Three Indian revolutionaries who became victims of Stalin's 'oppressive' regime

By Jag Jivan*

In an important revelation, a Facebook post has revealed how, when Stalin continues to be "still worshipped by most of the Indian Communist parties", three Indian Communists became victims of the Soviet dictator's oppressive regime.

No doubt, the social media post states, "The first version of the Communist Party of India was founded on 17 October 1920 in Tashkent by a group of emigre Indian revolutionaries." Howevver, there were some, "among those early Indian Communists, who got caught on the wrong side of inner-party quarrels in the Soviet Union, and paid with their lives."

Naming the Communists, it says, "Three Bengali Communists -- Abani Mukherjee, Virendranath Chattopadhyaya and Ghulam Ambia Khan Lohani -- perished in Stalin's purges. For obvious reasons, they do not figure much in the official pantheon or historiography of the Communist parties in India."

The posts, by Indraneel Dasgupta, who is Professor of Economics at the Indian Statistical Institute, says, "But, as the passage of time brings perspective and makes ancient divisions irrelevant, perhaps it's time to make sure that these men are not totally forgotten. They deserve their own place in history."

According to Dasgupta, "These men were all fascinating intellectuals -- brilliant, cosmopolitan, multilingual, faithful, dedicated, obsessive compulsive, egomaniacal, quarrelsome, flawed as only humans can be."

He adds, "They were the kind of professional revolutionaries who went, as Brecht put it,
'Changing countries faster than our shoes
Though the wars of the classes
Despairing, when we saw only injustice
And no rebellion.'"

Insisting that Indian Communist parties continue with their "pathetic inability to come to terms with history", the post, which has been reproduced by Bhaskar Sur, says, "Now we know how Stalinist extremism also stymied the growth of the Workers and Peasants Party just when it had begun to grow in strength."

Sur adds, "With the expulsion of MN Roy from Comintern, as S Dutta Gupta has rightly observed, 'the independent growth of Indian Commission was stalled for ever'. Not many are aware that at least three Indian revolutionaries living in self exile in the Soviet Union became victims of the Great Terror."

---

*Freelance writer

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