Editing History of Sri Lanka (section)

===Independence movement===
{{Main|Sri Lankan independence movement}}

[[Ceylon National Congress]] (CNC) was founded to agitate for greater autonomy, although the party was soon split along ethnic and caste lines. Historian [[K. M. de Silva]] has stated that the refusal of the Ceylon Tamils to accept minority status is one of the main causes of the break up of the CNC. The CNC did not seek independence (or "Swaraj"). What may be called the independence movement broke into two streams: the "constitutionalists", who sought independence by gradual modification of the status of Ceylon; and the more radical groups associated with the Colombo Youth League, Labour movement of Goonasinghe, and the Jaffna Youth Congress. These organizations were the first to raise the cry of "Swaraj" ("outright independence") following the Indian example when [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], Sarojini Naidu and other Indian leaders visited Ceylon in 1926.<ref name="Russell">Russell, Jane (1982) ''Communal Politics under the Donoughmore constitution''. Tsiisara Prakasakyo, Dehivala.</ref> The efforts of the constitutionalists led to the arrival of the [[Donoughmore Commission]] reforms in 1931 and the [[Soulbury Commission]] recommendations, which essentially upheld the 1944 draft constitution of the Board of ministers headed by [[D. S. Senanayake]].<ref name="Russell" /> The Marxist [[Lanka Sama Samaja Party]] (LSSP), which grew out of the Youth Leagues in 1935, made the demand for outright independence a cornerstone of their policy.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.priu.gov.lk/news_update/features/20020104edmund_samarakkody.htm |title=Features |publisher=Priu.gov.lk |access-date=17 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181210153805/http://www.priu.gov.lk/news_update/features/20020104edmund_samarakkody.htm |archive-date=10 December 2018 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Its deputies in the State Council, [[N.M. Perera]] and [[Philip Gunawardena]], were aided in this struggle by other less radical members like [[Colvin R. de Silva|Colvin R. De Silva]], [[Leslie Goonewardene]], [[Vivienne Goonewardene]], Edmund Samarkody and Natesa Iyer. They also demanded the replacement of English as the official language by Sinhala and Tamil. The Marxist groups were a tiny minority and yet their movement was viewed with great interest by the British administration. The ineffective attempts to rouse the public against the British Raj in revolt would have led to certain bloodshed and a delay in independence. British state papers released in the 1950s show that the Marxist movement had a very negative impact on the policy makers at the Colonial office.<ref name="Wickramasinghe"/>

The [[Soulbury Commission]] was the most important result of the agitation for constitutional reform in the 1930s. The Tamil organization was by then led by [[G. G. Ponnambalam]], who had rejected the "Ceylonese identity".<ref>Hansard 1935</ref> Ponnamblam had declared himself a "proud Dravidian" and proclaimed an independent identity for the Tamils. He attacked the Sinhalese and criticized their historical chronicle known as the [[Mahavamsa]]. The first Sinhalese-Tamil riot came in 1939.<ref name="Russell"/><ref>Hindu Organ, 1 November 1939</ref> Ponnambalam opposed [[universal franchise]], supported the [[caste system]], and claimed that the protection of minority rights requires that minorities (35% of the population in 1931) having an equal number of seats in parliament to that of the Sinhalese (65% of the population). This "50-50" or "balanced representation" policy became the hall mark of Tamil politics of the time. Ponnambalam also accused the British of having established colonization in "traditional Tamil areas", and having favoured the Buddhists by the Buddhist temporalities act. The [[Soulbury Commission]] rejected the submissions by Ponnambalam and even criticized what they described as their unacceptable communal character. Sinhalese writers pointed to the large immigration of Tamils to the southern urban centres, especially after the opening of the Jaffna-Colombo railway. Meanwhile, Senanayake, Baron Jayatilleke, Oliver Gunatilleke and others lobbied the [[Soulbury Commission]] without confronting them officially. The unofficial submissions contained what was to later become the draft constitution of 1944.<ref name="Russell"/>

The close collaboration of the D. S. Senanayake government with the war-time British administration led to the support of [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Louis Mountbatten]]. His dispatches and a telegram to the Colonial office supporting Independence for Ceylon have been cited by historians as having helped the Senanayake government to secure the independence of Sri Lanka. The shrewd cooperation with the British as well as diverting the needs of the war market to Ceylonese markets as a supply point, managed by Oliver Goonatilleke, also led to a very favourable fiscal situation for the newly independent government.<ref name="Wickramasinghe"/>