From popular movements to rebellion : the Naxalite decade / edited by Ranabir Samaddar

Includes bibliographical references

From popular movements to rebellion : introducing the Naxalite decade / Ranabir Samaddar -- The refugee movement as a founding moment of popular movements in post-independent West Bengal / Paula Banerjee and Sucharita Sengupta -- Anti-tram fare rise movement and teachers' movement in Calcutta, 1953-54 / Answesha Sengupta -- The defining moments of left popular politics in West Bengal : the food movements of 1959 and 1966 / Sibaji Pratim Basu -- The artisans of revolt : peasant activists of Naxalbari / translation by Purna Banerjee -- Repertoires and politics in the time of Naxalbari / Ranabir Samaddar -- The prairie fire spreads I : Medinipur / Anwesha Sengupta -- The prairie fire spreads II : Birbhum / Atig Ghosh -- Occupy College Street : notes from the sixties / Ranabir Samaddar -- The culture battle / Subhoranjan Dasgupta -- Spring thunder and the dialectic of critique / Ranabir Samaddar -- The Naxalite decade comes to a close, but land question persists / Atig Ghosh -- Bihar in 1974 : possibilities and limits of a popular movement / Mithilesh Kumar -- Bihar in the sixties and seventies : the enigmatic figure of Karpoori Thakur / Manish Kumar Jha -- Reports : rural poor and the armed rebels of Bihar, 1960-70s -- Introducing the anthology / Sumanta Banerjee -- The palpable reality of fiction / Subhransu Maitra -- Ani = Ani / by Ashim Ray ; translated by Subhransu Maitra -- Midnight knock = Kapatey karaghat / Tapabijoy Ghosh ; translated by Subhransu Maitra -- Corpse worship = Shabasadhana / Saibal Mitra ; translated by Subhransu Maitra -- Human gems = Manushratan / Debesh Roy ; translated by Subhransu Maitra -- Homecoming = Ghare phera / Ashim Ray ; translated by Subhransu Maitra -- Release them = Mukti chai / Tababijoy Ghosh ; translated by Subhransu Maitra -- Reportage

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

Ranabir Samaddar holds the Distinguished Chair in Migration and Forced Migration Studies, Calcutta Research Group, and is a political thinker and one of the foremost theorists in the field of migration and forced migration studies.