The four stages given above are uncharac- teristic even of the extreme Left anywhere in the world. They rather have the hall-marks of the Buddhist Right. There are to begin with practi- cal constraints against the Left adopting such a programme. The Left can campaign for mass support against the Right, only on the basis of offering a distinctively alternative programme. A Left group could play with hatred against groups identified as oppressor classes or nations, or against other Left groups accused of betrayal of the Left cause. But it cannot hope to win by playing with communalism, since that would be competing with the Right on its own turf. That was how the parliamentary Left in this country went a long way towards political suicide in the 60s and 70s, by allying with the SLFP which was then very much a communal party.

Thus during the communal attacks on Tamil students at Peradeniya University in 1983, the JVP had worked towards bringing back the Tamil students who had been driven out by forces of the Right. Even during the very vio- lent campaign of 1987-90 when the LTTE from the extreme Tamil Right was massacring Sinha- lese peasants along the borders of the North- East, instances of the JVP killing Tamils were extremely rare. Even then, the reasons were not anti-Tamil.

One may thus take it that neither the sea- soned politician J.R. Jayewardene nor the well- informed and analytically trained senior police officers believed that the four stages were those of a Left conspiracy. Nor could one believe that these two police officers went to Jayewardene without something of substance. In time the four-stage conspiracy came to be widely ridi- culed and Ernest Perera went into history ac- cused of inventing a hoax. What really hap- pened?

To be continued..

Part one – Sri Lanka’s Black July: Borella, 24th Evening

Part two – Sri Lanka’s Black July: What Really Happened At Kanatte?

Part three – Black July: ‘Api Suddha Kara’ – JR’s Failure To Declare Curfew

Part four – Sri Lanka’s Black July: The Cover Up

Part five –  30th July 1983: The Second Naxalite Plot

Part six  – Black July: The Testimony Of Lionel Bopage, Then General Secretary Of The JVP

Part seven – Black July: Thondaman & Muttetuwegama

Part eight – What Was Behind Tiger Friday – 29th July? -The Significance Of The Pettah

Part nine – Tamil Merchants In The Pettah – Post July 1983

Part ten –  Sri Lanka’s Black July: A Family’s Tragedy In Colombo

Part eleven –  Sri Lanka’s Black July: The Question Of Numbers

Part twelve –  Welikade Prison Massacres: The First Massacre: 25th July 1983

Part thirteen –  Welikade Prison Massacres: Testimonies Given At The Magistrate’s Inquest

Part fourteen –  Circumstances Leading To The Magistrate’s Inquest

Part fifteen – Welikade Prison: The Second Massacre: 27th July 1983

Part sixteen – Welikade Prison Massacres: Chief Jailor Observed Army Commandos Coming In

Part seventeen – Welikade Prison Massacres: Postscript

Part eighteen – July 1983: Planned By The State Or Spontaneous Mob Action?

Part nineteen – July 1983: Ranil Wickremasinghe Followed Cyril Mathew

Part twenty – Events Of 24th July – The Eve Of The Holocaust: Who Wanted A Military Funeral?

Part twenty one –  Events Of 24th July: What Were The Army’s Orders?

Part twenty two – Black July: Further Evidence Of Advance Planning

Part twenty three – Black July: The JSS Goon Squad Regime

Part twenty four – Institutional Implications Of The JSS And Black July

Part twenty five – Black July: Ranil Wickremesinghe, Gonalwela Sunil And The Kelaniya University

Part twenty six – Black July: Army Hathurusinghe Prevented Police From Assisting Prison Victims Under Attack

Part twenty seven – Black July: Justice Of Peace Gonawela Sunil And The Killings In Prison

Part twenty eight – Prison Massacre And The Alitalia Hijacker Sepala Ekanayake

Part twenty nine –  Black July: Further Indirect Evidence Of State Involvement

Part thirty – Blak July: Remarks & Testimonies In Retrospect

Part thirty one – Black July: Some Missing Threads

Part thirty two – Black July: Alle Gunawanse – A Missing Link?

Part thirty three –  Black July: Relation Of Events At Kanatte And The Tiger Friday

*From Rajan Hoole‘s “Sri Lanka: Arrogance of Power  – Myth, Decadence and Murder”. Thanks to Rajan for giving us permission to republish. To be continued..