A collection of articles by Samaddar from leading national dailies and journals between 1977 and the downfall of the Left in West Bengal, this books analyses the era of the Left rule, its political decisions and its social and economic viability. Samaddar argues that the Left′s rule and its own governmental style destroyed the hegemony it had built up through assiduous work of decades.

A commentary on contemporary history and an assessment of it, this work helps the reader understand, better, the re-emergence of the Maoist movement in West Bengal, the governmental techniques of the Left and the dynamics of popular politics.