Dr. M. Roberts Documenting the Ceylon National Congress



Introduction 

Founding & Role of the Ceylon National Congress 

Extract from Wikipedia 

 "The Ceylon National Congress (CNC) was a political party in colonial-era Ceylon founded on 11 December 1919  It was founded during a period where nationalism and support for the Sri Lankan independence movement grew quite intensely amidst British colonial rule in Ceylon. It was formed by members of the Ceylon National Association (founded in 1888) and the Ceylon Reform League (founded in 1917).
The Ceylon National Congress played an instrumental role in the Sri Lankan independence movement. Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam was the founding president of the party. In October 1920, Sir James Peiris was elected president, staunchly supported by F. R. Senanayake and future prime minister D. S. Senanayake.  Other former presidents include D. B. Jayatilaka, E. W. Perera, C. W. W. Kannangara, Patrick de Silva Kularatne, H. W. Amarasuriya, W. A. de Silva, George E. de Silva and Edwin Wijeyeratne. The Ceylon National Congress would pave the way for the formation of the United National Party. In 1943, D. S. Senanayake resigned from the Congress because he disagreed with its revised aim of achieving full freedom from the British Empire, preferring Dominion status."

Sir Ponnambalam, Sir James, DBJ, EWP., CWW K.



PdeSK, HWA., WAdeS, GEdeS, Sir Edwin



Extract from the Government Archives website
https://archives.gov.lk/online-exhibits/path-to-freedom/congress
Ceylon National Congress
On December 11, 1919, the Ceylon National Congress was founded, and Ponnambalam Arunachalam was appointed as its first president. As a union, it played a significant role in presenting proposals for constitutional reforms. The aim of the Congress was to create a common national movement. However, Mr. Ponnambalam Arunachalam resigned from the Ceylon National Congress when Tamil leaders, led by him, demanded a separate seat from Colombo under the Manning Reforms of 1920, which the majority of Sinhalese leaders opposed. This was a key reason for the weakening of the National Congress and also affected the trust and unity between the Sinhalese and Tamil communities. The loss of support from the low-country Sinhalese, A.E. Gunasinghe's withdrawal from the union in 1929, controversy over the Donoughmore system, and the departure of E.W. Perera and others further weakened the National Congress.

LK-NA/60/39, 13.12.1918,  minutes of the first meeting of the Ceylon National Congress, appear below:


The Handbook of the Ceylon National Congress


The Handbook of the Ceylon National Congress 1919-1928 edited by S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike (Oxford Scholar & Barrister) could be downloaded from here :
https://noolaham.org/wiki/index.php/The_Hand-Book_of_the_Ceylon_National_Congress_1919-1928





Another Oxford Scholar, Dr. Michael Roberts undertook the task of documenting the Ceylon National Congress 1928-1950 & he describes his role below.

Documenting the Ceylon National Congress 





Courtesy : https://thuppahis.com/2018/05/22/how-it-became-documenting-the-ceylon-national-congress/ 

The Beginning


Given my archival orientations, I invariably encouraged those holding such material to loan it to the Department of National Archives so that copies could be made; and sometimes mediated the physical transfer of such material. One political activist who readily cooperated in this ‘exchange’ was Gilbert Perera, who had been one of the Secretaries of the Ceylon National Congress in the late 1940s. Perera indicated that JR Jayewardene may have lots of the CNC documents. So, one day – I forget when, but it is likely to have been late 1969 or early 1970 – I made an appointment to see JR who was the Minister of State in the ruling UNP government led by Dudley Senanayake.
Led into his study by an attendant and facing JR at his desk, I remarked that Gilbert Perera had indicated that some Congress documents were in his possession. He answered in the affirmative, summoned an aide and gave instructions. As his aides brought box upon box – umpteen boxes and yet more boxes — into the room, I was gobsmacked. 

Plucking up courage I asked him if he could loan them to the Archives for copies to be made. JR remained poker-faced. I could not decipher any receptiveness to this idea. He then turned pensive: “Koatte [Koattegoda] and I thought of continuing Banda’s work and producing another volume on the organisation.” He then looked at me and asked: “Will you undertake the job?” Volāre! Cantāre! What to say! Like a bloody fool, I said “Yes” because that was one way of getting the material into the island’s archival stock.  

What I did not know then was that at that point of time the Department of National Archives fell within the jurisdiction of the Minister of State – JR’s domain. So his wish was his command. The Archives was commissioned to assist me in taking on the project.

Since I had secured a Fulbright Fellowship for 1970/71, this meant that the organisation of this project only commenced when I was ready to take it up on my return to teaching work at Peradeniya University in late 1971. 

The Process & Outcome


Mr Amarawansa Dewaraja, Director of the Archives, sent the voluminous body of documents to the University of Peradeniya library premises and hired Sriyani Bernadette (now Sriyani Goonewardene) to work under my instructions in preparing the material. We had a space in the basement of the library and I went through the boxes of document and made certain choices. Sriyani’s willing industry was one pillar in the process that eventually led to the four-volume Documents of the Ceylon National Congress and Nationalist Politics in Ceylon 1928-1950 (1977) running to 3208 pages in total. 

The printing and editing of the documents in the years 1974/75 was also a tedious and slow process involving several trips to Colombo.

When I headed to Germany on a Humboldt Fellowship in July 1975 the Archives informed me that the final book form would be delayed because of printing backlogs. 

It was a pleasant surprise when the four volumes appeared out of the blue in early 1977 to coincide with Independence Day. This was because a change of government had taken place and JR Jayewardene, now the President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, could take centre stage at a media event involving the presentation of de-luxe copies of the four-volume work to him. C’est la Vie."

Struggle for Independence


In contrast with the Indian National Congress in British India, the Ceylon National Congress did not spearhead the last stages in the battle for independence. The key roles in that struggle were played out behind the scenes by DS Senanayake and his aides, Oliver Goonetilleka and Ivor Jennings, with the newly-established United National Party led by DS Senanayake as the front ‘portal.'

Jennings at work

 


DS Senanayake & OE Goonetilleka with a British VIP

Creation of the United National Party

Senanayake had moved away from the CNC  during the 1940s – in part because of the influential position acquired by the Ceylon Communist Party within that body in the years 1943-44. Senanayake eventually created the United National Party on the 6th September 1946 as a broad coalition directed towards winning the General Elections under a new constitution. The CNC, as well as the Sinhala Maha Sabha led by SWRD Bandaranaike, were incorporated as loose affiliates within his umbrella party.


1945-1950 & Dissent

So, what one sees in the period 1945-50 was what I have designated as the “Congress Rump.” Note the end-point: 1950 … not 1947 or 1948.

Few scholars have attended to this ancillary dimension of Sri Lankan political history – largely because few are aware of the Documents of the Ceylon National Congress.

In addressing this issue (briefly and inadequately) in 1977, I had this to say: “[t]he Congress-Rump of the years 1946-50 was not without political significance in the light of subsequent developments. It provides heralds and antecedents of the ideological and social forces that went into the social and political upsurge of the year 1956 (page clxi in original book).”


In briefly depicting the meetings of the Congress in the period May 1946 to January 1950 which addressed central political issues, I presented indications in support of this tentative thesis. I also marked individuals who were unhappy with the subordination of the CNC within the UNP favoured by JR Jayewardene and associates. These included Peter Galoluwa and DM Manoratne of the Maradana National Congress Association; Gilbert Perera (advocate and businessman), Jayantha Weerasekera (journalist and writer –also spelt as Wirasekera), PP Siriwardena (landed proprietor & teacher in Veyangoda) and P. de S. Kularatne (a school principal from a well-endowed Karāva family).
Jayantha Wirasekera, P. de S. Kularatne, George E. de Silva,


It is the task of the new generations of scholars to test this little thesis amongst others spawned by the arguments in the introductory book that I fashioned in 1977 by delving into the mass of CNC documents as well as other pertinent data.
Fare thee well.

=======

Some Sources on the CNC  1919-1950


Courtesy:

Thuppahi’s ‘Gift’ to Assiduous Students 


 1. Ariyaratne, R. A. 1977.

 “Communal Conflict and the Formation of the Ceylon National Congress”. The Ceylon Journal of Historical and Social Studies, 1977 Vol. VII No. 1 , pp. 57-82. http://dlib.pdn.ac.lk/handle/1/3639(PDF available) …….

An  extensive 26-page paper providing a detailed overview on Ceylon National Association, CNC, and places it within the context of territorial and communal division. Also talks about the CAN and CNC as “open” reform societies, and outlines how they consisted of a cross-section of westernized elites.

  • Excerpt: A rift with the Government having thus already been created, and without a European go-between the reform leaders convened the first session of the Ceylon National Congress on 11 December 1919. Its principal architect, Arunachalam, was elected the first President. Recalling his uphill task, he wrote in 1923 “Only those who have been in the inner councils of the reform movement can know how difficult it was to bring the various communities together on a common platform, what toil and tact were needed to educate the people in their rights and duties to remove ancient prejudices and jealousies, to harmonies differences and dissensions and create the indispensable basis of mutual trust and co-operation”.


2. Cooray, M.H.V. 2004 

      “The Independence of Sri Lanka”. The Island. http://www.island.lk/2004/02/08/politi01.html

Key points:

  • Brief comparison between Indian National Congress and CNC
  • Excerpt:

The political agitation for more legislative power for the Ceylonese, leading ultimately to full independence was started by the Ceylon National Association formed in 1917, followed by the Ceylon National Congress formed in 1919. It was a sign of the ethnic amity that prevailed at the time that Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam, a Tamil, was elected as the first President of each of these bodies, a majority of whose members were Sinhalese.

Amongst leaders who joined these two bodies, apart from Ponnambalam Arunachalam, were Ponnambalam Ramanathan his brother, D. S. Senanayake and his two brothers F. R. and D.C., Sir James Peiris, E. W. Perera, C. W. W. Kannangara, Sir D. B. Jayatillake, D. R. Wijewardene, S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike and J. R. Jayewardene. Arunachalam their elected leader, hoped that the Indian National Congress led by Gandhi and Nehru, would provide a model for the Ceylon National Congress, but his colleagues were mostly conservatives who thought political agitation as it was being pursued in India was not for gentleman and feared any mass involvement. 

3. De Silva, K. M. 1981.

 “Chapter 28: Elite Conflict and the Ceylon National Congress”, from A History of Sri University of California Press, pp. 389-401.

Key points:

  • De Silva provides an overview for his detailed papers “The Ceylon National Congress in Disarray” (mentioned below), talks about CNC’s issues with members failing to desist from raising caste issues, a division among the Sinhalese, and how ethnicity was a decisive factor in elite competition. De Silva’s aim in this chapter is to survey the unfolding of problems such as rivalry and conflict between Sinhalese and Tamils in both national life and the political arena

4. De Silva, K. M. 

“The Ceylon National Congress in Disarray, 1920-21; Sir Ponnambalam Arunachalam Leaves the Congress”. The Ceylon Journal of Historical and Social Studies. http://www.noolaham.net/project/120/11991/11991.pdf (PDF available)

Key points:

  • Details on Arunachalam, his decision to leave Congress, and the aftermath of the Congress after Arunachalam’s departure, James Pieris’ interactions with Congress officials along with detailed accounts of multiple discussions and meetings in which the CNC was involved.
  • Part II “The Ceylon National Congress in Disarray II: The Triumph of Sir William Maning” available as well.

5. Gunawardena, R.H.R. 

(1990-1994). “Politics of the Ceylon National Congress 1900-1930”. Kalyani, Journal of Humanities & Social Sciences, University of Kelaniya, 09-13: 219-247. http://repository.kln.ac.lk/handle/123456789/5577

Key points:

  • Previous research on CNC conducted by K.M. De Silva, and P.V.J. Jayasekara (I was unable to find Jayasekara’s work)
  • Only Page 1 available in PDF format
  • Provides an overview on the Ceylon National Association
  • Thesis: Analyze the nature and composition, the character, the conflicts among the elite members and the political role of the Congress up to 1930

6. Rajasingham, K. T. 2001.

 “Asia Times Sri Lanka The Untold Story”. Org. http://www.sangam.org/ANALYSIS/AsiaTimes.htm.

Chapter 4: The Ceylon National Congress and its intrigues .. …… http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CI01Df03.html

A brief chronological overview of the Congress, its feuds, resolutions, objectives, the dichotomy between Sinhalese and Tamil delegates

Chapter 10: Lord Soulbury and his soulless report

http://www.atimes.com/ind-pak/CJ13Df01.html

Excerpt: Meanwhile, the Ceylon National Congress, at its 25th annual conference, resolved to demand ” for a complete freedom after war”. It further resolved that the constitution the Board of Ministers be drafting, and it should not make provision either for a second chamber or provide for His Majesty in Council to revoke or amend the constitution, and further that the power to amend the constitution be given to the legislature of the island.

Subsequently, according to a news item in the Ceylon Daily News, dated December 24, 1943, with the caption “Mr Senanayake resigns from the Congress – break on Communist Party Issue,” created a mild stir in the Sinhalese leadership. According to the news item, “The leader of the State Council, Mr. D S Senanayake has resigned his membership of the Ceylon National Congress. He has intimated his resignation in a letter to the Joint Secretaries of the Congress.

  • Also talks about the aftermath of Senanayake’s resignation, the fate of the Congress,

As a related development, the 26th annual session of the Ceylon National Congress was held on January 27-28, 1945 at the Colombo Town Hall, where George E de Silva, the Minister of Health, was elected as the new president. In his address he said, “The Congress which stands for freedom cannot crawl before a commission, whose terms of reference do not go beyond internal self-government. Today we stand pledged to strive for freedom. Nothing less than that can be accepted.”
The Congress also 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 and to incorporate in it a solution of the minority problem, in accordance with the direction of the All Ceylon Congress Committee.”

7. Roberts, Michael. 1977.

 “Documents of the Ceylon National Congress and Nationalist Politics in Ceylon 1928-1950”. Department of National Archives. http://opac.lib.sjp.ac.lk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-search.pl?q=ceylon+national+congress


8. Roberts, Michael. 1978. 

“Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka and Sinhalese Perspectives: Barriers to Accommodation.” Modern Asian Studies, pp. 353-76. http://www.jstor.org/stable/312225.


9. Sabaratnam, T. 2010. 


“Sri Lankan Tamil Struggle Chapter 18: The First Sinhalese- Tamil Rift T. Sabaratnam”. Org. http://www.sangam.org/2010/12/Tamil_Struggle_18.php.

Abstract: Arunachalam began to lose faith in the Sinhala leaders soon after the inauguration of the Ceylon National Congress. His efforts to mould the Ceylon National Congress on the lines of the Indian National Congress which rose above regional nationalism and interests were resisted by the group led by F.R. Senanayake. Arunachalam later said they refused to rise above the Sinhala nationalistic interests. They viewed every issue from the stand of Sinhala nationalism.

The breaking point came before the 1921 Legislative Council election. Arunachalam asked Peiris and Samarawickrama that the Colombo Town seat be allocated to him in accordance to the agreement reached during the formation of the Ceylon National Congress. They turned down Arunachalam’s request saying that the acceptance of his request would mean the acceptance of the principle of communal representation. When pressed further they said that the pledge given in their capacity of presidents of the association which existed at that time had no binding on them as officials of the Ceylon National Congress.

10. Wickramasinghe, Nira 2015. 

“Sri Lanka in the Modern Age: A History”. Oxford University Press. 


Additional Sources:

Bandaranaike, S.W.R.D. 1928. 

“The hand-book of the Ceylon National Congress: 1919-1928”. The National Museums of Sri Lanka. http://search.lib.ou.ac.lk/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=26224&shelfbrowse_itemnumber=28550


How it Became

The Final Product

The four volume Documents of the Ceylon National Congress produced by the Department of National Archives in 1977 runs into 3208 pages. In keeping with bureaucratic rigidity, the four volumes are still sold at some Rs 250. The give-away price has not enabled it to reach the public. The treasure trove of documentary data within these four volumes –  encompassing LSSP and Communist Party meetings in their early days — remain unknown and unseen. How many scholars, let alone armchair historians, know that FC “Derek” de Saram, Oxford Blue and Ceylonese cricketer of note, was among the ginger group (identified as “Young Turks” by me as the editor of the documents) who attempted to rejuvenate the CNC in 1938/39 by converting it into a party that could contest elections?[1]

Along one dimension the Documents of the Ceylon National Congress produced in 1977 is nevertheless a testament to the assiduous labours of numerous personnel in the Department of National Archives during its enforced peregrinations from Nuwara Eliya to Gangodawila and Cinnamon Gardens between the 1950s and 1970s. That is why this present book is dedicated to those who staffed the DNA in the 1960s and 1970s and particularly to GPSH de Silva, its Deputy Director. It so happened that “Haris” de Silva was my senior at Ramanathan Hall in Peradeniya University and then became a good friend and ally in my research endeavours after we moved beyond our undergraduate years — capping this support by monitoring the publication process  of the four volume Documents (hence his appearance in the opening scenario).

Along another dimension the Documents of the Ceylon National Congress is an accident – a kind of fairy tale.  So, folk, sit back and absorb this tale of how I stumbled into this enterprise unforeseen and by chance.

How the Documentary Book Came into Fruition

My training in the discipline of History at Peradeniya University in the 1950s was fostered by such teachers as W.J. F. Labrooy, Sinnappah Arasaratnam. Karl W Goonewardena, Shelton Kodikara and Kingsley M. de Silva. The disciplinary leanings were, by and large, in the British empiricist tradition. That leaning was also fostered when I pursued my dissertation work on British agrarian policy in nineteenth century Ceylon under the guidance of Professor Jack Gallagher at Oxford University in the years 1962-65.

This research involved many hours of labour at the Public Record Office in Chancery Lane, London. At that site, I got to know Lal Jayawardena and thus his wife Kumari Jayawardena who had been a friend of my sister Audrey at Ladies College, Colombo. Lal’s dissertation work was in economic history and involved a macro-survey of the growth of plantations in the island and engaged the slashing criticism of the British “Waste Lands Ordinances” of 1840 and 1897 by Ceylonese nationalists. So, our discussions in the tea rooms around Chancery Lane were as earnest and convivial as highly profitable for my intellectual development.

My empiricist leanings were consolidated yet further when I returned to Peradeniya University in 1966 as a lecturer and widened by research interests directed towards exploring (a) the origins of “Ceylonese nationalism” and (b) the growth of the Ceylonese middle classes during the colonial period and especially in the 19th and 20th centuries.  These two strands of interest were intimately connected because “Ceylonese nationalism,” as well as the parallel Sinhalese and Tamil nationalisms,  were nourished within the middle and lower middle classes (who can also be identified in Marxist terms as the bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie).

 

The gentlemen of the Orient Club outside their premises [then at Lindon Hall, Flower Rd] in the early 1900s. This cluster includes leading Ceylonese poltical activists such as Frederick Dornhorst, HJC Pereira, FR Senanayake, James Peiris and EJ Samerawickrame. A great deal of the planning on how to tackle the British colonial order was conceived and discussed within these premises — with EJ Samerawickrame among the most assiduous workers in the cause.

My previous work on agrarian transformation was of material assistance in my new engagements in these fields because the development of coffee plantations and the opening-up of the highlands to trade and capitalist development was the path of economic advancement for many Sri Lankan families, especially from the low-country areas of the south west.

In pursuing this research trajectory in the manner of an empiricist historian, I did not adhere to the Marxist framework of class favoured by such friends and colleagues in research as Kumari Jayawardena.[5] Rather, I chose to deploy the concept of “elite” (subdivided into “national elites” and “local elites”). This leaning therefore colours the interpretations of my writings in the 1970s on the  CNC and may provide grounds for critical assessment.

Be that as it may, this line of research meant considerable “oral history” where I met descendants of families who had garnered wealth in the 19th and 20thcenturies. Elderly womenfolk were among the best informants in this field. This is what can be termed “ethnographic research work” which became my initial steps towards anthropology. It also meshed neatly with another project that is now identified as the “Roberts Oral History Project” or ROHP.


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