Communist Party of Pakistan

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Communist Party of Pakistan, a communist political party in Pakistan. CPP was founded in Calcutta (India) on March 6, 1948. A decision was taken at the Second All India Conference of Communist Party of India, which was held in Calcutta at that time, that a separate communist party ought to be created in the new state Pakistan. The thesis was that Pakistan, being a small (in comparison to India) and unstable country was ripe for revolution. The delegate from Pakistan separated themselves and held a separate session were they constituted the CPP. Sajjad Zaheer (founder, All India Progressive Writers Association), from West Pakistan, was elected General Secretary. The delegates from East Pakistan elected an East Pakistan Provincial Committee. Many Muslim leaders of CPI were sent to Pakistan to help the build-up of the party there.

The attempt of making a revolution in Pakistan failed. The leaders of CPP were jailed. In 1951 there was the Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case, in which many leading members were convicted. In general, the party was forcibly repressed by successive governments.

Diplomatic intervention by Nehru led to the most prominent CPP leaders being freed and sent into exile in India (or, in the view of some, sent back to India). At this stage CPP was in a very bad shape in West Pakistan, but in East Pakistan the party did have some base and developed mass work. It was however extremely difficult to have a unified underground political organization spanning over such a vast territory. In reality the East Pakistan branch operated quite autonomously.

In the provincial elections in East Pakistan in 1954, the CPP supported the United Front launched by the Awami League, Krishak Sramik Party and the Nizam-e-Islam Party. Four (out of ten) CPP candidates were elected. 23 CPP members were elected as candidates of other parties. In total, the front won 223 seats out of 310.

In 1954 the party was banned. CPP front organizations such as National Students Federation, Progressive Writers' Movement and Railway Worker’s Union were also banned.

After being banned, CPP launched the Azad Pakistan Party with Mian Iftikhar-ud-Din as leader in West Pakistan. In 1957, the CPP and other leftists created the National Awami Party as a legal party. The APP merged into the NAP.

In East Pakistan, the CPP worked within the Awami League and then in Ganatantri Dal.

In 1958 the Kull Pakistan Kissan Association (All Pakistan Peasants Association) was launched.

In the mid 1960s the U.S. State Department estimated the party membership to be approximately 3000.^[1] The CPP also began to organize abroad. In Europe, the CPP branch published the Urdu magazine Baghawat (which translates to "rebellion").

In 1966 the Sino-Soviet split reached the CPP. In East Pakistan a pro-Chinese group broke away. In 1970 the Mazdoor Kisan Party broke away in West Pakistan.

At the 4th party congress in Dhaka (1968) a decision was taken that a separate communist party should be constituted for East Pakistan. Thus the Communist Party of East Pakistan was founded. The CPEP later became the Communist Party of Bangladesh.

The CPP organized a militant and armed peasants struggle in Patfeeder, Baluchistan. The CPP resisted the authocratic regimes of the times, and built up militant trade union movements.

In 1995 the CPP merged with the Mazdoor Kissan Party to form Communist Mazdoor Kisan Party. The CPP accepted the criticism that they had been too uncritical towards the Soviet Union. In 1999 a group broke away as Communist Mazdoor Kisan Party and CPP continued its struggle with the same Marxist-Leninist and Stalinist Policies. In 2002, the CPP split, leading to the existence of two separate CPPs, one led by Comrade Maula Bux Khaskheli and the splinter-group led by Comrade Khadim Thaheem. Now some small groups claim to be CPP but the Communist Party of Pakistan, which is struggling under the leadership of Comrade Maula Bux Khaskheli, is going to complete its revolutionary 60 years of struggle in March,2008.