The Tibetan Communist Party was a small communist party in Tibet which functioned in secrecy under various names. The group was founded by Phuntsok Wangyal and Ngawang Kesang in 1943. It emerged from a group called the Tibetan Democratic Youth League, formed by Wangyal and other Tibetan students in Lhasa in 1939. The party sought to establish an independent and socialist Tibet encompassing the three traditional regions of Tibet: Ü-Tsang, Kham, and Amdo. The party contacted the Soviet embassy in Beijing and asked for the Soviets' assistance as it began planning a socialist uprising in Tibet. Wangyal later contacted the Chinese Communist Party and the Communist Party of India. The Tibetan communists prepared guerrilla struggles against the ruling Kuomintang while promoting democratic reforms inside Tibet. In 1949, the party merged into the Chinese Communist Party.