Formation of Communist Party of India

The origin of the communist movement in India connects directly to global political shifts following World War I. The Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 in Russia established the world’s first socialist state under Vladimir Lenin. This development inspired Indian revolutionaries to adopt Marxist-Leninist principles to fight British imperialism and internal class exploitation. The Communist International (Comintern), established in Moscow in 1919, sought to build communist parties across colonial nations. It provided ideological guidance, financial support, and organizational backing to Indian revolutionaries living in exile.

Dual Foundation: Tashkent (1920) and Kanpur (1925)

The Communist Party of India traces its origin to two distinct foundational events. These two milestones reflect émigré efforts abroad and indigenous organization on Indian soil.

The Tashkent Formation (1920)

On October 17, 1920, an émigré Communist Party of India formed in Tashkent, present-day Uzbekistan. The meeting took place following the Second Congress of the Comintern.

• M.N. Roy, along with Evelyn Roy-Trent, Abani Mukherji, Rosa Fitingof, Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Shafiq, and M.P.T. Acharya, established the party apparatus.
• Mohammad Shafiq served as the first Secretary of the party organization.
• M.N. Roy became the primary theoretician and represented India in the Comintern leadership.
• The Tashkent group aimed to recruit and train Indian revolutionaries, including Muhajirs (pan-Islamic emigrants), in political strategy to initiate an armed uprising against British rule.

The Kanpur Conference (1925)

The formal establishment of the party inside India occurred at the Indian Communist Conference held in Kanpur from December 25 to 28, 1925.

• Satyabhakta convened the conference, which coincided with the annual session of the Indian National Congress.
• Malayapuram Singaravelu Chettiar chaired the inaugural convention.
• S.V. Ghate was elected as the first General Secretary of the Central Executive Committee.
• The conference adopted a constitution, selected the Red Flag as the party symbol, and declared the party’s goal as the liberation of India from British imperialism alongside the socialization of the means of production.

Early Communist Nuclei and Regional Journals

Parallel to émigré activities, independent communist groups grew in major industrial cities across India during the early 1920s. Early leaders mobilized factory workers and published radical periodicals to spread Marxist principles.

Colonial Repression and Legal Conspiracy Trials

The colonial government recognized Marxist ideology as an existential threat to British authority. To crush the movement, British authorities launched successive conspiracy trials against early communist organizers.

Major Colonial Conspiracy Cases

• Peshawar Conspiracy Cases (1922–1923): British authorities arrested and tried trained Indian revolutionaries returning from Soviet Russia via Central Asia.
• Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case (1924): The colonial administration prosecuted leading communist figures including S.A. Dange, Muzaffar Ahmed, Shaukat Usmani, and Nalini Gupta for attempting to overthrow the King-Emperor’s sovereignty.
• Meerut Conspiracy Case (1929): Colonial police arrested 31 prominent labor leaders and communists, including three British trade unionists—Philip Spratt, Benjamin Bradley, and Lester Hutchinson. The four-year trial generated wide public attention and popularized Marxist ideas across India.

Mass Organizations and Political Fronts

To circumvent colonial bans and build a mass base, communists established legal organizational fronts among workers and peasants.

Workers and Peasants Parties (1925–1928)

Communists established Workers and Peasants Parties (WPP) in Bengal, Bombay, Punjab, and the United Provinces. The WPP operated as a legal mass organization while the CPI remained underground. It worked within the Indian National Congress to push for complete independence and economic reforms.

Trade Union and Agrarian Leadership

• Trade Unions: Communists led massive industrial strikes, such as the 1928 Bombay Textile strike under the Girni Kamgar Union. They acquired leadership roles within the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC).
• Peasant Fronts: Communist leaders helped establish the All India Kisan Sabha at Lucknow in April 1936. Swami Sahajanand Saraswati served as President and N.G. Ranga as General Secretary.

Key Historical Facts

The Communist Party of India marks December 26, 1925, as its official founding day based on the Kanpur convention. However, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) traces its foundational origins to the October 17, 1920 meeting in Tashkent. On May 1, 1923, M. Singaravelu Chettiar organized India’s first May Day celebration in Madras, raising the red flag for the first time on Indian soil. He also founded the Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan in 1923. The British colonial government imposed a formal ban on the CPI in July 1934 under the Criminal Law Amendment Act. The ban remained in place for eight years until July 1942, when the British lifted it after the CPI adopted the “People’s War” stance following Nazi Germany’s invasion of the Soviet Union. During the immediate post-World War II period, the CPI led two major peasant uprisings: the Tebhaga Movement in Bengal (1946–1947) demanding two-thirds of the crop yield for sharecroppers, and the Telangana Armed Struggle (1946–1951) against the feudal oppression of the Nizam of Hyderabad.