The Ceylon Trade Union Federation (abbreviated CTUF) was a national

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

centre in

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. CTUF was founded in December 1940, united various unions led by the United Socialist Party.''The Island''.
M.G. Mendis in his Heyday
' The founding meeting of CTUF was chaired by a Buddhist monk, Ven. Saranankara. Pieter Keuneman served as CTUF president for some time. Soon after its foundation, CTUF ordered its affiliates to reorganise from company unions to unions by industrial sector. CTUF led a major strike amongst harbour workers in July 1941. Nevertheless, during the remainder of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the party adopted a line of avoiding confrontations as a way to support the 'anti-fascist' war effort. As of 1944 CTUF represented eleven unions with a combined membership of 18,000. After the formation of the

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. A ...

in 1943, CTUF remained closely tied to the new party. CTUF joined the

World Federation of Trade Unions The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) is an international federation of trade unions established in 1945. Founded in the immediate aftermath of World War Two, the organization built on the pre-war legacy of the International Federation of ...

in 1945. On September 15, 1945 CTUF organized a mass rally to the State Council to demand solution to unemployment problem. As the government refused to hear the demands of the protestors, CTUF organized a token half-day strike, mobilizing some 8,000 workers, followed by a six-day strike of some 30,000 workers. The strike was settled after the Mayor of Colombo intervened. In April 1958 a strike action of CTUF, the

Ceylon Mercantile Union The Ceylon Mercantile Union (CMU) is one of the largest trade unions in the commercial sector in Sri Lanka. The Ceylon Mercantile, Industrial and General Workers Union was originally built in 1928 as a white-collar union in the mercantile sector. ...

and the Ceylon Federation of Labour resulted in violence between striking workers and police. In 1962 CTUF reached its peak strength, organizing almost 80,000 members. As of 1963 CTUF organized 31 unions with 68,130 members. In the internal split in the Communist Party in 1963, CTUF was seized by the Peking Wing faction. At the time of the split

N. Shanmugathasan Nagalingam Shanmugathasan ( ta, நாகலிங்கம் சண்முகதாசன், 1920 – 8 February 1993) was a trade unionist and Maoist revolutionary leader in Sri Lanka. He was the General Secretary of the Ceylon Communist P ...

was the general secretary of CTUF, and A.D. Charleshamy and H. Jayawardena its vice presidents.Marxists.org.
To All Marxist-Leninists Inside the Ceylon Communist Party
' Following the split in the Communist Party, Watson Fernando became president of CTUF whilst N. Shanmugathasan remained as general secretary. In response to the Communist Party (Peking Wing) taking control of CTUF, the Communist Party (Moscow Wing) set up the Ceylon Federation of Trade Unions (CFTU). After the 1971 JVP insurrection, the Communist Party (Peking Wing) was targeted by government repression. Many leaders of the party were arrested. CTUF was temporarily disbanded. By 1974 CTUF had become practically defunct. Most CTUF leaders joined CFTU instead, some joined other groups.

References

{{reflist Trade unions in Sri Lanka 1940 establishments in Ceylon