Happy birthday, Charu Majumdar! (May 15, 1919)

A founding member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), and its General Secretary from 1969 to 1972, Charu Majumdar was born in West Bengal to a fighter in the struggle for Indian independence. Majumdar became active in the left wing of the Communist Party of India as an underground organizer, later splitting to form the CPI(ML). A skilled writer and theorist, Majumdar ultimately aligned himself with Maoist thought, writing the Historic Eight Documents which provided the ideological foundation of the Naxalite movement. Initially a leader in the rebellion, Majumdar was killed by state security forces in 1972.

“Without class struggle — the battle of annihilation — the initiative of the poor peasant masses cannot be released, the political consciousness of the fighters cannot be raised, the new man cannot emerge, the peoples army cannot be created.”