{"id":113510,"date":"2021-04-14T16:43:37","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T23:43:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=113510"},"modified":"2021-04-14T16:43:37","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T23:43:37","slug":"the-general-election-of-1956-part-10d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/04\/14\/the-general-election-of-1956-part-10d\/","title":{"rendered":"THE GENERAL ELECTION OF 1956 Part 10D"},"content":{"rendered":"

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

The popular mood,\nafter the 1956   elections, was such that\neverything was to change, the way institutions were run and certainly the\npersons manning them. The popular mood was not just for language change, though\nthis had priority with an insistent lobby behind it, but it included a lot more,\nsaid Bradman Weerakoon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was\nespecially so on the cultural side where indigenous forms and practices were to   soon replace\nthe western modes of thought and habit which the Colombo elites had embraced. The\nbanning of horse racing and the consumption of liquor at public functions were\ntwo items in this new trend, Bradman noted. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 1950s the model of a good respected politician was that he\nbelonged to the westernized Ceylonese elite and behaved like an Englishman. He was an urban based trouser clad man\nof the English educated elite.  The\n1956   MPs came from the Sinhala speaking\nrural hinterland and from the lower urban classes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The westernised class was\nhorrified. The progressive class was not. When Upali Dias, son of Arthur V Dias,\na relative of my mother, was asked by my mother, \u2018but can these new MPs run\nParliament. Upali Dias replied firmly \u2018they will learn.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With 1956, the\npolitical life of the country, which hitherto remained dominated by the English\nspeaking elite, underwent a transformation, the immediate result of which was\nthe emergence of a new leadership <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier, the\nCCS men and their ministers came from the same social class and thought alike .1956\nchanged this. 1956 election brought to power a new political leadership whose\ncultural and social orientations were very different from the officers of\nthe  Ceylon Civil Service, who had to\nwork directly with them, said Wiswa Warnapala. The General election of 1956 brought\ntheir subordinates into Parliament. In Anuradhapura Sirimevan Godage, Office assistant\ncame forward for election, facing PB Bulankulame.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

M. S. Themis<\/strong>, a postal\npeon was elected to Parliament from Colombo Central at the 1956 General\nelection, with a narrow margin of 43 votes. Themis was the first worker to sit\nin Parliament. The Colombo society was much amused when a postal peon, M.S\nThemis, had been elected an MP, reported the media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

  M.S. Themis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Themis at the\nage of 18 was elected as the Vice President of the All Ceylon Post and\nTelecommunications Union and the following year he was elected its Secretary.\nHe also held the post of Joint Secretary of the All Ceylon Public Service Trade\nUnion Conference. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Themis showed\nrare integrity. When Philip Gunawardene left the MEP government, Themis resigned\nfrom the Sri Lanka Freedom Party and left the MEP government along with Philip.\nHe returned the allowances he had drawn as a Member of Parliament back to the\nnational coffers to be used for gratuity payments. He never returned to Parliament.\nHe started a stationery company, Royal Mailhouse Pvt. Ltd and became a\nsuccessful printer and publisher. Themis died in 2017.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The role of\nthe state changed in 1956.  The state now\ncame forward to play a direct role in the economic development of the country. The CWE increased its activities, and took over a large\npercentage of the import and export trade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

1956 was the Age of State monopoly, said Fiijk\u201d (\nN.E.Weerasooriya). More state corporations were formed in 1956-64 than in any\nother period in history. About 20 state industrial corporations were created,\nfor textiles, engineering, oils and fats, cement, chemicals, ceramics, small\nindustries, salt, industrial estates, mineral sands, paper, plywood, steel,\nleather, tyres and sugar plantations. The CTB was created in 1957, Ceylon Port\ncargo corporation in 1958. Followed in the 1960s by Ceylon Petroleum Corporation\n(1961) and Ceylon Insurance Corporation. (1964). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before 1956, industries\nwere set in Tamil majority areas. Cement Factory at Kankesanturai (est. 1950)\nParanthan Chemicals Corporation at Kilinochchi (est. 1954)   and Valaichchenai\npaper mill in Batticaloa district (1955.) Many of the   state corporations established after 1956\nwere in Sinhala majority areas and the recruitment from top to bottom was on\npolitical patronage, said Fiijk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\n1956 government like the governments before it, had links with the trade unions.\nThe MEP government was supported by trade union leaders like DA\nPiyadasa of All Ceylon Harbor Workers Union and DG William of the State\nEmployees Federation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

 They were \nuseful to the MEP government .When the right wing of the  MEP \norganized a demonstration in Colombo to oppose the guaranteed payment\nfor farmers, the demonstrators were met\nat Gordon Gardens,  by DA Piyadasa\u2019s\nunion, which was loyal to Philip. There was a free for all. The trade union gave\nthe marchers a beating, <\/em>recorded\nMeegama. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then the\nCeylon Harbor Workers Union went on strike and the authorities tried to\nnegotiate.The discussion got heated.  DA\nPiyadasa  <\/strong>had suddenly jumped up and slapped Vernon\nPeries, the Civil Service officer involved in the discussion, on the jaw. The\nCivil Service was furious. They insisted on  a case against Piyadasa. They were adamant.\n  Philip\nGunawardene who had connections with Piyadasa wanted the matter settled with an\napology. Civil Service declared that Piyadasa must be charged in courts.    MF de\nS Jayaratne, Permanent   Secretary to\nMinistry of  transport refused to budge\nand a case was filed against Piyadasa.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics\nof 1956 pointed out that the Age of the Common Man also was the Age of strikes.\nStatistics show that the strike age started in 1956 and continued up to 1964.  There \nwere strikes in the port, and in the nationalized transport services, also\nin estates and other establishments. \nFrom 1948-1955 there were on the average 55 estate strikes and 38\nothers, from 1956- 1964 there were on average 139 estate strikes and 66 others.\nThe total number  for 1948-1955 was  estates 436 and other 306. From 1956-1964 it\nwas estates 1255 and other 681.    ( Continued)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KAMALIKA PIERIS The popular mood, after the 1956   elections, was such that everything was to change, the way institutions were run and certainly the persons manning them. The popular mood was not just for language change, though this had priority with an insistent lobby behind it, but it included a lot more, said Bradman Weerakoon. […]<\/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-113510","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\/113510","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=113510"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113510\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113510"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113510"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113510"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}