The Pakistan Communist Party was a short-lived splinter group of the

Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

, existing for three weeks in the summer of 1947. The party was founded by Teja Singh Swatantar and Fazal Elahi Qurban. The party had a provisional

politburo A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

consisting of Swatantar, Qurban and Dutt. On one hand, the PCP split represented dissatisfaction with the shift of the party line on the

national question ''National question'' is a term used for a variety of issues related to nationalism. It is seen especially often in socialist thought and doctrine. In socialism * ''Social Democracy and the National Question'' by Vladimir Medem in 1904 * ''S ...

. In 1942 CPI had, in response to the demand for

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, formulated a position which supported the notion of

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

of nationalities. By 1947 this line had been reverted and the Muslim demand for Pakistan was now branded as a reactionary movement by CPI. Swatantar and Qurban argued towards the CPI leadership to retain support for self-determination of nationalities. The PCP was built on this position. The founders of PCP were also opposed to the new CPI line on

Kashmir Kashmir ( or ) is the Northwestern Indian subcontinent, northernmost geographical region of the Indian subcontinent. Until the mid-19th century, the term ''Kashmir'' denoted only the Kashmir Valley between the Great Himalayas and the Pir P ...

. On the other hand, the launch of PCP was not only about disagreements on the issue of Pakistan and Muslim national self-determination. It also represented a revolt of the old

Kirti ''Kirti'' was a Punjabi monthly started by the veteran Ghadarite Santokh Singh in February 1926. It was purely a communist production, subsidized by the Ghadar Party in the United States. Within a few months, Sohan Singh Josh took over as the ...

- Ghadar revolutionaries against the CPI party hierarchy. On 22 June two central CPI leaders ( Ajoy Ghosh and

B. T. Ranadive Bhalchandra Trimbak Ranadive (; 19 December 1904 – 6 April 1990), popularly known as BTR, was an Indian communist politician and trade union leader. Personal life He was elder brother of Ahilya Rangnekar, a CPI-M leader and 6th Lok Sab ...

) had arrived in Punjab, supposedly to depose Swatantar as Provincial Party Secretary. A few weeks later, on 16 July 1947 the foundation of PCP was declared in a letter sent out to 40 communist parties around the world. The PCP split severely affected the CPI in Punjab at the time. The CPI leadership reacted strongly to the formation of PCP. On 18 July 1947 a letter was sent to all Party District Committees in Punjab, instructing them to denounce the PCP. Ghosh himself visited the western parts of Punjab, trying to dissuade local party branches from siding with PCP. Nevertheless, it was understood that more than half of the 2,293 CPI members in Punjab were supportive of the PCP. The PCP was mainly based in western Punjab. PCP appealed to CPI branches in the

North-West Frontier Province The North-West Frontier Province (NWFP; ) was a province of British India from 1901 to 1947, of the Dominion of Pakistan from 1947 to 1955, and of the Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Pakistan from 1970 to 2010. It was established on 9 November ...

Sindh Sindh ( ; ; , ; abbr. SD, historically romanized as Sind (caliphal province), Sind or Scinde) is a Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, southeastern region of the country, Sindh is t ...

and

Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region of de ...

to join the new party. In Sindh the group around Qadir Baksh Nizamani supported the PCP. Nevertheless, by the time PCP was formed Punjab was engulfed by communal violence in the days before the

Partition of India The partition of India in 1947 was the division of British India into two independent dominion states, the Dominion of India, Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan. The Union of India is today the Republic of India, and the Dominion of Paki ...

. As riots raged, most Sikh and Hindu communist cadres in the western districts of Punjab left for India. This exodus left the communist movement on the verge of extinction in the lands that would soon form

West Pakistan West Pakistan was the western province of Pakistan between One Unit, 1955 and Legal Framework Order, 1970, 1970, covering the territory of present-day Pakistan. Its land borders were with Afghanistan, India and Iran, with a maritime border wit ...

. PCP, whose leadership was predominantly Sikh, quickly became defunct.

References

{{reflist Political parties established in 1947 Political parties disestablished in 1947 Defunct communist parties in India Defunct political parties in Punjab, India 1947 establishments in India

See also

References