A history exhibition organised in connection with the three-day district conference of the Communist Party of India ( Marxist) here offers a glimpse into the mass movements and struggles led by Communist leaders during the erstwhile British regime as well as after Independence.
One of the attractions is the lifelike replica of the beedi-making unit at Kannur with dummies of workers. One of them is seen reading a newspaper, with voiceover from a recorded device.
This is accompanied by a poster of the Emergency days in Kerala which saw political leaders, students, workers, youth and cultural activists imprisoned indiscriminately. It also mentions the “concentration camps” at Kakkayam, Maloorkunnu and Sasthamangalam.
The exhibition features the coming to power of the first Communist government on April 5, 1957 led by E.M.S. Nambooridipad. The dismissal of the EMS Ministry on July 31, 1959 was portrayed as black episode in democracy.
Another poster depicts the formation of the second EMS Ministry in 1967 which carried forward the measures initiated by the first Ministry.
The Onchiyam firing of April 30, 1948 was another representation at the exhibition.
The firing by the Malabar Special Police killed eight protesters and two people were brutally killed in lockup.
Yet another poster recalls P.T. Bhaskara Panicker getting elected as the president of the Malabar district board in 1954.
Salt Satyagraha in Malabar, Gandhiji in Kozhikode, starvation march from Malabar to the Madras Assembly and Guruvayur Satyagraha were featured prominently at the show.
The formation of the Communist party was also represented through various posters.
