Sri Lanka, history

This article covers the history of Sri Lanka (known as Ceylon before 1972).

Linguistic nationalism 1956-80

In 1951 Solomon Bandaranaikeformed a new party, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). It was strongly nationalist, demanding restoration of traditional culture and the eradication of Western influence. It swept the 1956 elections; Bandaranaike headed a coalition government, called the People's United Front (MEP), comprising the SLFP and a section of the LSSP.

Bandaranaike's MEP government pushed through far-reaching laws to promote its nationalist and socialist agenda. Sinhalese replaced English as the sole official language. The military alliance with Britain was ended; British naval and air bases were closed, and Ceylon assumed a neutral and nonaligned position in international affairs. The MEP government strongly supported Buddhist and Sinhalese cultural renaissance through financial aid through the ministry of cultural affairs. Some sectors of the economy, such as bus transport and the port of Colombo, were nationalized, and attempts were made to bring about land reform by purchasing and divding large plantations.

Resistance to the MEP's program was viocal. Imposing Sinhala as the only official language provoked Tamil opposition, and the Tamils, led by the Federal Party, began a struggle to secure official recognition of their language. The struggle inflamed communal dissension and resulted in widespread riots in 1958. In addition, there was labour union unrest and conflicts erupted among the Buddhist factions. Escalating the political unrest and social tension, Bandaranaike was assassinated by a Buddhist priest in September 1959. After months of political jockeying and confusion, the SLFP, reorganized under Bandaranaike's widow, was returned to power. Mrs. Sirimavo Bandaranaike became prime minister.

The second SLFP government continued its agenda to transform Ceylon. To meet the demands of the Buddhists, all denominational schools, a majority of which were Christian, were nationalized. The use of Sinhalese as the language of administration and of the courts of law was speedily implemented. Insurance and the petroleum industries were nationalized. In 1964, to strengthen her dwindling support, Bandaranaike formed a coalition with the LSSP and the Communist Party. The government's program became even more socialistic.

The coalition government alienated the SLFP's right wing, which defected to the opposition, forcing a general election in May 1965. The UNP won a decisive victory, and Dudley Senanayake became prime minister. His government sought to expand the economy by encouraging private enterprise and eliminating restrictions on imports. Special attention was paid to productivity in agriculture, with self-sufficiency in food as the ultimate goal. For the first time since 1956 Tamils were brought into the government, and their language was given some official recognition. Communal tension eased and some economic growth was achieved. The SLFP and the Marxist parties formed a United Left Front (ULF) in order to defeat the government. They exploited the government's conciliatory policy toward the Tamils to rekindle Sinhalese communalism and attacked the granting of concessions to domestic and foreign capitalist interests. In the elections of May 1970 the ULF gained a massive majority in parliament, although it received less than 49 percent of the vote, and Bandaranaike again became prime minister.

Claiming a mandate for radical change, the ULF government greatly expanded state control of trade and industry. But its attempts to create a socialist state were stymied by a severe economic crisis caused by balance of payments deficits, rising foreign debts, and the need to maintain an expensive social welfare and food subsidy program. In March 1971 Bandaranaike declared a state of emergency, suspending many civil liberties. Immediately thereafter, Sinhalese students and unemployed graduates grouped in the Janatha Vimukhti Peramuna (JVP) attempted an insurrection in many parts of the island. The uprising received only moderate popular support and was quickly suppressed by the government. The ensuing repression cost more than 15,000 lives, and the state of emergency was maintained in effect until 1977. Afterward, the government moved further left, initiating radical land reforms in 1972 and nationalizing foreign-owned tea plantations in 1975. The new constitution, adopted on May 22, 1972, made Ceylon the socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, with Bandaranaike as prime minister. However, the ULF soon began to fall apart. In 1975 the LSSP was expelled from the government, and in 1976 the Communists withdrew from the coalition. Lacking a parliamentary majority, Bandaranaike was forced to call general elections for July 1977, two years after the date constitutionally required.

The elections resulted in an overwhelming victory for the UNP. In October 1977 the constitution was amended to make the president a powerful executive head of state, and in February 1978 prime minister Junius Jayewardene, leader of the UNP, assumed the new office for a six-year term. On Sept. 7, 1978, a new constitution was adopted, incorporating the 1977 amendment and renaming the country the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka.

The UNP government moved quickly to stimulate the stagnating economy by means of a sharp devaluation of the national currency, elimination of many economic restrictions, large foreign loans, and big increases in public spending for development projects. Helped by high tea prices in 1977 and 1978, Sri Lanka entered a period of rapid economic growth and falling unemployment--accompanied, however, by increased social inequalities and inflation. In 1982 president Jayewardene was reelected to a second six-year term, and a popular referendum extended the term of the 1977 parliament until 1989.

Bibliography

• Bullion, A.J. India, Sri Lanka and the Tamil Crisis, 1976-94; An International Perspective (1995)
• De Silva, K.M. A History of Sri Lanka (2nd ed. 2005), 800pp; standard history by leading scholar
• Peebles, Patrick. The History of Sri Lanka (2006) standard history by a leading scholar.
• Perera, Nihal. Society and Space: Colonialism, Nationalism, and Postcolonial Identity in Sri Lanka (1998) online edition
• Philips, C. H. Historians of India, Pakistan and Ceylon (1961) online edition
• Spencer, Jonathan, ed. Sri Lanka: History and the Roots of Conflict (1990), essays by scholars; online edition
• Strathern, Alan. "Controversies in Sri Lankan History." History Compass 2004 2(Asia). Issn: 1478-0542 historiography online link
• Strathern, Alan. "Theoretical Approaches to Sri Lankan History and the Early Portuguese Period." Modern Asian Studies 2004 38(1): 191-226. Issn: 0026-749x
• Suckling, Horatio John. Ceylon: A General Description of the Island, Historical, Physical... (1876) full text online

Primary sources

• Ferguson, John. Ceylon in 1893: Describing the Progress of the Island Since 1803 (1893) 491 pages; full text online

Society, ethnicity and culture

• Cartman, James. Hinduism in Ceylon (Colombo: MD. Gunasena 1957)
• Gombrich, Richard F. Theravada Buddhism: A Social History from Ancient Benares to Modern Colombo (1988) online edition
• Jayaweera, Swarna, ed. Women in Post-Independence Sri Lanka. (2002). 371 pp.
• Jayawardena, Kumari. Nobodies to Somebodies: The Rise of the Colonial Bourgeoisie in Sri Lanka. (2002) 412 pp.
• Kearney, R. N. Communalism and language in the Politics of Ceylon (1967)
• Manogaran, Chelvadurai. Ethnic Conflict and Reconciliation in Sri Lanka (1987)
• Manogaran, Chelvadurai, and Bryan Pfaffenberger, eds. The Sri Lankan Tamils: Ethnicity and Identity (1994), 247pp, essays by scholars online edition
• Roberts, Michael. "Tamil Tiger 'Martyrs': Regenerating Divine Potency? Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 2005 28(6): 493-514. Issn: 1057-610x
• Tambiah, S. J. Sri Lanka: Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy (1986)
• Wilson, A. Jeyaratnam. The Break-up of Sri Lanka: The Sinhalese-Tamil Conflict (1988)