TROTSKYISTS BATTLE AGAINST OPPORTUNISM IN CEYLONESE PARTY
The Left Wing of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party [Geylon Equal Society Party], Ceylonese Section of the Fourth International, fought a hard but losing battle at a special conference of the: organization June 6-7 against the opportunist proposal of N.M.Perera to accept an offer from Mrs, Sirimavo Bandaranaike, the Prime Minister, to enter a bourgeois coalition government,
After the defeat suffered by the Left Wing, Perera, together with Anil ot nadie and Cholmondeley Goonewardene, accepted posts in Mrs, Bandaranaike!s cabinet June 11,
Although Perera succeeded in winning a majority vote at the conference, his proposal had been previously rejected in the Central Committee by the narrow vote of 21 to 19,
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The United Secretariat of the Fourth International unanimously opposed the proposal to participate in a bourgeois coalition and leading spokesmen of the Trotskyist movement in many parts of the world likewise condemned the suggestion,
Perera disregarded these expressions of unqualified opposi~ tion, representing the view of the overwhelming majority of the world Trotskyist movement, He likewise broke the discipline of the movement,
After the vote had been registered at the conference, the. Left Wing walked out to protest the betrayal of Trotskyist principles, Taking the name Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolutionary Section), they announced that they would continue the revolutionary-socialist program on which the LSSP was founded,
Two of the founding members of the party, Dr. Colvin R. de Silva and Leslie Gunewardene, declined to accept the portfolios offered by Mrs. Bandaranaike, In the debate, however, they had favored a coalition that would have brought in the entire United Left Front of which the LSSP was the strongest component. They did not join in the protest walk-out.
It was suggested by C.P,de Silva, a. "prominent member of Mrs,. Bandaranaike!s cabinet and a right-wing leader of her Sri Lanka Freedom Party [Holy Ceylon Freedom Partyl, who opposed the coalition from the right, that Perera was engaging in "Marxist infiltration tactics," Perera told him not to be a simpleton and believe what he read in books lent him by the American Embassy,
The London Times also hastened to prevent any misunderstand ing by the American Embassy on the real meaning of Perera's move, In an editorial [June 12] entitled "Ceylonts New Coalition," the Times made it quite plain that so far as British imperialism is con= cerned, Perera is a welcome addition to the Ceylonese government, -The editorial is well worth quoting in full:
"The news from Ceylon almost suggests that MRS. BANDARANAIKE and DR. PERERA sat up through the night slapping down their cherished trump cards == Buddhism and banking; Sinhalese nationalism and Trotskyism -- in order to give this fretful island a new political deal at last. The bickering over this coalition had gone on for so long that the optimist had not much left to cling to, How will the new hand be played?
"Undoubtedly DR. PERERA'S part as the Trotskyist leader will be watched with most interest. After many years in opposition, this true product of the Laski school can apply his learning to Ceylonts economic problems, It is not only age and familiarity that have made him a respected figure in Ceylon's political life. He has shown himself before now an efficient and honest administrator as Mayor of Colombo, If he can bring that necessary but rare combina
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tion of qualities to his new role as finance minister -- even allow-~ ing for some lingering vagaries of doctrine ~= he will be doing Ceylon a service of which it is in desperate need,
"On MRS, BANDARANAIKE!S side the contract has been one of necessity. The Freedom Party she inherited from her late husband, with its mixture of nationalism and religious revivalism in a leftwing wrapping, never had a big following in the towns, but lately it has been losing ground in the countryside, Ceylon has been living in a miasma of hopeless irritation as strike succeeded strike, the relations between Tamils and Sinhalese grew more and more embittered, and all sense of authority and leadership ebbed away The new coalition will have to show some quick results if it is to recapture the lost. drive,"
It is, indeed, glaringly clear that the coalition is not at all like the one in which the Cuban revolutionaries engaged and which proved to be a passing episode as Castro and his team, heading the popular armed forces that had smashed the Batista regime, consolidated their power under the impulse of a mounting revolution and then brushed the bourgeois figures aside,
This is proved conclusively by the conditions which Perera agreed to swallow and by the fact that the cabinet of twelve was simply . widened to fifteen to make room for the former Trotskyists, Here is. how the June 12 London Times describes the deal:
- “Discussions went on all night on the evolution of a joint programme of work, The Trotskyites put forward a 10-point program= me, mainly on economic issues and including provision to control banks and agency houses and to break up newspaper monopolies,
"Mes, Bandaranaike added four more points: that Buddhism | should be given its rightful place; there should be no change in the language policy; the Indo=Ceylon problem should be settled by negotiation; and nomination of candidates at the next election should be entrusted to her,
"The specific mention of the religious and: language issues was made to placate chauvinistic elements in her own party who had expressed fears that Marxist Ministers would not attach any importance to them,"
The points on language and the Indo-Ceylon issue really in~ volve the rights of the minority Tamil people who seem to be the first target of the bourgeois coalition.
The formation of this coalition of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and three captives takes place against the background of an acute government crisis which had opened a promising opportunity for a workers and farmers government to come to power in Ceylon in the near future, This was clearly foreshadowed by the strong senti-
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ment for unity among the workers around a. socialist program and by © actions which they have undertaken, The formation of the United Left Front last year offered great possibilities along this line if properly developed, . Analysis of the situation shows that the weakness of Mrs, Bandanaraike!s government was realized by the political brains of the Ceylonese bourgeoisie and that the coalition offer was shrewdly designed to block the development of a situation favoring establishment of a workers and farmers government. The calculation was that the offer of cabinet posts would precipitate a crisis in the United Left Front, increase the possibility of splitting the revolutionary forces, and ~- if it succeeded -- associate prominent leaders of the workers with the discredit bound to fall on the government as it sought to solve its crisis at the expense of the workers and peas-= ants,
The world Trotskyist movement has long been concerned over the opportunistic parliamentarism displayed by the right wing of the LSSP, Public criticisms made of this tendency have, unfortunately, proved to be only too well founded.
The Bandaranaike-Perera coalition does not face a bright future. The immediate perspective still remains that of deepening crisis, Meanwhile fresh revolutionary tendencies have appeared in Ceylon as evidenced, among other things, by a split in the Communist party to the left some six months ago, The strong group of Trotskyist cadres who fought Perera's betrayal of revolutionary-socialist principles will find the opportunities not. lacking to recover from the defection of the Right Wing.
[In our next issue we hope to have a full report and analysis from Colombo on this situation,