Emergence of Communism in India

India’s communist movement was born twice — once abroad, in exile, and again years later, on Indian soil.

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ModHist0097 · Modern Indian History

Born twice: once in exile abroad, and again on Indian soil

1920

M.N. Roy founds the CPI, in Tashkent

In exile, Roy becomes the first Indian member of the Comintern.

1924

Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case

British authorities prosecute organisers before the party even exists in India.

Dec 1925

CPI formally organises, in Kanpur

A central executive committee, constitution, and red flag are adopted.

1929–33

Meerut Conspiracy Case

31 communist and left-wing leaders are arrested and tried.

1942

CPI opposes Quit India

Now on a “People’s War” line after Germany’s USSR invasion, it breaks from Congress.

Credibility, Spent and Later Split

The CPI’s wartime stance cost it real nationalist credibility. In 1964, the Sino-Soviet split and the 1962 border war drove it to split into the CPI and CPI(M).

📑 Contents

1Timeline
2Origins and Founding
3Suppression by the Colonial Government
4Test Yourself
5Communism and the Freedom Movement

Timeline

1920: M.N. Roy founds the Communist Party of India, in exile, in Tashkent.
1924: British authorities prosecute early organisers in the Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case.
December 1925: The party formally organises on Indian soil, at a conference in Kanpur.
1929–1933: The Meerut Conspiracy Case sees around 31 communist and left-wing leaders tried.
1942: The CPI, now on a “People’s War” line, opposes the Quit India Movement.

Origins and Founding Need to Know

M.N. Roy (1887–1954), born Narendra Nath Bhattacharya. Photograph from the 1930s. Public domain in India, via Wikimedia Commons.

M.N. Roy founded the Communist Party of India on 17 October 1920, in Tashkent.
He founded it in exile, with six others: Evelyn Trent Roy, Abani Mukherji, M.P.T. Acharya, Mohammad Shafiq Siddiqui, Mohammad Ali, and Rosa Fitingof.
At the Communist International’s Second Congress in 1920, Roy helped shape its policy on colonial revolutions.
The party organised formally on Indian soil only in December 1925, at a conference in Kanpur.
Singaravelu Chettiar presided over the Kanpur conference. It elected a central executive committee, and adopted a constitution and a red flag.
Early organisers S.A. Dange and Muzaffar Ahmad led the movement’s growth inside India through the 1920s.
The two “foundings” are a real, live dispute between the party’s later successors. CPI(M) traces its origin to Tashkent, 1920. CPI traces its own founding to Kanpur, December 1925.

Suppression by the Colonial Government Good to Know

British authorities filed the Kanpur Bolshevik Conspiracy Case in March 1924 — before the party had even formally organised in India.
The case charged S.A. Dange, Muzaffar Ahmad, Nalini Gupta, and Shaukat Usmani with conspiring to overthrow British rule by force.
M.N. Roy was also named in the case, but he stayed abroad and was never arrested.
Ahmad, Usmani, and Dange were each sentenced to four years in prison.
The Meerut Conspiracy Case followed. Arrests began in March 1929, and the trial ran until January 1933.
Around 31 communist and trade-union leaders were tried, including Ahmad and Dange again, plus British communists Philip Spratt and Ben Bradley.
Muzaffar Ahmad was sentenced to transportation for life. Most others got 12-year terms, later cut sharply on appeal.
Both cases badly misfired for the British. Each trial built public sympathy for the accused, instead of crushing the movement.

Test Yourself

Communism and the Freedom Movement Great to Know

The CPI’s relationship with the Indian National Congress was often uneasy, not simply allied.
Congress built a broad, non-class nationalist coalition. The CPI argued for class struggle instead. See ModHist0061 — The Indian National Congress: Founding and the Moderate-Extremist Phase for that movement’s own early history.
After Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the CPI recast the war as a “People’s War” against fascism.
This shift led the CPI to stay out of the 1942 Quit India Movement, breaking from the wider Congress-led struggle.
That wartime stance cost the CPI real nationalist credibility, even though its own founders had earlier been jailed by the same British government.
In 1964, the CPI split into the CPI and the CPI(M) — driven by the Sino-Soviet split, and disagreement over the 1962 border war with China.
The gap between the party’s 1920 founding abroad, and its 1925 founding in India, shows how colonial repression pushed early organising into exile first.