Yesterday I was looking up the internet for some information on the Communist Party of America and thought it worth investigating if there was ever an alliance of blacks [esp the Black Panthers movement] and communists.

I found quite a bit of material going back to '20s and '30s until the witch-hunt of McCarthy era.[Even suggestions that Barack Obama has had connections in Chicago and is a creation of the KGB!!]

This alliance, though apparantly fragile has a striking parallel in India today.
Like blacks in America, the lowest caste people in the Indian society have been mostly deprived of opportunities of livelihood, education, decent living space, etc.A vast majority are forced to take up hard labour as land-less labourers generation after generation.With globalisation huge industrial establishments are coming up snatching big chunks of fertile land, further marginalising these sections. The number of these people easily runs into a few hundred millions.

A fraction of these have taken to arms and are now fighting the Indian State for land-reforms.The State instead of addressing the underlying economic problems is passing new draconian laws declaring these as 'terrorist organisations'.They are spreading fast in their reach though and a number of districts - a few hundred - have their presence.
Many times there are killings from either side - the government and the armed gangs.They have a number of factions but more or less all claim to operate under the Marxist-Leninist-Maoist ideology.

My project would be to study the american history of blacks and how the government suppressed the communist movement, and where they stand today.

Luckily, the first publisher I talked to in India has enthusiastically welcomed the idea of a book on this topic.

I would like to know if you can suggest some reading.

thanks.