After a century and a half of British rule, Sri Lanka was granted Dominion status in 1948. After that there was an armed rebellion on April 5, 1971 against the Sri Lankan government led by the pro-British native capitalist class. It was organized by an organization called Janatha Vimukti Peramuna. It was led by Patabedige Don Nandasiri Wijeweera alias Rohana Wijeweera. The April Rebellion can be considered as an important milestone in the recent history of Sri Lanka, because it was the first armed struggle to seize state power with the aim of changing the existing social system. It was led by oppressed youth. The strategy was to go to the police stations all over the island on April 05 at 11:30 a.m., and attack them to seize the power overnight. The rebels attacked 74 police stations in the island on April 05. As of April 11, it was 92 police stations. But the rebels were able to capture only 5 police stations by attacking. They are Deniyaya, Uragaha, Rajanganaya, Kataragama and Warakapola police stations. 57 police stations suffered heavy losses due to the attacks by the insurgents. 43 police stations were abandoned by the police.

The security forces had warned the government that there might be a rebellion. Therefore, the government was preparing to face a rebellion. But the government did not have enough weapons and military equipment to face a strong rebellion. The rebels also lacked advanced military equipment. They only had ammunition guns, shotguns and bombs made from discarded shells.

Armed with rudimentary weapons, the government did not have enough strength to face the rebellion. As such, the government requested foreign aid to quell the insurgency. In response to that request, a stockpile of weapons and equipment and 18 armored vehicles were sent from the British Royal Air Force base in Singapore. The United States, Yugoslavia and Egypt sent weapons and military equipment. India sent 153 Gurkha soldiers along with 07 helicopters and a cache of weapons. The Soviet Union sent 04 Antonov airplanes, 05 MiG-15 airplanes, 02 MiG-17 airplanes, 02 helicopters, and a number of military technicians with a stock of military weapons.

The support of the Sri Lanka Samasamaja Party and the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, which were the main parties of the government and the two oldest left-wing parties in Sri Lanka, was given to suppress the rebellion. The main opposition United National Party also supported. The Lanka Samasamaja Party formed a volunteer force called ‘Swan Regiment’ and supported the government in suppressing the rebellion. 15 other political organizations along with Janata Vimukthi Peramuna were banned on April 09 under the Emergency Act due to the rebellion. Among them was the Ceylon Communist Party led by N. Shanmugadasan who had direct political relations with China. The government also abandoned diplomatic relations with North Korea. By the end of April, the rebellion was completely suppressed. About 5000 died in the rebellion. The government stated that 1200 people died. Some reports put the death toll at 20,000, but those who took part in the rebellion say it is an exaggeration. More than 20,000 people were arrested for joining the rebellion.

Did the leadership take responsibility at the end of the rebellion? The short answer is no. It was a black mark in the history of the cases filed by the oppressors against the revolutionaries in their struggle against the oppressors. It was a tragedy. JVP leader Rohana Wijeweera denied full responsibility for the riot. He stated that the rebellion was not JVP’s.

decision and it was the work of Loku Atula’s (one of the rebellion leaders) Bomb squad. He further stated that its purpose is to destroy the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna including Wijeweera. Moreover, he further said that JVP activists will also take up arms and fight where repression is not bearable. This is in stark contrast to how revolutionaries in other countries have faced courts. This is totally different what the leaders of the Lanka Samasamaja Party, after escaping from prison after being arrested during the colonial era, are re-arrested and prosecuted before the administration. The biography of N.M., that was written by Malalgoda Bandhuthilaka, points out the statement made before the court that day.

“The accused started addressing the court in a deep tone”, “ I am proud to stand here today as a defendant. But actually I am not a defendant. I make the defendant as the governor. Today the cases should be decided not against me, but against the governor who was a weapon of this wicked system.”

The lawyers are watching each other’s faces The courtroom is so quiet that you can hear the drop of a pin. Great enthusiasm can be seen on the faces of the masses of Tun Korala (three districts) who came to hear this historic case.

The accused again boldly addresses the judge.

He also criticizes the British Empire by recalling the Bracegirdle incident. He speaks how treat British colonial rulers bitterly

“On June 18, 1940, we were imprisoned without any charge or trial.

“Ruwanweli Dagabe,which was crowned by the great Buddhist leader (Minister of Home Affairs, Sir D.B. Jayathilaka) who gave consent to imprison us, being imprisoned on the same day is a so called good deed.

“Both these events are the boundary pillars of separation from one era in the history of Sri Lanka. While one shows the revival of Buddhist culture, the other shows the liberation struggle of the colonial people.

“The charge against me is escape from lawful custody. I admit to having escaped from prison. “But I do not accept that it is legal to be imprisoned.”

The defendant continues to speak. Expresses his ideas boldly and clearly. He gives examples of the destruction done by the imperialists to the entire people. It brings up again and again the cruel and inhuman acts that the people suffered.

In the end, he emphatically says:

“The above facts lead us to decide that our detention is illegal and our escape from prison is legal.” He ended the hours-long rousing speech.

But the leaders of the April rebellion did not act to accept the responsibility of the rebellion or to point out the social-economic-political reasons that affected it and to point out their right to fight such a struggle. Instead, they tried to impose it on someone else. On the other hand, the group, including Loku Atula, (The Elder Athula) devoted themselves entirely to the interests of the rulers, claiming that rebellion was a mistake.

Formation of Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP)

The revolt was led by Janatha Vimakhti Peramuna. Rohana Wijeweera, who took its initiative and leadership, is the son of an activist of the Communist Party of Sri Lanka, which was pro- Soviet. Having studied in the Soviet Union, he stood for the Chinese ideology in the Sino- Russian dispute that arose in the Stalinist political current at that time. As a result, he lost his visa in the Soviet Union. Then he joined the Lanka Communist Party (Chinese side) led by N. Shanmugadasan. He worked there as a full-time member and as an assistant secretary for youth and student affairs. Questioning Shanmugadasan’s revolutionary practice, he and 10 party activists on Vesak Poya Day in 1965 decided to have an internal struggle within the party and thereby form a new revolutionary party. Then in 1967 Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna was formed with 15 activists of Lanka Communist Party (Chinese).

The main objective of Janatha Vimukti Peramuna was to seize state power through armed struggle and build a socialist rule. Its goal was to be practically active for that. Its membership was prepared for armed struggle by the famous ‘Five Classes’.

The topics discussed in those five classes are as follows.

• Indian expansionism
• Is Sri Lanka a free country? ( freedom)
• Left movement
• The way the Sri Lankan revolution should take

Apart from this, some basic lectures on Marxism were also given to a selected group of people in the study camps

• Dialectical materialism
• Reformism
• Trotskyism

The Janata Vimukti Peramuna, which was formed secretly in this way, held a public rally for the first time on February 27, 1971. It was in Hyde Park, Colombo.

The class base of the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna

Sri Lanka is a state with a multi-ethnic and multi-religious society with three main ethnic groups: Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims. But JVP was widespread only among the Sinhalese people. In the 1960s, they did not even try to spread among other ethnic groups. Janatha Vimukti Peramuna did not have a formal organization pattern like other left-wing parties in the early period. Before 1971, all JVP affairs were decided by one person. That is by Wijeweera. He appointed the Central Committee of the party, appointed the Politburo, decided the policies, everything else was decided by him. The party did not have a constitution. He was also the constitution of the party. In short, the principles of democratic centralism, collective leadership, criticism and self-criticism that should be followed by a Marxist organization were not seen in the JVP.

Only a Marxist political party with a working class base can advance a socialist program. But the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna was not an organization with a working class base from the beginning until the end of the 1971 rebellion. The following numerical data can help to identify its class nature.

• 90.8 percent of the membership is under 30 years of age.
• 8 out of 12 members of the Politburo are students and unemployed.
• Out of 26 district secretaries, 20 are students or unemployed youth.

The party did not have working class base. Wijeweera introduced the struggles of the workers as “Keda Kopa Sathan”. That means gruel cups struggles. The attitude towards workers’ struggles can be understood from a Wijeweera’s famous statement. The statement is as follows. “The workers have a job to lose. The unemployed youth has nothing to lose.” The vast majority of party members are unemployed or underemployed youth and students.  Accordingly, it was almost entirely a petty-bourgeois organization.

Social, economic and political reasons that influenced the formation of JVP

Why did a guerrilla organization form late 60s in Sri Lanka though a strong Marxist tradition existed?

When the JVP was born, the world economy was going into recession. Sri Lanka was also a victim. Therefore, the value of Sri Lanka’s currency, the rupee, was devalued for the first time by the government that came to power in 1965. This caused the price of goods to rise.

Inflation increased. Subsidies were cut. The cost of living went up. As indicated in the Central Bank of Sri Lanka’s 1974 report, the real value of the rupee fell rapidly. The rate of increase in the cost of living also increased. Between 1961 and 1965, the cost of living was increased by 7.7% and between 1965 and 1970, it increased by 25.7%. On the other hand, the government between 1965-70 did not provide jobs to university graduates. More than 400,000 passers (then considered a high educational qualification) were unemployed by 1970.

Meanwhile, struggles against capitalism and imperialism on a global scale were being launched and victories were being achieved. Especially the victory of the Vietnam War, the Cuban Revolution, the Palestinian Liberation Struggle, and the Chinese Revolution were spreading throughout the world. The publications of Mao Zedong, Kim Il Sung, Castro and Che Guevara became popular among the Sri Lankan youth. It caused Sri Lanka’s petty bourgeoise enthusiasm, and the JVP managed to convince the youth groups with the Sri Lankan petty bourgeoise mentality that gaining power through guerilla struggles spread in Vietnam, Bolivia, and Cuba was a “revolution”. Although Sri Lanka became a British colony in 1815, and the economic course shifted towards capitalism after 1831, the feudal social system still existed by 1970. At this time, even young women of the most oppressed castes could not wear upper body clothes. The people of some oppressed castes were not allowed to go inside some religious places. Some schools also did not admit some children from the oppressed castes. Many discriminations were made to the oppressed caste people in the houses belonging to the high castes. The oppressed caste people could enter those houses through the back door. Sitting on high chairs was prohibited. People who belonged to higher castes must be addressed with respectfully and timidly. Caste was a major factor in

marriages. When asking to what extent the effect of this has affected the JVP, it is clear from the fact that almost all members of its polit-bureau belong to the oppressed castes and the vast majority of the Central Committee belong to the oppressed castes.

In such a background, the main reason for the Sri Lankan petty bourgeoisie to turn to guerillaism and to think that ‘socialism’ can be achieved without the leadership of the working class was the entry of traditional left-wing parties into coalition politics. Especially the Lanka Samasamaja Party, which was known as the most powerful Trotskyist party in the world and was the strongest working class party in Sri Lanka, entered the reformist path by embracing coalition politics in 1964, which caused Sri Lankan youth to remove the attraction of that party. But by 1970, not even a year had passed since the formation of the coalition government of LSSP, CP and SLFP, the Sri Lankan working class was hopeful that the traditional left-wing leadership would bring socialism through the coalition. Therefore, the working class, led by the traditional left-wing parties, committed itself to the protection of the coalition government in the uprising against the government that came to power in May 1970. The main lesson to be learned from it was that without the leadership of the working class, efforts to overthrow the capitalist system would fail.