Anandan, a three-time MLA who used the Assembly platform to champion the case of the working class, was 86.
Published Oct 05, 2023 | 10:13 PM ⚊ Updated Oct 05, 2023 | 10:14 PM
File photo of Anathalavattom Anandan. (Wikimedia Commons)
Veteran CPI(M) leader Anathalavattom Anandan breathed his last in Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday, 5 October.
He was best known for his immense contributions to strengthening the trade union movement in Kerala by bringing workers in traditional unorganised sectors — like coir and allied industries — into the organised sector and prompting them to engage in collective bargaining to rescue themselves from exploitation.
Anandan, a three-time MLA who used the Assembly platform to champion the case of the working class, was 86.
The tireless champion of trade unionism had been undergoing treatment at the Government Medical College Hospital in Thiruvananthapuram for the last few months.
Anathalavattom Anandan at an old party meeting.
At the time of his death, he was the state president of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), the trade union wing of the CPI(M).
Born on 22 April, 1937, in the village of Chilakkoor near Varkala in the Thiruvananthapuram district, Anandan was least concerned about whether his party was on the treasury benches or in Opposition while leading agitations for the just causes of the state’s working class, whom he always held close to his heart.
He joined the then-undivided Communist Party of India (CPI) at the age of 19 in 1956, a year before the party formed its first government in Kerala, which was incidentally the first democratically elected Communist regime in the whole world.
He soon became an undisputed leader of coir workers in the Attingal-Chirayinkeezhu belt of the Thiruvananthapuram district, where the workforce was mostly women, and the meagre payments always kept them and their families in sheer poverty and deprivation.
CPI(M) leader Anathalavattam Anandan
He made his entry into politics in 1954 by leading a coir workers’ protest demanding a hike in wages by one ana — then 1/16th of a rupee, which itself was made of 64 paise or pice.
That strike — led by the Travancore Coir Workers Union — was the first of many Anandan organised for the working-class people. He was jailed on several occasions for protesting.
After the EMS Nambooiripad-led CPI government came to power in the state, Anandan led a massive protest by coir workers before the state secretariat.
It soon attracted national attention as it was a strike involving ruling-party workers and leaders, and the objective was to force the government to initiate a course correction by increasing the workers’ wages.
The workers were demanding the implementation of the wage increases announced by the previous Pattom A Thanupillai government, which remained unimplemented by the succeeding Communist government.
“This strike work is not meant for getting Ambassador cars for travel. Our demand is not for luxurious Dunolp beds. The sole objective of this strike was to get fair wages to buy rice to fight hunger. It aims only at alleviating poverty,” Anandan famously said in one of the meetings organised as part of the strike work.
When the strike initiated a heated debate on the morality of cadres of a ruling-party organisation struggling against its government, EMS himself justified such struggles.
The theoretician said there was nothing extraordinary about a Communist party engaging in administration and strike work simultaneously. He thought only strikes could help course correction, and no government — whether that of the Communists or others — could address all grievances together.
He also vindicated the Anandan line that strikes were inevitable to protect the interests of the working class, even under a Communist regime.
When the party split into CPI and CPI(M) in 1964, he stuck with the breakaway CPI(M) and emerged as one of its strong votaries in the state.
He represented Attingal in the Kerala Assembly on three different occasions, and on each occasion, he was keen to highlight the concerns of the working class.
After becoming a state committee member of the CPI(M) in 1985, Anandan was elevated to the party’s state secretariat in 2008.
Within the party, he was always critical of the top leaders’ unhealthy tendencies and parliamentary deviations.
Anandan was the president of Coirfed, the apex federation of primary coir co-operatives functioning in the state, for 12 years, and later became the vice-chairman of the Coir Board.
He first ran for an Assembly seat in 1987 and won. However, he failed to retain the Attingal seat in 1991, losing by 316 votes to the Congress’ T Sharathchandraprasad.
Five years later, Attingal backed him, and he returned to the Assembly after defeating Vakkom Purushothaman.
His final stint in the Assembly was in the 2006 polls, when he won by a margin of 11,208 against C Mohanachandran.
Between 2006 and 2011, Anandan was the party’s chief whip in the Assembly. During the Emergency in India, he went underground for a year and a half and was declared a wanted fugitive under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act. He was arrested in November 1976 and detained until the lifting of the Emergency.
Aanathalavattom Anandan at a coir workers’ meeting.
Anandan was the leader of three state marches of the Coir Workers’ Union.
The first was in 1973 to protest against the local police killing of Comrade Ammu, a coir worker at Vazhamuttom in Thiruvananthapuram district.
The second was in 1974, to press for better work and wages. The third is remembered as the famous Coir Strike of 1975.
Anandan travelled widely to various parts of the world to promote coir geotextiles and find markets for coir products.
He visited countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Italy, Switzerland, and Egypt. He also visited various Gulf countries.
As part of his activities in the Assembly, Anandan served as the chairman of the Estimates Committee, the Public Undertaking Committee, and the Committee on Environment, as well as a member of the Public Accounts Committee (2008–11).
In the last seven years, Anandan was a regular presence in Malayalam television channel news discussions, strongly defending his party and its government.
“His contributions to the trade union movement in Kerala were immense. Till his last breath, Anandan stood for the larger interests of the working class,” said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in his condolence message.
The working class movement has lost one of its doyens with the passing of Comrade Anathalavattom Anandan. By spearheading workers’ struggles, he had played a pivotal role in the growth of the Communist Party. His legacy serves as a source of inspiration to continue fighting for a… pic.twitter.com/x6ujyhzOf5
— Pinarayi Vijayan (@pinarayivijayan) October 5, 2023
