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{{Short description|Cofounder of the Communist Party of India}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Abaninath Mukherji<br/>অবনীনাথ মুখার্জি
| image = Abani Mukherji.jpg
| alt =
| caption =
| birth_name =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1891|06|03|df=yes}}
| birth_place = [[Jabalpur|Jubbulpore]], [[British Raj|British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1937|10|28|1891|06|03|df=yes}}
| death_place = [[Moscow]], [[USSR]]
| other_names =
| known_for =
| occupation = Revolutionary
}}
{{Indcom}}
'''Abaninath Mukherji''' ({{langx|bn|অবনীনাথ মুখার্জি}}, {{langx|ru|Абанинатх Трайлович Мукерджи}},{{Efn|His Russian name was spelt variously Абани/Абони/Абанинатх Троилокович/Трайлович Мукерджи/Мухарджи/Мухараджи (Abani/Aboni/Abaninath Trailokovich/Troilokovich/Traylovich Mukerdzhi/Muhardzhi/Muharadzi). The second part of the Russian version of the name (Trailokovich) is a [[patronymic]], traditional in Russian appellations. [http://memory.pvost.org/pages/mukerdzhi.html Abani Mukherji's biography] {{in lang|ru}}}} 3 June 1891 – 28 October 1937) was an Indian communist and émigré based in the [[USSR]] who co-founded the Communist Party of India (Tashkent group). His name was often spelt '''Abani Mukherjee'''.<ref name=banerjee>Banerjee, Santanu,
[http://www.hvk.org/articles/0903/287.html Stalin's Indian victims] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120043445/http://www.hvk.org/articles/0903/287.html|date=20 January 2008}} in ''The Indian Express'', 28 September 2003 (accessed 16 January 2008)</ref>

==Biography==

===Early life===
Mukherji was born in [[British Raj|British ruled India]] to very poor weaver parents in the central town of [[Jabalpur]]. Abani Mukherji's father was Trailokyanath Mukherji and his family was Hindu.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ta4_DwAAQBAJ&dq=Abani+Mukherji+hindu&pg=PT131|title=The Cambridge History of Communism: Volume 1, World Revolution and Socialism in One Country 1917–1941|isbn=9781108210416|last1=Pons|first1=Silvio|last2=Smith| first2=Stephen A.|date=21 September 2017|publisher=Cambridge University Press}}</ref> After leaving school, he moved to [[Ahmedabad]], where he trained as a weaver, and in 1910 he was employed as an assistant weaving master at the Bangla Laxmi Cotton Mills. In 1912, he was sent to [[German Empire|Germany]] to study weaving. In Germany, he encountered [[socialism]]. After returning to [[Calcutta]] in December of the same year, he was employed at another cotton mill, Andrew Yule Mill.<ref name="ralhan114">Ralhan, O. P. (ed.). ''Encyclopaedia of Political Parties - India - Pakistan - Bangladesh - National - Regional - Local. Vol. 13. Revolutionary Movements (1930–1946)''. [[New Delhi]]: Anmol Publications, 1997. p. 113</ref>

===Revolutionary activities===
{{Main|Hindu–German Conspiracy}}

In 1914, Mukherji met [[Rash Behari Bose]] and joined the revolutionary movement. In 1915, he was sent to Japan to acquire weapons for the revolutionaries. According to [[British Raj ]]intelligence reports, he was active in the [[Hindu–German Conspiracy|Hindu–German conspiracy]]. In September 1915, while on his return journey to India, he was arrested in [[Singapore]] and incarcerated at the [[Fort Canning]] prison there, where he remained until he escaped in the autumn of 1917.<ref name="ralhan114"/> The exact details of his escape are unclear, but he told his friend [[Suniti Kumar Chatterji]] that he was assisted by a group of sympathetic Irish soldiers.<ref>Chinmohan Sehanbish, ''[https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.267256 The Russian Revolution and Expatriate Indian Revolutionaries]'' p.389 (accessed 18 November 2020)</ref> Mukherji managed to reach [[Java]] in the [[Dutch East Indies]], where he stayed until the end of 1919, living under the name of Dar Shaheer. In Java, he was in contact with [[Indonesians|Indonesian]] and Dutch revolutionaries and became a [[Communism|communist]]. He also travelled to [[Amsterdam]] and back. In Amsterdam, he met [[S. J. Rutgers]], who recommended him as a delegate to the Second Congress of the [[Communist International]].<ref name="ralhan115">Ralhan, O. P. (ed.). ''Encyclopaedia of Political Parties - India - Pakistan - Bangladesh - National - Regional - Local. Vol. 13. Revolutionary Movements (1930–1946)''. [[New Delhi]]: Anmol Publications, 1997. p. 114-115</ref>

===Communist International===
In 1920, Mukherji traveled to Russia to take part in the Second Congress of the [[Communist International]]. There he met [[M. N. Roy]], and with Roy and Roy's wife Evelyn he drafted a document which was published in ''Glasgow Socialist'' on 24 June 1920, under the title ''The Indian Communist Manifesto''.<ref>[http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=187&page=26 Did Moscow play fraud on Marx?–I: Pre-1957 Left perspective on 1857] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120034840/http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=187&page=26|date=20 January 2008}} by Professor Devendra Swarup at organiser.org (accessed 13 January 2008)</ref> Like Mukherji, Roy had been an [[Anushilan Samiti]] member during his early political life.<ref>Buddhadeva Bhattacharya, ''[http://www.marxists.org/archive/bhattacharya/1982/origins-rsp/ch01.htm Origins of the Revolutionary Socialist Party]'' (accessed 16 January 2008)</ref>

Mukherji took part as a delegate in the Second Congress of the Communist International, held in [[Saint Petersburg|Petrograd]] between 19 July – 7 August 1920. In the [[Russian language]] notes of the Congress, he is listed as a 'left-socialist', without party affiliation being stated. At the Congress, Mukherji met [[Vladimir Lenin]] for the first time. Directly after the Congress, Mukherji traveled to [[Baku]] in [[Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet Azerbaijan]] to represent India at the [[Congress of the Peoples of the East]].<ref name="ralhan116">Ralhan, O. P. (ed.). ''Encyclopaedia of Political Parties - India - Pakistan - Bangladesh - National - Regional - Local. Vol. 13. Revolutionary Movements (1930–1946)''. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1997. p. 116</ref>

The Communist Party of India (Tashkent group) was founded in [[Tashkent]] on 17 October 1920, two months after the end of the Second Congress of the Communist International. The principal movers in the founding of the party were Roy and Mukherji.<ref name="rao">M. V. S. Koteswara Rao. ''Communist Parties and United Front - Experience in Kerala and West Bengal''. [[Hyderabad]]: Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 88-89</ref> After the founding of CPI, Roy returned to Moscow whilst Mukherji was put in charge of the Indian Military School, with the task of training armed forces to fight British colonialism.<ref name="ralhan116"/> The same year, Mukherji became a member of the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks)]].<ref name="ru-bio">[http://memory.pvost.org/pages/mukerdzhi.html Abani Mukherji's biography] {{in lang|ru}}</ref>

The following year, 1921, Mukherji went to Moscow to attend the Third Congress of the Communist International as a delegate with a consultative vote. There he also took part in a meeting of Indian revolutionaries.<ref name="ralhan116"/>

Also in 1921, Mukherji drafted a document on the [[Malabar rebellion]], which he sent to Lenin.<ref>[http://www2.cddc.vt.edu/marxists/archive/lenin/works/1921/nov/14b.htm V. I. Lenin to N. I. Bukharin, note dated 14 November 1921] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120034145/http://www2.cddc.vt.edu/marxists/archive/lenin/works/1921/nov/14b.htm|date=20 January 2008}} at cddc.vt.edu (accessed 13 January 2008): Lenin's note was written on a letter from Mukherji, by which he sent Lenin his article on the Malabar uprising of 1921.</ref> In 1922, Roy and Mukherji together wrote the book ''India in Transition'', a [[Marxism|Marxist]] analysis of the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]], which the Communist International published in four languages in 1922. The book argued that the 1857 rebellion had failed to rid India of [[feudalism]].<ref>[http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/4799/1/174 India: The 1857 Revolt And Its Historiography: An Overview] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120021923/http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/4799/1/174 |date=20 January 2008 }} by Biswamoy Pati at politicalaffairs.net (accessed 13 January 2008)</ref> Roy had assigned to Mukherji the task of gathering statistical data for the book.<ref name="ralhan117">Ralhan, O. P. (ed.). ''Encyclopaedia of Political Parties - India - Pakistan - Bangladesh - National - Regional - Local. Vol. 13. Revolutionary Movements (1930–1946)''. New Delhi: Anmol Publications, 1997. p. 117</ref><ref name=":0" />

===Return to India===
In December 1922, Mukherji returned from Moscow to India clandestinely, via [[Berlin]]. He privately met local communist leaders on his way. Once in India, he was sheltered by the [[Anushilan Samiti]] in [[Dacca]]. After meeting [[Shripad Amrit Dange|S. A. Dange]] at the [[Gaya, India|Gaya]] session of the [[Indian National Congress]] in December 1922, and after meeting [[Bengal]] communist groups, Mukherji moved to [[Madras]], where he met [[Singaravelu Chettiar]]. Mukherji helped Chettiar with his efforts to form the [[Labour Kisan Party of Hindustan]] and to draw up its manifesto.<ref name="ralhan117"/><ref name="rsp">[http://www.marxists.org/archive/bhattacharya/1982/origins-rsp/ch01.htm Origins of the RSP]</ref> Mukherji later returned to the Soviet Union.<ref name=":1">{{cite book|last=Pinaki Biswas|title=Rabindranath Hatya Shorojantra (Bengali)|publisher=Lalmati Prakashan|year=2021|isbn=978-81-953129-3-1|location=Kolkata|pages=78}}</ref>

===Split with Roy===
Roy and Mukherji did however part ways and became bitter enemies. Mukherji learnt that during his travel to India, Roy had sent a circular to the Indian communist groups denouncing him and claiming that he did not represent the Communist International. By the mid-1920s, the break between them was complete.<ref name="chnn">{{cite web|url=http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/chnn/CHNN13CIR.html|title=CHNN, No 13, Autumn 2002: Features|access-date=11 January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120082000/http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/chnn/CHNN13CIR.html|archive-date=20 January 2008|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref name="ralhan118">Ralhan, O. P. (ed.). ''Encyclopaedia of Political Parties - India - Pakistan - Bangladesh - National - Regional - Local. Vol. 13. Revolutionary Movements (1930–1946)''. [[New Delhi]]: Anmol Publications, 1997. p. 118</ref>

Mukherji took an uncompromising attitude towards cooperation with [[Nationalism|nationalist]] sectors. In 1928, he described the [[Workers and Peasants Party (India)|Workers and Peasants Party]] as 'the party that is accumulating by itself the elements of future Indian Fascism.'<ref name="chnn"/>

===1930s===
During the 1930s, most of Mukherji's work was academic. He was an [[Indology|indologist]] at the Oriental Institute of the [[Academy of Sciences of the USSR]],<ref name="ralhan118"/> and became president of the All Union Association of Orientalists. He also worked at the [[Communist Academy]].<ref name="ralhan119">Ralhan, O.P. (ed.). ''Encyclopaedia of Political Parties - India - Pakistan - Bangladesh - National - Regional - Local. Vol. 13. Revolutionary Movements (1930–1946)''. [[New Delhi]]: Anmol Publications, 1997. p. 119</ref>

===Death===
Mukherji was executed in the [[Great Purge]] by [[Joseph Stalin]] in the late 1930s,<ref name="ralhan119"/><ref name=":1" /> but his death was only acknowledged by the Soviet Union after 1955.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&page=37&pid=83|title=Organiser - Content|access-date=11 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120034838/http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&page=37&pid=83|archive-date=20 January 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> Mukherji was arrested on 2 June 1937. He was assigned for the first category of repression ([[execution by shooting]]) in the list "Moscow-Center" and executed on 28 October 1937.<ref name="ru-bio"/>

==Personal life==
In 1920, while in Russia, Mukherji met Rosa Fitingov, who was then an assistant to one of Lenin's private secretaries, Lydia Fotieva.<ref>{{cite book|last=Studer|first=Brigitte|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5hC3EAAAQBAJ&dq=rosa+fitingov+Communist+Party+of+India&pg=PT103|title=Travellers of the World Revolution: A Global History of the Communist International|date=2023-06-20|publisher=Verso Books|isbn=978-1-83976-803-3|language=en}}</ref> Rosa Fitingov was a [[History of the Jews in Russia|Russian Jewish]] woman who joined the Communist Party in 1918.<ref name=KJ>Jayawardena, Kumari, ''The White Woman's Other Burden'' (1995) p. 226</ref><ref name=":0" /> They married and had two children; a son named Gora and a daughter named Maya.<ref name="rao"/> Gora Mukerdzhi was killed fighting the invading [[Wehrmacht]] in the [[Battle of Stalingrad]] in 1942.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&page=20&pid=96|title=Organiser - Content|access-date=11 January 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080120034831/http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&page=20&pid=96|archive-date=20 January 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Samajtantrer Agniparikkha o Bharater Communist Andolan (Bengali)|last=Goutam Chattapadhyaya|publisher=Pustak Bipani|year=1992|isbn=81-85471-11-8|location=Kolkata|pages=76}}</ref> His wife Rosa was later one of the founding members of the CPI and acted as M. N. Roy's interpreter.<ref name=KJ/>

==Publications==
* ''Indian Labour Movement: A Review of the Situation'', published in ''[[Communist Review]]'', May 1922<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/international/comintern/sections/britain/periodicals/communist_review/1922/05/indian_labour_mvt.htm|title=Indian Labour Movement: A Review of the Situation|last=Mukherji|first=Abani|website=www.marxists.org|language=en|access-date=2018-10-21}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Anushilan Samiti]]
* [[Hindu–German Conspiracy]]
* [[Communist Party of India]]

== References ==
===Notes===
{{Notelist}}
===Citations===
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Chattopadhyaya, Gautam. ''Abani Mukherji, a dauntless revolutionary and pioneering Communist''. [[New Delhi]]: People's Publishing House, 1976
* Roy, Anita. ''Biblavi Abaninath Mukherji''. [[Calcutta]]: 1969

{{Hindu-German Conspiracy}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mukherji, Abaninath}}
[[Category:1891 births]]
[[Category:1937 deaths]]
[[Category:Executed communists]]
[[Category:Executed politicians]]
[[Category:Soviet rehabilitations]]
[[Category:Hindu–German Conspiracy]]
[[Category:Great Purge victims from India]]
[[Category:Immigrants to the Soviet Union]]
[[Category:Indian emigrants]]
[[Category:Indian Indologists]]
[[Category:People from Jabalpur]]
[[Category:20th-century Indian politicians]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India politicians from Madhya Pradesh]]
[[Category:Institute of Red Professors alumni]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India politicians from West Bengal]]

Abani Mukherji - Revision history

SilviaVanwinkle at 07:17, 17 December 2025