The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) or People’s Liberation Front, is formed following a split from the pro-Chinese Communist Party.

Quotations

“On Wesak day in May 1965 several members of the Peking Wing [Communist Party], at the invitation of Wijeweera, gathered at a home in Akmeemana in the Galle District and discussed the deterioration of the left movement. The discussions went on for two days and two nights and it was decided that an internal ideological struggle should be launched within the Peking Wing. This was with the intention of creating genuine revolutionaries…Wijeweera met for a second time at Akmeemana and at Kalattawa towards the end of 1967. The Kalattawa meeting lasted three days and three nights. It was at these two meetings a new political organisation, ‘Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna’ or the Peoples’ Liberation Front was concevied.” Rohan Gunaratna (1990)” Sri Lanka A Lost Revolution? The Inside Story of the JVP.

“Nine individuals led by Rohana Wijeweera formed the movement in May 1965. By the time Rohana alias Loku Mahaththya was expelled from the CP (Peking wing) he had laid a strong foundation for building the new movement. To finance the movement it had established two agricultural farms in Hambanthota and Anuradhapura. The movement was of the view that it should arm itself to confront the potential threat of a neo-colonial dictatorial regime that could have been established by the pro-US elements of the then UNP government. The movement was able to establish some contacts within the armed forces. In 1969, it started holding educational camps based in the famous five lectures. At the end of 1969 the ‘group twenty one’, the first central committee of the movement, met. In May 1970 Rohana and several other activists were arrested, but they were released following the May 1970 general elections, which brought the United Front (UF) government to power. The first public event of the JVP was held at Vidyodaya University in July 1970 and the news organ of the JVP, ‘Janatha Vimukthi’ came into circulation in August 1970. The first public rally was held in Hyde Park in August 1970 and the newspapers of the day carried a statement issued by the secretaries of the SLFP, the CP and the LSSP ‘urging’ the people to fight the right-wing reactionary force. The Secretary to the Ministry of Defence declared that the JVP was public enemy No. 1 and that it had to be eradicated.” Lionel Bopage, former general secretary of the JVP and former member of the District Development Council, Galle, in an interview published in Lines magazine.

“During this time groups of revolutionaries, disillusioned with all established political parties, met to discus the future of Ceylon and how to establish a true socialist government. We discovered in the course of our discussions that there wasn’t a true Marxist-Leninist party, or a revolutionary party, or a party for the poor masses in the country. We realized the urgent necessary to mobilize the people to establish socialism in Ceylon…Our discussion lasted several months. We decide it was necessary to visit the villages and spoke with the people and convinced them of the correctness of Marxist-Leninism. In the villages we also studied thoroughly and deeply the difficulties and problems of peasants, workers, students, fishermen and even street hawkers and unemployed young men and women. We went all over the island and met the poor masses.” President of the Deshapremi Student Front of the JVP, in an interview published in the Ceylon Sunday Observer, 23 August 1970.

“The JVP spent its first five years concentrated in the rural sector. JVP cadres gave elementary classes in political thought, divided into five categories, and these political lectures often hid themselves behind curtains, while speaking, to avoid police detection. According to one account the five lectures were on the following subjects: the greatness of the Sinhalese past and of the Buddhist kings; the economic crisis and the colonial formation of the tea economy; Indian expansionism through the tea plantations; the history of the ‘left’ in Ceylon and the failure of parliamentarism; the ‘Sinhalese road’ to revolution.” Fred Halliday (1971): The Ceylonese Insurrection, New Left Review; No 79, Sep.-Oct. 1971.

“Look back and see the picture of our public meetings held in various parts of the country such as Kandy, Kegalle, Kurunegala and Southern Province and Colombo – you will see the mass of humanity, thousands and thousands of people that flocked round us, to see us and listen to us. And these were not people we had forced or cajoled with the use of guns to attend our rallies, nor have we supplied them with free lorries and buses, but people who had come of their own accord because of their interest in our politics. With every passing day we were moving forward. This process continued while another parallel process was taking place: dissatisfaction with the UNP result, with our blessing, in the election of the United Front government, with over a two-thirds majority. The LSSP and CP had told the people that if they were brought into power with a two-thirds majority they would amend the constitution, change the system of internal administration and open the way to socialism. The ordinary people took them at their world. They expected the new government to perform miracles and that is why they put the cross against the star and key and not against the elephant.” Rohana Wijeweera, Leader of the JVP, Statement before the Ceylon Criminal Justice Commission, 2 November 1973.

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