{"id":4765,"date":"2025-05-21T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atita.org\/?p=4765"},"modified":"2025-05-21T09:25:37","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T03:55:37","slug":"diyagama-estate-strike-and-police-shooting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atita.org\/si\/articles\/diyagama-estate-strike-and-police-shooting\/","title":{"rendered":"Diyagama Estate Strike and Police Shooting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

May 18, 1956<\/strong>
Published: May 21, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Diyagama<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Diyagama West, Agrapatna \u2013 Tea Factory. [Source: History of Ceylon Tea<\/em><\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Estate on strike<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In May 1956, workers in the Diyagama East and West estates in Agrapatna, collectively one of the largest estates in Ceylon, went on strike. By the middle of the month, about 3,100 workers had struck at Diyagama. While most of their demands involved improvement of labour and living conditions, there was an organizational one: recognition of committees of the newly-formed Democratic Workers’ Congress (DWC) trade union.<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The Diyagama strike was accompanied by numerous other DWC-related strikes across the hill country, at one point reaching over 15,000 strikers.<\/span>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> While there was participation across three unions, the Ceylon Workers\u2019 Congress (CWC), DWC, and Lanka Estate Workers’ Union (LEWU), a partisan fissure arose when CWC strikers decided to return to work. Following this, there were disputes between the strikers and non-strikers.<\/span>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 18, the strike became fatal when police shot dead an 18-year-old worker, Abraham Singho alias<\/em> Podisingho. They later banned meetings at strike-affected estates and stepped up patrolling, but there had been no serious incidents reported.<\/span>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The DWC claimed that thirty thousand workers attended Singho’s funeral.<\/span>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sten guns<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In parliament, Prime Minister S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike attributed the police shooting to the split within the CWC in late 1955 which resulted in the formation of the DWC. The newfound union was officially recognized as a trade union by the registrar, much to the chagrin of the CWC. During the strike, DWC workers surrounded CWC workers who continued to work and used force to prevent them from working. Police dispersed the DWC strikers, at which point they found themselves barraged with boulders being rolled down a hill, necessitating a shooting of the aggressors.<\/span>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LSSP MP for Wellawatte-Galkissa, Colvin R. de Silva, cautioned Bandaranaike against readily believing stories of worker aggression, reminding him of similar stories that were constructed to justify the police shooting at Mool Oya estate in 1940. He urged the prime minister not to get overly focused on an intra-worker factional clash and to remember that the strike arose due to tensions between estate employees and their employers. Abraham Singho was neither part of the CWC or the DWC; he was part of the LEWU. de Silva called for a purely public inquiry into the shooting.<\/span>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Communist MP for Colombo Central, Pieter Keuneman, went a step further than de Silva and alleged that there was an unknown entity sending blacklegs into the estate.<\/span>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vavuniya MP C. Suntharalingam was also quite skeptical of Bandaranaike\u2019s version of events and chided him for not having intervened in the employer-union dispute sooner. He also accused Bandaranaike of continuing the militarization of police, including the arming of police with Sten and Tommy guns, that started with the government before him, despite pledges to rescind the practice.<\/span>9<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The great split<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As Bandaranaike mentioned, in December 1955, tensions between S. Thondaman, leader of the CWC, and Abdul Aziz, president of the Ceylon Democratic Congress (CDC), reached a breaking point. Aziz was expelled from the CDC and CWC, and he consequently formed his own trade union: the DWC. This new union boasted around 130,000 members and was registered with the trade union registrar. Following the split, incident after incident broke out between estate workers of different unions. Much to the DWC\u2019s discontent, the Ceylon Estate Employers’ Federation (CEEF) recognized the CWC as the only trade union of the estate workers for negotiations.<\/span>10<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Diyagama shooting, Bandaranaike held a conference to reconcile the CWC, DWC, and CEEF, and they reached the following terms of settlement:<\/span>11<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
    \n
  1. The Ceylon Estates Employers’ Federation would recognise the Democratic Workers’ Congress;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. The Ceylon Workers’ Congress and the Democratic Workers ‘ Congress would negotiate among themselves to settle outstanding disputes;<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Suitable machinery would also be evolved for bargaining by the Ceylon Estates Employers\u2019 Federation, the Democratic Workers\u2019 Congress, the Ceylon Workers\u2019 Congress and the Lanka Estate Workers\u2019 Union.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

    Bandaranaike also promised a public inquiry into the shooting. Despite the settlement, tensions between the DWC and CWC continued.<\/span>12<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The DWC once against called for a strike on May 19, feeling that the lack of recognition of the union by the CEEF caused the dispute to remain unsettled.<\/span>13<\/sup><\/a><\/span> However, the CEEF soon recognized the DWC and, with it and the LEWU, pursued the creation of a joint negotiating mechanism for dispute settlement.<\/span>14<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Shooting inquiry<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The crown counsel, speaking on behalf of the police, recounted that on May 18, two labourers had been asked not to cause trouble and were then put into a car by the police. A crowd had surrounded the car and removed the men. After this, the crowd attacked two cars belonging to estate officials. The ASP ordered tear gas and gas grenades to be used against the strikers, and they consequently fled down the hill. Coles, an estate official, produced a gun to intimidate the strikers, but the ASP confiscated it. As the strikers descended the hill, the ASP sent officers to obstruct them, at which point the crowd began to stone the police. The ASP ordered a firing below the knees of the leader in a red sarong, Abraham Singho.<\/span>15<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The superintendent of Diyagama West Estate, P. P. Paulet, testified that he had received a copy of a letter from the CDC that outlined several demands for the CEEF. The letter mentioned a certain \u201cunsavoury\u201d attitude of the Diyagama West management, which Paulet claimed not to have understood. The letter gave an ultimatum: meet the demands or else there would be a strike. Six of the seven demands were not granted, and Diyagama West struck. He estimated that of 2,500 strikers, 500 were from the CWC and 1,500 to 1,750 were from the CDC. On the morning of May 11, about three hundred CWC labourers worked until the strikers arrived and chased them away. The workers did not return, and by the next day, the estate’s labour was paralyzed.<\/span>16<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

    Diyagama West Estate Superintendent P. P. Paulet. [Source: History of Ceylon Tea<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On May 21, some workers returned after the DWC was given recognition as a trade union. This was the only demand from the letter that was fully met, and the first demand was partially met. The rest had been discarded after some discussion. C. V. Velupillai, the general secretary of the CDC, testified that there had been processions at the estate after the first day of the strike, which he believed to have been organized by the CDC. Some stones were thrown at an estate officer.<\/span>17<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A. F. Waring, the superintendent of Diyagama East noted that his workers did not strike until the 14th<\/sup>. The next day, he told his assistant to refuse work to the labourers if only a few returned, but if several dozen did, work could be given. On the 18th<\/sup>, he watched his workers on the estate. He received a telephone call about and later witnessed a crowd of about five hundred on the road. The crowd looked aggressive and he feared they would cause trouble.<\/span>18<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    On July 22, the Nuwara Eliya magistrate returned a verdict of justifiable homicide for the police shooting.<\/span>19<\/sup><\/a><\/span> In parliament, Colvin R. de Silva, a CWC representative during the inquest, reminded Bandaranaike of his promise at the conference to launch a separate, public commission of inquiry into the shooting of Abraham Singho. de Silva noted that an inquest decision was not the same as a commission of inquiry, though he was equally not challenging the magistrate\u2019s findings.<\/span>20<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Apart thereafter<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Abraham Singho was seared into the collective consciousness of the CDC and the broader estate community. In March 1957, the CDC held its annual sessions at “Abraham Singho Nagar” in Nawalapitiya.<\/span>21<\/sup><\/a><\/span> One of the causes of the Aziz-Thondaman split was the former’s radical views, more sympathetic to communism. The CWC preferred to avoid working with such groups, and not long after the split, joined the non-communist International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.<\/span>22<\/sup><\/a><\/span> The two unions reunited in 1960, but again split in 1962, and continued down separate trajectories thereafter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Bibliography<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Ceylon Year Book, 1957<\/em>. Colombo: Department of Census and Statistics, 1958.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Ceylon Labour Gazette<\/em> 23, no. 1 (1972).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Kanapathypillai, A. P. The Epic of Tea: Politics in the Plantations of Sri Lanka<\/em>. Colombo: Social Scientists\u2019 Association, 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sabaratnam, T. Out of Bondage (The Thondaman Story)<\/em>. Colombo: The Sri Lanka Indian Community Council, 1990.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Summary of the Labor Situation in Ceylon<\/em>. Colombo: United States Department of Labor, 1957.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Endnotes<\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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