Description
This book is about Communist-inspired cultural activism in Bengal that had strong national and international
links, and responded to the critical social and political climate of the late colonial and early-Independence
years. One of the main objectives of this activism was to give political direction to the middle-class and help
them reach out to the labouring ‘other’. The ultimate aim was to establish a cultural counter-hegemony in
society by preparing people for a big revolution. The objectives of this movement, however, remained largely
unfulfilled even though it ignited creative talents of many writers and artists, and at the same time induced in
them a political commitment that generated new themes and bold experiments in a range of art forms. This
book, therefore, seeks to critically understand this cultural activism by examining three art forms, viz., music,
theatre, and pictorial art. It also locates reasons for its failure in the middle-classness of this activism and in
the lack of a long-term political mission, arguing further that this void was filled up by excessive stress on arts
and aesthetics and that Bengal communism at its best remained cultural communism.