Over the years the terms Naxalism and Maoism have been indiscriminately interchanged and people do not seem to know the difference between the two movements. This confusion has a great deal to do with the fact that in India, Naxalism and Maoism are inherently the same thing. Although their ideologies do differ and their moment of inception is different, they have, over time, fused into a single movement.

Naxalbari uprising 1967

Most scholars believe that the Naxalite movement in India owes its origin to this particular event.

In 1967 the Naxalbari village in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal, broke into a revolutionary struggle. Poor and landless peasants, tea plantation workers and tribals rose up against years of oppression and poverty. The uprising may have been bubbling under the surface for years, but it was instigated by the attack against a tribal youth who happened to be ploughing his land.

Before this uprising, the communist movement in India was dominated by revisionism or phoney communism. The criticism was that the Communist Party of India (CPI) had given up its roots of revolution in favour of a 'parliamentary road' to power. In light of the revolutionary practices of Mao Zedong and the Communist Party of China in the early 1960's, certain cadres of the CPI were influenced. They set up a revolutionary opposition to the CPI leadership. They began training the cadre of the Darjeeling district, and thus in 1967, the Naxalbari revolution took place. This revolution was the origin of the Naxalite movement.

Naxalism
Even though the government managed to regain control after the uprising, the real winners were the Naxals.. The movement drew thousands of people from around the country. Farmers, landless peasants, students, all united to stand in opposition to the capitalists. They challenged everything reactionary - from the semi-feudal relations in the countryside to literature, from the moneylenders to the Soviet revisionists. When US Secretary of Defense McNamara landed in Calcutta, a massive demonstration at the airport against US imperialism and in support of the Vietnamese people forced him to take off again.

Naxalbari uprising 1967

Most scholars believe that the Naxalite movement in India owes its origin to this particular event.

In 1967 the Naxalbari village in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal, broke into a revolutionary struggle. Poor and landless peasants, tea plantation workers and tribals rose up against years of oppression and poverty. The uprising may have been bubbling under the surface for years, but it was instigated by the attack against a tribal youth who happened to be ploughing his land.

Before this uprising, the communist movement in India was dominated by revisionism or phoney communism. The criticism was that the Communist Party of India (CPI) had given up its roots of revolution in favour of a 'parliamentary road' to power. In light of the revolutionary practices of Mao Zedong and the Communist Party of China in the early 1960's, certain cadres of the CPI were influenced. They set up a revolutionary opposition to the CPI leadership. They began training the cadre of the Darjeeling district, and thus in 1967, the Naxalbari revolution took place. This revolution was the origin of the Naxalite movement.

Naxalism
Even though the government managed to regain control after the uprising, the real winners were the Naxals.. The movement drew thousands of people from around the country. Farmers, landless peasants, students, all united to stand in opposition to the capitalists. They challenged everything reactionary - from the semi-feudal relations in the countryside to literature, from the moneylenders to the Soviet revisionists. When US Secretary of Defense McNamara landed in Calcutta, a massive demonstration at the airport against US imperialism and in support of the Vietnamese people forced him to take off again.

Naxalite leaders at a meeting in Naxalbari 1985, at which they decided to merge into one group CPI (ML) | Source: Times of India