The predicament of conventional Leftist parties in Sri Lanka

by W.T.A. Leslie FERNANDO

It was the conventional Left parties, that awakened people, introduced socialism to our country and inspired masses to fight against the reactionary forces. They were the first to agitate for full independence which we enjoy today. They also won so many rights for workers by their trade union activities. In the 1953 Hartal they were able to tame the mighty UNP and get relief to people. The Hartal also paved way for the 1956 revolution.

Philip Gunawardena

Dr. S. A. Wickremasinghe

Leslie Gunawardena

Pieter Keuneman

J.C.T. Kotelawala

B.J. Fernando

Dr. Colvin R. de Silva

Doric de Souza

Dr. N.M. Perera

With such a heroic past the conventional Left parties had become only a shadow of their former glory. They had become a shell of their old selves and had allied with foreign funded NGOs and Church sectors. The LSSP and the CP had lost their popular support and the NLSSP that never had a following were derided as "Three-wheeler parties" (Dr. Susantha Goonatilaka; Recolonisation-Foreign Funded NGOs in Sri Lanka (2006) - Page 273). The MEP too could exert its influence only in the Kelanivalley. Why the conventional Left parties had to undergo such a plight?

The LSSP which was inaugurated on December 18, 1935 was the first Leftist party in Sri Lanka. The architect of the LSSP, Philip Gunawardena, while he was studying in USA from 1922 to 1928 came under the influence of Prof. Scot Nearing, the Lecturer in political theory and became a socialist. When Philip came to England later, he found that the criticisms made by Leon Trotsky on Soviet Communism were valid and he too became a trotskyite. Dr. N.M. Perera, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva, Leslie Gunawardena, B.J. Fernando and Vernon Gunasekera who were studying in London at that time became Trotskyites following the footsteps of Philip Gunawardena.

Philip set up the LSSP in Sri Lanka as a popular mass party with two pronged objectives of obtaining full independence and establishing a socialist society. He avoided controversial issues lime Trotskyism and Stalinism. Like his old friend in Madison, USA Jayaprakash Narayan who set up the Congress Socialist Party in India that had accommodated everyone from Marxist revolutionaries to radical Ghandians, Philip also formed the LSSP as a broadbased non-doctrinated democratic organisation.

In the general election 1936, held few months after the formation of the LSSP, Philip won Avissawella and NM the Ruvanwella and entered the State Council. The magnificent role of the duo, Philip and NM in the State Council made the LSSP popular in the country in no time. Although Philip and NM were Trotskyites they did not follow Trotskyism to the letter. They tried to adopt Marxism to suit the conditions in Sri Lanka.

In 1939 when Stalin in Russia entered into a No-War Pact with Hitler of Germany, the LSSP adopted a resolution condemning the Third International led by Russia. The five members led by Dr. S.A. Wickremasinghe who oppossed the resolution were expelled from the party. They formed the Socialist Circle and later that became the Communist Party. This was the first split in the LSSP.

The turmoil that caused the worst damage to the LSSP occurred when the leaders of the proscribed LSSP who broke out of jail and were in hiding in India. Till the LSSP was proscribed, the brains and energy behind the LSSP was Philip Gunawardena. When the LSSP was proscribed, the brains and energy behind the LSSP was Philip Gunawardena. When the LSSP leaders were taken into custody during the World War II, Doric de Souza got into the place of Philip and became its theoretician.

In 1942, when the first rank leaders of the LSSP were still in India, Doric wanted to fill the vacancies of the party committee with undergraduates. He named it as Bolshevecisation of the party. This move was vehemently oppossed by the founder members of the LSSP like Robert Gunawardena, Susan de Silva and the trade unions. When the news reached the leaders in India like Philip, NM and Colvin, all of them condemned the move of Doric as "Petty bourgeoise intellectuals who have turned LSSP into a narrow conspiratorial sect cut off from the masses".

Accordingly Dr. Colvin R. de Silva issued a statement on behalf of LSSP in India, "The party cannot be restored to health, unity and effectiveness unless this faction is smashed". In response the group around Doric formed the Bolshevic Leninist Party. The LSSP leaders in India, in a counter move instructed the party cadres to expel the Bolshevic group and appoint another committee. This could not be effected as the LSSP was a proscribed organisation in Sri Lanka.

As a result the Bolshevics remained in control of the LSSP in Sri Lanka. In the meantime there was a split among the LSSP leaders in India into two groups Philip-NM group and Colvin-Leslie group as to how to organise a revolution in India. The Bolshevics in Sri Lanka sided with Colvin-Leslie group so that they could continue at the helm of the party.

When Philip and NM came out of prison in 1945, the party was controlled by the Bolshevics. It had assumed the name Sri Lankan section of the Bolshevic Leninist Party of India. Philip and NM did not join it. They went in search of party cadres and reconstituted the LSSP. Thereupon the BLPI expelled Philip and NM form the party. However the LSSP became stronger than the BLPI.

The lawyers and the University lecturers were found at the helm of the BLPI. Philip accused them as an elitist petty-bourgeoise group engaged in theoretical hair-splitting debates and branded them as 'Parlour Bolshevics and arm-chair revolutionaries.' In the 1947 Parliamentary elections, the LSSP and the BLPI contested separately but there was no-contest pact between the two.

In 1950 when the LSSP and the Bolshevic Samasamaja Party merged, Philip and his followers left the LSSP and formed the VLSSP. Although NM became the leader of the merged party which was branded as the NLSSP, he came under the influence of ardent Trotskyites like Colvin, Leslie and Doric.

Philip Gunawardena was a practical politician. Even when he was a Trotskyite he tried to form a government of progressives in 1947 under S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike violating a cardinal principle of Trotskyism of forming any form of coaltion with bourgeoise. Later Philip realised that Trotskyism was a dead force and sought a coalition of all progressives gainst the UNP.

There is a view that forming coalition governments have led to the downfall of Left parties. This is not correct. The role of the two VLSSP Ministers Philip Gunawardena and William de Silva in the 1956-59 MEP regime not only made the VLSSP popular among the masses but also enhanced the prestige of the Leftists. It is said that the followers of NM were keen to make the LSSP join the SLFP government in 1964 resulting in the break of the ULF, because they expected NM to perform better than even what Philip achieved in the 1956-59 government. It is true that the Leftist Ministers in like NM, Colvin, Leslie and Pieter Keuneman could not achieve much in the 1970-77 Coalition. But that is a different story.

One of the main reasons for the setback of the conventional Left parties were the wrong decisions they have taken at crucial times. In the 1960 March general election the MEP won 10 seats and came second in about 15 electorates. In July 1960 election instead of contesting alone if the MEP had entered into a no-contest pact with the SLFP like the LSSP and the CP, the SLFP could not have won 75 seats and Leftists would have been a powerful force in the government. Similarly in 1964 the ULF was gaining momentum in the country. If the LSSP had not entered into a coalition with the SLFP resulting in the break of the ULF, the ULF would have achieved power in 1965 general election or in a subsequent election.

It is said that It was the policies of Doric de Souza that led to the debacle of the LSSP, the leading Leftist party in Sri Lanka. In this connection Susan de Silva, one of the founder members of the LSSP has released a booklet in 1959 titled 'The Wrecking of the LSSP!' In that there are some insinuations to the effect that Doric de Souza entering the LSSP was a Catholic plot.

In that book Susn de Silva identifies Doric de Souza and an ardent Catholic and daily communicant. It is also alleged that another ardent Catholic and CID officer Algie Perera who went to India on the trail of the LSSP escapees from the prison was a close friend of Doric. It is also highlighted when Doric and Karalasingham were arrested in India, Doric was fined Rs. 300 and let go whereas Karalasingham was brought to Sri Lanka under Police escort and detained.

Doric joined the LSSP at the time when the Catholic Church initiated the 'Social Justice' movement to counteract Marxist parties. The 1962 abortive coup was led mainly by the Catholic high rankers in the forces. Doric in the Senate emphasised the position taken up by the LSSP that the SLFP government had planned the coup to arrest the Leftist leaders and the officers has directed it against the government. Although there may be some reasons to suspect, it is far-fetched to arrive that Doric Souza joining the LSSP was a catholic conspiracy.

There is also a view that Trotkyism was a counter-revolutionary movement. It is so emphasised by N. Shanmugathasan in his book 'A short History of Left Movement in Ceylon'. Prof. Y. Ranjith Amarasinghe maintains that this assumption is untenable. Although the headquarters of Trotskyism is found in Paris, it is more prevalent among the intellectuals in USA. The NGOs were initiated to prevent the spread of Communism and Mrs. Kusala Abhayawardena a LSSP MP was a leader of SCI, a famous NGO. Even today some leading Trotskytes are found close to NGOs and church sectors.

Nevertheless these are later developments. The criticisms of Trotsky about the autocratic rule of Stalin at the time in Russia were valid. Although some forecasts of Trotsky did not come true it could not be called that Trotskyism as a whole was counter-revolutionary.

The conventional Left parties never had an islandwide appeal.

Their power was confined basically to Western and Southern provinces. There too they were strong in areas where workers lived. They were powerful in other areas like the Kelani Valley, the domain of Philip Gunawardena, Ambalangoda-Balapitiya, the native place of Dr. Colvin R. de Silva and in the Matara district where Dr. S. A. Wickremasinghe was able to command influence. They also wielded some power in the Sabaragamuwa provinces where the Suriyamal movement had prepared the ground for it.

The Left parties had some influence in Catholic areas around Negombo and in Kalutara, Moratuwa and Panadura. In Kalutara, Moratuwa and Panadura the Christians were in the forefront of the Leftist movement. When T.B. Subasinghe and J.C.T. Kotelawala, the provincial leaders in the area left the Left parties the power of the Left came to an end in Bingiriya and Badulla.

The MEP achieved some national status and islandwide support in Sinhala areas when it contested 1960 March general election with an alliance with the Dharma Samaja Party led by L.H. Meththananda. However the MEP too lost its bearings when it contested alone in the 1960 July election and later in 1965 its leader Philip Gunawardena joined the UNP government.