The Communist Party of India is celebrating its  centenary year in 2025 (December 26, 1925).

About Communist Party of India

• The Communist Party of India is the political party of the Indian working class. 
• It is a voluntary organisation of workers, peasants, toiling people in general, intelligentsia and others devoted to the cause of socialism and communism.

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Formation of  Communist Party of India: Historical Background

• The Communist Party of India (CPI) was formed on 26 December 1925 at the first Party Conference in Kanpur, which was then known as Cawnpore. 
• S. V. Ghate was the first General Secretary of the CPI.
• Leaders like M.N. Roy and Abani Mukherji established CPI in Tashkent after the second Congress of the Comintern.

Contributions of Communist Party of India: Pre Independence

• Freedom Struggle
• Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case
  • It was a controversial court case initiated by the British government in 1924 to target several newly turned communists, including M.N. Roy, Muzaffar Ahmad, S.A. Dange, Shaukat Usmani and Nalini Gupta. 
  • They were charged with conspiring to overthrow British rule in India through a violent revolution.
• Demand for Poorna Swaraj:
  • One of the central contributions of Communists to the independence movement was their early and steadfast demand for Poorna Swaraj, a demand later adopted by Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Subhas Chandra Bose.
• Demand for Constituent Assembly: 
  • Communists demanded the formation of a Constituent Assembly that would represent the will of the people. 

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• • • They argued that any new political order should be based on the sovereignty of the people, reflected later in the Preamble’s invocation of “We, the People of India”.
  • Communists’ Impact on Constituent Assembly Debates: Communists’ influence can be seen in the Constituent Assembly debates over land reforms, workers’ rights, and the protection of backward classes. 
    • Example: The Telangana Rebellion, a major peasant uprising in Nizam’s Hyderabad state, exemplified the CPI’s commitment to land reforms and social justice.
• Pioneering Labour Rights: The Communist Party was responsible for achieving the right to form labour unions even during the British rule and Industrial Disputes Act.
• Communist Ideals in the Indian Constitution: 
  •  Vision of Social justice & equality:  The Preamble reflects ideals like justice, equality, and fraternity, championed by communists for an inclusive and democratic India. 
  •  Influence on Fundamental Rights: The inclusion of fundamental rights, provisions for social justice and the framework for economic equality can be traced back to the ideas promoted by the communist leadership.

Post Independence 

• Principal opposition party: Nationally, it gained relatively small numbers of seats in the Lok Sabha elections of 1951, 1957, and 1962 compared with the ruling and then-dominant Congress Party.
  • Each time it was enough for the CPI to be the principal opposition party. 
• Formation of Non-congress government: In 1957 the CPI defeated Congress in legislative assembly elections in Kerala and formed the first non-Congress government in independent India. 
• Governance: The Communist struggles had played a key role in bringing out the Forest Rights Act, Right To Information Act and other Acts during the UPA-I rule.

Challanges

• Split:  In 1964 ideological differences had built up over a split between the Soviets and the Chinese communists in the 1950s.
  • The response to the 1962 border clashes between India and China prompted a large faction of party members to break with the CPI and form the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI(M). 
• Electoral Decline:  In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the CPI was able to win two seats and the CPI(M)  was reduced to 4, its lowest since it first fielded candidates in 1967. 
  • The slide in leftist support continued in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, where the CPI could win only one seat and the CPI(M) dropped to nine.

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Conclusion

The CPI has consistently and strongly resisted efforts to weaken constitutional safeguards, stressing the importance of social and economic justice in a country still facing significant inequalities. This continuing struggle is crucial for protecting India’s democratic structure against the threats of communal fascism and exploitative capitalism.

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