KOZHIKODE: Go back to the workers! This seems to be the new slogan for the Revolutionary Marxist Party in the aftermath of T P Chandrasekharan’s murder, as they seek to grow in the same way that the CPM did in its nascent stages - by increasing their trade union base.Newly-appointed Onchiyam area secretary N Venu said that while trade unions existed during Chandrasekharan’s reign, the party was accelerating efforts to gain more acceptance among the working class post his murder.The first signs of this have surfaced with the motor vehicles union affiliated to the party, the Revolutionary Marxist Party Union (RMPU), leading a strike of auto drivers at the Kozhikode railway station on Thursday.Venu said that more forays into trade unionism were being planned.“We are currently planning to float a couple of trade unions. Registration for a union for construction workers has already been applied for, while a union for nurses is also in the pipeline,” he said.RMPU secretary Kunji Kanaran claimed that many members of the CPM-affiliated trade unions had crossed over or were planning to cross over in the aftermath of Chandrasekharan’s murder.“We currently have a strength of more than 1,000 workers in our motor workers’ trade unions, with many coming from Onchiyam and Vadakara. We had a membership of around 160 workers in Kozhikode city but after TP’s murder, the number has more or less doubled with around 200 workers having either jumped camp or planning to do so,” he said.He also revealed that they were planning to start a union for toddy tappers in Vadakara. However, secretary of the CPM-affiliated Kozhikode District Motor and Engineering Workers’ Union, Balan Nair denied claims that workers were leaving the organisation to join RMPU.
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