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| Sunday, 10 August 2003 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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A 'hartal' not a revolution ! by FACTOTUM Whatever detractors of the Left would say the 'Hartal' of 1953 launched on August 12 that year achieved its purpose of setting the stage for the ultimate rejection of the Pukha Sahibs that had entrenched themselves in the seats of power since Independence. That rejection took place in 1956 when the people exercised their vote to topple a government demonstrating their ability to match trade union action to win a pay rise here, improving working conditions there ..... with that of changing governments as they have now done on numerable occasions. Taking on those detractors who over the years denounced Left leaders for having 'betrayed mass uprisings' as in 1953 and posed as revolutionaries when they were really parliamentarians and reformists LSSP idealogue the octogenarian Hector Abhayavardhana had this to say on the anniversary of the 'Hartal' in 1977 which comments are valid even today. "A "hartal" is a mobilization of mass protest, a total shutdown of workplaces, offices, shops, courts of law, etc. It is a mode of bringing mass pressure on a government to make it change an unpopular or unacceptable decision. Involving as it does all classes of people, it cannot be prolonged easily. Any attempt to do so without the agreement of all sections will weaken the demonstrativeness of the hartal. And when it becomes apparent that some sections are weakening or opting out, other sections will invariably follow. A hartal can provide an important auxiliary means of heightening tension and strengthening political and trade union organization for future action. But it cannot be the kind of action that will develop into the capture of state power. A hartal is by no means the same thing as a revolution. The trouble with our ultra-left critics is that they operate with formulae. Their concept of revolution is essentially one of a drama which they themselves enact. The masses come on the stage in between the acts - in the role of scene-shifters - or at best as members of a chorus. A revolution of this kind can be brought into being at any time or in any context, if only one sets out to manipulate the plot towards such a climax. The Sinhala stage has been full of such easily manipulated revolutions in recent times. They are as much part of the romance of our contemporary youth as fudging answers at a test or rejecting the mudalali's daughter. All of us have at some stage or other learned by heart the formula of revolution in our times. Organize the workers for strike action; move from strikes in individual workplaces to the general strike, develop the general strike into revolution. From this it is easy to deduce that the task of revolutionaries is to transform every strike into a general strike and every general strike into revolution. But the masses do not live their lives in perpetual expectation of the socialist revolution. Like all human beings, the workers too like to secure their needs with as little expenditure of their resources as possible. Revolution is the ultimate weapon, the final argument. Until that stage is reached, they look for remedies through recourses that are ordinarily available... The mass mobilization that took place through the 1953 Hartal was not an end in itself. It proved to be the curtain raiser of the dramatic change that began with the general election of 1956. The masses of Sri Lanka have since then shown their ability to combine the experience of mass struggles with the choice of government through parliamentary elections". Referring to the Hartal itself Hector says the allegation was made that the Left was not serious in mobilising the masses to seize state power. "It is alleged that this was particularly evident in the case of the Hartal of 12 August 1953. The masses came forward to do battle with the forces of the bourgeois state. The workers staged a general strike and were supported by the masses in the rural areas who had occupation of the streets. But the LSSP leaders had no wish to do more than stage a one-day general strike. The masses were ready to go on, but the leaders betrayed them and called off the strike after 24 hours.' Whatever detractors would say the event of August 12, 1953 is on record as a momentous one in the history of our country. |
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