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145-807: The party was founded in Bengal on 1 November 1925, as the Labour Swaraj Party of the Indian National Congress . The founding leaders of the party were Kazi Nazrul Islam , Hemanta Kumar Sarkar , Qutubuddin Ahmad and Shamsuddin Hussain. The founding manifesto was signed by Kazi Nazrul Islam. During the first three month of existence, the party organisation was very provisional. At the All Bengal Praja Conference, held at Krishnagar on 6 February 1926,

290-683: A booklet in May 1927. Shapurji Saklatvala wrote its introduction. It proved so effective that the British rulers banned it. House of Mirajkar, WPP offices and even newspaper offices all over the country were searched. Spratt's residence in the YMCA Hostel in Bombay was searched on 6 September 1927 and the manuscript seized. Spratt and Mirajkar were arrested at the office of the Marathi paper Kranti under Section 124-A. Spratt

435-539: A conspiracy, will a house be provided for me after I have served my sentence?" Spratt was released in October, 1934 from Naini Jail. From there he went to Calcutta and stayed with various leaders including CPI leader Abdul Halim. He attended several meetings of Communists, who were then split into many groups. At the beginning of October 1934, he went to Jhansi, addressing railway workers, along with Joglekar and Ayodhya Prasad. Copies of his speech on independence were circulated at

580-538: A document which called WPP an invention of Joseph Stalin and that the party was a 'thoroughly anti-Marxist formation'. Abani Mukherji , a founding member of CPI, had described WPP as a ' Kuomintang Party' and that WPP 'is accumulating by itself the elements of future Indian Fascism.'. S.N. Tagore and the delegates of the Communist Party of Great Britain argued for retaining the WPP. This declaration created confusion amongst

725-735: A former prime minister of the Bengal Sultanate. By the 17th century, the Mughals were able to fully absorb the region to their empire. Mughal Bengal had the richest elite and was the wealthiest region in the subcontinent. Bengal's trade and wealth impressed the Mughals so much that it was described as the Paradise of the Nations by the Mughal Emperors . A new provincial capital was built in Dhaka . Members of

870-566: A later occasion. The party contested the January 1929 Bombay municipal election, mustering around 12,500 votes. The political fortunes of the WPP was to be terminated by changes in policy of the Communist International. The July 1928 sixth congress of the Communist International declared that 'The Union of all communist groups and individuals scattered throughout the country into a single, illegal, independent and centralized party represent

1015-862: A part of it. There are four World Heritage Sites in the region, including the Sundarbans , the Somapura Mahavihara , the Mosque City of Bagerhat and the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway . Other prominent places include the Bishnupur, Bankura temple city, the Adina Mosque , the Caravanserai Mosque , numerous zamindar palaces (like Ahsan Manzil and Cooch Behar Palace ), the Lalbagh Fort ,

1160-533: A resolution was moved by Faizuddin Hussian Sahib of Mymensingh for the creation of a workers-peasants party. The move was seconded by Braja Nath Das of Bogra . The resolution was passed by the conference, and in accordance with this decision the name of the party was changed to 'Workers and Peasants Party of Bengal'. Dr. Nares Chandra Sen-Gupta was elected party president and Hemanta Kumar Sarkar and Qutubuddin Ahmad were elected as joint secretaries. As of 1926,

1305-655: A study of Gandhi and while in Belgaum wrote his book on the Mahatma entitled Gandhism: An Analysis . While in confinement, Spratt also wrote the foreword for Peshawar to Moscow: Leaves from an Indian Muhajireen's Diary by Shaukat Usmani . The Meerut Conspiracy Case was debated in the House of Commons of the British Parliament on several occasions. The position of Philip Spratt was discussed on March 7, 1935. Sir Patrick Donner asked

1450-638: A tributary state. The ruler of the Jaunpur Sultanate also sought refuge in Bengal. The vassal states of Bengal included Arakan, Tripura, Chandradwip and Pratapgarh . At its peak, the Bengal Sultanate's territory included parts of Arakan, Assam, Bihar, Orissa, and Tripura. The Bengal Sultanate experienced its greatest military success under Alauddin Hussain Shah , who was proclaimed as the conqueror of Assam after his forces led by Shah Ismail Ghazi overthrew

1595-495: Is a historical geographical , ethnolinguistic and cultural term referring to a region in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal . The region of Bengal proper is divided between the modern-day sovereign nation of Bangladesh and the Indian states of West Bengal , Tripura and some parts of Assam . The ancient Vanga Kingdom is widely regarded as

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1740-518: Is also notable for its economic and social scientists, which includes several Nobel laureates . Once home to the city with the highest per capita income level in British India, the region is today a leader in South Asia in terms of gender parity , the gender pay gap and other indices of human development . The name of Bengal is derived from the ancient kingdom of Vanga (pronounced Bôngô),

1885-580: Is divided into Terai and Dooars regions. North Bengal is also noted for its rich cultural heritage, including two UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Aside from the Bengali majority, North Bengal is home to many other communities including Nepalis, Santhal people , Lepchas and Rajbongshis. Northeast Bengal refers to the Sylhet region, which today comprises the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh and Karimganj district in

2030-584: Is estimated to have caused the deaths of between 1 million and 10 million people. In 1862, the Bengal Legislative Council was set up as the first modern legislature in India . Elected representation was gradually introduced during the early 20th century, including with the Morley-Minto reforms and the system of dyarchy . In 1937, the council became the upper chamber of the Bengali legislature while

2175-599: Is his time in Meerut that marked the beginning of his emotional turn away from communism: "When we had been in jail a year or two, the significance of the new Comintern line which we had accepted so uncomprehendingly at Calcutta began to show itself. It compelled the renovated party to split the central trade union body twice within two years, and to direct fierce criticism at the Congress, whose great Civil Disobedience campaigns made our activities look rather silly. We found fault with what

2320-469: Is home to the longest natural sea beach in the world with an unbroken length of 120 km (75 mi). It is also a growing surfing destination. St. Martin's Island , off the coast of Chittagong Division, is home to the sole coral reef in Bengal. Bengal was a regional power of the Indian subcontinent. The administrative jurisdiction of Bengal historically extended beyond the territory of Bengal proper. In

2465-644: Is noted for its thalassocratic and seafaring heritage. The area was dominated by the Bengali Harikela and Samatata kingdoms in antiquity. It was known to Arab traders as Samandar in the 9th century. During the medieval period, the region was ruled by the Chandra dynasty , the sultanate of Bengal , the kingdom of Tripura , the kingdom of Mrauk U , the Portuguese Empire and the Mughal Empire , prior to

2610-745: Is on the extreme south, while the Sundarbans mangrove forests form a remarkable geographical landmark at the Ganges delta. At least nine districts in West Bengal and 42 districts in Bangladesh have arsenic levels in groundwater above the World Health Organization maximum permissible limit of 50 μg/L or 50 parts per billion and the untreated water is unfit for human consumption. The water causes arsenicosis, skin cancer and various other complications in

2755-1044: The Austrian East India Company , the Ostend Company , and the Dutch East India Company . The Nawabs were also suspicious of the growing influence of these companies. Under Mughal rule, Bengal was a centre of the worldwide muslin and silk trades. During the Mughal era, the most important centre of cotton production was Bengal, particularly around its capital city of Dhaka, leading to muslin being called "daka" in distant markets such as Central Asia. Domestically, much of India depended on Bengali products such as rice, silks and cotton textiles. Overseas, Europeans depended on Bengali products such as cotton textiles, silks and opium; Bengal accounted for 40% of Dutch imports from Asia, for example, including more than 50% of textiles and around 80% of silks. From Bengal, saltpetre

2900-541: The Bay of Bengal allowed for maritime trade with distant lands in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. The ancient geopolitical divisions of Bengal included Varendra , Suhma , Anga , Vanga , Samatata and Harikela . These regions were often independent or under the rule of larger empires. The Mahasthan Brahmi Inscription indicates that Bengal was ruled by the Mauryan Empire in the 3rd century BCE. The inscription

3045-650: The Bengal Legislative Assembly was created. Between 1937 and 1947, the chief executive of the government was the Prime Minister of Bengal . The Bengal Presidency was the largest administrative unit in the British Empire . At its height, it covered large parts of present-day India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma, Malaysia, and Singapore. In 1830, the British Straits Settlements on the coast of

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3190-486: The British Raj . Assam and Bengal were often part of the same kingdoms, including Kamarupa , Gauda and Kamata . Large parts of Assam were annexed by Alauddin Hussain Shah during the Bengal Sultanate. Assam was one of the few regions in the subcontinent to successfully resist Mughal expansion and never fell completely under Mughal rule. Philip Spratt Philip Spratt (26 September 1902 – 8 March 1971)

3335-565: The Communist Party of India , and was among the chief accused in the Meerut Conspiracy Case ; he was arrested on 20 March 1929 and imprisoned. As a result of his reading during his time in jail, and also his observation of political developments in Russia and Western Europe at the time, Philip Spratt renounced Communism in the early 1930s. After India gained independence from the British , he

3480-477: The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan . At a separate meeting of legislators from West Bengal , it was decided (58 votes to 21) that the province should be partitioned and West Bengal should join the Constituent Assembly of India . At another meeting of legislators from East Bengal , it was decided (106 votes to 35) that the province should not be partitioned and (107 votes to 34) that East Bengal should join

3625-576: The Great Backerganj Cyclone of 1876 in the Barisal region. About 50 million were killed in Bengal due to massive plague outbreaks and famines which happened in 1895 to 1920, mostly in western Bengal. The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was initiated on the outskirts of Calcutta, and spread to Dhaka, Chittagong, Jalpaiguri, Sylhet and Agartala, in solidarity with revolts in North India. The failure of

3770-992: The Great Caravanserai ruins , the Shaista Khan Caravanserai ruins , the Kolkata Victoria Memorial , the Dhaka Parliament Building, archaeologically excavated ancient fort cities in Mahasthangarh , Mainamati , Chandraketugarh and Wari-Bateshwar , the Jaldapara National Park , the Lawachara National Park , the Teknaf Game Reserve and the Chittagong Hill Tracts . Cox's Bazar in southeastern Bangladesh

3915-553: The Karrani dynasty . The Battle of Raj Mahal and the capture of Daud Khan Karrani marked the end of the Bengal Sultanate during the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar . In the late 16th-century, a confederation called the Baro-Bhuyan resisted Mughal invasions in eastern Bengal. The Baro-Bhuyan included twelve Muslim and Hindu leaders of the Zamindars of Bengal . They were led by Isa Khan ,

4060-731: The Khen dynasty and annexed large parts of Assam. In maritime trade, the Bengal Sultanate benefited from Indian Ocean trade networks and emerged as a hub of re-exports . A giraffe was brought by African envoys from Malindi to Bengal's court and was later gifted to Imperial China . Ship-owing merchants acted as envoys of the Sultan while travelling to different regions in Asia and Africa. Many rich Bengali merchants lived in Malacca. Bengali ships transported embassies from Brunei , Aceh and Malacca to China. Bengal and

4205-499: The Kingdom of Mrauk U was heavily influenced by Bengal. Bengali Muslims served in the royal court as ministers and military commanders. Bengali Hindus and Bengali Buddhists served as priests. Some of the most important poets of medieval Bengali literature lived in Arakan, including Alaol and Daulat Qazi . In 1660, Prince Shah Shuja , the governor of Mughal Bengal and a pretender of

4350-716: The Malacca Straits was made a residency of Bengal. The area included the erstwhile Prince of Wales Island , Province Wellesley , Malacca and Singapore . In 1867, Penang , Singapore and Malacca were separated from Bengal into the Straits Settlements . British Burma became a province of India and a later a Crown colony in itself. Western areas, including the Ceded and Conquered Provinces and The Punjab , were further reorganised. Northeastern areas became Colonial Assam . In 1876, about 200,000 people were killed in Bengal by

4495-653: The Maldives had a vast trade in shell currency . The Sultan of Bengal donated funds to build schools in the Hejaz region of Arabia. The five dynastic periods of the Bengal Sultanate spanned from the Ilyas Shahi dynasty , to a period of rule by Bengali converts, to the Hussain Shahi dynasty , to a period of rule by Abyssinian usurpers; an interruption by the Suri dynasty ; and ended with

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4640-425: The Meghna River . Bengal was probably used as a transit route to China by the earliest Muslims. Abbasid coins have been discovered in the archaeological ruins of Paharpur and Mainamati . A collection of Sasanian, Umayyad and Abbasid coins are preserved in the Bangladesh National Museum . In 1204, the Ghurid general Muhammad bin Bakhtiyar Khalji began the Islamic conquest of Bengal. The fall of Lakhnauti

4785-444: The Nawab of Bengal from 1757 after the Battle of Plassey, thus signalling the start of British influence in India. British control of Bengal increased between 1757 and 1793 while the Nawab was reduced to a puppet figure. with the Presidency of Fort William asserting greater control over the entire province of Bengal and neighbouring territories. Calcutta was named the capital of British territories in India in 1772. The presidency

4930-517: The Pala Empire . The first Pala emperor Gopala I was chosen by an assembly of chieftains in Gauda. The Pala kingdom grew into one of the largest empires in the Indian subcontinent. The Pala period saw advances in linguistics, sculpture, painting, and education. The empire achieved its greatest territorial extent under Dharmapala and Devapala . The Palas vied for control of Kannauj with the rival Gurjara-Pratihara and Rashtrakuta dynasties. Pala influence also extended to Tibet and Sumatra due to

5075-523: The Peacock Throne of India, was forced to seek asylum in Arakan. Bengali influence in the Arakanese royal court persisted until Burmese annexation in the 18th-century. The modern-day Rohingya population is a legacy of Bengal's influence on Arakan. The Rohingya genocide resulted in the displacement of over a million people between 2016 and 2017, with many being uprooted from their homes in Rakhine State. The Indian state of Assam shares many cultural similarities with Bengal. The Assamese language uses

5220-403: The Union Society , the University Labour Club and a private discussion society called the Heretics, of which Charles Kay Ogden was president; Frank P. Ramsey , I. A. Richards and Patrick Blackett often attended. Philip Spratt, Maurice Dobb , John Desmond Bernal , Ivor Montagu , the historian Allen Hutt , A. L. Morton , A. L. Bacharach , Barnet Woolf , and Michael Roberts comprised

5365-436: The deindustrialisation of its pre-colonial economy. Company policies led to the deindustrialisation of Bengal's textile industry. The capital amassed by the East India Company in Bengal was invested in the emerging Industrial Revolution in Great Britain , in industries such as textile manufacturing . Economic mismanagement, alongside drought and a smallpox epidemic, directly led to the Great Bengal famine of 1770, which

5510-439: The mountains in Bangladesh . Most parts of Bangladesh are within 10 metres (33 feet) above the sea level, and it is believed that about 10% of the land would be flooded if the sea level were to rise by 1 metre (3.3 feet). Because of this low elevation, much of this region is exceptionally vulnerable to seasonal flooding due to monsoons. The highest point in Bangladesh is in Mowdok range at 1,052 metres (3,451 feet). A major part of

5655-408: The 9th century, the Pala Empire of Bengal ruled large parts of northern India. The Bengal Sultanate controlled Bengal, Assam, Arakan, Bihar and Orissa at different periods in history. In Mughal Bengal, the Nawab of Bengal had a jurisdiction covering Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Bengal's administrative jurisdiction reached its greatest extent under the British Empire, when the Bengal Presidency extended from

5800-411: The AICC to make the Indian National Congress an associate member of the League against Imperialism . At the 1927 annual Congress session in Madras a leader of the WPP of Bombay, K.N. Joglekar presented a proposal for a resolution in the Subjects Committee, that the Indian National Congress should demand full independence for India. The proposal was seconded by Jawaharlal Nehru. At the open session of

5945-432: The All India Congress Committee. The programme proposed struggle for full independence combined with active socio-economic policies for the toiling classes. The WPP of Bengal had submitted a manifesto the Madras Congress session, which sought that the Congress should engage in mass struggles for full independence and that a Constituent Assembly should determine the constitution of an independent India. The party also worked for

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6090-454: The Andaman and Nicobar Islands; as well as in Myanmar's Rakhine State. Arakan (now Rakhine State , Myanmar ) has historically been under strong Bengali influence. Since antiquity, Bengal has influenced the culture of Arakan. The ancient Bengali script was used in Arakan. An Arakanese inscription recorded the reign of the Bengali Candra dynasty . Paul Wheatley described the "Indianization" of Arakan. According to Pamela Gutman , "Arakan

6235-632: The Bombay Congress, 1934. He reached Bombay on October 8, 1934, accompanied by Joglekar, and was taken in a procession to the office of Young Workers' League. He attended the open session of the All India Congress Socialist Conference in Bombay in 1934 on October 21. He then attended a meeting of the Press Workers' Union on October 28, and a joint meeting of various trade unions on October 31. He also issued "An Appeal to all Anti-imperialists". Spratt left for Wardha on November 14, meeting Gandhiji and talking to him for three days. He arrived in Madras on November 18, and met Young Workers' League and CPI members. Spratt

6380-433: The British Raj began with the rebellion of Titumir , and reached a climax when Subhas Chandra Bose led the Indian National Army against the British. Bengal was also central in the rising political awareness of the Muslim population—the All-India Muslim League was established in Dhaka in 1906. The Muslim homeland movement pushed for a sovereign state in eastern India with the Lahore Resolution in 1943. Hindu nationalism

6525-431: The British TUC. Rs 1000 was allotted for the defence of Spratt in the "India-China" booklet case. The session adopted 32 resolutions including one on the prosecution of Spratt. The left wing had become very strong by this time, and in fact S. A. Dange presented a separate report on the functioning of the left group in the AITUC. The session elected a Council of Action of which Spratt was a member. A comprehensive review of

6670-509: The British officials mentioned Spratt as "the most dangerous enemy of government of India in India". Soon after his release in 1934, he became engaged to Seetha, the grand-niece of Malayapuram Singaravelu Chettiar , who was a barrister and a founding member of the Communist Party in the south of India. Philip and Seetha married in 1939, and had four children: Herbert Mohan Spratt, Arjun Spratt, Radha Norah Spratt and Robert Spratt. Spratt began to write strongly in criticism of Soviet policy after

6815-400: The Congress Party and radical trade unionists . Nehru chaired the meeting. Particularly the WPP of Bombay was successful in mobilising trade union work. It built unions amongst printing press, municipal and dock workers. It gained influence amongst the workers of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway . During 1928 the WPP led a general strike in Bombay, which lasted for months. At the time of

6960-460: The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan if Bengal was partitioned. On 6 July, the Sylhet district of Assam voted in a referendum to join East Bengal . The English barrister Cyril Radcliffe was instructed to draw the borders of Pakistan and India. The Radcliffe Line created the boundary between the Dominion of India and the Dominion of Pakistan , which later became the Bangladesh-India border . The Radcliffe Line awarded two-thirds of Bengal as

7105-407: The ECCI, 3–19 July 1929, directed the Indian communists to break with WPP. When the communists deserted it, the WPP fell apart. On 20 March 1929, arrests against WPP, CPI and other labour leaders were made in several parts of India, in what became known as the Meerut Conspiracy Case . Most of the WPP leadership was now put behind bars. The trial proceedings were to last for four years, thus outliving

7250-415: The Girni Kamgar Union after the strike came to an end. After the arrests of its main leaders, the WPP was dissolved. The founding manifesto of the Labour Swaraj Party stressed that the party was organised on the basis of class struggle , for the liberation of the masses. The party combined demand for full independence with socio-economic demands. In 1927, the WPP of Bombay presented a programme of action to

7395-483: The Great was deterred by the accounts of Gangaridai's power in 325 BCE, including a cavalry of war elephants . Later Roman accounts noted maritime trade routes with Bengal. 1st century Roman coins with images of Hercules were found in the region and point to trade links with Roman Egypt through the Red Sea . The Wari-Bateshwar ruins are believed to be the emporium (trading centre) of Sounagoura mentioned by Roman geographer Claudius Ptolemy . A Roman amphora

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7540-501: The Indian TU movement written by Spratt was published in Labour Monthly of October 1927, giving details of organization, structure, membership union-wise and industry-wise, and movements industry-wise and section-wise. Mirajkar, K. N. Joglekar , Mayekar, Spratt, and others conducted processions and strikes of Apollo, Manchester and other mills in Bombay. There were efforts to merge together Girni Kamgar Mahamandal and Bombay Textile Labor Union, which later resulted in GKU in 1928. Spratt

7685-411: The Indian state of Assam . The region is famous for its fertile land terrain, many rivers, extensive tea plantations, rainforests and wetlands. The Brahmaputra and Barak river are the geographic markers of the area. The city of Sylhet is its largest urban centre, and the region is known for its unique regional Sylheti language . The ancient name of the region is Srihatta and Nasratshahi. The region

7830-415: The King Emperor of his sovereignty of British India. The body of conspirators was the Comintern and its associated organisations, and in particular the Indian party. Spratt was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment, which on appeal, was reduced to 2; he was released from jail in October 1934. He discusses the psychology of imprisonment in an article which appeared in the Modern Review , Calcutta in 1937. It

7975-508: The Leagues, which became widespread in the country. Philip Spratt and others in the WPP disagreed with M. N. Roy 's assessment that it should be a parallel organization to the Congress, as the latter was "practically dead". WPP by its program and constitution was working inside the Congress to strengthen the left and at the same time as an independent organization. Spratt wrote a booklet, "India and China", published by S. S. Mirajkar on behalf of WPP, which led to his trial. Revolution in China

8120-424: The Madras Congress, Nehru moved the resolution and Joglekar seconded it. The resolution was passed unanimously. This was the first time in history that the Indian National Congress officially demanded full independence from British rule. During the Madras session, the WPP functioned as a faction. Directly after the Madras Congress, the WPP took part in a 'Republican Congress' meeting together with other left elements of

8265-451: The Madras session of Congress in 1927. A Manifesto of WPP was presented to the session, which was prepared by Muzaffar Ahmed in consultation with Philip Spratt. It was published next year, in 1928, and formally adopted at the WPP conference in Calcutta, in December 1928. Spratt was included in its CEC. Significantly, it gave a call for constituting and holding elections to a Constituent Assembly based on adult franchise. The front page of

8410-513: The Manifesto for Madras session (1927) included slogans of "A National Constituent Assembly, Universal Adult Franchise and Complete Independence". Slogan of constituent assembly, as far as is known, was given first by S. Srinivasa Iyengar , the Congress president in 1927, based on a limited franchise. M. N. Roy also had proposed it in his journal in 1928 abroad, but it was utterly sectarian as he called upon revolutionary nationalists not to be misled by "the apparent victory at Madras" gained by passing

8555-425: The Mauryans and the Gupta Empire . The region was a centre of artistic, political, social, spiritual and scientific thinking, including the invention of chess , Indian numerals , and the concept of zero . The region was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Gangaridai . The Greek ambassador Megasthenes chronicled its military strength and dominance of the Ganges delta . The invasion army of Alexander

8700-426: The Mughal emperor. The wealth of Bengal was vital for the Mughal court because Delhi received its biggest share of revenue from the Nawab's court. The Nawabs presided over a period of unprecedented economic growth and prosperity, including an era of growing organisation in textiles, banking, a military-industrial complex, the production of fine quality handicrafts , and other trades. A process of proto-industrialisation

8845-468: The Mughals in 1666. In the 18th-century, the Mughal Court rapidly disintegrated due to Nader Shah's invasion and internal rebellions, allowing European colonial powers to set up trading posts across the territory. The British East India Company eventually emerged as the foremost military power in the region; and defeated the last independent Nawab of Bengal at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. The British East India Company began influencing and controlling

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8990-417: The Punjab Kirti Kisan Party to chair the All India Workers and Peasants Conference, to be held in Calcutta in December. The provincial WPPs attended All India Workers and Peasants Conference in Calcutta on 22–24 December 1928, at which the All India Workers and Peasants Party was formed. A 16-member national executive was elected. The Bengal, Bombay, Punjab and United Provinces were allocated four seats each in

9135-485: The Russian invasion of Finland in 1939. In 1943, he joined M. N. Roy's Radical Democratic Party , and remained a fairly active member until the party ceased to exist in 1948. In 1951, Spratt became secretary of the newly formed Indian Congress for Cultural Freedom, and a frequent contributor to its bulletin, Freedom First . He settled in Bangalore , and was the Chief Editor of a pro-American and pro-Capitalist weekly named MysIndia , until 1964. In its columns, he criticised

9280-407: The Secretary of State for India whether he was aware of the fact that Spratt was interned in Belgaum Fort under the Emergency Powers Act and whether he would be deported. Butler replied that Spratt was interned under Section 4 of the EPA within the confines of the Fort, and he had been provided a suitable house. Spratt had firmly declined the offer of leaving India. H. Williams asked: "If I take part in

9425-429: The Straits of Malacca in the east to the Khyber Pass in the west. In the late-19th and early-20th centuries, administrative reorganisation drastically reduced the territory of Bengal. Several regions bordering Bengal proper continue to have high levels of Bengali influence. The Indian state of Tripura has a Bengali majority population. Bengali influence is also prevalent in the Indian regions of Assam, Meghalaya, Bihar and

9570-446: The WPP of Bengal had only 40 members, and its growth in membership was very slow. A two-room party office was set up at 37, Harrison Road, Calcutta. British intelligence perceived that the Bengal Jute Workers Association, the Mymensingh Workers and Peasants Party (with branch in Atia ), the Dhakeswari Mill Workers Union, the Bengal Glass Workers Union, the Scavengers' Union of Bengal (with branches in Howrah , Dacca and Mymensingh ) and

9715-409: The WPP. Tengdi, the WPP of Bombay president, died whilst the trial was still going on. S.S. Mirajkar stated in his defense that: It has already been pointed out to the Court that the Workers' and Peasants' Party was a party inaugurated with a view to establish national independence through revolution. Abdul Majid on his behalf stated that: If there is any resemblance between the Communist Party and

9860-443: The Workers Protection League were led by the party. Soon after the 1926 conference of the WPP of Bengal, the underground Communist Party of India directed its members to join the provincial Workers and Peasants Parties. All open communist activities were carried out through Workers and Peasants Parties. The Comintern organiser M.N. Roy took part in the build-up of the WPP. A WPP was formed in Bombay in January 1927. D.R. Thengdi

10005-416: The Workers' and Peasants' Party is that the immediate programme of the former and the ultimate programme of the latter is one and the same   ... As both are revolutionary bodies it is necessary that their national revolutionary programme should resemble each other. The judgement in the case was ended with the following passage: As to the progress made in this conspiracy its main achievements have been

10150-481: The abolishment of ' zamindari ' system in agriculture. The organ of the Labour Swaraj Party, and later the WPP of Bengal, was Langal ('Plough'). The chief editor of Langal was Kazi Nazrul Islam and the editor was Manibhusan Mukhopadhaya. Langal stopped publication after 15 issues. On 12 August 1926 it was substituted by Ganavani . In 1928, the party also had a weekly Hindi organ, Lal Nishan ('Red Flag'). A weekly newspaper in Kushtia , Jagaran ('Awakening'),

10295-412: The advent of British rule. The Chittagonian language , a sister of Bengali is prevalent in coastal areas of southeast Bengal. Along with its Bengali population, it is also home to Tibeto-Burman ethnic groups, including the Chakma , Marma , Tanchangya and Bawm peoples. Southeast Bengal is considered a bridge to Southeast Asia and the northern parts of Arakan are also historically considered to be

10440-530: The age of 17 I had a fair knowledge of nineteenth-century physical science, and I read a little on my own in biology. On Sunday evenings after church I used to take a fast walk round the neighbourhood, and for some months on these walks I argued with myself about science and religion. I decided quite definitely that the religious theory of things was unsound. But I remember no 'conflict' or emotion over my rejection of religion. I kept it entirely to myself, and I still attended church, and continued to do so till I went to

10585-450: The age of 24, he was asked by Clemens Dutt (the elder brother of Rajani Palme Dutt ) to journey to India as a Comintern agent to organise the working of the then nascent Communist Party of India, and in particular to launch a Workers and Peasants' Party as a legal cover for their activities. He was expected to arrange for the infiltration of CPI members into the Congress party, trade unions and youth leagues to obtain leadership of them. Spratt

10730-566: The annual output of Bengal at 223,250 tons, compared with 23,061 tons produced in nineteen colonies in North America from 1769 to 1771. Since the 16th century, European traders traversed the sea routes to Bengal, following the Portuguese conquests of Malacca and Goa. The Portuguese established a settlement in Chittagong with permission from the Bengal Sultanate in 1528 but were later expelled by

10875-706: The body. North Bengal is a term used for the north-western part of Bangladesh and northern part of West Bengal. The Bangladeshi part comprises Rajshahi Division and Rangpur Division . Generally, it is the area lying west of Jamuna River and north of Padma River , and includes the Barind Tract . Politically, West Bengal's part comprises Jalpaiguri Division and most of Malda division (except Murshidabad district ) together and Bihar's parts include Kishanganj district . Darjeeling Hilly are also part of North Bengal. The people of Jaipaiguri, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar usually identify themselves as North Bengali. North Bengal

11020-592: The capital of both Bengal and India until 1911. As a result of the first partition of Bengal , a short-lived province called Eastern Bengal and Assam existed between 1905 and 1911 with its capital in the former Mughal capital Dhaka . Following the Sylhet referendum and votes by the Bengal Legislative Council and Bengal Legislative Assembly , the region was again divided along religious lines in 1947 . Bengali culture, particularly its literature , music , art and cinema, are well known in South Asia and beyond. The region

11165-570: The coastline comprises a marshy jungle , the Sundarbans , the largest mangrove forest in the world and home to diverse flora and fauna, including the royal Bengal tiger . In 1997, this region was declared endangered. West Bengal is on the eastern bottleneck of India, stretching from the Himalayas in the north to the Bay of Bengal in the south. The state has a total area of 88,752 km (34,267 sq mi). The Darjeeling Himalayan hill region in

11310-471: The communist ranks in India. On 2 December 1928, the Executive Committee of the Communist International had drafted a letter to the WPP, which singled out the WPP as consisting '...largely of petit-bourgeois intellectuals, and they were tied up with either the system of landlordism and usury or straight away capitalist interests.' The letter did however take long time to reach the WPP. The Tenth Plenum of

11455-576: The conference documents in a book titled A Call for Action . In the book an argument is presented that national independence was not possible as long as capitalists dominated the freedom struggle. British intelligence sources claimed that Philip Spratt had been the author of the book. At a conference in Lyallpur in September 1928 the Punjab Kirti Kisan Party (Workers and Peasants Party of Punjab)

11600-493: The conference. The other was the U.P. Peasants and Workers Party which was founded at a conference in Meerut . P.C. Joshi was elected president and Dharamvir Singh was elected general secretary The Meerut conference was attended by Philip Spratt , Muzaffar Ahmed and Kedar Nath Sahgol . In late November 1928 the WPP of Bengal executive committee met with Philip Spratt and Muzaffar Ahmed. They decided to appoint Sohan Singh Josh of

11745-530: The earliest records of which date back to the Mahabharata epic in the first millennium BCE . The reference to 'Vangalam' is present in an inscription in the Brihadisvara Temple at Thanjavur , which is one of the oldest references to Bengal. The term Vangaladesa is used to describe the region in 11th-century South Indian records. The modern term Bangla is prominent from the 14th century, which saw

11890-615: The eastern frontier of the Islamic world . During this period, Bengal's rule and influence spread to Assam, Arakan , Tripura, Bihar, and Orissa. Bengal Subah later emerged as a prosperous part of the Mughal Empire . The last independent Nawab of Bengal was defeated in 1757 at the Battle of Plassey by the East India Company . The company's Bengal Presidency grew into the largest administrative unit of British India with Calcutta as

12035-460: The eastern wing of Pakistan, although the historic Bengali capitals of Gaur , Pandua , Murshidabad and Calcutta fell on the Indian side close to the border with Pakistan. Dhaka's status as a capital was also restored. Most of the Bengal region lies in the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta , but there are highlands in its north, northeast and southeast. The Ganges Delta arises from the confluence of

12180-410: The elevated Madhupur tract with a large Sal tree forest . The Padma River cuts through the southern part of the region, separating the greater Faridpur region. In the north lies the greater Mymensingh and Tangail regions. South Bengal covers the southwestern Bangladesh and the southern part of the Indian state of West Bengal.The Bangladeshi part includes Khulna Division , Barisal Division and

12325-402: The enervating entaglements which write a lie in our soul." He argued that Indian policy was based on a 'mistaken belief in the one-nation theory and greed to own the beautiful and strategic valley of Srinagar '. He further stated that the costs of this policy, present and future, were incalculable, and that rather than give Kashmir special privileges and create resentment elsewhere in India, it

12470-463: The establishment of Workers and Peasant Parties in Bengal, Bombay and Punjab and the U.P., but perhaps of deeper gravity was the hold that the members of the Bombay Party acquired over the workers in the textile industry in Bombay as shown by the extent of the control which they exercised during the strike of 1928 and the success they were achieving in pushing forward a thoroughly revolutionary policy in

12615-747: The establishment of the Sultanate of Bengal , whose first ruler Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah was known as the Shah of Bangala . The Portuguese referred to the region as Bengala in the Age of Discovery . Neolithic sites have been found in several parts of the region. In the second millennium BCE, rice-cultivating communities dotted the region. By the eleventh century BCE, people in Bengal lived in systematically aligned homes, produced copper objects, and crafted black and red pottery. Remnants of Copper Age settlements are located in

12760-507: The first Muslim army enter Nepal and stretched from Varanasi in the west to Orissa in the south to Assam in the east. The Delhi army continued to fend off the new Bengali army. The Bengal-Delhi War ended in 1359 when Delhi recognised the independence of Bengal. Ilyas Shah's son Sikandar Shah defeated Delhi Sultan Firuz Shah Tughluq during the Siege of Ekdala Fort. A subsequent peace treaty recognised Bengal's independence and Sikandar Shah

12905-648: The first task for Indian communists.' This was a statement made in opposition to the building of the 'multi-class' WPP. The new line was promoted at the congress by the Finnish communist Otto Kuusinen . In his report, he stated that it was 'necessary to reject the formation of any kind of bloc between the Communist Party and the national-reformist opposition' in the colonies. Moreover, he claimed that parties like WPP could develop into petty bourgeois parties. Leon Trotsky concurred with this view. In June 1928, he had submitted

13050-520: The forest with his followers. The overthrow of the Sena king has been described as a coup d'état, which "inaugurated an era, lasting over five centuries, during which most of Bengal was dominated by rulers professing the Islamic faith. In itself this was not exceptional, since from about this time until the eighteenth century, Muslim sovereigns ruled over most of the Indian subcontinent. What was exceptional, however,

13195-515: The fullest height of their stature, a land that will truly be plentiful. It will be rich in agriculture, rich in industry and commerce and in course of time it will be one of the powerful and progressive states of the world. If Bengal remains united this will be no dream, no fantasy". On 2 June 1947, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee told the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom that there

13340-470: The imperial family were appointed to positions in Mughal Bengal, including the position of governor ( subedar ). Dhaka became a centre of palace intrigue and politics. Some of the most prominent governors included Rajput general Man Singh I , Emperor Shah Jahan 's son Prince Shah Shuja , Emperor Aurangzeb 's son and later Mughal emperor Azam Shah , and the influential aristocrat Shaista Khan . During

13485-551: The jury and refused bail. Winterton replied that the bail was refused by Justice Devar of Bombay High Court, and as such it was "not proper" to interfere with the competence of the Court. He refused to reply to any further questions. After Spratt's acquittal, the government of Bombay was not sure "whether the prosecution was good in law"! Spratt was an active participant in and organizer of the AITUC and workers' unions. The 7th session of AITUC

13630-488: The last Prime Minister of Bengal Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy held a press conference in New Delhi where he outlined his vision for an independent Bengal. Suhrawardy said "Let us pause for a moment to consider what Bengal can be if it remains united. It will be a great country, indeed the richest and the most prosperous in India capable of giving to its people a high standard of living, where a great people will be able to rise to

13775-644: The main successor of the Palas by the 11th century. The Senas were a resurgent Hindu dynasty which ruled much of Bengal. The smaller Deva dynasty also ruled parts of the region. Ancient Chinese visitors like Xuanzang provided elaborate accounts of Bengal's cities and monastic institutions. Muslim trade with Bengal flourished after the fall of the Sasanian Empire and the Arab takeover of Persian trade routes. Much of this trade occurred with southeastern Bengal in areas east of

13920-412: The namesake of the Bengal region. The Bengali calendar dates back to the reign of Shashanka in the 7th century CE. The Pala Empire was founded in Bengal during the 8th century. The Sena dynasty and Deva dynasty ruled between the 11th and 13th centuries. By the 14th century, Bengal was absorbed by Muslim conquests in the Indian subcontinent . An independent Bengal Sultanate was formed and became

14065-451: The national executive. Out of these 16, ten were either identified as CPI members or as 'communists'. R.S. Nimbkar was the general secretary of the party. The conference discussed an affiliation of the party with the League against Imperialism. Spratt and Ahmed urged the conference to approve the affiliation of the party to the League. The conference decision to postpone a decision on the issue to

14210-425: The northern extreme of the state belongs to the eastern Himalaya. This region contains Sandakfu (3,636 m (11,929 ft))—the highest peak of the state. The narrow Terai region separates this region from the plains, which in turn transitions into the Ganges delta towards the south. The Rarh region intervenes between the Ganges delta in the east and the western plateau and high lands . A small coastal region

14355-558: The policies of the government which he believed, 'treated the entrepreneur as a criminal who has dared to use his brains independently of the state to create wealth and give employment'. He further believed that the result would be 'the smothering of free enterprise, a famine of consumer goods, and the tying down of millions of workers to soul deadening techniques'. Spratt believed that the Kashmir Valley should be granted independence. In 1952, he stated that India must abandon its claim to

14500-526: The proposed Faridpur Division The part of South Bengal of West Bengal includes Presidency division , Burdwan division and Medinipur division . The Sundarbans , a major biodiversity hotspot , is located in South Bengal. Bangladesh hosts 60% of the forest, with the remainder in India. Southeast Bengal refers to the hilly-coastal Chittagonian -speaking and coastal Bengali-speaking areas of Chittagong Division in southeastern Bangladesh. The region

14645-455: The rebellion led to the abolition of the Company Rule in India and establishment of direct rule over India by the British, commonly referred to as the British Raj . The late 19th and early 20th century Bengal Renaissance had a great impact on the cultural and economic life of Bengal and started a great advance in the literature and science of Bengal. Between 1905 and 1911, an abortive attempt

14790-697: The region. At the advent of the Iron Age , people in Bengal adopted iron-based weapons, tools and irrigation equipment. From 600 BCE, the second wave of urbanisation engulfed the north Indian subcontinent as part of the Northern Black Polished Ware culture. Ancient archaeological sites and cities in Dihar , Pandu Rajar Dhibi , Mahasthangarh , Chandraketugarh and Wari-Bateshwar emerged. The Ganges , Brahmaputra and Meghna rivers were natural arteries for communication and transportation. Estuaries on

14935-516: The resolution of full independence by Congress. Spratt was, in 1928, responsible for two sweepers' strikes in Calcutta. In March 1929, almost all the members of the Communist Party of India and about an equal number of trade unionists, congressmen and others who were working alongside them – 30 people in all – were arrested simultaneously in half a dozen different towns and taken to Meerut jail. They were charged under Section 121A: conspiring to deprive

15080-432: The rivers Ganges , Brahmaputra , and Meghna rivers and their respective tributaries. The total area of Bengal is 237,212 square kilometres (91,588 sq mi)—West Bengal is 88,752 km (34,267 sq mi) and Bangladesh 148,460 km (57,321 sq mi). The flat and fertile Bangladesh Plain dominates the geography of Bangladesh . The Chittagong Hill Tracts and Sylhet region are home to most of

15225-510: The ruler of Satgaon, Shamsuddin Ilyas Shah , unified the region into an independent state. Ilyas Shah established his capital in Pandua . The new breakaway state emerged as the Bengal Sultanate , which developed into a territorial, mercantile and maritime empire. At the time, the Islamic world stretched from Muslim Spain in the west to Bengal in the east. The initial raids of Ilyas Shah saw

15370-528: The same script as the Bengali language. The Barak Valley has a Bengali-speaking majority population. During the Partition of India , Assam was also partitioned along with Bengal. The Sylhet Division joined East Bengal in Pakistan, with the exception of Karimganj which joined Indian Assam. Previously, East Bengal and Assam were part of a single province called Eastern Bengal and Assam between 1905 and 1912 under

15515-690: The strike, the Girni Kamgar Union was founded. During the protests against the Simon Commission , the WPP played a major role in organising manifestations in Calcutta and Bombay. In Bombay it also mobilised ' hartal ' (general strike) in protest against the Simon Commission. The WPP of Bengal held its third conference in Bhatpara , in March 1928. After the conference the executive of the party published

15660-495: The tenure of Shaista Khan, the Portuguese and Arakanese were expelled from the port of Chittagong in 1666. Bengal became the eastern frontier of the Mughal administration. By the 18th century, Bengal became home to a semi-independent aristocracy led by the Nawabs of Bengal . Bengal premier Murshid Quli Khan managed to curtail the influence of the governor due to his rivalry with Prince Azam Shah. Khan controlled Bengal's finances since he

15805-652: The tiny handful of Communist Party members at the university at that time. Spratt, Woolf and Roberts would sell the Worker's Weekly to railwaymen at the town railway station or canvass the working-class areas of Cambridge. Spratt worked, for a while, at the Labour Research Department in the Metropolitan Borough of Deptford , and was a member of the London University Labour Party. In 1926, at

15950-412: The travels and preachings of Atisa . The university of Nalanda was established by the Palas. They also built the Somapura Mahavihara , which was the largest monastic institution in the subcontinent. The rule of the Palas eventually disintegrated. The Chandra dynasty ruled southeastern Bengal and Arakan . The Varman dynasty ruled parts of northeastern Bengal and Assam . The Sena dynasty emerged as

16095-477: The university." Philip Spratt won a university scholarship in 1921 to study mathematics at Downing College, Cambridge . He wrote in his memoirs: "But I was in no mood to devote myself to my proper studies, or to associate with the dull dogs who stuck to theirs. I dabbled in literature and philosophy and psychology and anthropology." He was awarded a First-class degree on completing the Mathematics tripos. He joined

16240-467: The valley and allow the National Conference leader Sheikh Abdullah to 'dream of independence'. It should withdraw its armies and write off its loans to the state government. He stated: "Let Kashmir go ahead, alone and adventurously, in her explorations of a secular state. We shall watch the act of faith with due sympathy but at a safe distance, our honour, our resources and our future free from

16385-535: Was a "distinct possibility Bengal might decide against partition and against joining either Hindustan or Pakistan". On 3 June 1947, the Mountbatten Plan outlined the partition of British India . On 20 June, the Bengal Legislative Assembly met to decide on the partition of Bengal. At the preliminary joint meeting, it was decided (126 votes to 90) that if the province remained united, it should join

16530-619: Was a British writer and intellectual. Initially a communist sent by the British arm of the Communist International (Comintern), based in Moscow, to spread Communism in India, he subsequently became a friend and colleague of M. N. Roy , founder of the Communist parties in Mexico and India, and along with him became a communist activist. He was among the first architects, and a founding-member of

16675-594: Was advancing in 1927, deeply impacting India’s freedom movement. Jawaharlal Nehru contacted the Chinese revolutionaries, including Madam Sun Yat-Sen , in Brussels during the world founding conference of the League Against Imperialism. Communists in Bombay issued a number of articles about China in the daily National Herald . Philip Spratt's contributions were collected as An Internationalist , which came out as

16820-538: Was also asked to write a pamphlet on China, urging India to follow the example of the Kuomintang . He was accompanied to India by Ben Bradley and Lester Hutchinson . Spratt was arrested in 1927, on account of some cryptic letters written to and by him that were seized by the Police. He was, however, charged with sedition, on account of the pamphlet entitled India and China that he had written on Clemens Dutt's instructions. He

16965-477: Was also mounted by Bakhtiyar. Bengal was under the formal rule of the Delhi Sultanate for approximately 150 years. Delhi struggled to consolidate control over Bengal. Rebel governors often sought to assert autonomy or independence. Sultan Iltutmish re-established control over Bengal in 1225 after suppressing the rebels. Due to the considerable overland distance, Delhi's authority in Bengal was relatively weak. It

17110-615: Was also shipped to Europe, opium was sold in Indonesia , raw silk was exported to Japan and the Netherlands, cotton and silk textiles were exported to Europe, Indonesia, and Japan, cotton cloth was exported to the Americas and the Indian Ocean. Bengal also had a large shipbuilding industry. In terms of shipbuilding tonnage during the 16th–18th centuries, economic historian Indrajit Ray estimates

17255-656: Was also strong in Bengal, which was home to groups like the Hindu Mahasabha . In spite of a last-ditch effort by politicians Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy , Sarat Chandra Bose to form a United Bengal , when India gained independence in 1947, Bengal was partitioned along religious lines. The western joined India (and was named West Bengal) while the eastern part joined Pakistan as a province called East Bengal (later renamed East Pakistan , giving rise to Bangladesh in 1971). The circumstances of partition were bloody, with widespread religious riots in Bengal. On 27 April 1947,

17400-567: Was among the lone voices – such as Sita Ram Goel – against the well-intentioned and fashionable leftist policies of Nehru and the Indian government. He was the Editor of MysIndia , a pro-American weekly, and later of Swarajya , a newspaper run by C. Rajagopalachari . He was also a prolific writer of books, articles and pamphlets on a variety of subjects, and translated books in French, German, Tamil, Sanskrit, and Hindi, into English. Philip Spratt

17545-556: Was an administrative order instructing relief for a distressed segment of the population. Punch-marked coins found in the region indicate that coins were used as currency during the Iron Age. The namesake of Bengal is the ancient Vanga Kingdom which was reputed as a naval power with overseas colonies. A prince from Bengal named Vijaya founded the first kingdom in Sri Lanka . The two most prominent pan-Indian empires of this period included

17690-653: Was arrested again in December 1934 under stringent emergency legislation passed to deal with civil disobedience struggle. He was again interned in the Fort in Belgaum. He was released on June 6, 1936. In Madras he had come in contact, in 1934, with the famous "first Communist of South India", M. Singaravelu. The same year, he got acquainted with Seetha, the grand-niece of M. Singaravelu. Philip and Seetha married in 1939, and had four children: Herbert Mohan Spratt, Arjun Spratt, Radha Norah Spratt and Robert Spratt. The secret correspondence among

17835-567: Was being done, but we did not direct our attack at the persons really responsible, viz. the Comintern authorities in Moscow… My own feelings were not of doubt or criticism but of boredom. I was closely involved in the preparation of the defence case, an immense and tedious job, and in the politics of the jail and the party outside. I gradually lost interest in all three, and became absorbed in reading and writing on other subjects… I have no doubt that here

17980-565: Was best to let the state secede. Spratt later moved to Madras , and edited the Swarajya , which was a newspaper run by C. Rajagopalachari , and a mouthpiece of the Swatantra Party . During these years he also wrote several books on diverse subjects, numerous pamphlets and also translated books from French, German, Tamil, Sanskrit and Hindi, into English. He wrote an autobiographical account, Blowing up India: Reminiscences and Reflections of

18125-568: Was born in Camberwell on 26 September 1902 to Herbert Spratt, a schoolmaster, and Norah Spratt. He was one of five boys. His elder brother David Spratt, left boarding school to join the British Army during World War I , and was killed at Passchendaele in 1917. Although raised a Baptist , Herbert Spratt later joined the Church of England . Philip Spratt's own rejection of religion came early on: "By

18270-524: Was elected president and S.S. Mirajkar general secretary. The WPPs gained influence within the Bombay and Bengal Pradesh Congress Committees . From the WPP of Bombay, K.N. Joglekar, R.S. Nimbkar and D.R. Tengdi were elected to the All India Congress Committee. From the WPP of Bengal, two party representatives were elected to the AICC. The WPP representatives together with Nehru were able to convince

18415-758: Was formed by the Kirti group. Chabil Das, a Lahore propagandist of the Naujawan Bharat Sabha , was elected president of the party. In October 1928 two WPPs were formed in the United Provinces . One of them was the Bundelkhand Workers and Peasants Party, with N.L. Kadam as its secretary and headquartered in Jhansi . The party held its founding conference in Jhansi on 28–29 October 1928. Jhavwala from Bombay presided over

18560-680: Was found in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal which was made in Aelana (present-day Aqaba, Jordan ) between the 4th and 7th centuries AD. The first unified Bengali polity can be traced to the reign of Shashanka . The origins of the Bengali calendar can be traced to his reign. Shashanka founded the Gauda Kingdom . After Shashanka's death, Bengal experienced a period of civil war known as Matsyanyayam. The ancient city of Gauda later gave birth to

18705-452: Was gifted a golden crown by the Sultan of Delhi. The ruler of Arakan sought refuge in Bengal during the reign of Ghiyasuddin Azam Shah . Jalaluddin Muhammad Shah later helped the Arakanese king to regain control of his throne in exchange for becoming a tributary state of the Bengal Sultanate. Bengali influence in Arakan persisted for 300 years. Bengal also helped the king of Tripura to regain control of his throne in exchange for becoming

18850-454: Was held on March 12–13, 1927 in Hindu College, Delhi. It was attended by prominent leaders like V. V. Giri , S. V. Ghate , Lala Lajpat Rai , S. S. Mirajkar , Nimbkar, Spratt and others. Spratt gave detailed account of it and played an active role. The 8th session of the AITUC, held in Kanpur in November 1928, included S. A. Dange , V. V. Giri, N. M. Joshi , and Spratt, as also some others. Jones, Purcell, and Hallsworth attended on behalf of

18995-427: Was in charge of the treasury. He shifted the provincial capital from Dhaka to Murshidabad . In 1717, the Mughal court in Delhi recognised the hereditary monarchy of the Nawab of Bengal. The ruler was officially titled as the "Nawab of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa ", as the Nawab ruled over the three regions in the eastern subcontinent. The Nawabs began issuing their own coins but continued to pledge nominal allegiance to

19140-436: Was included, along with Dange, N. M. Joshi, Diwan Chaman Lall , and others in the sub-committee formed to draft a labour Constitution of India, to be submitted to the Executive Council of India and to labor movement. It led to a widespread discussion. He wrote detailed proposals and articles on it. Spratt participated in the struggles of jute and other workers in Calcutta, Bombay and elsewhere during this time. Spratt attended

19285-471: Was interned in the Arthur Road Prison for more than two months. The prosecution could not prevent Spratt from a trial by jury, who declared him "not guilty". High Court Judge Justice Fawcett had to acquit Spratt. Talyarkhan was the defence counsel for Spratt. M. A. Jinnah advised Sarojini Naidu to apply for transfer of the case to the High Court and Spratt to give up his demand for a European Jury. Bombay comrades used to address Sarojini Naidu as "mother"! That

19430-413: Was left to local governors to expand territory and bring new areas under Muslim rule, such as through the Conquest of Sylhet in 1303. In 1338, new rebellions sprung up in Bengal's three main towns. Governors in Lakhnauti, Satgaon and Sonargaon declared independence from Delhi. This allowed the ruler of Sonargaon, Fakhruddin Mubarak Shah , to annexe Chittagong to the Islamic administration. By 1352,

19575-460: Was made to divide the province of Bengal into two: Bengal proper and the short-lived province of Eastern Bengal and Assam where the All India Muslim League was founded. In 1911, the Bengali poet and polymath Rabindranath Tagore became Asia's first Nobel laureate when he won the Nobel Prize in Literature . Bengal played a major role in the Indian independence movement , in which revolutionary groups were dominant. Armed attempts to overthrow

19720-451: Was politically close to the party. In Punjab the publication Kirti ('Worker') had been started in 1926 by Santokh Singh of the Ghadar Party . Soon it became the organ of the Punjab Kirti Kisan Party and managed by Sohan Singh Josh. The youth wing of the party was the Young Comrades League . P.C. Joshi played an important role in organising the youth league. Bengal Bengal ( / b ɛ n ˈ ɡ ɔː l / ben- GAWL )

19865-419: Was recounted by historians circa 1243. Lakhnauti was the capital of the Sena dynasty. According to historical accounts, Ghurid cavalry swept across the Gangetic plains towards Bengal. They entered the Bengali capital disguised as horse traders. Once inside the royal compound, Bakhtiyar and his horsemen swiftly overpowered the guards of the Sena king who had just sat down to eat a meal. The king then hastily fled to

20010-485: Was ruled by kings who adopted Indian titles and traditions to suit their own environment. Indian Brahmins conducted royal ceremonies, Buddhist monks spread their teachings, traders came and went and artists and architects used Indian models for inspiration. In the later period, there was also influence from the Islamic courts of Bengal and Delhi". Arakan emerged as a vassal state of the Bengal Sultanate . It later became an independent kingdom. The royal court and culture of

20155-408: Was ruled by the Kamarupa and Harikela kingdoms as well as the Bengal Sultanate . It later became a district of the Mughal Empire . Alongside the predominant Bengali population resides a small Garo , Bishnupriya Manipuri , Khasia and other tribal minorities. The region is the crossroads of Bengal and northeast India . Central Bengal refers to the Dhaka Division of Bangladesh. It includes

20300-416: Was run by a military-civil administration, including the Bengal Army , and had the world's sixth earliest railway network. Between 1833 and 1854, the Governor of Bengal was concurrently the Governor-General of India for many years. Great Bengal famines struck several times during colonial rule (notably the Great Bengal famine of 1770 and Bengal famine of 1943 ). Under British rule, Bengal experienced

20445-431: Was that among India's interior provinces only in Bengal—a region approximately the size of England and Scotland combined—did a majority of the indigenous population adopt the religion of the ruling class, Islam". Bengal became a province of the Delhi Sultanate . A coin featuring a horseman was issued to celebrate the Muslim conquest of Lakhnauti with inscriptions in Sanskrit and Arabic. An abortive Islamic invasion of Tibet

20590-436: Was the beginning of an emotional turn away from communism". In December 1934, he was arrested again and interned under the emergency legislation passed to suppress Civil Disobedience . He spent 18 months in the Fort at Belgaum , and was released finally in June 1936. During his time in Meerut, Spratt learnt to read Hindi and one of the first books he read was Atmakatha by Mahatma Gandhi . On doing so, he resolved to write

20735-409: Was the bond of the Communists with the freedom movement. Spratt had been arrested in 1927 for some secret letters but was charged with sedition for this booklet. On 28 November 1927 Shapurji Saklatvala, British Communist MP for Battersea North, questioned Earl Winterton, Under-secretary of State for India, about the wrongful detention of Spratt for weeks prior to his trial, even though not found guilty by

20880-810: Was tried by jury and – the judge, Mr. Justice Fawcett, having summed up very leniently – they found in his favour. Hansard records show that on 28 November 1927, Shapurji Saklatvala , the MP for Battersea North, questions Earl Winterton (then Under-Secretary of State for India in Baldwin's government) about the wrongful detention of Philip Spratt for six weeks prior to his trial. Spratt at once got involved in organizing Workers' and Peasants' Party (WPP) in Bombay, Calcutta and elsewhere. He later rose to their all India leaderships. Young Comrades' and later Young Workers' League were constituted, both by WPP and independently, as powerful mass organisations in 1927–1930. Spratt played an active part and described their growth and activities. He wrote that WPP took initiative to form

21025-420: Was underway. Under the Nawabs, the streets of Bengali cities were filled with brokers, workers, peons, naibs, wakils, and ordinary traders. The Nawab's state was a major exporter of Bengal muslin , silk, gunpowder and saltpetre . The Nawabs also permitted European trading companies to operate in Bengal, including the British East India Company , the French East India Company , the Danish East India Company ,

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