CEYLONESE TROTSKYISTS OPPOSE COALITION PLATFORM
Text_of Speech by Edmund Samarakkody
[whe following has been extracted from the July 15, 1964, issue of Hansard, the official uncorrected report of the proceedings of the Ceylonese House of Representatives, It deals principally with the remarks of Edmund Samarakkody, Secretary of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolutionary Section) and a Member of Parliament, during the debate ever the Throne Speech -- the declaration of the platform of the new coalition government in Ceylon, ]
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(Mr, Edmund Samarakkody) Mr. Deputy Chairman, I rise to make the second speech on behalf of my party, the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolutionary Section), a unit of the Fourth International, I have to thank the hon, Members of the Opposition and the Hon. Speaker for making it possible for my party to be rightly represented in the Front Benches of the Opposition, But, I think, I will be voicing the sentiments of most hon, Members of the Opposition when I say that we are not at all happy to find the hon, Member for Galle (Dr. W. Dahanayake), a former Prime Minister of this country, relegated to the backbenches of this House, I do not want to say anything more on that matter but I trust that sooner rather than later that position will be set right.
To come to the subject before the House, I am glad I was able to listen to many hon. Members of the Government Party including my good Friend and ex-comrade the hon. Member for Dehiwala-Mt, Lavinia (Dr. Colvin R, de Silva). Mr. Deputy Chairman, you know as a lawyer yourself that even the best, the most brilliant lawyer in the world, when he has a very bad case, does very little of what he. could do, We know from our experience that. such lawyers. in certain situations go before the ‘judge and Say, "My Lord, I have nothing to say on \ this matter .!
When the hon. Member for Dehiwala-Mt. Lavinia was speaking I thought he was ina similar situation. Here is a person, who is not . merely a good lawyer but one of the best speakers in this country, a brilliant orator not only in this country but, I think, in the East, and when he speaks sometimes it is possible for him to shake the very walls of this Chamber by his speech, It was to this person we were listening about half an hour ago. He is a giant of a man, What happened to him? This giant collapsed before our eyes.
He delivered a speech, What is the occasion of his speeoh? Is it an ordinary situation when an hon. Member gets up and makes a speech? No. Whatever may be the evaluation with regard to the change that has taken place we are in a new political situation. We are in a situation when two months ago the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, of which I am proud to be a Member -- and I am still a member because the party goes on ~- was in the Opposition, in the Front Benches of the Opposition. And today we find hon, Members of that party are on the other side of the House occupying Cabinet posts,
Surely, that is a situation which demands some sort of explana~ tion, and surely they could never have got a better advocate, a more. brilliant man to defend that action than the hon, Member for Dehiwala- Mt. Lavinia. But what did he say? He said that the question of a. Coalition Government was freely discussed, a democratic decision was arrived at, a section of his party broke away and that this situation arose as a result of a political situation that grew in this country, an economic impulse, He then went on to explain some of the things that this Government proposes to do in order to get hold of blackmarketeers, to reduce prices and so on, All that is well and good,
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In their own view this is the culmination of their struggle over the last thirty years, an achievement they can be proud: of, They tell the country that this is a tremendous achievement. If that was their position, the hon. Member for Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia should have defended it. As a result of what they have done there has been a party split, and I am today speaking on behalf of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party. (Revolutionary Section), a unit of the Fourth International, By and large, people are not interested in these matters, but they are matters of particular importance to those who were in the party. They have a duty to perform by their own party members who are still in the party. I am speaking not only to those who have crossed over but also to those who are still thinking about it.
(Mr. D.P.R.Gunawardena) But they are not thinking of the Fourth International now, .
. (Mr, Edmund Samarakkody) That may be, but there are those who are looking up to them while they are proclaiming their achievement as a grand finale in which socialism has been achieved. A certain amount of thinking is going on. One of the earliest things that they planned to do in this House was to curb discussion because they found they could not defend themselves with regard to what they had done,
When I listened to the speech of the hon, Member for Dehiwala-~ Mount Lavinia I thought to myself that these hon. Members have reached the end of a journey, and a picture flashed across my mind. I can look back 31 years to the time when we launched a movement. A revolu~ tionary party was formed, What sort of a party was it? It was a party that stood for the overthrow of the capitalist system, I have got with me the programme of action of the Lanka Sama Sama Party, It is entitled, "The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Ceylon section of the Fourth International, adopted at the unity conference, June 4, 1950," I do not want to take the time of the House in going over this programme, I see some of our Members, who are now on that side, smiling. These things mean nothing to them, The party which was formed stood for the overthrow of the capitalist class and the severance of the links with British imperialism,
(The Hon, F.R.Dias Bandaranaike) What is the hon, Member reading from? oo
(Mr, Edmund Samarakkody) The programme of action of the L.S.S.P. adopted on June 4, 1950.
(Me. D.P.R.Gunawardena) June 1950 was after our section left,
(Mer, Edmund Samarakkody) One section left but the other two sections remained. At page 4 of this programme it is said that: fundamental aims cannot be realized through bourgeois parliaments. Some of them are there with portfolios in the Front Benches of a bourgeois parliament.
Then, Sir, they also say, "This position cannot be realized by popular front governments, i it is all there, And surely the hon, Member for Dehiwala=-Mt. Lavinia (Dr, Colvin R. de Silva) and his friends and co-thinkers -are in duty bound to say what they have done.
Thirty. years ago we set out ona hard and aifficult road. IT could picture to my mind the difficulties we faced, the struggles that were carried on. We fought against the whole world as it were; we were ostracized, looked down upon, called mad fellows, mad men, people who were against religion, trying to destroy dagabas. We fought against capitalist reaction and came up against the powers that be: police baton charges, arrests, detentions, imprisonments, shootings, ,
(Me. D.P.R.Gunawardena) At Bulathkohupitiya and Homagama,
(Mr. Edmund Samarakkody) Yes, the Bulathkohupitiya and Homagama struggles -- a hard and difficult road, And in the dark days of the way, while some of us were in jail, young people still carried on this movement under tremendous odds, They did so in the hope and in the belief that they were ‘going forward some day to overthrow the oapitalist system,
Now, Sir, that road is over. There you see him, Sir| You see him a tired man -- gamane avasanaya. He is a picture of the end of the road -~ the hon. Member for Dehiwala~Mt. Lavinia!
(An hon. Member) He is quite fit. .
(Mr, Edmund Samarakkody) Yes, he has started on another road,
(Mr. Roy Rajapakse-Hakmana) On the correct road, You are still there. He has gone ahead,
(Mr. Deputy Chairman of Committees) Order, please!
(Me. Edmund Samarakkody) Mr. Deputy Chairman, there is this new situation. How is it that we find this party now on the other side, in the seats of power, shall I say? Is it that they have captured power? No, Sir. It is not necessary to go into this question because if they had captured power we would have seen a popular revolution in this country. There was no revolution between March and June. But we have had some discussions, visits to "Temple Trees and somebody!s bungalow, and also cricket matches at Nuwara Eliya. That is not revolution, | oo
(Mr. D.P.R.Gunawardena) Yousaid “somebody's bungalow." Whose “bungalow?
(Mr, Edmund Samarakkody) Perhaps you will know,
(Mr. D.P.R.Gunawardena) I do not know.
(Mr, Edmund Samarakkody) I have not been there, so I.cannoé:. answer that question, oo
(Me. D.P.ReGunawardena) Why does he want to know whose bunga= low it is?
- (Mr, Edmund Samarakkody) It is not necessary for me to take up the time of this House talking of these matters. The whole country knows that notwithstanding the coalition between these two parties the position is that the Sri Lanka Freedom Party remains true to their positions, their principles, the so-called Bandaranaike principles, The two parties are following the road of ‘sustaining capitalism in this country.
(Mr. Roy Rajapakse) No, No!
_ (Me. Edmund Samarakkody) And of course there are the ten points of the ex~revolutionists and the four points of the Non. Prime Minister, Significantly, the hon. Member for Dehiwala-Mt. Lavinia talked about the fourteen points. He talked about the four points, That is.curiously the crux of the matter, Within the four points, you find a rightful place for Buddhism; the language problem, acocept~ ing it on the basis of Sinhala only; citizenship on the basis of citizenship laws which they themselves condemned; -=-
(Mir, Roy Rajapakse) -Are you against those?
(Mr, ‘Edmund Samarakkody ) Hold your peace; I will tell you, . Lastly, a no-contest past with the Prime. Minister,
This is not the time nor the place ~- nor is necessary ~-- to discuss the place of religion, to discuss the merits of religion. But we know, Sir, that the worst exploiters, the biggest exploiting organizations, did their exploitation in the name of religion. We know the history of imperialism. When the imperialists went out to dominate the world, they. went in the name of Christianity. The mis~sionaries went first and the guns and the ‘cannon came behind, That is the manner in which class oppression has taken place over the cen= turies,
It has nothing to do with the merits or demerits of religion. There have been good religious teachers who have done great service to humanity; but the ruling classes have over the years utilized religion, with the imperialists, to maintain and spread capitalism,
. What did they say when we as the members of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party set out to organize the workers and the people of this country? Their cry was, "Save Buddhism from the flames of Marxism} Save Christianity from the flames of Marxism" . 7
Now, Sir, member s of a revolutionary party are following that same path when they decided to maintain capitalism and capitalist
exploitation in this country. They are now treading’ the same road that was trodden by the rulers, Shoe ae 2 veces
(Mr. Roy Rajapakse) It has been a bloodless revolution,
(Mr, Edmund Samarakkody) This morning the police batoncharged the Velona strikers, I have not the fullest information with me,. but that is the news,
. (Mrs, Vivienne Goonewardene) We are all ashamed of the police,
(Me, Edmund Samarakkody) The people of this country, the work= ers and the peasants, who put their faith in socialist parties, including the L.S.S.P., found that the leaders of this party, the L.S.S.P., were members of a Cabinet of the S.L.F.P.Government,
It is perhaps natural that in the minds of some the first feeling should be one of satisfaction and happiness at the thought that our own comrades with whom we have been associated in carrying on the fight for the last thirty years are now in the seats of power, There is also the hope: “Surely we will get something."' That is perhaps the natural reaction in some minds to what has happened,
A somewhat similar situation existed in Russia in 1917, the year of the revolution, We all know, everybody knows, that the Tsarist regime was overthrown and a provisional government was set vi up, a bourgeois government was set up, This bourgeois government functioned under tremendous strain: and in a situation when the mass movement was growing before their very eyes, the bourgeoisie, the capitalist class, found that their only chance of survival was to link up with the leaders of the socialist parties, So they held out the hand of co-operation; they called for co-operation from the left forces.
The Bolshevik Party led by Lenin denounced the idea of any co-operation or coalition. His party categorically stated: "This is a device to fool the people, to weaken the working class movement and finally to control the movement," But the Mensheviks joined the Coalition government.
There was a similar situation here, The Government faced a crisis. The Government could not move forward as the leading members of the Government were threatening to resign, That was the situation and in that situation when the Menshevik Party and the Socialist Revolutionary Party decided to accept not four portfolios but six, there was a great deal of satisfaction and happiness among the people. They said, "If it is good to have one Kerensky, let us have many more of them," just as much as the people say such things today. If one Philip Gunawardena was there in 1956, it is much better to have many more, That looks like common sense, but, unfortunately, common sense is not always the best guide in complicated situations,
(Mr. D.P.R.Gunawardena) Two and a half months more for October,
(Mr. Edmund Samarakkody) Yes. What happened to these socialists? These socialists had a part to play; they were called upon to join the Government. For whose sake? For their sake and for the sake of the Government, just as-much as the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Govern~ ment have called upon the progressive forces to join her Government.
(Mr. Roy Rajapakse) For the sake of the people.
(Mr, Edmund Samarakkody) Yes, for the sake of the people! In a similar situation.these socialists took office, and what did they > do? They started white-washing the Government, and they are also doing colour-washing, ‘The red that was painted in 1956-.became a little muddy, began to pale , -and now they will start. painting it purple. The socialist Ministers in 1917 started promising lavishly to the people; they said they would take away 100 per cent of the profits of the capitalists, . :
We find the Hon, Minister of Communications, Mr, Anil ‘Moonesinghe, saying that he will cut the necks of the capitalists. Similarly, statements were made that .100 per cent of the profits of the capitalists would be taken over, What happens? To make a long story short, the baqurgeois revolution took place under what conditions? There. were four coalition governments formed between March and October 1917 and the bourgeois revolution took place in the situation which arose after they had overthrown the fourth coalition government, Socialism in Russia was not a fact until they had overthrown the last: coalition government. Let hon, Members remember that,
(Mr. Roy Rajapakse) You can do that here.
(Mr, Edmund Samarakkody) The time will soon come, Now, coalition governments come into being under certain historical situations brought about by the relations of class forces, when the capitalist class cannot rule or maintain its rule in. the normal way, particularly because the working class, the toiling masses and their organizations, have reached a high level’ of class consciousness, In such a situation it is not possible to use the army and the police, and coalition government is the only solution,
To remind hon, Members, may I read a passage from Leon Trotsky on the first coalition in Russia:
"From the crisis created by the April rehearsal of future events we have threé outcomes theoretically " --
These people here talk of three outcomes. There also, there were three outcomes that were possible, ow
"The power might have gone wholly to the Bourgeoisie, That _ could have been achieved only through civil war, Miliukov made -the..
- attempt but failed" --
They also have their Miliukovs += — a ‘tthe power should have gone wholly to the Soviets, the working ckass. This could have been achieved without any civil war ," says — Trotsky, “merely by raising of hands, merely by wishing it."
That was-in Soviet Russia in 1917,
"But the compromisers did not want to wish it and the masses still preserved their full faith in the compromisers although it was badly cracked. Thus both of the fundamental ways out, the bourgeois and the proletarian, were closed, There remained the third possibility, the confused, weak-hearted, cowardly, half-road of compromise, The name of that road is coalition."
It is not as if these people do not know these things, Can they say, “We are innocent, we did not know these things?"
Of course, I will not blame the Minister of Finance. How can I blame him for forgetting his Marxism? He is like the Bourbons of old who learnt no Marxism and forgot no Marxism! I do not think he will be offended. But can we say with regard to the hon. Member for Dehiwala-Mt, Lavinia (Dr. Colvin R. de Silva), the hon, Member for Panadura (Mr. Leslie Goonewardene) and the hon, Second Member for Colombo South (Mr. Bernard Soysa), “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do?"
They have written books, they have written pamphlets and they have taught the party.
(Mr, Roy Rajapakse) But conditions in Ceylon are quite different to those in Russia,
(Mr. Edmund.Samarakkody) Hold your peace,
I have got with me a very good booklet. Leslie Goonewardene!s picture is there, It is good to see him, The book is, “The Differences between Trotskyism and Stalinism," oe
(Mr. D.P.R.Gunawardena) He is still on this side.
(Mr. Edmund Samarakkody) He has still _not yet the courage to go. He had a seat allocated to him there -- [Interruption].
. (Dr, Colvin R. de Silva) That is not true and he knows it --+ [Interru tion]. I-do not mind his telling lies about me but not about Leslie, ,
(Mr, Edmund Samarakkody) In this book by Mr, Leslie Goonewardene -~ inoidentally it has an introduction by Dr. Colvin R,. de Silva --
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he has got a chapter discussing the politics of the Communist Party, the Stalinists, pinpointing the fact that they have betrayed the work~ ing class by Linking up with the so-called progressive capitalists, Mr. Leslie Goonewardene has got a ‘chapter, "Why do they mislead?" I would like to entitle: it, "Why have they betrayed." He has got ‘the answer, Iwill give ‘him his answer from his own book.
_ Of, Roy Rajapakse ) What year? _
(ur. ‘Edmund Samar adcody) If 1 give the year, it makes no aittoronce to yous
> (Mee “Roy Rajapakse ) Views change ‘from year to year,
(ie. Edmund Semaralikody) “This is the. answer.
"Tt is not an answor merély to say they ‘receive financial assistance from Moscow. The real and fundamental reason is that these people are not revolutionists who have faith/in, the capacity of the masses to achieve. victory by their. own efforts. to” .
Now, that is the reason why” they have potrayods, I say in the words of Mr. Leslie Goonéewardene — me .
"The real and fundamental : reason is that these people are not revolutionists. ...
The Coalition Government is a culmination. It did not fall from the skies, Although by and large people ask: “How did this _ happen so suddenly?" I say that it did not take place suddenly. . Over the years we who were within the movement were’.able to see it; we saw this coming. I do not want to BO into the dim past. Maybe all of us are to blame. — OO
In 1956 when Mr, Bandaranaike formed a Government with the | M.E.P., the L.S.S.P. was in the Opposition, But the. confusion within the party cane out very sharply because the party attitude to the. Government was. defined as "responsive co-operation." The following.. year the hon. Member for Kottawa and I wanted the party. to aocept the position that. this attitude was wrong.: I do not want to go into: — : details, but that year -+ 1957 -- was the crucial year
Then came 1960, After the March elections in that year the disease that had grown over the years manifested in a big way. When you are weak in body the illness comes out, What happened then? The party leader -- today the Minister of Finance -- stated boldly and categortoally what he has stated today. He wanted a Coalition Government, I have got with me a.document which he circulated in the party. It is a very important document. In this he outlines his case’ for a Coalition Government quite frankly. He started by saying:
"Ce eyion is unique in the history of the ‘revolutionary move
ment, . .." . He stated that there was no question of a revolution in this . country, He said: "The Ceylonese. workers, except for a small min--. ority of militant and class conscious elements are overwhelmingly... petty-bourgeois. . ..
He states that an extra~-Parliamentary obruge7e is ruled out and that the only alternative is to Link up with S.F.L.eP. He says:
"Conoretely the party will have ‘to ‘take the following steps. First of all enter into a no=contest pact to fight the forthcoming elections, -In the campaign itself declare our readiness to support the formation of an S.L.F.P. Government. This must not be hedged about with conditions otherwise we will weaken the forces ready to rally round an alternative government.
"Secondly, steps must be taken to bring about a programmatic agreement with the S.L.F.P. with a view to forming a joint government. The pre-election resistance through fear of the disadvantages of a Marxist-S,L.F.P. alliance will no longer obtain after the election, We will not get most of what we stand for, but a broad progressive programme should be possible, e.g., -~-
This is what he wanted; that is all that he wanted,
" .~- (a) nationalization of life insurance, but not all, (b) control of banks, but not nationalization, (c) government import of all essential commodities, but not all imports and exports, (d) a ceiling on incomes, etc,"
The hon. Members for Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia, Panadura and Second Colombo South, what did they do? They denounced this position as being all wrong. Yes, they said that, but their actions today are different, This is the position that he’ was ready to accept, The present position is nothing more, nor less than that position -- the so-called 14~point programme, That is why I say that the greatest theoretiocian of the party, the brilliant orator, not only in this country, but in the entire East, the world famous orator, could not, in the speech that he made, make an apologia for this Coalition Government. He cannot, he dare not,
(An hon. Member) Table that.
(Me. Edmund Samarakkody) Of course, I will table this. As I was saying this situation did not fall from the skies. After all, we would have had a Coalition Government in 1960 but for the fact that the S.L.F.P. was returned with a sweeping majority and they did not sec, therefore, the need to take that step. But what happened? The S.L.F.P. came into power in 1960, What did the L.S.S.P. do? We sent a letter asking for permission to attend meetings of the Government
Parliamentary Group. There was a motion sponsored by the hon, Member for Gampaha, but the S.L.F.P. said: “No, we do not want you," Why? The need had not yet arisen. They are not fools; the S.L.F.P. are not fools, -- [ Interruption. ] Who said so? I have never said so, «- [interruption.] There are, of course, people who said that, but I had never accepted that,
What happened then? The L.5.5.P. started its critical support; the critical part of it became less and the support part became more and more. But that could not be done, because the mass situation changed, As a result of the rising prices, the first Budget and the second Budget, the masses were moving away. Though it was impossible to give support openly, yet the support part was there very much, Of course, the Opposition was anti-Felix, I remember an article tnat was written by the Hon. Minister of Finance where he called it the "anti- Felix Budget" or something like that, He was against a number of Ministers; of course, against individuals, but not against the party.
Then the working-class struggles took place, Strikes started and when strikes take place leaders have to go there, That was an embarrassing situation, The position became much more embarrassing as time went on because the mass situation was going in favour of the working=class movement. Whenever there was an escape situation they rushed into it. There was the coup situation when the Government was in danger, Once again they went to save the Government. But unfortunately the situation was going from bad to worse, Towards the end of 1963, the situation was very difficult to handle.
Then came the other fraud perpetrated on this country and the working-class movement with due respect to my Friend the hon, Member for Kottawa, They said, "We have now to replace the S.L,F.P. Government; the left forces must get together and form a united front to overthrow the S.L.F.P.Government and the capitalist forces of reaction," They started with that talk and the hon, Member for Dehiwala~ Mt. Lavinia came to the politbureau of the party, of which I was a member, His position was that the united front we should form should include the L.S.S.P., the Communist Party, the M,E.P., the C,W.C., the D.W.C. and the working-class organizations in order to overthrow this Government and the forces of capitalist reaction, That was the picture he painted to our party.
Having painted that picture, when it came to the question of forming the United Left Front the C.W.C., the D.W.C. and the workingclass organizations were omitted, The aims of the United Left Front have been very clearly stated in the agreement. Vested interests in this country were alarmed that the left forces were getting ready to overthrow them and the Government, and even the Government got alarmed at it.
This is the aim of the United Left Front. I am reading from the agreement, You will find the hon, Member for Avissawella, the hon, Member for Akuressa, the hon, Member for Yatiyantota who is now
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the Minister of Finance, all on the front page, According to this ~ dooument one of the aims of the United Left Front is as follows:
"Jn aocordance with the needs of this situation and in response to this mass urge, the Ceylon Communist Party, the Lanka Sama Samaja - Party and the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna have agreed:to form a United: Left Front in order to mobilize and lead all anti-imperialist, antifeudal and socialist forces in Ceylon in the fight to establish a government that will give effect to the following general programme,"
There was to be no fight against the S.L.F.P. Government and against the capitalist class,
Shortly ofter that I prepared a small dooument, “Whither the L.S.SeP. -~ the implications of the United Left Front." This docu-~ ment is known to hon, Members who have now crossed over, We warned = . the party as best we could that the aim behind this move was a final-’ coalition with the S.L.F.P. Government,
(Mr, D.P.R.Gunawardena) No, you are wrong!
(Mr. D.P.ReGunawardene) That is what you did, You started it first, You say "No," .
(Me, Edmund Samarakkody) With all due respect to the hon, Member for Avissawella, I must say that that was the aim and they have realized it, It may be that the entire U.L.F. is not on that side, That was the aim but things did not turn out as planned, Unfortunately for them, events moved faster than they expected; other~ wise, the situation would have been different. They had thought of. implementing this programme after the next General Election, If this Government had come to an end in the normal course and a General Election had taken place, the L.S.S.P. would have entered into oa nocontest pact with the S.L.F.P. and the result would have been a Coalition Government, Unfortunately for them, events took a different turn, and today the betrayal is much clearer. I say that that is why the hon, Member for Dehiwala-Mount Lavinia has not been able to decide to take a seat in the Front Bench, to accept a ministry. He knows that the exposure of this betrayal is possible in a big way. Of course, there are large sections of the working class and many people in this country who do not understand this betrayal. That was so in Russia in 1917 when Kerensky and the coalitionists went over in their numbers, They thought it was a good thing. It was later that they understood that “ooalition" was another word for “betrayal.” Anyway, that was
The motivation for the coalition was very simple. We know that just before the Prorogation the Government was not sure of its posi~ tion in Parliament. The working-class situation had been deteriora=ting from the previous year and there were disputes and differences that existed between the various trade-union organizations, A fair degree of unity had been forced around the twenty-one demands, and at
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Ceylinco House the representatives of the organized. working olass, — numbering about two million workers of this country, decided to launch a struggle for the twenty-one demands, That was the situation,
(Mr. Deputy-Chairman of Committees) Order, please! Mr, Speaker will now take the Chair.
(Mr, Edmund Samarakkody) I was discussing the motivation for the coalition, Before the working class had even planned out a sourse of action, by November or December strike action was resorted to ina big way in the Port of Colombo.led by the Ceylon Mercantile Union, 13,000 workers came out on strike in December and January, and despite the efforts of the Government the organized working class was able to achieve a real victory. The wage freeze was broken by the strikers in the harbour, and a major victory was won,
. The next phase would have been a very serious one for the Government and the capitalist class, I. am not saying that a revolution would have taken place and that a socialist government would have been placed in power, What I say is that it was a threatening situation. The Hen, Prime Minister, of course, viewed the situation with alarm, I think the capitalist class of this country, including the U.N.P., understand that in the Prime Minister they have a conscious leader of the capitalist class, That is reflected in the amendment moved by the U,N.P. On behalf of that class the Prime Minister con» sciously did the correct thing. She discussed the situation. A linkup with the U.N,.P. would not have obtained for her the support of the working class, She knew that.. There is no point in linking up with the United National Party to get the working-class support, To control the working olasses you must get the support. of the L.S.5.P., the Communist Party, and the M.E.P. This is what Sirimavo Bandaranaike did, and in the situation Barkis was willing, there was no difficulty,
Over the years that situation grew. In 1960 when the Cabinet was formed, they were denied admittance, but they kept on persisting. So in that situation, so far as the capitalist classes are concerned, this was the motivation and she has succeeded temporarily through the assistance of these people who have betrayed the working-class movement and the toiling people of this country, though for the moment, in putting an obstacle before the growing mass struggle of this country,
There were 21 demands. Yes, but there was another demand which pushed aside the class struggle, and instead of the class struggle there is class collaboration!
(Mr. D.P.R.Gunawardena) There in the Treasury box!
(Mr. Edmund Samarakkody) Of course, in that situation they cannot control the situation forever, Very soon, no even now as we are debating, the class struggle has broken out in Velona. Their | police are harassing the workers and baton charging them, Their © police have come to the service of the capitalist class! They are
very acceptable, Sir!
The earliest statement madd by the Hon. Minister of Finance to the working class of this country was to ask them to work, He said: "JT want. work, Everyone should come to work at 9 a.m, I want an eighthour dayt" What have the capitalist class and the employers been saying all these days? “We want an eight-hour day!" Yes, what Sirimavo Bandaranaike could not say through her mouth, they have got the working-class leaders, the traitors, the renegades to say it, That is the situation, He can say "work hard" and he can go to work by 9 olclock in the morning because he has got a car, while hundreds of workers have to talk ten miles, board three buses and walk another ten miles to get to their places of work,
(Mr. Speaker) Please wind up in three minutes.
(Mr. Edmund Samarakkody) They have done their dirty work, Now, this is the situation we are faced with, For the present, there is the expectation and the hope that something will arise out of this coalition, The organized working class is watching, is waiting. But the situation is fast developing when the struggle will be the order of the day, and it will be the duty of the revolutionists in this situation to regroup themselves and regroup the militant elements in the working class, keep the fire of the class struggle burning round the 21 Demands of the working class, link up this struggle with the struggle of the peasants, of the rural masses, in this country, and go forward, In this situation, the L.S.S.P. (Revolutionary Section), united with the Fourth International will bend ail its energies to rally round itself all the revolutionary elements -- [Interruption] - ‘and go forward in the struggle for the achievement of socialism in this country,
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The Testament! ‘of Palmiro ‘Togliatti." Pierre Frank
analyzes one of the most important documents in the Sino-
i Soviet dispute -- the right-wing platform of Khrushchev'ts
; main adherents in Western Europe.
Imprimerie: 21 rue d'tAboukir, Paris 2 (impr imé par les soins de Directeur-Gérant: Pierre FRANK. 1l'éditenr).