[From Liberation, Vol. II, No. 9 (July 1969).]
"The furore over the Telengana issue" [1], bewailed the Statesman's special representative in South India the other day, "seems to have diverted public attention from a much more dangerous development in Andhra Pradesh - the alarming increase in Communist violence."
"From the salwood forests of Srikakulam to the scattered mountains of Telengana, Naxalite bands have of late been extremely active. Raids on houses of landlords and the ambushing of police patrols have become regular features of what the Naxalites themselves publicly proclaim to be the beginning of a violent guerrilla struggle for a 'proletarian revolution'....
"Much more alarming is the slow but steady spread of Naxalite violence to other areas of Andhra Pradesh. A year ago the movement was largely limited to the tribal belt of Srikakulam. Today Naxalites are active in at least 19 taluks spread over Visakhapatnam, east and west Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Nellore, Anantpur, Warangal and Khammam districts.
"Despite its preoccupation with Telengana, the Andhra Pradesh Government has of late taken note of the Naxalite threat. A senior police officer has now taken over the anti-Naxalite operations and there has recently been some welcome police activity in the mountains of Srikakulam. But no significant progress has been made in snuffing out the revolts (Statesman, July 5, 1969).
Though the above report correctly reflects the alarm that has gripped the ruling classes, there is some deliberate understatement in it. A few weeks ago, the Agency areas of the three taluks - Parvatipuram, Pathapatnam and Palakonda - were declared "disturbed areas" by the reactionary government of Andhra Pradesh. Several Central Reserve Police battalions were rushed to the district, and the Srikakulam countryside, where the guerrilla struggle is raging, is dotted with police camps which number 62 to 65. About two months ago, the Chief Secretary, the Inspector General of Police and other high officials of the Central and State governments met and decided to recover the initiative from Communist hands. So this campaign of encirclement and suppression was started in right earnest by the reactionary governments at the centre as well as in the State. But this campaign has failed: the mercenary gentleman of the press who wrote the above report in the Statesman has also admitted this failure. As he bewails, raids on houses of landlords and the ambushing of police patrols have become regular features. The enemy has failed to win back the initiative from the Communist hands. The armed struggle in Srikakulam has reached a new stage with regular ambushing of the police by the guerrillas at a time when the campaign of encirclement and suppression is going on. While a phenomenal expansion of the red area of revolutionary armed struggle is taking place in Srikakulam and various other districts of Andhra, red political power has come to exist in 300 villages of the Agency area despite the vicious attempts of the enemy to encircle and suppress it. Terrified landlords have fled away and the Agency area today is free of the class enemy. Here no machinery of the reactionary government operates. Here no forest or revenue official of the reactionary government, no panchayat samiti man, can enter. The guerrillas and members of village self-defence squads try to protect the villages from police marauders. The administration is run, production is looked after, and disputes are settled by the Ryotanga Sangrama Samithi, the revolutionary mass organization of the peasants, which has a membership of more than 8,000 in the Agency area alone. Here the Ryotanga Sangrama Samithi - the new organ of state power - is carrying on investigation about the lands, the owners of which have escaped or have been annihilated by the guerrillas, and about the lands surrendered by the landlords. The Samithi will soon undertake the work of distributing these lands among the poor and landless peasants. Here, in every village, the People's Court settles disputes among the people and metes out justice to the enemies of the people. No doubt, the People's Court strengthens the unity of the people in their struggle against the enemy.
Both on the hills and in the plains, guerrilla struggle is rousing and mobilizing the people as nothing else can. It is giving confidence to them - faith in their own power - and has unleashed the people's initiative. At Padmapuram in Sompeta taluk the people organized themselves and informed our comrades that certain landlords were notorious: "Comrades, come and punish them, and seize their property. If you don't come, we shall seize it and give the gun to you." They themselves organized such an action on April 24. Together with the guerrillas, hundreds of people marched to Padmapuram, confiscated the property of a landlord and handed over the landlord's gun to the guerrillas. The Party cadres are acquiring a new faith in the people. In the Bathapuram area of Sompeta taluk severe repression has been going on. Even several women have been raped. The people organized themselves to fight the repression and to take revenge. The notorious landlords have fled away even from the plains area of Sompeta taluk. The fact is, when a guerrilla action takes place in one area, masses are so roused that they themselves move and go on seizing the property of the landlords en masse. A typical case was the action in Borivanka, a village in Ichapuram taluk, on May 19 when two notorious landlords were annihilated. Here even farm servants took part in the action.
After the Borivanka action, the class enemies tried to annihilate our comrades and Comrade P. Krishnamurty's murder [2] was planned by them. They kept watch on the movements of Comrade Krishnamurty and succeeded in getting him and six other comrades murdered by the police. This murder has roused the anger and hatred of our comrades and people throughout Srikakulam, throughout Andhra, and steeled their determination. From Chittoor, from Nellore, from all over Andhra, letters are pouring in, letters telling the Andhra Organizing Committee of the Party that "Comrade P.K.'s path is our path and we must avenge his death." The class enemies are nervous. They are now saying that the murder of Comrade P.K. has been a grave mistake, because the communists are now so angry that they will wipe out the entire landlord class.
Class hatred has been so much roused that, on June 19, 400 people, including a large number of women comrades, participated in an action at Akkupalli in Tekkali taluk under the leadership of the Sompeta Area Party Committee. Here the class enemy was annihilated with vengeance and his property was confiscated. Here, on the walls of the landlord's house were written with his blood, "blood for blood." "You murdered P.K., so we will annihilate you all - this is only the beginning." The slogans "Long live Mao Tsetung" and "Long live Indian Revolution" were also written with the blood of the class enemy. At Konaka in Sompeta taluk, a very notorious big landlord owning 2000 acres of land was annihilated. It is reported that this landlord had paid money to a renegade who spied on Comrade P.K.
In the first part of May, in an encounter with the police in Parvatipuram, 5 policemen were killed. Here, again, on May 2, a police attack was beaten back. The police camps at Aviri and Jarada were attacked by the guerrilla squads, who threw grenades and opened fire. The Aviri camp was subsequently removed. In another encounter two policemen were seriously injured.
The entire Pathapatnan taluk was roused by the action on May 11 at Ethamanuguda of Pathapatnam Agency area. For seven days before a notorious landlord was annihilated and his property was confiscated, 200 people, besides the members of guerrilla squads, had camped in a nearby place. The people in the surrounding areas, who fed them, knew the fact but it was kept a secret from the enemy.
The masses were in action again at Loharajola in the Pathapatnam plains area, where severe repression had been going on. At this place, only 6 furlongs from the nearest police camp, 1200 to 1500 people, besides some squads of guerrillas, took part in the action. Four landlords' houses were seized. One landlord, named Induvadananaidu, was annihilated; two landlords surrendered; and the fourth one, named Mungetisatyam, who was less notorious than the others, was caught and taken to the Party centre. Our politics was explained to him. He was told that only the most notorious class enemies were annihilated. He promised to correct himself. He was told that the Ryotanga Sangrama Samithi had fixed the price of paddy at 3 seers per rupee and was warned against cheating by the use of false weights. He agreed to carry out these instructions. The People's Court fined him Rs. 500 and ordered his release.
This had a very good effect. Mungetisatyam went about saying everywhere that the communists were good, and confessing his own misdeeds committed in the past. It is understood that some rethinking has started among the landlords, particularly, among the small ones. So this action has disorganized the landlords who were trying to organize themselves.
During the above action the policemen in the nearby camp did not intervene out of fear. Next day, all the 15 policemen of the camp were suspended by the Superintendent of Police.
At Tumbali in the Parvatipuram plains, a landlord, Gudlasiddhanthi by name, was annihilated, his property was seized and promissory notes worth Rs. 1,00,000 were burnt. One thousand people participated in this action in a well-disciplined manner under the guidance of guerrilla squads.
Today, in every nook and corner of Srikakulam district and in many other parts of Andhra, people themselves are sending letters to the landlords using the name of the Ryotanga Sangrama Samithi or the Communist Party, telling them that they are notorious landlords, that they will be annihilated and their property will be confiscated. Landlords have fled away from some areas; in certain others, they stay away for the night.
In the Pathapatnam plains the landlords met at a conference and proposed to reduce the price of paddy, etc. One Congress landlord opposed the proposal. The people came to know of this, resolved to annihilate him and contacted the Party Committee.
In the Pathapatnam plains, a farm servant, when harassed by a landlord said to him: "You have the military, we have the People's Army. What happened in Loharajola recently? The People's Army will come and annihilate you. Your property will be seized." His words had an immediate effect. This shows the mood of the oppressed peasantry.
The guerrilla struggle is spreading like wild fire to other districts of Andhra. Already guerrilla actions have taken place in Visakhapatnam, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Warangal, Khammam and Karimnagar. In West Godavari, the sarpanch of Mupparru village in Eluru taluk was annihilated. At Rajolu in Repalle taluk of Guntur the property of a landlord was confiscated. In another action at Chandavaram in Narasaraopeta taluk of Guntur, a big landlord was annihilated, his property was seized and promissory notes of Rs.l,00,000 were burnt. In Karimnagar, one guerrilla action has taken place. In Janagam and Mankota taluks of Warangal, a series of actions have taken place under the leadership of our guerrilla squads. In Mulugu taluk of Warangal, some actions have been organized by revolutionary cadres who do not yet belong to our Party. In Kothagudam and Bhadrachalam taluks of Khammam, many guerrilla actions have taken place under the leadership of our Party as well as under the leadership of other revolutionary cadres. The party hails all these actions though it is unfortunate that a leader of the Nagi Reddy group in Janagam taluk of Warangal denounced such actions as acts of dacoity. It is still more unfortunate that Janashakti, the organ of the Nagi Reddy group, is content merely with condemning the police repression and still refuses to hail the revolutionary armed struggle that threatens today to spread like a prairie fire throughout Andhra Pradesh.