The Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist) (CCP(M)) is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. It emerged in 1964 following a split within the original

Ceylon Communist Party The Communist Party of Sri Lanka (; ) is a communist party in Sri Lanka. In the 2004 legislative election, the party was part of the United People's Freedom Alliance that won 45.6% of the popular vote and 105 out of 225 seats. History The ...

(CCP). Initially, the breakaway faction also identified itself as the "Ceylon Communist Party," leading to its informal designation as the Ceylon Communist Party (Peking Wing) due to its ideological alignment with the

Communist Party of China The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

. By the late 1960s, the party had become one of the country's principal leftist political forces. Its founding leadership included Premalal Kumarasiri and N. Shanmugathasan.

History

1960s

Background

In June 1963, K. A. Subramaniam and D. B. Alwis signed an agreement with the

All-China Youth Federation The All-China Youth Federation (ACYF) is a people's organization that represents many youth groups in China, and is managed by the Communist Youth League of China. It was founded on 4 May 1949. Former paramount leaders and General Secretaries ...

on behalf of the Ceylon Federation of Communist and Progressive Youth Leagues, establishing cooperation between the two organisations. During their 1963 visit to the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

, they met Chen Yi, China's Vice Premier and Foreign Minister. from

CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...

report

Initial organising committee

On 17 November 1963, the party formed an organising committee comprising: * Premalal Kumarasiri * N. Sanmugathasan * D. N. Nadunge * D. K. D. Jinendrapala * Higgoda Dharmasena * K. Manickavasagar * N. L. Perera * K. Wimalapala * K. Kulaveerasingham * W. S. de Siriwardene * A. D. Charleshamy * Watson Fernando * W. A. Dharmadasa * S. M. Wickremasinghe * A. Jayasuriya * D. A. Gunasekera * Cyril Kulatunge * Victor Silva * K. A. Subramaniam * Susima * K. V. Krishnakutty * S. Janapriya * Kanti Abeyasekere * E. T. Moorthy * Dharmadasa Jayakoddy * H. G. A. de Silva * S. M. P. de Silva * H. M. P. Mohideen * D. M. J. Abeyagunewardene * O. A. Ramiah * D. B. Alwis * C. S. Manohar * S. Sivadasan * Samarasiri de Silva * P. Wijayatileke

Founding

The Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist) (CCP(M)) was formally established in 1964. Later that year, Premalal Kumarasiri, representing the CCP(M), welcomed

Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai ( zh, s=周恩来, p=Zhōu Ēnlái, w=Chou1 Ên1-lai2; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China from September 1954 unti ...

(the first

Premier of the People's Republic of China The premier of China, officially the Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, is the head of government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) and leader of the State Council. This post was established in 1911 near the e ...

) during Zhou's official visit to Sri Lanka.

Early years and first splits

In 1964,

Rohana Wijeweera Patabendi Don Jinadasa Nandasiri Wijeweera (; 14 July 1943 – 13 November 1989), better known as Rohana Wijeweera, was a Sri Lankan Marxist–Leninist political activist, revolutionary, and founder of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP; ). W ...

joined the CCP(M) as a functionary but grew disillusioned with the party's perceived lack of revolutionary zeal. On 14 May 1965, he founded the

Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP; , PLF) is a Marxist–Leninist political party in Sri Lanka. The party was formerly a revolutionary movement and was involved in two armed uprisings against the government of Sri Lanka: once in 1971 JVP ins ...

(JVP) after mobilising like-minded youth. Around the same time, the Peradiga Sulanga (Broad Wind) faction, led by Gamini Yapa, also split from the CCP(M). Later in 1965, W. A. Dharmadasa rejoined the original Ceylon Communist Party (CCP), having previously worked to expand the CCP(M)'s influence in Tamil-speaking regions.

Representation in Parliament

From 1965 to 1970,

S. D. Bandaranayake Samuel Dias Bandaranayake (1 December 1917 – 3 June 2014) was a Sri Lankan socialist politician and a member of Parliament of Sri Lanka, parliament representing Gampaha Electoral District (1947–1989), Gampaha. Early life and education Born ...

represented the CCP(M)'s views in Parliament. He vocally supported anti-caste struggles in northern Sri Lanka, visiting the region alongside N. Sanmugathasan and K. A. Subramaniam to express solidarity with marginalised communities. In 1966, Bandaranayake raised parliamentary questions about a banned protest procession against caste oppression in Chunnakam on 21 October 1966. The CCP(M) defied the police ban, leading to a violent crackdown in which numerous cadres sustained severe injuries. On 1 May 1969, S. D. Bandaranayake, D. K. D. Jinendrapala, and Watson Fernando were arrested in Colombo after the United National Party (UNP) government outlawed May Day rallies. Simultaneously, CCP(M) leaders in

Jaffna Jaffna (, ; , ) is the capital city of the Northern Province, Sri Lanka, Northern Province of Sri Lanka. It is the administrative headquarters of the Jaffna District located on a Jaffna Peninsula, peninsula of the same name. With a population o ...

, including K. A. Subramaniam (who required months of recuperation at N. Sanmugathasan's residence), were brutally assaulted by police. Bandaranayake later challenged these actions in Parliament.

1970s

In 1972, some cadres criticised party leader N. Shanmugathasan's opposition to the United Front (UF) government, arguing that the UF represented a "progressive force". While Shanmugathasan was abroad in Albania in April 1972, a group consisting of D. N. Nadunge, Watson Fernando, E. T. Moorthy, D. A. Gunasekara, and V.A. Kandasamy attempted to seize control of the party. This faction later regrouped and, at a meeting held on 12 November 1972, adopted the name Communist Party of Sri Lanka (Marxist-Leninist). They sought to align the Maoist movement more closely with the UF, although this group remained relatively minor in comparison to Shanmugathasan's Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist), which continued to receive strong support from

Samal De Silva Samal may refer to: Cultures * The Sama languages of the Sulu Archipelago * The ethnic groups that speak this language (including the Banguingui), see Sama-Bajau peoples People * Jayiram Samal, an Indian comic actor * Sámal Joensen-Mikines, a ...

, Kanti Abeyasekere, and K.A. Subramaniam. Following the death of

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

and the ascendancy of

Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...

in China, the party firmly denounced the new direction taken by the Chinese leadership. In 1978, under Shanmugathasan's leadership, the party issued a public statement defying the Central Committee’s decision by rejecting the

Three Worlds Theory The Three Worlds Theory ( zh, s=三个世界的理论, t=三個世界的理論, p=Sān gè Shìjiè de Lǐlùn), in the field of international relations, posits that the international system during the Cold War operated as three contradictory ...

and refusing to endorse the right to Tamil

self-determination Self-determination refers to a people's right to form its own political entity, and internal self-determination is the right to representative government with full suffrage. Self-determination is a cardinal principle in modern international la ...

. This stance resulted in a split, as proponents of Tamil self-determination and supporters of the Three Worlds Theory—including Samal De Silva, K. A. Subramaniam, S. K. Senthivel, and S. D. Bandaranayake—left the party and established a new political organisation, the Communist Party of Sri Lanka (Left).

1980s onwards

The party reorganised itself internationally among those who reaffirmed

Maoism Maoism, officially Mao Zedong Thought, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed while trying to realize a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic o ...

, becoming one of the signatories to the founding declaration of the

Revolutionary Internationalist Movement The Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM) was an international communist organization founded in France in March 1984 by 17 various Maoist organizations around the world. It sought to "struggle for the formation of a Communist Internati ...

. In 1991, a conference was held which reconstituted the party as the Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist). N. Shanmugathasan continued to lead the party until his death in 1993. Following Shanmugathasan's demise, Ajith Rupasinghe Surendra assumed leadership of the party. Under his guidance, the Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist) maintained its ideological stance and continued its political activities until his death in 2017.

International affiliations

The party maintained strong ties with China during the era of Mao Zedong. Following the onset of the Naxalite insurgency in India, the CCP supported the CPI (M-L) by serving as a liaison between the

Naxalites Naxalism is the communist ideology of the Naxalites or Naxals, a grouping of political and insurgent groups from India. It is influenced by Maoist political sentiment and ideology. Inspired by Maoism, Charu Majumdar wrote the Historic ...

and the Chinese leadership. Ajith Rupasinghe Surendra was affiliated with the pro-democracy factions involved in the

Nepalese Civil War The Nepalese Civil War was a protracted armed conflict that took place in the then Kingdom of Nepal from 1996 to 2006. It saw countrywide fighting between the Kingdom rulers and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), with the latter making ...

. The party was also a member of the now-defunct Revolutionary Internationalist Movement.

References

{{Authority control 1964 establishments in Ceylon Anti-revisionist organizations Communist parties in Sri Lanka

Defunct Maoist parties Maoism in Asia Maoist parties Political parties established in 1964