The National Movement in Sri Lanka during (1870-1943)

Abstract

This study deals with the national movement in Sri Lanka during the period (1870-1943), during which Sri Lanka witnessed important political and constitutional transformations that had a major role in achieving national independence (albeit within the British Commonwealth system), as it got rid of British colonialism, and this stage witnessed cooperation It is clear between most symbols of the national movement (except for leftist organizations) on the one hand and the British authorities, and this British-Sri Lankan cooperation resulted in several results, the most important of which is the gradual progress in the political and constitutional situation of Sri Lanka, and an important development in the course of the political process in Sri Lanka. For the first time in the country’s history, political parties with diverse ideologies appeared, the most important of which is the Ceylon National Congress, which was established in 1919; The left-wing Sri Sama Samaj Party in 1935; And the “Sinhala Maha Sabha” party in 1937, and during this stage the country witnessed the drafting of the country’s first constitution, and its drafting passed through several stages, and it took its final form in 1946, and witnessed the emergence of the first national legislative assembly elected by the Sri Lankan people, and witnessed the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Ceylon’s National Congress Party dominated the political scene. Through this, it lays paths of national independence with the escalation of the Second World War, which put Sri Lanka on the threshold of an important historical stage.