The attack on the Edappally police station by Communist activists in 1950 turned into an unexpected frenzy in which nobody should have died, recalls M.M. Lawrence, inveterate Communist and leader of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), on the eve of his 90th birthday on Friday.
“We had gone to the Ponekkara railway station for the all-India Railway workers’ strike in March 1950 when two comrades, N.K. Madhavan and Varadutty, were arrested and taken to the Edappally police station. There was a frenzy when we got to the police station to try and free them and a few policemen were beaten up,” he said. “There were only 17 of us that day but the police filed cases against 32 people.” After the incident, Mr. Lawrence and another Communist leader, K.C. Mathew, went into hiding for a month before they were arrested.
Mr. Lawrence traces his foray into the Communist movement back to 1942, when he, inspired by his elder brother, was swayed by CPI leader P.C. Joshi's promises of bringing in workers’ rule. He recalls that Communists were both reviled and feared then. “The Church was also against us and called me sinful for refusing to get married in a Catholic church,” he said.
Mr. Lawrence stands by his faith that despite its setback in the elections, the Left will recover as it continues to work for farmers and workers. “The Left began to weaken when some of the leaders wanted to keep power for themselves. The people’s trust in the Communists may have fallen, but it will be rebuilt as long as the CPI and the CPI(M) forget their differences and stand together,” he said.
He is critical of the ruling dispensation at the Centre, which he believes governs for the rich. “The government has placed RSS men in all key positions safeguarding democracy and the RSS doesn’t believe in democracy,” he said.
