LeftWord Books

Background

LeftWord Books is a socialist publishing house based in New Delhi. It was established in 1999 by three members of the Communist Party of India (Marxist): Prakash Karat, Sitaram Yechury, and trade unionist Sukomal Sen, and is the publishing division of Naya Rasta Publishers Private Limited, ^{1  3  4} a private book and digital publishing company incorporated in New Delhi. ⁵ The first book it published was A World to Win, a collection of essays on the Communist Manifesto. ⁶

LeftWord manages the May Day Bookstore, which it calls “Delhi’s only left-wing bookstore.” ^{1  7} It founded the bookstore on May 1, 2012 to “[reaffirm] the struggles and commitment of workers across the world.” In addition to selling books, May Day holds short performances, readings, and book talks. ⁸

On February 21, 2026, the group celebrated Red Books Day – Voices Against the Empire to commemorate the first publication of the Communist Manifesto. It was “an evening of anti-imperialist poetry, song, intellectual talks and readings.” Performers sang revolutionary songs, such as “Hum mehnatkash jagwaalon se,” a line from a well-known left-wing worker-solidarity song in Hindi; read poems; performed readings of the Communist Manifesto; and engaged in discussions. ⁹ The May Day Bookstore shares a building with Studio Safdar, New Delhi’s prominent leftist theatre group, resulting in joint events through “books, performances and activism.” ¹⁰

Work Areas

LeftWord Books sells books on its website from various leftist publishers and has a subscription-based book club. ¹¹ It was one of the first publishers to sell online in 2001. ¹²

Some of its most notable socialist titles include the Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels and Bhagat Singh Jail Notebook and Other Writings by Chaman Lal. ^{13  14} LeftWord publishes many of the most recognizable socialist and Marxist authors in India and internationally, including social activist Achin Vanaik, Marxist historian Vijay Prashad, and Aijaz Ahmad, one of India’s best-known Marxist scholars. ^{15  16  17}

LeftWord co-founded the Independent Publishers’ Distribution Alternative, an initiative that markets books from small publishers. It has also co-founded nine publishing and bookselling organizations, including India Independent: Books and Ideas for independent booksellers and publishers. ¹² It founded the International Union of Leftist Publishers (IULP) to enable a “relatively free exchange of texts” within the group. ⁴ The IULP promotes and defends left-wing authors, books, publishers, and bookshops, and develops a “copyleft method of sharing books.” ¹⁸

Leadership

Prakash Karat is the founding managing director of LeftWord Books. He is a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and was its general secretary for ten years and a Politburo member for thirty-three years. ^{19  20} Karat became active in student politics while attending Edinburgh University. When he returned to India, he worked as an aide to A.K. Gopalan, the leader of the CPI in India’s Parliament. He co-founded the Students Federation of India, which became the CPI’s student wing in Jawaharlal Nehru University. He sits on the editorial board of The Marxist, CPI’s academic journal, and has authored and published five books. ²¹

Vijay Prashad is the chief editor of LeftWord Books. He is an Indian historian and journalist, and the author of forty books. He is the executive director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and the chief correspondent for Globetrotter. ²² Tricontinental is a Marxist think tank created by Prashad. It produces a weekly newsletter, a monthly dossier of its research, and a variety of other publications that promote the “theories of national liberation Marxism.” ²³ Prashad is a contributor to many radical-left publications, including People’s World and CounterPunch. ^{22  24} He amplifies anti-U.S. messaging within his socialist network. Hours after the capture of Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in January 2026, Prashad denounced the action, posting “Down with US imperialism” on social media as part of a coordinated information campaign. ²⁵

Sudhanva Deshpande has been managing editor of LeftWord Books since 1988. He is a theater director, film and theater actor, and an author. ²⁶ He is the executive director of Studio Safdar, which shares a building with LeftWord Books. ²⁷