Kochi: Veteran CPI(M) leader M M Lawrence, who was among the leaders involved in the attack on a police station at Edappally here during the Communist uprising in Kerala in 1950, died on Saturday, party sources said. He was 95. His death occurred at a private hospital where he had been receiving treatment for age-related ailments for about a month.
Lawrence's body, which was shifted to the mortuary of the hospital, will be kept at his residence, the CPI(M) Ernakulam district committee office, and the town hall on Monday for the public to pay their last respects. The body will later be handed over to the Government Medical College Hospital, Ernakulam, at 4 PM on Monday, the CPI(M) said in a statement.
According to CPI(M) leader and State Industries Minister P Rajeeve, the body will be donated to the medical college, fulfilling his last wish, which he had previously discussed with his family. A former Lok Sabha member representing the Idukki seat, Lawrence served in various capacities, including as a member of the CPI(M) Central Committee, a member of the state secretariat, state general secretary of CITU, and convener of the Left Democratic Front (LDF).
Born on June 15, 1929, in Mulavukad near Ernakulam, Lawrence participated in the struggle for the country's independence. Lawrence was expelled from St Albert's School for arriving with a tricolour flag tucked in his pocket. He then continued his studies at the Ernakulam Municipal Islamic School. He completed his formal education after the 10th grade and became actively involved in politics.
Lawrence joined the Communist Party in 1946. The Edappally Police Station attack, a key event in the Communist movement's historic struggle in Kerala, took place on the night of February 28, 1950.
At the time, the Communist Party was banned in the state, and its leaders were operating through hiding. The incident is remembered as one of the most significant episodes in Kerala's political history. On March 9, 1950, the undivided Communist Party called for a nationwide railway strike. After a planning meeting, leaders N K Madhavan and Vareethukutty were arrested.
In response, the party held a secret meeting on February 27 in Ponekkara, near here, and resolved to free them from the Edappally Police Station. An action committee of 17 members, including Lawrence, was tasked with the attack. On February 28, a group of Communists attacked the station, but a hand grenade failed to detonate.
Armed with two crude guns and sticks, they killed two policemen but failed to free the leaders, as a policeman had taken the lockup key home. The group seized two guns and fled, but Lawrence and others were later arrested. K U Das, one of the members of the group, died from injuries sustained during police torture. In total, 33 individuals were charged in the case.
A known critic of veteran leader V S Achuthanandan in the CPI(M), Lawrence's political career was affected by factionalism within the CPI(M). While he served as the convenor of the LDF in the second half of the 1990s, Achuthanandan's faction took control of the CPI(M), leading to Lawrence's demotion to the area committee following the 1998 CPI(M) state conference in Palakkad.
After being removed from the party's powerful state secretariat and other committee positions, he resigned from the role of LDF convenor. However, in 2004, he returned to the state committee. Condoling the death of Lawrence, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan recalled that Lawrence's political life was one of extreme sacrifice and immense suffering.
"Following the Edappally Police Station attack case, Comrade Lawrence endured brutal torture. He and his comrades were tied together with ropes, barely clothed in rags, and forced to bend at the waist. The police paraded them for hours in public, beating them with rifle butts," the chief minister said. He described Lawrence as "a revolutionary and a strong leader of the Communist movement," noting that his death was a great loss to the CPI(M), the Left, and the working-class struggle in the country.
"With his demise, the nation has lost a steadfast political visionary who connected the era of the national freedom struggle with modern times. Comrade Lawrence's legacy is one of the leading remarkable struggles for democratic and secular values," he added. The CPI(M) state secretariat said the leader played a key role in organising workers from various sectors, including the port of Kochi, and empowering plantation workers through the trade union movement.
As a leader of the Left Democratic Front, he was renowned across Kerala. "The departure of Lawrence is a significant loss for the party and the Left movement. The Secretariat expressed condolences, sharing the grief of his family, party activists, and relatives," it said in a release.
Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan, expressing his condolences on the death of Lawrence, said the senior leader was a strong trade union leader and an excellent organiser. The Congress leader said that the Communist Party's framework never prevented Lawrence from taking strong stances and standing firm on them. "The loss of Lawrence is an irreparable one for political Kerala. I share in the grief of the family members," Satheesan said.
