The Maoist movement in India is one of the longest surviving communist revolutionary movements in the history of the world. Born in 1967, it has been able to withstand state brutality and rose like a phoenix from the ashes time and again. That implies the existence of some deep-rooted socio-economic needs that the existing system has failed to satisfy. Today, every protest is branded by the powers that be as ‘Maoist’. ‘Maoism’ in India has, for good or bad, been identified with the fight for dignity, justice and human values.

This is a modest attempt at the first ever comprehensive history of the movement made by a professional historian. This movement is not the tale of senseless violence, but an epic story to create a beautiful world free from exploitation, greed and bloodshed altogether. Hitherto untapped material has been used to analyze the bitter struggle between MCC and CPI (ML) Party Unity and CPI (ML) People’s War and the formation of the CPI (Maoist). Its impact on society, culture and historical study, Bhojpur struggle, role of woman warriors with entirely new approaches to man-woman relationships, radical mass organizations, emergence of Maoism and the pro-people development model in Dandakaranya have been discussed in detail. This movement, if successful, is likely to make a deep impression everywhere in India and abroad.

A chapter on primary sources, rare photographs of places-Naxalbari killing, Charu Mazumdar’s residence, of cover pages of forbidden literature and a list of departed woman activists further enriched the quality of the book.

The main title of the book is borrowed from Karl Marx who hailed the Communards of Paris for daring to “Storm the Gates of Heaven” in 1871.