P. C. Joshi
Encyclopedia
Puran Chand Joshi (born April 14, 1907, Almora
– died November 9, 1980, Delhi
), one of the early leaders of the communist movement in India
. He was the first general secretary of the Communist Party of India
from 1935–47.
Brahmin
family of Almora
,in Uttarakhand
. His father Harinandan Joshi was a teacher. In 1928, he passed his M.A. examination from the Allahabad University
. Soon, he became the General secretary of the Workers and Peasants Party of Uttar Pradesh, formed at Meerut in October 1928. In 1929, at the age of 22, the British Government arrested him as one of the suspects of the Meerut Conspiracy Case
. The other early communist leaders who were arrested along with him included Shaukat Usmani
, Muzaffar Ahmed
, S.A. Dange and G.V. Ghate.
Joshi was given six years of transportation to the penal settlement of Andaman Islands
.Considering his age, the punishment was later reduced to three. After his release in 1933, Joshi worked towards bringing a number of groups under the banner of the Communist Party of India
(CPI). In 1934 the CPI was admitted to the Third International or Comintern
.
After the sudden arrest of Somnath Lahiri, then Secretary of CPI, during end-1935, Joshi became the new General Secretary. He thus became the first general secretary of Communist Party of India, for a period from 1935 to 1947. At that time the left movement was steadily growing and the British government banned communist activities from 1934 to 1938. In February 1938, when the Communist Party of India started in Bombay its first legal organ, the National Front, Joshi became its editor. The Raj re-banned the CPI in 1939, for its initial anti-War stance. When, in 1941, Nazi Germany
attacked the Soviet Union, the CPI proclaimed that the nature of the war has changed to a people's war against fascism
.
, after the second congress in Calcutta (new spelling: Kolkata
) adopted a path of taking up arms. Joshi was advocating unity with Indian National Congress
under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru
. He was severely criticized in the Calcutta congress of the CPI in 1948 and was removed from the general secretaryship. Subsequently, he was suspended from the Party on January 27, 1949, expelled in December 1949 and readmitted to the Party on June 1, 1951. Gradually he was sidelined, though rehabilitated through making him the editor of the Party weekly, New Age. After the Communist Party of India split, he was with the CPI. Though he explained the policy of the CPI in the 7th congress in 1964, he was never brought in the leadership directly.
to establish an archive on the Indian communist movement.
(1913–1995), a revolutionary, who participated in the Chittagong armoury raid
. They had two sons, Chand and Suraj. Chand Joshi was a noted journalist, who worked for the Hindustan Times
. He was also known for his work, Bhindranwale: Myth and Reality (1985). Chand's wife Manini (née Chatterjee) is also a journalist, who works for The Telegarph
. She penned a book on the Chittagong armoury raid, titled, Do and Die: The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34 (1999).
Almora
Almora is a municipal board, a cantonment town in the Almora district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. Almora was founded in 1568.It is a town bustling with activity and a rich cultural heritage and history. It is considered the cultural heart of the Kumaon region of...
– died November 9, 1980, Delhi
Delhi
Delhi , officially National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest by population in India, next to Mumbai. It is the eighth largest metropolis in the world by population with 16,753,265 inhabitants in the Territory at the 2011 Census...
), one of the early leaders of the communist movement in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He was the first general secretary of the Communist Party of India
Communist Party of India
The Communist Party of India is a national political party in India. In the Indian communist movement, there are different views on exactly when the Indian communist party was founded. The date maintained as the foundation day by CPI is 26 December 1925...
from 1935–47.
Early years
Joshi was born on April 14, 1907, in a KumaoniKumauni people
Kumauni or Kumaoni are people from Kumaon region of Uttarakhand, India.They include all those who speak the Kumaoni language or any of its numerous dialects, living in the Almora, Bageshwar, Champawat, Pithoragarh, Nainital,Bijnor,Udham Singh Nagar,Moradabad, districts of Uttarakhand,...
Brahmin
Brahmin
Brahmin Brahman, Brahma and Brahmin.Brahman, Brahmin and Brahma have different meanings. Brahman refers to the Supreme Self...
family of Almora
Almora
Almora is a municipal board, a cantonment town in the Almora district in the state of Uttarakhand, India. Almora was founded in 1568.It is a town bustling with activity and a rich cultural heritage and history. It is considered the cultural heart of the Kumaon region of...
,in Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand
Uttarakhand , formerly Uttaranchal, is a state in the northern part of India. It is often referred to as the Land of Gods due to the many holy Hindu temples and cities found throughout the state, some of which are among Hinduism's most spiritual and auspicious places of pilgrimage and worship...
. His father Harinandan Joshi was a teacher. In 1928, he passed his M.A. examination from the Allahabad University
Allahabad University
Allahabad University , is a premier Central University located in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, India. Its origins lie in the Muir Central College, named after Lt...
. Soon, he became the General secretary of the Workers and Peasants Party of Uttar Pradesh, formed at Meerut in October 1928. In 1929, at the age of 22, the British Government arrested him as one of the suspects of the Meerut Conspiracy Case
Meerut Conspiracy Case
Meerut Conspiracy Case was a controversial court case, in which several trade unionists, including three Englishmen were arrested for organizing Indian-rail strike, this immediately caught attention back home in England, inspired the 1932 play titled Meerut, by Manchester street theatre group, the...
. The other early communist leaders who were arrested along with him included Shaukat Usmani
Shaukat Usmani
Shaukat Usmani was an early Indian communist, who was born to artstic USTA family of Bikaner and a member of the émigré Communist Party of India, established in Tashkent in 1920, and a founding member of the Communist Party of India when it was formed in Kanpur in 1925...
, Muzaffar Ahmed
Muzaffar Ahmed
Dr. Muzaffar Ahmed is a leading Bangladeshi economist and a professor at the Institute of Business Administration of the University of Dhaka. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. He is also the Chairman of the Trustee Board of Transparency International Bangladesh...
, S.A. Dange and G.V. Ghate.
Joshi was given six years of transportation to the penal settlement of Andaman Islands
Andaman Islands
The Andaman Islands are a group of Indian Ocean archipelagic islands in the Bay of Bengal between India to the west, and Burma , to the north and east...
.Considering his age, the punishment was later reduced to three. After his release in 1933, Joshi worked towards bringing a number of groups under the banner of the Communist Party of India
Communist Party of India
The Communist Party of India is a national political party in India. In the Indian communist movement, there are different views on exactly when the Indian communist party was founded. The date maintained as the foundation day by CPI is 26 December 1925...
(CPI). In 1934 the CPI was admitted to the Third International or Comintern
Comintern
The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern, also known as the Third International, was an international communist organization initiated in Moscow during March 1919...
.
As the General Secretary
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
attacked the Soviet Union, the CPI proclaimed that the nature of the war has changed to a people's war against fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
.
Expulsion and rehabilitation
In the post-freedom period, the Communist Party of IndiaCommunist Party of India
The Communist Party of India is a national political party in India. In the Indian communist movement, there are different views on exactly when the Indian communist party was founded. The date maintained as the foundation day by CPI is 26 December 1925...
, after the second congress in Calcutta (new spelling: Kolkata
Kolkata
Kolkata , formerly known as Calcutta, is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal. Located on the east bank of the Hooghly River, it was the commercial capital of East India...
) adopted a path of taking up arms. Joshi was advocating unity with Indian National Congress
Indian National Congress
The Indian National Congress is one of the two major political parties in India, the other being the Bharatiya Janata Party. It is the largest and one of the oldest democratic political parties in the world. The party's modern liberal platform is largely considered center-left in the Indian...
under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru
Jawaharlal Nehru , often referred to with the epithet of Panditji, was an Indian statesman who became the first Prime Minister of independent India and became noted for his “neutralist” policies in foreign affairs. He was also one of the principal leaders of India’s independence movement in the...
. He was severely criticized in the Calcutta congress of the CPI in 1948 and was removed from the general secretaryship. Subsequently, he was suspended from the Party on January 27, 1949, expelled in December 1949 and readmitted to the Party on June 1, 1951. Gradually he was sidelined, though rehabilitated through making him the editor of the Party weekly, New Age. After the Communist Party of India split, he was with the CPI. Though he explained the policy of the CPI in the 7th congress in 1964, he was never brought in the leadership directly.
Last days
In his last days, he kept himself busy in research and publication works in Jawaharlal Nehru UniversityJawaharlal Nehru University
Jawaharlal Nehru University, also known as JNU, is located in New Delhi, the capital of India. It is mainly a research oriented postgraduate University with approximately 5,500 students and a faculty strength of around 550.-History:...
to establish an archive on the Indian communist movement.
Personal life
In 1943, He married Kalpana DattaKalpana Datta
Kalpana Datta was an Indian independence movement activist and a member of the armed resistance movement led by Surya Sen, which carried out the Chittagong armoury raid in 1930...
(1913–1995), a revolutionary, who participated in the Chittagong armoury raid
Chittagong armoury raid
The Chittagong armoury raid was an attempt on April 18, 1930 to raid the armoury of police and auxiliary forces from the Chittagong armoury in Bengal province of British India, by armed revolutionaries led by Surya Sen....
. They had two sons, Chand and Suraj. Chand Joshi was a noted journalist, who worked for the Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ....
. He was also known for his work, Bhindranwale: Myth and Reality (1985). Chand's wife Manini (née Chatterjee) is also a journalist, who works for The Telegarph
The Telegraph (Kolkata)
The Telegraph is an Indian daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Kolkata since 1982. It is published by the ABP Group and the newspaper vies with the Times of India for the position of having the widest widest circulation of any newspaper in Eastern India.According to the Audit...
. She penned a book on the Chittagong armoury raid, titled, Do and Die: The Chittagong Uprising 1930-34 (1999).
Further reading
- Chakravartty, Gargi (2007). P.C. Joshi: A Biography, New Delhi: National Book Trust, ISBN 978-81-237-5052-1.