India, Dec. 27 -- This week marked the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of India (CPI). However, the party and the Left, in general, have seen not just their electoral presence diminished, but also their role in political and ideological discourse shrink in recent years. Against this backdrop, Saira Shah Halim's Comrades and Comebacks forms an important read, not the least because she is a member of the CPM herself and has experience of the rough and tumble of electoral politics. The book looks at the pre-Independence credentials of the Indian Left (in various manifestations, at home and abroad) - as the "red thread" that was a part of movements that contributed to the freedom struggle. The book foregrounds the stories of lesser-known Left activists and the struggles they led and suggests that new front for the Left in India must focus on equity and inclusion to regain ideological appeal, and thereon build political heft....