V.S. Achuthanandan combined class politics with mass politics

Among the leaders of the communist movement in Kerala, there is no parallel to comrade V.S. Achuthanandan.

Born into a poor working-class family, he did not even receive a formal education. At that time, most of the leaders who came to the communist movement were from either aristocratic families or educated people from middle-class families and forward castes. VS had only basic education, yet the social consciousness that he developed was without parallels.

In his teens, he went to stitching tents for Aspinwall Company to earn a living. It was from this background that he became the most powerful Opposition Leader Kerala has ever seen and later became the Chief Minister.