From Tebhaga to Naxalbari: Peasant Insurrections and Radical Movements in Bengal MTA
Case studies of agrarian agitation, radicalization, and the evolution of peasant-led political movements

About this book:

*From Tebhaga to Naxalbari* provides a comprehensive socio-political history of peasant insurrections in Bengal, tracing the evolution of radical agrarian movements from the 1940s sharecropper agitations to the 1967 Naxalbari uprising. The book situates these struggles within the context of colonial revenue extraction, the trauma of the 1943 famine, and the structural disruptions caused by Partition. It highlights how the Kisan Sabhas and the Communist Party of India translated rural grievances into organized political claims, emphasizing the pivotal roles played by women, Adivasis, and marginal castes in challenging the entrenched power of the *zamindar* and *jotedar* classes.

The narrative details the transition of these movements from demanding fair crop shares to seeking the revolutionary overthrow of the state. It examines the ideological fissures within Indian Marxism—exacerbated by the Sino-Soviet split—that led to the formation of the CPI(ML) and the adoption of "annihilation of class enemies" as a strategy. The text also explores the state’s response, documenting a "state of exception" characterized by intense policing, surveillance, and counterinsurgency measures that eventually suppressed the initial armed rebellion but failed to resolve the underlying issues of landlessness and poverty.

The later chapters analyze the "afterlives" of these revolts, focusing on how the Left Front government attempted to institutionalize agrarian reform through the *panchayat* system and Operation Barga. While these parliamentary reforms pacified much of the countryside, the book argues that the spirit of resistance persisted, re-emerging in contemporary anti-dispossession struggles against industrial land acquisition in places like Singur and Nandigram. Ultimately, the work uses interdisciplinary methods—combining archival research with oral histories—to demonstrate that peasant-led movements were not peripheral disturbances but central forces in the making of modern Bengal.

What You'll Find Inside:

• The book traces the evolution of peasant insurgency in Bengal from the Tebhaga movement's economic demand for a two-thirds harvest share to the Naxalbari armed uprising, showing how grievances transformed into revolutionary claims against feudal and state power.
• It highlights the pivotal role of women, Adivasis, and marginalized castes who, facing intersecting oppressions of gender, ethnicity, and caste, formed the militant core of these movements and redefined their character through direct action, leadership, and cultural innovation.
• Through interdisciplinary analysis, the work reveals how colonial revenue policies, market integration for cash crops, and famine created structural rural precarity that made Bengal's countryside fertile ground for successive waves of resistance from the 1940s onward.
• The text examines the state's sophisticated counterinsurgency apparatus—including policing, legal manipulation, surveillance, and extrajudicial violence—showing how repression shaped both movement tactics and the evolution of state power in postcolonial Bengal.
• Beyond historical analysis, the book connects past struggles to contemporary land conflicts, demonstrating how the legacy of Naxalbari informs later movements against dispossession for industrialization and infrastructure projects in places like Singur and Nandigram.

Who's It For:

This interdisciplinary study will be invaluable for graduate students and scholars of South Asian history, peasant studies, political sociology, and revolutionary movements. It offers deep insights for researchers examining the interplay of agrarian conflict, state formation, and radical politics, while also providing historical context for activists and practitioners engaged in contemporary land rights and social justice struggles in India and the Global South.