An Appeal to those Comrades of the Sixties and Seventies - 7 August 2007

 

An Appeal to those Comrades of the Sixties and Seventies

Introduction

Current global and national developments have compelled us to think about the appropriateness of developing a dialogue among us comrades (irrespective of our current places of residence) who were together in the sixties and seventies, and who believed and still believe in working towards social and economic justice as a means of building a better world. We have interpreted and may continue to interpret our political history in diverse ways due to many factors such as the socio-economic complexities of the time and the ideologies we were associated with. The world has moved on and the socio-economic conditions of people at the bottom of the ladder have worsened. Capitalism itself has transformed into a new phase of imperialism. During this period we have undergone varied but intricate experiences in our social and political lives. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and changes in the socialist camp, the global movement for socialism has become relatively weaker.

Many of our former colleagues doubted the viability of socialism itself. Some of them even joined hands with the camp of Capital. Since the disintegration of the socialist camp, the former socialist countries have traversed the path of capitalism for one and half decades. However, the working people in those countries have not achieved a better socio-economic and political environment. Rather, the world has become an extremely dangerous place with neo-liberalism launching conspiracies, assassinations, armed incursions and aggressive wars for achieving its agenda of global dominance. The deleterious effects of climate change and the resultant global warming have been callously disregarded in safeguarding the interests of Capital.

The attention of the masses, have been successfully diverted from the most pressing issues of the day. They are continuously segregated using every possible means that are available in the arsenal of Capital: such as religion, nationality, language, caste, clan or tribe. Fundamental human and democratic rights are increasingly being taken away from the masses. The world has been pushed ever more into the hands of fundamentalism and extremism both in terms of ideology and violence.

Since 1948, in Sri Lanka we have witnessed the ripple effects of socio-economic policies of neo-colonialism in the erosion of freedom of expression, human and political rights and the rise of bribery and corruption. Since late 1960s, younger generations of Sinhalese and Tamils coming from very similar socio-economic backgrounds have rebelled against erosion of their fundamental rights for life and freedom. Successive governments regardless of their political hue have failed to see the underlying socio-political, economic and psychological causes of those rebellions. Such as: discrimination, lack of socio-economic opportunities and the use of state violence against democratic and non-violent protests and agitations. The State’s, violent repression of the basic democratic and human rights have pushed both the Sinhala and Tamil youth to revolt. The more repressive the state apparatus became the more our youth rebelled.

To this day the state continues to adopt drastic undemocratic measures to protect its unitary character and its unjust capitalist social order while safeguarding or strengthening the feudal remnants in the society. Working people are divided along national, ethnic, religious, linguistic and caste lines and ruled accordingly. All of us are aware of the fact that unless we cast aside everything that divides us, we cannot achieve social progress and social justice. Therefore, it is imperative to believe that realizing the tasks of achieving social progress and social justice are inextricably linked with the task of achieving socialist democracy.

If we wish to muster forces to re-build a mass revolutionary democratic socialist campaign, we need to make an effort to educate, organise and mobilize our people based on a policy framework and a political program for achieving social progress and social justice. Our program needs to analyse the international situation, capitalism and its development, its contradictions, our history and our society. Our analysis needs to outline the basic tasks and the line of action that need to be adopted for achieving democracy and socialism, while our policy framework and the political program need to be consistent with the general struggle against feudal remnants like wage slavery, imperialism and capitalist globalization, and for social justice and social progress.

We need to base our policy framework and political program on the positive social experiences of humanity. Any theory in the cause of achieving social progress and justice should not be a dogma but something that should be constantly developed and tested in light of living experiences of those engaged in the struggle for equality, fairness and social justice. We need to adhere to the principles of independence, non- interference, equality, mutual respect and cooperation in maintaining fraternal relations with all movements working towards achieving socialist and democratic societies in the world.

We need to consistently adhere to the policy of seeking objective truth from facts and conducting deep investigation and serious studies. Cherishing this value we need to encourage the formation of a Social Policy Research Institute with the aim of formulating coherent policy alternatives for achieving social progress and justice, while holding high the banner of objective truth, democracy and socialism with courage and determination.

The International Situation

Humanity is at crossroads. On the one hand, the world possesses knowledge and production capability to satisfy the basic needs of global humanity, which have  opened up vistas for vast advances in socio-cultural development of the humanity, on the other, the economies of the industrially developed capitalist countries stagnate with over-production of commodities, over consumption of resources and the resultant ill-effects on society. Today billions of people face poverty, homelessness, unemployment and hunger in an unprecedented manner.

For the ruling classes in crisis-stricken ‘developing’ capitalist countries, neo-liberalism became a ‘mantra’ for curing all socio-economic ills. Advocates of and apologetics for a neo-liberal agenda  an ‘open economy and free trade’ advocated that consumers and workers everywhere would gain from trade liberalization and foreign direct investments because those measures would unite all people through economic, technological, cultural and political ties. After several decades of implementing those measures of capitalist globalisation, the world has witnessed that globalised capitalism has debased everything in society to just a commodity and every human relationship to just a market relationship. The results of neo-liberalist policies implemented throughout the ‘developing’ countries at the behest of the instructions of neo-liberal financial controllers have become very clear.

Neo-liberalism signifies nothing else but opening up the whole world to monopoly capital without any barriers on their exploitation of humanity. When rates of return fluctuate, foreign investments should be able to freely move in or out of any developing country as the neo-liberal financial controllers wished. Alternative economic policies and programs that reject their capitalist globalisation agenda have been made to fail by enforcing economic blockades, subversions, armed incursions and regime changes. Any opposition to the neo-liberal agenda of global domination is crushed covertly first and failing that overtly.

The collapse of the ‘socialist’ bloc has been a general setback to the progressive forces of the world, though this collapse has provided new lessons and experiences to the working people of the world. Despite these negative experiences, the working and oppressed peoples’ internationalism has remained the only means that would ensure the progress and survival of humanity. Mass mobilisations against poverty, indebtedness and extinction imposed by the capitalist globalisation agenda need to become living examples of and inspirations for the continuing awakening of the working people around the globe.

The neo-liberalist camp led by the global imperialist ruling elite has become the number one enemy of the masses across the globe. They have significantly intensified their military, economic and political capabilities and offensives against their rivals. If the nuclear powers were confident that there would be no possibility of nuclear retaliation against them then their benefits accruable through nuclear war will outweigh the costs incurred in the war. So heightening the possibility of using nuclear weapons against any country who threatens their military superiority becomes a reality. The South-East Asian region is becoming more and more a nuclear lake. While a mass campaign against such militarist threats can limit the ability to wage war, only a successful struggle by the working people, above all in particular the victory of the working people of the United States can only avert the threat of nuclear annihilation.

Nevertheless, we should not support any campaigns of terror. Fundamentalist currents have used and are using terror campaigns against each other and against working class movements. In the name of counter-terrorism, the neo-liberal camp has used massive campaigns of terror on a global scale. Sri Lanka has also become part of this campaign with the signing of the bilateral military agreement with the US. We need to understand that these terror campaigns have no temporal, geographical or legal constraints and under the banner of the global war on terror, the neo-liberal camp attempts the world over to destroy all resistance and any attempt to build alternative global socio-economic systems.

Implementation of ecologically sound socio-economic alternatives does not help efforts of profit maximization. Hence pollution and global warming are not recognized for their devastating effects on global climate. Capitalistic development has amply shown that it is incapable of utilising natural resources in a sustainable manner not only to meet current social needs, but also those of future generations. Imperialist exploitation is the fundamental driving force behind the industrial, agricultural and horticultural practices contributing to deforestation, desertification and the use of hazardous industrial processes in the ‘developing’ countries. A radical restructuring of the world's economy is necessary for an effective struggle against pollution and degradation of the world's ecology. Cancellation of the colossal debt burden that has been imposed on the developing world by imperialism and their financial institutions is an essential step in this process.

The present system of international trade is based on unequal exchange between the ‘developed’ and the ‘developing’ world. It needs to be replaced with a system that promotes socio-economic development of the ‘developing’ world, systematic land reform and a massive, long-term ecologically sustainable industrialization program to eradicate poverty, hunger and unemployment. In addition we need large-scale public programs to convert military production to production of civilian social commodities. We need the replacement of the use of fossil fuels with alternative renewable energy sources, development of public rather than private transport systems and converting industry to environmentally sustainable production processes are all essential steps that we need to examine and implement. We believe that only transferring the ownership and control of the decisive productive resources to society as a whole, subordinating production to democratic planning in order to meet the rational needs of humanity and developing and applying scientific and sustainable methods of overcoming green house gases and other sources of environmental pollution, can stop an ecological disaster.

The development of Capitalism in Sri Lanka

Colonial powers craftily used the craving of the Sri Lankan aristocracy for power and wealth to reinforce their rule over the island. Under colonialism many local aristocrats exhibited their loyalty to the colonial rulers by changing their language, religion, customs and even names to those of the aristocrats. The indigenous elite who sought to retain and enhance their power and wealth changed their allegiances to colonialists and in turn the colonialists provided them with increasing opportunities to enrich and enjoy the fruits of their exploitation. Those who towed the line acquired more power and wealth, and those members of the local ruling elite who did not were stripped of their power and wealth.

Capitalism came into being in Sri Lanka not as a result of a natural process of social development but as a surgical superimposition of capitalist production relations on Asiatic mode of relations. Disregarding the diversity of the subject population, British colonialism established a single administration with English as the sole language of administration. Thus, a unitary constitution was imposed on all peoples of the land. Majority Sinhala Buddhists and Tamil Hindus were the furthest down in the British colonial power structure. This situation provided the basis for a united struggle of Sinhala and Tamil oppressed people against the British colonialism.

The crisis facing the ruling class

The local ruling elite comprising of the emerging capitalist class who enriched themselves by acquiring commissions and/or bribes was also in the process of acquiring the political leadership of the island. Thus, the brown sahibs of the colonial era despite their linguistic and religious backgrounds became the ruling elite and bureaucracy of the post-colonial Sri Lanka. In 1948, due to the unfavorable international balance of forces against colonialism, and even in the absence of any strong challenges from the local population to their rule, the British colonialists handed power over to their loyalist local ruling elite. The first decade since 1948 witnessed the leading members of the ruling elite changing their language (from English to Sinhala or Tamil) and religion (from Church of England to Buddhism) once again. Though they pretended to be champions of Sinhala or Tamil language, their mother tongue remained English. To hold onto power and wealth in the face of growing opposition of the working people, segments of the ruling elite started identifying themselves with adjectives such as ‘Sinhala nationalist’, ‘Tamil nationalist’, ‘patriotic’, ‘anti-imperialist’, ‘socialist'' and ‘democratic-socialist’. A gradual de-democratisation of the state structure occurred. The left oriented trade union base in the plantation sector was neutralised by means of the Citizenship Act of 1948 effectively making the Tamils in the plantation sector stateless. The Parliamentary Elections Act of 1949 denied them of their citizenship and voting rights.

Soon emerged the internal power struggles between brown sahibs. The SLFP was formed in 1951. The UNP and the SLFP respectively represented two capitalist political parties signifying the interests of two family clans - the Senanayake/Kotelawela/Jayewardene clan and the Bandaranaike/Obeyesekera/Ratwatte clan. Even within these family clans, each family conspired and counter- conspired to attain commanding heights of capitalist power.

The socio-economic and political crisis intensified in the early 1950s. The left, despite its petty-bourgeois character and in fighting among its leaders, continued to expand, in particular among the urban and plantation working people. Nonetheless, by utilising the unrealized political aspirations of the Sinhala people who demanded their rightful place in society, the SLFP led Sinhala nationalist capitalist coalition was able to turn the tide of the left around. Yet, this capitalist coalition did not seek to even partially fulfill the unrealized bourgeois-democratic political aspirations of the Tamil people who also demanded their rightful place in society and equal rights as citizens of the land. These circumstances led to the alienation of Sinhala and Tamil people from each other and the growth of Tamil nationalist struggle decades later.

The capitalist governments were increasingly falling in line with the demands of world capitalism through the World Bank and the IMF for privatization and liberalization of the Sri Lankan economy. The parties of the left who had maintained an anti-chauvinist stand drowned themselves in the chauvinist currents by drafting and voting for the 1972 Constitution that deprived the human and democratic rights of non-Sinhala nationalities.

The UNP having come to power in 1977 implemented policies of fully pledged ‘free’ trade thus opening up the whole economy for exploitation without any reservations to safeguard the national interests of the people of Sri Lanka. Tentacles of capitalist globalisation captured in full, the national economy. Economic growth rates recorded its highest levels since 1948. However, the economic policy saw increasing profits being taken away from the land and the gap between the rich and the poor in Sri Lanka being drastically widened. Fruits of the so-called development were getting concentrated in the hands of a few capitalists both local and foreign. Local agricultural production and manufacturing were devastated.

The 1978 constitution imposed an executive presidential system converting the Parliament into a secondary and rubber-stamping institution. The executive presidency created a ‘democratic’ dictatorship non-answerable to the Parliament and the judiciary. The new Constitution not only retained its unitary character but also extended the deprivation of non-Sinhala nationalities of their human and democratic rights by further entrenching discriminatory practices. The Parliament became a secondary institution. The pro-government trade union confederation (the Jathika Sevaka Sangamaya - JSS) was made the most powerful trade union of the island. Labour laws of the rest of the country were made not to apply to the newly established two special economic zones (free trade zones). Investments in free trade zones provided extraordinary tax concessions and benefits to multi-national investors. With the establishment of Board of Investment (BOI) the whole island fell into the clutches of neo-liberalism.

Introducing neo-liberalism required curtailing the peoples’ democratic rights. The UNP government in 1977 laid the foundation for an open economy and trade liberalization with the promise of delivering economic prosperity and higher living standards through the establishment of a fair, just and tolerant society. For the past 25 years Sri Lanka has enjoyed the ‘fruits’ of open economy based on neo-liberalism. The gap between the rich and the poor has widened significantly. The World Bank and IMF have taken over almost total financial control of the island. Superimposition of capitalism on the island’s economy, especially after the introduction of neo-liberalist structural reforms in 1977, has replaced the collective value system based on Asiatic mode of production with the individualistic values of ‘competition’ amongst each other solely for accumulation of wealth and consumerism.

The Sri Lankan Rupee floated against the US Dollar became devalued by 46 percent and its depreciation continues to this day. Complete politicisation of all government institutions commenced^[1]. The introduction of repressive legislation such as the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Freedom from Responsibility Act deprived the society of its remaining human and democratic rights. The creation of right-wing para-military forces, were portrayed as measures implemented to establish security and stability of an open economy. Massive borrowings were made to establish infrastructure required for foreign investments. For example, the Mahaweli scheme, a 30-year plan for agricultural development was transformed into an electricity supply scheme and completed within 6 years, with the assistance of massive borrowings. With the increase of land ownership ceiling to 100 acres, there were large-scale sale of state plantation lands and privatisation of state enterprises at marginal prices^[2]. An economy based on tourism, foreign employment and the garment industry out paced the plantation economy which was the major foreign exchange revenue source of the 1950s.

The PA government, which came to power in 1994, pledged: a “humane” but free economy, continued along the same neo - liberal path as its predecessors until December 2001. Between 1994 and the year 2000, 41 enterprises including SL Telecom and Air Lanka were privatised. As a result, the private sector component of industry grew to 94 percent while the state sector diminished to 6 percent. The Cost of Living Index continued to spiral upwards. The rate of inflation continues to move upwards. As a result, the remaining local industrial and agricultural production continues to suffer heavily. The Sri Lankan government continued to borrow from the global neo-liberal financial institutions in order to keep up the island’s foreign exchange reserve levels while agreeing to re-structure and privatise banking, postal, electricity, water distribution, railway and insurance services. In addition, a user-pay system for education, health and water and sale of the irrigation system, agricultural land and rain forests were to be implemented.

Having come to power with a pledge to end the war through a negotiated settlement with the LTTE to resolve the problems of the Tamil people, the PA government ultimately pursued a strategy of “war for peace” which ended up being a total failure. Combined with the heavy military expenditure incurred and the unprecedented increase in corruption in the politico-military bureaucracy, brought the country to near economic collapse. The UNF government elected in December 2001 on a platform of a negotiated settlement declared a mutual ceasefire with the LTTE. It commenced negotiation with them with international mediation and implemented a resettlement and developmental programme in the areas devastated by war. One major reason for signing the 2002 ceasefire was a major economic crisis precipitated by catastrophic military setbacks. However, the negotiations failed due to the non-implementation of the decisions agreed upon at the talks and the covert armed confrontations by intransigent nationalist political forces that resisted any form of power sharing arrangements with Tamil and Muslim people on the one hand, and the continuation of the state’s violent anti-democratic measures to diminish or destroy political adversaries.

Meanwhile the neo – liberalization dance continued. In 2002 in the budget, the new government pledged to liberalise the importation and distribution of petroleum thus inviting multinational petroleum companies to re-invest in Sri Lanka. The introduction of a Value Added Tax (VAT) incorporating GST and a National Security Levy (NSL) led to price increases of all essential commodities. As a result of the ceasefire agreement the ordinary people did not receive economic benefits. Their cost of living continued to rise while the gap between the rich and poor widened. However, there were allowances made for freedom of expression and the freedom of movement.

However the situation with regard to agriculture became even worse. The World Bank advised that the production of rice was inefficient and consumed too much water. Instead of rice cultivation the World Bank recommended the introduction of export cash crops that used less water^[3]. However, it was the World Bank’s advice that led to the use of high yielding hybrid rice seeds that required high inputs of chemical fertilizers and pesticides with resulted in the need for increased wate. In several districts, this process has converted peasants into slaves of the TNCs.. To counter strong opposition of the peasants, the TNCs were planning to fully appropriate land and water reservoirs and to introduce a user pay system for consumption of water. State owned agricultural research institutions were privatised. Reports from the Central Bank indicated drastic reductions in agricultural production. American and Japanese companies were already enjoying patent rights for several local plant varieties.

The then President Mrs Kumaranatunge assisted by the JVP highlighted aspects of the ceasefire that were disadvantageous and took over several ministries including the Ministry of Defense and dissolved parliament. The crisis of the traditional ruling parties in Sri Lanka had faced with was evident when the current coalition government under President Mahinda Rajapakse, was forced to rely on the nationalist JVP to form government. In September 2005, the JVP signed an electoral pact with the presidential candidate, Mr Rajapakse. The candidate, who was the then prime minister unequivocally agreed to JVP’s demands, i.e., to renounce PTOMS, rewrite the ceasefire agreement negotiated by the then UNP government, expel Norway as the facilitator and boost the military in quantity and quality. Thus the presidential candidate committed himself to the war. The LTTE, which had negotiated the ceasefire agreement with the UNP, campaigned amongst Tamil people not to cast their votes, so virtually contributing to the defeat of the UNP and handing power over to Mr Rajapakse’s coalition.

With the swearing in of the new Rajapakse presidency in 2005, which had campaigned on a platform of the continuation of the unitary constitution, abolition of the ceasefire agreement and expulsion of all facilitators, the pre-requisites for re-ignition of the war had been set. Though the President extended an open invitation to the LTTE to have face to face discussions, it was illogical to have believed of a breakthrough in light of the government insisting on a unitary constitution as the solution Tamils could agree to. This hard line stance resulted in a sharp escalation of LTTE attacks on the armed forces and violent provocations and retaliation against Tamil people by sections of the security forces.

Following a decision by the Supreme Court that a merger of the north and east following the Indo-Lanka Accord is not valid in law, the government promptly de-merged the north and east and re-established two provincial councils and appointed ‘military’ rule in the two provinces. How the war will unfold in the future, i.e., whether the warring parties would accept the new balance of forces as the starting point for talks, or each party would intensify the war for tilting the equilibrium in their favour, is yet to be seen. The conflict that grew out of discrimination against Tamils on the basis of their language, colonisation, education and employment is projected today as a simple issue of terrorism, both internationally and nationally.

The Government’s military success in the east has also brought about an erosion of human rights, freedom of expression and democratic norms. The so-called global anti-terror campaign, it seems, is being used to suppress all struggles for fairness, justice and dignity. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed deep concern about the steady erosion of press freedom in Sri Lanka. On several occasions, the security forces have prevented the press from entering combat zones and regions controlled by the LTTE. The media are allegedly forced to follow self-censorship through the Emergency Regulations (Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorism and Specified Terrorist Activities). Murders, arrests, threats and bombings have become the daily lot for many reporters, particularly in the north and east of the island.

The Prevention of Terrorism Act was enacted and implemented in Sri Lanka since the early 1980s. While the ceasefire held, this brutal piece of legislation was kept dormant. The government re-activated it recently. It is alleged that it may be applied against all those who are critical of the government. Now, the government has moved a step further by painting individuals who advocate a negotiated solution based on devolution of power as supporting terrorism. The government under its emergency regulations has prohibited public processions and meetings and have taken steps to prevent working people from protesting against the current high cost of living, so constituting a threat to the entire working class, in relation to the exercise of their fundamental right to strike.

Central Bank reports indicate an economic growth rate of more than seven percent of the GDP. This is mainly due to the growth in the services sector. Ordinary people suffer because of; soaring oil prices; huge debts; and increased defence spending of 140 billion rupees. The cost of air strikes, artillery and rocket attacks is projected to be 300 billion rupees for the next year. This growth was accompanied by high inflation, the highest trade deficit in the country’s history, an increase in the balance of payments and the depreciation of the currency. The country's trade deficit increased from USD2.5 billion in 2005 to USD 3.4 billion in 2006, while USD2.4 billion of foreign exchange remittances by 1.5 million Sri Lankans, over half of which were from workers who toil abroad, 90 per cent of them in the Middle East, were used to balance the trade deficit. The remittances are in reality an indication of the poverty in the land rather than the prosperity of people. However, even the hard earned foreign currency is wasted in a war effort that is not sustainable. The balance was covered with foreign debts. The growth of exports declined from 10.2 percent in 2005 to 8.4 percent last year. Imports meanwhile increased 15.7 percent in 2006. About a quarter of the population, live below the poverty line, which is, 1,423 rupees a month.

In the first four months of this year the government borrowed more than $300 million on the international financial markets. The Central Bank printed 38.5 billion rupees to finance last year’s budget deficit of 8.4 percent. The deficit is predicted to rise to 9.2 percent this year. At the end of 2006, the total debt of Sri Lanka grew to 2,606.5 billion rupees and the debt service payments to 444.3 billion rupees, almost 75 percent of the total government revenue. According to the Central Bank, foreign debt increased by 174.4 billion rupees in 2006 mainly due to the continued depreciation of the rupee against the US dollar. In 2005, the balance of payments was in surplus of $US501 million partly due to the flow of funds due to 2004 tsunami. In 2006 this surplus fell to $204 million. The burden of the war has fallen directly on working people through sharp price rises and cutbacks to essential services such as welfare, public education and health. The cost of living index rose from 4055.5 in December 2005 to 5024.8 in April 2007. According to Central Bank statistics, the real wages of private sector workers fell by about 10 percent during 2006 except in the public sector. However, rising inflation this year will also affect the public sector. The annualised inflation rate for December 2006 was 19.3 percent compared to the average for the year of 13.7 percent. Under the IMF-World Bank advice, the number of recipients of 250 to 1,000 rupees (about $US10) a month under the Samurdhi scheme fell from 1,960,664 families in 2005 to 1,913,568 in 2006.

The Central Bank reported that the paddy harvest reached a record high in 2006 with a 2.9 percent increase over the figure of the preceding year. However, many farmers could not sell their produce at the guaranteed price of 13.50 rupees. As a result, farmers either sold their crop to private traders at lower prices or could not sell it at all. Neglected is the peasant community in Sri Lanka, which constitutes 70 percent of the population. If the World Bank’s dictates are followed this population may come down to 50 percent by 2015. The price of rice has risen to Rs 35 per kilo but for the same kilo of rice a farmer receives between 9 rupees and 11 rupees. Nearly 80 per cent of the peasants are recipients of the Poverty Alleviation Program. Since the introduction of the free market reforms in the 70s, our major foreign exchange earnings have been from the garment industry, making value-added products and the labour market in the Middle East for housemaids.

On the positive side, free trade has increased the participation of females in the labour force. However, rather than improving the socio-economic status of women this phenomenon has relegated them to low-paid employment. In general, after leaving for the Middle-Eastern countries as housemaids many rural women have faced sexual harassment and violence. Our garment factories could be closed down at any time for international capital reserves the right to move to a country with better rate of return (i.e. one where it pay its workers even less). Also the labour market in the Middle East could shrink given the turbulent situation in the Middle-East.

The Implementation of neo-liberal policies in Sri Lanka has aggravated major problems such as poverty, unemployment, hunger, suicide and disease. As the state withdrew from the its welfare obligations: the lack of medical facilities; increased illiteracy levels, lack of appropriate educational and training facilities, exploitation of children through child labour, prostitution; consumption of drugs and alcohol, money laundering; the lack of drinking water, the scarcity of housing, power and communications facilities became acute; and precipitated the intensification of the national question. Liberalisation policies also have negatively affected the aspirations of the people for sustainable development. These policies have caused merciless destruction of the environment, nature and the social fabric through war, deforestation, soil and sea erosion, pollution of water and the atmosphere; extinction of local flora and fauna including traditional plants and medicinal herbs and plagues such as malaria, dengue fever and AIDS.

Neo-liberalist capitalism created an unsustainable but substantially imaginary wealth through speculation. The grip of the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO over the developing countries has tightened more than ever. By manipulating currency exchange rates an open economy has made it impossible for local business to compete with the TNCs. Sri Lanka's currency is been annually devalued, with the explanation that local new export industries need support through the realignment of the currency exchange rate. The U.S. dollar, which had an exchange rate of Rs 3.50 in 1950, now has an exchange rate close to Rs110.00. Business in Sri Lanka began to sputter and slip and needed more loans. Obviously paying interest on loans needs more borrowing^[4].

Over-emphasis placed on an export oriented economy has translated, in practice, into deforestation, over fishing, depletion of precious stones and artefacts and excessive use of agrochemicals. Success stories of capitalist liberalization disregard the long-term cost of this devastation caused to the society. Future generations will be left to deal with soil and sea erosion, depleted fishing banks, and increasingly unproductive soil due to accelerated plunder of Sri Lanka's natural resources.

Capitalism in its neo-liberal phase has more than demonstrated its incapability of solving basic problems of the people. In its pursuit of profit at any cost capitalism has dehumanised humanity and continues to destroy the earth’s fragile ecological balance. The information revolution and other scientific and technological achievements are sufficient for providing decent living standards for the entire world population have been used to strengthen the grip of capitalism over the developing world. The consequence of this neo-liberal offensive has been a ferocious intensification of the exploitation of working people in Sri Lanka. The unemployment rate and the gap between the rich and the poor have been on the rise. The masses are subject to social alienation, deprivation and rapidly declining living standards.

Terror attacks on the USA on September 11 2001 and the terror war launched by the US led neo-liberal forces have had far-reaching implications for Sri Lanka. While US imperialism is seeking to utilise the situation to further strengthen its neo-liberalist agenda, right wing chauvinist forces in Sri Lanka have attempted to use it to suppress dissent against nepotism, war, corruption and wastage. Neo-liberal forces are capitalising on this situation and imposing conditions to intensify their exploitation which would further erode the sovereignty, independence and unity of Sri Lanka as demonstrated by the recent signing of the bilateral defence agreement between the US and Sri Lanka.

The crisis in the working class movement

During the days of colonialism, the petit bourgeois left groups held the leadership of the working class movement of Sri Lanka. Being reformist in nature the movement mostly refrained themselves to the parliamentary and trade union form of struggle. The animosity between the leaderships of the left had a devastating effect on the working class movement. Even in 1947, the CP supported the UNP at the general election to defeat the LSSP. One of the major flawed characteristics of the left leadership was their willingness to unite under any bourgeois leadership and their vehement resistance to build unity within their own ranks. In the 1960s, all the trade unions united under the banner of the Joint Trades Union Federation and put forward 21 demands to the then crisis-ridden government. The leftist political formations had just established the United Left Front providing tremendous courage and political determination to all left activists and sympathisers. However, at the most decisive hour in the working class history of Sri Lanka, the petit bourgeois leaderships joined the capitalist government actively and openly collaborating in the repression of the working-class struggle.

The subjective and objective socio-economic conditions were pointing towards a pre-revolutionary situation. The petty-bourgeois left leadership left the working class in the lurch and formed united fronts under bourgeois leaderships when the economic crisis was worsening and the ruling capitalist class was finding incapable of ruling in their usual manner. Having understood the threat to their interests, the ruling capitalist class instantly bought the leftist petit bourgeois leadership over. The leaderships of the LSSP and the CP joined hands with the SLFP while the MEP joined hands with the UNP. This treachery helped the capitalist class to establish their leadership over the working class, the peasantry and the nationalist movement.

This historic betrayal marked a turning point in the Sri Lankan left politics. Many members of these left formations interested in progressing the left movement commenced forming a new organization of the left -  the JVP. It was ironical that the main enemy of this new left turned out to be the old left. Seeing the new left as its grave-digger the leadership of the old left decided to wipe out the new left at the earliest available opportunity. The CP (Moscow wing) and the LSSP initiated slandering the JVP as CIA agents while the CP (Peking wing) initiated slandering the JVP as KGB agents. The JVP through its own mass campaigns exposed the real nature of this slandering campaign. By effectively covering up the real CIA agents this campaign provided opportunity and protection for them to carry out their own political and economic agendas. Having failed in this slander campaign, the leaderships of the LSSP and the CP launched a covert terror campaign to destroy the JVP. The state machinery and vigilante groups were used to repress the JVP by usurping upon the democratic and human rights of their members to engage in their democratic political activities.

Fighting back against the brutal repression of the United left Government in 1971 the JVP was trying to defend their fundamental and democratic rights. The bourgeois state with the assistance of the old left leadership massacred thousands and incarcerated close to 60,000 people. While in prison the JVP reorganized itself while behind bars by critically examining its policy framework. By maintaining a completely closed economy for the working people but remaining completely ‘open’ for their own families the SLFP-LSSP-CP coalition also created a sordid state of the economy. In 1977, the capitalist UNP came to power making use of this sordid state of affairs and publicly and repeatedly expressed their gratitude to the capitalist SLFP, LSSP and CP coalition. After 1977, the hatred and jealousy against the JVP of the old left paved way for the weakening of the working-class movement and destroying organized trade union activities and taking over the leadership of the working class by the JSS.

The old left did everything to undermine the process of rebuilding the JVP. Their main enemy should have been the UNP and the US led capitalist globalisation process, however, they continued to see the JVP as their main enemy. When the UNP launched its own campaign of repression against the JVP in 1983, the old left remained silent in public. However, in statements to the Police and the CID some of their leaders attempted to incriminate the JVP leadership with 1983 July riots, which were actually instigated by the government itself, as are well-known today. The old left leadership even agreed with the UNP leadership on the continuation of the proscription of the JVP.

The Crisis within the new left

In 1968 the historical betrayal of the old left planted the seeds of a new left. This new left, which was originally known as the ‘movement’ and later dubbed by the capitalist class as the ‘Che Guevara’ movement grew swiftly amongst the masses who were suppressed under the capitalist socio-economic policy framework and its rule. Despite the massive repressive measures unleashed by the capitalist governments against the movement, it became stronger within the student and youth movement. Though its founding work commenced within the working class movement, it met stiff resistance of the old trade union strongholds, particularly, in urban areas. The movement was gradually becoming a strong force among young peasants. The ‘movement’ was strongly anti-collaborationist. The activists were dedicated and committed to the socialist cause as they knew it. For the first time in the history of Sri Lanka, the message of socialism was spreading on an island-wide scale. In 1970 the movement was named the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). Also associated with these positive characteristics were the shortcomings and deficiencies that led to the disastrous consequences later.

The movement was semi-proletarian in class character and originated in an environment of Sinhala Buddhist rural background. Therefore, temporal oscillations between right wing reformist tendencies and left wing adventurist tendencies can be noticed. The plantation working class was considered a force that could be ‘used’ for counter-revolutionary purposes by the Indian and Sri Lankan capitalist class when class struggle intensified. Regarding the role played by different social strata in the socialist revolution, even the agricultural proletariat, such as, chena workers were considered in a better light than plantation workers. Though the JVP commenced with this premise, they also carried out political activities among the plantation workers from the beginning. By the end of 1970 there were small pockets of plantation workers who agreed with the political program of the JVP.

Due to the Sinhala nationalist influence that crept into the left movement in the early 1960s the old left did not place much emphasis on educating their cadre on the national question. Most of those who were in the left ranks including those of the JVP were totally ignorant, not conscious, or non-active about the discriminatory policies carried out against the Tamil-speaking people. Therefore, the JVP did not discuss any of the issues related to language, religion, discrimination, nationality, federalism and the right to self-determination. This is a reflection of the fact that almost all party activists of the JVP who originated from the rural south of Sri Lanka were not conscious of the issues relating to the Tamil peoples, and also the lack of awareness generated by the old left amongst its cadres about those issues. Being semi Maoist in political thinking, the JVP concentrated more on external factors such as ‘Indian expansionism’ as advocated by the Chinese Communist Party led by Mao-Tse Tung.

The JVP had an over-simplified view on the method of socialist revolution. Instead of the working people, armed with class-consciousness generated by deep social contradictions they experienced, the JVP immediately moving forward to capture state power. The JVP was acting as a substitute on behalf of the working class, more or less acquiring the status of the ‘saviour’ of the working people. Therefore, the struggle of the JVP took the form of a conspiracy, without the participation of the majority of the working people. The modes of struggle used by the Latin American revolutionaries became more popular within the JVP. Many believed that the gunshots fired against the repression of the capitalist class would awaken the working people to understand the socio-political realities oppressing them and plunge them into action. An over-assessment of its strength became a frequent shortcoming of the JVP. On the ideological front, the JVP believed that the revolution would commence when the capitalist class commenced its repression against it. Following this ideological stance, the JVP commenced arming itself whenever the state apparatus unleashed its repression against it. This ideological conviction was so prevalent that the attempts by some to prevent an insurrection taking place in April 1971 abysmally failed, which is a testimony to the prevailing left ‘adventurist’ tendencies within the ranks of the JVP.

Having self-critically looked at its activities while behind bars, the JVP leadership took a decision not to conduct any more the political class on Indian Expansionism. After studying the national question using the limited facilities that were available in prison, the JVP formulated a new policy framework on the national question, in particular, with regard to language, religion, the right to self-determination of the Tamil-speaking people, and the status of ‘malaiyaha’ Tamil workers. Yet, with the launch of massive propaganda campaign after the release of its leaders in November 1977, the JVP commenced its oscillation rightwards. The JVP did not differentiate between quality and quantity. Their sole effort was to expand and expand quickly as possible. All resources of the organization were expended to this effect. The result was reflected in the low number of votes for the 1982 Presidential elections. A strong wave of depression undulated within the leadership and the rank and file membership of the JVP, which was overcome within a couple of months. During this period, on several pretexts the JVP did not favour discussions or joint action with other progressive left groups and formations. The united campaign of the left launched in 1980 did not move far because of opposition within the rank and file of the JVP. Also objected to, on the pretext of state repression against the JVP, were commencing discussions with left leaning Tamil militant groups.

Since the less than satisfactory result of the 1982 presidential election, the JVP leadership limited its interest on the national question, stopped advocating recognition of the right to self-determination and braced to take up a Sinhala Buddhist nationalist position. The capitalist government proscribed the JVP in July 1983 by hatching a conspiracy and drove it underground. Instead of attempting to carry out political activities in the open among the working people, the JVP stayed away from such activities. While the old left kept silent on the continued ban, several civilian organizations and breakaway left parties and groups demanded lifting of the proscription. Using the 1987 Indo-Lanka accord as a pretext the JVP raised anti-Indian sloganeering among the working people. During the presidential elections in 1988, instead of appealing to people to express their will by voting at the provincial council elections against the repressive regime, the JVP used violence to prevent people from casting their votes. Thus, the outcome of the JVP election strategy completely overlapped with the expected outcome of the election strategy of the repressive regime. By joining hands with the right wing and chauvinist forces the JVP launched an extremely violent campaign against the ordinary working people who purchased commodities even alleged to be of Indian origin. Reinforcing its policy of isolationism the JVP carried out assassinations of political leaders and physical assaults against other left groups. At the end of 1980s violence was used against working people forcing them to go on strike and boycotts. The indications are that the JVP again based itself on conspiratorial methods. The capitalist class was able to drown those who opposed the system in rivers of blood.

Having oscillated to adventurism at the end of 1980s, the JVP commenced its oscillation back towards the right wing route since the early 1990s. This time it was with a major shift towards class collaboration with the bourgeois leadership taking the same old route traversed by the old left in the 1960s, only thirty years later. The JVP assert that Sri Lanka's territorial integrity, and the island’s status, as a Sinhala state are in grave danger. They want to defeat separatism and stop division of the country militarily and ideologically. They oppose negotiations with separatist organisations unless they drop the demand for separation and are disarmed, which in political terms means, a complete surrender, to the state. In this regard, they have been constrained by a tunnel vision and do not recognize the fact that the sovereignty of a country lies with its people. The JVP’s position is tantamount to a recognition that the sovereignty of the land lies with the majority i.e. the Sinhala people only.

Worst is their statement that there was and is no ethnic problem in Sri Lanka. On the national question they have joined hands with the politics of Sinhala chauvinist groups. Condemnation of terror by the JVP is one-sided. While condemning the terror campaigns conducted by the LTTE, they praise the terror campaigns conducted by the security forces as patriotic. They emphasise that there are favourable conditions worldwide to eradicate terrorism, a policy tantamount to collaborating with the neo-liberalist global military agenda led by the US ruling elite. What is implied is that Sri Lankan government should invite US-led terror coalition to eradicate the LTTE.

The JVP denies the democratic right of peoples to self-determination as obsolete and not applicable to the world of today. To justify their position the JVP leadership has even resorted to falsifying the political positions taken by Lenin and the political history and vast experiences of the socialist camp and the real-life experiences of the peoples struggling against national oppression. They have turned a blind eye towards the constitutional expressions of the right to self-determination by the peoples who have successfully achieved national liberation against their oppressors. Rejecting the "right to self-determination" as an invalid principle for the world today, they claim that after the 1917 Russian revolution, even Lenin discarded this concept. Looking at the Soviet Constitutions developed during the time of Lenin and afterwards during the time of Stalin is more than sufficient to remind and convince any serious political activist that the right of self-determination was and is a living principle practised universally by socialists and democrats all over the world. As a matter of fact, what currently happens in the world supports the assertion that right to self-determination is alive and well. The JVP claims that they reject any racism or communalism and promote equality and democracy to all peoples, but in reality the JVP opposes any power sharing arrangement or decentralisation of power. Even a cursory look at the history of the socialist camp would discard such bogus and baseless views.

Rejection of the democratic right to self-determination is strongly compatible with the agenda of Neo-liberalism and National Socialism. This position coincides exactly with the position of the US led globalisation agenda because they do not anymore accept national sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence of peoples. The US rejects the people’s right to self-determination. The JVP, which opposed the neo-liberalist agenda in August 2001, has apparently adopted a new policy at its October 2001 party congress. Its policy is as follows: "We shall adhere to a foreign policy aimed at creating and developing of globalisation and a new world order that ensures social justice, equality, democracy and environment protection."  This policy has to be understood in the broader context of the JVP policy platform which states that the JVP shall absorb what is best from the East, West and North, South and discard the garbage. Accordingly, they will learn good deeds from China, India, the United States of America, Malaysia and Europe. They will learn from China about economic reforms and about how China became the world fastest growing economy by increasing investments nationally and internationally. From the United States, they will learn how the rule of law and accountability can be applied to investments so that corruption can be eliminated. They will learn from India and the United States America, how elected representatives can be responsible and accountable to the people.  I do not think anyone needs further elaboration or explanation on their principled position.

The JVP has moved away from the principles of Marxism-Leninism though it does not say so in public. Instead of demanding the capitalist state to grant rights of the working people at least as a step for exposing the incapability of the capitalist regimes to do so, the JVP tells people to wait until they as the peoples ‘saviour’ acquires power. It does not wish to make a self-critical appraisal of its past and is competing with the old left to be the apologist of and to cover up, the responsibility of the capitalist regimes for the current political situation, but also to divert the peoples’ attention from the real current state of affairs. In reality, the JVP has become an appendage and a broker for keeping in and bringing back the capitalist regimes to power. Their activities are strengthening the hand of counter-revolution and imperialism. When coupled with their policy assertions it is safe to conclude that the JVP has totally abandoned its left policy platform.

There is a strong vacuum in the left leadership in the island. There are many left groups and formations which have no common program or purpose of providing leadership to the working class. External petty-ideological issues and internal personal animosities and rivalries appear to be the driving forces behind their isolationist approaches. There is an urgent need to critically examine why these groups and formations have not moved forward. Such examination would provide lessons and experiences for carrying out future progressive political work among the working people. Indeed, it is very unfortunate that while many positive aspects prevail among the working class movement for building a conscious left political movement against the capitalistic and neo-liberal forces, while leaderships of the left formations stagnate or move backwards; we should take a leadership role and take swift action to rebuild the working class movement, using the opportunities that currently exist.

The Urgent Task of Today

The current economic crisis in Sri Lanka will lead to a political crisis where the ruling class will not be able to carry on their rule in the usual manner. This will be exacerbated by the fact that the Presidential system is flawed as it manipulates the system by polarising the population to cater to the President’s own personal and political agendas. The President is not responsive to the people or to the Parliament. Bribery and corruption have become a game for the survival of governments and politicians.

The escalation of the war in Sri Lanka under the new executive presidency has further deteriorated the living standards of the working people. The average monthly salary, about 6,000 rupees, equivalent to about 85 Australian dollars, is not enough even to spend on day to day needs. During his election campaign, Mr Mahinda Rajapakse pledged substantial pay increases to the workers, and concessions to help the poor. However, during the last seven months there has been no change. The cost of living index has increased sharply and is continuing to rise. The government attributes this entirely to the rises in oil price in the world market, though oil prices have fallen appreciably. The cost of living has continued to soar. The rate of inflation has risen over 24 percent, mainly due to the huge expenditure of public funds by the Government, in pursuance of its military operations in the North and East and in maintaining a huge Cabinet of Ministers. The government has flooded the money market with billions of rupees to meet the expenditure. The waste and corruption significantly contributes to the current situation. Even the countries that produce and sell their own armaments have not been able to sustain heavy expenditure on war for long.

The war has had a devastating effect on the economy. Due to collapse of tourism alone, about one hundred thousand people have lost their livelihood. Foreign investment has declined and foreign aid is being withheld by many donors. Sri Lanka is closing in at the edge of a precipice. Recent capture of the entire Eastern Province by the security forces with the help of the LTTE’s breakaway faction will not prevent continued guerrilla attacks, though the government has declared that the LTTE will be pursued everywhere until all their military assets are destroyed and they are exterminated. The LTTE, it seems, has decided to cut their losses and have retreated to their stronghold in the north from where they may continue their guerrilla warfare. The power balance in the east seems to be in favour of the government. The Norway brokered ceasefire signed in 2002 does not exist any more.

We can see the vast gap that exists between the political agendas put forward by the government and the LTTE towards resolving the current conflict. The Interim Self Governing Authority proposal by the LTTE was a framework of maximalist regional autonomy that would go far beyond the existing constitution. It looked to a confederal arrangement if not for outright separation. The LTTE also wants their regional entity to have the right to maintain their own security forces. The government’s concept that incorporated in the last election manifesto was based on minimalist power devolution arrangement within a unitary state.

The LTTE has survived as a political and military force because there is a socio-economic environment for its existence. The injustices committed by successive governments against the non-Sinhala peoples of Sri Lanka and the chauvinist campaigns led by bourgeois political organisations in the south and the north of the island have contributed to this environment. This environment is fed by the political forces in the south by their opposition to any form of power sharing with the Tamil speaking people based on self-rule.

With increasing globalisation, investors are starting to see the war as a threat to the security of their investment schemes. Successive governments were under increasing pressure to reach a power-sharing deal with the LTTE. Foreign investors commenced pushing the peace process in order to maintain their sources of cheap labour. However, if they see a military crushing of the Tamil militant movement it is possible, they would not hesitate to back the government as their first preference. We see the same logic operating in Kashmir, Aceh and in the Middle East. However, the real face of global imperialism can be seen openly in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Neo-liberalist globalisation has become the main challenge and threat to the socialist movement and the sovereignty of small nations like Sri Lanka. This makes it necessary to continuously develop dynamic, living alternative systems to the existing global neo-liberalist system. The dominant progressive forces of the working people need to determine the direction of change to take, i.e., towards socialist globalisation, which will control foreign capital investments for the benefit of people, define alternate processes that are sustainable economically, socially and ecologically and lead to a social system embodying the characteristics of peoples' control, participation and co-operative ownership.

The Neo-liberalist agenda is to make social protests and rebellions, criminal offences that can be tried with a battery of draconian anti-terrorism laws. At the same time, for contemporary economic and political requirements, it is preparing plans and designs for exploiting valuable natural and human resources of Sri Lanka. However, if invited to militarily interfere in the domestic conflict, neo-liberalists will have an easier and better access to plunder our valuable resources. Those helping the neo-liberalist agenda under these circumstances will be the chauvinist warmongers who will willingly invite US military interference in the island and oppose a fair and just solution to the national question based upon the recognition of peoples’ right to determine their own political destiny and allowing all people to live in dignity and in peace.

The dominant Tamil nationalist militant movement, the LTTE, not only did not have socialist political program, but also shows all the symptoms of embracing the agenda of capitalist globalisation as advocated and led by the US ruling elite. This agenda will be driven by the expatriate power brokers of the LTTE, the overwhelming majority of which would have vested interests in such a framework and would be more than willing to move along this retrogressive path. With the endorsement of the US, the World Bank and the IMF, the establishment of a framework addressing the national aspirations of the Tamil people seems an imminent reality while at the same time such a framework would guarantee the protection of the interests of the neo-liberal globalisation agenda.

The political agenda of the LTTE does not satisfy the expectations of the rank and file cadres and the Tamil working people. Contradictions within its ranks have already emerged. Such developments provide opportunities for expanding the movement for democracy and socialism through the elements who embrace genuine socialist aspirations within the Tamil nationalist struggle. Furthermore there are emerging and visible signs of radicalisation of Muslim youth in the Eastern province. Contradictions between the Muslim bourgeois leaderships and the Muslim youth and working people are quite apparent. Ironically, this situation is quite similar to the situation of the 1970s that gave rise to the Tamil militant youth movement. Genuine peace can be achieved only by creating the necessary and essential conditions for ensuring social equality and by guaranteeing democratic rights for all the peoples of the island. Without peace, economic development cannot be achieved, and peace will not come without justice.

Our urgent task today is to initiate an inclusive process and to embrace diverse and progressive views into a coherent strategy and a minimum program of social change. The left forces need to adopt a less dogmatic, less sectarian approach with more tolerance towards and critical assimilation of new social thinking and developments. The Sri Lankan left needs to unite all those who are adversely affected by the neo-liberal agenda under one banner, i.e., ‘people before profits’. The left in the south needs to establish political links with progressive formations and individuals in the north and east and to develop international collaboration with anti-globalisation forces in the rest of the world. Initially this may take the form of a loose alliance that could be strengthened with time, by taking confidence building measures among its constituents.

We believe that the urgent task of the Sri Lankan progressive forces is to build an extensive island-wide mass movement based on a broad national political agenda that would focus on issues immediately affecting the people such as: corruption, capitalist globalisation, individual and collective human and democratic rights and environmental issues.

Sri Lankan Polity

The local capitalist class in alliance with local landlords and multinational conglomerates leads the state of the Sri Lankan society with its predominantly capitalistic mode of production including feudal remnants. Compared to many other developing countries, the affairs of' the Sri Lankan state were, in general, conducted within a constitutional and parliamentary-democratic framework during the last three decades. However, democratic and human rights have been consecutively subjected to constant erosion due to the executive presidential system and the plethora of repressive legislation providing immunity of responsibility for violation of rights by politicians and their parasitic elements in the state and non-state sectors. The integrity of the institutions, the sanctity of the constitution, the inviolability of democratic rights are all reduced to empty phrases and the essential reactionary and autocratic character of the Sri Lankan state comes out into the open without any ambiguity, at the slightest provocation of any popular unrest. Grassroots democracy remains largely absent and is suppressed under the deadweight of bureaucracy and capitalistic and feudalistic forces.

Sri Lanka is a land of several nationalities and a multitude of ethno-linguistic groupings. The process of evolution of a Sri Lankan identity suffered heavily due to feudalistic influences, major bureaucratic and chauvinistic distortions, large-scale regional disparities, and cultural-economic discriminations. There was no economic and cultural interaction between peoples and there was no real concrete national unity forged in the course of anti-colonial movement and anti-imperialist and democratic struggles and even during the post colonial period of capitalism. Therefore, in the pluralistic mosaic of our society huge gaps are apparent. Various nationalities are locked into serious contradictions with an over-centralised capitalist Sri Lankan State, which have hitherto attempted to address such contradictions only through adopting and implementing heavy-handed repressive measures and expressing itself through strong centrifugal frameworks.

Sri Lanka is also a land of many religions and the majority Buddhist community is further divided along caste lines. Instead of maintaining a strictly secular position and acting as a powerful deterrent against the forces of communal disharmony and caste oppression, the ruling classes at various levels use the state as an instrument of not only class domination but also as an instrument of national, communal, religious and caste domination. The phenomena of: chauvinism, communalism, and casteism is prevalent at different layers of Sri Lankan polity. They are not simply relics of the bygone Asiatic mode of production, but very much part and parcel of 'modern' Sri Lanka. The ruling classes and their parties utilise these instruments in a calculated way to weaken and disrupt the growing democratic unity and awakening of the working people. In its aggressive form chauvinism, casteism and communalism, in particular, majority communalism poses a fascist threat to the very existence of democracy and cultural pluralism in Sri Lanka.

Sri Lankan Society

Despite economic liberalisation, privatisation, the industrial structure provided by free trade zones, a swelling service sector, modern farming practices and an increasing integration within the process of capitalist globalisation, Sri Lanka remains in the ranks of the backward, underdeveloped or developing capitalist countries of the world. The gap between the rich and the poor has widened. Working people increasingly finding it difficult to survive with what they are been paid, for their labour. Unemployment is on the rise. The deep penetration of finance capital in Sri Lanka and its wide-ranging economic, political and social links have provided a fertile ground for the spread of a decadent bourgeois culture dominated by cronyism, bribery and corruption. The burden of the war launched against Tamil militancy is increasingly being placed on the shoulders of the working people. Printing money to finance the war has caused high inflationary pressure on the economy pushing the cost of living to the extreme. Feudal remnants such as family bandyism, land bondage relationships, national, religious and caste oppression continues to inhibit even the liberal capitalistic development of Sri Lanka.

The nature of local capital in Sri Lanka is complex. It comprises mainly of finance capital of multinational corporations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. This capital is pro-imperialist in origin, dependent on capitalist globalisation in nature and monopoly-bureaucratic in appearance and operation. It often presents a complex admixture of private management, state finance and foreign technology. Sri Lanka is a heavy technology importer despite having a significant majority of its population not only being literacy but in addition also possessing technical skills. Quite naturally, such an acute dependence on finance capital including an alarming indebtedness to imperialist-dominated commercial, technological, and multilateral lending agencies takes a heavy toll of our political independence. Blatant interference of imperialist and hegemonist powers in our domestic affairs and policy matters is very common. Our sovereignty is continuously subject to erosion by the spreading tentacles of capitalist globalisation, which seeks to continue to keep the island on a neo-colonial status.

The means of employment and livelihood of about 70 percent of people of Sri Lanka is agriculture. The dry zone comprises 60 percent of the total land area of the island. The population density in the island varies widely from about 2700 per square kilometer in Colombo to about 50 in Moneragala. The major obstacle for agriculture in the dry zone remains the ownership of land and supply of water for irrigation. Development and populating the dry zone remains a significant issue of the agricultural reform process. The solution to this problem will depend largely on the voluntary transfer of people to the dry zones and the diversion of surplus water from the rest of the island using sustainable technology.

There are about one million Tamil agricultural workers, of Indian origin, employed in the plantation sector. They have been working in the plantations for many decades. In October 2003, the Parliament approved without opposition, a bill to grant citizenship to 168,141 stateless Tamil plantation workers. They are a section of the most impoverished and oppressed layers of Sri Lankan workers. In 1948, the then capitalist government with the support of all capitalist parties in the parliament, passed legislation to strip the Tamil plantation workers of their citizenship rights, because they were affiliated with the left. The government wanted to divide the working people along communal lines rather than on class lines, in which they eventually succeeded in doing. Mr Rajapakse promised to uplift the lives of the plantation workers. Already the living conditions of these workers have been eroded in an appalling manner.

Tamil plantation workers had also been at the receiving end during the pogroms of 1977, 1979 and 1981. Murder and mayhem ruled the day. In August 1977 alone, tens of thousands of Tamil plantation workers were attacked by persons who enjoyed patronage of powerful personalities of the day. Usually, Tamil youth from the plantation areas have been collectively victimised for any violent acts that had occurred in other areas of the island. Tens of thousands of Tamil workers, who left plantations due to communal violence in the South and settled down in the LTTE controlled areas, have not only lost their employment but are also at the receiving end from all the parties to the conflict. The war has made these plantation workers prisoners subject to intimidation by all extreme groups.

One of the major problems affecting Tamil plantation workers is the issue of their national identity cards. The two major trade union leaders of plantation workers joined the government recently and took up ministry posts. Their main argument for joining the government has been that they can help solve the identity card issue and other security issues of the workers only by becoming part of the government. This example highlights the extent of political patronage in Sri Lanka; for even to address routine administrative matters of Tamil plantation workers, government patronage is needed.

 

 

The need to abolish the feudal remnants in society and wage slavery on the island

Though our primary aim should be to abolish all bondages of wage slavery and imperialism, the issue of the abolition of feudal remnants and the concomitant autocratic and bureaucratic distortions in the social polity will necessarily follow because of the socialist tasks the state will need to implement. Feudal remnants can be only abolished as a result of resolving this fundamental contradiction between capital and labour.

We conclude that the socialist transformation of the relations of production is the preliminary task of the working and oppressed people. One of our major tasks will be to reform agriculture. Establishment of grass roots democracy and consistently safeguarding democratic and human rights of the working people will be a major characteristic of our movement. The fundamental law of the state should guarantee democratic and human rights of the oppressed people. Establishment of essential and sufficient administrative mechanisms for ensuring equality of opportunity, fairness, social justice and equity of access within an anti-discriminatory constitutional framework will become a critical and major objective to achieve.

The need for a Committee for a National Movement for Social Progress and Justice (NMSPJ)

The people of Sri Lanka have time and again risen against ruthless exploitation and oppression. Their awakening assumes a variety of forms and is often led by various types of party and non-party forces. We shall support all such organizations and always strive to orient them towards the goal of achieving democracy and socialism. With the aim of working towards democracy and socialism, there is a need to forge a National Movement for Social Progress and Justice (NMSPJ). The NMSPJ may become the nucleus for the formation of a broad and inclusive movement of the working people. To achieve this aim, we need to work within and in cooperation with all like-minded mass organizations and individuals towards the formation of NMSPJ through a process of inclusive consultations, mass actions and awareness raising campaigns.

Manifesto for the NMSPJ

The basic principles that would guide such a movement will be:

a)     Retaining the Groups’s independent organisational functioning and political initiatives at all cost

b)     Utilizing in full the power enjoyed by the local and provincial bodies in carrying out radical democratic reforms and orienting popular consciousness towards socialist and democratic alternatives

c)     Serving such local and provincial bodies as part and parcel of a broader social democratic opposition and

d)     Ensuring the free development of democratic forces, democratic consciousness and democratic movements without regardless of the circumstances.

We are mindful that the remaining democratic institutions of the island are essentially based on fragile and narrow foundations and even small victories and partial reforms can only be achieved and maintained on the strength of our commitment, determination and unity. We believe we should achieve our aims without resorting to adventurism, regardless of the pressures placed on us. Under no circumstances, should such a movement resort to conspiratorial methods and see itself as the ‘saviour’ of the people of Sri Lanka. A People’s movement will remain the most fundamental mechanism of achieving social progress and social justice.

A victorious social democratic movement needs to carry out the following basic tasks and uphold the new democratic and socialist orientation through:

1.     democratisation of the structure and affairs of the state by

a.      vesting political power at every level with bodies elected on the basis of universal, equal and direct suffrage;

b.     guaranteeing full individual and collective democratic rights of the peoples and their various democratic organizations;

c.      eradicating the culture of repression, torture, human rights violations and intervention of the armed forces in civilian affairs; and

d.     restructuring the police and armed forces and infusing them with a new spirit of service to the peoples of Sri Lanka.

2.     Reconstitution of national unity on the basis of a federal, democratic, secular polity by

a.      recognising the peoples’ right to self-determination including secession;

b.     instilling a sense of belonging, participation, equality and security in all peoples and groupings;

c.      democratizing decision-making processes effectively;

d.     sharing resources; and

e.      decentralising developmental activities to enlist popular participation in nation – building;

3.     Rapid economic development and eradication of mass poverty on the basis of:

a.      thorough going land reforms and comprehensive industrialization;

b.     establishment of mechanisms to transfer to the dry zones the surplus population on a voluntary basis and water from the rest of the island on a sustainable technological basis;

c.      taking over the reins of national economy from the hands of the monopoly-multinational-landlord alliance and delegating to the working people real decision-making power on production planning; and

d.     reordering the present priorities and reorienting the existing policies to suit the requirements of safeguarding national sovereignty and ENSURING the necessary and sufficient social welfare measures TO PRESERVE THE ECONOMIC LIFE OF ITS PEOPLE.

4.     Effecting a modern democratic cultural transformation of the whole society by:

a.      ensuring universal education and basic health-care for all its peoples

b.     abolition of all social, economic and sexual exploitation of women and ensuring their equal status and rights in all affairs of life;

c.      eradication of caste oppression; and

d.     protection of the rights to equality of opportunity and equity of access through measures of positive discrimination  to assist the weaker sections of our community to catch up with the rest of the society in terms of social progress.

5.     Abrogation of all unequal treaties and pacts concluded by the reactionary ruling classes with imperialist institutions by:

a.      developing firm unity with the socialist and other progressive anti-imperialist countries and friendly relations with the countries of the developing world in general

b.     forging solidarity with the peoples struggling for national liberation and emancipation throughout the world and

c.      establishing diplomatic relations with all countries on the basis of the principles of peaceful co-existence.

Such a broad and inclusive Movement with its policy framework and political program will whole-heartedly dedicate itself in the service of the great social democratic cause of achieving democracy and socialism in Sri Lanka.

7 August 2007

Melbourne, Australia

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[1] This included top brass of the security forces, the judiciary and the Attorney General’s department.

 

[2] By 1998 about eighty state industries and service enterprises had been privatised for an income of Rs 49,213.5m to the state.

[3] Crops such as tobacco, gherkin, baby corn, sugarcane.

[4] World Bank and the IMF have provided loan assistance to Sri Lanka, of course, with free economic advice, which has led the country to depend on further and further borrowing, not to maintain the economy but for servicing current debts. Agreement Article 8 of Sri Lanka with the IMF, and recent loan agreement for USD 253m are examples for this situation. By year 2000 unpaid state loans amounted to 97.1% (Rs 1,218,700m) of the gross domestic product (In year 1975 it was only 54.8%). However, recommendations are still to increase prices of commodities, take away all subsidies, increase taxes, sell state enterprises and expand the private sector.