Preface

The history of the working class in Kerala essentially comprises the biography of Comrade VS Achuthanandan, who is fondly known as VS. He is the eldest communist leader in India who led a dedicated life of a highly popular political leader relentlessly working for the masses for decades. The legacy of his public life of more than eight decades has left his unique signature in the various roles of exemplary leadership that he gave as the Chief Minister of Kerala, the Opposition leader in the state legislative assembly, the member of legislative assembly, chairperson of Administrative Reforms Commission, the Founder leader of the CPIM,  The Polit Bureau member of the CPI M, Kerala State Secretary of the CPI M, Editor of the Deshabhimani daily, Leader of several pivotal Progressive trade union organisations etc.  Comrade VS is a freedom fighter who has given inspiring historical contributions to the freedom movement. He led the coir factory workers through great struggles and later became one of the leading pioneers of the Agriculture Workers' Movement.  As a member of the Communist Party of  India he survived unimaginable police torture facing the extreme edge of the deadly struggle with death.

Comrade VS was born at Punnappra in Alappuzha district to Venthalathara Sankaran and Akkamma on 20th October 1923. His mother passed away due to smallpox when he was four years old. His father too died when he was eleven years old. The twelve year boy then became a helping hand to his elder brother, Gangadharan, at his tailoring shop.

Immersed in
Profuse Struggles

Comrade VS joined Travancore State Congress in 1939; while he was a worker in the Aspinwall Coir Factory. His deep concern regarding the issues faced by the working class and his affinity for the working class politics led him to communist party membership in 1940, when he was seventeen years old. As per the direction by Comrade P Krishnapillai, VS began his political activity in Kuttanad. There his duty was to organise coir workers and agriculture workers and to prepare them in readiness for the essential struggles for their rights.

Punnapra Vayalar

Punnapra Vayalar struggle was a massive struggle waged by the organised working class led by the Communist Party against the attempt by the Royal family and the Diwan to retain Travancore free from joining Indian Union and to follow American model of system in the 'independent' Travancore'.   Comrade VS was a heroic leader of this epic struggle. It was while the people were continuing the struggle for 'UTHARAVADITHA BHARANAM' / 'Responsible Government',  the Crown and the Diwan Sir CP Ramaswamy Iyyer were striving for 'Independent   Travancore' and the American Model. The Communist Party took a position to oppose this negative line at any cost.

 Even though the Travancore State Congress backed off at  the crucial moment,  the Communist Party continued the struggle. In such a situation, the regime began its move to repress the Communist Party and began an armed  hunt against the Communist Party activists. Due to this, the communist cadres began to organise workers in Ambalappuzha and Cherthala talukhs in camps in order to build a volunteer force to resist the armed hunt by the regime.  VS had the hectic task of coordinating these activities and of keeping them ready for resistance struggle. The camps were giving them ideological political indoctrination and partisan training with 'Vārikkuntham' (areca palm wood spears) and other country weapons. Ex-service men gave training for the volunteers for gaining resistance tactics with these weapons.  

On 23rd of October thousands of volunteers marched to the police-armed forces camps at Punnapra and Paravur. The Diwan rule unilaterally fired with machine guns in the most cruel manner.   Hundreds of volunteers fell fighting and became martyrs.   On 25th of October at Marārikkulam and on 27th at Menassery, Olathala and Vayalār the Diwan rule massacred hundreds of comrades. More than a thousand comrades were martyred in the Punnapra Vayalār struggle. Even though Diwan Sir CP Ramaswami Iyyer succeeded in repressing the struggle by way of massacre and bloodshed, he had to forsake the dream of perpetuating a dictatorial regime over 'Independent Travancore' and had to go to his native place resigning from the post of Diwan of Travancore. The King was compelled to declare that Travancore would be merged with free India.

VS became part of the freedom struggle by being a member of the Travancore State Congress when he was 15 years old. He began trade union activity by organising his fellow workmen at the Coir factory where VS was working as a labourer. Then, he arrived at Kuttanad and formed the agricultural workers' movement.   After that, VS concentrated his work at Ambalappuzha Taluk to organise and strengthen all kinds of workers. He strived to enlighten them to patriotic conscience and, by way of that, rallied them in the freedom movement. This was the basic social fabric upon which the Punnapra Vayalar struggle was built to grow as a gigantic people's movement. Actually, this process of organising ordinary workers  in trade unions, making them sympathetic to the Communist Party and finally developing them to Communist Party membership made them participate in the freedom struggle that created the epic struggle of Punnapra Vayalar which led to the freedom of Travancore. Comrade VS was one of the main warrior leaders who led and commanded this great upsurge of a mammoth popular movement.

As part of the Punnapra Vayalar struggle, comrade VS was arrested on 28th of October 1946 and was severely tortured in Poonjar Police lock-up.  His feet were manacled  on to the iron bars of the lock up and foot soles were battered by relentless caning. As he did not yield to the questioning irrespective of the said brutal torture, his foot sole was pierced with bayonet. Assuming to be dead because of heavy bleeding, he was flung into a forest bush.    For his part in the Punnapra Vayalar  struggle, VS was convicted for three year imprisonment.  

 It was in Travancore that the capitalist exploitative order began to work in the society earlier than in other parts of Kerala. So, repressive attacks upon the forces of labour from the part of capitalist forces began much earlier in Travancore.  Because of this qualitative difference, as those who came into the communist party in Malabar were mainly those who fought for land, in Travancore it was those who fought for better wage, living conditions, responsible governance, universal adult franchise,  merger with Indian Union who came and joined the communist party with the slogan 'Dump the American Model in the Arabian sea'.  

Agrarian Production process should be advanced to socialised production process
Agriculture should be qualitatively advanced to a socialised production process that is essential for meeting the requirements of the nation. That is why land is classified and demarcated. It is the result of certain social consciousness. That is why agricultural workers come to intervene in order to protect land from being transformed, changing its properties and utility. This was the rationale behind Karivellur struggles. When the means of production that are essential for the existence of the society are being disfigured and being made dysfunctional, it's certain that the communists shall come forth to resist that move. This exactly is what prompted Comrade VS when the real estate business runners encroached on land and began to build tourist resorts on it in a big way.
 
Punnapra Vayalār struggle was the most fervent struggle of the freedom movement in Kerala. The prominent demands among the 27 point charter of demands were: against the 'American Model' put forth by the Diwan and the royal family, for the Responsible Governance, for Universal Adult Franchise etc. Thus we can understand that the Punnapra Vayalar was a political struggle. It was a war waged against imperialism and its lackeys.

As part of the course of his political life, Comrade VS had been imprisoned for five years and eight months. He had led underground life for four and a half years. After the imprisonment following the Punnapra Vayalar struggle, he was arrested in 1963 being stamped as 'Chinese spy' and had been jailed for one year. In 1975, as part of the state repression in the period of internal emergency, he was jailed for 20 months.  

Trade Union Activity
It was his life as the worker in the Aspinwall coir factory and his activity among the agricultural labourers that made Comrade VS a working class leader. That grew to decades long experience that steeled him into a hard core trade union leader. He was always in the forefront of the agricultural labourers' struggles. It was Comrade VS who led all those struggles from Alappuzha, the land of peasant struggles.

Political and organisational life
Comrade VS, who joined the Communist Party in 1940 became the division secretary of the party in Alappuzha in 1952 and became the district secretary of the party in Alappuzha in 1956. Then, he became the state secretariat member of the undivided Communist Party in 1957. In 1958 he became the member of the Central Committee of the undivided Communist Party. He was among the 32 comrades who walked out of the central committee of the undivided communist party who fought the erroneous political line regarding the 'national bourgeoisie' and had formed the Communist Party of India (Marxist). At present he is the special invitee of the Central Committee of the CPI (M).

Parliamentary Activities
Comrade VS was in the forefront of the parliamentary struggle right from the beginning as the Communist Party had begun with the struggle in the parliamentary forums in the state of Kerala. He was the district committee secretary of the undivided communist party in Alappuzha and was the chief architect of the electoral victory when Comrade PT Punnoos was fighting elections to the  parliament from the Alappuzha constituency and Comrade Rosamma Punnoos was fighting elections to the Kerala Legislative assembly.
His first electoral fight from Alappuzha constituency was not successful as he lost to Mr K Krishnakuruppu in 1965. In 1967, he was elected to the Kerala Legislative Assembly from the Ambalappuzha constituency as he defeated his rival, the congress leader, Mr A Achyuthan with a margin of 9515 votes.
In both 1970 and 1977,  Comrade VS had fought elections from Ambalappuzha winning in the former and losing in the latter occasion to the same opponent, Mr Kumarapillai from the RSP. In 1977, even when congress and its associated forces were defeated in the major parts of the country, in Kerala, the congress led UDF swept the elections. That was the instance of the electoral defeat of VS for 5585 votes in Ambalappuzha. Afterwards, he stayed aloof from the field of parliamentary activities for a long period.
In 1991 Comrade VS fought from the Mararikulam constituency to the Kerala Legislative Assembly and won for a margin of 9980 votes defeating D Sugathan of the Congress party. At the same time, he lost elections from Mararikulam in 1996. In 2001, winning from the Malampuzha constituency, Comrade VS became the opposition leader in the Legislative Assembly. In 2006, Comrade VS won from the Malampuzha constituency and became the twentieth Chief Minister of Kerala.
In both 2011 and 2026, Comrade VS's constituency was Malampuzha. He won both the elections. During the period 2011-2016 he was the opposition leader and the chairperson of the Administrative Reforms Commission from 2016 August 9 to 2021 January 31.

Party Secretary
Comrade VS was the secretary of the State Committee of the CPI (M) from 1980 to 1992.

Chief Editor of the Deshabhimani
For seven years, Comrade VS was the chief editor of the Deshabhimani daily, the journal of the state committee of the CPI (M), which is one of the leading Malayalam dailies in the state of Kerala. For a long period, he was the editor of 'CHINTHA' , the Marxist theoretical journal, too.