Tagore, Soumyendranath

Tagore, Soumyendranath (1901-1974) writer, literary critic, communist, was born in October, 1901 in the Tagore family of Jorasanko, calcutta. His father was Sudhindranath Tagore. After initial education at home, he started formal schooling at the age of ten. In 1917, he matriculated from Mitra Institution, and went on to do his Honours in Economics from presidency college.

Despite family obstacles, Soumyendranath became associated with left politics and remained associated with it till the end of his life. He became acquainted with muzaffar ahmed and poet kazi nazrul islam and translated the Communist Manifesto for langal, the mouthpiece of Sramik Krisak Dal. He also became intimate with manabendra nath roy and was influenced by him.

Soumyendranath';s father attempted to distance his son from political activities and sent him to Europe. However, in Europe, Soumyendranath became even more closely involved with left politics. In 1928 he joined the Sixth International Communist Congress. He was arrested by the British Government for his Communist activities and jailed. After his release he went to Germany where he was again arrested. rabindranath tagore helped secure his release. However, while Soumyendranath was proceeding to Paris he was again arrested. He spent a total of eight years in jail. In 1927 he formed the Revolutionary Communist Party of India.

Meanwhile, Soumyendranath continued his literary and musical pursuits. He contributed to Kallol. Some of his books are Biplab'i' Russia, Tray'i, Y'a'tr'i, Rabindranather G'a'n, Russiar Kavit'a (translated), Communism and Fascism, Hitlerism and the Aryan Rule in Germany. He was conversant in many languages. Soumyendranath Tagore died on 22 September 1974. [Badiuzzaman] [Badiuzzaman former Deputy Director, Bangla Academy, Dhaka]