Nihar Mukherjee

He was a founding member of the party in 1948 and became the General Secretary after the death of Shibdas Ghosh in 1976.^[2] He was also the Editor-in-Chief of the Proletarian Era, the official newspaper of the organization.^[3]

During Mukherjee's early political career, he was a leader of the Anushilan Samiti, where he came in close contact of Shibdas Ghosh.^[4] He was jailed during the Quit India movement for three years.^[5] Mukherjee played a decisive role in developing united left democratic movements in West Bengal. In 1962, he was detained in jail for one year under the National Security Act.^[5] Nihar Mukherjee died of cardiac arrest on 18 February 2010 in Kolkata.^[6] The party held a massive memorial meeting on 3 March 2010 to mourn the death of Nihar Mukherjee in the Netaji Indoor Stadium, Kolkata.