Origin, Development, and Collapse of the Traditional

Leftist Movement in Sri Lanka

Assignment
Recent Development in Sri Lanka
Diploma in International Relations

S.R. Liyanagunawardena
D/14/B/32/E

Origins
The beginning of the 20th century is a time when imperialism dominated the world; Western
powers such as Britain, France, Spain, Holland, and Portugal were heavily colonizing countries
in Africa, Latin America, and Asia. This led to exploitation and extraction of raw material for
the use of imperialists.
At a time when the colonial rule was exploiting the country, violating the rights of the
indigenous people, suppressing their languages and polluting Sri Lanka, people started to gain
political consciousness and strength to oppose the status-quo which led to the islands struggle
for independence. The origin of the leftist movement which was at the forefront of the struggle
can be rooted to several causes.
Pro-independence and Labour Agitation
In the British era, capitalism in Sri Lanka depended on all economic activities related to the
plantation sector. The sector was privately owned by the British and during that time (1820 1880) coffee was the main export crop. Even moving on to the 1930s, the only goods
manufactured in Ceylon conformed to the typical colonial pattern (tobacco. soap, candles, ice,
soft drinks, etc.) and even much of this was British-owned. Whatever other industrial
development that occurred was directly geared to economic activity in the plantations. An
essential feature of this type of development was the virtual absence of a class of local
industrialists and traders. Domestic trade was heavily foreign owned and the export-import
trade was dominated by British and Indians.
The early agitation within the bourgeoisie signalling a nationalist movement began when they
started to ask for concessions from the imperialists and therefore between 1880 and 1930, this
movement for constitutional reforms led by the bourgeoisie was linked to the workers agitation
for trade union rights. This struggle of the bourgeoisie and the urban workers for democratic
rights can be divided into several phases.
The first phase between 1880 and 1920 was a period of religious revival and nationalism led
by the Singhalese and Tamil intelligentsia which gave the urban workers an element of trade
union and class consciousness.
The 1920's form the second phase of the movement for democratic rights. This was a period of
militant trade union struggle, beginning in 1923, when the Ceylon Labour Union under the

leadership of A. E. Goonesinha. Although the Indian communist movement was ongoing

contemporarily, he had stated that the Ceylon Labour Union did not incorporate communism.
By 1931, the Ceylon bourgeoisie, as a class, had achieved its main demands for franchise and
political representation by the constitutional reforms of 1912, 1920 and 1923, culminating in
the Donoughmore reforms without mass commotion or violence.
However, after the 1931 elections, the leaders of the Ceylon National Congress accepting the
Donoughmore reforms without hesitation prompted the start of a new political party giving
leadership to both the bourgeoisie and the working class movement.
The Youth activists and the formation of LSSP
The system of education was controlled by Christian and Catholic missionaries, who provided
higher education which was in English only to the affluent. With the boom in all agricultural
products and plantation crops in the 1920s a section of the newly prosperous rural bourgeoisie
and petty bourgeoisie was able to afford a foreign university education for their children. These
individuals formed the Ceylon Students Association in London which had always been an
important centre of political discussion among young Ceylonese. By the 1920's, the
Association was dominated by a group of Socialist students (Philip Gunawardena, Leslie
Goonewardena, Colvin R. de Silva, N. M. Perera and Dr. S. A. Wickremasinghe), who while
active in the broad student organization, used to also meet separately to discuss questions of
Socialism and the possibility of forming a Socialist Party in Ceylon.
The two important political influences on this group of Socialist students were the Indian
nationalist movement and Marxism. These facts helped form a nucleus for the future LSSP
while in England and it was led by Philip Gunawardena.
Left Opposition views within the Communist movement influenced Philip Gunawardena who
is known as the father of socialist movement in Sri Lanka. He endorsed the criticisms of Leon
Trotsky on the autocratic rule of Stalin in Russia and became a Trotskyite and later directed
the group of students towards Trotskyism.
S.W.R.D. Bandaranayake who had returned to Ceylon after completing studies in Oxford
revitalized new hope in young nationalists and students and attracted many to his side by
forming the Progressive Nationalist Party (PNP) in 1926.
The youth at that time were well aware of the political situation and since they had no faith in
the Ceylon National Congress or the Ceylon Labour Party, they began to group themselves into
2

Youth Leagues in various parts of the country in order to protest against the new constitution.
The first youth League (led by Handy Perinpanayagam and C. Balasingham) was formed in
Jaffna and active Youth Leagues sprang up in Colombo. In 1931, the Youth Leagues came
together to form a Youth Congress which had Aelian Pereira, a lawyer, as its president.
In the years preceding the formation of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, the Youth League
movement made its influence felt in 4 major ways:
1. Anti-Poppy Day Campaign (Suriya Mal Movement)
On November 11th, Poppy Day, funds were collected for ex-servicemen by the sale of
poppies which also implied a reaffirming of faith in the British Empire. Due to the
allegation of reserving an insignificant amount of money out of that to Ceylonese exservicemen led to a launch of a rival fund Suriya Mal Movement. However upon the
discontinuation of the campaign by the Ceylon Ex-Servicemens Association in 1932, in
1933, the Colombo Central Youth League took over seeing the opportunity for a socialist
movement. Later on, due to removing reference to disabled Ceylonese soldiers and taking
on an open anti-British character, it was detested by many. During that movement, the
concept of socialism was first used where Terence de Zylva, an active socialist, wrote
Unite in this battle to establish a socialist, democratic Ceylon.
2. The Malaria epidemic of 1934-35
The youth league members actively provided aid in areas such as Homagama, Avissawella
where malaria was most rampageous. This is also when Philip Gunawardenas fathers
residence, Boralugoda Walawwa was opened as a dispensary to treat patients. The
experiences in the Malaria epidemic made the young socialists to understand plight of the
poor. They realised that there should be a political movement to obtain independence for
Sri Lanka and ameliorate the condition of the suffering.
3. Strike at a textile mill in Colombo in 1933
4. Entering the field of parliamentary politics from 1931-1936
These events pivoted the beginning of a separate political party and in December 1935, the
most active members of the youth leagues founded the Lanka Sama Samaja Party. It issued a
manifesto which claimed aims of attainment of national independence and the abolition of
social and economic inequality.

Growth of Leftist Parties

Proceeding the formation of Ceylon Labour Union in 1931, Three Marxist-oriented parties
were formed. The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), the Bolshevik-Leninist Party, and the
Communist Party of Sri Lanka (CPSL) which represented the far left. All three were divided
on both ideological and personal grounds.
The Soviet Union dismissed Leon Trotsky from the Communist Party after Lenin's death in
1924 while Stalin subsequently decided to enter World War II on the Allied side. These events
exacerbated the differences of the aforementioned parties, dividing the Communists into
Trotskyites and Stalinists.
The LSSP, formed in 1935 and the oldest of the Sri Lankan Marxist parties, took a stance
independent of the Soviet Union. It became affiliated with the Trotskyite Fourth International,
which was a rival of the Comintern.
It is striking that most LSSP leaders were arrested during World War II for their opposition to
what they considered to be an "imperial war."
In 1943, the Communist Party of Sri Lanka was independently formed as a Stalinist faction of
the LSSP (upon discharge from LSSP) expressing faith to commands of the Communist Party
of the Soviet Union.
In 1945, yet another group segmented from LSSP and formed the Bolshevik-Leninist Party.
However, the party's propaganda proved to be a vital element in the mutiny of the Ceylon
Garrison Artillery on the Cocos Islands in 1942. LSSP was also the main opposition party after
the general elections of 1936, 1947 and 1956, the second largest party in Parliament after the
general elections of 1947, 1956 and 1970.
Although in more recent years, the LSSP has been considered a politically spent force, gaining,
for example less than 1 percent of the vote in the 1982 presidential elections, it has nevertheless
been hyped as the world's only successful Trotskyite party.
This was because it participated in Government and because it has played a role far larger than
its electoral success would suggest, having been ideologically prominent in the period 19361977. It is also notable that the 1972 Republican Constitution was drafted by Dr Colvin R. de
Silva, an LSSP Minister and the country's leading lawyer.

Decline of the Leftist Movement

Several transformations have taken place during the 1960s which have led to the decline of
the leftist presence in Sri Lanka. Evidently, this weakening cannot be entirely attributed to the
growth of the capitalist movements.
The decline of the socialist movement in Sri Lanka began in the 1960s with the decision of
the LSSP to join the coalition government of Mrs. Bandaranaike. The traditional left parties
and their splinter groups have largely become political non-entities. Although the Janata
Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) managed to secure a voting base still, it is difficult to consider the
JVP as a socialist organisation. It is a populist political formation largely based on the support
of the rural middle class.
According to the former Ambassador of Sri Lanka, Dr. Dyan Jayatillake, the decline in support
for the socialist parties is due to "their lack of ideological and strategic clarity, and the absence
of a leader with national appeal."
Thus the major flaw of the then leftist movement was that they did not clearly address the
rapidly changing needs and wants of a sophisticated lifestyle desired by the people. Their views
remained traditional. All but the apparel industry began to fail, the economy stagnated, the cost
of transport increased, the quality of life declined so much that the only other major source of
income for the state has been the remittances made by Sri Lankans working abroad.
The left was badly hit when President J. R. Jayawaradanas constitution of 1978 where Sri
Lanka was declared a market economy. During the era of this regime however, ethnic conflicts
worsened by some legislative and constitutional measures e.g. Sinhala only Act and the
removal of the constitutional safeguards in the Soulbury Constitution eventually leading up to
emergence of the ruthless fascist organization, LTTE.
It may seem surprising that the left was not able to profit from the political impotence of the
capitalist parties. Hence it is apparent that there were other underlying causes for the decline
of the left movement. One of which is the collapse of the Soviet Union where the triumph of
the West and the emergence of a unipolar world, has politically demoralised and disarmed the
left. Another cause is the bizarre transformation of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) into
the principal instrument of capitalist development also contributing to the decimation of the Sri
Lankan Left.

Although there were attempt made by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) to revolutionize
the left movement through 1971 and 1987-89 insurrections, now the party has accepted their
blunders and turned liberal and follows a democratic ideology. It is why this party has been
able to secure a voting base while all other leftist parties are now almost politically nonexistent.
In conclusion, although the ideologies of the left were valid in the country for a period of time,
it seems to have eluded the parties that they are now outdated in the current dynamic world. A
more recent example of this is the use of social media for political sentience among citizens
which played a significant role in overthrowing the previous regime.

References
Colombage, D., 2013. CeylonToday - On the Decline. [Online]
Available at: http://ceylontoday.lk/16-31444-news-detail-on-the-decline.html
[Accessed 19 February 2015].
Cooray, U., 2010. TransCurrents - Whither the left movement in Sri Lanka?. [Online]
Available at: http://transcurrents.com/tc/2010/04/whither_the_left_front_movemen.html
[Accessed 17 February 2015].
Fernando, L., 2009. Sunday Observer - The origins of the Leftist Movement in Sri Lanka.
[Online]
Available at: http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2009/03/08/rev15.asp
[Accessed 19 February 2015].
Jayawardena, K., 1971. The Origin of the Left Movement in Sri Lanka. 02(02).