10 SOCIAL SCIENTIST
mountainous areas there existed serf labour. The jenmis used to sell the tribal labour (Vettuvans, Mavilar, Karimbalar and Uvran) for a period of one year for fixed amounts of rice. At a meeting of the sangham held in November 1938 under M Kunhiraman Nambiarand attended by tribal labourers from Eriyam, Pulingom and other places., speeches dealt with the total lack of freedom and the bondage they had to undergo. All those present became members of the sangham and a 15-member committee was set up.85
The karshaka sangham membership in Malabar for the year 1938 stood at 10.00006. It had emerged as one of the important centres of the All India Kisan Sabha's activities in south India. In the 1939 taluk conference of the sangham,, it was evident that Chirakkal and Kottayam taluks were the leading centres and had made good progress in membership and in setting up pradesh sanghams. In Chirakkal taluk there were 83 pradesh sanghams with a membership of 9901 and in Kottayam taluk there were 68 sanghams with a membership of 5901.87 The sanghams in Kottayam were concentrated in four firkas: Mattannor^ Kannavan, Kuthuparamba and Kadirur. The work in the other taluks lagged behind. In Karumbrand taluk, sangham work was going on in 8 to 10 amsams and 20 sangham committees had been set up by 1939. In Ernad taluk there were only three to four committees at the local level and a taluk committee. In Walluvanad taluk there was more progress but exact figures are not available for the period. In Palghat a successful taluk conference took place in February 1939- and jathas toured all over the taluk to mobilize the peasantry, marking the beginnings of an organized movement in an area which later in the fifties became a sangham stronghold.88
An important area for sangham activities was in Kasargode taluk. Administratively Kasargode was part of the adjoining South Kanara district. But a significant portion of the taluk had the same land tenurial system and social relations-as in Malabar. Sixty villages in Hosdrug sub-taluk bordering on Chirakkal taluk were Malayalam-speaking. As in Malabar the jenmi system prevailed. According to official figures, in 1939 there were 29 big landlords in the district paying revenue over one thousand rupees.39 Moreover the Tenancy Act of 1929 was not applicable to Kasargode and even the land revenue rates were higher than in Malabar. Hence the peasant movement in Hosdrug sub-taluk developed as part of the movement in Ghirakkal and it was under the jurisdiction of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPGC). By December 1937 due to the efforts of the Chirakkal peasant leaders a Kasargode taluk karshaka sangham was formed. Under the taluk committee's direction, within three months 34 village sanghams were set up.40 The first taluk conference was held on 17 April 1938 under the chairmanship of K P R Gopalan. The Kasargode sanghams in 1938 launched many struggles similar to those in Chirakkal which involved demonstrations, jathas and