Lanka Freedom party (SLFP), have capitulated to Prime Minister Bandaranaike and the Ceylonese bourgeoisie. On January 19 they withdrew the call for a twenty-four-hour general strike that had been set for January 31. (See INPRECOR, No. 19, Februory 13.) The pretext for the retreat was that Bandaranaike's cabinet had partially conceded one (!) of the twenty-eight demands advanced by the Sinhalese trade-union movement since 1973 and three "urgent" demands raised in January 1975. The wages of all workers (and pensioners) of Sri Lanka earning less than 800 Rs a month were raised 25 Rs. (The unions had demanded increases of 75 Rs a month.) In addition, the government agreed to open negotiations on a sliding scale of wages and the nationalization of basic industry; but it made no precise commitment on these questions. The Ceylon Mercantile Union (CMU), the only trade union other than the two unions representing ward electoralist and parliamentary objectives. Nevertheless, this tactic has not received the unconditional support of the trade-union bureaucracy, on whom the social-democratic leaders have been counting. The unions would like to center the struggle on guarantees against layoffs and factory closings. But the PSB, which is preparing to reenter the government at the first possible opportunity, does not dare to move too far toward such guarantees. March 5, 1975 workers movement fourth international plantation workers that is not under the control of the government parties, had agreed to join in the January 31 general strike while expressing its distrust of the will of the reformist leaders to actually fight. After the capitulation of these leaders, the CMU maintained its call for a twenty-four-hour strike on January 31, a call that was nearly unanimously approved (with only three dissenting votes) during a mass general assembly held January 29 in Hyde Park, Colombo. Comrade Bala Tampoe, who reported before the assembly, asserted that the reformist leaders never had any intention of really unleashing a general strike on January 31, but had simply been maneuvering in order to channel the growing discontent of the toiling masses. He also recalled that the contract concluded by the CMU for public-sector workers through 1966 included the sliding-scale clause, while those workers of the public sector organized by the unions controlled by the government parties still do not benefit from this clause. Here is the call for the twenty-four-hour general strike issued on January 20 by the General Council of the CMU:
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SRI LANKA "The General Council has no reason to think that the JCTUO (Joint Committee of Trade Union Organizations — INPRECOR) has called for a token strike on that day in the interests of the working class even though it is reported to have called upon "the entire organised working class to join the struggle to win three immediate demands' said to have been forwarded to the Government by the JCTUO. "The General Council is of the view that the JCTUO cannot be expected to launch any genuine 'struggle ' on the demands it has chosen to describe as 'immediate demands, since it is controlled by the three parties represented in the Government, namely, the SLFP, the LSSP, and the CP (Moscow). The JCTUO is essentially a tool of the Government, whose basic policy is to maintain capitalist rule in this country at the expense of the working closs and the broad masses of the people, and by suppression of all forms of mass action under it. This is patently evident from the fact of the continuance of the State of Emergency, long after the bloody suppression of the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna in 1971, with the continuing suppression of fundamental democratic rights and civil liberties, including the right in eatin the oking to a a been manifested by the emergency regulation which permits employers to extend the normal working day beyond 8 hours in the conversion from a ó-day to a 5-day workweek, without payment of overtime. "The political subservience of the JCTUO leadership to the reactionary policies of the Government has been borne out by the fact that they have only protested when the anti-strike Essertial Services Order has been used against workers belonging to their unions, and when the powers of the Prime Minister to prohibit processions under the Emergency Regulations have been used against them, as in the case of the prohibition of the Ceylon Federation of Labour demonstration on 16th November last year. In the case of the application of the reactionary emergency regulation permitting the extension of the 8-hour working day by employers, without payment of overtime, they have not even raised a murmur of protest.. "Even today, they have totally ignored the demand for the ending of the Emergency and the restoration of democratic rights and civil liberties of the people, including the right to strike. They are also not prepared even now to demand the freedom of public procession in the list of demands which they claim to have put forward to the Government on behalf of the working class. "The General Council is nevertheless of the view that the fact that the JCTUO leadership has called 44 for a token strike on 31st January on demands that are of importance to the working class provides our Union and others with an opportunity to focus mass opinion not only on those demands but also on others of fundamental importance to the working class and the masses by having a token strike on such demana. as well as the three demands announced by the JCTUO on the same day. "The General Council considers that it is imperative for the working class to appreciate that the most immediate and fundamental demand that is necessary at the present time, not only in the interests of the working class but also of the broader masses of our exploited and suffering people, is for the ending of the Emergency and the restoration of the fundamental freedoms of the people. "The General Council also considers it important, in the light of the threat of further blows at the stomachs of the people this year, on the pretext of insufficiency of locally grown food and high prices of foodstuffs in the world market, that the demand for compulsory food production on all plantations, as in World War II, must be implemented immediately to reduce the danger of outright starvation for large numbers of people. "For the working class, in addition to the demand for an adequate all-round immediate increase of wages and automatic increases in wages for every point increase in the Cost of Living Index, the demand for the restoration of the right to strike and the prohibition of lock-outs by employers, as well as the demand for the restoration of the 8-hour day as a maximum by law, is also of immediate importance. "The demand already publicised by our Union in its signature campaign and at the mass rallies on 26th July 1973, 20th December 1973, and 14th March 1974, for a guarantee of adequate rations of essential foodstuffs at reasonable prices, must also be pressed for as widely as possible by mass organisations, including the trade unions, at this juncture. "The demands may be summarised as follows: *For the ending of the Emergency and the restoration of democratic rights and civil liberties, including the right to strike; *For the repeal of repressive and reactionary legislation like the Public Security Act and the Criminal Justice Commissions Act, *For the unconditional release of all political prisoners; *For the reinstatement of all workers dismissed under the Essential Services Order and the restoration of all rights taken away from workers under cover of the Emergency;
Neuvostovalta - Sovjetmakt
*For compulsory food production on the plantations; *For adequate rations of essential foodstuffs at reasonable prices; *For the restoration of the 8-hour day as a maximum under the law; *For an all-round wage increase of Rs 75; *For an automatic increase of Rs 2.5 per point in the Cost of Living Index; *For the nationalisation of banks, plantations, and all major industries under workers' control, and not under bureaucratic capitalist state manageFINLAND no 1 1975 The first revolutionary