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K. Muthiah

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இந்தப் பக்கத்தை தமிழில் வாசிக்க: கே.முத்தையா

K. Muthiah

K. Muthiah (January 14, 1918 - June 10, 2003) was one of the leaders of the Communist Party of India from Tamil Nadu. He took part in the Indian Freedom Struggle. He was a journalist, novelist, and Honorary President of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers and Artists Association.

Birth, Education

K. Muthiah was born on January 14, 1918, the first child of Valliyamai and Karuppaiyathevar, who was a village munsif (a local judge) for 11 villages, including Mudappulikkadu in the Peravurani village panchayat in the Tanjore district, Tamil Nadu.

Muthiah completed his primary education up to the fifth standard in Mudappulikkadu. His father refused to let him study further. Muthiah continued his studies with the support of his uncle Karuppaiya Thevar and Aunt Veerammal. He completed his school education at the Peravurani District Board Primary School and later at the Pattukottai District Board High School. He mentions in his autobiography that he finished his studies while working on a farm.

After Muthiah came second in his high school final examinations, Karuppaiyathevar, who wanted him to study further, took him to Nadimuthu Pillai, the leader of the Justice Party, for help. Nadimuthu Pillai gave a letter of recommendation addressed to his friend V. Chidambaram, an associate professor at Annamalai University. Though he joined Annamalai University for his higher studies, he did not graduate due to his involvement in political struggles.

Personal Life

Under the presiding over of Nehru printers Arumugam Pillai, Muthiah married Yamuna, the second daughter of Trichy railway worker Nadesampillai, on June 22, 1950. Muthiah's father refused to attend, as the marriage was a caste-denied marriage and only his mother and brother attended the wedding. Muthiah was then a full-time employee of the Janashakthi office in Chennai and in charge of a database section. When Muthiah was arrested in 1949, Muthiah's wife Yamuna and 10 other women were imprisoned for a month for protesting for the release of the security prisoners.

Political career

Student Leader

In 1932, Muthiah was attracted to the speech by E.V. Ramasamy Periayar, who had just completed a tour of the Soivet Russia, about its communist community and became interested in politics. In the same year, he went with his student friends to take part in the toddy shop picket led by the freedom fighter Veerachami Thevar. He took part in protests like the boycott of British goods. In the Peravurani area he formed the "Youth Association of 11 Countries" with Kuruvikkarambai as its headquarters and became its leader. He invited Sardar Vedaratnam Pillai, V. V. Giri, and p. Jeevanandam for a conference of the association.

Ten personalities from the university, including K. Baladandayutham and Muthiah, attended the Congress Socialist Party Conference held at Dindivanam in 1938. Impressed by the speeches of P. Jeevanadam and B. Ramamoorthy, Muthiah brought them to the university for a meeting amidst fierce opposition. K. Baladandayutham and and a few other students were suspended. Students went on strike. The students’ hostel was closed. K. Baladandayutham’s education was interrupted. Subsequently Muthiah, who had been the communist student secretary, became the Communist student leader.

Life in Exile

R. Umanath, who came to Annamalai University in 1939 for special studies, became Muthiah’s friend. Without writing their final exams, they escaped to Trichy, knowing that the police were planning to arrest them. Muthiah joined the Railway Trade Union Movement in Trichy and did union work for some time. The police  discovered the Communist secret centres and arrested Mohan Kumaramangalam, b. Rammurthy, Subramania Sharma, Keraliyan, Anumantrao, Umanath, and others who lived there in exile. Muthiah was appointed by the party to do party work in Tamil Nadu, to translate English documents, to deliver party letters from town to town, and to provide communist training to student groups.

Party Position

The British government lifted the sanctions off the Communist Party in 1942 as the Party declared its support for the British in World War II. In the same year, at Mohan Kumaramangalam's house in Tiruchengode, the party elected a new State Committee. Mohan Kumaramangalam became the state secretary of the party and Muthiah became the Chennai district secretary.

Imprisonment

In 1945, the Communist Party of India campaigned for the release of Subhash Chandra Bose's Indian National Army personnel. On February 23, 1946, Mayandi Bharathi took part in the Muthiah-led protest in Chennai in support of the Royal Indian Navy's struggle. On February 23, 1947, Muthiah was arrested under the Emergency Ordinance issued by the Prakasam’s Cabinet and imprisoned in Vellore. In prison, he took diligent notes of the comments of his fellow inmates E.M.S. Namboothiripad and N.K. Krishnan in their political classes and published them in two volumes under the title Marxia Bodhanai (Marxist Teaching).

After the Indian Independence, the Communist Party of India was banned by the Sardar Patel-led government in 1948 for engaging in armed insurrection, according to the Calcutta Declaration put forward by B.T. Ranadive. Muthiah was arrested and imprisoned.

Election

When the Communist Party of India adopted the electoral system and began to function as a political party, Muthiah contested and lost the 1952 general election in independent India in the Adirampattinam Assembly constituency.

Split in the Party

When the Communist Party of India split in 1964, Muthiah sided with the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Journalism

Muthiah ran a handwritten magazine called Sengodi (the Red Flag) when the party was banned. The Communist Party decided to re-launch Janashakthi and appointed Muthiah as its editor-in-chief. He ran Janashakthi for 10 years from 1952 to 1962.

In 1963, Muthiah was in charge of the Marxist Party's Theekadhir news magazine. When the party's state committee office was shifted from Chennai to Madurai in 1969, the magazine too was shifted to Madurai. When the party’s literary monthly magazine Semmalar started in 1970, he functioned as its editor as well. He was the editor of the party magazines from 1963 to 1990.

Progressive Writers Association

After the party’s split, Muthiah co-founded the Tamil Nadu Progressive Writers' Association with writer K. Chinnappabarathi, which was started by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in 1970 as an alternative to the Kalai Ilakkiya Perumandram. He was in charge of its leadership.

Literary Work

K. Muthiah wrote a series of literary reviews and short stories for Theekadhir Weekly supplements and Semmalar Magazine. K. Muthiah, who had a deep faith in socialist realist aesthetics, explored Tamil Classic Literature on that basis. He wrote novels based on socialist realism. Both of his novels, Ulaikalam (Furnace) and Vilainilam (Farmland), are notable. D. Selvaraj, K. Chinnappa Bharathi, M. Kamuthurai, Melanmai Ponnuchamy are the writers who adopted socialist realist aesthetics.

Death

K. Muthiah passed away on June 10, 2003 in Madurai.

Memoirs

  • K. Muthiah: Ezhuthulagil Arainootrandu (K. Muthiah: Half a Century in Writing)- Biography. N. Ramakrishnan.
  • K. Muthiah - Vazhvum Paniyum (K. Muthiah Life and work) : Jananesan.
    K. Muthiah

Literary Significance

K. Muthiah wrote in line with the official positions of the Communist Party of India. He wrote  novels with a portrayal of life designed to suit its political agenda. This is called socialist realism. His novels exemplify the socialist realist vision put forward by the Communist Party and help to understand the party's position.

Works

Literary Study
  • Tamil Ilakkiyangal Koorum Varga Samudayam
  • Silapathikaram Unmaiyum Purattum
  • Ramayanam Or Aaivu
  • Marxiamum Tamil Kalai Ilakkiyangalum
Political Study
  • Veera Parambarai
  • Sattamandrathil Naam
  • DMK Enge Selkirathu
  • Ithuthan Annaiysama?
Novel
  • Ulaikkalam
  • Vilainilam
  • Imayam
Translation
  • Thathuvathin Varumai (Karl Marx)
Plays
  • Sevvanam (Play)
  • Puthiya Thalaimurai (Play)
  • Aeroti Magan (Play), 2012

References


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