The Revolutionary Communist Party of India, also known as RCPI (Tagore), was a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

in India, led by

Saumyendranath Tagore Saumyendranath Tagore (October 8, 1901 – September 22, 1974), son of Sudhindranath Tagore, grandson of Dwijendranath Tagore, and grand-nephew of Rabindranath Tagore, was the leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party of India, and the first tr ...

. RCPI (Tagore) emerged from a split in the

Revolutionary Communist Party of India The Revolutionary Communist Party of India ( RCPI) is a political party in India. The party was founded as the Communist League by Saumyendranath Tagore in 1934, breaking away from the Communist Party of India (CPI). RCPI led armed uprisings aft ...

in 1948. RCPI (Tagore) had a very minor role in Indian politics. Tagore served as the chairman of the party. The party published the Bengali fortnightly ''Ganabani'' ('People's Voice').

Split in RCPI

Tagore, the founder of RCPI in 1934, had been jailed in November 1947. Tagore was released from prison in 1948. At the time a sector of RCPI, led by Pannalal Dasgupta, insisted on turning the campaign of building

panchayats The Panchayat raj is a political system, originating from the Indian subcontinent, found mainly in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal. It is the oldest system of local government in the Indian subcontinent, and historical menti ...

into a general armed insurrection. After his release from jail Tagore argued that armed revolution was premature in India. Dasgupta assembled an All India Party Conference in

Birbhum Birbhum district () is an administrative unit in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the northernmost district of Burdwan division—one of the five administrative divisions of West Bengal. The district headquarters is in Suri. Other impor ...

in 1948. Tagore requested to resign from the RCPI Central Committee, a request the Birbhum conference rejected. After the Birbhum conference the followers of Dasgupta began to gather arms and prepare for armed struggle. After the Birbhum conference Tagore, at a public meeting 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 ...

, denounced insurrectional line of Dasgupta. Tagore's speech pushed the Dasgupta group to issue disciplinary action against him, accepting his resignation from the Central Committee. Half a year later Tagore gathered his followers for a separate Party Conference, as its 5th Party Congress, in

Burdwan Bardhaman (, ) is a city and a municipality in the state of West Bengal, India. It is the headquarters of Purba Bardhaman district, having become a district capital during the period of British rule. Burdwan, an alternative name for the city, ...

. Thus there were two parallel RCPIs, one led by Dasgupta and one led by Tagore. The former grouping represented the majority in the RCPI.
Cahiers Leon Trotsky
', February 1998 The latter of the two parties came to be known as 'RCPI (Tagore)'.

Work amongst refugees

The RCPI (Tagore) joined the Refugee Central Rehabilitation Council, a body that challenged the main CPI-led United Central Refugee Council.

1951–1952 elections

Ahead of the 1951–1952 general election RCPI (Tagore) joined the

United Socialist Organisation of India United Socialist Organisation was a left-wing alliance in India. The USOI was launched by Sarat Chandra Bose, the elder brother of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, after his resignation from the Indian National Congress in 1947. Bose wanted to assemble ...

Sarat Chandra Bose Sarat Chandra Bose (Bengali: শরৎচন্দ্র বসু) (6 September 1889 – 20 February 1950) was an Indian barrister and independence activist. Early life He was born to Janakinath Bose (father) and Prabhabati Devi in Cuttac ...

, but in June 1951 the party broke with the USOI. Instead, on July 18, 1951 RCPI (Tagore) along with the

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

and the

Leela Roy Leela Roy (2 October 1900 – 11 June 1970), was a radical leftist Indian woman politician and reformer, and a close associate of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. She was born in Goalpara, Assam to Girish Chandra Naag, who was a deputy magistrate, ...

faction of the Forward Bloc formed the People's United Socialist Front (PUSF). RCPI (Tagore) fielded 11 candidates in the

1952 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election The West Bengal State Assembly Election of 1952 was a part of the series of Legislative Assembly elections in 1952. Alliances On the political left, two alliances had emerged the United Socialist Organisation of India (an alliance between th ...

. None of the candidates was elected, in total the party obtained 35,645 votes (0.48% of the statewide vote). The election symbol of the party was a flaming torch. Dissatisfied with what he perceived to be lack of support from the party during the election campaign, Kanai Pal and his

Santipur Santipur is a city and a municipality in the Ranaghat subdivision of Nadia district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The fort area of this city, also known as Daak-Garh (calling or gathering room) is thought to have been built by Raja Krish ...

-based group split away from RCPI (Tagore) in 1953.

1957 election

RCPI (Tagore) joined the

United Democratic People's Front The United Democratic People's Front was an electoral alliance in West Bengal, India, formed ahead of the 1957 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election. The front was composed of the Jana Sangh, the Hindu Mahasabha, the Revolutionary Communist Par ...

ahead of the

1957 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election The West Bengal state assembly election of 1957 was part of a series of state assembly elections in 1957. State Reorganization On 1 November 1956, under States Reorganisation Act, 1956, a portion of the Purnea district east of the river Maha ...

, a front that brought together the

Hindu nationalist Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expression of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent. "Hindu nationalism" or the correct term ''Hindū rāṣṭ ...

Jana Sangh The Bharatiya Jana Sangh ( BJS or JS, short name: Jan Sangh, full name: Akhil Bharatiya Jana Sangh; ) ( ISO 15919: '' Akhila Bhāratīya Jana Saṅgha '' ) was an Indian right wing political party that existed from 1951 to 1977 and was the po ...

and

Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha The Hindu Mahasabha (officially Akhil Bhārat Hindū Mahāsabhā, ) is a Hindu nationalist political party in India. Founded in 1915, the Mahasabha functioned mainly as a pressure group advocating the interests of orthodox Hindus before the B ...

, as well as dissident Congressmen. RCPI (Tagore) contested 2 seats, winning none and obtaining 18,602 votes (0.18% of the statewide vote).

Sixth and Seventh Party Congresses

RCPI (Tagore) held its Sixth Party Congress in February–March 1960. The Party Congress characterized the Soviet Union as a 'labour bureaucracy' and China as moving towards 'totalitarian, bureaucratic rule'. The Party Congress called for the creation of a new International of anti-Stalinist left-wing forces. RCPI (Tagore) held its Seventh Party Congress in November 1961. Tagore visited Israel as a guest of

Mapam Mapam ( he, מַפָּ״ם, an acronym for , ) was a left-wing political party in Israel. The party is one of the ancestors of the modern-day Meretz party. History Mapam was formed by a January 1948 merger of the kibbutz-based Hashomer Hatz ...

in 1964.

1969 elections

RCPI (Tagore) was the sole party that opposed holding mid-term state assembly elections in November 1968. RCPI (Tagore) contested 4 seats in the

1969 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election Elections were held in Indian state of West Bengal in February 1969 to elect 280 members to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. United Front formed the government with Ajoy Mukherjee as the Chief Minister. United Front won a landslide 214 seats ...

, but failed to win any seat. RCPI (Tagore) eventually fell into oblivion, being unable to join the CPI(M)-led fronts due to their ideological purism and history of conflict with the CPI(M)-aligned RCPI.

Merger with RCPI (Das) and split

After the

1971 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election Legislative Assembly elections were held in the Indian state of West Bengal in 1971. The assembly election was held alongside the 1971 Indian general election. Parties and coalitions Ahead of the 1971 election the map of party coalitions was r ...

the

Revolutionary Communist Party of India (Das) The Revolutionary Communist Party of India, also known as RCPI (Das), was a political party in the Indian state of West Bengal, led by Anadi Das. RCPI (Das) emerged as Anadi Das and M. Mokshed Ali, the two members of the West Bengal Legislative Ass ...

merged into RCPI (Tagore).Alexander, Robert J.
Trotskyism in India
' Tagore died in 1974. After the death of Tagore, RCPI (Tagore) was split, with Das leading one of the factions and Bibhuti Bhushan Nandi the other. As of the early 1980s RCPI (Das) opposed the Left Front whilst RCPI (Nandi) supported the Left Front government from outside.

Merger with the main RCPI

In 2001, the party merged into its parent organisation, the

References

{{reflist, 30em Defunct communist parties in India