Nagalingam Shanmugathasan (, 1920 – 8 February 1993) was a trade unionist and

Maoist 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 ...

revolutionary leader in

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, ...

. He was the General Secretary of the

Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist) The Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist) (CCP(M)) is a political party in Sri Lanka. It emerged in 1964 following a split within the original Ceylon Communist Party (CCP). Initially, the breakaway faction also identified itself as the "Ceylon Communi ...

Early life and family

Shanmugathasan hailed from a family of modest means in the town of

Manipay Manipay or Maanippaai () is a town in the northern Jaffna District of Sri Lanka. The original name of Manipay is Periyapulam. It was a mission location when the American Ceylon Mission (ACM) came to Sri Lanka in the 19th century. Dr. Samuel Fisk ...

Jaffna District Jaffna District ( ''Yāḻppāṇam Māvaṭṭam''; ''yāpanaya distrikkaya'') is one of the 25 districts of Sri Lanka, the second level administrative division of the country. The district is administered by a District Secretariat headed by a ...

. He began studying history at 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 ...

in 1938, where he first came into contact with communist ideas and met supporters of the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

who had returned from studying at

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. In 1939 he and two fellow students were suspended, but soon reinstated, from the university for distributing anti-imperialist flyers after the outbreak of

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 ...

. Shanmugathasan gained notoriety among the students after this action and in 1940 won in the student election to become General Secretary of the University Union Society. The next year he was elected President of the Society. In the meantime, he was organising a group of Communists among the students that opposed both British imperialism and the Trotskyists of the

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 ...

. After graduating from 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 1943, Shanmugathasan joined the trade union movement, and became a full-time activist of the

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 ...

. He became the head of the Ceylon Trade Union Federation and led several strikes, including the general strike of 1947, the

Hartal Hartal () is a term in many Languages of India, Indian languages for a strike action that was first used during the Indian independence movement (also known as the nationalist movement) of the early 20th century. A hartal is a mass protest, often ...

(general strike) of 1953, and a transport strike in 1955. Shanmugathasan married with Parameswari, the widow wife of veteran Communist leader Hon. Pon Kandiah. Also Shanmugathasan adopted Hon. Pon Kandiah's daughter – Dr. Radha Thambirajah. She is a lecturer of

Acupuncture Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine and a component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in which thin needles are inserted into the body. Acupuncture is a pseudoscience; the theories and practices of TCM are not based on scientif ...

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Anti-Soviet and pro-Chinese stand

In the aftermath of the Soviet-Chinese split of the Communist movement, he and Premalal Kumarasiri were expelled from the

's Politburo in 1963 for pro-Mao views and they formed a new Party with the same name as Ceylon Communist Party. In 1964 he became the general secretary of the

Ceylon Communist Party (Peking Wing) The Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist) (CCP(M)) is a political party in Sri Lanka. It emerged in 1964 following a split within the original Ceylon Communist Party (CCP). Initially, the breakaway faction also identified itself as the "Ceylon Communis ...

(later CCP(Maoist)). He contested the 1965 general election as a Communist Party (Peking Wing) candidate, but was unsuccessful: he won only 0.5% of the vote.Radio Free Europe The party at its ninth Congress held in 1969 upheld Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought and the

Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a sociopolitical movement in the People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his death in 1976. Its stated ...

.Central Organizing Committee, Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist), 1993 Shanmugathasan visited China twice during the Cultural Revolution and was important enough to have addressed thousands of

Red Guards The Red Guards () were a mass, student-led, paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong in 1966 until their abolition in 1968, during the first phase of the Cultural Revolution, which he had instituted.Teiwes According to a ...

. After the formation of the

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

, which conducted armed struggle with the

Communist Party of India (Maoist) The Communist Party of India (Maoist) is a banned Marxist–Leninist-Maoist communist political party and militant organization in India which aims to overthrow the Republic of India through protracted people's war. It was founded on 21 S ...

as a part of the

Naxalite Insurgency 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 Eigh ...

, Shanmugathasan played the role of liaison between China and CPI(ML).Singh, Prakash. ''The Naxalite Movement in India''. New Delhi: Rupa & Co., 1999. p. 24. In 1971 Shanmugathasan was imprisoned for one year during a crackdown on revolutionaries following 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 ...

(''People's Liberation Front'') rebellion. Shanmugathasan was targeted by the government for his espousal of armed revolution for political change and for being identified as one of the political mentors of

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 ...

, the founding leader of the JVP. While detained in prison Shanmugathasan authored a book, ''A Marxist Looks at the History of Ceylon''. In 1973, Shanmugathasan's party was estimated by the

US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

to have approximately 500 to 800 cadre, and possessed "the ability to control the Ceylon Trade Union Federation and the Ceylon Plantation Workers' Union with a combined membership of some 110,000".

Anti-Chinese stand

In 1976, after the death of Mao Zedong and the defeat of the

Gang of Four The Gang of Four () was a Maoist political faction composed of four Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials. They came to prominence during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and were later charged with a series of treasonous crimes due to th ...

and the revolutionary pro-Mao forces in China, Shanmugathasan sided with the pro-Mao forces internationally. He played an important role in the foundation 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 ...

, which he hailed as a "milestone in the history of the international communist movement".''On the Death of Comrade Sanmugathasan – Statement by the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement''
15 February 1993 In 1991 he convened a conference of the Communist Party of Ceylon (Maoist) to promote new leadership and assure the longevity of the party.

Political mentor

Sri Lankan former President

Maithripala Sirisena Maithripala Yapa Sirisena (; ; born 3 September 1951) is a Sri Lankan politician who served as the seventh president of Sri Lanka from 9 January 2015 to 18 November 2019. Sirisena is Sri Lanka's first president from the North Central Province, S ...

commenced his political career under Shanmugathasan in the

. S. K. Senthivel the General Secretary of the New-Democratic Marxist-Leninist Party has started his full time political career under Shanmugathasan in 1964 and worked closely with him till 1978. In 1965,

learned from Shanmugathasan to lead the revolutionary faction of the

. Later he formed the

or JVP.

Stand on Tamil Nationalism

Shanmugathasan was one of few national level politicians of

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, form the plurality in the Eastern Province a ...

origin. He did not accept the Tamil Nationalism and the decision of the Tamils

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 ...

till 1983, when the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

broke out. After the anti-Tamil holocaust of July 1983 Shanmugathasan began publicly endorsing the

Tamil militant Sri Lankan Tamil militant groups rose to prominence in the 1970s to fight the state of Sri Lanka in order to create an independent Tamil Eelam in the north of Sri Lanka. They rose in response to the perception among minority Sri Lankan Tamils th ...

struggle for self-determination. In his 1989 political memoir, he stated:

Final days

His last public appearance was at the first press conference of the International Emergency Committee to Defend the Life of Dr

Abimael Guzmán Manuel Rubén Abimael Guzmán Reinoso (; 3 December 1934 − 11 September 2021), also known by his ''nom de guerre'' Chairman Gonzalo (), was a Peruvian Maoist guerrilla leader. He founded the organization Communist Party of Peru – Shining ...

in London. He died of natural causes on 8 February 1993 in England, where he had gone for medical treatment near the end of his life.

Works

This is a partial list of books and articles written by Shanmugathasan. * ''A Marxist Looks at the History of Ceylon'', 1974, Colombo: Sarasavi Printers * ''The Bright Red Banner of Mao Tse-tung Thought'', 1969, Colombo: Communist Party Publications, written to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China
excerpt from Chapter IV
* "Castro Joins Anti-China Chorus," ''Peking Review'', Vol. 9, No. 9, 25 February 1966

originally published in ''A World to Win'' magazine * ''How Can the Working Class Achieve Power? A Selection of Articles of Interest to the Working Class Movement'', 1963, Colombo: Worker Publications * ''The Lessons of the October Revolution'', 1964, Colombo: Workers' Pub. House * "N. Sanmugathasan on Indonesian Revolution," ''Peking Review'', Vol. 9, #37, 9 September 1966 * "Nurtured by Mao Tse-tung’s Thought, China Grows Young," ''Peking Review'', Vol. 9, #46, 11 November 1966 * ''Political Memoirs of an Unrepentant Communist'', 1989, Colombo
excerpts online
*

" ''Race & Class, A Journal for Black & Third World Liberation'', Volume XXVI, Summer 1984, No. 1: ''Sri Lanka: Racism and the Authoritarian State''
''Some Notes on Mao's Philosophy''
1986 *

" ''Peking Review'', Vol. 11, No. 43, 25 October 1968, pp. 22–23

References

External links

by M.N. Ravunni, Kerala Communist Party

statement by the Committee of the Revolutionary Internationalist Movement, 15 February 1993

by the Central Organizing Committee, Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist)
''Sanmugathasan, the Unrepentant Left and the Ethnic Crisis in Sri Lanka''
by Ravi Vaitheespara {{DEFAULTSORT:Shanmugathasan, Nagalingam 1920 births 1993 deaths Alumni of the Ceylon University College Anti-revisionists Maoists Sri Lankan communists Sri Lankan revolutionaries Tamil politicians Sri Lankan Tamil trade unionists Sri Lankan Tamil people