The Communist Party of Pakistan (CPP) was created in the Calcutta Congress of the Communist Party of India, held between February 28 and March 6, 1948.

The Calcutta Congress is important for two reasons: the party discarded the reformist line of action which was adopted during the eventful years of 1940s (a more radical approach was approved by the Communist Party of India (CPI) after the partition), and the division of the party into two parts (owing to the creation of Pakistan as a new state, the CPI leadership felt the need for a separate party. Thus was established the Communist Party of Pakistan).

Bhowani Sen has presented an elaborate and critical report on the policies adopted by the ruling Muslim League. It argued that Muslim League channelled the anti-imperial struggle of the poor Muslim masses and propagated the false theory of the Hindu domination. It was rather to protect interests of the Muslim elite against the more powerful Hindu competitors.

It was concluded on the note that the central task of the communist movements in India and Pakistan was to work out a more radical programme to restructure the existing social order for the establishment of peoples’ democracies in both the countries.

Owing to the weak organisational structure of the party, and the absence of committed activists in Pakistan, it was decided to send some hardcore communists to establish the movement on strong footings. Syed Sajjad Zaheer was selected as the first general secretary of the CPP. He was the scion of a respected and educated Muslim family of Oudh. A law graduate from the Oxford University, Zaheer was very close with the family of Jawaharlal Nehru and other politicians. His brother Ali Zaheer was the first Indian ambassador to Indonesia, while his father once served as the chief justice of Oudh.

Under his leadership, due to the fragile state of affairs in the initial years of Pakistan, the CPP adopted a radical policy. Unaware of the propaganda against the communists by powerful lobbies, the CPP leaders were under the impression that the new country is ripe for a communist revolution. Thus the CPI sent a number of other communist workers to foster ties with the leftist politicians, students, labour leaders and peasants.

However, the Indian connection, stand on Kashmir, propaganda of the rightist parties and western bloc’s strategic hostility damaged the party image among the masses in Pakistan.

Sajjad Zaheer reached Pakistan in the summer of 1948 at a time when an arrest warrant was already issued against him. He avoided arrest with the help of his close relatives and friends who were high government employees in different departments.

In a short span of time, he established the Democratic Students Federation, fostered connections with progressive intellectuals, formed the labour organisation and founded Progressive Writers Association. The party headquarter in Punjab was established at 114 Mcleod Road in Lahore. Bhalchandra Trimbak Ranadive, popularly known as BTR, an Indian communist politician and trade union leader, had given him instructions to run the party aggressively.

A new central committee was formed and members were included in the area committees. Shaukat Ali, C. R. Aslam, Muhammad Afzal, Ziarat Gul, Khalid Azad, Ashfaq Beg and Sibte Hasan were some of the prominent members. Provincial committees were reconstituted in Punjab, NWFP and Sindh; Pakistan Trade Union Federation (FTUF) was organised with Mirza Ibrahim as the president, Dr. Malik general secretary and Faiz Ahmad Faiz vice president. Close contacts were established with editors of newspapers like the Pakistan Times and Imroz. Contacts were made with Sindh Hari Committee, G.M. Syed faction of the League in Sindh and leaders of Khudai Khidmatgar Organisation.

In 1950, a peace committee was constituted with Pir of Manki Sharif as president with Mahmud Ali Kasuri, Ghulam Muhammad Lundkhwar, Syed Matlabi Abadi, Afzal Bangash, Mian Iftikhar-ud-Din and Tahira Mazhar Ali Khan as members. The party membership increased from 50 to about 500 full time members.

Kamran Asdar Ali has mentioned that the CPP faced severe shortage of finances. The CPI had not provided sufficient funds to the CPP for running its affairs. However, it did provide three printing presses, one in Karachi and two in Lahore. A publishing agency Peoples Publishing House (PPH) was also handed over to the new party in Pakistan. After some time, the two acquired presses in Lahore were taken away by the government, and declared as evacuee property.

Under these circumstances, Sajjad Zaheer sold out the Karachi Press for Rs16,000 to meet the party expenses.

Most of the time, the CPP leadership remained underground, often shifting addressees from one city to another due to the government’s repression. The party policy in those days was that of ‘Entryism’ which was originally adopted by Leon Trotsky. This policy, although successful in the Soviet Union and other countries, in Pakistan undermined the CPP’s own political schema.

Based on this policy, dedicated communist workers would infiltrate into other progressive popular fronts and parties for the purpose to gain direct access to larger organisations. It aimed to influence the policies of those leftist entities for their own interests.

However, in Pakistan, it worked in reverse. Despite the fact that ‘Entryism’ had badly failed in Punjab during the 1945-46 election, Sajjad Zaheer went for it -- with the same dreadful outcome at least in West Pakistan.

This policy was adopted by most communists in Pakistan with the same shocking outcome.

The CPP also underestimated the glaring facts of weak communist structure and absence of a strong urban proletarian base. In East Pakistan, communist workers used the covers of Gantantri Dal and Awami League while in West Pakistan they worked under the platform of Azad Pakistan Party established by Mian Iftikhar-ud-Din.

Probably Sajjad Zaheer followed the Leninist political orientation of building a small but well-articulated, trained and dedicated group of communists. Vladimir Lenin had done it successfully in 1917. In Pakistan it did not produced the desired results.

In 1951, the unsuccessful coup attempt by some army officer led by Akbar Khan proved disastrous for the CPP. After recruiting some disgruntled elements in the army, Akbar Khan discussed the coup with his friends in the CPP, with a positive response from the party high command. However, the whole plot was discovered which led to the incrimination of members of the CPP, including Sajjad Zaheer and Faiz Ahmad Faiz. This was known as the ‘Rawalpindi Conspiracy Case’.

In subsequent years, a ban on the party and its front organisations was imposed, including the Democratic Student’s Federation and the Progressive Writers Association headed by Faiz Ahmed Faiz. The ban was also imposed on Pakistan Trade Union Federation, headed by Mirza Ibrahim, and the Progressive Papers Limited, owned by Mian Iftikhar-ud-Din, in 1954. The Communist Party workers in both the wings went underground. Initially long-term jail verdicts were announced but later all the coup-makers were pardoned. Sajjad Zaheer along with other communist workers were deported to India.

The party which was established with such enthusiasm thus ended with a gloomy storm.