Book Review

Title:‘Feudalism to Capitalism: Historical Transformation of Sri Lankan Society’
Author: Emeritus Professor of History W.I. Siriweera
Published by Sarasavi Publishers
Reviewed by Lynn Ockersz

One of the chief merits of this timely book, ‘Feudalism to Capitalism: Historical Transformation of Sri Lankan Society’ by Emeritus Professor of History W.I. Siriweera, is that it is concise yet comprehensive. It is slim in physical proportions yet substantive in content. Encompassed within the pages of this lucidly written book is all that the knowledge-seeker needs to ascertain about modern Sri Lankan history in its most essential details.

While colonial and post-colonial Sri Lanka is dwelt on in broad outline, what is principally focused on by Prof. Siriweera, one of Sri Lanka’s most eminent historians, is the island’s economic history. The ground-breaking socio- economic changes that occurred in Sri Lanka with the advent of capitalism, at the time of British rule, come in for some detailed discussion by our historian.

Economics drives politics. The truth of this principle is driven home to us as we read along. The colonizing powers were least or not at all interested in charity, philanthropy or egalitarianism. Their principal motive was economic exploitation and they went about this with ravenous zeal in Sri Lanka but in the process let loose epochal drivers of change that resulted in the economic modernization of the country. For example, by introducing to the island cash crops, such as tea, rubber and coconut, the British colonizers took the initial moves to take Sri Lanka along the path of capitalist-led economic growth. That is, they opened the flood gates to the country’s economic modernization. Colonialism needs to be deplored but not economic modernization, which is an important phase in a country’s socio-economic evolution.

To put Sri Lanka vibrantly along the capitalist road, the country’s governance and constitutional systems had to change. That is, to enable the economic basis of society, which was capitalism, to flourish, a facilitatory ruling system or governance superstructure needed to be put in place. It is in this light that the British-initiated, decades-long, pre-independence constitutional reforms in Sri Lanka need to be viewed. Prof. Siriweera does ample justice to this constitutional reform process, imparting to the reader valuable knowledge and insights relating to it in his evenly-flowing narration. Constitutional developments up to the time of independence are adequately fleshed- out, keeping in focus their impact on the economy and society.

Of particular importance are the Colebrook and Cameron reforms of 1833 which basically freed the local economy of excessive governmental control and led to the initiation of free enterprise and business activities among the local population. To facilitate this process, a ‘Bank of Deposits’ was established by the state, which spurred financial capital accumulation among the local people.

In this historically decisive process, feudal control over Sri Lankan society was greatly loosened and the beginnings of a class-based society began to manifest. The onset of capitalism in this fashion led to the steady undermining of the feudal structures of local society and their accompanying economic arrangements.

Meanwhile, the Cameron reforms were proving epochal as well. The latter process initiated a modern and independent judicial system in the country through the introduction of the Judicial Charter of 1833. Its chief feature was that ‘the executive was barred from interfering in judicial institutions and their proceedings.’

Accordingly, ‘Feudalism to Capitalism: Historical Transformation of Sri Lankan Society’, merits being described as an adeptly-written chronicle that lays bare the social and political evolution of Sri Lanka from the onset of colonialism to late British times, besides encompassing other developments in the country of the first importance. One could go even further and describe it as a vital repository of local knowledge since almost everything of relevance in modern times to the information-hungry reader and historian is contained in it.

The knowledge provided to us is diverse and wide-ranging. Besides constitutional and governing systems, ample information is lavished on us in the fields of language evolution, education, culture, livelihoods and social structures. Last but not least among the merits of the book is that it could be read with relative ease and speed in ‘one absorbing sitting’.