TRADE UNIONISM IN KERALA 25 powerful, militant and have been in existence for a long time. The area known as Kuttanad is not coterminous with any revenue division. It is spread over 76 low land villages in the Alleppey and Kottayam districts. This study focuses attention on one taluk., viz; Kuttanad which is in Alleppey district. Palghat region here refers to the three main rice growing areas of Alathur, Chittoor and Palghat taluks in the Palghat district. The choice of these two regions requires some further explanation. Alleppey and Palghat are characterised by a high degree of unionisation of agricultural labourers. The district wise distribution of membership of the Kerala State Karshaka Tho^hilali Union (KSK-TU), which is the most powerful and influential among agricultural workers in Kerala, shows that in 1972-73, out of a total Statewide membership of 1,30,000, Alleppey and Palghat districts accounted for more than 62 percent. Further within these two districts, Kuttanad taluk in Alleppey and Alathur, Ghittoor and Palghat taluks in the Palghat district accounted for the bulk of the union membership.2 Distribution of Land and Labour We have some indirect evidence on the pattern of land distribution and also the distribution of the labour force from the Census returns, which throw some light on the nature of agrarian relations in these two regions. Kuttanad, Alathur, Chittoor and Palghat have a remarkable degree of correspondence in the pattern of land distribution. Data collected during the 1961 Census indicate'"' that there is a greater concentration of land in the larger holdings in these taluks than in the whole of Kerala. According to the industrial distribution of the labour force obtained from the 1971 Census, Kuttanad taluk has the highest proportion of workers reporting themselves as agricultural labourers, 59.96 per cent against an all Kerala average of 30.69 per cent, while Alathur, Chittoor and Palghat taluks follow with 57.28, 53.54 and 44.21 per cent respectively. These figures show that the areas we have chosen for study are characterised by a large concentration of wage labour, indicating the growth of capitalist relations of production in agriculture. In what follows we trace the evolution of traditional agrarian relations in agriculture upto the middle of the 19th century; the growth of capitalism as a result of tenurial reforms initiated after the middle of the 19th century; the result of these institutional changes as reflected in the changing labour relations and the emergence of trade unions among agricultural labourers in both these regions. GEOGRAPHICAL FEATURES AND CULTIVATION PRACTICES Kuttanad Kuttanad was the principal rice growing region in the former princely State of Travancore. Kuttanad taluk is mostly a water logged