INDUSTRIALIZATION AND THE LEFT MOVEMENT 5 Land relations in West Bengal ate characterized by semi-feudalisnt with occasional penetration of capitalistic forces which sooner or later g^t deformerd into another species of semi-feudalism. A full-blooded capitalist development (in industry and agriculture) is not possible without an adequate home market which requires that land be given to the tiller, which in turn cannot be realized under the existing legal constraints. A combined onslaught by the Left Front government and Left parties, (including those outside the government) ran at best hasten the process. It follows that various forms ofsttuggle (legal and extra-legal) for changing the land relations must have priority over every other form of struggle in the economic sphere. Further, the limited progress on the land question possible under the existing conditions will ipso facto restrict the scope of industrialization. It is our belief, however, that the strategy outlined by us can supplement and consolidate the land struggle rather than supersede it. Political Premises The major parties of the Left are united in their conviction that the only road to liberation for the toiling masses in India Hes through a Pec^^s^INlSAoCfatMrRevotutKon. Th^ urban working classes and the poor peasantry, including landless agricultural labourers, are recognized as the motive forces of the revolution, while the landlords and big capi-tattstr? ^ whether Indian or foreign, arc the main enemy classes which have to be liquidaTed. politically, ^e The Left in Bengal In West Bengal the latter half of the sixties and the early years of the seventies were marked by very powerful mass movements. Both in terms of numbers involved and its intensity, the class struggle during these years reached dizzy heights. Within the Left there were very sharp divisions —between the C P I (M) and certain other constituents of the