imported>BrownHairedGirl: removed Category:1958 establishments in India; added Category:1958 establishments in West Bengal using HotCat

2021-03-22T15:21:13Z

removed Category:1958 establishments in India; added Category:1958 establishments in West Bengal using HotCat

New page

The '''Price Increase and Famine Resistance Committee''' was a mass movement in [[West Bengal]], [[India]], formed in late 1958 by the [[Communist Party of India]] and other left groups, in response to the ongoing food crisis. The PIFRC led one of the most massive and militant political campaigns in the history of West Bengal. The PIFRC demanded total price controls, immediate redistribution of state lands and confiscations without compensation of excessive private lands owned by landlords. The tactics of PIFRC included scouting for hidden rice storages and forced sales of confiscated rice.<ref name="rao">M.V.S. Koteswara Rao. ''Communist Parties and United Front — Experience in Kerala and West Bengal''. [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]]: Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 219.</ref>

==August–September 1959==
The PIFRC stepped up its agitations in August 1959. The organization put forward August 20, 1959 as the date to initiate mass resistance to force the state government either to accept these demands or to resign. In mid-1959, 35 prominent organisers of PIFRC were put under preventive detention. The detainees includes seven members of the [[Vidhan Sabha|legislative assembly]].<ref>Bayley, David H.. ''[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2753245 The Indian Experience with Preventive Detention]'', in ''Pacific Affairs'', Vol. 35, No. 2. (Summer, 1962), pp. 99-115.</ref> The movement reached its peak as a [[general strike]] was organised in [[Calcutta]] and surrounding districts in August–September 1959. The strike paralysed the entire city and its adjoining districts. On August 31, 1959, more than 20 demonstrators were killed by police bullets.<ref name="rao"/>

==Aftermath==
When the state government accepted the demands of PIFRC, the campaign was called off. In total, 39 people were killed during the agitations. 12 845 persons had been arrested, out of them 200 CPI leaders and 50 leaders of other left parties. Prominent communist leaders, like [[Jyoti Basu]], had gone underground to escape arrest.

In memory of those killed on August 31, 1959, left parties in [[Kolkata]] commemorate August 31 as 'Martyr's Day'.
<ref name="rao"/>

==Impact inside CPI==
Marcus Franda claims that the 1959 food movement affected the internal debates with the CPI in West Bengal. According to him, the militant campaign against the [[Indian National Congress|Congress]] state government was used by the leftist, anti-Congress sectors within the party to subdue those sectors that sought tactical cooperation with Congress. The thesis that the food movement was divisive to the party was also put forward by ''[[The Statesman (India)|The Statesman]]'' at the time.<ref name="rao2">M.V.S. Koteswara Rao. ''Communist Parties and United Front — Experience in Kerala and West Bengal''. [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]]: Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 233.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

[[Category:Politics of West Bengal]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1958]]
[[Category:1959 disestablishments in India]]
[[Category:1959 in India]]
[[Category:Organisations based in West Bengal]]
[[Category:Famines in India]]
[[Category:1958 establishments in West Bengal]]

{{politics-stub}}

Price Increase and Famine Resistance Committee - Revision history

imported>BrownHairedGirl: removed Category:1958 establishments in India; added Category:1958 establishments in West Bengal using HotCat