Blackwell Reference Online

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The Naxalite movement loosely refers to a series of tribal and peasant uprisings based on which Maoism in India took on an organized shape in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with a sizeable following among urban youths. The name is derived from Naxalbari in the Darjeeling district of North Bengal, where an uprising was considered to mark the beginning of a revolution. Despite much talk of socialism and development, by the early 1960s the project of Indian nationalism failed to live up to its pre-Independence promises, with ambitious Five Year Plans not bearing fruit, and unemployment growing. Industrial growth was threatened by economic crises and a devaluation of the currency. Educated youth were victims of a dwindling job market. The education system neither had social relevance nor job potential. Nehru's death initiated an era of uncertainty, as the rhetoric of nation-building started unraveling, and the hegemony of the Congress Party was challenged. In rural India land reforms had been minimal because liberal capitalism was in alliance with landlordism. Poverty among the rural masses was marked. There emerged a vast difference between the fortunes of the few big landlords and large numbers of small peasants, sharecroppers, and agricultural laborers. A specific factor was the evolution of the Communist Party of India (CPI) between the late 1940s and the early 1960s. At Independence ... log in or subscribe to read full text