Veteran Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] leader M.M. Lawrence’s autobiography, set to be published on Saturday, is likely to lift the lid on factionalism that had plagued the party for long besides being heavily critical of another veteran leader and former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who recently turned 100, for his alleged role in propagating it.
The autobiography titled Ormacheppu Thurannappol is being published by DC Books. In a scathing attack on Mr. Achuthanandan, the book accuses him of having used people like a squad for building his personal cult, as per excerpts from the book. This was not just against communist ideology but also the communist organisational principles.
On factionalism
Factionalism in the party had its genesis in Ernakulam district. Mr. Lawrence accused the late CPI(M) leader A.P. Varkey, who succeeded him as the Ernakulam district secretary, of kick-starting it using some workers. Mr. Achuthanandan used Mr. Varkey to create factionalism, the book alleged. Mr. Achuthanandan had used some in the party leadership also towards that end. The late leader and former Chief Minister E.K. Nayanar had openly levelled this accusation at a party congress.
Those who had aligned with Mr. Achuthanandan at that time had later fallen out with him. The embers of factionalism are yet to be doused in Ernakulam district. The district has witnessed a lot of drama, including an incident involving spy camera, since then. Factionalism divided the party workers and disrupted their unity from which the party is yet to recover in the district, Mr. Lawrence wrote in the book
The CPI(M) had to oust its then district secretary Gopi Kottamurikkal, who initially was a staunch loyalist of Mr. Achuthanandan before he switched sides to the Pinarayi Vijayan camp, following the spy camera episode.
Impact on young workers
Mr. Lawrence said that many misguided young party workers fell victim to factionalism that was well-planned. When they realised their folly, many of them confessed to him in private that they were misled, he claimed in the book.
The book further alleged that Mr. Achuthanandan, then State secretary, was discontented and doubted whether his supremacy was affected by the constant presence of the late leader E.M.S. Namboodiripad at AKG Centre, the State party headquarters. Though Mr. Achuthanandan did not openly exhibit his discontent, his acts often reflected it.
Mr. Achuthanandan had tried in vain to convince the party central leadership that Namboodiripad’s article about taking the Indian Union Muslim League and a faction of the Kerala Congress into the LDF fold was against the party line, the book alleged.
