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The Frontline Years Selected Articles
From 1992 till his death in 1998, EMS wrote a column in the newsmagazine Frontline. The present volume puts together a selection of his Frontline columns. This volume is a testimony to the variety of his interests, his erudition, and his ability to communicate complex questions of history and theory in simple and elegant prose. EMS discusses, among other things, the roles and contributions of Congress leaders from Dadabhai Naoroji and Ranade to Gandhi, Subhas Bose and Nehru to Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh; he discusses the thoughts and relevance of Marxist theoreticians including Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Mao Tse-tung and Stalin, as well as Nelson Mandela; he writes on religion, philosophy and art; he discusses important questions of the Indian polity including planning and centre-state relations; he comments on the Indian Communist movement (including on the decision not to join the United Front government at the centre in 1996); and he writes about the radical experiments in Kerala.
E.M.S. NAMBOODIRIPAD (1909–1998) was among India’s pioneering Communist leaders and a Marxist theoretician of enormous stature. He became Chief Minister of Kerala on two occasions, in 1957 at the head of the historic first Communist government, and again in 1967 as head of a seven-party coalition. He was the author of several books and hundreds of articles and essays.
E.M.S. NAMBOODIRIPAD (1909–1998) was among India’s pioneering Communist leaders and a Marxist theoretician of enormous stature. He became Chief Minister of Kerala on two occasions, in 1957 at the head of the historic first Communist government, and again in 1967 as head of a seven-party coalition. He was the author of several books and hundreds of articles and essays.
- GenresPolitics
240 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2009
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About the author
E.M.S. Namboodiripad
39 books58 followersElamkulam Manakkal Sankaran Namboodiripad (13 June 1909 – 19 March 1998), popularly EMS, was an Indian communist politician and theorist, who served as the first Chief Minister of Kerala state in 1957–59 and then again in 1967–69. As a member of the Communist Party of India (CPI), he became the first non-Indian National Congress chief minister in the Indian republic. In 1964, he led a faction of the CPI that broke away to form the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM).
As chief minister, Namboodiripad pioneered radical land and educational reforms in Kerala, which helped it become the country's leader in social indicators. It is largely due to his commitment and guidance that the CPM, of which he was Politburo member and general secretary for 14 years, has become such a domineering political force, playing a vital role in India's new era of coalition politics.
EMS, Kesari Balakrishna Pillai, Joseph Mundassery, M. P. Paul and K. Damodaran were architects of 'Jeevat Sahitya Prastanam', which later came to known as Purogamana Sahitya Prastanam (Progressive Association for Arts and Letters). Though Kesari was considered to be one of the visionaries of the Progressive Movement for Arts and Letters in Kerala, serious difference of opinion emerged later between full-time Communist Party activists and other personalities, namely Kesari and Joseph Mundassery. In this context, EMS famously accused Kesari of being a "Petit-Bourgeois intellectual", an appellation he later retracked. EMS also acknowledged some of the earlier misconceptions of the Communist Party with respect to the Progressive Literature and Arts Movement. This debate is known as 'Rupa Bhadrata Vivadam', an important milestone in the growth of Modern Malayalam Literature.
As chief minister, Namboodiripad pioneered radical land and educational reforms in Kerala, which helped it become the country's leader in social indicators. It is largely due to his commitment and guidance that the CPM, of which he was Politburo member and general secretary for 14 years, has become such a domineering political force, playing a vital role in India's new era of coalition politics.
EMS, Kesari Balakrishna Pillai, Joseph Mundassery, M. P. Paul and K. Damodaran were architects of 'Jeevat Sahitya Prastanam', which later came to known as Purogamana Sahitya Prastanam (Progressive Association for Arts and Letters). Though Kesari was considered to be one of the visionaries of the Progressive Movement for Arts and Letters in Kerala, serious difference of opinion emerged later between full-time Communist Party activists and other personalities, namely Kesari and Joseph Mundassery. In this context, EMS famously accused Kesari of being a "Petit-Bourgeois intellectual", an appellation he later retracked. EMS also acknowledged some of the earlier misconceptions of the Communist Party with respect to the Progressive Literature and Arts Movement. This debate is known as 'Rupa Bhadrata Vivadam', an important milestone in the growth of Modern Malayalam Literature.
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February 13, 2021
Well articulated essays spanning various topics of national and international interests from a Marxist - Leninist perspective. He critiques the Soviet and Chinese way of socialism by pointing out the merits and denouncing the Left Sectarianism, Opportunism and Revisionism that caught hold of during the times of Stalin, Mao, Khrushchev and Gorbachev. He stresses the importance of adaptating Marxism-Leninism with Indian characteristics. His evaluation of Gandhian principles set against the Proletarian Revolution of Communists is very insightful. This work is a great pleasure for a leftist to read on various topics of past century and to contemplate on the future of communist movement in India.
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