Saumyendranath Tagore (October 8, 1901 – September 22, 1974), son of Sudhindranath Tagore, grandson of
Dwijendranath Tagore
Dwijendranath Tagore (11 March 1840 – 19 January 1926) was an Indian Bengali poet, song composer, philosopher, mathematician and painter. He was one of the pioneers of shorthand and notation in Bengali script. He was the eldest son of Debendr ...
, and grand-nephew of
Rabindranath Tagore
Rabindranath Tagore (; bn, রবীন্দ্রনাথ ঠাকুর; 7 May 1861 – 7 August 1941) was a Bengali polymath who worked as a poet, writer, playwright, composer, philosopher, social reformer and painter. He resh ...
, was the leader of 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 ...
, and the first translator of
The Communist Manifesto
''The Communist Manifesto'', originally the ''Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (german: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), is a political pamphlet written by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Commissioned by the Comm ...
into
Bengali
Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to:
*something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia
* Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region
* Bengali language, the language they speak
** Bengali alphabet, the w ...
, which was published in ''Langal'' magazine edited by
Kazi Najrul Islam.
Education
Tagore passed matriculation in 1917 from Mitra Institution in
Kolkata
Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...
and became graduate with Hon's in Economics from the
Presidency College in the year of 1921.
Communist movement
In 1920, Tagore joined the "''
Akhil Bharat Chatra Sammelan
Akhil (in Devanagari: अखिल {{IAST, akhilā) is a Hindu/Sanskrit Indian given name, which means "everything" or "complete".
The equivalent feminine name is Akhilā.
See also
*Akhil (disambiguation) Akhil is a masculine given name of India ...
''" ("All-India Student Conference") in
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...
. He befriended
Muzaffar Ahmed and the poet,
Kazi Nazrul Islam
Kazi Nazrul Islam ( bn, কাজী নজরুল ইসলাম, ; 24 May 1899 – 29 August 1976) was a Bengali poet, Bengali literature, writer, Bangladeshi music, musician, and is the national poet of Bangladesh. Nazrul is regarded as one ...
.
After Tagore joined the
Workers and Peasants Party (WPP) in April 1926, he began mobilizing the jute mill‐workers of
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 ...
to form the Bengal Jute Workers' Association. His effectiveness as a trade union activist and his attempts to win revolutionaries over to the WPP drew official attention to him. In order to avoid arrest, Tagore left for Europe in May 1927.
There, he met international communist leaders and was soon in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
. He attended the 6th Congress of the
Communist International
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to "struggle by a ...
(
Comintern
The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...
).
Differences with the Comintern
Tagore differed with the Comintern on the "Colonial Question".
Later, he came to favor
Leon Trotsky
Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...
's theory of "
Permanent Revolution
Permanent revolution is the strategy of a revolutionary class pursuing its own interests independently and without compromise or alliance with opposing sections of society. As a term within Marxist theory, it was first coined by Karl Marx and ...
" over
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
's notion of "
Socialism in One Country
Socialism in one country was a Soviet state policy to strengthen socialism within the country rather than socialism globally. Given the defeats of the 1917–1923 European communist revolutions, Joseph Stalin and Nikolai Bukharin encouraged the ...
".
He also came to oppose the Comintern's "
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 ...
" strategy in the 1930s, regarding it as a betrayal of proletarian revolution.
At the 1928 Communist International congress Tagore had sought to challenge the role of
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 ...
in the organization.
Tagore had turned hostile towards Stalin, possibly as in reaction to his failed bid to gain recognition from the Communist International in 1928.
On his return to India in 1934 he appealed to the
Communist Party of India
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.
H ...
(CPI) to abandon its ultra-left line.
Although the CPI would later moderate its positions after the Seventh Congress of the Communist International, Tagore broke with the CPI.
In May 1934 he set up an 'initiative committee' for the founding of a new party.
[
]
The Communist League
Tagore formed the Communist League of India
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a so ...
on 1 August 1934.[Partido de los Trabajadores Socialistas. ]
Origenes y formacion del trotskismo en India y Ceilan
' Other founders of the Communist League included Sudhir Dasgupta Sudhir is an Indian masculine given name. The Sanskrit word ' means "very wise", "resolute".
Notable people with the name include:
*Sudhir (Pakistani actor) (1922–1997), Pakistani actor
*Sudhir (Hindi actor) (1944–2014), Bollywood actor
* ...
, Prabhat Sen, Ranjit Majumdar and Arun Banerjee
Arun Bannerjee ( bn, অরুণ ব্যানার্জী, hi, अरुण बनर्जी) is an Indian Bengali film actor.
Filmography
Actor
* '' Herogiri'' (2015)
* ''Bhroon'' (2013)
* ''Canvas'' (2013)
* ''Jodi Hridoye Lekho ...
.
The Communist League and the peasantry
After the formation of the Communist League Tagore began touring the Bengal country-side, organizing peasants to struggle for abolishing the ''zamindar
A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...
i'' system. In early 1938 Tagore built a peasants wing, the ‘Bangiyo Pradeshik Kisan Sabha’ (BPKS), separate from the CPI-led Krishak Samiti. Tagore's BPKS demanded abolition of the zamindari system without giving any compensation to landlords, free distribution of land among the cultivators and agricultural labourers, minimization of revenue demands and cancellation of debts to moneylenders.
=Tagore in Assam
=
In 1941 the Communist League had been renamed the "Communist Party of India", but in March 1943 it was rechristened 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 ...
(RCPI) in order to differentiate it from the "official" Communist Party of India
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.
H ...
.
The RCPI was the first left organization to established itself in Assam
Assam (; ) is a state in northeastern India, south of the eastern Himalayas along the Brahmaputra and Barak River valleys. Assam covers an area of . The state is bordered by Bhutan and Arunachal Pradesh to the north; Nagaland and Manipur ...
. In November 1938 Tagore visited Assam and met with a group of students and youth. His visit was organized by the Congressman Debranath Sarma. A Communist League branch was formed in the province in 1939.
Tagore made a second visit to Assam in December 1941.
' This time he visited Khagen Barbarua at his village in Upper Assam
Upper Assam is an administrative division of the state of Assam comprising the undivided Lakhimpur and Sivasagar (previously, Sibsagar) districts, of the upper reaches of the Brahmaputra valley. The other divisions are: Lower Assam, North Assam a ...
and discussed building the party organization in the province.[ Tagore was expelled from Assam on 18 December 1941.][
]
Split in the RCPI
After his return to India, Tagore had been arrested a number of times by the British colonial administration and was in an out of prison for most of a decade. After being released from prison in 1948, Tagore was confronted with a sector within the RCPI, led by Pannalal Dasgupta, which 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.[Alexander, Robert J. ]
Trotskyism in India
' Tagore argued, instead, that armed revolution was premature in India.
The Dasgupta faction 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 presented his resignation from the RCPI Central Committee, a request that the Birbhum conference rejected. Following the conference Dasgupta's followers began to gather arms and to prepare for armed struggle.[ Tagore, for his part, addressed 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 ...
at which he denounced the insurrectional line of Dasgupta. Tagore's speech pushed the Dasgupta group to accept his resignation from the Central Committee. Half a year later Tagore gathered his followers for a separate party conference, calling it the 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 came to be 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)'. It was led by Tagore until his death in 1974.
Literary works
Saumyendranath Tagore was a regular writer of ''Kallol'' group. He wrote articles in French, Russian, German, English and Bengali languages. The books ''Biplabi Russia, Trayee, Jatri, Rabindranather Gaan'', 'Communism and Fetishism', 'Bourgeois Democratic Revolution and India', 'Permanent Revolution', 'Tactics and strategy of revolution' 'Gandhi'(French) are few of them.
Tagore's revolutionary activities led the British authorities to ban a number of his works.
Family
Saumyendranath Tagore married Srimati Hutheesingh from an aristocratic Jain Gujarati Hutheesing family of Ahmedabad. She was a student in Shantiniketan and a well known dancer and choreographer who took training in dance in India and abroad. Srimati Tagore's brother Gunottam (Raja) Hutheesingh married Krishna Nehru
Krishna Nehru Hutheesing (2 November 1907 – 9 November 1967) was an Indian writer, the youngest sister of Jawaharlal Nehru and Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, and part of the Nehru-Gandhi family.
Biography
Born Krishna Nehru, in Mirganj, Allahabad ...
, younger daughter of Motilal Nehru
Motilal Nehru (6 May 1861 – 6 February 1931) was an Indian lawyer, activist and politician belonging to the Indian National Congress. He also served as the Congress President twice, 1919–1920 and 1928–1929. He was a patriarch of the Nehr ...
and sister of 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 ...
's first Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
.
External links to his works
Saumyendranath Tagore Archive
at Marxists Internet Archive
Marxists Internet Archive (also known as MIA or Marxists.org) is a non-profit online encyclopedia that hosts a multilingual library (created in 1990) of the works of communist, anarchist, and socialist writers, such as Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels ...
Saumyendranath Tagore Archive
in th
website
of 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 ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tagore, Soumendranath
1901 births
1975 deaths
Soumendranath
Indian revolutionaries
Indian communists
Indian Marxists
Indian prisoners and detainees
Prisoners and detainees of British India
Indian political party founders
Revolutionary Communist Party of India politicians