100th Birth Anniversary of P.H. William Silva:

Father of Sri Lanka’s Industrialization

Ananda Meegama

Pedru Hewage William Silva who represented Ambalangoda from 1947-1960, and later Devinuwara, and was Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to Canada, was one of the leaders of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna, a front consisting of several parties and personalities with nationalist and socialist aspirations that turned the world of the elite upside down in 1956.

The MEP represented many dissident forces in Sri Lankan society, and the popular slogan has it as a movement of Buddhist monks, ayurvedic physicians, swabasha teachers, peasants and workers. They were challenging the social groups and forces in Sri Lanka that bolstered the colonial regime both in the villages

and in the towns from colonial times.

Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike, who founded the SLFP, together with D.A. Rajapaksa, father of the present President and other progressives brought together several parties and outstanding personalities to form the MEP. The most formidable of Bandaranaike’s allies were the veteran left leaders, Philip Gunawardena, known as the Father of Marxism in Sri Lanka and the leader of the Viplavakari Lanka Samasamaja Party, and his able deputy P.H. William Silva.

National interest

The 1956 MEP Government looked at issues from the point of national interest and those of the majority poor. It empowered the peasants and workers and the swabasha educated intelligentsia through its policy changes in education and language and the emphasis on indigenous culture and science. It expanded the middle class and set the poor on the road to social and economic progress. The switch to Swabasha in the administration and in the courts made a difference to the common man from Point Pedro to Devundera where in the words of Time magazine - until a few years ago citizens couldn’t send telegrams, make long-distance calls, make out a bill of lading or hold a government job unless they spoke English.

The workers emerged from the shadows with May Day being declared a public holiday. The aged worker, in penury was provided some security by a provident fund scheme, labour tribunals ensured workers recourse from unfair dismissal, women workers were given six weeks paid maternity leave.

The Government expanded access to university education by establishing two new universities Vidyalankara and Vidyodaya, which became the forerunner for universities in Jaffna, Galle and several others outside Colombo in the years to come. An impetus was given to youth participation in civic affairs by lowering the voting age to 18 years.

The establishment of a Department of Ayurveda provided the infrastructure to develop indigenous medicine now gaining immense popularity all over the world.

In foreign affairs, Sri Lanka established diplomatic relations, with the socialist countries, removed British bases from the country, and followed a policy of non-alignment from power blocs, a policy further extended by President Rajapaksa who has expanded Sri Lanka’s foreign relations through a South - South dialogue.

Colombo based development of the colonial era was rejected in favour of disseminating power and development to the provinces. The nationalization of bus transport and the establishment of the CTB provided for the first time cheap transport to many hitherto inaccessible areas where many farming communities lived.

Economic Thrust of 1956

The 1956 Government realized that a political movement based only on social reforms was doomed, and that production and incomes had to be increased. They knew that “trickle down” theories of development, vigorously opposed today by many economists including the Nobel prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, rarely reached the poor in the villages and understood that the state had to intervene for those on the margin to be brought into the mainstream. President Rajapaksa’s programs derived from these ideas have today provided stability to the country in a world where free market economics are leading a unemployment and instability, the latest in disarray being the glitzy state of Dubai.

Industrial initiative

Even as early as the late 19th century the famous social reformer Anagarika Dharmapala popularized the need for industries without much success, in a colonial era where deliberate state policy killed industrial initiative. In 1956 the industrial scene was a virtual desert, industrial activity was almost non existent, for it was generally accepted that the country could import all its needs in finished products. Everything from a pin, comb, pencil to an eraser, biscuits, chocolates and beer, mammoties, water pumps, and agricultural and industrial machinery were imported.

The Minister of Industries and Fisheries in 1956, Pedru Hewage William de Silva, was a close friend and a comrade of Philip Gunawardena. The only son of a wealthy professional family of Batapola, near Ambalangoda, William studied at the Buddhist Mixed School in Batapola, at St. John’s, Panadura, later at Richmond College, Galle, and finally at Ananda College from which he entered Ceylon University College. Just like Philip Gunawardena and N.M. Perera, disenchanted and bored, he left University College after one year, and went abroad for higher studies.

His attraction to social justice and the nationalist movement came early, for he became a supporter of the Suriya Mal Movement of the LSSP. In London, William was drawn to Trotskyism. He was elected President of the Ceylon Students Association in London.

While in London William associated closely with Krishna Menon, later Defence Minister of India, Feroze Gandhi, son-in-law of Nehru and Jomo Kenyatta, later Prime Minister of Kenya. William studied law in London and was called to the Bar in 1940.

He returned to Sri Lanka that year and was a leading member of the LSSP. When the LSSP leaders were in prison he used his wealth for the party’s underground work, and funded the break out of the leaders from prison. He was arrested in 1943, for fomenting strikes, and spent the remaining years of the war in prison.

A veteran of the Left Movement, taciturn by nature, and known to his friends as William the ‘Silent’, he was an excellent campaign orator, and was noted for his calm temperament, and proved to be a glutton for sustained hard work like his party leader Philip.

Industrial Policy - Third world models

As Minister of Industries he took his lessons from Egypt and Japan of the 19th century, and Nehru’s India of the fifties, that for industrialization the State had to lead, protect and provide a stimulus. He also advocated that the State with its limited resources had to promote private enterprise in industry by providing the infrastructure, credit and other incentives. He saw the state leading with a few basic industries whilst the rest were left to the private sector.

Since the World Bank had disapproved of investment on basic industries and refused to finance them, he turned to the socialist countries and with the assistance of the Soviet Union established a steel factory, a tyre factory, the second cement factory and the state flour milling factory.

William Silva established the important Mineral Sands Corporation to collect and process all the mineral sands available in this country, undertaking as much processing as possible. The National Textiles Corporation was established to supply the weavers with yarn at a reasonable price, and subsequently a spinning and weaving mill was set up at Veyangoda.

Origins of Private Industry

William said: ..... we are going to invite people to invest in small scale industries. We are not only going to encourage them, we are going to offer them inducements by way of tax concessions, tariff protection, and so on.

William then went on to list a total of 82 industries that were reserved exclusively for the private sector. William brought new thinking. The first industrial Estate in Sri Lanka was established at Ekela, making available facilities, so that a small industrialist could avoid the expenses for land, buildings, and provision of water and electricity - a concept that is now being extended in other areas of the country. Development of private industry was retarded by inadequate facilities for medium and long-term credit as reported by a World Bank Mission.

It was to remedy this situation caused by the virtual strangulation by the Colonial Government of the Bank of Ceylon at its birth that Philip Gunawardena proposed the new Cooperative Development Bank on which issue he was forced out of the Cabinet. William’s policies led to the creation of a new class of industrialists and workers, who rapidly burgeoned during the next several decades. This drive with its origins in 1956 created an industrial base leading to the growth of an industrial ethic in the country.

Fishing Industry

An important aspect of William’s tenure were the far reaching changes effected in the fishing industry. Till then deep sea fishing had been done in the traditional 35 foot oruwa, the traditional sailing craft of the country.

The 28 ft three and half ton mechanized boat built by our boat builders was introduced in 1958 effecting a virtual revolution in the fishing industry. Further during William’s tenure, a start was made to promote inland fisheries on a wide scale by breeding thilapiya and gourami. William’s tenure of office saw the beginnings of industrialization in Sri Lanka, as well as the mechanization of the fishing industry that was vital to improve the living conditions of the poor fisher folk who were so dear to his heart.

The proposed bank to provide credit to the poor craft workers in village industries and to poor fishermen was frustrated by the action of the right wing in the cabinet.

The achievements of William the ‘Silent’ would have brought great pride to the people in his native village of Batapola near Ambalangoda.

William Silva belonged to the long line of Southerners who fought to free Sri Lanka from the stranglehold of western imperialism. He followed the path of D.M. Rajapaksa the Lion of Ruhuna and his brother D.A. Rajapaksa, who symbolized the struggle of the debt ridden peasant to find a place in the sun, and of Dr. S.A. Wickremasinghe of Morawak Korale, a pioneer of the 1930’s in building a worker peasant alliance, who supported and worked for these ideals. William was loyal to high ideals, worked hard for them, and valued the freedom and independence of Sri Lanka and stood like President Rajapaksa with the people against attempts by the western powers to intervene in our affairs.

As a great Southerner President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who brought much-needed peace to our country said - “there are only two kinds of people in this land, there are those who love this country and those who don’t” - Pedru Hewage William Silva loved this country and would not and did not sacrifice its interests for gold, personal gain or ambition however high the stakes. His rightful place as a hero would always be enshrined in the memory of the nation.

Sri Lanka commemorates the hundredth Birth Anniversary of P.H. William de Silva with the issue of a new Stamp and a First Day Cover.