1^ DEFENCE OF INDIA'S "MARXIST ESTABLISHMENT^ 69 of the Naxalite groups out of the CPI(M) and the Dange group out of the CPI, have led Joshi to conclude that : "India failed to create outstanding Marxist thinkers, and a body of Marxist thought and theory suited to Indian conditions. Indian Marxism has been more derivative than original, more theological than scientific, more assertive than receptive, more negative than positive." (P. 5) These assertions should be set against the actual performance of the CPI as an organization since the early 1920s. For, theory being the generalization of practice, the validity of any theory is to be tested by practice. Let us therefore, recapitulate the progress of the "Marxist Establishment'9 in India during the last 67 years. The Foundation of the CPI The beginnings of India's Communist Movement should, as noted earlier, be traced to the formation, in Tashkent in October 1920, of the Communist Party of India, which gained recognition with consultative vote from the Communist International. It carried on intensive activity by way of educating a large number of national revolutionaries on Indian soil, developing them into proletarian revolutionaries. (The articles, letters and other material produced abroad and at home have been collected in the volumes edited by Dr. Adhikari). This effort culminated in the holding of an open all-India Communist Conference (Kanpur, 1925) where an open Communist Party of India was formed. Steps were simultaneously taken to form a broader organization under the name The Workers' and Peasants9 Party of India. These early efforts faced heavy repression at the hands of British imperialism under whose direction the leading Commmunists as well as pro-Communists were hunted till the comrades being tried in the Meerut Case were released in 1933-34. Only at that point did it become possible to set up a properly constituted all-India centre of the Party. For nearly a decade and a half after the formation of the Taskent group "the Marxist Establishment" was in the process of formation. The major achievements of this period were ; (1) wide-spread popularization of the goal of Socialism and Communism as the ultimate objective of all countries including India ; (2) the projection of the goal of Complete Independence (as opposed to the Dominian Status) as the first step towards this ultimate objective. This was demanded by Communists and other radicals from 1921 onwards ; (3) building up of militant organizations of industrial workers all over the country and development of the strike as an important weapon of struggle. Efforts were made also to organise the peasantry. The building up of these class organizations as well as organizations of students, youths and the Independence of