Page 1
GENERAL STRIKE -
O Lalith Athulaith muda lí S) Shahul Hameed
O Maitripala Senama yake
69 Vasudev
 
 

TUs and total war
- Mervyn de Silva
August 1, 1980
Report
O Hector Abhayavardhana
O Sarath Muttetuwegama
O W. Sanmugathasan ra Wanayakkara

Page 2
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Page 3
Waiting for Ronnie
LMP is kbenches are certg. that an all-round pay rise will be anno Linced shortly. W II Ft be in resÞanse to a reason Tfle de Tand from a fricridly union? And how much? Some say this and others that. In the lobby, guesses range from Rs. 75- to Rs.. 40-,
"But we must wait for Ronnie' said a senior college of the FM. After the Aid group meeting, the Mırılster has been İri Landor) for medical treatment. He will give the Cabinet a first-hard report on what the do nors drid the IMF recorrended,
Both the lending agences and the domors wĩ || ther WaT ft for the government's reactions. Wi. therc be d' 5e Cord meeting this year?
Cor15 ortium
Unions sans politics
Taming the trade un fons has been a high priority of most regimes. After the famous '2s dermands" of the ULF the SLFP, perfected the tech ra que of cooptation and later, collaboration. When both failed, as in 1976, It was the Big Stick.
WWF er ffe UNP tūrinio ured its White Paper on Labour and its University re-organisation scheme, the L. G. described the exercise gs "pre-emptive strikes om potential sources of unrest." The UNP approach hd s been legisIցtion und the J55,
Despite Some extra-CurricLľa r dicti Yitles by dors who are no longer privileged enough to take an academic view of the frifationary spiral, a comparative cal in Fids reigned over most Campuses.
On the White Paper, the
government took two steps forward (or backward, from the
TU's point of step back. speech radic by Diss dri dyd ke, tt, principal speake gerry debate, t 7 || Get to tak:
förwû rd. |r5 ሽ the de-politicis at
Теа іп
Once known
Garde i Sri L.
serious trouble: industry, sti II
chaпge eдглег voices have :
Wydr ni ing — the T Chairman of th President of ti MS&Čcsa [iam et ci
It was Chine fung into the E rm10, ke Americar) Ching has doub tes exports to rifer kctr I r a r years. From this year Chir Lanka's sa les fig exported Tore klas Sri Lanka" 9. Ti i II jan kilos. Sri Lanka expor 3ći riffs fyri ki This dropped to |?WF, While II Luis C ) Yer, Ke hea willy down o We Fů ve Vů5ť Only good riews that we war a for 2 milior k Indian competiti
GÜAR
Wol. 3 No, 7 Augu:
Publish cid for Lightly Publishing Co. EE, N. H. M. A (Reclariation Ri
Editor: Mer
Telephorie

view) and one udging by the Minister Grini |E government's r in the terrier7 ac UNIP is rhyw that other step Ti 5:eers to be Íon of the uniors.
trouble
as Liptons Tea saka is facing with its tea
the No. exALt Fioritative lunded d choric
'a de Mir ster, the Ted Bagrd, the e Ted Traders .
Pe tea which was Istorn hi f'bo L r Lo history. Na w cd and trefed is the lucrative US matter of three |anuary to May I a exceeded Sr/ L re. While Chird thdr" | 0 millor S Sales sťood diť Yet in 978 ted as much is Os to the US. | | 3.5 rT1 || ||gro fr) 1 dia is beating nya) is breat hing necks. While dan to Indis the last week was Syrian contract isos against stiff Ο Π.
Distorted message
What does the story in "Uthumaneni' portray? It is an acceptable nor T that in a play or a cinematic production there should be a messago, conveyed to the masses and tha E. message should educate them, give them food for thought. In "Uthumaneni' the message brought to the people is distorted. I say this because the therne of the film is that a person is ha rassed by an affluent Person. The victim seeks the guida rice of the temple It was the Prest's advice that he show restraint and compassion towards his enemy. The Priest explains to him the sublime teachings of the Buddha. The very person who sought the guidance of te Tiple runs amok and kills his enemies in a heindus crime. It would thus he seen that the sublime të 3chings of the Buddha was distorted by "Uthumaneni."
Bassett Perera, Colombo. 5
Unsubstantiated Statements
Your paper plays a vitally important role as a forum for anti-establish ment opinion. So it is a pity that some of your contributors think they can get
E DAN
it 1, 1980 Prica 350
by Lanka Guardian Ltd. First Floor,
dLil Cader Road, Jad) Colombo 11,
"wyn de Silwa
1009.
CONTENTS
Letters
News Background 3. Foreign News 5 UNP Mid-terrill report 5- ) IMF . 1 Zia's bomb factory Pic 고, As I like it 2
Printed by Ananda Press 825, Wolfendha | Strcct,
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Page 4
away with unsubstantiated statements made In in dignant ton es In the hope that the indigmation Would distract attam tion away from the absence of evdence - a device we had hoped had gone into desuetude with the political eclipse of the NM-Colvin type of opinion maker. Case in point: U. Karunatilake has some very interesting things to say about the energy Crisis but spoils it all by making some statements which are highly suspect. e. g. "When ever the ruling and mercan Lle elite in Colombo were faced with the shattering tragedy of no electricity to fry their bacan and eggs for breakfast or cool their secretaries' backsides in their airconditioned offices, they barked the Electricity Board unions into submission and overruled the power cuts.' If Mr. K has any evidence that power cuts that the CEB intended to make had been "overrule de
by "the riu || img iேe' Who h unions into subs 5 urtely hawe 5 Inent 5 fTuch Be duced it rat side retarks sides of the 5 "elite." It is com Crow Crti blo hot and humid taries (among for 11 II i Crite ef conditioned coffi is not only that are coole
In af earligt Upali Cooray, member of th Marxist Party, Canada, New пешx as imper but un accounta USSR, the PRC South Africa a LFs ist. HS it necessary ti omissions pres
Sartrida Touring Ltd, ITH H Hill Mzırız. FEITI E TIL FHIgle} Б9, Lake Crescent, Colomlju ... | Sri Lanka,
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and mercantile" ad "barked the Tission' it would Be Tweed his argutter had he pro1er tham make about the backBetreta rie 5 of the | Lhirik an infact t..ha t I rm a climata sacreothers) can Perficiently in airices and that it their backsides d.
issue of L. G. a Politbu reau e Revolutionary listed Austrā, Zealand and Beia list” CCL ris bly omitted the , India, Pakis Lan, .nd |5| 1el fram did not think 2 explit in these umably because
the se countries are not “impe - rialistic" in his sense of the terri. But ther should le r1.Jt define the terril
Mr. W. Karlu raratrine, General Sęcre: tary of the Nawa SarTna Sa maja Pakshaya, in an article or the National Question wrote: "Today JR's government, in order to achieve stability and integration of the international market, is being pressurised by international finance capital to give certain concessions to the Ta Til speaking people. "If Mr. W. K., had any evidence of this startling assertion he did not Producci i L. My own gu CSS is that "international finance capital" does not give a good go ddam about concessions to the Tamil 5 Peaking People mor does it keep awake of nights figuring
out how to achieve 'stability and Integration" of Sri Lanka's Internal market.
Dr. Costain de Wos, Kollu pitiya.
ဖြိုးငှါဒွါးငွi့် မိုhiffးဖွံ့ဖြိုး : ѓнл --- film; it historic nitristar iந்: t'i rili të filli i ri:just ###gryfartress:
୪୫ HF:

Page 5
Spontaneous com and total war
by Mervyn de Silva
hen a was tern en woy asked
him what he thought of the general strike, a politburo member of a major Left party, an exMinister, replicd with a casualness that belied both political bias and calculation: "This looks wery much like sportaneous combustiom . . . . "
Certainly, this strike action may be recorded in trade un in history as the most poorly planned and orchestrated general strike we haүe 5веп.
"Politically-motivated" "tappling the government" "di 5 gruntled Politicians' "dis ruption and sabotage" "holding the People to Tansom'. These words and phrases are part of the common vocabulary of all regimes, UNP, SLFP or for that matter the leading Left parties whenever they were partners in power. Whether these standard weapons in the Il-stocked armoury of the official propagandist
have any sharp or enduring impact on its selected targetpublic opinion - is very much
open to debate.
In a letter to the President, the main Opposition parties have made a formal denial of responsibility.
The TU organisers in the workplace had to keep pace with the mood of the Workers; the trade unior bosses at the Centre, the federation level, had to respond to the pressure from below the JTUAC laboured hård to coordinate decisions which it had not carefully deliberated or taken; and the Opposition parties had to fa || im | ire with their = Ffiliated Union 5.
From May Day onwards, and m-re so from June 5 "Protest day"
(Key dates in an Opposition Diary" L. G. July 1st), the Opposition had decided, it is
tre that the time híd como for in attack on the economic front.
BIt this was NO The workers arij the pate.
In the parties could o CO'Wert, 5o to sa} political support workers went widely scatterec | ?'É, the raily the whole thing,
end,
As a result, th began, in effect, July 24/25, tha date.
Fu II Force
By this time Sezing the initia |L3 CW T 15 SV
The fått || 5 th; tās been prepar - in its view, table båt tilė - f til The; as early, it thé draft White ment. Relations,
The governm made upo. At signs of trade would use the State to meet a challenge. In bri
For the oppo needle555 "owerreportedly used naike in her. De IF which itself por If brief, exchang
In the first e. the strike 5 it. Minister told p; over 40,000 er Ti million work so sectory were both were high Opposition lead
lingam and t |leader, Mr. Mai said they had
figure in view to Mr. Seman ayake

hbustion
T its battle plan. the uniors forced
the Opposition nly extend air, of moral and as more and Timore ito acio II | frants. As in aymen triggered
e2 ge2 n(2ral s trik e a weak Hefore generally agreed
the government, it we had Tourited ka tunter-offer 15 jiwe.
at the government ing for this battle erhaps, as in a Wior a long, long might be said, as Paper on Employ
(See Trends)
em It's miri d was the first Serlaus unior trouble, it fu for of the ind Over come he
ef, total wär.
sit. Or, this was reaction' a word by Mrs. Bandarai press conference tovoked a breezy,
e in the NSW.
xtensive report on lition the Prime arliament that Just ployees (out of a
ce in the state involved. Though ly sceptical, the er, Mr. A Tirthā
he SLFP's deputy tripala Senanayake to accept the
f press censorship.
it could
said that
even be 40,000 but they had no a CC255 to accurate information.
The real debate nome the less was r or on statistics or the scle of the strike but on the nature of the government's response. Why, asked the Opposition speakers, a full-blooded emergency, press censorship, the call-up of reserwists, the arrest of alleged inci ters, freezing of bank accounts, the closure of the branch offices of
unions, the banning of meetings
t
The only answer to that lies
In the chogen Strategy of 'total war'. In a speech broadcast by the SLB C, the President did some plain-speaking. If emergency laws meant dicta [orship, it was a dictatorship forced upon him by the Situation.... it would goon un til the threat Was removed.
Economic Factor
Since his own party, the TULF, had no direct stake here, the Opposition leader could do without brawado or indignation, real or artificially induced. For that reason, Mr. Amirthalingam's obserwation in the NSA commends itself as a calm appraisal. "There is no reason for anyone to say that this is a
political strike . . . . it is for ."' 5חם 5 הם ic rווfם חכום בו
In the conventional idiom of
modern military science (nuclear War), the government did not bother with either flexible
response" or graduated response". On the contrary, it was instant 25 cala tion into "ma55 i we rotalia liori" Or what the Opposition Insists am calling 'ower-reaction"
Confronted by the sa me cha|lengo cor a similar situation, arı other High Command may have acted differently. For instance, Mrs. Bandaranake's response to Strikes or strike threats was markedly d1fferent fram s-1r. S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike's depending om one's
3

Page 6
standpoint. S. W. R. D.'s approach could be called "reasonable and conciliatory" or "weak and vacillating'. Does the explanation lie in the objective situation and the Seriousness of the perci eved threat or in personal psychology and varying approaches to the questions of power? Plainly, the truth must accomodate both factors.
It would be ridiculous to think that the present government's recourse to "total war' at the first trumpet blast or distant sound of a war drum is prompted by some in herent bellico sity and is curable militaris II or by some schoolboy addiction to war-games.
Some serious thir kling has been going on for sometime in the War Room, and it has been founded on a continuous monitoring of the political-economic situation 25 well as on detailed political intelligence estimates.
Many important developments, their inter-acting and ever-spreading influences and, most of all, the gradual convergence of thesë trends would hawe been identified, and the implications studied.
Major Developments
(i) The worsening economic situation and its impact on the daily life of an average family,
particularly a family solely depen
dent on the fixed income of a wage-earner.
The L. G., in recent is 5ues
has quoted both IBRD and Central Bank figures on inflation. But neither the se nor comparative statistics taken from the Consumer Prices Index or any other place are needed to support an easily
obserwable fact of life. A UMP MP says that a family of three requires at least a 1000-per
month to stay clear of the near -starvation line.
(ii) The aggrāva tlon of external pressures (see IMF Success story...."), notably the trade gap and payments situation, the *aid squeèze" and meʼW derTI ands from ending agencies and western domoľ5.
The pledges at the Pijs Aid Group meeting last month topped 8,000 million rupees but 1980
4
fuel Imports may entire Sum. And all grants, it is ; (III), From May the Opposition nilly, hy a new alignments tc'ward5 a urhity them so long. A squabbling Oppos the main political preoccupied for with tha Tamil TULF and youth
A re-grouped O On 24 Thät, Qfi Wh ra || || 25 wyıl | ch 'Ya climax on Lugu: Day. The TULF the June 24 Hyd
(iv) Although f operational scope the JTUAC is Eroa det froit forces. The IT discu 55 ing || oint
Ernands, rest Orä| etc., for months.
(w) On June counter-strike fic BE er successful trouble-spots ear into action. But of Somapala, the sion and the ang Kamat te 5 Lugge:5 te: may be self-def party's special si | terwen tlo ist år ment Force?) the
ted its potent "party" is ower,
take over. Wh: in the past f
Iппpressive рапор! Poor Impact
The Ra Emaila 11 rade the mono JSS suspect, it lightly dismissed of the running -fight. After all |s also, a wagi familied man. E іп соппmand.
A general st mot demonstrat normal life of t mo claim to tha A sharp blow it araa (n 5 Il-Popli fiħ :
h c Iife-|| mes

gobble up that this aid is not iso conditional.
Day to June 5th
parties, willyrt: ri forging 8חwiטוח d חa
that has eluded fragmented and iigi has beer
asset of a NP the mo5t. På rL problem, the militancy.
"position decided ide "protest" would reach a it 12th Hartal was present at a Park rally.
We if its (trade unions) i fact al 2'yen of oppositional UA C Filad beer action Crı Yva Ee tion cof subsidies
5, the party's rce, which had deployed in |ier was thrown the Tartyrdom funeral procesry gathering at that JSS action eating. As the : rike (!) force or 'm (Rapid Deploy: ISS had exhaus.ial. When the the State frust it we hawe seen ortnight is the ly of State power.
workshap strika ithic unity of the could not be as a byproduct SS-Mohamrod in th : JSS mi Cim B : * Carner and n
ξζα Για Γη CS Iς Παγν
rike which dices ly disrupt the
he community has t a Tie, or fam 2.
Sorne strategic g, gay, of one of such as power,
water, transport, food distribution) would have proved dramatic and given the strikers the Psychological Intitiative. Since this is am Island where coTTsica Cims
are so Colombo-Centred, a crippl ing of any i essential Service would hawe had an immediate
effect on thic climate of opinion elsewhere. A 5 it is, the Pro Win - i åIT i II istration irl 5. I The regions were more disrupted than work in Colofn bQ.
Pyrrhic Wictory?
If howe weer economics Is th 2 all-embracing factor and material hardship and grievance the cause of the combustion, then this is a long-drawn-out struggle where there are no quick victories. The history of war knows of a phenomenon called a pyrrhic victory.
Filling even 40,000 posts with raw, un trained recruits can affect performance, economic and administill W.
With the cushion of subsidies removed, with prices soaring, how to ease the growing hardship of the wage earner? This remains the main issue. UNP spokesmen who hawe been re pëātědly reminding public rallies of wage hikes in the past 3 years say that another pay rise is imminent. How much and to what effect?
Subsidies hawe beer withdrawn, It is argued, in the interests of development and of course, in accordance with MFIBRD advice. Now the IMF advises cuts in an "ower-ambitions' investment program, and deflationary measures. Yet, it is this self-same programme which allowed the UNP to create new jobs - 500,000 claim government supporters. And it was the army of the unemployed which led the party to its spectacular wictory In 1977,
WS for inflation, the Lake House Research Unit notes (CDN 287) "inflation has been running high
in most countries in the world. Sri Lanka whose economy is closely tied to the International market is no exception. . . . . . The open door policies adopted by the country do not preclude inflation. In fact, it could be
accepted as a natural Consequence of liberalisation."
(Crit: ஓர் சg 23}

Page 7
NDIAN OCEAN
Return Diego
Garcia
long with other non aligned A. Sri Lanka will be
called upon to take a clear 5 tard on the raccint COAU resolution on Diego Garcia, The OAU wi|| bring up the matter when the non aligned - foreign Tiniste 5 meet In New Delh |
early next year to ground for the 7th Baghdad, 1982,
Although the world press and the Indian newspapers gawe it front page prominence (the "InLernational Herald Tribum e' ed off with this story) the OAU's "strongly worded un animous resolution' as the AP described it, went almost unnoticed by the mainstream media here,
With 50 membrs, the CA the single largest group in the non-aligned movement as well as in the N. t5 un animous resolution is bound to be backed by a majority of Indian Ocean states, including India.
The OAU meeting in Free town, Sierra Leone, demanded that Bri
prepare the SLUTT i t |
tain return Diego Garcia to Mauritius. The prime minister of Mauritius, Sir Scowosagur Ram
goolan had already made a direct request to the British government in June. Seychelles which, like Sri Lanka, is closer to the Chagos Archipelago has also called upon Britain to withdraw from Diego Garcia.
Once described as a 'communications facility" by the US which has leased it from Britain
Diego Garcia is key military base for the Americans. In the cu trent build-up of in awal
PO Yw er in the Iranian revolutic the Shah, the ri
Diego Garcia tain by Mauri rule ended in
Maurit lus govern Tina irrità irin that li t for military puri tai m (2"Wa, Culted it
lation, Diego C wer to to U
Tie (CDA, U r
"The militarizati is a threat to
Indian Ocean as The summit der Garcia be un con to Mauritius an character be m;
Mauritius, 也 member, will a at the Comm.
meeting in Del Two weeks Summit. Kenya
military exercist US marines we on Kenyan soil. ago, Kenya had the use of Mor other Kenyan Station 5 * I agreement had O៣an but negot lia have got bogg the Egyptian ai USAF in air exer |ike Oman, is irm termation I c exteris lor of mi the U.S. Oman when press ref planes in the operation had .ם 5םb | חaוחO
A State depa quoted by R. "They want to don't want to they don't wal it in the press
 

t
Efter in and the fall of :gional policeman,
was coded to Brius after British 1968. But the Themt and the COA U was NCT ceded o ges. After Brihe native popuarcia was handed
solution State d: an of Diego Garcia Africa and to the a zone of peace. mands that Diego ditionally returned d that its peaceful aintained...""
Commonwealth i go raise the is gue nwealth leaders' hii in Septe Tibet.
after the OAU b|Qckged 1 US * irl which 1.800 puld hawe landed A few months agreed to allow in basa airport and ait and nawal Cri5i5' A si Tilar been reached with siations with Samaged down. Recently, r force joined the
'cises. But Kenya, very sensitive to pinion about the
ilitary facilities to protested publicly corts said that US a bortiwe | rm iam te-fu elled åt an
rtment official was as saying help us but they make it public. . . . it to read about
in
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Page 8
UNP - MID-TERM. REPORT
ON STREAM
by Lalith Athulathmudali, M. P.
Minister of Trade and Shipping
W: are at a point three years away from two elections. Chronologically, it is perhaps the best time to evaluate the overall Performance of the Government. The 1977 election indicated the significant change of direction the country was taking. Politically, orne may argue whether that change was right or wrong or for that matter left or right, but the fact is that the significance of that change is now predominantly visual.
This contribution must necessarily seek to analyse what has happened in the major areas of Government during the last three years. The people who are far more sensitive, hawe Instintively en dorsed these Policies in II o un certain mann er. Since the election of 1977, the UNP has won the four subsequent by-elections, retaining by and large the proportion of the support it
received in 1977. This has also been endorsed in the local elections for the Municipal and Urban Councils held in 1979. W.
this Point, one could rightly askwhat has warranted this continued support, and, one could likewise answer that it is based on sound rca son ing by the people.
It is important to remind ourselves of the Tanda te given to this Government by the people. In 1977. People wanted the Government to change things because the path that had been trod up to then gave them meith er hope nor relief. The economy of the country had steadly worsened, unemployment had grown worse everyday. There was no investment and savings were low. Shortages plagued all economic activity. Even democracy has been put aside. Elections had been postponed. The situation in 1977 held a threat to the continuance of the democratic system itself. The last three years is a history of meeting - that challenge. Happily there are many achievements, some of which have
transfor led the charged the course dewelopment,
The first that c the New Constit This is truly as Constitution and fuller measure c ter dets fuir damer fiable; it introduc Presidency and t It prevents the sentatives fros people's sovereigs a moге еquitat representation. T mode| based on olJ Is unique in th; depart from th Ta del while Tet democracy.
Today, Sri Lank that it is geni ordinary law and law; that there Prisoners; no se ali that there is measure of judic and a substantial freedom. Freedor of life. Our peo than just birth, and we mList of moet the challer ensure that ir threats are begi ft OfTh our T. C. (Thi will also mot tir The and that al gains would not lost. The expo of the Governm ted Mahaweli p trade and an free of counterp - the sc | are thei necessarily be pr:
The energy of productively cha Sri Lankan has in a que le to f buy stamps to to hold coupons or fi || In un T e:

economy and of our country's
ombeş to Thind is tor of 98.
autococh thıcları C.LI3
guarantees a f freedo. It tal rights | LI stiis the Executive the Referendur Th; eople's repredestroying the ty and embodies le systèm of is Coristi Ľution äl rown experience it it sa eks to West is or aining a gen Line
:a can be proud erally ruled by not emergency are no political ng of newspapers;
an admirable ia 1 | Independence de grec: of press n is the real goal ple d(25er y 2 ITT; Cr C2 work and death eate as well as ge in order to nas much a 5 Pā5 t g tQ rgcedeחniו -ory, Our people go backward in their now found
be irretrievably rt-oriented policy erit, the accelerarogramme, freer aconomy virtually roductive controls r gains and must tected for them,
man is now being meed. Today, to stand patiently led his family; to enter a hospital; to clothe himself essary forms most
of which took up too much time and only contributed to a bungling bureaucracy. Today, there are пo shortages. All essentials are available. Yesterday. the debate was about the availability and the price-today, there is no debate about availability, only about price. The key sectors of the economy are surging forward as never before. The expansion of Era de Is un denilable, construction builds ever upwards and paddy production bcun ce3 for Wizard. Everybody who has lent his land to production, provided he is competitive, has no reason to go anywhere but forward,
Here again we may pause to ask what we have achieved today that could be significantly and differently highlighted in relation to our history of yesterday. Hawa we ever before built so many factories within three years as we have done in the last three years in the Free Trade Zone and outside? Have we not bought more goods
than eyer before? Hawe, we not built more houses than ever before? Are we not construct. Ing for the first time in our whole history three major dans concurently under the Mahavel programme? Are these not then
steps to realise some of the things we set cut to da? Three years ago no one would have dreamt that these were possible, leave alone being capable of achievement. These programmes will be completed on schedule. They symbolise the fact that there is nothing which this Government has touched which it has not sought to complete.
We in the South sometimes tend to forget the immence improvements the Government has made in the law and order situation in the North. Terrorism has been abated and political solutions 2 te now on the way to healing inter -corn in unal relationships,
In 1977 we began to transform economy. That required a complete transformation cf thinking about the economy. We had to deal with an introverted theory of import substitutions and a market
rendered non-competitive by a dis da ining frog-in-the-wwell a PProach. Instead, we reverteld to
realistic economic thinking, prac

Page 9
tical down-to-earth approaches concerned with quality and export. Non-productive and unrealistic theories were rejected and substituted with job-oriented ones. We now no longer ask what noble personages said about economy but rather ask what does Sri Lanka get out of this? Any meaningful transformation must necessarily have painful transition - that is in escapable and as a result, non-competitive industries hawe taken a bad turn. Ney ethele 55, the availability of raw material and other incentives for competitive factory production hawe increased employment. Unemployment is stil With LI5, but It: 15 not What It was before. The employment situation is by no means Worsen ing.
Experts tell us that employment has increased. But we do not need their observations for everywhere we see the greater activity which has been generated by the Government’s economic polities.
Recently in a rural town, two statements were made - a M. P. said that no previous representative in Parliament has found so many jobs. A youth leaguer replied that there are morte jobs required, On examination both statements were found to be true. They reflect not only the acu teness of but also the progress made on the problem of employment. Can any one deny that in the last three years the UNP has created more jobs than any other Government would have created if elected to office.
It is Tele yamt at this Torment of review, to consider the performance of the Opposition parties in the
last three years. It is necessary only because in assessing the Government's performance one
needs to consider the alternatives offered by the Opposition. The options exercised by the Government can only be evaluated Lupon a consideration of the policy alternatives proposed by the Opposition. None of the Opposition parties hawe in the last three years made any changes in their Policies. They have not even made any new propos als to cope with Sri Lanka's problems. The Opposition complains about the problems of unemployment and about the cost of living. During their term of office, they produced no solutions
to either of Since they have E office, they do ni leaгпt any lessопs Gf 1977. OFE Fl:15 unemployment v been worse if th office? Would no World Infation su the high price products and capit: machinery hawe
aggravated by th created by the trading policies wh to 1977? The Opp по practical prop three years. Cn
the Government practical steps w led to greater e Opposition is cont They were reject there is no reaso it would be diffe
Progress brings If we had no transformation, faced inflation Could hawe Te inflation by dol remaining static World economy by not building: E by standing in que scarcities. That W the negative a – UNP, 蠶一點 However, in 97, accept the challe democracy but als - to stand up a Lanka is being st the race to dewt had new proble with – 5 OThe We the Te5t. We arte do this, we mu uously to improv One Opposition CI to say that ther flowers in the gi - is there any g roses in it? We sincerity that sing garden of our is li had many more rol
Would it be pos: buds which must into bloom in the Which will be na tL our farmers and sweat of our Peo perish-lam confide

hese problems. een Gijsted from ot appear to have from the defeat to ask whether would mot Hawai ey had been in t the impact of ch as caused by of petroleum a goods such as been further e scarcity walues
restions ich existed prior 25 tlaП has made Cosas in the last the other hand as taken Certa | 'hich observedly Ti Poloyment. The ent with slogans. ed i 977 and In to believe that
TIL TO W
its own problems. Progr255 r. O we would hawe lifferently. We duced imported ng nothing, by as far as the was concerned; ly not importing: ues; by enduring Would hawe been roach of a mori *ter Government. We decided to nge not only to to development nd say that Sri eered for Ward in :lopment. So, we ms to grapple hawe ower come, trying to and to st We Colte. It is easy as ritic pointed out, е аге тапy wild Հrder, but then arden with only all חI can say I te July 1977 the and para dise has ses blooming in it.
i ble then that the пecessarІly come пехt three years, red by the toil of
watered by the ble, be allowed to It that it Wil || Tot
WASÀ OPTICIANS
207 - 2nd CROSS STREET,
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PHONE - 263
For Aдроїлгmentš

Page 10
Depending on m
by Hector Abhayavardhana
(A Tertificir of the L. 5. 5. p's Fallit bureau, the writer was Chairman of the Peoples Bank 1970-75)
inance Minister, Ronnie de
Mel, it is reported, could not Conta in his indignation when tho Consortium of Donor Nations at its recent meeting in Paris insisted on drastlic curta Ilment of tha Sri Lanka Government's extrawagant
building and dam-construction programmes as their price for continued assistance. He is said
to have complained bitterly that the UNP Government had taken enormous risks in carrying out the IMF's programme of devaluing the rupee, reducing welfare-subsdies, opening the domestic market to foreign goods, restructuring the tax system to promote the accumulation of capital in private hands, subordinating existing state enterprises to the needs of the private sector and basing future development plans on exportoriented industrial and agricultural production. It had taken these risks in the confidence that the IMF would continue to extend the assistance needed to execute the
Sri Lanka Government's investment programme. De Me is then said
to hawe stormed out of the meeting, leaving Gamini Dissanayake, Minister of Mahavel
Development, to pour oi| on troubled waters,
Mr. de Mel's display was also a demonstration of the helplessness that results from dependence on the moneylender for building the means of well being. Sri Lanka's balance of trade has been in deficit-confining our attention to more recent times – from | 970 to 1976. Most people knew that this was not just the fault of earlier Governments, but the result of the sharply declining terms of trade ever since 1955, when they wete twice a 5 favourable as their situation today. By 1977 the terms of trade had climbed out of the trough into which they had fallen in 1975 and there was a small surplus in the balance of tside
B
and even a surp account of the b: of Rs. 265 m the basis of this
that the UNP G. decided that it
til IMF" 5 ET to a bolish Co exchange transac domestic market
11 d dwa Eug the
The IMF did, to cushion the a "Extended 260 illion SDR million) ower th Was a handsorie face-value and It by Project and and grants tot millior in 1978 R5. 5, 42 milliar the torrs of tr; stlcally and the
"ES Tit for 5 5 multiplied the pi deficit in the Balance fron we million unti | 97 able balance in of R5. I, O32 TiII of Rs. 3,556 mill for the financin Projects in what calls its "Developm the Jayewardene project failed t foreign backer; t gramme of R. Prime Minister, received ECT1 e 5m a Gerlan founc Dam projects spr their financia fra ting inflation m even revised P IMF reported to 50 tiu T1 meeting a shortfall of (Rs. 4, 750 Ti|ioT finances required project on the E "optimistic" fore
The adjusted balance of trade three months of million, about do

Ioney
lus in the currert alance of payments lion. It was on temporary surplus vernment perhaps
could submit to 5 and undertake ntrol of foreign tions, open the to foreign imports
ruթe e.
of course, offer Gowernment with Arrangement" of 's (about Rs 5,200 ree years. This ower draft of its was supplernen tid Commodity loans
aling. Rs. 3,76 and a further 1 ri IFB. Butt
de declied dra
lifting of import exchange controls roportions of the Current Account || below Ris. I, OOO 5, and a favour97, to a deficit
im in ||7B 1rd i. i. W. As g of the main
the Government 1ent Programme",
DUra Capital city to find a single he Housing proPrema dasa, the only recently fla|| finance fram lation; and the
"ung huge gaps in The work as hourade mockery of
rojections. The the Paris Conthat there was
S 300 nmi || iom | âքP rox.) in the
for thě Maha weli asis of Prewalent
s
deficit in the 2 for the first 80 was Rs. 4,157 Lu ble that for the
lenders
same period of last year. On this basis the balance of trade deficit for the whold of 1980 is likely to be more than Rs. 6,500
million, as against Rs. 7,287.6 million last year. Cyril Mathew, Minister of Industries, rė cently
revealed that the outcome of the Paris Consortium meeting was a credit of Rs. 8,500 million and that this barely sufficed to pay for Sri Lanka's imports of oil. With a further Rs. 8,000 million at least needed to mect the current account deficit in the balance of trade, it is hardly surprising that the IMF authorities should insist on a slash Ing of Jayewardenep Lura capital city expen ditura, virtual abandontinent of Premadasa's Housing projects and the spread of the Maha weli project over a longer period of years.
Was Ronnie de Mel's burst of temper in Paris calculated om the part of Government or was it a behavioural error? It is not useful to speculate. The IMF was entirely correct in warning that resort to borrowing from the commercial banks will place unbearable burdens of repayment on the Country, increa 5 ing to 40% of foreign exchange earnings by the end of this decade. Un fortunately, the government cannot a bandon Jayewardenepura or the Housing projects or the
Accelerated Mahaweli. They Constitute the su rest and swwi ftest means of creating jobs for the
unemployed and of making easy money for its rich muda lali supporters. Government departments and Corporations are already greatly over staffed and the much -boosted Export Promotion Zone will be hard put to it to provide even 30,000 jobs.
The Mahaweli Project needed no acceleration whatever, if the Government was concerned with
the best interests of the Country,
viz. Il faol proof project dc signs, development of local construction - Tatarials, production capacity
and the Strengthen ing of dormesti heavy construction industry. As

Page 11
for Jayewardenapura, It provides a particularly wiwid illustration of the process of urbanisation with cụt
industrialisation that is the bane of all under developed countries. The building of artificial new
cities, without an economic base to stand on invariably takes place with the assistance of real estate speculators and foreign construction consortia. Linked inseparably with luxury house construction, which also forms the kernel of Premadasa's housing schemes, they
drive the working and lowermiddle classes out of the city cor in o festering slums, While
towering blocks of million rupee flats and five-star hotels and super-markets , lift to the li yes of foreigners and the local rich above dangers of obstruction or con
tamination by the hoi polloi,
According to the fortnightly journal, 'Forward", which has scooped the confidem til report of the IMF on Sri Lanka's economic condition that was presented to the recent Paris Consortium meeting, the IMF report declares that "there is clearly further scope for cuts in the housing and urban development programmes and the water supply programme.' It even asserts that: "These programmes are the Principal reason for the sharp increase in construction costs, and are effectiwelly pre-empting real and financial resources that could be used far more productively elsewhere in the economy'. The fact is that not only the Jaye war den epura and Hicus ing Project 5, but even the Mahaweli project does not directly or immediately produce anything for the consumer or capital goods market. The Mahaweli and Housing projects accounted for nearly 36% of budgeted capital expenditure in 1979. Together with Jaye war den epura, for which there was no budgetar y provision, the se infrastructural projects must account for Thore than 50% of capital experi di Luro
in the budget. In far greater measure tham limported gC. C. d5, on which the President and his
Government lay all the blame for the escalation of prices, the GC wernment's "development Prggramme"
- - ستي" ust be identified as one of the Princal causes of our rail pant inflation.
The IMF 5 in for the Gower extravagant Spenc of the capital E was financed grants that the or sponsored. however, that the ITC: 5ou re5 for JS € sector w||| result of West. It is industry that const for the problems ment everywhere tion is that t South Korea, H. and Singapore in Sri Lanka. In the appropriaten pattern of de per tion cannot be in was lor of Th2 United States a tinational compat more serious and social Prol previously knew, integration of th outlying ar Qas in of global industr petitive processi or marketing act as part of the Thil of China and Wietnam The Ir ir American lak. trios of South to be the playg or Japanese cap
Dependence of procured with li its c5 toria ry ta to the crise q. been see in th Gewer Ilmant: ex by Government living by a mi upper classes Wealth concentra multimatiопа са be refit of the Soor er or later, port to the relates, expendict ble resource 5, incapable of . Governman t de lands for Cut policy from the exist only as th it is their Wa
Teasures that devaluation and rights that are feed to confror

1 a position to rent to cut ICS |ing beca u 52 65%, Judget last year by loans and IMF has su PP|| cd It is doubtful, release of the se by the private in the up SLIrge export-oriented litute, its panacea. of under developThe expectile =xpérience of ng Kong, Taiwan can be repeated the first place, ess of such a dent industrialisaaccepted. The se countries by "d Japanese mulnics ha 5 brought conomic, politi: Al 2lems than they Secondly, the E58 countries as the enw Ironment. y's fiercely com1g, manufacturing :iwiti es took place litary containment the war against dian Occan is not è and the Coun - Asia are unlikely round of America I, Ial.
loans and grants MF 1555 the Ol rms can only lead iences that haye ree years of JMP ravagant building and luxurio LS lute section of in whose hand tes, while foreign mpanies reap the dom Cistic Tmarket. as thd IMF reParis Consortiu T1 ure outpace i wailainflation becomes :ontrol and the Lubmits to rie W is and charges of IMF. The people je wicti T5 f bCLh: ges a f d Welfare are slashed by inflation and their invaded by the ut their Protest.
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Page 12
UNP - Same st
by Maltripala Senanayake, M. P.
Deputy Ledder, Sri Lanka Freedom Parry
Victory of the UNP at the 9WW polls was attributed to its new image and the party, which
called itself new, dem constrated in the course of the last three years that it represented no
break-away from the policies and the style of rule in the past. The arrogant record of its performance - adduce their arrogance of power to both the preponderant majority in Parliament and "the super trade unionism' which has been recognised as a powerful arm of the apparatus of the Stateis, in the eyes of the populace, a grim catalogue of overts with which democracy, sovereignty, and ni atlinal lindependence hawe been destroyed. All major areas of state activity-political, economic, social cultura and educational fields — have experienced the dire Consequences of this destruction, which, un fortunately for a nation of Buddhists, has been perpetrated in the name of the "Dharmista' cult with which political chicanery and gimmickry have been made legitimate in the past three years.
People, in addition to the massive
display of "arrogance of power' by the new class of Dharm Ista rulers, witnessed two important
trends - (i) the erosion of both national independence and sovereignty due to increased dependence on neo-colonialism (2) the appearance of right-wing authoritarianism in the structure and functioning of the State and the dra Conian pieces of legislation and the other rules and regulations invoked with a view to strengthening the repressive character of the State apparatus, indicate that a concerted effort is being made to establish a dictatorship in the country. The only obstacle to the achievement of this "grand design" of the new class of "dhari Ti ista" rulers is the democratic tradition, fror which both the masses and the ma55 parties derswe inspiration, and it is around this tradition that people need to rally,
O
in order to figh A tempts to estat rule by a set ol before tha ordi ır dent and dedi at the altar of
cracy, and of cour
STi Lanka wi of constitutional mental importanc Instead of democr and function ing hawe bought i political system has been Concentr of a single in diw ding to certain Constitutlon, coul a Constitutional Though this is r examine the fea titution, som o democratic and a spects, which E in the last thre be discussed wit tablish ing the fa ום"ייחI5 u וfסtituti to the de Tocrat the country. Th tem, the Several hawa been im plan mining their re tradition of the system, hawe be Certain developin they, In the functioning, Pave dictatorship, and tilt is full of The need to m has been the m behind the g this systein, an COT CX E TIL 5 35 whether any m or economicallyMinisterial system has been achieve tive Presidency.
The entre con: has been opportu lated to suit th the party in po, a deliberate att

yle
it and defeat all lish authoritarian politicians who, тагу ппа 55es, aге cated worshippers |berty and demose "Dharrista."
tnessed a series changes of fundaand the U. N. P. "at is I ng the nature of Government, 1 to) (2x is ter Cél a in whlch power ated in the hards idual Who, accorprovisions in the d easy establish sed dictatorship. not the place to Lures of the Consf which are undraconian, certain Iecame prominent years, need to h a wlew to esct that this Consrkable and all er le experience of e Presidential sysfeatures of which ted Without exa-levance to the Island's political en established in ig Countries and Corse of their d the way for a the African con such examples. 1aintain stability a in considerat tarı stablish II ent of d or e, i this ik the questi Qrı iracle — politically = YY1|| ch the Prile I cannot achieve - d by the Execu
ititutlanal process mistically Tam ipue a dwa n tagas of wer and thereby empt has been
made to redicule the appara tu s of Government. No ordinary man can extend allegiance and show
confidence in the present system of Government due to a variety of important teasons which är
both political and constitutional. In the present Parliament, no piece of legislation, whatever its importance to the nation, is di 5cussed for more than a day and the proponderant majority of the party in power, which is now swiftly deteriorating in the eyes
of the popular electorate, has be
come the tyranny of the worst cort dr. The la det of the "most stable Gowernment" Til de sic w eral
reshuffles of his Cabinet and every reshuffle, apart from the de Tonstration of instability in their own ranks, increased the size of the Cabinet. There are four types of Ministers; more than ninety members of Pariament hava been given 5ome ministerial rank and this proliferation of Ministers, apart from its burden on the taxpayer, has created confusion in the minds of both the citizenry and the bureaucracy. This shows that the Cabinet systern has been reduced to a weritable farce. Members
of Parliament, who, as in other parts of the World, played a Considerable role in legislation, and they were today appandage 5 of the leader of the party. The Ternbers of Parliament, um der the new repre5enta tion sy5 tem, cannot be influ -
enced by the electorate. The concept of "our MP" will be a thing of the past, and the new
species of the appointed MP is yet another measure by which the popular electorate has been reduced to a farce. All these amply demonstrate that the parliamentary system has been devalued to such
an extent that people will have no confidence in the systern in the future. It is in the context of erosion of popular confidence in the system that the protagaNi i3, I5 of "Dharm is Lism" ci w 2 T the apparel of a dictator,

Page 13
The political system, in the past three years, witnessed this trend towards this goal. Special Pre5identi II Commi55ion La W. Local Authorities (Imposition of Civil Disabilities) Law, Criminal Procedute (Special: Provision) Law, AntiTerrorist Laws and the Essential Public 5e Twice.5 Act are 50me Of the undemocratic legislative meiagures which this Government enacted with a view to strengthening the State apparatus. They in some ways, violate the fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution. In addition to the Introduction of these repressive laws, steps have been taken to Srengthen the armed forces, the police and the intelligence services. Yet another development is the emer
gence of the Jatika Sewa Sangamaya
(JSS) as a quasi-state organisation and its trade unionism is confined to the intiri dation of the Working class.
The pecular role of the JSS which calls itself the largest trade шпіопіп the country, was exposed on 5th June, 1980. It was only a paper tiger. The les son of the 5th June protest was that this 'goonda trade union' was only an inflated balloon. The tragedy in
the past three years has been the massive display of both "official" and "unofficial terrorism;
both university students and the organised working class were at the receiving end of thuggery. In the northern province, a quasipolice state came into existence under the Emergency and the Government, under the guise of eradicating terrorism in the North, extended its repressive apparatus to suppress political activities. All these developments, therefore, demonstrate that the strategy of the Gowetent h5 been to es. tablish an authoritarian political system through which to impose a neo-colonialist exploitative economic stucture on our People.
The attempt to mortgage the nation and thereby to destroy both national independence and democracy Is wisible in the Economic sphere. All economic policies have been de vised with a view to In creas ing our dependence i on foreign financial institutions, which operate as adjuncts of neo-Colonia| ist domination: The enormous
foreign debt-in famous "Det Tr Cation that Sri L dependent colony cies, and the SDR. utilised With no : Stringency. All eff tic and foreign, ha' to attract foregr the FTA and the hawe been shown as the symbol of miracle of the ( Gowe Tim Tent of Lanka has been the foreign inves LC to He LD5t t of Hi5 il ye5i timen the right to ent In Westment protec To Goya Tal transmatioma | mot penetrate into the hoping that it w | t. Theחeוחlop Africa and Latin that this form penetration, lead ment, resulting шпепmployment, flow of profits, di etc. This means weste re:5 Lu| 5 of our own r: In Westor does not to be retained W boundaries. FTA more in the nat Within a State" to strengthen th stranglehold on ol. ach lewerment in t has been to coi area into yet factory; nine ga with foreign col been set up and of the export allocated to the national textile covers nearly 60f force of 27000 With extinction. example of the colonialist econ this Government. (tחסrt Cסקוחf Iם change regulatic forms of price co ted in order to er for a free Tark these politics, r. tricted imports of luxury goods, the blgi capitalist

the for of the a Ps" —- is an indikä 5 W of the ad agenfacility has been sence of financial rts, both dem e5e bem exerted in Westment and Mahawe||Projet to the World f the economi
overnment, No independent Sri so liberal With tor Who, in a ddiutional protection has been given :er into special tion agreements. ha 5 allowed the opoly capital to Islaпd"s есопоппу, ill lead to devehistory of Asia, America 5 ho W5 of neo-colonialist s to undevelopIn stagnation, 2xploitation, outwidends, interests that foreign inin an outflow sources; foreign Want the Weath lithin the national has been carved :Lu Te of a "State ind the am Is e neo-colonialist ur economy, Its he past two years hvert Katunayaka another "garment Tinent factories, | laboration, Hawe more than 50% quota has been FTA firls. The Industry, which irms with a abu is now threatened This is a clear impact of neofס liciesסק micכ The liberalisation rols, foreign exis and other Tol; w Tea effeclate the conditions et economy and 25ulting in unresof all Warieties hawe bamfited 5. The small local
producer, who was engaged in small and Inedium scale industry, has been virtually eliminated
State monopolly of foreign trade and a restricted rational Import policy are necessary prerequisites for independent industrialisation and the infrastructure, which we laid during the regimes of the SLFP, has now been destroyed. A policy of de-nationalisation has been inwoked, and the pri wate bus-mudalali is back again on the scene to compete with the CTB. State enterprises such as the Tyre Corporation, Textile factories, and the Milk Board hawe been given
Cwpor Lo multi-national5. Amidst this form of servility to multinationals, the Welfare Ebenefits,
which people enjoyed in the last four decades, have been slowly and swiftly removed at the behest of the IMF. People are today fully exposed to the vicissitudes of the world market forces, the impact of which is the increasing suffering of the poor people of this country. There is a rapid increase in economic inequalities and dis Parities; and the masses hawe been pauperised. Yet another Chile Werelt of the UNFP TE || 5 the "most disas trous power shortage' Which the Country has been experiencing in the past few months. Lack of planning, relating to both generation and consumption of power, has created this situation, and the SLFP Government, anticipating a power crisis in the early eighties, wanted to complete the Samanatawewa project which was expected to generate 20 megawatts of power. The Government, which boasts of "accelerated dewg lopment" seems to hawe abandoned this project and the Government spokesmen have told us that the power crisis is due to lack of adequate rainfall. Rain making is the newest form of foreign aid and the question could be asked whether this kind of foreign aid is necessary in a country Where Her President himself is 2 rain-fTaker. The subservient GCOnomic policies and the penetration of the economy by the multi-nationals have conditioned the foreign policy of the Govern Tinent and i E, while paying lip ser wice to nonalignment, is swiftly moving in other directions. The concept of (Cr ரா நாge 3)

Page 14
Foreign Policy – and change
by Shahul Hameed, M. P. Minister of Foreign Affairs
S. Lanka ente red the arena of international diplomacy, in the modern sense, some three decades ago when the la te Prime Minister D. S. Sena na yake established an Owers eas Service. The continuity of foreign policy since then was strengthened, and the way was opened to dynamic and necessary change, with the establish ment of a 5 e parate Foreign Ministry, for the first time since independence, in 1977.
What Mr. Sananayake had in mind when he sought to create an Overseas Service was clearly spelled out in a Special Circular
of June 8, 1948. That document shows that Mr. Senanayake had decided to establish "an unified
o y er seis ser wice" o a 5 calci appropriate to the country's International status. The task of this service would be to "carry out all governmental functions ower Seas, both diplomatic and commercial."
This was the background against
which Sri Lanka's foreign policy establishment was set up. Two aspects of this background are
of particular importance, namely, the separateness of the (unified) O verseas Servico from other sections of the public service, and the in built linkage between domCistic and external functions of government, In other words, Mr. Senanayake's thinking on the foreign Policy establish ment was truly in keeping with modern concepts of diplomatic professionalism and of the clear relationship between domestic nati cornal interests and their protection abroad.
Perhaps because of the nature of the constitutiom um det which Mr. Senanayake fulfilled his responsibilities of national leadership, there was no attempt in 1949, however, to go the cither mile
by founding a
Ministry. Thus, 1977 foreign affa mental function of Defence and a portfolio held Government, TF tage of this arr the foreign poli functioning dire Prime Minister, status derlwing f trative authority Government. 1 of Course, 15
ministry structur as only a de par possibly receive special attention 5 Luch attention, e5 tablishment ml of till 5 sor of creativity and red to make and E חa חIt was f that de sect tha President J.
decided on his offics fl 1977 to Foreign Ministry,
A II of us who this separate M Its authority in years have reali: the new arrange Wg Ebenefitted fr of the past thre ticularly in tak unchanged both structure of the and its former ad we hawe had th the obligation te Interria torna | aff In saying this, that wa hawe In to the World and chips strate OLJI" | 5 ho Luld T5 W for the domes It Is aur primar On the contrary

- Continuity
separate Foreign סt 1548 וחסfr Iris was a depoa ritof the Ministry External Affairs, by the Head of i.e. obvious advanangement is that cy establish ment, ctly under the received a special rom the aid Tm Triisof the Head of The disadvantage, that with the 'e, foreign affairs ment, could not the specific and it needs. Without foreign policy ist over a period The of that sense dynamism regulkeep it relevant.
y ffort to remed y t His Excellency R. Jayewardene
assumption of y create a separate
Haye Worked II inistry or under
the past three ied the wirtues of ment. For, who om the continuity he decades, paring over totally :he administrative cold e 5 tablish ment m in Istrative head, opportunity and 2 develop a purely airs perspective,
| do mot Tėärı pushed ourselves with arms raised gically placed on thout any concern Interests that y duty to serva. precisely because
We hawe been able to function as a separate Ministry, all of us engaged in foreign policy formulation änd Implementation hawe been better able to conceptualise and, the reafter, activate the proper relationship between foreign and domestic dimensions of nationall policy and interest,
Consequently, our interwentions Ir International asfairs hawe rot been directed at making names for ourselwes, nor hawe they bigen dedicated to building international
prestige unrelated to domestic realities. In all o Lur inter wentions, we hawe consistently soLught te create a balance between our
perception as well as ou r needs, and the wider needs of the International community. This approach paid particularly important dividends in our stewardship of the Non-Aligned Movement,
The founding principles of Non -Alignment are part of our way of life. The philosophy of noninterwention and non-iggrändisment are closely linked to the cultural-ideological bases of our people. Similarly, pursu ing a policy of strict non-alignmentwith total fidelity to the premises on which policy came in to being
ensures that our motherland does not get drawn overtly or covertly into the power game.
That, in turn, is the best guaranto which wye as a non-militaristic nation hawe, against the sub wersion and or destruction of our sovereign integrity. During our period as Chairman of the NonAligned Movement, therefore, we ha rne55 ed al our diplomatic Skills to ensure that our adherence to strict non-alignment was both actual and recognised as being so. Moving further afield, however, our approach also enabled Lus to preserwe the unity and strength of the Movement because our sense of impartiality, grounded in our observance of the original principles of Non-alignmnet, made us acceptable as arbiters to all sides engaged in contentious disputes within the Movement. It was for this reason, no doubt,

Page 15
that every speaker at the Hawa na Summit warmly praised Cur chairmanship, paying tribute both to our approach and the effect iL had on the affairs of the Movement, By pursuing a foreign policy that drew deeply on the cultural traditions of our peoples, and conducting our affairs in such a way our attitudes had a benign effect on the Non-Alignment MowerTent as a Whole, we were able simultaneously to protect a vital and Independent factor in international relations and also to sustain our national interest 5.
Our status a 5 a 5 e parate mi nlstry also provided us with the opportunity to go more deeply into a neglected area of foreign policy: Economic diplomacy. Our starting point was the process of massive economic development inaugurated by the Jayewardene Government. What we are attemp
ting requires a certain quantum of external assistance. It also requires movement in the field of international economic restructuring which would be to our benefit. The Ministry itself, as well as our embassies, were firmly geared to ensuring that these objectives were met.
As Foreign Minister, I myself
un der took a numbert of Tissions abroad, in the Company of delegations from the Ministry and or our Missions. During these missions abr Qad, my constant am was to draw the attention of foreign governments to our needs and potentialities, to explore the possibilities of economic co-operation and technial co-operation among developing countries, to develop common positions on the New International Economic Order and, overall, to foster a spirit of partnership in which our country as well as other countries could move towards a period of international economic co-operation. In all countries seen, I received a positive response. Almost every mission under took resulted in a reciprocal visit with substantial economic and comercial benefits to Sri Lanka.
I am pleased to say, as well, that during the past three years
a singleminded effort has been made to turn al|| crīr enn bassies In to places in which our own
people would dignity and re. Sri Lankari cor CaLJПtries a5 WE wis iting abroad had oc:a51 on Iri plan of cavaller basses. To special set of 5 cent to all erTi E Sri Lankas w top priority.
Finally, I sho past three year flowering of our El EWET Of röLIT | arę 10 w from Sri Lanka has from the 5erwie appointees and curs there mu making use of diplomacy of em outside the cal the core of a foreign policy c professional di and the foreign ged to enhancir alism in every
UNP - Sam
Corfire
t fחeוחalign-חסח interpretation c
Since the im colonialism is educational and some i dig CL 55 iom not at all out sphere of educ is being made "in equality of oil cation. The pr|vate Schools and the concept Royal-Thomas - prominance. C) has become Sor sse sion. In the leaders of the most significant that the egal it: 1960 schools t SLFP Governme reserved. Univ, reduced to me the autocracy the Universities as centres of |l:Çtu|| ||ife and аге mсүү гшп Ы CC li lart of Ir academic Sawak

be treated with spect. The local mmunity in host as Sri Lankans hawe frequently the past to comTEITE : ) LT rectify this, a r5 UE15 e assies stating that ere to be given
uld say that the os have Seen the Owgr 50 a 5. Ser wice. Heads of Missions Ehe argar Service. gained invaluably es of non-Care Er In a country iike st be room for
the services II וחסfr 5חסent per5חfו *cor service, But well-function ing stablish ment is the plomatic ser wice, ministry is pledIg that professionway possible. So
2 style . . . fra Pri page ( r )
nas been given an if their own.
pact of economic Sem in both the | cultural fields, of the trends is of place, In the ation, an attempt to restore the old oportunity" in edupro | wi leges of the hawe been restorted of the big schoolhas been given |d "Royalists" tle no sort of an obsml | nds of Certim Government. The thing to moto Is Arian effects of th0 ake ower by the nt are now being Eersitie 5 -- hawe been eky appen dages of of the l JGC, and , which flourished independent inteacademic freedom, y a certain motley tellectual fascists, 5 and SS Juntas.
Macarthy type witch-hunts and political purges and expulsions are carried out against anti-UNP Dons and students. Over hundered students have been suspended during the pa5t three years. The UGC, which has been patterned on the basis of its counterpart in the United Kindom, has a peculiar status in Sri Lanka its Chair Tia fi i5 simul tarne osly function ing as the Secretary to the Ministry of Higher Educatiom. The autonomy of tha Universities, which the 1978 Universities Act created on paper, has been crippled by this bureaucratic fiat, and there is 'autonomy"
forto the "autocrats" at the UGC. Quasi-fascistic violence has been unleased against students and
thuggery is used to stifle the intellectual life of the budding intelligentsia. Sri Lanka has had a rich cultural heritage, and this has been again exposed to nonnational influences. All aspects of Cultural decadence are now perwading the national sterne and the populat nationalist Cultural rena lsance, which we saw in the period after 1956, is again under attack. In other words, cultural imperialism is back.
People spoke of Sri Lanka as a country which has had a high er degree of democracy than most nations in the third World. Her Social welfare system was of some standard and the economic inequalities were comparatively loss than in other countries of the region These hawe been the results o. the struggles of the masses. Srif Lanka demonstrated to the World that she has a dynamic foreign policy which became a key aspect In the development of the nonalignment movement. All this is now being reversed to satisfy the dema rnds of the foreign im westo. It needs to be rold that the determination of the people to march forward cannot be reversed and this is what we must achieve In the eighties. All the patriotic and nationalist forces, who oppose the UNP's plam to 5 ell the nacional sovereignty and independence of Sri Lanka, must fight for the Te 5toratiam and ex temision of democratic rights and thereby to protect national independence and democracy from neo-colonialism and å ut, horitarial is.
B

Page 16
No happy
by Sarath Muttetuwegama
t is half-time for the UNP
government. As good a moment as any to analyse its achievements and to ponder on what lies ahead. Reactions to the three years of UNP rLe are bound to diffo sharply-oplnions would differ naturally between the few who hawe new er had it so good — to the many who eke out a ha rassed existence. Everyone, however, is agreed that these past three years have marked a turning point in the history of our country.
The UNP government has of course in a sense achieved something. Businessman and entre preneurs, investors and importers, contactmen and confidence tricksters are all having a field day,
class which it and from which it draws its support, the UNP government relaxed foreign exchange restrictions leading to a flood of imports into this consumer oriented but recently "deprived' country. There was literally a deluge of Imports ranging from Japanese vehicles to Australian apples. Delirious consumers went on one long spending spree while Importers pocketed sizeable profits on goods which more often than not they had bought with credit fro äriks.
The UNP's politico economic measures were naturally dictated by this class, The government was firmly Pledged to the establishment of a Capitalist Economic structure. It lost no time in informing the IMF and the World Bank of its intentions- and its needs. They on their part approved the objectives, laid down their "guide lines' and as usual imposed their conditions. History will record how speedily the government complied with these conditions, The dewa lu2tlicni cf the TUPele and the cuts in subsidies and other welfare expenditure bear testimony to the extent the UNP-T was Prepared to go.
Loyal to the
presents
4.
endin
Hawing release -rgyם חס5umptiחסC itself found the anced by loans, als financing to indul consumer expend It has revamped embarked on a m a | programme and 0 -productive inves
From a develo view the govern r eggs in to two mi were the in west sche The and the a weli development the government
medium tert Tl || consisting of 68 at present pricin cost a Tound sewe -but IBRD/IMF ir of the costs sh locally, is likely government final to only the bi ргоiects.
What has in re. the much talked —rmIllicorna Ire CHh I Wardena, has b parlamentary se chaired by none Prime Minister, hold this post. - the great ex around this pro dashed. In spite foreign promotic attempts to de Singapore style, quick profit re' Such 5 the red and electronic at have come In. ||Illited field 5 reg quotas imposed to prevent fur The FTZ has pr
Tore than a me
Conscious as t lack of stability world and the grc In developing c capitalist orbit, w

g
d an individual -the government where with a fir, and inflationary lge In substantal ture of its own. 5 OThe 5ërw|Ce5, Tibitious building חםח illarוחher 5Iם tlets.
pment Point of 1ért Ehrow a|| |t5 4 in baskets. They T 2 קrסחחסtfחם ccelerted Maha
scheme. True a כןJחייhas dra
Westment plan, projects, which g are likely to
nty billion rupees sistence a third ould be raised to regut in the y contining itself gger showpiece
ality hapo Cened to of FTA Multi rman Upali Wijeքen found, by a lect committee, chther tham the to be unfit to
This fiasco apart pectations built 2ject have been
of legislations, In campaigns and a with abour only small scale LLITF1 F1 Wo5t The Tito y made garments ssembly industries Ewg in the 5e :rictions in export abroad are likely
"ther expan 5 |orn. Oved to be ro
re mirage.
hey are of the
in the capitalist at need to draw Unties in to the Weste T Court TE23
and the complex of capitalist lending institutions have realised the need to pump In hard Cash to countries which show promise of remaining within the system. The current gigantic aid to Turkey is a case in point. The Mahaweli Scheme has benefited from this realisation and a substantial amount of assistance has been pledged to
various aspects of the overal schemie. The Maha wel is in deed one of the biggest investments
Sri Lanka has ever made - it is no exaggeration to say that the country has in more ways than one pledged its future to the success of the scheme.
What has really happened? The projects are already behind time and objective experts (including the Nedeco tearn whose report the government is not releasing) are sceptical about whether the projected returns will in fact be forthcoming. I have neither the ability nor the space to go into a technical analysis of the different aspects of the scheme - but suffice it to say that a large scale in westTent of the size of the Maha Well, without absolu te guaran teles of exact returns could prowe to be just another grandiose exercise. But there is something much more disturbing- and one does not need technical expertise to see it - on the present evidence a substantial part of the Mahaweli investment is getting lost in the staggering corruption visible everywhere. Responsible people hawe been heard to say that this is inevitable, further proof that the society which we have been at pains to set up over the past three years-if not quite "free' is certainly free for all.
There Is Lle doubt that. In Its attempts to stabilise capitalist society in Sr| Lanka, the government has moved so fast that it has virtually opened the door to blatant mea colonialism, Several banks have opened branches here -- Eboth fot off shore as Well as

Page 17
full scale domestic operation. Warburgs - which with Rotschilds is one of the two largest financial Consultants. In the capitalist world has been appointed financial adviser to the government. The |BRD and IMF have men stationed here permanently as advisers.
In spite of all this, it seems evident that both the spirit and the International capitalist system ar Lil to bāli Ls f our troubles. The last meeting of the Sri Lanka Aid Club in Parischaired by Hopper of the World Bank - agreed to give Sri Lanka only a fraction of its demands. By the end of this year, the government is expected to hawe serious liquidity problems and knowledgeable circles talk of a frightening devaluation which the world bank has demanded.
The political measures necessary to guarantee the Continua rice of the capitalist structure that the government is building have been
a corollary of the economic measures. The new constitution with a sophisticated system of
proport lornal representation desigred to bring about a classical two party system - which will guarantee the continuance of bourgeois rule, and also the parliamentary elimination of the left – has now p355 ed into political notoriety. Other legislation like the suppression of terrorism act etc are laws in one genre which have been aimed at bringing a sense of permanancy to hitherto e Tergency legislation. An examination of
legislative records and trends shows that the government has arined itself with powers which will enable it to swiftly remove the substance of the democratic proce 55.
Organised Trade Unions hawe
been subject to special treatment. Promotor 5 transfer 5 and Other benefits have been made conditional on membership of the UNP unic r15, Լh Ը progovernment unions which carry the evocative initials JSS have been built up into organisations which hawe been
nicknamed the JUNTA. They have
been used to conduct a psychological and on some occassians a physical wat om member 5 of other um ions.
The governm lation as well Curb legitimate t The proposs & strike af Sepi Tet with a ch the joint tra Committee's plc the lei, w cut physical assault leaders, assaul to all available e' out by golwg goondas. The of protest om worst examplesponsored solid in incidents le; of a branch prg In 1st sponsored
A,|| L.hi5 F13,5 coming to be Trade Union
and of a growin solidarity ami advanced sectic class. That his in a greater mc evidenced by th class action and begun to snow writing. The g t|we sangfroid i type of situal evaporated a emergency mea been sought. A battle lines
cl thחה raw n#) going to be pli tion or greate tarian forts a
The problem Is still with Lu the capitalist fr un acceptable tc Lurm worka balea in t late Tarn il op the younger m: is in fai, your of Eliis Issu 2 — 3 riik add to the go wern mont's r
Intellectual alienated by w the govern mèn have been å gi derma md5 bf the 5 taff in tha Lumiy taken action a At the time ol duates ar C: Cng dented boycott

Cent has used legisL5 intimidation to rade union activity. general token Es ber | 78 W 15 reat of dism issal, de Lunion action cketing campaign on - was met with 5 C1 tra da un i Cr Es which according idgrice was carried rn FTher 1 t 5pçor15 or"2 d recent national day Jung 5th was the -where government arity action resulted iding to the death :sident of a Cornu
шп је П.
resulted in the ing of the Joint Acticorn Co Ti mittee g consciousness and angst the most ins of the working is being manifested od of militancy || 5 e growing working | strikes which hawe ball at the time of overnment's collecIn the fag of this.
tion has quickly 11t "GCOLITS-2 tot 1sures has already At this moment the
are clearly being le government Is ushed into capitular resor t ta author|- f rule.
of the mic Titi 5 s. Solutiors with In amework hawe been 3 those affected and he country. Articuin on-specially of Pre radical Sections
a direct fight on i this is likely to Lineas irness of the efgr. opinion has been rious measures of t. Teacherts unions :ating for various ir own - while the ersities have already in their deilds.
writing undergraaged in an un prece
of examinations.
The unemployment problem grows inspite of government boasts that it has tackled this successfully, True
tha L s Čome r1 = 'w jobs hawe been created mainly in the building trāde, am d tih åt thousands have
migrated to the middle east. But these atter are of contract. the mcn cy they earn is 5 pent om non -productive cort SLFription and the socio-economic problem they will create when they return is bound to be considerable.
The majority of job seckers both male and female still remain Seekers - thousands are joining thern annually. The new strategy of the UNP is to corrupt the youth with the fringes of bourgeois lining-TV's, Radios, gadgets and other attractions, Quite a number are in fact mesmerised by the display and the choice available - but the illusion turns sour when they realise that these Se eming luxures are beyond their grasp and when the disparity between hawes am d hawe mots keeps widening.
But above all the problem of galloping inflation has got entirely out of hand. Government Policy en Cotrages rather than curbs inflation - which is now estimated at nearly 50%. A salaried worker is at his wits end, rents, transport, food and prices of other essentials hawe soarod, Life has beco The a veritable nightmare to most people.
Three years ago, the UNP presented a picture of monolithic unity, This is not [rue any [longer. The Cracks in the faca de are visible even to the distant rural water. All supporters of the UNP are speculating on which group is likely to emerge strongest inside the party.
All in all, the picture is not a healthy one. While the militancy that is growing is Indeed the only answer to the growing authoritarian is in which desperation is bringing about - the danger of a crackdown on civil liberties is always with us. The next three years will certainly be even more crucial then those that have ended - whatever happens it is not
going to be a happy ending for the UNP. E.
5

Page 18
A gloomy pictu
by N. Sanmugathasan
İTıpört tca;
S. Lanka to
clectric power cut of five
hours per day in Colombo; possibility of another dewa luation of 20 to 35%, coconut oil to be imported; inflation up to 42%; 5tāte - ned textie mil5 t bē handed over to foreign companies; transport services being gradually de-nationalised and handed back to the private sector. This is the g|Too my picture that ernerges as the UNP finishi es three years of its mis-rule.
Very few governments have dissipated the good-will with which they were elected as has this government which came in with a 56th, majority inside par| ia ment even though it polled only slightly over fifty per cent of the popular vote. It benefitted by the regati we wote aga irist the failures of the previous government. But, Cince having come to power on the basis of false Promises, the UNP, which is the rost rePre Sen Lativo party of the Proimperialist and compradore Section of the bourgeoisie, wasted no time in tightening the chains that tied our economy to the chariot wheels of foreign imperialism. It kowtowed slavishly to all the neocolonial conditions imposed by the imperialist-dominated and foreign lending institutions, like the World Bank, in r= turn for huge loans which have mortgaged generations cof our people to the imperialists,
It abām do ned the pality of import-substitution started by the last government. It liberalised imports, flooded the country with useless, luxury goods, and opened
up. Sri Lanka to the most rapacious neo-colonial exploitation that the country had ever been
exposed. The inevitable inflation followed and will gallop still further when the threaterned further dewaluation, which is being talked about so much these days, takes place. When the Finance Mpister devalued the rupee (he cased it floating the rupee) he boasted
6
that it would e the strong Est : world. Poor
5 tead sark 50
Bank is no cow d devaluation.
But IE was m ; that was dewal LI valued Priame office of premie ted all powers who is now he FC GGWer" | 1191 For 5. Marxist: that the bourge the gärTh e of bol, only so long as of being on t Whig y ger | f:- shco'W 2 'wer th2 using the demo. wer-throw the cart, the bourg rules of the ga would ne wer li, in France after U- N. P. ha5 dmo ww. J. R. Ha, 5 majority won b last elections to titution go hA polls over 50% wote can cewcer rity and change as had happene in the past. B the cut-off point - hal 5 effettiW smaller, leftist corrolary of thi people and par liamentary activ
J. R. knows t why the U. M repression, Ur de ceitful wene ; it is building a E.GİYİP SI LI TIL stand up to an so it hopes! Ti Opposition, pi government for eпergency гедu those harsh te соппе огdiпагу Added to them

ΥΘ.
one of in the
гupeе World furth - T
merge as "Is mam! The that the aman diring
зt only the rupee d. The UMP dent as well as the r and Cor Cetraii r the Presiderm L. said of the State, and the Armed 5 have a Ways said -oisie would play urgeois democracy
they were sure he winning side. orientated forces
slightest sign of cratic process to bourgeois apple ecisi e cha nges the
The so that they 35e. It happened the War. The
ine it in Sri Lanka used the absol Lute y the UNP at the chango the Const no party that of the popular get a 2/3rd, majothe constitution teחם חhaם בו חסוח dו esides, by fixing as high as 2%. ely shut out the parties. But, the s would be to push is to extra-parLi23.
his well. That is J. P. Is tigh terming 1 der a thin änd
:r of democracy, I thoroughly reprehinery which can emergency - or, ng UNP, while in Iloried the last
ruling under harsh lations. Now, all gulations have belaws of the land. are further repre
ssive acts, ke the Essential Serwice, W:t, the anti-Terr Crist Act. Administratively, processions hawe been banned, except on May Day; Emergency was declared in the Jaffna district and under cower of it, the armed forces were given the liceri se to ki || . || 1 true Hitle rite tradition, UNP thugs were given encourge Tient to assault and break up trade union pickets on January 9th and June 5th of this year. On the lat Ier day, it claimed the life of Comrade Somapala.
Remember|ng the glorious Hartal of 1953, the U, MN, P, know 5 that the organised working class would be the natural leader of the popular resistance to the UNP which is growing in momenturn. That is why it is in a hurry to put the Working class in stratjackets, At the moment, the biggest weapon in the hands of the UNP is the dis-unity in the anti-UNP forces and the lack of a corTrTori anti-UNP perspective. But, this is being gradually over. come. After three years of argu ing and debating the main anti-UNP trade unions have been a blo C unite in the JTUAC and stage a successful National Day of Protest on June 5th. The SLFP, LSSP, the TULF, tha CCP and the MEP hawe organis Cd A series of am i— UNP rallies to carry forward the anti-UNP wave that started with June 5th. The mammoth procession that followed the late Somalpala's hårse to Kanatte ori June 9th was a mighty anti-UNP demons LratiQfl, At the EifT18 Qf writing, a railway strike ha 5 started and the chances of it spreading are great. It is significant that members of the UNP u Flor 15 hawe
also joined the sittike. Juri e 5th clearly prowed that the numbers of workers who were ready to
demonstrate against the governTent clearly out-numbers those who were willing to demonstrate In 5 Jpport of i II.
The discontent is most acute among the workers. Ewen international Commer tators hawe obserwed

Page 19
the fact that Sri Lanka has one of the cheapest abour force in Asia. If the multi-mationals ara fall ing over them Sclwes to come and invest here, it is in the hope of exploiting our cheap labour power and earning super-profits which they can repatriate back home. The peasantry has been badly hit by inflation and by the government's policy of freely Irinporting the subsidiary foodstuffs which the får Tiers the Insely es earlier grew with in Sri Lanka, as well as by the Increase in the prices of man ure, agro-chemicals and farm implements. The frustration amQng the Intellectuals is reflected by the wholesale resignation of the academic staff of three of our six Universities. The Problem of the Tam || -speaking minorities rerThains un5olyed,
A serious explosion is around the earner. How far It will succeed will depend on the strategy and tactics employed by the antiUNP forces; on whether they can sink their sectarian differences to unite against the common enemy; and, on whether they avoid confining their struggle within the constitutional and parliamentary framework. The people do not want a change of Inasters. They have had that for far too long. They are looking for an end to the system of exploitation under which the labour power of the toiling masses is being bought at ridiculously low prices and is being exploited to produce enormous profits as surplus value for a handful of exploiters. The people must be given the confidence that the crld of UNP mis-rule would also mean the end of the system of exploitation.
Finally, it must be borne in mind that the crisis that has overtaken Sri Lanka is part and parcel of the conomic crisis that that has engulfed the entire capitalist world, In that sense, we are part of the international revolutionary move. ment that is ham mering away at international imperialism. There in lles cur strength. التسمي
wh a E
I.
O fo;
 

minvitation.
henever you want orchids ... hether it is a solitary Stalk, beautiful presentation basket,
a gay profusion elegantly ranged for an important occasion ... me to the Fern & Flower r orchids that are beyond words,
శిక్స్టి
HoTELTA PRo BA NE, FORT, TELEPHONE: 20391

Page 20
The next stage
by Vasudeva Nanayakkara
(Former M. P. Kiriella, is now Leader of the N.S.S.P.)
Li me begin by enumerating - the Principal signposts of three years of UNP misrule
i (i) The new Bonapartist constitutional system and a series of new repressive laws.
(ii) The new economic policy. Open-door orientation towards World Emperialism, submission to the world capitalist "free' market, reliance on local and foreign private capital to stimulate development, ending of previous semi-welfare state.
(iii) An un concealed attack on the trade union movement and the working class.
(iv) A new kind of carrot-ind -s tick communalism aimed at the Tamil people.
(v) A back seat in non-aligned foreign policy matters,
It is necessary to briefly review the state of affairs in respect of each of these and to chart the path that the UNP will be forced to follow in the months and years ahead.
It would be redundant for mo to analyse at any length onco again the major criticisms of the new constitutional system that many Left writers have already discussed. I will only ennumerate them,
(I) excessive power in the hands of the Presden.
(ii) a devaluation of parliament and its insulation from the pressures of the people.
(iii) dubions devices to encourage opposition members to cross over to the government and the threat of expulsion from parliament for any government MP who may wish to walk the other way.
(iv) a proportional representation scheme designed (hopefully) to keep the UNP in a position of reasonable strength and to establish 2 (capitalist) party electoral system.
18
(v) new repr have given the 53A I T1 "T0 L.5 to em croach com
atic rights.
(vi) the Pres 5 io as a met Ho
"persuading" pol
The new syst operation long judge both its
t5 directions of fu It has resulted it OF DEMOCR and a strengthen talist class in it5 conflicts with t -15 far as the st i5 Concerne di H this has been a political victimiz sals against pol Sackings, Interd de motions, the II
The directio
development are clear; mounting a n d working cl: C0 1 Stituti 13 | Cr| di 55 en 5 cm within cel T that there inside the gover | 983/1984 electio na te from high to time and Ila a b Cut how the F sentation systern mJdified, or abo style primarios du Ced. Or about districts, or a deposits for Pres All this fluidity very real proble about the outco tion fear of tcris is that is | iki election and spi|| aC CiO 15 and dirė for power, and Crisis about how electoral list, (w Will allow his na botton of the ele problem of hay members!!!)

for struggle
issive laws that
Police and the aw opportunities iwi and democr
dential Commisd of bullying and tical adversaries.
em has been ln nough for us to consequences and ture development.
AN EROS ION ATIC RIGHTS ing of the ca pl
relationships and he other classes :ate legal system and in hand with
Tassive dose of ation and repriitical opponents. ictions, a 55a ultis,
.
is of further also relatively public opposition 5s mobilisation, ses; and internal the UNP. It is is deep concern nment about the ns. Reports emasources from time ke head | in e news ropational Repreis going to be ut how American arte to be intronew electoral out Rs. 25,000 den tial candidates, sterns from a m, Uncertain ty Ime of the eleche constitutional aly to follow the | ower in to ma 55 ct confrontations before all this, a to form the UNP which sitting MP me to go to the ctoral list - the ing 145 sitting
The growing evidence of a power play inside the UNP itself is connected to the mounting public opposition to the government. As always in politics the seriousness of the infighting is directly proportional to the extent of the external crisis. Inflation is running at 30 to 40% per annum. Tho worst hit are the poor est strata of the population because food prices have taken the brunt of the price hike. Rice alone has been fairly evenly priced because a good weather
pattern has prevailed. If rice prices begin to follow general prices, as inevitably they must,
disaster will follow.
The grave hardships faced by the poor sections of the population, the entire reasonableness of the trade union dem and for a Rs. 300/- per month wage increase and the cut-back in local industries are a direct result of the government's new economic policy. Our party long ago explained that novel experiment with capitalism in the present period of world-wide capitalist crisis would be na solution to the problems of production and consumption in Sri Lanka. It would merely generate novel forms of mass hardship. From the era of shortages we have moved to the era of unprecedented mass poverty in the midst of plenty (of imported luxuries in the shop windows).
Even paying this price, is the rivate sector and the FTZ spearffiဒါန်း an economic regeneration in Sri Lanka? At east is mass deprivation generating capitalist inspired growth? The bitter truth is that the suffering of the masses is totally in vain. There is no real industrial agricultural growth.
There: is no Einwestmen. Irn basic industries of the type that go to make a strong self-rellãnt
industrial base-least of all in the FTZ where only limited reprocessing of import semi-semifinished export semi-finished, type

Page 21
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Page 22
takes place. The products them5ëlves, Like readymade garments, lapidiary products, serTi-finished rubber goods, are not economically strong. The local private Sector too is hardly interested in new basic investment in Industry. Local capitalists are trying to make a quick buck in the IT port -and-sell trade. Nothing is added to value, Fast-buck commercial capitalism does not build a country's economy,
The Central Bank report and 52 weral other Sources hawe been sending cut alarm signals about the agricultural scctor for about two years now. Tea production has fallen and there is good reas on to belle we that the bost tea lands are not competiëntly managed. Cat.com ut is in shambles, Rubber is holding out due to goed world market prices. The position with rice is becoming dangerous as fertilizer costs rise and CLltivator incentives in an environment of high Inflation evaporates,
In a word the UNP's new
|als se z faire economic policy is not generating growth. There was no doubt at the start a 5 en 50 of fake liberation due to the free availability of imported goods, but that sort of "economic facade" soon wears off.
The country had to pay for this new effort at World market and imperialist oriented economic policy, with a cruel blow not only to the stomachs of the poorer population 5 trata, but alsa with an attack on trade union rights. The UNP te cognised, just as the York ing class too did, that the first showdown was going to be between precisely thesę two adversaries. The Only real obstacle between the UNP (JR) and a national supine attitude towards its policies was, in the first year or two of UNP rule. the organised working class, The working class has successfully thrown back the attack con itself
and on democratic rights in general. The time is now passed, or at least passing, when the
UNP government could haverhaped to crush all opposition and impose its will dictatorially. After three
O
years tha op government ha itself to the 5 social strata ha' The working C national mass o been held in c. Frar til first
Jirrile 5th, Mlati li the working cla discharged with responsibility tc social classes as
The next stag too is clear. T to grow bey or'ı Pura working cl 5tage of a natic difference bet
Tower ent and tok er strike is Hartal is a 115 Ii on Fall Tito'y emel TLJIra | Ard uitban milliong, while e55entially rep class actions, pr derTham d5 5.Lch Wåge de Tamd, Wolutionary stratt
13 til of th:5 the struggle. that neither the of the old left kerous old tra politics in the A will ever apprec
The coordina stage of the str wide basis adds im Porta fi ce cf || Tam il people bc. tions and in th The UNP gover a wavo caf ter gency '79. Ever of proscription head of any pa the de Tand for
At the sårne
making over turt wiring of the TL of the overture a bona partist government cor adh. Cremce to framgwark. |r measure of regle Will be allow ed -wing is itch in bait but youth opinion irm the për IT It it. As

position to the s now developed tage where wider ve been mobilized. la55 mm c'w cards a pposition. JR has 1eck with in limi t5, picket line to the al Day of Protest 55 shoulder ed and hom for å historic all the oppressed id communitles.
2 of this struggle he movement has d the stage of a
3 & 3 är: || 1 to the rial action. The Ween a Harta
a picket ne cr precisely that the 5 political Opposiit involving the m135 es in their a token strike. resents working obably on limited as the Rs. 300The crtux of te . Egy Is the co-orditwo aspects of This is a latter : reformist parties mor the canta - da Lunionists sans Action Corrittee,
ilte.
tion of the next 'uggle on a nationemphasis to the inking up with the 3 th | rn the plantaC N TI F1 är di East. "Il mcm un gished ror during emer1 today the threat hangs over the rty that advances
TāT E F Eelam.
time R ha 3 bem 25 to the rightJLF. The premisc s is acceptance of UNP-led national Çept and rigorou 5 the constitutional exchange so The 3 Phal adı İnistrat İdarı The TULF right g to nobble at the opinion and public North Wowi II mot the radical sections
break away from the TU LF pol|- tical umbrella it will be the duty of the left to forge alliance for, and in, struggle.
In recapitulation I wish to emphasise that though the dis||lusion ment with the UNP cover the last three years has been
gradual, it has also been steady. Although no traumatic experience ||ke the 197|| insurgency and | 973 W4 world economic crisis has
caused a sudden plum Ineting of government popularity, nevertholess a steady grounds well of
Working class (2d opposition has now reached readiness for a new stage of struggle. The basic weaknesses of world capitalism in
the late '70s and 1980s has not been overcome and inevitably small countries like ours which
are tied to its apron strings by market forces and financial arrangements, will be cruelly buffeted
in the com ing years. This sats the stage for the next three years of UNP rule. This wi||
be the har binger of more deter - mined mass actions and deepening constitutional crisis and govern
Tental SchIsm5.
LANKA, GUARDIAN
Εμή τετrημείων, Γατες (, lilclusive of postage)
Cine yoar Six months Local RS. 95|- Rs, 50Asia Rs. 300- Rs... 150
US $ 20. LUS E | O.
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The CoIIIT Crcial Manager, .:Linki Cuardian Publishing Co. Ltd. Nr. 88, K. H. M. A. Hellul Cader Road
RC:llä. Li L 31 Riyad} (Color: || .

Page 23
nka-an IMF
T:s. E. Eri Ls Li L. Eari
sts. Fift. III". Fi F: i parir li kif PTE- Ħ Ħu : : Lili. Ei ti: rute ist:Ei::- Irr " ";Fri ii I r i i BiH. Hi ili "imu i u عملية -من 5 إليها
"ா: ''' பு:வி பே rேi
s
kLTYLS keLSK TMLSS LMT TT L LLLLLL TTLLLS ekG
Living it up
*R angered at Con- ment had thi 5orto | Lurim Demand 5" Wàs Introduced "altic the headline glwer by the Sun- changes" in cor day Observer to a des patch policies and ha i by the Lake House London un popular decisi correspondent, Arthur Hettigo- back Welfare SL da. The des patch was based on extensive excerpts from an The Governm atticle head | ired "I M F Suci: 55 with the choice Story start gongwrongby Podo the Ásia editor of he Financia Proposed Y no Times, David Housego. The for what West following brief extracts offer the expensiwa Com
Sri Lankan reader a helpful o "8. picture of the external en wiro fil- e "Under | ment in which our present government opt economic situation should be of cutting back placed: mgmts to fina C "But Mr. Ronn le de Me, of Investment : the island's Finance Minister, jobs, and of
exploded in anger at the scale growth. The of the cuts being pressed on formance is be him. He said that the Govern- under the IMF':
US
O R A N G
FC
REAL WRITIN
MANUFACTURED BY. P
(N
DISTRIBUTED BY SHAW W
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

with the MF
re e year5 ago 3,5t te volutionary forrning to IMF d t kė || "" hard ion' in cutting b5 i dics.
Ent is naw faced I of whether to: ionary measures brnational hariks 2 rn dom ors terri) mercial firmam
1F auspices, his led for a policy
on welfare paye higher levels ind henca mora export-oriented 2 conomy's poring monitored extended fund
carries the the funds candi
programme which tough est of tion 5."
o "Increas ingly the whole island faces slower growth, contiri tu ing high inflation and fewer new jobs."
O "It is om whether to make cuts in the programme, and where, that the Gowerm ment is at loggerheads with the IMF and Weserti dolo 5."
9 "Als o to blantne are donor nations, including Britain, which Committed funds to the Mahaveli project before fensibility studies had revealed its true cost and then left Sri Lanka to make Lup the difference, thus adding to the island's budgetary problems."
SE
a 3 1 L. (O) TT
) R
OG PLEASUIRE
ENPAS MITED)
ember of the K. G. Group)
WALLACE & HEDGES D.
2!

Page 24
Zia's bomb facto
General Zia making a nuclear bomb "Not a shred of doubt in my mind", said Mr. Lester Wolff, who ed a US Congressional deegraticorn to the sub-continė rint. He told inderjit Badhwar, Washington correspondent of INDIA TODAY: "My concern is not for just a bomb . . . . the Ticunt of er richeid uranium that can be produced by the battery of centrifuges they are setting up .... means they're building a virtual bomb factory.. For what purpose?"
What purpose indeed. First it was Bhutto, then his family and friends; next the PPP and all other political parties and leaders opposed to his hated military regime; then tråde Unionists student 5, journalists unfriendly generals, and even lawyers... and priests. . . .
Zia's increasing isolation is matched by Pakistan's worsen ing economic situation. In this situation, Zia's megalomania and his desperation make hiT utterly unpopular, vulnerable to external pressures whIch In turn will re5 ut if the militarisation of the region, political instability and threats to neighbours,
India is particularly angered by the new propaganda campaign mounted by Pakistan, China, and ASEAN over two issues: the Indian space rocket, and the recognition of the Heng Sam rin government. To cover up its own entreaties for US arms '"aid" and the delands placed on Pakistan by the western donors who recently pledged one bil || on US dollars, Pakistan along with ASEAN and China, has launched a barrage against India's arms deal with the USSR. But Indian spokes men hawe Polnited out: (a) it is not aid but a straight business deal (b) the dea| w a s initiated by Moraji Desai (c) India has signed similar deals with the West (the 1.3 billion dollar AngloFrench Jaguar aircraft deal) (d) it i5 part of a long-Standing continuing agricement ower || 5 years (e) it is good business because the arms will be paid for in rupees.
Both in the Indian parliament and in the Indian press, Pakistan's
22
lately acquired in been subjected te Responding to U new arms aid art
55. || г. с. 5. јуЕ. Г. Е. ( (, I. Pakista has cut
relations with th the urn her of d den C. Exch ånges
ceaseless propagar
an interwis India", “1r 5. Gar US arms supplies the hated militar; the process of Indian Coctean artea το the cα Γις αρτ Wher a fer instal håve å sked, Wi|| tested in ho India, Iran and the Indian Ocean C
Spontaneous. (CLPFTrir rel Jr
Dependence
And what is t system to whic merely "closely whIch current strengthen e d s Luc. system now mark new protectioni: restrictive "aid"
In his speec (CDN 2B/7) the
self noted one of
""We Te il Foreign imperial is taw materials foi
produce goods Tarket. ... this is есопопу."
Prices and was ai 5 a Lion ard tra cuts in develops deflationary meast and emergencey dictatorship - the limited choices pression of a underdevelopmen illuminate the Third World de painful strivings for gen uim C2 ema

ry
in-alignment has } |roi i COTI III e Int. 3 pressures over ld Western preomic a55 Istan CC, ddwyr Its : Lu|Lural e USSR, reduced liplomats and stuand opened a 1 da campaign.
w with "Surya dh i stressed that only entrenches caucus and helps militarising the a direct threat of a free zone.
ıce, Indiârı MP's Zia'5 BoorTb be ideserts close to
Afghanistan or in lo se to Indonesia?
(??? ?éré †)
his international H we arte mot tied" but to polities hawe h ties. It is a ked by recession,
it practices and polities.
h at Akuressa
PT25 i det ilits characteristics:
underde veloped. its who cat our r their bgnefit, for the World the bar of our
ges, import liberde gaps, jobs and ent, inflution ard Jres, human rights democracy and ise dilemmas and i f"Е all a Cш tС. С. Хur condition of . And they tragic drama of endence and the of its peoples icipation.
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A D3 EL.

Page 25
ON THE FIELD OF KULIKOVO - 1
Aleksa Elk, 5 fri-refer V ir rs year, Was the greatest Ri f sia poet the er rey's ria:JY75, His larg poerr, (On the Field of K TLL LLGL LLk CGGLL Y GGGGLGGLLLL GGtkS tELL ttLLLL GTT TLGGGLL LL GLLLHHLLLLLLL LGLTLLLtLLLL LL LLG LGLLL GGLLLLL L LLLLLLLHG LLLLLLG LLLLLLLLSL LGGG LLLLLLLLSL LTLLGLLS KSSHLLGGrTTGG CaLaLG GGGGLGGLL GGaaL LLLL LHHL LLL LLLS violence, with ring led dread and hope.
The river broadens. Sadly, sluggishly flowing, st Javes the banks.
Over the barren clay of the yellow cliff Ricks sadly stard.
My Russia my wife Painfully clear CLir Jong road ohead.
Our road like an arrow of the old Tartar power Ha s pierced our breast,
Our road is over the steppe, through foundless a Your angulsh, C RL15 |
And even the dark, the right beyond the border, Without fear face.
Let the night come. Let's gallop, brighter with The distant steppe.
In the steppe's smoke will flash the holy banner And the Khar's steel.
Erdless the battle We drear 1 of peace only Through blood and du St.. The mare of the steppe flies, flies on, trampling The feather-grass..
No end The miles, the cliffs flash by..
Hü门 1
The clouds fly, fly or in fear Blood-bait hed the s Jim Set !
LLrSaLLL La GLHaLLLLLL SS LCOHHHH LLLLLL LLLL L LGGL K Weep, heart, weep. . There is no peace I The Tiare of the Steppe Gallops a pace.
Translated by Reggie Siri

Noveyler ! of the ? Wo ulik): YU, of კ*rl fr't It)f Jას, ir Pedieval лгF, її її д re I'd list for Terry'
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23

Page 26
Wife vs. bicycle
ijaya Dharmasri's new film,
Dan du Monara, Is his best work up to now, Thaking drama; alternately touching and
funny, Out of the everyday relationships and conflicts of a workIng-class family. It is part of the
achievement of the film that in its presentation of the triangle between a man, his wife and his
bicycle, it holds the scales evenly between the sexes, as far as the
treatment of husband and wife are concerned. (Perhaps the shrewish Tother-in-law is too much of a stereotype.) ThԸ script is very in telligent in its
feeling for character, in its sense of marrative structure, Inn it5 vigorous dialogue, and in its avoidance of the temptations of mela drama: it is all the more creditable that it is the work of a very yoing Writer, Gamini Jayas Inghe, making his first essay in writing for the screen.
| hawe heard Dandu Monara described as "slight', but it seems to me a virtue of the film that it doesn't attempt to go beyond the limits set by its simple theme
story. I have, however, one regret concerning the ending. When I first saw the film before
It went to Moscow, it ended with the small boy Leasingly re
fusing to tell the audience whether his father burnt the bicycle or not, jumping off the
rock on which he has been perched, and running off happly to jol in father and mother In going back home. That ending left it to the imagination of the audlence to guess what happened. We now have an explict "happy
24
ending" that scert key with the de of the rest of perhaps director thought that the needed to hawe and the t's cross
Trouser
Haying been b: up in the coloni trained to speak, English manner, trou 5 ers." How y el increasingly awar Lankan usage this uncommon: In fac wordered whethe a shop and askin trousers', I would
| had always im that "a trouser' w; Sri Lankan cx Pre! other day I came blurb of the E3 pengun edition Q kov's novels ("a st A little research discovery that ch does exist in En apparently has back to 1609. school-marms whic as a "Ceylonism's
The parallel us however, appears Sri Lankan origin
Nati we
Newsweek (Ju port on Wimble. a 3 year old dau Goolagong is no | and native abori captured her title nine years
Why not McEr finalist, a 5 a 'sco! American boy'?
 

Luchstone
5 to me out of icacy r:f tic uch the film. But or producer mass audience the i's dotted ed at the end.
rn and brought al eta, I was in the proper of "a pair of "" || hawe be cc 12 e that iri Srl 5 'Wff rTE&5 L. t, have aften it, or going into g for "a Pairt of get two pairs,
agined, however, is a distinctively
55 Earn un til the across IL is a ck cover of a
f com of Nabi - Immer trauser'). cd me to the e singular for in glish usage, and a history going So all my old frowned oil it
were Wrong.
age, 'a scissor', to be of purely
ly 14) in its redon: "At 28, with ghter at home, onger the smiling gine maiden who first Wimbledon
ago.'
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Page 27
osƏsƆŋunoɔ głosus səɔŋJO OZ9 *>|OOO seuOųLSJĮuəqAA ~ầusųÁJƏAȚI ;3Uueuleus SpeųIAA

SEITDEHEJ, SHETTHEWHL
RAZI Xðið L £T-TIgZz auoqdasa L ‘I poltuosoɔ eų į UA e W ox{asiņu Ķes uoleg us !
*313 q^^^lano Ioae uļ un auueu pəŋsnu, əųL
XHOOTMO SPUUOULL
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以 內 sını 覽 현*}} [= No. 23 sEĐo
sonoransını

Page 28
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