Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)

The Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) was formed by the All India Coordination Committee of Communist Revolutionaries at a congress in Calcutta in 1969. The foundation of the party was declared by Kanu Sanyal at a mass meeting in Calcutta on 22 April (Lenin's birthday).

History

CPI(ML) advocated armed revolution and denounced participation in the electoral process. The party leaders were Charu Majumdar and Saroj Dutta, both of whom had belonged to the left-wing within Communist Party of India (Marxist) in northern West Bengal. Kanu Sanyal, Jongol Santhal and his followers had mobilized a revolutionary peasants movement in Naxalbari, which evolved into an armed uprising of the mostly Santhal tribal inhabitants. CPI(ML) saw Naxalbari as the spark that would start a new Indian revolution, and the movement came to be known as 'naxalites'. In several parts of India, for example Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, different parts of West Bengal and in Srikakulam in northern Andhra Pradesh CPI(ML) organized guerilla units. The party got moral support from China, which actively encouraged the attempts of CPI(ML) to launch revolution.