Sushital Ray Chowdhary

Sushital Ray Chowdhary (Born 16 February 1917, Hooghly-13 March 1971), was an Indian Communist intellectual and revolutionary, active in the early all-India organization of the Naxalite groups and the formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). Throughout his life he was the editor of the organs of the CPI, CPI(M) and CPI(ML). He eventually fell out with the mainstream Charu Majumdar group, and died of a heart attack in 1971. His name is also spelt Sushital Raychaudhury.

Sushital Ray Chowdhury graduated from the University of Calcutta and joined the Communist movement at an early age. Initially with Communist Party of India (CPI), he was elected secretary of the Hooghly district committee, and wrote extensively on issues such as the Tebhaga movement in party magazines Swadhinata, Sambad, etc. He entered the Calcutta District Committee after 1947, and also joined the editorial board of Swadhinata as a marxist intellectual (along with other radicals such as Saroj Dutta). However, Sushital was inclined to a more revolutionary brand of Marxism, and after the communist party split in 1964, he went with the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

At the time, CPI(M) adopted a radical stance, with erstwhile revolutionary leaders like Hare Krishna Konar "trumpeting revolutionary rhetoric, suggesting that militant confiscation of land was integral to the party's programme."

In the leadup to the Indian general election, 1967, CPI(M) decided to participate in parliamentary elections, much to the chagring of radical idealists like Sushital. In 1965, he wrote a series of extreme-left articles in the magazine Chinta, challenging the party programme as "revisionist".

CPI(M) did unexpectedly well, and won 18.1% of the popular vote, though Congress remained the largest party with 127 (of 280) seats. In May 1967, The non-Congress parties linked up to form the United Front coalition, (CPI-M along with CPI and the breakaway Bangla Congress).

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