Contribution short abstract:

This paper will argue that an empirically driven account of the formation of political subjectivity is important for us to better understand the sociality of radical transformation, especially in the age of Hindutva and other authoritarianisms on the rise globally.

Contribution long abstract:

This paper will sketch the 'contradictory' dimensions of the Malayali communist subjectivity, accrued over decades-long engagement with parliamentary democracy in the south Indian state of Kerala. Often perceived as an alternative model to neo-liberal governance (the 'Kerala model of development' favoured by economists like Amartya Sen), Kerala also remains one of the few states within the Indian federal system where the Hindu Right has failed to make substantial inroads in electoral politics.

The paper begins with the early participation of Communist activists and Congress- Socialists in religious reformist movements, and how it shaped the beginnings of their radicalism and political orientations. Here, the reformist, anti-caste, and anti-landlord dimensions in the early days of Kerala’s communist movement are sketched in detail. It then shows the introduction and familiarization of Marxist writings in the vernacular Malayalam, as well as the life histories and autobiographical narrations of communists themselves.

This paper will argue that an empirically driven account of the formation of political subjectivity - in this case, the Malayali communist subjectivity - is important for us to better understand the sociality of radical transformation, especially in the age of Hindutva and other authoritarianisms on the rise globally.