[FI-P] Fwd: [தமிழ்_ஆராய்ச்சி]: BALA TAMPO , OUR COMRADE NO MORE !

[Dr Vickramabahu]

---


 Bala Tampo, our comrade Bala is no more. He joined the left movement when
he was a student and continued to work for the LSSP while he was a lecturer
in Botany and Horticulture in the Department of Agriculture. He came into
the limelight as a strike leader after his dismissal from public service,
for participating in the strike of public servants in 1947. Soon after, he
joined the CMU as an energetic new leader. He was interested in political
theory and soon became a political teacher as well within the LSSP. At the
same time, he was keen to work among the urban workers and devoted much
time for the CMU.

The CMU was originally built in 1928 as a white-collar
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-collar_worker> union in the mercantile
sector. After Tampo became its general secretary in February 1948, the
union came under the influence of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanka_Sama_Samaja_Party> (LSSP), which at the
time was part of the Fourth International
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_International>. In the 1950s and
1960s, Tampo was known for his militant challenges to the political
decisions of the government of the day. In 1963, he led a strike in the Colombo
port <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombo_Harbour> that escalated into an
all-island general strike and defied the government of Sirima Bandaranaike
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirimavo_Bandaranaike> when it invoked its
emergency powers.

When the LSSP left the Fourth International to join the Bandaranaike
government in 1964, Tampo became a central leader of the Lanka Sama Samaja
Party (Revolutionary)
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanka_Sama_Samaja_Party_(Revolutionary)>,
which the United Secretariat of the Fourth International
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Secretariat_of_the_Fourth_International>
recognized
as its section. However the LSSP-R could not survive as a mass organization
and when NSSP evolved as a mass party Bala was eager to work with us. He
remained loyal to the forth international though he was not very active. In
2010 when the pro government thugs tried to kill me when I was retuning
from London after addressing the Tamil commemoration meeting, he embraced
me and said ‘you are a true Sama Samajists living among us’.

He retained the position of CMU general secretary and participated actively
in major negotiations with the government and employers even recently. He
departed with the dignity and power of a proletarian leader.

-- 
BAHU/ NSSP SECTION OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL--
www.nssp.info
tp 0777875758
contributions:
NAVA SAMA SAMAJA PARTY, 17BARRACKS LANE, COLOMBO 2

A/C NO: 8004893301,
 COMMERCIAL BANK OF CEYLON LIMITED  swift code CCEYLKLX

contributions to vickramabahu: BANK OF CEYLON  A/C NO 0000306345 swift code
BCEYLKLX


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-- 
www.nssp.info
tp 0777875758
contributions:
NAVA SAMA SAMAJA PARTY, 17BARRACKS LANE, COLOMBO 2

A/C NO: 8004893301,
 COMMERCIAL BANK OF CEYLON LIMITED  swift code CCEYLKLX

contributions to vickramabahu: BANK OF CEYLON  A/C NO 0000306345 swift code
BCEYLKLX
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