P. Krishna Pillai (19 August 1906 at Vaikom, Kottayam – 19 August 1948 at Muhamma, Alleppey) was a

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

revolutionary from Kerala, India. He was one of the founding leaders of the

Communist Party of India Communist Party of India (CPI) is the oldest Marxist–Leninist communist party in India and one of the nine national parties in the country. The CPI was founded in modern-day Kanpur (formerly known as Cawnpore) on 26 December 1925. H ...

in Kerala, and a poet.

Early life

P. Krishna Pillai was born in a middle-class Nair family of Vaikom. He lost both his parents at an early age and consequently had to drop out of school at the fifth grade. Leaving his home in 1920, he travelled extensively in the north of the Indian subcontinent. When he returned home two years later, he found Kerala seething with social unrest. Subsequently, he took part in a number of popular movements. He was an active volunteer of Vaikom Satyagraha (1924) and

Salt Satyagraha The Salt March, also known as the Salt Satyagraha, Dandi March and the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Mahatma Gandhi. The twenty-four day march lasted from 12 March to 6 April 1930 as a di ...

march from Kozhikode to Payyanur (1930). In 1931 he became the first non Nambothiri Brahmin (he was from Nair Community of Kerala) to ring the temple bell of the Guruvayoor temple. Krishna Pillai Memorial at Chellikandathil House Hideout of

Krishna Pillai Memorial at Chellikandathil House Hideout of

Political life

Krishna Pillai who began his political life as a Gandhian and a member of the Indian National Congress in his early youth had gradually transformed into a socialist with communist leanings. And when in 1934 Congress Socialist workers formed the Congress Socialist Party in Bombay, Krishna Pillai was appointed its secretary in Kerala, all the while functioning under the banner of the Indian National Congress. By 1936, Krishna Pillai who until then had concentrated his political activities to the

Malabar Malabar may refer to the following: People * Malabars, people originating from the Malabar region of India * Malbars or Malabars, people of Tamil origin in Réunion Places * Malabar Coast, or Malabar, a region of the southwestern shoreline o ...

region now campaigned in the Cochin and Travancore. In 1938, he organized the famous worker's strike in

Alappuzha Alappuzha or Alleppey () is the administrative headquarters of Alappuzha district in States and territories of India, state of Kerala, India. The Kerala Backwaters, Backwaters of Alappuzha are one of the most popular tourist attractions in Indi ...

(Alleppey), which turned out to be a great success and one of the inspiring factors behind the

Punnapra-Vayalar Struggle The Punnapra-Vayalar killings (October 1946) was a militant communist movement in the Princely State of Travancore, British India against the Prime Minister, C. P. Ramaswami Iyer and the state.Manorama Yearbook 2011, ISSN 0970-9096 Historians ...

of 1946 and the eventual downfall of the rule of C. P. Ramaswami Iyer in Travancore. The successful transformation of the Malabar unit of the Congress Socialist Party into the Kerala unit of the

(CPI) was mainly due to the untiring work of Krishna Pillai. The formal formation of the CPI unit in Kerala was on 26 January 1940. Years later in 1948 when the CPI accepted the

Calcutta Thesis Calcutta Thesis is the popular name for the resolution adopted by 2nd Congress of the Communist Party of India held at Kolkata in 1948. Overview The Communist Party of India's second congress at Calcutta on 28 February 1948, the Zhdanov line o ...

which included in it the express need for an armed struggle against the Indian state, CPI faced a nationwide ban and most of its leaders including Krishna Pillai were forced into hiding.

Death

While hiding in a worker's hut in Muhamma, Krishna Pillai sustained a snakebite and succumbed to it, aged just 42.

In popular culture

Samuthirakani portrays Pillai in the 2014 film ''

Vasanthathinte Kanal Vazhikalil ''Vasanthathinte Kanal Vazhikalil'' is a 2014 Malayalam-language political drama film directed by Anil V Nagendran, who is also the producer, writer and lyricist. The film stars Samuthirakani and Tamil actress Thamarai in the lead roles with an ...

''. In the grand strategy video game '' Hearts of Iron IV'', Krishna Pillai becomes the leader of India, should it turn communist.

References

External links

*Prakash Karat
Kerala's 'First Communist'
*R. Krishnakumar

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pillai, P. Krishna 1906 births Indian independence activists from Kerala Indian National Congress politicians from Kerala Trade unionists from Kerala Communist Party of India politicians from Kerala Malayali politicians 1948 deaths Indian atheists People from Vaikom 20th-century Indian politicians Prisoners and detainees of British India