December 1, 1997 – Laxmanpur Bathe Massacre – The Laxmanpur Bathe massacre was a massacre conducted in the Laxmanpur Bathe village in Arwal district of Bihar, where 58 dalits were killed by members of the Ranvir Sena, an upper-caste militia.
December 1, 1750 – Tipu Sultan’s birth anniversary – Tipu Sultan, also known as Sher-e-Mysore or “Tiger of Mysore”, was the ruler of the kingdom of Mysore in the South. He was a pioneer of nascent industrial growth that was nipped in the bud by the British colonial agenda. He introduced a number of administrative innovations during his rule, including a new coinage system, calendar, and a new land revenue system initiating the growth of the Mysore silk industry. He was a pioneer of introducing rocketry in warfare. His father Hyder Ali and him won important victories against the British in the Anglo-Mysore wars. He was martyred in the fourth Anglo-Mysore war.
December 6, 1992 – Babri Masjid Demolition Day – A crowd of almost 150,000 people gather to listen to speeches by BJP and the VHP leaders – including LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi – at the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya. The crowd later storms the mosque and demolishes it in a few hours. It marked a black day in the history of modern India. It was followed by communal eruptions across the country. This ‘Ramjanmabhoomi andolan’ marked a meteoric rise of the RSS-BJP in Indian polity.
December 15. 2019 – Anti-CAA Police Violence on Students – On 13 December 2019, the students of Jamia Millia Islamia University undertook a march to the Parliament protesting against the CAA. They were prevented from going ahead by the police who used batons and tear gas to disperse the protesters leading to clashes with them. Many students were grievously injured and violently detained.
December 18, 1878 – Joseph Stalin was born on this day. Stalin was a Soviet communist revolutionary who led the newly formed Soviet Union from 1924 on the path of socialist construction until his death in 1953. He was elected as the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922–1952) and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union (1941–1953). From proving that socialism is possible in one country to successfully preventing a fascist takeover of the world, Stalin remains an inspiring figure for communists all over the world.
December 18, 1998 marks the death anniversary of Com. Vinod Mishra. Vinod Mishra played a significant role in the ideological and organizational aspects of the CPI(ML). He was actively involved in various struggles for land rights, labour rights, and social justice.
December 17,19, 1927 – Kakori Martyrs’ Day – Ramaprasad Bismil, Ashfaqullah Khan, Rajendra Lahiri, Roshan Singh, and Chandrashekhar Azad, were among the revolutionaries who carried out the daring Kakori train robbery: looting the treasury of the colonial Government to fund the war for an independent India. Azad could not be arrested, but the other four were arrested. Lahiri was hanged in Gonda jail on 17 Dec, 1927; Bismil, Ashfaq and Roshan Singh were hanged in Gorakhpur, Faizabad, and Allahabad jails respectively on 19 Dec, 1927. All of them were founding members of the Hindustan Republican Association (HRA).
December 26, 1893 – Chinese revolutionary, Marxist theorist, military strategist and poet, Mao Zedong was born on this day. The legacy of the Chinese experience is inextricably linked with the leadership of the great proletarian teacher Comrade Mao Tse-tung. In essence, the Chinese revolution marked an advancement of Marxism-Leninism, particularly in the context of colonies and semi-colonies that constituted the largest chunk of the world. Comrade Mao formulated the ideological basis of the great proletarian cultural revolution.
