The communists destroyed the industries in WB. A compilation of anecdotes from many online sources.

1. At WB, there were 179 strikes and 49 incidents of lockout in factories in 1965, in 1970, the comparative figures were 678 and 128.
2. The Philips head Frits Philips came to visit the Beliaghata factory and was not allowed to enter it by the Left union.He asked help from the state govt, who did not come to his aid. Overnight the Philips board decided to shift all their investments to other states from Kolkata
3. In 1978, BK Birla’s son, Aditya Birla, relocated to Mumbai. Apparently Aditya Birla was dragged out of his car near the GPO in Dalhousie Square, his clothes torn off, and made to walk to his office with the goons jeering him all the way.
4. The railways cut down orders, and companies dependent on IR orders such as Jessop & Company, Braithwaite, Burn & Company, Indian Standard Wagon, GKW and Metal Box were all affected.

Later Jessop, Braithwaite, Burn & Company and the Indian Standard Wagon were nationalised.
5. Lakshmipat Singhania set up Aluminium Corporation of India, India's first aluminium producer. One day, a works manager was thrashed by workers. The Left CM blamed the works manager. Workers switched off power supply to the smelters. In 1974, the company was nationalised.
6. After taking charge in March 1967, the United Front with CM Ajoy Mukherjee and Deputy CM Jyoti Basu issued a circular that the police would not be able to interfere in 'gheraos' unless it had the permission of the labour ministry.
7. This order resulted in a sharp increase in gheraos related to labour disputes. In March 1967 there were 32 gheraos, and by May 1967, there were 151 gheraos in West Bengal. They reached to 194 by Sept 1967. Fortunately, this useless govt was dismissed by the Centre in Nov 1967
8. One of the first 'Work from Home' was pioneered by the Birlas in 1970. The left wanted one umbrella union for all Birla companies, which was not possible. So, the Birlas decided to close down the offices, rented 32 flats and the babus started operating out of home for 2 years.
9. In Santaldih power station for instance, in 1979, the CITU workers prevented the engineers from repairing all the tubes of a boiler unit on the excuse that only one was leaking. "It is a conspiracy to undermine the left front government by shutting down the unit," they said
10. The infamous Ashok Kumar Night in Feb 1968. Women were reportedly dragged out, and their naked, dead bodies were found over the next two days. Left leaders addressed it as “the rise of the Proletariat against the Bourgeoisie”. The left rag Frontier Weekly watered it down ...
10. Jyothi Basu at the fag end may have feared his Maker said "Socialism is a far cry and we have not achieved it yet.We have to remember that we are working within the capitalist system and private capital has to be used for industrialization" A turn around after causing mayhem.

More from World

Watch the entire discussion if you have the time to do so. But if not, please make sure to watch Edhem Eldem summarizing ~150 years of democracy in Turkey in 6 minutes (starting on 57'). And if you can't watch it, fear not; I've transcribed it for you (as public service). Thread:


"Let me start by saying that I am a historian, I see dead people. But more seriously, I am constantly torn between the temptation to see patterns developing over time, and the fear of hasty generalizations and anachronistic comparisons. 1/n

"Nevertheless, the present situation forces me to explore the possible historical dimensions of the problem we're facing today. 2/n

"(...)I intend to go further back in time and widen the angle in order to focus on the confusion I  believe exists between the notions of 'state', 'government', and 'public institutions' in Turkey. 3/n

"In the summer of 1876, that's a historical quote, as Midhat Pasa was trying to draft a constitution, Edhem Pasa wrote to Saffet Pasa, and I quote in Turkish, 'Bize Konstitusyon degil enstitusyon lazim' ('It is not a constitution we need but institutions'). 4/n

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हिमालय पर्वत की एक बड़ी पवित्र गुफा थी।उस गुफा के निकट ही गंगा जी बहती थी।एक बार देवर्षि नारद विचरण करते हुए वहां आ पहुंचे।वह परम पवित्र गुफा नारद जी को अत्यंत सुहावनी लगी।वहां का मनोरम प्राकृतिक दृश्य,पर्वत,नदी और वन देख उनके हृदय में श्रीहरि विष्णु की भक्ति अत्यंत बलवती हो उठी।


और देवर्षि नारद वहीं बैठकर तपस्या में लीन हो गए।इन्द्र नारद की तपस्या से घबरा गए।उन्हें हमेशा की तरह अपना सिंहासन व स्वर्ग खोने का डर सताने लगा।इसलिए इन्द्र ने नारद की तपस्या भंग करने के लिए कामदेव को उनके पास भेज दिया।वहां पहुंच कामदेव ने अपनी माया से वसंतऋतु को उत्पन्न कर दिया।


पेड़ और पौधों पर रंग बिरंगे फूल खिल गए और कोयलें कूकने लगी,पक्षी चहकने लगे।शीतल,मंद,सुगंधित और सुहावनी हवा चलने लगी।रंभा आदि अप्सराएं नाचने लगीं ।किन्तु कामदेव की किसी भी माया का नारद पे कोई प्रभाव नहीं पड़ा।तब कामदेव को डर सताने लगा कि कहीं नारद क्रोध में आकर मुझे श्राप न देदें।

जैसे ही नारद ने अपनी आंखें खोली, उसी क्षण कामदेव ने उनसे क्षमा मांगी।नारद मुनि को तनिक भी क्रोध नहीं आया और उन्होने शीघ्र ही कामदेव को क्षमा कर दिया।कामदेव प्रसन्न होकर वहां से चले गए।कामदेव के चले जाने पर देवर्षि के मन में अहंकार आ गया कि मैने कामदेव को हरा दिया।

नारद फिर कैलाश जा पहुंचे और शिवजी को अपनी विजयगाथा सुनाई।शिव समझ गए कि नारद अहंकारी हो गए हैं और अगर ये बात विष्णु जी जान गए तो नारद के लिए अच्छा नहीं होगा।ये सोचकर शिवजी ने नारद को भगवन विष्णु को ये बात बताने के लीए मना किया। परंतु नारद जी को ये बात उचित नहीं लगी।