Communism in Mumbai was at its most powerful when stalwarts like S A Dange, P K Atre and S M Joshi were at the forefront of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement. The battle for a unilingual Marathi state was almost entirely fought by the Left. After the battle was won in 1960, the decline of Communist forces began in this city. The decline has been dramatic, so much so that there is no Communist party organisation worth its name in Mumbai today. For one, the mill workers, who formed the backbone of the Communist movement have been devastated. They have lost their jobs, and with the resultant poverty, their will to fight.
Attacks on Communism and its adherents took place from all sides. When the Congress governments in the 60s realised it was tough to contain the Communist unions, they brought in toughies like the Shiv Sena to break the Communists' hold on mills and factories.
The Marathi vs non-Marathi theory propounded by the Sena was wrong, but it was upheld by the workers' fraternity because of risingunemployment. The Sena argument did not provide any answer to mill workers' problems, it only gave them an ``enemy'' to target. ``If you hit 'em, hurl a stone at 'em, you'll get what you've been deprived of,'' the slogan went. And the workers fell prey to it.
The rival unions, whether belonging to Datta Samant or the Sena or someone else, made
