The communists destroyed the industries in WB. A compilatio…

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

#JyotiBasu was CM of WB for more than 23 continuous yrs, longer by far than any other CM of any Indian state. That remarkable tenure was made possible by his towering popularity, result of 7 decades of public & political service. #BengalSalutesJyotiBasu pic.twitter.com/MIzMlr6yBe
— CPI(M) WEST BENGAL (@CPIM_WESTBENGAL) January 17, 2021

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.

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

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