Kerala remebers its "Comrade"

Known to the masses simply as Sakhavu (comrade), P. Krishna Pillai was `Kerala's first communist', home-grown, impishly bold and acutely sensitive to injustice, a product of the very movement he had helped fashion during a short, exceptionally dedicated life of 42 years. Since the early 1930s, no other leader in Kerala had been so successful in organising the masses, in spotting talent and in moulding the cadre and their commitment. At the time of his untimely death on August 19, 1948, of snake bite, Krishna Pillai was perhaps the most familiar face in the homes of the labourers and peasants of Kerala, a leader known for his courage and dynamism, humaneness and uncompromising stand against exploitation and oppression. As EMS wrote later, if he acted as the "intellectual centre" of the undivided Communist Party of India (CPI), Krishna Pillai was the "itinerant centre" entrusted with the job of going to every nook and cranny of the State "to meet comrades individually" and to make the party "a united entity, acting as one".

Memorial day functions were conducted across the state by both the communist parties. CPIM State Secretary Com. Pinarayi Vijayan and CPI State Secretary Com. C K Chandrappan paid floral tributes to Krishna Pillai at the memorials at Valiya Chudukad in Alappuzha and at Kannarkadu in Muhamma.

On August 19, 1948, while Krishna Pillai was staying incognito in a coir worker's hut at Kannarkat (Muhamma) in Alappuzha district, he was bitten by a snake. Despite the best efforts of those who gave him shelter and the party workers who were responsible for his safety, Krishna Pillai died within half an hour of the incident. With the police in constant vigil for his arrest, the best of medical treatment was hard to come by. Stunned followers later travelled with his body for hours, on foot and in a hired `lorry', first to Alappuzha town, then to Kollam, several hours away.

It was when Krishna Pillai was lying on the floor and preparing a speech to be read out at the CPI State committee that the snake bit him. He had started writing on a piece of paper, as if addressing the party: "There is criticism, but no self-criticism... " Then, just before he died, he scribbled on the same sheet of paper: "My eyes are getting dark. I feel weak and tired. I know what will happen. Comrades, Forward! Salutations."