Communist Party of Bangladesh

(CPB; up to April 1971, the Communist Party of East Pakistan), a party formed in 1948 on the basis of the organizations of the Communist Party of India in East Bengal, which was included in Pakistan after the partition of India in 1947.

From the time of its formation the Communist Party of East Pakistan was subjected to constant repression by Pakistani authorities. When the Communist Party of East Pakistan was officially banned in 1954, it went underground. In 1956 the Pakistani communists who had avoided arrest convened a conference, which elected the Central Committee of the party and outlined measures to strengthen the party organizationally and initiate work among the masses. In 1968 a party conference was held underground in Dacca: a new central committee was elected, and a program and rules for the party were adopted. The Communist Party was involved in the movement to abolish martial law and democratize Pakistan’s state structure that unfolded between the fall of 1968 and the spring of 1969. The party vigorously condemned the military repressions in East Pakistan. It took an active part in the armed struggle against the Yahya Khan regime and in the establishment of the independent People’s Republic of Bangladesh in 1971.

In April 1971 the Communist Party of East Pakistan changed its name to the Communist Party of Bangladesh. The party proclaimed its primary task in the current stage to be “the mobilization of the creative forces of the people for the rehabilitation of the country’s economy and the improvement of the situation of the masses.” The party supported the anti-imperialist foreign policy and progressive domestic measures carried out by the government of Bangladesh.

A party delegation took part in the International Conference of Communist and Workers’ Parties held in Moscow in 1969. The party approved the documents adopted at the conference.

After a one-party system was introduced in Bangladesh in 1975, all political parties, including the CPB, were dissolved.