R. N. Upadhyaya was an Indian politician and trade unionist. He joined the Hindustan Socialist Republican Army in 1938. [1] In 1940 he became a member of the Revolutionary Socialist Party. [1] He participated in the August 1942 Quit India movement. [1] He was jailed for his role in the independence struggle, and was released in 1946. He joined the Communist Party of India in 1952. [1]
During the 1964 split in the Communist Party of India, he sided with the Communist Party of India (Marxist). [1] When CPI(M) was subsequently divided, he belonged to the group that supported the Naxalbari uprising and was expelled from CPI(M) mid-1967. [2] He joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). [1] He was a delegate, representing Uttar Pradesh, at the 1970 party congress of CPI(ML). [1] He took part in organizing the CPI(ML) Uttar Pradesh State Conference in Muzaffarnagar, at which Charu Majumdar participated. [1] Within he shared the positions of Satya Narayan Singh who opposed Majumdar's dominance over the party. [3]
Upadhyaya was an active trade unionist. [1] He led a strike of cigarette factory workers in Saharanpur in 1973. [1] Following the strike he was imprisoned for six months. [1] He worked with the trade union at Mansurpur Sugar Factory. [1] As CPI(ML) collapsed in the 1970s, Upadhyaya rejoined CPI. [1] The 1981 conference of the Uttar Pradesh Trade Union Council (of AITUC) elected Upadhyaya as one of its vice presidents. [4]
In 1997 he joined the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, and became the Uttar Pradesh President of the All India Central Council of Trade Unions. [1] [5]
Upadhyaya died on 18 November 2003 at PGI Hospital in Lucknow. [1]