THE FORMATION OF BENGAL PROVINCIAL KISAN SABHA AND THE ROLL OF

COMMUNIST PARTY
Author(s): Goutam Kumar Dey
Source: Proceedings of the Indian History Congress , 2014, Vol. 75, Platinum Jubilee
(2014), pp. 623-627
Published by: Indian History Congress
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44158439

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 THE FORMATION OF BENGAL PROVINCIAL
KISAN SABHA
AND THE ROLL OF COMMUNIST PARTY

Goutam Kumar Dey

Peasant uprisings in Bengal have had a long history. Throughout the e

and nineteenth Centuries, a series of resistance movements were organ
peasants and tribal people of Bengal. In spite of this, no efforts wer
organize the peasants in a separate organization. However, in so
Bengal the Congress and Communist workers separately took the in
organizing the peasants during the period 1920-1 934. 1 After the First
and under the inspiration ideas of the Russian Revolution peasant ad
speed without previous parallel and became more. Peasants were draw
political struggle of the Indian National Congress on the basis of
grievances; but the political struggle was never directly linked up wit
Kisan (Peasant) Committees. The peasants came to feel the need to de
and create their own mass organization.2 Hence, the idea of associati
the peasants began to take the shape of kisan organizations in di
villages of Bengal. On November, 1, 1925, Labour Swaraj Party of
National Congress was founded by Kutubuddin Ahmed, Muzaffar Ah
Nazrul Islam, Shamsuddin Hossain and others. The influence of socia
apparent in the name of the Party which aimed at organizing lab
Peasants against oppressions.3
The fortnightly secret intelligence report of the first half of Janu
of Government of Bengal notes The name of the Labour Swaraj Part
changed to the Labour and Peasants' Party' a name which calls t
Krestintern of Red Peasants' International of Moscow. The object of t
"The attainment of Swarajya in the sense of complete independen
based on economic and social emancipation and political freedom of
women."4 Further that Kutubuddin Ahmed, Hemanta Sarkar, Sh
Ahmed, Muzafar Ahmed and Qaji Nazrul Islam are the principal memb
party, which is to all intents and purposes The Bengal branch of
Communist Party. Its organ, the Langal, appeared on 16th December
after the issue of 15 numbers, ceased publication on 15th April 1926 th
of funds, the Langal attracted the attention of Communists in Englan
to the party and a considerable amount of Communist literature fro
addressed to it has been intercepted in the post.5 At the all Beng
Conference held on February 6, 1926 at Krishnanagar, under the pre
Dr. Naresh Chandra Sengupta, the Peasants and Workers party was f
which the Labour Swaraj Party was merged. The second conference of
was held in Calcutta on February 19 and 20, 1927 under the Presiden
Gupta. The third Conference was held at Bhatpara on March 31 a

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 IHC: Proceedings 75th Session , 2014

1928 under the Chairmanship of Atul Gupta.6 In August 1926 it renewed the
publication of its newspaper under the new title of Ganabani '(Voice of the
masses)'.7 It has been decided to form a secret branch of this party to work in co-
operation with the Anushilan Samiti and in touch with the Communist
organizations in Europe and Russia.8 The paper Ganabani was partly devoted to
Communist propaganda, partly to agitation, and was intended primarily for the
student class and other intellectuals.9 The first Peasants and Workers' Party of
India was founded in Bengal in 1926 was renamed as workers' and peasants'
Party in 1928. The new party aimed at attaining independence by organizing
workers and peasants. Many prominent figures of Bengal like Atul Chandra
Gupta, Dr. Naresh Chandra Sengupta, Muzaffar Ahmed, Abdul Rezak Khan,
Abdul Halim, Dharani Goswami, Gopendra Chakravarty and others were
founders of the Party 10 They advocated the abolition of landlordism and 'land to
the tiller' at the first All India Workers and Peasants Conference, held in Calcutta
in 1928. After the Meerut trials of Communists in March 1929, repression
prevented further activity.11
Some unrest among the peasants was visible in Bengal in the year of
1930-31. The Meerut conspiracy case (1929-32) meanwhile gave a chance to the
Communists to propagate their ideology ánd the interest of leaders like Gandhi,
Nehru, Ansari was aroused. The Meerut case 'placed Communism on sure
footing in India'.12 The Bangiya Krishak Sabha was formed on 28th July 1931
with Atul Gupta, as President, Hemanta Sarkar, as General Secretary and Saraj
Kumar Mitra and Mukleswar Rahaman as Organising Secretaries. Bhupendranath
Dutta, Bankim Mukherjee and Abdul Haiim took prominent part in the Peasants'
Conference. A decision was taken in early 1933 that from now, a separate
organization was to be set up for the peasants alone. A conference was held from
18-19 March, 1933 at Ghatal in Midnapore district and an organizing Committee
was formed with Swadesh Ranjan Das as Secretary.13 At the same time, Kisan
units were set up on Tippera, Noakhali, Burdwan, later in Hooghly in 1933. 14
The flags of these Kisan units were red and Tippera Kisan unit alone had a
hammer and sickle-designed red flag as its emblem. 15 Krishak Samities tried to
mobilize the peasants against the oppression of the landlords. When the
Communist Party was declared illegal in 1934, local Communist workers
continued to work in the Krishak Samities.16
By the late 20s and early 30s a number of peasants organizations had
been formed in Bengal. Speaking in the State Legislative Council during the
debate on the tenancy bill in 1928, a member mentioned the following peasant
organisations. Nikhil Bangiya Praza Samity, Bengal Krishok and Ryot Sabha,
Central Raiyat Association, the Malda Ryot Association, Malda Krishak and
Raiyat Sabha, Dinajpur Praja Samity, Rangpur Praja Samity and others. 17 There
was an attempt to organize Tebhaga movement by Moulavi Nousher Ali in Narail
Subdivision of Jessore in 1924-25. The bargadars demanded two-thirds share
instead of half and refused to cultivate the land of landlords when their demand
was not conceded. The muslim and Namasudra bargadars demanded Tebhaga
against the caste Hindu Jotedars. The Congress dubbed this movement as

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 Modem India

communal because the dominant middle class interest was Hindu. The Peasants
could manage to have 'Tebhaga' for at least that year but gradually The
movement died in the face of police repression.18 According to Sunil Seti^
'Although the movement petered out, The Tebhaga demand, raised for the first
time in Jessore, became the battle cry of the bargadars during, The famous
Tebhaga movement of 1946-47."19 The Nikhil Banga Praja Samiti was formed in
1929, which changed its name to Krishak Praja Party in 1936, and began
publishing a weekly, The Krishak in 1937, and a daily in 1938. While the Muslim
League represented the Zamindars, this party mainly championed the interests of
Jotedars, affluent peasants and jute-growers and emerged as a major political
force in Bengal politics. The Krishak Praja Party undertook peasant mobilization
and raised such demands as the abolition of the Zamindari system, reduction of
rent, cancellation of old debts.20
By 1932 tenants' associations were formed, and tenant unrest became
intense in Nadia, Barisal, Bankura, Hooghly, Midnapur, Noakhali and Tipperah.
In parts of Midnapur and Hooghly the tenants prepared for a no-rent movement.
It seems that a no-rent campaign made progress in Noakhali and Tipperah. The
tenant struggles marked the beginning of a new phase in Peasant movement. 21
But there was no Central organization that could guide and coordinate peasant
movement. The communists were isolated during 1930-34 from the mainstream
of national movement. Until May 1932, the Comintern's understanding was the
Indian Communist should organize an underground network. In 1933 there was a
shift in the position of pressures the Comintern, which led to change in policy.22
The relations between the Congress as the main oganiser of freedom struggle and
CPI came to a turning point after the 7th Comintern Congress in July/August
1935. The Indian Communists were told that they should form a 'United frönt'
with the Congress against British imperialism and organize Peasants for 'agrarian
revolution in India'23 There was a new-found consciousness about the potential
inherent in peasant mobilization in a country where the peasants comprised 90
percent of the population. In this back-ground the All India Kisan Sabha was
formed at Lucknow on 11 April 1936. Kamal Sarkar and Niharendu Datta
Majumder took the responsibility of organizing Committees for Bengal
Provincial Kisan Sabha.25 The All Bengal Peasants Conference was held on 16-
17 August, 1936 in Albert Hall, Calcutta, under the Presidency of Muzaffar
Ahmed. About two hundred delegates from 20 districts of Bengal attended the
Conference. Bengal Provincial Kisan Organising Committee was set up with
Bankim Mukherjee as its elected Convener. This was followed by a regular
Provincial Conference, its first session on 27-28 March, 1937 in Bankura at
Patrasayar village. It adopted its own constitution and comprehensive political-
organisational resolution. Bankim Mukherjee was elected General Secretary.
This Conference was preceded by district Conferences in a number of districts
and even local conferences in sub-division and Thana areas in certain districts.26

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 ^ IHC : Proceedings 75th Session, 2014

The Role ofC. P. I.

The formation of the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha was initiated by the
Communist intellectuals in collaboration with All India Kisan Sabha. The
Communists consistently fought for the abolition of the landlordism and
distribution of lands to the Peasants without any compensation. The regular
holding of meetings and conferences of Peasants by Communist propagandists
produced their desired effect. The size of many such gatherings and the deep and
sustained interest in their proceedings were veritable sings of mass awakening.
They would give a ready hearing to the new ideas preached by the Communists.
The first session of the All Bengal Workers' and Peasant's Conference was
conyened as we have noted at Calcutta, in August 1936. The Communist flag
with the hammer, sickle and star was displayed and Communist slogans shouted.
Muzaffar Ahmed, an ex-convict of the Meerut Communist conspiracy case, and
Dr. Bhupendra Nath Dutt presided over the proceedings.27 Krisak Samiti
meetings were reported from various districts.28 It was reported from Noakhali
that there work is going on underground.29 Throughout 1937 numerous peasant
conferences were held in different villages. A peasants conference at Ausgram in
Barisal district was presided over by Muzaffar Ahmed. There was another in
Arambagh in Hooghly. Maulavi Shamsuddin Ahmed, Dr. Bhupendra Nath Datta
and Niharendu Datta Mazumdar addressed huge gatherings at Kushtia, Khulna
and Burdwan. The District Magistrate of Khulna reported that efforts were going
on throughout his district to form Krishak Samitis on Communist lines. 30
Besides jorning Krishak Samitis, holding Krishak meetings and
conferences, organizing Krishak volumteers and rallies, the members of the C.P.I
are also known to have organized several hunger-marches in the districts of
Barisal, Jessore, Burdwan, Faridpur, Rangpur, Mymensingh and Malda. The
untiring activities on the part of those ex-detenus and ex-convicts who joined the
C.P.I were chiefly responsible for the rapid growth of the agrarian movement
throughout the Province.31
The leadership of the Kisan Sabha came mostly from the intellectuals,
Bengal revolutionaries and the Nationalist Muslims. The Communists took the
lead in organizing the Kisan Sabha. Muzaffar Ahmed was a pioneer the
Communist movement not only in Bengal but also in India. Dr. Bhupendra Nath
Dutta, was an eminent sociologist and revolutionary who met Lenin in Moscow
Gopal Haider was an eminent novelist and journalist, Satyendra Nath Majumder
was an eminent journalist, Krishna Binode Roy, was a leading lawyer in Jessore.
Revolutionaries even made themselves Communists after imprisonment and went
to the villages as full-time functionaries of the local Kisan units. Some prominent
names are Benoy Chaudhuri, Hare Krishna Konar, Bhupal Panda, Mohini
Mandai, Provash Roy, Moni Singh, Bibhuti Guha, Abani Bagchi. In building the
Kisan Sabha some Muslim notables played an important part. Syed Nauser Ali,
Abdul Hayat, Haji Mahammad Danesh, Abdul Kader, Yakub Miah, Altab Ali
were active in the peasant movement in the districts and tried to develop the

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 Modem India ^
Kisan Sabha as a secular organization in a period w
swaying the Muslim peasants with communal prop
The C.P.Ï journal forming Peasants' organ
province through the Bengal Provincial Krishak
the All India Kishan Sava. These orgnisations
controlled by the members of the C.P.I who predo

NOTES AND REFERENCE

1 Amalendu De 'Attitude of the Bengali Intelligentsia towards the permanent settlement : An analy
impact of the British Colonial policy on the Bengali Mind in the 19lh and 20* centuries,' N. R
Weslarn Colonial Policy: A study on its Impact on India Society , Volume -I, Ko! kata, 1981 , p-79.
R. Palme Dutt India Today and Tomorrow , Dehi, 1 955, p-98.
Panchanan Saha, History of the working class movement in Bengal, New Delhi, 1978, pp. 70-7 1 .
Amiya K. Samanta (compiled and edited), Terrorism in Bengal - A collection of documents on
Activities from 1905 to 1939 Government of West Bengal, Calcutta, 1995, p.502.
Samanta, op.cit., Report : Intelligence Branch, C.I. D Bengal dated 3 September, 1926, p.503.
' Saha. op. cit., p.72.
Samanta, op cit., Report:- Intelligence Branch, C.I.D Bengal, dated, 1 9UI March 1927, p.533.
Samanta, op cit., Report:- Intelligence Branch, C.I.D Bengal, dated, 19 March 1927, p.533.
Samanta, op. cit., I.B C.I.D Bengal, Dated October, 1928 p.590.
Saha, op. ci t., p.73.
Adrienne Cooper, Sharecropping and sharecroppers struggles in Bengal 1930-1950.Calcutta, 1988,
Asok Majumdar, Peasant protest in Indian Politics , New Delhi, 1933, p.62.
' Dipankar Bhattacharya, Peasant Movements in Bengal and Bihar , Calcutta, 1992, p.67.
Goutam Kumar Dey, HooghlyJelar Gana Andolan (1 930- 1 947), Calcutta, 2004, p. 199.
Byomkesh Pandit, 'Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha (1937-52), N. R. Ray, ed., Public Associations
Calcutta 1984, p. 104.
Sunil Sen, Peasant Movements in India (Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries), Calcutta - 1991 , p
Bengal Legislative Council proceedings 1928 (13 session),P-134. Quoted from Asok Majumda
p.63.
Majumdar, op.cit., p.63-64.
Sen, op.cit ., p.54.
Sunil Sen, 'The Kisan Sabha and its leadership, 1936-1947,' Nisith Ranjan Ray, Chittabrata Palit ed.,
Agrarian Bengal under the Raj, Calcutta, 1 986, p. 1 3 1 .
Sunil Sen, Agrarian Relations in India 1793-1947 , New Delhi, 1979, p. 1 87.
Cooper, op. cit., p. 127.
Majumdar, op. cit, p.64.
Sunil Sen, op.cit., p. 1 87-1 88.
Pandit, op.cit., p. 104.
M.A Rasul, A History of the All India Kisan Sabha, Calcutta, 1974, p.22-23.
Report on the Political situation in Bengal for the 2 half of August-Home Political Department file No.
1 8/18/1936 National Archives of India, Delhi.
Ibid, file No. 1 8/9/36, National Archives of India.
Ibid, file No. 18/3/1936, National Archives of India.
Gitasree Bandyopadhyay, Constraints m Bengal Politics 1 921-41 , Calcutta, 1 984, p.2 1 1 .
I.B C.I.D Bengal, Cited in Samanta, op.cit., p.784.
" Sunil Sen, Peasant Movements in India pp.75-76.
I.B. C.I.D.Bengal (Report from 1937 to August 1939), Cited in Samanta, op.cit., p.784.

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