{"id":113429,"date":"2021-04-11T23:01:53","date_gmt":"2021-04-12T05:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=113429"},"modified":"2021-04-12T15:58:16","modified_gmt":"2021-04-12T22:58:16","slug":"the-general-election-of-1956-part-5f","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/04\/11\/the-general-election-of-1956-part-5f\/","title":{"rendered":"THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1956 Part 5F"},"content":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Philip was\nuniversally considered a man of high principles, honesty and integrity.  He\nwas very austere in his ways. DB Dhanapala recalled that he found him a mild kind of man who liked to listen to you with as\nlittle comment as possible.  Everyone who knew him remarked, that   in\nprivate he was a very gentle soul, on the political platform he was a fury.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was a\nstormy figure passionately committed to socialist political ideas, blunt and\nforceful, said Meegama. <\/em>He\nhad an angry demeanor on platform and attacked opponents headlong without\nniceties.  He was too straightforward\nand too impatient to have time for niceties. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip\nwas one of those rare politicians who   \nwere willing to praise his opponents. He would continue a programme of work begun by an opponent\nif it was good for the country, said Meegama. He had a high\nrespect for the competent and hardworking professional, as he had only the most\nvirulent scorn for the charlatan and the time saver said Sarath Amunugama. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip didn\u2019t\nmove in the   elite society of Colombo,\nwhose loyalty to the British he despised. Colombo and the English speaking\nintelligentsia, in their turn, have never had much affection for Philip .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip fell\nin love with Kusuma Amarasinghe, from Tangalle, who had attended the political\nclasses which were conducted by the LSSP. They married in 1939 and attesting\nwitnesses were Colvin R de Silva and Susanta de Fonseka.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was a family man said Meegama. He led an unostentatious family\nlife. The Gunawardenas laid great emphasis on family and treated their wives\nwith great respect, said a daughter- in- law in a newspaper interview some\nyears ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip\nwas a voracious reader. Any little spare time from public affairs he used for reading and\nstudy. Philip was a great reader and books fascinated him. In London he would\nfrequently visit the bookshops in Dillons, Charing Cross road, where he would\nbrowse for long hours.   When he visited\nin 1960 he attended the Shakespeare festival at Stratford, said Meegama.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was a\nwriter too. When he was in prison in the 1940s he had translated into Sinhala Lenin\u2019s\nState and Revolution\u201d and got it published.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip also\nmade a study of the Seethawaka kingdom and its two kings Mayadunne and\nRajasinghe I.  He pointed out that the\nmemory of these lingered in folk poetry, festivals, religious practices and\nlitanies. For example at the Kabulumulla Pattini devale, there are ceremonies\ndedicated to Rajasinghe, whom the people deified as Rasin Deviyo and Ganegoda\nDeviyo. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then he wrote\nSitawaka Urumaya Philip said his preface to the book that he thought that the\nSitawaka period should be seen as a separate period in history. And those\nhistorians should look into this subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip died\nbefore he could finish the work. Ven. Horathapala Palitha prepared the manuscript\nfor publication. Sitawaka Urumaya was published by the Philip Gunawardena Commemorative\nSociety in 1973. (repr. 2008 and 2011). It is a valuable addition to the\nhistory of Sri Lanka. This is the only book I have read, which provides a\ndetailed study of the Sitawaka kingdom. It contains rare information and has\nvery useful maps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One cannot\nstudy the left wing politics of this country without examining the colorful\npolitical career of Philip who wanted to adjust and adapt Marxism to suit the political\nculture of the country, said Wiswa. A master of political initiative and strategy\nhe was quick to seize an opportunity or to create them, said Meegama.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He disagreed\nwith traditional Marxists who focused on the industrial proletariat. He\nrealized that it was necessary to go beyond the urban working class and ally\nwith other social formations in rural Sri Lanka. He was the one Marxist who saw the potential\nof the rural peasantry and he tried always to improve their lot said Wiswa\nWarnapala. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip never\nforgot the masses, though Politicians often forgot them once they won the\nelection said Garvin Karunaratne. In his public speeches  he always spoke of the well being of the\ncommon man, said Garvin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meegama says\nhis compassion for working people was evident at  all times. Philip\u2019s commitment to the\noppressed never wavered in his years as Minister. Philip was always conscious of the needs of\nthe peasants  and he realized that\nLeftist thinking had no relevance to  the\nagrarian sector.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was the\nfirst to realize the impracticality of the Left trying to go it alone. He\nrealized that a broad front was needed. His first attempt to form one in 1947\nwith SWRD failed.  In 1956 then there\ncame the grand alliance with SWRD and the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna. His VLSSP divorced itself from the\ninternational Marxist polemics and allied with non-Marxist parties like SLFP\nand Bhasha Peramuna to form the MEP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip was at\nhis best in the MEP government . Philip played a prominent role in the\nformulation of  MEP manifesto, said\nAnanda H Singaraweli. SWRD had fearless powerful ally in Philip Gunawardena.\nHe was later the backbone of the MEP, continued Meegama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the first\ntime a leader with a following among organized labor and an ambition to\ntransform Ceylon\u2019s economy according to Marxist prescriptions gained\nministerial powers, observed Nayani Melegoda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip was the driving force behind the 1956 government\nand its mainstay, said Meegama. Philip commented on\nthe absence of an overall plan with objectives for economy development, the\nlack of adequate statistics, lack of clear thinking and\nad hoc decisions. Philip observed that Forest\nDepartment was run by civil servants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the start\nthe coalition seemed impractical and unlikely combination. How would Philip and\nSWRD combine on a common progamme of development? said Bradman Weerakoon.They combined\nbeautifully. SWRD was never against Philip. He supported Philip in his\ninnovations. The right wing in his government forced SWRD to halt Philip\u2019s\nwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But DB\nDhanapala had a different take on the matter. Philip\nwas unconcerned as to the unending battle on his behalf that Bandaranaike has\non his hands, said Dhanapala in his book Among those present\u201d. Bandaranaike\nwas his only friend, sponsor and champion. Philip did nothing to help\nBandaranaike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 He made no effort to meet a single of his\ncolleges on a social level at Sravasti, cultivate them or make the slightest\nmove to win them over and lessen Bandaranaike troubles. He\nthought too much of himself and not enough of Bandaranaike and his awkward\nsituation. When\nhe left he also took five of Bandaranaike\u2019 MPs, concluded Dhanapala.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip\npolitical career was part and parcel of the political history of modern Sri\nLanka. His career pervaded the political landscape of Sri Lanka in a variety of\nways, said Wiswa.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was the\ndriving force behind the formation and spectacular growth of the LSSP, one of\nthe few Trotskyite parties in the world to ever achieve a mass following for a\nlong period of time. That alone would\nsecure his place in history. LSSP had  respect and standing.  It shaped the thinking of a generation, said\nMeegama.  LSSP propaganda and education\nhelped to lead the country into the 1956 government. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admirers of Philip Gunawardene\nfeel that Philip has not been given his due in political history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a need for a definitive\nbiography of Philip, which assesses his life and contribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wiswa Warnapala asked to review\nLakmali Gunawardena’s book on her mother Kusuma, took the opportunity to write\nabout Philip. Ananda Meegama asked to provide a forward for book containing\nPhilip speeches in State Council   took the opportunity to make a full review of\nPhilip\u2019s life and work, starting before State Council and ending long after\nState Council. Meegama\u2019s introduction was published in edited form in Island\n3.4.2010.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ralph Pieris\nconsidered Philip Gunawardena to be the outstanding personality of his time. In\na personal communication to me, Ralph made  \na lengthy,   positive, admiring,\nstatement about Philip\u2019s work. I am however unable to repeat what he said,\nbecause, sorry to say, I didn\u2019t listen very carefully. I can only recall two fragments,\nfirst that when Philip entered the assembly (Parliament?) everybody stood up\nincluding the head (PM?).  Second, that\neverybody agreed that Philip was the most hard working Minister of all time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Philip\ndied   in 1972 the government   did not send a representative to his funeral\nand nobody from the United Front spoke at the funeral, commented Meegama.  But the LSSP paid tribute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

NM said in\nhis tribute \u2018history will no doubt accord him his rightful place. In the years\nto come, when we are gone, a grateful Sri Lanka will remember him with pride\nand place him on the worthy pedestal due to him.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philip was\nthe father of scientific socialism in Ceylon. It is true that at the ultimate\nstage of his life he faltered and almost foreswore his own political origins,\nbut this cannot detract from the great contribution he made to the social\nmovement in Ceylon,  said NM.( continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS Philip was universally considered a man of high principles, honesty and integrity.  He was very austere in his ways. DB Dhanapala recalled that he found him a mild kind of man who liked to listen to you with as little comment as possible.  Everyone who knew him remarked, that   in private he was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kamalika-pieris"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113429"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113429\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}