Communist Party of India भारतीय कम्युनिस्ट पार्टी | |
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| General Secretary | D. Raja |
| Founded | 17 October 1920 |
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The Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest communist party in India.
History
Foundation
The Communist Party of India was founded on 17 October 1920 in Tashkent, then the capital of the Turkestan ASSR of the Russian SFSR. Only seven people were present at the founding conference. In 1921, a group of 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 British and replaced by Mass of India in 1925. In 1923, the first 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.[1]
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 Comintern.[1]