The Marxist Argument

It is a privilege for me to have been asked to participate in this colloquium in memory of Comrade Chintha Ravindran. He was without doubt a pioneer- ing thinker: he combined an absolute commitment to the cause of the working people with the belief that those championing this cause must strive to acquire ‘hegemony’ in society. He was much influenced by the ideas of Antonio Gramsci and introduced these ideas into the ranks of the Left in Kerala to which he unwaveringly belonged. He was, above all, a person of outstanding integrity. It is the integrity of thinkers like Comrade Chintha Ravindran which has made Kerala a beacon of light for the intellectual life of the country as a whole.