Sailen Dasgupta (1920-2001) was, when I met him in June 1992, the chairman of the governing Left Front in the Indian state of West Bengal and general secretary of the state committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). He talked about he how became involved in the left: joining a 'terrorist' group and being involved in dacoity - his early involvement in the Communist Party of India - remembering Harry Pollitt speaking at the Maidan in Calcutta - and the changes of line of the CPI after independence and the party's legalisation.