50th Death Anniversary of Philip Gunawardena Philip, the Visionary Statesman

29 March 2022 12:07 am Views - 755

The trade unionist, humanitarian, the father of socialism in Sri Lanka, and scholar parliamentarian, Philip, as he was affectionately known, made use of the legislature under the Donoughmore Constitution to contribute with profundity in a noteworthy position as a chosen representative of the masses. It is indeed an extremely difficult task to justifiably summarize the illustrious and colourful career of a political colossus like Philip Gunawardena, into a paper article of limited length. Let me pen a few credentials of this gentleman politician for the benefit of younger generations. 

Don Philip Rupasinghe Gunawardena, a product of Illinois and Wisconsin Universities, is indisputably one of the topmost shining examples of the politicians of the moral and intellectual calibre that belonged to the bye-gone era. On completion of his school education at Prince of Wales College and Ananda College, Philip proceeded to the Universities in America, where he read Economics and finally passed out from the University of Colombia with a doctorate in agricultural Economics. Philip, as a teenage schoolboy, travelled with his mother in a horse carriage, straight into Queen’s House, and presented a petition to Governor Chalmers, who promptly released his father, who was sentenced to death on trumped-up charges by the colonial rulers during the martial law of 1915. 
In the early 1930s a young staunch Marxist/Trotskyite activist, a product of Wisconsin University USA, was carrying a bundle of secret papers for the Spanish revolutionary movement. The secret documents that needed to be delivered to Spanish rebels, an extremely risky task that none of the rebellion youth in America came forward to undertake, was entrusted to our hero. The lion-hearted Philip in his early twenties accomplished the herculean assignment proving to the world that the Gunawardenas of Boralugoda have acquired Panthera leo genes from their ancestry. He braved the Pyrenees range of mountains on foot. It is the natural border between France and Spain that reached a height of 3,360 metres at the peak— a strenuous task he endured to avoid security checks.
The victory for young rebellious Philip who dethroned a member of a powerful feudal family in Hewagam Korale to enter the Second State Council in 1936 was the beginning of a series of such progressive happenings in the years that followed. Philip Gunawardena made the maximum use of the floor of the State Council to press for more social and economic reforms, mainly for the downtrodden masses. 

Architect of Paddy Lands Act

Philip, as Minister of Food Agriculture and Cooperatives in SWRD Bandaranaike’s government, introduced the Paddy Lands Bill in the parliament, which was passed with a few amendments as Paddy Lands Act in 1958. It gave protection to the tenant farmer [ande goviya] who toiled on the paddy fields and was required to hand over half the crop to the landowner, whose task was just to claim ownership of the land on a deed. The Act provided necessary cover so that the cultivator was assured of the contract [ande] by State, and also a three-fourths share of the harvest, a privilege that, a withdrawal of which or sacking him by the landowner, was prohibited by law. Further, upon the death of the farmer, all his rights get automatically transferred to his heirs. The land-owning class who had a lot of influence over political authority obviously hated Philip. There was severe resentment from an influential right-wing section in the cabinet, too. However, a diluted law that followed a heated debate got through the Parliament, making an unprecedented social change. 

Unlike his other Marxist colleagues like NM, Peter and Colvin. He was not a “pothe guru”, he gained insight from Marxism/Trotskyism as well as from nationalism and local culture; a vital insight that his colleagues failed to realise. It was in this context that he disagreed with the traditional Marxists ideologists. 

Philip understood the thinking patterns of the rural peasantry, and he, unlike his contemporary Marxists, fought back hard to examine the issues of the rural peasantry from a different point of view. He combined Marx’s teachings with the cultural desires of the worker/peasantry. He campaigned for the abolition of the village Headman system as he was persuaded that it exploited the villager his father, Boralugoda Ralahamy submitted his resignation from the post of Vidane-Aratchi, after listening to one of his son’s orations. 

In March 1958 he introduced a Guaranteed Price Scheme for Paddy. Speaking amidst interruptions and heckling from both sides of the House, he stated, 

“I want to make it quite clear that my ministry at no stage contemplated reducing the guaranteed price. The order merely set out how the payment was to be made. …. Somehow or other we must stop this annual drain of Rs. 260 million that is sent out of the country for the purchase of rice. I wish to refer to a regrettable incident that took place this morning in front of Senate House, Gordon Gardens brought about by interested parties, largely black marketers helped by the Ven. Buddharakkhita of Kelaniya temple. I saw him with my own eyes, leading the demonstration. 

If there is a government contract going, one finds “Buddhist monks” hovering about like hungry jackals. …the political life of this country should be cleansed of these people. We were elected to serve the poor people of this country and we are not going to be intimidated or bullied by anybody, however great he may be. 
The guaranteed price will continue.” --Hansard : May 6, 1958 

De Zoysa Vs Gunawardena

Minister  Gunawardena exposed the senior DIG Sydney de Zoysa as a conspirer against the government, speaking at government’s  May Day rally in 1958, and he demanded Prime Minister Bandaranaike to remove the officer cum the brother of his cabinet colleague Stanley de Zoysa. Sydney, a member of the powerful De Zoysa family, sued Philip in the DC over this issue. In a landmark judgement, the court held that as a responsible Cabinet minister, Philip had executed his rightful authority and responsibility in warning the Head of State of impending danger. The bench, in an unprecedented move, commented on the integrity of the defendant which Philip exhibited in responding to the plaintiff’s lawyers’ cross-examination. 

Philip was out of the government when the conspiracy and subsequent assassination of PM, Bandaranaike took place in 1959. CP de Silva and Buddharakkhita of the right-wing ensured his exit weakening the left-wing of MEP government, thus paving the way to achieve their objectives. Sydney’s name transpired in the assassination trial when brother FR de Zoysa, was arrested on suspicion. Sydney was sent on compulsory leave. However, FR de Zoysa was cleared of suspicion and released later. He passed away on March 26, 1972. 

Partnership with Dudley Senanayake

Philip stood tall among his colleagues in opposition benches of The State Council of Ceylon from the mid-1930s through 1940s. Sri Lanka’s fire-brand Marxist/revolutionist Philip’s innate sympathy with the exploited village peasantry of the country remained undaunted even during his term as a Cabinet minister in Dudley Senanayake’s 1965-70 National Government, where at the end of it this contentious statesman bid goodbye to his constituents of Seethawaka.
kksperera1@gmail.com