AUGUST 19 - P KRISHNA PILLAI MEMORIDAL DAY

P. Krishna Pillai (1906 -1948)

P. Krishna Pillai is the founder leader of the Communist movement in Kerala. His life, style of social and public work, leadership, humanism and above all his communist ethics will always be a textbook for all generations to learn and imbibe. Popularly known as ‘Comrade’ , Krishna Pillai was born in 1906 in Vaikom. He became an orphan at the age of fourteen. He went to Allahabad at the age of 21 to learn Hindi and returned to work as an activist of Dakshin Bharatha Hindi Prachar Sabha. When he took the position of flag bearer in the march from Vadakara to Payyannur to participate in the salt sathyagraha in January 1930. Krishna Pillai’s life became intertwined with modern Kerala’s history.

He was in the forefront of organizing the national movement, Congress Socialist Party and late the Communist Party in Kerala. Krishna Pillai became a part of all these movements which came into being in the onward course of progressive Kerala. These was hardly any nook or corner in the state where he had not set foot, ushering in the minds of change and proclaiming the spirit for struggle.

Krishna Pillai was the Secretary of the first Communist group formed in Kozhikkode in 1937. he had to do many jobs for a living. At the same time he was active in Hindi teaching and in the national movement. Suffering and imprisonment became part of his life. He was one of the Pioneers in organizing the coir workers in Alappuzha, cotton mill workers in Kozhikkode, Beedi and weaving workers in Kannur and the peasants in Malabar.

He participated in the secret conference in Pinarayi - Parappuram which saw the birth of Indian Communist Party unit in Kerala and became its first secretary. He travelled extensively across the state. He could recall by name almost all the important activists of the party in Kerala. Moving from one village to another he recruited cadres into the party and set up underground shelters for the party workers when the party was banned. His legendary life came to an end during one of his underground days. Krishna Pillai became inseparable from the working class movement and the life of ordinary people in the state. The undying spirit of a Communist could be seen in his last moments also, when he was bitten by a snake on 19 August 1948. while he was staying in an underground shelter in Kannarkattu is Alappuzha. The last words uttered by him ‘Comrades, Forward!’ are a constant source of inspiration for the Communists in Kerala then and now.