The Sri Lanka independence struggle against British imperial rule was often dormant, but eventually succeeded in winning a form of independence for Sri Lanka in 1948. Subordination to the UK remained in the military and judicial spheres which were gradually removed, culminating in the declaration of a Republic in 1972. The modern Independence struggle began in the 1930s, with the Youth Leagues. Flag of the President of Sri Lanka // List of presidents The following is a list of Sri Lankan Presidents. ... Percy Mahendra Mahinda Rajapaksa (born November 18, 1945) is the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, and a Sri Lankan politician. ... The following is a list of Sri Lankan Prime Ministers: Don Stephen Senanayake (February 4, 1948 - March 26, 1952) Dudley Shelton Senanayake (March 26, 1952 - October 12, 1953) John Lionel Kotalawela (October 12, 1953 - April 12, 1956) Solomon Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (April 12, 1956 - September 26, 1959) Wijeyananda Dahanayake (September... Ratnasiri Wickremanayake (born on May 5, 1933) is the 14th Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and a veteran politician. ... The Parliament of Sri Lanka is a Unicameral 225-member legislature elected by universal suffrage and proportional representation for a six-year term. ... Hon. ... This article lists political parties in Sri Lanka. ... During the Donoughmore period of political experimentation (1931-48), several Sri Lanka leftist parties were formed. ... Politics of Sri Lanka Categories: Election related stubs | Elections in Sri Lanka ... Sri Lanka is divided into eight provinces for the purposes of local governance. ... Below the provinces Sri Lanka is divided into 25 administrative districts. ... Combatants Military of Sri Lanka Indian Peace Keeping Force Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Commanders Junius Richard Jayawardene (1983-89) Ranasinghe Premadasa (1989-93) Dingiri Banda Wijetunge (1993-94) Chandrika Kumaratunga (1994-2005) Mahinda Rajapaksa (2005-present) Velupillai Prabhakaran (1983-present) Strength 111,000[1] 11,000[1] The Sri... Sri Lanka traditionally follows a nonaligned foreign policy but has been seeking closer relations with the United States since December 1977. ... Information on politics by country is available for every country, including both de jure and de facto independent states, inhabited dependent territories, as well as areas of special sovereignty. ... The Youth Leagues were societies of young people, mainly intellectuals, who wanted independence for Sri Lanka. ...

British colonial rule

The British Raj was dominant in Asia after the Battle of Assaye; following the Battle of Waterloo the British Empire became the world superpower. Its appearance of omnipotence was only briefly dented by setbacks in India, Afghanistan and South Africa. It was virtually unchallenged until 1914. The flag of British India British India, circa 1860 The British Raj (Raj in Hindi meaning Rule; from Sanskrit Rajya) was the British rule between 1858 and 1947 of the Indian Subcontinent, which included the present-day India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Burma (Myanmar), whereby these lands were under the colonial... Combatants United Kingdom Maratha Confederacy Commanders Arthur Wellesley Sindhia, Ragojee Bhonsla Strength 4,500 infantry, 2,000 cavalry 50,000 infantry, 100 cannons Casualties 3,657 6,000 The Battle of Assaye occurred September 23, 1803 near the village of Assaye in south-central India. ... Combatants France Seventh Coalition: United Kingdom Prussia United Netherlands Hanover Nassau Brunswick Commanders Napoleon Bonaparte Michel Ney Duke of Wellington Gebhard von Blücher Strength 73,000 67,000 Coalition 60,000 Prussian (48,000 engaged by about 18:00) Casualties 25,000 dead or wounded; 7,000 Captured; 15...

The formation of the Batavian Republic in the Netherlands as an ally and of the French Directory, led to a British attack on Ceylon in 1795 as part of England's war against the French Revolution. The Kandyan Kingdom collaborated with the British expeditionary forces against the Dutch, as it had with the Dutch against the Portuguese. From 1795 to 1806, the Batavian Republic (Bataafse Republiek in Dutch) designated the Netherlands as a republic modeled after the French Republic, to which it was a vassal state. ... Executive Directory (in French Directoire exécutif), commonly known as the Directory (or Directoire) held executive power in France from November 2, 1795 until November 10, 1799: following the Convention and preceding the Consulate. ...

Once the Dutch had been evicted, their sovereignty ceded by the Treaty of Amiens and subsequent revolts in the low-country suppressed, the British began planning to capture the Kandyan Kingdom. The 1803 and 1804 invasions of the Kandyan provinces in the 1st Kandyan War were bloodily defeated. In 1815, the British fomented a revolt by the Kandyan aristocracy against the last Kandyan monarch and marched into uplands to depose him in the 2nd Kandyan War. The Treaty of Amiens was signed on March 25, 1802 (Germinal 4, year X in the French Revolutionary Calendar) by Joseph Bonaparte and the Marquis Cornwallis as a Definitive Treaty of Peace between France and the United Kingdom. ... Kandian Wars refers to the campaigns of the British expeditionary forces against the Kingdom of Kandy in Ceylon 1803 and 1815. ...

The struggle against the colonial power began in 1817 with the Uva Rebellion, when the same aristocracy rose against British rule in a fierce rebellion in which their villagers participated heroically. They were crushed by the occupiers they had themselves invited into their remote redoubts. An attempt at rebellion sparking briefly again in 1830. The Kandyan peasantry were stripped of their lands by the Wastelands Ordinance, a modern enclosure movement and reduced to penury. The Uva Rebellion, also known as the Great Rebellion of 1817-1818 (or the 3rd Kandyan War by the British) took place in Sri Lanka against the British under Governor Robert Brownrigg. ... The Temple of the Tooth in Kandy Kandy (මහ නුවර in Sinhala கண்டி in Tamil) is a city in the centre of Sri Lanka. ... Enclosure, or less commonly Inclosure, refers to the process of subdivision of common lands for individual ownership. ...

In 1848 the abortive Matale Rebellion, led by Hennedige Francisco Fernando (Puran Appu) and Gongalegoda Banda was the first transitional step towards abandoning the feudal form of revolt, being fundamentally a peasant revolt. The masses were without the leadership of their native King (deposed in 1815) or their chiefs (either crushed after the Uva Rebellion or collaborating with the colonial power). The leadership passed for the first time in the Kandyan provinces into the hands of ordinary people, non-aristocrats. The leaders were yeomen-artisans, resembling the Levellers in England's revolution and mechanics such as Paul Revere and Tom Paine who were at the heart of the American revolution. However, in the words of Colvin R. de Silva, 'it had leaders but no leadership. The old feudalists were crushed and powerless. No new class capable of leading the struggle and heading it towards power had yet arisen.' The Matale Rebellion of 1848 against the British in Sri Lanka marked a transition from the classic feudal form of anti-colonial revolt to modern independence struggles. ... Hennadige Francisco Fernando alias Puran Appu is one of the most colourful personalities in Sri Lankas history. ... Feudalism comes from the Late Latin word feudum, itself borrowed from a Germanic root *fehu, a commonly used term in the Middle Ages which means fief, or land held under certain obligations by feodati. ... The Uva Rebellion, also known as the Great Rebellion of 1817-1818 (or the 3rd Kandyan War by the British) took place in Sri Lanka against the British under Governor Robert Brownrigg. ... An artisan is a skilled manual worker. ... The Levellers were a mid 17th century English political movement, who came to prominence during the English Civil Wars. ... Mechanics (Greek ) is the branch of physics concerned with the behaviour of physical bodies when subjected to forces or displacements, and the subsequent effect of the bodies on their environment. ... Portrait of Paul Revere by John Singleton Copley, c. ... Thomas Paine Thomas Paine (January 29, 1737–June 8, 1809) was a widely recognized intellectual, scholar, and idealist who is considered to be one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. ... John Trumbulls Declaration of Independence, showing the five-man committee in charge of drafting the Declaration in 1776 as it presents its work to the Second Continental Congress The American Revolution refers to the period during the last half of the 18th century in which the Thirteen Colonies that... Dr. Colvin R. de Silva (-1987) was a Trotskyist leader and lawyer in Sri Lanka. ...

Plantation economy

In the 1830s, coffee was introduced into Sri Lanka, a crop which flourishes in high altitudes, and grown on the land taken from the peasants. The principal impetus to this development of capitalist production in Sri Lanka was the decline in coffee production in the West Indies, following the abolition of slavery there. A cup of coffee Workers sorting and pulping coffee beans in Guatemala Coffee is a widely consumed beverage prepared from the roasted seeds—commonly referred to as beans—of the coffee plant. ... The Caribbean or the West Indies is a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea. ... This article is about the abolition of slavery. ...

However, the dispossessed peasantry were not employed on the plantations: The Kandyan villagers refused to abandon their traditional subsistence holdings and become wage-workers in the nightmarish conditions that prevailed on these new estates, despite all the pressure exerted by the colonial state. The British therefore had to draw on its reserve army of labour in India, to man its lucrative new outpost to the south. An infamous system of contract labour was established, which transported hundreds of thousands of Tamil 'coolies' from southern India into Sri Lanka for the coffee estates. These Tamils labourers died in tens of thousands both on the journey itself as well as on the plantations. Languages Tamil Religions Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, Jainism Related ethnic groups Dravidian people Brahui people Kannadigas Malayalis Tamils Telugus Tuluvas Gonds The Tamil people are an ethnic group from the Indian subcontinent with a recorded history going back more than two millennia. ... Coolie refers to unskilled laborers from Asia of the 1800s to early 1900s who were sent to the United States, Australia, New Zealand, North Africa and the West Indies. ...

The coffee economy collapsed in the 1870s, when coffee blight ravaged the plantations, but the economic system it had created survived intact into the era of its successor, tea which was introduced on a wide scale from 1880 onwards. Tea was more capital-intensive and needed a higher volume of initial investment to be processed, so that individual estate-owners were now supplanted by large English consolidated companies based either in London ('sterling firms') or Colombo ('rupee firms'). Monoculture was thus increasingly capped by monopoly within the plantation economy. The pattern thus created in the nineteenth century remained in existence down to 1972. The only significant modification to the colonial economy was the addition of a rubber sector in the mid-country areas.[1]

The Buddhist resurgence and the 1915 riot

A new body of urban capitalists was growing in the low country, around shop-keeping and the alcohol and wood-work industries. These entrepreneurs were from many castes and they strongly resented the historically unprecidented and unbuddhistic practice of 'caste discrimination' adopted by the Siam Nikaya in 1764, just 10 years after it had been established by a Thai monk. Around 1800 they organised the Amarapura Nikaya, which became hegemonic in the low-country by the mid-19th century. Caste systems are traditional, hereditary systems of social stratification, enforced by law or common practice, based on classifications such as occupation, race, ethnicity, etc. ... The Siam Nikaya is a monastic order within Sri Lanka, located most predominantly around the city of Kandy. ... The Amarapura Nikaya is a Sri Lankan monastic fraternity (a lineage of ordained monks) founded in 1800. ...

The British attempt at giving a Protestant Christian education to the young men of the commercial classes backfired, as they transformed the Buddhism practised in Sri Lanka into something resembling the non-conformist Protestant model. A series of debates against clergymen of the established Anglican church was organised, culminating in the defeat of the latter by modern logical argument. The Buddhist revival was aided by the Theosophists, led by American Col. Henry Steele Olcott, who helped establish Buddhist schools such as Ananda College, Nalanda College and Museaus College, at the same time injecting more modern secular western ideas into the 'Protestant' Buddhist thoughtstream. Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... The Anglican Communion is a world-wide organisation of Anglican Churches. ... Seal of the Theosophical Society Theosophy is a body of belief which holds that all religions are attempts by man to ascertain the Divine, and as such each religion has a portion of the truth. ... Henry Steel Olcott (1832-1907), founder and first president of the Theosophical Society, is well-known as the first prominent person of Western descent to make a formal conversion to Buddhism. ... Ananda College, established November 1, 1886 by the Buddhist Theosophical Society, is one of Sri Lankas oldest schools. ... Nalanda College is a Buddhist school in Colombo, Sri Lanka. ...

Dharmapala, 1915 and the Ceylon National Congress

Revivalists such as Anagarika Dharmapala started linking 'Protestant' Buddhism to Sinhalese-ness, creating a Sinhala-Buddhist consciousness, linked to the temperance movement. This cut across the old barriers of caste, and was the beginnings of a pan-Sinhalese identity. It appealed in particular to small businessmen and yeomen, who now began to take centre stage against the anglicised class of new elites created by the British rulers. The collaborationist compradore elements of the elite, led by F.R. Senanayake and D.S. Senanayake ganged up against the populists led by Dharmapala and removed him from the leadership of the temperance movement. Anagarika Dharmapala (1864 - 1933) was born David Hewavitarne in Colombo, Sri Lanka. ... A cartoon from Australia ca. ... Traditionally the ‘Mudali’ in Sri Lankan history were royal military officials. ... There are two people with the name D. S. Senanayake. ...

A jolt was given to the British aura of invincibility by the German cruiser Emden, which attacked the seaport of Penang in Malaya, sinking a Russian cruiser, bombarded Madras (now Chennai) and sailed unimpeded down the East coast of Sri Lanka. Such was its impact that, in Sri Lanka to this day, 'Emden' is the bogeyman that mothers scare their children with, and the term is still used to refer to a particularly obnoxious person. In panic, the authorities jailed a Boer wildlife official, HH Engelbrecht, after accusing him falsely of having supplied meat to the cruiser. [2] The British rebuff at Gallipoli, fighting Asian Turks, also dented the British white-supremacist sentiment. SMS Emden was a light cruiser of the German navy. ... State motto: Bersatu dan Setia (United and Loyal) State anthem: Untuk Negeri Kita (For Our State) Capital George Town Ruling party Barisan Nasional  - Yang Di-Pertua Negeri Abdul Rahman bin Haji Abbas  - Ketua Menteri Dr Koh Tsu Koon History    - Ceded by Kedah to British 11 August 1786   - Japanese occupation 1942... Map of Peninsular Malaysia Peninsular Malaysia (Malay: Semenanjung Malaysia) is the part of Malaysia which lies on the Malay Peninsula, and shares a land border with Thailand in the north. ... USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser (really an uprated guided missile destroyer), launched in 1992. ... Madras refers to: the Indian city of Chennai, formerly known as Madras, the former Indian state, now known as Tamil Nadu (Plural of Madra): Ancient people of Iranian affinites, who lived in northwest Panjab in the Uttarapatha division of ancient India. ... “Madras” redirects here. ... The bogeyman, boogyman, or bogyman or the boogeyman, is a legendary ghostlike monster often believed in by children. ... Gallipoli peninsula (Turkish: , Greek: ) is located in Turkish Thrace, the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. ...

In 1915 commercial-ethnic rivalry erupted into a riot in the Colombo against the Muslims, with Christians participating as much as Buddhists. The British reacted heavy-handedly, as the riot was also directed against them. Dharmapala had his legs broken and was confined to Jaffna; his brother died there. Edward Henry Pedris, a militia commander, was shot for mutiny. Inspector General of Police Herbert Dowbiggin became notorious for his methods. E. W. Perera, a lawyer from Kotte, braved mine and submarine-infested seas (as well as the Police) to carry a secret Memorial in the soles of his shoes to the Secretary of State to the Colonies, pleading for the repeal of martial law and describing the atrocities committed by the Police led by Dowbiggin.[3] The bitterness among the Sinhalese against the British authorities was considerable. Sir Herbert Layard Dowbiggin, C.M.G. (1880-1966) was the British colonial Inspector General of Police of Ceylon (Sri Lanka) from 1913 to 1937, the longest tenure of office of an Inspector General of Police (IGP). ... District Kotte Division, Colombo District Mayor Swarnalatha Silva (Sri Lanka Freedom Party) Area    - City 17 km² Population (2001)  - City 115,826 ( 2001 census )  - Density 3,305/km²  - Metro 2,234,289 Time zone Sri Lanka Standard Time Zone (UTC+5:30) Sri Jayawardenapura-Kotte, (ශ්‍රී ජයවර්ධනපුර කෝට්ටේ in Sinhala, ஸ்ரீ ஜயவர்த்தனபுரம் கோட்டே in Tamil), also known... For other uses, see Martial law (disambiguation). ...

In 1919 the Ceylon National Congress (CNC) was founded to agitate for greater autonomy. It did not seek independence, however, representing the compradore elite which opposed Dharmapala. This same elite vigorously opposed the grant of Universal Suffrage by the Donoughmore constitutional commission. Universal suffrage (also general suffrage or common suffrage) consists of the extension of the right to vote to all adults, without distinction as to race, sex, belief, or economic or social status. ...

Dharmapala was hounded out of the country by a press campaign by the Lake House group of the press baron D.R. Wijewardena. His mantle fell on the next generation, epitomised by Colvin R de Silva, who was radicalised by Dharmapala's words. Dr. Colvin R. de Silva (-1987) was a Trotskyist leader and lawyer in Sri Lanka. ...

The Youth Leagues and the struggle for independence

The young people who stepped into the shoes of Dharmapala organised themselves into Youth Leagues, seeking freedom and justice for the people of Sri Lanka. The first moves came not from Dharmapala's ethnic group, but from the Tamil youth of Jaffna. In 1924 The Jaffna Students’ Congress, later renamed the Jaffna Youth Congress (JYC) was founded. Influenced by the Indian Independence movement, it was secular and committed to Poorana Swaraj (Complete Self-Rule), national unity and the eradication of inequalities imposed by caste. In 1927, the JYC invited Indian independence movement leader Gandhi to visit Jaffna. The JYC led a successful boycott of the first State Council elections in Jaffna in 1931, arguing that the Donoughmore reforms did not concede enough self-government. [4] The Youth Leagues were societies of young people, mainly intellectuals, who wanted independence for Sri Lanka. ... The Jaffna Youth Congress, was the first of Sri Lankas Youth Leagues. ... This article concerns secularity, that is, being secular, in various senses. ... The flag adopted in 1931 and used by the Provisional Government of Free India during the Second World War. ... Caste systems are traditional, hereditary systems of social stratification, enforced by law or common practice, based on classifications such as occupation, race, ethnicity, etc. ... Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (October 2, 1869 – January 30, 1948) (Devanagari: मोहनदास करमचन्द गांधी, Gujarati મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી), called...

In the 1930s the Youth Leagues were formed in the South, around a core of intellectuals who had returned from education in Britain, influenced by leftist ideals. The Ministers of the CNC petitioned the colonial government to increase their powers, instead of demanding independence, or even dominion status. They were forced to withdraw their 'Ministers' Memorandum' after a vigorous campaign by the Youth Leagues.[5][6] The Youth Leagues were societies of young people, mainly intellectuals, who wanted independence for Sri Lanka. ... A dominion, often Dominion, is the territory or the authority of a dominus (a lord or master). ...

The South Colombo Youth League became involved in a strike at the Wellawatte Spinning and weaving mills. It published an irregular journal in Sinhala, Kamkaruwa (The Worker). Sinhala (also referred to as Sinhalese; earlier referred to as Singhalese) is the mother tongue of the Sinhalese, the largest ethnic group of Sri Lanka. ...

Suriya-Mal movement

In protest against the proceeds of poppy sales on Armistice Day (11 November) being used for the benefit of the British ex-servicemen to the detriment of Sri Lankan ex-servicemen, one of the latter, Aelian Perera, had started a rival sale of Suriya (Portia tree) flowers on this day, the proceeds of which were devoted to help needy Ceylonese ex-servicemen. A wild field of poppies, West Azarbaijan Province, Iran A poppy is any of a number of showy flowers, born one per stem, belonging to the poppy family. ... November 11 is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 50 days remaining. ... Binomial name Thespesia populnea (L.) Sol ex Correa The Portia tree (Thespesia populnea; Family Malvaceae) is a small tree or arborescent shrub 5-10 (-20) m high that is pantropical in littoral environments, although probably native only to the Old World. ...

In 1933 a British teacher Doreen Young Wickremasinghe, wrote an article, The Battle of the Flowers which appeared in the Ceylon Daily News and exposed the absurdity of forcing Sri Lankan schoolchildren to purchase poppies to help British veterans at the expense of their own, which caused her to be vilified by her compatriots. Doreen Wickremasinghe (also known before her marriage, as Doreen Young) was a British Leftist who became a prominent Communist politician in Sri Lanka and a Member of Parliament (MP). ...

The South Colombo Youth League now got involved in the Suriya-Mal Movement and revived it on a new anti-imperialist and anti-war basis. Yearly until the Second World War, young men and women sold Suriya flowers on the streets on Armistice Day in competition with the Poppy sellers. The purchasers of the Suriya Mal were generally from the poorer sections of society and the funds collected were not large. But the movement provided a rallying point for the anti-imperialist minded youth of the time. An attempt was made by the British colonial authorities to curb the movement's effectiveness through the 'Street Collection Regulation Ordinance'. The Suriya-Mal Movement was formed in British ruled Ceylon (Sri Lanka) to sell Suriya (Portia tree) flowers on Poppy Day for the benefit of Sri Lankan ex-servicemen. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ...

Doreen Young was elected first President of the Suriya Mal Movement at a meeting held at the residence of Wilmot Perera in Horana. Terence de Zilva and Robin Ratnam were elected Joint Secretaries, and Roy de Mel Treasurer.

Malaria epidemic and floods

There had been a drought in 1934 which caused a shortage of rice, estimated at 3 million bushels. From October on there were floods, followed by a malaria epidemic in 1934-35, during which 1,000,000 people were affected and at least 125,000 died. The Suriya-Mal Movement was honed by volunteer work among the poor during the Malaria Epidemic and the floods. The volunteers found that there was widespread malnutrition, which was aggravated by the shortage of rice, and which reduced resistance to the disease. They helped fight the epidemic by making pills of 'Marmite' yeast extract. N.M. Perera became known as Parippu Mahathmaya ('Mr. Dhal') because of the lentils he distributed as dry rations to the people affected in those days. Percentage of population affected by malnutrition by country, according to United Nations statistics. ... A jar of the British version of Marmite Marmite is a British savoury spread made from yeast extract, a by-product of beer brewing. ... Nanayakkarapathirage Martin Perera, better known as N. M. Perera (6 June 1905 - 14 August 1979) was one of the leaders of the Sri Lankan Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP). ... Dal can mean: Dal (or dhal) is a Sanskrit and Hindi term referring to pulses which have been stripped of their outer hulls and split, as well as to the thick, spicy stew prepared therefrom, a mainstay of Indian cuisine. ...

As Sybil reminisced in Forward: The Progressive Weekly many years later: 'Work in connection with malaria relief was an eye-opener to many of these people who were just getting to know the peasant masses. The poverty was incredible, the overcrowding even more so, fifteen, twenty or more people crammed into tiny huts, dying like flies. This was what colonial exploitation meant: worse than the worst that prevailed in England when Marx and Engels analyzed the conditions of the working classes. This was what had to be fought.' [7]

The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is formed

The Marxist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), which grew out of the Youth Leagues in 1935, was the first party to demand independence.[8] The first manifesto of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party declared that its aims were the achievement of complete national independence, the nationalisation of the means of production, distribution and exchange, and the abolition of inequalities arising from differences of race, caste, creed or sex. Marxism is the political practice and social theory based on the works of Karl Marx, a 19th century philosopher, economist, journalist, and revolutionary, along with Friedrich Engels. ... The Lanka Sama Samaja Party (literally Ceylon Equal Society Party, in Sinhala: ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය, in Tamil: லங்கா சமசமாஜக் கட்சி) is a trotskyist political party in Sri Lanka. ... The term race serves to distinguish between populations or groups of people based on different sets of characteristics which are commonly determined through social conventions. ... Caste systems are traditional, hereditary systems of social stratification, enforced by law or common practice, based on classifications such as occupation, race, ethnicity, etc. ... A creed is a statement or confession of belief — usually religious belief — or faith. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

Its deputies in the State Council after the 1936 general election, N.M. Perera and Philip Gunawardena, were aided in this struggle by not quite so radical members like Don Alwin Rajapaksa of Ruhuna and Natesa Iyer of the Indian Tamils. Others who supported them from time to time were George E. de Silva of Kandy, B.H. Aluwihare of Matale, D.P. Jayasuriya of Gampaha, A. Ratnayake of Dumbara and Susanta de Fonseka, the Deputy Speaker. They also demanded the replacement of English as the official language by Sinhala and Tamil. In November 1936, a motions that 'in the Municipal and Police Courts of the Island the proceedings should be in the vernacular' and that 'entries in police stations should be recorded in the language in which they are originally stated' were passed by the State Council and referred to the Legal Secretary, but nothing was done about these matters and English continued to be the language of rule until 1956. State Council or National Council is the name of a major governmental body in some countries. ... Nanayakkarapathirage Martin Perera, better known as N. M. Perera (6 June 1905 - 14 August 1979) was one of the leaders of the Sri Lankan Trotskyist Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP). ... Don Philip Rupesinghe Gunawardena (b. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Tamil ( ; IPA ) is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamils in India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries. ... Look up Vernacular in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Fraternal relations were established between the LSSP and the Congress Socialist Party (CSP) of India and a LSSP delegation attended the Faizpur Sessions of the Indian National Congress in 1936. In April 1937 Kamaladevi Chattopadyaya, a leader of the CSP addressed a large number of meetings in various parts of the country on a national tour organised by the LSSP. This helped to establish the indivisibility of the fights for freedom of Sri Lanka and India. In Jaffna, where Kamaladevi also spoke, the left movement found consistent and loyal supporters from among one-time members of the JYC. The Congress Socialist Party was founded in 1934 as a socialist caucus within the Indian National Congress. ... Indian National Congress (also known as the Congress Party and abbreviated INC) is a major political party in India. ...

Bracegirdle

On 28 November 1936, at a meeting in Colombo, the president of the LSSP, Dr Colvin R. de Silva, introduced Mark Anthony Bracegirdle, a British/Australian former planter saying: 'This is the first time a white comrade has ever attended a party meeting held at a street corner.' He made his first public speech in Sri Lanka, warning that the capitalists were trying to split the workers of Sri Lanka and put one against the other. He took an active part in organising a public meeting called by the LSSP on Galle Face Green in Colombo on 10 January 1937 to celebrate Sir Herbert Dowbiggin's departure from the island and to protest against the atrocities during his tenure as Inspector General of Police. In March, he was co-opted to serve on the executive committee. November 28 is the 332nd day (333rd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1936 (MCMXXXVI) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Map of Colombo with its administrative districts Coordinates: District Colombo Division, Colombo District Mayor Uvaiz Mohammad Imitiyaz (Sri Lanka Freedom Party) Area    - City 37. ... Mark Anthony Lyster Bracegirdle (born in London on 10 September , 1912, died 22 June 1999), was an Anglo-Australian Marxist revolutionary, who played a key role in Sri Lankas independence struggle. ... The Galle Face Green is a historic promenade, which stretches for half kilometer along the coast in the heart of financial and business district of Colombo, the largest city in Sri Lanka. ... January 10 is the 10th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ...

He was employed by Natesa Iyer, Member of the State Council for the Hatton constituency, to 'organise an Estate Labour Federation in Nawalapitiya or Hatton, with an idea that he may be a proper candidate to be the future Secretary of the Labour Federation.' [9] State Council or National Council is the name of a major governmental body in some countries. ... Display at Hatton Railway Station Hatton (Locaton , ) is a small town in the Nuwara-Eliya District, Central Province of Sri Lanka, a notable centre of Ceylon Tea plantations and industry. ...

On 3 April, at a meeting at Nawalapitiya attended by two thousand estate workers, at which Kamaladevi Chattopadhyaya spoke, Dr N.M. Perera said: 'Comrades, I have an announcement to make. You know we have a white comrade (applause) .... He has generously consented to address you. I call upon Comrade Bracegirdle to address you.' Bracegirdle rose to speak amid tumultuous applause and shouts of 'Samy, Samy' (master, master). April 3 is the 93rd day of the year (94th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 272 days remaining. ...

The authorities were on hand to note his speech: 'the most noteworthy feature of this meeting ... was the presence of Bracegirdle and his attack on the planters. He claimed unrivalled knowledge of the misdeeds of the planters and promised scandalous exposures. His delivery, facial appearance, his posture were all very threatening ... Every sentence was punctuated with cries of samy, samy from the labourers. Labourers were heard to remark that Mr Bracegirdle has correctly said that they should not allow planters to break labour laws and they must in future not take things lying down.' (T. Perera, The Bracegirdle Saga: 60 Years After, 'What Next', No 5 1997.)[10]

The British planters were angry that their prestige was being harmed by a fellow white man. They prevailed upon the British Colonial Governor Sir Reginald Stubbs to deport him. Bracegirdle was served with the order of deportation on 22 April and given 48 hours to leave on the SS Mooltan, on which a passage had been booked for him by the Government. Sir Reginald Edward Stubbs (1876 - 1947) was a British administrator. ...

The LSSP with Bracegirdle's assent decided that the order should be defied. Bracegirdle went into hiding and the Colonial Government began an unsuccessful man-hunt. LSSP started a campaign to defend him. At that year's May Day rally at Price Park, placards declaring 'We want Bracegirdle – Deport Stubbs' were displayed, and a resolution was passed condemning Stubbs, demanding his removal and the withdrawal of the deportation order. May Day is May 1, and refers to any of several holidays celebrated on this day. ...

On 5 May, in the State Council, NM Perera and Philip Gunawardena moved a vote of censure on the Governor for having ordered the deportation of Bracegirdle without the advice of the acting Home Minister. Even the Board of Ministers had started feeling the heat of public opinion and the vote was passed by 34 votes to 7. May 5 is the 125th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (126th in leap years). ... Don Philip Rupesinghe Gunawardena (b. ...

On the same day there was a 50,000-strong rally at Galle Face Green, which was presided over by Colvin R de Silva and addressed by Dr N.M. Perera, Philip Gunawardena, Leslie Goonewardena, A.E.Goonesinha, George E. de Silva, D.M. Rajapakse, Siripala Samarakkody, Vernon Gunasekera, Handy Perimbanayagam, Mrs K. Natesa Iyer and S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike. Bracegirdle made a dramatic appearance on the platform at this rally, but the police were powerless to arrest him. Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (1899-September 26, 1959) was Prime Minister (1956-59) of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka). ...

However, the police managed to arrest him a couple of days later at the Hulftsdorp residence of Vernon Gunasekera, the Secretary of the LSSP. However, the necessary legal preparations had been made. A writ of habeas corpus was served and the case was called before a bench of three Supreme Court judges presided over by Chief Justice Sir Sidney Abrahams. The brilliant H.V. Perera, the county's leading civil lawyer, volunteered his services free on behalf of Bracegirdle; he was made a Queens Counsel (QC) on the day that Bracegirdle appeared in court. On May 18 order was made that he could not be deported for exercising his right to free speech, and Bracegirdle was a free man. In law, a writ is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction. ... In common law, habeas corpus (/heɪbiəs kɔɹpəs/) is the name of a legal action or writ by means of which detainees can seek relief from unlawful imprisonment. ... Sir Sidney Solomon Abrahams (11 February 1885 - 14 May 1957), nicknamed Solly, was a British Olympic athlete and Chief Justice of Ceylon (Sri Lanka). ... Queens Counsel (postnominal QC), during the reign of a male Sovereign known as Kings Counsel (KC), are barristers or, in Scotland, advocates appointed by Letters patent to be one of Her Majestys Counsel learned in the law. They do not constitute a separate order or degree of... May 18 is the 138th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (139th in leap years). ...

Second World War

After the outbreak of the Second World War, the independence agitators turned to opposition to the Ministers' support for the British war effort. The Ministers brought motions gifting the Sri Lankan taxpayers' money to the British war machine, which were opposed by the pro-freedom members of the state council. There was considerable opposition to the war in Sri Lanka, particularly among the workers and the nationalists, many of the latter of whom hoped for a German victory. Among Buddhists, there was disgust that Buddhist monks of German origin were interned as 'enemy aliens' whereas Italian and German Roman Catholic priests were not. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... The Roman Catholic Church, most often spoken of simply as the Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with over one billion members. ...

Two members of the Governing Party, Junius Richard Jayawardene and Dudley Senanayake, held discussions with the Japanese with a view to collaboration to oust the British. Junius Richard Jayewardene (September 17, 1906 November 1, 1996) was a Sri Lankan political figure. ... Dudley Shelton Senanayake (June 19, 1911 April 13, 1973) was a Sri Lankan politician who served as prime minister of Sri Lanka three times during the 1950s and 1960s. ...

Estate strike wave

Starting in November 1939 and during the first half of 1940 there was a wave of spontaneous strikes in the British-owned plantations, basically aimed at winning the right of organisation. There were two main plantation unions, Iyer's Ceylon Indian Congress and the All-Ceylon Estate Workers Union (later the Lanka Estate Workers Union, LEWU) led by the Samasamajists.

In the Central Province the strike wave reached its zenith in the Mool Oya Estate strike, which was led by Samasamajists including Veluchamy, Secretary of the Estate Workers Union. In this strike, on 19 January 1940, the worker Govindan was shot and killed by the police. As a result of agitation both within the State Council and outside, the Government was compelled to appoint a Commission of Inquiry. Colvin R. de Silva appeared for the widow of Govindan and exposed the combined role of the police and employers in the white plantation raj. January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

After Mool Oya, the strike wave spread southward towards Uva, and the strikes became more prolonged and the workers began more and more to seek the militant leadership of the Sama samajists. In Uva, Samasamajists including Willie Jayatilleke, Edmund Samarakkody and V. Sittampalam were in the leadership. The plantation-raj got the Badulla Magistrate to issue a ban on meetings. N.M. Perera broke the ban and addressed a large meeting in Badulla on 12 May, and the police were powerless to act. At Wewessa Estate the workers set up an elected council and the Superintendent agreed to act in consultation with the Workers' Council. An armed police party that went to restore 'law and order' was disarmed by the workers. May 12 is the 132nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (133rd in leap years). ...

The strike wave at last was beaten back by a wave of terror by the police, aided by floods which cut Uva off from the rest of the country for over a week. But the colonial authorities were finding that the independence struggle was getting too powerful.

Underground struggle

After Dunkirk, the British colonial authorities reacted in panic (as revealed in secret files released many decades later) and N.M. Perera, Philip Gunawardena and Colvin R. de Silva were arrested on 18 June 1940 and Edmund Samarakkody on 19 June. The LSSP press was raided and sealed. Regulations were promulgated which made open party work practically impossible. June 18 is the 169th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (170th in leap years), with 196 days remaining. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Edmund Samarakkody was a leading Trotskyist in Sri Lanka and at one time a member of that countrys parliament. ... June 19 is the 170th day of the year (171st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 195 days remaining. ...

However, the experience gained in hiding Bracegirdle now paid off. The cover organisation of the LSSP, of which Doric de Souza and Reggie Senanayake were in charge, had been active for some months. Detention orders had been issued on Leslie Goonewardene but he evaded arrest and went underground. The LSSP was involved in a strike wave which commenced in May 1941 affecting the workers of the Colombo Harbour, Granaries, Wellawatta Mills, Gas Company, Colombo Municipality and the Fort Mt-Lavinia bus route.

With Japan's entry into the war, and especially after the fall of Singapore, Sri Lanka became a front-line British base against the Japanese. On 5 April 1942, The Japanese Navy bombed Colombo. Such was the degree of anti-British feeling that, although the Japanese aircraft were visible to everybody on the south-west coast, nobody informed the RAF in Colombo, so complete surprise was achieved. April 5 is the 95th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (96th in leap years). ... Year 1942 (MCMXLII) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1942 calendar). ... The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) (: 大日本帝國海軍 Shinjitai: 大日本帝国海軍   or 日本海軍 Nippon Kaigun), officially Navy of Empire of Greater Japan, also known as the Japanese Navy or Combined Fleet was the Navy of Empire of Japan from 1869 until 1947, when it was dissolved following Japans constitutional renunciation of the use of force... The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the air force branch of the British Armed Forces. ...

That evening, in the confusion following the attack, the LSSP leaders were able to escape, with the help of one of their guards. Several of them fled to India, where they participated in the struggle there, underscoring what had been established before the war, that India's and Sri Lanka's freedom struggles were interlinked. However, a sizeable contingent remained, led by Robert Gunawardena, Philip's brother. In 1942 and 1944 the LSSP gave leadership to several other strikes and in the process was able to capture the leadership of Government workers’ unions in Colombo.

Cocos Islands mutiny

Main article: Cocos Islands Mutiny

The fall of Singapore and the subsequent sinking of the Battleships Prince of Wales and Repulse, punctured forever the myth of British invincibility. Whatever remained was ripped to tatters by the sinking of the aircraft carrier Hermes and the cruisers Cornwall and Dorsetshire off Sri Lanka in early April 1942; accompanied at the same time by the virtually unopposed bombing of the island and bombardment of Madras (Chennai). Such was the panic amongst the British in Sri Lanka that a large turtle which came ashore was reported by an Australian unit as a number of Japanese ambhibious vehicles. Anti-British sentiment increased accordingly and hopes ran high of liberation by the Japanese. Cocos (Keeling) Islands The Cocos Islands Mutiny was one of many among British Commonwealth forces during the Second World War. ... The Battle of Singapore was a battle of the South-East Asian theatre of World War II, from January 30, 1942 – February 15, 1942. ... This article is about a battleship as a type of warship. ... Seven ships of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Prince of Wales, after the Prince of Wales. ... Twelve ships of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Repulse. ... Four aircraft carriers, (front-to-back) Principe de Asturias, amphibious assault carrier USS Wasp, supercarrier USS Forrestal and light V/STOL carrier HMS Invincible, showing size differences. ... Three ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Hermes, after Hermes, the messenger god of Greek mythology: The first Hermes was a converted cruiser that was used as an experimental seaplane tender by the Royal Naval Air Service shortly before World War I. She was sunk by a... The USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga class cruiser. ... Six ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS Cornwall after the Duchy of Cornwall. ... Three ships of the British Royal Navy have been named HMS Dorsetshire, after the traditional county of Dorsetshire. ...

The Ceylon Garrison Artillery on Horsburgh Island in the Cocos Islands mutinied on the night of 8/9 May, intending to hand the islands over to the Japanese. The mutiny took place partly because of the agitation by the LSSP. The mutiny was suppressed and three of the mutineers were the only British Commonwealth troops to be executed for mutiny during the Second World War. [11] Gratien Fernando, the leader of the mutiny, was defiant to the end, confident of his place in the annals of history as a fighter for freedom. Gratien Fernando (1915 – 1942) was the leader of the Cocos Islands Mutiny, an agitator for the freedom of Sri Lanka from the British and a hero of the Sri Lanka Independence Struggle. ...

No Sri Lankan combat regiment was deployed by the British in a combat situation after the Cocos Islands Mutiny. The defences of Sri Lanka were beefed up to three British army divisions because the island was strategically important, holding almost all the British Empire's resources of rubber. Rationing was instituted so that Sri Lankans were comparatively better fed than their Indian neighbours, in order to prevent disaffection among the natives. Symbol of the Polish 1st Legions Infantry Division in NATO code A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of around ten to twenty thousand soldiers. ...

Public disgust at British colonial rule continued to grow. Among the elite there was irritation at the colour-bar practised by the leading clubs. Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke, the Civil Defence Commissioner complained that the British commander of Ceylon, Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton called him a 'black bastard'; this was merely an expression of continuing white-supremacism. However, it was grist to the mill for an increasingly angry middle class that this was the attitude of their rulers who had been bested in Hong Kong, Malaya, Singapore and Burma by Asians. Sir Oliver Ernest Goonetilleke, G.C.M.G., K.C.V.O., K.B.E.,K.ST.J., LLD, BA, son of Alfred E. Goonetilleke, Post Master/Trincomalee Post Office, and one of eight children, was born on October 20th ,1892 in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka (formerly known as Ceylon. ... Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton, GBE KCB KCMG DSO, (20 April 1884 - 4 September 1964), was a British Naval Officer. ...

Sri Lankans in Singapore and Malaysia formed the 'Lanka Regiment' of the Indian National Army, directly under Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. A plan was made to transport them to Sri Lanka by submarine, to begin the liberation struggle, but this was abortive. The Indian National Army (I.N.A) or Azad Hind Fauj was the army of the Arzi Hukumat-e-Azad Hind (The Provisional Government of Free India ) which fought along with the Japanese 15th Army during the Japanese Campaign in Burma, and in the Battle of Imphal, during the Second... Netaji poster in Thiruvananthapuram Subhas Chandra Bose (January 23, 1897 - August 18, 1945) also known as Netaji, was a Orissa born and Bengal based Indian leader of the movement to win independence from British rule. ...

The CNC agreed to accept the Communists, who had been expelled by the Trotskyists in the Sama Samaja Party but who now supported the war effort. At its 25th annual conference, the CNC resolved to demand 'a complete freedom after war'. The leader of the house and Minister of Agriculture and Lands Don Stephen Senanayake left the CNC on the issue of independence, disagreeing with the revised aim of 'the achieving of freedom'.[12]. This article is about communism as a form of society, as an ideology advocating that form of society, and as a popular movement. ... D.S. Senanayake Don Stephen Senanayake (October 20, 1884–22 March 1952) was an independence activist who formed the Sri Lankan United National Party. ...

Free Lanka Bill

In November 1944, Susanta de Fonseka, the State Council member for Panadura, moved a motion in the State Council calling for a dominion-type constitution for a Free Lanka. Subsequently, the "Free Lanka Bill" was introduced in the State Council, on 19 January 1945. January 19 is the 19th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday. ...

At annual session of the Ceylon National Congress was held on 27 January-28 January 1945 its president, George E. de Silva, said, "Today we stand pledged to strive for freedom. Nothing less than that can be accepted." January 27 is the 27th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... January 28 is the 28th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday. ...

The Congress resolved, "Whereas the decision of the State Council 'to frame a Constitution of the Dominion type for a Free Lanka', falls short of the full national right for freedom, nevertheless, this Congress instructs its members in the State Council to support the Bill providing 'a new constitution for a Free Lanka' as an advance in our struggle for freedom..."

A second reading of the Free Lanka Bill was moved and passed without division on in February. The Bill brought up for a third reading, with amendment, on 22 March. G A Wille, a British nominated member, moved that ‘The Bill be read the third time six months hence’, which was defeated by 40 to 7.

Post-war unrest

With the conclusion of the war against Germany, public pressure for the release of the detenus increased. On 30 May 1945 A.P. Jayasuriya moved a resolution in the State Council that the detained independence agitators be released unconditionally. This was passed, opposed only by two British nominated members. However, the detenus were only released on 24 June , after a two-day hunger. The released prisoners were hailed as heroes and given receptions throughout the country. The Left had emerged stronger than before the war, having earned tremendous prestige. May 30 is the 150th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (151st in leap years). ... 1945 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday. ... June 24 is the 175th day of the year (176th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 190 days remaining. ...

The repression during the war years had kept unrest under control but, with the relaxation of wartime restrictions, there was an eruption of popular anger. From September onwards, there was a wave of strikes in Colombo, on the tramways and in the harbour. In November the LSSP-led All Ceylon United Motor Workers' Union launched an island-wide bus strike, which was successful in spite of the arrest of N.M. Perera, Philip Gunawardena and other leaders. The All Ceylon United Motor Workers Union is a trade union which organises workers in the passenger bus sector in Sri Lanka. ...

The All-Ceylon Peasant Congress took action on the compulsory collection of rice by the government at 8 rupees per bushel. In some areas the farmers refused to give their rice to the Government and hundreds were charged in the courts. In 1946 the Congress organised a march on the State Council, which compelled the Ministers to drop the system of compulsory collection. The Rupee (₨ or Rs. ... A bushel is a unit of volume, used (with somewhat different definitions) in the systems of Imperial units and U.S. customary units. ...

In October 1946 a strike of Government workers, including those in the railway, extended to the Harbour, the Gas Company, and became a General Strike. The authorities at first refused to negotiate, but finally the Acting Governor agreed to meet a deputation of the Government Workers’ Trade Union Federation. The adviser to the deputation, N.M. Perera was arrested by the police, but the workers refused to come to a settlement in his absence. In the end Perera was released and a settlement was reached. A general strike is a strike action by an entire labour force in a city, region or country. ...

However, some of the promises made by the Acting Governor were not honoured, and a second General Strike broke out in May-June 1947. The Ceylon Defence Force was recalled from leave in order to aid the police in crushing this upsurge. V. Kandasamy of the Government Clerical Service Union was shot dead at Dematagoda, on the way to Kolonnawa after a strike meeting at Hyde Park, Colombo, when the police repeatedly fired on the crowd. The repression was successful in breaking the strike. However, the writing was on the wall for the British authorities: if they did not go soon, they would be forced out. The Bombay Mutiny and other signs of unrest in the armed forces of India had already caused the British to start their retreat from that country. Soon their position in Sri Lanka, too would be untenable. The Government Clerical Service Union (GCSU) in Sri Lanka is a trade union of clerical workers who work in the public sector in Sri Lanka. ... The Bombay Mutiny was the mutiny of the Royal Indian Navy in Bombay (Mumbai) harbour on 21 February 1946. ...

General Election 1947

D.S. Senanayake formed the United National Party (UNP) in 1946[13], when a new constitution was agreed on. At the elections of 1947, the UNP won a minority of the seats in Parliament, but cobbled together a coalition with the Sinhala Maha Sabha of SWRD Banadaranaike and the Tamil Congress of G.G. Ponnambalam. It was to this government that the British prepared to hand over power, while preserving as much of a whip hand as possible. There are two people with the name D. S. Senanayake. ... The United National Party, often referred to as the UNP Sinhalese: එක්සත් ජාතික පක්ෂය (pronounced Eksath Jathika Pakshaya), Tamil: ஐக்கிய தேசியக் கட்சி), is a leading political party in Sri Lanka. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... The Sinhala Maha Sabha (Sinhalese Great Assembly) was a political party in Sri Lanka (Ceylon at the time) founded by Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike in 1934-35, in order to promote Sinhalese culture and community interests. ... Solomon West Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike (1899-September 26, 1959) was Prime Minister (1956-59) of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka). ... ACTC flag All Ceylon Tamil Congress (in Tamil: அகில இலங்கைத் தமிழ்க் காங்கிரஸ்), is the oldest Tamil political party in Sri Lanka. ... G.G. Ponnambalam (* 8 November 1902 in Alvay, Point Pedro, Sri Lanka; † 9 December 1977 in Malaysia), full name Ganapathipillai Gangaser Ponnambalam, was a Tamil politician in Ceylon, and then after independence, in Sri Lanka. ...

References

• Arsecularatne, SN, Sinhalese immigrants in Malaysia & Singapore, 1860-1990: History through recollections, KVG de Silva & Sons, Colombo, 1991
• Brohier, RL, The Golden Age of Military Adventure in Ceylon: an account of the Uva Rebellion 1817-1818. Colombo: 1933
• Crusz, Noel, The Cocos Islands Mutiny, Fremantle Arts Centre Press, Fremantle, WA, 2001
• Muthiah, Wesley and Wanasinghe, Sydney, Britain, World War 2 and the Sama Samajists, Young Socialist Publication, Colombo, 1996
• Colvin R. de Silva, Hartal! accessed 4th November 2005.