The autobiography of legendary CPI(M) and AIKS leader Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi was released on September 1, his 103rd birth anniversary, by CPI(M) Polit Bureau member and AIKS president Ashok Dhawale at the CPI(M) state office hall in Patna. The autobiography in Hindi, titled ‘Marxism: My Struggle Path’, was edited by his late comrade Siddheshwar Nath Pandey and daughter Mrunalini. 

At the function, leaders paid floral tributes to his portrait. CPI(M) State Secretariat member Ajay Kumar welcomed all the guests. All members of the CPI(M) Bihar state secretariat, Party members and Left sympathisers, and his family members were present.

A REMARKABLE LIFE

Ganesh Shankar Vidyarthi was born into a landlord family in Nawada district of Bihar on September 1, 1924. It was remarkable that at the tender age of 18, he plunged into the Quit India Movement and also joined the undivided CPI in 1942. He was a freedom fighter who spent over six years in jail, both before and after independence.

Greatly influenced by the anti-feudal struggles of legendary peasant leader and founding president of AIKS Swami Sahajanand Saraswati, Vidyarthi, despite his landlord class origin, fought for the interests of agricultural workers and poor peasants all his life. He became one of the top leaders of the AIKS in Bihar, which was and still is infamous for the stranglehold of landlordism. Vidyarthi personally led several peasant struggles against landlords in his district and across the state. 

In 1964, with the split in the Communist Party, Vidyarthi joined the CPI(M). He was in the forefront of the struggle against the Emergency in 1975-77. In 1977 and 1980, he was twice elected as MLA in the Bihar Assembly, and from 1990 to 1996 he also served one term as MLC. 

In 1980 he was elected as the Bihar state secretary of the CPI(M), and was constantly re-elected to this post for 25 years till 2005. His was the longest term as Party state secretary of Bihar. He was elected to the CPI(M) Central Committee for nearly three decades. 

His simple lifestyle and personal integrity were beyond dispute. This made him a highly respected figure across the entire political spectrum of Bihar. He remained active till the end, and passed away at the age of 96 on 11 January 2021. The autobiography chronicles his long and illustrious life, and is undoubtedly a valuable addition to the history of the Communist movement in Bihar and in North India.