Anthony Theodoric Armand "Doric" de Souza (1914–1987) was a

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, ...

Trotskyist Trotskyism (, ) is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Russian revolutionary and intellectual Leon Trotsky along with some other members of the Left Opposition and the Fourth International. Trotsky described himself as an ...

politician, Senator, Professor of English and a brilliant Marxist theoretician.Doric de Souza, a hero unsung
/ref> Born to Goan journalist

Armand de Souza Armand de Souza (29 October 1874 – 17 May 1921) was a Ceylonese newspaper editor and democratic activist. Early life De Souza was born in Assagaum, Goa, to a Roman Catholic family belonging to the Saraswat Brahman community. He was the te ...

, who was the editor of the ''

Ceylon Morning Leader The ''Ceylon Morning Leader'' was an English language daily newspaper in Dominion of Ceylon, Ceylon. In 1907 the De Soysa family bought the proprietary rights of the defunct ''Ceylon Standard'' and started publishing the ''Ceylon Morning Leader'' ...

'' and a founding member of the

Ceylon National Congress The Ceylon National Congress ( Sinhala: ලංකා ජාතික කොන්ග්‍රසය ''Lanka Jathika Kongrasaya'') (CNC) was a political party in colonial-era Ceylon founded on 11 December 1919. It was founded during a period where ...

, Doric was educated at as a young child at St Bridgets Convent, and then at

St. Joseph's College, Colombo St. Joseph's College is a selective-entry Roman Catholic school in Sri Lanka. It was founded in 1896 by French Missionaries led by Rev. Father Christophe Ernest Bonjean. The college has over 4,000 enrolled students with a staff of over 450 as o ...

as well the

University College, Colombo Ceylon University College was a public university college in Ceylon. Established in 1921, it was Ceylon's first attempt at university education. The college didn't award degrees under its own name but prepared students to sit the University of Lo ...

where he graduated with a BA honours in English. After graduating he received a scholarship to the University of London and on his return was appointed as a lecturer in the English Department of the University College, Colombo. He was interested in the field of Linguistics - as well the phonetic transcriptions of speech in the English language. A member of the Trotskyist political party

Lanka Sama Samaja Party The Lanka Sama Samaja Party, often abbreviated as LSSP ( literally: Lanka Equal Society Party, Sinhala: ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය, Tamil: லங்கா சமசமாஜக் கட்சி), is a major Trotskyist po ...

, he became active in its underground work specially during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, when LSSP was banned for undermining the war effort. This was at a time when even Esmond Wickremesinghe was in the underground. He assisted

Colvin R de Silva Colvin Reginald de Silva (1907 – 27 February 1989; commonly known as Colvin R. de Silva) was a Sri Lankan Cabinet Minister of Plantation Industries and Constitutional Affairs, prominent member of parliament, Trotskyist leader and lawyer in ...

and N.M. Perera in breaking out of jail and smuggled them to India. On several trips to India he was arrested by the Indian Police. In 1946 he was elected to the

Colombo Municipal Council The Colombo Municipal Council is the municipal governing body of Colombo, the largest city and financial centre in Sri Lanka. It consists of a directly elected executive Mayor of Colombo, and elected 119 municipal councilors. The council was f ...

and held the seat till 1952 when he resigned to take up the post of Senior Lecturer in the English Department in

Peradeniya Peradeniya (; ) is a suburb of the city of Kandy, Sri Lanka with about 30,000 inhabitants. It is situated on the A1 main road, a few kilometres west of Kandy city centre. Peradeniya's name is derived from ''pera'' (guava) and ''deniya'' (a plain ...

at the

University of Ceylon The University of Ceylon was the only university in Sri Lanka (earlier Ceylon) from 1942 until 1972. It had several constituent campuses at various locations around Sri Lanka. The University of Ceylon Act No. 1 of 1972, replaced it with the Univ ...

. In 1957 elected to the Senate and served till 1969. That year he retired from the University of Ceylon and was appointed as Associated Professor of English of the

Vidyalankara University The University of Kelaniya (UoK; , ) is a public university in Sri Lanka. Just outside the municipal limits of Colombo, in the city of Kelaniya, the university has two major institutions and seven faculties. History The University of Kelaniya ...

in 1970 and remained there till 1982. He left academia to serve as

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

to the Minister of Plantation Industries and Constitutional Affairs under Minister Colvin R de Silva during the Bandaranaike regime. He married his student Violet, (1915- 2006) who also graduated from the University College in Colombo, and later completed her postgraduate work in librarianship in London, and served as the Associate Librarian at the Peradeniya University (1953- 1968) and the Head University Librarian at the University of Colombo from 1968 till 1977.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:de Souza Doric 1914 births 1987 deaths Members of the Senate of Ceylon Lanka Sama Samaja Party politicians Sinhalese people Sri Lankan academics Alumni of Saint Joseph's College, Colombo Alumni of the Ceylon University College Academic staff of the University of Ceylon Sri Lankan independence activists Prisoners and detainees of British Ceylon Members of the 3rd Parliament of Ceylon People from British Ceylon Sri Lankan people of Indian descent