COMMUNIST PARTIES AND AGRICULTURAL MOVEMENTS
Along with the freedom struggle, the communist movement also received warm reception in Payyanur. The Communist Movement was active right from its formation in Payyanur. Leader like P. Krishnapillai, AKG used to visit here for campaigning. P. Krishnapillai was the volunteer captain of the great Uppu Satyagraha of Payyanur. The incident of brutal assault on A.K.G while leading a procession to gain the right to use the public road in front of Kandoth Koormba Temple for all the communities including Harijans started a new era in Payyanur's social and political life. 

Payyanur and the nearby villages witnessed a lot of struggles against the feudal rule. The great struggle of Karivellur and Korom became turning points in the history of Payyanur as well as of Kerala. Many people sacrificed their lives and many were injured seriously during their fight against the feudal rulers and their anti-people policies.  

Karivellur, the neighboring village of Payyanur has an important place in the history of Communist Party in Kerala.   There were organized people's movements in Karivellur quite before the formation of Communist Party.  The "Abhinava Bharat Yuvak Sangh" formed under the leadership of AV Kunhambu marked the beginning of the mass movement in Karivellur. The main functions of Yuvak Sangh was building roads, cleaning the streets, study classes for the working class, mass-dining, adding members to the Congress Party, fight against cast system and untouchability, propagation of Hindi language and organizing the peasants.  To protect the interests of the farmers they formed Farmers Groups and later these groups functioned as "Karshaka Sangham" which became an organ of the Communist Party later.  In September 1934 a joint "Karshaka Sangham" was formed with AV Kunhambu as president and MP Appu Master as secretary.  Leaders of Karivellur like AV Kunhambu, V.V.Kunhambu, TS Triumumbu actively participated in the Peasants movement along with AKG and P. Krishna Pillai.  
The farmers march lead by TS Tirumumbu (He was a member of the rich landlord family, tazhekattu mana) from Olavara to Mangalore to submit a memorandum about the problems and suffering of the farmers to the District Collector was an exciting event in the history of the Peasants movement of North Malabar.

A.V. Kunhambu

Karivellur village was a part of the Payyanur Farka of Chirakkal Taluk. The lion-share of the rice from Karivellur was taken to the godowns of the Chirakkal Tampuran(ruler).  The Karshaka Sangham decided to put an end to this custom. The rice was stored on the banks of the Kavvayi River, which is flowing through the south of Karivellur.   The rulers sought the help from Police and goondas to carry the rice from there.   On 20^th December 1946 the peasants tried to stop the transportation of rice under the leadership of AV Kunhambu and K. Krishnan Master. When Police started lathi-charge people retaliated by stoning at the Police which resulted in the police firing against the mass.  Manakattu Thattil Kannan and Keeneri Kunhambu lost their lives and many became seriously injured.  Over fifty people were arrested and were imprisoned accusing of various charges.   AV Kunhambu was given an imprisonment of 10 years, which was later reduced to 6 years by the high court.  The Karivellur incident in fact paved the foundation of Communist Movement in this part of Kerala.

Subrahmanya Shenoy

Another historic movement was at Korom village of Payyanur. Unlike Karivellur, this fight against the hoarding and black-marketing happened after the independence of the country. Farmers of Payyanur Farka marched to the rice-godown of the landlord, Aalakkat Mavilayi Kunhambu Nambiar and took control of it and distributed the rice stored there among them.  The notorious section of the Police, MSP (Malabar Special Police) force arrested the volunteers including KP Kunhikkannan, the leader of the "Karshaka Sangham" upon the request of the landlord.   To protest against these arrests people marched to the spot where the volunteers were kept under police custody.  Police started firing to the procession, which resulted in the death of a harijan youth called Pokkan.  Pokkan was the first martyr in Payyanur Farka in the 1948-movement.  This historic incident happened on 12th April 1948.

To protest against the brutal assaults and the anti-people policies of the rulers, landlords and the police, about 40 main Karshaka Sangham activists of Payyanur and surrounding areas gathered at Munayan Kunnu.  They collected all the available weapons to resist the Police Charge.  The volunteers were staying in a hut-like shelter.  On the rainy night of 30th April, 1948, Police surrounded the shelter and started intensive firing against the sleeping volunteers who didn't get a chance even to touch their weapons. After the massive firing they attacked the workers with the bayonets.   Six comrades were shot dead on the spot and others were brutally stabbed.  The six comrades, who lost their lives, were KC Kunhappu Master, KA Chinda Poduval, Kunnummal Kunhiraman, M. Govindan Nambiar, P. Kelu Nambiar and P. Kannan Nambiar.   Sixteen others were taken into custody by the MSP while twenty escaped.  Police cremated the bodies of the dead in the same grave at Patiyottuchal and took the arrested people to the Payyanur Police Station.  They suffered brutal assault in the lock-up.

One cannot complete the story of the Communist Party in Payyanur without mentioning the name of the late veteran leader N. Subrahmanya Shenoy.  It is relevant to mention late P. Kannan Nair who served as the manager of Deshabhimani, the official newspaper of CPI(M) for a long time.

From the very beginning itself, Payyanur remained the strong hold of Communist Party. Payyanur always selected Communist nominees as their representative to the Kerala  Legislative Assembly.  The very first Chief Minister of Kerala, EMS Namboothiripad was elected from Nileshwaram constituency and Payyanur was a part of that.   late N. Subrahmanya Shenoy, late C.P. Narayanan, Pinarayi Vijayan, who is the Sate Secretary of CPI-M and M.V. Raghavan, General Secretary of CMP are among the Communist leaders who represented Payyanur in the Assembly.

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