THE MAOIST MOVEMENT AND THE QUESTION OF VIOLENCE: SOME OBSERVATIONS

ABSTRACT

The on-going Maoist movement is one of the greatest and long-lasting revolutionary Communist movements in the history of India. This movement has been continuing for more than four decades since 1967 through a zigzag course attended by victories and defeats and, needless to state, immense sacrifices, thereby betraying the reality that there must have been some social need that the present set-up has so long been unable to meet. This continuity is a testimony to its strength; this is also a testimony to its weakness. The fact that this movement could, by overcoming the major set back in 1972, keep the revolutionary aspirations of the Indian people alive despite brutal state repression is a commentary on its strength. On the other hand, if we compare this revolutionary Communist movement with the movement led by Mao Tse-tung in China, we will see that the Chinese Communists took not more than twenty-eight years(from 1921 to 1949) to accomplish the New Democratic revolution. The Indian Maoists have been taking much longer time to complete it. This betrays the weakness of the movement.

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