VS ACHUTHANANDAN began his active social life through trade union activities in the latter half of 1930s and entered politics by joining the Travancore State Congress in 1938. He became a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) in 1940, just one year after the formation of its Kerala unit. In the period up to 1980, within the early forty years of his political life, he was imprisoned for five years and six months and had been forced to go underground for four and half years. He was one of the state secretariat members of undivided CPI in 1957. He is the only living Keralite among the 32 members of the National Council of the undivided CPI who had quit that party, differing with the prevailing revisionist political ideological line there, to form the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 1964. He served as the Secretary of the Kerala State Committee of the CPI (M) between 1980 and 1992 and was a member of the CPI(M) Politburo (PB) from 1985, until he was removed from the PB due to disciplinary action. He is the senior most leader of the CPI(M) in India.

Marxist Green Politics

Friedrich Engels had laid down the basic tenets of Marxist Green Politics nearly two centuries ago. Comrade VS has been uncompromising in upholding them in Kerala at a time when capitalist development cravings began to cause irreparable damage to the environment and livelihood of ordinary people. He vehemently campaigned for environmental protection and fought against the ruthless tendency of the rich to exploit natural resources for temporary profit. There is no other political leader in Kerala who so forcefully and persistently fought for the cause of environmental protection.

Paddy Field and Wetland Conservation

When the reclamation of paddy fields became rampant in Kerala for the construction of tourist resorts and residential bungalows, the farm workers of the State found in Comrade VS the spearhead of their agitation for survival. Large tracts of paddy wetland reclaimed for building tourist resorts and growing cash crops were restored to their original condition through the direct intervention of the party’s farm workers’ union. The saplings of plantain and coconut palms planted in the reclaimed areas were summarily uprooted by the agitators, creating a controversy in the State. The media and his political adversaries branded the stir as “Vettinirathal”, implying that the agitators were razing down all the progressive initiatives in the State. This aggressive intervention of the farm workers, with Comrade VS leading them from the front, subsequently paved the way for the enactment of an Act for the protection of paddy fields and wetland by the State’s Legislative Assembly.

Encroachment of pristine shola forests of Mathikettan

In 2002, when VS was the Leader of the Opposition in Kerala, the shola forests of Mathikettan Hills in Idukki District witnessed a sudden surge of encroachment with the apparent patronage of certain political leaders. With the media reporting the encroachment as it got into full swing, Comrade VS, who was 79 years old then, went trekking up the hills to personally inspect the outrage. Within and outside State Legislative Assembly, he unleashed a scathing attack on the State Government on that issue. Very soon, the Government was forced to declare Mathikettan Shola as a National park.

Interventions in Marayoor sandalwood smuggling racket and land encroachment in Munnar and Wagamon.

As the Opposition Leader, VS took a strong stand against land encroachments in Munnar and Wagamon. His campaign against the sandal smuggling mafia of Marayoor is part of the history. It was VS as the Opposition Leader and subsequentlyas the Chief Minister of the State whoput a check on these eco-destructive activities.

Overexploitation of groundwater resources of Plachimada

Plachimada is a village located in the rain-shadow region of Palakkad District. Coco-Cola, the multinational soft drink company, started a bottling plant in the villagein the late 1990’s aggravating the drinking water problems of the area. Comrade VS stood with the local people who started a long drawn out agitation that culminated in the closure of the bottling plant in 2000. Comrade VS's intervention in the issue was rooted in his conviction that the local people had unquestionable right over their land and water resources and that right was never negotiable.

Solidarity with the Endosulfan victims

In the vast cashew plantations of Kasaragod District, aerial spraying of Endosulfan, a highly toxic pesticide, for pest control was going on for a long time. Most of these plantations were owned by the State Government.
In villages surrounding these cashew plantations, hundreds of cases of mysterious maladies among the people and children born with severe abnormalities were being reported. Comrade VS solidly stood behind the agitation of the local people against the use of endosulfan that ended the aerial spraying of the pesticide. When he became the Chief Minister in 2006, the State Government gave a compensation of Rs.50,000 each to the families of the people who had 

Then a mass movement against the use of Endosulfan was emerged. In 2006 the state government distributed a compensation of Rs.50,000 each to 135 families afflicted by the pesticide poisoning. As the Chief Minister, he also initiated steps to draw up a comprehensive package of assistance for the treatment and rehabilitation of the people affected by the pesticide poisoning. This package of assistance, which included free medical attention, financial assistance and government pension to the victims, became a reality subsequently. Chief Minister VS also lead various agitations including a hunger strike for banning Endosulphan in the country.