SUMMARY
The Maoist Communist Centre, abbreviated as MCC, was a rebel outfit fighting the government of India with the expressed goal of creating a communist state through the use of armed force. Its predecessor was a movement called Dakshin Desh, which was founded on 20 October 1969. This extremist faction retained its independence when most other communist groups in India joined under the banner of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). The group changed its name to MCC in 1975.
MCC was part of the so-called “Naxalite uprising”, a term used to encompass the armed struggle waged by a variety of communist groups against the Indian government. MCC adhered to Mao Tse Tung’s ideology of overthrowing the government and creating a “people’s government” through an organised and protracted “people’s war”, mainly consisting of the rising up of the peasant class. In the context of this “people’s war” MCC has also made use of one-sided violence.
MCC operated under the leadership of its Chairman, who heads the party’s controlling body; the Central Committee. Several wings and fronts existed below this body, such as the armed wing (which had about 1000 fighters), a youth front and a women’s’ front. Its main areas of operation during the 1990s were the states of Bihar, Orissa and Jharkand, with the bulk of its sway being found in Bihar. In areas ‘liberated’ by the group it sometimes ran a parallel administration, complete with courts and tax systems.
MCC is known to have had links to the Communist party of Nepal- Maoist (CPN-M) and also to the Peoples’ War Group (PWG) in India. The group has also been a member of the Coordination Committee of Maoist Parties and Organisations (CCOMPOSA), an umbrella group and cooperation network of Naxalite organisations in Nepal, Bangladesh and India. The Indian government has also alleged that MCC has received the backing of the Pakistani intelligence service (ISI), but these allegations are difficult to substantiate.
In 2004 MCC merged with the Peoples’ War Group (PWG) to create the Communist Party of India – Maoist (CPI - Maoist). MCC thus ceased to exist as an independent group in UCDP data. For more information on the CPI – Maoist actor, see the profile for that actor.
The Dakshin Desh was led by Amulya Sen and Kanhai Chaterjee. After Chaterjee’s death the reigns were taken over by Shivenji. In the 1980s leadership passed primarily to Pramod Mishra and Sanjay Dusadh. The more recent leadership is, however, unknown.
MCC has been involved in the intrastate and one-sided categories of UCDP organised violence.
