Blog

Berlin 1916: A letter from Chatto by Suchetana Chattopadhyay

On 29 July 1916, while the First World War was raging, Virendranath Chattopadhyaya (1880-1937), aka, 'Chatto' wrote this letter to a high-ranking official, probably in the German Foreign Office. As members of the Indian revolutionary circle in Berlin and Europe, he and his companions were hoping to overthrow British Empire in India with the help of imperial Germany. Agnes Smedley and the turn to communism were still some years away. The address of the Berlin Committee given in this typed le[...]

LeftWord stands with our author Prabir Purkayastha and with Amit Chakraborty

On October 3, 2023, the Delhi Police arrested Prabir Purkayastha and Amit Chakraborty under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, a draconian law that gives the police nearly untrammelled powers to act with impunity, against the principles of natural justice. Both of them work at Newsclick, which is a media project that has been wonderful in its coverage of people’s movements. It was the coverage done by Newsclick of the struggles of workers and farmers, women and Dalits, Adivasis and ot[...]

The Untold Story of the Left in Indian Science by Prabir Purkayastha

The story of Indian science generally focuses on Nehru and the scientific institutions that were built to help India industrialise. This story is incomplete, as it does not take into account the contributions of the Indian Left scientists, such as Meghnad Saha, Sahib Singh Sokhey, Syed Husain Zaheer, as well as internationalist Left like J D Bernal and J B S Haldane, who are very much at the core of this story. Science in India was anchored in a vision of science that a modern nation cou[...]

Books are not a crime! Solidarity with Toko Buku Rakyat in Malaysia

The International Union of Left Publishers expresses solidarity with the Toko Buku Rakyat bookstore that suffered a raid by officers looking for The Communist Manifesto. The International Union of Left Publishers issued a statement of condemnation after a left book store in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia was raided by the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs who seized several books related to Marxism, and one written by the owner of the establishment. The International Union of Left Publishers is a ne[...]

Jana Natya Manch appeals for solidarity with The Freedom Theatre

Ahmed Tobasi, Artistic Director, The Freedom Theatre, after the deadly Israeli raid on the Jenin Refugee Camp, where the theatre is located. In April 2017, we at LeftWord Books, published our first visual book. Edited by Johanna Wallin, Rehearsing Freedom is a record of the first ten years of the work of The Freedom Theatre (TFT) in Jenin, Palestine. The Freedom Theatre was founded in a refugee camp in Jenin. When it was founded, the camp was still recovering from the devastating battle of Je[...]