ABSTRACT
The state repression of left-wing communists in India during the 1962 Sino-Indian War radicalized a substantial segment of activists of the Communist Party of India (CPI), precipitating several splits. Though conventional historiography often viewed these splits through the lens of Sino-Soviet conflict, recently published documents reveal that the very experience of the repression of left-wing communists by the Indian government played a pivotal role in radicalizing grassroots activists, thus hastening the pre-existing schisms and rifts. Indeed, the CPI was deeply divided over the Indian state’s ‘class alignment’ and its own revolutionary strategy – both issues amplified by the 1962 war. While many party leaders had believed for a long time that they should penetrate the Congress Party and steer it towards socialism, a large number of rank-and-file cadres remained committed to agrarian revolution, even though many proponents of that strategy were not Maoists themselves. Furthermore, many communist leaders supported the Indian government’s war efforts, but left-wing activists regarded the conflict with China as a mere border dispute and called for peace. The repression of left-wing communists and the alleged cooperation of some party leaders with Congress in arresting them played a central role in later party splits. This massive repression remains under-explored in the history of the CPI’s radicalization and subsequent fragmentation. Indeed, many left-wing leaders jailed during the Sino-Indian War became convinced of the necessity of revolutionary opposition to the Congress-led central government, and thus opposed their colleagues who supported the war effort and rapprochement with the Congress Party.
