A second major theme concerns the character of politics in Kerala since the mid-fifties. Many authors ex-plain the political processes in terms of caste. They tend to neglect the growing awareness amongst large masses of their dispossessed situation and of the causes of that situation, in other words, their class consciousness.
The main body of the text is a de-tailed discussion of the situation in the major societal fields-education, industry, agriculture, labour, trade unions and co-operatives. This lengthy chapter shows how one-sided many of the analyses of Kerala poli-tics are in their focus on political personalities, parties and castes, whereas there is a whole society, with economic, social, cultural, religious, and, of course, political aspects, for a good understanding to be taken into account. On the whole episode, Lieten leaves the reader in no doubt about his sympathies, but apart from one or two expressions he is able to present his text with scholarly objectivity.
One essential element which can hardly be missed in a preface, is the expression of gratitude. I would prefer to limit the list of persons who have helped me in this endeavour to an absolute minimum. It may seem odd, but I have a feeling that one usually thanks the wrong kind of people. One usually forgets to thank all those people who have made research possible by the mere fact that they have done the physical labour which allows the intellectual to function properly. Although I know that my sympathy for their humanness and my concern for their past, present and future does not make up for the inhuman conditions in which most of them have to live, I think I owe them all gratitude and respect.
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