On the Demise of Comrade Nagalingam Sanmugathasan
Comrade Shan:
An Unrepentant Communist
By the Central
Organizing Committee, Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist)
The death of comrade Nagalingam Sanmugathasan, affectionately known
as comrade "Shan" and leader of the Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist)
on 7th February, 1993, in England, is a most grievous loss to the
International Communist Movement and to the Marxist-Leninist movement
in Sri Lanka. His memory will live forever in the hearts and minds
of the people.
Comrade Shan participated in the Marxist-Leninist proletarian revolutionary
movement when he was still a student at the Colombo University.
As he has stated in his autobiography, Memoirs of an Unrepentant
Communist, "It was my second year at the University (1939-40) that
changed the direction of my entire life. In that year I became a
communist. I have not looked back since."
... As the leader of the CTUF (Ceylon Trade Union Federation), comrade
Shan led the workers in many militant strikes, including the general
strike of 1947, the Hartal (general strike) of 1953, the transport
strike in 1955.
...Comrade Shan became a fulltime member of the Ceylon Communist
Party when it was formed in 1943.
The Ceylon Communist Party (CCP) at that time played a decisive
vanguard role in rising to the defence of comrade Stalin. Yet, from
the very beginning, the CCP was saddled with an opportunist, class
collaborationist, parliamentarist and economist political leadership.
This opportunism degenerated into open revisionism when this leadership
sided with Khrushchev in the great international ideological struggle
between modern revisionism, represented by the new class of state
monopolist capitalists headquartered in Moscow which had usurped
state power in the Soviet Union following the death of comrade Stalin,
and Marxism-Leninism as represented by Mao Tsetung and the Chinese
Communist Party.
...Under his leadership, the 9th Congress of the CCP held in 1969
upheld Marxism-Leninism-Mao Tsetung Thought and the Great Proletarian
Cultural Revolution. It established the New Democratic Revolution
and the line, strategy and program of Protracted Peoples War as
the historic path through which the Sri Lanka revolution must proceed
uninterruptedly towards the Socialist Revolution. It also laid out
basic policies and guidelines for reorganizing the party, taking
work among the peasantry in the countryside as principal and secret,
underground work as the basis for party activities. The 9th Congress
held under the personal leadership of comrade Shan represents a
milestone and a historic achievement in the development of the Marxist-Leninist,
proletarian revolutionary movement in Sri Lanka.
Comrade Shan was blessed with the supreme honour of meeting and
having discussions with Chairman Mao on one of his two visits to
China during the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution. He had the
great honour of addressing thousands of Red Guards during the GPCR.
Such was the prestige and honour he enjoyed within the international
communist movement.
Following the death of Chairman Mao, when the revisionists led by
Deng Xiaoping captured state power in China, restored capitalism
and began to distort and betray the revolutionary principles of
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, comrade Shan played an important role in
exposing Chinese revisionism, along with that of Enver Hoxha and
the Albanian Party of Labour. He played a vital role in rallying
and uniting the genuine Maoist parties and organizations of the
world in order to accomplish the decisive task of rebuilding the
International Communist Movement based on the defence and application
of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. As a result of his efforts, the CCP
(Maoist) had the honour of becoming a founding member of the Revolutionary
Internationalist Movement, which was formed in 1984.
...It is fitting that comrade Shan, who was 74 years of age, should
die while being involved in the defence of the life of comrade Gonzalo
since, in some ways, his death represents the end of a generation
of Marxist-Leninists who had taken up the torch of proletarian revolution
since the time of Stalin, while comrade Gonzalo represents the new
generation of Maoists who would take the proletarian revolution
into a new 21st century bearing unprecedented challenges and undreamt
of truly historic opportunities for advancing the world proletarian
socialist revolution towards the final goal of communism.
Under comrade Shan's leadership, during the late '60s, the CCP became
the strongest, most militant working class party in Sri Lanka. Its
influence spread far and wide. The scarlet banner of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism
was unfurled through the armed clashes of the oppressed caste members
in Jaffna who fought against their domination by the upper caste
landlords. It blazed from the lush hill tops and verdant valleys
of the plantations where the Red Flag Union mobilized tens of thousands
of workers to fight against their exploiters in pitched militant
economic battles....
...Before he left for England to get treatment and care for his
debilitating illnesses, he convened a special congress of the CCP
where he established new principles and a new generation of leadership
for accomplishing the task of rebuilding the party. Until his end,
comrade Shan devoted all his conscious efforts to the cause of advancing
the world proletarian revolution. He was truly, "An Unrepentant
Communist".
The Central Organizing Committee of the Ceylon Communist Party (Maoist)
shares its deep sorrow at the loss of our beloved leader and teacher
with the international proletariat and the oppressed people of the
world, and vows to uphold his name and his contributions and achievements,
and to carry out his wishes to fight for the final victory of Communism
upon the ashes and ruins of imperialism. We have the steel confidence
that standing firmly on the principles established and the victories
achieved under the leadership of comrade Shan, we shall overcome
all difficulties and rise up to fulfill our duties and obligations
to the world revolution.
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