Being a prominent part of the freedom movement against the British Raj – India’s left front – over the past century, has espoused the causes of India’s farmers and labourers. Although the electoral left front has seen its ups and downs; a welfare state with affordable education and healthcare, gender and economic equality, annihilation of caste, and a classless equal society remains the idea of India for many. Here is a small attempt at narrating the story of Indian left in 25 tweets. Although this leaves out many details and tries to be as discerning as possible, I hope I will be forgiven, given the scope and limitations of Twitter.
(1) Post Russian Revolution(1917), leaders like Bal Gangadhar Tilak and Bipin Chandra Pal openly praised Lenin.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(2) 1917-1930 saw the 'natural graduation' of socialism in India into a revolutionary ideology. Bhagat Singh was another strong proponent.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(3) Leftism soon became quite strong n India, mainly due to a void in the mainstream non-representative nationalist movement led by elites.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(4) M. N. Roy, after visiting Russia several times between 1919-20, established the Communist Party of India in Tashkant in October 1920.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(5) A number of left parties cropped up e.g. Congress Labor party of Bombay, Kirti Kisan Party in Punjab, Labor Kisan party in Madras.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(6) A number of left wing leaders joined congress too. Subhas Chandra Bose, the then famous youth leader started Forward Bloc in Calcutta.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(7) In 1928, in a CPI meet in Calcutta, congress was declared a party of the bourgeoisie and all the ties with congress were broken.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(8) In 1934, Congress Socialist Party (CSP) started. Nehru & Bose supported CSP & slowly congress was divided into Leftist & Rightist camps.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(9) CSP in 1947 rejected the Cabinet Mission plan and dropped 'congress' from its name, and declared the Indian Independence as 'spurious'.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(10) Though many were against militant action, the Andhra unit of CPI passed a resolution for armed revolution against the ruling class.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(11) The Andhra unit also called for a national railway strike with the expectation that it would lead to a countrywide uprising.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(12) Both the strike & militant actions were devastating for CPI, which lost peasants and party activists in Telangana in an unequal war.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(13) Consequently, CPI was banned in several States. The party member-ship declined from 90,000 to about only 18,000 in 1951.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(14) CPI then took moderate approach. Soon legalised all over the country, it participated enthusiastically in the first general election.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(15) In 1st gen election, the CPI emerged as the largest Opposition party with 23 seats, and 4.6 per cent share of votes.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(16) CPI continuously preformed better in the next two general elections increasing the number of seats and share of votes.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(17) In 1957, the 2nd ever democratically elected communist government in the world came to power in Kerala with E.M.S. Nambodiripad as CM.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(18) Central Government’s intervention led by Nehru followed, and the democratically elected left government of Kerala was overthrown.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(19) internal conflicts grew, and post 1962 Sino Indian war, the CPI was split into a radical and moderate factions.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(20) CPI-M believed that the Indian state was ruled by the bourgeoisie and landlords. CPI started working more closely with the congress.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(21) Post emergency, the CPI-M achieved a major success in West Bengal and formed the first a government which would continue for 34 years.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(22) In 1996, Jyoti Basu was offered Prime Ministership by 14 non-Congress and non-BJP political parties. The offer was however declined.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(23) With fall of USSR, 1991 globalisation, US led rise of capitalism, communism uprooted from most of Europe, CPI & CPI-M suffered heavily.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(24) 2004 elections saw record rise of Indian left (59 seats) but in 2014 the left fell to a record low of 9 seats.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
(25) As the left struggles to find its roots again in India, the struggle for a classless equal society, amidst rising inequality continues.
— Sourav Roy (@SouravRoy_) December 12, 2014
सौरभ राय | Sourav Roy 
Fun to read your tweets. Well documented.