Dr. Anand Lali Seena
Assistant Professor of History, Sree Ayyappa College for Women, Nagercoil.
Introduction
The political developments which took place in India at the end of the Second World War in 1945 had their impact on Travancore. The leftist elements represented by the Congress Socialist group in the Congress organization emerged as the Communist Party in 19391. The Kerala Provincial Congress Committee under Communist leadership took an equivocal stand in favour of a mass struggle to overthrow British rule2. The party undertook the task of organizing the industrial workers and agricultural labourers who lay concentrated in the Alappuzha – Cherthala area of the State. They suffered from untold economic hardships and miseries. The land in this area was monopolized by a handful of janmis who exploited the kudiyans to the utmost with the connivance of the government officials. The coil workers, fishermen, oil workers, toddy-tappers and beedi workers formed a major section of the work force employed here. The Communist Party organized thousands of such industrial and agricultural workers into a dozen powerful Trade Unions under their leadership3. This organized labour force began to resort to collective bargaining to achieve their ends. The landlords and employers now resorted to repressive measures like wage reduction and eviction from land. There was mounting tension between the labourers and peasants on the one side and employers and land-lords on the other 4.
Circumstances that lead to the Great Communist Uprising
The government sent strong contingents of the police force to the Alappuzha – Cherthala area inorder to suppress the Communist movement. As a measure of self defence against mounting police excesses, the Communist Party set up volunteer camps in different centres inorder to impart a kind of semi-military training to the workers5. The government now strengthened the police force stationed in the area and gave them extra ordinary powers to deal with the problems of law and order6. The Communist Party at this time had a team of able leaders like T.V. Thomas, R.Sugathan, P.T. Punnoose and M.N.Govindan Nair who could inspire confidence in the rank and file of the working class. As the situation seemed to be explosive, the government declared the Communist Party and Trade Unions functioning in the Alappuzha – Cherthala belt as unlawful organizations. The leaders of the party and office bearer of the unions were arrested en-masse. In August – September 1946, the workers and peasants in the coastal area of Alappuzha and Cherthala organized a series of strikes in protest against the oppressive policies of the government as well as the rising prices. The stage was thus set for a major confrontation between the government forces and the organized working class under the leadership of the Communist Party.
Punnapra Vayalar Episode
The Communist uprising in Punnapra and Vayalar took place in October 19467. The village of Punnapra lying to the south of Alappuzha town was one of the earliest scenes of the upheaval. In Alappuzha town the workers held a mammoth demonstration on October 22 in response to the call of the all Travancore Trade Union Congress for a general strike. Water transport in the area came to a stand-still. The oil, coir, handloom and such other industries in the area had to be virtually closed down. On October 24, a huge jatha of workers moved from Alappuzha to Punnapra where a strong police force had been stationed to disperse the Communist agitation by force. Similar Communist jathas moved towards Punnapra from other directions as well. A pitched battle took place between the workers and the police at Punnapra8. In the police firing that took place about two hundred demonstrators lost their lives. The workers seized a large number of rifles from the policemen and resorted to counter firing. The Police Inspector and some military officers who were engaged in the encounter were killed on the spot.
The Punnapra episode sparked off a series of violent clashes between the police and the workers elsewhere in the area. The major scene of activity new shifted to Vayalar in Cherthala Taluk. A number of Communist volunteer camps imparting para–military training to the workers were located here. C.K.Kumara Panikkar who came to be known as ‘Vayalar Stalin’ was the most prominent leader of the local Communists9. At this juncture, R.Sankar an important leader of the S.N.D.P.Yogam established contacts with the Communist leaders, allegedly at the instance of Sir C.P.Ramaswami Aiyar and tried to persuade them to wind up the volunteer camps and avoid a head on collision with the authorities who were bent upon crushing the Communist movement by force. However R.Sankar’s mediatory mission failed to achieve the desired result10.
On October 26, the Travancore Government promulgated martial law in the Alappuzha – Cherthala area, Sir C.P.Ramaswami Aiyar himself assuming supreme command of the police and military operations on the 26th and 27th the armed police force stationed in Cherthala town moved against the Communist citadel of Vayalar. The attempts of the police force to land in Vayalar at mid-night were resisted by the workers, many of them even crawled on their bellies and faced the police bullets with unflinching courage. The police opened fire on the island from all the three sides with machine guns. The indiscriminate firing lasted for five hours. The workers who were armed only with bamboo spikes, axes and stones were no match for the well armed police and the military and they could not hold on far long11 what took place at Vayalar on October 27 was veritable massacre for which there are very few parallels in history. A rough estimate puts the number of those killed at 150 while many of the wounded died afterwards. On the same day the military opened fire in two other places in the vicinity killing 120 persons at one place and 10 at the other.
The tragic events of Punnapra and Vayalar came as a rude shock to public opinion in the State. Unofficial estimates put the number of deaths in the whole episode at about a thousand11. It may be noted that the Travancore State Congress did not associate itself with the Punnapra Vayalar uprising as it did not approve of violent methods to attain political objections, but the working committee of the State Congress strongly protested against the repressive policies adopted by the government in dealing with the insurrection. It set up a five member committee consisting of T.M.Varghese, A.J.John, K.A. Gangadhara Menon, A. Sankara Pillai and A.P.Udayathanu to enquire into the Punnapra Vayalar incidents12. A.P.Udayabhanu who wrote the report for the committee has recorded that in the course of the extensive evidence collected by the members during their visit to the area, it was brought to their notice that the Communist volunteers who became fatal victims of firing by the police and the military had been made to believe that the rifles and guns being carried by the police and the military did not have bullets. This partially accounts for the heavy casualties for the Communist volunteers became complacent and over confident 13.
Conclusion
Thought the Communist movement was put down, the sacrifices made by the workers and peasants did not go in vain in the long run. They hastened the end of the autocratic rule of the Diwan and helped in the early establishment of responsible government in Travancore and marked the gradual ending of landlordism in Travancore . Punnapra Vayalar has become a symbol of heroic martyrdom for Communists all over the country. The Martyr’s Memorial at Punnapra has been a place of political pilgrimage for them14.
References
- T.V. Krishnan, Sankhavu (Mal.,) Communist Party Publications, Thiruvananthapuram, 1969, p. 99.
- English Records, Government Secretariat, Trivandrum, No. D.Dis 1973/44/cs.
- Fortnightly Reports for the Second Half of September 1940, State Archives, Calicut.
- N.E.Balaram, Keralathile Communist Prasthanan Adaya Nalukalilude (Malayalam), Thiruvananthapuram, 1973, p.167.
- Fortnightly Reports for the second half of June 1947, State Archives, Calicut.
- P.Narayanan Nair, Ara Noothandilude, (Malayalam), Thiruvananthapuram, 1973, p. 276.
- A. Sreedhara Menon, Kerala and Freedom Struggle, Madras, 2005, p. 373.
- A.Sreedhara Menon, Kerala and Freedom Struggle, Trivandrum, 1997, p. 109.
- C. Bhaskaran, Samaratheechulayil (Malyalam), Kottayam, 1995, p.88.
- A.Sreedhara Menon, Loc.cit., p.110.
- K.A.Keraleeyan, Navejeevan, May 13,1966.
- V.M.Vishnu Bharatiyan, Adimakal Engane Udamakalayi (Malayalam), Trivandrum, 1980, p.132.
- Kaviyoor RaJagopalan, Moyarath Sankaran (Malayalam), Trivandrum, 1989, p.65.
- E.M.S. Namboodurippad, Kerala Charithram Marxist Veekshanathil (Malayalam), Trivandrum, 1997, p.238.