THE Second Congress of the Communist Party was held in Calcutta, February 28-March 6, 1948, five years after the first Congress. These five years were years of great trials and struggles for the Communist Party, years through which despite slander and opposition, despite brutal repression, it had grown in stature as a leading revolutionary force in India.632 delegates attended the Congress, straight from the numerous battlefields scattered all over India, where the toiling masses of the country were fighting for a truly independent and democratic India.

THE basic cause of the mass upsurge of the Worlis lay in their abominable condition of wretchedness and their suppression by the tyrant landlords. They had rotted in these conditions for over a century – conditions they had thoroughly hated, but fear and helplessness suppressed their raging fire. They lived with bitter despair and were anxious to end their slavery, but did not know how to do it. The entry of Kisan Sabha led by the communists filled this gap. Worli’s movement of liberation started in May 1945, when they raised the red banner of revolt against serfdom.

DURING the post-war period, late in 1946, the Bengal Provincial Kisan Sabha decided that a movement should be launched on the basis of the demand for the Tebhaga, that is to say, two-thirds share for the bargadar. Thus, while the discussions with the Cabinet Mission and other political developments were taking place, the tide of the Tebhaga movement in Bengal was rising high.The peasants in Bengal had been raising the slogan of reducing the share of the landowners.

THE growing nationalist sentiment that reached a crescendo around the INA trials developed into violent confrontations with British imperialism in the winter of 1945-46. Indian soldiers and young officers serving in the British armed forces in India were greatly influenced by these mass protests. A section of them were skilled professionals and hence were different from the earlier generation of Indians who had served in the British forces. Moreover, during the Second World War, they fought along with the Allied Armies and particularly the Red Army of the Soviet Union.

IN 1943, Bengal faced one of the worst famines in Indian history. Grave situation prevailed in Bengal, Orissa, Bihar and Assam. Hunger deaths, scarcity and failure of the official machinery defined this period. Food prices rose by 300 to 1,200 per cent. Food became unobtainable for common people. Food queues became a normal feature. According to news reports, nearly 125 million people were starving and many were eating locusts and leaves for their survival.