All India Communist Party

Last updated

The All India Communist Party (AICP) was a communist party in India. It was formed after a split in the Communist Party of India in 1980, by a section of CPI cadres dissatisfied with the political changes that occurred during the 1978 Bhatinda conference of CPI. During most of the 1970s CPI had supported the government of Indira Gandhi and the Indian National Congress. But after the electoral defeat of Gandhi in 1977 CPI began to reconsider its relation to the Congress. After the Bhatinda conference CPI distanced itself from the Congress and aligned itself with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) instead, promoting left unity. The founders of AICP wanted to retain the close relationship with the Congress.

All India Communist Party
Founded1980
Dissolved1987
Merged into United Communist Party of India
Ideology Communism
Marxism-Leninism
Political position Left-wing

Roza Deshpande, the daughter of the founding leader of CPI S.A. Dange and her husband Bani Deshpande, played an important role in organising the founding of the new party. [1] Dange himself was initially largely sceptical of a split in the CPI. [2]

The first conference of AICP was held in Meerut, [3] commencing on 13 March. [4] Dange turned up uninvited to the Meerut conference and took charge of the new party. He was elected general secretary of the party. [1] [2] [5]

As an alternative to the CPI-controlled Indo-Soviet Cultural Society (ISCUS), members of AICP and the Congress set up the Friends of the Soviet Union. But the control over FSU was completely taken over by the Congress. [6]

Although having Dange, a historical stalwart of the communist movement in India, as its leader AICP was not able to attract any major nationwide following. According to Bhattacharya two reasons were of significance. First of all, the Soviet Union did not give any political support to the new party. The founders of AICP were upholding the pro-Soviet CPI policy of cooperating with the National Congress (which was in line with Soviet revisionism), but the Soviets were not interested in a split within CPI. Secondly, the Congress showed limited interest towards the idea of having a national alliance with the new party. In the end, the two parties would be poised against each other in several local elections. [6]

In 1987 AICP merged with the Indian Communist Party and formed the United Communist Party of India, which would function as a continuation of the political line of AICP.

Related Research Articles

Communist Party of India (Marxist) Political party in India

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is a communist political party in India. It is one of the national parties of India. The party emerged from a split from the Communist Party of India in 1964. The CPI(M) was formed in Calcutta from 31 October to 7 November 1964.

Communist Party of India Political party in India

The Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest communist party in India and one of the eight national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in Kanpur on 26 December 1925.

All India Forward Bloc Political party in India

The All India Forward Bloc is a left-wing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose. The party re-established as an independent political party after the independence of India. It has its main stronghold in West Bengal. The party's current Secretary-General is Debabrata Biswas. Veteran Indian politicians Sarat Chandra Bose and Chitta Basu had been the stalwarts of the party in independent India.

Revolutionary Socialist Party (India) communist party in India

Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) is a regional communist party in India. The party was founded on 19 March 1940 by Tridib Chaudhuri and has its roots in the Bengali liberation movement Anushilan Samiti and the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army.

Mumbai North Central Lok Sabha constituency is a Lok Sabha (parliamentary) constituency of Maharashtra state in western India.

Friends of the Soviet Union was an organisation in India. It was founded by members of the Indian National Congress and the All India Communist Party as an alternative to the CPI controlled Indo-Soviet Cultural Society (ISCUS), after the break between CPI and the Congress in the national political scene.

Muzaffar Ahmad Indian politician

Muzaffar Ahmad was an Indian-Bengali politician, journalist and communist activist.

Puran Chand Joshi Former General secretary of the Communist party of India

Puran Chand Joshi, one of the early leaders of the communist movement in India. He was the general secretary of the Communist Party of India from 1935 to 1947.

Shripad Amrit Dange Indian Politician and one of the founding member of Communist Party of India

Shripad Amrit Dange was a founding member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and a stalwart of Indian trade union movement. During the British Raj, Dange was arrested by the British authorities for communist and trade union activities and was jailed for an overall period of 13 years.

Shaukat Usmani (1901–1978) was an early Indian communist, who was born to artistic USTA family of Bikaner and a member of the émigré Communist Party of India, established in Tashkent in 1920, and a founding member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) formed in Kanpur in 1925. He was also the only candidate to the British Parliament contesting elections, while he was residing in India—that too in a prison. He was sentenced to a total of 16 years in jail after being tried in the Kanpur (Cawnpore) Case of 1923 and later the Meerut Conspiracy Case of 1929.

Socialism in India is a political movement founded early in the 20th century, as a part of the broader movement to gain Indian independence from colonial rule. The movement grew quickly in popularity as it espoused the causes of India's farmers and labourers against the zamindars, princely class and landed gentry. Socialism shaped the principal economic and social policies of the Indian government but mostly followed Dirigism after independence until the early 1990s, when India moved towards a more market-based economy. However, it remains a potent influence on Indian politics, with many national and regional political parties espousing democratic socialism.

Abani Mukherji

Abaninath Mukherji was an Indian revolutionary and émigré based in the Soviet Union who co-founded the Communist Party of India. His name was often spelt Abani Mukherjee.

Communism in India has existed as a political movement since at least as early as the 1920s. In its early years, the ideology was harshly suppressed through legal prohibitions and criminal prosecutions. Eventually, the movement became ensconced in national party politics, sprouting several political offshoots.

Bolshevik Party of India Political party in India

The Bolshevik Party of India is an Indian political party in India. The party was founded in 1939. The party had a certain role in the trade union movement in West Bengal and was briefly represented in the state government in 1969. In later years the party has played a negligible role in Indian politics.

Third Front in Indian politics refers to various alliances formed by smaller parties at various points of time since 1989 to offer a third option to Indian voters, challenging the Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party.

Baishnab Charan Parida

Baishnab Charan Parida, was a BJD politician, writer and social activist. He was a Member of Rajya Sabha and represented Odisha. Socialism and secularism are his main mantras. He was elected to Rajya Sabha in July 2010 and his term ended on 1 July 2016. He fought to bring the Odisha Official Language Act, 1954.

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.

1964 split in the Communist Party of India

In 1964 a major split occurred in the Communist Party of India. The split was the culmination of decades of tensions and factional infighting. When India became independent in 1947, differences arose of how to adapt to the new situation. As relations between the Nehru government and the Soviet Union improved, a faction that sought cooperation with the dominant Indian National Congress emerged within CPI. This tendency was led by S.A. Dange, whose role in the party hierarchy became increasingly controversial. When the Sino-Indian War broke out in 1962 Dange's opponents within CPI were jailed, but when they were released they sought to challenge his leadership. In 1964 the party was finally divided into two, with the left faction forming the Communist Party of India (Marxist). The split had a lot of regional variations. It also impacted other organizations, such as trade union and peasant movements. The split has been studied extensively by scholars, who have sought to analyze the various domestic and international factors involved.

S.S. Mirajkar Indian politician and trade unionist

Shantaram Savlaram Mirajkar was an Indian communist politician and trade unionist. He was part of the old guard of the Communist Party of India, led the All India Trade Union Congress as its president for many years and served as mayor of Bombay.

The Kanpur Communist Conference was an historic event of the early communist movement in India, held from December 26 to 28, 1925 at Kanpur. In 1959 the leadership of the Communist Party of India decided to consider the Kanpur conference as the founding event of the party.

References

  1. 1 2 Andersen, Walter K.. India in 1981: Stronger Political Authority and Social Tension, published in Asian Survey, Vol. 22, No. 2, A Survey of Asia in 1981: Part II (Feb., 1982), pp. 119-135
  2. 1 2 Sen, Mohit. A Traveller and the Road – The Journey of an Indian Communist. New Delhi: Rupa Co., 2003. p. 388
  3. ↑ Das Gupta, Jagadish, in Banerjee, Gopal (ed.), S.A. Dange – A Fruitful Life. Kolkata: Progressive Publishers, 2002. p. 101
  4. ↑ New York Times, 14 March
  5. ↑ Banerjee, Gopal (ed.), S.A. Dange – A Fruitful Life. Kolkata: Progressive Publishers, 2002. p.153
  6. 1 2 Bhattacharya, Mrimoy in Banerjee, Gopal (ed.), S.A. Dange – A Fruitful Life. Kolkata: Progressive Publishers, 2002. p. 141
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.