76 SOCIAL SCIENTIST Provinces), Satara (Maharastra), Talcher (Orissa) and Midnapur (Bengal), parallel nationalist governments were set-up which continued functioning uninterruptedly despite odds. Mass disenchantment with the colonial state which lost its credibility contributed immensely to a successful political mobilization against the alien authority. The aim of this paper is two-fold: first, it deals with the Quit India movement as it developed in Midnapur between August 1942 and September 1944; secondly, it focuses on Biplabi, an underground journal, published regularly from Midnapur, which acted as an effective instrument for political mobilization. II Galvanizing the masses into action, not only did the Quit India movement cause alarm to the colonial authority, it also extended the constituency of the nationalist politics by incorporating various new social groups who remained peripheral in earlier political campaigns. Politics here denotes collective action performed with a power perspective in which an attempt is constantly made to gain authority and influence over certain areas of human activity. The role of ideas is important too in this regard for ideas play a crucial role in political mobilization in adverse circumstances. Politics, thus defined, will be of help in capturing the mass zeal evident during the August revolution for analytical purposes. The Quit India movement, the high point of struggle for freedom, assumed the nature of a radical revolt partly because of the goal it stood for, which drew the masses into action against a mighty imperial power. Although it is the culmination of the Gandhi-led nationalist campaign, which began with the 1919-22 Non-cooperation movement, the 9 August Quit India resolution launched a political campaign which is different from the earlier ones in a number of ways: First, the 'Quit India' as it is commonly known, assumed massive proportions in the absence of the top-ranking Congress leadership and thereby bringing a new type of leadership which sustained the movement even beyond what the imprisoned leaders could perceive when they launched it. Secondly, as in the case of leadership, the 9 August resolution brought new constituents of supporters to the national movement which though participated in earlier anti-British campaigns asserted more vigorously in what was perhaps the final battle for independence. That new groups were politically mobilized is indicative of the widening of frontiers of freedom struggle. Not only was the campaign effective from the point of view of participation is also introduced new dimensions to the nationalist movement itself by incorporating new actors at various levels. Thirdly, behind the mass upheaval lay an intense feeling that it was no longer possible to bear the alien autocratic rule which should be