THE Seventh Congress of the Communist Party was held from October 31 to November 7, in Calcutta. This Congress marked the culmination of the struggle against revisionism within the united Party. It marked a programmatic, organisational and ideological break with revisionism. This also meant a complete demarcation on the tactics to be pursued by the Party. The Seventh Congress was a turning point in the history of the communist movement in the country.

A THEORETICAL analysis of the prevailing situation, from which the proletariat’s relationship with different segments of the bourgeoisie and the peasantry is derived, and with it the Communist Party’s tactics towards other political forces, is central to the Party’s praxis. A study of this praxis over the last one hundred years of the existence of communism in India, though highly instructive, is beyond my scope here.

 In spite of all these factors, it can be justifiably stated that the involvement of communists in the struggle against social oppression cannot be belittled and is no less than anybody else’s.