Rajani Palme Dutt

Rajani Palme Dutt Biography

Rajani Palme Dutt was a leading journalist and theoretician from England of Indian origin. He is generally known for his Communist ideologies and activities. He has also authored many English books, and lived during the period, 19 June 1896 – 20 December 1974. He was associated with Communist Party of Great Britain, the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy.

He wrote numerous non-fictional & political books, and some of them were based on Indian scenario, political and economic status and many other points. Indian Awakening, India, India Today, Left Nationalism in India, The End of Gandhi etc are a few to mention. His work, India Today, originally written in 1940 was translated to Tamil by noted writer and journalist, M. V. Venkatram. Labour History Archive and Study Centre at the People's History Museum in Manchester still preserve some of the handwritten papers of Dutt in their archive.

Rajani Palme Dutt was born in 1896 on Mill Road in Cambridge, England. He was born to Indian Bengali father and Swedish mother. His father, Dr. Upendra Dutt, was an Indian surgeon. Swedish Prime minister Olof Palme was his nephew (related to his mother Anna Palme). Salme Murrik, the sister of Finnish writer Hella Wuolijoki was his wife. Dutt was educated at Cambridge and Oxford.

His active political journey began in 1919, when he joined Labour Research Department, a left wing statistical bureau. When Communist Party of Great Britain was formed in 1920, he joined the party, and was actively involved with it later. He became an Executive Committee member of the party in 1923, a position he held until 1965. He passed away in 1974. The party existed till 1991.

Published: September 15, 2018

Updated: September 15, 2018