K. Damodaran (1904–76) came to Marxism after early experience of militancy and imprisonment in the cause of Indian independence. He was one of the founders of the Kerala unit of the Communist Party of India (CPI) in 1937, and went on to serve on the party’s National Council and Central Executive, and in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian legislature, in the 1960s.

Damodaran travelled widely in his various party capacities, visiting most of the Communist world and later Western Europe. He had an exceptional appetite and facility for languages and was a prolific writer, publishing in his native Malayalam and also English and Hindi. His many works included popularizing manuals, translations, scholarly studies in Indian philosophy, in which he had taken a particular interest from early days, and agitprop dramas.

In 1964, the CPI suffered a major split, significant numbers of its leaders and a greater proportion of its militants leaving to form the CPI (Marxist). Refusing the proffered logic of the secession, Damodaran stayed with the CPI. He gave this interview in 1975, a year before his death.