Crush the Hands Suppressing the Freedom of Art and Expression!!
Statement of the Colombo Action Committee for People’s Struggles
Nathasha Ediri
Popular comedian Jayani Nathasha Edirisooriya was arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Sri Lanka Police at the Katunayake Airport last May 28 at midnight, following a complaint by the Commissioner of Buddhist Affairs, for one of her artworks. On the same day, she was brought before the Colombo Fort Magistrate and was imprisoned until June 7. Her imprisonment is part of an intensified program to set up state repression mechanisms against the class struggle, to suppress the freedom of artistic creation, imprison the working and oppressed masses in reaction, and reverse the driving forces against the old world.
A standup comedy artist, Nahtasha, is a young woman from Mount Lavinia, in Colombo. She has stayed in Australia for some time and worked as a nurse. Her creations bear witness to the fact that Nathasha has brought those life experiences into her art. In addition, she has engaged in educational programs against violence against women.
One part of a series of comedy skits by her titled “Modabhimana (Fool’s Pride)” was staged on April 1 at the auditorium of Bishop’s College, Colombo, the video of which was later circulated on YouTube. It is this creation that has drawn the ire of established Buddhist racists. One of the topics she brings up for discussion is the discrimination and cultural pressure women are facing in a patriarchal and de facto feudal society. The other aim of this creation is to show and protest against the enormous pressure women bring on children by comparing and condemning them to make their children competitive with other children. At one point in the comedy, she portraits the crisis of women and children who are victims of the ‘competition’ of today’s society as an artistic concept on stage with the following words:
“During the time of Buddha, in time of Prince Siddhartha, when Prince Siddhartha was a baby, there must have been a lot of pressure on children of his age (audience laughs). ‘See that Child of Suddhodana [Prince Siddhartha’s father]. He walked the very day he was born. For these guys, they can’t even keep their necks straight. That Suddhodana’s kid sang a poem on the very day he was born. Suddhodana’s lad has already decided what he is going to do when he grows up… And, our children? They are waiting for us to do everything for them. That child has lost his mother too! Our ones have both their parents. They have everything. They have all the luxuries. … That Devadatta [evil personality in Buddhist literature] must be the one who had been scolded most of the time… That’s why he overturned a stone (on Buddha) …”
Projecting contemporary parenting practices into the past, she poignantly and satirically outlines a social reality that this collision of current parents and children leads to the creation of Devadattas.
Nathasha also ridiculed the backward unscientific concept of ‘virginity’:
“Buddhist girls’ schools are the pinnacle of pan-religious harmony. Girls’ schools are virgin factories. Producing virgins is our biggest goal! The biggest task is to keep the children as virgins for most of their lives. Now those Muslim terrorists, when those guys explode and kill themselves, they say they get 72 virgins. A higher quota of which is supplied by the Buddhist girls’ schools…”
With her creations like the above, the audience laughs. They finally realize that they laughed at themselves. It is sensible art. Regardless of her politics, her art always highlights some aspect of social inequality and backwardness. Accordingly, in her creations, she has highlighted her understanding and acceptance that the gender has become a factor for treating women differently, and that separating children into male and female for the sake of “discipline and morality” is an anti-scientific and regressive idea.
In the video titled “Sulang Kapolle” released to express her personal opinion regarding the issues mentioned here, Nathasha stated that she believes that the ‘a great separation shouldn’t be maintained between men and women’. Suggesting that the man, being a man, should take care of the woman is “emotional blackmail,” she says. “Does a woman need to depend on another person to build human relationships? Sacrificing one’s (a male’s) own happiness and taking care of someone else … Is it happiness? Is it Love?” Nathasha questions. She further asks: “Is the male a kind of a rehabilitation program to protect the helpless female?”
She also challenges the common Sinhala term “දූෂනය” to refer raping, [the general meaning of this Sinhala word is ‘pollution’]. Through her art, our protagonist asks, ‘How can it be said that a woman is ‘polluted’ because a man has harassed her?’ What is really dirty?, she evokes reality.
“Should art be politically correct? Can you do it just for fun? Or, can’t you? Is it okay if it is only politically correct?” This is how her arguments are constructed. These are free ideas.
Following the complaints of the religious extremists led by the Buddhist Commissioner, she has been hunted, because holding free opinions, appearing for them and socializing them through artistic creations are challenging the existing social hegemony. Accusations of insulting Buddhism, destroying religious harmony and insulting girls’ colleges have been raised against her. Its aim is not only to trample on the freedom of art creation, speech and expression, but also to crush in the bud the feelings of equality that are generally burning in the oppressed people and the emancipatory feelings that arise from women themselves against the capitalist pressure placed on women.
Nathasha has been accused under the infamous International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act of 2007, depriving her bail from the lower court. She faces up to ten years in prison if convicted of the charges under this law.
The police reported to the court that 21,000 people had already watched it from the YouTube channel called SL VLOG. Alleging that it was an anti-religious hate speech and claiming that it could cause public unrest, they demanded that she be remanded in prison. The police further said that this is the first time that the Commissioner of Buddhist Affairs has submitted a complaint as this, and that she will be investigated with special care as she has been involved in the ‘Aragalaya’ [mass struggles of April-July 2022]. The magistrate rejected Natasha’s plea for bail. The following day, daily newspaper ‘Lankadeepa’ reported that the magistrate had asked, “is it correct to issue statements on religious matters in jest?”. According to this report, does it not imply that the magistrate has already decided without hearing the case that religious matters were used for fun?
The audience who experienced her live performance did not find in it any ‘anti-religious’ or other kind of ‘antisocial’ element. After two months of the performance, amongst the 21,000 people who watched the video within two days of publishing it, who got hurt? Those who got really hurt are the President Ranil Wickremesinghe, who the very next day ordered the establishment of a special police unit to investigate and act upon the groups that ‘disturb religious harmony’, his Commissioner for Buddhist Affairs, racist and fascist gangs including Buddhist fundamentalists and the other representatives of the ruling class.
Now they are the fanatics who are trying to incite a religious and social upheaval. A notorious enemy of the working people, Dilith Jayaweera’s Derana TV reported that, “During a comedy program held at a leading school yesterday, one Natasha Edirisuriya has made several insulting statements against Buddha and Buddhist culture.” It added that, “the statement contained not only insults but also obscene language, in which she also seriously criticized Buddhist women’s schools in public.” Jayaweera has not been able to differentiate the auditorium, which is reserved for public performances by paying money, from a school! References to ‘obscenity’ is a creation of conspirators. Not only that, Jayaweera’s channel, which often usurps the power to hear cases and judge suspects, convicts Natasha from the beginning, depriving her of the presumption of innocence.
During the same News telecast, ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) MP Jagath Kumara said, “There is no point in hearing a case about ‘this foolish woman’. She should be punished according to the laws of ancient kings and be impaled….” The news telecast spent a lot of time asserting that the April-July mass struggles of last year were not motivated by economic and political interests, but rather by anti-Buddhist tendencies.Former and current SLPP ministers, well known racists Channa Jayasumana, Namal Rajapaksa, Admiral Sarath Wijesekera, were presented as witnesses to assert this claim. Weerasekera called on the fascist gangs to be prepared, by saying that, in the event the law is not enforced and severe punishment is not imposed, “the public will take matters into their own hands”. Kavinda Jayawardene, a member of the main opposition party Samagi Jana Balawegya (SJB), declared that “these are organized crimes” and that Nathasha is the face of “bullies against the country”, showing their alignment with the government.
Now, where does the pseudo-left stand? FrontLine Socialist Party (FSP) Education Secretary Pubudu Jayagoda, while formulating his party’s opinion, said, “Buddhists have been hurt by this statement.” To the question raised by the establishment, “does an artist have no right to question whether a child walked at birth?”, he replied, “yes, there is a problem.” He denounced Nathasha’s creation because, “by questioning how a child was born to a virgin… created an unnecessary social problem and created a division between the forces,… creating a work-space for the crooks and the goons to work again.” Accordingly, the FSP claims that Nathasha is guilty not only of the government’s allegation of insulting religion, but also of opening up opportunities for crooks to work. When he talked about the ‘division between forces’, he was not referring to the two main classes standing against each other. It is precisely because of that fact that Jayagoda and the likes do not face reality and have to imagine a better shape of bankrupt capitalism.
But the roots of the problem lie at the very bottom of the crisis of world capitalism. That is why the governments of all countries have plunged into the path of counter-revolution and war to crush the democratic rights of the people. The United States calling for Assange’s blood, and Sri Lanka’s crisis-ridden governments imprisoning artists and social activists like Shaktika Satkumara, Ramsi Razeek, Ahnaf Jazeem, and others, have demonstrated the extreme hatred of these governments against freedom of expression. The Wickramasinghe government is taking it forward. Capitalist parliamentarism has no path but to crush the current popular awakening, which is a sharp challenge to class rule and ultimately to capitalist property relations. Now, the struggle for freedom must be directed at every step towards the abolition of this outdated class rule.
All artists must join the working class ranks in continuing a forceful campaign unto victory, for the immediate release of Nathasha and the withdrawal of the false charges against her.
Workers, rally the farmers, the oppressed and the youth and take the front of the fight! Crush the oppressing arm on art and freedom of expression! Put an end to the capitalist class pressure on women forever! Establish genuine democracy!
[This statement was originally published in Sinhalese on June 01, 2023]
“As long as the Marxist constantly seeks to influence the course of history, aligning his policy with larger historical processes, such efforts can achieve significant gains..” (David North, March 5, 1990)
The Socialist Equality Party (SEP), Sri Lanka, shrank, instead of growing, in the series of massive mass struggles of April-July last year (2022) and fostered disappointment among the most advanced sections of the international working class, precisely because of the long-time disregard for the Marxist practice that North points out above. Since at least 2015, the class struggle was growing markedly, but the bureaucracy worked to keep the party busy with its usual business of familiar activities. The party, which alone stood for the democratic rights of the Tamils and thereby the unity of the working class in the face of state repression and racist attacks during the 27-year-long war, appeared to have slipped to a position where the national question itself was considered to be over, after Rajapaksa’s victory in the war in 2009. It was in this political mindset that brutal acts against Minority ethnic groups such as forced cremation of Muslim dead bodies were tolerated.
The April 2022 struggles did not come about suddenly. From the Rs. 1000 wages movement of plantation workers in 2017 to April 2022, there was enough time to assess the experience and draw up a real programme and mark the place of the party in the struggle of the working class by affecting the historical course. The party leadership was not ready for it and it was delayed. The struggle that broke out suddenly on March 31 unfolded as planned on April 3. On April 5, the editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site (WSWS) wrote as follows:
“The Socialist Equality Party, the Sri Lankan section of the International Committee of the Fourth International, is fighting to rally the working class against the government and all the parties of the ruling class on the basis of a revolutionary socialist program.”
But, the party even kicked out the opportunity made available to it to intervene in the Galle Face Greens (GotaGoGama), the main symbolic site of the unfolding series of struggles, saying ‘we will not go without invitations’. It was not just an opportunity fallen from the sky. On the one hand, there was the glorious history of the party, and on the other hand, the groups with progressive interests in the struggle had started to realize that the struggle itself was going astray.
Referring to Action Committees, the statement said,“[a]s these committees grow and prove themselves in struggle, rallying ever wider sections of the urban and rural masses behind them, they will become organs of independent working-class political power, in opposition to the parliament and the repressive institutions of the capitalist elite.”
But, even then the party had fallen to the point of reluctance to engage in the class struggle. It was also not possible to direct to it the cadre who did not have the necessary revolutionary exposure due to the fact that the party had for a long time avoided working to influence the historical course. While verbally agreeing to the perspectives of the International Committee, the regime was not at least interested in having the essential serious discussions within the cadre, to grasp them.
These have serious historical reasons. In order to build itself as a mass party, the party must genuinely turn to assess the past experiences. The left faction of the party is determined to fight for that tirelessly.
The accompanying article here is a proposal, made by the left faction, with the emergence of the struggle in April 2022. Even the party members are reading it too for the first time. The leadership, which showed deadly hostility to these proposals, suspended the membership of Nandana Nanneththi twice. The membership of Comrade Sanjaya Jayasekara, former member of the Central Committee and a resolute fighter of the party, and Ananda Wakkambura, a founding member of the party, were suspended because of their decision to intervene in the people’s struggle with a revolutionary perspective, based on this understanding.
Later, comrades Nandana and Sanjaya were expelled and, thereafter, comrades Migara Malwatta and Amaratunga were also expelled for supporting the faction. The other members were prevented from discussing these issues in party locale meetings.
We appeal to the SEP comrades in particular, the entire working class, youth and progressive intellectuals to consider this letter with the seriousness it deserves.
***
Nandana Nannetti
o7. o4. 2021
Dear Comrade Wije,
In the wave of mass struggles that are spreading like wildfire across Sri Lanka, the questions of where our party stands, where it must be positioned, and how to achieve that, are now emerging sharply.
According to the perspective of the editorial board of the World Socialist Web Site, April 4, ” The events in Sri Lanka demand the closest attention of workers throughout the world. The mass protests will have a consequential impact on the future development of the international class struggle.” ((Massive social protests erupt in Sri Lanka: A critical development in the working class. Wsws.org)
In a response to our article dated 01 April, Comrade Dave wrote thus,” Sri Lanka working people must fight to take power.”
In the resolution adopted at the second national congress of SEP (US) in 2012, one year after the Egyptian revolution we wrote:
“It is not enough to predict the inevitability of revolutionary struggles and then await their unfolding. Such passivity has nothing in common with Marxism, which insists upon the unity of theoretically guided cognition and revolutionary practice…The victory of the socialist revolution requires the presence of a revolutionary party. The Socialist Equality Party must do everything it can to develop, prior to the outbreak of mass struggles, a significant political presence within the working class – above all, among its most advanced element.”
“Amid a renewed upsurge of the class struggle worldwide, this work must now be pursued with renewed energy. This is the task of the ICFI and its sections and sympathizing groups.” (Ten years since the beginning of the Egyptian revolution. WSWS)
The Cabinet ministers resigned, were re-appointed, withdrew again, was re-appointed, and 44 MPs left the government.
Yesterday, the police clashed verbally with an armed unit of the Motor Cycle Brigade who tried to come amidst the protestors surrounding the parliament; during this, the parliamentarians made their escape through the back door.
This afternoon the state of emergency, which had been in place for decades, had to be lifted. The public also surrounded the Katunayake airport to prevent the parliamentarians and ministers from fleeing. The ruling class laments that the struggle is extremely dangerous because it is being carried out without leadership of an organization.
In a speech in Parliament this afternoon, former Minister and Opposition MP Harin Fernando demanded that Gotabhaya step down and questioned, “Why has this happened to us? ” There must be someone to govern the country. otherwise, how are we going to be like this even for a month”. “It’s very sure that there will be an assault on the parliament within the next few days”, he lamented.
Such is the mental state of the ruling class. The people are taking steps towards the authority of decision-making and enforcement.
A campaign to get rid of all the 225 (parliamentarians) had been going on for some time. This campaign, which began with the display of stickers, took a few months to take shape before it broke into ‘Gota Go Home’. As we very correctly foresaw, this movement emerged out of the devastating effects of the economic, political, and social crisis exacerbated by the Corona epidemic.
During my contribution at the last months’ membership meeting held on 12-13, making use of the very limited few minutes I was allocated, I pointed out that the politics in the South Asian region are undergoing heated and rapid changes daily. I said that the ruling classes in the south Asia is driven by this unavoidable objective situation and that it would set off class struggles. Comrade Sanjaya and I explained, quoting the 1998 Party Statement, that the national Question will also be solved by only through the working-class taking power.
As all of us are basing ourselves on the 1988 perspective, that revealed the end of all nationalist organizations through the globalization of production and the internationalism that was acquired and defended from the 1985 split, I emphasized the need to resolve the disputes amongst us through discussion without treating them as crimes.
You and the Political Committee introduced my proposal as fraudulent and avoided discussing it, spending a whole day on individualist condemnation (ad hominem attacks) and slander, not on the responsibility for the class struggle in South Asia. You announced to the Membership Meeting, that you have decided not to take up for discussion the letters we referred to the Central Committee and the International Committee for discussion of political issues because they are shameful.
These pragmatic policies that continue within the party have seriously damaged our struggle in the present struggle. The Ambalangoda Local Council has not been convened for the whole of the past month. Work is getting done by notifications only.
I do not know whether my suggestion that the party should be prepared to deal with this situation was discussed at the PC meeting on Saturday, April 2, while the struggle was rolling forward passing us by. The wave of struggles had already erupted and a few days before that, an islandwide campaign had been organized to take place on the 3rd.
Comrade Ratnasiri said that we were not doing anything because this was a spontaneous and dangerous struggle. It was not possible to know the decision taken by the PC.
In the morning on the 3rd, several villagers came to Comrade Amaratunga’s house in Hikkaduwa and asked him what “we should do”. He was hesitant.
After he gave a general description, they went on to say, “You’re just talking. Doing nothing.” I confirmed my participation to those who came to me, but I was hesitant because the party had no plan.
The Local Secretary of Bandarawela told Comrade William, a member of Bandarawela local who lives hundreds of miles away close to Colombo, that ‘we are reaching hundreds of thousands of people through Facebook’.
As comrade Williams kept on insisting, he was told to print and distribute the party statement.
Meetings were held in some Locals on the 3rd. When Comrade Ivan spoke of participating in the campaign in the Kandy Local, he was attacked as displaying middle-class impatience.
Similarly, despite the island-wide campaign, the Chilaw Local Council was directed to work in the Katunayake Free Trade Zone as usual just as any other day, but was prevented by the curfew.
On the 4th, a group of fishermen came to Comrade Nihal’s house and asked him advise as to the slogans and the manner of participation in the agitations. Nihal spoke to Kapila the Local Secretary. Kapila instructed to see whether we could get an opportunity for addressing the gathering.
The children of Comrade Sunil of Ratmalana Local Council participated in the demonstrations mocking him “you all are talking and writing but no action”.
A longtime sympathizer of the party commented on Comrade Lasitha’s Facebook post and advised him to come off the balcony and come down to the ground (where things happen).
Comrade Kapila today (7) participated in the campaign with the teachers in Chilaw. It was an influential intervention.
Minor interventions made after some delays were unorganized and slip-shod. The slogans we displayed were even hard to read. That itself shows that we are still going about in the semi darkness about the growing revolutionary situation.
Meanwhile, the JVP, which has been branding the protests as dangerous because there is no organization behind it, is gradually creeping inside the agitation. Yesterday’s agitation in Maharagama was led by the Frontline Socialist Party. The real danger is now emerging, with the benefit of our delay.
Secretary of Defense Kamal Gunaratne, a former army commander, said a survey had revealed that there was a peaceful as well as violent group in the protest movement. People like the owners of PG Martins, a leather goods company, also campaigned for Gota’s expulsion. Gunaratne’s peaceful group is the bourgeoisie that lined up to oust Gota because of his failure to control the working class and maintain the nation state and the petty bourgeoisie that represented that need. The other group is the oppressed stratum that speaks of national unity against racial and religious divisions, including the youth, workers, and housewives. Gunaratne said the government would not hesitate to defeat violence.
Gunaratne’s army initially arrested hundreds of protesters. We must make a strong intervention among workers and other oppressed to demand the release of these political prisoners who are still being held. The other struggle for the protection of democratic rights in the people’s movements. One of the primary goals of our struggle is the conscious endeavor within the mass movement for the defense of democratic rights. The taking over of power by the working class is the basic need for the activation of workers’ democracy. That is the aim of our struggle.
The exposure of the bourgeois parties, the pseudo-left parties, and the other opportunist movement are at the center of the struggle. It is crucial that we take the leadership. It will not happen without a fight, without a party. This is the challenge we face now.
But instead of boasting that we have the best policy, we must now turn to educate the masses in the living struggle in which we are fighting shoulder to shoulder with the workers youth.
Meanwhile, while the bourgeoisie considers the campaign to be dangerous, the pseudo-left and the political weak see it as leading to an inevitable defeat because of the lack of leadership.
History is quite different. The 1953 Hartal chased the government to the British ship ‘Newfoundland’ that was anchored in the Colombo harbor. It was only brought back by the leaders of the working-class parties, namely the CP-LSSP.
Prime Minister Sirima Bandaranaike had the backing of LSSP and COPE leaders to suppress the ‘21 demands movement’. They took part in it, touting it as an intermediate step in the struggle against the reaction, for the abolition of the capitalist system and the building of socialism. In 1976 too workers fought against the government’s emergency laws and overthrew the United Front government.
In May-June 1968, Prime Minister De Gaulle, survived with the help of the Stalinist Communist Party, when the army commander did not have the confidence that he could lead his army to suppress the French workers’ struggle.
Our party was formed in 1968 through an international struggle against Pabloism, the global phenomenon that defended these past betrayals and betrayals that were to happen in the future.
The ruling class is already trying to avoid defeat. As we have foreseen, the bourgeoisie has no left props as they had in the yester years. No one today has a program that can promise to deliver socialism someday.
This is not Greece or Egypt. The pseudo-left cannot act freely as they desire. There is a party here that has fought for internationalism, especially for the permanent revolution, against Pabloist betrayal for 54 years.
Victory or defeat will be decided by the struggle. All the so-called left has been exposed. The unions have been exposed. The parties and leaders who fell to their death beds were propped up and kept erect by the ruling class only. Now those leaders can do nothing.
As we had understood for some time, the ruling class needs an agency from the International Committee to Survive. That is why capitalism, with the assistance of its pseudo-left groups, is exerting intense pressure on the working class and thereby the SEP. This underscores the need for a more open democratic dialogue within the party.
As per all the evidence, Sri Lanka today is the touchstone of the liberation of the international working class. At the very least, this revolutionary crisis is an opportunity to build the South Asian Party and, in the event of any defeat in the people’s struggle, will definitely act to minimize its damage. If we procrastinate, we will not only be responsible for a bloody historical crime but we will not be forgiven. The most important thing is the damage it can do to the world’s working class. It is in the struggle that we develop perspectives. It must be developed by standing with the mass movement, organizing pickets, public meetings, occupations, and demonstrations.
“The turn must now be to the working class, to the active intervention in every manifestation of the opposition of workers and youth to inequality, war and dictatorship. There must be tireless work to rise the political level to create a cadre in the factories, and in the schools, to explain the lesson of history and the nature of the capitalism. There will be no shortage of people determined to fight for socialism.
“Revolutionary party, “participates in the event that it analyzes, and, through its leadership in the struggle for workers ‘power and socialism, strives to change the world” (the resurgence of class and the tasks of the socialist party)
We have already developed the essential perspectives. So far, the party’s special call on the people’s struggle is not in the WSWS. Comrade Wije statement has been released as a video today. It is an important step. As I suggested through comrade Ratnasiri to the PC, the intervention should be intensified by distributing tens of thousands of pamphlets.
To this day we have failed to convene the Central Committee on this issue. This is not just a bad habit that has been going on for a long time but one of the main reasons for the current problems. It is very easy for us to convene the CC under the current technology. You did not convene the CC in order to avoid the emergence of questions as far as possible. But now the problems have fallen onto our heads. There is still time. We have everything we need to emerge as a massive people’s party. We must seize the opportunity consciously.
‘’We analyze the conditions of development as they take shape behind our backs and independently of our will in order, after having understood them, to act upon them through our active will, i.e., the will of the organized class. These two sides of our Marxist approach to history are linked most closely and indissolubly. Were we to confine ourselves solely to take into account what is happening, then such an approach would in the long run degenerate into fatalism and indifferentism, into social apathy, and at a certain stage, it would assume the aspect of Menshevism, which contains a large dose of fatalism and worshipful acceptance of what takes place behind the backs of people? Were we to confine ourselves, on the other hand, solely to revolutionary action, to the revolutionary will, we would then incur the risk of falling into subjectivism, which is multiform: one of its varieties in anarchism, Left S. R.” ism is another, it is our native Russian variety of subjectivism, and finally included here are those manifestations in communism itself which Vladimir Ilyich (Lenin) called “the infantile diseases of leftism?” The whole art of revolutionary politics consists of incorrectly combining objective analysis with subjective action. And in this is the gist of the Leninist school.’’
Revolutionary Salutations
Nandana
PS –
The party has published a statement under the caption, ‘Bring down Sri Lanka’s Rajapakse government!…’, while this letter was being finalized. This is an important step. We as a party must make a collective effort to resolve the theoretical issues of the struggle. It is a requirement that the Central Committee meet as many times as possible. I propose that steps be taken for that.
[This article was originally published here in Sinhala on May 16, 2023]
Image: A scene from April-July 2022, Mass Struggles around Galle Face Greens, Colombo, from fb.
மார்ச் 11 அன்று வலைப்பதிவாகத் தொடங்கி புரட்சிகர அறிவை உங்களுக்கு நெருக்கமாகக் கொண்டுவந்த TheSocialist.LK – Global Socialist Reviews என்ற இணைய வெளியீடு இன்று (25) இணையத்தளமாகத் தொடங்கப்படும் என்பதை உங்களுக்குத் தெரிவித்துக் கொள்கிறோம். சர்வதேச தரநிலை வடிவத்தில் மேம்படுத்தப்பட்டு, அரசியல், பொருளாதாரம், வர்க்கப் போராட்டம், வரலாறு, கலை-கலாச்சாரம் மற்றும் அறிவியல் ஆகிய துறைகளில் தொழிலாளர்கள் மற்றும் ஒடுக்கப்பட்ட மக்களுக்கு பரந்த அளவிலான, துல்லியமான மற்றும் சரியான நேரத்தில் அறிவைக் கொண்டு வர சிங்களம், தமிழ் மற்றும் ஆங்கிலம் மும்மொழி இணையதளமாக தயார்படுதத்ப்பட்டுள்ளது.
சர்வதேச தொழிலாளர் வர்க்கத்தின் அங்கமான இலங்கை மற்றும் தெற்காசியப் பிராந்தியத்தில் உள்ள தொழிலாளர்களையும் ஒடுக்கப்பட்ட மக்களையும், சர்வதேசத்தால் வழிநடத்தப்படும் சோசலிசப் புரட்சிக்கு முறையாகப் பயிற்றுவித்து அவர்களைத் தயார்படுத்தும் தளமாக theSocialist.LK இணையதளத்தை உருவாக்குவதே எங்கள் நோக்கமாகும். சுமார் இரண்டு மாதங்கள், வலைப்பதிவு மூலம், தொழிலாள வர்க்க நிலைப்பாட்டில் இருந்து சர்வதேச அரசியல்-பொருளாதார அனுபவத்தை உங்களுக்கு பகுப்பாய்வு ரீதியில் கொண்டு வர உழைத்தோம். இந்த குறுகிய காலத்தில் வெளியிடப்பட்ட உலக சோசலிச வலைத் தளத்தின் (WSWS) தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்ட கட்டுரைகளின் சிங்கள மொழிபெயர்ப்பு உட்பட கட்டுரைகளின் எண்ணிக்கை 66. நாளுக்கு நாள் அது பெற்ற வாசகர்களின் ஈர்ப்பு, ஊடுருவும் புதிய அறிவைத் தேடுவதற்கான புறநிலை உந்துதலுக்கு சாட்சியமளித்தது சமூக யதார்த்தமாகும். இது புரட்சிகர அரசியலுக்கு ஊக்கமளிக்கிறது.
தொழிலாள வர்க்கம், இளைஞர்கள், கலைஞர்கள் மற்றும் உண்மையான புத்திஜீவிகளுக்கு ஜனநாயக ரீதியாக விவாதிக்கவும், கருத்துக்களைப் பகிர்ந்து கொள்ளவும், கருத்துச் சுதந்திரம் மற்றும் ஒன்றுகூடல் சுதந்திரத்தை நசுக்க ஆயுதம் ஏந்திய முதலாளித்துவ அரசாங்கங்களின் தாக்குதல்களுக்கு எதிரான எதிர்த்தாக்குதலைத் தயாரித்து ஒருங்கிணைக்கவும் சுதந்திரமான ஊடகங்கள் தேவை. . அவர்கள் கேட்பதற்கும், வினவுவதற்கும், தேடுவதற்கும், கண்டுபிடிப்பதற்கும், சொல்லவும் எழுதவும் நிறைய இருக்கிறது. உழைக்கும் மக்களின் போராட்டங்களின் ஒற்றுமைக்கு எது பொருத்தமானது என்பதை நம்பகத்தன்மையுடன் தொடர்புகொள்வதற்கான வாய்ப்புகள் மிகவும் அரிதானவை. அந்த வகையில், theSocialist.LK என்பது வர்க்கத் தேவையின் விளைபொருளாகும்.
நான்காம் அகிலத்தின் அனைத்துலகக் குழு (ICFI) மற்றும் WSWS ஆகியவற்றின் இயங்கியல் பொருள்முதல்வாத முறை, பகுப்பாய்வு மற்றும் வேலைத்திட்டத்தின் அடிப்படையில் theSocialist.LK, தேசிய மற்றும் சர்வதேச உழைக்கும் மக்களின் ஏகாதிபத்திய எதிர்ப்பு ஒற்றுமைக்காக நிற்கும். ஸ்டாலினிசத்தை முன்னிறுத்தி சந்தர்ப்பவாத அரசியலால் அழிக்கப்பட்ட சோசலிச கலாச்சாரத்தை மீட்பதற்கு நான்காம் அகிலத்தின் அனைத்துலகக் குழு முன்னெடுத்துள்ள உறுதியான வேலைத்திட்டத்திற்கு இணங்க அதன் பணியைத் தொடரக் கடமைப்பட்டுள்ளது.
பெரும் மந்தநிலைக்குப் பின்னர் உலகப் பொருளாதாரத்தில் ஆழமான பொருளாதார மற்றும் நிதி நெருக்கடியை எதிர்கொண்டுள்ள ஏகாதிபத்திய அமைப்பு, மனிதகுலத்தை அணுசக்தி உலகப் போரின் விளிம்பிற்குக் கொண்டு வந்துள்ளது, உக்ரேனில் ரஷ்யாவிற்கு எதிராக அமெரிக்கா தலைமையிலான நேட்டோவால் தொடங்கப்பட்ட பினாமி யுத்தம். ஏகாதிபத்தியத்தின் காட்டுமிராண்டித்தனமான பிரதிநிதித்துவம் ஆகும். உலகின் இரண்டாவது சக்திவாய்ந்த பொருளாதாரமான சீனாவிற்கு எதிரான ஆத்திரமூட்டல்கள் முழு ஆசிய-பசிபிக் பிராந்தியத்தையும் பேரழிவுப் போரின் பிடியில் கொண்டு செல்கின்றன. உலகெங்கிலும் இருபது மில்லியனுக்கும் அதிகமான மக்கள் தடுக்கக்கூடிய தொற்றுநோய்க்கு பலியாவதை மேற்பார்வையிட்ட ஆளும் வர்க்கங்கள், பிணங்களை குவிப்பதை ஒரு ஆசீர்வாதமாக மாற்றியவர்கள், உழைக்கும் மக்களிடமிருந்தும் தாழ்த்தப்பட்டவர்களிடமிருந்தும் போரின் செலவைப் பிரித்தெடுக்கின்றனர்.
போரும் சிக்கனமும் முடிவுக்கு வர வேண்டும். ஜனநாயக உரிமைகள் பாதுகாக்கப்பட வேண்டும். ஆனால், உழைக்கும் வெகுஜனங்களின் நனவான புரட்சிகர உலகளாவிய இயக்கத்தை கட்டியெழுப்புவதன் மூலம் மட்டுமே அதைச் செய்ய முடியும். அது அந்தந்த தேசிய ஆளும் வர்க்கங்களுக்கு எதிராக ஆரம்பிக்கப்பட வேண்டும். லியோன் ட்ரொட்ஸ்கி அற்புதமாக பகுப்பாய்வு செய்தது போல், “சோசலிசப் புரட்சி தேசிய அரங்கில் தொடங்குகிறது, அது சர்வதேச அரங்கில் விரிவடைகிறது, மேலும் உலக அரங்கில் நிறைவு பெறுகிறது.”
தற்போதைய நெருக்கடிக்கு வழி வகுத்துள்ள சமூக-பொருளாதார இயக்கவியலைத் துல்லியமாகப் புரிந்து கொள்ள வேண்டியதன் அவசியத்தை இந்த உண்மைகள் உறுதி செய்கின்றன. அர்ப்பணிப்புக்குக் குறைவான எதுவும் தற்போதைய வர்க்கப் போராட்டங்கள் முன்னோக்கிச் செல்வதற்கு இடமளிக்காது. அதன் எதிரிகள் அனைவரையும் இரக்கமற்ற முறையில் வெளிப்படுத்த வேண்டும் என்று கோருகிறது theSocialist.LK, நாங்கள் அந்த பொறுப்பை ஏற்கிறோம்.
இணையத்தளத்தை தவறாமல் படித்து, உங்கள் கருத்துக்களை அனுப்புமாறும், அத்தியாவசிய அரசியல் விவாதங்களுக்கான திறந்தவெளியில் எங்களுடன் இணையுமாறும், இணையதளத்திற்கு உங்களின் அதிகபட்ச நிதியுதவியை வழங்குமாறும் சகோதரத்துவத்துடன் கேட்டுக்கொள்கிறோம்.
[இந்த அறிக்கை முதலில் 25 மே 2023 அன்று சிங்களத்தில் வெளியிடப்பட்டது]
மார்ச் 11 அன்று வலைப்பதிவாகத் தொடங்கி புரட்சிகர அறிவை உங்களுக்கு நெருக்கமாகக் கொண்டுவந்த TheSocialist.LK – Global Socialist Reviews என்ற இணைய வெளியீடு இன்று (25) இணையத்தளமாகத் தொடங்கப்படும் என்பதை உங்களுக்குத் தெரிவித்துக் கொள்கிறோம். சர்வதேச தரநிலை வடிவத்தில் மேம்படுத்தப்பட்டு, அரசியல், பொருளாதாரம், வர்க்கப் போராட்டம், வரலாறு, கலை-கலாச்சாரம் மற்றும் அறிவியல் ஆகிய துறைகளில் தொழிலாளர்கள் மற்றும் ஒடுக்கப்பட்ட மக்களுக்கு பரந்த அளவிலான, துல்லியமான மற்றும் சரியான நேரத்தில் அறிவைக் கொண்டு வர சிங்களம், தமிழ் மற்றும் ஆங்கிலம் மும்மொழி இணையதளமாக தயார்படுதத்ப்பட்டுள்ளது.
சர்வதேச தொழிலாளர் வர்க்கத்தின் அங்கமான இலங்கை மற்றும் தெற்காசியப் பிராந்தியத்தில் உள்ள தொழிலாளர்களையும் ஒடுக்கப்பட்ட மக்களையும், சர்வதேசத்தால் வழிநடத்தப்படும் சோசலிசப் புரட்சிக்கு முறையாகப் பயிற்றுவித்து அவர்களைத் தயார்படுத்தும் தளமாக theSocialist.LK இணையதளத்தை உருவாக்குவதே எங்கள் நோக்கமாகும். சுமார் இரண்டு மாதங்கள், வலைப்பதிவு மூலம், தொழிலாள வர்க்க நிலைப்பாட்டில் இருந்து சர்வதேச அரசியல்-பொருளாதார அனுபவத்தை உங்களுக்கு பகுப்பாய்வு ரீதியில் கொண்டு வர உழைத்தோம். இந்த குறுகிய காலத்தில் வெளியிடப்பட்ட உலக சோசலிச வலைத் தளத்தின் (WSWS) தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்ட கட்டுரைகளின் சிங்கள மொழிபெயர்ப்பு உட்பட கட்டுரைகளின் எண்ணிக்கை 66. நாளுக்கு நாள் அது பெற்ற வாசகர்களின் ஈர்ப்பு, ஊடுருவும் புதிய அறிவைத் தேடுவதற்கான புறநிலை உந்துதலுக்கு சாட்சியமளித்தது சமூக யதார்த்தமாகும். இது புரட்சிகர அரசியலுக்கு ஊக்கமளிக்கிறது.
தொழிலாள வர்க்கம், இளைஞர்கள், கலைஞர்கள் மற்றும் உண்மையான புத்திஜீவிகளுக்கு ஜனநாயக ரீதியாக விவாதிக்கவும், கருத்துக்களைப் பகிர்ந்து கொள்ளவும், கருத்துச் சுதந்திரம் மற்றும் ஒன்றுகூடல் சுதந்திரத்தை நசுக்க ஆயுதம் ஏந்திய முதலாளித்துவ அரசாங்கங்களின் தாக்குதல்களுக்கு எதிரான எதிர்த்தாக்குதலைத் தயாரித்து ஒருங்கிணைக்கவும் சுதந்திரமான ஊடகங்கள் தேவை. . அவர்கள் கேட்பதற்கும், வினவுவதற்கும், தேடுவதற்கும், கண்டுபிடிப்பதற்கும், சொல்லவும் எழுதவும் நிறைய இருக்கிறது. உழைக்கும் மக்களின் போராட்டங்களின் ஒற்றுமைக்கு எது பொருத்தமானது என்பதை நம்பகத்தன்மையுடன் தொடர்புகொள்வதற்கான வாய்ப்புகள் மிகவும் அரிதானவை. அந்த வகையில், theSocialist.LK என்பது வர்க்கத் தேவையின் விளைபொருளாகும்.
நான்காம் அகிலத்தின் அனைத்துலகக் குழு (ICFI) மற்றும் WSWS ஆகியவற்றின் இயங்கியல் பொருள்முதல்வாத முறை, பகுப்பாய்வு மற்றும் வேலைத்திட்டத்தின் அடிப்படையில் theSocialist.LK, தேசிய மற்றும் சர்வதேச உழைக்கும் மக்களின் ஏகாதிபத்திய எதிர்ப்பு ஒற்றுமைக்காக நிற்கும். ஸ்டாலினிசத்தை முன்னிறுத்தி சந்தர்ப்பவாத அரசியலால் அழிக்கப்பட்ட சோசலிச கலாச்சாரத்தை மீட்பதற்கு நான்காம் அகிலத்தின் அனைத்துலகக் குழு முன்னெடுத்துள்ள உறுதியான வேலைத்திட்டத்திற்கு இணங்க அதன் பணியைத் தொடரக் கடமைப்பட்டுள்ளது.
பெரும் மந்தநிலைக்குப் பின்னர் உலகப் பொருளாதாரத்தில் ஆழமான பொருளாதார மற்றும் நிதி நெருக்கடியை எதிர்கொண்டுள்ள ஏகாதிபத்திய அமைப்பு, மனிதகுலத்தை அணுசக்தி உலகப் போரின் விளிம்பிற்குக் கொண்டு வந்துள்ளது, உக்ரேனில் ரஷ்யாவிற்கு எதிராக அமெரிக்கா தலைமையிலான நேட்டோவால் தொடங்கப்பட்ட பினாமி யுத்தம். ஏகாதிபத்தியத்தின் காட்டுமிராண்டித்தனமான பிரதிநிதித்துவம் ஆகும். உலகின் இரண்டாவது சக்திவாய்ந்த பொருளாதாரமான சீனாவிற்கு எதிரான ஆத்திரமூட்டல்கள் முழு ஆசிய-பசிபிக் பிராந்தியத்தையும் பேரழிவுப் போரின் பிடியில் கொண்டு செல்கின்றன. உலகெங்கிலும் இருபது மில்லியனுக்கும் அதிகமான மக்கள் தடுக்கக்கூடிய தொற்றுநோய்க்கு பலியாவதை மேற்பார்வையிட்ட ஆளும் வர்க்கங்கள், பிணங்களை குவிப்பதை ஒரு ஆசீர்வாதமாக மாற்றியவர்கள், உழைக்கும் மக்களிடமிருந்தும் தாழ்த்தப்பட்டவர்களிடமிருந்தும் போரின் செலவைப் பிரித்தெடுக்கின்றனர்.
போரும் சிக்கனமும் முடிவுக்கு வர வேண்டும். ஜனநாயக உரிமைகள் பாதுகாக்கப்பட வேண்டும். ஆனால், உழைக்கும் வெகுஜனங்களின் நனவான புரட்சிகர உலகளாவிய இயக்கத்தை கட்டியெழுப்புவதன் மூலம் மட்டுமே அதைச் செய்ய முடியும். அது அந்தந்த தேசிய ஆளும் வர்க்கங்களுக்கு எதிராக ஆரம்பிக்கப்பட வேண்டும். லியோன் ட்ரொட்ஸ்கி அற்புதமாக பகுப்பாய்வு செய்தது போல், “சோசலிசப் புரட்சி தேசிய அரங்கில் தொடங்குகிறது, அது சர்வதேச அரங்கில் விரிவடைகிறது, மேலும் உலக அரங்கில் நிறைவு பெறுகிறது.”
தற்போதைய நெருக்கடிக்கு வழி வகுத்துள்ள சமூக-பொருளாதார இயக்கவியலைத் துல்லியமாகப் புரிந்து கொள்ள வேண்டியதன் அவசியத்தை இந்த உண்மைகள் உறுதி செய்கின்றன. அர்ப்பணிப்புக்குக் குறைவான எதுவும் தற்போதைய வர்க்கப் போராட்டங்கள் முன்னோக்கிச் செல்வதற்கு இடமளிக்காது. அதன் எதிரிகள் அனைவரையும் இரக்கமற்ற முறையில் வெளிப்படுத்த வேண்டும் என்று கோருகிறது theSocialist.LK, நாங்கள் அந்த பொறுப்பை ஏற்கிறோம்.
இணையத்தளத்தை தவறாமல் படித்து, உங்கள் கருத்துக்களை அனுப்புமாறும், அத்தியாவசிய அரசியல் விவாதங்களுக்கான திறந்தவெளியில் எங்களுடன் இணையுமாறும், இணையதளத்திற்கு உங்களின் அதிகபட்ச நிதியுதவியை வழங்குமாறும் சகோதரத்துவத்துடன் கேட்டுக்கொள்கிறோம்.
[இந்த அறிக்கை முதலில் 25 மே 2023 அன்று சிங்களத்தில் வெளியிடப்பட்டது]
[This is a translation of the article we published in Sinhalese on 13 May 2023]
SEP Comrades and Friends, who stand against capitalism,
We have entered a critical phase of the class struggle. The world is fast heading towards a world war and to a situation where revolution and counter-revolution are posed against each other. It is now very clear that there is no way forward for any nationalist movement other than sharpening the counter-revolution.
But without the decisive intervention of the working class, not a single problem of the people will be solved. Without arming the working class with the international revolutionary program of the International Committee of the Fourth International (ICFI), the working class cannot play a central role in the growing current of mass struggles. To do that, the fight against the existing consciousness of the working class should be intensified and accelerated.
On the part of the capitalist class, it is necessary to diffuse that battle in order to secure itself. The pressure exerted by capitalism on the working class to create a situation within the parties themselves that can slip the national sections of the International Committee from their foundations, is immense.
In Sri Lanka, the target victim of this pressure is the Socialist Equality Party (SEP). Therefore, more than ever, it is essential to be based on the history of the international class struggle and the party, and to be firm in policies and principles.
In these circumstances, the fact that the party’s current bureaucratic regime is diluting the party is a matter that needs to be discussed in depth. It is a task that calls for greater effort in theory, programme and perspectives. It is crucially important to expose and defeat the terrible lies and distortions propagated inside and outside the party by the party regime against the members who highlight that task.
On The 16 November 2021, comrade Wije Dias, the then General Secretary of the party accused me of rejecting the perspective of the International Committee on Self-Determination and banned me from party membership for three weeks from November 15, 2021, saying that the “membership ban will continue to be in effect” unless explanations were made within that period. You will understand sooner that this was the beginning of a witch-hunt launched in the party since 2015 when the Sirisena-Wickramasinghe government came to power with the backing of the United States.
However, I responded to the leadership in due time. It exposed the falsity of the leadership’s allegations and was therefore thrown out for the same reason. But as against that, the party circulated a letter dated December 20, 2021, written under the name of Wasantha Rupasinghe, with the approval of the General Secretary, which stated, “when we look carefully at all these distortions of Comrade Nandana” it appears that “the party is turned away from the internationalist foundations and surrendered to petty-bourgeois pressure by posting on Facebook pages to transform the party into an ‘ambalama’ (a wayside resting place for general public during the past) that can be used by various leftist people,”
The aim of the bureaucracy was to prevent me from attending the Congress which was to be held in March.
A letter dated February 7, 2022, signed by 17 party members and sent to the SEP Central Committee, intervened against this preparation. It states “Comrade Nandana has forwarded his reply to the Central Committee within the stipulated period. But the political committee has decided to prevent him from participating in the National Congress to be held on February 12, 13, 14 by continuing the ban without giving any reason.”
“In response to Nandana’s request to participate in the Congress, he was informed in a letter on the 29th that the Political Committee had decided with the consent of Comrade DN to allow him to participate in the conference and preparatory discussions subject to three conditions: ie. not abusing the membership mandate received; not disrupting the discussion; and acting under the agenda of the Congress and the pesidum to be appointed. Nandana has reported to the Central Committee and the International Committee that he accepts these conditions, on the 31st.”
“However, at 12.35pm on the 2nd, an email from Comrade Wije banned his participation once again.”
Rejecting the unconstitutional and undemocratic decision of the Political Committee, the members’ letter stated, “[w]e insist on the serious relevance of theoretical political discussions based on democratic centralism for political clarity.” “The attempt is made to hold the Congress in this way, in the circumstances where the political committee has made serious allegations against three party central committee members and a large group of members,” it pointed out.
Referring to the allegations made by the political committee in the above-quoted portion of Rupasinghe’s letter, it said that, due to this situation, it is necessary to resolve these issues before the Congress.
The convening of the Congress was only a ritual, carried out while retaining and maintaining the wrong practices, and the deceitful tactics, instead of preparing for the new revolutionary struggles of the class struggle. With that understanding the said article stated: “The members were informed only on 27 January that the Congress will be held from February 12…Chilaw locale was informed on February 4.”
“In accordance with paragraph 7 (b) of the constitution of the SEP, the Central Committee shall issue the notice of holding the National Congress at least 60 days in advance.”
“7 (e) Drafts of the agenda and documents shall be given to the delegates 20 days before the conference.”
“The special issue that we are focusing on here is why the constitution that the international committee is said to be taking seriously is not considered so by one of its branches.”
“Conducting the conference in this way is an invitation to go from confusion to confusion. Therefore, we, the undersigned, propose that it should be adjourned, so that the conference gets the time it needs.”
The letter had gone to the trash bin. On the next 10th, an english copy of it was forwarded to the International Committee(IC), and the very next day, consequent to IC’s discussions with the Sri Lanka section, the party agreed to postpone the Congress and allow for the participation of Nandana in the Congress and pre-Congress discussions.
But the aim of the leadership was somehow to prevent Nandana from returning to the Central Committee and to prevent the party’s political and theoretical crisis from emerging in the Congress.
The party regime continued to confuse newcomers, conservative members and members who had not been theoretically equipped for years, by uprooting the concept of self-determination from the foundations of the International Committee’s political position. Although my article refuted the allegation of violating paragraphs 30-4-5-6 of the party’s foundation document (2011) regarding self-determination, the regime concealed it from the membership, imposed its own fabrications on it and demanded that I be punished for it.
They corrupted the party membership with reactionary concepts so much so that they wrote on self-determination in Rupasingha’s aforesaid letter that, “the slogan means fighting to assert the right of self-determination of the Sinhala and Tamil working class against the Sinhala and Tamil capitalist class.” This is a distortion of history, concepts and political positions. Whatever be their thinking, such a position definitely aligns with the pressure of anti-historical, Sinhalese-Buddhist racist, reactionary position that the oppressed Tamil people are not subjected to different oppression than the Sinhalese. Within the Marxist movement, this slogan proclaims opposition to the subjugation of weaker nations by imperialism and the subjugation of minority ethnic groups by the rule of the majority group within the nation-state itself. When the International Committee reconsidered this concept and its use since early ’90s, it was not stripped of its democratic content, as the party bureaucracy claims.
SEP membership will read my answer now for the first time. It is posted below. It contains only that part of the reply titled “False Charge Sheet”, which relates to the subject in issue. Even so, bearing witness to the firm struggle waged by the SEP left faction to resolve political issues politically, it will gain, I believe, the necessary attention from the working class, in order to secure the progressive development of the party and the class struggles ahead.
False charge sheet
According to your statement, “the SEP Political Committee unanimously condemns the attempt to distort a very important policy issue of the International Committee of the Fourth International and the Socialist Equality Party – the decision to reject the demand for the right of nations to self-determination — and thereby create serious confusion about that policy.
It also states: “Your position that the SEP defends the self-determination of nations is in stark contrast to the positions especially of paragraphs 30-4 and 30-6, in the International Foundation.”
You are using a conversation that started on my page in the face book on November 5, 2021. It was based on the following excerpt from SEP Principles Statement that I have quoted there.
“Democratic Centralism
The revolutionary struggle of the working class requires organization, and organization is impossible without discipline. But the discipline required for revolutionary struggle cannot be imposed bureaucratically from above. It must develop on the basis of an agreement, freely arrived at, on principles and program. This conviction finds expression in the organizational structure of the Socialist Equality Party, which is based on the principles of democratic centralism. In the formulation of policy and the appropriate tactics, the fullest democracy must prevail within the party. No restraints, other than those indicated by the party’s constitution, are placed on internal discussion of the SEP’s policies and activities. Leaders are democratically elected by the membership, and are subject to criticism and control. Those candidates for leadership who cannot abide criticism should ponder the words of James P. Cannon, the founder of the Trotskyist movement in the United States: “The truth never hurt anyone, provided he was on the level.” But if the formulation of policy requires the broadest discussion and open and honest criticism, its implementation demands the strictest discipline. The decisions arrived at democratically within the party are binding on all members. Those who object to this essential element of centralism in the implementation of decisions, who see in the demand for discipline a violation of their personal freedom, are not revolutionary socialists but anarchistic individualists, who do not understand the implications and demands of the class struggle. “
I say that your opposition is to the basic principles of Bolshevism quoted above, such as broad discussion, genuine criticism and strict discipline.
Let me quote the relevant discussion that took place under the above post – which you are distorting, with a person named Seevali Attanayake – in the exact way it actually happened.
Seevali Attanayake: Does the SEP currently recognize the right of minorities for selfdetermination?
Nandana Nannetti: Yes. Attanayake: With regard to Sri Lanka? Nandana: Yes. Attanayake: Long live my old Kamkaru Mawatha.
Nandana: I do not understand.
Attanayake: After 88/89, I worked with the Kamkaru Mawatha at the University. Later it was learned that they did not recognize the right of the Tamil people for selfdetermination.
Nandana: The RCL and the SEP have never acted in defiance of the civil rights of the oppressed masses. But we repel the conspiracies of building up of small imperialist dependent pockets in the name of self-determination. How many examples one can find to show that such fragments of states do not protect any right of the oppressed people? All radical nationalist movements have aligned themselves with this or that imperialist group over the past few decades.
Attanayake: It is very clear that the SEP’s position has changed. Thank you. What is the party’s position on the right of nations to self-determination and the concept of homeland?
Nandana: Defending the right to self-determination of the oppressed is now a task for the working class. That position has never changed. Can you mention any such instance?
Attanayake: Is the Kamkaru Mawatha, which raised its voice against the genocidal war during the Civil War, is still holding that position today?
Nandana: Yes, today, tomorrow and forever it will mobilize the working class against the aggression of the Sinhala ruling class.
Nandana: Read the Historical and International Foundations of the Socialist Equality Party of Sri Lanka -The National Question. You can read it from wsws.org (National question in Foundation document is the full text from 30-1 to 30-6 of that document.)
Attanayake: Is the SEP still advocating for the formation of a Socialist Republic of Tamil Eelam-Sri Lanka as a part of the Socialist Republic of Indian subcontinent under the leadership of the working class?
Nandana: Yes Attanayake: Thank you comrade, for patiently replying.
(from this conversation, it is shown that our position on the national question is sometimes presented before the masses in a distorted way. I think those who participated in this conversation were able to correct it.)
The next day, Nalaka Malalagama, a sympathizer of the party, made a special note in his face book as follows: “The SEP (RCL) does not stand for self-determination of the oppressed.” This is a statement hostile to the SEP’s perspective. We will no longer use the ‘right to self-determination’ as a slogan. The reason for this is, as we have affirmed in our reply to the Spartacist League, due to the fact that the new separatist nationalist movements and imperialists have distorted the meaning of the slogan, it creates confusion.
It does not mean any neglection of the self-determination which is among the most basic democratic rights of oppressed nations.
I wrote: “The LSSP entered the bourgeois government and betrayed the working class perspective on the self-determination of the oppressed nations. It was the beginning of a 30-year war and the prolongation of the existence of capitalism. In that case, knowingly tolerating Malalagama’s propaganda below is a betrayal of the unstoppable revolution. “
The lesson that the LTTE’s separatist movement is, in the final analysis, the result of LSSP betrayal; is far greater than an accusation leveled at the LSSP itself. That is, it is an accusation against Trotskyism and, was an event that raised unavoidable historical, theoretical and political issues directly linked with the life of the international working class.
The LSSP, which was rooted in the working class marked the earliest instances of a Trotskyist party entering a bourgeois government and, spearheaded the creation of a racial and religious constitution against the oppressed, creating conditions for the alienation of the oppressed Tamil nation from the working class. It also created the conditions for a generation of working class and young people to be positioned against the program of the permanent revolution.
On this basis that I have defended the positions of paragraphs 30-4-5-6, which you say I have contradicted.
For example, I can show you that there is no contradiction between this position appears in 30-4 and my comment: “The new form of nationalism promotes separatism along ethnic, linguistic, and religious lines, with the aim of dividing up existing state for the benefit of local exploiters. Such movement have nothing to with a struggle against imperialism, nor do they in any sense embody the democratic aspirations of the masses of oppressed. They save to divide the working class and divert the class struggle in to ethno-communal warfare.” In the interest of unifying the working class, the international committee insisted in a critical, even hostile, attitude to the proliferation of national separatism movements and there invocation of ‘the right of self-determination’ to justify the formation of separate capitalist state.”
30-5 as stated, “For the masses, they hold out the prospect only of ethnic bloodbaths and intensified exploitation.”
30-6 declares that, “support for the right of ‘self-determination for the Tamil people’, which in practical political terms could only mean support of the national separatist project of the LTTE, no longer had any progressive content.” But “The RCL continued to intransigently oppose the Sri Lankan government efforts to forcibly maintain the island’s unity by military means.” ( The emphasis is mine )
I am convinced that I have expressed a very clear hostile attitude to the right to ‘selfdetermination’ which is emphasized in black letters here. As the final sentence states; “The RCL’s demand for the unconditional withdrawal of armed forces from the North and East did not imply support for a separate Eelam. The idea is to unite the working class and the oppressed masses in a revolutionary struggle.” Instead, the RCL’s expectation in opposing the military repression against the Tamil masses was to unite the working class and the oppressed masses in a revolutionary struggle for a Sri Lanka Eelam Socialist Republic. “The meaning of this is that, the struggle for working class dictatorship is waged on the basis of the unity built upon the foundation of accepting democratic rights including the right to self determination of the oppressed nations.”
Removing its all-essential adjectives and declaring that the SEP does not stand for the right of the self determination of the oppressed nations is hostile to the unity of the working class that emerges from this perspective.
In my understanding, the concept of the transitional program in the Question of selfdetermination is still valid today.” It is impossible merely to reject the democratic program; it is imperative that in the struggle of the masses outgrow it. The slogan for national (or constituent) Assembly preserves its full force of such countries as China or India. This slogan must be indissolubly tide up with the problem of national liberation and agrarian reform. As a primary step the workers must be armed with this democratic program.” ‘The Death Agony of Capitalism and Task of the Forth International’ (The emphasis is mine)
“The truth is that the essential progressive content of self-determination –the eradication of national oppression- can be realized only through the SEP’s program for the socialist united states of Sri Lanka and Elam.“ ‘The SEP and the fight for the socialist united states of Sri Lanka and Elam 1998’
“The outbreak of the first word war vindicated Trotsky’s insistence on the primacy of the international situation over national factors “comrade Dave stated “The imperialist war signified in essence, the impossibility of peaceful reconciling the productive force of world capitalism with the outmoded national state. Both the working class in the advance as well as backward countries faced a common dilemma: The solution to all the fundamental problems of human society was to be found only at the level of word economic development and through the medium of international revolutionary struggle”, (Commemoration of comrade Keerthi Balasuriya’ 1993)
“Trotsky argued very clearly on this question; even in his lifetime, when the demand for self-determination still retained a progressive content, it did not stand above the struggle to establish the unity of the working class on the basis of socialist program. The demand for self-determination did not then, no dos it now, signify the reconciliation of Marxism and nationalism. Above all, it does not oblige the Marxist party to give support of any kind to separatism” Ibid
As Trotsky says “Only the question of power by the world proletariat can assure a real and lasting freedom of development for all nationals of our planet”
‘For socialist, self-determination means nothing if not opposition to the use of state coercion to force national minorities remain within the confines of given state. This was the essential democratic content of the demand when it was posed at the beginning of this century and remains so today” in ‘Marxism, opportunism and the Balkan crisis’, ICFI’1984
The unprecedented geographical integration of capitalist production unleashed two major trends on the national question.
1) The old nationalist regimes attracting geographically circulating capital by providing all the factors of cheap labor and unbridled exploitation.
2) In areas where natural resources and industries are set aside to repay foreign debt, as well as in areas with international transport capabilities, public works structure and cheap labor, the ruling parties have seceded from the influence of all previous governments and put forward separatism to racket themselves with foreign capital and gain more profit.
Our struggle against these tendencies is the mobilization of all nations under the revolutionary leadership of the working class, and there is no easy way to achieve that struggle, disregarding the national question.
I must now say that you are working with the attitude that there is no special thing called a national question. You define that all people face in the crisis of capitalism, dismissing its contradictions. That leads you to a pragmatic approach which is against the dialectics. It is not the policy of the working class. This stance abandons the theory of permanent revolution.
I think this provides a clear answer to your charge sheet. We need to work together to understand the roots of the problem. I will provide the rest of this article within the next two weeks.
