The party raised the slogan "Not one paisa, not one man for war". On 4 September 1939 Tagore issued a declaration, labelling the war as an imperialist conflict and called on the Indian workers to turn the imperialist war into civil war. Tagore was arrested and jailed under the Defence of India Act immediately afterwards. With Tagore in jail, Pannalal Dasgupta became general secretary of the party. He toured Assam, Bombay, Madras and Bengal. During the Second World War, peasants influenced by the party were instructed not to sell rice for exportation.