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The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. The CPI considers the December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led militant struggles such as the peasant revolt in Telangana, organising guerrilla warfare against feudal lords. The CPI was the main opposition party in India during the 1950s to 1960s. In 1964, a split in the CPI led to the formation of the
Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...
, which eventually emerged as the larger of the two parties. CPI supported the rule of
Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...
, but later changed course and embraced left unity. CPI was part of the ruling
United Front A united front is an alliance of groups against their common enemies, figuratively evoking unification of previously separate geographic fronts or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political and/ ...
government from 1996 to 1998 and had two ministers under Devegowda and Gujral Ministry. Currently, the CPI has two members in
Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...
and two members in
Rajya Sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...
. In addition, it has 22
MLAs A Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected to sit in a legislative assembly. The term most commonly refers to members of the legislature of a federated state or an autonomous region, but is also used for several nationa ...
across four states and one in each MLC in
Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...
and
Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...
. It has the current ECI status of a state party in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Manipur. As of December 2023, the CPI is a part of the
state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...
in Kerala led by LDF. The CPI have four
Cabinet Ministers A cabinet in governing is a group of people with the constitutional or legal task to rule a country or state, or advise a head of state, usually from the executive branch. Their members are known as ministers and secretaries and they are ...
and a
Deputy Speaker Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spain ...
in Kerala. In Tamil Nadu, it is in power with
SPA A spa is a location where mineral-rich spring water (sometimes seawater) is used to give medicinal baths. Spa health treatments are known as balneotherapy. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters and hot springs goes back to pre ...
coalition led by DMK.


Name

CPI is officially known in
Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
as (), or ().


History


Formation

The Communist Party of India (CPI) was formed on 26 December 1925 at the first Party Conference in
Kanpur Kanpur (Hindustani language, Hindustani: ), originally named Kanhapur and formerly anglicized as Cawnpore, is the second largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Uttar Pradesh after Lucknow. It was the primary ...
, which was then known as ''Cawnpore''. S. V. Ghate was the first General Secretary of the 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 () 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 supported revolutionary violence as the means for ending British rule in India. The ...
and
Jugantar Jugantar or Yugantar ( ''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 Anushilan Samiti, started in the g ...
the groups in
Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...
, and small communist groups were formed in
Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...
(led by S. A. Dange),
Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...
(led by Singaravelu), United Provinces (led by Shaukat Usmani),
Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...
,
Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...
(led by Ghulam Hussain),
Orissa Odisha (), formerly Orissa ( the official name until 2011), is a state located in Eastern India. It is the eighth-largest state by area, and the eleventh-largest by population, with over 41 million inhabitants. The state also has the thir ...
(led by Bhagabati Charan Panigrahi) and
Bengal Bengal ( ) is a Historical geography, historical geographical, ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the Eastern South Asia, eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal. The region of Benga ...
(led by Muzaffar Ahmed). There is a dispute on the year of formation of CPI. The
Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...
which split from CPI in 1964, considers 17 October 1920 as the founding day of Communist Party of India. On this day, M. N. Roy, Evelyn Trent-Roy,
Abani Mukherji Abaninath Mukherji (, , 3 June 1891 – 28 October 1937) was an Indian communist and émigré based in the Soviet Union who co-founded the Communist Party of India (Tashkent group). His name was often spelt Abani Mukherjee.Banerjee, Santanu,Sta ...
, Rosa Fitingov, Mohd. Ali, Mohamad Shafiq, and M. P. T. Acharya met in
Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...
to form the communist movement in India. Though 1920 and 1925 both dates are insignificant, because on both of these occasions, the CPI did not adopt a "Party Constitution", which was a foremost prerequisite required to be considered for the membership of the
Communist International The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internationa ...
. The CPI considers 1925 as their founding day, but CPI(M) thinks 1920 as the year, when communist movement in India was founded. There is a technical dispute between both parties on this issue.


Involvement in independence struggle

During the 1920s and the early 1930s the party was poorly organised, and in practice there were several communist groups working with limited national co-ordination. The government banned all communist activity, which made the task of building a united party difficult. Between 1921 and 1924, there were three conspiracy trials against the communist movement: the Peshawar Conspiracy Cases, the
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 Briti ...
, and the Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case. In the first three cases, Russian-trained muhajir communists were put on trial. However, the Cawnpore (now spelt Kanpur) trial had more political impact. On 17 March 1924, Shripad Amrit Dange, M. N. Roy, Muzaffar Ahmad, Nalini Gupta, Shaukat Usmani, Malayapuram Singaravelu, Ghulam Hussain, and R. C. Sharma were charged, in Cawnpore 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 and R. C. Sharma in French
Pondichéry Pondicherry, officially known as Puducherry, is the capital and most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of India and is surrounded by the Bay of Bengal to ...
, and therefore could not be arrested. Ghulam Hussain confessed that he had received money from the Russians in
Kabul Kabul 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. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...
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 is a term describing 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 ...
' and against subordination under the 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 Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan was a political party in India. The party was founded by Singaravelu Chettiar on 1 May 1923 in Madras. This was the first May Day celebration in India. This was also the first time the red flag was used in Ind ...
(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) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
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, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...
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 use 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 ...
in 1934, the CPI branded it as Social Fascist. The League Against Gandhism, initially known as the Gandhi Boycott Committee, was a political organisation in
Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies 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 opposition to imperialism or neocolonialism. Anti-imperialist sentiment typically manifests as a political principle in independence struggles against intervention or influenc ...
activities. The group took the name 'League Against Gandhism' in 1934. In connection with the change of policy of the Comintern toward popular front 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 The Soviet people () were the citizens and nationals of the Soviet Union. This demonym was presented in the ideology of the country as the "new historical unity of peoples of different nationalities" (). Nationality policy in the Soviet Union ...
.Roy, Samaren. ''M. N. Roy: A Political Biography''.
Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
: Orient Longman, 1998. p. 113, 115
In July 1937, a clandestine meeting was held at
Calicut Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature. It is the nineteenth large ...
. Five persons were present at the meeting,
P. Krishna Pillai P. Krishna Pillai (19 August 1906 at Vaikom, Kottayam – 19 August 1948 at Muhamma, Alleppey) was a former Indian National Congress leader and communist revolutionary from Kerala, India. He was one of the founding leaders of the Communist ...
, K. Damodaran,
E. M. S. Namboodiripad Elamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad (13 June 1909 – 19 March 1998), popularly known as E.M.S. Namboodiripad or simply by his initials E. M. S., was an Indian communist politician and theorist, who served as the first Chief Minister of ...
,
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 States and union territories of India, 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 ...
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 E. M. S. Namboodiripad 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 19 ...
. In 1936–1937, the co-operation between socialists and communists reached its peak. At the 2nd congress of the CSP, held in
Meerut Meerut (, ISO 15919, ISO: ''Mēraṭh'') is a city in the western region of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Located in the Meerut district, it is northeast of the national capital, New Delhi, and is ...
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, several communists were included into the CSP National Executive Committee. Two communists, E. M. S. Namboodiripad and
Z. A. Ahmed Z. A. Ahmed (29 October 1908 – 22 February 1999) was an Indian politician from Uttar Pradesh, belonging to the Communist Party of India. In the 1930s, acting on instructions from the CPI, he joined the Congress Socialist Party in which he s ...
, 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 use the weakened state of the British Empire in the time of war and gave a call for
general strike A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...
, no-tax, no-rent policies and mobilising for an armed revolutionary uprising. The National Executive of the CSP assembled at Ramgarh 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 on 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 An independence day is an annual event memorialization, commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or Sovereign state, statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or after the end of a milit ...
celebrations of 15 August 1947 in protest at 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 Sab ...
(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 A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...
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 () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...
,
Telangana Telangana is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated in the Southern India, south-central part of the Indian subcontinent on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, ele ...
and
Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, 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 ...
. The most important rebellion took place in Telangana, against the
Nizam Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I ...
of
Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
. 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 () is a state in northeastern India with Imphal as its capital. It borders the Indian states of Assam to the west, Mizoram to the south, and Nagaland to the north and shares the international border with Myanmar, specifically t ...
, 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. A Communist Party was founded in Bihar in 1939. Post independence, the Communist Party achieved success in Bihar (Bihar and Jharkhand). The 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 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 Sahoor village in Munger (British India) now in Lakhisarai district of Bihar, India. ...
, intellectual giants like Jagannath Sarkar, Yogendra Sharma, 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 se ...
, mass leaders like Chandrasekhar Singh and Sunil Mukherjee, 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 the 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 Guru Radha Kishan (1925-1996) was an Indian Independence activist and Communist politician. Early life Radha Kishan was born in 1925 in a family of farmers on Krishna Janmashtami in Bid village (currently in Harda district, Madhya Pradesh) ...
,
H. L. Parwana H is the eighth letter of the Latin alphabet. H may also refer to: Musical symbols * H number, Harry Halbreich reference mechanism for music by Honegger and Martinů * H, B (musical note) * H, B major People * H. (noble) (died after 127 ...
,
Sarjoo Pandey Sarjoo Pandey () (19 November 1919 – 25 August 1989) was an Indian politician, Indian independence activist and a leader of the Communist Party of India, who was born in Urha and died in Moscow. Life Pandey was born in Urha (small village in ...
,
Darshan Singh Canadian Darshan Singh Canadian (born Darshan A. Sangha in 1917 – 25 September 1986) was a Sikh trade union activist and communist organizer in Canada and India. Canada Darshan Singh Canadian immigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 1937. Upon his arriva ...
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
1st Lok Sabha The First Lok Sabha was constituted on 17 April 1952 after India's first general election. The 1st Lok Sabha lasted its full tenure of five years and was dissolved on 4 April 1957. The First Session of this Lok Sabha commenced on 13 May 1952. To ...
, while the Indian National Congress was in power. In the 1952 Travancore-Cochin Legislative Assembly election, the 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 Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...
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 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, Daman and Diu Island, geographically separated ...
was begun by the Communist Party in Gujarat and other forces. '' Goa Satyagraha'': The countrywide Goa satyagraha of 1955–1956 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)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...
. The impacts of the
Sino-Soviet split The Sino-Soviet split was the gradual worsening of relations between the People's Republic of China (PRC) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) during the Cold War. This was primarily caused by divergences that arose from their ...
contributed to this party split. During the period between 1970 and 1977, the 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 or unification of previously separate armies into a front. The name often refers to a political and/ ...
, with the CPI-leader C. Achutha Menon 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 The Rajan case refers to the death of P. Rajan, a student of the Regional Engineering College, Calicut, as a result of torture in local police custody in Kakkayam, Kerala during the nationwide Emergency in India in 1976, and the legal battle ...
. 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. In the 1980s, the CPI opposed the
Khalistan movement The Khalistan movement is a separatist movement seeking to create a homeland for Sikhs by establishing an ethno-religious sovereign state called Khalistan () in the Punjab region. The proposed boundaries of Khalistan vary between different gr ...
at Punjab. In 1986, the CPI's leader in Punjab and MLA in the Punjabi legislature
Darshan Singh Canadian Darshan Singh Canadian (born Darshan A. Sangha in 1917 – 25 September 1986) was a Sikh trade union activist and communist organizer in Canada and India. Canada Darshan Singh Canadian immigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 1937. Upon his arriva ...
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

The CPI was recognised by the
Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...
as a 'National Party'. Until 2022, CPI happened to be the only national political party from India to have contested all the general elections using the same
electoral symbol An electoral symbol is a standardised symbol allocated to an independent candidate or political party by a country's election commission for use in election ballots. Usage Symbols are used by parties in their campaigning, and printed on ballot ...
. 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 vote ...
where the party saw its tally reduced to two MPs, the Election Commission of India sent a letter to CPI asking for reasons why its national party status should not be revoked. Due to repeated poor performances in elections, the Election Commission of India withdrew its national party status on 10 April 2023. On the national level, they supported the Indian National Congress-led
United Progressive Alliance The United Progressive Alliance (UPA; Hindi: Saṁyukta Pragatiśīl Gaṭhabandhan) was a Political group, political alliance in India led by the Indian National Congress. It was formed after the 2004 Indian general election, 2004 general ele ...
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 (CMP) is a document outlining the shared agenda, policy, and priorities of a coalition government in India and Nepal. It provides a framework for government operations, ensuring that all participating parties share a ...
. 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 the 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. He served as interim co-ordinator of CPM after the death of incumbent General Secr ...
, 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 language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...
, the CPI 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 politics, left-wing political parties led by Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the current List of current Indian ruling and opposition parties, r ...
. In
Tripura Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...
the party is a partner of the Left Front, which governed the state until 2018. In
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
it is part of the
Secular Progressive Alliance Secular Progressive Alliance formerly known as Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) is an alliance of Indian political parties formed by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). History The alliance was known as the ''Democratic Progressive All ...
and in Bihar it is the part of Mahagathbandhan. It is involved in the Left Democratic Front in Maharashtra. In February 2022, 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.


Presence in states

As of 2020, the CPI is a part of the state government in
Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, 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 ...
.
Pinarayi Vijayan Pinarayi Vijayan (; born 24 May 1945) is an Indian politician who has served as the List of chief ministers of Kerala, Chief Minister of Kerala since 25 May 2016. A member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), politburo ...
is Chief Minister of Kerala. CPI have four Cabinet Ministers in Kerala. In
Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
, it is part of the
Secular Progressive Alliance Secular Progressive Alliance formerly known as Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) is an alliance of Indian political parties formed by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). History The alliance was known as the ''Democratic Progressive All ...
coalition led by
M. K. Stalin Muthuvel Karunanidhi Stalin (born 1 March 1953) is an Indian politician and former actor serving as the 8th and current List of chief ministers of Tamil Nadu, chief minister of Tamil Nadu since 2021. He is the third son of the former Chief Min ...
. The Left Front governed
West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...
for 34 years (1977–2011) and
Tripura Tripura () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...
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 24th Party Congress of Communist Party of India was held from 14 to 18 October 2022 in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.


General Secretary

* D. Raja


National Secretariat

# D. Raja # Amarjeet Kaur #K. Narayana #Bhalchandra Kango #Pallab Sen Gupta #
Binoy Viswam Binoy Viswam is an Indian politician who was a Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) from Kerala representing the Communist Party of India (CPI) and was its Parliamentary Party leader. A member of the CPI National Secretariat, he is currently th ...
# Syed Azeez Pasha # Nagendra Nath Ojha #Rama Krushna Panda # Annie Raja #Girish Chandra Sharma


List of general secretaries and chairmen of the 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 mil ...
(AITUC) *
All India Youth Federation The All India Youth Federation (AIYF) is a nationwide youth organisation of Communist Party of India founded on May 3, 1959. AIYF is affiliated to World Federation of Democratic Youth and member of general council of WFDY. Formation It was ...
(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 on 4 June 1954 by several leaders from Mahila Atma Raksha Samiti including Aruna Asaf Ali.Overstre ...
(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 19 ...
– AIKS (peasants organisation) *
Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union which translates to '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 c ...
– 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 (State government employees) * Indian Society for Cultural Co-operation and Friendship (ISCUF) * All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO) *
Progressive Writers' Association The Progressive Writers' Association or the Progressive Writers' Movement of India or ''Anjuman Tarraqi Pasand Mussanafin-e-Hind'' () or ''Akhil Bhartiya Pragatishil Lekhak Sangh'' (Hindi: अखिल भारतीय प्रगतिश� ...
(PWA) *
All India Adivasi Mahasabha All India Adivasi Mahasabha is the tribal wing of the Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpo ...
(Tribal Wing) * All India Dalit Rights Movement (AIDRM) * Tamil Nadu Oppressed People's Movement * 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 () is a States and union territories of India, state in northeastern India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a populat ...
, 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 peoples of the state.


Former chief ministers


Notable leaders

* Abdul Sattar Ranjoor – Founding state secretary of the CPI in
Jammu and Kashmir Jammu and Kashmir may refer to: * Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), a region administered by India as a union territory since 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (state), a region administered by India as a state from 1952 to 2019 * Jammu and Kashmir (prin ...
* Ajoy Ghosh – 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: Help:IPA/Marathi, �ɳːaːbʱaːu saːʈʰe, was an Indian folk poet, writer, and social worker from the state of Mahara ...
Samyukta Maharashtra movement Samyukta Maharashtra Movement, () commonly known as the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti, was an organisation in India that advocated for a separate Marathi-speaking state in Western India and Central India from 1956 to 1960. The Samiti demanded t ...
leader * Annie Raja – General Secretary of NFIW and National Executive Member of CPI *
Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan (24 September 1924 – 2 January 2016) was a trade union leader and the former general secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), one of the oldest political parties in India. Early life Bardhan was born in Baris ...
– Former general secretary * Aruna Asaf Ali – Freedom fighter *
Binoy Viswam Binoy Viswam is an Indian politician who was a Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) from Kerala representing the Communist Party of India (CPI) and was its Parliamentary Party leader. A member of the CPI National Secretariat, he is currently th ...
– Former Member of Rajya Sabha, Former minister in the Government of Kerala and current State Secretary of CPI Kerala State Committee * Bhan Singh Bhaura – Parliamentarian from Punjab and Founder President Khet Mazdoor Sabha * Bhargavi Thankappan – Parliamentarian *
Bhupesh Gupta Bhupesh Gupta () (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 parliamentarians in Rajya Sabha. He was elected on 13 May 1952 as a ...
– Parliamentarian * C. Achutha Menon – Finance minister in first Kerala ministry Former chief minister of Kerala * C. Divakaran – Senior leader, former minister and National Council Member from Kerala * Chandra Rajeswara Rao – former general secretary, Telangana freedom fighter * Chaturanan Mishra 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 Pathanamthitta D ...
– Deputy Speaker of
Kerala Legislative Assembly The Kerala Legislative Assembly, popularly known as the Kerala Niyamasabha, is the State Assembly of Kerala, one of the 30 states in India. The Assembly is formed by 140 elected representatives. Each elected member represents one of the 140 ...
and State council member *
C. K. Chandrappan Cheerapanchira Kuntirishery Chandrappan (10 November 1935 – 22 March 2012) was a politician from Kerala, India. He was associated with Communist Party of India (CPI). He was a member of the Lok Sabha of India representing the Thalassery (Lok ...
– Parliamentarian & former Kerala state secretary of the party * C. N. Jayadevan – Senior leader, parliamentarian * Dhanwantri – one of the founder of communist party in Jammu & Kashmir *
Darshan Singh Canadian Darshan Singh Canadian (born Darshan A. Sangha in 1917 – 25 September 1986) was a Sikh trade union activist and communist organizer in Canada and India. Canada Darshan Singh Canadian immigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 1937. Upon his arriva ...
– Trade Unionist, fight against Khalistan movement *
D. Pandian David Pandian (18 May 1932 – 26 February 2021) was an Indian Tamil politician who served as Member of Parliament elected from Tamil Nadu. He was elected to the Lok Sabha as an Indian National CongressUnited Communist Party of India (UCPI) ...
– Parliamentarian & former Tamil Nadu state secretary * D. Raja – parliamentarian & General secretary of the party * E. Chandrasekharan Nair – Senior leader and former Minister in the Government of Kerala * Geeta Mukherjee – 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, leader of the Communist Party of India and the General Secretary of National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW) from 1954 to 1962. Begum was born into a wealthy family in 1910. She grew up in ...
– former general secretary of NFIW *
Hasrat Mohani Syed Fazl-ul-Hasan (1 January 1875 – 13 May 1951), known by his Takhallus, pen-name Hasrat Mohani, was an List of Indian independence activists, Indian independence activist and a poet in Urdu. .Together with Swami Kumaranand, he is regarded ...
– founding member *
Hijam Irabot Hijam Irabot (30 September 1896 – 26 September 1951), also known as Jana Neta (Meeyamgi Luchingba in Manipuri) Hijam Irabot, was a politician and leader of Communist party of India and revolutionary social activist from Manipur. He fought ag ...
– Founder leader of CPI in Manipur * Hirendranath Mukherjee-Parliamentarian & He was awarded Padma Bhushan in 1990 and Padma Vibhushan in 1991 by the President of India for his lifelong services *
Ila Mitra Ila Mitra (; 18 October 1925 – 13 October 2002) was an Indian Communism, communist and peasants movement organizer of the Indian subcontinent, especially in East Bengal (now Bangladesh). Early life and education Mitra's ancestors were fro ...
– 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 – 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 s ...
– freedom fighter * Kalyan Roy – Parliamentarian *
Kanam Rajendran Kanam Rajendran (10 November 1950 – 8 December 2023) was an Indian politician who was a member of the Communist Party of India. He represented Vazhoor constituency in the Kerala Legislative Assembly from 1982 to 1991. In March 2015, he was el ...
– Former Kerala state secretary of the party * K.N. Joglekar – founding member of CPI *
Kunwar Mohammad Ashraf Kunwar Mohammad Ashraf (24 November 1903 – 7 June 1962) was a Marxist historian and leader of the Communist Party of India. His works included articulating Muslim engagement with politics using a creative way during the late colonial and post ...
* Meghraj Tawar – Former Rajasthan MLA and leader of the CPI * M. Kalyanasundaram – Parliamentarian * M. N. Govindan Nair – 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" (bo ...
– Prominent Leader * Nallakannu – former Tamil Nadu state secretary of the party * N. E. Balaram – Founding leader of the
communist movement Communist Movement (in Spanish: ''Movimiento Comunista'', in Basque: ''Mugimendu Komunista'', in Catalan: ''Moviment Comunista'', in Galician: ''Movemento Comunista'', in Asturian: ''Movimientu Comunista'') was a political party in Spain ...
in Kerala, India *
Pannyan Raveendran Pannian Ravindran (born 22 December 1945) is an Indian politician and was the state secretary of Kerala State Committee of CPI (Communist Party of India) from 2012 to 2015. He was a member of the 14th Lok Sabha The 14th Lok Sabha (2 June ...
– 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 P. Krishna Pillai (19 August 1906 at Vaikom, Kottayam – 19 August 1948 at Muhamma, Alleppey) was a former Indian National Congress leader and communist revolutionary from Kerala, India. He was one of the founding leaders of the Communist ...
– Founder and First secretary of CPI in Kerala * P. K. Vasudevan Nair – 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 P. S. Sreenivasan (September 1923 – 8 July 1997) was a leader of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and a former minister of Kerala state, He is known as the father of tourism in modern Kerala. He was born at Ullala, Vaikom in September 1923 ...
– Former Minister of Kerala * Rajaji Mathew Thomas – Journalist, former MLA and CPI National council Member, from Kerala * Ramendra Kumar – Former Parliamentarian, national executive member, national president AITUC * Rosamma Punnoose – Freedom Fighter * R.Sugathan – Prominent trade unionist, mass leader and member of Kerala Legislative assembly * Sachchidanand Vishnu Ghate – 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 Suhasini Chattopadhyay (also known as Suhasini Nambiar; 1902 – 26 November 1973) was an Indian communist leader. Biography Chattopadhyay was one of eight children of Aghore Nath Chattopadhyay and Barada Sundari Debi. She was the sister of In ...
– founding member of CPI * Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy – former general secretary of the party & parliamentarian * Shripad Amrit Dange – 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 – Minister in first Kerala ministry * Veliyam Bharghavan – Parliamentarian & Former Kerala state secretary of the party * Vidya Munshi – Journalist * Vimla Dang – leader of CPI * V. S. Sunil Kumar – Former Agriculture Minister in Kerala * V. V. Raghavan -CPI Central Secretariat Member, two-time Loksabha Member from
Thrissur Thrissur (, ), Renaming of cities in India, 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 List of most populous urban agglomerations in Ke ...
Kerala,
Rajya sabha Rajya Sabha (Council of States) is the upper house of the Parliament of India and functions as the institutional representation of India’s federal units — the states and union territories.https://rajyasabha.nic.in/ It is a key component o ...
Member, Former Agriculture 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, defections and by-elections during the mandate period.


See also

*
Politics of India The Politics and Government of India works within the framework of the country's Constitution, which was adopted in 1950. India is a parliamentary secular democratic republic, described as a “sovereign, socialist, secular democratic republ ...
*
List of political parties in India India has a multi-party system. The Election Commission of India (ECI) grants recognition to national-level and state-level political parties based on objective criteria. A recognised political party enjoys privileges such as a reserved party ...
* List of communist parties in India *
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 trad ...
*
Left Democratic Front (Kerala) The Left Democratic Front (LDF) is an alliance of left-wing political parties led by Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the current ruling political alliance of Kerala, since 2016. It is one of the two majo ...
*
Left Front (West Bengal) The Left Front (Bengali language, Bengali: ) is an alliance of Left-wing politics, 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), ...
*
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 members of ...


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

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