Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)

The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) was formed by the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries at a congress in Calcutta in 1969. The foundation of the party was declared by Kanu Sanyal at a mass-meeting in Calcutta on the 22nd of April (Lenin's birthday).

History

CPI(ML) advocated armed revolution and denounced participation in the electoral process. The party leaders were Charu Majumdar and Soroj Dutta, both of whom had belonged to the left-wing within Communist Party of India in northern West Bengal. Majumdar and his followers had mobilized a revolutionary peasants movement in Naxalbari, which evolved into an armed uprising of the mostly Santhal tribal inhabitants. CPI(ML) saw Naxalbari as the spark that would start a new Indian revolution, and the movement came to be known as 'naxalites'. In several parts of India, for example Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, different parts of West Bengal and in Srikakulam in northern Andhra Pradesh CPI(ML) organized guerilla units. The party got moral support from China, which actively encouraged the attempts of CPI(ML) to launch revolution.

The first party congress was held in Calcutta 1970. A Central Committee was elected.

As a result of both external repression and a failure to maintain internal unity, the movement did however degenerate into extreme sectarianism. Instead of popular armed struggle in the countryside, individual terrorism in Calcutta became a principal method of struggle.

In 1971 Satyanarayan...
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