Making History

Doreen Wickremasinghe: The Path Breaker

'Whose need is more dire, the ex-servicemen in England or the poor of this country?' wrote Doreen Young Wickremasinghe in The Battle of the Flowers protesting against the absurdity that forced Sri Lankan school children to purchase poppies on Armistice Day, November 11th. The year was 1933, and Sri Lanka, then Ceylon, was a colony of the British and Doreen was a Britisher who had moved to Sri Lanka in 1930.

Doreen came from a socialist background. She was the daughter of two dissidents who had close links to the socialist movement. She lived at a time in Britain when women challenged patriarchy, fought for freedom and equality and believed that liberation could be achieved only within a socialist framework. Doreen’s formative years were at a boarding school managed by Theosophists where she had studied in an open, competitive and free environment. There she had the opportunity of learning under Krishna Menon, became the Foreign Minister of independent India, and listening to Annie Besant, the theosophist who rejected Christianity and later came to India. Doreen’s socialist ideals became reinforced after she entered the London School of Economics. Influenced by the ideas of Harold Laski, the socialist professor, she became politically active at Londoan School of Economics. She joined the Students’ Union, and associated with the members of India League that included Indians and Sri Lankans to fight against the colonial system. Doreen was also an athlete. It was while at LSE that she met personalities of the Sri Lankan left movement such as Dr. S. A. Wickremasinghe, who she married later, and Dr. N. M. Perera who were influenced by the European left.

Doreen came to Sri Lanka (Ceylon) at the invitation of Dr. S. A. Wickremasinghe to take up a teaching position but with the intention of travelling onwards to India to join the freedom struggle in that country. But she never undertook that journey. Instead she put in her wholehearted effort to challenge imperialism and ingrained social practices in Sri Lanka. As the principal of several Buddhist girls’ schools she introduced an open, friendly culture, added Sri Lankan history into the curriculum, encouraged teachers to qualify, moved away from the emphasis on 'training for wifehood', exposed teachers and students to Indian politics and culture and introduced them to Western poetry in addition to the Victorian poetry they had to learn in school. She raised the political consciousness of the teachers some of who joined the left parties later and produced students with anti-imperialist ideals. She embraced the Sri Lankan culture, wore the saree, learnt Sinhalese, and promoted the use of traditional arts and crafts.

Of the many anti British campaigns of the time, the one that is closely associated with Doreen’s name is the Suriyamal Movement organized as a counter to the Poppy Day. When she took up her first appointment as the principal of Sujatha Vidyalaya she was appalled that the boarders were charged 50 cents for the November 11th Poppy Day. She wrote “It is useless to sigh as you think of the glorious dead and ignore the duty you owe to the living whose inglorious conditions are in part the responsibility of every citizen”. She was selected as its first president and the movement provided a rallying point against imperialism and war. However she had to face harsh criticism. She was vilified by the British rulers in Sri Lanka and her compatriots for her role in the Suriyamal movement, the pro-British media criticized her, and a leading Christian school forbade the wearing of the Suriyamal. The Buddhist educators themselves were uncomfortable with her links to left politics.

Doreen’s contribution to politics and feminism is wide and far reaching. Apart from modernizing education for Buddhist girls and organizing and participating in anti imperialist campaigns Doreen started organizing politically. She brought together the women of the Left movement in the Eksath Kantha Peramuna (EKP) (translated as Women’s Unity Front). EKP highlighted the living and working conditions of women, their health and nutrition, maternal and infant mortality and medical care particularly in hospitals, child labour and other social and economic problems that affected the poor and especially women. EKP however had a short life span. It succumbed to patriarchal forces in the Left.

Doreen entered parliament in 1952. She was the first non Sri Lankan woman to do so. Physical violence had not crept into politics in the 1950s but she had to fight other forces. Her rival was her brother-in-law that contested from the right wing United National Party. Earlier her husband who was a legislator had been defeated and was at the receiving end of concerted attacks by the establishment and vested interests. Doreen was attacked for her origins, and her sex. Women had been active in the anti imperialist campaigns but contesting a parliamentary seat was another thing. However, she was not deterred and her sincerity, empathy with the poor and her popularity enabled her to win by 1001 by polling 16,626 votes. In the opposition from 1952-1956 she took up many issues that affected low income groups including peasants and fishermen.

Although she did not contest elections again Doreen did not retire from public life. She continued her political life through the work of her husband, looked after the interests of her constituency, participated in anti war movements, and other protest movements and promoted non alignment.

Doreen was one of several foreign born women who made Sri Lanka her home, rebelled against the colonialism of her country of birth, and worked selflessly for social justice. As Kumari Jayawardena says “what is perhaps most remarkable about Doreen Wickreamsinghe’s career was the way she was accepted by Sri Lankans, including activists of the Left, workers, peasants, women, and even by the electorate. For many middle-class radicals too, she was an example of how a Western woman could devote her energy to causes ranging from national liberation and women’s liberation to socialism”.