Hilsa

Peasant movement under our leadership started in this area with a crop-seizure campaign in 1979. There took place a few armed clashes with the landlords during this campaign and the whole experience generated a new confi­dence among poor peasants in the area. By the end of 1979, the agrarian labourers were on strike demanding an increase in their wages. The strike continued for one full year despite a number of attacks by the landlord-police combine. Hundreds of peasants rose in resistance, and Ravindra Singh, one of the chieftains of the attackers, was executed by the armed unit. At last wages were increased. This success gave a new fillip to the peasant movement in the area. In the process, there emerged many new cadres, the struggle against social oppression also intensified, and one by one, a number of villages were engulfed by the fire of wage struggle. And what is most important, in almost all these villages, the movement has scored an initial victory.

In Bairiganj village, a struggle was launched for capturing vested land. The landlords sought to suppress the struggle by unleashing armed attacks, but this only resulted in the struggle spreading to more and more villages in the area. In the face of a peasant upsurge, landlords turned desperate. They prohibited the labourers from going out of the village and also from cattle-grazing and grass-cutting on their fields. And, of course, many poor peasants were also physically assaulted by the landlords’ armed gangs and the police. Armed policemen raided many villages, many peasants were arrested and police camps were set up in a number of villages. At the same time, the landlords began to fan caste sentiments and to organise thieves and robbers. They even went so far as to form an armed organisation called the Kshetriya Kisan Mahasangh. Under the banner of this Mahasangh, they conducted armed attacks on several villages and killed a number of peasants. To be sure, these attacks did not go without resistance. The Party organisation also decided to execute certain ringleaders of the Mahasangh. Accordingly, the armed unit executed Mahendra Singh in February 1982 and Bhattu Singh in July 1982. Land-seizure and resistance apart, the peasant organisation also under­took certain constructive measures, like laying a canal, constructing a dam on river Lokayan, and so on. Negotiations were also initiated to resolve contradictions with middle peasants and a section of rich peasants. As a result of these multifarious efforts, the Mahasangh gradually fizzled out.

This area served as a fountainhead of inspiration for many nearby villages. The peasant organisation soon spread to 55-60 villages of this block and the work expanded to other blocks, too. In the south-eastern part of Hilsa, many peasants left the CPI to join the Kisan Sabha. They launched a strike in 15 villages demanding an increase in wages. The strike was successful in 10 villages (wages increased from 1 seer to 2.5 kgs of rice) and the organisation expanded to 30 more villages.

In this and nearby blocks numerous struggles took place for seizing vested land and establishing peasants’ control over water reservoirs, tanks etc. And to be sure, many such struggles have been successful. Many militant demonstra­tions have also been staged against police repression in which hundreds and thousands of peasants have participated. The 1985 Assembly election also provided a good opportunity for conducting widespread political propaganda and for consolidating and expanding our work in these areas. Contesting from the prison, the People’s Front candidate in Hilsa polled more than 20,000 votes despite heavy police repression. Thus, combining all forms of struggle, the peasants of Hilsa are striking heavy blows to the hegemony of the landlords.