Igortxa: adding the article initial version

2026-04-21T02:55:23Z

adding the article initial version

New page

{{Short description|Indian politician and trade unionist (1899–1980)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = S. S. Mirajkar
| native_name =
| image = File:1958 SMS rally S.S. Mirajkar.jpg
| caption = S. S. Mirajkar at a 1958 rally of the [[Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti]]
| office = [[Mayor of Mumbai|Mayor of Bombay]]
| term_start = 1958
| term_end = 1959
| predecessor = M. V. Donde
| successor = P. T. Borale
| office1 = President of the [[All India Trade Union Congress]]
| term_start1 = 1957
| term_end1 = 1973
| predecessor1 = [[Vengal Chakkarai|V. Chakkarai Chettiyar]]
| successor1 = [[Ranen Sen]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1899|02|08}}<ref name=na2020-09>''SS Mirajkar: Builder of TU, Communist movement'', in ''[[New Age Weekly]]''. No. 38, 2020. pp. 11–12</ref>
| birth_place = Karavali College, Mangaon Taluk, Raigarh District, [[Bombay Presidency]], [[British India]]
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1980|02|15|1899|02|08}}
| party = [[Communist Party of India]]
[[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] (1964–1970)
| occupation = Trade unionist
| website =
}}
'''Shantaram Savlaram Mirajkar''' (8 February 1899 – 15 February 1980) was an Indian [[Communism|communist]] politician and [[trade union]]ist. He was part of the old guard of the [[Communist Party of India]], led the [[All India Trade Union Congress]] as its president for many years and served as [[mayor of Bombay]].

==Early communist movement in India==
In the early 1920s, Mirajkar, [[Shripad Amrit Dange|S. A. Dange]], and [[S. V. Ghate]] constituted the early communist leadership that emerged within India, and who resented the role played by the emigre leadership who formed the [[Communist Party of India]] in [[Tashkent]] in 1920.<ref name="Roy1997">{{cite book|author=Samaren Roy|title=M.N. Roy: A Political Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TwNq3oQK89kC&pg=PA61|year=1997|publisher=Orient Blackswan|isbn=978-81-250-0299-4|page=61}}</ref> He began organizing trade unions of textile workers in Bombay.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Illustrated Weekly of India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e2Y6AQAAIAAJ|date=April 1970|publisher=Published for the proprietors, Bennett, Coleman & Company, Limited, at the Times of India Press|page=10}}</ref> When the [[Workers and Peasants Party (India)|Workers and Peasants Party]] was founded in Bombay in January 1927, Mirajkar became its general secretary.<ref name="rao93">M.V.S. Koteswara Rao. ''Communist Parties and United Front - Experience in Kerala and West Bengal''. [[Hyderabad, India|Hyderabad]]: Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 93</ref> Mirajkar was tried and convicted in the [[Meerut Conspiracy Case]].<ref name=a/><ref name=b/>

[[File:Meerut prisoners outside the jail.jpg|350px|thumb|Portrait of 25 of the [[Meerut]] prisoners taken outside the jail. Back row (left to right): K. N. Sehgal, [[Sohan Singh Josh|S. S. Josh]], [[Lester Hutchinson|H. L. Hutchinson]], [[Shaukat Usmani]], [[Benjamin Francis Bradley|B. F. Bradley]], A. Prasad, [[Philip Spratt|P. Spratt]], [[Gangadhar Adhikari|G. Adhikari]]. Middle row: [[Radharaman Mitra|R. R. Mitra]], Gopen Chakravarti, Kishori Lal Ghosh, L. R. Kadam, D. R. Thengdi, Goura Shanker, [[Sibnath Banerjee|S. Bannerjee]], [[K. N. Joglekar]], [[Puran Chand Joshi|P. C. Joshi]], [[Muzaffar Ahmad]]. Front row: M. G. Desai, D. Goswami, R. S. Nimbkar, S. S. Mirajkar, [[Shripad Amrit Dange|S. A. Dange]], [[S. V. Ghate]], Gopal Basak.]]

In 1940–1941, Mirajkar was detained at Deoli Detention Camp in [[Ajmer-Merwara]].<ref name=a>''Frontline''. ''[https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/article30165459.ece Making of a Thesis]''</ref> He was arrested again in August 1949, along with many other communist trade unionists.<ref name="Busch1980">{{cite book|author=G. K. Busch|title=Political Currents in the International Trade Union Movement: The Third world : Africa, Asia and Latin America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pMMTAQAAMAAJ|year=1980|publisher=Economist Intelligence Unit|page=58}}</ref>

==AITUC president and mayor==
Mirajkar served as President of the [[All India Trade Union Congress]] between 1957 and 1973.<ref name=b>{{cite book|title=Trade Union Record|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oHDtAAAAMAAJ|year=1980|publisher=All-India Trade Union Congress|page=11}}</ref><ref name=tur73>{{cite book|title=World Trade Union Movement|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_FX6P8drJU8C|year=1973|publisher=World Federation of Trade Unions.|page=15}}</ref> Mirajkar was elected [[mayor of Bombay]] in 1958.<ref>''Time''. ''[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,864255,00.html India: Volunteering into the Vacuum]''</ref>

==CPI split and later years==
When the so-called "Dange Letters" surfaced in 1964, Mirajkar affirmed that they were authentic.<ref name="Basu1998">{{cite book|author=Jyoti Basu|title=Documents of the Communist Movement in India: 1970|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pnaAAAAMAAJ|year=1998|publisher=National Book Agency|isbn=978-81-7626-018-3|page=128}}</ref> Mirajkar would side with the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] in [[1964 split in the Communist Party of India|the 1964 CPI split]].<ref name="Sin1970">{{cite book|author=In-sŏp Sin|title=Area Handbook for India|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LGYBAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA589|year=1970|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|page=589}}</ref><ref name=link70>{{cite book|title=Link|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SmpDAAAAYAAJ|year=1970|publisher=United India Periodicals|page=11}}</ref> However, Mirajkar's decision to side with the left in the CPI split was not an issue of ideology, but of personal conflict with S. A. Dange.<ref name=crouch>{{Cite journal|last=Crouch|first=Harold|date=1966|title=AITUC and the Split in the Communist Party|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/4356954|journal=Economic and Political Weekly|volume=1|issue=5|pages=199–202|jstor=4356954 |issn=0012-9976}}</ref> Prior to the split Mirajkar had belonged to the Dange-led right-wing faction in the party.<ref name=Sharma78>{{cite journal |last1=Sharma |first1=T.R. |title=The Indian Communist Party Split of 1964: The Role of Factionalism and Leadership Rivalry☆|url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0039-3592%2878%2990003-0|journal=Studies in Comparative Communism |year=1978 |volume=11 |issue=4, Winter 1978 |pages=388–409|doi=10.1016/0039-3592(78)90003-0 |access-date=14 August 2020|url-access=subscription }}</ref> When the CPI(M) Politburo called for a boycott of the January 1970 AITUC session in [[Guntur]], Mirajkar refused to comply with the party directive and participated anyway.<ref name=link70/> Mirajkar was subsequently expelled from CPI(M).<ref name="Basu1998b">{{cite book|author=Jyoti Basu|title=Documents of the Communist Movement in India: 1970|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pnaAAAAMAAJ|year=1998|publisher=National Book Agency|isbn=978-81-7626-018-3|pages=128, 130}}</ref>

He rejoined the CPI in 1973, persuaded by [[Chandra Rajeswara Rao|C. Rajeswara Rao]].<ref name=na2020-09/> He retired as AITUC President in 1973, and was succeeded by Dr. [[Ranen Sen]].<ref name=tur73/> Mirajkar died in a Bombay nursing home on 15 February 1980, at the age of 79.<ref>{{cite book|title=Flashes from the Trade Unions|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YUBZAAAAYAAJ|year=1980|publisher=World Federation of Trade Unions|page=16}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirajkar, SS}}
[[Category:1980 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century mayors of places in India]]
[[Category:Indian trade union leaders]]
[[Category:Mayors of Mumbai]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India politicians from Maharashtra]]
[[Category:1899 births]]
[[Category:Indian independence activists]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of British India]]
[[Category:20th-century trade unionists]]

S. S. Mirajkar - Revision history

Igortxa: adding the article initial version