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Left radicalism in India was rooted in the nationalist movement and was set in motion in the 1920s with the formation of the communist party. The communist movement manifested itself differently in each phase of India's political history and Communism continues to remain a meaningful alternative ideological discourse in India.This book examines left politics in India focusing on its rise, consolidation and relative decline in the present century. Left radicalism in India is a distinct ideological phenomenon which is articulated in two complementary ways: while the parliamentary left remains social democratic in character, its bête noire, the left wing extremists, continue to uphold the classical Marxist, Leninist and Maoist notion of violent revolution. By concentrating on the nature and also activities of these two versions of left radicalism, this book is a thorough study of the phenomenon. The author analyses the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura and presents a variety of case studies of communist movements. He argues that the political power of the left parties depends on the degree to which they have built organizational strength, political hegemony and a broad social base through legal and extra-parliamentary struggles.An in-depth study of socio-economic circumstances that remain critical in conceptualizing radical extremism, Left Radicalism in India will be of interest to those studying Indian Politics, South Asian History, Development Studies and Global Politics.

In Communism in India, Bidyut Chakrabarty-an expert on contemporary Indian political economy and social movements-presents a sweeping analysis of the changing nature of communist ideology over the past century in India. The history and development of India's left movements are unique in that the country is home to two coexisting strands of modern communism. The first of these is the parliamentary Communist Party of India, which constituted the first democratically-elected Marxist government in the country. The parliamentary left subscribes to a social-democratic philosophy, turning to the traditional democratic institutions of governance in their quest to fulfill the Marxist-Leninist goal of establishing a classless society. The second, oppositional, strand is the revolutionary Maoist movement. This branch rejects parliamentary democracy as a means to altering class-relations, as they see the government as an elite organization dedicated to the status quo and age-old system of class exploitation. Drawing on ethnographic field work conducted in Orissa, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, Chakrabarty provides a contextual account of the rise, consolidation, and decline of these two types of left radicalism. He looks at how it is that left ideology has coexisted with free-market-oriented economic policies, as well as the contexts in which more militant strands have taken root, particularly among the young in poorer districts.