Introduction to Paranjape

Abstract

The following article is part of a longer project by Suhas Paranjape, dealing with the historical development first of class relations and then of class struggle in Dhule district, which lies north of Bombay in the state of Maharashtra. The area involved is small, but it might be pointed out that this is true of other “vanguard” areas of class struggle in post-independence India, such as Naxalbari and Srikakulam which were also areas populated mainly by adivasis or tribals. Dhule differs from these in combining adivasi militancy with developed capitalist farming—and so perhaps is even more of a signal for the rising forms of class struggle in India.