My first interaction with Comrade V S Achuthanandan was in 1972. The SFI state conference in Kollam had concluded and party members in the new state committee were summoned to the party headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram.
There had been serious factional conflict at the conference, and the purpose of the meeting was to take corrective action. It was Comrade VS who spoke at length. He minced no words in admonishing us. I still remember the shudder of those moments. Later, I would have long interviews with him because my Ph.D research topic was related to radical working class movement in Alappuzha of which Comrade VS was an important leader.
There are many distinct features to working class leaders of Alappuzha; almost every one of them rose from the ranks of workers themselves. These wage workers, most of whom had only primary education, educated themselves through trade union night schools and intensive political study sessions held alongside union organizing efforts -- emerging as true organic intellectuals shaped by and rooted in the struggles of the working class.
Comrade V S Achuthanandan was the tallest among them, becoming a member of the party politburo and the chief minister.
The coir workers were deeply influenced by Sri Narayana Social Reforms Movement, particularly, by the radical streams within it. The struggle against caste discrimination did not hinder their struggle for labour rights and against coir capitalists, many of whom were their own caste. The success of young radicals like Comrade VS was in linking anti-caste struggle with workers struggles. These two were subsumed under the national movement.
The climax of the national movement in Travancore was the Punnapra-Vayalar armed uprising. The estimate is around 500 militant workers who challenged the royal army were massacred. During the uprising, VS was arrested and brutally tortured. Thinking he had died, his body was marked for disposal. However, he survived with severe injuries. The bayonet scar on his feet survived the ages.
(Actor) Manju Warrier's obituary in Instagram refers to it: “It was with this foot that he walked on into the hearts of people. He always continued to be a fighter because every step was a reminder.”
His main contribution came during the post-insurrection period when he played a key role in resisting repression and rebuilding the movement. He rose rapidly in the party leadership and earned widespread admiration for winning maximum seats in the 1956 election to the assembly from Alappuzha as its district secretary.
It was for the above reason that he was deputed to lead the election campaign for the prestigious by-election in Devikulam in 1958. The campaign focused on new initiatives of the communist government for the welfare of the plantation labourers, most of whom were migrants from Tamil Nadu.
While Congress brought leaders and ministers from Tamil Nadu, VS stole the limelight by bringing M G Ramachandran (MGR), the only time in history that MGR campaigned in Kerala elections. Musician Ilaiyaraaja was also key player in the music troupe. Schooled in Alappuzha caste-class praxis, VS also paid attention to the ethnicity of the workers. CPI candidate Rosamma Punnoose registered a resounding victory.
In the inner party struggle during the early 1960s, VS was with the Left trend and was one of the 32 members who walked out of CPI National Council which sealed the split in the Communist Party. Since then, he has been one of the foremost leaders of CPM, being state secretary for 12 years and a politburo member for 24. He was a member of the assembly for 35 years. Whether in power or not, he always identified himself with the struggles of the poor for land, wages and livelihood. He could communicate with them easily and endeared him to the masses.
The most important contribution of VS was building the workers movement in the unorganized sector, like agricultural workers and traditional industrial workers. As with many other Alappuzha worker-leaders, it was P Krishna Pillai who identified the organiser in young Achuthanandan and deputed him to organise the agricultural workers in Kuttanad, the rice bowl of Kerala. Since then, the story of mobilization of agricultural workers in Kerala has been intertwined with that of V S Achuthanandan. The struggle was not only for better wages but also against caste and for self-respect and dignity.
There were two occasions for me to closely interact with and work with him. The first was during the People's Plan Campaign when after the demise of EMS, he became the chairman of its High-Power Guidance Council. Every month, we would undertake tours visiting panchayats, reviewing the work and learning from practice.
Often, when he visited the paddy fields, VS would take a few stalks of grains and ask dignitaries around how many grains are in the stalks. None knew. And to the merriment of the crowd, VS would give the count. This deep attachment to wetlands and paddy cultivation for environmental and economic reasons was linked to early experience in agricultural workers movement.
One incident I remember specifically: our visit to an IT cooperative setup by Ernakulam district panchayat. VS closely listened to the enthusiastic narrative of a bunch of youngsters about the digital future and the importance of free software in people's struggles against monopoly control of IT industry. A decade later as the Kerala CM, he would draw up an IT policy where free software was important and set up the International Centre for Free and Open-Source Solutions (ICFOSS). His picture of meeting Richard Stallman is as iconic as his many pictures among the people leading agitations.
The second occasion was when I worked as a member of his cabinet. I watched with tremendous admiration his determined pursuit of some of the development projects. For example, he had clear vision about the role Vizhinjam port could play in Kerala's development and he tenaciously pursued the project against odds. Though delayed by a decade, the Vizhinjam deepwater port has become a reality today.
Another occasion was my 2009 budget when I startled many by announcing an anti-recession package of `5,000 crore, after plan and budget accounts were finalized. I found the chief minister receptive to my explanations of Keynesian tactics. This rather audacious action, which later was favourably commented on by the RBI, could not have been carried out but for his support. V S Achuthanandan will always be remembered as one of the key architects of modern and egalitarian Kerala.
(The author is a CPM leader and former finance minister of Kerala)
