Communist Consolidation

Communist Consolidation was an Indian communist organisation, formed amongst prisoners at the Andaman Cellular Jail. The group was founded on April 26, 1935 by 39 inmates. The group declared its adherence to the Communist Party of India. Its founders belonged to a minority tendency with the pro-Marxist section of the Anushilan Samiti. The majority of the nationwide Anushilan Marxist tendency however distrusted the Communist Party and did not join it.

The group organised a May Day celebration in 1935. The group edited a hand-written magazine, The Call.

The membership of the organization expanded rapidly (different sources talk about 200-500 members). Its members included Shiv Verma (an associate of Bhagat Singh, later Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) leader in Uttar Pradesh), Hare Krishna Konar (later a founding leader of CPI(M)), Biplabi Dhrubesh Chattopadhyay (sentenced to seven years imprisonment in connection with the Dakhineswar Bomb Case), Ananta Chakravorty (a Jugantar member, sentenced for the Conspiracy and Bomb Case), Nalini Das (a Jugantar member, sentenced for the Mechua Bazar Bomb Case), Fakir Sen and Jibendra Das (an Anushilan revolutionary from Tripura).

References

• Saha, Murari Mohan (ed.), Documents of the Revolutionary Socialist Party: Volume One 1938–1947. Agartala: Lokayata Chetana Bikash Society, 2001. p. 21
• Andaman Cellular Jail, [1], [2]
• Biplabi Dhrubesh Chattopadhyay
• Tripurainfo.com
• Frontline: Tale of Two Bhagat Singhs
• Ganashakti, Remembrance: Harekrishna Konar
• People's Democracy: Comrade Shiv Verma

Further reading

• Das, Nalini, Swadinatha Samgrame Dwipantarer Bandi. Calcutta: Manisha Granthalaya, 1974.
• Mazumdar, Satyendra Narayan, In Search of a Revolutionary Ideology and a Revolutionary Programme. A Study in the Transition from National Revolutionary Terrorism to Communism. New Delhi: People's Publishing House, 1979.
• Sinha, Bejoy Kumar, In Andamans — the Indian Bastille. Kanpur: 1939