Lanka: Recomposition of the Workers Movement
Various events during recent weeks have reflected a deep modification of the political situation in Sri Lanka: the decomposition of the alliance between the Sri Lanka Freedom party (SLFP), the Lanka Sama Samaja party (LSSP -Ceylon Equal Society party), and the Communist party, which culminated in the CP's exit from the government; the end of the state of siege; the announcement of new legislative elections; the emergence of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP - People's Liberation Front) as a public and legal party (although it has split into two components); a split in the LSSP. Of course, these are not so much sudden profound changes as progressive manifestations of surreptitious changes which had occurred during preceding years and months but could not find open expression because of the state of siege and the restrictions on democratic rights. These changes primarily express the clear upturn and radicalization of workers struggles. The crisis of the traditional reformist left has been strikingly confirmed by its splintering and its declining ability to mobilize the masses around its projects. The "socialist united 16 front" proposed by the LSSP to the dissident "left" of the SLFP and the CP remains a plan for a "frontist" orientation toward a wing of the bourgeoisie. Nothing in the program of this front challenges the bourgeois nature of the state. The army is supposed to be "democratized" and workers militias are supposed to preserve "state security." On a question of such decisive importance as the defense of democratic rights, after the experience of the bloody repression of the JVP and the years of the state of siege, the LSSP contents itself with demanding not the abolition of the Public Security Act, but its application under parliamentary control (its "activation and operation ... will be brought under parliamentary control"). It is true that this program includes some radical demands for the nationalization of virtually all important enterprises and a development plan to eliminate rural unemployment. But how is the bourgeois state to preside over the abolition of capitalism? This remains a mystery. In addition, while the program demands "self-management" in vague terms,
it explains that for the moment enterprise management coun cils should be composed half of representatives of management and half of elected representatives of the workers, with an "impartial" president named by the state. This means that in practice all the verbiage about self-management sounds strikingly like the co-management called for by the German Social Democracy. Against all these equivocations and compromises, which clearly herald an orientation toward new participation in Below the text of the platform:
1. Abrogation of the bourgeois parliamentary constitution and establishment of a new constitution providing for the election of a democratic administration based upon councils freely elected and replaceable by the masses on a territorial, occupational, consumer or other appropriate social basis.
2. Equal rights, opportunities and social security for all sections of the population of Ceylon, without discrimination in any form on grounds of sex, race, caste, creed, language, citizenship, or otherwise.
3. No suppression or restriction of human and democratic rights, including the right to strike, or the political civil or religious liberties of the people.
4. Abolition of every form of oppression of or discrimination against women; provision for free abortion on demand; and provision of adequate maternity and childcare facilities, as well as other necessary social facilities to relieve women of the burden of domestic tasks such as cooking and laundering, so that they may participate in economic, political and social activity freely and on equal terms with men.
5. Citizenship rights for all workers of Indian origin and descendants of such workers living in Ceylon. 6. The Tamil language to be an official language, like the Sinhala language.
7. Full cultural freedom and freedom of artistic expression with provision of adequate facilities for artistic activ-
8. Release of all political prisoners.
9. Repeal of all repressive laws, including the Public Security Act and the Criminal Justice Commissions Act.
10. Abolition of the death penalty.
11. Full trade union and political rights for all categories of workers in state, private and co-operative establishments, and for members of the police and the armed forces.
12. Reinstatement with compensation of all persons victimized for trade union activity or for political reasons.
13. State take-over of all major capitalist enterprises without compensation and under workers' control; and establishment of workers' control in all state and public enterprises.
14. Continuity of employment on not less favourable terms and conditions and with full recognition of past services, for all workers in establishments or businesses taken over by the State.
15. Equal facilities for primary and secondary education the government along with bourgeois parties, our comrades of the Revolutionary Marxist party (RMP), Ceylonese section of the Fourth International, have, in alliance with the Ceylon Mercantile Union (CMU), issued a platform for the formation of an anticapitalist united front. This platform has been distributed on a broad scale. The first public meeting held after the lifting of the state of siege, a common meeting organized by the RMP and the CMU, was an enormous success, assembling 8,000 people in Hyde Park in Colombo on March 9. of all children, with equal opportunities for higher educa-
16. Complete freedom for students to participate in social or political activity, with the right of student organizations to participate in all administrative bodies dealing with education or with matters affecting the interests of students.
17. Democratic control of education by elected councils of teachers and students, within the framework of a national scheme of education.
18. Provision of work on proper terms and conditions of employment for all school-leavers of both sexes and the unemployed, or provision of suitable technical or vocational training, with a guarantee of employment thereafter, and provision of adequate maintenance for those undergoing training as well as for those who seek employment but are given no suitable jobs.
19. Confirmation in employment, with all the rights of regular workers, of all workers who have been employed for regular work on a casual or temporary basis in any establishment, whether directly or through private contractors, or so-called labour co-operative societies; and prohibition of employment of workers for regular work on a casual basis in any establishment in future.
20. Equal pay for equal work, and no discrimination between men and women in employment.
21. No termination of employment, except for just cause properly established.
22. No compulsory retirement of any worker below the age of 60 years.
23. Establishment by law of a five-day 40-hour week and prohibition of any work in excess except on an overtime basis and with the consent of the worker.
24. Minimum wages, based upon the cost of living, to be established in consultation with the trade unions, for all workers in public and private establishments, including those in co-operatives, with an increase of Rs. 2/50 per point rise in the Cost of Living Index.
25. Reduction of prices of all essential commodities and provision of food rations to provide adequate sustenance for all sections of the population.
26. Provision of suitable low-cost housing with adequate amenities for the working people, with separation of employment from residence for those resident in plantation areas by the establishment of settlements for them.
27. Land for the landless, and provision of adequate facilities for cultivation of the land, rearing livestock, and disposal of the produce.
28. Adequate old-age pensions and proper social provisions for the care of old people.