THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An official history of the Kerala’s Communist movement is all set to come out this week. A massive exercise to bring out the history of the Communist party in its true spirit and letter, a 5-volume account on the party and the movement in the backdrop of Kerala’s socio-political and economic scenario, is being brought out.
The first volume will be released at the CPM state conference in Thrissur from February 22 to 25. At the inaugural function, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan will release the first volume by handing over a copy to politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai.
To be titled the History of Communist Party in Kerala, it will be a work on how the party contributed to the Kerala society and how societal developments influenced the party’s growth in Kerala.
It was the last state conference that took a decision in this regard. A panel with veteran leader V S Achuthanandan as chairman and state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan as convener prepared the book.
Earlier late leaders like E M S Namboodiripad and N E Balram had written the history of the movement. However it’s the first official history to be brought out by the party in Kerala, said Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.
“Other than certain individual accounts written by senior leaders so far, there’s no official history of the party. A team of historians has been dedicated themselves for this work, collecting rare historical documents from various places. Work on the second volume is currently on,” Kodiyeri said.
The first volume will cover the formation of Kerala society, British era and capitalism, nationalist movement, growth of mass and class organisations and the initial phase of the Communist party’s formation.
Contrary to usual practices, the work has been done with people’s participation. Rare manuscripts, notices and diaries have been used to collect info for the work. Also efforts have been taken to ensure the authenticity of the information collected from various places.
A team of historians and intellectuals led by K N Ganesh, Puthalath Dinesan, C Balan, P Mohandas, M T Narayanan, M N Padmanabhan, V Karthikeyan Nair, P Sivadasan, M P Mujeeb Rehman and P Ramdas have actively contributed to the work.
“Communist parties across the globe have come out with their histories. This book will be an elaborate account on Kerala’s Communist movement and its various phases. In addition, it would give a clear perspective on the question on What’s Next,” pointed out CPM politburo member S Ramachandran Pillai.