Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | SUCI and SUCI(C) |
| General Secretary | Provash Ghosh |
| Founder | Shibdas Ghosh Nihar Mukherjee |
| Founded | 24 April 1948 |
| Split from | Revolutionary Socialist Party |
| Headquarters | 48 Lenin Sarani Kolkata, India 700013 22°33′49.9″N88°21′20.1″E / 22.563861°N 88.355583°E /22.563861; 88.355583 |
| Newspaper | Proletarian Era (English) Ganadabi (Bengali) Unity (Malayalam) |
| Student wing | All India Democratic Students Organisation |
| Youth wing | All India Democratic Youth Organisation |
| Women's wing | All India Mahila Sanskritik Sanghathan |
| Labour wing | All India United Trade Union Centre |
| Peasant's wing | All India Krishak Khet Majdoor Sangathan |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Syncretic |
| ECI Status | Registered - Unrecognized |
| Website | |
| www | |
TheSocialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), officially known as theSocialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) (SUCI(C)) and formerly known asSocialist Unity Centre (SUC), is ananti-capitalist andsocial conservative political party in India. The party was founded byShibdas Ghosh andNihar Mukherjee in 1948.
SUCI is asocial conservative political party which follows an ideological line formulated byShibdas Ghosh. SUCI holds that India is acapitalist country with monopoly capitalism and imperialist trends. In line with that analysis, the party claims to work towards asocialist revolution.[1]
The SUCI leadership apparently emphasizes the qualitative upliftment of party cadres, workers of mass-organisations and supporters, by both theoretical study of thought ofShibdas Ghosh and the practical application of such knowledge in the day-to-day life of party workers. SUCI claims to uphold the proletarian cultural standard that should be achieved by the cadres, before they can lead the masses in the Socialist Revolution.
Centring some ideological tensions and debates, about thirty members ofRevolutionary Socialist Party were ousted from RSP and this faction along with the group led by Sudhindra Pramanik who was a former associate ofM. N. Roy, one group led by Nepal Bhattacharjee, founder of Workers and Peasants League and a faction led by Biren Bhattarcharjee claimed to form a propagandistPlatform of Action (POA) asSocialist Unity Centre on 1 May 1946 withShibdas Ghosh and Makhan Chatterjee as joint convenors. 24 Pargana district committee led bySubodh Banerjee also joined the faction. But detailed analysis says that Platform of Action was most likely formed afterIndependence of India. The leaders of the organisations and groups of the POA couldn't arrive ideological coherency and then the faction led byShibdas Ghosh andNihar Mukherjee gave rise to a political party named Socialist Unity Centre on 24 April 1948.[2]
An 11-member central committee was formed consisting ofShibdas Ghosh,Subodh Banerjee,Nihar Mukherjee, Sachin Banerjee, Pritish Chanda, Hiren Sarkar, Rathin Sen, Promod Singha Roy, Monoranjan Banerjee, Radheshyam Saha and Tribeni Bardhan withShibdas Ghosh as the General Secretary. Although SUCI claims at present that Hiren Sarkar was one of the members of the first central committee, the party’s old documents do not substantiate this. It is speculated that Hiren Sarkar was included in the central committee sometimes after 1954.[2]
The party took part in different protests against tram fare rise, proposed merger ofBihar andWest Bengal and joined Food Movement of 1959-66.[3]
Even though SUCI considers elections as bourgeois tactics, it took part in parliamentary elections from its inception.
SUCI formedUnited Left Front of 1957 ahead of the1957 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election. The other constituents of the front wereBolshevik Party of India, theDemocratic Vanguard in India and theRepublican Party of India.[4] But SUC and its allies lost in all the contested seats.
During the prevailing food crisis inWest Bengal, SUC joinedUnited Left Front of 1962 led byCommunist Party of India.[4][5] Despite contesting 11 seats as part ofULF–1962 in1962 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, SUC was defeated in all seats and merely got 69,844 votes.
In1967 Indian general election, Chitta Roy of SUC won fromJaynagar Lok Sabha constituency as an independent candidate.[6][7] In1967 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, SUC as part ofCommunist Party of India (Marxist) ledULF–1967 and won 4 seats.[4] The front merged withPeople's United Left Front to formUnited Front which formed the first non-Congress government in the state.
SUCI was given theLabour Ministry in the United Front government andSubodh Banerjee became Labour Minister who introducedGherao principle. United Front issued circular stating that police would not be able to interfere in gheraos (besieging blockades) unless having the permission of the Ministry of Labour.[8][9][10] This led to frequent strikes & protests against big businessmen and industrialists by labour unions causing them to gradually shift their operations out of the state.Kolkata High Court nullified this principle twice.Bangla Congress leaders requested the-then Deputy Chief MinisterJyoti Basu to removeSubodh Banerjee from the Labour Ministry and this proposal was rejected by Basu. When Chief MinisterAjoy Mukherjee himself sat on a hunger strike atCurzon Park in front ofWriter's Building demanding Banerjee's resignation, CPI(M) and SUCI workers interrupted his demonstration.[11]
SUCI won 7 seats and got 1.53% votes1969 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election being part ofUnited Front.Subodh Banerjee was now made the Minister ofDepartment of Public Works andProtiva Mukherjee was made Minister of State for Roads and Road Development.[12]
When Ajoy Mukherjee presented his resignation on 16 March 1970,[13]Jyoti Basu met Governor Santiswarup Dhawan and he requested that theCPI(M), being the largest party, be allowed to form the government. But SUCI along withCongress,Bangla Congress,CPI andForward Bloc met him and advised him not to give CPI(M) that opportunity and the Governor recommended President’s rule leading to the fall of the second United Front government.[14]
Before1971 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, SUCI joined United Left Democratic Front led byCPI.[15][16][17] The front failed to reach a seat-sharing agreement with theBangla Congress, but managed to agree to some seat-sharings with theCongress (R).[16] SUCI won 7 seats in the election.
SUCI, in1972 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, won one Vidhan Sabha seat. It was a part ofCPI(M) led alliance in the election.[18]
SUCI won 4 seats in1977 and won 2 seats —Jaynagar andKultali in1982 also and held those two seats till2006.
The party also representedJashipur Assembly constituency ofOdisha three times in 1985-90, 1995-2000 and 2004-09. Nalini Ranjan Singh of SUCI wonKanti Assembly constituency from 1980-90. In 1990, he won inJanata Dal ticket.
One of the major campaigns of the party in West Bengal has been its agitations against theLeft Front government.
SUCI protested against bus fare hike in 1983 and called for BanglaBandh (Bengal Strike) in 31 August 1990[3] and organised protest against electricity price rise in 1991 and in 2002.[3]
Following the decision of the Left Front government to remove the English language from primary education to decrease school drop-out ratio, the SUCI protested for the reinstatement of English.[19][20][21] It called for Bangla Bandh on 3 February 1998 in the demand for bringing back English at the primary education.[3]In the year 2000, the SUCI organised a protest demanding English as a compulsory subject at primary education.[3]
SUCI joined the anti-industrial movements inSingur against theSEZ for theTata Group's car factory[22][23][24] andNandigram against theSEZ for theSalim Group'schemical hub.[25][26][27][28][29]
SUCI which was gradually diminishing from the political arena of West Bengal, allied withTrinamool Congress led byMamata Banerjee in 2008.[30]Provash Ghosh, the-then West Bengal State Secretary of SUCI, termedBanerjee as 'very pro-people' and 'pro-struggle'.
On 21 April 2008,TMC led anti-Left Front Progressive Secular Democratic Alliance including SUCI called for statewide 12 hour strike.[31][32]
SUCI contested 2008 West Bengal Panchayat elections,2009 Indian general election and2011 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election as part of TMC led alliance.Indian National Congress and other parties were also part of the formation.
In2009, SUCI was given one Lok Sabha seat to contest underUnited Progressive Alliance. But it also fielded nine more candidates againstCongress. It was speculated that SUCI's move will help Congress by splitting left votes.[33]
In2011, the alliance also had tacit support ofCommunist Party of India (Maoist) andBharatiya Janata Party. SUCI initially demanded 17 seats, but with negotiations withTMC, it agreed for 14 seats. But TMC finally decided to leave 2 seats for SUCI. This led to a rift between the two parties and as a result, SUCI announced 28 more candidates againstCongress whereas Congress fielded candidates in 66 seats.[34][35] SUCI won onlyJaynagar Assembly constituency and lostKultali to CPI(M) and forfeited deposits on rest 28 seats.
After SUC's disastrous results in2011 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election,Provash Ghosh said in a press statement that SUC's main aim was to dislodge the CPI(M) government of 34-year span by forming alliance with TMC and his party was ready to sit in opposition after the fall of the Left Front government.
During its peak times, the stronghold of the party was in theSouth 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, in areas such asJaynagar Majilpur where it once controlled certain municipalities. But it is now almost organisationally and electorally decimated in those areas.
.JPG)
SinceTarun Mandal lost inJaynagar Lok Sabha constituency in 2014 and Tarun Kanti Naskar lost inJaynagar Assembly constituency in 2016, the party has no representative in any state assembly across the country or in Parliament.
Under the leadership ofPrakash Karat andBiman Bose, SUCI and five left partiesCPI(M),CPI,CPI(ML)L,AIFB andRSP came to common understanding in 2014 to forge larger left unity in order to strengthen mass movements followingBharatiya Janata Party's ascend to the Central Government in2014 Indian general election.[36] But SUCI joined took part in some selective programmes among the ones organised by the platform. SUCI current General SecretaryProvash Ghosh also mocked smaller constituents ofLeft Front calling them 'rubber stamp of CPM'.[37] SUCI, before2016 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, left the platform and had seat-sharing talks withCPI(ML)L.[38] Finally SUCI contested 182 seats and got zero seat and 0.67% votes losing deposits in 180 seats.[39]
On 5 August 2023, SUCI organised a rally inBrigade Parade Ground in Kolkata after 35 years of its first such rally in 1988. SUCI was actively aided by theright-wing ruling party of West BengalTrinamool Congress for organising the rally.[40][41]
SUCI fielded 150 candidates across various states and UTs in2024 Indian general election and got only 4,80,987 votes, forfeiting deposits in every seat.
SUCI which once allied withcentrist party like Congress andright-wing party like TMC to defeat theleft-wingCPI(M) andLeft Front, now doesn't want to come to an understanding with Congress to defeat Trinamool Congress in2026 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election.[42]
Party Congresses of SUCI aren't held regularly likeCPI(M),CPI and other left-wing parties.
The 1st SUCI Party Congress was held in Kolkata in 1988, forty years after its formation. In this conference, the constitution of the party was adopted.
The 2nd Party Congress was held from 11 to 17 November 2009 inRamlila Maidan,New Delhi.[43][44][45] The word 'communist' was added to the party's name at the second party congress.[46]
The third Party Congress was organised in 2018.
In SUCI, the General Secretary customarily holds office ad mortem.
| S. No. | Term | Portrait | Name | State | References |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1948-1976 | | Shibdas Ghosh | West Bengal | |
| Shibdas Ghosh was the founding General Secretary of SUCI. | |||||
| 2 | 1976-2010 |  | Nihar Mukherjee | West Bengal | |
| Nihar Mukherjee became general secretary after death ofShibdas Ghosh. | |||||
| 3 | 2010- |  | Provash Ghosh | West Bengal | [47] |
| Provash Ghosh is the current leader of the party. He was elected as the General Secretary of the party by the Central Committee on 4 March 2010 following death ofNihar Mukherjee. | |||||
The principal mass organisations of SUCI are:
The central organ of SUCI is theProletarian Era, an English forthnighly published fromKolkata.
The publications of various state committees are listed below:
| Name of Organ | Language | Place of Publication |
|---|---|---|
| Ganadabi | Bengali | Kolkata |
| Unity | Malayalam | Thiruvananthapuram |
| Ganamukti | Assamese | Guwahati |
| Karmika Drushtikona | Kannada | Bangalore |
| Pattali Chinthanai | Tamil | Chennai |
| Sarbahara Kranti | Oriya | Bhubaneswar |
| Sarvahara Dristhikon | Hindi | Delhi |
| Socialist Viplavam | Telugu | Hyderabad |
| Morcha | Urdu | Kolkata |
They are often criticized by the other Left parties for supportingsemi-fascistic and virulentlyanti-communist party like TMC, to defeat the Left Front Government.
SUC is also criticised by CPI(M) as it prioritizes weakening the left democratic movement by criticising left-wing parties instead of right-wing parties likeBJP and TMC in various rallies.[48]
The party has also questionable stances on social issues, calling homosexuality a sign of "mental deformity and morbidity" and it supports "stringent punishment like life-term" ofhomosexual people.[49] The party which highly talks aboutprogressive culture, is in staunch opposition to the introduction ofsex education in schools.[50]
SUCI West Bengal state committee member Bidhan Chatterjee committed suicide in Puri due to growing corruptions and moral decline within the party.[51][52] A letter toProvash Ghosh by him was obtained and published inAajkaal newspaper on 10 April 2008 when he was missing. In that letter, Chatterjee mentioned various misdeeds ofProvash Ghosh and some other SUCI leaders.[53][54] AlthoughGhosh denied the allegations saying that Chatterjee has lost his mind,[55] a Kolkata-based criminal lawyer said that it would be legally difficult to holdGhosh responsible for Chatterjee's suicide, as the charges brought by Chatterjee may not fit within the narrow confines of criminal law.[56]
On March 16, Ajoy-babu resigned. In protest, the BPTUC and the July 12 Committee led many democratic and peoples' organisations to a successful general strike the very next day. I met the Governor and requested him to allow the CPI(M), as the single largest party, to form the government on its own and that we would give proof of our strength on the floor of the Assembly. On the other hand, the Congress, Bangla Congress, CPI, Forward Bloc and SUCI met him and advised him not to give us that opportunity.
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