together in order to ensure the success of the Congress candidates in the election of 1936 in Malabar district. Birth of the Communist Party of India in Kerala But the rift between the Indian National Congress and the Socialist wing came into the open with the outbreak of World War II, the resignation of the Congress ministries in the provinces and the starting of individual satyagraha. They were expelled from the Congress Socialist Party in March 1940, after allegations that the communists had disrupted party activities and were intent on coopting party organizations. Indeed, by the time the communists were expelled, they had gained control over the entire Congress Socialist Party units in what were to become the southern states of Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh. The left-dominated Kerala Provincial Congress Committee, contrary to directive of the Congress, observed. The left wing met in secret enclave at Parapram, Pinarayi, near Thalassery and in December 1939, the CPI was born in Kerala. In 1957 the CPI was elected to rule the state government of Kerala only to have the government dismissed and President's Rule declared in 1959 following the Vimochana Samaram. In 1964, in conjunction with the widening rift between China and the Soviet Union, a large leftist faction of the CPI leadership, based predominantly in Kerala and West Bengal, split from the party to form the Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPI (M). In Kerala, the CPI (M) in coalition with other parties wrested control from the Congress and its allies (frequently including the CPI) in 1967, in 1980, and in 1987. Support for the CPI (M) in Kerala in general elections has ranged from 19 percent to 26 percent, but the party has never won more than nine of Kerala's twenty seats in Parliament. But as a coalition including CPI (M), CPI and other parties as Left Democratic Front they won 19 seats out of 20. Communism in practice The Communist Party in Kerala has functioned under the conditions of a liberal democracy, relying on success in multi-party elections to remain in power. CPI's 1957 constitution stated it would allow the existence of opposing parties after it had a parliamentary majority. Party leaders, like Namboodiripad, did not like the idea of using military force to remain in power because it would reflect poorly on the CPI as a whole on a global stage. This reliance on the