From Popular Movements To Rebellion: The Naxalite Decade

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From Popular Movements to Rebellion: The Naxalite Decade argues that without an understanding of the popular sources of the rebellion of that time, the age of the Naxalite revolt will remain beyond our understanding. Many of the chapters of the book bring out for the first time unknown peasant heroes and heroines of that era, analyses the nature of the urban revolt, and shows how the urban revolt of that time anticipated street protests and occupy movements that were to shake the world forty-fifty years later. This is a moving and poignant book. Some of the essays are deeply reflective about why the movement failed and was at the end alienated. Ranabir Samaddar says that, the Naxalite Movement has been denied a history. The book also carries six powerful short stories written during the Naxalite Decade and which are palpably true to life of the times. The book has some rare photographs and ends with newspaper clippings from the period. As a study of rebellious politics in post-Independent India, this volume with its focus on West Bengal and Bihar will stand out as an exceptional history of contemporary times. From Popular Movements to Rebellion: The Naxalite Decade will be of enormous relevance to students and scholars of history, politics, sociology and culture, and journalists and political and social activists at large. Please note: Taylor & Francis does not sell or distribute the Hardback in India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. Cover......Page 1 Half Title......Page 2 Title......Page 4 Copyright......Page 5 Contents......Page 6 Preface and Acknowledgements......Page 10 Notes on Contributors......Page 14 1. From Popular Movements to Rebellion: Introducing the Naxalite Decade......Page 18 SECTION I PRELUDE TO THE STORM: BENGAL IN THE FIFTIES AND SIXTIES......Page 34 2. The Refugee Movement as a Founding Moment of Popular Movements in Post-independent West Bengal......Page 36 3. Anti-Tram Fare Rise Movement and Teachers' Movement in Calcutta, 1953-54......Page 65 4. The Defining Moments of Left Popular Politics in West Bengal: The Food Movements of 1959 and 1966......Page 102 SECTION II THE NAXALITE DECADE......Page 136 5. The Artisans of Revolt: Peasant Activists of Naxalbari......Page 138 6. Repertoires and Politics in the Time of Naxalbari......Page 169 7. The Prairie Fire Spreads I: Medinipur......Page 186 8. The Prairie Fire Spreads II: Birbhum......Page 218 9. Occupy College Street: Notes from the Sixties......Page 247 10. The Culture Battle......Page 270 11. Spring Thunder and the Dialectic of Critique......Page 294 12. The Naxalite Decade Comes to a Close, but Land Question Persists......Page 324 SECTION III THE DECADE IN BIHAR......Page 356 13. Bihar in 1974: Possibilities and Limits of a Popular Movement......Page 358 14. Bihar in the Sixties and Seventies: The Enigmatic Figure of Karpoori Thakur......Page 390 15. Reports: Rural Poor and the Armed Rebels of Bihar, 1960-70s......Page 415 SECTION IV THE CULTURAL STRUGGLE: A SMALL ANTHOLOGY......Page 450 16. Introducing the Anthology......Page 452 17. The Palpable Reality of Fiction......Page 458 18. Ani/Ani......Page 462 19. Midnight Knock/Kapatey Karagbat......Page 475 20. Corpse Worship/Sbabasadbana......Page 488 21. Human Gems/Manusbratan......Page 497 22. Homecoming/Ghare Phera......Page 518 23. Release Them/Mukti Chai......Page 525 24. Reportage......Page 544 Annexure 1: Report on the Peasant Movement in the Terai Region......Page 555 Bibliography......Page 578