Naxalite

From Freepedia

Naxalite or Naxalism is an informal name given to revolutionary communist groups that were born out of the Sino-Soviet split in the Indian communist movement. The term comes from the Naxalbari, a small village in West Bengal, where a leftist section of CPI(M) led by Charu Majumdar and Kanu Sanyal led a militant peasant uprising in 1967, trying to develop a "revolutionary opposition" in order to establish "revolutionary rule" in India. Mazumdar greatly admired Mao Zedong of China and advocated that Indian peasants and lower classes must follow in his footsteps and overthrow the government and upper classes whom he held responsible for their plight. In 1967 'Naxalites' organized the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries (AICCCR), and broke away from CPI(M). Uprisings were organized in several parts of the country. In 1969 AICCCR gave birth to Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). After the internal revolt led by Satyanarayan Singh in 1971 and the death of Mazumdar in 1972, the movement was fragmented into many competing factions.

Practically all Naxalite groups trace their origin to the CPI(ML). A separate tendency from the beginning was the Maoist Communist Centre, which evolved out of the Dakshin Desh-group. (MCC later fused with (People's War Group) PWG for to form Communist Party of India (Maoist).) A third tendency is that of the Andhra revolutionary communists, which was mainly presented by UCCRI(ML), following the mass line legacy of T. Nagi Reddy. That tendency broke with AICCCR at an early stage.

Today some groups have become legal organisations participating in parliamentary elections, such as Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation. Others, such as Communist Party of India (Maoist) and Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Janashakti, are engaged in armed guerrilla struggles. Typically, there is a groundswell of public support for such activities, though it seems to have come down in recent years with counter-movements such as those led by Mahendra Karma becoming popular. Many groups combine both legal and illegal methods of work.

See Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) for a list of Naxalite groups.

Several movies relating to the Naxal movement have been made, such as Lal Salaam, Hazaron Khwaishen Aisi and Hazaar Chaurasi Ki Maa.