BANNEDTHOUGHT
People’s March — The Voice of the Indian Revolution
All the Issues of This Revolutionary Publication Banned in India
People’s March, has been an interesting and informative publication about the Maoist revolutionary movement in India since it first began publication in 1999. It was edited and published by the journalist P. Govindan Kutty from its beginning until 2012, when a combination of continuing government harrassment and ill health forced him to stop. However, a new series, in the form of a new Internet version put out by unidentified editors, began appearing in June 2014.
We have no knowledge about the relationship, or lack of relationship, between People’s March and the Communist Party of India (Maoist) or any other organization. We post these materials as useful sources on the revolutionary struggle in India, but not as representing the views of the CPI(Maoist) except in the signed and CPI(Maoist)-attributed statements which appear therein.
Govindan Kutty’s original People’s March appeared first in just printed form and then in both printed and online digital form. It had web sites at http://peoplesmarch.googlepages.com and http://peoples-march.blogspot.com.
During 2007 the Indian government banned the online version of the magazine and tried to close down or sabotage these and other web sites associated with People’s March as well as other web sites reporting on Maoist ideas or activities in India. Then, on December 19, 2007, this suppression campaign was carried a step further with the arrest of P. Govindan Kutty. See the statement demanding the release of Govindan Kutty by the Revolutionary Democratic Front in India for further information. Finally, after much outrage about this arrest both in India and internationally, Govindan Kutty was released on Feb. 24, 2008, and made a statement at that time. Unfortunately the charges were still pending against him and he was not able to resume publication of People’s March for over a year and a half.
We at BANNEDTHOUGHT.NET are completely opposed to such blatantly fascist measures which attempt to forcibly suppress progressive ideas and which are in gross violation of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. Consequently we began to make copies of People’s March available here and urged others who value freedom of thought to do the same.
In mid 2008 P. Govindan Kutty began issuing a bulletin with the name People’s Truth, to be circulated privately. However, this bulletin had a lot of good information in it, including further information about the suppression of People’s March and about the continuing government harrassment of Govindan Kutty. For this reason we took it on ourselves to make this bulletin available to a wider audience at http://www.bannedthought.net/India/PeoplesTruth/
In August 2009 we heard from Govindan Kutty that after a long appeal process the order suppressing People’s March had been lifted. This was great news! Here, in MS Word format, is Kutty’s letter with this announcement. There was, however, still a long period where Kutty was unable to find a printer willing to take a chance on printing the magazine. We believe the first issue of the resumed publication, dated October 2009, was only able to be distributed via the Internet. Finally, a printer was found starting with the November 2009 issue. See the news report from the Hindustan Times, Nov. 16, 2009.
The issues of the post-suppression magazine are also available below. There were still threats from the government to ban the magazine again and in fact Swapan Dasgupta, who published the Bengali version of the magazine in Kolkata, was arrested in early October 2009, a couple months after the ban on the magazine was lifted! Through the end of 2009 Dasgupta and two others still remained in jail. (See: PDF version or MS Word version.) Worse yet, Swapan Dasgupta was mistreated and refused adequate treatment for his medical conditions. This led to his death while still in police custody on Feb. 2, 2010. (For more information, see his 3-page obituary: PDF format [409 KB], or MS Word format [41 KB]).
There have also been press reports of people being arrested and charged with just possessing copies of People’s March, even in their own homes! It is still obviously risky for people to possess or distribute People’s March in India, even if it is officially a legal publication again. For all these reasons the magazine will continue to be made available here on this web site.
We have been able to post all the earlier issues of People’s March in this Complete Archive, which also contains much other information from the suppressed People’s March web site. (Some of this information is still being organized for systematic presentation on BANNEDTHOUGHT.NET.)
We also have a Subject Index available for the issues through 2005.
The recent issues are in PDF format unless otherwise stated, and the most recently published issue is at the top of the list.
Contact us at: freespeech@bannedthought.net
New Series (Online Digital Format Only)
Volume 17, #3, September 2022, 38 pages. [PDF: 9,873 KB]
Volume 17, #2, June 2022, 32 pages. [PDF: 8,128 KB]
Volume 17, #1, January 2022, 46 pages. [PDF: 2,175 KB]
Volume 16, #2, June 2021, 34 pages. (Cover mis-labelled as: “Volume 17, Number 2”) [PDF: 5,296 KB]
Volume 16, #1, February 2021, 40 pages. [PDF: 7,079 KB]
Volume 15, #3, October 2020, 38 pages. [PDF: 1,375 KB]
Volume 15, #2, June 2020, 36 pages. [PDF: 1,200 KB]
Volume 15, #1, February 2020, 30 pages. [PDF: 2,266 KB]
Volume 14, #2, August 2019, 38 pages. [PDF: 604 KB]
Volume 14, #1, April 2019, 36 pages. [PDF: 11,551 KB]
Volume 13, #3, January-March 2015, 38 pages. [PDF: 4,275 KB]
Volume 13, #2, October-December 2014, 32 pages, corrected version. [PDF: 631 KB]
Volume 13, Supplement on the 10th Anniversary of the CPI(Maoist), September 2014, 96 pages. [PDF: 2,386 KB]
Volume 13, #1, June 2014 (Labelled: “Volume 13, June 2014”) [PDF: 931 KB]
Original Printed Series (1999-2012)
Vol. 13 #1 2012 January-March PDF [576 KB] This was the last issue in this original series. Vol. 12 #4 2011 October-December PDF [1,398 KB] Vol. 12 #3 2011 July-September PDF [905 KB] Vol. 12 #2 2011 April-June PDF [947 KB] Vol. 12 #1 2011 January-March PDF [1,108 KB] Vol. 11 #5 2010 October-December PDF [1,265 KB] Vol. 11 #4 2010 July-September PDF [851 KB] Vol. 11 #3 2010 May-June PDF [3,590 KB] Vol. 11 #2 2010 March-April PDF [911 KB] Vol. 11 #1 2010 January-February PDF [1,417 KB] Vol. 10 #11 2009 November PDF [1,465 KB] There was no December 2009 issue. Vol. 10 #10 2009 October PDF [1,425 KB] First issue of the resumed publication. Same content as People’s Truth #8, (Oct. 2009). Vol. 8 #12 2007 December PDF [2,555 KB] Last issue before the arrest of editor/publisher Govindan Kutty. Vol. 8 #11 2007 November PDF [3,356 KB] Vol. 8 #10 2007 October PDF [1,640 KB] Vol. 8 #9 2007 September PDF [3,759 KB] Vol. 8 #8 2007 August PDF [2,924 KB] Vol. 8 #7 2007 July PDF [377 KB] Vol. 8 #7 2007 July (Supplement) PDF [577 KB] Special Supplement on Dandakaranya. Vol. 8 #4 2007 May-June PDF [682 KB] Vol. 8 #3 2007 April PDF [1,582 KB] Labeled on cover as Vol. 8, #4. However, there was no March 2007 issue. Vol. 8 #2 2007 February PDF [277 KB] Vol. 8 #1 2007 January PDF [552 KB] Vol. 7 #12 2006 December PDF [307 KB] There was no October/November issue in 2006. Vol. 7 #8-9 2006 August-September PDF [1,007 KB] HTML Vol. 7 #6-7 2006 June-July PDF [356 KB] HTML Vol. 7 #5 2006 May PDF [430 KB] HTML Cover page partly missing in PDF version. Vol. 7 #4 2006 April PDF [309 KB] HTML Vol. 7 #3 2006 March PDF [355 KB] HTML Vol. 7 #2 2006 February PDF [992 KB] HTML Vol. 7 #1 2006 January PDF [681 KB] HTML Missing cover on PDF version. Vol. 6 #11 2005 November-December HTML Vol. 6 #10 2005 October PDF [6,686 KB] HTML Vol. 6 #9 2005 September PDF [6,789 KB] HTML Vol. 6 #8 2005 August PDF [6,639 KB] HTML Vol. 6 #7 2005 July PDF [8,473 KB] HTML Vol. 6 #6 2005 June PDF [9,223 KB] HTML Vol. 6 #5 2005 May PDF [7,065 KB] HTML Vol. 6 #4 2005 April HTML Vol. 6 #3 2005 March PDF [9,339 KB] HTML Vol. 6 #2 2005 February HTML Vol. 6 #1 2005 January PDF [7,067 KB] HTML Vol. 5 #11-12 2004 November-December PDF [10,352 KB] HTML This issue focuses on the founding of the Communist Party of India (Maoist). Vol. 5 #10 2004 October HTML Vol. 5 #9 2004 September [To be added.] Vol. 5 #8 2004 August [To be added.] Vol. 5 #7 2004 July [To be added.] Vol. 5 #6 2004 June [To be added.] Vol. 5 #5 2004 May [To be added.] Vol. 5 #4 2004 April [To be added.] Vol. 5 #2-3 2004 February-March HTML Vol. 5 #1 2004 January HTML Vol. 4 #12 2003 December [To be added.] Vol. 4 #11 2003 November [To be added.] Vol. 4 #10 2003 October PDF [4,176 KB] Vol. 4 #9 2003 September [To be added.] Vol. 4 #8 2003 August [To be added.] Vol. 4 #7 2003 July [To be added.] Vol. 4 #6 2003 June [To be added.] Vol. 4 #4-5 2003 April-May [To be added.] Vol. 4 #3 2003 March [To be added.] Vol. 4 #2 2003 February [To be added.] Vol. 4 #1 2003 January [To be added.] Vol. 3 #1-12 2002 January-December [To be added.] Vol. 2 #1-12 2001 January-December [To be added.] Vol. 1 #1-12 2000 January-December [To be added.] -- -- 1999 November-December [To be added.] -- -- 1999 September-October [To be added.] -- -- 1999 July-August [To be added.] -- -- 1999 May-June [To be added.] -- -- 1999 March-April [To be added.] -- -- 1999 January-February HTML Inaugural issue. The other older issues will be made available here in HTML format eventually.