Harish varma at 10:28, 17 March 2026

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{{EngvarB|date=January 2017}}
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{{Infobox political party
| name = Bolshevik Party of India
| logo = [[File:Bolshevik Party of India symbol.jpg|200px]]
| colorcode = {{party color|Bolshevik Party of India}}
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| ideology = [[Communism]]<br>[[Marxism–Leninism]]<ref name=t/>
| headquarters = [[Nagpur]]
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| country = India
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| founder = N. Dutta Mazumder
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| founded = 1939
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| national = [[Left Front (West Bengal)|Left Front]]
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The '''Bolshevik Party of India''' (abbreviated '''BPI''') is an Indian political party in India. The party was founded in 1939.<ref name="Chowdhuri2007">{{cite book|author=S. Chowdhuri|title=Leftism in India, 1917–1947|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t_FZCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA205|date=7 November 2007|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK|isbn=978-0-230-28804-1|pages=205–206}}</ref> The party had a certain role in the trade union movement in [[West Bengal]] and was briefly represented in the state government in 1969. In later years the party has played a negligible role in Indian politics.

==Background==
BPI traces its roots to the [[Bengal Labour Party]], founded in 1933 and led by [[Niharendu Dutt Mazumdar]].<ref name="Chowdhuri2007"/><ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> Prominent leaders of the Bengal Labour Party included [[Sisir Roy]], [[Sudha Roy]], Bishwanath Dubey, Kamal Sarkar, Nandalal Bose and Promode Sen.<ref name=so>{{cite book|title=Socialist Perspective|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JyQsAAAAIAAJ|volume=17|year=1989|publisher=Council for Political Studies.|page=276}}</ref>

As of 1930s the Bengal Labour Party led various trade unions, such as
* Calcutta Port and Dock Workers Union
* Various unions of Jute mill workers in [[Titagarh]], [[Barrackpore]], [[Jagatdal]], [[Naihati]], [[Hajinagar]], [[Kankinara]], [[Shyamnagar]], [[Gouripore]], etc.
* All Bengal Iron and Steel Workers Union, [[Entally]]
* Metal and Engineering Workers Union, [[Garden Reach]]
* All Bengal Chemical Workers Union
* East India Railway Workers' Union, [[Liluah]]
* Saxby and Farmer Company Workers' Union
* Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Workers' Union
* Hukumchand Iron and Steel Workers, [[Ballyganj]]
* Bird and Company Workers Union
* Water Transport Workers Union
* Scavengers Union<ref name=so/>

The leaders of the Bengal Labour Party joined the [[Communist Party of India]] in the mid-1930s, but maintained the Labour Party as an open organisation.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/><ref name="Weiner2015">{{cite book|author=Myron Weiner|title=Party Politics in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xz_WCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA123|date=8 December 2015|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=978-1-4008-7841-3|pages=123–124}}</ref> However, they disagreed with the role of CPI around the [[Tripuri session]] of the [[Indian National Congress]] and criticised the CPI for not siding with the [[All India Forward Bloc]] when [[Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose]] broke with the Congress.<ref name="Chowdhuri2007"/> These Bengal Labour Party leaders, such as N. Dutt Mazumdar, Sisir Roy (founding general secretary of the Calcutta Port Dock Workers Union), Biswanath Dubey and Ajit Roy founded BPI in 1939.<ref name="Chowdhuri2007"/><ref name="Research1997b">{{cite book|author=Indian Council of Historical Research|title=Towards freedom: documents on the movement for independence in India, 1943–1944|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fnoMAQAAMAAJ|date=1 November 1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=3509|isbn=978-0-19-563868-4 }}</ref> The Bolshevik Party of India was an underground Marxist–Leninist organisation, maintaining the Labour Party as its front organisation.<ref name="Weiner2015"/> In the discourse of the nascent BPI, CPI had reduced the Marxist–Leninist theory of [[united front]] to a "base theory of class-collaboration with the reactionary Gandhian leadership of the bourgeois Congress".<ref name="Talwar1985"/> BPI called on CPI cadres to revolt against their party leadership.<ref name="Talwar1985"/> N. Dutta Mazumdar was the founding general secretary of BPI.<ref name="Talwar1985">{{cite book|author=Sada Nand Talwar|title=Under the banyan tree: the Communist movement in India, 1920–1964|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GW0cAAAAMAAJ|year=1985|publisher=Allied Publishers|page=201|isbn=9788170230052 }}</ref><ref name="Sinha1965">{{cite book|author=Lalan Prasad Sinha|title=The left-wing in India, 1919–47|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Sn49AAAAMAAJ|year=1965|publisher=New Publishers|page=472}}</ref>

==Second World War==
When the [[Second World War]] broke out, BPI characterised the war as '[[imperialism|imperialist]]' and called for a revolutionary mass movement against British rule in India.<ref name="Chowdhuri2007"/> However, with the onset of [[Great Patriotic War|war between Germany and the Soviet Union]] the party did a U-turn and aligned with the CPI position and called for anti-fascist unity and support to the British war effort.<ref name="Chowdhuri2007"/>

However, N. Dutta Mazumdar did not agree with this position and supported the [[Quit India movement]].<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> The Labour Party was banned.<ref name="Weiner2015"/> He was detained for three years and joined the Indian National Congress and dissolved the Labour Party upon his release.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/><ref name="Weiner2015"/> On the other hand Nirmal Sen and some twenty key party member joined CPI in 1943.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> A group led by Promode Sen, student leader of BPI, joined the Indian National Congress in 1944.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/>

In early 1944 the BPI [[politburo]] dissolved the [[Bengal]] Committee of the party and formed a 4-member secretariat for the province consisting of [[Barada Mukutmoni]], Mani Bishnu Chaudhuri, Amar Naskar and Dinanath Gupta.<ref name="Research1997">{{cite book|author=Indian Council of Historical Research|title=Towards freedom: documents on the movement for independence in India, 1943–1944|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ddM-AQAAIAAJ|year=1997|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-563868-4|page=1687}}</ref>

==Partition and independence==
Around the time of Indian independence Sisir Roy was the general secretary of BPI.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/><ref name=t/> BPI echoed other Indian left-wing formations in labelling the [[Partition of India]] as treason.<ref name="Chowdhuri2007"/> The party called for a United States of India, with linguistic states and tribal autonomy.<ref name=t>{{cite book|title=The Times of India Directory & Yearbook, Including Who's who|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V3YiAQAAIAAJ|year=1954|publisher=Times of India Press|page=1119}}</ref> It advocated breaking with the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] and instead orient India toward trade pacts with the [[Soviet Union]], China and the [[People's democracy (Marxism–Leninism)|people's democracies]].<ref name=t/> The headquarter of the party was based in Ballygunj, Calcutta.<ref name=t/>

BPI joined [[Sarat Chandra Bose]]'s [[United Socialist Organisation of India]].<ref>''Frontline''. ''[http://www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2703/stories/20100212270300900.htm End of an era]''</ref> BPI, then recognised as a national party by the [[Election Commission of India]], fielded a single candidate (Sudha Roy, the sister of Sisir Roy, in [[Barrackpore (Lok Sabha constituency)|Barrackpore]]) in the [[1951 Indian general election|1951–1952 parliamentary election]].<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/><ref name=e1951/> Roy obtained 25,792 votes (16.2% of vote in the constituency).<ref name=e1951>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1951/VOL_1_51_LS.PDF Statistical Report on General Elections, 1951 to the First Lok Sabha Volume I (National and State Abstracts & Detailed Results)] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141008191615/http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/LS_1951/VOL_1_51_LS.PDF |date=8 October 2014 }}''</ref> The party contested 8 seats in the [[1952 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election]]. Together they obtained 20,117 votes (0.27% of the state-wide vote).<ref name="WBECI1951">{{cite web | url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1951/STATISTICALREPORTS_51_WestBengal.pdf | title=Statistical Report on General Election, 1951 : To the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal | publisher=Election Commission of India | access-date=14 October 2014}}</ref> In the [[1952 Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly election]] BPI fielded 1 candidate, Waman Jangloe Bhalekar in [[Nagpur IV (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Nagpur IV]]. Bhalekar obtained 1,077 votes (1.22% of the a votes in the constituency).<ref name=mp1951>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1951/StatisticalReports_51_MP.pdf Statistical Report on General Election, 1951 : To the Legislative Assembly of Madhya Pradesh]''</ref>

In the 1950s the [[Forward Communist Party (Anandi Mukherji)|Anandi Mukherji-led faction of the Forward Communist Party]] merged into BPI, bringing into BPI the Bengal, [[Bihar]] and [[Uttar Pradesh]] branches of the [[Forward Communist Party]].<ref>Bose, K., ''Forward Bloc'', Madras: Tamil Nadu Academy of Political Science, 1988.</ref><ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> In June 1954 the Workers and Peasants League of Nepal Bhattacharya merged with the party.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/>

By the mid-1950s BPI claimed to have around 3,000 members.<ref name="Weiner2015"/> Most lived in West Bengal, but the party was also active in [[Assam]], Madhya Pradesh, [[Bihar]], [[Bombay Province|Bombay]] and [[Uttar Pradesh]].<ref name="Weiner2015"/>

The trade unions led by BPI joined the [[United Trade Union Congress]].<ref name="Crouch1966"/> Sisir Roy became the general secretary of UTUC.<ref name="Crouch1966"/>

==In alliances==
The party joined the [[Socialist Unity Centre of India|SUCI]]-led [[United Left Front (1957)|United Left Front]] ahead of the [[1957 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election]].<ref>M.V.S. Koteswara Rao. ''Communist Parties and United Front – Experience in Kerala and West Bengal''. [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]]: Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 216.</ref> Amongst the BPI candidates, contesting as independents, was Barada Mukutmoni in [[Titagarh (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Titagarh]] (fourth place, 6.92%), Nepal Bhattacharya in [[Ekbalpore (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Ekbalpore]] (fourth place, 9.60%) and Sudha Roy in [[Fort (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Fort]] (fourth place, 9.75%).<ref name=s1957>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1957/StatRep_WB_1957.pdf Statistical Report on General Election, 1957 To the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal]''</ref>

In 1957 a split occurred between Sisir Roy, the party general secretary, and Bishwanath Dubey, a prominent trade union leader of the party.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> Roy accused Dubey of acting in cahoots with US imperialist interests.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> The split broke the Dock Mazdoor Union into two, and also provoked a split in UTUC.<ref name="Bogaert1967">{{cite book|author=Michael v. d Bogaert|title=Dock Worker Unions in Calcutta and Bombay: A Case Study of Trade Union Growth in a Developing Economy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_oVjAAAAMAAJ|year=1967|publisher=Industrial Relations Research Institute, University of Wisconsin|page=101}}</ref> Dubey and his followers constituted a faction of their own, which in 1959 joined the Tagore faction of the [[Revolutionary Communist Party of India]].<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> After Dubey was forced to leave the party, the BPI trade union work was significantly weakened.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> In 1963 Dubey founded a new, rival West Bengal Dock Mazdoor Union.<ref name="Bogaert1967"/>

The party was part of the CPI-led [[United Left Front (1962)|United Left Front]] during the [[1962 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election]].<ref>M.V.S. Koteswara Rao. ''Communist Parties and United Front – Experience in Kerala and West Bengal''. [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]]: Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 220.</ref> Amongst the BPI candidates, contesting as independents, where Sita Seth in [[Bhatpara (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Bhatpara]] (fourth place, 0.92%), Barada Mukutmoni in [[Deganga (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Deganga]] (second place, 32.83%) and Nepal Bhattacharya (second place, 24.41%).<ref name=s1962>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1962/StatRep_WB_1962.pdf Statistical Report on General Election, 1962 to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal]''</ref>

==Bhattacharya era==
Sisir Roy died in 1960.<ref name="Crouch1966"/> Nepal Bhattacharya became the new general secretary of BPI.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> Sudha Roy replaced Sisir Roy as UTUC general secretary.<ref name="Crouch1966">{{cite book|author=Harold A. Crouch|title=Trade Unions and Politics in India|url=https://archive.org/details/tradeunionspolit0000crou|url-access=registration|year=1966|publisher=Manaktalas|page=[https://archive.org/details/tradeunionspolit0000crou/page/233 233]}}</ref> At the 1965 party conference Sudha Roy called for a merger between BPI and CPI.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> The conference rejected a merger and Sudha Roy and her followers left BPI to join CPI.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/>

==United Front==
Ahead of the [[1967 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election]] BPI joined the CPI-led [[People's United Left Front]].<ref name="rao">M.V.S. Koteswara Rao. ''Communist Parties and United Front – Experience in Kerala and West Bengal''. [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]]: Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 227-229.</ref> BPI candidates, contesting on CPI tickets, included Barada Mukutmoni in [[Naihati (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Naihati]] (third place, 13.10%), Sita Seth in Bhatpara (fourth place, 1.99%) and Nepal Bhattacharya in [[Bijpur (Vidhan Sabha constituency)|Bijpur]] (third place, 18.56%).<ref name=s1967>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/StatisticalReports/SE_1967/Statistical%20report%20WB1967.pdf Statistical Report on General Election, 1967 To the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal]''</ref> Ahead the election the People's United Left Front joined the [[United Front (1967)|United Front]] which formed a state government.<ref name="Paul2014">{{cite book|author=Bappaditya Paul|title=The First Naxal: An Authorised Biography of Kanu Sanyal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=spc3BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA95|date=27 August 2014|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-93-5150-109-1|page=95}}</ref>

In March 1969 Barada Mukutmoni was named Minister of Tourism in the second United Front government of West Bengal.<ref name="Committee">{{cite book|author=Communist Party of India (Marxist). West Bengal State Committee|title=Election results of West Bengal: statistics & analysis, 1952–1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CNeNAAAAMAAJ|publisher=The Committee|page=379|isbn=9788176260282 }}</ref><ref name="Sadasivan1977">{{cite book|author=S. N. Sadasivan|title=Party and democracy in India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lJ2KAAAAMAAJ|year=1977|publisher=Tata McGraw-Hill|pages=90–92}}</ref>

==Split==
A split occurred in BPI in the wake of Mukutmoni joining the state government.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> To become a minister Mukutmoni had to resign from his post as secretary of the West Bengal State Committee of BPI, which he did.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> But when the State Committee met on 14 March 1969 Mukutmoni's candidate for new secretary was defeated in a vote.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> Mukutmoni refused to hand over the secretary post to the secretary-elect Sita Seth and in July 1969 the [[Central Committee]] of BPI declared expelled Mukutmoni and his followers from the party.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/><ref name="Studies1969"/> In response Mukutmoni formed a Central Committee of his own at a meeting in Kalyani, [[Nadia District]] in July 1969, with three expelled West Bengal State Committee members: Sita Kanta Bhattacharjee, Jyotish Dutt and Santosh Mukherjee.<ref name="Sadasivan1977"/> The two factions clashed over control of the party headquarters on [[Chittaranjan Avenue|Central Avenue]].<ref name="Studies1969">{{cite book|author=Institute of Political and Social Studies|title=Institute of Political and Social Studies Bulletin|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HoZAAAAAMAAJ|year=1969|pages=11, 26}}</ref>

After the fall of the United Front cabinet and ahead of the [[1971 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election]] the BPI (Nepal Bhattacharya group) joined the CPI(M)-led United Left Front whilst the BPI (Barada Mukutmoni) joined the CPI-led United Left Democratic Front.<ref>{{cite book|title=Political Science Review|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XOokAQAAMAAJ|volume=18–19|year=1979|publisher=Department of Political Science, University of Rajasthan.|page=31}}</ref><ref name="Ray2007">{{cite book|author=Sudhir Ray|title=Marxist parties of West Bengal in opposition and in government, 1947–2001|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=loYOAQAAMAAJ|date=1 November 2007|publisher=Progressive Publishers|isbn=978-81-8064-135-0|page=160}}</ref> When CPI later withdrew from front politics in West Bengal, the Mukutmoni faction aligned with the [[Janata Party]].<ref name="Basu1990">{{cite book|author=Sajal Basu|title=Factions, ideology, and politics: coalition politics in Bengal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LTZuAAAAMAAJ|date=1 December 1990|publisher=Minerva Associates (Publications)|isbn=978-81-85195-26-1|page=133}}</ref> The Mukutmoni faction later merged into the [[All India Communist Party]].<ref name="Basu1990"/>

==Current status==
For many years, BPI went into decay and was isolated from other left forces.<ref name=gana>''Ganashakti''. [http://ganashakti.com/bengali/news_details.php?newsid=52142 তদন্ত প্রভাবিত করতেই অনুব্রতের প্রশংসা মমতার,মন্তব্য বিমান বসুর]</ref>

The party contested the 1991 elections as a partner of the [[Socialist Unity Centre of India|SUCI]]-led electoral front.<ref name="Lal1992">{{cite book|author=Shiv Lal|title=Election Archives and International Politics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SyIvAAAAYAAJ|edition=191–196|year=1992|publisher=Shiv Lal|page=194}}</ref>

In later years there were efforts to revive the party.<ref name=gana/> As of 2015 present BPI is headquartered in [[Nagpur]].<ref>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/ElectoralLaws/OrdersNotifications/year2014/Notification%20English%2013.01.2015.pdf No.56/2015/PPS-II]''</ref> As of 2011 the party claimed having state committees in [[Delhi]], Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Bihar and [[Jharkhand]].<ref>Election Commission of India. ''[http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/mis-Political_Parties/AnnualAuditReports2011-12/Bolshevik%20Party%20of%20India.pdf Bolshevik Party of India]''</ref> As of 2014 Shashikant Waikar was the general secretary of the party and Chitta Nath the secretary of its West Bengal Committee.<ref name=gana/> As of 2014 the party had joined the [[Left Front (West Bengal)|West Bengal Left Front]].<ref name=gana/><ref>''Times of India''. ''[http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/16-Left-parties-to-observe-December-6-as-communal-harmony-day-in-Bengal/articleshow/45168847.cms?from=mdr 16 Left parties to observe December 6 as communal harmony day in Bengal]''</ref><ref>''Ganashakti''. [http://ganashakti.com/bengali/news_details.php?newsid=45666 বামফ্রন্টে যোগ দিল বলশেভিক পার্টি]</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Bolshevik Party of India| ]]
[[Category:Political parties established in 1939]]
[[Category:1939 establishments in India]]

Bolshevik Party of India - Revision history

Harish varma at 10:28, 17 March 2026