Red Salute to the Onchiyam martyrs for their supreme sacrifice.

Ten communists of Onchiyam (in Kozhikode district of Kerala) laid down their lives in the fight against ruling class oppression on 30 April 1948.

Onchiyam saw the growth of a powerful peasant and communist movement from 1939 onwards, when the first cell of the Communist Party in the area was formed under the leadership of Comrade Mantoti Kannan. The communists organised the people against feudal oppression and colonial rule.

Hoarding and black-marketeering of food grains by ruling class elements had made the living conditions of the common people miserable. The Karshaka Sangham (Kisan Sabha) led by the communists seized the hoarded food grains and distributed them to the poor. They fought against superstition and oppressive customs.

The communist movement in Malabar continued to grow in strength after India won independence in 1947 and the Congress party came to power. The Communist Party led powerful struggles against food scarcity and price rise, and led the struggles of tenant farmers against feudal landlords.

The Congress government and the ruling classes were shaken by the enormous growth in the popularity of the Communist Party. The then notorious Malabar Special Police (MSP), and the goon militia (known as the Desha Raksha Sena) of the Congress party were used to unleash brutalities against the communists.

At the end of April 1948, a meeting of the Kurumbranad Taluk Committee of the Communist Party was to be held at Onchiyam, in order to explain the decisions of the 2nd Congress of the Party held in Calcutta in February that year. An MSP squad, accompanied by Congress / Desha Raksha Sena goons, proceeded to Onchiyam to apprehend the communist leaders. Early in the morning on 1948, 30 April, they barged into Mantoti Kannan’s house. But he was not present there. Enraged, they went to the houses of other party workers and common people to terrorise them. An elderly peasant, Puliyullathil Choyi, and his son Kanaran, were arrested. The villagers gathered to demand the release of the arrested peasants. But the police, led by Inspector Talaima, responded by firing at them.

Eight comrades – Alavakkal Krishnan, KM Sankaran, VP Gopalan, VK Raghootti, CK Chathu, Menon Kanaran, Puravil Kanaran and Parollathil Kanaran – died in police firing.

Comrades Mantoti Kannan and Kollacheri Kumaran were tortured in the lock-up by the police and were martyred there. As blood gushed out of his body due to the police assault, Comrade Mantoti Kannan used the blood to draw the hammer and sickle on the prison wall before he died.

The glorious memory of the Onchiyam martyrs continue to inspire generations of people to take up cudgels against the unjust social system and to fight to build a new world.

In the memory of the fallen comrades of Onchiyam!, Long live the struggle for workers’ and peasants rights! The Onchiyam martyrs live on!