Communist Party of India – Kerala

Background

In July 1937, a clandestine meeting was held at Calicut.^[5] The five attendants of this meeting were P. Krishna Pillai, K. Damodaran, E.M.S. Namboodiripad, N. C. Sekhar and S.V. Ghate. The first four were members of the Congress Socialist Party (CSP) in Kerala. The latter, Ghate, was a CPI Central Committee member, who had arrived from Madras.^[6] The meeting formed the first cell of the Communist Party in Kerala, consisting the first four attendants.

The first conference of the Kerala provincial unit was organised two years later at Parappram, Pinarayi, in Kannur in December 1939. The entire Kerala unit of the Congress Socialist Party got converted into a unit of the CPI. Thus, the proper functioning of the Communist Party of India in Kerala among the people as a political party started in December 1939 with the Pinarayi Conference.^[7] Contacts between the CSP in Kerala and the CPI had begun as early as 1935. when P. Sundarayya, a Central Committee member of CPI, based in Madras at the time, met with E. M. S. Namboodiripad and Krishna Pillai. Sundarayya and Ghate visited Kerala at several times and met with the CSP leaders there. The contacts were facilitated through the national meetings of the Congress, CSP and All India Kisan Sabha.

By early the 1940s, active party cells were operating in the princely states of Travancore and Cochin. The Travancore state cell was established in a meeting held at Pandalam on 28 March 1942. The meeting elected K. C. George as the secretary. Further, a temporary committee consisting of M. N. Govindan Nair, P. T. Punnoose, K. V Pathrose and P. Krishna Pillai was also formed in the meeting. Pathrose later became the secretary of Travancore state cell and a major leader of Punnapra-Vayalar uprising. Similarly, C. Achuta Menon was secretary of the Cochin state cell.^[8]

In October 1946, Punnapra-Vayalar uprising, a militant communist movement, erupted in the Princely State of Travancore, against the Diwan, C. P. Ramaswami Iyer and the state.^[9] The incident was largely caused by the prevailing famine conditions (1939–43) in which over 21,000 peasants died in Cherthala taluk alone. The Travancore police police unleashed brutal violence upon the revolutionaries. Over 400 people were killed. After the killings, many people around the areas turned into communists.^[10]

In 1957 Kerala Assembly election the Communist Party of India (CPI) was elected to rule the state government of Kerala. A ministry was formed under the leadership of E. M. S. Namboodiripad. The EMS government was dismissed within two years and President's Rule was declared in 1959 following the Vimochana Samaram. In 1964, in conjunction with the widening rift between China and the Soviet Union, a large leftist faction of the CPI leadership, based predominantly in Kerala and West Bengal, split from the party to form the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI (M). In Kerala, the CPI (M) and CPI in coalition with other parties wrested control from the Congress and its allies.

The 1964 Split

After the 1964 CPI split, many prominent leaders including C. Achutha Menon, T. V. Thomas and M. N. Govindan Nair remained within the party. Many others like E. M. S. Namboodiripad, A. K. Gopalan and K. R. Gouri Amma joined the newly formed Communist Party of India (Marxist). In the 1965 elections, an year after the split, the break-away faction CPI(M) emerged as the largest party in the assembly with 40 seats. CPI could win only 3 seats out of the 79 seats to which it fielded candidates. However, no single party could form a government commanding majority. Due to this reason, the election is largely considered abortive. President's rule was declared on the state for the fourth time.^[11][12]

United Front Government (1967–1969)

In the 1967 Kerala assembly election, both communist parties - CPI (M) and CPI - along with smaller parties including Samyukta Socialist Party and Muslim League contested as a United Front. A total of seven parties contested as part of the front, and it was widely known as the Saptakakshi Munnani.^[13] The CPI(M) led front won the election with a record 113 seats out of 133 seats and formed a government under E.M.S. Namboodiripad.^[14] After 2 years of the government, due to continuous problems between CPI and CPI(M), many ministers from the smaller parties resigned eventually, and many parties subsequently left the front. The government lost its majority and the Second Namboodiripad ministry was dissolved in 1969.^[15]

Mini Front Government (1969–1970)

Subsequently, CPI along with Muslim League, Revolutionary Socialist Party and Indian Socialist Party constituted a Mini Front which formed government with the external support from Indian National Congress. CPI leader C. Achutha Menon was sworn in as Chief Minister on 1 November 1969. But the split in Indian Socialist Party and group politics within the Congress party led to the fall of Achutha Menon government on 1 August 1970.^[16][17]

United Front (1970)

The party contested in the 1970 Assembly Election as part of the United Front. The alliance won 111 seats in the house of 140 (Congress–38, CPI–23, Kerala Congress–20, IUML–13, RSP–9, NDP–5, PSP–3).^[18] A government was formed on 4 October 1970 with C. Achutha Menon as the Chief Minister. Although Indian National Congress was part of United Front it did not join the ministry during the initial stage, but they extended support from outside. The Cabinet was expanded on two later occasions, when the Indian National Congress joined in September 1971, nominees of the Kerala Congress were inducted in December 1975.

Emergency rule in Kerala

Prime minister Indira Gandhi declared state of emergency in 1975 across India by citing internal and external threats to the country.^[19] This state of affairs lasted for a 21 month period from 1975 to 1977. This period is known as the 'Emergency' in India. During the emergency, the United Front led by CPI led the government in Kerala. Although the formal tenure of the government expired on 21 October 1975, the term was extended on three occasions over a six-month period due to the emergency.^[20] The government resorted to arbitrary arrests and detentions under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act to crush dissent.

Communists opposing the state repression organised political activities from different hide-outs in Kerala. Many members and leaders of the opposing CPI(M) including the former chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan were imprisoned. Back then, he was a member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly representing the Kuthuparamba constituency. Vijayan was tortured and held in custody for one and a half years by the police.^[21] After his release, Vijayan made an impassionate speech against senior Congress leader and then home minister K. Karunakaran in the assembly holding up the blood-stained shirt he wore in police custody. The event caused serious embarrassment to the then C. Achutha Menon government.^[22] Hundreds of communists, whether from the CPI(M), other Marxist parties, or the Naxalites, were arrested and tortured during the emergency.^[23] P. Rajan, a student of the Regional Engineering College, Calicut, was murdered in police custody at Kakkayam torture camp. The Rajan case created havoc across Kerala and put the government in serious trouble.^[24][25]

Formation of LDF (1979)

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, two main pre-poll political alliances were formed: the Left Democratic Front (LDF), led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and Communist Party of India and the United Democratic Front (UDF), led by the Indian National Congress. These pre-poll political alliances of Kerala have stabilized strongly in such a manner that, with rare exceptions, most of the coalition partners stick their loyalty to the respective alliances (Left Democratic Front or United Democratic Front).

Left Democratic Front (1980–present)

LDF first came into power in 1980 election under the leadership of E. K. Nayanar sworn in as the Chief Minister of Kerala on 26 March 1980^[26] for the first time in 1980. He formed government with the support of Congress (A) under A. K. Antony and Kerala Congress under K. M. Mani, Nayanar later became the longest serving Chief Minister of Kerala, ever since 1980 election, the power has been clearly alternating between the two alliances till the 2016. LDF has won 6 out of 10 elections since the formation of the alliance in 1980. Since 1980, none of alliances in Kerala has been re-elected till the 2016. The 1987, 1996 elections led E. K. Nayanar, and the 2006 elections led by V. S. Achuthanandan formed governments and completed their full terms but were not re-elected. In 2016, LDF won the 2016 election led by Pinarayi Vijayan and had a historic re-election in 2021 election where an incumbent government was re-elected for first time in 40 years. Pinarayi Vijayan from LDF is the first Chief minister of Kerala to be re-elected after completing a full term (five years) in office.

List of state secretaries of CPI Kerala

More information No., Portrait ...

No.	Portrait	Secretary (Birth–Death)	Term	Total Years as secretary
1		P. Krishna Pillai (1906–1948)	1942–1948	6 Years
2		C. Achutha Menon (1913–1991)	1949–1956	7 Years
3		M. N. Govindan Nair (1910–1984)	1956–1959	3 Years
4		E. M. S. Namboodiripad (1909–1998)	1959–1962	3 Years
5		C. Achutha Menon (1913–1991)	1962–1968	13 Years
6		S. Kumaran (1923–1991)	1968 – 1970	2 Years
7		M. N. Govindan Nair (1910–1984)	1970–1971	1 Year
8		N. E. Balaram (1919–1994)	1971 – 1984	13 Years
9		P. K. Vasudevan Nair (1926–2005)	1984–1998	14 Years
10		Veliyam Bharghavan (1928–2013)	1998– 2010	12 Years
11		C. K. Chandrappan (1935–2012)	14 November 2010 – 22 March 2012	1 year, 129 days
12		Pannian Ravindran (1945–)	10 April 2012 – 2 March 2015	2 years, 326 days
13		Kanam Rajendran (1950–2023)	2 March 2015 – 8 December 2023	8 years, 281 days
14		Binoy Viswam (1955-)	10 December 2023 -	Incumbent

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Current State Secretariat Leaders

Source^[27]

Current State Executive Committee

Principal mass organisations

District Secretaries

Kerala Legislative Assembly

The CPI is the second largest party in the opposition LDF alliance in Kerala with 8 seats out of the 140 in the Kerala Niyamasabha.

Rajya Sabha