The Reality Of The April 71 Uprising

By Tilvin Silva –APRIL 16, 2021

“Men make their own history, but they do not make it as they please; they do not make it under self-selected circumstances, but under circumstances existing already, given and transmitted from the past” ~ Karl Marx

April 2021 marks the completion of 50 years since the first Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) armed uprising that took place in 1971. Since gaining independence, JVP’s armed uprising was the first of its kind to create a devastating shock on the political system of Sri Lanka. In the history of the Island nation, April 71 armed uprising served as the maiden blow to the capitalist system of governance prevailing at that time. In a way, this uprising could be reckoned as a different form of a portrayal of class struggle peculiar to a situation which existed at that time. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels had stated in their communist publications that histories (written) on evolving societies, so far are the result of histories of class struggles encountered by mankind. From time immemorial, the world has witnessed several uprisings by the slaves, peasants, labourers etc, for their liberation against slavery and serfdom. Since then, in many countries people have been agitating and struggling, with and without arms against the class system of the aggressors. Most class struggles ended up in victory, yet a few ended up in failures. Marx said that people relentlessly engaged in class struggles and history teaches us its reality. The uprising of 1971 was just a failed attempt in the struggle to liberate the people from the clutches of the capitalist rulers.

As is often the case, the least advantaged not only suffered disproportionately but had less opportunity to put their story on record for history. Hence although, 50 years have elapsed, surprisingly, thus far the citizens of this country had not been able to clearly figure out the motives and the memories of the April uprising in its correct perspective. Right from the inception, the bygone administration that had suppressed the uprising had been busy disseminating many falsehoods and calculated smear campaigns about the 1971 uprising to the society at large with the connivance of the deserters and the betrayers of JVP. What’s more, the propaganda machinery had been in a dogged pursuit to intricately fabricate lies about JVP and paint a grotesque picture in the eyes of the public. The propaganda machinery started unleashing vicious lies according to the dictates of the capitalist class, in full swing about JVP to create a macabre fear psychosis in the fabric of the society. Of late, it is evident that people have taken to writing in the name of JVP on the uprising to the media, purely to get publicity and undue credit. It is no secret that they have resorted to hide the real facts, motives, and the underlying reasons for the uprising. In this backdrop, it is imperative to understand the nuts and bolts of this struggle and the reasons which prompted the JVP to launch the 1971 uprising.

Not a spontaneous uprising

1971 uprising was not in any way a spontaneous action, or a personal feat to upend the system or a coup to capture or topple the government in power. Put simply, this uprising was the result of the political instability and youth unrest created by the underlying fissures in the social and political fabric which prevailed at that time. The capitalist class at that time chose to brand this uprising as an insurrection of certain misguided youth of the country eyeing to capture the government power etc: But the 1971 uprising in short, was an armed uprising against the capitalist class that suppressed the rights of a revolutionary organisation which legitimately engaged in politics. In other words, the uprising was a reaction by the JVP to counteract and quell the repression of the government machinery.

In today’s context, as usual the armchair critics would always denounce the armed uprising of 1971 and would find fault with JVP, which in their opinion would not be the best option on the table at that time against capitalist repression.Yet it is patently clear that the situation at that time totally remained different and unfathomable. It is worth placing on record about the unfortunate and often unspoken reality of the JVP’s relentless effort for peaceful resolution on many crucial matters, even before 1971. All these moves were brushed aside and thwarted by the then administration in power. So much so, the frozen problem of youth unrest was thawing and finally exploded and transformed by 1971 into an armed uprising. By this time, only 6 years have elapsed since establishing JVP and the party was at its infancy therefore was not in the right footing. Apart from that there were internal rifts, disagreements and backstabbing within the party hierarchy. Taking advantage of these drawbacks, the capitalist forces made use of weakness in JVP to create disharmony among the cadres and the evil forces stood in the way of reorganising and strengthening party. In many countries, this was the period of the ruling elites repressing their people and almost making them their subjects. This resulted in awakening the youth for mass scale demonstrations, agitations which finally culminated in struggles taking shape in many countries. So much so, the struggles were at its peak in full swing and turned violent. The writing on the wall was clear. Eventually this period saw the dawn of armed revolutions taking place as a method of changing the brutal rulers and overthrowing their administration in many parts of the world. At a time when class differences were highly pronounced, people of many countries organized armed struggles against the aggressors and revolted against them for liberation. Countries like Vietnam, Nicaragua, El Salvador and some African countries to mention but a few were revolting against the rulers. By this time Cuban armed revolution had succeeded to overthrow their imperialistic rulers from power. It appears that in this backdrop the Cuban armed revolution had inspired the JVP and had made a tremendous impact on the 1971 uprising.

Emergence of a revolutionary organisation

JVP was organised as a political outfit, by a group of renegades, originally from an old leftist party. JVP was born as a political party in the year 1965 and Comrade Rohana Wijeweera took over the mantle as its leader. The old leftist parties that were in existence, having betrayed the very principles and ideals of a left movement joined hands with capitalists.This scenario created a void and conducive environment within the country for the establishment of a new revolutionary leftist group. Further, the developments in the international arena such as the geopolitics during the 50s and 60s, the 1963 Soviet-China opinion difference and specifically the liberation struggles during that time, immensely contributed towards the formation of JVP as a political party.

Nevertheless, emergence of JVP was seen as a challenge by the traditional capitalist political rulers who were aligned and hand in glove with the imperialist forces. On the other hand, lame duck, old leftist parties also considered JVP as a threat to their survival. As a result, the old leftist parties ingeniously hatched a shrewd plan to discredit JVP by branding its members as “CIA agents” thus stoking the capitalist rulers and aiding and abetting them to start a witch hunt against JVP members.

Read More