Solution of the proletariat to the national question in Sri
Lanka
The Leader of the JVP
Somawansa Amarasinghe consecrates the
Atapirikara to Maha Nayaka of the Malwatte
Chapter Rev.Thibbatuwawe Sumangala Thero, 2004 |
In the modern world there are two main ideologies. They
are the bourgeois ideology and the proletarian ideology.
Outside these two ideologies which correspond to the two
main classes in bourgeois societies there has been no third
ideology that has been put forward to the world. Therefore
for the transitional classes between the two main classes
have to accept either the bourgeois ideology or the
proletarian ideology. In this way when certain sections of
the petty bourgeoisie, for whatever reason, enter the field
of proletarian ideology they can be seen trying to subvert
the proletarian ideology in order to correspond to their own
class character.
Marxism is the ideology of the
proletarian class. It has no relationship with religion
which is socially temporary and therefore also historically
temporary universe of discourse and a fictitious reflection
of reality which will exist until the super cession of the
producers by the products of human labor. Philosophy and
religion are different forms of social awareness. The
religious arguments are based on blind faith. Philosophy
appeals to the intellect and requires the logical
vindication of its tenets. Marxism has no relation to
theology. Marx, Engels or Lenin are not gods who came to us
to save the proletariat. Their teachings are not the words
of god. The same way the communist manifesto is no Dhamma
Pada or Bhagawath Geetha or a Quoran or an old testament.
The works of Marx, Engels and Lenin are not Thripitakas.
Marxism has no relationship with doctrinaire ideologies.
Marxism is a creative revolutionary ideology. It
continuously nurtures itself and experiments by historical
usage. It opposes every kind of doctrinaire ideology,
develops on the basis of generalization of recorded
experience of world history and on the victories of natural
and social science. In as much as the history of philosophy
was a struggle between materialism and idealism. It was also
a struggle between dialectics and abstraction. In as much as
the first main question of philosophy was of the existence
of thought, second main question was whether the world is in
a constant state of change and development and whether it is
in a state of universal relationship or whether it remains
in a state of motionless and a circular motion without
internal contradiction or qualitative changes.
This question arises as indeed everywhere is in the
analysis of the national question and in seeking a solution
to it. Marxist dialectic the science of the most basic
principles of reality, human society, thought, movement and
development considers material according to their
characteristics relationships their mental reflections
concepts and their intertwining; in movement.
The conscious application of dialectics allows us to use
concepts correctly and to consider the relationship between
the phenomena and their contradictions differences and the
transformation of contradictions. The mere dialectical
approach to the analysis of the phenomena of reality social
life and awareness, enlightens us of the true laws governing
them and the dynamic of their development. Thereby makes it
possible to foresee the future and find valid measures to
plan.
The scientific dialectical method of gaining knowledge is
a revolutionary one because the acceptance of the fact that
everything changes implies the necessity of doing away with
everything outmoded and in the way of historical progress.
The system of learning that is diametrically opposed to the
dialectical system is abstraction. Abstraction considers
objects and phenomena in isolation to each other and as
being definite constant and without internal contradictions.
Abstraction sees the relative stability and definition of
objects and phenomena and underestimates their possibilities
for change and development.
The disregarding of internal contradictions as cause and
dynamic of development is symptomatic of the abstract system
of thought. Abstraction is the opposite system of the
dialectic of thought and knowledge. Dialectical materialism
completely rejects orthodoxy, conservatism and everything
outmoded. It symbolizes continuous progress.
"In this way this dialectical philosophy completely
negates all concepts of absolute truth and of absolute
states of humanity related thereto. For dialectical
materialism nothing is complete; nothing is absolute;
nothing is holy, it shows the transitional nature of
everything and within everything, nothing except the coming
into being and disintegration and the uneven process of
eternally climbing upwards can exist before it. The
dialectical philosophy itself is nothing except a reflection
of the process of the thinking brain". (Marx-Engels selected
works Vol. 3 page 399)
Social life is a constant
state of movement, it is in a process of development from
top to bottom. It is a grave mistake to disregard this and
move away from the correct situation. Lenin has very clearly
shown that the political plan of action is "unchangingly
tied to its philosophical principles" (Collected works vol.
15 page 405).
Marxist philosophy creates the philosophical and the
methodological basis of the program of the party of the
proletariat its strategy, tactics and policies. Lenin has
very clearly explained this from a very definite standpoint
as follows. The only choice is either bourgeois or socialist
ideology - there is no middle way. (Humanity has not created
a "third ideology". In a society divided by class
contradictions there cannot exist an ideology which is
classless or above class).
Therefore in any way to underestimate the socialist
ideology or to move away from it even very slightly is to
strengthen the bourgeois ideology. (Lenin collected works
Vol.5 page 384). He also mentions further by following the
path of Marxist theories we come close to objective truth.
By following any other path we only come to confusion and
lies. (Collected works Vol. 14 page 143). He also says as
follows � �We do not consider Marx's theory as finite or
unbreakable on the other hand if we wish to stay with the
progress of life socialists have to develop it which has
only laid the scientific foundations all sides.� (Lenin,
collected works Vol. 4, pages 211-212). In the world there
is nothing except moving substance.
Substance in motion cannot change in any way except in
space and time. (Lenin collected works vol. 14 page
175).Marxist philosophy cannot be separated from accepting
the material nature of the world and its nature of
continuous change. Therefore materialist. substance is in
constant and continuous movement and change.
Marxist philosophy is based on the principle of motion
and development as the universal principle of all existence
and knowledge. Throughout the entire history of civilized
thought this principle had to defend itself against various
abstract concepts. Dialectical Materialism was born of the
generalization of the scientific triumphs which showed that
social life and human awareness exist in continuous change
and development in reality itself and the historical
experiences of humanity. This is why Engels called
dialectics the science of the general laws of reality, and
the movement and development of human society and thought in
the Anti-Duhring (pages 168-169). Theoretical thought that
takes the forms of concepts judgments and understandings is
the reflections of the relationships of material governed by
essential laws. The concept of development cannot be
understood without the concepts of the relationship between
phenomena and their coexistence and interaction.
No
motion can take place without this relationship and
interaction between the various facets and elements between
different objects and within every objects, this is why
Engels called dialectic "the science of universal
interrelationships" in the dialectic of reality (page 17).
In order to correctly understand any universal discourse we
should analyze it in relation to the other relationships of
discourse. We have to know its origin and further
development. The world does not know of any absolutely
isolated phenomenon. Dialectic is important because it shows
us the correct point of entry to reality. However this entry
can only be achieved by a material study of phenomena but
Lenin said that the nucleus of dialectics is the study of
contradictions. The world does not know of any matter or
phenomenon that is absolutely unique. All material all
phenomena are a unity of contradictions. Internal
contradictions are an inseparable characteristic in the
structure of every object and every universe of discourse.
Not one universe of discourse can exist alone. Nothing can
arise exist or change without relationship to a large number
of material and phenomena. Orthodoxy the essence of which is
the absolution of common truths due to the inability to
materially analyze and evaluate singular characteristics of
each country is extremely harmful to the socialist movement.
The success of the international socialist movement lies
to a great extent upon how broadly the common laws of the
socialist revolution and their national specificities are
considered. While orthodoxy engages in the absolution of the
general reformism engages in the absolution of the
peculiarity and form. In both fields of learning and
practice it is extremely important to correctly evaluate the
dialectic of form, peculiarity and generality. Science which
involves itself with generalization works with general
concepts. This is what acts in order for science to
formulate laws and to give us foresight in our practical
activity. The great power of scientific thought lies in the
generalization of laws. The generality of scientific
concepts is expressed only through the reflection of the
form and the peculiarities. This is how the richness of the
form and of the peculiarity is embodied by a concept. If we
disregard the study of the form, our knowledge of the
generality and the peculiarity would be Poor. It is
impossible not to laugh at the attempts made by the
capitalist political parties of Sri Lanka to use
Marxism-Leninism for their own class interests and their
attempt to cling on to Marx, Engels and Lenin.
Would it be possible to use Marxism-Leninism and Marx,
Engels and Lenin and hide behind "the right of nations to
self-determination" as an argument for the Tamil United
Liberation Front, the All Ceylon Tamil congress, the Tamil
Eelam Liberation Front, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam, Tamil Eelam Peoples Liberation Organization or any
other such Tamil Nationalist organization to achieve Tamil
Eelam. And on the other hand for the UNP to repress the main
party of the left in Sri Lanka the JVP on the pretext that
it supports the Tamil Eelam movement. No, emphatically no.
Marxism-Leninism is not a political philosophy that will
serve or can be made to serve the capitalist class and the
capitalist nationalists in any way. Marx, Engels and Lenin
cannot be used for the purposes of imperialist strategies
and tactics. Marxism-Leninism is the sworn enemy of
imperialism the exploitative capitalist system and
capitalist nationalism. Marxism-Leninism is a philosophy
that is totally inimicable to imperialism, exploitative
capitalism and of nationalism of any type in there service.
There can be no doubt, uncertainty or incertitude about
this. Although the capitalist class the capitalist
nationalists, and the petty bourgeois opportutunistic
running dogs try as they may to turn Marx Engels and Lenin
upside down it is always doomed to failure.
We saw
earlier how the communist league and the first international
under the leadership of Marx always subordinated the
national question to the class question and implemented the
methodology for the solution considering the various
peculiarities within the class question and how they never
formulated a general formularisation. A common and absolute
formularisation as the right of nations to self
determination cannot be any way found in Marx and Lenin. It
is only one part of a formularisation by Kautsky at the
London Congress of the second international, after Engels
death, that has been separated from its own second part to
be used generally by imperialists the capitalist class and
the capitalists and the petty capitalist nationalists.
It is with this massive distortion that the enemies of
the proletariat move into action today. The second congress
of the communist international which proposed and resolved
the constitution for the communist international and a
number of policies on a large number of main and important
questions did not include a formularisation of the right of
nations to self determination in its resolution of the
national and colonial questions. Instead it has put forward
very clearly and without confusion the proletarian position,
the Marxist Leninist position. This is the document which
contains the position of the international communist party
on the national question and should be used by all
Marxist-Leninists of the world. It is very correct and
natural that the proletariat should take this document as
its policy basis also in the solution of the national
question of Sri Lanka.
We can see in this document
generalissimo presentation of the experiences of the
international working class movement of the national
question up to the second decade of the 20th century. The
commission on the national and colonial questions, created
by the second congress of the communist international
included delegates from the communist parties of Russia,
Bulgaria, France, Holland, Germany, Hungary, USA, India,
Persia, China, Korea and Britain. The commission was chaired
by Lenin and the secretary was Mehring. Basic draft thesis
on the national and colonial questions drafted by Lenin on
the 5th of June 1920 was discussed during the 4th and 5th
sessions of the congress and passed by the congress on the
28th of July. The JVP too as a Marxist-Leninist Party
accepts the thesis on the national and colonial questions as
the basis for its position on the national question.
This is Lenin's advice to those ideological bankrupts
and doctrinaires who try to copy Leninist tactics
disregarding this document which generalissimo the
experiences of the Russian revolution and the experiences of
the proletarian revolutionary usage of the entire world
ignoring and distorting the experiences of the Russian
revolution and separating the Leninist tactics from the
historical objective conditions which gave rise to them. "Do
not copy our tactics, analyze the reasons for their special
characteristics and the conditions that gave rise to them
and their result, go beyond the letter, apply the life the
essence and the lesson of the experiences of 1917 - 21".
(Lenin collected works vol. 32, page 380).enin says as
follows in a radio message to warning the Hungarian
communist leader Bellakun on the misuse of Russian tactics
in the short lived Hungarian revolution of 1919, on the 23rd
of March 1919. "Merely imitating our Russian tactics in the
specialist conditions of the Hungarian revolution would
undoubtedly be a complete mistake. I must advice you about
this mistake. But I would like to know where you see real
assurances". (Lenin - collected works vol. 29, page 227).
Lenin's position on this is very clear and completely
without confusion.
We who have not copied Russian
tactics analyses but analyses the reasons for there special
characteristics, the conditions that gave rise to them and
there results go beyond the letter. Let us apply the life
the essence and the lessons of the experiences of 1917
-1921. Doing this let us solve our national question. Let us
remedy it. Let us now start an objective analysis of Sri
Lankan society in relation to the national question with an
examination of the physical makeup of the population of Sri
Lankan society.
The physical makeup of the Lankan social population
According to the 1981 census the total population of Sri
Lanka is 14,850,001. Of this 10,985,666 or 73.58% belong to
the Sinhala nationality. 2,656,768 belong to the Tamil
nationality (18.16%). 1,056,972 or 7.12% belong to the
Muslim nationality. Those belonging to the Malay nationality
number 43,378 or 0.29% and those of European origin 38,236
or 0.26%. Of the Tamil population of 2,696,768 1,871,535 or
12.6% have been classified as Lankan Tamil people whereas of
the balance 825,233 or 5.5% the majority the stateless,
plantation workers brought over by the British from India
since the mid 15th century and their decedents. According to
the above the total population comprises 74% Sinhala
nationality, 18% Tamil nationality and 7% Muslim(?)
nationality. How are these nationalities distributed over
the island?
Modern Lanka has been divided into 9
provinces according to the strategic and tactical
necessities and for administrative purposes be the British.
This was not done according to an ethnic basis nor any other
scientific basis. First in 1833 in implementing the
Colebrooke-Cameron reforms the governor Robert Wilmot Horton
divided the country into 5 provinces viz: Northern, Eastern,
southern western and central provinces. Again in 1845 during
the time of governor Colin Campbell the north western
province was created by bringing together the Hathkorale
from the upcountry and the districts of Halawatha and
Puttalama from the western province.
Again in 1873 during the time of governor Henry Gregory
the north central province was created by carving on the
Nuwarakalaviya and Thamankaduwa from the Northern province
in 1886 during the time of Sir Arthur Hamilton Gordon the
Uva province was creating by carving out Udukinda, Yatikinda
Wiyaluwa,Wellassa, Buttala and Wellawaya. At this point the
Bintenna Pattuwa which comprise the greatest land area in
the Eastern province was carved out of the central province
and annexed to the Eastern province again in 1889 under the
same governor the Sabaragamuwa province was created by
carving out the Hastharakoralaya, Hathkoralaya and
sabaragamuwa from the Western province. These were not
created on the basis of historical homelands or present
ethnic divides. Therefore it is a grave mistake to consider
it as such.
The total area of Sri Lanka is 64,500 sq.
km. It is exactly half that of Tamil Nadu. Of this the
Eastern province is 9622 sq. km. of which Trincomalee
district 2618.2 sq. km. Ampara district 4539.2, Batticaloa
district 2464.6 sq. km. The Northern province covers 8685.7
sq. km. of the Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts 2072.3 sq.
km. Mulllaitivu 2645.2 sq. km. Mannar district 2002.1 sq.
km. and Vavuniya district 1966.1sq.k.m. The modern day
Northern and Eastern province cover 18307.7 sq. km. or 30%
of the entire area of Sri Lanka.
The population of
the Eastern province in 1981 was 976,475 viz: Trincomalee
district 256,750 Amparai district 388,786 Batticaloa
district 330,885. The population of the Northern province
was 1,111,486 that is Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts
831,112 Mulllaitivu district 77,512 Mannar district 106,540
and Vavuniya district 95,904. According to this in 1981 the
total population in the Northern and Eastern provinces (of
all 3 nationalities) was 2,087,943 or 14%. That is less than
half the average population density in Sri Lanka. The call
to limit the landholding in these areas to the inhabitants
only means to reserve 30% of available land for 14% of the
population or reserve 70% for 86% of the population. If one
were to accept this call it would be accepting the
subordination of the rights of 86% of the population and
granting of special privilege to the 14% of people living in
this area to grant them a special privilege (with regard to
landholding) to take away the rights of people living in
other areas.
In 1981 the Tamil population in all the
five districts in the Northern province was 1,023,228 viz.
That is 812,247 in Jaffna and Kilinochchi districts, 68,172
in Mannar district, 73,133 in Vavuniya district, and 69,170
in Mulllaitivu. The Tamil population in the other 8
provinces was 1,673,540. That is the five districts of the
Northern province is inhabited by less than 40% of the Tamil
population in Sri Lanka. More than 60% of the Tamil
population live in the rest 8 provinces. The Tamil
population of the Eastern province is 412,451. That is
238,216 in Batticaloa, 80,725 in Amparai, 93,510 in
Trincomalee. This is around 40% of the total population of
the Eastern province. That is 60% of the Eastern province
are Sinhala and Muslim people. Numerically 335,201 Muslim
and 243,358 Tamils. Due to the Mahaweli settlement after the
1981 census the figures of the Sinhala inhabitants have
increased however it is very difficult to reproduce accurate
data. Now the Tamil population in the east is no more than
1/3 of the population. In this way the Eastern province with
a Tamil population of 1/3 or 40% of the total is being
claimed as a traditional Tamil homeland by the Tamil
nationalists.
The total Tamil population of the
Northern and Eastern provinces in 1981 was 1,435,679. The
Tamil population in the other 7 provinces in 1981 was
1,261,089. Accordingly it was less than 55% of the total
Tamil population that inhabited the Northern and Eastern
provinces, that is more than 45% inhabited the balance 7
provinces. In this way nearly 50% of the total Tamil
population lived outside the areas described by the Tamil
nationalists as traditional homelands.
The Tamil
population of the central province is 523,132 a figure far
greater than the Tamil population in the Eastern province.
This figure equals the entire population of the
Nuwarakalaviya district and of the population of 523,219 of
the Nuwarakalaviya district 317,602 are Tamils. This is far
in excess of the Tamil population in the Batticaloa
district. Nuwarakalaviya district is inhabited by 317,602
Tamils 187,280 Sinhalese14,668 Muslims. The Tamil population
of the Kandy district is 160,510 that is equal to the Tamil
population of the Ampara and Trincomalee districts. The
total Tamil population of 489,982 in the Nuwarakalaviya and
Badulla districts exceeds the total Tamil populations of all
three districts of the Eastern province.
The Tamil population of the western province is 234,111
that is 187,456 in the Colombo district, 51,539 in the
Gampaha district and 42,111 in the Kalutara district. This
amount is almost the total Tamil population of the
Batticaloa district and exceeds the combined Tamil
population in the three Vanni districts of the Northern
province, Mannar, Mulllaitivu and Vavuniya. The Tamil
population of 172,380 of the Uva province exceeds that of
the Ampara and Trincomalee districts and nearly equals that
of the Vanni districts in the same way the Tamil population
of Sabaragamuwa province exceeds that of the Ampara and
Trincomalee districts.
According to the population
ratio of districts the Tamils are the second largest group
in the Trincomalee district suggested by the Tamil
nationalist as the capital of Tamil Eelam. In Ampara
district they are the third largest numerically. However
they are the largest group numerically in the Nuwarakalaviya
district.
From the above we can understand the
population in relation to nationality that more than 45% of
the Tamil population live outside the areas demanded by the
TULF and other Tamil nationalists capitalist and petty
capitalist groups as a separate state Tamil Eelam comprising
the Northern province the Eastern province and parts of the
bordering Northern central and northwestern provinces and
also that in the Eastern province that the Tamil population
is the minority and that the demand is for the reservation
and separation of 40% of the total area of Lanka for the
Tamil nationality which is 18% of the population.
If Sri Lanka were to be divided into two on the wishes
of and by the hand of imperialism,..
The Tamil nationalist capitalist class of Sri Lanka and
South India and the running dogs of the Sinhala capitalist
class and Tamil and Sinhala petty capitalist classes it
would not be solving the question but worsening and
complicating the question as was the case with the partition
of India in 1947 according to the wishes of imperialism and
Moslem capitalist class. The fact that, up to now there have
been three border wars and border conflicts, Kashmir is
claimed by both countries and intact being divided between
the two countries.
The deep enmity between the two countries render the
possibility of a fourth war breaking out at any time;
moreover the mass migration of more than 8 million Hindu
refugees made homeless into India and the migration of an
equal number of Muslins into Pakistan, the horrendous
carnage and destruction and the impetus given their by
separatist tendencies threatening India separation of
Bangladesh from Pakistan the horrific experiences of this
war and all other negative experiences would be revisited on
us with magnified horror.
The expelling of Sinhala people from the Northern
province has already started. Who can say that the same
process would not be carried out in the Eastern province as
well. And what if the Sinhala people started the same in
the other provinces. This would indeed be a favorable
situation for the imperialists. It is clear that a subtle
plan is underfoot to develop this process by the
imperialistic puppet regime.
The situation of the Moslem people
Although the capitalist nationalist of the TULF attempt
to include the Muslims in their lot by using the term Tamil
speaking people the Muslims do not belong to the Tamil
nationality. Tamil is a nationality as well as a language.
The TULF use the adjective Tamil in their name to denote the
nationality not the language. In the same when they call
their proposed state Tamil Eelam the adjective Tamil
signifies the nationality and not the language. We know that
a nationality has a common, shared culture. Culturally
Muslims differ completely from the Tamil nationality.
The Tamil capitalist nationalist leadership cannot reconcile
the contradictions between the Muslim community with its
culture based upon very conservative way of life completely
tied with religion as laid down in the holy Quoran, which
satisfies itself with hope of betterment in the after life
as predestined by Allah the all-powerful and marked by
enmity towards other religions and the codification of the
inferiority of women and polygamy, born in the 7th century
of the time of the transition of the Arab people from the
system of primary common ownership to the class society and
the Mohammedan Arab caliphate; the feudal theocratic empire
and the Tamil nationality with a cultural life based on the
Hindu religion both of the common crisis of the world view
in India between the 6th and 7th centuries B.C. based on the
ancient and mediaeval Sanskrit religious philosophical and
jurisprudential works and the worship of the gods Shiva and
Vishnu and consisting of numerous rituals of worship (most
of Sri Lankan Tamils are staunch Saivites) reflecting and
affirming the backward caste system; which embodies the
ideas and concepts of religion ethics and philosophy of
early mediaeval media which have persisted up to now.
The Eastern province has the largest Muslim population in
Sri Lanka. The settlement of Muslims, who fought the
Portuguese and Dutch, by the rulers of the Kandyan kingdom
contributed to the growth of Muslim settlement in that
province. Today the Muslim population of the Eastern
province is 335,201. This is 1/3 of the Muslim population of
Sri Lanka. The only Muslim majority district in the country
the Ampara district is in the Eastern province. Further
nearly 1/3 of the population in the Trincomalee district is
Muslim. During the 1977 general election Badiuddin Mahmood
the SLFP candidate for the Batticaloa seat former minister
of the SLFP and the leader of the Muslim group of that party
and of the Muslim socialist front called for an independent
Kilaksthan (Eastern land) for the Muslim people as an
alternative to the slogan of Tamil Eelam. But because of the
waning of his political activity due to the defeat of his
party and its internal crisis as well as his personal defeat
despite obtaining a large number of votes against the UNP,
the Tamil national party and the TULF in the general
election we have not heard anything of this publicly. But
the seed he planted is very much there.
Having not
obtained the support of the Muslim people of the Eastern
province for a Tamil Eelam state the TULF after spreading
extreme nationalism requested a mandate to this end in the
general election of 1977 but failed to get this from the
Eastern province.
The TULF won only 4 seats out of 12
in the Eastern province. They were Trincomalee, Batticaloa
1st seat, Padirippu and Pottuwil 2nd seat. All these MPs
were of the Tamil nationality. President Jayawardana as
usual, as unbelieving his responsibilities is in the habit
of saying only 2 seats were won by the TULF and distorting
facts. In the general election of 1977 it was the UNP that
won 8 seats out of 12 in the Eastern province.
The TULF which sought a mandate for the partition of the
country won only 139,844 votes viz: Trincomalee 15,144,
Muttur 7250, Batticaloa 49091, Kalkudah 12,595, Padirippu
15,877, Porruvil 23,909 Kalmunai 7093, Sammanthurai
8615,(Batticaloa and Pottuvil multi member seats). The
opposing political parties i.e. UNP, SLFP, and LSSP received
280,303 votes as opposed to 139,844 by the TULF or double
the votes. From this we can see that 2/3 of the electorates
of the Eastern province is against the TULF.
It is in this Eastern province where 2/3 of the people
rejected the idea of Tamil Eelam and where on the other hand
only 1/3 of the population is Tamil or where 2/3 of the
population is Sinhala and Muslim that the capital of Eelam
should be. This is not based on nationality but on strategic
importance. Perhaps even a symbol of the "heritage" of
Polonnaruwa.
The agrarian reform and the national question
To say that the 8 districts of the north and the east
are traditional homeland where Tamils traditionally lived is
no more than a nationalist concept created by distorting
history. Un-ignorable evidence is that up to the 13th
century Sinhala and Tamil people lived together in these
areas. The anarchy that arose after the reign of King
Nissankamalla in the 13th century and the successive palace
conspiracies rebellions and foreign invasions especially the
dreadful 40 year military rule of Kalinga Magha and the
resulting destruction of the irrigation system which was
basis of the dry zone settlements and the breakdown of the
social - labor organization i.e. The Asiatic socio-economic
pattern and the social labor organization in the means of
production required for the rebuilding caused the Sinhalese
to leave the dry zone caught in oppression due to invasions,
and migrate to the southwest and the central hills, on the
other hand it is apparent that the Tamils migrated to the
north and east apparently to maintain links with Tamil Nadu
(History of Ceylon, Professor Hemachandra Rai Part 2).
Even now the main problem of the dry zone is water.
Especially for the Northern and Eastern provinces what is
needed is irrigation This can be achieved by the diversion
of the water surplus of the wet zone.
Under the new
conditions it is clear that the Sinhala people in the
Northern and Eastern provinces were absorbed to the Tamil
nationality which was dominant in those areas under the
Tamil mercenary armies of Kalinga Magha and Chandrabhanu
junior and senior and subsequently the armies of the
generals of the Pandyan emperor Arya Chakravarthi and other
regional Tamil rulers and on the other hand the Sinhala
nationality absorbed the later Tamil immigrants the
mercenary armies of Tamil and Indo European and other
origins of Kings like Parakramabahu VI. and their ranks the
Sinhalese including the Bandaranaikes of the SLFP, the
Jayawardanes of the UNP, Vijaya Kumaranatunge general
secretary of the SLMP, Colvin R. DE Silva leader of the
LSSP, K.P.Silva, general secretary of the C.P. as well as
myself, who is presenting you this report are the
descendants of those who arrived from Northern and southern
India from various regions at various times in various ways
and were absorbed by the Sinhala nationality. This is the
true history.
It is a truth that Sinhala settlements existed in the
Northern and Eastern provinces before the 13th century. The
Kayts today was then called Urathota the modern Chunnakam
was called Hunugama, Kodikamam Kodigama, Mannar was
Mahathiththa, Kottiyaram was Kottiasaragama, Kankesanthurai
was Jambukolapatuna. Trincomalee was called Gonagamaha or
Gokanna, the Jaffna peninsula was Nagadeepa and Delft
Piyangudeepa.
The ancient Buddhist ruins adds to this evidence. It is
not nationalistic to say that Sinhala people lived in these
areas before the 13th century. It is only telling the truth
but to cover this truth and to lie for the nationalistic
purpose is very much nationalism.
But to reject the claim that these areas as solely
belonging to the Tamils and as closed to all other
nationalities, just because after the 13th century, in the
north and in some areas of the east the remaining Sinhala
population was absorbed by the Tamil nationality and these
areas became a vassel kingdom under the Paandyians becoming
independent with their downfall in the face of Malik
Kapoor's attacks and then again becoming a dependency of the
Vijeanagar empire.
It is equally reactionary to close
the north and east to other ethnic groups by accepting them
as the traditional homelands of the Tamils and the evicting
of the Sinhala and Moslem people from the north and the east
as is the eviction of Tamil and Moslem people from other
areas. No Marxist can agree to this. Every nationality every
language every culture and every person must have equal
rights in the same way every citizen must have equal rights
in all regions of Sri Lanka. Otherwise it would be a swindle
perpetrated to limit equality. There could be no debate
among true Marxist that the basic question of the Sri Lankan
social revolution in agricultural reform.
A basic
feature of this agricultural reform would be the development
and settlement of the dry zone. By considering the
provincial and district borders created by the British for
their strategic and tactical ends and administrative ease as
ethnic and historical ones and reserving land for
nationalities according to these lines would lead to what
Lenin underlined as something never to be done by Marxists
that is subordinating the rights of one nationality and
granting privileges to another nationality. The modern
Northern province covers 8635 sq. km and modern Eastern
province 9622 sq.km. About 30% of the land of Sri Lanka
which covers 64,500 sq. km. belong to these areas. 14% or
1/7th of the total land belong to the Northern province the
population of the Northern province is less than 8% of the
total population of the country that is slightly more than
1.1 million.
It is impossible to give the population of the Northern
and Eastern provinces which is 14% or the total Tamil
population of Sri Lanka which is 18% of the population, 30%
of the total area of Sri Lanka simply because nearly half of
the total Tamil population live outside this area. It is not
possible to give 14% of the land of Sri Lanka to 8% of the
population, that live in the Northern province because Tamil
nationalist capitalist groups call for it or because Tamil
nationalist petty bourgeois terrorist groups call for it or
as a ransom to stop their violence.
If as is happening today and would happen in the future
Sinhala and Muslim people are evicted from the north and
east the Tamil population left on 30% of the total of the
area would be just 10% of the population. To give 30% of the
land of Sri Lanka to 10% of the Tamil population would be
limiting the rest of the entire population including the
Tamils living in the other areas. It would be limiting their
rights and for some reason granting privileges to a small
group. There it cannot be done under any circumstances
because to give a privilege to a nationality or ethnic group
is to dispossess another nationality or ethnic group of its
rights.
The average population density in Sri Lanka
according to the census of 1981 is 230 per sq.km. This is
2603 in the Colombo district, 993 in the Gampaha district,
522 in the Kandy district, 517 in the Matara district, 487
in the Galle district, Jaffna and Kilinochchi,
401(everywhere in this report as up to 1983 Kilinochchi
remained part of Jaffna district and was treated as such for
census purposes of 1981.
The population has rapidly increased whereas in the dry
zone districts, it has declined as follows. Mannar 53,
Vavuniya 36, Mullaitivcu 39, Batticaloa 134, Amparai 86,
Trincomalee 98, (in Ampara and Trincomalee this situation
has changed due to Mahaveli settlements) Anuradhapura 82,
Poklonnaruwa 77, Moneragala 50, Puttalam 166, Hambantota
163, Matale 180. The latter districts cover around 60% of
the total area of Sri Lanka. The importance of these
districts as the arenas of Agrarian reforms can be seen in
the record expansion of population between 1971 and 1981.
Whereas the average population growth of the country
during the decade was 17%, in the Mulleuthevu district the
population rose from 43,625 to 77,572 that is by 77.7%.
Facts have been revealed which convinced us that the reason
for this enormous increase in the population of the Northern
Vanni district is the systematic settlement of people from
the hill country and other areas as well illegal immigrants
from south India. This has been proudly acknowledged by the
Ghandian movement linked to Uma Maheswaran in one of its own
statements.
Funding for this has been received on a large scale from
various dubious organization in western European imperialist
countries and organization such as Redd Barna have been
involved in various ways. Actually it appears that Tamil
Eelam terrorist organizations systematically established
such Eelam settlements in order to obtain food, sanctuary
and soldiers for themselves. It also appears that illegal
immigrants were brought from Tamil Nadu and settled to be
used as volunteers or mercenaries (due to the overwhelming
corruption that exists in state Sri Lankan state
institutions it is not difficult for them even to
systematically obtain citizenship).
During that decade the population expansion in Vavunia
was 59.3% from 60,212 to 95,904. In Mannar 44.3% from 74,125
to 106,940 in Trincomallee from 36.4% from 188,245 to
256,790, in Batticaloa 28.9% from 256,721 to 330,889 and in
Jaffna and Killinochi it was 19.3% from 696,664 to 831,114.
The population has also expanded in the other districts of
the dry zone as follows. Polonnaruwa 60.6% from 166,653 to
262,753, Anuradhapura 51.2% from 388,770 to 587,822,
Moneragala 44.9% from 193,020 to 279,743, Amparai 42.6% from
272,605 to 388,786, Puttalam 30.4% from 378,430 to 493,344
and Hambantota 24.6% from 340,254 to 424,012.
In all these cases the main reason for the population
expansion is migration. There appears to be a general
migration from areas with, a high population density and a
shortage of land with no room for population expansion to
the dry zone. The pace of this will be accelerated by the
social revolution. Provision must be made for its
acceleration. The Matara district is considered the district
with the lowest availability of land and the highest
population density in Sri Lanka. The other districts of the
north western plain follow.
In these district in
addition to a high density of population a large proportion
of land is covered by plantations. The situation in north
and east with the exception of the Jaffna district is
completely different to this. The population density is low
while land is not covered by plantation although a new
problem has arisen because of the traitorous UNP government
leasing out vast tracts of land to the multinational
corporation of their imperialistic masters.
In the
same way as the land and the population were respectively
30% and 14% in the whole of the eight districts of the north
and east. The proportions were roughly the same in the other
dry zone districts of Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Moneragala,
Puttalam and Hambantota. Then if the north and east is to be
closed to migration, these five districts should be too, for
the population density in both regions are the same if this
is done what would happen to the people of the northwestern
and central districts which have the greatest land shortage.
The finance minister of the UNP government answering a
question during the presentation of the budget said that the
greatest land shortage existed in the Matara (according to
government statistics) followed by Galle, Kalutara and
Gampaha and that Jaffna comes after these districts, the
only district with land shortage in the north and east in
Jaffna
To give over half the land available for agrarian
reforms in the country in a response to the call mounted by
Tamil capitalist and bourgeois classes or as a privilege to
the Tamil nationality or as a ransom to the Tamil Eelam
terrorism or in a worse deal to keep the UNP in power is no
solution to the national question but something which would
exacerbate it and make it more complex. In the same way the
national question is exacerbated by subordinating the Tamil
nationalistic rights and granting privileges to the
Sinhalese Nationality it is also exacerbated by
subordinating the Sinhala Nationality's rights and granting
privileges to the Tamil Nationality.
The
policy of the JVP
The JVP having considered all these conditions has
presented the whole country the strategy of the proletariat
for the solution of the national question in Sri Lanka
through its manifesto and program. The JVP is the only party
that has presented its policies clearly and forthrightly in
relation to the national question. The second paragraph of
the party policy declaration included in the party program
passed by the first congress of the JVP states as follows:
"2. The division of the country into two parts as well as
autocratic centralism will be opposed."
The policy of the proletariat is declared in this leaving
no room for confusion, mistakes or cover-up. What is meant
here is that any division of the country by way of a Tamil
Eelam or Kilaksthan or by any other name will be opposed as
well as autocratic centralism. The idea is that the country
will be centralized democratically. That is that all
citizens will be granted equal rights regardless of
nationality, religion, caste, sex or any kind of
discrimination.
The country will be centralized without discrimination
without granting privileges to anyone or without
handicapping anyone or oppressing any nationality. We
Marxists, we proletarian revolutionaries oppose the division
of the country and decentralization. We know very well that
the division of the country and decentralization are
completely opposed to the class aims and necessities of the
proletariat. Therefore we oppose it without the least
hesitation. Our teacher Marx was called a great centralist
by his greatest disciple himself Lenin. Yes this is correct.
We Marxists are centralists. We proletarian revolutionaries
know very well of the immense benefits of large states and
centralism. We oppose this harder when we see more clearly
that decimation of countries and decentralization are steps
taken by the exploiting classes due to fear of the
proletariat and to avoid proletarian socialist revolutions.
We oppose with the same hardness the granting of
privileges to one nationality at the expense of the rights
of another and the autocratic centralism under these
conditions. However opposition to such a type of centralism
does not mean opposition to centralism in general or
supporting decentralization. The bourgeoisie and the petty
bourgeoisie are very much for the division of countries and
decentralization. This is one of their popular slogans. The
endeavor of the proletariat is not the division of peoples
but to bring them together democratically and to absorb them
in this way. Not the division and decimation of countries
but to build greater States.
It is only the imperialists, the nationalist sections of
the Tamil bourgeoisie in south India and Sri Lanka, those
sections of the Sinhala bourgeoisie who are the faithful
servants of their imperialist masters, those romantic
opportunistic petty bourgeoisie Sinhala socialists under the
tutelage of bourgeois and petty bourgeois Tamil nationalists
and the petty bourgeois Tamil nationalist sections who want
the division of the country along national lines. Other than
that it is not the necessity of the proletariat of the
Sinhala, Tamil or Moslem nationalities. Proletarian
socialists who oppose the division or organization of the
proletariat along nationalist lines oppose unhesitatingly
the division of the country along national lines as well.
The establishment of a Tamil Eelam will not only be useless
to the Tamil or the Sinhala proletariat but will have great
detrimental effects on the working class movement as has
already been proved.
Why are we opposed to the federal system?
The proletariat opposes the establishment of a federal
system as a form of decentralization. The proletariat which
realizes perfectly that greater and more centralized states
serve their historic purpose better, opposes the
decentralization of countries as well as always disagreeing
to the decimation of countries. Therefore, to move to a
joint or federal system from a centralized state, especially
when it is being implemented as the first step in a strategy
to divide the country - the proletariat can never agree to
this.
Marxists use a federal or joint system as
transitional step to bring countries and nations together
but never as a transitional step towards separating
countries and nation. They will never allow it. The JVP
which steadfastly opposes the process of dividing Sri Lanka
and creating a Tamil Eelam state unhesitatingly opposes the
establishment of a federal system as a first step in the
direction of Tamil Eelam.
The federal or the unionist
system was a popular slogan with the 19th century anarchists
lead by Mikhail Bakunin. The leader of this petty bourgeois
tendency who was expelled from the first international in
1872 was of the opinion that the federal system was the best
solution to the national question. Even in recent times,
even today this is a very popular concept with the petty
bourgeoisie. Marx fought bitterly with the anarchist on this
question as well as in many other questions. Lenin following
his example fought bitterly with the concept of a state
modelled after the federal system of the narodniks and
especially of the socialist revolutionaries who represented
the petty bourgeois anarchist tendency, of his day.
The special feature of bourgeois development is the
economic administrative, legislative, legal centralism and
also the centralism of the military apparatus within the
borders of every country. Before this in the feudal system
which possessed a natural economy decentralization was the
special feature. But the main tendency of autocracy
especially Russian autocracy was the creation of a state
machinery. For this reason we can see at that time autocracy
and centralism was seen as to be one and the same. However
we need not consider the two. The centralist tendency of
capitalism is beneficial to build socialism. It is even
necessary. It represents progress in social development. The
centralism of production and distribution under capitalism
is beneficial to the socialist economic base. Therefore the
socialist movement supports centralism as opposed to
decentralization and federalism. If we carefully examine the
history of social development we find that centralism walks
hand in hand with democracy and progress.
Under
socialism the federal system is used as a means for
centralism and not decentralization. Lenin says the
following in his thesis on the national and colonial
question presented to the second congress of the communist
international:
"7. Unionization is a transitional
form towards complete unification of the workers of all
nations. The connections of the Russian Socialist Federal
Soviet Republics to another soviet republic (to the
Hungarian, Finnish and Latvian republics in the past with
the Azerbaijan and Ukrainian republics in the present) or to
nationalities without an independent political existence or
self government (The Bashkir and Tartar autonomous republics
within the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republics
established in 1919 and 1920) and experiences within the
RSFSR itself show the suitability of unionism.
"8. The endeavor of the communist international with
regard to this question not only the development of the
progress in this direction but also to study and examine the
experiences of these unions that have arisen on the basis of
the soviet system and the soviet movement. While accepting
unionism as a transitional form towards complete unification
it has to be unquestionably attempted to bring the federal
ties closer.
Consider that firstly from a war angle
that the Soviet Republics surrounded by the greatly powerful
imperialist states of the whole world would not be able to
exist without close ties to other soviet republics. And that
secondly without close economic ties between the soviet
republics it would not be possible to rebuild the means of
production which has been destroyed by imperialism and to
ensure the welfare of the working class. And thirdly the
progress towards a world economy governed by the proletariat
of all nations and united by a common plan - this tendency
is clearly manifest under capitalism and without doubt
furthered and completed by socialism".
From this it should become completely clear in what way
and to what ends that Lenin used federalism and advocated
its use. Lenin used the federal system as a transitional
one. Therefore it is temporary. It is a first step to bring
together peoples that have been separated and exist
separately, and not to separate and isolate the workers of
those nations. It was the first step towards complete
unification of the proletariat of the old Czarist colonies
with the Russian proletariat. That is as a step towards
centralism. He is of the opinion that this should be brought
closer, that is increasing centralism, this is what actually
happened in the Soviet union and other places. The
proletarian socialist movement will give absolutely no
encouragement to use the federal system as a transitional
step in the opposite direction - that is as a step towards
decentralization and separation under the capitalist
leadership as a step towards creating the disunity of the
proletarians of different nationalities and their
Separation.
The imperialist United States, Canada a developed
capitalist country and neighboring capitalist India have a
federal and unionist system of government as well as the
Soviet Union. The first constitution of the USA formulated
about 200 years ago in the 18th century after the American
revolutionary armies under George Washington defeated the
British imperialist armies led by General Cornwalis, was a
loosely centralized one. That is, it was greatly
decentralization with extensive powers to the provincial
states with very weak central government. It could not exist
like this for very long. Therefore it was more centralized.
This tendency towards centralism arose of subjective
necessity and had to be centralized more and more on a
number of occasions. Today the constitution of the USA is a
strongly centralized one. A large number of states were
joined and centralized through this. The federal system was
used for this. In Canada the federal system has been used to
join the former British colonies and the earlier French
colonies (the province of Quebec, the city of Montreal in
this province has the greatest French speaking population in
the world outside the city of Paris). This too is one of the
most centralized federal systems in the world. But the
country which is considered as having the most centralized
federal system in the capitalist world is in India.
The necessity of creating a federal system in India arose
due to the need of bringing together various states and
nationalities that form it. Although the political
unification of India was a slogan from the Vedic era itself,
that is although the concept of a united greater India,
(Eksath Baratha Vanshaya) a greater Indian empire
(Chakravarthi Kshethraya) existed this has not being
fulfilled up to now. Dharmashoka the greatest of the Mauryan
dynasty or the Guptha emperors Akhbar the great or Aurangzeb
the greatest of the mogul rulers failed to achieve this.
Even British imperialism which made the whole of India its
colony was unable to achieve its political unification.
During the period of British imperial rule what existed was
a state of conglomeration. That is the whole of India was
not under direct British imperial rule - although the
British viceroy in India from 1848 to 1856 Lord Dalhousy
managed to bring the area from the Indus to the
Brahmaputhra river and from the Himalayas to the Kanyakumari
cape under British hegemony after the death of Ranjit Singh
the last native ruler of Panjab and the fall of the last
Indian free state Panjab and the annexation of the small
Maratha lands.
This does not mean that the whole of India became a
unified British colony. Whereas some Indian states came
under direct colonial rule the kings of some states
continued as vassals of the English. In this way India
consisted of direct British colonies (there were a number of
these - these were ruled by different British governors) -
for example the provinces of Madras and Bombay were ruled by
different governors - and of non-independent states. When
India gained independence in 1947 not only the direct
colonies but also the non-independent vessel states were
also affected. (these colonies and vassal states in most
cases were not based on national lines, in some instances
some nationalities would be distributed in number of states
and in others a number of nationalities would inhabit one
state). It was after the British partitioned India according
to religious lines - into Moslem India and Hindu India -
that the federal system was used by the capitalist class of
Hindu India to bring it together.
This unionist system used by the Indian capitalist class
to bring together the various nationalities and regions of
India is a very centralized one. According to this, under
emergency government can even impose direct rule. It can
also pass legislation affecting and in emergency conditions
even suspend the provincial constitution temporarily. As
opposed to usual unionist systems according to the Indian
constitution special powers are granted to the central
government. However today we see this centralized unionist
system used by the Indian capitalist class to unite India
used by imperialism and its agents for exactly the opposite
purpose. That is in their endeavor to decimate India. This
is happening more openly in the Panjab and more discreetly
in Tamil Nadu.
The federal system can on the one hand
be used as a transitional step to bring together different
nations and countries and on the other hand as a
transitional step to divide centralized states. Therefore
the proletariat cannot agree to the use of the federal
system to decentralize an existing united centralized state.
However the proletariat would never hesitate to use the
federal system as a transitional form to unite separate
states and nations. For example in the future (this may not
happen in our lifetime) the proletariat of all the countries
in south Asia (after the success of the socialist revolution
in these states would never hesitate to use the federal
system to bring together these nations and states with
common social economical and cultural identity and history,
based on equality. Such a unity can only be achieved under
socialism. This cannot happen within the capitalist system.
All that can happen within the capitalist system is that the
weaker more powerless capitalist class and the state of this
class being swallowed by the stronger and the more powerful
capitalist class.
We cannot ignore the possibility that the Indian
capitalist class which support the Tamil Eelam movement on
tactical grounds (not the south Indian Tamil capitalist
class - their support is based on strategic interests) are
not motivated by this aim. However if they jump the gun the
Sri Lankan proletariat and the Indian proletariat cannot
stand by passively. If this happens it should be stopped. It
can be stopped. But only by the Sri Lankan proletariat with
the help of the Indian proletariat - not by the Sri Lankan
capitalist class. The Sri Lankan proletariat which opposed
the subjection of Sri Lanka by India or any attempt to carve
their country in two and swallow it up, affirm that it would
in the future, when the power of the proletariat is affirmed
in India unite as a socialist India, socialist Sri Lanka,
socialist Pakistan, socialist Bangladesh, socialist Nepal,
socialist Bhutan and a socialist Maldives and brothers and
equals. The course of history is such. The Sri Lankan
proletariat will never allow the establishment of a federal
system as a step towards weakening Sri Lanka, or any attempt
to carve Sri Lanka in two.
Decentralization - whose necessity?
Decentralization is one method used to face the rising
proletariat and its independent movement by the capitalist
class and petty capitalist class elements. A good example is
the process of decentralization used by the French
capitalist class against the rising proletariat throughout
the 19th century after the ebb of the French revolution. The
capitalist class which takes the country towards autocracy
by undermining democracy on the one hand moves the country
towards decentralization through undermining centralism on
the other. The result is autocracy and decentralization.
However the necessity of the proletariat is democracy and
centralism. These are two conflicting aims arising out of
diametrically opposed class interests - that is the
autocracy and decentralization of the capitalist class and
democracy and centralism of the proletariat.
Today the country has been centralized autocratically -
that is, it has been centralized equality taken into
account. Therefore it is not a democratically effected
centralism. What the proletariat demands is democratic
centralism. But what the capitalist class does at this point
is to decentralize while protecting its autocracy and for
this very purpose instead of centralizing democratically.
Decentralization of the capitalist class is not democracy
being given to the people, it is done with the aim of
preserving its autocratic power. The proletariat puts
forward democratic centralism in opposition to the
decentralization of the bourgeoisie and resolves the
national question democratically on the basis of equality.
The third paragraph of the manifesto of the JVP states the
following. "3. The protection and the maintenance of the
territorial integrity of the country will be effected on the
basis of real equality and autonomy for various minorities."
The territorial integrity of Sri Lanka which is a multi
racial state depends on equal treatment for all
nationalities which inhabit it. If this is not fulfilled the
territorial integrity will be threatened. In the same way
the establishment of autonomous regions for underdeveloped
areas and those areas inhabited by various minorities within
centralism becomes a necessity for social development. The
establishment of these autonomous regions is basically the
establishing of democracy. It is not the decentralization
put forward by the capitalist class. The establishment of
these autonomous regions will take into account differences
in the composition of the population and the differences in
development and will be created very democratically. This is
not a simple process. On the contrary it is a very
complicated one.
For example the north and the east cannot be one
autonomous region. Why?. Because of the differences that
exist in these areas. The Eastern province takes a leading
rank among the areas with the most complex distribution of
population in the country. In the Trincomalee district all
three nationalities are basically equally represented. In
the Amparai district Moslem people take first place Sinhala
people second place and the Tamil people the third place. In
the Batticaloa district the Tamil people take the first
place Moslem people the second and the Sinhala people the
third. Basically the Tamil people represent only one third
of the population in this province. Therefore it is
impossible to bring this province together as one autonomous
region with the north or establish this province as one
autonomous unit. Autonomous units should be established
based on the various differences of population composition
and development.
The rights of the Tamil nationality should belong in the
same way to the Moslem nationality. What is apparent from
the denial of this would be that a differentiation is being
made because a section of the Tamil people engage in
terrorist activities and the Moslem people do not. This too
would not be granting rights to people but paying ransom to
terrorists. The Moslem nationality cannot be subjected to
the supremacy of the Tamil nationality within the term
"Tamil speaking people" as attempted by the TULF. "Tamil
speaking peoples" is not a historical form of human society.
It is merely a formulation used for the purposes of the
Tamil nationalist bourgeoisie.
The objection of the Tamil national party to the sending
of Sinhala teachers to teach Sinhala in Moslem schools in
the north and east despite the requests of the Moslem people
in these areas, and thereby the attempt to foist the
decisions of the Tamil nationalism on the Moslem people show
this. In this way autonomous regions are required in various
other regions. We know very well the demand of proletarian
socialism for a centralized economic planning. A main motive
of economic planning is the division human and material
resources between economic fields with due regard to social
division of labor. An autonomy cannot be established in
detriment to such a system of centralized planning. I would
like to emphasize the following paragraphs I mentioned at
the beginning of this report and repeat them.
"Marxist are of course opposed to federation and
decentralization"
"Other conditions being equal, the class conscious
proletariat should stand for the larger state, it will
always fight against mediaeval particularities"
"But while and insofar as different nations constitute a
single state Marxists will never under any circumstances
advocate either the federal principle or
decentralization. The great centralized state is a
tremendous historical step forward from mediaeval
disunity to the future socialist unity of the whole
world. And only via such a state can there be any road
to socialism. Far from precluding local self-government
with autonomy for regions having special economic and
social conditions the distinct national composition of
the population and so forth democratic centralism
necessarily demands both. In Russia centralism is
constantly confused with tyranny and bureaucracy. This
confusion has naturally arisen from the history of
Russia. But even so it is quite inexcusable for the
Marxist to yield to it." Lenin - Critical remarks on the
national question.
Nations and Nationalities
We know that nations are born only on the basis of
bourgeois relationships and that a nation cannot exist
without a common economic existence and that it is only by
the fact of having independent economic existence that a
nation differs from a nationality.
Within the Asiatic system in Sri Lanka there existed a
Sinhala nationality and a Tamil nationality. Scientifically
this so. Before the introduction bourgeois production
relationships Sri Lanka was made into unitary centralized
state by the British imperialists under the sovereignty of
queen Victoria.
Therefore after the establishment of bourgeois production
relationships in Sri Lanka common economies were not created
for the Sinhala nationality and the Tamil nationality
separately. A centralized multinational state was
established as well as an economy common to both
nationalities. Therefore the nation thus born is the Sri
Lankan nation. There is no other nation in the scientific
sense here. The Sinhala and Tamil nationalities exist in a
common economic life under the imperial bourgeois system but
as different nationalities not wholly assimilated in
multi-national sense. Therefore it is wrong to say that
there exists in Sri Lanka either a Sinhala nation or a Tamil
nation. Marxism-Leninism does not accept this.
What exists is a Sinhala nationality, a Tamil
nationality, a Moslem nationality and only a Sri Lanka
nation. Scientific historical analysis shows that the first
settlement within the Asiatic socio-economic pattern in Sri
Lanka grew in the plains of the dry zones suited to agrarian
economy based on a Asiatic production pattern - that is in
the modern Northern province, Eastern province, north
central province parts of the Uwa province and in parts of
the north western and southern provinces. The northwestern
plains and the hills were at that time unpopulated. This was
because of its geographical characteristics and the wet
tropical monsoon forests not being suitable for the agrarian
economy which was the basis for human society at the time.
Therefore within known history the Sinhala nationality
and the Tamil nationality lived together right up to the
thirteenth century in the dry zones of Sri Lanka. It was due
to this reason that the Uththara Deshaya or Rajarata and the
Ruhuna enjoyed precedence over the Dakshina deshaya or
Mayarata and the Malayarata. The regions in the mountains
above 750 meters known as the Malayarata was definitely
unpopulated until the thirteenth century. Before the
thirteenth century the north and the East of Sri Lanka was
not traditional homelands of the Tamil nationality. But to
talk of evicting Tamil people from these areas and
establishing Sinhala settlements is an extreme reactionary
step. It cannot be done it should not be done.
But in the thirteenth century we can see from the
findings of Professor Paranavithana and various other
historians that the Tamil people as well as the Sinhala
people had to leave these areas due to them been made
uninhabitable. Due to repeated foreign invasions and the
inevitable destructions of battles for repossessions and the
cruel repressions of foreign rulers (example Kalinga Maga)
and the destruction of the irrigation system which was the
basis of the Asiatic civilization on which the settlement of
the dry zone was based on and the unavailability of the
strata of irrigation technicians necessary for its
rebuilding. During the process of the Sinhala nationality
leaving the dry zone they migrated to the Dakshina Deshaya
and Malayarata the regions they were used to fleeing to
during earlier foreign invasions and that the Tamil people
centralized themselves especially on the Jaffna peninsula in
the north and sometimes on the coast of the Batticaloa area
in the East.
From then on these two nationalities lived apart in
isolation. This situation changed after the unification of
Sri Lanka under the flag of the British Empire. After the
decline of the dry zone in the thirteenth century there
arose regional governments known as Mahavanni and Suluvanni.
We see that there existed 18 Mahavanni and numerous
Suluvanni. This Vanni areas were ruled by Vanniyars some of
them were Sinhala and some of them were Tamil. The
Chulavansaya names king Vijayabahu the third as a Vanni
king.
Up to the end of the 19th century that is until the time
of governor sir Henry Gregory the typical characteristic of
the north central province and the Northern province except
the Jaffna peninsula was underpopulation and the destruction
of this irrigation system. Further these regions had been
basically without settlements and overgrown by jungles for
almost seven centuries. The repopulation of these areas
started recently. Its speed accelerated in the post colonial
era. As we examined earlier the Vanni area is being
systematically repopulated by Tamil Eelam terrorists. After
doing this they called the Vanni which remained depopulated
and overgrown for seven centuries, their traditional
homelands.
It is equally reactionary to consider the
north and east as the traditional homelands of the Tamil
nationality on the basis of the conditions that came into
being after the 13th century and the conditions that were
created more recently and to evict other peoples from these
regions i.e. To evict Sinhala and Moslem peoples from these
regions. It should not be done; it cannot be done. As I
mentioned earlier even the present boundaries of the
Northern and Eastern provinces were created by the British
imperialist colonial government for its own purposes. These
cannot be considered as boundaries of nationality and be
used to create traditional homelands. In the same way
autonomous regions cannot be based on this either. Implied
in the acceptance of the north and east as traditional
homelands of the Tamil nationality is the acceptance of the
other regions as traditional homelands of the Sinhala
nationality.
If other nationalities were to be evicted from the Tamil
regions on this considerations other peoples would have to
be evicted from Sinhala regions and so on. However we should
not forget that nearly half of the Tamil nationality live
outside the so-called traditional homelands. Looking at
international experiences we see that the only thing that
could happen is the extreme suffering of peoples. What is
the national question that can be solved by displacing
hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. We should
in no way forget the terrible tragedy that resulted after
the partition of India. No Sinhala imperialism has grown
from the special privileges granted to the Sinhala
nationality through the official languages act the
constitution and the standardization of education.
This is a creation of Tamil politicians. It is a false
conception of theirs. What should be done is to establish
equality by removing these privileges. The question is not
solved by continuing these privileges for the Sinhala
nationality and granting the Tamil nationality privileges in
another field that is handing over the ownership of
one-third of the land of the country in the Northern and
Eastern provinces in whatever names. While the privileges of
the Sinhala nationality should be annulled no privileges
should be granted to the Tamil nationality either.
We see that the capitalist rulers are attempting to
further confuse the question by granting special privileges
to the Sinhala and Tamil nationalities in different fields
through autocracy and decentralization. In the same way that
the Sinhala proletariat need neither a separate state nor
special privileges the Tamil proletariat need neither
special privileges nor separate state either. The class
necessity of the proletariat of all three nationalities are
unity and equality. The policy of our party is also based on
this. That is on not granting special privileges for the
Sinhala nationality the Tamil nationality or the Moslem
nationality.
The proletarian socialism will not only be no party to
but also strongly opposed to any step that will lead to
building another small Pakistan for American imperialism in
Sri Lanka or to create a basis for a conflict like the
Indo-Pakistan conflict within Sri Lanka or cause the
eviction of people from land that they have inhabited for
generations and create hundreds of thousands of refugees.
Our party the JVP as the proletarian socialist party will
unchangingly and unflinchingly oppose the partition of the
country and the creation of a Tamil Eelam, a Kilaksthan or a
separate state by any other name. We will not allow it. With
this intention we definitely implement the following
policies of our party to create complete equality for all
nationalities living in Sri Lanka and to do away with all
privileges, limitations, favoritism and oppression. The
paragraph 8.2 of our manifesto is as follows.
"8.2
The demarcation of administrative areas created by the
imperialists will be rearranged scientifically."The
rearranging of administrative areas provinces and districts
and subordinate units created by the imperialists as we
mentioned earlier unscientifically and un-methodically for
the purposes of colonial administration is a necessity
towards the solution of the national question. Without
achieving this autonomous regions could not be created.
Paragraph 24 of our manifesto says the following on national
languages.
Paragraph 24
1. Peoples representatives of all
government bodies may speak in any of the national
languages of the country and simultaneous translations
provided in all national languages.
2. All laws,
government decrees and resolutions will be issued in all
national languages.
3. The right to receive
education in educational institutions in the mother
tongue or in any preferred national language is
recognized.
4. The right to transact business
with the government in the mother tongue or any other
national language is recognized. No citizen will be
disadvantaged socially, economically, politically or in
any other way due to language differences."It is very
clear that granting a special privileged position to one
language in a multi national state inhabited by people
speaking a number of different languages against the
will of the people making it the official language
especially without the consent of people speaking
another language is national differentiation and the
creation of national oppression and that it is a threat
to the existence of a multi-ethnic state. The
proletariat needs no official language.
There is no declared official language in Russia or
China. In the absence of compulsion when there is equality
all sections of the proletariat generally use the language
of the majority as the common language. That is due to the
force of necessity rather than due to the force of
oppression and suppression. It is in this way that Russian
is used as the common language in Russia and Mandarin in
China. This is one thing but to force the language of one
section of people on the others through laws and compulsions
is something else altogether. The results of these two are
two different things. When in a multi-ethnic state one
language is granted special privilege and raised to official
language it paves the way to conflict. That is because
oppression is contained in it. Therefore the proletarian
state is careful not to differentiate between its citizens
of their language and nationality or to grant privileges or
create limitations. If not multi-ethnic state cannot be
preserved without disintegration.
What cannot be
achieved by force through laws in the absence of equality is
fulfilled voluntarily, democratically, and with the consent
of the people under conditions of equality. This has been
the historical experience. The proletariat accepts the
necessity of a common language to carry out the affairs
between peoples. However this is something that should
happen without privileges, limitations, favoritism,
oppression, compulsion and violence and completely on a
voluntary and democratic basis. This cannot happen in any
other way.
The paragraph 28 of our manifesto states
the following:
"28 Every citizen is guaranteed equal pay for equal work
without religious, sexual, caste, national or linguistic
discrimination."
Paragraph 29 mentions as follow:
"29 The social oppression of one nationality by another
nationality and the oppression of one caste by another caste
will be done away with and those who persist will be
punished."
Paragraph 34 mentions as follows.
"34.1 Estate workers of Indian origin will be have the
right, according top their wish either to have citizenship
or to return to India.
2. Estate workers of Indian
origin with Sri Lanka citizenship will be guaranteed all
rights enjoyed by other citizens."
This question
cannot or should not be solved through any negotiations
between the capitalist rulers of India and Sri Lanka but by
the will of those affected by the issue. The UNP and SLFP
capitalist governments which did not grant citizenship to
estate workers according to their wish were very generous in
granting citizenship to Indian racketeers.
Paragraph
35 of our manifesto states as follows:
"35 The honorary citizenships granted by the capitalist
government to Indian and Pakistani Boras and all other
foreign capitalists will be annulled."
Paragraph 36 states as follows:
"36 All necessary
steps will be taken to stop illegal immigration and
smuggling."
Paragraph 39 states as follows:
"39.1 The temporal form of state power will be guaranteed.
2. Interference by religious institutions in the affairs
of the state and in the political life in the country will
be prohibited.
3. While the right of everyone to
practise a religion of his choice is guaranteed,
discrimination on religious grounds will be prohibited.
4. The process of exploiting people in the name of religion
will be stopped.
5. Temple lands will be confiscated and the
pre-bourgeois exploitation done away with.
6.
Religious institutions will have the freedoms to carry out
all of their religious activities and the state will not
interfere in or hinder these activities."
The 40th
paragraph of our manifesto is as follows:
"40.1 Education will be the sole responsibility of the
state and the secular nature of education will be
guaranteed.
2. Every citizen without any
discrimination will be entitled to equality of opportunity
in education.
3. All requisite facilities will be
made for all to study in any one of the three languages -
vis Sinhala, Tamil and English."
The complete policy
framework to the solution of the national question by
bringing about national unity and national trust by
abolishing national oppression national inequality and
granting of special privileges to one nationality by
subordinating the rights of another nationality. The present
national question can be solved by simply implementing these
policies. Whether the Tamil nationalist capitalist class
agree or disagree with these points is not important.
Whether the Tamil nationalist capitalist class and petty
capitalist class which call for the granting of special
privileges for the Tamil nationality at the expense of the
rights of the Sinhala and Moslem nationality or whether the
Sinhala nationalist capitalist class and the petty
capitalist class which calls on granting of special
privileges for the Sinhala nationality at the expense of the
Tamil and the Moslem nationality.
Agree with this or not the proletariat will unfailingly
implement it. After that the national inequality the
national oppression and the national mistrust will be swept
aside. In implementing these policies it is not important
whether those engaged in violence calling for Tamil Eelam or
those who get it done agree or done. No necessity of
discussion with them about this would arise. When national
oppression is abolished and equality between nations are
created and the granting of privileges to one nationality
subordinating the rights of another is abolished and thereby
national trust is created the logical base for a call for a
separate Tamil Eelam state will fall. And also the material
basis for it will fall. Without destroying the economic
political or ideological basis of the Tamil Eelam separatist
movement the protection of the territorial integrity of the
country or the stopping of Tamil Eelam violence cannot be
achieved. Therefore the starting point for this is the
implementation of this proletarian socialist policy and to
bring into existence a new constitution based on these
policies. This is why we have mentioned in the first
paragraph itself of our policy declaration that:
"The
dictatorship of the proletariat will be established. A new
constitution will be formulated. A referendum will held for
its acceptance."
This can only be achieved when the
proletariat comes to power and abolishes all privileges.
From this it should become clear why the national question
cannot be solved except by the leadership of the
proletariat.
When these policies are implemented
standardization based on language and the resulting
differentiation and the educational imbalances between
various regions will be abolished as well as the
differentiation and privileges created through the Kandyan
and Moslem laws and mediaeval special regional codes like
the Thesavalami will be abolished and all laws connected to
mediaeval social practises relevant to temple lands will be
swept away by a new legal system relevant to the people.
This should be done so. All citizens should have equal
rights in every way and one law should be applicable to all.
Everybody should have equal social rules. Therefore the
political organization of the people on national lines
should be abolished. The capitalist class first dividing
itself and organizing politically on nationalist lines that
is by dividing themselves on nationalist lines and then
dividing and separately organizing nationalities they have
on the one hand divided and organized even the proletariat
and the other have paved the way that the whole country be
divided and organized into separate political units." This
is the end result of creating different political
organization along nationalist lines.
Marxists-Leninists never tolerate the division of the
proletariat along nationalist lines. They never make way for
it. It should not be allowed. This is a spring of policy of
the proletariat on this matter. By this it should become
very clear that only the proletariat can solve the national
question democratically and unite the country. The situation
created by the national question in Sri Lanka will not
disappear as soon as these policies are implemented. This is
because it is tied up with various other socio-economic and
political contradictions. In order to abolish the Tamil
Eelam movement and the violence to this end the present
bourgeois system of production which finds itself in a deep
destructive crisis should be replaced by a new economic
system centrally planned and with a socialist production
pattern. It is essential through this to find quick
solutions to the growing unemployment and the lack of
chances to higher education for all those who qualified and
the lack of necessities and facilities for land development.
Marx says the following on this: "for people to really come
together they must have common necessities. And for these
necessities to become common these property relations
(bourgeois) which create the exploitation of some nations by
others should be removed." - Marx, Engels collected works
volume 6 page 388. This can only be achieved and will only
be achieved by the proletariat.
In order to
completely abolish the Tamil Eelam movement and the violence
for its ends Sri Lanka has to be removed from the regional
strategy of US imperialism and thereby clashes with the
national necessities of the regional countries must be
avoided as well as defeating imperialist regional strategy
which is the Balkanisation of the Indian sub-continent
through engaging in political ideological organization and
agitation propaganda activities with the aim of bringing the
whole sub-continent again towards a socio-economically
politically and culturally united states. It is only the
proletarian movement of Sri Lanka and the sub-continent that
can do all of this and will do all of this.
It is
only through this that the separatist movement and the
connected terrorism be abolished. It can only be achieved by
the proletarian movement.
It is absolutely of no use using threats or appeals -
unilateral or multilateral or prayers for the removal of
Tamil Eelam training camps in Tamilnadu in India. As long as
Sri Lanka remains in the regional US imperialist strategy as
a threat to the national necessity and the national security
it will be difficult to remove the Tamil Eelam training
camps in Tamilnadu. As long as Sri Lanka remains the
"Unsinkable aircraft carrier" of the US tactical and
strategic forces of the united states there will be Tamil
Eelam terrorist camps in Tamilnadu. However we do not mean
here to say that the policy of the Indian government is
static without considering the internal contradiction within
the strategic necessity of the bourgeois ruling class in
India and the contradiction between that and the tactical
necessity. This cannot be so. India is one of the rising
powers of the world today. The Indian capitalist class would
naturally be inclined to use the policy of "killing the fly
with the bullet" in neighboring smaller states. They know
that it is especially easy to swallow up these countries by
decimating them.
The facts that people like Chulavansaya younger son
Chandrahasan and Vaikuntavasagan calling upon India to annex
the north and East of Sri Lanka to India and appealing to
the Indian army to occupy the north and the east, at a
conference held in the USA on the problems of the Tamil
people of Sri Lanka and Amirthalingam himself making the
same request himself from south India from the Indian
government and a former MP of the TULF Navaratnam as I
remember declaring in Hong Kong after July 1983 that their
intention to annex the north and East of Sri Lanka to India
shows that the Tamil capitalist class in Sri Lanka know of
this and use it in there plans.
In the same way that Turkish armies invaded Cyprus and
created a separate state in its north, it is their intention
as a first step to have such a thing done. Even here there
rises a contradiction between defence and offence in the
strategic necessity of the Indian capitalist class. The
defensive necessity created by the creation of a Tamil Eelam
state by their intervention, acting as a catalyst to the
separatist movements even in South India, Panjab, Kashmir,
Assam, Nagaland, Missoram, Manipur and Thripura. And the
offensive necessity of dividing weakening and swallowing up
step by step its neighbor which gangs up with American
Imperialism. Which one of these will be victorious will be
decided by the conditions that develop. We can see that the
Tamil Eelam terrorist movement has joined hands with the
Khalistan terrorist movement in Panjab and act in solidarity
with them.
The "Weekend" paper of the 1 April 1984 citing the
"Boston Mars" of March 31st its article "Exiles Sikh leader
goes to Sri Lanka" mentions as follows. On the invitation of
K Benjamin the convener the "Campaign for separate
governments for minorities everywhere". K Benjamin explains
the necessity of obtaining help for the necessary military
training in order to carry on the escalated arms struggle
towards the separation from Hindustan which was the call of
his Indian friend. He further explained that the all India
Sikh students union are ready for a guerrilla war against
the government and that it had become a very powerful
organization and that it had the support of the Sikh people.
The other representatives of various guerrilla organization
taking part in this conference although agreeing to give
military training said that they were unable to provide the
expenses for travelling, weapons and uniforms.
The Sri Lankan ELTTO organization was represented by one
Gnanaprakash who said that the Khalistanists could be
trained in Tamilnadu and that his organization could even
bear the expenses for it and if necessary give them the
chance to take part in the arms struggle that is taking
place in Sri Lanka. However he requested that the
Khalistanists come to Madras secretly and in disguise with
the knowledge of the Indian central government. Answering
questions from Edward King Mayor of Boston Gnanaprakash
further said that problems of security would not arise
because the Sikh students could be put in safe houses in
Tamilnadu. Mayor King who expressed his satisfaction at this
assurance said that his conviction when he brought the
resolution for Eelam in the house of representatives in
Boston had been re-enforced and said that in the same way
would bring a resolution for Khalistan and that this will
create support in the United States for a separate state for
the Sikhs.
He further said that he could approach friends at
educational institutes like Boston, Harvard etc., for the
necessary finances and said that the most important thing
was victory in the psychological war with the Hindus and
assured that this could be done quite easily and that it
could be achieved by granting scholarships to carefully
selected Hindus for research about nationalist struggles in
India. According to this report it was arranged that Jagath
Singh Chauhan the Amirthalingam of Khalistan to come
secretly to Sri Lanka visit a Tamil Eelam terrorist training
camp in Vavuniya and return to south India by boat. It is
understandable that solidarity should grow between the
terrorist movement like these with the division of countries
in the sub-continent.
These conditions will undoubtedly affect the policies and
the opinions of the Indian government. This will affect the
nature of Indian strategic necessity as well as the
contradictions within its tactical necessity. In the same
way the condition that develops in Sri Lanka on the Tamil
Eelam question will also affect this. The Indian capitalist
class would be especially alarmed about the upsurge in the
proletarian movement in Sri Lanka. We should not in any way
confuse the inter-capitalist contradictions and the basic
contradictions between the capitalist class and the
proletariat. It would be a very serious mistake as these two
are of completely different meanings.
The UNP
government while on the one hand allowing the Tamil Eelam
movement to grow and allowing the TULF to sow nationalism
and on this basis agitate, propagandize and organize for
Tamil Eelam as well as allowing the creation of terrorist
organization as well as the training of terrorists has on
the other hand unleashed a great wave of suppression against
ordinary Tamil people. What will also happen by this is the
strengthening of the Tamil Eelam movement. All repressive
activities against these ordinary Tamil people should be
stopped immediately. These will be stopped immediately by
the proletariat. After this it is very important to
completely stop all the subtle imperialistic political
activities being carries out in the country by US
imperialism directly and also its accomplices the catholic
and imperialist organization active in the guises of
religion, social services etc. in order to solve the
national question and achieve the territorial integrity of
the country. This also can only be achieved by the
proletariat.
As we have already examined the national question is not
something that exists in isolation. It is completely tied up
with the present bourgeois socio-economic structure. Today
the national question is only one expression of the entire
class crisis. Therefore it cannot be resolved separate from
the class question. It has only a class solution. Although
the capitalist class was able to sole the national question
in the earlier stages of capitalist development it is unable
to do so in the moribund stages of capitalism. Therefore the
solution of the national question which is a task of the
bourgeois democratic revolution has been handed over to the
proletariat. It can be completely solved only by the
proletariat.
Having completely fulfilled all the
tasks mentioned by us there are some more necessary steps to
be taken to prevent the further existence of a terrorist
movement for Tamil Eelam. That is to launch a campaign to
win those who were involved in Tamil Eelam violence again to
society as good citizens. For this they have to be compelled
to undergo self-criticism and then be given a general
amnesty on this basis. If not and if they persist in
terrorist acts it will be dealt with in the same way as the
Rada of the soviet Ukraine. It will be completely destroyed.
For this the paragraph declaration of our policy declaration
applies.
"The state security committee consisting of
peoples representatives shall be set up with a view to
maintaining surveillance over all enemy activities facing
the socialist state and taking suitable steps to protect the
socialist state"
Conclusion
Comrades of the central committee,
In order to
complete this report I wish now to bring your attention to a
number of matters concerning the conditioned spawned by the
national question.
The effect of the national
question exasperates the current socio-economic and
political crisis. The imperialist camp led by American
imperialism has managed to increasingly reinforce its base
in Sri Lanka using the crisis spawned by the national
question. They have managed to greatly tighten its grasp
economically, politically and militarily. Even the Zionists
of Israel and white supremacists of South Africa use this
condition to infiltrate Sri Lanka. The carving up of the
country as well as being beneficial to the imperialists its
combativeness has being used by them for their benefit.
These who are benefactors of the Jayawardene government are
also on the other hand the benefactors of the TULF.
We see the imperialists very successfully, using the
conflict between two bourgeois class groupings for
privileges and the inter-bourgeois contradictions for their
own ends. The imperialists who have occupied all fields of
activity in Sri Lanka having successfully used this conflict
have now very subtly launched a psychological war between
the Tamil people and the Sinhala people in order to carve
the country into two. To this ends they have used various
people in various stratum of society very subtly. Some have
been given various privileges positions and prizes ranging
up from American scholarship. On the one hand while working
through the TULF to win the Tamil masses for the separatist
struggle on the other hand conditions were prepared to
create these activities through the UNP government among the
Tamil as well as Sinhala people.
While having secret talks with the Tamil Eelam movement
the TULF, while coming to secret agreement, while
establishing secret standing committees consisting of the
president, powerful ministers and the TULF (according to the
details of secret talks made public in the world magazine by
A Jayaratnam Wilson between Jayawardene and himself and
Amirthalingam and himself he has accepted that there had
been a secret pact between Amirthalingam and Jayawardene on
the 31st January '81 and that a high level committee was
established consisting of president prime minister and
leading ministers and leaders of the TULF including Dr.
Tiruchelvam and that this committee met regularly) and on
the other hand innocent Tamil people were pushed towards
Tamil Eelam by cruel repression.
What else did the Jayawardene government expect by
cruelly repressing innocent Tamil people while allowing the
murderers of anti-Tamil Eelam leaders like Dureappa to
escape to England and south India and holding secret
discussions with them? In the same way the Jayawardene
government has systematically carried out the preparation of
the mentality among the Sinhala people for the division of
the country for the past seven years. The imperialists have
used not only the UNP government but also petty bourgeois
opportunist groups masquerading as leftists for this
purpose.
Comrades of the central committee,
You know very well that petty-bourgeois romantic
socialists all over the world are supporting alongside
Reagan the Polish counter-revolutionary movement. In the
same way we should not forget that they supported Imre Nagi
along with Eisenhower during the Hungarian
counter-revolution in 1956. In 1968 during the
counter-revolution in Czechoslovakia they supported
Alexander Dubcek standing with Johnson. Therefore we should
not be surprised at this. Trotskyism and Maoism as different
petty-bourgeois tendencies has displayed their naked face
more openly than anywhere else with regard to the national
question in Sri Lanka. They have aligned themselves with the
capitalist class and imperialism. Most of these numerous
petty-bourgeois romantic socialists groups have greatly
helped imperialism to win its psychological war with the
Sinhala people to divide the country. They do this by hiding
behind the formula of "the right of nations to self
determination".
We have discussed in detail this matter at the beginning
of the report. We have seen how mature Leninism abandoned
this formula and how Lenin after ending his debate with Rosa
Luxembourg who joined him to build the Zimmerwald left
against the opportunism of the second international which
had by then declined to a petty-bourgeois international and
later the third international, said that the proletariat of
the oppressor nation should fight for the right to
separation and the proletariat of the oppressed nation
should fight for union, and how in the end how Lenin most
decisively put to the party in May 1917 by a special
resolution the Marxist program on the national question and
how after this the second congress of the communist
international presented the Marxist-Leninist stand the
proletarian socialist stand very clearly, through a definite
proletarian program on the formula of the right of nations
to self-determination as mentioned in the national program
of the Russian social democratic workers party by the
request of Rosa Luxembourg (Rosa Luxembourg calls for the
following at the end of an article on the right of nations
to self-determination which was a part of a series of
articles on the national question and self government. "To
try to protect this abstract term in the program of the
Russian social democratic party would be a betrayal of the
stand which has been attempted to be applied to all matters
in the program...
The lessons that the international proletariat should
learn from the division of Palestine, the division of Cyprus
and the division of India are enormous. We should learn
lessons from the way that (imperialism) conspired to
seperate the Katanga province in Belgian Congo (Zaire) rich
in Copper and minerals, Under the leadership of Tsombe after
Patrice Lumumba came into power and how it was continued
even when imperialist lackeys like Mobutu came in after
Lumumba. The proletariat cannot allow any more Cypruses and
no more Palastines. We should not forget the situation that
has arisen due to British imperialism annexing Northern
Ireland. We cannot allow the North and the East of Sri Lanka
to be turned into another Northern Ireland. We cannot sit
back with folded arms and allow this to happen.
Jayawardene's government is playing a role parallel to that
of the reactionary exploitative leaders of the Arab world,
when they allowed the imperialists to divide Palestine.
Comrades of the central committee,
Under these
conditions our task is extremely serious and complex as well
as difficult. But it is something that can be achieved and
must be achieved. The development of the objective
conditions is opening the way for the proletarian victory.
But as I mentioned at the beginning of this report, the
basic problems of the working class movement is the
subjective conditions. Even here the main problem that has
to be solved today is the situation that has arisen because
a small band of petty capitalist opportunists have been able
to separate the proletarian vanguard of Sri Lanka from the
vanguard of the international proletariat.
This band of petty capitalist opportunists which has come
forward due to a large number of historical reasons, to set
themselves up as the Sri Lankan section of the international
working class movement and thereby claim privileges that
they are not entitled to, now seem to stand covertly with
imperialism in order to preserve these privileges. It may be
difficult to solve this question until the Sri Lankan
proletariat becomes the ruling class and the dominant class.
But if it can be solved before this it will be to the
benefit of the entire working class movement. This situation
has even been used by the Sri Lankan bourgeois to even repel
certain elements inclining towards the working class
movement. This situation is used by the ruling capitalist
class when they say that the true party of the working class
movement has no international support and that the those who
have international support do not have the support of the
proletariat in Sri Lanka. The relationships of the Sri
Lankan proletarian socialist movement with the socialist
states should not be tactical. They should naturally be
strategic. Therefore what should be created are strategic
relationships. To think in any other way would be to
strengthen imperialism.
Comrades of the central
committee,
Considering these conditions, we must act undaunted and
tirelessly to ripen the subjective conditions that is to
create the leading party of the proletariat quickly and as
suited to the present conditions on a strong basis.
The way forward to the winning post may be as hard as the
path we have trodden up to now. Perhaps even harder. But we
must go down this path however difficult it may be and
however great the barriers against us. We can successfully
traverse the path. We must lead the working class movement
to the winning post in order to prevent our country from
becoming a slave camp of Yankee imperialism, to prevent the
country from being divided according to imperialist strategy
to save the country form the present destruction and to
build a new society, where man is not exploited by man and
where man is not oppressed by man. Our task is a very
serious one. Our party which is tempered by the painful and
difficult experiences of the class struggle will be able to
fulfil it.
We who have put forward the proletarian
position on the national question clearly and without
confusion must carry out a great struggle for the victory of
this position among the entire proletariat and the rest of
the oppressed sub-classes. We must carry out a great
ideological struggle. We must defeat the psychological
warfare of imperialism. We must defeat nationalisms of all
kinds. We should struggle to unite the proletariat of all
nationalities. It is only in this way that the tasks of the
proletariat can be fulfilled. Here too the myths spread by
the petty bourgeois romantic opportunists should be defeated
decisively. The working class movement should be exorcised
from these myths...." |
