Page 1
ܡܓܪܒ_ܓ¬-ܓܐܠ¬ .
SPECIAL REPORT India after C
& Susi siriwardena
& W. I. Siriweera
* K. Sivathamby
ALSO; National dialogue
New economic order
Kissinger and US powe
 
 
 
 

* J. Uyangoda * Sunila Abeyasekera
o Parakrama Kodituwakku
- Godfrey Gunatilleke — UIpali Cooray r - Mervyn de Silva

Page 2
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Page 3
What, no re-shuffle
Re-shuffle rumours are still afloat but persistent reports of a sweeping change appears to have died down after the President's remarks to the parliamentary group. "No Outsiders' was the message which cd me oud and Clear. A5 d result stories of a three non-MP's (a business tycoon, a top bureaucrat and a party high-up) are much ess In circuation; also speculation of a straight swap between Finance and Trade.
Still very much in the spotlight however is Education Minister Wijeyeratne. He himself confirmed this by telling the NSA that he had actually considered resigning his post. His vitriolic attack on "despicable and arrogant bureaucrats” also confirmed what was widely known in political and university circles about an anti-Nissanka group (Nissanka is a late-comer to the UNP) headed by a bureaucratic-academic caba that has some Sri Kotha patronage.
Will Nissanka, an ex-CCS, go back home- to the Home Ministry and Public Administration? Or will the Dya wa dana Nilame be crowned Minister of Culture? The well-informed political correspondent of the WEEKEND has confidently tipped young Ranil for Malay Street.
Local consumption
Was the SLFP's congratula
tory message to 'the great da Lughter of India" meant more for do restjo consumption?
Certainly, it looked more like a guantlet than a lady's glove. Diplomats and political observers underlined some of the more interesting phrases in the SLFP statement. Ha ying stated that
reactĪo mares, o had mistakenly
Gandhi's politic ended, the stat the host of er to face and the ou ry: "characte through commissi through press
victions throug judi cfary, ha ras h frelings, asimin
catcalls at pub etc." JVP's re-thinl Just after t. what proved to 5 party "bloc", Roha na Wijewe public pronounce party did not I ri tative dS I "Left Unity. A II supported was a campaign by the ther trade un ori
Recently the mdnd conducted { in self-criticism that eyen this "Lu | was dan opportuni
Church activis
In this Buc. the Christians m LI than the Hindus. Churches are te În mobilising enli On our recent di
Jr. If d-Februt. Bishops' Confere National Christiar sponsor a two-day on Racism. Over drawn from a песt at Tewatte they could do to harmony. The been planned by man Wickrermas Marcus Fermando Rajasinghe, Pres Methodist confere

tal and foreign,
believed Mrs. a career had ement identified termies she had assorted grrrl
r" (SSSS) to மா5, mபdslinging
7nd i raddio, comh Subsery jent sment through
g brick bats and fic rallies. . . . . .
莺
he formation of Je a short-//wed the JWP leader, era, ridde d }mert that is interpret this move towards that the WP Lurn fited-oriented :se þartses and
afiliates.
WP High ComIn other exercise and concluded ited campaign' Sit e Tirat.
dhist country, rmer even ess But the two king the lead !htened opinion
1.
ry, the Catholic II Ce drid the Council will "Consulta torn" OO particiants Chi Lirches wis
to See Whit improwe racia II discussiarı has Bishop Lakshnghe, Bishnp nd Rey, Bas fident of the
Quoting scripture
In the exchange of compli
ments between Chintaka and Touchstone I think that Touchstone, the gentler, the softer-spoken and clearly the wiser of the two is, all the same, wrong. He argues on the basis that there is
an objectively ascertainable “correct Marxist-Leninist posltion' on any issue. Chintaka is right in claiming that quoting the ipsissima verba is wital, in the context that to him the "correct Marxist-Leninist pos|- tion" on any issue is what Stalin said on it, and (if it does not clash with what Stalin said) what Lenin said. And So, quotation is the only way. My submission is that the correct Marxist-Leninist position on an issue depends on which brand of Marxist (out of the 57 varleties) is speaking. Quot homines, tot sententiae.
J. B. Ginger
LAN
GUARDAN
Publishing Co. Ltd., First Floor, 88, N. H. M. Abdul Cader Road, (Reclamation Road) Colombo 11.
Editor: Mervyn de Silva
Telephol: 21 OO9.
CONTENTS Letters News background B Kiss Inger & US power India after Gandhi 7
New economic order 9 Nationality Development 8 Nationality O As I Like it 24
Printed by Ananda Press 82.5, Wolfendhal Street, Colombo 13.
Telephonic: 35975
KEP LETTERS
Wol. 2 No. 19 February I, 1980 Prica 2/50 ||
Published fortnightly by Lanka Guardian
H-.

Page 4
Rating Wilson
I am jotting down below a few random thoughts that occurred to The on reading Dr. A. J. Wilson's article on the Tamil problem.
Dr. A. J. Wilson can express his views as a Tamil, but if all what he says is in the name of Political Science, his rating as a political scientist reaches a l'OW le Wel.
One is struck by the very close similarity of his argumentt for settling Jaffna Tamils in other Tamil speaking areas and that of D. S. Senanayake settling Sinhalese from the over-populated South-western quarter or wet zone to the Dry Zone!
A Marxist understanding of ethnic relations in Sri Lanka is conspicuous by its absence in Wilson's paper, apart from the conventional Marxist wiew that ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka is a byproduct of the capitalist system. One observed in the August'77 riots, among other factors, a linkage of class protest and ethnic hatred.
Dr. Wilson speaks with new elation of the single-mindedness of expatriate Tamils to liberate their homeland. I wonder whether he read an interesting and preceptive analysis of the expatriate Tamil attitude to the Tamil problems in Sri Lanka in the C.D. N. a few months back by Jayantha Somasundaram. He pointed out that the Tamil expatriate view of the Tamil problem is often a projection of the racial prejudice the Tam Il expatriate encounters in his host country.
A Battica Oa, Tamil.
Better read, than dead
Reader R. S. Perinbanayagam of Manipay reveals a character5 TT C) Reggie Siriwardena and columnist "Touchstone' wiz, the underestimation of the importance of Theory (which I will follow Althusser in spelling with a capital "T"). Marx once said something to the effect that a
single practical
more than a
gram matic man po Inted out in be Dons' that Was IO LI TWET: in a situation wh confusion exist Marxist move I1 Temark of Mal as greeting the at a funeral Wil latory handshak
The Marxist this country
TE T1 i i a St confusion on Question, orie issues of the La It is only. In t the rise of Tar tancy that the began to discove and debate it Marxist théorie. question. Ofcc in itself "sow is necessary to letter of the engage in con Cr creative thougl possible howeve and "einrich" discovering tha This is particul so-called New the new generi to the "Old" | are still in the covering and the store-house Leninismo holds the National | terra in must bi a view to be
Creative theoir based firmly upo laid by Marx,
Stalin and oth. E lutionary leader COTITList To W of this found at na" and "crea recommended bamayagaп, Si Touchstone W& eclecticism, rew plain dilette "independent c the Teader
suggests We C turn out to be pendent of Mar

step was worth hundred pro1 festos. Lemlm "Wit 5 to this ser timent 5ally walid, and Iere theoretical ed With. In the 2nt quoting this .apt 5ה 35 היו אג" chief mourner th a congratuإيه
חt IחeוחWEם וח Continue 5 t0 e of theoretical the National of the strategic mkan te wolution. he 970's, with mil , youth m iiliLeft) moүеппепt r (or rediscover) in ernest the 5 on the national urse orthodoxy as nothing'. It go beyond the asic texts and ete analysis and it. It is not r to "trancend' without first which exists. ary true of the Left als Well as tion of recruits eft all of whom process of Unassessing what of Marxistin respect of Question, This a explored with ing expanded. izing must be the foundations Engels, Lenin, :r prowen rewo"5 of the World ement. Devoid ion, the "origitive' approaches 2y R. S. Perinrwardena and ould result in isionism or just rt-list. Th onclusions" that from Man i Pay ome to would conclusions Indexism-Leninism!
This reader says that "the finest minds of (his) generation were driven into the madness of social chauvinism by the utter sterility of the sort of debate that (we) hawe under
taken". The very fact that extensive portions of my original series ("Myths and
Realities") have been translated and republished in the two fore most Tamil political papers ""Sultatīram"" and "Manithian" deman 5 trate that R. S. P."s views are not shared by some equally fine and perhaps more representatives minds of the present generation of Tamils.
One final point. R. S. P. refers contemptuously to the "authority of long dead Russians." May venture to suggest that if the teachings of those long dead Russians had been remembered and studied there would PP have been le 55 dead ndones lans and Chileans. If those teachings are adhered to there may be fewer dead Tarns as well.
Better read (and well read) than dead!
Chintaka.
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Page 5
Free books & education
For centuries the religion of the majority nurtured a value which embraced the concept of equality. Although the foreign ຕໍ່oາທີ່ບໍ່ມີ and political upheavals at times scarred the national ethos, the ethical basis of the value system has always remained unscathed. Inequalities in education are repugnant to the national conscience which resents the manifestation of any form of 5ocial injuslice."
(Education in Sri Lanka-Ministry o Education-July 1978 P)
hen the Finance Minister
announced that he would set aside Rs. 72 million for free textbooks for children upto grade 9, there was loud applause from government benches. Not enough, protested a few QPPosition nembers. Mr. de Mel was willing to push up this new subsidy to Rs. 100 million. The mainstream media broke out in a chorus of cheers last week, when the wellpublicised exercise was nearly over the Opposition press was busy headlining what had happened on another part of the Subsidy front. Up Went suga Prices, flour, rice, and bread, Wrote an opposition columnist: "One hundred million given, more than a thousand million taken back . . . ."
Propagandist points apart, the free textbook scheme-a wellintentioned initiative no doubt. must be seen in the context of free education whose ideal is equality of opportunity and social justice.
* Our education is planned in such a way that for a child of school going age to benefit from its facilities he or she has to be in school.
Although we have regulations about school attendence it is well known that there is a large proportion of our children of school-going age who do not attend school.
As we go up the education laddet the numbers retaining in the schools become less and less, and even at the
level of grad greater numbe Gut of the 5 school.
The Timore shumt student stays in II more will be the on hit, and the t at the higher lev added expendituti necessity of things The Tefore those student populatio to stay on in t consume a large resources availabl
* The ability
education sy shown quite directly on th background ( mote afflue family backgr will be the to stay on and get the
lndira,
[[ို stunning already made it SLFF as LG rep since December. pected injection o it has had an in SLFP foreign poli som between the on the Kampuc 5 TE ) situation establi pointedly.
Though the CF zеп enough to jter" | 0 tC i TW carry ou L the th was clum siły hea e Siw state Tel lock 2 wen Thor supporting Pol P in the face embarrassment, h dumped. The pr: group made o ni party's proud cl: non alignment.
The India e was still on W

al opportunities
e 8 there is a r of Liri h lldre chools than in
per of years a ..he system, the resources spent ype of education els de Thands an e due to the like lab facilities. sections of our in who manage he system will roportion of our e for education.
to stay on in the 'stem, as can be
clearly, depends e socio-economic :f the pupil. The nt the pupil's "ound, the greater
chances for him
in the system best out of it.
BACKGROUN
* Given this reality and by virtue of the fact that education is given free to all, it is quite clear what We are doing under the slogan of free education is to use Our resources from the budget to educate those from a better social background who have a greater chance to stay within the formal education system for a longer period.
What we hawe tried to show above is how in the last analysis an overtly progressive step like "free Education' in a class society actually goes to the benefit of the "haves and thereby helps to perpetuate the class system.
- Sunil Bastian
Afghanistan and SLFP
comeback has s impact on the Iorts anticipated Besides the exf new confidence, Sant effett D fl cy. A compariSLFP's position hear issue and the Afghanistan shes this fact
ninese Were bra
announce their ide Wietnam and real, the SLFP vy-handed in its
t. It made itself 'e ridiculous by ot whom Peking. of international as now discreetly 2-Peking advisory onsense of the aims to genure
lection campaign hem the Afghan
crisis erupted. But Mrs. Gandhi had already given a fair indication of her thinking. Sensibly, the SLFP held its hand.
When it did issue a statement its criticism of the Soviet action was "balanced' by its expression of concern over US moves, particularly Diego Garcia,
The SLFP PB discussion Tesulted in the inevitable isolation of the pro-Peking coterie (known in Left circles as the Sirimaoists) because the US-China relationship has now advanced to the point of ореп mlІitary coорегatӀоп, with Peking evidently welcoming the US build-up in Diego Garcia. Since MTG. Bandaramai ke 5 the chief sponsor of the Indian Ocean реace zoПe Proposal, a proposal which led directly to the decision to hold a Colombo conference of Indian ocean states next year, it is no longer possible for the SLFP to adjust its foreign policy thinking to present Peking postures on World events.

Page 6
In order to preserve its own “non aligned' identity w is-a-vis the UNP, the SLFP simply cannot pursue a Singapore-ASEAN brand of non alignment, a policy orientation which is in perfect accord with US-China link-up.
And then there's always Indira. Indian diplomats have been working overtime trying to clear up the apparent confusion in Delhi's attitude after Mrs. Gandhi assumed office. Understandably Western diplomats have been equally busy trying to interpret Mrs. Gandhi's various statements to suit their common purposes.
Now, the policy statement of
the Gandhi government dispels all doubts, if indeed there were any. While declaring In dira's intention to "further consolidate" its "many-sided relations" with the US and its desire to discuss all issues with China,
inclusing the boundary question, the policy statement speaks of indira's "abiding friendship" with
the USSR, and the virtue of reliability and mutual unders tanding which this friendship demonstrates.
The SLEP discussion had two interesting features. Ex-speaker Stanley ofiko, Once idéntified
with the pro-Peking group took a vigorously independent line while Islamic loyalties seem to have influenced some others in an opposite direction includihg a member who is known as a PLO champion. The PLO has come out strongly in favour of Soviet support for the Karmal govern
Tet,
Centenary duel
ri Lanka is the only country SQ,5; Stalinism lost out to Trotskyism during the great cleavage. In the late thirties. It is
also the only country which boasted a mass Trotskyist party that was
once the Pride of the Fourth International. But the battle of the Trotsky and Stalin birth
сепtenary COTT 210 T3i tio 15 Wa5 unquestionably won by the Stalinists and this development continues to send ripples thrQughout the left movement since it beyond an archaic ideological dis
weñt .
pute and para realignments with
Trotsky centen: were held only
roups, namely, El 醬 ReYOlutjc Party and the F tionary Communis karu mawatha). Ta and Wasu's NLS joint seminars, bu proved desultory group staged a big day Itself. TE Tnade extensiwe th ledged borrowings isrm, TerTna ir12d si
The Stal In Cele other hand, got when the Maoist lånata Peramu na advertised and symposium on De Colombo's New T was accompained exhibition at the N. San mugathasan" unist Party took supported by the Jana tha Sanga may; gue), the Nawa Li NeY Democratic Wimalasiti Nawar WII mukthi Pakshay:
Despite the effor ("gang of 4" vari commemoration 's away by the Pro-N nist Party of Sri Samarakkody –T. kyist paper "Panth struggle") summed its issue of Janua
"All of Lanka's Group and group morated Joseph centenary; . . Th Certistic Cof the was that the CF given up Prais e
the 20th congress returned to its In fact the Maois shame by the
пеwspapers' praise "Aththa editorial that the true heir mot the Moälist5, Sowet CP" 5 . . . . T Janatha Peramu ma’5 of Stalin is mot i cally, but this is With the CPSL, si

Illeled political In the left.
ary celebrations by the smaller Edmund Samaraknary Workers' Healyi te Rewolut League (Kamimpoe's R. M. P. SP held a few t these efforts and neither "show' on the e J. W. P. which ough unacknowfrom Trotskylent.
brations on the In to a fine start five pагty Nava held a well widely attended Ce Tiber 20th at own Hall. This 3y a Stalin book Jubilee Hall. S Ceylon Commthe initiative, JWP breakaway 4 (People's Lea - anka C. P., che : Party and atna's Mahajana 1 (R). "ts of the Maosts ety), the Stalin how' was carried loscow CommuLanka, Edmund Andradi"'s Trotsi Satana' ("Class It up best in ry Ist :-
Stalinist parties, USCLules comme
Stalin's birth e special characje celebrations PSL, which had of Stalin since of the CPSU, ld habits..... ts Were put Eo CPSL's "Aththa.' of Stalin. The stated clearly is of Stalin Wore but the proie Maoist Nawa
COITII moratio Tmportant politinot the case nce its patrons
the CPSU is engaged in resurrecting Stalin, and presenting him as a hero".
"Stal" has also assumed another role as symbol and weapon in the new cleavage between the CPSL and the JWP. As the "Panthi Satana' put it pertinently : "It Would be most interesting to know the JWP's reaction to the commemoration of Stal in by the CPSU and CPSL. The JVP criticized Stalin in the post 1971 period and did so publlely after 1977. On the other hand Brezhnev and the CPSL are the JWP's close buddie 5. ...."
The CPSL Youth Federation's new organ "Tharuna Lanka" (Young Lanka) has utilized stain as a Weapon in its theoretical struggle with the JVP. In its series of "Questions and Answers' 9ssues of Marxist theory, the CPSL characterizes the "JWP's views on Socialism in one country' as Trotskyiste in origin and Proceeds to refute them by TeCose to questions from Len and Stalin. The papers January, issue contains both a lengthy Polemic against the JWP's "sere tarian position' on the question of Left unity as well as a strongly P9sitive account of J. W. Stali's life and deeds, replete with a Photograph of the dashing Young Saba. The anti Trotsgyist an VP theoretical polemle ha commenced earlier, but on a lower key, in the pages of the CPSL's now defunct newspaper "Wama" (est) which originally featured the"Questions and Answers' series.
Canon James on religion & change
hiristian Action started as a
WE TEI Years ago in Britain, spearheaded by leaders such as Sir Stafford Cripps-who formulated a plan which was at that time un successful to grant India independence-and persons of the calibre of Bertrand Russell and Cannon John Collins. Christian Action is not entirely church-centred, but takes stances whereby it is able to influence church policies on concerns such as disarmemant a n d anti-nuclear thrusts,
((Ca/ir fr744 ed GrI Page rg)

Page 7
International trends (2)
Kissinger and
by Mervyn de Silva
cily analytical, and awe-inspiring
in his gift for articulation Kissinger was the ablest western spokesman of the WO's. The conventional critique of US foreign policy sees it as too issue oriented' and geared far too much to "crisismanagement'.
Kissinger had a sense of strategy. He could see the immediate in relation to the future, and the local conflict in terms of the shifting "balance of power". Metternichian in outlook, he had a cold,
cultivated, if anachronistic, taste for "order". He was the "system' manager par excellence, trying
feverishly to arrange and re-arrange the parts, adjust Ing this and repairing that, In order to maintain equilibrium. Essentially this meant an attempt to preserve the status quo as best as possible while recognis ing that the basic movement in global politics represented a slow but steady dimunition of US dominance ower the world system. In short, he was the masterly exponent of rearguard action and strategic retreat.
In terms of pure military power (an oversimplification of course) the US had been dislodged by the 50's from its position of atomic monopoly and had been compelled to accept later a los 5 of strategic superiority for "essential equivalence" or "rough equivalence. Finally, SALT legitimized strategic parity.
Hence Kissinger's eager recognition of and ardent support for "multipolarity" in place of "bipolarity"; hence his open ing to
China and the so-called China card; hence his patient plan to get the USSR and the socialist
bloc enmeshed in a new network of economic relationships (trade, technology, capital, long-term contracts) with the West, that would complement the agreements in the field of
Strategic arms, space etc. The objective was to entrap the USSR in extricably in
the system by allowing for a wider Soviet role and a larger stake in
US p:
that system. In construct, the ef Soviet participato be "stabi II sing'.
By fostering whi as the cautious the Brezhnev year be discouraging a post-Brezhney le Using the strengt this qui et consolida: advance of Soviet p for and eventual "strategic offensive - a decade whe already be devilled problems created b crisis of the world be forced into : With Le: Third W
Third World
With the grow Consciousness (ofte sh proce5s bLu t 5ome of Studder i||uli World peoples m: Wretchedness of the main cause o and the motiva: political change, of an exploitative internal and exte In the eyes of th; the actors and sp see Thingly confuser åt least om a Fc complete: anti-Sha Daniel Ortega, leader could say ". Somoza, we were last US marine'.
So the nature
struggles in the home a fundamen) integral linkage
national independe transformation, w a celebrated essay banners' of ||bgrati
As the likel i ha: involvements in the conflict grew stro Warned the West C cgs to NATO and w in tert est if the y conflagration whic

OWS
the Kissingerian fect of such a ry role would
at Kiss Inger read or servatism of "s, the US would
TOTE 55, E2T til We adership from h gained from tion and steady ower to prepare ly go on the " in tha: || 980's Te the West, by the manifold y the generalised economy, would confrontation World.
th of political ո բalnfully slugg|- tirmes "a moment nation'), Third ly see that the heir conditor, f social un rest ting force of is the product 2 system, both rnally imposed. 2 Iranian people, ectators of the litanian draman, entification is himeans anti-US. the Sandinista vhen we ousted
kicking out the
of Third World 70's hammered Lal truth - the
between true !nce and social åt La Duan in amed the 'twin on and socialism.
od of external 3 raging Angolan nger, Kiss friger if the consequen
ter E war led to ! Would engu
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Page 8
Southern Africa. In a speech in Lusaka, he stressed the importance of not permitting "radicals' to
gain the upper hand and the imperative need to help the "moderates'. By moderates he meant not merely "moderate'
governments but "moderate" African leaders with in nationalist movements. Kissinger's professorial colleague the more overbearing and less subtle Patrick Moynihan, for a short while AmeT|ca's UN ambassador, openly recommended that the West should break up the "emerging bloc" of Third World nations.
A graphic demonstration of the results achieved by this tactic of division and disruption (oil producing and non-oil producing for example), of co-opting and rewarding "moderates", while isolating and pressurising "radicals' was seen last year at two important conventions - at UNCTAD W in Manila (the economic platform of the poor) and at the 6th Summit in Havana, the main political forum of more or less the same group.
Cuba
Cuba, a small nation which had been a member of the NAM from its Inception, was selected for what was probably one of the most fiercely Sustained propaganda onslaughts by the western media in recent times.
One explanation was ' Cuba's "high profile' in world affairs after its involvement in Africa.
Stockwell's month-by-month insi
der's account makes it patently clear that the first Cuban contingent arrived long, long
after NATO and South Africa had been deeply involved in the combined attempt to crush the MPLA, the nos radical of the liberation movements. A more plausible reason was Cuba's ProSowjet stam Če.
The real reason, one suspects, lay elsewhere. When the US was only a continental power and its "Manifest Destiny" did not project a global vision, John Quincy Adams, Monroe's Secretary of State, had written that "an annexation of Cuba will be Indspensable to the continuance
and integrity of the Union itself."
6
The Cuban Tew mean the downfal Sgt. Batista, and th of a new governi America's econo
t. Wä5 à TTèves“ from the system.
The Cuban revc stop with the as: true independence the radical transf society. Inspite of naval blockades, tion in Wasion, a 55 assination atte its leaders, and it difficulties - probl not been wholly so blazed a trail in society. It was a development in national economy the US-dominated and in no way d On America's door: in doing so seem as those of the different kind of lt could be a dan to the rest of and an infectious e. poor nations. Th real crime. Thi: earned the Wisc the US Establishm
Radicalisation
The altered sha the new correlat the changed charac struggle and the of its radicalizing the main le 55Ons from the complex the '70's.
In different we Settlement in Rh near-coilapse of accords Underlin Kissinger was gon Americal effort to answer to the Rh looked II ke a ri ominous warnings vs White) would the explosive pc Issue and threaten
Africa itself. Ian S the Owen-Young "internal settlem
Muzorewă, Sithole more sophisticatec
(СолtїтцЕt! о,

lution dld not
of a despot. e establish ment ent. It broke c stranglehold; |ble departure
utilon did not ertion of Cuba's but inaugurated irmation of its trade embargos, liplomatic Isola :ubversion and mpts
tyy E.OTTOL5 ems which hawe ved still - Cuba re-structuring new model of the region, a not linked to global system spendent on it. step, its defiance ed a 5 bande SS Nietnamese in a confrontation. gerous precedent Latin America xample to other is was Cuba's
was why it eral ha tred of
t
pe of the world, ion of forces, iter of liberation Irresistible logic effects remain to be drawn experience of
lys, the recent Odesia and the ..he Camp David e this point. 2 but the Anglofind a diplomatic Qdesian Conflict asponse to his Colour (black only enhance tential of the strategic South mith pre-empted move with an ent' involving etc. It was a exercise in the
# Pé ?)
aimed at
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Page 9
INDA AFTER GI
by Gail Omvedt
Indira Gandhi, the architect of
India's Emergency regime and the most feared opponent for most sections of its organized Left, completed her astounding political comeback winning over two-thirds of the seats in parlamentary elections held on January 3 and 6
Tho slze of the victory was a shock to most political commentators here who had been predicting a period of political fragmentation, un stable and minority or coalition governments on the basis of recent splits and flux among all the the bourgeois parties and cleat evidence of disillusion ment and disgust with all politicians on the part of the masses. All such predictions were confounded by the massivenes of Congress (l) wictory.
In the midst of the victory rallies that were staged following the election the reaction of bourgeoisie was qu seter but clear: there was an upsurge in the stock market and a sudden drop of one-fourth in gold prices with in two days-indicating greater confidence on the the part of property-holders in the economy. And leading industrial scs claimed that Mrs. Gandhi's two-thirds majority "will help her to follow a bold and agressive policy which will put an end to lawlessness' in Industrial areas, where, they claimed "labourers are controlling us rather than we controlling them."
Once again the Indian electorate has upset all the predictions of intellectuals and experts. But what exactly has happened, and what lies ahead?
Character of the Election
Some features of election results:
* Mrs. Ganbhi's victory was nation wide and in that sense proved the national character of India with the exception of genuine border regions in the northeast tribal areas and Kashmir) The Congress () won in all states except the "red forresess" of West Bengal, nearby Tripura, and Kerala. The Akadi
Dal, a religiou party in the Pun ln Tam II nadu, tl a strong region ition in the Dr the section of it the Congress (I) ming victory. ences which had In the 1977 ele and forecasts of tation of India
* The Congress ( of total votes an nothern state. C. an absolute major even if the opp against it it wa TTO LUIS 2
* While Mrs. Gai ing from indust ions of the midd proportion of ri east half of the lobby in the st was with her) win overwhelmir from the rural The rural poor the Congress (1) ers gave ther Indfra Congress munlsts and ot dates.
* The bourgeoi: shattered. The earlier split int. by Jag Iwan Ram led by Charan S gress (U) which those from the gress Party who Mrs. Gandhi's au seemingly been back. But the only 3 seats in and was wiped of its tiu dari F while the Janat, had been expec Come in a Solid 3. The Lok D.3 second biggest p on the basis of middle caste peas nothern states. had enough to

ANDHI
ily-based regional jab was decimated. Le other State With al-separatist tradwidian movement, which allied with won an overwhelNorth-south differbeen so marked ctions disappeared regional fragmenwere belied.
) won about 50% d outside of a few Instituencies it WOn ity of the Wote-le osition had united uld hawe been of
dhi had solid backrialists, some sectle class and a good ch farmers (e.g. at a powerful sugar ate of Maharashtra
she managed to g popular support and urban poor. voted largely for while urban workvotes either to or to the Comher union candl
opposition was lanatha Party had the Janatha led and the Lok Dal Ingh and the Conconsisted of all old National Conould not stomach thoritarianism had making a comeongress (U) won :he entre country OU L I the 5tät ead Devraj Urs l, which everyone ing to at least second, got only emerged as the rty with 4 seats mainly rich and it Woes in soft Ut no single Party Take it even an
special to the Ιαηκα Gιαrλία η
officially recognized "opposition" (which requires 50 seats out of 525.
* The two communist parties together won more than any single bourgeois party but their strength was regionalized. In Kerala and Bengal where they stood as an Independent left front against both Janata and Congress (1) and could project themselves as a political force truly capable of governing if they won solidly, But their Incapability of leading such a political alternative nationwide left the field open to Mrs. Gandhi.
* The percentage of the electorate who voted dropped significantly from its all-time high of 61%. In 1977 to 57%. In other words the "Indira wave" covered another groundswell of disilussionment and cynicism among the voters.
* The election clearly marked the dominance of class and idealogical politics in India. The characterzation of Indian politics in terms of caste-based "wote banks" or open corruption and buying of votes or some kind of "semi-feudal' or "patrimonial" domination of voters by rural bosses is clearly inadequate now. This fact must be stressed. It is true there was no direct intimidation; there were cases of beating and even murder of low caste voters and even some spectacular "booth capturing" (a custom particularly in the turbulent state of Bihar where hired gangsters simply capture a polling station with guns and home made bombs and mark all the ballots themselves). But - aside from the fact that this went as much against Mrs. Gandhi as for her-lt was of relatively minor significance. In the vast sea of the Indian political system open buying of voters was also of minute significance in contrast to massive, bourgeoistype spending on posters, jeeps, campaigning. So called "vote backs" or the need to hawe candidates of the same caste or religion as the main group in a constituency was of little more importance than it is in the
7

Page 10
U. S. - the biggest symbol of this fact was that even though the Janata Party candidate for Prime Minister, i Jag van Ram is an ex-untouchable, this had, against all predications, absolutely no impact on the low caste voting. People voted their interests as they saw them, within the framework of bourgeois democracy, and though low caste
rural poor voters everywhere talked of the "pressure' and "oppression' that was a normal
exisMrs. this; 로도 효
everyday feature of their tence, they somehow saw Gandhi as an escape from
they did not vote for her result of it.
Reasons for the Congress (i) Wictory
How then, did Mrs. Gandhi win such an impressive majority? Was it because she represents a "progressive" force because she was a "peoples' candidate" riding on the crest of some kind of popular upsurge?
First of all the elections took Place On a background of worse ning economic Crisis marked by drought, power cuts, transport breakdowns, rapidly rising prices, much publizied "atrocities against Harijans" (ex-Untouchables), religious riots and ordinary lawlessness. The Janata Party had been discredited for its inability to do anything except intermittently repress popular move Tents for two years. The Charan Singh-led Lok Dal and Congress (U) so called "third force", for all its talk of fighting authoritarianism and communalism. proved incapable of even uniting
to form a common front with a clear program to fight the elections, let alone govern the
country. The two big communist parties, the CPI and CPI (M), had come together for the first time since 1962 in a kind of common front to the people - but this was still new, weak marked by no common program and tied to the floundering and discredited Lok Dal/Congress (U) alliance.
In other words, there was no clear national political alternative before the people. On this basis, Indira Gandhi came forward, bold and un repentant about the Emer. gency; insisting that she had never had any other alm than
fighting poverty excesses had process that wa Iпg peoples" п few simple gai and the prosp Control not owe Over those whi holding them all projecting ultimately decis the only one C a stable gover ridden India.
There were ponents of th which produced disgust with "all those Self-In tE (ln which ln dilir: ters were als feeling that he was perhaps a and the feeling Country neede and the people
In that rural those where th strongly organiz people sald aft 'What is all thi tatorship? We it during the E they Would poin gains, for instan houses" that he many areas. Of many complaints the local politi to take credit f "She provided t TI inlster's and i in between trouble.'
Yet the rural as ambivalent as Numerous of the poor gave an over response to calls tions, citing exal own experience ness of politicians. in the next brea: it was "undemocr; and that someon to run the co other cases peopl for Indira and tirades on the sa need to organiz themselves if the thing. A typical r of a poor peasan the elections whi

and if a few 1аррепеd Iп the s minor; awakenostalgia about a ns they had seen ect of exercising :r themselves but 2 they felt were down; and above
herself in a we way as a leader apable of bringing rent to crisis
three main come popular mood her victory: a these politicians, a rested leaders' and her supportincluded); the Wertheless Indira little different; that after äl the a government needed a ruler.
areas at least ere was a lack of !ed rural unions en, more simply 5 talk about di Clever experienced mergency!' And t to a few wisible ce the "20 point ld been built in these they had but they ignored cians who tried or them and said, heSe - but these aders who Come cause all the
mood itself was the urban one. 2 low caste rural whelm Ing positive to boycott elecmples from ther of the worthlessbut then argued th that somehow atlic" not to wote e must be there JПtry. In many e spoke strongly then went into The theme of the e and struggle :y expected aпу"esponse was that it Woman after said "Oh our
mother has come, mother is in power!" Are people happy, then? we asked. Yes yes, she insisted but then went on. "But it doesn't make any difference anyway, all these leaders just act for their own interest, they come and go but our life doesn't change."
It is clear that a great deal of money was spent on the elections in an intense, systematic and ulitimately successful campaign to convince voters that their hopes lay in Indira Gandhi; it is clear that the degree of strength that the government has now accumula - ted will be used by the ruling classes to repress the organized movements of the masses - because that is the only way they can Survive in India's Crisis-Tidden society. It is clear also that some kind of systematic campaign will be mounted against the Communist strongholds of Kerala and West Bengal, and that a new effort will be made against the continuing insurgencies among tribal national minorities in the northeast. But the Working class, which produced an unprecedented strike Wawe in the last two years has gained increased experience and determinatiom in fighting warious forms of repression; the different sections of the middle classes (particularly the minorities and low :) are more volatile and frustrated than ever and will not be easily controlled and struggles are widen Ing not diminishing in the rural areas. The way ahead will not be simple - neither for the ruling classes nor for the Left.
Kissinger . . .
(Carriri led from Page ()
South African policy of "Bantusta
nisation'. In essence, it was as
the UN rightly called it "fake independence' with the collabora
tion of pliant native leaders. The guerrilla war went on because the Patriotic Front had been
excluded from this neat arrangement where token power was given to the black while real authority remained with the whites. The new deal reached in London includes the Front. Will the transition be smooth will the 'solution' stick? NEXT : Palestine question

Page 11
End of long boom (2)
Dream of a new
by Upali Cooray
he World Bank report on World-wide economic develop
ment published in August 1978 states that "Some 800 million souls still live in a state of abso
lute power ty. These masses of marginally employed are deprived
of food, shelter, education and decent medical care.'
During the last decade, there
has been some economic growth and industrialisation in those countries which are often referred to as the "Third World". There has been some shift from agriculturta production to that of manufactured goods. Nevertheless a very great majority of these Countries still specialize mainly in Supplying raw materials to capitalist countries.
A large number of these coun
ing | depender 醬 蠶 commissioned by ties (quoted in t September 6, World Countries Import 120 mil from the imper the end of the
During the 7C other similar forward warlous lop agriculture реaSапt". Iп ге corresponded t of the imperi companies. The their penetratic colonial world. build agricultura
towards expor goods for w. Import of ma
tries are now becoming increas - and "know-how
TABLE IW
EXPORTS FROM THIRD WORL
EXCLUDING OPEC MEMBERS
Ray Materals WILCtLTE
174 3.5 3.5
1975 O 34."
197, O. 3.
1977 1. 8.1
TABLE W
THIRD WORLD EXPORTS AS A
TOTAL
973 11 .8%
1974 11。芷
1975 2.)
T 1:.tl
1977 12.2
PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL EXPORTS WO
Manufactur

f economic order
fס rt5סקאe חס tו ng to a study the U.S. authorihe ECONOMIST 1978). The Third Would have to on tons of food ialist countries by
ISBO"5
's World Bank and organisations put projects to deveand "assist the ality these projects o the profit needs alist agribuslness y hawe stepped up in of the semiThey seek to enclawes oriented "t of agricultural ird market and chinery, fertilizer r" from the impe
| Goods
RLDWIDE
ed GOOds
rialist world. Multi-nationals are now seeking to control Third World's agricultural development.
The bulk of agricultural loans provided by the World Bank and other credit Institutions to these Third World countries end up in the coffers of the agribusiness companies. "Given pene
tration of the Third World by foreign capital and technology any loan made by the World
Bank is assured of being placed In a sector where foreign concerns control investments and production". (Ernest Feeder "Capitalist's last-ditch effort to save undeveloped agricultures' Journal of contemporary Asia Wol 7 No. 1977.)
The outcome of this type of agricultural development and investment is the Concentration of wealth and incomes in the hands of foreign and local blg business and the pauperlization of peasant
TSE
The efforts of Third World Countries to ensure guaranteed Prices for their raw materials
and halt the deterioration of the terns of trade has fallen flat. The slowing of Industrial growth in industrial countries has caused demand for primary goods to slack off and prices to drop. At the same time advanced countries have began to restrict import of manufactured goods from the "Third World" by Imposition of quotas, administrative negotlations and fiscal measures.
The fall in demand for primary goods and raw materials, the deterioration of the terms of trade-and the consequent effect on balance of payments, the massive loans obtained by native ruling classes to ensure "economic development" and the activit les of Multi-nationals hawe all Contributed to the increase of foreign
9.

Page 12
indebtedness by the underdeveloped countries. Imperialist Banks have begun to participate directly in Third World investments. Thus the debt structure had changed and today a majority of loans are either granted or baoked by big imperialist banks. In 1976 40% of debt of the entire Third World was financed by private loans. The tightening of credit in the United States, U.K. and other Imperialist countries would not only increase debt-servicing charges of Third World countries but also restrict their ability to obtain further loans. Secondly, the rise in price of oil will create greater difficulties and make it wery difficult for thern to pay for essential imports. Thirdly protectionist measures by imperialist countries would hawe se were repercussions for economic growth and industrial development in the Third World.
Therefore, the slacking demand for primary products and consequent decline in prices, the gloomy
outlook for third world exports, and the international monetary and financial crisis, -all these developments indicate that the third world countries will not be able to sustain the relative
economic growth these countries achived in the last decade.
Conclusion
The 70's has been a turning
point in history for the world
capitalist economy. Sluggish
growth and excess capacity has increased inter-Imperialist competition and protection Ist measures, Imperialist bourgeoisie is seeking
to resolve their crisis (a) by attempting to raise the rate of profit at the expense of the
TABLE
working ciass - i. wages and social : by "disciplin Ing"
accept the low living and higher tation and (b)
step up the penetr to Third W Workers' state R etc. AS a Cor5E policy the ruli coming into mor conflicts with the and their allies t
Decisive battles been fought. To single Imperialist of acting as the W On the other han lioms of the wor not yet been c decisive battle5 events in Iran majority of the U, hawe no Interst wed in the affair can ruling class. class must prepar period of major the com ing decac
The Crisis of t capitalist econom a global social every aspect of 80's will decide which this Criss Therefore the que come to the again in the Cor be what is the kind - Socialism
WI
FOREIGN DEBT OF UNDER DEWELOPED C.
(Non - OPEC)
97)
95
1975
g77
In billions of d
.
5.4()
SO
25() 2 (

e. by reducing security benefits; the Workers to ar - standard of rate of exploiby seeking to "ation of markets World and the ussia, China and squence of this ng classes are e and explosive a working class hs World Wer“.
have not yet iay there is no power capable orlds' gendarme. d the big battaking class have efeated in any Further the show that the S. working class in getting invol5 of the Aller
The working e for a protracted class battles. In le.
..he international y has provoked crisis involving human life. The
the manė T in will be resolved. stion that Would fore again and ning decade will destiny of manor Barbarism.
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Page 13
NATIONALITY
History, political
he problems of nationality
continue to make a strong impact on current politics, often in erratic and ugly ways, dissipate popular energies and be devil even such organised mass efforts like the La nout movement. Do the roots of the problem ille in a false consciousness which apparently find sanction in history, ancient and colonial
Every Sinhala child learns the Dutugem unu story at h is mother's kinee. There Is scarcely a Sinhalese or Tamil who do es not think of himself as Aryan or Dravidian. In the received wisdom of the educated Sri Lankan is the settled belief that discrimination against the Sinhalese and privileges for the Tamils were a natural extension of colonial policy.
As reported exclusively in the Lanka Guardian (Jan 5) the Social Scientists Association sponsored a two-day seminar where ten of Sri Lanka's leading scholars in spheres of study directly relevant to these and Connected issues, presented papers. About 50 social scientists participated in a discussion, particularlý noteworthy for its absence the emotionalism and na Trow partisanship which inevitably accompany such exchanges.
As the report published in the last issue stated "there was general agreement that the present chauvinism among the Sinhalese and Tamils could NOT deriwe from our historical background: a correct understanding of our history would deny any legitimacy to claims of superiority or chronological priority of any particular grOUP. . . . . . . ."
On account of the crucial relevance of the authoritative opinions presented at this symposium to present-day social conflicts, several of these papers, sometimes in edited form, appear in this issue. More will appear in subsequent issues.
myth and conflict
Discussing the
Lanka. Dr. Sena showed how the Peopled by war
migrants at varic resulting amalgar into a homogene that this process ciated with the centralised state. Wijayan and Ary pointed out that nological time Col strued as confer to Priority by any
Professor Les traced the growt consciousness. H during the early 'Sinhala' had be to the king and this identity had held from all the and followers. L those embraced "Sinhala' had mainly in order adherence and royal family. The was associated W of feudal kingdom ties in Sri Lanka. strated that the fought between palities and kingc between themselw kings and rulers South Indian kin; be regarded as ethnic or religlou were struggles fo feudal kingdoms, often embracing ethnic groups an wars between II Elara hawe necess in this light: D. overcome 32 oth he found himself: to challenge Elar: contained many Si one of Whose ch indeed a Sinhalt also analysed th its origin and the in various periods,

Peoplling of Sri ka Bandarana yake island had been "lous groups of Luis times and the I had coalesced !ous society and had been assogrowth of a Challenging the "an myths., he priority in chrould not be conring any claims Patticular group,
dė Gunawardena h of a 'Sinhala" le showed that Stages, the word 2n applied only the king group: even been withother retainers ater the scope of in the concept bëen Widened, to cement their loyalty to the : whole process ith the growth Is and principal - He also demonTherous WET5 rulers of princiOms in the island BS or With the of neighbouring doms Could no
a rising from conflicts. They r Power between such kingdoms Jeople of various religions. The "utugernunu and Irily to be seen tugem unu had to 2r kings before ufficiently strong , Who5e armies li hala people and ief generals was 5e. This paper Aryan myth, way it was used up to the present,
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Page 14
NAtionality
Dutthagamini — Elara e
by W. I. Siriweera
ME: Chroniclers and historians project the views of their own age and the perception of their own situation in reading and assessing past events. The treatment of the Dutthagamini - Elara episode by different writers at different times is a clear example of this tendency: A reassessment of the writings on this subject is a pressling need because they have had a tremendous psychological impact on both Sinhala and Tamil COLLIS.
The Dipavamsa, our earliest extant record of historical tradition attributed to the middle of the fourth century A.D. contains only a brief reference to Dutthagami Abhaya and Elara, . It is Interesting to note here that Sena and Guttika, the earliest invaders from South Indla are Teferred to as Dam i las in this account but i Elara Is not identified as such. It merely states that the Prince named Elara, having killed Asela, ruled righteously for forty-four years. In its recording of events the Dipavamsa further states that the prince named Abhaya, the Son of Kakawana, Surrounded by ten warriors, overcame and killed thirty-two kings and thereafter ruled for twenty four years. At the time of the writing of the Dipavamsa or during the one or two centuries prior to it, Sri Lanka did not experience South Indian invasions and the Sln hala and Tamil communities lliwing in the island seem o to hawe existed as best they could without conflict. This is probably part of the explanation for the Brief and dispassionate nature of the narration of events regarding Elara
and Dutthagamini by the author of the Depavamsa.
But the picture has changed
completly in the period prior to the writing of the Mahavamsa. It is believed that the Mahavamsa was written in the early years of the sixth century A.D., perhaps in the time of Moggalana (491-508).
|
A few decades E the country wit six Tamils: Pandu, Parinda, Tiri tara, iya (428-455). TE origin of these air. The are of these rulers, the view that th Pandya country. Ces; Pujavali an them Tamils from The period from de of the sixth Indian history is to as the Kalab and according to the Kalabharas k the Pandyas in haps the incursld Sri Lanka in the f ch brought the Isla Tu le for a little of a century was With the disturbe prevalled in Sout time. The Cuaw 5tates that Tam || tend to the Sout Island, namely Ro. Sinhalese nobles h: But epigraphic ey that the rule of the Tamil kings the limits to whi Confines their rela
Thus it seems Mahavamsa was w ict element In th Weer the Sinhala had crystallized. threat posed by th hawe been fresh i the Sinhalese, and Would hawe had on Ephikkhu Maha hala Buddhist authç vamsa. A reading Wr T51 a-LCLITT . mini-Elara epoch cy to regard th Duttagamini and hala-Tamil conflict set exiliation tends to C35 t ser

pisode : A reassessment
efore this period essed the rule of På rinda, Khudda Dathiya and Pithe exact place of amils is un certPandu of the first has given rise to by came from the The Sinhala sourH Rajavali; call the Cola country. about the mid'entury in South usually referred ra inter regnum Tam | tradition, ept the Colas and subjectlon. Pern, of Tamils to ifth century whiind under foreign over a quarter not un connected d conditions that h India at the am5a expressly rule did not exhern part of the hana, where the tid sought refuge.
idence suggests at least some of :xtended beyond ch the chronicler |lm,
that when the ritten the confle relations bette and the Tamils The political 1e Tamils would In the minds of this backgroundsome influence nama, the SinT of the Mahaof the Mahaif the DuttagaShows a tendema war between Elara as a Sln:; howevert a cloof the account |ous doubt on
this view of the Mahavamsa which has been adopted by so many contemporary historians.
The Mahavamsa clearly states that Elara arttiwed here from Cola country. There is no evidence as to the composition of his garrisons and the strength of his army; however, unless Elara had some support in Sri Lanka, it may not have been easy for him to occupy the throne at Anuradhapura for such a long period. As subsequent history shows most of the foreigners who succeeded in wresting the throne and ruling the country for any considerable length of time have had some indigenous support or had been backed by a foreign power. Unfortunately the chronicles do not reveal much about this aspect of Elara ” s rule and a5 Wilhelm Geiger has correctly pointed out "not what is said but what is ieft un said is the besetting dificulty of Sinhale se history",
However, reading between the lines in the Mahavamsa account, one gets the impression that both Elara and Duttagamini were participants in a feudal power game and not in a racial war. The Mahavamsa states that, when Elara was going to the Cetiya Mountain. In a chariot to in wi te the bhikkus, the point of the yoke on his chariot had struck a dagoba, thereby causing injury to the monument. On this ocassion it is said that Elara's ministers told him "Oh king our thupa has been injured by you." This clearly indicates that the ministers of Elara considered the thupa to be theirs, which means that at least the ministers who atoompaniced Elara in this misson were Buddhists and also most likely, Sinha lese. Wa also find that one of the generals of Elara was Mitta who was a Sinhalese. His sisters's son was Narndimitta, one of Duttgamini's ten commanders, to whom superhuman exploits have been ascribed in the Mahavamsa.

Page 15
Dutthagamin's march northwards in his campaign against Elara was along the right bank of the Mahawelliganga. In the process Dutthagamini had defeated Elara's generals known as Chatta, Titthamba, Mahakottha Gawara, Issariya, NalIka Dighabhaya, Kapislsa, Kota, Halawahamaka, Wahlt, tha, Gamini, Kumbha, Nandika, Khanu, Tamba, Unna and Jambu. The Mahawamsa states that all these were Tamils but evidence for verification is limited. In the above list at least two names Gamin and Dighabhaya, sound like es 5 en tially Sinhala-Buddhist names; while the name of the ten paladins of Dutthagamini, i.e Welu, sounds like a Tam il name. However, a detailed etymological study of the names is necessary before arriving at a conclusion. In this connection it is relevant and significant to mention that at one stage in the battle; the Sinhalese are said to have killed their compatriots because they had not been able to identify their foe. Such a situation could have occurred only if there had been a substantial number of Sinhalese in Elara's army.
Both the Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa refer to the killing of thirty-two kings by the son of Kakawan na Tissa. The two references differt only in detail and the latter states that these thirty two kings were Tamils. On the basis of this evidence it seems reasonable to assume that there were several semi-independent chiefs in the area north of Rohana when Elara was the foremost ruler in Rajarata and Dutthagamini in Rohana pehaps Dutthagamin] before giving the final blow to Elara's capital subjugated these semi-independent chiefs in his attempt to unify the island.
The achivements of Dutthagam in in the unification of the whole Island under one banner and the establ is ment of Buddhism on a very secure basis through tremen dous royal patronage had captured the imagination of Buddhist monks and the Sinhala people at the time of the writing of the Mahavansa. This has un doubtedly led the author of the Mahavamsa to Writing his text almost as an epic on Dutthagamini.
ای
The Mahawan that Dutthaga agas inst Elara assi of holy war, th a which was the glorification of Bı states that a ba bhikkhus from T astery accompan that Wiharadew son and shared difficulties of th ordinary soldier
In the Mahaw not find any ev that Buddhists under Elara. On chronicle itself : was a pious and J. though himself : patronized Buddh witation to the Ceti ya mountain Mahawam sa ma) an alms-giving, religious functior wice or to solicit tunately the pur tation is not giv nicle. But Elara even in the eyi cler, was strong affection for his that the author o has glorified his h for the se Tw|CeS advance the cau: building monaste of great magnitu of the warriors Abhaya Dathasen: tered the Buddh cross Ing over to homeland of the peace in the mon
According to Dutthagamini haw ka for the greate | sm lamented that pelled to kill m beings in order to purpose. This k beings was carri with the knowle kkhus, but to a their approval bhikkhus who r army. Here, thi thor has falen and in his pre improvlsed a Col It is said in the when the arah knew the king's

SL E COL Tit Statenini's campaign med the character sole objective of perpetuation and ddhism. It further ld of five hundred ssa maharama moned the army and accompanied hert
the perils and : compaign with
amsa one does
dence to suggest were persecuted the contrary the tates that Elara st king and that, | Hindu, he ha d Ism. Elara's inbhikkhus of the reffered to in the r hawe been for for somme form of or to seek adsupport. Unforpose of this Inw|- fem In the chro's love of justice, 35 of the chron|- er than natural wn son. It seems f the Mahavamsa ero Dutthagamin he rendered to ie of Buddhism by ries and shrines de. Ironically, one of Dutthagmini subsequently enist Order after South India, the Tamils and found asteries there,
he Mahavamsa, ng unified Sri Langlory of Buddhihe had been comyriads of human achive this great Illing of human !d out not only idge of the bhireat extent with for there wete arched with the Mahlawamsa aunto a dilen må licament he has WO2 ni cento, 5olution. Mahawa, msa that is in Piyangudipa thoughts they
sent elght arahats to Comfort the king. And they coming in the middle watch of the night, alighted at the palace-gate. These a rahats are said to have assuaged the king's feelings and categorically asserted that all the killings of human beings caused by Dutthagamini in no way hinderd his path to heaven. Their argument was that, amɔng the enemies of Dutthagamini who lost their lives in his war against Elara, there was only one person who had taken the Three Refuges and one who observed the Five Precepts in addition. The rest were "unbelivers and men of ewil life... not more to be esteemed than beasts.” As professor Paranawi tana's analysis has shown, these accounts in the chronicle and Pali commentaries indichte the close alliance that was being forged between the Buddhist sangha and the Sinhala State. H) wewer it is equally obvious that thinking men including the choroniclers pondered om the i newitable in consistencies of that all lance.
The attitude adopted towards the Dutthagamini-Elara episode by Mayura pada thera, the Sinhala auth. or of the thirteenth century boik Pujawali has been discussed by Liyanagamage in an excellent essay enticled "A Forgotten Aspect of Sinhala-Tamil Relations.". Mayurapada thera, was a contemporary of the Indian invader Magh a ( 25-1252). Writing with the bitter memory of Magha's mils deeds fresh in his mind, the author has ascribed similar characteristics to earller inwaslons and speak of them too In an angry and em bittered
tone. The good words said of Elara in the older chronicles, Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa,
are not only absent from Mayurapada's Pujawali but he is branded as an un righteous rular who , da sitroyed monasteries and the Buddhist Order.
Wars fought between the two kingdoms within the Island and conspiracles and manouverings for political power among the chiefs were not something new in Sri Lankan history. The fact that the ruler of Rajarata during Dutthagamini's early phase happened to be a Tamil should not
(Carrirrted dri Page 7)

Page 16
NATIONALITY
Impact of
by Susil Siriwardene
believe that the most open and direct manifestation of policy and action based on ethnic considerations to be found during the British colonial era is located with In the area of British constitutional policy. Hence I have decided to focus atentition on this limited area, Within this II mited area, It is necessary to trace the Impact on first, the national elite, and then, on those wider elements outside the elite. This is especially Important I think, because of the most distinctive feature of our national movement, which is that the elite had only a friendly contradiction with their colonial rulers, while it must be assumed that the masses had an antagonistic relation with the British.
Resistance and the First Phase (1908-1920)
The Idea of "communal electorates' was a part and parcel of British constitutional policy from the time of Colebrooke. In the first Legislative Council of 833, the Unofficials numbering 5; IX, Consisted of 3 Europeans, Burgher, Sinhalese and | Tamil. While constitutional issues were mildly canvassed after the 1860s, they began to be articulated with some force again, only in 1908. It is well to remember, that by this time not only were the mercantilist roots of the plantation economy well entrenched and the pioneers of the English-educated elite at large about town, but the gathering momentum of the Wernacular nation. alist revivalist movement had also clearly registered itself. In other words, the social conditions themselves were propitious for an attitude of resistance to communal ideas. What happened in 1908 then? Let us listen to Dr. G. C., Mendis' account about it:
The English-educated middle class de Tarded in 1908 ha refor T of the Legislative Council and the establishment of territorial electorates, in
Briti
harmony with th ECOTONIC un if already taken GÖYer'ım arıt tharı objectives of the
on the grgund t Mož5 Et did Ed
Communa electo Ing EO weld the
nation by the er electorates as
р І15)
Dr. Mendis goe the middle class as electorates.
The problems of Thore geomortic racial, as the ad
The had been territorial basis,
ed that territt should replacé : tatlon. Mendis,
In this instar clearly that while were acting ration Wely, the colonia in a way that the Warious conn A Te we to under simple error of
Though the riot up the Sinhala and it had the salutary the leaders of the alam's impassione of the British br down the rots plea for the releas leaders who had two years later, Presidency of the Congress. Thoug| ground would w Lunderstanding th further possitive ci ards strengthenin ing resistance to co
Surrender and th (1920-1947)
By 1920 the un strain by the eli shattered thanks designs of Goverr that year he first between the Kand;

sh policy
e administrative and cation which had Iac. The British , deviating from the Colabrooka Reform5 at society in Ceylon by race, established "ates instead of trypeople into a single eation of territorial equested. (Mcndls,
s on to say why kad for territorial
over Ignt Ward 10 W 1nd terrltorial thăn ministration for some conducted on a Hence they demandrial represen Catlon Jom rTn Lurial rtepa re5en =
P, 83)
ice we noticed the nationalists ally and progressilists were acting tended to keep
munities di wilded. "stand this as a udgement?
s of 95 divided Muslim peoples, effect of unifying elite. Arunachd condemnation utality in putting and his moving e of the Sinhalese been imprisoned, earned him the Ceylon National we are on thin e be wrong in 5. Wats as ɔntributions towg and internalismmunal thinking
e Second Phase
ity forged under :e is definitively to the singular or Manning. In : drove a wedge fans and the Low
Countrymen in the Congress and made the former withdraw from It on the promise of a separate communal electorate for the Kandyans. Then in 1921 he manipulated the split between Arunachalam and the Congress. In August of that year the Tamil el Ite formed their own Tamil Mahajana Sabhai to articulate their demand as a minority community. Here is Prof. K. M. de Silva's appraisal of Manning's constitutional handywork:
Manning regarded the Ceylon Natio. nal Congress as an intolerable challenge to the British position in Ceylon, and set aboLIt the business of fashioning its discornfiture with a ruthlessness that befitted a more formidable adversary . . . Suffice it to say that he ach leved it (discomfiture) through a skilful and deliberate manipulation of the communal differences and tensions in Ceylon's plura || Society. In deed his hand | Ing of the problems of constitutional reform in Ceylon would serve as an illum inatling textbook casa study in the application of a policy of divide et impera. (Univ. Wol. 3, p. 395)
While Manning's desire to subvert is rational from the colonial standpoint, the surrender on the part of the elite like Sir James Pieris requires explanation. We must emphasize that the unity that was shattered in this instance, proved to be very costly, in that communal politics came to dominate and spread like a cancer thereafter. It is here that we have to question the whole source of strength of the elite. On questioning we find that the mass base of the elite was mlnl mal; it was in trowerted and confined to a clique of families and landow ing interests; it had no cultural roots amongst the vernacular national movement; its perception of colonialism was that of a master who will always act justly by his charge; what was needed was not political independence but a wider participation of the elite.
From this point, the contradictions that matured, were not between the nationalists and the

Page 17
colonialists, but rather among diffe. rent national communities, The fissiparous tendency proliferated and the process of organising each gne's own community became the first priority. Each Cסmmunity turned more and more onto itself, and developed its new-found self Con SCIOLIS ness with ferwent zea. Unity among and between communities, gave way to unity within communities. This meant that communalism had passed through a new stage of rationalisa. tion. Communalism was consoldated in the process. The visible manifestations of this trend were the Tamil Mahajana Sabha (1920), Sinhala Maha Sabha (1937), the Muslim League, and the Tam Congress (1944) Look how the com. munity identity is proclaimed loud and clear
When it came to the Donoughmore Commission in 1927, communalism
was institutionalised, and the minorities demanded communal representation most fervently. Now it was the turn of the
colonialists to analyse its evil. The Commissioners declared:
We have unhesitatingly come to the conclusion that contina герге 5епtalo is as it wera, a canke of the body politic eating deeper and deeper into the Wital energies of the people, borged ing self-Interest, suspicion and imply prisoning the new growth of political consciousness BΠd effectively preventing the de'velopment of al matlona "or Efparate spirit. (Dr. Mendis, p. 7)
With the abandonment of comTunal representation first in the Donoughmore Constitution and I. ter in the Soulbury Constitution, the wheel has gone ful circle.
However, we must return to thệ question of the impact of these Policies on the masses. What bout the radicals among the elite like A. E. Goonesinghe, whose Young Lanka League cried out for Swara in the 1920s? What about the vernacular nationalists, whose interests would have been different from these of the elite Finally what about the working classes and the broad masses? In other Words we hawe to settle the quėstion of the impact of colonial Policies on other strata of our nationalist movement.
Under develop
Radicals of A. E. Goonesing Pass a decade had to seek refu. Out of all sloga last political clai the stage for a irony than this of our nationalis It is Capable o behind its rad It means |s aп tanding of the hi Society and the f cations of this anti-colonia, a tions. It means at this time ha essential nature the question of pe t|cal independe issues are vitally i. the classic oppor ence of national united struggle c
and ethnic grc colonial enemy. that determines
rationalism, its di It is here that t
of Our national guilty of evasions While it can failure of politi generally it can failure in the Ideology.
What about the Wernacular nationa is correct to say th nationalist Towem militancy and nato as often such move reactionary tend these Was a con Our nationalist sought legitimacy in the past. In Would hawe natural IAtlanligt myths befng the land Buddhists. Unless into the past was sufficient awarene democratic thinki likely that its acqu Would hawe a cor Prejudice and obscu In tellectuals like Cl dasa and Hemapala be good example nationalists, who ni.

ent of Ideology
le twenties like are to a sоггу ter, when they
in communalism s to stake their is before leaving er. What better the shall owness ... What blindspots having concealed a facade. What mperfect understory of our plural r-reach Ing im pliplurality under ion-making Condithat our thinkers not grasped the of colonialism and litlcal power (poli. ice). These two terlinked, because tunity and experiunity is in the f all nationalities ups against the It is this struggle the quality of epth and breadth. he Warious strata rY10 Wer Thert a Te and compromises. be Considered a cal wi 5 Ion, more be considered a development of
next strata, the
lists? Perhaps it at the vernacular ent for all its
nalism, possessed ments do, certain 2ncies. One of mmunal Content. movement also and inspiration the process, it y revived certain like Sri Lanka of the Sinhala such a vision balanced by a ss of modern ng it is very ired nationalism tent of ethnic rantism. Sinhala maratinga MuniMunidasa would s of exemplary 2vertheles nani
fest attitudes of Un Conscous communalism. Their encounter with national culture did not result in an encounter with a modern humanism and a political consciousness, which would have seen them through the ethnic barrier that has been erected in our midst. Thus we may answer our opening question by saying that many of the wernacular nationalists would have joined an organisation like the Sinhala Maha Saba, while a minor - ty would have espoused the left
OWET 521
Finally there is the left movement to account for. While the left movement had a Cret perspective on both the National Question as well as that of national independence, and while it did a lot of Individual and group work on the basis of communal unity, the whole post 1964 history of the left forces us to raise question about the adequacy and density of the parceptions worked out in the thirties and the forties. While the left comes out in a very favourable light in competition with all the other forces giving leadership to the masses during the colonial period, a more internal asses ment, based on the tasks in hand seen retrospectively, shows up a certain thin ness of effort. This is necessarily linked to the whole omission on the left of the cultural question, which proved disastrous later on, in the kind of guits and distortions it produced during the 'second wave' of Sinhala nationalism as It has been called. The serious limitation of the underdevelopment of theory and research by the left movement during the first two or three decades, calls upon us to be critical of the superficial character of the perception of these issues at the start of the movement.
Our under development of ideoloin general and in an issue like the unity of the different nationalities in the anti-colonial struggle In particular, is brought into relief the monent we compare the experience of our other neighbours in struggle. On the one hand, there are the teachings of the Marxist teachers who have confronted these problems clearly. Then there are
(Confirl Fred or Page 7)
5

Page 18
NATIONALTY
Tamils : Social
K. Sivathamby
wer since each of the two
major communities of this island began fighting against the de culturis ing effect of the socioeducational policles pursued by the British, by fall Ing back on their feudalistlic, religio-cultural roots, the characteristic feature of politicization has been the polarisation of the Sinhala-Buddhist and Hindu-Tamil groups. The mode of Sri Lanka's apprenticeship to parliamentary democracy (representation on the basis of ethnic and social groups) helped to consolidate this division. At the start there was a sharpening of the ethnic differences at the level of the emerging bourgeoisie. which they later, with the extension of the franchise, transmitted to the masses, at which level it became "race riots'. The history of the constitutional reforms of this country, viewed in this light could also be seen as the history of the attempts made to determIne the Political status of the Tam ils with in a unitary Sri Lankan State. The interaction of the socio-econo mile motivations, the political demands and the ensuing constitutional adjustments has led to the emergence of language and religion (more language than religion) as the main planks. In the process of decolonization.
Most of the academic attempts made to grapple with and elucidate this problem, have considered it sufficient to describe the events and delineate the trends. Thus the more deep-seated problems of Inter-nationality relations were explained away as the "language issue" or more simplistically the "communal problem'. It is true that this was a communal problem in that it arose because these "ethnic groups have developed an awareness of a common identity and hawe attempted to define the boundaries of the group(s). But it was something more too, for
| É
each of these g mobilized thernst action and were be significant. It is this that a com itself in to a na tlo conceptual tool i ssary to underst: and the concep is more su i table. ous impact of the of the nation-sta' the politicians a to wiew the
light. The pre the nation of "th also hid from
"Intra-communal especially among t for a few (Aras; and Jupp.), othel light the signi situation found ; and indicate how the formulation adopted and sol by both the
the antagonists.
Even though t general acceptan that the Tam Els genuine grievanc rights as full fl. of Sri Lanka, th una nimity of pol action among th glwern moment i situation. The Tamils in this closing their rar TaTi i | United (TU,LF) was with the corning Federal Party Congress (TC) Workers' Cong by S. Thondart the T|| M. P, National Party Deүапауаgam. formation of the in 977 and W of Devanayagami later With th:

composition
troups had also alves for political com Ing politically at a stage like munity transforms inality. A better s therefore n ECEand this process t of nationality But the un consciWestern concept te did not permit ind the analysts roblem in that occupation with e language issue" their view the differences found he Tam ils. Except aratnam, Wilson is failed to highficance of this among the Tam Ils It had influenced of the strategies lutions suggested protagonists and
here has been a Ce of the fact of Sri Lanka hawe as regarding their edged "nationals' ere has been no litical opinion or e Tamils at any tot ower a gwen closest ever the island came to liks was when the Liberation Front formed in 1972 together of the the Tam || and the Ceylon ress (CWC) led lan, along with in the United (UNP), K. W. But with the UN P Gowerment Ith the inclusion In the Cabinet and : absorption of
Thon daman into the Cabinet (the political basis of this alignment has never been made clear), the TULF ceased to be a "front' in the original meaning of the term; it is now a combination of two parties-the F. P. and the T. C., the latter split into two over the choice of candidates in the elections of 1977 with a dissenting group under the leadership of Kumar Ponnai balam, son of its founder President G. G. Pon nambalam.
However it is at this time of dissensions and defections that the TULF has emerged as the woice of the oppressed Tamils. It is important to note that it is the national situation that has helped it to emerge as the main opposition group in the parliamentary politics of this country. It is also of Interest to no te that the unilateral accommodations made by the ruling parties on the status of Tam || language (both the SLFP and the JANI) have סח t been accepted as agreeable solutions because the TULF had not accepted them.
There is also another dimension to this problem which exhibits the Internal contradictions within the Tamil "community". The defection of C. Rajadurai, the First M. P. for Batticaloa from the ranks of the TULF and the défense be made for his cross OWet to the UNP that, among other things, his action would help the Tamils of the Eastern province to develop themselves is an Indication that |label||ing the Tam || Issue as just a language issue or communal problem would not be enough. The lukewar attitude of the Tamils of the districts of Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Mannar and Wayuniya to the issue of standardization and the provision of district quotas in University admissions-an issue which has more than any other factor led to the rise of

Page 19
a militant youth movement in Jaffna-is also very revealing. If, along with these, we take the utterances of S. Thondaman that he has joined the government in order to work for the alleviation of the conditions of the neglected up-country Tamils, it becomes clear that the Tamil problem is not just a language issue or a communal problem. We need to go beyond the limits of ethnicity to understand this problem in proper perspective.
It is significant that progressive opinion in this country now realises the need for a radical change in the attitude towards this problem and that the Tam Ils of Sri Lanka should be taken as either a nationality or a nation, having the inalienable right of self determination. This would therefore be an opportune time to analyse the character of the social composition
of the Tamils of Sri Lanka.
i Tamil"
The word "Tam II" refers to
the language and its users. The
South Indian usage includes the Muslims too (quite often they are referred to as Tamil Muslims). But In Sri Lanka Muslims have a separate identity. The F. P. therefore has been trying to popularise, with very limited success, the term "Tam il-speaking peoples" The religio-cultural traditions and historical conditions of Sri Lanka have given the Muslims a separate political identity. Thus we are left with only the "Tamils'.
It is a well-known fact of Sri Lankan history and politics that the Tamils in Sri Lanka are divided into two primary groups-the Indian Tamils and the Sri Lankan Tamils.
The term "Indian TamIls" refers mainly to those plantation labourers brought from South India in the 19th century and to their de 5 cendants, the bulk of whom are yet on the plantations; a small Percentage of that group has migrated to urban areas and have become merchants or monthly-wage earners. This term also includes the South Indian merchants especialy the Chetties, who had established temselves in Colombo and other
provincial town Chetty populati this settlement connected with tioned migratio
A closer loo organization of Tamils reveals ethnological hi would in term economic organiz ture ånd level fall into two di The Tamils of (mostly referred Tamils and (b) North. Here a group has a fu | The Tamils of Mannar district : Tamils.
An attempt this paper to g economic founda these groups o indicate the ri hawe with each also be shown the group rivalr over riding urg solidarity which together as a n
Indian Tami"
The "Indian the plantation descendants of workers who South India in t the 19th centu T customs and essentially of th from those of th in Jaffna, Battical
The customs an vary according t village in India originally came ago. The System of labour at the the physical is group here in and the type of la both in regard and their tradeall their politica the Sinhalese per they worked, helped to preset identity and to Continuities as in the places

5. Thcге і5 а in in Jaffna town: is not directly the above-men
Π5.
the social the Sri Lankan that, inspite of omogeneity they 5 of geography, atlon, Social strucof development is tinct groups-(a)
the E. Province to as Batticaloa the Tamils of the
k at
gain, the second ther division-(I) Wann i and of
and (II) the Jaffna
will be made in O into the sociotions of each of f Tamils and to slationships they other. It will how inspite of les there is an e for unity and brings them a II ationality.
ramils" living in
Il reas are the
those Tamiliaп In migrated from she atter half of y. "Their social ractices, though e Hindus, differ elr Co-religionists ha or Trincomalee.
ceremonies also 2 their caste or from where they some 50 years of recruitment Tammadu end, plation of the the plantations, Jour organization to their work nons and above isolation from Ple among whom ave cumulatively re their separate Ta in tai the 5te
had operated of their origin.
The continuity of the caste system is the result of the Interplay of certain other factors which may briefly be recapitulated here. First, the relative isolation of estate abourers from the wider Sinhalese society has contributed to the Caste system. Further the host Society has a caste system of a kind which is not inimical to the continuity of caste system among the immigrant labourers. Second the two important features of the immigration pattern viz., the large scale family immigration and the Kangany system of recruitment prevented labourers from atta ining anonymity. Third, the productive organization of tea plantation was not so disturbing a to break the traditional image: of castes. Fourth, the formation of labour gangs under Kanganies, Particularly under Sub-Kanganies strengthened the caste and kinship ties. Fifth, there were inform sanctions such as social boycott and ridiculing in public which naintained caste norms. Finally the festival and ritual occasions Provided an arena of caste activi.
25.
Next: Caste continuities
Impact of . . .
(Carred fror Page )
the teachings of bourgeois humanists. Finally there are the examples of People Ike Jose Marti and Sukarno, who perceived these issues with great clarity. See what Sukarno's biographer has to say about the development of his thinking in his early years around 1926:
His Political Instinct led him to believe that he could bridge these divisions. His eclectic infrnations fitted him for the tak anded hT1 in his own elaboration of nat onalist to dra W on a variety of intelectual Sources. Het could apply a Marxist analysis of Imperialis na make use of Muslim hostility to infidel dom ti, bu: In šo ding h vas sign Cerned to develop the central ide of the nation as an entity which could reconcile conflicting elements in Indonesian Society and subordine. th Cinn to an o Yerarching da. (Legge, p. 80) NES (All quotations from)- Dr. G. C. Mend is: Ceylon Today and Yesterday, Associated Newspaper Ltd. 1963. - Prof. K. M. de Silva (ed.). Univerity of Sylon History df Ceylon, Wol,
1973.-J. D. Legge: Sukarno. A Political Biography, Pelican 973.
7

Page 20
DEWELOPMENT
National
by Godfrey Gunatilleke
he dialogue was conducted
among a number of rural cornmun ties as well as selected urban groups. The rural communities were chosen from different locations in the Island representing different types of villages and Covered agro-climatic, occupational socio-economic and ethnic variations. The selection was purposive and not by any means fully representative. The communities that have been selectd include among others a coastal village where the primary occupation was fishing, a community of wage labourers of Indian origin in a tea plantation in the hill country, an agricultural Peasant community which was already deriving benefits from government Irrigation programmes in the dry zonë, a community of new settlers under a government Irrigation project, a rural community in the south of Sri Lanka adjacent to a tea estate, a village community in the central region of Sri Lanka In close proximity to a tea plantation, a rural community in the wet zone close to market towns and in a region where there has been considerable development of Commercial plantations, a semi-urban community close to Colombo in the outskirts of the urban commuter belt, a community of Sri Lankan Tamils In the northern part of the Island, a community with a predominantly Muslin population, and a slum community in Colombo City.
The dialogues at the national level were organised for O groups. Three were organised by the voluntary agencies largely representing the young Western educated elites. These were held in Colombo and included business men, trade unionists, executives in the private and public sectors, mercantile clerks. Two of the seminars were organised specially for the trade unions; one was held in English and the other in Sinhala. Two seminars were held for the professional groups, particularly the academic community, and three seminars were organised by the National
8
dialogue : a
Council for Religic being conducted other two in Sil
It would be progгаппе was very diverse gro both the rural a The selection of covered a fairl segment of the included communi have presented were typical of which they we example, the coastal fishing will some insight int aspirations of the: ties which are sc; southwest coast exposed to strong The community c kers has been 5 community of
abour which acco cant part of Workforce. The in the northrewe als the cha aspirations in a p which is being dr; development pre government and interesting insigh of responses of ru. ing the prospects of material well. CCITT1 TT LIThịt los vựh l{ to the commercial represent for diffe mic situations wit of in come, wdely bases and diff dependence on W The national dia broad spectrum interest groups Sector, the acad religious organisai and youth. In th Urbanised groups t attempt made participation of p rent political affil Ing the broad spel opinion in the C

n experiment
in and Peace" one in English and the hala.
seen that the able to include a up of citizens in ld urban sectors. ftiesחuוחוחסal cיur' * representative rural sector and ties which would problems which the regions in re located. For outlook of the age would provide o the profile of se rural communattered along the and which are urban influences. if plantation worelected from the Indian immigrant unts for a signifithe agricultural village community entral dry zone nging nature of easant community iawn in Lo a major gramme of the therefore offers ts into the nature ral people regardfor improvement -being. The four :h are contiguous plantation sector rent socio-econoh different levels varying resource 2 rent lewels of age employment. logues covered a of the main - the business emic community, :ions, trade un ions e selection of the here is also some to In wolwe the eople with diffeÎations representscrum of political ountry.
What are thc, perceptions and aspi
rations of the average Sri Lankan houschold, Turaları d urban, regarding" development? In a project sponsored by IFDA (International Foundation for Development. Alternatives) a research teann of the Marga Institute sought answers to this question. Though the limitations on timic and resources could permit only a small sample of thic, population, the Institute felt that the methodology which was used and the locations selected could open up a "National Dialogue on Development", which hopefully could be linked Inoic effectively at some future date to the decision-making processes. The paper was prepared by Godfrcy Guña tillicka, DirectoT Marga, while the Ricsearch team consisted: Sunimal Fernando, Consultant||Scociologist, Rex Casinader, Assistant Director, Rural.- Horape: Henry de Mel; Mirissa: "Arnara siri de Silva; S. B. Dissanayake; HenegaIna: Conrad Ranawake; Walgampaya: A. K. Balshayakc; Malwa nahinna: M. D. Ellepola; Madakumbura: M. H. E. Ariyaratnic; Wegalla: G. Arma raserna; Ritnagiri Estatc: L. Shanthi KumäT; Narunal (Oya : Gamini de Alwis; Kaledivulwewa: S. A. D. Neville; Mathagal: L., Shanthi Kumar; Kirilapone: R. W. Jayasinghe. National - M. J. Perera, Associate Director, Sydney Wanasinghe Ms. Yvonne Schokman, N.Abey naike, S. Ramät Lunge,
The methodology that was followed adopted two different approaches for the rural part of the project and the national urban part. In the case of the rural dialogues it was felt that the project would have to be structured around a representative sample of household dialogues which would eventually lead to a village Seminar. Therefore from each village a few households were selected from different income groups. For the purpose of the selection a broad classification of the Income groups in the villages was made. In most villages the classification was based on observations and Studies that had already been made in these Willages as part of a programme of village studies which had focused on the structure of power in these communities. The classification however was not made on any accurate survey of income data as this was not important for the

Page 21
project. It was possible to group the households into 3 or 4 categories on the basis of general observations made regarding the Standard of living of these households and broad estimates of their income. As far as possible the selection was to cover the different age groups. Therefore from each income Category an effort was made to select households from four age groups spanning "young" households between 20 and 30 years of age at one end, and "old' households where the family head was over 55 years. In the actual selection of the households however it was not always possible to get all the age groups in each income category. As might have been expected, most of the households in the higher income categories were in the older age groups. The object of selecting households. In this manner was to gain some understanding regarding the differences in aspirations related to income and age. The selection of the households also paid attention to such criteria as caste village leadership, political affiliation. While keeping within the basic framework of income and age, families were selected so as to include village leaders who may hawe had decided wiews about development and the future of the village as well as households who had positions of authority on account of wealth, caste and status. Ideally the dialogues conducted within this framework was expected to provide profiles of expectations which would have enabled one to identify the perceptions of the future and the articulation of needs at different income levels and in different age groups. As will be explained later in the analysis of the content of the dialogues, the reality did not correspond so closely to the expectations that were implied in the framework.
One researcher was assigned to each village. He was expected to hold approximately 20-25 household dialogues which were to be conducted in depth with groups of family members Present and participating in the discussions. Cf course the dialogue was primarily directed at the head of the family with other members intervening when they felt inclined to do so. The researchers were expected to
create a sufficient here so as to spondents to artie freely. The ri have reported tha that has been a successful insofar to elicit a high cipation from th
Next: Structur
Canon Jame:
(Corfffried fi
development and in community is it has discoverec the religions of and witnessing traditional accept tism to being tra tive forces of ch
It was this placed by Chris Canon Eric Jams
חם his address change'-which he YMCA Forum H: Director of Chris Canon of St. A In the absence of remasinghe the red by Sewaka Y the De wasara nara Bishop Swith in F present and too CUSSiOF1.
In the course
Canon James em basic rights that guarantee which the right to life minatory society. a society entails turing which wil in the forefront the class struggle Criticism at ever developing and c The radicalism of be the activating realistic structur. alms struggle ani taken from Chr James, the who change may endi being concentrat cracy, Which con |li ble In its pow forms of neo-mar blunt the edge of Any struggle to must take its st of the heat of

y informal atmospenable the Te - Lula te the Er wiews search generally the methodology opted has been is they were able degree of parti
households, 6
of dialogue.
ал Page )
specific actions ing, and of late significance of the world, acting away from the nce of Conserwansformed a 5 posiange. special emphasis tian Action that is highlighted in "Religion & Social del Iwered at the III. Camоп Јапnes, Ian Action is also bans Cathedral. The Rt. Rew. Wickmeeting was chai"ohan Dewanada of i mya, Ku tu negala. ernando was also k part in the dis
of his address phasied the the a society should he defined as () in a non-discriCreation of such a radical restrucof necessity set the centrality of of radical self y stage of the hanging society. Iesus Christ Tin Lust force for any change. If the i spirit are not ist, said Canon e enterprise of n excessive power 2d in a bureausiders itself infaer, or it may take qism which would structural change. be meaningful and at the centre the struggle. As
a follow up on the lecture and discussion it was decided that a Seminar be organised in March,
at the Kurunegala Town Hall on the theme "Religion and Development".
- Ku mudini Rosa
Dutthaga mini . . . .
(Солfiлиеd fголл Page 3)
lead one to interpret the thagamini-Elara epoch as one of serious rivalry and conflict between the Sinhalese and the Tamils. In fact in ancient politics feudal chieftains, royal princes and religious organizations which were also part of the feudal structure played a more important role than ethnic groups. It is interesting to note here that Dutthagamini's warrior Dathusena who was referred to above as one who went to South India and entered the Buddhist order, did so because Dutthagamini is said to have given an order to kill him. The narration of the story States that some favouri te war Tiors of Dutthagamin had poisoned the mind of the king against Dathasena saying that the latter posed a treat to the royal authority,
The treatment of the Dutthagamini-Elara episode in the three important texts, the Dipavamsa, the Mahawam sa and the Pujawali differs from one another and throws light not only on the development of hilstoriography of Sri Lanka, but also on prejudices that have entered into historical records. The views of the authors of these texts which hawe had a wide influence on the shaping of contemporary attitudes (both Sinhala and Tamil) have to be re-examined In the context of the circumstances under which each of them wrote. Special congnizance has to be taken of the purpose of each author, and of the climate of thought prevailing at the time of writing these three texts. As a result the Dutthagamini
Du
Elara episode persists in the minds of the average Sinhalese as a holy war for the protection
and glorification of Buddhism in general and an ethnic conflict between the Sinhalese and the Tamils in particular.
9

Page 22
мАтомдыту
Race and Class
by J. Uya ngoda
PIBIDENA PEYA-(Hour of Awakening)
An anthology of Tamil Poems in Sinhala. Translated and | Edited by Parakrarnicu Kadithu wakku. Published by the Christian Workers Fellowship.
Pးဝှိဖူး Kodithuwakku, who about a year back, edited a collection of Tamil poems in Sinhala, has now come out with another anthology entitled. PIBDENA PEYA (Hour of Awakening). The special feature of the present anthology is that it is devoted to what one may call, the Tamil poetry from the 'up-country". All the Writers come from the hIII Country plantation areas, and the subject-matter is essentially the oppressive conditions and genuine grievances, resentment and remonstrances etic of the Tan II plantation workers and their fam Illes.
It is an undisputed fact that the plantation Tamils are the most oppressed section of the people in this country. Their state of oppression has been two-fold. Firstly, as a nationality group they are discriminated against and neg. lected. And as they are exploited. Therefore, it is natural
that the real sufferings of the Tamil masses in the plantation areas should have been reflected
In the creative writings of their sons and daughters. Parakrama deserves our warm congratulations for having brought out this anthology thus providing an opportunity to the Sinhala reader to share the authentic experiences of that section of their compatriots.
The underlying theme of all the poems (including the two proseWritings) is the revelation, in vагуIпg degrees, of many aspects— economic, social, political etc. of the oppressive conditions of the Tamil plantations population, accompanied with a strong element
in
of protest. In c. writers represent are not only aw: of their own bli aware of the f radical transfor existing order of about any real s it another way, is both a vehicle a vessel of hope better order.
The anthology simple but power Thangam, a teac His is an appeal tion Workers, to and struggle. K a teacher with wo -exhibits a fing Coupled with a pli His poems about ordeal of the rep translation too) is in the anthology. his message is cle Ward - Rise agains for emancipation. Tust be made Thennawan and working class poe
The most po among the poets is P. Mukkan, migrated to India superb poetic ima by an understand II aspects of conte politics, includin, politics, as it af ton Worker. Tatter is 5 rich e Yen the translat In these (Mukkan": represented in t Smailia Davood, Nesan and C. Kui essay of M. Nesa the August" is a portrayal of the diately after the of August '77. He Lion: What Is t the plantation wol to india or to liw, says Nesan, "Build

poetry,
ther words, the :ed in this volume are of the plight
"ethren, but also act that only a mation of the
things can bring olution. To put
poetry, for them of protest and s for a new and
opens with a ful poепп by Paпa her by profession. to the plantaawaken, to rise Lurung Nadan-also king-class origins ! poetic Instinct olitical awareness. the most unhappy a Erlates (a Superb one of the best In all his poems, ar and straighfor: Injustice; struggle
Special in ention about Kurung P. Mukkan-two 5.
litical conscious
in this volume a Worker now ... He displays a gination enriched ng of some sorry mporary Lankan g trade union fects the planta1ukkan's subject and real that or is at his best i) poems. Others his anthology are K. Sivagnam, M. Thar. The prosen entitled "After n impressionistic Sit UiO i me
communa lot5 : raises the queshe way out for "ker? To go back e in fear "N3,
up a new leader
drama
ship so that you can combine your efforts with that of the world profetar lat."
Without any doubt, "PIBIDENA
PEYA' shows that the Plantation
Tamils have a rich and militant
poetic tradition-though it may be
very recent in origin-paralle to
the Black literature in America.
事
MAFPATHE API-A play produced by Nalar Meridis.
A group of young theatre enthuslasts have recently produced a
remarkable play en titled "MAWATHE API'. It was first staged at the Tower Hall Theatre, on December for an Invited audience. The first public show was on January 18, at the Lumbini Theatre. Nalan Mendis has Produced “Mawathe Api on behalf of the Social Realistic Art Circle. The script is by Kingsley Loos, who plays the main role too.
"Mawa the Api" deserwes consderation of both the critic and the theatre-goer. Nalan Mendis provides the audience with an entirely new experience, unlike the common, if not cheap, stuff we are more than familiar with. His effort to depict some aspects of the Sinhala-Tamil National Question-a controversial апd explosive issue in itself - through the medium of theatre, is comTendable, inspite of various lapses one can notice as far as
the Craft of the theatre is conCermed.
The story unfolds at a work
site in the Dry Zone - perhaps in the Mahavel I basin. A group of young workers who hawe come
from various parts of the country take temporary residence at a camp. Appuhamy from the South,
Bandara from Kandy and SangarapiIlai from Jaffna are among these
workers. Not un naturally, the Sinhala workers are extremely chauvinistic and their attitude
towards Sangarapillai - the Tam il

Page 23
worker, in particular and the Tamil people in general, is hostile. Meanwhile, another young worker -Bandu comes to the work-site. A man with ideals (incidentally, he carried a violin wherewer he goes!) marks the beginning of radical changes in the attitudes and Outlook of all the workers. Bandu represents the politically enlightened and socially conscious segments of the petty-bourgeolse. Het succeeds in convincing the Sinhala workers, by confronting them with Concrete problems and situations of the senselessness and irrationality of communal hatred and the necessity of class : Meanwhile, communal riots breakout. Sinhala villagers start looting and killing Tamils. But, now the Sinhala workers-Including APPuhamy and Bandara no longer racially conscious protect their comrade from Jaffna-Sangarai, By this time, Bandara is killed for his "sin of protecting an alien". Sangarai, now having lost his employment as a result of a strike, leaves for Jaffna. Bidding farewell to his fellow-Sinhala Workers, Sangarai overcome with emotions, says, "I will join the struggle there, comrades, it is up to you to go on with your struggle." Memorable words!
“Mawathe Api" is clearly a Committed play. The young men of the Social Realistic Art Circle Seer to have realized the una vodable responsibility of art to do its historically determined duty by society. When society is in turmoil and when the struggle of the masses is growing, the dramatist can no longer indulge in bringing petty affairs of extremely indiwidualistic nature to the stage, as happened in the 1960's. Kingsley Loos, the script-writer, though he is an amateur in his craft, still displays, in terms of subject matter, a commendable naturity which even our experienced and senior playwrights most often fail to reveal. His actors neither shout heavily-worded political slogans nor utter oblique and pungent phrases that make the audience une asy. "Mawathe Api' shows the direction along which Sinhala theatre should traverse in the present decade,
 

N Players Gold Leaf forgood
taste.
from John Player. /ಝ್ರ Leat
famous the world for its
I wiຽກຢູ່ tಧQಟಿದ್ದ drg its golden good taste.
KING NEHAF THFLTH
CQN4 y EP PROTEJETION CF-GYEMM KIEHT WANNI MIG:

Page 24
NATIONALITY
Race
by Sun ila Abeyesekera
is an age when theatre :־ך proliferates at an incredible rate. Each day brings with it a spate of posters and banners, advertising plays with titles that range from the obscure to the ridiculous. Almost all of them have a brief and uneventful run, usually so brief that even the initial sum of money spent on che production cannot be recowered. Yet, perennials like "Suba saha Ya Sa" and "Kelen i Paalama" Continue to run to packed houses, whether because they hawe been adopted by a "noveau rich' bourgeois le who seek desperately for "culture" or because of their innate ability to amuse and entertain, I don't venture to discern.
Nalan Mendis" 'MAWATHE API", which went on the boards for the first time in mid December stands out in the midst of all this hurly-burly as a play with a genuine intent to portray a few of the conflict and contradictions that are the motive forces of society in Sri Lanka today.
The action is set in to the back ground of a "waadiya' (workmen's lodging) of an anonymous 'development” scheme. One development scheme being much like the other, it does not really matter which, This was an excellent play to assemble a heterogenous group of people together, since in a "waadiya one would normally find persons from all Par of the Island and from all walks of life coming together. Mendis has all the "type' characters - a Tamil, a Sinhala chauwnist, an old worker, a revolutionary who also lowes music, a willager, a woman. However, one of the main shortcoings of the play was Mendis' inability to develop any one of
these characters as a flesh-andblood figure devoid of stagey Posturing.
The Tamil was played by Granville Rodrigo, appe arance, expre
22
in Theatre
ssion, delivery caricatured to a largely Sinhala 3rd at tres (2W laughter at his
- Нс үras fш|| of
towards the Sinh who maligned h Weaknees of thi: through to us in confronting the Even though Me out in a spirit Tamil working m character of a Lanka's oppress r|ty-simpathetical across to the a one, that the T made a figure ( that he is port and weepy' sort garri should ha chauvinist. Cer he could hawe E: truer represen ta' 55ed Tam il peopl A5 it i5, Mendis
pose of incor character into first place. And
unfortunate that ing” of the ex experiences of ca. with in the Tam il that the central mination existin lost somewhere
the midst of g: Some of it un 5 y
The Sir hälä ch hot-blood; here antipathy towards ned away as be personal reas or change of hear is plausi blc2, bu Weakens the Sinhala chauvinism The old worker sents a by-now
view, combinin, with ldealism, y right side; the
Surely too good

of dialogue all point where the audience tittered In burst into loud пеге арpeа га псе. brotherly feelings ialese, ewen those TIT. Tost, and the 5 cha Tacter came lost clearly when Sinhala chauwin Ist. ndis probably set of рогtгауіпg a är’s character-the member of Sri 2d national mirolly, what comes verage wiewer is, ami Character i5 f fun, and two, rayed as a "weak . Not that Sanwe been a Tam II tainly mot. But Ieen made into a tive of the opprele of this Country. defeats the purorating a Tamil the play in the it was especially Rodrigo's "hammplanation of his Ste discrimination community meant theme of discriat all levels was along the way in ales of laughter, "mpathetic.
auvinist is a young too, since his ; Tamils is explaiIng due to purely ls, the sudden t he undergoes t newertheless it representation of 1 in all its nuances. Once again reprefamiliar point of g disillusionment et always on the revolutionary is to be true, and
It was indeed a pity to see a promising young actor like Loos
burdened with pretentlous dialogue and pedantic delwery. The
villager is once again a caricaturethe classic wiew of a traditional
willager as a times erwer, a Coward,
is maintained; the figure of the young "over-seer' is trifling to the point of being insignificant;
and a 5 for the sole formalo character in the play, who is depicted at the start as a woman of easy virtue and strength of mind, she too undergoes a change of heart, the revolutionary profesess his lowe for her, she is "reformed" (!) and presumably goes off with him to live "happily ever after'. Alas for the broken dreams and shattered illusions of won ankind
Altogether too many changes Of heart-altogether to a crises - this Is what made "MAWATHE API's a mere skimming off the top of a pot that contained a weri ble store of Solid dramatic material. By trying to touch on the issue of racial and communal conflict, while at the same time tackling the issue of workeremployer relationships and manwoman relationships, along with a host of other, equally complex situations, Mendis put himself into the position of casting a brief but superficial glance at each issue without ever coming to grips with any one issue in its total perspective. Nevertheless, let us pass on with the reiteration that it is significant that he chose to discuss these themes at all.
Even though for these reasons "MAWATHE API" We ta dig - cerning wiewer with a feeling of not having gone far enough and deep enough, yet Mendis has to be singled out for his courage in even attempting to tackle such a complex theme. The production was pleasing, and in general quite skilful; the costumes, sets, lighting, all were in keeping with the atmosphere of the play. A Word must be said about Khemadasa's music, which contributed a great deal towards the creation of the nood that was a very necessary part of "MAWATHE AP". It seemed a pity that the chorus was not arranged better, because
(Corrified or Page 2)

Page 25
ONE OF US
by Parakrama KodithuYakku Trary 5 la red by Reggse Siriwa radera
Stop it Stop ії Stop that fight:
King Elara, get off that elephant Kirg Drugerri Luru, give Elara a chair......... !
Here she goes round the
rubber frees together with the tapping gang Mother's gone a-milking Saras yathi in her fill-smiling lips brighfens Elara's smaīle
Below the tea bushes hands aching soaking in the wirdy drizzle flashing her bronze eyes under the pimples of sweat silently waiting in her rostril a quartz-store glearning
Nirhiya kala Elara's sister
Sargsyari, N.
鞋
PWe bathed iri
Pe worshipped
We were in a
We are vadai
Ať Kataragarot Sorri a dewi fron) Pas given his By Sivaingar.
The Eart-Dir
Victory upor v
Elara's corpле
lp
REAL
U
O R A N G
F.
WRITIN
MANUFACTURED BY P
(M
DISTRIBUTED BY SHAW W

'ti yakala
fre Melit Garga fergerler
at Sripada
fogether
He gange school together
?! The firaidd
kade fage fler
그
our office
address
r
geтiлпы
barre! 'ictory for
Dur Ligerrituru !!
arts Eck
NATIONALITY
Sp f pie Sfor thar applause பிர thா ரகாச to hell with that clapping!
KPho has
(PPTE... ... 3ige.lear roofer
that arrie?
He who died that day ИУая оле of и.т.) олe of
APAT dikir Blood-relations........!
Parak rama Kodithuwakku is mong the Tost distinguishcd of contemporary Sinhala pacts, "One of us'' is characteristic of the econsciousness he has brought to Sinhala poetry, with his critical Teaction against obsolete and Tetrogressive clocrinents in the Sihala Cultural tradition. Two har poms of his were published in English translation in the "Lanka Guardian" Woll i, No. 4.
SE
E PLOT
NG PLEASUIRE
ENPALS LIMITED
lember of the K. G. Group)
WALLACE & HEDGES LTD.

Page 26
Question for Sh
was happy to read Mr. N.
Sanmugathasan's for thright attack on the policies of the present Chinese regime (L. G. Jan 15) including his description of the Chine.5e attack On Wietnam as "aggression" - and agree with a great deal of what he says. But Shan, while "anti-Teng" (I notice rejects even the Present regime's spelling), remains loyal to Maoism
and to Mao, with whom he is pictured on the same Page reverentially shaking hands. The
question that the article provokes in my mind is this: How, if what Shan says about the Mao era is true, could his death hawe been followed by so far-reaching a counter-revolution
All that Shan offers as an explanation is this : "But Mao's power and Influence was on the wane ("How? why?" Interjects Touchstone) and he died in September 1976. His death was the signal for counter-revolution to re-raise its head." This seems to me to elevate the role of one man in a way that is non-Marxist and non-historical. It is an extension into the sphere of political analysis of the cult of Mao's Personality that flourished when he was alive.
The ease with which Mao's policies were overturned after his death and "mass demonstrations' organised to support the official line against the deposed followers of the dead man suggests a bureaucratic power struggle in which the masses were only spectators, and therefore casts doubt on the popular basis of the regime in Mao's own lifetime. Contrast the ideological and power struggle in the Soviet Union that followed Lenin's death, which involved a prolonged public controversy and struggle that went on in the party and the nation for several years. In China apparently all tffit was necessary was that the leadership should denounce the so-called "Gang of Four", and thousands of people could be made overnight to rush
24
out into the str and wave placar
Nor does Sh: of present Chine take account of beginnings of th Mao's lifetime encouraging libe to courting re; in order to for
the Sowet UI foreign policy,
mot || 973 but |
the stand taken Con events in B. Lanka, to be f its as titude towa up and the armed
The green tre
I must thar correcting me c to Heine of the is grey, my fril life is always g Tead ether Hi and I was citin; it from memory) is more import line signifies - with a changing the adherence theoretica formul
Chlintaka tlhln his basic point; he hasn't under. still maintains t that one's view nation is "the position,' it is by quotation th: mity with what said On the que because () Mar Century ago and century gC), stopped evolving One should be pl the possibility word of Marx Infall I ble Holy W
concede to linn Lu The Table the In which Leni SOTėt|Ties “Te5 logical battles be of Christians". has other claims

2
eets, shout slogans
"ds.
in, in his critique 2se foreign policy, the fact that the is policy were in - the shift from Tatr TOWe Tert 5. actionary regimes {e alliances against nion. Surely, in the Watershed is 97 - signified by by the regime angladesh and Sri ollowed later by Tds the Chilean costruggles in Africa.
k Chintaka for In my attribution a quote, "Theory and the tree of reen." (I haven't Eine or Goethe, g Lenin's use of I. However, what :ant Is What the that, confronted historical reality,
t Inherted lae can be disab||Ing.
ks I haven't met It seems to me stood nine. He :hat to establish of self-determiTre Marxist necessary to show it it is in confor. Marx, Lenin etc stion. " I disagree, died nearly a Lenin over half ind history hasn't since then; (2) epared to admit that not every and Lenin is Writ.
Chintaka that the O retical polemics engaged did mble the theo2 EWeen riwal sects However, Lenin
to o Lur te spect
Touchstone
-including his readiness to abandon a theoretical strait-jacket when it proved useless (witness the context in which he quoted Goethe - thank you again, Chintaka) It is a pity that too папу Marxists, should imitate Lenin Only in their pettifogging polemics.
If Chintaka thinks this is a "liberal bourgeois' reaction, it doesn't worry me. I am glad it
seems to be shared by Mr. R. S. Perimbanayagam and Ms. Sudharma Dhanapala in your correspondence columns.
Coin problem
The solution to weigh ing problem - in the last column; Take one coin from the first bag, two from the second . . . . and so on, up to all ten from the last. Weigh all these coins together. If all the colns had been genuine, they would have weghed 550 grammes. If they are one gramme short, it is the first - bag which contains the counterfeit coins, if two, the Second and so on.
Race in . . .
(Cori finited for Page re)
at times the singers being dispersed all over the stage, their voices did not come across as powerfully as they could have. And the performances were all competent, the flatness of the characters notwithstanding:
In the same breath, however, one must stress on the importance of "MAWATHE API' as an experiment in using theatrical form and theme in a new context, as an attempt to draw Sinhala theatre audiences right into the vortex of contemporary crises, as an attempt to Portray the crying need for unity among working people, irrespective of caste, creed or race. in a dramatic form. In this sense, "MAWATHE API can be seen as an omen, a sign of things to come In the future of Sinhala theatre in our country.
the coin

Page 27
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Page 28
OU T S
503) to
(The Arts :
The First 'Lanka Guard
The book presents in Sinh articles published in the “La on the social context of of a series of paperbacks whi publish this year. Some of in this volume are:
Charles Abeysekera Ο
J. Uyangoda O
H. A. Seneviratne O
Reggie Siriwardena O
Gamini Dissanaike O
D. Jayatilleke O
Ananda Jayaweera O
Among the other the Tower Hall theatre, the films
"Gehenu Lamai'', Sinhala cinem

OR T L Y
) öèbőC)
and Society)
ian' publication in Sinhala
ala translation a selection of nka Guardian', with emphasis the arts. It will be the first ch the 'Lanka Guardian' will the contributors and subjects
Amaradeva
Rukmani Devi in Martin Wickremasinghe
Leonard woolf in Lester James Peries
“Puran Appu”
Sinhala Cinema and oppressed groups
topics included are:
Palangetiyo', 'Ahasin Polowata' and
ha, class and personal relations.
Rs, 7,50