Leslie Goonewardene

Though in adulthood Goonewardene did not have any religious beliefs, as a boy he was influenced by the ideas of John Wesley.[13] The Methodists were reputed for their contribution in the campaigns to abolish slavery and to make education more accessible,[14] and in the Temperance Movement.[15] Goonewardene's family were prominent figures of the Methodist Church of Ceylon, and his father was a lay preacher and treasurer of the Home Mission Fund.[5]

The consecration of the Panadura Wesleyan Chapel, funded by Goonewardene's grandfather, Mathes Swaris Rodrigo Goonewardene on 6 March 1861.

The "Panadura debate" (පානදුරාවාදය) was the final debate defending Buddhism against the arguments of the Christian missionaries. The cause for the debate arose when Rev. David de Silva, at the request of Goonewardene's grandfather, Mathes Swaris Rodrigo Goonewardene, delivered a sermon on the soul at the Wesleyan Chapel in Panadura on 12 June 1873. Mathes had funded and helped build the chapel. The Buddhist orator Gunananda Thera delivered a sermon a week later criticizing the points raised by de Silva.[16] Following Thera's sermon, Mathes Swaris invited the respective parties for a debate, one that served as a pivotal moment in Sinhalese history.[17] Both parties signed an agreement on 24 July 1873 to hold another debate at Panadura.[18] The debate was held on 24 and 26 August 1873 with a wide array of philosophical topics.[19] The impact of the debate was phenomenal, both locally and internationally. Locally, it was the principal factor behind reviving the identity and pride of Sinhala Buddhists.[20] Internationally, it was instrumental in raising awareness of Buddhism in the West.[21]

Leslie as a young adult

Goonewardene met Vivienne Goonatilleka, who was the niece of two of the leading leftist politicians in Ceylon, at a political meeting.[26][27] Her uncle Philip Gunawardena was the "Father of Socialism" in Ceylon, and another uncle, Robert Gunawardena, was a prominent Sri Lankan politician and diplomat.[28] Vivienne's father, Don Alanson Goonatilleka, was a pro-monarchy conservative who believed in the continuous British governing of Ceylon.[26] Vivienne was educated at Musaeus College in Ceylon and was initially drawn to politics through the Suriya-Mal Movement in 1933, when nationalist anti-imperialists initiated the sale of the native Suriya (Portia tree) flowers as an alternative to the British colonial-symbolizing poppies.[29][30] The movement had the bold slogan of "against slavery and poverty and for freedom and prosperity". As head girl she recruited her entire school to this cause.[31]

The two intended to wed, but Vivienne's father was against the relationship because Goonewardene was a Christian, from the minority Karava caste and a revolutionary under surveillance.[32] She was kept a virtual prisoner at home, and Goonewardene was forced to file a habeas corpus writ, a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court, to get her released.[33]

During the legal battle, they were notably represented by their attorney, the future President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayewardene.[34] The couple were married on 30 January 1939.[23]

Goonewardene as General Secretary of the LSSP

Goonewardene returned to Ceylon from Britain in 1933 and helped found the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) on 18 December 1935.[35] It was created with the broad aims of independence from British rule and socialism by a group of young people who had gathered together for that purpose.[36] The group at the commencement numbered six, composed principally of students who had, like Goonewardene, returned from abroad, influenced deeply by the ideas of Karl Marx and Lenin.[37] Goonewardene founded the LSSP alongside N.M. Perera and Colvin R. de Silva, as well as Philip Gunawardena and Robert Gunawardena. Goonewardene was the LSSP's first General-Secretary and served in that role from 1935 to 1977.[38] The party, with the aid of the South Colombo Youth League, initiated various strikes with the aim to disrupt. One such took place at the Wellawatte Spinning and Weaving Mills.[39] Goonewardene also published a Sinhala-language journal, Kamkaruwa (The Worker), allowing the party to become involved in the 1933 Suriya-Mal Movement, whose aim was to generate financial support for indigenous (Ceylonese) veterans through the sale of native Suriya flowers.[40] The Suriya-Mal Movement gained international coverage, propelled by the fact that Poppy Day-raised funds went solely to British ex-servicemen, despite the funds being raised abroad.[41] The Suriya-Mal Movement also helped contribute to the poor and needy during the 1934–1935 Ceylonese malaria epidemic, which took a toll on poorer communities.[42]

With the outbreak of the Second World War, the party was re-established underground, a necessity due to its vocal anti-war stance, opposing that of the British war effort.[43] Members of the party, including two State Council members, as well as others in its leadership—including N.M. Perera, Philip Gunawardena and Colvin R. de Silva—were arrested and jailed, but Goonewardene evaded arrest and went underground.[44]

Bolshevik–Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma

Though Philip Gunawardena, N.M. Perera, Edmund Samarakkody, and Colvin R. de Silva were detained in Ceylon, Goonewardene and his wife Vivienne were able to escape to India, but Goonewardene's properties were seized.[44][45] They settled in Calcutta and established networks with the local Trotskyist organisations, including that of the Uttar Pradesh Trotskyist group, as well as groups in Bombay and Madras.[46] Through discussion, the Indian and Ceylonese Trotskyists led by Goonewardene established a preliminary committee for the formation of the Bolshevik–Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma (BLPI for short).[47]

The discussions for this took place through underground meetings in Kandy in December 1940 and March 1941 and set the stage for a sole Trotskyist party for India.[48] An underground conference was held on 20 April 1941, attended by 42 delegates.[49] Goonewardene, whilst evading the colonial authorities, led the conference at which the Lanka Sama Samaja Party conceived a new constitution and manifesto, both of which were accepted by the delegates.[50] The meetings in 1940 and 1941 were also attended by the other detained LSSP leaders, who had been aided by their imprisoner; the imprisoner later helped them escape their prison on 7 April 1942.[51] The BLPI was formed in May 1942 and was approved by the Fourth International.[52] Through this, the now-public BLPI, fronted by Goonewardene, S.C.C. Anthonipillai, Robert Gunawardena, William de Silva, and V. Karalasingham, focused on continuing strike waves that had begun in May 1941. These continued through 1942 and 1944.[53]

Initially, during World War II, the Goonewardene-led BLPI remained relatively small—a large contrast to the high expectations of a subcontinent-wide political revolutionary party. Whilst the BLPI's full name, the Bolshevik–Leninist Party of India, Ceylon and Burma, suggests that it also represented Burma, there was arguably no party representation there.[54] The BLPI, however, found later success, launching Spark, its party publication issued in the party's base of Calcutta.[55] Due to political suppression, the publication was moved to Bombay and its name was changed to New Spark.[56] They published Trotsky's open letter to the Indian workers and other pieces. Leslie Goonewardene was a key contributor to the party publications, writing under the pseudonym, K. Tilak.[57] During the remainder of World War II, the BLPI was able to influence the trade union and student movements in several cities. Significant membership was recorded among tramway workers, as well as workers of the Buckingham and Carnatic Mills.[58]

Quit India procession in Bangalore

From April 1942, Goonewardene primarily focused his efforts on the Quit India Movement, a movement with the demand to end the British Rule of India.[59] He remained uncaptured throughout the war years both in Ceylon and India.[23] In 1953, Goonewardene also sheltered Jeanne Hoban from the authorities when she was threatened with deportation for organising plantation workers unions.[60] Following the Quit India Movement, hope was rife among the South-Asian socialist leaders. Goonewardene, under the pseudonym K. Tilak, wrote that the "young Bolshevik-Leninist Party ... now faces its first real chance for expansion ... The situation is changing and without doubt, of all of the parties and political groups in India, the BLPI is the one which is going to gain the most in this change."[61]

Towards the end of World War II the LSSP split into two: a LSSP faction led by N.M. Perera and Philip Gunawardena; and the Bolshevik Samasamaja Party (BSP), the Ceylonese arm of the BLPI, led by Goonewardene, Colvin R. de Silva, Edmund Samarakkody, and Bernard Soysa.[44] The BSP and LSSP merged in 1950.[62]

Following the end of the war, the LSSP's proscription ended, and Leslie was able to return to Ceylon to work further on the independence movement. The Lanka Sama Samaja Party led Sri Lankan independence movement succeeded when, on 4 February 1948, Ceylon was granted independence as the Dominion of Ceylon.[63] Dominion status within the British Commonwealth was retained for the next 24 years until 22 May 1972, when it became a republic and was renamed the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.[64]

Goonewardene stood as the LSSP's candidate for Colombo North at the 1952 parliamentary election but was defeated by the United National Party candidate Cyril E. S. Perera.[65] He stood as the LSSP's candidate for Panadura at the 1956 parliamentary election. He won the election and entered Parliament.[66] He was re-elected at the March 1960, July 1960, 1965 and 1970 parliamentary elections.[67]

After the 1970 election, at which the United Front (UF) won a landslide victory, the workers at the Ceylon Transport Board spontaneously established workers' committees and took over the running of the institution.[116] This period began the most successful years of the CTB as an institution.[117] For the last two of the five years that Goonewardene was there, the CTB ran at a profit, whilst providing a service that was never previously or subsequently matched.[118] In addition to his role in the management of the Employees' Councils, a council of which the workers' committees were transformed into after being properly constituted, commuter organisations were included in an advisory role.[119] The services were expanded and measures were taken to improve efficiency, including rationalising bus types. The CTB started buying buses from Isuzu to offset any cartelisation by Tata and Ashok Leyland, the main suppliers, and also purchased Ikarus buses from Hungary.[120][121] Several new bus stands and bus depots were established. A modern, multi-storied bus station was planned at the Central Bus Station, complete with hotel and cinema, but was never completed.[122] Goonewardene also took measures to build up local industry, and the CTB became well equipped with foundries and workshops: the central workshop at Werahera became the largest in South Asia.[123] The local modification of ticket machines was started after employees pointed out many unsuitable features and other employees were found tampering with the machines; a new workshop was acquired for this scheme of modification.[124] In 1974 he started the assembly of bus chassis, and prototypes of a locally manufactured bus and a car rolled out of Werahera.[125] In the 1971 Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) insurrection, members of the CTB formed a 2,000-strong paramilitary body, the Hansa Regiment, from the employees of the CTB to guard bus depots, bus stops, and workshops. They also formed CANTAB, a secret intelligence organisation, the agents of whom were employees of the CTB, which provided accurate reports of the strength and distribution of JVP units.[126]

At the time of Goonewardene's entry into office, most of the railways were developed during the British colonial period, with the first line (from Colombo to Kandy) opened on 26 April 1867.[127] The railway had been introduced as an economical means of transporting goods produced on the tea, rubber, and coconut plantations to the main port in Colombo.[128] After the 1950s the Sri Lankan economy became focused on industry rather than plantation agriculture.[129] During Goonewardene's time in office, the road network grew exponentially to ensure easy transition to an industrialising nation; with the introduction of lorries, a faster means of transporting goods, the amount of goods transported by rail declined.[130]

The rail served as a major challenge for Goonewardene. Its network was more focused on plantation areas than on population and service centres, and the move to industrialisation meant that the railways generated large losses.[131] To counteract this, Goonewardene extended the coastal line from Puttalam to Aruvakalu in 1974 to serve the cement factory there.[132]

In February 1971, India withdrew landing and overflying rights of Pakistani planes after the hijacking and later blowing up of an Indian plane at Lahore.[133] Sri Lanka, under Goonewardene, granted Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) the aforementioned rights at the request of the Pakistani government.[134] During the months of March and April, PIA planes made over 140 refuelling landings in Katunaye International Airport.[135] In March 1971, the Pakistani Air Force had 16 eastbound and 15 westbound military aircraft touch down.[136] These were of major significance as there were serious strains in relationship between East and West Pakistan at the time.[137] Goonewardene insisted that the flights only took place when the Awmi League leader, Mujibur Rahman, was involved in negotiations with the government of Pakistan, emphasising that there were "practically no flights other than scheduled flights" from March through September, and denied that the Government of Sri Lanka was complicit in helping the transport of troops from West Pakistan to East Pakistan.[138][139]

Fissures appeared in the United Front coalition, largely resulting from the LSSP's continued influence on trade unions and threats of strike actions throughout 1974 and 1975. When newly confiscated estates were placed under the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, controlled by the LSSP, fears that they would unionise plantation workers led Prime Minister Bandaranaike to oust them from the government coalition.[140] On 2 September 1975 all LSSP ministers in the government, including Goonewardene, were dismissed, and the United Front was dismantled.[141] He was finally defeated in the 1977 parliamentary election by United National Party candidate Dr Neville Fernando in the Panadura electorate.