CPI (M-L) Red Flag

The Communist party of India (Marxist Leninist) Red Flag [CPI (ML) RF] came into existence in 1988 as the continuation of CRC CPI (ML) [Central Reorganisation Committee], which had its roots in the original organisation. The CRC was formed with the major pro-CM comrades of Kerala in late 70s. According to the Official Document of RED FLAG -
“In 1979, after many leading comrades getting released from jail, initiative was taken to reorganize the party based on the basic positions of CPI (ML) and on rejection of Theory of Three Worlds (TWT) and the Chinese leadership who had been upholding TWT. Comrades from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh took initiative to form RC CPI (ML) and later it was developed to CRC CPI (ML) in 1982.
“From 1982 onwards the concept of political reorganization had met with serious challenges from the petit-bourgeois anarchist tendencies that were dominant in the party such as, negation of class mass organizations, legal, open and parliamentary activities, united fronts with other political organizations and parties etc.
“With in the 25 years of its history the party faced two splits. The first split took place in 1987 and the second in 2003. In 1987 K. Venu the then General Secretary began to evaluate neocolonialism as a separate era from that of imperialism, began to explain nationality struggle to be the class struggle of the period of neocolonialism and began to find comradeship with Khalisthan like separatist movements . This caused serious differences within the party. Venu was not ready to settle this question democratically within the party. So he splited away from the party in the midst of the democratic process of a national conference. Later Mr. Venu dissolved his party and joined bourgeois rightist forces.
“After the split in 1987 August the party was reorganized and in 1988 CPI (ML) Red Flag was born. Under the banner of CPI (ML) Red Flag the political reorganization process advanced. Reinstating Comintern positions that were let down at the time of 1969 party formation, rectifying the left sectarian positions of cultural revolutions and building up party and united front activities, the party made rapid advances. In 1997, in the fourth conference party rectified the question of contradictions at the international level by reinstating the cardinal importance of main contradictions as stated in the colonial thesis of Comintern. The obliteration of other three main contradictions by the contradiction between imperialism and oppressed nations and oppressed people and the erroneous concept of principal contradiction were rectified. Altogether this change effected an axiomatic shift by eliminating the concept of ‘Soviet Social Imperialism’. The manifestation of this rectification reached to the extent of party programme and constitution only by the Vth conference in 2000. In that conference the party accepted a new programme eliminating the enormous positions put forth at the time of party formation in the name of Mao thought and Cultural Revolution.
“But, K.N. Ramachandran the then secretary of the party, and a section of the leadership, refused to accept this development and tried to split the organization sabotaging the democratic process of the VIth conference. The splitists tried to retract to the semi-colonial semi-feudal position, rejected left alternative and the positions for left unity, tried to find propaganda platform in WSF and put forth an opportunistic proposal of alliance and unity with the CPI (ML) Kanu Sanyal group. In all the senses the splitists threw the political reorganization to winds.
“But CPI (ML) Red Flag overcame this ordeal in the VIth conference by resolving to reorganize the party and called a special conference to evaluate the split and to accept an approach to tactical line that should be practiced. The party advanced to further development of left alternative and the left unity in the field of theory and practice.
“Now CPI (ML) Red Flag is moving…to attain an uncompromising position regarding its approach towards imperialist globalization and all sorts of reactionary forces at the domestic front. “

Provisional Central Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist)

Provisional Central Committee, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) is pro-naxalist political party in India. The general secretary of the party is Santosh Rana.
The PCC, CPI (ML) evolved out of the group loyal to Satyanarayan Singh from the original Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). Singh rebelled against the party leader Charu Majumdar in 1971, provoking a split. In April 1973 Singh's party was reorganised.
Santosh Rana had broken with Charu Majumdar in 1971, and later joined Singh's group. During the period 1975-80 the Chandrapulla Reddy group (which in 1971 had broken away from the Andhra Pradesh Committee of Communist Revolutionaries) based in Andhra Pradesh formed a part of Singh's CPI (ML).
Singh's CPI (ML) was amongst the first of the ML-factions that started participating in elections. The party gave some sort of support to the attempt of the Janata Party-movement to bring down the regime of Indira Gandhi, something that the more orthodox ML-factions saw as treachery. In 1977 Santosh Rana was elected to the West Bengal state assembly from the Gopiballavpur constituency (one of the areas were CPI (ML) had started armed struggle following the model of the Naxalbari uprising). Rana got 13401 votes (25, 67%), which was enough to defeat the CPI (M), Indian National Congress and Janata Party candidates. Singh's CPI (ML) were also able to register the party name Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) with the Election Commission of India, but the registration was later lost.
Around 1980 Singh's group appeared as the strongest ML-faction, but with the exit of Chandrapulla Reddy and other splits the party shrunk. In 1984 a severe split occurred, with the loyalists of Singh opposed to the group of Santosh Rana and Vaskar Nandy. The Singh faction levelled the following accusation: ¨"In our organisation also, Nandy’s close associates established contacts with a foreign voluntary agency and a native voluntary agency financed by Western monopoly capital, keeping it secret from the POC and the general secretary of the party, S N Singh. They established contact with Rural Aid Consortium of Tagore Society which is financed by West European countries and the USA and with one Danish Organisation on the Plea of providing relief to the people of Gobiballabpur in West Bengal and some areas in Bihar. Lakhs of rupees were received for digging tanks, constructing school building opening a sewing training center and distributing chickens and cattle to the needy. It also came to our notice that money was being received by some of our leaders from the Lutheran Church. When it came to light to the PCC members, an intense ideological struggle burst forth in the party on this issue." (Our differences with Nandy-Rana group, PCC-CPI (ML), p. 29)
The group of Rana came to win a majority in the leadership (the provisional central committee) and Singh's followers formed a new committee (and de facto a new party). Singh died shortly afterwards.
Rana's group differentiates themselves from other ML-factions through their emphasis on antifascism. Rana considers the Hindu nationalist BJP as a fascist danger for India. PCC, CPI (ML) gives the advice to their followers to vote for parties like CPI (M) or even the Indian National Congress in constituencies were no revolutionary communist candidate is available.
Ahead of the 2004 Lok Sabha elections the party participated in the united front of revolutionary communists initiated by Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Red Flag and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist).
In the Bodo-dominated areas in Assam, the party works through a mass organization called United Reservation Movement Council of Assam. PCC, CPI (ML) and URMCA are opponents of the Bodo nationalist movements. In the Lok Sabha elections in 2004 the URMCA candidate in Kokrajhar got 205 491 votes (21, 25%). In the 1999 election the URMCA candidate had gotten 246 942 votes (27, 75%) in the same constituency.
PCC, CPI (ML) publishes For a New Democracy as its central organ. The editor-in-chief is Vaskar Nandy.

Communist Revolutionary League of India

Communist Revolutionary League of India a so-called naxalist party in the Indian state of West Bengal. The party is led by Ashim Chatterjee, former student leader and central committee member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). Chattejee broke with Charu Majumdar in 1971 due to his erroneous understanding of the ‘liberation struggle’ of East Pakistan. In late seventies Chatterjee formed the CRLI.
During the period of 1995-2000 CRLI was member of Left Front. After breaking with CPI (M), CRLI has been in contact with the Party of Democratic Socialism of Saifuddin Chaudhury.
In the 2005 West Bengal Legislative Assembly elections, CRLI leader Chatterji contested on the election symbol of Trinamool Congress!

CPI (M-L) [Commonly known as the New CPI (M-L)]

This new party, using the old name, CPI (ML), was formed in January 2005 with the merger of the CPI (ML) [Sanyal Group] and the CPI (ML) Red Flag group [KN Ramchandran]. Previously, Sanyal’s CPI (M-L) [that later merged with Red Flag] was formed through a merger of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Unity Initiative and Sanyal's Communist Organization of India (Marxist-Leninist) in June 2003.
The party general secretary is Kanu Sanyal. This new ML group is extremely critical to the original Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), formed in 1969, of which Sanyal was also a key leader. Though Sanyal and his comrades accept Naxalbari, but they are totally opposed to the line of Charu Majumdar.

The strength of the party is mainly concentrated to Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand and West Bengal.

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) New Democracy

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) New Democracy is a naxalist party in India. The party was founded as a breakaway from the CPI (ML) of Chandrapulla Reddy in 1988. The party general secretary is Yatendra Kumar.
The party is mainly based in Andhra Pradesh, but also has branches in West Bengal, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi, Orissa, Haryana etc. The party has one member in the Legislative Assembly of Andhra Pradesh, Narsaiah Gummadi from the constituency Yellandu and one from Bihar Umadhar Prasad Singh.
CPI (ML) ND works both with legal and illegal methods. The party contests elections and organizes open mass organizations (especially the Indian Federation of Trade Unions [IFTU] and the peasants movement All India Kisan-Mazdoor Sabha), but at the same time it organizes small guerrilla units, 'dalams'. Presently the CPI (ML) ND is mainly focusing more on the underground work and distancing itself from the legal left and the moderate ML factions. It is heard, the Central Committee is advocating armed struggle by implementing CP Reddy’s ‘phase theory’

Communist Party of India (M-L) Central Team

The CPI (M-L) Central Team Was founded in December 1977 as a breakaway group from the CPI (ML) Provisional Central Committee [the Satyanarayan Singh/Chandra Pulla Reddy faction of the CPI (ML)]. The CPI (ML) Central Team is active in Punjab, and remains so in Maharashtra and West Bengal.
In Punjab they published the very influential revolutionary journal, Surkh Rekha. During the Khalistani period (1980s) the Punjab section of this group worked with the Centre of Communist Revolutionaries of India in building the important Front against Repression and Communalism. This experience won the Punjab section of the Party over to the strategy of the "mass revolutionary line". In August 1994 the Punjab section, led by Roshan, merged with CCRI and two other groups to form the Communist Party Reorganization Centre of India (M-L). Surkh Rekha, of course, became a publication of CPRCI (ML).
However the Maharashtra and West Bengal sections of the Central Team refused to go along with this and accused the Punjab section of betraying the old CPI (ML) movement. They continue to function as an independent organization under the name CPI (ML) Central Team.
In West Bengal, the CPI (M-L) publishes a Marxist journal, called Andolaner Sathi (previously Andolaner Disha)

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation is a pro-Charu Majumdar (but anti-Lin Piao) political party in India.
The Liberation faction was formed by Jauhar (Subrata Dutta), who died in the Bhojpur Struggle in November, 1974.
In 1975 Vinod Mishra was elected general secretary. From 1977 a reform process took place in Mishra's CPI (ML). The party conference in 1979 declared that mass organizations ought to be created in every front (which the original CPI (ML) had condemned as "economism"). Mishra's CPI (ML) also maintained good relations with the Communist Party of China, whilst most other Indian ML-factions condemned the reorientation that was pushed through by Deng Xiaoping after the death of Mao Zedong.
In 1982 the Indian Peoples Front was formed, and the party started contesting elections under the name of IPF. In 1989 IPF was able to win a Lok Sabha seat from Ara, Bihar. In 1991 the Ara seat was lost, but the party won a seat in Assam through the mass movement Autonomous State Demand Committee. In 1994 IPF was dissolved and the party started contesting elections under its proper name. However it continued to contest elections under the banner of ASDC until 1999.
Mishra died in 1998. The current general secretary is Dipankar Bhattacharya, who hails from West Bengal. In the Lok Sabha elections in 1999 the party won 0.3% of the votes and one seat (the former ASDC-seat from Assam). In the 2004 elections the seat was lost, mainly due to a split within ASDC.
The Liberation group is going to organize its latest party congress in Kolkata.