New Left Review I/84, March-April 1974

Rohan Wijeweera

Speech before the Ceylon Criminal Justice Commission

2 November 1973

Chairman and Members of the Commission:

A representative of one social class is addressing the representatives of another social class. That is what is happening here. A representative of the exploited and oppressed proletariat is addressing the representatives of the exploiting and oppressing class. We should not forget that the living reality which transpires here is a struggle for the fulfilment and class interests of two opposed social classes. Although I have been designated the ‘thirteenth suspect’ by this Commission in the present inquiry, the Chairman himself has stated that I am the chief suspect. That being so it will be necessary right at the beginning to tell you who I, the thirteenth suspect, am. I am a Marxist-Leninist. I am a modern Bolshevik. I am a proletarian revolutionary. Marxism-Leninism is a clear doctrine. In no way is a Marxist-Leninist a conspirator. I, a Bolshevik, am in no way a terrorist. As a proletarian revolutionary, however, I must emphatically state that I am committed to the overthrow of the prevailing capitalist system and its replacement by a socialist system.

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