Malayapuram Singaravelu

Malayapuram Singaravelu (18 February 1860 – 11 February 1946), also known as M. Singaravelu and Singaravelar, was a pioneer in more than one field in India. In 1918, he founded the first trade union in India. On 1 May 1923 he organised the first ever celebration of May Day in the country. Singaravelar was a major leader of the Indian independence movement, initially under the leadership of Gandhi, but later, joining the budding communist movement. In 1925, he became one of the founding fathers of the Communist Party of India; and chaired its inaugural convention in Kanpur. Though the British Government arrested him along with other leaders on charges of conspiring to wage war against the Crown, he was set free, soon after, on account of his failing health. Singaravelar was also a path-breaking social reformer who in his early life took to Buddhism, seeing it as a weapon against the evil of untouchability, which was particularly severe in the 19th-century India. He was also in the forefront of Self respect movement, in the Madras Presidency that fought for equal rights for backward castes. Though in his advanced years, he withdrew from active politics, Singaravelar remained a staunch advocate of the causes he had pioneered till his death at the age of 85. Singaravelar was born into a fisherman family, the third son of Venkatachalam and Valliammai in Madras (now called Chennai). He matriculated in 1881 and then, from Madras Christian College, he passed F.A. (First examination in Arts) in 1884. Singaravelar took his bachelor's degree from the Presidency College under the Madras University. He joined the Madras Law College and got his B.L. degree in 1907. Thereafter Singaravelar practised law at the Madras High Court. In 1889, Singaravelar married Angammal. Their only daughter was Kamala. Seetha, his grand-niece, married Philip Spratt in 1939. Singaravelar was successful as a lawyer; within a short period, he earned enough wealth to acquire estates in Madras town and suburbs.