Revolutionary Communist Party of India

Revolutionary Communist Party of India is a political party in India. The party was founded by Saumyendranath Tagore in 1934, breaking away from the Communist Party of India. During the period 1934–1938 the name of the party was Communist League. The name RCPI was taken at the 3rd party congress in 1938.

RCPI were against the new Popular Frontist politics of CPI and the cooperation with the Indian National Congress. During Second World War RCPI supported the Quit India Movement, och and a large part of the leadership was imprisoned.

After the war RCPI started organizing soviets (panchayats) amongst peasants and workers, as a first step towards the Indian revolution. Differnent views on the revolutionary what led to a split in 1948, and Pannanlal Dasgupta (who was general secretary of RCPI during the war years) broke away and formed his own RCPI: Dasgupta advocated armed struggle. The leadership of Dasgupta's party was later on taken over by Sudhir Kumar.

In 1960 the trotskyist Revolutionary Workers Party merged with the RCPI of Kumar. In the state elections in West Bengal the RCPI of Kumar won several seats. But when the RCPI of Kumar supported Nehru's line in the war against China, many of the leading Trotskyists pulled out of RCPI.

Ahead of the 1967 elections the RCPI of Tagore had been registered under the name Bharater Biplabi Communist Party (RCPI in Bengali) whereas Kumar's party had been registered under the name RCPI.

What later happened to the RCPI of Tagore is unclear. If one studies electoral results from 1971 it appears that he switched over to Kumar's party (the election results shows a Soumendra Nath Tagore as an RCPI candidate, in the same constituency were Sauyendra Nath Tagore stood for BBCP in 1969. It also possible that it is just a mix-up on behalf of the Election Commission.), at the same time as the BBCP lived on. The registered name BBCP disappeared in 1972 but resurged in 1977. According to Alexander (see below) Tagore's party was split in two, with one led by Anandi Das. But earlier Anandi Das had been part of Kumar's RCPI.

During the 1980s Kumar's RCPI participated in elections as independent candidates. The party was split in two, and in 1991 West Bengal state assembly elections two RCPIs contested in the Hansan constituency. RCPI (Rasik Bhatt) and RCPI (Gouranga Sit). Later RCPI(GS) seems to have disappeared. Also the parties formed out of Tagore's RCPI seems to have disappeared. RCPI (Rasik Bhatt) is most likely RCPI group still around. The party has a very limited presence in West Bengal and Assam, and has at times been part of Left Front governments in West Bengal. It is led by Mihir Bain.Subhash Roy is one of the senior leaders of this party and at times he represents it in LF meetings. The party is a member of the Left Front in West Bengal. In the city of Howrah RCPI won a seat in the municipal council polls in 2003 (In total the Left Front had put up two RCPI-candidates in the city).In the 2008 Panchayet elections, it has won 3 panchayet seats and a zilla parishad seat in Nadia. The party has retained its lone ward in Howrah municipal corporation elections in 2008.In the 2010 munical polls, RCPI will be contesting ward no.87 in Kolkata as a LF partner. Its candidate is Simki Sengupta. It will also contest a seat at Gayeshpur in Nadia district. It has retained its seat at Gayeshpur municipality. RCPI's headquarters is at Bhawanipore, Kolkata.

The party had a base in the Shantipore constituency in Nadia district of West Bengal for a long time. The seat was represented by veteran leader late Bimalananda Mukherjee many times. In 2006, CPI(M) has snatched this seat from RCPI's quota and currently the party has left with only the Hasan assembly segment in Birbhum district to contest with as a LF constituent. In the 2011 West Bengal assembly election , the RCPI contested the Hansan (Vidhan Sabha constituency) and the Shantipur (Vidhan Sabha constituency) as a Left Front partner. Both its candidates lost the election. RCPI had participated in various mass-movements along with the other left parties during the Congres rule in Bengal. The party has little influence left in Assam. In 2009, its two candidates in Jorhat and Guhawati constituencies received 5642 and 7477 votes respectively. Raj Kumar Dowara and Ambu Bora were the candidates respectively.

It contested both Shantipur and Hasan seats in 2011 assembly polls as a LF partner. But it lost both of them.

Basthura Kalyan Parishad (Refugee Welfare Council) was an RCPI-related (unclear which faction) organization active in camps for refugees from East Pakistan who came to West Bengal after Partition in 1947. RCPI was especially active in the camps near Nadia.

The party Real Communist Party of India which existed around 1991, was most probably an RCPI-splinter-group.

Election results

Election results listed by registered party name. Only RCPI-factions which were registered are listed. Winning candidates are marked by *.

Assam 1962

Party name:	Constituency:	Name of candidate:	No. of votes:	%:
RCPI	35. GOSSALGAON	PRAKASH BORO	1 308	5,61%
	52. SORBHOG	SRIHARI BARMAN	5 154	18,82%
	87. TEOK	KSHETRADHAR BARBARUA	2 652	13,27%
	88. AMGURI	KHAGEN BARBARUA*	8 798	42,80%
	89. MAZIRA	SARAT CHANDRA DUTTA	1 571	7,24%
	90. SONARI	HARI KANTA BARUAH	1 241	7,44%
	91. THOWRA	BUDDHA BARUA	7 574	27,90%
	92. SIBSAGAR	RAJANI PHUKAN	951	3,94%

Assam 1978

Party name:	Constituency:	Name of candidate:	No. of votes:	%:
RCPI	81. LAHARIGHAT	FAIZUDDIN	476	1,01%
	82. RAHA (SC)	MOHAN	2 796	5,50%
	83. DHING	MD. SAMSUL HUDA*	32 394	76,17%
	84. BATADROBA	BANESWAR SAIKIA*	13 073	29,02%
	89. KALIABOR	RUPAM BORA	872	2,45%
	103. AMGURI	KHAGEN BORBARUA*	11 949	35,60%
	105. MAHMARA	BUDHA BARUA*	7 574	20,90%
	106. SONARI	STEN BARUAH	697	1,83%
	107. THOWRA	SUSEN DEORI	2 465	7,35%
	108. SIBSAGAR	RAJANI PHUKAN	149	0,32%

Assam 1991

Party name:	Constituency:	Name of candidate:	No. of votes:	%:
RCPI(RB)	82. RAHA (SC)	MOHAN HAZARIKA	776	1,00%
	83. DHING	A. RASHID	621	0,84%
	84. BATADROBA	BANESWAR SAIKIA	895	1,31%

Assam 1996

Party name:	Constituency:	Name of candidate:	No. of votes:	%:
RCPI(RB)	82. RAHA (SC)	MOHAN HAZARIKA	418	0,47%
	83. DHING	ABDUR RASHID	522	0,63%
	84. BATADROBA	PANKAJ SAIKIA	134	0,17%
	86. NOWGONG	NOOR MAMUD	186	0,22%
	101. MARIANI	SUNIL KURMI	517	0,90%
	105. MAHMARA	PRAFULLA GOGOI	1598	2,59%

Assam 2001

Party name:	Constituency:	Name of candidate:	No. of votes:	%:
RCPI(RB)	83. DHING	ABDUR RASHID	301	0,32%
	84. BATADROBA	BANESWAR SAIKIA	275	0,34%

West Bengal 1969

Party name:	Constituency:	Name of candidate:	No. of votes:	%:
RCPI	73. SANTIPUR	M. MAKSHED ALI	21 848	47,49%
	115. PATHARPRATIMA	GADADHAR BARIK	243	0,41%
	153. HOWRAH CENTRAL	ANADI DAS*	28 522	58,85%
	252. FARIDPUR	KISHORE CHATTERJEE	568	1,48%
RCPI	76. CHAKDAH	TAGORE SAUYENDRA NATH	7 013	13,23%
	77. HARINGHATA	MANOHAR RAY	499	0,91%

West Bengal 1971

Party name:	Constituency:	Name of candidate:	No. of votes:	%:
RCPI	62. BARWAN	MRITYUNHOY GHOSE	779	2,16%
	73. SANTIPUR	BIMALANANDA MUKHERJEE*	16 818	39,73%
	76. CHAKDAH	SOMENDRA NATH TAGORE	5 348	9,29%
	153. HOWRAH CENTRAL	SUDHIN KUMAR*	12 616	39,80%
	156. DOMJUR	NIRDHAN SARDAR	880	1,54%
	246. BARABANI	MAJI DAKSHINESWAR	531	1,28%
	278. HANSAN (SC)	TRILOCHAN MAL*	9 181	44,20%
BBCP	91. GOSABA (SC)	KAMALAPADA MONDAL	653	1,21%
	232. RAIPUR (ST)	SYAM CHARAN MANDY	5 945	13,60%
	234. INDPUR (SC)	PRAYAG MANDAL*	9 786	29,44%

West Bengal 1972

Party name:	Constituency:	Name of candidate:	No. of votes:	%:
RCPI	73. SANTIPUR	BIMALANANDA MUKHERJEE	18 626	40,58%
	153. HOWRAH CENTRAL	SUDHINDRA NATH KUMAR	15 870	37,77%
	278. HANSAN (SC)	TRILOCHAN MAL	12542	42,01%

West Bengal 1977

Party name:	Constituency:	Name of candidate:	No. of votes:	%:
RCPI	73. SANTIPUR	BIMALANANDA MUKHERJEE*	28 553	55,72%
	217. PINGLA	MALATI BHUSAN HAZRA	10 218	22,65%
	278. HANSAN (SC)	TRILOCHAN MAL*	14 883	39,60%
BBCP	82. CHAKDAHA	TAPASH KUMAR CHAKRABORTY	498	0,84%
	216 . SABANG	GOURANGA SAMANTA*	19 730	41,94%
	247 . INDPUR (SC)	RADHARAMAN MOI	15 727	33,90%

West Bengal 1991

Party name:	Constituency:	Name of candidate:	No. of votes:	%:
RCPI(RB)	292. HANSAN (SC)	TRILOCHON DAS*	37878	42,05%
RCPI(GS)	292. HANSAN (SC)	UMA KANTA RAY	983	1,09%

West Bengal 1996

Party name:	Constituency:	Name of candidate:	No. of votes:	%:
RCPI(RB)	78. SANTIPUR	BIMALANANDA MUKHERJEE	67 793	42,74%
	292. HANSAN (SC)	MIHIR BAIN	37 573	35,21%

West Bengal 2001

Party name:	Constituency:	Name of candidate:	No. of votes:	%:
RCPI(RB)	78. SANTIPUR	ASIM GHOSH	6 527	4,06%
	292. HANSAN (SC)	MIHIR BAIN	41 858	39,54%

Lok Sabha Election Results for RCPI/RCPI(RB) from Assam:

Year of election	Constituency:	Name of candidate:	No. of votes:	%:
1962	11. SIBSAGAR	RAJANI PHUKAH	33 488	16,08%
1971	10. NOWGONG	BANESWAR SAIKIA	32 619	14,34%
1971	12. JORHAT	KHOGEN BAR BARUAH	31 810	17,10%
1977	11. KALIABOR	SHAMSUL HUDA	45 047	15,63%
1996	10. NOWGONG	BANESWAR SAIKIA	1 803	0,25%
1998	11. KALIABOR	ABDUR RASHID	2778	0,43%
1998	12. JORHAT	PADMA KAMAL PHUKON	1632	0,49%
1999	11. KALIABOR	BANESWAR SAIKIA	1516	0,20%
2004	12. JORHAT	RAJ KUMAR DOWARA	16691	2,50%

Lok Sabha för RCPI from Bihar

Year of election:	Constituency:	Name of candidate:	No. of votes:	%:
1962	12. SITAMARHI	ALISHER ANSARI	27 325	11,47%
1971	23. KATIHAR	LAKSHMI NARAYAN SINGH	1 193	0,43%

The Lok Sabha election results of 1951 mentions one RCPI (registered as a national party), but it is unclear which faction it was (most probably RCPI (Pannanlal)).

State:	Constituency:	Name of candidate:	No. of votes:	%:
West Bengal	19. SANTIPUR	BIML KUMAR CHATTERJEE	26 245	16,31%
Patiala and East Punjab States Union	2. SANGRUR	BAKSHI RAM	41 030	19,38%

External links

• Tagore, Soumyendranath (1901-1974)
• Trotskyism in India by Robert Alexander