The Satyashodhak Communist Party is a political party

Political party

A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...

 in the state of Maharashtra

Maharashtra

Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...

, India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

. The party was founded by Sharad Patil, who as of 2009 still serves as its General Secretary. The party bases its political philosophy on the thinking of Karl Marx

Karl Marx

Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...

, B. R. Ambedkar

B. R. Ambedkar

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar , popularly also known as Babasaheb, was an Indian jurist, political leader, philosopher, thinker, anthropologist, historian, orator, prolific writer, economist, scholar, editor, a revolutionary and one of the founding fathers of independent India. He was also the Chairman...

 and Jyotirao Phule.

Patil had been an organizer of the Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Communist Party of India (Marxist)

The Communist Party of India is a political party in India. It has a strong presence in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. As of 2011, CPI is leading the state government in Tripura. It leads the Left Front coalition of leftist parties in various states and the national parliament of...

 in the Dhule district

Dhule district

Dhule district is a district of Maharashtra state in central India. The city of Dhule is the administrative headquarters of the district.The Dhule district previously comprised tracts of land predominantly inhabited by tribal population...

. He developed his own ideological thesis of 'Marxism-Phule-Ambedkarism', and in 1978 he broke with the CPI(M) and founded the Satyashodhak Communist Party. The party was named after Phule's Satyashodhak Samaj

Satyashodhak Samaj

Satya Shodhak Samaj is a religion established by Mahatma Jyotirao Phule on September 24, 1873. This was started as a group whose main aim was to liberate the social Shudra and Untouchables castes from exploitation and oppression....

. Patil called for the building of an alliance between Dalit

Dalit

Dalit is a designation for a group of people traditionally regarded as Untouchable. Dalits are a mixed population, consisting of numerous castes from all over South Asia; they speak a variety of languages and practice a multitude of religions...

s and Other Backward Castes, especially amongst the peasantry. The main base of the movement at the time of its foundation was limited to two Adivasi

Adivasi

Adivasi is an umbrella term for a heterogeneous set of ethnic and tribal groups claimed to be the aboriginal population of India. They comprise a substantial indigenous minority of the population of India...

 talukas in Dhule district, but Patil's rhetoric won an audience across the state and played an influential formulating a popular understanding of class-caste relations in rural areas. He relied heavily on motifs from classical Indian literature during speaking tours of rural areas.

In the early 1980s, the party added 'ending women's slavery' to its programme for Democratic Revolution.

Ahead of the April 2009 Lok Sabha election

Indian general election, 2009

India held general elections to the 15th Lok Sabha in five phases between 16 April 2009 and 13 May 2009. With an electorate of 714 million , it was the largest democratic election in the world to date.By constitutional requirement, elections to the Lok Sabha must be...

, the party joined the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front

Left Democratic Front (Maharashtra)

The Left Democratic Front is the name of a political alliance in Maharashtra, India. The core of LDF in Maharashtra is Communist Party of India , Communist Party of India, Satyashodhak Communist Party and the Peasants and Workers Party of India. It is now part of the Republican Left Democratic Front...

. In August 2009, in the run-up to the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly election

Maharashtra state assembly elections, 2009

The 13th Assembly elections were held in Maharashtra, India on October 13, 2009. The ruling Democratic Front contested the elections against the alliance of Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party ....

, the party took part in founding the Republican Left Democratic Front

Republican Left Democratic Front

The Republican Left Democratic Front is a coalition of political parties in the Indian state of Maharashtra formed before the Maharashtra state assembly elections, 2009 Assembly elections in the state...

popularly known as RIDALOS, a broad coalition of political parties in Maharashtra.