Ajoy Kumar Ghosh

Born Feb. 20, 1909, in Kanpur; died Jan. 13, 1962, in Delhi. A figure of the Indian and international workers’ movement. The son of a physician.

Ghosh graduated from the University of Allahabad. While still a student, he took part in the national liberation movement. In 1928 he joined the Socialist Republican Association of India. In 1929 he was brought to trial by the English colonial authorities, charged with preparing an insurrection. In 1931, Ghosh became one of the leaders of the Kanpur trade unions and secretary of the organization of the Worker-Peasant Party of the United Provinces (the present-day state of Uttar Pradesh). Later he was a member of the Executive Committee of the All-India Worker-Peasant Party and editor of the party’s newspaper, Kranti kari (Revolutionary).

Ghosh was one of the organizers of the Communist Party of India. He became a member of the Central Committee in 1933. In 1936 he became a member of the Politburo of the Central Committee, which after 1958 was known as the Central Executive Committee. Beginning in 1951, he was general secretary of the Central Committee, which was called the National Council after 1958. Ghosh was frequently arrested and imprisoned for his revolutionary activity. He is the author of a series of works on the problems of the Communist movement in India.