“Our vision is to implement Socialism and Communism in this country. To achieve this, emotions like faith and the concept of God must be eradicated from people’s minds. If we want to unite the people, we must abolish religious divisions and related practices.”
The above excerpt is from a speech by Periyar E.V. Ramasamy, the well-known Dravidian patriarch, delivered at the 1931 Virudhunagar Conference.
Periyar is widely recognized as a radical visionary who fought against Brahminical hegemony and pioneered the Dravidian Movement, but his socialist leanings are often overlooked. His introduction to socialist ideas began in 1925 through his association with leaders of the nascent trade union movement in the Madras Presidency, particularly during a railway workers’ strike in Nagapattinam. Periyar was arrested for supporting the strike and found an ally in M. Singaravelu, one of the founders of the communist movement in southern India. Later, on November 7, 1928, he launched an English weekly called Revolt in honour of the Russian Revolution. His commitment to socialism deepened after his visit to the Soviet Union in 1932. Following this, in England, Periyar addressed a massive labourers’ public meeting of more than 50,000 people organized by George Lansbury, then head of the Labour Party, where he condemned the party’s role in colonialism and concluded his speech with the words: “Fellow workers! Instead of listening to this humbug party and its policies, look forward to the independence of human society, freedom, equality, and unity of labourers around the world.” He also wrote extensively about the Soviet Union in his weekly publication, Kudi Arasu.
“In Russia, there is no compulsion for parents to raise their children. The government assumes responsibility. Here, if we ask, ‘Why do you need a child?’ The response is, ‘To light my funeral pyre and to perform the last rites after my death… to protect us and feed us in our old age… to inherit my property.”
“There, each person’s hours and quantity of work are fixed. Unlike our workers, they do not stop working at the end of their scheduled time. They voluntarily continue to work. The management acknowledges the extra work and honors them at the end of the month or year. They seek this honor, not extra money. There is absolutely no cheating or robbery.”
(excerpts from the draft of “Erode Plan Of Socialism” 1932 )
Periyar also published a translated version of “The Principles of Communism,” written by Friedrich Engels, in his magazine Kudi Arasu. He later published the Communist Manifesto in Kudi Arasu under the title “Sama Dharma Kotpadugal” to make it accessible to a wider audience, as the Communist Manifesto had not yet been translated into Indian languages, with English being the prevalent language of the time.
Periyar’s view of the state aligned with the views of Karl Marx. He viewed the capitalist state as an instrument of Brahminical hegemony, used to oppress the working class, primarily composed of Shudras, and to keep them in a subjugated position, often referred to as “children of prostitutes.” He also believed that private property played a crucial role in shaping social and marital relations. According to Periyar, marriage was necessary only because individuals wanted to pass on property or resources across generations, which, in the Indian context, also meant perpetuating caste hierarchies. He argued that marriage was fundamental to the continuation of an unjust social order and an exploitative economic system—an idea he adapted from Friedrich Engels, which he then reinterpreted to address the realities of the caste system. This perspective is clearly reflected in the following excerpt:
“However, because socialist sentiment has emerged in other parts of the world, it is gaining traction in India as well. But there is a significant barrier to the spread of socialism in India, a barrier not present in other parts of the world. In other countries, the primary contradiction is between the capitalist (the rich) and his worker (the poor). In India, however, the concept of upper caste and lower caste is primary and dominant, and this contradiction serves as a fortress protecting the rich-poor divide. It is due to this dual opposition that socialist sentiment has not gained strength in India.”
(excerpts from the draft of “Erode Plan Of Socialism” 1932 )
Periyar’s quest to dismantle the Brahminical state likely led him to the ideas of Marx and Engels. This culmination of thoughts eventually led him to advocate for a separate state for the Dravidians, a state free of class, caste, and gender divisions, as well as Brahminical hegemony, which were associated with the Indian State. It is also a lesser-known fact that Periyar was a great admirer of Bhagat Singh. This can be evidenced by an article on Bhagat Singh’s martyrdom in his weekly ‘Kudi Arasu’:
“We strongly believe that Bhagat Singh’s ideals are exactly what India needs today. From what we know, he was committed to the principles of equality and communism. This is evident in a letter he wrote to the Governor of Punjab, where he stated: ‘Our battle will continue until the Communist Party comes to power and the disparities between people—in terms of their status—are eliminated. This battle will not end, even if we are killed. It will continue, both openly and clandestinely.
Furthermore, we are aware that he was a man who did not believe in God or in the idea that events are determined by divine will. …Even if there is a chance that this principle might cause harm, we would consciously strive to realize this ideal without bearing hatred toward any individual, caste, or nation, and without inflicting physical pain on anyone. At the same time, we would be willing to endure pain and suffering ourselves, in a spirit of sacrifice, to bring this ideal into practice. Therefore, no one should be worried or afraid.”
(excerpts from Kudi Arasu weekly,29th March,1931)
Periyar saw Bhagat Singh as an ally in the quest for complete independence, a vision different from Congress’s conventional view of freedom, due to which both criticized Gandhi for his narrow perspective. Periyar appreciated Bhagat Singh and his ideals for a truly independent India—free from capitalists, zamindars, and upper-caste dominance, not just a transfer of power from the British to elite Indians. He also admired Bhagat Singh’s radical atheist views, which led him to translate Bhagat Singh’s “Why am I an Atheist?” into Tamil, which subsequently inspired translations into many other Indian languages.
Now, more than 50 years after his death, as bourgeois forces attempt to distort his works and portray him as anti-socialist, his speech from a meeting held in Uraiyur on January 9, 1972, a year before his death, stands as a testament to his long-standing support for the ideas of socialism:
“Communism alone can address the defects and mental distress among people.”
