BOOK REVIEWS VICTOR M. Fie, KERALA : YENAN OF INDIA : RISE OF COMMUNIST POWER 1937-1969, Nachiketa Publications Ltd, Bombay, 1970. pp 555 Rs 30.00 THERE are many time-worn cliches regarding Marxism and the communist movement, which constitute the arsenal of anti-communist scholarship all over the world. The full range of this was displayed rather crudely in the Cold War period, when every slander against Marxism was cloaked in the garb of academic scholarship to advance the cause of counter-revolution. Since the mid-sixties, however, studies on the communist movement have undergone a transformation, in keeping with refined, subtle and pernicious theories of social sciences that emanate primarily from the United States. Nowadays, studies of this type cl aim to be academically 'neutral', free of value judgements and are projected as dispassionate analyses of the disease called communism. It does not require much scientific analysis to show that the same old premises and prejudices provide nourishment for such studies and for the same purpose of maligning and attacking the basis of Marxist-Leninisr theory and practice. Victor Fic's sensationally titled book, Kerala : Tenon of India, to its credit, does not make any effort to conceal his bias and antipathy to the communist movement in India. This massive book sets out to delineate the history of the communist movement in Kerala, analyses the reasons for its growth and sets in the general context of the all-India movement and evaluates its significance in terms of contributions to theory and practice. The scope is ambitious and the first of its kind to appear in print and the author claims to be breaking fresh methodological ground in writing