of Communist Party of India (CPI). He was elected as a member of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly The Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly or Andhra Pradesh Śās ...
*Palla Venkat Reddy *K. Sambasiva Rao *Pasya Padma *K. Srinivas Reddy *K. Shanker *T. Srinivas Rao ''Tripura'' *Ranjit Majumdar ''Uttar Pradesh'' *Girish Sharma *Arvind Raj Swarup *Imtiyaz Ahmed *Prof. Nisha Rathor *Ram Chand Saras *Shyam Mohan Singh ''Uttarakhand'' *Samar Bhandari ''West Bengal'' *Swapan Banerjee *Manju Kumar Mazumdar *
Santosh Rana Santosh Rana (1942 – 29 June 2019) was an Indian politician. In the 1960s, he was a prominent figure in the armed struggle of the Naxalites led by Charu Majumdar. Rana received Ananda Puraskar for his book ''Rajnitir Ek Jibon'' in 2018. A ...
*Shyama Sree Das *Ujjawal Chaudhury *Chittaranjan Das Thakur *Prabir Deb *Tarun Das Candidate Members *Prof. Arun Kumar *N. Chidambaram *Arun Mitra *M. Bal Narsima *Mithlesh Jha *Suhaas Naik *Mahesh Kakkath *Kh. Surchand Singh *Richard B. Thabah *G. Obulesu *Vicky Mahesari *Shuvam Banerjee Invitee Members *Bhupender Sambar *Periyaswamy *Gulzar Singh Goria *Aruna Sinha *Asomi Gogoi *Kannagi *Usha Sahani *Indra Mani Devi *Durga Bhavani *
R. C. Singh R.C. Singh was a member of the Rajya Sabha for the West Bengal constituency, and a member of the Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine na ...
*Amiya Kumar Mohanty


Central Control Commission

# Pannian Ravindran (Chairman) #
C. A. Kurian C. A. Kurian (20 January 1933 – 20 March 2021) was an Indian trade union leader, legislator, and leader of the Communist Party of India. He was the Chair of Deputy Speaker in the 10th Kerala Legislative Assembly. He was first elected to the ...
#Dr Joginder Dayal (Punjab) #C.R. Bakshi (Chhattisgarh) #P.J.C. Rao (Andhra Pradesh) #Bijoy Narayan Mishra (Bihar) #Moti Lal (Uttar Pradesh) #M. Sakhi Devi (Tripura) #T. Narsimhan (Telangana) # M. Arumugham (Tamil Nadu) #Apurba Mandal (West Bengal


Party Programme Commission

#Pallab Sen Gupta # K. Prekash Babu #C.R. Bakshi #
Moirangthem Nara Dr. Moirangthem Nara Singh (born Tentha, is an Indian politician from state Manipur. He was former Cabinet Minister for Arts and Culture and Sericulture in Manipur during 2002 to 2004. Early life Nara was born on 27 May 1949 in Tentha Villa ...
#Anil Rajimwale


State Council Secretaries

''Sources'' *Andhra Pradesh : K. Ramakrishna *Assam : Munin Mahanta *Bihar :
Ram Naresh Pandey Ram Naresh Pandey is an Indian politician and former member of the Bihar Legislative Assembly. He was the representative from the Harlakhi constituency from 2005–2010 as a member of the Communist Party of India. He is the state secretary of ...
*Chhattisgarh : RDCP Rao *Delhi :Prof.Dinesh Varshney *Goa : RD Mangueshkar *Gujarat : Vijay Shenmare *Haryana : Dariyao Singh Kashyap *Himachal Pradesh : Bhag Singh *Jammu & Kashmir : G. M. Mizrab *Jharkhand :
Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta Bhubneshwar Prasad Mehta (born 2 August 1940) is an Indian politician, affiliated to the Communist Party of India. He represented the Hazaribagh constituency of Jharkhand in the 14th Lok Sabha. Biography Mehta was born in August 2, 1940 in a p ...
*Kerala :
Kanam Rajendran Kanam Rajendran (born 10 November 1950) is an Indian politician and a member of the Communist Party of India."Kana ...
*Karnataka : Saathi Sundaresh *Maharashtra : Prakash Reddy *Madhya Pradesh : Arvind Shrivastava *Manipur : L. Thoiren Singh *Meghalaya : Samudra Gupta *Nagaland : M M Thromwa Konyak *Odisha :
Abhaya Sahu Abhaya may refer to: People with the name Historical * Abhaya of Upatissa Nuwara, king of Upathissa Nuwara from 474 to 454 BCE * Abhaya Malla (died 1255), Malla Dynasty king of Nepal * Abhaya Naga of Anuradhapura (reigned 237–245 CE) * Amand ...
*Puducherry : A. M. Saleem *Punjab : Bant Singh Brar *Rajasthan : Narendra Acharya *Tamil Nadu : R. Mutharasan *Telangana :
Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao Kunamneni Sambasiva Rao (born 1966) is an Indian politician and leader of Communist Party of India (CPI). He was elected as a member of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Kothagudem Kothagudem is a City in Telangana. It serves as the ...
*Uttar Pradesh : Girish Sharma *Uttarakhand : Jagdish Kuliyal *West Bengal : Swapan Banerjee


List of General secretaries and Chairmen of CPI

Article XXXII of the party constitution says:
"The tenure of the General Secretary and Deputy General Secretary, if any, and State Secretaries is limited to two consecutive terms—a term being of not less than two years. In exceptional cases, the unit concerned may decide by three-fourth majority through secret ballot to allow two more terms. In case such a motion is adopted that comrade also can contest in the election along with other candidates. As regards the tenure of the office-bearers at district and lower levels, the state councils will frame rules where necessary."


Party Congress


Principal mass organisations

*
All India Trade Union Congress The All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) is the oldest trade union federation in India. It is associated with the Communist Party of India. According to provisional statistics from the Ministry of Labour, AITUC had a membership of 14.2 mill ...
(AITUC) * All India Students’ Federation (AISF) * All India Youth Federation (AIYF) *
National Federation of Indian Women The National Federation of Indian Women is a women's organisation in India, the women's wing of the Communist Party of India. It was established in 1954 June 4 by several leaders from Mahila Atma Raksha Samiti including Aruna Asaf Ali.Overstree ...
(NFIW) *
All India Kisan Sabha All India Kisan Sabha ( AIKS; lit. ''All India Farmers Union'', also known as the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha), is the peasant or farmers' wing of the Communist Party of India, an important peasant movement formed by Sahajanand Saraswati in 1 ...
- AIKS (peasants organisation) *
Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union literally 'Indian Land Workers Union' is a trade union of agricultural labourers in India. BKMU is politically tied to the Communist Party of India (CPI). BKMU is independent from both the main trade union central o ...
- BKMU (agricultural workers) *
Indian People's Theatre Association Indian People's Theatre Association (IPTA) is the oldest association of theatre-artists in India. IPTA was formed in 1943 during the British rule in India, and promoted themes related to the Indian freedom struggle. Its goal was to bring cultur ...
- IPTA (cultural wing) *
All India State Government Employees Confederation All or ALL may refer to: Language * All, an indefinite pronoun in English * All, one of the English determiners * Allar language (ISO 639-3 code) * Allative case (abbreviated ALL) Music * All (band), an American punk rock band * ''All'' (All a ...
(State government employees) * Indian Society for Cultural Co-operation and Friendship (ISCUF) *
All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation The All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation is an organization in India promoting peace, solidarity and friendship between peoples. AIPSO was founded in 1951 and is a member of the World Peace Council. As of 2019, Pallab Sengupta is the general ...
(AIPSO) *
Progressive Writers' Association The Progressive Writers' Association or the Progressive Writers' Movement of India or ''Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind'' (( ur, ) or ''Akhil Bhartiya Pragatishil Lekhak Sangh'' (Hindi: अखिल भारतीय प्रगति ...
(PWA) * All India Adivasi Mahasabha (Tribal Wing) * All India Dalit Rights Movement (AIDRM) *
Tamil Nadu Oppressed People's Movement Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. Hi ...
* People's Service Corps *
Ganamukti Parishad Ganamukti Parishad (Bengali language, Bengali for 'Tripura State Indigenous People's Liberation Council') is a left-wing politics, left-wing movement working amongst the Tripuri people, Tripuri peoples of Tripura, in north-eastern India. It is af ...
In
Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the ea ...
, the
Ganamukti Parishad Ganamukti Parishad (Bengali language, Bengali for 'Tripura State Indigenous People's Liberation Council') is a left-wing politics, left-wing movement working amongst the Tripuri people, Tripuri peoples of Tripura, in north-eastern India. It is af ...
is a major mass organisation amongst the
Tripuri Tripuri refer to: *Tripuri people, an ethnic group in India and Bangladesh, also known as Tipra people **Tripuri language **Tripuri nationalism **Tripuri calendar **Tripuri culture **Tripuri cuisine **Tripuri dances **Tripuri dress **Tripuri games ...
peoples of the state.


Former chief ministers


Notable leaders

* Abdul Sattar Ranjoor – Founding state secretary of the CPI in Jammu and Kashmir *
Ajoy Ghosh Ajoy Kumar Ghosh ( bn, অজয়কুমার ঘোষ) (20 February 1909–13 January 1962) was an Indian freedom fighter and prominent leader of the Communist Party of India. He was the general secretary of the Communist Party o ...
– Former general secretary of CPI, freedom fighter * Amarjeet Kaur - General Secretary of AITUC and National Secretary of CPI *
Annabhau Sathe Tukaram Bhaurao Sathe (1 August 1920 – 18 July 1969), popularly known as Anna Bhau Sathe (Marathi pronunciation: ɳːaːbʱaːu saːʈʰe, was a social reformer, folk poet, and writer from Maharashtra, India. Sathe was a Dalit born in ...
-
Samyukta Maharashtra movement Samyukta Maharashtra Movement ( mr, संयुक्त महाराष्ट्र चळवळ), commonly known as the Samiti, was an organisation in India that advocated for a separate Marathi-speaking state in Western India and Centr ...
leader * Annie Raja - General Secretary of NFIW and National Executive Member of CPI * Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan – Former general secretary * Aruna Asaf Ali – Freedom fighter *
Binoy Viswam Binoy Viswam is a Rajya Sabha Member representing the Communist Party of India (CPI). He is the national secretary member of CPI. He was the Forest Minister in the Government of Kerala during 2006–2011. He was earlier elected to the Kerala L ...
– Member of Rajya Sabha, Former minister in the Government of Kerala * Bhargavi Thankappan - Parliamentarian *
Bhupesh Gupta Bhupesh Gupta ( bn, ভূপেশ গুপ্ত) (20 October 1914 – 6 August 1981) was an Indian politician and a leader of the Communist Party of India., He was one of the senior communist leaders and parliamentarian in Rajya Sabha. ...
– Parliamentarian *
C. Achutha Menon Chelat Achutha Menon (13 January 1913 – 16 August 1991) was the Chief Minister of Kerala state for two terms. The first term was from 1 November 1969 to 1 August 1970 and the second 4 October 1970 to 25 March 1977. He was instrumental in ...
– Finance minister in first Kerala ministry Former chief minister of Kerala *
C. Divakaran C. Divakaran (born 4 September 1942) is an Indian politician, from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He is a State Executive Member of Communist Party of India (CPI), and National Working Committee Member of All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC). A ...
- Senior leader, former minister and National Council Member from Kerala * Chandra Rajeswara Rao – former general secretary, Telangana freedom fighter *
Chaturanan Mishra Chaturanan Mishra (7 April 1925 – 2 July 2011)''The Economic Times''. Former Minister Chaturanan Mishra passes away' was an Indian politician and trade unionist. Mishra, who was born in Nahar, Madhubani District,Lok Sabha. Biographical Sk ...
parliamentarian & former Central Minister of India *
Chittayam Gopakumar Chittayam Gopakumar (born 30 May 1965) is an Indian politician who belongs to the Communist Party of India. He got elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly for the first time in 2011 as a candidate from Adoor constituency in Pathanamthit ...
- Deputy Speaker of Kerala Legislative Assembly and State council member * C. K. Chandrappan – Parliamentarian & former Kerala state secretary of the party * C. N. Jayadevan - Senior leader, parliamentarian *
Dhanwantri Comrade Dhanwantri (7 March 1902 – 13 July 1953) was a freedom fighter and one of the founder of Communist Party of India in Jammu and Kashmir. During the British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or emp ...
- one of the founder of communist party in Jammu & Kashmir *
Darshan Singh Canadian Darshan Singh Canadian (born Darshan A. Sangha in 1917, in Langeri, Punjab, India – 25 September 1986) was a Sikh trade union activist and communist organizer in Canada and India. Canada Darshan Singh Canadian immigrated to Vancouver, Br ...
- Trade Unionist, fight against Khalistan movement * D. Pandian - Parliamentarian & former Tamil Nadu state secretary *
D. Raja Doraisamy Raja (born 3 June 1949) is an Indian politician and the General Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI) since July 2019. He was former member of Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu. He was the national secretary of the Communist Part ...
– parliamentarian & General secretary of the party *
E. Chandrasekharan Nair E. Chandrasekharan Nair (2 December 1928 – 29 November 2017) was an Indian politician, Minister of Kerala and leader of the Communist Party of India. Biography Shri. E. Chandrasekharan Nair, one of the seniormost leaders of CPI and co-o ...
– Senior leader and former Minister in the Government of Kerala *
Geeta Mukherjee Geeta Mukherjee (8 January 1924 – 4 March 2000) was an Indian politician and social worker and a four times MLA from Panskura Purba, from 1967 to 1977. As a Member of Parliament, she was elected seven times from the Panskura constituency, ...
- Parliamentarian & Former Vice President of National Federation of Indian Women * Govind Pansare – Prominent activist and lawyer *
Gurudas Dasgupta Gurudas Dasgupta (3 November 1936 – 31 October 2019) was an Indian politician and a leader of the Communist Party of India. In the 1950s and 60s, he held several offices as a student leader. Later he was a member of Rajya Sabha for three term ...
- Parliamentarian & Former General Secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) and Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union *
Hajrah Begum Hajrah Begum (1910-2003) was an Indian politician, a leader of the Communist Party of India and the former General Secretary National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) from 1954 to 1962 . Hajra Begum was born into a wealthy family in 1910. She ...
- former general secretary of NFIW * Hasrat Mohani – founding member *
Hijam Irabot Hijam Irabot (30 September 1896 – 26 September 1951), also known as Jana Neta Hijam Irabot, was a politician and leader of Communist party of India and revolutionary social activist from Manipur. He fought against the social evils of the so ...
– Founder leader of CPI in Manipur *
Hirendranath Mukherjee Hirendranath Mukhopadhyay (23 November 1907 – 30 July 2004), also known as Hiren Mukerjee, was an Indian politician, lawyer and academic. He was a member of the Communist Party of India having joined in 1936 when it was still illegal. He was ...
-Parliamentarian & He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1990 and Padma Vibhushan in 1991 by the President of India for his lifelong services * Ila Mitra – Peasant Movement Leader from West Bengal *
Indrajit Gupta Indrajit Gupta (18 March 1919 – 20 February 2001) was an Indian politician who belonged to the Communist Party of India (CPI). From 1996 to 1998, he served as Union Home Minister in the United Front governments of prime ministers H. D. Deve ...
– Parliamentarian, former general secretary and a former central minister * Jagannath Sarkar – former National Secretary, freedom fighter, builder of communist movement in Bihar and Jharkhand *
Junu Das Jitendra Lal Das ''popularly known as'' Junu Das was an Indian politician and a leader of the Communist Party of India. He was a member of the Tripura Legislative Assembly, representing the Belonia (Vidhan Sabha constituency), Belonia constituenc ...
– Prominent leader of CPI *
Kalpana Datta Kalpana Datta (27 July 1913 – 8 February 1995), also Kalpana Joshi, was an Indian independence movement activist and a member of the armed independence movement led by Surya Sen, which carried out the Chittagong armoury raid in 1930. Later sh ...
– freedom fighter *
Kanam Rajendran Kanam Rajendran (born 10 November 1950) is an Indian politician and a member of the Communist Party of India."Kana ...
– Current Kerala state secretary of the party *
K.N. Joglekar K.N. Joglekar (died November 1970) was an Indian politician and one of the founding members of Communist Party of India. Then he joined All India Forward Bloc. He became the General Secretary of the All India Forward Bloc from 1948 to 1952. Then ...
– founding member of CPI *
Meghraj Tawar Meghraj Tawar (died on August 27, 2017) is an Indian politician. He is a leader of the Communist Party of India. He represented Gogunda constituency in Rajasthan Legislative Assembly from 1980 to 1985. He is a prominent profile of the party amon ...
– Former Rajasthan MLA and leader of the CPI *
M. Kalyanasundaram Meenakshisundaram Kalyanasundaram (20 October 1909 – 27 July 1988) was an Indian politician and former Member of the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly as a Communist Party of India cand ...
– Parliamentarian *
M. N. Govindan Nair M. N. Govindan Nair (10 December 1910 – 27 November 1984), popularly known as MN, was an Indian communist politician born in Pandalam, in Pathanamthitta district, India. He is known as ''"Kerala Khrushchev"''. Political life M.N. began hi ...
– Kerala state secretary during the first communist ministry and a freedom fighter *
Mohit Banerji Mohit Banerji (Mohit Bandopadhay) (1912–1961) was a pioneer of the Communist Party of India in West Bengal, India and translated several Communist movement songs of Europe into Bengali. These include "Soviet Land" and "The Internationale" (b ...
- Prominent Leader *
Nallakannu R. Nallakannu (born 26 December 1925) is an Indian politician. He is a senior leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI). He was the former State Secretary of the Communist Party of India of Tamil Nadu. Early life Nallakannu was born in t ...
– former Tamil Nadu state secretary of the party *
N.E. Balaram N.E. Balaram (Njalile Veettil Edavalathu Balaraman) (20 November 1919 – 16 July 1994) was one of the founding leaders of the communist movement in Kerala, India. A Marxist ideologue, scholar in Indian Philosophy and a well known literary cri ...
- Founding leader of the
communist movement The history of communism encompasses a wide variety of ideologies and political movements sharing the core theoretical values of common ownership of wealth, economic enterprise, and property. Most modern forms of communism are grounded at least ...
in Kerala, India * Pannyan Raveendran – Former Kerala state secretary of the party *
Parvathi Krishnan Parvathi Krishnan (15 March 1919 – 20 February 2014) was an Indian politician from the Communist Party of India. She was a three time former Member of Parliament representing Coimbatore Lok Sabha constituency and Rajya Sabha member. She was ...
- Parliamentarian * P. Krishna Pillai - Founder and First secretary of CPI in Kerala *
P. K. Vasudevan Nair Padayatt Kesavapillai Vasudevan Nair (2 March 1926 – 12 July 2005), popularly known as PKV, was the 9th Chief Minister of Kerala and a senior leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI). He was elected to the Lok Sabha four times, in 1957, ...
– Former Chief minister of Kerala, Former AISF general secretary, Former AIYF general secretary * Puran Chand Joshi – first general secretary of the Communist Party of India * P. S. Sreenivasan – Former Minister of Kerala * Rajaji Mathew Thomas - Journalist, former MLA and CPI National council Member, from Kerala *
Ramendra Kumar Ramendra Kumar (Ramen) is an Indian author of children’s books with 35 books in English. They are also available in 15 Indian languages and 14 foreign languages. He has also written satire, poetry, travelogues, adult fiction, and non-ficti ...
– Former Parliamentarian, national executive member, national president AITUC *
Rosamma Punnoose Rosamma Punnoose (12 May 1913 – 28 December 2013) was an Indian independence activist, politician and lawyer. She was the first person to be sworn in as a member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly. She was also the first MLA in India to lose ...
- Freedom Fighter * R.Sugathan - Prominent trade unionist, mass leader and member of Kerala Legislative assembly *
Sachchidanand Vishnu Ghate Sachchidanand Vishnu Ghate (December 14, 1896 – November 28, 1970), also known as S.V. Ghate, was a freedom fighter and first General Secretary of the Communist Party of India.''SV Ghate: First General Secretary of CPI'', in ''New Age Weekly' ...
- First general secretary of CPI, freedom fighter * Satypal Dang- He was a legislator of Punjab State Legislative Assembly, representing the Communist Party of India for four terms and a Minister of Food and Civil Supplies in the United Front ministry led by Justice Gurnam Singh and Padma Bhushan Awardee. * S.S. Mirajkar – Trade Unionist, Freedom fighter * Suhasini Chattopadhyay - founding member of CPI * Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy – former general secretary of the party & parliamentarian *
Shripad Amrit Dange Shripad Amrut Dange (10 October 1899 – 22 May 1991) was an Indian Politician who was a founding member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and a stalwart of Indian trade union movement. During the 20th century, Dange was arrested by the a ...
– Freedom fighter & former chairman of the party *
Thoppil Bhasi Thoppil Bhaskara Pillai, known as Thoppil Bhasi (8 April 1924 – 8 December 1992) was an Indian Malayalam-language playwright, screenwriter, and film director. He was associated with the communist movement in Kerala and his play ''Ningalenne C ...
– Writer, film director & parliamentarian *
T. V. Thomas T. V. Thomas (2 July 1910 – 26 March 1977) was an Indian communism, communist leader from Alappuzha, Alleppey, Kerala. He was the Minister for Labour and Transport in the First E. M. S. Namboodiripad ministry (5 April 1957 to 31 July 1959), ...
– Minister in first Kerala ministry *
Veliyam Bharghavan Veliyam Bharghavan ( ml, വെളിയം ഭാർഗവൻ‎; May 1928 – 18 September 2013) was a Communist leader from the Kerala, India. He was the state Secretary of Communist Party of India (CPI) from 1998 to 2010. In 2010 he retir ...
– Parliamentarian & Former Kerala state secretary of the party *
Vidya Munshi Vidya Munshi (née Kanuga; 5 December 1919 – 8 July 2014) was a journalist and leader of Communist Party of India. She has been, arguably, the first woman journalist of India. Early life Vidya Kanuga, later Munshi, belonged to a Gujarati family ...
- Journalist * Vimla Dang - leader of CPI *
V. S. Sunil Kumar V. S. Sunil Kumar (born 30 May 1967) is an Indian politician and the former Minister for Agriculture, Kerala. In 2011, he was elected from Kaipamangalam constituency and in 2016, from Thrissur constituency to Kerala Legislative Assembly. He ...
- Former Agriculture Minister in Kerala * V.V. Raghavan -CPI Central Secretariat Member,Two time Loksabha Member from
Thrissur Thrissur (), formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the third largest urban agglomeration in Kerala after Kochi and Kozhikode, and t ...
Kerala,
Rajya sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...
Member, Former
Agriculture Minister An agriculture ministry (also called an) agriculture department, agriculture board, agriculture council, or agriculture agency, or ministry of rural development) is a ministry charged with agriculture. The ministry is often headed by a minister ...
of Kerala


General election results

* : 12 seats in Assam and 1 in Meghalaya did not vote.


State Legislative assembly results

*N/A indicates Not Available * Results from the Election Commission of India website. Results do not deal with partitions of states (Bihar was bifurcated after the 2000 election, creating
Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ; ) is a state in eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north and Odisha to the south. It has an area of . I ...
), defections and by-elections during the mandate period.


See also

*
Politics of India Politics of India works within the framework of the country's Constitution. India is a parliamentary democratic secular republic in which the president of India is the head of state & first citizen of India and the prime minister of India is t ...
*
List of political parties in India India has a multi-party system. The Election Commission of India (ECI) accords recognition to the national level and the state level political parties based upon objective criteria. A recognised political party enjoys privileges like a reserve ...
*
List of communist parties in India This page contains a list of political parties in India that are aligned with the communist ideology. Most communist parties in India trace their origins to- *(i) the Communist Party of India, the oldest communist party in India, takes part in p ...
*
List of communist parties There are a number of communist parties active in various countries across the world and a number that used to be active. They differ not only in method, but also in strict ideology and interpretation, although they are generally within the tradi ...
* Left Democratic Front (Kerala) *
Left Front (West Bengal) The Left Front ( bn, বামফ্রন্ট; ) is an alliance of left-wing political parties in the Indian state of West Bengal. It was formed in January 1977, the founding parties being the Communist Party of India (Marxist), All India ...
*
Left Front (Tripura) The Left Front is a political alliance in the Indian state of Tripura. The Left Front governed Tripura 1978–1988, and again from 1993 to 2018. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is the dominant party in the coalition. The other three membe ...


Footnotes


Further reading

* Chakrabarty, Bidyut. ''Communism in India: Events, Processes and Ideologies'' (Oxford University Press, 2014). * Devika, J. "Egalitarian developmentalism, communist mobilization, and the question of caste in Kerala State, India." ''Journal of Asian Studies'' (2010): 799-820
online
* D'mello, Vineet Kaitan. "The United Socialist Front: The Congress Socialist Party and the Communist Party of India." ''Proceedings of the Indian History Congress''. Vol. 73. (2012
online
* Haithcox, John Patrick. ''Communism and Nationalism in India'' (Princeton UP, 2015). * Kautsky, John H. ''Moscow and the Communist Party of India: A Study in the Postwar Evolution of International Communist Strategy.'' (MIT Press, 1956). * Kohli, Atul. "Communist Reformers in West Bengal: Origins, Features, and Relations with New Delhi." in ''State Politics in Contemporary India'' (Routledge, 2019) pp. 81–102. * Lockwood, David. ''The communist party of India and the Indian emergency'' (SAGE Publications India, 2016). * Lovell, Julia. '' Maoism: A Global History'' (2019) * Masani, M.R. ''The Communist Party of India: A Short History.'' (Macmillan, 1954)
online
* Overstreet, Gene D., and Marshall Windmiller. ''Communism in India'' (U of California Press, 2020) * Paul, Santosh, ed. ''The Maoist Movement in India: perspectives and counterperspectives'' (Taylor & Francis, 2020). * Pons, Silvio and Robert Service, eds. ''A Dictionary of 20th-Century Communism'' (Princeton UP, 2010) pp 180–182. * Singer, Wendy. "Peasants and the Peoples of the East: Indians and the Rhetoric of the Comintern," in Tim Rees and Andrew Thorpe, ''International Communism and the Communist International, 1919-43.'' (Manchester University Press, 1998). * Steur, Luisa. "Adivasis, Communists, and the rise of indigenism in Kerala." ''Dialectical Anthropology'' 35.1 (2011): 59-76
online
* N.E. Balaram, ''A Short History of the Communist Party of India.'' Kozikkode, Cannanore, India: Prabhath Book House, 1967. * Samaren Roy, ''The Twice-Born Heretic: M.N. Roy and the Comintern.'' Calcutta: Firma KLM Private, 1986.


Primary sources

* G. Adhikari (ed.), ''Documents of the History of the Communist Party of India: Volume One, 1917-1922.'' New Delhi: People's Publishing House, 1971. * G. Adhikari (ed.), ''Documents of the History of the Communist Party of India: Volume Two, 1923-1925.'' New Delhi: People's Publishing House, 1974. * V.B. Karnick (ed.), ''Indian Communist Party Documents, 1930-1956.'' Bombay: Democratic Research Service/Institute of Public Relations, 1957. * Rao, M. B., Ed. ''Documents Of The History Of The Communist Party Of India(1948-1950), Vol. 7'' (1960
online


External links

*
Constitution

primary sources
{{DEFAULTSORT:Communist Party Of India 1925 in India 1925 establishments in India Former member parties of the United Progressive Alliance Communist parties in India Anti-Americanism Anti-capitalist organizations Left-wing parties Left-wing parties in Asia Left-wing politics in India Anti-fascist organizations Anti-imperialist organizations National political parties in India Political parties established in 1925 Indian independence movement Recognised national political parties in India International Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties