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.
Author(s): Ranabir Samaddar
Publisher: Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group
Year: 2019
Language: English
Pages: 593
Tags: Humanities: History: Asian History, Social Sciences: Anthropology: Soc Sci, Indigenous Peoples, Regional Anthropology: South Asia, Popular Movements, Rebellion
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
