Jyoti Basu, almost India’s first Communist prime minister, died on January 17th, aged 95

Jyoti Basu

Jyoti Basu | Obituary | The Economist

The Nobel-winning short-story writer died on May 13th, aged 92

Alice Munro was the English language’s Chekhov

The zoologist and campaigner for equality died on April 1st, aged 91

Anne Innis Dagg devoted her life to the world’s tallest creature

The documentary-maker and wife of Francis Ford Coppola died on April 12th, aged 87

Eleanor Coppola recorded how a cinematic triumph almost came unstuck

The former Marine and AP Beirut bureau chief died on April 21st, aged 76

Terry Anderson was held by Islamic militants for 2,454 days

The wrestler who shocked and changed Japan died in early April, aged 54

Akebono was the first foreign-born grand champion of sumo

Obituary

span

gv_safe

gb_safe_from_high

pos_goldman_inclusion_2024

pos_israel-hamas_war

gs_politics

neg_goldmansachs_brandsafety

gs_politics_misc

gs_politics_issues_policy

ibm_blacklist

neg_omd_exclusion

chanel_neg

gt_mixed

neg_jpm_2024q4

neg_morgan_stanley_2019_neg_keywords

neg_ey_brandsafety

neg_cartier

america_campaigns_elections

america_labour_unions

cigna_healthyhybridworkplace

neg_ey_kwbl

fow_barclays

neg_dit

neg_ibm_brandsafety

gs_busfin

gs_business

cigna_puttingfamilyfirst

neg_exxon

fidelity_investment

investment_banking_personal_finance

google_negative_keywords

gs_auto

neg_fidelity_gmo

fidelity_blacklist

gs_economy

ssga_sp400

ssga_currency_wars

america_department_commerce

neg_3166_vca_brand-safety

neg_dit4

future_of_work_test

finance_investmentbanking

universal_negative_keywords

gs_busfin_economy

america_white_house

td_investors

gb_crime_high_med

gb_crime_high_med_low

neg_israel-hamas_war

neg_workday_master

workdayblocklist

america_sec

samsung_blacklist

gs_science

gs_science_geography

microsoft_blacklist

neg_ibm_target

neg_3166_vca_brand-safety3

samsung_negative_

gs_economy_misc

INDIAN politics since independence has not been short of milk-and-water socialism, such as that on offer in the Congress party. But it has lacked charismatic figures on the left. The exception—in a diminutive, elegant, determined shape—was Jyoti Basu. For 20 years, with a few breaks, Mr Basu was the leader of West Bengal's opposition; for 23 years he was the state's chief minister. He was also a communist, and a charming one. 

 His memoirs, written at the end of his life, proclaimed a fervent and orthodox Marxism-Leninism. His career was often different. Though he longed for the masses of India to “emerge victorious” in a society without caste, class or exploitation, Mr Basu was above all a pragmatist. If private firms could bring jobs to West Bengal, he sought them out. He was unabashedly friendly to capitalist cadres such as The Economist, presenting the editor in 2000 with a small silver carriage adorned with bright pink, very un-Marxist, feathers.

His memoirs, written at the end of his life, proclaimed a fervent and orthodox Marxism-Leninism. His career was often different. Though he longed for the masses of India to “emerge victorious” in a society without caste, class or exploitation, Mr Basu was above all a pragmatist. If private firms could bring jobs to West Bengal, he sought them out. He was unabashedly friendly to capitalist cadres such as The Economist, presenting the editor in 2000 with a small silver carriage adorned with bright pink, very un-Marxist, feathers.

 Kolkata (once Calcutta) was his showpiece, the only big Indian city in which, from 1977 to 2000, red flags flew, and hammers and sickles graced the walls. It remains dirty, sprawling and chaotic, though bustling with IT jobs and with many more glass towers. After his death, opinion diverged over whether Mr Basu had brought in more investment or scared it off, ruined West Bengal or made it a beacon for the country. Businessmen who had tangled with the state's militant unions had little good to say of him. Opponents queried his unprecedented re-elections, attributing them to a cult of thuggishness in his party. But landless farmers, beneficiaries of his million-acre land-distribution programme, worshipped him; villagers empowered through his improved version of local councils, the panchayati raj, voted for him eagerly; and commuters in Kolkata could thank him for cheap trams. 

Kolkata (once Calcutta) was his showpiece, the only big Indian city in which, from 1977 to 2000, red flags flew, and hammers and sickles graced the walls. It remains dirty, sprawling and chaotic, though bustling with IT jobs and with many more glass towers. After his death, opinion diverged over whether Mr Basu had brought in more investment or scared it off, ruined West Bengal or made it a beacon for the country. Businessmen who had tangled with the state's militant unions had little good to say of him. Opponents queried his unprecedented re-elections, attributing them to a cult of thuggishness in his party. But landless farmers, beneficiaries of his million-acre land-distribution programme, worshipped him; villagers empowered through his improved version of local councils, the panchayati raj, voted for him eagerly; and commuters in Kolkata could thank him for cheap trams.

 His straddling act was tricky at times. When West Bengal in 2006, under his successor, won the hotly contested contract to build the Tata Nano, he was delighted at the thought of the investment, jobs and growth. But he found himself at odds with his chief supporters—poor farmers, empowered by himself, whose land would be seized for the new car plant—and could not persuade them to accept compensation. Tata eventually left for Gujarat. 

 This thoughtful, flexible politician hardly resembled the young hothead who first stood for election, in 1946. Mr Basu was then deep in organising the railway workers, planning strikes and organising safe-houses for communist comrades. He preferred direct action to the ballot (“such a bourgeois set-up”) and the laboured etiquette of Question Hour, but soon saw the point of representative democracy. From the 1950s onwards he refined his manifesto of land reform, decentralisation, a minimum wage, free trade unions, fixed food prices. It was a time of hunger and unrest, with thousands of farmers and labourers besieging the assembly in Calcutta with cries of “Give us starch!” The ruling Congress party kept the crowds at a distance, or got the police to disperse them with tear gas and rifle fire. But Mr Basu went out to Esplanade East, talked to the people and brought their grievances inside. 

 His upbringing had been comfortably middle-class: a Calcutta doctor's son, St Xavier's, Presidency College, studies for the bar in London. His family blamed that stint, during the anti-fascist ferment of the 1930s, for turning him communist, and certainly he went back to India a determined Red. Several times he was arrested, once while simply taking a cup of tea in the Kamalalaya Stores. From 1948-51, when the party was banned, he went underground for a while, shifting from house to house, all the time keeping up his “pro-people” agitation. In 1964, when the Communist Party split over India's war with China (his side, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), having favoured talks, rather than fighting), he saw the divide as one of “real” communism against the revisionists. He was accused of being anti-national, and had his offices raided—offices where pictures of Lenin and Stalin were decked with marigolds, like gods. 

Despite all this, however, his pragmatism increased. As chief minister of West Bengal, he realised that economic liberalisation and the rise of China were making old orthodoxies redundant. “We want capital,” he said once. “Socialism is not possible now.” Such remarks astonished his colleagues in the party. Nor did they relish his harping on what he called their “historic blunder”: the moment in 1996 when, at the head of a “third front” alliance of left-wing, regional and caste-based parties, he almost became India's prime minister, only to be stymied by his own politburo's ideological squeamishness.

 That might have allowed Mr Basu and the left a vital role in national politics. He still had much to do. He wanted to see the people's political consciousness awakened, and India's colossal inequalities of wealth and caste fading inexorably away. But in fact he had left West Bengal an economic backwater, largely shunned by foreign investors and a byword for obstreperous unionism. Marxist-Leninist revolution remained his dream; but, as he knew better than anyone, capitalism and private enterprise remained a surer bet.

Get to grips with a region where capital, climate and geopolitics collide

Go deeper with our Middle East newsletter. Every week our correspondents delve into the political, social and economic stories of a region that is rarely out of the news.

Sign up to our Middle East newsletter

Middle East Dispatch

Follow the action in Latin America, from the depths of the Brazilian Amazon to the Mexican-American border

Every week our correspondents share insights on politics, economics and business from an increasingly complex region

Stay informed with our weekly Latin America newsletter

El Boletín

A sharp round-up of the most important US political news

Sign up for updates from our correspondents and data journalists, poll tracker and election-forecast model as the 2024 race unfolds

The US in brief

Inside Europe, from the front lines in Ukraine to the corridors of power in Brussels

Stay informed with our weekly Europe newsletter

Café Europa

Understand a vast and complicated country that will increasingly shape the future

Stay informed with our weekly India newsletter

Essential India

The best of The Economist’s defence coverage, in one place

The War Room

A weekly conversation about culture. Because culture is a serious business

Exploring trends and connections across entertainment, the arts and politics

Broaden your perspective with our weekly culture newsletter

Plot Twist

Analysing the challenges facing Britain and what needs to be done to overcome them

Stay informed with our weekly Britain newsletter

Blighty

Understand what the world makes of China—and what China makes of the world

Stay informed with our weekly China newsletter

Drum Tower

Your essential guide to global business and technology

From supply chains to semiconductors, The Bottom Line newsletter has you covered

Need to track the megatrends shaping business and technology?

The Bottom Line

Catch up quickly on the global stories that matter

Sign up to enjoy a mind-expanding mix of stories, delivered six days a week

Catch up quickly on the stories that matter

The World in Brief

A behind-the-scenes look at how we chose and designed this week’s cover

How we chose this week’s cover image

Cover Story

Exclusive insight from our correspondents in America

Exclusive insight and reading recommendations from our correspondents in America

Checks and Balance

A weekly fix of our mind-expanding science coverage

Curious about the world? Enjoy a weekly fix of our mind-expanding science coverage

Simply Science

Climate-change analysis that you won’t read elsewhere in The Economist

The Climate Issue

Expert analysis of the biggest stories in economics and markets

Money Talks

Taking you behind the scenes of our data journalism

Off the Charts

Long reads and life from 1843 magazine

The Extraordinary Story

The very best of our journalism, handpicked for you each weekday

A daily newsletter with the best of our journalism

Handpicked stories, in your inbox

The Economist today

Highlights from the latest weekly issue, introduced by our editor

Jyoti Basu

Jyoti Basu, almost India’s first Communist prime minister, died on January 17th, aged 95

From the January 23rd 2010 edition

More from Obituary

Alice Munro was the English language’s Chekhov

Anne Innis Dagg devoted her life to the world’s tallest creature

Eleanor Coppola recorded how a cinematic triumph almost came unstuck