Sugiswara Abeywardena Wickremasinghe (13 April 1900 – 25 August 1981) was the founder of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka.[1] He was the first Leftist to be elected to Ceylon State Council in 1931. He is considered one of the leading political figures of Sri Lanka in the twentieth century.

S. A. Wickremasinghe
Member of the Ceylon Parliament
for Akuressa
In office
1956–1977
Preceded byDoreen Young Wickremasinghe
Succeeded byDayananda Wickremasinghe
Member of the State Council of Ceylon
for Morawka
In office
1931–1935
Succeeded byR. C. Kannangara
In office
1946–1947
Preceded byR. C. Kannangara
Personal details
Born(1900-05-13)13 May 1900
Athuraliya, Matara District, British Ceylon
Died25 August 1981(1981-08-25) (aged 81)
Colombo, Sri Lanka
NationalitySri Lankan
Political partyCommunist Party of Sri Lanka
SpouseDoreen Young Wickremasinghe
Alma materMahinda College Galle
Ananda College Colombo
Ceylon Medical College
ProfessionPolitician and medical doctor

Early life and education

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S. A. Wickramasinghe was born in Nasnaranketiya Walawwa, Athuraliya in the Matara district of then British Ceylon in 1900. He received his primary education at Mahinda College, Galle, where he engaged in social services and Buddhist activities. He later entered Ananda College, Colombo.

Wickramasinghe pursued his higher studies in medicine at the Ceylon Medical College, and proceeded to the United Kingdom for his post-graduate studies.

In England, he participated on activism with the League Against Imperialism and the British Communist Party. During this time he met fellow Ceylonese progressives and the future leaders of the Left movement such as N. M. Perera, Colvin R. de Silva and Leslie Goonewardene, who were also studying in London and fellow-students of Marxism.

Early activism

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On his way back to Ceylon, S. A. Wickramasinghe travelled to India to meet members of the Indian National Congress as well as the Communist Party of India. He was immediately arrested by British police in Bombay but managed to make contact with figures such as Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore.[2]

After returning to Sri Lanka, he co-founded the Lanka Sama Samaja Party and also served as the General Manager of Buddhist Theosophical Society schools in Sri Lanka. A medical practitioner by profession, he started working as a doctor after his post-graduate studies and joined the Government Service and started practising in his native Matara district.

Wickramasinghe played a leading role in the Suriya Mal Movement. He also organised relief for peasants during the Malaria epidemic and floods that plagued Sri Lanka in 1934 and 1935.

Founding of Communist Party of Ceylon

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In 1941, when Germany attacked the Soviet Union, Wickramasinghe led the faction who argued that World War 2 was not an inter-imperialist war but a war against fascism. For their defence of Stalin and the Soviet Union, Wickramasinghe and his comrades were expelled by the Trotskyites in the LSSP.

Wickramasinghe's faction, which included Pieter Keuneman, M. G. Mendis, and A. Vaidialingam formed the United Socialist Party, which became the Communist Party of Ceylon in 1943.

Personal life

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Wickramasinghe was married to Doreen Young, a British leftist who later became a prominent Communist politician and a Member of Parliament in Sri Lanka. She and Wickremasinghe had two children.[citation needed]

Publications

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  • The Gal Oya Project (1951)[3]
  • The Way Ahead

Electoral history

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Electoral history of S. A. Wickramasinghe
Election Constituency Party Votes Result
1931 state council Morawaka Elected
1936 state council Morawaka Not elected
1946 state council by Morawaka Elected
1950 parliamentary by Colombo Central Communist Party of Ceylon 12,501 Not elected
1952 parliamentary Hakmana Communist Party of Ceylon 12,601 Not elected
1956 parliamentary Akuressa Communist Party of Ceylon 20,867 Elected
1960 March parliamentary Akuressa Communist Party of Ceylon 13,191 Elected
1960 July parliamentary Akuressa Communist Party of Ceylon 12,488 Elected
1965 parliamentary Akuressa Communist Party of Ceylon 16,096 Elected
1970 parliamentary Akuressa Communist Party of Ceylon 20,007 Elected
1977 parliamentary Akuressa Communist Party of Sri Lanka 16,436 Not elected

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Founder of the Communist Party, The Sunday Times
  2. ^ "Dr. Wickramasinghe - a true patriot and an internationalist". Archives.dailynews.lk. Retrieved 2022-05-04.
  3. ^ "The Ceylon Economist 1951.06 (1.4) - நூலகம்" (in Tamil). Noolaham.org. Retrieved 2022-05-04.