I. J. Wickrema

I. J. Wickrema

I.J. Wickrema was a promising leader of the Government Clerical Service Union (GCSU) in Sri Lanka in the 1960s. He was a Communist ideologist and a member of Lanka Sama Samaja Party's central committee also led the GCSU's "Golden era" in its history. At that time the total number of GCSU members was around 30,000 out of 50,000 clerical workers in the 1960s.

Early life

He was born in 1922 in Galle, Southern Sri Lanka and spent his childhood there.

Trade union work

He was well-read about Communism and in his speeches he explained how to use Communist ideology within the trade union struggle. He organised branch committees of the union throughout the country.

He was elected secretary of the union and later became President. During the years from 1965-70, many incidents happened in Sri Lanka's politics and the union reacted to the changes by taking the side of the worker.

He introduced the death donation scheme and the retirement donation scheme from which its members benefited at a time of grief and in the later years of their lives.

Building the headquarters

Under I.J. Wickrema's leadership the GCSU started work to build their own headquarters in front of the "Lake House" (the office of the government newspapers). Sri Lanka's famous drama player Henry Jayasena staged dramas to raise funds for the new building. Sri Lanka's former Prime Minister Mrs.Sirimavo R.D. Bandaranaike laid the foundation stone for the building. Visitors to the city of Colombo can see the GCSU headquarters building near the Beira lake.cite news|url=http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/10/19/arts02.htm|title="Handahana with Arnold Wickramasuriya" by Henry Jayasena|publisher=Daily News|date=October 19, 2005] cite news|url=http://www.dailynews.lk/2005/10/12/arts02.htm|title="An introduction to theatre" by Henry Jayasena|publisher=Daily News|date=October 12, 2005]

Leaving the GCSU

I.J. Wickrema left the union at the end of 1970 when he was appointed as a CAS officer. The 1977 government of Mrs.Sirimavo Bandaranaike was over and the new United National Party government came into power under the leadership of Junius Richard Jayawardene. He was subjected to political revenge and his close relatives who worked in the public sector were transferred to difficult areas. Finally he was sent to the CAS officers pool and a year later he was retired. He died in late 1979 and his funeral march was organised under the banner of the GCSU.

ee also

*GCSU Sri Lanka
*Lanka Sama Samaja Party

References

External links

* [http://www.samasamaja.org/ Official Website of Lanka Sama Samaja Party]


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • GCSU Sri Lanka — Infobox Union| name= GCSU country= Sri Lanka affiliation= members= full name= Government Clerical Service Union native name= founded= current= head= dissolved date= dissolved state= merged into= office= people= website= footnotes=The Government… …   Wikipedia

  • Lanka Sama Samaja Party — Lanka Equal Society Party Lanka Sama Samaja Party Sinhala name ලංකා සම සමාජ පක්ෂය Tamil name …   Wikipedia

  • Golu Hadawatha — Infobox Film name = Golu Hadawatha imagesize = caption = imdb rating = director = Lester James Peiris producer = P. E. E. Anthonypillai writer = Reggie Siriwardena Karunasena Jayalath (book) starring = Wickrema Bogoda Anula Karunathilake music =… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Sri Lankans — This is a partial list of notable individuals from the island of Sri Lanka Activists *Richard de Zoysa *Rajini Rajasingham Thiranagama *Kumar Ponnambalam Actors/actresses *Gamini Fonseka *Malini Fonseka *Henry Jayasena *Vijaya Kumaratunga… …   Wikipedia

  • Plasmodium — This article is about the malaria parasite. For plasmodial slime molds, see Slime mold. Plasmodium Scientific classification Domain: Eukaryota …   Wikipedia

  • Kandian Wars — in 1803 and 1815.Background – the British and the KandyansThe British, fearing that French control of the Netherlands would result in their controlling the strategically important port of Trincomalee, occupied Dutch possessions in Sri Lanka in… …   Wikipedia

  • List of Members of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party — List of prominent members of the Lanka Sama Samaja PartyMembers of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), a marxist, trotskyist, socialist party in Sri Lanka. Some of the people listed below may only briefly have been in the LSSP.A large proportion… …   Wikipedia

  • Nalanda College — Infobox School name = Nalanda College, Colombo motto = Apadana Sobhini Pangna Wisdom Beautifies Character established = 1925 type = Public School principal = Hemantha Premathilaka city = Colombo country = Sri Lanka flagicon|Sri Lanka free label 2 …   Wikipedia

  • Patabendigé — Patabändigé (also Patangatim, Pattangatti, Pattankatti in historical sources) is one of the most prevalent gé names among the Karava race of Sri Lanka. An old etching of King Rajasinghe and his court. Note the similarity of the royal symbols… …   Wikipedia

  • Sri Vikrama Rajasinha — Infobox Monarch name = Raja Sri Vikrama Rajasinha title = King of Kandy reign = 1798 February 10, 1815. coronation = 1798 predecessor = Sri Rajadhi Raja Singha (1782 1798) successor = George III of the United Kingdom royal house =Nayaks of Kandy… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”