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<p style="margin:6pt 0in;line-height:13.45pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">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.</p>
<p style="margin:6pt 0in;line-height:13.45pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">The CMU was originally built in 1928
as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White-collar_worker" title="White-collar worker" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">white-collar</span></a> union in
the mercantile sector. After Tampo became its general secretary in February
1948, the union came under the influence of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanka_Sama_Samaja_Party" title="Lanka Sama Samaja Party" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">Lanka Sama Samaja Party</span></a> (LSSP), which
at the time was part of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_International" title="Fourth International" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">Fourth International</span></a>. 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 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombo_Harbour" title="Colombo Harbour" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">Colombo port</span></a> that escalated into an
all-island general strike and defied the government of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirimavo_Bandaranaike" title="Sirimavo Bandaranaike" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">Sirima Bandaranaike</span></a> when it invoked
its emergency powers.</p>
<p style="margin:6pt 0in;line-height:13.45pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">When the LSSP left the Fourth
International to join the Bandaranaike government in 1964, Tampo became a
central leader of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanka_Sama_Samaja_Party_(Revolutionary)" title="Lanka Sama Samaja Party (Revolutionary)" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">Lanka Sama
Samaja Party (Revolutionary)</span></a>, which the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Secretariat_of_the_Fourth_International" title="United Secretariat of the Fourth International" target="_blank"><span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">United
Secretariat of the Fourth International</span></a> 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’.</p>
<p style="margin:6pt 0in;line-height:13.45pt;background-image:initial;background-repeat:initial">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.</p><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
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BAHU/ NSSP SECTION OF THE FOURTH INTERNATIONAL-- <br><div dir="ltr"><a href="http://www.nssp.info" target="_blank">www.nssp.info</a><br>tp 0777875758<br>contributions: <br>NAVA SAMA SAMAJA PARTY, 17BARRACKS LANE, COLOMBO 2<br>
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<br>A/C NO: 8004893301,<br> COMMERCIAL BANK OF CEYLON LIMITED swift code CCEYLKLX<br><br>contributions to vickramabahu: BANK OF CEYLON A/C NO 0000306345 swift code BCEYLKLX<br><br><br></div>
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