Remembering Gurdial Singh

Harsh Thakor

The Indian Communist Revolutionary contingent suffered the grievous loss of Gurdial Singh Parampara on July 2. A Central Committee member of the CPRCI (ML) he left an indelible legacy waging a lifelong battle as a stalwart of the world proletarian Revolution. Even if departed he has planted the seeds to illuminate create new lotuses to blossom. Without doubt he carved a permanent niche amongst Indian Communist revolutionary leaders, who were architects of the massline. Gurdial’s example is a model for any Revolutionary Communist to emulate.

A well-attended commemoration meeting paying homage to Gurdial of around 400 persons was staged in Lord Rama Hall in Bathinda addressed by various contingents of the Revolutionary Communist camp. Editors of communist revolutionary magazines Surkhleeh and Lal Parcham along with Harbans Kaur the spouse as well revolutionary companion of Gurdial honoured the departed revolutionary.

Gurdial Singh was the product of the Naxalbari uprising. Most immaculately he diagnosed the axis of agrarian revolutionary content for this uprising, the essence of its mass character and grasped the path of protracted People’s War.

Darsan Singh Bagi was the first figure to inspire Gurdial and attract him within the fold of Communist ideology by infusing him with political ideology.

81 years of his life journey were concentrated in tempering the role of liberation of mankind through revolutionary class struggle.

Gurdial stood at the forefront of the revolutionary practice in Punjab. With relentless spirit and courage, he withstood and battled against the tide of left adventurism to uphold the current of Massline of T Nagi Reddy in the early 1970’s.His spade work laid the foundation for the historic resurrection of the revolutionary student’s movement in Punjab. Gurdial played an n integral role in re-organising the scattered forces to re0unite into a coherent body by re-organising the Punjab Students Union in 1971. With unflinching resilience, he countered the liquidation and negation of mass organisations. With meticulous craft he steered Punjab Students Union to the path of mass revolutionary line. A tiny core guided by his leadership not only safeguarded the organisation but chalked out a manifesto to resurrect the organisation.

For six decades of practice, with unwavering resilience he waved the banner of Mao Tse Tung Thought. Representing the leading team of the UCCRI (ML) in Punjab head and shoulders combated the right deviationist trend seeking path of collaboration with faction of political forces under Jayaprakash Narayan. During the dark fascistic period of emergency, with meticulous craft, he organised mass resistance through secret operation of mass organisations.

After the grave reversal in China with an iron hand he defended the Maoist legacy of the Great Debate and Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. Being an ardent follower of HarbhajanSohi, he orchestrated the repudiation of opportunist currents of the right like RCP, and Enver Hoxha and the revisionist current of RCP USA. Hiscritique of the RIM was a masterpiece, showcasing the mass line.

Gurdial played a pivotal role in steering the Communist Revolutionary organisation in different phases withstanding the most adverse situations or gravest twists and turns. The manner he resolved the theoretical, ideological, political, organisational and practical problems faced by the revolutionary movement served as a testament to his comprehensive role in concreting the central policies for practice bearing the conditions and supervising the documentation of policies to nurture party work.

No Communist Revolutionary played as considerable a role in executing or giving a shape to the path of HarbhajanSohi as Gurdial Singh. In that respect he even overshadowed HarbhajanSohi., playing an even bigger role in putting the massline into concrete practice. Gurdial was one of the finest exponents of waging political struggle against deviationist currents and giving the cutting edge to the Leninist party.

[Harsh Thakor is a freelance journalist. Thanks information from Pavel Kussa and Surkh Leeh]

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Frontier
Vol 58, No. 12, Sep 14 - 20, 2025