Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Political debate in India is greatly influenced by several smaller parties. Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) are among them. The Communist Party of India (CPI) was founded in December1925 to be a part of the national freedom struggle and also to envision a socialist India. It supported militant anti-imperialist patriotism and internationalism, struggle for national liberation and the class struggle for socialism. It worked through a number of organizations at the lower level such as follows:

• All India Youth Federation

• All India Students Federation

• National Federation of Indian Women

• All India Kisan Sabha (peasants organization)

• Bharatiya Khet Mazdoor Union (agricultural workers)

• All India State Government Employees Federation (State government employees)

Although all of them were committed to national liberation struggle and socialism, after independence the members of CPI developed serious internal differences on several issues, such as cooperation with newly formed government, participation in parliamentary democracy, allegiance to Soviet Russia and communist China, and armed struggle of peasants and workers. In 1962 during Indo-China war the differences between those who supported India and those who supported communist China became sharper. In 1965 a faction of CPI separated from the parent party and formed The Communist Party of India (Marxist), or in short CPI (M).