THE conference of the CPI(M) Kerala state unit was held at Alappuzha from February 20-23, 2015 in the land of historical Punnapra-Vayalar struggle, in the run-up to the 21st Congress of the CPI(M). In this conference, all together 574 comrades participated including 558 delegates and 16 observers. The state conference was inaugurated by Prakash Karat, general secretary of the Party. Pinarayi Vijayan, state secretary presented the state report. Besides Prakash Karat, S Ramachandran Pillai, Sitaram Yechury, Brinda Karat, AK Padmanabhan, MA Baby were the other Polit Bureau members who attended the conference. As far as the state unit of the Party is concerned, the Party has achieved a sizeable growth during the period of this conference. It has achieved this growth after overcoming all sorts of attacks unleashed against the Party by the ruling UDF government. Besides we were able to overcome all sorts of various forms of attacks unleashed by the rightist media against us. Some of our state committee members have been in jail during this period after the UDF government booked false cases against them. Besides so many of our district level leaders have also been in jail during this period. 17 of our courageous comrades fell prey to the swords of the rightist forces. The report presented in the conference by Pinarayi Vijayan depicted the organisational growth of the Party in the state. When the 20th state conference was held at Trivandrum, the total Party membership in the state was 3,70,818, and now the membership has increased to 4,05,591. The number of Party branches has increased to 29,841 from 28,525. The number of local committees has increased to 2,076 from 1,978. The area committees have increased to 206 from 202. Besides, there has been an enormous growth in the membership of mass-class organisations. It rose to 2,18,00,404 from 1,80,44,389. In Kerala, since the last conference, the Party and our mass-class organisations have organized various agitations on several issues. Against the decision of the central government to decrease the number of cooking gas cylinders to domestic supply of households, a ‘Fire Chain’ was carried out from Trivandrum to Kasargode which had attracted great popular attention. Against the solar scam, an indefinite siege was conducted in front of the secretariat in which about one lakh volunteers participated. This agitation was a historical one and the government was forced to close the government secretariat itself and was compelled to declare a judicial enquiry into the scam. Accordingly, the indefinite siege was withdrawn. On adivasi issues, the agitation we led was withdrawn after a discussion and reaching at an agreement with the government. Agitation on Kudumbashree issues, KSRTC employees, cashew workers, ASHA workers, agitation by the youth against the recruitment ban imposed by the state government were all victorious and were ended on reaching an agreement on the demands with the state government. At the very same time of carrying forward popular agitations, we have also been able to carry out agitations for the benefit of the masses. An example is the work carried out by our volunteers through out the state in pain and palliative care. This humanitarian work was much appreciated and was very helpful in heeling the wounds of several unattended helpless patients in various parts of the state. Besides, many Trusts for this purpose have been formed in the state on a large scale under the leadership of our Party. Waste disposal is an important problem which has affected the cities and towns in Kerala. Under the leadership of the local bodies which are controlled by our Party, we took an initiative to dispose the waste in a better way and it got much appreciation from the people. Another important issue in Kerala is about its agriculture. Vegetables which are produced on commercial basis are laced with chemicals. In this situation, we held a campaign to increase the agricultural production and to get chemical-free vegetables to the people. And this work is also progressing. After the land reforms, the number of middle class people increased to a certain extent, from all communities. This has caused a huge change in the social sphere. Considering this situation, we approved an approach line for the intervention of the class and mass organisations in this period. Documents related to work on trade union, kisan, agricultural labour, youth, women, student fronts were approved in this period. Scheduled Caste people have been a section who did not receive fully the fruits of the Kerala development. We had organised Pattika Jathi Kshema Samithi for these people in this period. Now there are 9,00,889 members in this organisation. In the field of Party education also, we had good achievements and it is also stated in the report. From the state committee members to the secretaries of the branches, education camps were held from the Party centre. Nearly 6,000 leaders of class and mass organisations participated in the classes which are organised at the E M S Academy. The LDF had got only four seats in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. In 2014 we had increased it to eight seats. A Communist party which is working in the capitalist system might be attacked by the capitalist values. To correct it and to strengthen the Party we had conducted a plenum in this period. The review of the execution part of the decisions was also given in the report. There are fours parts in the report which was presented before the conference. International-national-state political situation was included in the first part and organisation in the second part and report about class and mass organisations in the third part and the documents approved by the state committee in the fourth part. 55 delegates participated in the discussions. Discussions took place for nine hours and twenty minutes. Critical and self critical assessments were made in the discussions about the interventions of the Party in various fields. Delegates also pointed out the areas where the Party should concentrate its attention. They had also pointed out that the rightist forces are interfering to develop caste and religious organisations in various parts of Kerala. We should also concentrate our attention to strengthen our cultural organisation. They had also pointed out the problems which arise from the neoliberal policies. The state government’s policies are also leading Kerala to backwardness. Most of the delegates stated about the importance of Marxist-Leninist organisational principles and communist values and the importance of upholding them. All the delegates underlined the need to rally behind the Party and not behind the leaders. After the discussions, the conference approved a future working programme which includes 54 items. Decisions for strengthening and widening the organisations were also formulated. Widening the circulation of Theekkathir in Tamil area and starting a new Kannada newspaper in Kannada area were also decided. We will conduct the campaign against the corporate media as per the decisions of the conference. The conference also formulated a programme against the attack of communal and extremist forces. Protection of public education, intervention in the cultural field were also included in the future programmes. We had also decided to organise the immigrant workers. We had also decided to write the history of the Party in Kerala. The call of the conference is to protect the unity and the organisational principles of the Party. All the decisions of the conference were unanimous. The report of the conference was also adopted unanimously. So also the state committee panel and the delegates panel to the Congress. The conference adopted 19 resolutions. 80 per cent of the delegates (456 delegates) were from workers and peasants. Only six were from rich peasants. There were three delegates who joined the Party before 1947. The public meeting was held at PK Chandranandan Nagar at Alappuzha on February 23, 2015 and more than one lakh people attended it. This number was more than the expectations of the organisers. The call of the conference is to safeguard the unity of the Party. Prakash Karat inaugurated the public meeting and Pinarayi Vijayan, S Ramachandran Pillai, Sitaram Yechury, Brinda Karat, AK Padmanabhan, MA Baby and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan addressed the meeting. The conference is a historical one in the history of the Party unit in Kerala. Right-wing media tried their level best to attack the unity of the Party but it has not affected the Party and the Party has made a step forward.