Romesh Chandra

Born Mar. 30, 1919, in Lyallpur. Figure in the Indian working-class movement; one of the leaders of the world peace movement; journalist.

Chandra received degrees from a university in Lahore and from Cambridge University. From 1934 to 1941 he was chairman of the Students’ Union in Lahore. He became a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) in 1939, of the Central Committee of the CPI in 1952, of the National Council of the CPI in 1958, and of the Central Executive Committee in 1958; from 1963 to 1967 he was a member of the Central Secretariat of the National Council of the CPI. From 1963 to 1966, Chandra was editor of the central organ of the CPI, New Age. He served as general secretary of the All-India Peace Council from 1952 to 1963. In 1953 he joined the World Peace Council, and in 1966 he became the council’s general secretary and a member of its presidium; in 1977 he was elected president of the organization.

Chandra was awarded the F. Joliot-Curie Gold Peace Medal in 1964. He received the International Lenin Prize for Strengthening Peace Among Nations in 1968, and he was awarded the Order of Friendship of Peoples in 1975.