K.S. Vasan was an Indian communist politician and trade unionist from the Kolar Gold Fields.[1][2] who organized the first leftist trade union in the gold fields during the 1940s.[3] Vasan, then a young man, arrived at the Kolar Gold Fields from Madras and went on to build a union that mobilized labourers from thirteen different mining companies.[4] He was arrested as he led a workers revolt against the British authorities.[5]

Vasan later teamed up with M. C. Narasimhan and V.M. Govindan. Together they were called the 'Red Triad'.[3][4] The Red Triad combine managed to achieve several victories for the miners, such as wage revision.[4]

As of 1963, Vasan was the president of the Mysore Mine Workers Union,[6] which was affiliated with the All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC).[7]

During the 1952 Mysore State Legislative Assembly election, Vasan contested the Kolar Gold Fields assembly seat. The constituency had two seats, one general and one reserved for Scheduled Castes; Vasan chose to contest the general seat,[4] and was elected with 18,029 votes. P.M. Swamidorai of the Scheduled Castes Federation won the other seat.[8]

When the Communist Party of India split, Vasan sided with the Communist Party of India (Marxist).[9]

References

  1. ↑ Communist Party of India. Documents of the Twelfth Congress of the Communist Party of India, Adhikari Nagar, Varanasi, 22 to 28 March 1982. New Delhi: Communist Party of India, 1982. p. 34
  2. ↑ Sarkar, Subodh Chandra. Indian Parliament and State Legislatures, Being the Supplement to Hindustan Year Book, 1952. Calcutta: M.C. Sarkar, 1952. p. 79
  3. 1 2 White, Bridget. Kolar Gold Fields: Down Memory Lane ; Paeans to Lost Glory!! Milton Keynes: AuthorHouse, 2010. p. 46
  4. 1 2 3 4 The Hindu. Titans who built the Left edifice in State
  5. ↑ The Hindu. Veteran trade union leader dead
  6. ↑ United States. Directory of Labor Organizations, Asia and Australasia. [Washington]: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. Govt. Print. Off, 1963. p. U-14
  7. ↑ Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 33. Sameeksha Trust, 1998. p. 1472
  8. ↑ Election Commission of India. STATISTICAL REPORT ON GENERAL ELECTION, 1951 TO THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY OF MYSORE
  9. ↑ Chatterji, Rakhahari. Unions, Politics, and the State: A Study of Indian Labour Politics. New Delhi: South Asian Publishers, 1980. p. 47
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