Don Philip Rupasinghe Gunawardena (11 January 1901 – 26 March 1972) 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, ...

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

politician and leftist. A founder 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 ...

, the first political party in

Ceylon 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, ...

which was known for having introduced

Trotskyism 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 ...

, he later founded the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (along with William de Silva) and was called 'the Father of Socialism' and 'the Lion of Boralugoda'. A member of the

State Council of Ceylon The State Council of Ceylon was the unicameral legislature for Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), established in 1931 by the Donoughmore Constitution. The State Council gave universal adult franchise to the people of the colony for the first time. It ...

and the Parliament of Ceylon, he served as the Minister of Agriculture and food under S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike from 1956 to 1959 and as Minister of Industries and Fisheries in the national government under

Dudley Senanayake Dudley Shelton Senanayake (Sinhala language, Sinhala: ඩඩ්ලි ශෙල්ටන් සේනානායක: ; 19 June 1911 – 13 April 1973), was a Sri Lankan wikt:statesman, statesman who thrice served as Prime Minister of C ...

from 1965 to 1970.

Early life and family

Born Don Philip Rupasinghe Gunawardena on 11 January 1901 in the rural village of Boralugoda in the

Avissawella Avissawella (, ) is a township in Sri Lanka, governed by an Urban Council, situated on the A4 route from Colombo to Ratnapura, Colombo District, Western Province, Sri Lanka, approximately 40 km air distance and 48.1 km road distance fr ...

in the Hevagam Korale. His mother was Dona Liyanora Gunasekera from Dompe in the Siyana Korale. His father was Don Jakolis Rupasinghe Gunawardena, known as ''Boralugoda Ralahamy'' was a local landowner who served as the

village headman A village head, village headman or village chief is the community leader of a village or a small town. Usage Brunei In Brunei, village head is called or in the Malay language. It is an administrative post which leads the community of a ...

(Ralahamy) and Vidane Arachchi until he was imprisoned and sentenced to death under

martial law Martial law is the replacement of civilian government by military rule and the suspension of civilian legal processes for military powers. Martial law can continue for a specified amount of time, or indefinitely, and standard civil liberties ...

during the 1915 Sinhalese-Muslim riots, sentence was later reprieved by the Governor following a petition by his wife. He was the third child of a family of three boys and seven girls, which included

Robert Gunawardena Don Benjamin Rupasinghe Gunawardena (12 March 1904 - 26 December 1971: ), popularly as Robert Gunawardena, was a Sri Lankan Marxist politician and diplomat. He was one of the founders of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party, which was the first politica ...

and

Caroline Anthonypillai Caroline Anthonypillai (born Dona Caroline Rupasinghe Gunawardena; 8 October 1908 – 7 July 2009) was the wife of S. C. C. Anthonypillai, a Sri Lankan union organizer and Indian politician. An activist in her own right, she was eulogized as a "lea ...

who became leftist politicians. Vivienne Goonewardena was his niece.

Education

Having attended the local temple Boralugoda Temple and the village school Siddhartha Vidyalaya, Kaluaggala for his primary education, he attended the Prince of Wales' College, Moratuwa and Ananda College in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

for his secondary education. When studying at Ananda College, he was boarded at the house of T. B. Jayah. Having passed his London matriculation, he entered the University College, Colombo to study economics and soon joined the Ceylon National Congress, but was drawn towards the activities of the Young Lanka League.

Studies in the United States

His father wanted him to study in the United Kingdom and become a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

. Instead at the age of 21, he traveled to the United States where he studied economics at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, there he was radicalized and got caught up in the declining labor movement during the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

. Two years later, he moved to the more radical

University of Wisconsin–Madison The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...

, where he met

Jayaprakash Narayan Jayaprakash Narayan Srivastava (; 11 October 1902 – 8 October 1979), also known as JP and ''Lok Nayak'' (Hindi for "People's leader"), was an Indian politician, theorist and Indian independence activist, independence activist. He is mai ...

. The two were introduced by Avrom Landy to the Communist Party of the United States.Charles Wesley Ervin, ''Tomorrow is Ours:the Trotskyist Movement in India and Ceylon, 1935–48'', Colombo: Social Scientists Association, 2006 Woodward has recorded that Gunawardena received his training in Marxism from Scott Nearing (1883–1983). He completed

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

and

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degrees in agricultural economics. In 1925, he joined

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

for post-graduate doctoral studies.

Early political career in the United States and Europe

In 1927 Gunawardena joined the League Against Imperialism in New York, where he worked with

José Vasconcelos José Vasconcelos Calderón (28 February 1882 – 30 June 1959), called the "cultural " of the Mexican Revolution, was an important Mexicans, Mexican writer, philosopher, and politician. He is one of the most influential and controversial pers ...

of Mexico, gaining a working knowledge of Spanish. In 1929 he went to London, where he participated in mass agitations and anti-colonial movements, excelling as a brilliant orator, trade unionist, and political columnist.

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

and

Krishna Menon Vengalil Krishnan Krishna Menon (3 May 1896 – 6 October 1974) was an Indian academic, independence activist, politician, lawyer, and statesman. During his time, Menon contributed to the Indian independence movement and India's foreign r ...

of India, Jomo Kenyatta of Kenya,

Tan Malaka Ibrahim Simabua Datuak (posthumous) Sutan Malaka also known as Tan Malaka (2 June 1897 – 21 February 1949) was an Indonesian statesman, teacher, Marxism, Marxist, Philosophy, philosopher, founder of Struggle Union (Persatuan Perjuangan) and Murb ...

of Indonesia, and

Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (18 September 1900 – 15 December 1985), often referred to as Chacha "Uncle" Ramgoolam or SSR, was a Mauritian physician, politician, and wikt:statesman, statesman. He served as the island's only chief minister, first ...

of Mauritius were some of his contemporary colleagues who later played prominent roles in their respective countries. He joined the staff of the new '' Daily Worker'' and took over the Workers' Welfare League of India, an organisation founded by Shapurji Saklatvala. He later crossed the channel to Europe and worked alongside socialist groups in France and Germany.

'T-Group'

In the midst of the

Comintern The Communist International, abbreviated as Comintern and also known as the Third International, was a political international which existed from 1919 to 1943 and advocated world communism. Emerging from the collapse of the Second Internatio ...

's 'Left Turn', Gunawardena surreptitiously joined the Marxian Propaganda League of FA Ridley and Hansraj Aggarwala, who opposed the Stalinists' characterisation of the

Social Democratic Social democracy is a Social philosophy, social, Economic ideology, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports Democracy, political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achi ...

parties as social fascist. When Ridley and Aggarwala broke with

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky,; ; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky'' was a Russian revolutionary, Soviet politician, and political theorist. He was a key figure ...

, Gunawardena sided with the latter. In 1932 he travelled on the Orient Express to meet Trotsky at Prinkipo, but was stopped at

Sofia Sofia is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, largest city of Bulgaria. It is situated in the Sofia Valley at the foot of the Vitosha mountain, in the western part of the country. The city is built west of the Is ...

by police. At the British conference of the League Against Imperialism, in May 1932, Gunawardena introduced a counter-resolution on India against those moved by Harry Pollitt. As a result, 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 ...

expelled him for Trotskyism. However, he had gathered around him several like-minded Ceylonese, including N. M. Perera, Colvin R de Silva and Leslie Goonewardene. They came to be known as the 'T-Group' – later forming the nucleus of the Trotskyist faction of the

Scotland Yard Scotland Yard (officially New Scotland Yard) is the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police, the territorial police force responsible for policing Greater London's London boroughs, 32 boroughs. Its name derives from the location of the original ...

, under orders from the

India Office The India Office was a British government department in London established in 1858 to oversee the administration of the Provinces of India, through the British viceroy and other officials. The administered territories comprised most of the mo ...

, thwarted him from his aim of going to India to build a new Communist Party there. He set out for the continent, meeting members of the

Left Opposition The Left Opposition () was a faction within the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) from 1923 to 1927 headed '' de facto'' by Leon Trotsky. It was formed by Trotsky to mount a struggle against the perceived bureaucratic degeneration within th ...

in Paris. He then hiked over the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, where he had a rare opportunity to meet the

Trotskyists 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 a ...

of Spainwho were soon to undergo a

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 ...

. His passport was impounded by the British authorities and on the urging of D. B. Jayatilaka at the request of his father he was allowed to return to Ceylon.

Pre-war political career

Ceylonese colonial political

Soon after his return to Ceylon in November 1932, he plunged into active politics organising rural peasants, plantation workers and urban workers. He pioneered the founding of

(LSSP) in 1935. In 1936 he was elected to the

from his home town of

, defeating F. A. Obeysekera where he continued his struggle for the betterment of workers and peasants.

Opposition to the war effort and imprisonment

When

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 ...

brock out in the far east in 1941, the LSSP openly opposed to the British war effort and its members had to go underground. Philip Gunawardena was arrested and imprisoned due to his open opposition to the British war effort on the Governor's orders. On 5 April 1942, during the Japanese air raid on Colombo, LSSP leaders including Gunawardena were able to escape from prison. Going by the name Gurusamy, in July 1942 he escaped to India and participated in the independence struggle there. As a result his seat in the State Council made vacant in July 1942 and was filled by Bernard Jayasuriya in the by election that followed. In 1943 he was rearrested and detained in

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

, and after many months deported to Ceylon to where he was given a six month sentence for escaping and was imprisoned till the end of war.

Post-war political career

On his release in 1945, he resumed his political and trade union activities. The LSSP had split during the war and Gunawardena and N. M. Perera had formed the ''Workers' Opposition''. The reformed LSSP contested the 1947 general election and emerged as the main opposition party with 10 seats in the first Parliament. Gunawardena who contested from the Avissawella electorate defeating Bernard Jayasuriya was elected to Parliament. His brother

was also elected to parliament from the LSSP from Kotte. However, he soon lost his seat when he was convicted by the district court and sentenced to three months rigorous imprisonment for leading employees of the South Western Transport Company owned by Sir Cyril de Zoysa in a general strike in 1947. As a result of the conviction he lost his civic rights for seven years. In the by-election that followed, his wife Kusumasiri Gunawardena won the Avissawella seat.

Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party

A process of reunification was initiated between the LSSP and the Bolshevik Samasamaja Party (BSP) in 1950, which was opposed by Gunawardena as a result he left the LSSP and formed a new party, Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party (VLSSP) in 1951. The VLSSP entered into an electoral alliance with the Communist Party and contested the 1952 general election, in which his wife Kusumasiri Gunawardena was returned to parliament from Avissawella as the only candidate from the VLSSP to be elected.

Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Co-operatives

He led the Viplavakari Lanka Sama Samaja Party (VLSSP) since 1951 and as a constituent party formed the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP, Peoples' United Front) in 1956 under the leadership of S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike to form what it call the "first people's government" in 1956 general election. At that election, in 1956, he won the Avissawella seat with a large majority and was appointed as a key member of the Bandaranaike's cabinet as the Minister of Agriculture, Food, and Co-operatives. He is remembered as the architect of the ''Paddy Lands Act'' which brought relief to the tenant cultivator and spearheaded the Port and Bus nationalization, introduction of Multipurpose Co-operatives movement and establishing of the Co-operative Bank. At the 1959

May Day May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's March equinox, spring equinox and midsummer June solstice, solstice. Festivities ma ...

rally, Gunawardena claimed that the government was threatened by a conspiracy within and on 18 May 1959, Gunawardena resigned from his ministerial position with other VLSSP members citing differences with right wing factions of the Bandaranaike's cabinet. Bandaranaike was assassinated on 26 September 1959.

Mahajana Eksath Peramuna

In 1959, he reformed the VLSSP into the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP) which was a leftist in ideology, but was not Trotskyist. MEP contested the March 1960 general election winning ten parliamentary seats, however this number was reduced to three in the July 1960 general election. Gunawardena retained his seat in parliament on both occasions and later the MEP joined in with the LSSP and the Communist Party to form the United Left Front.

Minister of Industries and Fisheries

In 1964, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party government of Sirima Bandaranaike lost its majority in parliament after over its move to nationalize Lakehouse Newspapers and the defection of C. P. de Silva. In the election that followed in 1965, only Gunawardena was elected parliament from the MEP and he joined the national government led by

and was appointed as the Cabinet Minister of Industries and Fisheries and served till 1970. He established the Industrial Development Board, strengthened and expanded state industrial corporations and national private sector industries, and planned the development of the fisheries sector with the formation of the Fisheries Corporation. Soviet aid he developed the Tyre Corporations and Steel Corporation.

Last years

He lost his parliamentary seat in the 1970 general election to Bonnie Jayasuriya of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party. He started on a process of reorganizing the MEP before he fell ill, he died on 26 March 1972 at the age of 72 after a long illness. His seat was contested by his son Dinesh Gunawardena in the 1977 general election and lost to M. D. Premaratne from the United National Party. He finally entered parliament in 1983 from a by-election in Maharagama.

Personal life

Philip Gunawardena married Kusuma Amarasinha, in 1939, who later served as member of parliament from 1948 to 1960. They are parents to Indika Gunawardena former cabinet minister, Prasanna Gunawardena former mayor of Colombo, Lakmali Gunawardena state award winner of literature, Dinesh Gunawardena current

Prime Minister of Sri Lanka The prime minister of Sri Lanka, officially the prime minister of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is the most senior member of parliament in the cabinet of ministers. It is the second-most powerful position in Sri Lanka's exec ...

, and Gitanjana Gunawardena former minister. His niece was Vivienne Goonewardene, who married Leslie Goonewardene, another founder of the LSSP. His grandson Yadamini Gunawardena was appointed to parliament from the national list of the

Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance The Sri Lanka People's Freedom Alliance (Abbreviation, abbreviated SLPFA; ; ) was a political alliance led by the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna formed in 2019. Initially, the alliance consisted of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP), the Sri Lan ...

Notes

External links

Philip Gunawardena was a Great Politician
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gunawardena, Philip 1901 births 1972 deaths Agriculture ministers of Sri Lanka Columbia University alumni Alumni of Ananda College Alumni of Prince of Wales' College, Moratuwa Escapees from British Ceylon detention Industries ministers of Sri Lanka Lanka Sama Samaja Party politicians Mahajana Eksath Peramuna politicians Marxist journalists Members of the 1st Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 3rd Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 4th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 5th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 6th Parliament of Ceylon Members of the 2nd State Council of Ceylon People from British Ceylon Prisoners and detainees of British Ceylon Sri Lankan independence activists Sri Lankan journalists Sri Lankan politicians convicted of crimes Sri Lankan prisoners and detainees Sri Lankan socialists Sri Lankan trade unionists University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences alumni