Editing Communist Party of India

{{Infobox political party|name=Communist Party of India|native_name=भारतीय कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी|logo=CPI flag.png|founded=17 October 1920|general_secretary=[[D. Raja]]|youth_wing=All India Youth Federation|political_orientation=[[Marxism-Leninism]]|website=https://www.communistparty.in/}}{{Communist Parties}}The '''Communist Party of India''' ('''CPI''') is a [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist-Leninist]] political party and the oldest [[communist party]] in [[Republic of India|India]].

== History ==

=== Foundation ===
The Communist Party of India was founded on 17 October 1920 in [[Tashkent]], then the capital of the [[Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1918–1924)|Turkestan ASSR]] of the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (1917–1991)|Russian SFSR]]. Only seven people were present at the founding conference. In 1921, a group of [[Communism|communists]] returning to India from Soviet Russia was arrested in [[Peshawar]]. In 1922, the CPI began a publication called the ''[[Vanguard of Indian Independence]]'' from [[Berlin]]. This newspaper was banned by the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland|British]] and replaced by ''[[Mass of India]]'' in 1925. In 1923, the first [[International Workers' Day|May Day]] celebration in India was organized by [[Singaravelu Chettiar]].

In December 1925, a meeting of communist groups was held in [[Kanpur]] with about 500 delegates. At the congress, Chettiar was elected president and [[S. V. Ghate]] and [[J. P. Bagerhatta]] were elected general secretaries. Another meeting was held in [[Mumbai]] in 1927 and a new constitution was adopted. In 1929, the party congress adopted a resolution for the complete independence of India.<ref name=":0">{{Citation|author=Brinda Karat|year=2020|title=100 Years of the Communist Party|chapter=Formation of CPI, 1920|page=5–30|pdf=https://www.cpim.org/sites/default/files/documents/100_year_of_formation-booklet.pdf}}</ref>

=== Suppression ===
On 20 March 1929, 31 communist and union leaders from across India were arrested by the British. The group included 13 CPI members as well as members of other communist parties, including two British communists. Their trial in Meerut would last until 1933, when eleven of them were sentenced to prison.

In April 1930, revolutionaries raided an armoury in [[Chittagong]]. They were considered terrorists by the British and [[Bhagat Singh]] and his associates were hanged. Over 400 more were imprisoned on the [[Andaman Islands]], many of whom joined the CPI. In July 1934, the party was banned but it continued its activities. After the party was banned, the [[Congress Socialist Party]] was founded with [[Jayaprakash Narayan]] as its first general secretary. In 1935, delegates from the CPI participated in the seventh congress of the [[Communist International (1919–1943)|Comintern]].<ref name=":0" />

=== Second World War ===
The CPI initially opposed Indian involvement in the [[Second World War]]. The British arrested most of the party leadership by 1941. After [[German Reich (1933–1945)|Nazi Germany]] invaded the [[Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (1922–1991)|Soviet Union]], the CPI supported Soviet resistance against the Nazis and demanded the destruction of [[fascism]]. The British lifted the ban on the CPI in 1942.<ref name=":1">{{Web citation|newspaper=[[Tricontinental]]|title=One Hundred Years of the Communist Movement in India|date=2020-09-01|url=https://thetricontinental.org/dossier-32-communist-movement-in-india/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331190126/https://thetricontinental.org/dossier-32-communist-movement-in-india/|archive-date=2022-03-31|retrieved=2022-11-12}}</ref>

=== Postwar period ===
From 1946 to 1950, the CPI led a [[Peasantry|peasant]] struggle against [[Feudalism|feudal]] [[Landlord|landlords]] in Bengal. At the same time, it rebelled against the Nizam who ruled the princely state of [[Telangana]] as a comprador. At the peak of the struggle, the CPI controlled 3,000 villages with a total population of over three million. This struggle led to land redistribution, higher wages, and the abolition of forced labor. In 1951, the Indian army put down the rebellion, killing 4,000 people.<ref name=":1" />

In 1957, the CPI ended its official support for the Soviet Union.<ref name=":0222">{{Citation|author=[[Vijay Prashad]]|year=2017|title=Red Star over the Third World|chapter=Polycentric Communism|page=119–120|pdf=https://cloudflare-ipfs.com/ipfs/bafykbzacecu7gb2ei65us6ip3r2ugcgkblneqcftbm456mb6bzvprkbqk55qm?filename=Vijay%20Prashad%20-%20Red%20Star%20Over%20the%20Third%20World-LeftWord%20Books%20%282018%29.pdf|city=New Delhi|publisher=LeftWord Books}}</ref>

=== Split ===
In 1964, the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] split from the CPI. The CPI supported working with the post-independence government of [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], which used [[State capitalism|economic planning]] and had an [[Anti-imperialism|anti-imperialist]] foreign policy, while the CPI(M) refused to cooperate with them. In 1969, other communists formed the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)|CPI(ML)]] which advocated for armed struggle against [[capitalism]].<ref name=":1" />

== References ==
[[Category:Communist parties]]