100 Years of the CPI: History and Political Significance

Paper: GS – I, Subject: History – Modern India, Topic: Communism and Communalism, Issue: 100 Years of CPI.

Context:

The year 2025 marks one hundred years since the formal establishment of the Communist Party of India (CPI), inviting renewed attention to the diverse ideological, organisational, and international influences that shaped the communist movement in colonial India.

Key Takeaways:

Global Ideological Background:

• The origins of communism in India cannot be understood in isolation from global ideological currents.
• The French Revolution and the rise of industrial capitalism in Europe generated debates on equality, class, and political power.
• Karl Marx’s ideas of class struggle and socialism gained traction globally, but their first successful political application occurred with the Russian Revolution of 1917.
• The Russian experience was especially influential for colonial societies, as it combined anti-imperialism with a critique of capitalism.

Channels Through Which Communism Entered India:

The communist movement in India did not emerge from a single source but through multiple, parallel streams:

1. Revolutionary Diaspora:
   1. Indian revolutionaries operating abroad (US, Mexico, Germany, USSR) encountered Marxist ideas.
   1. Figures like M.N. Roy played a key role in linking Indian anti-colonialism with international communism.
   1. Roy represented India at meetings of the Communist International, exposing Indian conditions to global communist discourse.
2. Left Groups Within India:
   1. Independent Left organisations emerged in cities such as Bombay, Calcutta, Lahore, and Madras.
   1. These groups worked among students, workers, and intellectuals, adapting socialist ideas to Indian realities.
3. Workers’ and Peasants’ Movements:
   1. Trade unions and peasant organisations, especially the All-India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), provided a mass base.
   1. These movements linked economic exploitation with political freedom.

Competing Origins: Tashkent vs Kanpur:

• 1920 Tashkent Meeting:
  • Organised under Comintern guidance.
  • Emphasised internationalism and global revolutionary strategy.
  • Considered the starting point by the CPI (Marxist) tradition.
• 1925 Kanpur Conference:
  • First organised, all-India attempt to form a communist party on Indian soil.
  • Explicitly focused on India’s freedom struggle and socio-economic transformation.
  • Regarded by CPI as the party’s foundational moment.
• This debate reflects a deeper tension between international ideological influence and indigenous political adaptation.

Role During the Freedom Struggle:

• Communists actively organised workers’ and peasants’ movements in the 1920s and 1930s.
• The colonial state responded with repression, notably the Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929).
• In the 1930s, communists collaborated with other anti-imperialist forces through United Front politics, though such alliances were often short-lived.
• After 1945, communists played a major role in peasant struggles in regions like Telangana and Bengal.

Post-Independence Trajectory:

• After 1947, the communist movement faced a strategic dilemma:
  • Parliamentary participation versus revolutionary insurrection.
• This debate culminated in ideological splits, most notably in 1964, leading to CPI and CPI(M).
• Over time, most communist parties adopted the constitutional-democratic path, participating in electoral politics.

Broader Political Significance:

• The communist movement helped introduce:
  • Class-based analysis of Indian society
  • Organised trade unionism
  • Land and agrarian reform discourse
• It also highlighted the challenges of adapting universal ideologies to local social structures.

https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-history/100-years-of-cpi-how-indias-communist-movement-came-to-be-10439181

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