FEBRUARY 20
GENERAL STRIKE IN SRI LANKA In a clear and tangible manner, February 20, 1976, saw the rebirth of the combativity of the working class after its first manifestations, which occurred at the end of 1975. Thus, the paralyzing effects on the working class of the five years of social peace that reigned after the bloody repression of the Jonatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People's Liberation Front) in the spring of 1971 are being overcome. On February 20 the working class of the entire island once again took the offensive against capitalist domination. The growing but restrained indignation of the working class against the reactionary and repressive methods used by the government against workers struggles in general and against the strike of the nationalized printing industry in particular exploded massively when the workers belonging to most of the trade unions of the country, among them the Ceylon Mercantile Union (CMU), struggled shoulder to shoulder in the course of the first united-front action of this kind since January 5, 1962. The strike spread throughout the entire island, and the Ceylonese working class showed once again that racial, religious, and communal differences do not divide it.
The state of mind of the working class was manifested during the militant speeches delivered in the course of the meeting of the General Council of the CMU on February 17. The meeting hall was packed with delegates. Speaker after speaker came up to the podium to support the proposal made by the Executive Committee of the union to participate in the general strike not only in support of the struggle of the workers of the nationalized printing industry and against the government's use of emergency laws against this struggle, but also to demand the withdrawal of the Essential Services Order, which deprives the working class of the basic right to strike. Although some important trade unions did not participate in this strike, among them the plantation workers union and the bank employees union, the paralyzing effects were total in road, air, and rail transport, in gasoline distribution, and in key sectors of industry and trade in both the public and private sectors. In the Ceylon Transport Board (CTB) the strike was the most effective ever seen in this sector. Never had such unity been forged throughout the country in the struggle of all the employees of the CTB. In 1962 the strike in this sector had not attained the degree of participation and organization manifested on February 20, 1976. Likewise, in the railroads there could not have been greater proof of the absolute character of the strike than the complete desertion of the Fort and Maradana stations throughout the day. In the port of Colombo ships were abandoned by the 15,000 workers who make up the work force. The same was true for the ports of Galle and Trincomalee. The state enterprises that employ thousands of workers -the Insurance Corporation, the National Textile Corporation, the State Engineering Corporation, the Steel Corporation, were all closed. Most of the factories of the private industrial sector, notably in Ratmalana and Jaela, were affected by the strike. The Wellawata Spinning and Weaving Mills were completely shut down. The main export establishments of tea, rubber, and fiber, like the maritime shipping companies, were unable to function at all. The impact of the strike on the population was so obvious that the government's feeble attempt to claim that it was not really effective served only to further widen the credibility gap between the people and the government. Panic among the employers Various incidents occurred in the wake of the strike; The most serious were at the State Textile Corporation some fifty-five kilometers from the capital, Colombo. This factory locked out its workers on February 23 and the president and one member of the factory section of the CMU were arrested. All day on February 21 the workers had forced the foremen to apologize for not having rallied to the strike the day before. The general manager was sequestered in his office all morning. He appealed to the army, which, at 9:30 sent a truckload of soldiers armed with machine guns. The workers lined up in front of the truck and told the soldiers to go ahead and shoot. Other workers began throwing stones
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SRI LANKA af the soldiers. They had to withdraw and the gates of the tactory were closed, Then the angry workers demanded that the general manager come before them to explain why he had called on the army. He was forced to do this and had to explain that he had not asked the army to enter the factory grounds but admitted that he had called on the soldiers; he was forced to apologize to the assembled workers. New incidents occurred during the day when a police car arrived at the factory af about 10:30. The police were also compelled to leave the scene under the pressure of the workers. The management cancelled Sunday overtime work and on Monday. February 23, the gates of the factory were closed and all personnel, that is, about 4,000 people, were locked out. The buses going to the foctory were stopped by the police, who assaulted passengers who protested. February 20 was an important date in the struggle that pits the working class of Sri Lanka against their exploiters. Five years of open and veiled repression have been unable to paralyze the working class or dismantle its struggle organizations. As long ago as the end of last year this rebirth of combativity and offensive copacity of the working class has been clearly manifested. On December 16, 1975, for example, more than 10,000 members of the CMU demonstrated in Colombo and its suburbs after stopping work for one hour. Their slogans were: Rehire the fertilizer workers, Seven months of struggle of the workers of Hunupitiya, Stop the lockout, and Stop employing scabs. Five hundred workers of the Ceylon Fertilizer Company had joined the CMU in March 1975, and since then none of them had been granted the right to bonuses, holidays, insurance, paid leaves, etc. These same workers were thrown out of their jobs on June 4, 1975, when they returned to work after a strike that had begun on April 22, 1975. It was to draw attention to these incidents and work stoppages that the demonstrations were held. These demonstrations snaked through the city as well as the industrial sectors of the suburbs, Then, on December 4, some 250 workers, some with their wives and children, entered the offices of the company with their banners: Restore the jobs! Restore the rights of the workers! The factory was occupied. Scabs were quickly brought in from another factory owned by the company. The same day about a hundred workers entered the brand new offices of the ministry to which the Ceylon Fertilizer Company is connected. The workers jammed the stairways and polished corridors of what used to be the headquarters of the Planters' Association. The workers did not leave the premises until they were assured that a meeting would take place between the ministry and the representatives of the strikers. New rise of combativity On January 2, 1976, some 2,000 workers of the Wellawata Spinning and Weaving Mills left work and spontaneously occupied the company offices to demand payment of their 1975 bonuses. Two years before, the workers of this same enterprise had suffered a deep defeat after 24 a four-month struggle against reductions in the work force and layoffs. The debacle of that struggle ended with strict limitations on trade-union rights and all activity. The factory operated under the police club. On January 2, 1976, the vice-president and executive director of the company were blockaded in their offices and had to discuss with the workers. The delegation of workers sent to hold these discussions did not include any members of the main union of the factory, which is controlled by the pro-Moscow CP. The discussion did not last long and the anger of the workers mounted. The workers booed the employers. The workers forbid the managers to assemble the whole management or to leave the premises of the factory before an agreement was reached; the managers then telephoned the headquarters of the CMU to ask CMU general secretary Bala Tampoe to come over within fifteen minutes because they had been sequestered by the workers. When he arrived at the factory, Tampoe assembled the members of the CMU to deal with the situation. Armed police detachments were forced to retreat. An agreement was reached to pay bonuses to the workers and employees of the factory and it was demanded that no worker be prosecuted. Although the leader of the pro-Moscow CP trade union was prevented from speaking during an assembly of workers outside the factory, the workers hoisted Tampoe onto a platform to address them. The immediate result of this conflict was the adherence of a thousand workers to the CMU. These stages in the new rise of workers combativity show that the ranks of the working class are regaining their confidence, that the terror that followed the 1971 massacres, terror which had frozen the workers, divided them according to their different unions whether they were affiliated to the various government parties or not, has lost its ability to weaken the workers movement. In the meantime, it appears quite clearly that those of the workers who have maintained their class independence of the parties of the government coalition (the Sri Lanka Freedom party, the Lanka Sama Samaja party (Ceylon Equal Society party), and the Communist party) and who have held firm in their independent unions against the generalized repression now find themselves prepared and hardened to confront the regime in power. Thus, the place occupied by the CMU on the trade-union level and on the political map confers a combined role on it, political and trade union, and makes it a central element of the class struggle on the island. That this organization and the Revolutionary Marxist party, section of the Fourth International, have jointly organized the Campaign for Political Freedom in 1976, to which hundreds of workers have already extended their active adherence, also demonstrates that any action for workers demands in the period now opening has a political outlet and will inevitably further isolate a government whose social base is continuing to erode. To demand the lifting of all restrictions on the freedom of political prisoners by the government, * *the lifting of all bans imposed on political organizations and groups, "and "the halt to all discrimination and witchhunt" means to fight for the conquests that the workers movement of Sri Lanka must win for itself in order to broaden the field of its attack against the government.