Colvin de Silva
ONE OF the four founders of the communist and Trotskyist movements in Sri Lanka, Colvin R. De Silva died recently in Colombo. His death marks the disappearance of one of the central figures in the history of the revolutionary movement in the Indian subcontinent. ERNEST MANDEL
OLVIN's first contact with a Trotskyist group was established when he was studying in London in the 1930s. After his return to his native country, Colvin became a leader both of the country's first trade union and of the popular movement for national independence. At the end of 1936 these two developments came together in the foundation of the first independent working class party in Ceylon (the name of the island when it was a British colony,) the Lanka
Sama Samaja Party (LSSP, Ceylon Socialist Party.) Colvin became the president and undisputed leader of this party. While the
LSP had a mass influence, and had two deputies from 1937, it had few militants — a hundred at the time of its foundation and some 700 at the outbreak of the second world war. At first the LSSP took a position halfway between Stalinism and Trotskyism. But the rightist orientation of the Comintern led to a rapid evolution of the majority of the leadership of the LSSP. In 1938 contacts were established with the Fourth International. In December 1939 the complete break with the Comintern was made official. The Stalinist minority was expelled from the LSSP, going on to found the Ceylonese Communist Party in 1943.
After the outbreak of the war, Colvin and most of the other leaders of the LSSP were arrested by the colonial authorities, but succeeded in escaping. They made their way to • They made their way to
India where they played a key role in the consolidation of the first Indian section of the Fourth International, the Bolshevik-
Leninist Party of India, from 1943 onwards.
On his return to Ceylon, along with Leslie Goonewardene he presided over a big expansion of the LSSP, which was seen by the working masses as the main working class party and as the leading anti-imperialist force in the country. The highest point of its mass influence came with the hartal (general strike) of 1953, which was led from start to finish by the LSSP. In this struggle, Colvin showed admirable personal commitment and courage.
From that moment on, however, important weaknesses in the LSSP's strategy for power became apparent. The leadership of the LSSP developed a theory of "Ceylonese exceptionalism" based on a real, but temporary weakness of the armed forces of the bourgeoisie. On the basis of this they believed that the conquest of power was possible through electoral means. A tragic mistake! The course of events has transformed that island into the part of the Indian subcontinent where armed conflict has played the biggest role.
Furthermore, a large part of the island's working class was made up of Tamil plantation workers, of whom only a minority had the right to vote. The LSSP underestimated the deep-rooted and explosive character of the national question, which means that Tamil workers who could vote tended to vote for Tamil candidates rather than for the LSSP. The LSSP also had an incorrect view regarding the need for a worker/peasant alliance in the Sinhalese part of the island, which resulted in an under-estimation of the importance of demands specifically related to the needs of the Sinhala-speaking rural population.
The result was that in the 1957 elections, which they were expecting to win, they in fact came third. It was the liberal bourgeois
SFLP who carried off the elections.
Crisis of orientation inside the LSSP
From then on a crisis of orientation began to develop in the LSSP, which found itself hesitating between taking the road of extra- parliamentary action by the union and mass movements, which were still strong, and the road of de facto collaboration with the
SFLP. After various twists and turns, the LSSI decided to enter a coalition governmen with the SFLP. Both Colvin and Lesli capitulated. Colvin became a minister
Only a small group, led by Bala Tampoe stood out against the capitulation anc 1 stayed faithful to the principles of class ;
independence, Marxism and the Fourth
International.
The consequences of the capitulation were a disaster of historic dimensions for
OBITUARY the working class, the workers' movement and the LSSP itself. Thirty years of gains were thrown away in a few years. Even from the electoral point of view, the working class lost its independence. In the last elections, only three of the elected deputies presented themselves as representatives of the labour movement. From enjoying the highest standard of living in South Asia, the working class of Sri Lanka has seen its wages plunge to among the most miserable. The working masses are tearing each other to pieces in bloody nationalist conflicts. Democratic rights have been suppressed. The LSSP is a mere shadow of what it once was, and has undergone a series of splits. The NSSP, which is trying to revive the tradition of the old LSSP, is the product of one of these splits and like the LSSP has one deputy.
### Coalition government guilty of real crimes
The coalition government in which Colvin participated was guilty of real crimes such as the agreement with the Indian govemment on the repatriation of a part of the Tamil workers on the expiry of the period of their contract, which excluded them from the right to vote, and the bloody suppression of the uprising of young people led by the JVP, in the course of which atrocities took place. This was accompanied by the personal degeneration of the old warrior. He became increasingly immersed in his professional life as a lawyer, accumulating a large personal fortune and living a life of luxury which became a scandal.
But as Trotsky underlined when Kautsky died, Marxists should judge parties and political leaders on the basis of their whole life's work and not only through the memory of their betrayals. From this point of view, in spite of the severity of the judgement that has to be passed on the later degeneration of the LSSP from the 1960s onwards, we should not forget the image of
Colvin leading the masses of his country against imperialism and against the Ceylonese bourgeoisie in 1953. *
Fallen comrades
IT WAS with great sadness that we learnt of the following deaths:
Raul Sendic, Uruguyan militant and revolutionary leader, founder of the National Liberation Movement
(MLN), the legendary Tupamaros, died recently in Paris
Jean-Marie Tjibaou and Yeiwéné
Yeiwéné, the two main leaders of the Kanak Socialist National Liberation Front (FLNKS) were shot on May 4 in Ouvea. IV will carry homages to these comrades in our next issue. * 27 May 15, 1989 • #163 International Viewpoint
MEXICO
Mexican teachers strike for pay and democracy
ON APRIL 17, almost all school teachers in Mexico
City and the states of
Chiapas and Oaxaca followed the strike call of the National Coordination of Education Workers
(CNTE), the democratic opposition current in the
National Union of
Education Workers (SNTE).
The SNTE groups together in a single union all employees of the Ministry of Public Education - that is, 1.2 million people.
HE DEMANDS of the mobilization are: for a 100% wage rise and a democratic congress of what is the biggest union in Latin America, in which the rank and file would have the right to elect a new leadership. The government offered a 10% rise, which would bring the average monthly salary up to $150, plus a 10% increase in benefits. Given the breadth of the mobilization, the government was finally obliged to order the union's "leader for life and moral guide" Carlos Jongitud Barrios, to step down in order to pacify the teachers, replacing him however by another governmental supporter, Elba Esther Gordillo Morales.
On Monday April 24, hundreds of thousands of teachers celebrated this event in one of the largest demonstrations ever seen in Mexico. At the same time they decided to continue the strike until offered a wage rise sufficient to ensure they would "no longer have to have second jobs as taxi drivers or street sellers", and a guarantee that the workers themselves would elect their leaders. The authorities have declared the strike 28 unjustified, because a bigger rise would "put the precarious economy of the country International Viewpoint #163 • May 15, 1989 into difficulties and increase inflation" Nevertheless, the strikers have been supported by the school students' parents who have organized raffles and collections, as well as by independent unions. The teachers are continuing their movement, although the government's offer has now been increased to 25% in all (wages and benefits). A further demonstration on May 3 reaffirmed their intention to continue. Bus drivers take solidarity action
The bus drivers of the capital withheld their labour on April 23 in solidarity with the teachers. Then, also on May 3, a strike call was followed by 14,000 of the 20,000 bus drivers of the Ruta-100 company. The government answered by ceasing relations with the Ruta-100 company, which is equivalent to sacking all 20,000 drivers.