SAUMYENDRANATH TAGORE & The Roaring Forties

SAUMYENDRANATH TAGORE & The Roaring Forties

Edited by  Pritha Chatterjee & Basu Acharya 

CONTENTS

1. Revolution Unleashed

2. Imperialist War and India

3. M. N. Roy Comes to Aid of British Imperialism

4. Imperialist War or People's War?

5. Sahajanand, Kornilov and People's War

6. For A Revolutionary Struggle Against All Imperialists

7. Revolution and Quit India

8. Onward From '42

9. "Quit India" in Retrospect

Saumyendranath Tagore and the Roaring Forties is a tribute to the dynamic struggles of the RCPI-Comrades during the 1940s, a transformative era in Indian history. This volume compiles Saumyendranath Tagore's articles on the Second World War and the Quit India Movement, and their impact on Indian communists. Each article is introduced with a synopsis, supported by comprehensive notes, offering historical clarity and ideological insight. The editors' introduction contextualises Tagore's contributions and explores debates surrounding Stalin and the Soviet Union's influence on the Indian communist movement. The book highlights the lesser-known struggles of Tagore and his comrades, urging readers to critically examine the layered narratives of India's radical traditions.

Saumyendranath Tagore (1901-174) hailed from the famous Tagore Mansion of Jorasanko and was the favourite grand- nephew of Rabindranath Tagore. He was the founder-leader of the Revolutionary Communist Party of India and the first translator of The Communist Manifesto into Bengali, which was published in Ganavani, the official mouthpiece of the Workers' and Peasants' Party of Bengal, between 1926 and '28.

Pritha Chatterjee is an Assistant Professor of English at Naba Ballygunge Mahavidyalaya, Kolkata. She has translated Uma Chakravarti's Rewriting History: The Life and Times of Pandita Ramabai into Bengali.

Basu Acharya is a trade union activist and author. He has more than twenty books to his credit.